Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (125 page)

“Anyone tell you the op order was
to
cover
the extraction and get out?” he asked as they pull off their
helmets. “Not that I'm complaining or anything.” He stretched grinning. Damn
that felt good. It felt great to win like that, to snatch victory from the jaws
of defeat. He was pretty sure the major had been leading the op, with virtual
forces near every conceivable extraction point. The bastards could probably
respawn too. From the look on the opposition squad leader's faces they were
certainly pissed at being cheated out of the kill. Just about everyone had
probably wanted in on taking Valenko down a peg.

“The best defense is a good
offense,” Valenko said with a shrug. He stretched as he looked over to Jethro.
The panther's rack was depressed, he could see the goggles hovering in the air,
but the panther was cloaked still. He had his uniform on of course but it
looked like an empty shell. That was still too cool for words.

“Damn that's wild,” a private
said coming over to get a better view at the rack. “Ghost man,” he said softly.
He whistled.

“Something like that.”

“What's he doing?” Myers asked
looking at the panther.

“Cleaning up. Or he was. I
thought the sim had ended.”

“Probably did but he's not
through. Apparently someone left it up for him to try to frag his ass,” Valenko
said. He'd have to talk to the major about that. It wasn't fair to pull him and
his squad out but leave the panther in. If it had been a real op his squad
would have come to the panther's aid in support. He'd had a plan for Jethro to
fall back into the sniper's range of fire if needed.

“Glad he's on our side,” a woman
said feverantly.

“Wasn't this op,” the first
private said in disgust. He scowled at the panther's rack.

“You know what I mean,” the woman
said, grabbing a towel. “I so want a shower,” she said.

Jethro faded into being panting.
Valenko nodded as the panther sat up and then swooned a little. “You all
right?” He rumbled, suddenly concerned.

“Tired. Cloak takes a lot of
energy,” Jethro said between pants. His eyes were closed. Sergio handed him a
water bottle with the cap off. Jethro took it but his hands were trembling.

“Why'd they leave you in?”
Valenko asked, crossing his arms.

Jethro took another ragged
breath. “They thought they had me, I was on the run. I got away clean thought
it was close sir,” he panted, eyes closed. He was fairly certain of that, that
they kept him in so someone could bag him and then claim bragging rights.

“I see it's not all fun and games
for you,” lieutenant Myers said kneeling next to Jethro.

“Metabolic rate is returning to
normal now sir. Low blood sugar and well...” Jethro shrugged.

“It takes it out of you. Yeah, I
see that.”

“Yeah. But it was worth it. Got
the job done,” Jethro replied, flicking his ears.

“That it did son. Good work,” the
lieutenant said with a nod and pat on the shoulder. “Carry on,” he said gruffly
as he turned and left.

“Better?” Valenko asked.

“Electrolytes are low. I think I
need to refuel.”

“Shit shower and shave. Hot wash
on the exercise can wait,” Valenko replied with a nod. “Good job people,” he
said to the bay at large. His team looked up and nodded. The noob's exchanged
high fives. A few of the ambush team looked put out. More than one looked shook
up.

“Damn man, going to have
nightmares for weeks,” one private muttered, shaking. “He just came out of nowhere!
First thing I knew was when he ripped my throat out!” He shook, hand going to
his throat. He kept touching it with his fingertips, making sure it was still
there and intact.

“Just a sim man. But I suggest
you learn from it,” his partner said resting a hand on his shoulder. “Sim.
Still here, still bitching and whining. Suck it up. Tomorrow is another day,”
he said.

“Damn straight.”

Major Forth shook his head as he
disconnected from the sim. How the hell had they pulled that off? He'd had it
covered. At least he'd thought he had... had he been hacked? He checked the sim
records and snorted. He watched from the bear's perspective and then from the
panther's.

Valenko... the son of a bruin...
damn. He had to admit it; they were good,
damn
good. If you can't land
where you need to, do the unexpected. His lips thinned in a grudging smile.
He'd half expected them to try to rappel the retreating team up into the
dropship. He hadn't expected the counter attack. “Damn they really are that
good,” he sighed. He made a note of the tactic and another commending Valenko
and his team for their initiative. Then he turned his attention to the growing
mountain of paperwork. He hated paperwork.

You
can read more when Jethro First to fight comes out!