Madison
A week have passed without any exciting events, Garret or maybe I should call him Commander Sebastian again and Lieutenant St Anthony insisted on intensifying training and spent the rest of their time counselling with other officers and even my mother about available ways to secure and defend western chapterhouse.
I was assigned to helping Peter with assessment of our digital security and what improvements were needed there. So we spent days mapping remaining security cameras, doors locking systems, and even a radar.
Garret have not approached me and I started to accept, that this was how things were between us. That there was nothing between us.
Peter was just removing one of the offline cams and I waited patiently, he was better with hardware. I got quite a hang of it when I was little, we would sit for hours in his office and fix graphic cards on old computers, but this have stopped. Once I hit my teens and discovered nail polish, few things were important enough for me to be willing to ruin my manicure. I was just admiring my new orange nails with intricate blue designs of fern on each index finger, when a shadow fell upon me and my hands. I looked up and met blue gaze of Lieutenant St Anthony.
"Lieutenant Mitchell, Madison, Commander Sebastian and Commander Knight want to talk to you in command center." He said neutrally but I felt faint stab of something when our eyes met. He quickly looked away and left after getting a nod from Peter.
Peter crawled down the ladder with the camera under his arm, he shook the ladder with one hand to fold it and laid it down on the dusty ground. "We better not keep your dad waiting with the young Commander." He said and strolled towards the bunker. I got up from a step I was sitting on and followed him quickly.

Inside my dad and Commander Sebastian were standing behind the table with my mother between them. Lieutenant Ward and Lieutenant St Anthony were there too and when we entered the last one closed the doors behind us.
"You may sit down." Garret said and my dad scowled at him but checked himself just in time. "I have received a warning from Riley. We can no longer trust Ember and Talon." My father looked momentarily stunned but quickly schooled his expression, Lieutenant Ward snorted, St Anthony just sat down with grim expression and seemed to know the news beforehand.
"We need a plan to make this base secure and defensible as soon as possible. That's why you are here." Garret finished.
"What kind of warning?" My father demanded. "We are during negotiations, should these be aborted?" He asked sternly.
"No." Was Garret's answer. "It was a very vague warning from an old friend. But it would be irresponsible of me to ignore it. We are few and the base is exposed. As a Commander responsible for lives of soldiers here I must plan for a possibility of an atrack. So I want to hear you out. Let's say another Night of Fang and Fire is about to happen. What would be the best thing to do?" He said and sat down himself before continuing. "First question is, should we stay here, or should we leave the base, maybe even scatter?"

I was dozing in my chair, the discussion that ensued was long and I was surprised to see my father sabotaging it with pettiness towards Garret, insisting on hearing the warning exactly and so on.
Then Lieutenant Ward and St Anthony reported about base's state, soldiers readiness and things that could be done to improve these.
My mother gave a report about our medical supplies and what she could do with help of two young paramedics, who were all the medical personnel the Order had left on this side of the ocean.
At last Garret's steely gaze stopped on me. "And what about our security and communication systems?" He asked Peter.
"They are hardly even damaged. Besides that most of the cameras got torn down from their posts, the system is complete and we could have it up and running in no time." Peter said and Commander looked at me again. "Madison I need you to help Lieutenant Mitchell secure this base. A timely warning could be a question of life and death for us. Can I trust you to do your best to do that?" He said and I could feel hot blush blooming on my cheeks. This was extremely humiliating that he questioned my loyalty in front of all the other officers. I decided it will be best to not show that the blow has landed.
"Of course Commander, I am serving the Order the best I can." I answered seriously.
"But you are not a soldier, not even a sworn employee like your mother. And right now there's little place for half-hearted attempts." He said.
"I understand." It hurt, but I was a daughter of the Order of St George I knew its ways and my place.

Plans for improvements, defence strategies and more followed until another big question occurred. How were we going to pay for things we needed to buy?
"I have received one million dollars as a gift... from Ember. We will use these until we get payment from Talon or have restored the trove and channels of supply in it." He said and nobody dared to comment about it. Planing resumed.

It was late evening when we finally got dismissed. Joseph brought us sandwiches and coffee for lunch and supper. I made an overview of the communication system that was required, to support the strategy of security and defence, that Commanders agreed upon after much discussion, listed all the supplies required and made a timeline for the required work. At last I concluded, that depending on getting supplies, we would have the primary system ready within few weeks and secondary within two months. Then we should have infra-red cameras scanning the desert around the base and a radar picking up any movement in the air. We would all be able to communicate through secure encrypted channels during eventual battle and different zones within the base and armory would open, close and trap intruders on remote command.
I was exhausted and rose to leave when Commander Sebastian turned to my father.
"Commander Knight, I'd like to have a word with you Mrs Knight and Madison." I sat down again unease adding to exhaustion. We waited for others to leave. Lieutenant St Anthony left as the last and closed the doors behind him.
"Madison have told me, that she was supposed to start college but delayed those plans due to lack of funds. I now have means to pay you your yearly salary in advance, so that Madison can go to college and be safe, away from St George and Talon." I sat stunned, my cheeks burning. My father rose one brow, very dangerous sign.
"And why would you care about Madison's education?" He asked icily. "How dare you offer me charity in front of my family pup?" He continued and my mother looked up alarmed.
"Maybe we should consider Commander's generous offer. What do you say Madison?"
What would I say?! It was a very fortunate turn of events, but all I could think of was that Garret wanted me gone so much, he would pay his last money for that. "I cannot see how we could accept this offer, when others are in need, Chris stays here..."
"Chris will be discharged and receive a conto of Talon's compensation until it is paid." Garret interrupted quickly. "This can get messy, I only want soldiers, who are fit for fight and know what they are going into in this Order, enough collateral." He said and as if reading my mind he added. "Think about it Madison. You are free to leave and you have a future outside of this, whatever we have become." Then he turned to my father. "I will pretend I didn't hear you Commander, please think about my offer. Goodnight." And he rose and left leaving it to us to "turn off the lights".
I felt like crying. I wanted to cry because some boy didn't like me. I avoided my father's eyes as we retired to our apartment.
I laid down in my narrow bed but couldn't sleep. What should I do? Before, even Josh didn't disturb my resolution about college. Now my heart felt heavy when I thought about leaving. And why? Because of Garret, who didn't want me here.

In the end it was my father's pride that has decided. He doubted in Riley's warning and preferred not to be "indebted" to Commander Sebastian.
Yet still I learned a lot working with Peter, developing and securing base's IT systems. Days passed by fast. My father was busy drilling new strategies into soldiers, ordering supplies.
Strangely, even though he declined Garret's offer, some if his enmity dissipated. As if he accepted, that Garret cared about me and therefore was worthy to lead. I kept it to myself what have transpired between me and the young Commander.
Lieutenant St Anthony helped us sometimes with Joseph and I liked him very much. He had a way of being, that made him easy to be around.
He told me whatever I wanted to hear about dragons, how he and others rescued dragonells from Talon's breeding facility. How he rode Riley to steal some powerful weapon from a train. And then again, on another dragon Mist, during the attack on an underground vessels facility. I loved to hear about it. Flying on a back of a dragon set my imagination aflame. Proximity of the powerful and dangerous creature, exhilaration of flying, I secretly dreamt about experiencing this myself sometime.
Lieutenant St Anthony was to visit an adult dragonell soon and was she not a viper and not exactly our friend, I would beg him to let me come too.