Jethro 9 Snippet 1

 Sitrep:

So, all of the betas are done with J9 and I sent it off to Rea Saturday. So, here is the first snippet!

 

 

Antigua

Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jethro McClintock noted the flutter of the wind, picked up on the heat rising and ran mental calculations even as Bast fed him the data. What he saw matched her data roughly so he fed it to the sniper.

The sniper was a new recruit to the Cadre, Sergeant Manoox. The sergeant had sniper qualifications from the army but seemed to struggle with accepting data from his AI.

“Target at two-five-six-one meters. Up one point five. Wind at nine o’clock six clicks.”

“Two-five-six-one up one point five, winds… got it,” the sergeant replied in a text through their implants. The duo was side by side so their respective AI had established a wired nanite link between them. That facilitated conversation so they could not be picked up or overheard.

“Send it,” Jethro growled.

The sergeant gently squeezed the trigger. As always it came as a surprise to them.

The round went down range and slammed into the target.

“High point two,” Jethro observed. “To the right point four.”

“Roger,” the sergeant said as he made adjustments.

Another sniper fired a shot off to their left. A target plinked.

“Send it,” Jethro ordered.

This time the round hit dead center as expected.

“Good shot. New target…” Jethro moved on across their zone as the first target reset.

<<(O)>>

Sergeant Suqi McClintock noted the target hit and smiled. She was dialed in. She quickly made it through the qualifications and then rose when her spotter cleared her. Half muscle memory, half training she cleared her weapon and looked around. Sabu was finishing up his quals to the far left of her. Their father Jethro was in playing spotter for another student.

She glanced to her right to see Hurranna wrapping up her quals. The lynx sat up when she finished and stretched and then scratched at her back.

“Getting old?” Suqi texted.

Hurranna turned to her, stuck out her tongue and then stretched again. Suqi chuckled.

Chief Warrant Officer 1 Hurranna was their ‘aunt’. She had grown up with their father and others on Antigua Prime. She had served with them in Sigma Sector hunting pirates, though she had done so in a fighter as a Marine pilot while Sabu and Suqi had been sergeants in the Marines.

All 3 had been tapped to join the Cadre. They had done a bit of soul searching and then had agreed much to the chagrin of their respective commands. It was that or get rotated home to serve in a training force or standing guard duty at some building somewhere. None of them wanted that.

Hurranna had been threatened with a commission a few times. She had considered it but hadn’t liked dealing with the paperwork and the headaches involved with being a commissioned officer. As a warrant she could get to the rank of a CAG but not much further. She had said that she hadn’t considered getting out of the pilot seat until she had found out that the Cadre also used pilots.

Since she had finished her integration she had taken up duties with the shuttles that occasionally moved the Cadre to distant exercise locations.

Hurranna joined Suqi at the table where the weapons were laid out. “It took a little bit to get my eye back in I admit. But it’s like riding a bicycle.”

“If you don’t practice regularly you forget the tricks,” Suqi retorted.

“Like I said, like riding a bike. Once I had a refresher it all came back,” Hurranna replied.

Suqi flicked her ears.

“So, what’s next?” Hurranna asked.

“The finals for camouflage for the second half of the class. Since you already passed it, you lot can head in and pack it in,” Chief Humble stated. He was a big albino Neogorilla.

“Take your weapons with you,” the chief growled as the duo turned to leave. “Turn them in to the armory and clean them. You know the drill.”

The girls sighed. “I hate getting my nails dirty,” Hurranna mock whined.

“I hate chipping a nail,” Suqi said, pretending to look at her nails. Her claws came out as she examined them.

“My heart bleeds,” the chief said gruffly, rolling his eyes at them.

The girls smirked at each other. “Want to get our nails done after this?” Hurranna suggested.

“Sure,” Suqi answered. She turned to the chief. “What do you say chief? I think hot pink is your color,” she teased.

“Pass,” he growled. “Get out of here before I throw you two out. And you two are small enough that I can do it too,” he said eyeing them.

“I think he means it,” Hurranna chuckled as the duo put their sniper rifles into their carrying cases and then headed off.

“I’m sure he’s just a softy at heart,” Suqi said. The chief roared and both girls startled and turned back to him. He was growling at another student.

“On the other hand…” Suqi drawled.

“Yeah, maybe we should tease him later,” Hurranna agreed with a nod.

<<(O)>>