Part 4: Ultimate Sacrifice

	"You expect me to what?" said Jessie.

	Fugi was squirming a little as he replied. "Kiss me. Nothing fancy,
just a peck on the lips."

	"I don't remember this part of the deal." said Jessie.

	"I know. I sort of...forgot to mention it." Fugi and Powers had just
went on their 'date', or what passed as one on a battle ravaged Venus. A
table for two at the mess and a long walk while holding hands, that was
pretty much all there was to it. They made sure the other troopers saw them
together, and most importantly, saw them holding hands. Now they were back at
camp and ready to call the 'date' to an end. "Just do it, Sarge." He took
note of the troopers watching when he said, "If they don't see you do it,
they won't believe it was a real date."

	"Fine." said Jessie. She grabbed Fugi by the back of the head and
pulled him near. Fugi seemed a little shocked by her forwardness as his eyes
went wide as she kissed him. A few seconds passed and she released him. She
smiled and pretended to stroke his chin as she whispered, "I want my 500
credits A.S.A.P."

	"No prob, Sarge."

	Powers walked away. From a distance she could hear some of the other
troops congratulating him on his winnings.

* * *

	"Well, well, Sergeant Powers. Mind if we sit?" Jessie stared up from
her coffee. She had collected her money from Fugi and decided to relax at the
mess. That's where Montgomery and O'Connor caught up with her.

	"Seeking shelter from the masses again?" questioned Powers.

	O'Connor and Montgomery sat down across the table from her. "Any
table you're at is the safest one in the house." replied Montgomery.

	"So you say. Gamma Squad is planet side again?"

	"Plenty of Neo camps to flush out." commented O'Connor.

	Nikki munched on a hearty looking sandwich. "We brown bagged it
today." stated O'Connor as she unwrapped a sandwich of her own.

	"So I see."

	"I'm not here for even an hour and already I hear a rumor about you."
started Nikki.

	"Do tell."

	"You've been dating someone."

	"Is that so unusual?"

	"For you? Yes." said O'Connor. "You'd much rather beat on someone
than date them."

	"And so I have to ask," interrupted Nikki, "who is the guy?"

	"Someone you know."

	"Captain Jose?" offered O'Connor.

	Powers laughed, "No, I like my men a bit leaner."

	"Then who?" asked Nikki.

	"Crow." Two jaws dropped and Jessie smiled devilishly.

	Lt. Crow Mengele approached the table, he looked concerned.
"Sergeant, we need to talk."

	"Certainly, no need to be so formal though, especially now." Jessie
got to her feet and planted a kiss on Crow's cheek. She lead a surprised Crow
away by the hand.

	Once they had left the mess, Crow turned on her. "What the hell was
that all about?"

	"Just playing with Montgomery's head a little."

	"I know that. What ideas did you plant in there?"

	Jessie shrugged. "I didn't plant anything, she did that all by
herself."

	"And I suppose that little scene made it all click together?"

	"I'd guess so."

	Crow was rapidly losing patience as he asked, "What does she think?"

	Deciding not to aggravate the situation, Jessie gave a straight
answer. "That we're having a hot little affair."

	Crow threw his arms up in the air in disgust. "Why on earth did you
do that?!"

	"To see if she'd get jealous."

	Crow suddenly got very calm and attentive as he politely asked, "Did
she?"

	"Hmm, I'd say yes."

	Crow seemed to brighten a little at hearing the news. Then he went
back to being mad. "Why do you do things like this?"

	"Because you won't."

	"Excuse me?"

	"You spend all this time getting close to Montgomery and just when it
seems you might actually connect, what do you do? Something lewd, shocking,
unnerving, anything to drive her away so you can start over again."

	"Is there a point coming?" demanded Crow.

	"Its a defense mechanism. You can't handle getting that close to
someone because you're afraid you'll lose them. So you laugh it off and yuck
it up with the guys, and the whole time you're still lonely."

	"Spare me the psyco-babble, Powers."

	Jessie shook her head. "You sound upset, did I hit close to the
mark?"

	"No, did it ever occur to you that maybe I just like the thrill of
the hunt?"

	"Whatever." said Jessie. "You wanted something?"

	"What's going on with Fugi?"

	"Business transaction." Crow shot her a quizzical look. "He let me in
on the dating pool."

	"Oh."

	"Yeah, oh. I agreed to go out with him for half the pot. 500
credits."

	"Oh." Crow nodded his head. "Okay then, glad I don't have to give you
the 'relationships and command don't mix' speech. Carry on."

* * *

	"Good to have you back Henderson." said Powers.

	"Good to be back, Sarge." replied Henderson.

	"Who did you bring with you?"

	"Three new recruits and two old war dogs."

	"Together again, my love!" Powers rolled her eyes at the sight of
Dirk Dagger. "Heard you switched teams, its not too late to get with this
young stud."

	"Stow it, Dagger. There's no truth to that rumor."

	Dagger's face dropped in mock disappointment. "Bummer. So how much
did you and Fugi clear?"

	"500 each." said Fugi.

	"Nice."

	Powers took note of the trooper who accompanied Dagger. "Unholy."

	"Sergeant."

	"Who did you bring with you?"

	Unholy introduced the three new members of Sierra Three. "This is
Jackson, Drake, and Sandler."

	"Welcome to hell gentleman. You missed the briefing so I'll fill you
in. We're making a push to breach the Neo's third defensive line. The good
news is that its not as heavily armed as the previous line of defense, mostly
small arms with a few heavy blasters. Bad news is that the enemy will
undoubably get desperate in their attempts to stop us, expect anything.
Questions?" No one had any. "Good. Then get your gear together because we're
moving out."

* * *

	 "Looks promising."

	"For once, you and I agree, Dagger." stated Powers. The Neos
defensive line looked half-hazardly assembled. Consisting of little more than
foot soldiers and one or two heavy blasters, it was lightly defended compared
to their last encounter.

	"Shall we?" asked Fugi.

	"I don't know." said Dagger.

	"I thought you were braver than that, Dagger."

	"I don't like it, that's all."

	"A true rarity." stated Powers.

	"Sarge?" asked Dagger.

	"We're agreeing again."

	"Whoa, weird." commented Dagger. There was a touch of amusement in
his voice. Powers examined the battle field. It was steeper than before with
the average angle of inclination being about 65 degrees. Unlike before, there
was cover in the no man's land between the Neo's line and the Jumpcorps'
line. It took the form of large chunks of rock which looked as if they had
fallen from further up the mountain. "We take it slow, stick to the rocky
areas, try and pick them off from a distance if possible. Henderson will take
Drake, Jackson, and Sandler. The rest of you are with me. Henderson's group
follows us up on our left flank. Any questions?"

	Fugi raised a hand. "What do we do if they have some kind of nasty
surprise waiting for us?"

	"Stay alive." answered Powers.

	"Stay alive, why didn't I think of that?"

	"Something you wish to share with the rest of us, Fugi?"

	"Uh, no Sarge."

	"Good, let's move out!"

	As Power's led her group out of their trench and into the
battlefield, the shooting started. They went to ground behind a cluster of
boulders. Powers looked behind her for Henderson's unit. They were about 20
feet behind them with all members still accounted for. "Dagger, Unholy, how
are you guys at long range shooting?"

	"Not my strongest point." said Dagger.

	"I do just fine, Sergeant." answered Unholy.

	"Good. Pick a target and start firing. We'll see if we can knock off
enough of them to weaken the line so we can punch through. Scope." Fugi and
Powers crawled to the top of the boulders and set up. Dagger took position on
the left side, while Unholy took the right. "Fire at will, gentlemen."

	Jessie neatly picked off the trigger man to a heavy blaster unit.
Fugi took out the unit's loader. Unholy bagged a soldier who stuck his head
out just a bit too far from the safety of his trench. "Damn!" said Dagger,
who had missed completely. Several more troops began to fall as Henderson's
group began firing.

	"Cinnamon!" yelled Dagger. He had made an impressive shot, right to
the neck of an officer.

	"Oh please," said Fugi nonchalantly, "watch a pro at work." He
snapped off two quick shots, felling two Neos. "One shot, one kill."

	Powers drew a bead on a target of her own. She fired. The blast
sheared the neck of one Neo and burned into the chest of the other behind
him. "In a situation like this, you need to be more efficient, Fugi."

	"Noted and logged, Sarge."

	"Sarge! Transmission coming in from Charlie Nine."

	"Patch me in." ordered Powers. She crawled back behind the boulder so
she could give the call her full attention. "Sergeant Powers here."

	"This is Lt. Jefferson of Charlie Nine."

	"What can I do for you, Lieutenant?"

	"I want you to hold position and keep doing what you're doing. We're
about thirty meters in front of you, confirm?"

	Powers switched over to her unit's frequency. "Fugi, confirm Charlie
Nine's position thirty meters ahead."

	"Confirmed. About thirty ahead, but ten to the left of our position."

	Powers switched frequencies again. "You're position is confirmed,
Lieutenant."

	"Good. We're going to try to punch through, cover us."

	"Understood, be careful sir."

	"If I wanted to be careful, I would have become an exotrooper."

	Powers smiled despite the situation she found herself in. "Roger
that."

	Powers got back into position and opened her comm line again.
"Henderson, move your unit up. I want you parallel to my position. We'll be
supplying cover fire for Charlie Nine." Henderson radioed back an
acknowledgement and his unit began to move up the mountain. In the distance,
Jessie could see Lt. Jefferson's unit on the move. It looked as if they were
going to try to punch through at the heavy blaster unit she and Fugi cleared.
Jessie brought her scope up and continued to fire while at the same time
monitoring Lt. Jefferson's progress. As the line thinned near their break
through point, more and more Neos frantically moved to reinforce the area.
This didn't strike Jessie as odd, it was standard tactics. Though the speed
with which the Neos reacted did impress her. "They're almost there!"
announced Dagger.

	As Jefferson's unit began to breach the line, Powers ordered a cease
fire. "We can't risk hitting our own men. Prepare to move out, we'll try and
back them up!" As Powers' and Henderson's respective units stepped out from
behind cover, a deafening explosion erupted, consuming the Neos' entire
defensive line.

	"Those crazy bastards!" said Dagger. "They rigged their position with
explosives so they could take us all out if we reached them!"

	Jessie looked at the cloud of settling dust. In the distance, she
could hear something rumbling. "No, its more than that."

	Unholy pointed a finger at debris emerging from the dust cloud,
confirming what Powers already suspected. "Avalanche!"

To be continued...