[The Lone Gunslinger, Chapter 7, Jaco the Jackdaw] [ 2 syll. Ja-co, jac-o] pronounced as YAH-K-ow] [Love, Coffee, and the Jackdaw] "Jaco, have you seen my gray sweater?" I shout. "You're still pronouncing it wrong," says Jaco. "Jaco, Jako, Jeko…whatever, have you seen my sweater?" I repeat. My gray sweater flutters down from the rafters. "Sorry, I thought you didn't want it anymore," says Jaco. "It was folded up with the rest of my clothes inside my chest," I say pulling my sweater on. "Sorry," says Jaco tossing the rest of my missing clothes down from the rafters. "Morning, boys," says Simon walking out of his bedroom and catching a few of my shirts as they rain down from the rafters and then tossing them to me. "At it again, is he?" Simon looks up at the rafters, shakes his head, and walks over to the kitchen counter. Jaco had found some boards and built a loft in the open rafters of the cabin and then began building what I can only describe as a nest. Every missing item in the cabin can be found in Jaco's nest, but, he always gives it back if you ask. The strangest thing about Jaco is that he is a Jackdaw, but I don't understand how he can be a Raven and a Jackdaw at the same time. Jaco said he would show me when we get to the classroom today. Jaco's been restricted to the cabin for a week since the Marshall General ordered he be trained alongside me. Jaco's restriction was for his own safety while Commander Conrad and Simon talked down all the screaming Gunslingers protesting having a Raven on our base; there were non-stop protest meetings at the Dining Cabin all week. The Commander and Simon finally won the argument when they found the drug manufacturing lab in one of the abandoned caves north of the base and proved Gunslinger Richard was involved in the conspiracy. It also helped that Simon pointed out that Jaco could have exposed Gunslinger Richard off-base in public. At least by doing it the way he did, we were able to prevent a media storm that Gunslingers were involved. Twig is back also, from his undercover mission, and they have him on an accelerated training program to catch up with the class. "Jaco, where's my coffee mug?" shouts Simon. "Sorry, I didn't think you wanted it anymore," says Jaco poking his head over the side of his nest. "It was just laying on the counter." "It had hot coffee in it," says Simon. Jaco flips over the side of his nest and dangles upside-down from the rafters, holding the empty mug out to Simon. "It was good coffee, you should have a cup." Simon narrows his eyes and looks at Jaco. "Keep it, I have other mugs." Simon turns back to the counter and opens the cupboard to get another and stares at the empty spot where the mugs used to be. I hold my breath already knowing what Simon will find, or won't find, but I think I see him chuckle slightly to himself and let out my breath. "Sorry," says Jaco doing a summersault in the air and dropping to the floor. "I didn't think you wanted them anymore, they were just laying there. Would you like me to make you a cup of coffee, you can use this cup?" I turn away so Simon can't see me laughing and go over to check the schedule on the Vid-screen, and then I think my heart stopped. There are wires hanging down from the Vid-screen and it looks like it's been partially disassembled. "Oh no, Simon," I whisper. Simon notices the Vid-screen and walks over and stares at it, then he swipes his finger across it several times. Whatever is on the screen doesn't look like the morning brief. "Jaco, what have you done?" asks Simon. "It was broken, I made it better," says Jaco. There are symbols and letters on the screen from a language I've never seen. Simon flips through several pages of the screens, but I don't think he looks angry. Simon finally stops at a screen that has the image of a statue with it's head down and massive wings on it's back. I think it looks like a winged woman in a long robe. "What is it?" I ask. "That is the statue of the Raven Goddess," says Simon. "It's located in the Raven Temple on Darai. Jaco, am I looking at the Raven Temple's central library?" "Mmhmm," nods Jaco happily. "It's much better now." "Do they know you did this?" asks Simon. "No way, they would skin me, but don't worry," says Jaco. "I linked a bouncing pipeline though alternating shells off five Grackle News Satellites and then to the Temple Cook's Vid-screen in the Dining Hall under the Temple. Even if they do find the connection, it will lead to House Hawk's Com-center at their Space Port in Hawk Provence, and anyway, who likes the Hawks?" "Why did you do this, Jaco?" asks Simon. "Promise never to tell anyone?" says Jaco. "Okay, I promise," says Simon. Jaco flips through several screens on the Vid until he finds what he is looking for, and then zooms in the image. "You know what that is, Hero?" asks Jaco. "Yes, that's the Law of Light Speed," I say. "Wrong, it's a Daraian joke," says Jaco. "Our technology is easily twenty-thousand years more advanced than humans, and when you asked us for the Law of Light Speed, that's what we gave you. Our rule is to share any technology you ask for, if you ask the right question." "I don't understand," I say. "I do," says Simon. "There have been several human scientists that have said the Law of Light Speed is incorrect, and that traveling at the speed of light is impossible." "But we travel at light speed all the time," I argue. "No you don't, what you call light speed is a series of small trans-dimensional jumps under the universe, and that's why you can't see stars when you are at 'light speed'. The truth is, when you are at 'light speed' you actually don't exist, because you are no longer in the universe." "Why are you giving us this?" asks Simon. "I'm not giving it to you, Gunslinger Simon," says Jaco pointing at Simon's coffee cup. "I took your DNA off your mug and put a lock on secret technology, you can't access anything, but Hero can." "Okay, so why are you giving this to Hero?" asks Simon. "Your Marshall said I'm partnered with Hero, and everyone knows the Marshall is Mother Ravens Chosen. Anyway, I never thought I would be partnered with a boy, but I'm a Raven and if Mother Raven says I have to flip, then I'm okay with that. I know it will be weird at first, but I'm ready to do my duty and come to Hero's nest when he wants to mate." "Wait! What?" I almost shout. Jaco hooks his finger through the collar he likes to wear. "This is Hero's collar now, and since he's my mate, I have to make sure he is learning the correct science and stuff." "But...but...no…," I stutter turning bright red. "It's okay, I should have realized when I was watching you and you did that whole jealous thing over Ace and Rattlesnake, but it wasn't Ace you were jealous about, it was Rattlesnake," says Jaco. "But, it's okay, you got me now and I'll always be loyal." "But…but…but…," I think I've gone from red to purple, Ravens not only think upside-down and backwards, they hear upside-down and backwards, Jaco has completely misunderstood the Marshall's orders. "Come on, my love, we'll be late to school, I like school," says Jaco skipping to the door and outside. I look to Simon in panic, but Simon is nearly bent over double and laughing hysterically. I'm not going to get any help from Simon. I run out the door after Jaco. "Wait, no, you got it all wrong, Jaco, wait," I shout. [The Pen is mightier than the Jackdaw] "See, right here," Jaco points at the holographic globe of Darai. "This is where I'm from." I trace my finger across the section Jaco is pointing at and expand the image to see the area he is talking about. The globe indicates a mountainous region, but then all of Darai looks like it's nothing but a range after range of mountains. "This says Jackdaw Province," I say. "How can you be a Raven?" "See this border Jackdaw Provence is inside of, we are part of Raven Province," says Jaco. "We were conquered by the Ravens a long time ago." "There are other Province's too," I say tracing the Raven border. "Yes, see, there's Rook Province, and Crow Provence, and all these others over here," says Jaco. "So they're like counties?" I ask. "No, not at all like the way humans do it," explains Jaco. "Every Province is a different Daraian Race." "How many Race's are there?" "Thousands." "Okay, I think I get it. House Raven is a ruling government of many Provinces that make up a country." "Kind of, yes." "Okay, so how many countries are there?" "There's the Hawks, the Sparrows, the Grackles, the Falcons, and many more." I study the Daraian globe, it's fascinating, and then one of the borders between Sparrow Provence and Raven Provence moved. "Hey, the map just changed?" I say. Jaco leans in and looks closely at the map. "Oh, the Sparrows just took a Province from the Ravens and someone updated the map. If we watch long enough we will see the border change again as the Ravens counter-attack." "Are there wars often?" I ask. "All the time, but they have to stay small like the border change you just saw, if a war gets too big, Alliance Houses will get involved, and then the Goddess gets involved, and everyone loses." "Brutal." "Naw, just natural selection as ordained by the Goddess," explains Jaco. "But a lot of people must die?" "Well of course, that's the point," says Jaco. "We can't stop our reproductive cycle. A Daraian female will lay up to four eggs a year, if we didn't have natural selection we would exhaust our resources within five years." "Can't you just… you know… not do it?" "The female creates an egg whether she wants to or not," explains Jaco. "If the egg doesn't get fertilized, she dies, and there's no way to extract an unfertilized egg without killing her. So, it's natural selection or extinction." I watch Jaco staring at the map of his home, and I feel bad for him. He failed natural selection by not being smart enough and will never be able to go home, but by human standards, I've never met anyone smarter than him. No wonder the Daraians are so technologically advanced, it's either be smarter than the last generation or die. "Okay, settle down and take your seats," says the Instructor walking through the door. "Take out your pens and paper, pop quiz." Everyone was milling about, chatting and talking about… well, mainly about Jaco, but I knew the first day in the classroom was going to be rough. Thunder bumps against me on the way to his desk. "Raven lover," says Thunder shoving past me. "Why don't you go live on Darai." I glance at the others in my class, and all of them are giving me an evil look. I think maybe it's going to be worse than I thought. I take my desk and… where's my pen? Oh no, I look over at Jaco and I know where my pen went, then I notice everyone in the class is looking through their desks, their pockets, and their backpacks. "Hey, anyone got a spare pen, I can't find mine," says Thunder. "Mine's missing too," says Rock. "Mine too… " "What's going on...?" "Where's my pen…?" The whole class is missing their pens, and Jaco is trying his best to look innocent. I put my hands over my face, this day isn't going to go well. "Everyone calm down," says the Instructor. "We aren't having a pop quiz, we are going to talk about the cultural differences between species. Can anyone tell me what instinct is?" Sprint raises his hand. "Instinct is like when a parent protects a child?" "That is positive instinct," says the Instructor. "However, there are instincts that while positive among one species, may be negative among others." I know this speech, everyone that has ever gone to school has heard it. Species tolerance is taught to every child in school, we couldn't function as an Empire if we didn't respect all the species that make up the Empire. "We all know of the Daraians, though they have had little interactions with the Empire outside of small specific communities." The instructor pauses while everyone turns to look at Jaco. "But, recently they have been having more and more contact with citizens of the Empire. The Team Gunslingers have had their first Daraians, and now we have our first Daraian." "We don't want them," interrupts Thunder. "If I hear that again, Mr. Thunder, I will send you to the Commander's office, is that understood," warns the Instructor. "Yes, Sir." "I asked Mr. Jaco to demonstrate a particular attribute of the Jackdaw's this morning," the Instructor continues. "Mr. Jaco, will you kindly return everyone's pen to them." I watch Jaco stand and pull a small bag out from under his black leather coat and walk around the classroom passing pens out to everyone. "Thief," shouts Thunder. "This is your last warning, Mr. Thunder," says the Instructor. Thunder shuts up but glares hatefully at Jaco, I think there is going to be trouble between them. "Now, does everyone have their exact pen?" asks the instructor once Jaco takes his seat again. Everyone nods and the instructor smiles. "Mr. Rock, if I were to ask you to collect everyone's pens, put them in a bag, would you be able to return everyone's correct pen." Rock shakes his head. "Nobody could do that, there's like thirty students in here." "And yet, Mr. Jaco did just that without a single mistake," says the Instructor. "Imagine if you first year students had Jaco as your spotter on the Surveillance Training Range. And, what of you second year students during the Currier Range? Jaco could have easily retrieved or passed the currier capsule to any of you." "I get it," says Misfire. "We just have to turn his talent and negative instinct to steal into a productive skill." I can see that some of the students are looking at Jaco differently now, maybe it won't be such a bad day. "House Jackdaw has other talents as well," explains the instructor. "All the communication satellites are built by the Jackdaws. Now, lets turn our attention to some mathematics," says the Instructor walking to the chalk board. "We'll pick up where we left off with…" The instructor looks back and forth on the chalk tray, and then checks his desk drawer. "I know there was some chalk…" The instructor looks up and right at Jaco. "Sorry," says Jaco holding up the chalk. "I thought you didn't wanted it anymore, it was just laying there." The class breaks out in laughter at the crooked grin Jaco is giving the instructor. I think Jaco has won over most of the class, but I still see a few hateful expressions. [A bad day for a Jackdaw] The rest of the week didn't go as I hoped it would. Thunder pulled a very mean prank on Jaco and almost got shot and the Commander had to save him. Thunder was relieved as Class Leader and put on extra-duty. Misfire is the Class Leader now and tension between Thunder and Jaco is worse than ever. We were in the Dining Cabin and Thunder brought a covered tray over to the table and set it in front of Jaco. "I thought we should make up," said Thunder and then lifted the cover off the tray. Jaco turned white and then got sick and started throwing up violently. I didn't know what was wrong and got scared. There was a baked chicken on the tray and I didn't know why it would affect Jaco like it did. A visiting Lord Gunslinger was at a table nearby, Gunslinger Duke or something like that, I think. I only know he was a Demonian and terrifying. I had never seen a Demonian before, let alone an angry one. Anyway, the Lord Gunslinger jumped up and slammed the cover back on the tray and then grabbed Thunder by the ear and dragged him outside. The Lord Gunslinger shoved Thunder in the snow and then walked twenty paces away and pulled his duster back and ordered Thunder to draw. The Commander made it outside just in time and he and Lord Gunslinger argued for a long time. Finally, the Lord Gunslinger went back inside the Dining Cabin and the Commander took Thunder to his office. Simon explained to me what happened. I didn't realize just how sacred the bird, any bird, is to the Daraians. I also didn't know that Demonians consider themselves cousins to the Daraians and took the prank as a personal insult. Thunder's prank was so bad that many of the students and Gunslingers that still hated Jaco felt so awful for treating him poorly that they have been coming to Jaco and making peace with him. So, I guess some good came out of the prank. As for me, I personally have more respect for the Commander than ever before. We are just trainees and we do stupid things, but the Commander stood up to that massive Demonian to protect one of us. The Commander is the bravest person I know. [Like a Kangaroo] Jaco recovered quick enough, though it did take the rest of the day to get him to come down from his nest in the rafters. The next week got Jaco the nickname, Jaco the Kangaroo. We started the first week of parachute training, ground week, and were practicing jumping off two bricks stacked up and then learning to fall correctly. Jaco thought we all looked like Kangaroos and was hopping about imitating a Kangaroo. The instructors knew there wasn't much they could teach a Daraian about parachuting, so they put him to work helping in the riggers shed packing parachutes. Daraians don't use parachutes, they use their glider wings instead, but he was as helpful as Jaco could be. Jaco spent the next three weeks as we went through training hopping everywhere he went like a Kangaroo, so everyone started calling him Jaco the Kangaroo. Then it came time for our first jump. We have to static-line jump for a total of seventy-five jumps before we can learn to halo. Static-line jumping is when there is a yellow cord attached from our parachute to a cable inside the aircraft and that is what opens our parachute when we go out the door. Later we will Halo, and that's when we open our parachutes ourselves once we leave the aircraft. Well, I was scared and it seemed Jaco had paid attention and checked my parachute a hundred times before we loaded on the aircraft. The aircraft was so loud with the wind and other noises we could barely hear anything. The flight seemed to take forever but finally the Jump Master gave us the signal to stand and hook-up. My hand was shaking so bad that Jaco had to help me put the safety pin in my static-line hook on the cable. The green light came on and we started moving forward and Misfire went out the door first, then Rock, and then Sprint, and then Thunder. My fear was gone, I was only thinking about everything I had to do, and then the Jump Master stopped the rest of us and leaned out the door. Even over the wind I knew something was wrong, there was a terrible thumping against the aircraft and the cable was shaking badly. The Jump Master signaled for us to unhook and sit back down. Word didn't get past down the line to us for another several minutes. "What's going on?" I shouted to Twig sitting next to me. "They said Thunder is a towed jumper," shouted Twig. Oh ancestors, that's one of the worst accidents that can happen, it means Thunder got tangled up outside the door and is being towed outside the aircraft. The thumping sound I'm hearing is Thunder being banged against the side of the aircraft. Towed jumpers rarely make it, if he's unconscious, which is most likely, they can't just cut him lose because he won't be able to pull his reserve parachute, and they can't pull him back in because he could untangle and fall away. I tell Jaco what is happening and he doesn't hesitate. Jaco jumped up and ran across us towards the door. I can see the Jump Master talking with the Safety Officer about what to do next and before he can stop Jaco, Jaco grabs the edge of the door and flips himself outside. We watch the Jump Master lean out the door for a very long time and then he closed the door and the aircraft turned and headed back to the airfield. The Jump Master wouldn't tell us what happened. We landed and were taken to the hanger to wait. Our classmates that did jump were brought to the hanger a half-hour later, but they didn't know anything either. It was almost two hours later when the Commanders truck rolled up and the Commander and Jaco got out and walked over to us. The Commander called us to attention and put a hand on Jaco's shoulder. "As you are all aware, your classmate, Thunder, became a towed jumper," says the Commander. "Jaco exited the aircraft, climbed down the static lines and found Thunder unconscious. Jaco then used his dagger to cut Thunder lose, and then pushed off and chased Thunder and grabbed him in mid-air and held him while he glided safely to the ground." We all cheered and the Commander holds up his hand for quiet. "Thunder is in serious condition and has been taken to the hospital, you will be informed when we know more," continued the Commander. "Despite what Thunder did to Jaco, in the truest traditions of the Lone Gunslingers, Jaco risked his own life to save a fellow Gunslinger, and I can, with confidence say, Gunslinger Trainee Jaco the Jackdaw has earned his right to be here." My entire class started cheering again and ran forward to surround Jaco and slap him on the back. Misfire and Sprint picked Jaco up and we carried him around the hanger cheering. When we got done carrying Jaco around we stopped in front of the Commander. "You boys head on back to your cabins and get some rest, I'll let you know how Thunder is doing when I hear something." The Commander turned and walked back to his truck and we started to head out. We got about hundred feet. "Jaco, where's my keys?" shouted the Commander. "Sorry, I thought you didn't want them anymore," Jaco shouted back holding the truck keys up. "They were just hanging there."