Duty Log | Col. Patrick Harper | "Shell Shock"

Posted on 241506.14 @ 3:28am by Colonel Patrick Harper

Mission: The Krigoran War [GQ]
Timeline: Following the events of "Let the Sunshine In"

He was dazed and confused. He could see dust falling around him, but there was just silence around him. Someone was standing over him, shouting at him, but there were no words - no sounds, just the mouth opening and closing, as they pulled at him. He looked around himself, trying to reorientate himself.

There was a shrill whistle then as sudden as it had began, the sounds returned and someone was shouting at him.

"-nel! Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine..." Harper said, as he picked himself up off the floor. He'd been thrown into one of the nearby buildings and was covered in plaster dust, but otherwise unscathed.

"We need to regroup, we've been caught out in the open!" He could hear someone shouting, presumably one of his staff officers.

There was a howl of pain from somewhere nearby, and more sounds of artillery falling as well as weapons fire from small arms as well as heavier ordinance from vehicle mounts and armoured vehicles.

"Pull our people back, we need to form a line of defense!" He heard someone order, and Harper picked himself fully off the floor.

"Belay that order!" Harper snapped. "We stand, we fight, we hold." He growled, and noticed that it was his staff officers plus the unit commanders from the meeting earlier. Zara had a cut above her left eye, and it was bleeding profusely, but she was ignoring it in favour of monitoring what was going on. The others were shaken up, but clearly unprepared for what was going on. There was a conspicuous absence of Dan Wren.

"Where's Wren?" Harper asked.

"Took a round to the leg, he's being tended to over there." Tash replied, looking rattled but focused. "What're your orders Colonel?"

Harper took stock of the scene around him. This was not his first rodeo, by any means, and although first time in command - this was not his first combat command. The scale was bigger, but the principle was the same. If they fell back, they ran the risk of being flanked and cut off. If they pushed forward, they had an incredibly small chance of taking the initiative back. They'd marched plum-duff into a well prepared ambush, and if the Krigorans had military nouse, which Harper had to assume they did at this point, they'd press their advantage now with a thrust into his lines at their most vulnerable. That would be his rear most flank, as until a few moments ago, he'd been a unit on the march, and rear-guard tended to be minimal when marching from your own lines.

Matt Hamm had been trying to regroup and pull back, which Harper had just stopped. From Matt's point of view, it wasn't terrible tactics, but it was not something they could do with any degree of success, and that would involve fighting for the same real-estate they'd just taken. Every second they dithered, marines were in harms way.

"King, bring your tubes to bear. Fire TOT at this hill here, and this hill here. That's where the fire's coming from. Bring the multi-launchers down on this valley between the hills here, and sweep it clean." Patrick instructed, as he pointed to things on his manual back-up map - a piece of paper he was drawing hills and valleys on.

"Young, bring your battalion around here, break into three wedges, and drive around the hills here and here, and through the middle here." Harper instructed.

"That means using the bridge, boss, and that's vulnerable." Young replied.

"Get them to use their legs then." Harper replied. "Use the rubber boats and cross the river that way. Leave the tracks here." It was riskier moving infantry out of the carriers, but that was the risk he had to take.

"Matt, take charge of Wren's battalion, and wheel it back around to cover the rear and the flanks. I have a feeling that they wanted to bend us over and take us from behind, and I want to show them that we're not that easy of a lay." Harper replied.

"Yes boss." Hamm nodded, and ran off to carry out the instruction.

"Brown!" Harper snapped, summoning the CSM.

"Sir!" Brown replied, and jogged over from the command element that had hastily been set up under the cover of the half-blown out house.

"Get on the horn to the air-scouts. Tell them I need CAS in this area as soon as they can. Tell them we're code orange and need immediate support." Harper instructed.

"On it sir." Brown said, and jogged off.

Maybe, just maybe, his first action as a Colonel won't be a disaster.

= End Log =

Col. Patrick Harper
CO, 86th MECH
NPC by Frankie