A New Beginning Ch. 02

They picked up the pace, moving smoothly as a team, sweeping the area with raised rifles as they entered the main power core.

A pulse rifle chattered and Dobbs grunted as if he had been punched as the rounds dropped him.

Ramirez unleashed a long burst in the direction it had come from as Collins pulled Dobbs back around the corner and thrust a nanite syringe directly into his stomach.

Dobbs swore as the tiny nanites got to work. "Someone KILL that Fucker."

Kent swung his RFRG around the corner and depressed the trigger. BBBBBBBRRRRRRRAAAAAAAA, not even a full second of fire.

More than enough to rip through the wall and column that the rebel was hiding behind and taking pot shots at them.

Smith and Ramirez ran forward with weapons raised, they could see the upper half of the man's torso, cut free from the rest of his body by the scything rounds of the Rail Gun.

Taking no chances, they checked the room carefully before declaring it "CLEAR."

"Clear....Clear, All Clear Sarg, .." the commlink informed Choi that they had done their job and now held the Powerplant.

Choi lost no time in setting up sentry posts with RFRG's and two man teams along the walls.

He Keyed his Commlink to the command centre on the 'Jean-Paul'.

"Choi to Command, PP is secure."

"CC to Choi, well done....shut down the shield."

Choi grimaced. "Roger that CC." he replied with a heavy heart.

"Harris, shut off the UV shield." He ordered Harris who was in the control room with his team and Suzi.

Harris heard the order and shook his head, "Fuck me." He whispered as he keyed in the command and switched off the UV shield that protected Eden City from the heavy rays of the planets twin suns.

The Marines would be fine, inoculated and with inbuilt UV protection to their battle armour and jumpsuits they couldn't be harmed by the suns.

Anyone out on the streets of Eden city that wasn't a Marine would die horribly in under fifteen minutes.

Opening a hole that size in the UV shield was a staggering act of mass murder.

It didn't sit well with Choi or his men, but the rebellion was killing thousands of civilians already and was threatening to go global with four of Uraisa Six's cities under their control.

Choi was glad he was too far away to hear the screams of the dying as he waited for the order to close up the UV shield again.

******

Jessica watched through her scope as the city died, Marines swept through it almost unhindered now, clearing the houses in small teams that aided those civilians that they could or more often, dispatching the few rebels that had managed to flee inside when the shield had dropped.

No mercy was given and only high ranking Rebels were taken prisoner. The marines had lost too many in the battle to feel much in the way of sympathy.

******

The water was blessedly hot and welcome as Jessica and the recon troopers showered off the planetary smells, some real, some imagined.

The newbies had seen her in action and eyed her with respect now. At last starting to understand why she wasn't to be treated as a 'Pleasure Girl'.

Jess was aware of a few erections in the shower as she soaped herself up and hoped none of them would ask her to 'work'.

She was pleasantly surprised that none of the horney Marines asked her for sex and rinsed off happily before grabbing a towel to dry off and head to her bunk.

She noticed Suzi giving Ramirez oral and shrugged, she was too tired to ask if Suzi wanted to do it or not, she already knew that the 'PG' would airily say she was happy.

Even when Collins walked up behind Suzi and shoved himself into her pussy with only a nod to Ramirez as she enjoyed Suzi's tonguing.

Jessica and the rest left them to it, Suzi would never be like Jess and the original team had by now decided to let her get on with it for the most part. Only interfering when it became obvious that she was getting tired.

Suzi had performed well enough in the assault. Laying down covering fire as Harris and Choi took the control room.

Whatever she was doing as a 'PG' was tinged with a tiny bit more respect from the other Marines.

******

Unlike the newer and much larger cruisers and battle ships, the 'Jean-Paul' only had what amounted to a half Battalion.

The men and women of the 'Jean-Paul' Marine Crop knew each other well and were very much a family.

The loss of the two drop ships and their compliment of Troops was a big blow, especially when they had all been veteran soldiers and had served on the old cruiser for years.

Finding that many replacements was going to be hard, War had broken out on Janus Four and since it wasn't just poorly trained rebels on Janus Four, but a well trained and experienced force led by a former Company General.

That war was taking up any and all new recruits.

Captain Rawlings sat at his desk and thumbed through the reports, Paper reports that he insisted on. His habit was actually a saving grace. Computers could be hacked and he was paranoid about it.

He sighed heavily. Marine Major Valeric had been on one of the drop ships that had been hit, that left Rawlings with only Two Marine Captains and Four lieutenants after the losses.

The butchers bill was high and the 'Jean-Paul' had never had a full Battalion to start with. At best he could field three hundred men now.

He was waiting to hand over all this to the Planetary Infantry without much joy.

Once the Ground Hogs arrived he knew that the 'Jean-Paul' and it's incomplete troops and crew would be ordered to join the fleet against Janus Four and it's very competent General.

With a sigh. He scrubbed at his stubbly hair and looked at the roster's. several promotions were needed and a few unorthodox jumps would be required if he was to have a workable force.

*****

Choi stood at attention with the rest of the NCO's as Captain Rawlings looked them over and handed out promotions in rank like they were candy.

Numerous jump ups were going around. Kendrick went from Corporal to Gunnery Sgt, Jackson went from Sgt to Lt and so did Choi and Phillips.

Choi was more than a little stunned, he had never expected to be Officer class, not even when he had been a Master Sgt.

Gibs got pushed to Sgt as well, taking Choi's place. War time promotions were not unknown, but these were drastic by any standard.

Choi wasn't a fool. This meant they were out of officers and replacements. Whatever came next would be far worse than what they had just seen.

The bars on his collar felt heavy. Not in reality, but mentally.

Not only that, this jump pushed him and Jess even further apart, he knew she would see his new bars and understand the ramifications.

Choi looked at Jerry Rawlings and grimaced, whatever Rawlings knew, he wasn't sharing right now.

Yet the Marines knew this wasn't a good sign, paygrade upgrades didn't matter if you weren't around to collect them.

Never the less, they saluted smartly and accepted their promotions.

"We will be joining the fight against General Niles. All leave is cancelled and I want your best troopers to be evaluated for promotion too."

Choi and the rest wondered what fucked up dimension they had landed in. As Rawlings handed out assignments and troop transfers.

Choi got nearly forty extra men and the title of 'Recon Platoon' was gone.

He pulled up the manifest and saw he now had sixty five Marines, fifty eight in reality. The other seven were PG's.