A New Beginning Ch. 09

"How about this rare bracelet in exchange for the two pretty combs you are wearing?" he suggested as if they weren't worth much.

Jenny's face brightened immediately, the combs were a gift but meant little to her. She pulled them out and let her long hair cascade down her back.

"Take them... I WANT that bracelet." She said with a grin as she held out what would pay the hawker, his family and more than a few cousins way for the next two years.

She was just about to hand over the combs when a large callused hand gently folded over her small delicate fingers.

"Miss, that would be a very bad trade." The gravely voice of the Sec-Corp Sergeant informed her.

Jenny looked up into his dark eyes angrily. He was far below her in social standing and shouldn't have dared to touch her. Something about his eyes held back the angry retort she had on the tip of her tongue.

Her breath caught slightly as she fully looked at him. He had been her shadow for a few years but she had never 'really' looked at him until now.

"Why's that?" she asked. Her voice betrayed her and came out a little squeakily.

"Because those bracelets are made right here by kids... they use old wiring and burnt out power crystals, next stall over has the exact same ones." He told her with a shrug. Flipping a single 'Quarter' credit at the now sour faced vendor who snatched it out of the air and made it disappear.

"We did have a deal." Whined the vendor but let it go and handed over the bracelet.

Jenny glared at the man who had tried to cheat her. Only her manners and upbringing kept her polite.

"Thank you." She said tartly to the man as she pulled on the bracelet and then walked away, admiring her new piece of jewellery as she did.

After a few paces she stopped and turned to look at the Sec-Corp guard who had paid for it.

Manners said she should thank him and offer to pay him back, yet she found herself blushing slightly as she tried to say the words. She got flustered and turned away before saying anything, quickening her pace as she tried to work out why the hard faced guard was affecting her the way he was.

Logically she knew he was probably too old for her, well below her standards in looks, miles away in social standing too. Yet her tummy was full of butterflies whenever she glanced at him. His stern face watching the crowds professionally, one hand permanently near his holstered side arm.

Stopping at another stall Jenny pretended to look over the pretty baubles on display. She watched her guard out of the corner of her eye.

He wore a standard Sec-Corp uniform, dark green and black with sergeant stripes on his shoulder and a stencilled name plate on his chest. Sgt Bill. T. Newson it read and had a small Marine pin next to it that told her he had once been in the Fleet Marine Corp. It was all things she knew already.

His hair was jet black and cut short, but long enough to tell her it was slightly curly, something she hadn't noticed before. Slightly pale skin from living in space with no artificial sun to tan it made the whiteness of his skin stark compared to the dark green of the uniform.

He stood straight, his large frame seemed to fill her vision and she swallowed.

She found the whole image smart, professional and highly attractive.

Now fixated on him she wondered what it would be like to kiss him. She bit her lower lip and guiltily looked around as she had the naughty thought.

Face flushed, Jenny walked away briskly. Her mind in turmoil. Her thoughts all too often picturing his strong arms around her. His square jawed face lowering towards hers. His dark eyes looking deep into her own light blue ones.

The crowds forced her closer to her guards and her shoulder brushed against him a few times. Each time it happened she felt a tingle.

Onwards they moved, weaving through the throng of people as they steadily made their way towards where the Reacher ship was docked.

Jenny found herself in a dizzying state as she tried desperately to not think of him.

****

Sgt Bill Newson eyed everything warily. Ten years a Marine and five as a Sec-Corp guard had taught him how to spot danger. His instincts were even more attuned to it and in his gut he felt something was wrong as they approached the docking bay.

The crowds had thinned out which was strange as when a Reacher ship came in with fresh food and medical supplies to trade there was usually a massive rush.

His hand drifted closer to his side arm and he motioned for his partner to do the same. Daniel Smith was a veteran security guard and nodded back, he too felt something was off and waited for Bill to abort this jaunt.

"Miss." Called out Bill Newson firmly. Stopping the pretty young girl in her tracks. She turned towards him with a questioning look on her too innocent face.

"We need to leave." He told her without looking at her, his eyes roving over the area, his body already tensed up for action.

Jenny frowned, they were so close to the ship and the chance to see and talk to real Reachers. She started to shake her head and opened her mouth to say no.

The guard on her right flew backwards through the air and blood splattered over her face and made a red spotted mess of her dress.

The sound of the energised round came after.

Bill was already making a grab for her arm as he simultaneously drew his gun and fired. Yanking her behind him to shield her with his lightly armoured body as he fired rapidly. Pushing her backwards towards the doors.

Jenny was screaming along with several other people and her mind was a blank as everything happened so fast she couldn't register it all.

"RUN." Bill shouted as he grabbed her elbow and pulled her along the now empty corridor that she realised they were moving along. Her feet stumbled into a run and her mind cleared a bit.

"What's happening." She asked fearfully as she ran for her life.

"Don't know... Something bad." He replied as he hit a side hatch button after entering a security override. The hatch opened to a dimly lit access tunnel.

Jenny gulped as she was shoved into it. She didn't stop moving though and trusting her body guard, scrambled along the dimly lit tunnel with Bill hard on her heels.

The side hatch was their best option for now. Bill Newson wasn't sure what was happening because his comms were dead and that meant someone was jamming them. A sure sign that this wasn't just a few rabble rousers taking pot-shots at sec-corp.

***

All over the station, Heaven five's Sec-Corp's men were ambushed while on routine patrols. The ones doing normal rounds that saw them treading the same route as always at the same time as always were hit hard and ruthlessly.

The Barracks were hit simultaneously, ripped apart by a jury rigged Rail Gun that had been taken off the Reacher ship. The massive rounds tearing through the walls and shredding the men and women of Sec- Corp within seconds.

Dock hands and lower deck workers ran inside with hand held weapons to dispatch the wounded. Ending the screams of pain with ruthless efficiency.

Brace led a band of handpicked men and women to the upper levels. All of them heavily armed with pulse rifles and a mix of old and new handguns.

Six of the strongest carried the second Reacher RG between them, grunting in effort with its weight as they tried to keep up. Straps biting hard into their shoulders as they moved as fast as they could.

Down below on the lower levels. Things were spiralling out of control, Brace's men no longer able to keep the masses in check. As many people took advantage of the chaos.

Petty arguments escalated, people that others thought made too much or were company lackeys became targets of the mob. The mob howled for blood and took it where ever they found a target.

A dock master was kicked to death in the street, his wife raped as he died to the sound of men rutting her. Normal men and women acted like animals and the mob ruled over them all, dashing away any common decency as they let the years of oppression and suppressed hatred loose.

Anyone wearing anything other than common wear was chased down.

A nurse that had helped many of the common people and thought of herself as one of them was beaten to death with one of the crutches she had bought for an injured dock worker. The man that did it forgetting she had nursed his daughter back to health and used her own money for the crutch he killed her with. Those around him cheered him on and then the whole mass ran on to find a new target.

Nothing made sense other than rage.

Rage ruled the lower levels now and nothing could stop it.

***

Helena was back on her ship, it's hatches securely battened down now. She paced the bridge as the station became a true hell.

"Can't reach Brace or anyone on the upper levels." Her comms officer reported with a shake of his head. He had objected when Helena had brought Brace and his men aboard to take the RG's.

"Keep trying... this has gotten out of control." She snapped back. Her face drawn with worry lines because not long after Brace had left with the guns. She had looked out of the bridge's window and seen a young girl walk through the hanger doors.

***

Helena hadn't seen Jenny since she was six. Still it had only taken a glance to know who it was. her heart had skipped a beat. Jenny looked so grown up, her long hazelnut hair hung down as if she had just undone it, her dress a perfect and demure off white that was cut in the Company way.

She had watched as her daughter turned to say something to a Sec-Corp guard and then watched in horror as the men Brace had left behind killed one of the guards.

The other guard with Sgt stripes on his uniform had reacted in a blur. His own gun flaring to life, it's muzzle flashing rapidly as he pulled Jenny behind him and then moved back at a fast pace.

Helena had grabbed Gregory's side arm and rushed out of the ship. Two of Brace's men were dead, two more were looking around the corner of the hanger doors and trying to decide if they dared follow the deadly ex-marine. She shot them both in the back.

"Get me Brace." She said into her comm link as she raced down the now deserted corridor. Not realising that no one on the ship would hear her. The message jammed by Brace's team.

Helena needed to get hold of Brace and tell him the one thing that might keep Jenny alive. Only the fact that Jenny was Brace's daughter could possibly make him stop what he was doing and tell his people to search for her, save her.

Her run came to an abrupt halt as she got to the main docking area. She didn't know she had passed by the hatch her daughter had gone into.

The place looked like a bomb had hit it. Bodies sprawled out, stalls overturned. A woman sobbed as she tried to find the clothes that had been ripped off her.

A group of men had been looting a stall, one of them had seen Helena and with a shout the group ran towards her. Her Reacher skirt and blouse telling them she wasn't one of them.

Helena raised her gun and shot one. The others dived for cover. Helena knew it was probably worse further into the station. She turned tail and ran back towards her ship.

"Seal up... I'm on my way to you... and get me Brace on comms." She had shouted into her comm link as she ran. Repeating the urgent need to contact her one time lover. Too frightened and filled with concern to think about the lack of response from her ship, too desperate to realise that again, her messages were not getting through.

***

Sgt Bill T Newson, ex-Marine Corporal and well trained Sec-Corp guard crouched by a hatch opening and looked around. His eyes scanned for everything, his peripheral vision told him he was reasonably safe. The area into which he looked was deserted except for bodies.

The mess hall looked like a slaughter house. Men and women in Sec-Corp uniform lay where they had died, he knew them all and he spotted many he had called friends.

"Stay back Miss." He whispered to Jenny as he moved into the area.

Jenny whimpered fearfully as her protector left the relative safety of their access tunnel. Left alone in the dim and cramped tunnel she watched as he moved away.

"Don't leave me." She hissed out.

He glanced back and motioned for her to stay put.

"I'll be right back... anything happens... shut the hatch and keep heading upwards." He told her gently.

Jenny nodded but felt terrified. She couldn't imagine trying to navigate these side tunnels without him.

Bill moved quickly, his HG12 pointing wherever his eyes went, both hands on it as he ran in a crouch to a man he had known.

Terry had always kept a back up HG9 in a boot holster. Bill searched the dead man's right boot first then remembered Terry had been left handed. The left boot held what he was looking for and Bill tucked the small gun into his belt before moving to the water stand. Bottles of hydro were on display and Bill pocketed four before turning back.

He was half way across the room when the doors opened and four laughing men entered.

His Marine training kicked in. dropping into a crouch he fired two rounds into the chest of the rear most man carrying the only pulse rifle before rolling behind a table to aim at the next.

The men reacted fast too. Firing at where he had been.

Bill dropped the next as he popped out from his new position.

Jenny panicked. Dropped the hatch and ran.

**************

Commander Lawson grimaced as the security doors to the upper level were ripped apart by RG fire. How they had gotten hold of a ships RG wasn't on his mind. What was on his mind was Jenny and the scenes he was seeing on VID screen. The whole lower decks were a mass of rioting.

"Everyone stay calm... don't resist." He told the men and women under his command as he watched his last few security men killed at the upper level entrance. He recognised Brace's face on the VID feed.

Lawson hoped he could reason with Brace, in the past they had come to agreements and while this was far beyond anything Brace had tried before, Lawson knew the rioting on the lower levels wasn't what Brace would have wanted. Or he hoped it wasn't.

Brace and his team stormed onto the Command deck, guns ready to fire.

"We surrender." Said Lawson with his hands in the air. His voice pitched to carry.

"Dammed right you do." Grinned Brace. Feeling pleased with himself.

"get the fuck away from that console... You too." One woman growled out to Lawson and his comms officer. Her pulse rifle wavered between them both. It was an older type Six but still deadly.

Lawson stepped aside and nodded.

"We won't resist... lets talk." He said as he did.

Brace shrugged.

"we can talk... later." He said with a smile as he motioned to the woman who had threatened Lawson.

She moved fast and took over the comms station, quickly shutting down all open Company comm links. Negating the need of their homemade jammer, While opening a different channel.

"You might want to listen to one of those." Lawson said with a slightly bitter tone. He had heard his ex-wife's broadcast to Brace. The powerful comms station was immune to the jamming signal but while it could hear the various channels, it wasn't strong enough to broadcast past the jamming signal.

Lawson felt bitter about the broadcast that told Lawson his daughter wasn't his. That Jenny was a product of infidelity. But he knew Brace well enough to know the man would do what ever he could to save Jenny if he thought she was his.

Brace ignored him as he helped himself to a whiskey from E2.

"I don't need to do ANYTHING you say... we are FREE... General Niles has promised us full backing and regular resupply.. things are going to fucking change you cunt." Brace growled out after swallowing a big gulp of the expensive whisky.

"Oh for fucks sake... get over yourself..thi...Gahhh" Lawson tried to say but was cut short by a rifle butt to his face.

Brace laughed and then nodded to the woman who had rifle butted Lawson. Her name was Melody and she was his wife.

"Transmit the all clear to Niles' ships. We control Heaven five and accept his terms." Brace said victoriously. His voice loud so that everyone would understand that this wasn't some half-baked plan.

Lawson shook his head. He had heard about General Niles and an upcoming battle. Admiral Jensen of the Holy Company had a large fleet near Janus Four and was preparing to attack.

"Don't be a fool Brace... The Company has already dispatched a Fleet, Niles won't last long." Lawson spat out blood as he said it.

"I think you will all be surprised... especially you Commander Lawson... Niles has some serious firepower and the support of many. Already there is a rebellion on Uraisa six." Brace said confidently.

Neither of them could know that the rebellion on Uraisa six had been crushed or that the battle at Janus was over. Kellos and Heaven Five were both too far out to have yet received that information.

***

Bill staggered to the hatch, his left hand pressed tightly to the wound in his side.

"Fuck... FUCK." He hissed out as he entered the code and hoped he could get inside before anyone else came. With urgency on his mind, he left the weapons of the men he had killed behind.

The hatch unsealed and clicked open. Bill yanked it open wide enough and half crawled, half collapsed inside.

"Fuck." He gasped out in pain as the move jarred his wound.

The Hatch waited and he groaned as he pushed himself to seal it. Panting breathlessly once he had and leaned against the tunnels wall, scrabbling for the med kit he always carried.

The wound was bad but not fatal. Bill pulled out a nanite syringe and jammed it into his side with a sharp intake of breath.

The tiny nanites went to work immediately, sealing blood vessels where it was needed, repairing others that they could. High tech med at it's best, the nanites flowed into him and did their job as Bill lost consciousness.

***

She had been scrambling along for twenty minutes, her heart slamming against her chest when finally, Jenny reached the top of a ladder and took a breath. Her mind cleared a little and she felt guilty for leaving the man that had rescued her.

She leaned against a wall. The cool surface helped her to think.

She wanted to go back but knew she couldn't, she had no weapons and no experience with combat, even if she found him and he was hurt... she knew she didn't have any idea how to help.

All she could hope for was to reach the upper level and get proper help, her dad would know what to do.

Jenny gathered herself, the small rest she had taken felt wrong and she pushed on. Bill might still be alive and if she got to her father in time he could send a rescue team.

The tunnels made little sense to her but Bill had said keep going up. So up she went. A hatch on her left appeared and she checked it.

LVL 42. Was stencilled onto it and she sighed in relief. That was the level her best friend lived on. Jenny was sure that Alice would help her get to Level 48.

Jenny was a bright girl. Even in her panic she had noted the codes that Bill had entered at the last few hatches. The lightly glowing lock waited and she punched in the security override code.

The hatch clicked open. Jenny pushed at it tentatively and looked around. The corridor was empty. But she felt something was wrong. The servo's wouldn't have left so much rubbish in the corridors. She noted scorch marks on the walls too and a fear gripped her.

Hesitant, she left the safety of the tunnel and looked around some more. Alice lived a few paces away. The corridor was familiar.

Gathering her courage, Jenny ran down the corridor. The sounds of people shouting filtered up to her but she felt sure Alice would help.

Turning a corner she quickened her pace, Alice's place was in sight. The door was open.