Children of Steel (61 page)

I did behave better after that.

During that second week I did go out and see
a little more of the place. Mikarus Three wasn't much on
sightseeing; it was pretty much a bland company planet. What kept
it going was that it was a major transshipment point for several
large corporations, being located in the center of a large cluster
of settled planets. So there was a lot traffic here as well as a
major company installation.

Dave and I did hit several of the bars, and
did try to see some of the sites that there were. He was seeing a
couple of the ship’s female personnel, and would often drag one of
them along. I brought Aruba along a few times as well and we made a
double date of it. I think Dave’s friends were pretty nervous
around me, I did have a reputation on the ship now, and I suspect
it was a bit exaggerated up front where they didn’t really know me.
We never talked about what we were doing on the Falcon however when
Dave and I went out. We either talked about stuff from the Astra,
or discussed one of Dave’s favorite philosophies. For those hours
we’d both just pretend that the war didn’t exist.

There was also a crèche here and a training
facility. It was kind of strange to go by there and see all the
cubs off in the distance. You couldn't get too close most of the
time though, security was tight now and I guess they thought that a
crèche would be a prime target. I did run into a few of the older
'students' that were in combat training however. When I saw some of
the young Leopards strutting around because of their pride in their
new abilities, I really just couldn't help but think of myself at
that age.

I also just couldn't help but laugh out loud
at that thought too! I was very full of myself then, and I had to
admit it was a funny sight looking back. They of course didn't
share my humor at the idea and were quite indignant.

I
was
gentle with them, hell they were
only kids. But I still got fined a hundred credits for disorderly
conduct. It probably would have been more, but I suspect that my
inability to keep a straight face in the Rep's office whenever one
of them growled at me, made him realize that I was just probably
still unwinding from my last patrol. So he gave me the minimum, and
told the kids to show more respect for their elders. The idea of me
being an elder of course broke me up totally, so I had to tell him
just what was so funny. But at least he let me do it over a beer
down in the company lounge.

He thought it was pretty funny too.

"You know Raj, you're a pretty good Lepman,"
he said after he had stopped laughing himself. "A lot of animen are
just too damn serious."

"That's just around you humans," I smiled,
"we tend to cut loose among ourselves more."

"Back when I was a geneticist, I always
wanted to put more humor in you guys, but the company said they
wanted killers, not comics!" he grinned again.

My ears perked up, "You were a geneticist?" I
asked surprised.

"Hell yes, I designed quite a few of you. I
even follow the careers of some of my better 'children'. Always
felt like I was their father or something."

"Could you actually do that part about
putting in more humor, or more killing?" I was really interested in
this part; it could answer some important questions.

He grinned sheepishly then, "Actually no, as
far as we can tell that's not really a genetic thing. But sometimes
I used to wish it was."

"So tell me," I asked remembering what
somebody had said to me back on Arboral I think, "how much
different am I from a human anyway?"

"I would think a look in the mirror should
make that one fairly obvious," he smiled.

"No, I mean beyond the looks, at the gene
level. Are we mostly human, or animal?"

He looked at me carefully, "Why do you want
to know that for?"

"Because of something somebody once told me.
That we really weren't any different under the skin. That it was
all just cosmetic."

"That's an interesting theory," he said
thinking for a moment. "But it's totally untrue Raj."

"Is it?" I asked still curious.

"Hey, I ought to know! I designed templates
for many of your coworkers, I specialized in Catmen. That's why I
enjoy talking to them whenever I can. Sixty percent of your Genetic
Template was lifted straight from the Leopards in the jungles back
on Earth. Which is also where almost all the original base gene
material came from, I might add. That's why your muscles are
stronger and your reactions are quicker than human ones, you have a
Leopard's basic wiring.

"The next thirty or so percent are still from
the same stock, only they've been re-arranged into a humanoid
shape. That's why you have hands and feet instead of paws, but you
still have the retractable claws and the pads. Everything has just
been reshaped.

"As for the remaining ten plus percent, yes
they came from humans. That ten percent was mixed in to a few major
areas dealing with your brain. It's where most of your higher
intelligence comes from. But the fact of the matter remains, you're
more closely related to the Cats in the jungles than to humans.
It's the same for all of the other species as well." He stopped and
had a long drink from his beer then.

I found the whole thing very interesting, I
really didn't know that much about our makeup, I had always thought
that because I was 'point seven of the human norm' I was seventy
percent human. The idea that I wasn't seventy percent, just ten,
was intriguing. I wonder if that made me better or worse? Or just
more different?

"So why do they rate us as point seven human
if we're actually only ten percent?"

"Oh, that's just because the rating system
isn't based on where your genes came from, but what shape they've
been arranged into. Even then the standard is pretty loose; they
had to be careful to make sure they didn't end up classifying
humans as animen. That would have been a real political
nightmare!"

We talked a little more then, and he left to
go home for the night. It did make me think quite a bit, but try as
I might I couldn't find anything about the idea that really
bothered me. It just reminded me of something I had overheard Dave
saying to some missionary on one of our stops back on the Astra.
'You forget that I was made by a bunch of humans, not
your
God.' He laughed, 'and if you think I'm going to worship a bunch of
Lab Techs or CEO's, well, they don't pay us THAT much!' The
subsequent laughter from everybody else had then driven the guy
from the bar.

Maybe that's what really made humans worry
about us, most of them didn't really understand us, but we did
understand them.

At least, I
think
we did.

Six months later we were in jump space again
with a new set of orders for yet another strike. Since our stop at
Mikarus Three we’d had a string of raids, four total, one of which
had been in cooperation with two other frigates and a destroyer. My
reputation had continued to grow, and so had my scars. I’d been
shot several times and almost had to get a skin graft when a white
phosphorous grenade went off too close and burned though my armor
while setting my fur on fire and burning all the fur on my chest,
arms, and shoulders. Thankfully someone hit me with a fire
extinguisher before more of my fur caught. I was in bed for two
weeks after that one, and the cost of the new armor set me back a
bit as well. At least I didn’t scar from it.

This mission was going to be a bit different
this time however. Intelligence had found a humanist base that
looked like it would be a tough nut to crack. This wasn’t someplace
they’d be able to just pull out of, they’d have to try and hold it
against any kind of strike.

Other than the location though they had no
real intelligence on it. And they needed more, quickly, as an
assault force was being formed to move on the planet.

“So,” Captain Johnson began, “the plan
overall is fairly simple, to do a hit and run strike against the
weakest part of the installation that we can find. So far Tri-Star
has engaged in only such type of measures, so another one shouldn’t
surprise anyone.”

Everyone nodded to that in the gym.

“But when Falcon block pulls out, we’re going
to leave two squads behind to do some in depth reconnaissance. The
two squads will be split into halves, and the four three man teams
will have six weeks to scout out as much information and data as
possible. At the end of that time the invasion fleet will show up
and attack. All of the data you’ve gathered at that point you will
transmit to them, so they’ll be able to pick out the softest spots
for troop landings, and identify all the ground force locations and
defenses.”

He looked around at the group, “So I’m
looking…”

I stood and had my hand up before he
finished.

He smiled and finished, “for half squads to
volunteer. I’ve got one half so far, who else?”

John stood, “Mine too.”

“And us,” Nic a leopard from the first
platoon stood.

“Us too!” Said Ran, a Jag from my platoon,
standing quickly before anyone else could.

Aruba looked pleased standing next to the
Captain that so many from her platoon had been so fast to step
up.

Captain Johnson nodded, “Good, just remember
that this is supposed to be on the sly, well at least until the
fleet attacks. So don’t try and kill them all by yourselves okay?
Leave some for the army!”

Everyone gave a little laugh at that and he
continued a moment later.

“Okay, the fine details of the plan will be
worked out once we’ve had a chance to review fresh data on the
planet. Intel has a stealth ship making a sweep through the system
as we speak and we will meet up with it out past the edge of the
system. We will then plan our approach and where we will be
hitting. For the hit and run the plan will be the same as usual.
However one of the assault shuttles will make a high speed run out
and back at low level to drop the half-squads. Once that shuttle
has returned to the main smash we’ll let them drive us off and get
out of there.”

“Any questions?”

Marko was about to raise his hand when I
kicked him in the back of the shin.

“No? Good. Dismissed!”

Marko waited until the Captain and Lieutenant
had left than turned to me rubbing the spot where I had kicked him.
“Why’d you have to volunteer
us
Sir?” he grumbled. “Six
weeks in the mud is not my idea of a fun time.”

“Probably more like eight weeks,” I grinned,
“It’s gonna take a while for them to secure the planet don’t
forget.”

He sighed still grumbling.

“Look on the bright side,” I told him.

“There’s a bright side?”

I nodded, “Of course, you won’t be able to
get me in dutch with the Captain or the Lieutenant for almost two
months.”

“I dunno, I think in this case I just might
prefer the beatings…” he said scratching his ear.

Using our stealth gear and a low speed to
obscure the flash from any distant detectors we broke out much
farther than normal and in the plane of the ecliptic. It took about
a day for the stealth ship to find us, about the time one of our
company’s destroyers showed up as well.

Six days after we had started in I was
sitting at a table with Captain Johnson, Lieutenant Aruba, John,
Nic, and Ran as we went over the information the stealth ship had
gotten us one last time. It wasn’t much, but combined with what
company intelligence had supplied it provided the Captain with a
choice of targets. We were now trying to decide which one of the
two would best suit our purposes, and pick where we wanted to be
dropped off.

“No matter which one we pick, they’re both
off on the edge of the main installations,” John said point to the
four main bases that were spread out over several hundred miles.
“It could take us four weeks walking to get out of there.”

We all nodded, “Any sign of active roads or
rail lines?” Lieutenant Aruba asked.

“Hard to tell, these lines here look like
railways, but the quality of the pictures just isn’t that good to
tell if they’re active or not.”

“Well, just pick one. We’ll just have to deal
with it when we get there,” I sighed setting down the computer
tablet I’d been staring at for an hour now.

“There has to be a way to tell,” Ran said
picking up his slate again and staring at it.

“I’m afraid I have to agree with Raj,” John
sighed as well. “It’s a crap shoot. Commander,” he turned to
Captain Johnson, “I’d say it’s up to you or the Captain. Whichever
site suits your purposes the best. We’ll just have to figure
something out on our own.”

He nodded, “Well, it’ll be this site to the
north then. Where do you want to be dropped?”

“By the rail lines,” I said. “About a mile
from this structure here.” I tapped the map.

John nodded, “You can drop us all there,
we’ll disperse after we figure out our transportation
problems.”

“All right, I’ll tell your shuttle crew to
start planning their mission. Drop’s tomorrow, so have a good night
gentlemen.”

We all nodded and got up, heading back to our
quarters. We’d been coasting in as stealthily as possible, while
the destroyer had started a diversion off back the way we had come.
They had used a series of tuned hydrogen warheads that gave off the
same signature of several ships breaking out at once, and then
started in while towing a series of decoys that electronically
looked like an invasion fleet.

We’d seen the four defending ships break
orbit six hours after the decoy operation had been detected as they
bought it. The Captain figured we’d have about the same four hour
window as last time. They’d left behind only one defender, a
converted freighter that shouldn’t pose much of an issue. The ships
going out to engage would be however, if they caught the Falcon.
They were all frigates, and two of them looked to be new from what
I heard when talking to Dave at breakfast.