A New Beginning Ch. 06

"Zip it Jack, we all know you got more than us, but Rawlings is catching you up... what's this make..... Four now Jerry?" said Delacroix, a woman with little patience for anyone.

"Five." Said Rawlings with a grin, knowing that even though none of them bothered to display their ribbons, Jack Walker had five too.

Delacroix grinned and shot Jack Walker a wink, they had been lovers for a long time and she liked to annoy him when she could.

"yeah, well get six and a Star of Honour and I might be worried." He grumbled out good naturedly and then gave Chen a charming smile to piss off Delacroix.

Chen rolled her eyes at Samantha Delacroix, it was all too familiar to her, Jack would have run a mile if she had made an advance and everyone knew it.

"Ah, all the great Captains together... Jerry, great to see you and well done, you deserve this." Said Jensen as he got to them, stopping any further byplay between the four friends.

"Thank you, Sir, just doing my job." Answered Rawlings appropriately with a smile as they shook hands.

"No, no, I mean it, so far we have been getting our asses kicked, this little show is a big morale booster." Gushed Jensen in a sincere way that no one could find any fault with, for those that heard him, it just helped boost people's opinion that Jensen was a good guy who was only thinking of those under him.

Jensen winked at Rawlings in a friendly way.

"let's get on." He said as he turned and stepped up onto the podium that was usually reserved for the Holy Company's Bishop.

Jensen kept his speech short and barely outlined the After Action report of what had happened, not as a slight, but because he knew these men and women, none of them wanted to listen to a long-winded speech.

He pinned on the medal with a wide smile and saluted Rawlings smartly as the rest followed suit and the choir sang a Gloria.

Rawlings stepped forward as they fell silent and gave a Company salute, the crowd waited as he adjusted the air-mic that floated before him.

"Thank you Admiral and Thank you to the Holy Company, I could stand here and tell you of the bravery of my crew, but I won't because you all know it's they that make this work....."

He paused and looked over to the left where his honour guard stood, Choi, Jess and Williams were there along with the rest of the Marines that had managed to board and capture the 'Lilith' and destroy the 'Helena'.

"What we often forget is the Marines, men and women who put it all on the line for us and keep doing it time and time again.... So, Admiral Sir and to all you gathered here.... Simper Fi" he shouted the last words and gave the Marine salute.

Choi and the Marines snapped to attention and saluted smartly, Choi couldn't help but smile a little, his normally stoic face holding a small upwards lift of his lips.

Rawlings had used one of the most ancient mottos of the Marines, it wasn't fully accurate as the original space Marines had been formed out of Old Earth forces, Parachute regiments, Special Boat Service, Clearance Divers and many more but they all knew those motto's and this was one of the oldest, it showed a respect and understanding of where they had come from and what they were.

The assembly turned as one to the Marines and gave them the Marine salute, unlike the fleet salute, it brought hands to foreheads rather than fist to chest.

Jess felt a well of pride and stared ahead with determination, she was already a Marine, but this made her truly feel it, old mottos rolled through her mind as she stood at attention and let the feeling roll over her.

" By Strength and Guile", "Per Mare, Per Terram", "Utrinque Paratus", those and more were provided by her chip and by the various conversations she had had with others that were interested in how the Space Marines had been formed and where they came from. Most of it from Old Earth, long before the corporate wars and a time when OE was coming under one massive governing body that would eventually send the first great ships out into space and find new planets for humanity to colonise.

Throughout the history of the Holy Company, that which came before it and undoubtedly the Fleets that explored the parts of this Galaxy there was one constant, The Marines.

To Choi and the others, it seemed fitting that Rawlings had chosen that particular Motto, it suited the moment and reminded everyone just how loyal they were and how very long standing they had been.

Jessica and the rest resumed an 'at ease' pose as the assembly started to break up, Rawlings strode towards Choi and shook his hand.

"Choi, get your troops back to the 'Jean-Paul', I have a meeting with Admiral Jensen and when that's done, we have a ton of work to do.... Oh, and tell Miller I want six squads with a lieutenant ready to man the 'Lilith'."

Choi saluted and while he was surprised by the order for a Marine compliment to man the 'Lilith' he didn't argue, Rawlings it seemed was going to keep the destroyer.

****

Captain Adams grinned at Jerry Rawlings as they shook hands.

"Jerry, that was some reading, your After action report was crazy.... Got time for a drink after?" asked Jon Adams.

"Sure... if you have something good." he said as he noticed his fellow Captains PG was wearing a neckless that looked much like the medal he had just got.

Jon laughed as he held up a bottle of E3 whiskey.

"Jerry, when do I EVER have anything but the best?"

"Ha, NICE." Grinned Rawlings as he eyed both the whisky and the pretty blonde haired PG.

"Just going to finish up with Jensen and then I'm all yours." Rawlings said with a smile.

*****

Jensen sat at his desk and filed his latest report along with the mandatory footage of the ceremony, it would be broadcast on the info channels and used to build moral throughout the fleet, the nine planets, moons and stations.

"Have a seat Jerry." He said with a welcoming smile that didn't quite reach his eyes as Rawlings stepped into his ready room.

"Thank you, Sir." Said Rawlings as he took a seat and waited as Jensen finished what he was doing on a floating projected screen.

"I'm a busy man, so let's deal with this as quick as we can... the 'Lilith', as you know is yours and Company regulations oblige me to buy her off you, I've filled in the forms and contracts, just sign on the screen and you have yourself Forty Million credits." He rotated the hovering display around so that Rawlings could sign at the bottom of it, reams of company legal jargon above where he should do so.

Rawlings coughed and shook his head.

"No need Sir, I'll be keeping her and paying the bounty to my crew and Marines myself." He said with a polite shrug and smile.

"What? You can't be serious." Gaped Jensen, trying to figure out how Rawlings could afford such a massive payment out of his own pocket.

Jensen gathered himself quickly as Rawlings nodded and called up his own display to show that he had already made the payments to the various accounts of his marines and crew that qualified for it.

"As you can see, everything is in order and I have filed the required forms with the Company, so no need to worry about it Sir." Said Rawlings, unaware of how much it was angering Jensen.

Jensen was a political animal and hadn't managed to stay as a favoured Admiral without being able to think fast.

"Excellent, yes that is good news." He said with a smile and stood up.

"I guess that's that then." He held out his hand to Rawlings.

"Actually no, as I have paid for her and am deploying her as part of the company's fleet, I'm entitled to ask for additional crew." Rawlings said as politely as he could.

Jensen had expected it, he was aware of the various regulations and had already picked out a solution he quite liked.

"Ah yes, well I'm sorry Jerry, since we are out here and all the ships are on a war footing.... It's going to be difficult." He shrugged his shoulders as if to say he couldn't do much about it.

"I can get you something, but I'm afraid it's going to have to be mostly cadets, the other Captains NEED their experienced crews... I'm sure you understand." He continued.

Rawlings nodded.

"Naturally Sir, I'll take what I can get." He answered, while thinking that Jensen was being a bit tight fisted, the two Dreadnoughts alone would have surplus crew because the Company demanded a regular rotation and training program on larger vessels.

"Excellent, now I really must get on, I'll have your new crew shuttled over to the 'Lilith' by 06.00." Jensen said as he stood once more and held out his hand again, keeping his smile friendly.

Rawlings stood and took it firmly.

"Thank you, Sir." Was all he could say as he was dismissed.

Outside of Jensen's ready room Rawlings swore. "FUCK."

He didn't know why, but things seemed to be holding true to form. He knew someone up high didn't like him, he had once briefly thought it might be Jensen but Jensen was old school and a classmate, it had to be a director.

Numerous times he had asked for a new ship and been told that new Captains had already been assigned the latest vessels and every time he got replacements they had been either poorly trained or had various disciplinary problems.

Sure, he had made it work, training them up and often finding that those with problems could be turned into excellent parts of his team with the right encouragement. It was part of why his ship ran the way it did, more like a dysfunctional but close family.

In some ways it had made him a better Captain and also given him a unique crew, men and women that didn't always think the 'fleet way'. Whoever was doing it, had actually provided him with some of the most talented if off the wall people.

Still it rankled and he wondered why it was always the 'Jean-Paul' and him that got butt fucked by the company.

Annoyed, he marched through the long hallways of the massive Dreadnought and headed towards one of the hangers, the sight of so many shiny new Hornets and Drop ships only serving to remind him that he was always having to scrap together bits and pieces for his outdated and old ship as he boarded Connor's waiting Shuttle.

"Get me the fuck off this fucker." He snarled out as he strapped in, forgetting his promise to Adams.

Connor nodded and wisely remained silent as he prepped for launch and waited as his drop ship was guided into one of the launch tubes.

******

Deep space, somewhere in the expanse between Janus four and the Holy companies fleet......

Arthur Niles and his sister reclined in a large plushily furnished room that served as a place to relax and to entertain as the Dreadnought they were on hurtled through space, driven by the huge FTL engines their ship used. Six of them, all working in perfect synchronicity and each the size of a small house.

Admiral Ketterick reclined next to Abigale as a pretty PG with excessively large breasts moved up and down on his cock at a slow pace, just the way he liked. Two others, slimmer with smaller tits and hips, swayed in a sexualized dance between the three recliners. Both naked and undulating over each other and exploring the others sex with their fingers.

Arthur absentmindedly stroked the head of his PG as she knelt before him and fellated him the way she had learnt he liked best, her eyes open wide and looking up at his face, eyes just like his beloved sister. He wasn't paying her attention though as he continued talking to Abigale and Ketterick.

"In two days we'll smash the fleet at its rally point and then send out your expeditionary force to secure Shellan four and its moons. From there we can push to Uraisa six and then hold the line, The Holy company will sue for peace and in a years' time we'll be ready to take the rest." He grunted to Ketterick as his PG got to the point of gagging repeatedly.

"In theory... yes Arthur, but... as I told you before, our Captains might be well trained, but they don't have the kind of experience that the Companies have. Yes, we will crack the fleet that Jensen commands, but unless we are very lucky, our plans will likely have to change." Said Ketterick, not for the first time. As old as Niles and a long-standing friend, he was also the more reasonable and cautious of the two.

Ketterick was confident of destroying Jensen's fleet, he commanded four Dreadnoughts, Twelve battle carriers, One hundred battlecruisers and Two hundred and forty Destroyers. All of them made to the latest specs and with the best armour and shielding.

It was a long way from his humble beginnings as a space pirate with only six ships and crews from every planet and outpost.

Jensen had two Dreadnoughts Four Battle Carriers less than seventy Battle cruisers and a mixture of Destroyers and Corvettes that numbered just over a hundred in total. It would be a mismatched battle and they were assured a win.

Abigale smiled as the masculine looking PG between her thighs lapped enthusiastically, bred and designed by her for herself, the girl was bigger and stronger than most men and had a combat chip. She doubled nicely as her personal body guard and had a fearsome reputation.

She looked over at Ketterick lazily and smiled like a predator.

"My little network is already primed and ready, a good twenty percent of the Holy Company's best Captains will be dead when we arrive, their orders have already been sent and I assure you, we will have EVERY advantage." She purred out and pulled her PG up to kiss her mouth and taste herself on its lips.

Arthur laughed and then grunted a few times as he came into his girl's mouth, as always, the sound of his sister's voice talking about the death of his enemies pushed him over the edge of pleasure.

"See Ketterick, this has all been planned to perfection." he coughed lightly as he lit a stim stick.

It was the first he had heard of any plan to assassinate some of the Company's Captains and Ketterick nodded as he reassessed the situation.

"No disrespect, but how exactly did you get agents onboard so many ships?" he asked, wanting more detail.

Niles nodded at his sister, wanting to show off her brilliance.

She grinned widely and started to explain how she had, over the last twenty years, cultivated a relationship with certain PG's that had enough intelligence to understand they were being used and to feel the wrongness of what they were.

How she had told them of Janus Four, a place where PG's were free and able to live full and normal lives under the rule of her brother. She admitted she had had to terminate a few but that for the most part it had only taken a little work to turn them into agents, providing intelligence for the promise of a better life when the time came.

"Naturally they think they will survive this and be free, the vast majority are on those fleet ships and believe we are coming to get them." She finished to see Ketterick rubbing his chin in thought, already done with his PG who was standing next to him and wiping cum from between her legs.

"I didn't think they were that smart or capable of that kind of thought process?" he murmured and looked his girl over suspiciously.

Abigale gave her tinkling laugh.

"Most aren't, those that are, are usually deemed unfit for use, only a few slip the net and end up in service....oh and yours is as bright as a squirrel, so don't worry Ketterick." She giggled girlishly. Trying to pretend she didn't care.

Ketterick grunted and pulled up his trousers.

"Fine, if you don't mind I'll go check on our status." He said and clicked his fingers at the naked PG to follow.

Niles waved him away.

"I'm sure it's fine, but it's your fleet Admiral." He said airily as he beckoned to one of the dancing girls.

Ketterick nodded and walked out stiffly, obediently followed by his PG.

He strode down the corridors to one of the Maintenance hatches.

"Get in." he told his PG.

Obediently she stepped inside, she had never been fucked in a maintenance hatch and looked around for places to put her hands and feet.

Ketterick shook his head sadly, she had been good, but after what he had just heard he wouldn't be letting her in his bed again and who knew what that clever bitch Abigale Niles might have done to her.

A little sadly he sealed the hatch and watched as she turned to look at him with a confused expression.

"Sorry." He mouthed to her as he pressed the release button and she blew into space from the sudden decompression, in FTL, it was done faster than he could blink.

*******

Company Fleet staging area......24 hours before Nile's ships would drop out of FTL....

The 'Jean-Paul' and the 'Lilith' were locked together as they orbited a Black Asteroid, Mining units worked feverishly to gather up the small amount of ore it held and transported it back to the ships as quickly as they could smelt it.

The ore was enough to patch up the battle damage to both ships and it hadn't taken much to get permission to leave the main fleet and collect it.

Jensen half hoped that if an attack or scouting mission appeared. Then the 'Jean-Paul' and Rawlings would get hit first as they drifted a thousand miles away. Not far in space terms, but far enough out to perhaps get themselves killed.

He was confident of winning, he had half the Fleet at his command and while Niles' ships had proved better against his probes, Jensen was sure that Niles didn't have close to the numbers he had.

***

Jess and Connor launched along with a few of the newly captured Hornets. Hornets that mostly held barely trained pilots who were working hard to learn the skills they would need.

The Dragonfly swooped left and right, twisting into a barrel roll and then banking a hard left as it was pursued by the practicing Hornets, it moved fast and made a difficult target, even though it was Jess's first actual launch she was in perfect sync with the highly skilled Connor and her mind melded with his seamlessly, allowing her to execute her part well.

She fired the 'sim' rounds from two of its Gatling's as they twisted past a Hornet and it's wingman, the two lighting up on the display as destroyed.

"FUCK." Screamed one frustrated newbie as his stick went dead.

"Blue leader to Dragonfly... ease off, these guys need the practice Connor." Jess and Connor heard through their commlink.

The two shared a grin and replied as one, their voices sounding eerie as they melded over the commlink, baritone and light alto.

"Roger that Blue Leader." They chorused with no intention of obeying as the Dragonfly did a backflip manoeuvre only it could do, Conner fired the forward mounted twin RFRG's... 'sim round's clattered off the Hornet that 'Blue leader' was piloting.

"Fuck you Connor." Laughed Blue leader as his stick went dead and he had to reset the clock.

Jess and Connor didn't reply as Blue Leader's wingman flipped his Hornet behind them and fired, making them twist evasively.

"Not Bad." The pair said in unison as they rolled left and accelerated. The Young Hornet pilot hot on their heels and firing short bursts at them.

Connor and Jess hit the brakes together and let the eager Hornet over shoot, firing railguns and Gatling's as he went past they raked his underside and engines, his stick went dead and he pushed the reset button on his clock, he didn't complain about being 'dead'. He knew this was practice and if he didn't get better he was a dead man in a real fight.

"One to watch." The pair agreed as they turned to face the oncoming Hornets, reset and ready for another round.

This time two more Hornets launched from the 'Lilith.'

Connor and Jess shrugged, six to one didn't feel like bad odds to them now as they grew ever more comfortable inside each other's heads.

Jess was feeling pleased with herself, not only was she piloting well, she was getting used to Connor in her head.