Colonel (UC) by Rick Shelley

Author:Rick Shelley [Shelley, Rick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780441007820
Publisher: Ace
Published: 2000-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The senior medical officer of 15th Regiment had been killed by the rocket that had wounded Colonel Hayley. Six other men had been killed by the same explosion. The only thing that had saved Hayley was that a portable trauma tube had been close and had—somehow—avoided serious damage. The medtech who had treated the colonel told Lon that it had been a miracle that Hayley had survived. "I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that if we'd been five seconds slower getting him into the tube he wouldn't have made it. I didn't think he was going to make it as it was." Listening to the detailed listing of Hayley's injuries had been almost enough to make Lon physically ill.

The back of Bob Hayley's head had been literally blown off, along with a significant percentage of his brain. That was the injury that mattered. The fractures and shrapnel penetrations were minor by comparison. Hayley would require three weeks for the physical regeneration of lost brain tissue and the missing section of his skull, most of that time sealed in a trauma tube. After that there would be months of rehabilitation. The SMO on the flagship said that Hayley would have to learn how to walk and talk again, and the odds were strong that he would never regain much memory of his life before the injury. "I don't think there's one chance in a million he'll be able to continue in the Corps," the ship's SMO said. "But he will survive."

It was some hours later before Lon thought, There goes

the odds-on favorite for election to General… not that we were likely to make it home in time for him to get it this year. He shook his head. Even if we were going to make it home in time, the Council wouldn't give it to him this year, not after we lost so many men making our landing here. There'd have to be a board of inquiry first. Even if a board cleared him of misjudgment, losing so many men would remain a mark against Hayley and might keep him from ever becoming General.

By noon, the fighting had decreased to almost nothing. Parker Watson's battalion, 4th of the 7th, was skirmishing with the enemy on the outskirts of University City. Vel Osterman's battalion, 2nd of the 7th, was moving toward the enemy rocket artillery north of the city. Fal Jensen was moving 15th Regiment east to stay between the bulk of the New Spartan forces and the Elysian capital. His 4th Battalion was angling toward the southeast, looking to engage the enemy troops who had moved toward the capital on that end of the perimeter.

Lon was moving with his remaining two line battalions—closer to University City, staying on the north, ready to move whichever way necessary, depending on how the situation developed through the next hours… or days. He wanted to be able to move into the capital to prevent the two elements of the New Spartan force from linking up inside the metropolitan area.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.