Jethro 3: No Place Like Home Read Online Free PDF Page B

don't have any.”
    “Well, some of you do have civilian implants. But you can't see some of it anyway since you have civilian grade,” Jethro said absently. He'd toned down his desire to bark at them like the raw recruits they were. That awed them, yes, but it also drew unwanted attention from the ship's crew.
    “The computers tell me what they want me to do if they are up. If not, I have a list of things to check. The readings are in my implants so I can compare them without having to memorize a million different things.”
    “Now, this is a coolant panel. We've got coolant lines all over the place, and even though they are shielded and insulated, you don't want to stick your hand in there if there is a leak. Even a small one can freeze your skin and do damage. So, first up, check for leaks.”
    He ran them through a visual inspection of the hoses.
    “Sergeant, I thought the equipment used heat recovery systems?” a recruit asked, clearly puzzled.
    Jethro looked over his shoulder to the Veraxin and then flicked his ears. “You heard right. Where did you hear it?”
    “I have a nest four cousin working on Anvil Prime.”
    “Ah,” Jethro said thoughtfully before he nodded. “Well, your cousin is correct. We have them. I'm not an engineer, but I asked a similar question when we were given the basic training. What I was told other than to never mind and focus on my job,” he flicked his ears in humor. “Since they say Marines don't know squat...it'd help if they'd answer the damn question and not expect us to know it...” he smiled slightly. The glitter of fangs was brief.
    “What I found out is that the heat recovery exchangers are great, but inefficient and slow. In a crisis, such as combat, you need to get rid of the heat quickly. Things happen fast, and heat builds up fast, too fast for the recovery system to handle, so we have a back up, heat exchangers, sumps, and coolant like this,” he said pointing to the system. “These are coolant lines. They run to radiators and pumps on or in the equipment. Then away to a sump or bigger exchange system. But something's wrong here,” he said, plugging his test kit into a test port on the valve assembly on his upper left. He had to lean inside the space, carefully brushing aside some of the hoses and wiring bundles to do so.
    “Careful jarhead, don't yank on the cables,” a crewman passing said.
    “Yeah, I know,” he grumbled. “Bite me,” he muttered under his breath. He checked the readings and then nodded. “Okay, here we've got a clean reading and it matches what the computer uploaded to me. So, we move on...” he unplugged the diagnostic device and then leaned back.
    “S...I mean, Sergeant, why are we doing this? Can't the crew handle it?” a recruit asked.
    Jethro turned to him and then back to the panel. He traced the hoses and then got up and moved further away. He popped another panel off and then reached in and plugged the diagnostic in. “Yes and no. They are supposed to, but Marines have many duties on a ship. One of them is damage control. Since the ship took some damage in the recent battle, it's taken some time to go through everything.”
    “But I thought they gave the ship a going over before we left?” a girl asked.
    Jethro looked at the human. She could be in her twenties, but then again, she could be a teen. He wasn't much of a judge on human age. “Yes, but no one can catch everything...,” he frowned at the reading. “And sometimes you catch things others overlooked or forgot about. Which, in this case...,” he shook his head. “We just did. Lucky us. I've got to put a call in,” he said. He looked up and frowned.
    A few minutes later a bored ensign came lounging around the corner. He was wearing a navy issue coverall, navy gray trimmed in engineering department yellow on the hem, shoulder boards and breast boards.
    “Yes, Sergeant?” he asked as the panther popped to attention.
    “Sir, found a problem.”
    “You did. No