A New Beginning Ch. 03

Okay, this took a bit of time and I REALLY hope you like it and see the positives. As usual, it's not my type of story, but has captivated me and on I go.

Please, Please comment and let me know if I'm doing okays with this.

Thank you... Flick.

*****

THRummmmmm... Engines worked in the background.

Without the arrival of the Planetary Infantry, Inexplicably delayed. The Holy Company ordered the 'Jean-Paul' to take and secure the remaining occupied city's.

While those cities were sparsely populated, they still housed hundreds of rebels in each.

With no place to recruit from and a largely diminished Marine complement, Captain Rawlings was forced to do his best in the time fame that was demanded.

Reluctantly they used the only option available if they were to succeed, it meant ignoring Company rules and using planetary bombardment from orbit and then a mop up operation by the Marines.

After nearly six months of hard fighting and numerous losses, the Marines of the 'Jean-Paul' finally secured the last of the rebel cities on Uraisa Six.

The city of 'Halifax' was a smoking ruin. Named after a small town on old earth, it had once been a beautiful city of Uraisa Six.

Jessica Davis and her remaining team of four Marines sat in what had once been a towering spire. Not anymore.

Now it was one of many ruins with nothing left but a lobby and a gaping hole in one wall.

Jess watched as Williams passed out a ration of 'Fleet Rum'. The Marines eagerly taking it from him with tired battle weary hands.

She checked her rifle as they drank and felt like she had fucked up.

Five of her marines lay dead. No one was blaming her, in fact the commlink was praising her actions.

Still, she felt like shit and stared at the blank eyes of a very dead Hicks.

He still looked so young but he had become a friend and valued 'brother in arms'. The tiny nanites they had injected into him in an effort to save him, now crawled in a silver stream out of the holes in his body.

Gathering into a ball for collecting with encoded precision.

She wanted to throw up, but she didn't.

She sipped her Rum and pointed at Hicks' body. "cover him up Willy." She said with a sigh once Collins retrieved the small silver ball.

'Willy' Williams nodded and grabbed a ripped up bit of cloth. Whatever it had been in the past, it now served as a shroud for a dead Marine.

She looked around at her squad.

Losses and her own excellence over the last few months had seen her rise from PFC to Squad leader with nine Marines under her.

They were a good bunch, mostly from the now none existent 'Recon Team'.

Lt Choi had given her Williams and Smith, both veteran Marines with more than ten years of service each.

Added to that she had had Halliday and Brooks from C company, plus Hicks, Ramirez, Collins, Dobbs and Kent from the recruits they had received on Amethyst Station. It felt like a long time ago, but in reality had been less than a year since they had been on Amethyst Station.

Halliday and Brooks lay outside, still waiting for her to collect their 'tags'. Their bodies a bloody mess from the AP mine they should have scanned for as they neared their target.

Dobbs and Kent were slumped in their death pose at the breach, both cut down by the heavy fire they had taken as the AP mine exploded and tore a hole the size of a truck into the wall, creating a much larger breach than they had originally planned.

Ramirez walked over to them as Jess was thinking about doing it. The tiny but strong girl collected Dobbs and Kent's 'tags' and limped over to Jess with a sad smile. "They got it done." She said.

To which Jess nodded.

"Yeah... guess so." She said sadly as she accepted the dog tags and pocketed them.

****

Captain Rawlings bunched his fists in anger.

He was listening to a fuming Director Jennifer Wells yell at him for laying waste to Halifax.

"With respect Director Hall. We TOOK the city and have secured Uraisa six as requested." He interrupted.

Reminding her that the time frame that the company had given him had been ridiculously tight along with the absence of the promised Planetary Infantry support, it was amazing that they had done so much.

She knew he was right and that they had asked him to do the impossible.

The ruination of Halifax was a small price to pay for a 'breadbasket' planet being back under Company control.

Director Wells scowled at Rawlings. "General Hawking will NOT be happy." She said with an angry snort.

He shrugged, letting her know he didn't care what some ground hog General wanted. "He can kiss my ass. All he has to do is baby sit this planet. He was meant to BE here FOUR months ago. " He replied.

Wells wasn't about to argue further, she and the Company needed the 'Jean-Paul' too badly for that. The war around Janus Four was proving difficult.

"When can you get to Janus?" she said, changing the subject.

"Four weeks minimum, we need to resupply and the Marines need replacements."

"Make it Three." She said firmly. "Best I can give you is what 'Emerald Station' has scrapped together."

Rawlings knew that Emerald Station was tiny and wouldn't have much in the way of replacements for his Marines. "What about Shellan Four? They have a mustering barracks." He said with annoyance.

Wells shook her head, "The 'Saint Michael' emptied it four days ago, sorry Jerry... Troops are hard to come by right now."

Her use of his given name and the look of genuine regret. Let him know she really WAS sorry.

Captain Jerry Rawlings shook his head and swore under his breath before he replied. "Three weeks. If the planetary Infantry get here on time." He said, not really expecting them to.

"They will. They better... Wells out." She ground out in a stressed tone before closing the link.

*****

Captain of the aging 'Jean-Paul', Jerry Rawlings slumped into his chair and frowned out of his window. The Blue and Green ball of Uraisa Six looked peaceful from up here.

It had cost him over half his Marine force to subdue and reclaim for the Holy Company. A thankless task and one he hadn't wanted to do, not with only a half Battalion of Marines at his disposal.

He scanned the reports and grimaced, out of over five hundred men, the 'Jean-Paul' Marines now had less than Two hundred left.

True, they were battle hardened and what remained were probably some of the most professional and experienced troops on any ship. But too few, far too few.

He rubbed his temples and looked at the report from Uraisa six's new civilian leadership. They wanted a meeting to discuss what happened now.

The transition back to civilian control was inevitable and needed. He didn't want his troops planet side for any longer than necessary, there was bound to be bad blood and feelings would be running high.

The last thing he wanted was for his men to be acting as a police force. Marines did NOT work well as peace keepers.

******

The reports showed heavy losses from 'C' company and the former '306' company, both of them had been what were called 'lights'.

The overall intel for the last month had been next to useless. He might have regretted the decision to deploy them without an upgrade in body armour. Perhaps if he had converted them to the heavier armour they might have had fewer losses.

That was the rub though, IF he had, would they have been able to move as fast as they had and secure the city? A prolonged battle would have also led to heavy losses.

He just didn't know, neither did anyone else. Plans tend to go to shit as soon as the first bullet flies.

But looking at the reports, it was obvious that the rebels had somehow obtained military grade Anti-personnel mines and RFRG's.

It would take a lot of digging to find out HOW they had gotten hold of such restricted weaponry.

He doubted he would get any real answers before they had to hand over to the 'Ground hog' infantry and leave for Janus Four.

******

There was a knock on his door.

"Enter." He growled out as he slapped shut the folder of paper reports.

"Well THAT was FUCKED." Said Lt Choi as he walked into Rawlings ready room.

Rawlings would have kicked anyone else out and probably have them given 'ships lashings' for saying what Choi had.

But he knew and respected Choi, they had once grown up together on the same planet and had enlisted at the same time. Though Rawlings had gone to Fleet and Choi had gone to the Marines.

"Yes. It WAS... how did yours do?" asked Rawlings, already weary from reading the 'butchers bill.' Yet wanting to know how the man he considered the closest thing to a friend on board had faired.

Choi shrugged as he took out a 'stim stick' and lit it. "Better than most. Lost twelve." He grunted out as he exhaled the illegal smoke.

Jerry Rawlings shook his head, Choi liked to push him.

"Give me one of those you old cunt." He said with a smile.

Choi handed over the packet of extremely expensive sticks with a grin.

"remember when we were in high school?" he said as Jerry lit up.

Captain Jerry Rawlings nodded as he exhaled in pleasure. "Yeah, you used to bum these off me."

"You made me pay." Replied Choi with an easy wave of his hand.

Jerry's eyes narrowed. He well remembered making Choi pay for what he had to give and he realised that Choi had deliberately reminded him of it and planned this casual seeming exchange.

"What do you WANT Hank?" he said warily as he took another drag of the illegal and slightly addictive 'stim stick.'

Choi shrugged, "nothing big, it's only ONE tiny stim stick." He said with a knowing smile.

The smoke tended to focus the mind and sharpen perception. A narcotic combination of stimulates, mixed with a few harmful, yet seemingly benign plants, made Cpt Rawlings smile in appreciation of Choi's tactics.

"It's that PG you like so much, isn't it?" he said with enhanced perception.

Choi kept his calm and nodded, "In a way." He confirmed.

"Actually, it concerns ALL of the PG's I have."

Rawlings had to glance at his records... "All seven of them?"

"Yup." Was all Choi said with a confident smile. As he put a small box on Rawlings desk and flipped open the lid.

******

Jessica Davis sat in the reclined and sterilised chair. Next to her were several others, each one occupied by one of the remaining Six 'PG' girls under Lt Choi's command.

The medical team had finished its patch up work on the wounded and was now free to follow the unusual orders from Captain Rawlings.

The Medics didn't talk to the girls as they shaved a small patch of hair from behind each girls right ear and then swabbed it with a nanite filled gel.

Jess felt woozy from the sedative and looked at Suzi. The statuesque blonde was staring at her with fear filled eyes.

Jess tried to speak and tell Suzi it was all fine, but all that came out was a mumble of incoherent words.

The medics cut in, no blood was lost as the nanite gel went to work and the medical team rushed to do the job before the wounds healed up.

All the old 'combat chips' were removed and new ones emplaced. Faster and better, these would enable them to react faster and analyse combat situations with enviable speed.

The Zt-360 Chip was the preferred combat chip for the Marine Corp. Unlike the basic chip that 'defective Pleasure Girls' received when shipped off to Military Basic training.

This one held 'memories', encoded recollections from a few selected Marines. It also allowed the user to fully integrate with Marine issue body suits.

It had many more features than the old chips and would bring the girls up to speed, making them all fully functioning and able Marines.

True, Jess was already doing that, but unlike the other girls, she was far more intelligent and had been able to learn much of what she needed on her own.

Lieutenant Hank Choi wanted Jess to get the best though and give her every advantage possible. On top of that, the PG's under his command would be far more useful if he could get them up to what he thought of as Marine standards.

Unlike other officers, he had seen what Jessica could do and realised that the Pleasure Girls were a real and viable option for extra troops.

Most PG's were pretty stupid, deliberately made that way. A rare few were of average intelligence, those were considered defective and sent off to the various arms of the military with basic combat chips along with the physically flawed girls.

Jessica was flawed by her height and her Intelligence. Her mind went well beyond 'average' and into the realms of smart.

Suzi was also too tall and with a smaller bust than was liked, she wasn't quite stupid, but it was a close call. The new chip would however make her combat useful, beyond just being an extra body to throw at the meat grinder.

The other girls he had were a mixed bunch and had numerous so called defects.

All of them had attractive faces but were either, too tall, too small or had pleasure glands that didn't work or gag reflex's that reacted like a normal woman's, small breasts or hips that were too wide.

The list went on and on.

The Companies desire for the perfect fuck toy was well known and it's standards were high.

So out of the seven girls, Choi had four that were actually of average or higher intelligence and would make extremely good marines. The rest would be like Suzi.

What people didn't really think about was that these were Genetically engineered beings. Genes and DNA spliced and altered to make them the perfect fuck toy.

They were in a constant state of sexual arousal and could suck and fuck for hours on end, they even had extra glands in their anal passage as well as extra pleasure nerves there too.

All features that the company had designed to make them better at sex, even going as far as suppressing the gag reflex and giving them larger lung capacity to stay down for longer.

What they were originally meant for wasn't just good for sex though.

As soldiers with the proper training and a man like Choi who saw past their pretty faces and looked at what they could be. They had the potential to be highly useful.

Choi mentally ticked off the list he had come up with as the girls were injected with the recovery drug and left to sleep off the effects of the minor surgery.

Faster healing than a normal human, far greater endurance, better balance and steady hands that gave them excellent hand/eye coordination.

The brighter ones like Jess and newly named Penny also seemed to learn and soak up information like a pair of sponges. Those two could then extrapolate the information and make intellectual leaps that were done within the blink of an eye.

Choi had noticed the way Jessica's eyes sometimes fluttered when she was processing something new and Penny seemed to have the same habit.

He put aside his musings as Jessica started to sit up, she noticed him and gave him a smile and wave from behind the glass.

He nodded and smiled back, she looked incredibly beautiful and sexy in just her white bra and knickers.

Choi was well used to seeing women naked or in a state of undress, the Marines made no distinction between the sexes so he had shared a shower with numerous women in the past.

It was just Jess, there was something about her that made him want her badly and seeing her like that made his cock stir.

It wasn't as if he hadn't fucked her either, before Uraisa Six, when she had first joined his then 'Recon platoon', he had fucked her in every hole along with the rest of them.

His feelings had changed though and the way he saw her had changed too, she was so much more than a PG, in fact he found it hard to think of her as anything but Jess now.

Logically he knew she was the same girl he had had sex with already. Illogically he felt that when they did eventually find a way to be together again it would be totally different.

He knocked on the window and pointed at his watch, held up four fingers and waited for her to signal back she understood.

Jess nodded and gave him a thumbs up. He would see her in the barracks at four pm.

Hank Choi smiled and waved again before walking off down the brightly lit corridors of Medical.

*****

General Hawking wasn't a happy man as he strode through the rubble of what had been Halifax city. He had wanted to use it as his base of operations, the place had been breathtakingly beautiful.

Captain Rawlings holographic image watched him with undisguised distaste, the General was a Company Lackey who acted like he was God.

A pretty PG, wearing a fashionably demure dress, scurried along next to Hawking with a simpering look on her face as her eyes never wavered from looking at him.

"You were told to take this place INTACT." He roared at the projected image of Rawlings.

His face turned red with anger as he built himself up to deliver a full blown tirade.

Rawlings cut him off before he could get going.

"Shut the fuck up you fucking cowardly piece of SHIT." He said calmly.

Hawking's mouth dropped open and he blinked in disbelief at being talked to like that.

"Captain Chen has already told me of your deliberate delaying tactics in getting here... what's more, I have just finished talking to Director Wells and given her Chen's report."

He paused for effect and grinned nastily.

"The Holy Company has a dim view of Generals that cost them precious men, so do I, You and your Ground hogs were meant to be here FOUR months ago."

Rawlings held up a holographic hand and made a slicing motion across his throat. "Expect a call from Director Wells." He said and clicked the off switch with satisfaction.

Sputtering in rage and a welling sense of fear, the General stared at the place where Rawlings image had been.

Colonel Kendrick suppressed a smile, he had waited a long time to see something like this and was hopeful that his cowardly commander would be fully punished. Kendrick was a boots on the ground professional who had wanted to assist the Marines.

The sound of a rapidly approaching drop ship interrupted his gloating and he looked up to see the vessel coming down at a reckless speed that was usually reserved for combat drops.

"HEADS UP." He shouted as he ran with a jumble of infantry to the side of the city square they had been standing on.

The Drop ships engines wailed in protest as the pilot slammed out the air brakes and reversed thrust at the last possible minute.

His skill was obvious as the ship made a perfect and fast combat landing, throwing up a whirlwind of dust and stinging debris that buffeted Kendrick and his men.

The ramp deployed with a bang, hitting the ground sharply, it was still shuddering as seven Marines marched down it and towards Kendrick.

Through the cloud of dust he could barely make them out, led by a tall and dark skinned lieutenant the Marines looked like men that had seen a lot of action.

As they got closer, he could clearly see their armour was scarred and dented, they had stony faces and that look in the eyes of people who had seen combat.

The lieutenant saluted him smartly enough and waited for him to return the gesture. He automatically did so, respecting the men and women who had clearly helped take this planet back.

"Flashy landing Lieutenant, I know PI and Marines don't get along, but we ARE on the same side." He said with a smile.

Choi smiled back, "Habit Sir." He said laconically, instantly taking a liking to the man. As he held out a written order.

Kendrick took the piece of paper and unfolded it, he was used to the way the Marines still used paper and wasn't surprised.

He was shocked by the orders though.

"You can't be serious?" he said in shock. Reading it again and swallowing down the feeling of anger that welled up in him.

Choi shrugged, "Sorry Sir, but it is what it is." He said with a hint of sympathy. It was never nice to loose men.