Born on the Fourth Day of Bloom

AN: I know you'd all thought I'd forgotten about this, but I'm still working on it. Alas, I can't promise the next update will be any faster but it'll all get posted eventually.

Last chapter: A storm sweeps towards Azura and, of course, Baird is unaccounted for at the storm shelter...

"The storm must be affecting reception," said Anya.

"I'll go get him," said Cole.

"Not on your own," said Marcus. "I'm coming with you." He was not going to lose a member of his squad to a damn storm.

"Be quick," said Anya, "that storm isn't going to wait for you to get back before it hits full force."

Marcus leaned in and gave Anya a soft kiss on the forehead. "Don't worry, we'll kick his ass back here in time to batten down the hatches."

"See that you do, Sergeant," replied Anya, with a smile.

Marcus gave her a quick smile back, and then he headed out into the storm, Cole half a step behind him.

"Let's try the workshop," said Marcus.

"Yeah," agreed Cole.

They dashed along the rain soaked cobbles of the road, hardly able to see as they moved. Neither of them were wearing their armour, they hardly ever did these days, so they were unencumbered by its extra bulk but also unprotected. Marcus wondered if he should have worn it for this excursion, it might have been useful, given the amount of debris that was flying around them. Bits of tree were tumbling past them and Marcus had already had a piece of roof tile miss his head by a few inches.

The workshop came into sight, at the top of a slight incline and with a courtyard in front of it that currently had an Armadillo parked in it. They could see a light glowing in the workshop.

"He better have a damn good excuse for this," ground out Marcus.

Cole reached the door first, it was already half boarded but he could step over it easily enough.

"Baird! You in here? Shake your tail, baby," shouted Cole.

There was no reply.

"Damn it, where is he?" asked Marcus, looking around the empty lab.

There was the sound of a crash from across the courtyard. Through the rain Marcus and Cole could just make out the shape of Baird, goggles down, pushing what appeared to be JACK. JACK was the last remaining COG bot on the island, possibly the last in the world. It was floating on its repulsor fields, but just barely.

"Baird!" shouted Cole, but clearly the mechanic couldn't hear them.

Marcus and Cole jogged across the courtyard and into shouting distance.

"Baird! What the hell are you doing?"

Baird turned towards them, and then back to JACK. "It's JACK. I was bringing him back to the workshop when he got hit by some flying debris. He's got two repulsors down. I've got to get him inside."

"Damn it, Baird," said Marcus. "Why didn't you grab someone to help?"

Marcus shifted in so that he could help push the bot.

"I sent all my team to the shelter. I thought this would be a five minute job, and in case you hadn't noticed the radios are down," spat Baird. "If the repulsors hadn't been broken then I'd have got it done in plenty of time."

Cole had grabbed the front of JACK and was now pulling it. With three Gears on the job, the bot was moving a bit more quickly. They got it across the courtyard and into the workshop with a lot less trouble than Baird had been having.

"Then you should have left it," said Marcus.

"You're kidding. This is probably the most advanced piece of technology on the planet and you want me to just abandon it to the storm?" asked Baird, sounding both annoyed and incredulous in one sentence.

"Better JACK than you, baby," said Cole, before Marcus could express the same sentiment less subtly.

"Shut it down and let's get out of here. Anya's already probably worried," said Marcus.

Baird did as he was told for once and rapidly got JACK into a state that he could be left in. Marcus all but pulled him out of the workshop and the three Gears nailed down the last of the boards across workshop door. The wind howled around them, casting dirt into their eyes and Marcus wished that he had his own pair of goggles to protect them.

With their work done, they ran back out of the workshop courtyard towards the storm shelters, dodging pieces of debris and building rubble. The strong wind impeded their progress and conversation was impossible. A large tree branch came hurtling towards them and caught Cole on the hip, sending him sprawling for a moment. Baird was grabbing his friend and pulling him up almost before Marcus had seen what had happened. Cole seemed okay, but was limping badly as Baird supported him on his left side. Marcus got on Cole's right side and the three of them got moving again, but made progress more slowly down the street.

There was the sound of screeching metal to their left. Marcus looked up to see that the huge communications dish that Baird and his team had spent several days getting into service, was being pushed by the gale force winds. It had been positioned on top of one of the large accommodation blocks, and had a long way to fall. The mounting was bending and about to shear, just as Baird had predicted. If it came down now, then they'd be right underneath the falling metal.

"Oh shit," said Baird, as he too looked upwards.

"Move it!" shouted Marcus.

"Don't have to tell me twice," Cole shouted back.

The three of them put on an extra burst of speed and flung themselves forwards, just as the huge dish came crashing down behind them. The force of the landing easily knocked them off their feet. A piece of one of the stanchions caught Marcus on the arm, cutting into his shoulder. He let out a strangled groan of pain, but they couldn't stop now to tend to wounds. He stumbled to his feet, grabbed Cole and dragged him up too. Baird was breathing heavily, but also pushing himself to his feet and staggering forwards against the wind. He took up his place again on Cole's other side and they plunged onwards.

The door to the shelter was in sight and they limped the last few yards, avoiding flying objects as best they could. Marcus hammered on the wood of the door. It would be barricaded inside, and he really hoped that they could hear him. The doors had been made thick and strong to keep the storm out. Apparently someone was listening out for them, because the doors were pushed open and they fell inside, glad to get out of the wind.

The doors were slammed closed behind them as they entered and then two Gears got to work boarding them shut.

Marcus shouted for a medic, and one of Hayman's staff came running with Anya a few steps behind. He'd have bet good money that she'd been listening out for him, whilst she attended to her other duties. Jace was with her, a clipboard in his hands. He looked concerned, but ticked off the new arrivals without comment. He'd been acting as Anya's aide for the duration of this crisis and helping to deal with the arrangements for the storm shelters.

"Marcus!" said the blonde haired Lieutenant. "You're bleeding."

Marcus grunted. "Take a look at Cole first, he took a worse hit."

Anya nodded at the medic and she handed Anya the antiseptic and bandages that she had already begun to get out to use on Marcus. She went to Cole, who was still supporting himself on Baird and the wall. Anya's hands hovered around the gash in Marcus' arm for a second, as she tried to decide the best way to approach the injury.

"What about Baird?" she asked, as she gently cleaned the wound.

"I'm fine," replied Baird. "But the communications dish is scrap."

Despite his dramatic announcement, Baird's attention was on Cole and the nasty wound across his hip. The medic was lowering Cole to the ground so that he could take the weight off the injury. With that done she got to work cleaning and applying a dressing.

"Why didn't you come back to the shelter with the rest of your team?" asked Anya.

"I had to get JACK undercover. It was supposed to take a couple of minutes, but one of his repulsors got hit by some debris," said Baird.

"You should have just left it," growled Marcus.

"Are you kidding me? It's going to be years before we're able to build another one of those bots, if we ever get that level of tech back again," said Baird.

"It's not worth more than you are, Baird," said Anya. "You nearly got the three of you killed."

"Yeah, and you're the only one without a scratch on you," added Jace. "Doesn't seem fair when you're the reason they were out there."

Baird surged forwards from where he'd been kneeling beside Cole, his fist heading for Jace's face. It caught Marcus by surprise and he was barely able to grab Baird before the punch connected. Baird might spend most of his time in his workshop, but people who underestimated his ability to fight got a nasty surprise. However, he very rarely resorted to violence over a few misspoken words, and never with someone he regarded as a friend.

"Calm down," said Marcus, as he held a squirming Baird. "Don't be such a fucking idiot."

"I didn't ask for anyone to come looking for me," retorted Baird, as he struggled against Marcus' grip.

"I'm just saying…" said Jace.

Anya shot him a dark look and he fell silent. Marcus was glad. He wasn't sure he'd have been able to hold Baird if Jace had continued. He gave a nod of his head in the direction of the tunnel, and Jace raised an eyebrow, but got the message and walked away. Occasionally Marcus forgot that Jace was the youngest of the extended members of Delta, and didn't always think before he opened his mouth.

"Hey, it's just a scratch, baby," said Cole, from the floor. "Slap a bandage on it and we'll be fine."

Baird shook off Marcus' hold. "Am I the only one on this island that understands just how screwed we'd be without our machines?"

"We'd be even more screwed without someone to fix them," said Marcus. "You can't take risks like that."

"Yeah, because that's all I am to you lot – the guy who fixes the stuff you break. And you know what, you might actually have something there. Fuck the lot of you. I've got a team to check on." Baird stormed off into the dimly lit tunnels to find the rest of the engineering team.

The sound of the storm raging outside was suddenly even louder than before, as the group fell silent.

"Are you going to go after him?" asked Anya.

Marcus exchanged a look with Cole, then shook his head. "He knows he should have been back on time. Partly that reaction was because he feels guilty. Give him some time to cool off."

The medic finished dealing with Cole's injury and the Gear got to his feet, gingerly. He limped over to join the others, leaning on the wall for support. Anya was less practiced at tending to injuries and was only just completing her ministrations to Marcus' wound after the earlier interruption.

"He just needs some sleep," said Cole. "You know he's been working non-stop on that Packhorse, and then getting ready for the storm. I don't think he's slept properly for a couple of days."

"More like a week," said Sam, who'd sauntered across, her own clipboard held nonchalantly between her fingers. She'd probably seem Baird storming away and come to see what all the fuss was about.

"A week?" asked Anya, confirming that she'd heard right, and that Sam hadn't been joking.

Sam nodded. "Give or take."

There was a general moment of realisation from Anya and Marcus, as they connected the dots and worked out that was why Baird was even more grouchy than usual.

"Shit," said Marcus.

"And lack of sleep tends to lead to bad decisions," said Anya.

"Yeah, he's an idiot, but he's our idiot," said Sam. "What are we going to do?"

All eyes rested on Marcus. He shrugged and then regretted it as it pulled on his newest wound, and Anya admonished him to stay still.

"What can we do? He's a grown man. I'm his squad leader not his mother," said Marcus.

"I know, Marcus, but he's going to make himself ill if he carries on like this," said Cole. "Delta looks after its own."

"Well, I can take him off duty for tonight," said Anya. "After that… I guess we'll just have to monitor the situation. I hate to say it, but he is right. We need him fixing things. If Sera's ever going to get back on its feet, we need every working scrap of technology that we have and the understanding of how to build more."

"Can we lighten his workload? Get some more guys over from the mainland?" asked Sam.

Anya just shook her head as she applied the last piece of tape to the dressing on Marcus' wound.

"They're already stretched at Anvil Gate. I expect their mechanics and engineers are in the same position," said Anya. "But I'll take a look at what Baird's got on at the moment, and make sure that he's only dealing with the essential repairs."

"He's not going to like you interfering in his workshop," said Cole.

"Tough, I'm his CO. He'll just have to deal with it. Anyway, I'll give him fifteen minutes to cool off. Then I'd better go and tell him to find a bunk and occupy it," said Anya. "He's too angry with you, Marcus, to actually do what you'd to tell him to do."

"You sure you wouldn't rather I took the bullet for the team?" asked Cole.

Anya shook her head, her short blonde hair briefly escaping across one eye before she shoved it back. "My turn. But you should get some sleep too. We'll all be on clean up duty tomorrow."

She headed off in Jace's direction, probably to mend fences there before she went over to the area that the engineering team had annexed for their group. Jace would listen to Anya. People respected her leadership after she'd got them through the first early weeks on Azura and made sure everyone was fed, clothed and warm.

Marcus was grateful to Anya for dealing with their mechanic. She was right about Baird's perverse streak. It meant he'd probably do exactly the opposite of whatever Marcus asked at the moment. Meanwhile they still had a tunnel full of Gears and civilians who were crammed together in close proximity and probably a little scared. He could already hear raised voices and he doubted they'd make it through the storm without more disagreements. This promised to be a long night.

Anya had nothing against Baird. He was just part of the package that came with Delta and he had helped save them all on a fair few occasions. That included making damaged Hammers of Dawn work, getting shot-up APCs running and bringing the remains of the Gorasni navy to Azura as reinforcements. He was probably the smartest person on the island at the moment, and also the most annoying.

She wasn't entirely certain how he felt about her, but his dislike of women serving as Gears was well known. Although, lately he seemed to have stopped making a big thing of it and she was actually wondering if perhaps he didn't quite believe it so much now. He'd chosen a woman as his second and she knew that was because she'd been the best mechanic out of the bunch. He'd also followed her own orders like he'd follow those of any Lieutenant, and she didn't take it personally when he was a little creative about it. He'd done exactly the same things to Marcus on several occasions. Baird was just Baird.

Smoothing Jace's ruffled feathers had been easy. Everyone knew that Baird had a temper, although most of them forgot how rarely he deployed it. Baird usually preferred sarcasm and razor sharp cutting remarks to losing his temper. Anyway, asking Jace to think before he spoke and giving him a few words of reassurance were enough. So, now she was looking for Baird.

As he'd said, she found him with the rest of his engineering team, going over some of the really delicate equipment that they'd decided to bring into the tunnels for safe keeping. He straightened up as she approached.

"What now, Lieutenant? Has Jace got some more insults that he wants to sling my way?"

Anya allowed herself a small sigh. "No, Corporal, I just came to tell you that you're off-duty until the storm's over. So your orders are to get some sleep. There'll be plenty of stuff for you to fix in the morning."

"Awesome," said Baird. "But right now I've got inventory to check."

"That wasn't a request, Baird," said Anya. "Go to bed before you collapse from exhaustion."

"Have you been talking to Cole?" asked Baird.

It sounded like a non-sequitur at first, but she thought she understood. "And a few other people. By all accounts you haven't slept in a proper bed for days. Do you know just how reckless that is?"

"I'm sure you're going to tell me," said Baird.

"Just find a bunk and get some rest, Baird," she said.

"I can't, I've got work to do," said Baird. "How many times do I have to explain this?"

"How many times do I have to order you to get some sleep?" asked Anya. "There's nothing that can't wait until morning. We're all stuck in here until the storm blows over. We've got enough food and water to last us for days. Nothing urgent is going to happen in the few hours it takes you to actually get some rest. Don't make me say it again. I can still have you sent to the guardhouse for insubordination and you'll get plenty of sleep there."

"You wouldn't," said Baird, but Anya could see the single moment in his eyes when he wavered in that belief.

"Try me," she replied.

Baird handed his tools to his second in command, Corporal Brennan, with the petulance of a five year old child. "Fine, you win."

"Good, I'll walk you to your bunk, Corporal Baird," said Anya, stepping away in the direction of the area that had been set up as temporary sleeping space.

"Okay, but people are going to talk if you're seen taking me to bed. And don't blame me when people start shouting about stuff still being broken in the morning," said Baird, trailing behind Anya.

"That's something else that we need to have a discussion about," said Anya. "If you can't even find time to sleep, then I'm worried that your workshop has too much on its plate. I think we need to cut back to essential repairs only."

"We're already only doing the important stuff," said Baird. "What do you think I've been doing all this time? Fixing broken toasters?"

"Honestly, I've got no idea, because you haven't briefed me. I assumed that you could manage your own workload, but apparently I need to be more proactive. So tomorrow, before we get into the clean-up, you're going to tell me what you've got on your books to repair and what the priorities are. Then we'll see where we go from there. I'll see you in my office at oh nine hundred. Don't be late or I'll send Marcus and Cole to find you again."

They threaded their way through the groups of people, most of whom were sat around chatting, others were sleeping or tucking into ration packs.

Baird rolled his eyes. "Sure, whatever. Shit, when did you start channelling your mother?"

"If I was my mother then she'd probably have thrown you in the guardhouse weeks ago. I'm told I'm a lot more tolerant than she ever was," said Anya.

They reached the first side tunnel which contained two long rows of camp beds, one down each wall. They'd found them in Azura's stores. Whoever had equipped Azura had made sure that every eventuality was considered and taken care of. The island base still had rooms of stores that they hadn't opened up yet and promised to hold things that were even more useful than eight dozen camp beds.

Cole was waiting at Baird's assigned section, and his and Baird's kit bags already lay on their beds. Cole was sat on top of his blankets with his bad leg propped up on a three legged stool, thumbing through a very old copy of Thrashball Weekly that someone had found in one of the accommodation blocks. It had an article in it about the Cougars, so it had naturally found its way to Cole.

"Still reading that?" asked Baird.

"Nothing better to do," replied Cole.

"I guess they must say some good stuff about you?" asked Baird, flopping down on his own cot.

"They're fair," replied Cole. He looked up at the Lieutenant. "Thanks, Anya. I'll make sure he stays put."

"This is a bunch of crap," said Baird, lying back, shuffling to get comfortable and then staring up at the tunnel roof.

"It's a hell of a lot more comfortable than your desk in the workshop," replied Cole.

"That wasn't what I meant," replied Baird. "I meant being escorted to my bunk and then given my own personal guard. I'm not some little kid with a bedtime."

"Yeah, I'm sure your ego's suffering something chronic," quipped Cole. "Then again you're acting like a child, so can't complain if you get treated like one."

Anya caught Cole's eye briefly. They both knew that this was a temporary solution and they needed to get to the bottom of why Baird was running himself into the ground before they could solve the problem. For tonight, this was the best they could manage.

"I'll leave you to it," said Anya, and walked away to the sounds of Cole and Baird's continuing banter.

When the morning arrived, the storm had blown itself down to a normal windy day. The sky was still a stormy grey, but the darkest clouds had dissipated and most of the energy had gone from the air.

Cole noted that it was the first day of Bloom, and traditionally that marked the start of the summer months on Sera. It also meant that All-Father's Day was nearly upon them, a day which had once been a time for pageantry and celebrations within the COG, but now barely got remembered. Celebrating the formation of the COG hardly seemed worthwhile when only a mere remnant still existed. However, Anya had been organising a special meal for weeks and an evening of entertainment, with the idea that everyone could use a morale boost. Cole wasn't sure if they'd still manage it with all the damage from the storm to deal with, but Anya seemed very determined that it was still going ahead.

Inside the tunnels, Baird had slept the sleep of the blissful dead for the full night. It was an indication of just how tired Cole's friend was. Like almost every Gear on the island, Baird normally slept shallowly. Years of war tended to mean you got good at waking quickly and paying attention to the sounds of danger approaching even when asleep. It also meant you had your fair share of horror stories to relive in the dark hours of a dream-filled night. Cole was no different, although he slept more deeply than some.

This morning Cole ended up waking Baird, and hated himself for doing it. He'd have liked nothing better than to let the sleep-deprived mechanic snooze through the day, but they needed to pack away the equipment in the tunnels and someone had to start surveying the damage. Baird awoke with a start, and immediately reached for a weapon that wasn't there. None of them carried their lancers anymore, unless they were actually on guard duty.

"Damn it," swore Baird, as he got upright. "What time is it?"

"Gone eight," replied Cole.

"Shit. Anya's expecting me in her office at nine with a report on the repairs," said Baird.

"Yeah, which gives us plenty of time to get ourselves down to the mess hall for breakfast, and I'm not trying to get personal here, but one of us really needs a shower and it isn't me," said Cole.

Baird pulled at his t-shirt and gave it a sniff, waving a hand at Cole to suggest he thought it wasn't that bad. Cole sighed. Baird was still covered in grime and engine oil from last night's excursions.

"Anya's gonna freak if you turn up in her office looking like that," added Cole.

"Screw Anya," replied Baird, stretching and getting to his feet. "But maybe you're right, I could use some clean clothes. Come on, we'll swing by the workshop on the way to the mess hall."

The two Gears headed out of the tunnels and into the grey light of the morning. Baird looked around them. Everywhere they looked there were damaged buildings and storm debris strewn across the streets. Azura was a mess and crews of Gears had only just begun the clean-up operation.

"Great. All that work we put in getting this place back on its feet, undone in one night. The communications dish is going to be at least a week's work to replace," said Baird.

He walked down the street to the twisted metal that was the remains of the dish, and began to examine the broken pieces.

"I'm going to need to get up on the roof and see what's happened to the wiring," said Baird, as he poked at the pile of rubble.

"Yeah, that's not happening until we've checked the building structure and put the scaffolding up," said Cole. "Anyway, you'll have plenty of stuff to keep you busy while the building crews get to work."

"Don't I know it. Assuming Anya stops pretending to be my Mom for long enough to let me get some work done," said Baird.

"You have been overdoing things lately. You can't keep burning the candle at both ends and expect that brain of yours to keep working at its best," said Cole.

"Yeah, yeah. If I wasn't the resident genius of Azura, no one would give a shit," said Baird, moving down the road towards his workshop.

"I'm going to forget you said that, because you know it ain't true," replied Cole.

"Really?" asked Baird. "Okay, for some reason that I've never figured out, you seem to like my company, but everyone else on this island… Basically they just want me for my brains, which I can't really blame them for given my unique charisma."

"You do remember Marcus hauling your ass across Tyrus to Jacinto after Tarla Plain?"

"I prefer to forget that," said Baird. "What with, you know, the major surgery at the beginning of that little excursion, the constant, blinding pain in the middle and, oh yeah, the stay in the intensive care unit at the end." Baird kicked at a piece of rubble.

Cole winced inwardly. He didn't particularly like remembering it either, especially exactly how close they'd come to losing Baird, but it was worth it to make the point he needed. Still, he'd happily never see Baird lying in a hospital bed again. However, as usual, Baird had missed what he was trying to say completely.

"But you know that was just because Marcus always has to be the hero," added Baird.

Cole shook his head. "For a genius, you're pretty dumb. Marcus isn't like that."

"Yeah?" said Baird, as he continued on towards his workshop. "Could have fooled me. He's always acting like he has to save everyone. Even now when the worst we have to worry about is a broken communications dish."

"Hey, he kind of did save everyone," Cole pointed out. "And that bitch Locust Queen had it coming."

"Sure, ruin my rant by bringing up the truth," said Baird, stomping through the courtyard outside his workshop. "But you know that Marcus loves the big damn hero routine, otherwise he wouldn't have risked his life last night to come find me."

"Just as well he did, or you'd be a greasy spot underneath a communications dish," said Cole.

"You have a short memory. I'm not the one limping," replied Baird. "And I didn't need you lot running out there to rescue me. I can look after myself."

"Then you should have come back to base with the rest of your team," said Cole, getting fed up with Baird's prevarication. "Why's it so hard for you to just let people help you?"

"Because help isn't free," said Baird, "someone always wants something in return," and with that he strode off into his workshop.

Cole was inclined to leave him to it. When Baird was in a mood like this then there was no talking to him.

"I'll see you in the mess hall," he shouted through the door at Baird's retreating figure, and was rewarded by a dismissive wave.

Cole sighed, he was used to Baird after years of being his friend, but something was different now. Ever since they'd set up home on Azura, Baird had struggled with doing anything other than working. Everyone was having a hard time adjusting to post-war Sera, because it would have been impossible not to, after living life as a soldier for so long. Gears tended to reach for a weapon at the slightest provocation, but with no enemy to shoot that wasn't a terribly useful instinct anymore so had to be suppressed or channelled into other things. Cole didn't think that was Baird's problem though, or, at least, not all of it.

Cole himself still had an uncomfortable feeling that staying in one place would get them all killed, but the grubs were gone and he knew it was just his mind playing tricks. The worst they'd had to deal with had been the storm, and everyone was safe and accounted for after it. Azura was home now and probably would be for years to come. Maybe Baird just needed more time to get to grips with the new Sera and he'd come round soon. Cole could hope.