The Captain's Allegiance

MAY 1ST, 2009
EL GRAPADURA, PALACIOS
12:00 PM

General Slurry wanted to punish Groggy for insolence and insubordination, by keeping his regiment in the rear for the remainder of the campaign. But General Ale, new commander of the 1st Division, argued strenuously against this - after all, hadn't the Colonel's busting open El Grapadura validated his actions? After a long and heated argument, General Slurry agreed - reluctantly - that Ale's brigade, now under Colonel Alstott, was to advance along with the Regular Division and seize the Russian outpost at Segal, in the interior of the island. Other than small outposts and reconassiance points, it was the last major concentration of Russian troops on the island short of the Molotov Heights. The outpost was already in a state of semi-siege by partisans and American special forces, but with Ramsey's regulars having been battered by their capture of El Morro, Alstott's troops were given what was expected to be an easy task.

Captain O'Brien arrived in the regiment's camp just before noon. All of the soldiers were in the midst of an MRE feast, goofing off as usual; the shock of their first major battle had mostly faded. He reported to Major Martinez, who showed him to Colonel Dundee's tent. Colonel Dundee was reading over reports, munching on a mountain of David Sunflower Seeds.

"What brings you here, Captain?" Groggy mumbled as he cracked a seed between his jaws.

"I've been instructed to take over one of your companies," O'Brien reported nervously.

Groggy looked at him with an expression of disbelief. "Pardon me?"

"General Jenkins' orders."

"General Jenkins is laid up in a hospital tent with a shattered arm," Groggy. "I report to General Ale and Colonel Alstott, not that cranky old son of a bitch."

"Consider it a favor, then - to a fallen colleague," O'Brien managed to choke out.

The statement took awhile to sink into Groggy's skull. He knew he thought he'd recognized the gentleman earlier, but it had never occurred to him.

"Captain Tim Tyreen O'Brien?" Groggy sputtered.

The present Captain O'Brien nodded. "He was my cousin," he said haltingly. "We weren't very close, but..."

Groggy thought about this for a long moment. "Wait a minute - General Jenkins..." The wheels started to turn inside his head. "He couldn't be..."

O'Brien's eyes went wide with shock and nervousness; he'd said too much. "Couldn't be what, sir?" he bluffed.

Groggy thought. "I had a man named Jenkins in my last command," he said slowly, deliberately. "Traitorous son of a bitch, he tried to kill me on multiple occasions. Had to put the bastard out of his misery."

O'Brien shrugged. "News to me, sir." But hearing Groggy's side of the story made him reconsider his loyalty, if only momentarily.

Groggy began thinking long and hard. "Well, I suppose I could lend you a company. Company C's in need of a Captain. I somehow that Lieutenant Aclea will appreciate it, though..."

At this moment, Captain Harriman entered, saluting with her good hand.

"Ah, Captain! Nice to see you back."

"All the bullets in the Russian Army couldn't keep me from my duty," Harriman said, smiling. Her smile faded, however, when she saw the Colonel's guest.

"Our Captain is a relative of the late Captain Tim Tyreen O'Brien," Groggy said.

"Really, sir?" She had suspected as much, and figured his presence here, even in Jenkins' absence, wasn't a good omen.

"Sir, my loyalty is to the Army, not to General Jenkins," O'Brien protested. "I've been given an assignment and I hope you'll take me on."

Groggy and Harriman looked at each other. "What do you think, Captain?"

Harriman's eyes were locked on the Captain.

"You know, I've made far dumber decisions in my lifetime," Groggy said. "Enlisting in the Army, for a start. Trusting people with the name of Jenkins, for another." He stood and faced Captain O'Brien.

"Your cousin, for all his arrogance and self-importance, was a good man and a great soldier," Groggy said. "I just hope it runs in the family."

Groggy saluted him and then sat back down.

"Do I have the command, sir?" O'Brien asked, uncertain.

"Yes, dummy," Groggy said, returning to his mountain of seeds. O'Brien saluted and exited the tent.

"Do you think that wise, sir?" Harriman asked.

"It's as smart as anything else I've done in my lifetime, Captain," Groggy replied. He spit a sunflower shell across the tent, landing on the ground. Then he returned to his paperwork.

* * *

1:00 PM

As Groggy predicted, Lieutenant Aclea wasn't at all crazy about relinquishing his newfound company command. Aclea raged and screamed at the Captain, waving his pistol in the air like a madman, but Lieutenant-Colonel Starbuck interceded. Presenting his credentials, O'Brien talked his way into command. Aclea told him to go to hell and spit at his feet, storming back to his tent.

The command was to move to El Morro as soon as practical, to meet up with Ramsey's division, and from there march on Segal. It wasn't practical, but Captain Harriman was instructed to sound assembly.

Groggy ordered his brother, Captain Grenouille, to report to his tent.

"I'm sorry about El Grapadura," Grenouille began.

"Hell, the roads are only marked by snake droppings on this island," Groggy interrupted. "Think you can redeem yourself?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Your company is at the head of the advance. Get them ready." Grenouille smiled and saluted, rushing off to assemble his men.

Captain O'Brien drew Jenkins' knife and pondered it. It was long and heavy, the blade rusty from time and the blood of many victims.

Could he do it? He could carry out Jenkins' - and supposedly his - ephemeral revenge on a man neither of them knew very well? Was murder something he could pull off? And for what?

After a long, thoughtful moment, O'Brien threw the knife into the underbrush, with disgust. He was no longer under Jenkins' command - he was at Groggy's service. And his treachery to Jenkins didn't weigh on his conscience at all.

O'Brien didn't notice as one of his men, a Private Salem, scurried into the brush and picked up the knife. He admired it, and stuffed it into his waistbelt before the Captain could see.

Within twenty minutes, the command was on the road, advancing through the pass in a column. They reached El Morro by 3:00, reported to General Ramsey, and made preparations for their next action.