Am I Number One?

Posted on Wed Jan 4th, 2017 @ 4:35am by Major Patrick McMichaels & Major General Thomas Jackson

409 words; about a 2 minute read

Mission: Episode 93 - Warrior VS Warrior
Location: Marine Country
Timeline: TBD

Patrick knocked on General Jackson's door. He was nervous about the discussion he was going to have. "General, it's Major McMichaels, Sir. Sorry to disturb you" he said, waiting for the reply.

Jackson told him to come in, and have a seat. "You are not disturbing me Major. How can I help you?"

Patrick entered and cleared his throat before sitting across from Jackson. "Sir, I'm not sure Colonel Hurd made the right choice; making me his First Officer. The Tirpitz barely made it back" he said. "I hesitate to bring this to him directly; especially after his reaction on Arcanus IV"

Jackson responded, "First off, you were performing your Primary Mission as a Field Grade Commander, leading your unit on the ground. Second, the Tripitz is a 90 year old ship that was engaged in a five to one ratio battle. Even though she lost most of her crew, she did well to stay in one piece, to fight another day. The is not without precedent. Almost 400 years ago, following the Attack on Pear Harbor, all but two of the battleships that were sunk returned to service. The Tripitz will do the same. I feel a personal loss for the crew, but we all have different coping mechanisms. Colonel Hurd is no exception. He'll come around."

Patrick sighed. They did lose a lot of good men and women during the battle, both on the ground and in space. "Sorry General. That's my first time facing losses of that scale. It's difficult to take in. Thank you for your time, Sir" he said.

Jackson looked down for a minute, then looked back up. "Patrick, I was only 19 years old when I faced much larger losses on a grand scale. Unfortunately, I lacked the maturity that you had on your first time. I would also be lying to you if I told you the pain of loss goes away, but it doesn't. You just learn to move on, as our fallen brothers and sisters would have preferred us to do."

"I see your point Sir. Sorry to have bothered you with it" Patrick apologized then saluted Jackson.

Jackson returned the salute. "No bother at all Patrick. You can come here anytime, to talk about anything. By the way, I am sending you a replacement platoon commander. He should be reporting to your office sometime soon."

Patrick nodded. "Thank you, Sir. I'll see him immediately" he said and headed to his office.

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