A New Beginning Ch. 03

Choi pointed at the old boarding alert button that every room had.

"They don't have THOSE." He said with a grin.

Rawlings eyes widened. "You are crazy... Fucking amazingly GOOD crazy."

The rest didn't get it.

The time had long gone since the need for boarding alerts, it just wasn't done anymore. For years, ships had updated their armour and alerts, Marines used to be posted all over each vessel and roving patrols had been standard procedure.

Boarding had become suicide, every crew member had been armed and even if you successfully breached, by the time you did, the alert was out and you faced well trained Marines.

Best case scenario was that you managed to get aboard and only had the armed crew to deal with at the start, but that would delay you enough for the Marines... Once again, game over.

Besides all that, the era of space piracy was over, ships never had to deal with it anymore. Loss of cargos was now a purely dockside occurrence.

Rawlings looked at Choi with a wicked gleam in his eye, "If we could... Fuck me, if we could, we might even take a ship as prize."

"We can and we will Sir, I earned my stripes doing that shit. Give me two weeks and I'll give you a boarding team." Replied Choi with an equally evil smile.

Cartwright coughed, "You can't be serious? There are multiple reasons why we don't do that anymore, we don't even have Cutter ships."

Choi shook his head. "Yes we do, for starters... ALL our old dropships are fully equipped as Cutters... Then we add the fact that the new ships don't have anti-boarding procedures and most crews are unarmed."

"Call in a crew member, if he's wearing his side arm I'll be fucking amazed." Choi challenged.

Everyone knew he was right, the Reg's requiring crew to be armed had been disbanded for nearly twenty years.

Marine Captain Miller had been officer class all his life, from Cadet to Captain, he had always assumed he would be in charge and know the right thing to do.

This was well outside of his experience though, at just under twenty seven, he had no clue about this kind of thing, his Marine Chip told him it was something that was dangerous and threw up various scenarios of death.

The chip still computing the odds based on old data from when and why boarding had been discontinued.

Miller shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but this sounds hairbrained and ill-advised, Captain Rawlings, my Marines will do as you command, but I wish to stress my objections for the record."

Rawlings looked from Choi to Miller. He saw it in his head. How he would slow, how he would evade and how he would launch his Cutters and Hornets.

"Miller, this is 'Old school' fighting, either get with it, or stand down." He growled out firmly. Giving Choi a nod that was full of respect.

Miller was foolish enough to object again.

"With respect SIR, Marine command is MINE, my objections should be sent to the Holy Company and reviewed."

"Objection noted and refused PRIVATE Miller." Replied Rawlings with annoyance.

Former Captain Miller lept to his feet, "SIR?" He shouted.

The room went deadly silent.

Rawlings didn't even look at him.

"Captain Choi, assemble and train your teams, report directly to me... oh, and place Private Miller under arrest, he needs to cool off." He said deliberately.

Choi wasn't pleased, but he did as ordered. Miller was one of the few that actually HAD officer training, as a Marine, Choi felt very awkward with this turn of events, he also thought it was a bit much. They NEEDED Officers of Miller's calibre.

Still, he saluted smartly. "Yes Captain Rawlings... SIR... Teams will be ready SIR."

Rawlings winced.

Choi was very clearly telling him that he didn't like his choice of demoting a Marine Captain.

He didn't stand, "Carry on Captain Choi." He said with a glare.

He had so few choices here and was grabbing at straws, Logically he knew it was a massive risk.

******

Jess and her new team ran through the Simulation for the tenth time. They all died and she swore under her breath as the aftershocks of being stunned rolled over her.

Choi shook his head in annoyance, raw as they were, the mix of PI troops and Marines should have grasped it by now.

"AGAIN." His voice rolled through the Sim Room.

Jess grunted and wondered why her team was being so thoroughly thrashed. She picked at the new insignia on her armour.

Corporal Davis?? She had never thought she would be an NCO.

TomTom helped her to her feet.

"Choi's gone LaLa." He grunted out as he hauled he up.

They both had to help up Williams, his heavy pack was filled with fake RG rounds but still as heavy.

"This is important." She said with a grunt as she helped pull the big Marine and his pack up.

"GET it RIGHT this time." She shouted to the mixture of PI's and Marines.

"Watch me, watch your flanks, this is URBAN combat with a shit load of extras." She said with determination.

They ran it again, by the end they had won, but at a massive loss, only Corporal Jess Davis and Specialist 'TomTom' Smith had reached the bridge.

Choi walked down and paced before them.

"That was better, next time hit them with AP grenades and Stunners, it doesn't matter how much damage you do, you are NOT trying to take the ship as a prize. So ignore that part of your Combat chips advice."

Choi rolled his finger in the air, "let's go again, this time use all what you got and kill anything that fucking moves."

The problem was mainly the Combat chips, they were programmed for this and held various tactics that had once been standard procedure. Choi was aware of this, his own chip chattered away at him, telling him his tactics were wrong.

Choi ignored it and was making sure the Marines learnt to ignore it too. The only successful boarding raids he had been on had been pure 'scorched earth' ones.

Jessica gathered her team together and they waited as the simulation ran again for team two and then team three.

Her team checked their equipment and loaded up with AP Grenades, Smokers and Stunners.

"We stay together, high and low, Ramirez, take point this time, Collins, fuck the rules, open up with your RFRG on the corners, same goes for you Willy."

The two RFRG gunners grinned manically, "SHIT YEAH." Said Williams with enthusiasm.

Jess flicked to full auto, "Everyone on Full, short bursts, I want the corridors filled with energy rounds from the start."

They nodded, the rules were out the window and Jess was guessing but hopeful that it would work.

PING.

They dropped through the 'Cutter' hole and deployed smokers down the corridors, their combat visors switched to thermal.

They moved smoothly as a team, nothing was rushed as they worked.

Moving too fast would have been a mistake, steady and smooth IS fast.

Lucky number thirteen. They stood on the bridge and the Sim ended.

"Simulation ended, Victors... Team Four, no losses." Announced the computerized voice.

"Shit Girl, YOU got some MOVES." Shouted Ramirez as she slapped Jess on the back jubilantly.

Jessica laughed. "Let's do it again, that was fun."

******

Sapphire station wasn't big, it was larger than Jericho and better equipped, but it was nothing like Amethyst.

Here in the outer belt, it was a staging area. Crews came and went, the place was in constant flux and it didn't have the docks that would accommodate something as large as the 'Jean-Paul'.

Like all stations, it had gravity, 'soft grav' as it was called.

Choi and Jess sat in one of the few 'hawker' café's and ate noodles with chopsticks. Hank wielded them with expertise and showed her how it was meant to be done.

He pointed out at the crowded central 'square' of the station.

"Take a look around, they don't even care about the war." He said as he pointed out people going about their daily routine.

Jess watched the people with interest, like Amethyst station, these people dressed properly and acted out the same outdated yet fashionable way that the Holy Company had enforced.

Unlike Jericho, it didn't have a vibrant district. Here everything was well ordered and fully Company compliant.

"Why is it so different?" she asked.

He shrugged his broad shoulders, "Each station is different, we are closer to the main pathways here."

FTL drives could only jump so far, the drives needed to cool down after long jumps and that was why there were so many stations scattered about.

The less frequented tended to be a little wilder, more open and lax in their rules.

She was learning fast and nodded at his words.

"Do we get some Marine's here?"

He ate for a bit before answering.

"Not much, I see twelve on the manifest. Good news is that they are off the 'Julian' and have combat experience."

Jessica grinned, "better than nothing." She said as she dropped the noodles she had managed to gather on her sticks.

They wear in uniform and on duty, still... it was nice to spend a little time with him away from everyone else.

Choi lent over and gathered up the noodles and meat with a deft twist of his chopsticks, wordlessly he held it out near her mouth.

It felt intimate and so very sexually charged as she opened her mouth and let him feed her.

She smiled shyly as she chewed. Everything they did together was full of repressed desire and sexual overtones.

She swallowed and looked him in the eye the whole time. Wishing she really knew how to act around him.

Choi smiled back, his eyes dark eyes seemed to eat her up.

She had changed quite a bit in the last few months, she was starting to understand him better and also understand why he wouldn't bed her.

"Hank, we could ... go get a room... I have credits now." She said softly.

He shook his head as he aggressively speared a bit of meat from her bowl.

"No, I DO want to Jess, but we can't." he answered with a pleading look in his eyes, wanting her to understand.

She nodded, yet felt annoyed.

"Connors has no problem with taking me to a room." She said a little spitefully.

He controlled his anger.

"He's Fleet." He growled out.

She stared at her bowl and felt bad, for some reason she had told a lie and it had hurt him.

"I'm sorry Hank... I didn't go with him. He wanted to and I was going to... I do it with the team...you know that, but...I ... I..." she fell short, not really knowing how to explain the way she had felt about it.

Hank let out a sigh and took her hand.

"Jess, I can't tell you how to be. I can't even give you much of a promise. But you have no idea how glad I am that you didn't do it with HIM."

She gave him a sad but understanding look. She had felt a few things drop into place.

"Because sex with Connors would have been emotional? Not just sex?" she said with insight.

Hank looked deep into her eyes.

"yes." He whispered out in a way that told her everything.