TADJ17

==Chapter 17 - The Adjudicator==
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Former Word of Blake Prison Camp
Kittery Star System
Late 3159
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The first pass over the candidate site marked the presence of a force of 'mechs and vehicles 150 kilometers to the northwest under camouflage nets, as the shuttle banked for approach, Lt. Ngo had Gunny Nui Hop bank the shuttle for a quick circle and imaging string of the site itself.
The Capellan 'guard force' were some technicians and infantrymen.  Kittery is well behind the lines and the Pro-Republic insurgents weren't exactly popular these days even with their neighbors after a series of bombings that killed civilians back in March, but she'd seen bored troops on soft duty before, and these guys weren't razors.
"Mum, I think we'll need to run our own site-sec."  Nui Hop said.
"Gunny, there's ten of you on this trip and ten more on the ship. That's a lot of landscape to cover with at most fifteen Marines. Even with the power suits if we come under attack your job is just to get as many of my team out as humanly possible as quickly as possible.  Leave the fighting to the locals."
There was something weird about that OP they passed over-it didn't fit for some reason.  "Can we at least break out the suits?"
"Let's see...half my marine complement are Rockjacks who've lived in microgravity their whole lives and this job requires some lifting." Lt. Ngo said, "I expect every Marine and Crewman who's passed suit-quals to be in powered armor. I try not to be an idiot."
Coast Guards had their own funding, and pretty decent equipment for a small organization with big responsibilities, but when it comes to ground gear. Most of it is classed by LCAF as 'second issue', a polite term for equipment considered to be of lesser effectiveness when compared to LCAF ground forces gear.
Nui put the shuttle's skids to ground after the radar pics were taken. While the officers and specialists offloaded under Kittery's sunlight, she got her Marine teams armored and equipped from the lockers in the shuttles.
LCAF loves Quad armor, and with good reason. They are terrific as fire support platform and good for hauling very big weapons pretty quickly over terrain you can't get a light vehicle through.  BUT, for the Coast Guard's various missions, humanoid armor with two hands is better.  The suits were derived from Elemental Battle Armor designs and Gray Death Industries designs. Those had incorporated some of the better features for flexibility of both sources. This was including the higher ground speed for the Gray Death medium, and the detachable weapons-mount designed initially by the Clans wayy-back-when.
Nui handed out weapons pods and sensor kits to her marines-a variation that really didn't 'catch on' with the bigger services, and why would it?  The Coast Guard might have to chase down a nest of pirates to their bolt-hole and take them on with infantry but, bigger outfits could bring full 'mech units for jobs like hitting-something-very-hard in a ground warfare context.
The bigger services would also be bringing more than a platoon or two.
Weapons issue this fine local morning included refurbished Jade Falcon designed gear. Some of it was simply refurbished captures moved into the supplementary supply system, such as the Gerat-45 Antipersonnel gauss rifles.  The recoil on the things was hard enough a suit-trooper could feel it but the weapons hit harder than the recoiless rifles normally issued to Militia infantry formations. The damn things had fly-speck accuracy with a reliable armor penetration rate even against 'mechs.  Downside being you kind of have to use a powersuit to use the damn thing, because it weighed as much as a heavy support machinegun.
For the two fireteams supporting the Lieutenant's people, there were four Gerat-45's and one 'caller'. A low-powered laser link with basically a TAG, which could be used to direct a strike from the SubCapital battery on the ship.
Just in case shit really, truly, and irrevocably hit the fan.
The suits made it easier to hump the gear out of the shuttle's cargo-bay and help set things up. The Second shuttle came in a few minutes later with the rest, allowing a little bit of real relaxation on Nui's part-at least mental relaxation. Nobody shot at them, and the rest of the Marines from the ship-minus five who were on standby. They came down, letting her set up a decent rotation for guarding the Dozen or so Specialists. 
One of the differences between professionals, and well-armed amateurs is that professionals always double check their site security and make allowances for bad luck.
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