said. “I'd meant to get into shape,” he muttered.
The Neo canine next to him snorted softly. He looked at her and then shrugged. “Well, I did.”
“Right, and you always had an excuse why you missed morning PT exercises,” the dog said. She was a mutt, but she had a lot of Labrador in her. She was a chocolate color, with what looked like a spiked collar around her neck. Her right ear had been chewed a bit, and she had a bald spot on one shoulder. Like most of the Neos and single alien in the compartment she disdained clothes, wearing the minimum. In her case it was a white tank top with Marine in green and a pair of knee length Khaki Marine shorts. A swirling tattoo was there in place of her fur. She scratched at an itch with her short fingers. “Give me a squad, or two, hell, three. I'll get it done,” she said.
Jethro nodded to her. He liked her attitude. “We'll see. Jill, is it?”
“Jill. My brother is Jack. He's in Antigua now,” the dog said. “I remember you, Gunny; I was in boot when you and some of the others were a DI.”
“And rose to Lance pretty quickly,” Mirilax said, sounding doubtful that the canine had earned it.
The canine shrugged. “Cream always rises to the top. Graduated top of my class. I took some college courses before hand, some more afterwards. What can I say, when you're good you're good.” She pretended to buff her short stubby claws. “And I, my dear, am great.”
Ox put a mighty restraining hand in front of the now thoroughly annoyed female human before she could get up. “Don't knock it. You'll have plenty of time to work out your differences later. I suggest we get moving,” Ox rumbled.
Jethro nodded as he got an e-mail and then a series of texts from the veterans in the bay. All hell was breaking out there and in the station. “Right, that's a wrap for now. Meeting adjourned. Spitterman, I meant it about that TOE. Get me and the others an initial brief in less than an hour and then we'll update it as we go. They need a starting point.”
“Yes...I'll get it done,” Spitterman said.
“You were the one who said he wanted a chance to shine. Here it is,” Sergei said, eying the human.
“Shit.”
---( | ) --- ( | )---
In a brief moment between dealing with the chaos in the troop bay, Jethro attempted to deal with the paperwork regarding his name change. He was vexed that such a seemingly simple thing couldn't be easily handled.
The bureaucrat on the other end of the e-mail chain wanted him in a face-to-face meeting to deal with it. Finally he got fed up and put a call in. The woman refused to receive a direct implant call so he had to get permission to route it through the ship. Commander Firefly wordlessly approved the call for him.
“Look, I'm me. I know I'm me. You can get the officers on board to vouch for me,” Jethro said patiently as the woman went on about protocol. He seriously didn't have time for a lecture.
“This is all highly irregular. You should be discharged for signing on with an illegal name,” the woman said snippily.
“No,” Jethro said patiently. “At the time I signed on I was not aware of my legal last name. If you check, my old name was simply Anvil Cat Pride.”
“We have it as Anvil Cat Clan.”
“All right, well, at the time, that was what I knew my family name was. Now I know better. It didn't matter to me for a long time, but recent events changed that. I am correcting the wrong. Or at least attempting to. Can't you just, well, type it into the computer? Backspace and just key it in?”
“It's not that simple. For one thing your IFF has to be altered, and I'm not even sure how to go about that. We've only done that with rank changes, not name.”
“You mean no one has married and changed their last name in the past four years?” Jethro asked patiently.
The woman's eyes narrowed in thought. “You don't have to be snippy Sergeant.”
“Gunny. Acting Gunny. I'm on Firefly,” Jethro replied.
She nodded.
The Neo canine next to him snorted softly. He looked at her and then shrugged. “Well, I did.”
“Right, and you always had an excuse why you missed morning PT exercises,” the dog said. She was a mutt, but she had a lot of Labrador in her. She was a chocolate color, with what looked like a spiked collar around her neck. Her right ear had been chewed a bit, and she had a bald spot on one shoulder. Like most of the Neos and single alien in the compartment she disdained clothes, wearing the minimum. In her case it was a white tank top with Marine in green and a pair of knee length Khaki Marine shorts. A swirling tattoo was there in place of her fur. She scratched at an itch with her short fingers. “Give me a squad, or two, hell, three. I'll get it done,” she said.
Jethro nodded to her. He liked her attitude. “We'll see. Jill, is it?”
“Jill. My brother is Jack. He's in Antigua now,” the dog said. “I remember you, Gunny; I was in boot when you and some of the others were a DI.”
“And rose to Lance pretty quickly,” Mirilax said, sounding doubtful that the canine had earned it.
The canine shrugged. “Cream always rises to the top. Graduated top of my class. I took some college courses before hand, some more afterwards. What can I say, when you're good you're good.” She pretended to buff her short stubby claws. “And I, my dear, am great.”
Ox put a mighty restraining hand in front of the now thoroughly annoyed female human before she could get up. “Don't knock it. You'll have plenty of time to work out your differences later. I suggest we get moving,” Ox rumbled.
Jethro nodded as he got an e-mail and then a series of texts from the veterans in the bay. All hell was breaking out there and in the station. “Right, that's a wrap for now. Meeting adjourned. Spitterman, I meant it about that TOE. Get me and the others an initial brief in less than an hour and then we'll update it as we go. They need a starting point.”
“Yes...I'll get it done,” Spitterman said.
“You were the one who said he wanted a chance to shine. Here it is,” Sergei said, eying the human.
“Shit.”
---( | ) --- ( | )---
In a brief moment between dealing with the chaos in the troop bay, Jethro attempted to deal with the paperwork regarding his name change. He was vexed that such a seemingly simple thing couldn't be easily handled.
The bureaucrat on the other end of the e-mail chain wanted him in a face-to-face meeting to deal with it. Finally he got fed up and put a call in. The woman refused to receive a direct implant call so he had to get permission to route it through the ship. Commander Firefly wordlessly approved the call for him.
“Look, I'm me. I know I'm me. You can get the officers on board to vouch for me,” Jethro said patiently as the woman went on about protocol. He seriously didn't have time for a lecture.
“This is all highly irregular. You should be discharged for signing on with an illegal name,” the woman said snippily.
“No,” Jethro said patiently. “At the time I signed on I was not aware of my legal last name. If you check, my old name was simply Anvil Cat Pride.”
“We have it as Anvil Cat Clan.”
“All right, well, at the time, that was what I knew my family name was. Now I know better. It didn't matter to me for a long time, but recent events changed that. I am correcting the wrong. Or at least attempting to. Can't you just, well, type it into the computer? Backspace and just key it in?”
“It's not that simple. For one thing your IFF has to be altered, and I'm not even sure how to go about that. We've only done that with rank changes, not name.”
“You mean no one has married and changed their last name in the past four years?” Jethro asked patiently.
The woman's eyes narrowed in thought. “You don't have to be snippy Sergeant.”
“Gunny. Acting Gunny. I'm on Firefly,” Jethro replied.
She nodded.
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