Staff Sergeant Pax Alejo and his team are deploying to a planet called Newfoundland. The planet was occupied by a large contingent of very independent settlers who had been there for a long time. It had been attacked by the Tucanans and it was feared that a large portion of the population was being taken by the Tucs. Pax and his fellow Undead Marines were going in to stop that from happening. They had to locate the civilians and either free them from the Tucs or kill the Tucs who were herding the civilians towards their transport ships.
This was the first time that Pax was going into action as a Staff Sergeant (frocked). That just meant he had a lot more people to worry about, but his Marines were well trained and they knew their jobs. The company had just done had orbital jump and eveyone had made it down with no problems. Now they were on a line abreast approaching a large factory. This factory was thought to be a holding area by the Tucanans for a large number of humans. Strangely, they weren’t being opposed by any Tucanans as of yet. They figured they’d hit them as they landed or at least right after landing, but nothing had happened. Now as they approached the factory, there were signs that the civilians had been here, but nothing of the Tucs. That is until a ballista opened up on the advancing Undead Marines.
That was taken out shortly and the Marines continued their advance. They were to breach the factory and start rounding up the humans held prisoner while kiling any and all Tucs they could find. Yet, when going inside the factory, the found nothing. No humans and no Tucanans. There was evidence that humans had been here, but nothing more. No wonded or stragglers, just empty spaces.
So, they continued on through the factory checking every office and space where someone or something might be hiding. They still found nothing. After coming out of the factory on the other side, they halted to receive further orders. Other units not with the Undead Marines were reporting numerous fights with Tucs in other areas across the planet. Yet, there were supposed to be thousands of humans at this factory, but they hadn’t found one. What the didn’t want to find was the aftermath when the Tucs decided they couldn’t take their prisoners with them. They would then just start slaughtering the human captives where they stood. That wasn’t going to happen if Pax could stop it.
He was eventually told to take his people and start going through a train tunnel. The whole company couldn’t go that way so some were detailed to go over the mountain that the train ran through. About the time Paxs set to advance, they noticed a huge Tucanan transport ship beginning to land on the otherside of the mountain. While missiles had been shot at it, it apparently had some kind of shield since they weren’t bringing it down. Pax and everyone else knew that this meant the Tucanans had a large contingent of humans somewhere that they planned on loading up in this ship and taking it to who knows where. No knew what the Tucanans did with the humans they captured. No one was also eager to find out. It was best if you didn’t get captured.
Anyway, Pax and his platoon started into the tunnel with him and his team taking point. It wasn’t easy going since they found a boobytrap not long after entering the tunnel. They managed to release this one, but there could be others so they passed the word down to be on the alert. Further on down the tunnel, there were signs again of humans having passed this way. A lot of humans. There were also signs that a lot of Tucanans had been with them probably herding the humans along.
Then they ran into another trap with a ballista opening fire from the top of a wrecked train car. Wolf, who was pointman for Pax was cut down and they didn’t have any high caliber weapon to immediately take out the ballista. Then a large explosion ocurred to Pax’s rear which signified that another trap had been sprung and this had buried a large part of the company. So Pax and his people were trapped with on way out. They took cover as much as they could, but eventually the ballista was going to get them. That is until Captain Forte manged to arrive.
She came barreling out from the destoryed tunnel firing her M-52 Bushmaster that quickly took out the ballista. That allowed the remaining company to advance which they did now finding straggeling Tucanans which they began taking down. Then they ran into the humans. There were thousands of them crammed into the tunnel heading towards the end. Pax and his people had to get through them to find out where the Tucanans were herding them and stop this mess. It was going to be a long, hard battle. Pax could only hope that the other Marines going over the top of the mountain arrived in time to help him and the civilians out of this situation.
Ok, so there’s a lot of action for now. And this is only the start of this book. Later you’ll read where Pax finds himself captured and then meeting a Tucanan that he’s never seen before. He gets rescued but finds out some interesting things during that ordeal. Once back with his platoon/company. He’s given a new assignment that puts him directly under Captain Forte. She’s a “freshie” officer, but a very, very good one. Pax’s wants to make sure she gets through this battle since freshie officers don’t get resurrected. Maybe it’s time to change that rule.