Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles
"COME ON APES!" Lieutenant Robert Gateman shouted at his squad.
"YOU HEARD THE LIEUTENANT! ADVANCE TOWARD THE RIDGE!" Sergeant Kimberly Possible, the squad's top-kick rallied the soliders.
It was day 383 of the SICON-Arachnid interstellar war and Lt. Gateman's squad, Gateman's Guards (Delta Squad), were on Talus, clearing out a bug mound that lead toward a cliff line.
Pulse rifles blazing, the 8-person squad pushed the arachnid warriors back, picking them off, one by one. Until the last one fell off the cliff.
"CEASE FIRE" Lt. Gateman ordered and the squad obeyed, lowering their rifles. The Lt. walked over to Corporal Ronald Stoppable
"Corporal, get on the horn, tell the Grand Canyon we need evac. Area clear"
"Sir, yes, sir" the Cpl responded and walked off to grab the comm kit
"Well, Sergeant, another bug mound clear" Kim smiled
"Yes, sir. I think we can say mission accomplished"
"Not yet, Sergeant. But we have cleared this continent, next stop..." he pauses and looks up "PLAMSA FIRE!! TAKE COVER!" sure enough, a few seconds later, the area is pelted by bug plasma fire. Kim, Ron and their close friend and fellow trooper and squad-mate, Private Bonnie Rockwaller manage to get behind the rocks and avoid the massive heat and fire from the plasma impacts. But unknown to them, the rest of the squad wasn't so lucky. Kim taps her helmets comm system
"Delta team to Grand Canyon. Delta team to Grand Canyon"
"This is Grand Canyon. Go ahead Delta"
"This is Sergeant Possible, we are under heavy fire from plasma bugs. Requesting immediate evac"
"Negative Delta, area's too hot. Hold your ground"
"We can't. We move and we'll get shredded. WE NEED EVAC!"
"I'll see what I can do. Grand Canyon out"
"I... Ah hell" she looks around at her two squad mates "Dig in, we're gonna be here awhile"
After a few minutes, the plasma fire eases up and the three troopers stand up and look around, their eyes open wide.
"Oh, my, god" the powersuits that were occupied by the rest of the squad are lying on the ground. Kim hopes that she is wrong, but every fiber in her body is telling her that she is right. She goes up to Lt. Gateman's powersuit and flips down her visor, then does the same for the rest of the troopers
"Well?" Ron asks, fearing the answer as Kim's suit sensors scan the powersuits, looking for signs of life. She lowers her head and flips her visor back up
Kim sighs and stands up, shaking her head. Ron, hearing a noise, turns around
"BUGS!!" he's right, arachnid warriors are closing in on them.
Kim and Bonnie whirl around and take aim.
"OPEN FIRE!" she orders and begins to take out the bugs, one by one.
Almost every round shot from the barrels of the pusle rifles hits its mark, but the arachnid warriors are tough bugs and keep coming, they do have a central nerve cluster, that is basically a one-shot-kill mark, but it is quite hard to hit on a moving target.
Ron and Bonnie do the same. It doesn't take much firepower to take out an arachnid warrior, but the greatest advantage the bugs have over the humans is numbers. For every bug the troopers take out, many more take it's place and so on and so on.
"Sarge, what do we do?" Ron asks, Kim thinks for a minute
"FALL BACK!" she orders and the three start moving back towards the cliff.
Just as they are about to reach the cliff and Kim is about to order grapple lines, a transport craft comes up and over, into their view with the cargo platform lowered
"This is transport Pacific, hurry up!" Kim smiles
"JUMP JETS!" she orders, the three troopers hit the jet activation button and fly onto the cargo platform, landing safely the small jets retract into the powersuit's backpacks and Kim speaks over the comm to the pilot
"PILOT, GO!" as the platform retracts up into the belly of the transport, the three surviving members of Gateman's Guards slouch on the benches inside, still in shock over what has just transpired.
Back on the Grand Canyon, the remainder of Gateman's Guards head to their locker room. Kim removes her helmet and shakes her head about, letting her auborn red hair flow free from her helmet
"Oh, feels good to be out of that stuffy powersuit" she remarks. While Talus is an oxygen rich planet and doesn't require fully sealed powersuits, combat armor is still needed and having to wear it for three days straight isn't really liked by the troopers. Bonnie takes off her helmet and slides off her shoulder pads, letting her short brown hair loose. She sits down on the bench in the locker room
"I can't believe he's gone" her arms are resting on her knees and her head is looking down at the floor, eyes closed. She had come to rely on Lieutenant Gateman for inspiration since she's been assigned to him along with Kim and Ron after basic. After all, she's had a massive falling out with her family before she left for boot. Her parents bascially disowned her for deciding to join SICON and as far as she was concerned, if they didn't want to support her in her decision, she wanted nothing more to do with them, either. Kim had been a different story, her mother was a SICON general, her direct superior actually, aside from Lieutenant Gateman and her father, while he did work for SICON, he worked in the R&D division of the millitary. Her parents might've disowned her if she hadn't joined the millitary. She had always wanted to be a pilot though, not a trooper. She had dreamed of flying one of the SICON cruisers or fighters, but she had been assigned to the Mobile Infantry, something she complained to her mother about, but nothing had been done about it. Ron's parents weren't overly happy with him joining the millitary, but had smiled and accepted his decision.
Kim and Ron had been best friends since forever and had been suprised when they had ended up in basic training together. Even more suprised that they had been assigned to the same unit together, but Kim had a hunch that her mother had a hand to play in that. Bonnie and Kim had never gotten along, but during basic it became clear to Kim that she needed a friend. So Kim had put their past behind her and been nice. Bonnie eventually accpted it and the two were now really good friends. When she had been assigned along with Kim and Ron to the Guards, she made a friend out of the Lieutenant and he had been her inspiration, he reminded her of what they were fighting for.
Kim sat down beside Bonnie
"I know, he was a good man" a younger officer entered the locker room
"Sergeant, you got a call" Kim nodded that she heard and got up, leaving Ron and Bonnie together.
"Hey, mom" Kim said to her mother, who was sitting behind her desk back at SICON headquarters on Earth. General Anne Possible looked right at the screen
"Kim, I may be your mother, but I'm also your superior"
"Sorry" Kim sucked up her chest and saluted "General Possible, sir" it still felt weird to say that
"Better, Sergeant" Anne returned the salute "How did it go on Talus?"
"Not good. Five troopers down, including the Lieutenant. Only me, Ro... Corporal Stoppable and Private Rockwaller surived, barely" Kim kept forgetting to call them by their rank and last name around her superiors
"I see. Other than that?"
"Mission accomplished. Assigned mounds are clear"
"Good"
"So what do we do know? With the L.t. gone..."
"I don't know. Let me chat with the rest of SICON brass and get back to you" she signed off, her image on the screen replaced by the SICON logo
"Alright then" Kim muttered and walked off, back to the locker room.
Later the next day, Kim is wearing the black SICON armband that troopers wear to honor their fallen comrades, however Kim is just wearing one that says R.G. for Robert Gateman, the squad leader. Though she, Bonnie and Ron should be wearing five, one for each one of their fallen comrades, they decided just to wear one for their former Lieutenant. She is again chatting with her mother, General Anne Possible, from the comm room on the Grand Canyon
"Well, this is another one you owe me" the general grins
"Care to explain?" Kim asks, a little confused
"Well, I managed to convince the brass not to split up your squad"
"Nice, whose the new Lieutenant?"
"That's a bit of a wrinkle"
"Meaning?"
"We don't have any Lieutenants to spare for you"
"What? This means we're going into inactive duty, right? Man, I hoped that would never happen"
"No, Means that you are getting promoted"
"WHAT?" Kim had never expected to hear that
"Congradulations, Lieutenant" the General smiles at her daughter
"Me? An L.t.?" Kim looks at her mother "If this is a joke..."
"No joke, I promise. You are getting a battlefield promotion"
"Thanks mom. But I gotta know, why? With the war going the way it's going..."
"I know how well you three work together. It would take too much time for you to build up that same working level with a new squad, it's in SICON's best interests to keep you three together"
"Thanks, mom"
"Ahem"
"Er, thank you, General"
"Better. Oh and the Grand Canyon is being diverted to Centauri to pick up four new troopers for your squad"
"We're getting stuck with freshies?"
"Yes, Lieutenant. We don't have any other troopers to assign to your squad" the general takes on a more stern tone
"Fine" Kim isn't too happy
"Good. After you pick them up, you'll be headed to the Jovia, they have an asteroid headed their way and our crusiers can't get close enough because of plasma fire. Take it out"
"Yes, Ma'am"
"Oh and one more thing, you might wanna think of a new name for your unit"
"Yes, Ma'am" Anne smiles and signs off, Kim sits back in her chair, stunned "Me, an Lt. Who would've thought?" she stands up "Better tell Ron and Bonnie" she walks off
Bonnie and Ron are awaiting the news of the fate of their team, both laying back on their bunks
"Yeah, been in touch with the fam quite a bit. They're worried about me, but haven't filed any requests to try and get me home" Ron smiles at Bonnie "What about you? Any contact with your family?" Bonnie looks away
"No, still haven't spoken to them since before boot"
"Bonnie, it's been over a year"
"Your point?"
"It's just that..." Kim walks in
"On your feet, apes" She orders, Ron and Bonnie stand at attention, Kim smiles "At ease, just felt like doing that"
"So, what's the word, Sarge?"
"That's Lieutenant to you" Kim grins a very smug grin
"No way. They made you an L.t.?"
"Yeah, Sergeant" she looks at Ron
"Me?"
"Squad needs a top-kick" Kim shrugs and grins "I guess you'll do"
"I dunno, Kim, you sure?" Kim puts her hand on his shoulder
"Yes" is all she says
"Booyah" he replies, Kim looks at Bonnie
"I need a squad leader"
"ME?" Kim nods
"I... I... I don't know what to say"
"Well, you can either accept or deny and make me promote one of the freshies that'll be joining the squad when we hit Centauri"
"I'll do it" Bonnie grins
"I thought you might. Dissmissed" Ron and Bonnie salute their new Lt
"Hey, Kim?"
"Yeah, Ron?"
"We keeping the old squad name?"
"Naw, I'll think of something better" Kim smiles and lays down on her bunk. All three soon drift off into the light slumber that is common of M.I. troopers.