Esmeralda, Badicus, and Ajax made a good team, and soon the Militia Training Center was ablaze with the sounds of mock combat. As Rose and the other mercenaries could attest, Esmeralda was a demanding officer. The Greenies, however, seemed to delight in the harsh demands and difficult exercises to which she subjected them. Ajax and Badicus piloted 'Mechs, served as advisors, and generally assisted the forceful woman as the Green Team was brought up-to-date.
Angus spent most of his time assisting Rianna at the base. When not needed at the compound, he too worked with Esmeralda. Rose was initially hard-pressed to find specific duties for the young man, but eventually that turned out for the best. Though quiet, Angus had tremendous leadership potential. He was not afraid to make an important decision when none of the other members of the Black Thorns were available. This ability to make quick, accurate decisions contributed as much to the smooth operation of the unit as did Rianna's ability to coordinate the logistics of training and unit supply.
Rose spent most of the first two months away from the compound. Accompanied by Hawg, he put almost eighty thousand kilometers on the loaner VTOL in the first sixty days he had it. Rose would have preferred to have Ajax or Angus with him on the scouting expeditions, but their experience made them better-suited to the training and support efforts going on back in Houston. Hawg, though knowledgeable about repair and 'Mech operations, seemed to lack the talent to transmit the knowledge to others.
Rose had feared he'd be spending all his time with a backwoods AgroMech jockey, but Hawg turned out to be surprisingly well-informed on a wide variety of subjects. When Rose's schedule allowed him to return to Houston, he rarely spent time at the compound, however. Most nights he spent with Rachel McCloud, determined to keep the relationship alive.
As the commanding officer of the most potent fighting force on Borghese, Rose enjoyed celebrity status. Soon Rianna was coordinating his social calendar in addition to keeping tabs on his scouting flights. Rose tried to make at least one event per week, Rachel McCloud at his side, to explain the purpose of his unit to the assembled guests. Though he was persuasive, Rose reckoned that he owed much of the unit's growing acceptance to Rachel. She may not have started out with much enthusiasm for the mission to Borghese, but she'd warmed to the idea as time passed. She was also much better at dealing with the social elite. Rose didn't know many details of her background, but was beginning to suspect that the kind of parties and social events they attended were nothing new to her.
By the end of the second full month on Borghese, Rose was pleased to find matters proceeding far better than he'd ever imagined. The protesters were still parked outside the main gate, and would likely remain there for the duration of the Black Thorns' contract. A small tent village had sprung up along the side of the road, but Rose let it remain because the protesters were, for the most part, quiet and well-behaved.
Salander Morgain was an increasingly common sight at the compound, soon striking up a friendship with Rianna. Although Rose did not know it, the two had been seeing one another socially for several weeks. The rest of the Thorns knew about it, but no one mentioned it to Rose because the situation seemed harmless. Besides, most of the mercenaries thought their commander was overly protective of his sister. Esmeralda didn't think much of Morgain, but she preferred to keep an eye on Rianna instead of dragging Rose into the situation.
When summer reached its hottest on Borghese, so did Jeremiah Rose. In the course of three days he learned that Rianna had been seeing Salander Morgain, that the VTOL was going to be reassigned, and that Hawg had caught viral pneumonia. It was only a matter of time before the first event came out into the open. Rianna had been behaving like a schoolgirl, which fit her age but not her status. Rose was furious, but directed most of his anger at the unit for not letting him know what was going on. His attention was quickly diverted, however, when a Borghese militia major arrived at the compound with written orders for the return of the VTOL.
Rianna stalled while Rose tried in vain to get in touch with Chairman Cooke. When neither action proved successful, Rianna confirmed the orders with the militia command center and impatiently waved the man away. The VTOL left thirty minutes later. Rose was still trying to procure some kind of airborne transportation to complete the last of the reconnaissance work when Angus called him aside.
"Hawg is sick, sir. I think we'd better get him to the hospital."
* * *
Riding in the ambulance with the stricken man, Rose berated himself for having let the illness progress so far. Hawg had caught a summer cold during one of their frequent flights, but refused to give it any attention. The condition seemed to worsen during subsequent trips, but Hawg refused to succumb to the illness. He was simply too robust to let the virus slow him down. That morning, however, Angus had discovered him with a raging fever. Hawg spent the next ten days in the hospital.
With his assistant in the hospital and the VTOL firmly back in militia hands, Rose returned to the Council with a formal request for an assistant and a replacement vehicle. He was not overly surprised when the Council turned him down, Miss de Vilbis again casting the swing vote. He was surprised, however, when a Ferret light scout VTOL landed in the compound yard the next morning. Rose, Rianna, and Angus, the only three Thorns remaining in the compound, gathered around as the pilot emerged. Approaching the assembled mercenaries, he pulled off his helmet, out tumbling the longest blond hair Rose had ever seen stuffing flight gloves into his helmet, the man extended his hand to Rose.
"Captain Rose, my name is Antioch Bell. I've been sent to help with your scouting." Rose took the offered hand and returned the warm smile.
"The Council changed its mind?"
The pilot gave Rose a lopsided smile. "Not exactly. I work for Salander Morgain."
"Salander sent you?" Rianna said, and Antioch seemed to notice her for the first time.
"Yes, ma'am. You must be Rianna." He extended his hand. "Salander has spoken a lot about you."
Feeling Rose glaring at her, Rianna's wide smile gradually disappeared. "Pleased to meet you, Mister Bell.
Now, if you'll excuse me," she said, then turned on her heel and went back to the command building. Rose watched her stomp away. Angus meanwhile was quietly introducing himself to Bell.
"Sisters." Rose shook his head and Bell grinned.
"I've got two myself. I'll never understand women, even when they're my own flesh and blood."
Rose considered the statement and Bell's presence in the camp. "Mister Bell, I appreciate the gesture you and Mister Morgain have made, but I'm afraid I'll have to decline. I can't, in good conscience, accept civilian transport."
"Well, Captain Rose, if it will help ease your mind, the Ferret over there has been collecting dust for the past five years. And that's the way it'll stay if you refuse the offer. By the way, I'm not exactly a civilian. I served seven years with the Twenty-sixth Lyran Guard."
"Oh, really?"
"I work for Morgain now. I signed a contract when we left the Guards." From the look on the man's face, Rose knew he viewed the signing as a natural thing to do.
"And the other warriors up at the estate?"
"Same deal, more or less, but I shouldn't be telling tales. You want me to head back home, or shall we do some recon?"
Rose looked the man over. He was roughly the same age as Rose, but he seemed much more at ease with what was going on around him. Everything from his posture to his expressive face told of a life lived in the open. Rose doubted that the man was trying to hide anything, and briefly wondered whether his original evaluation of Salander Morgain might have been wrong. He looked over at the VTOL.