Promoted?

Nodding his head quickly Joseph complied with the order. Doing the same for General Rose that he did for Gamba, Slowly flipping through the pages to allow her sufficient time to read and understand all the information.

There was no outward reaction from Rose as she finished perusing Josephs abilities, her face was set in a serene calm as she thought about what to do. A few moment's go by before she asks.

"Who all have you shown this too?"

"Only three people ma'am, Aden, Lt. Col. Gamba, and you."

Nodding her head as if she understood everything she continued. "And I imagine that the only reason you showed Lt. Col. Gamba was to force a meeting with me yes?"

"Yes" was the quick reply.

"Would I also be correct in assuming that you forced this meeting in an attempt to win some sort of backing, to ward of either current or future troubles? Say an attempted kidnapping or murder?"

'She's scary!' This was Joseph's initial reaction to the fact that she was able to deduce so much from so little. He found it rather comforting though as it meant she was likely to see through any subterfuge used by whomever was coming after him.

"That is correct ma'am, my guardian Aden sent me away into the woods after an attempt was made to kidnap me. I awoke in the forest south east of hear and traveled for several days to reach a recruitment post. After enlisting I was taken to Lt. Col. Gambas office where I revealed myself upon the condition that he would grant me a meeting with you, if my information proved worth it."

"I understand." That was all that she said before she sat in silence for several uncomfortable minutes. Joseph knew that she was deciding exactly what to do about him, and that any kind of interruption he made may negatively effect the outcome. So he sat, and waited, meanwhile the anxiety demons in his head were constructing various ways in which this situation devolved and ultimately led to his death...thank you brain demons! not.

It was at the point when his brain demons had him strapped to a table being drained of his blood, when the general suddenly stood from her seat and extended her hand towards Joseph.

Unthinkingly Joseph took it, the smooth warm skin calmed his nerves and the firm grip gave him a sense of security that he had been lacking of late.

"Worry not, Captain Thornwood. I will make sure no one knows your here." A gentle smile graced Rose's face as she addressed Joseph, causing the poor young mans heart to attempt the river dance. But at this moment of elation Joseph's mind caught onto one particular change in his title, 'Captain?'

"Excuse me ma'am but what do you mean captain?"

She chuckled lightly as she sat back down withdrawing her hand. "What I mean is you are being remanded to a new unit, the 13 Rose buds."

Gamba's jaw hit the floor while Joseph was just confused, the contrast between their expressions caused Rose to laugh which was rather distracting to Joseph but he held on.

"The 13 are a special ops unit under my direct control, even more covert than the original unit you were going to be assigned to. Especially given the fact that each member is considered a tactical weapon rather than personnel."

Joseph was thoroughly confused, how would individual soldiers be classified as anything other than personnel? His confusion didn't last long as the general continued to explain, Joseph decided to hold his thoughts and questions until she finished.

"What I mean by that is each member is typically unique in so many ways that it wouldn't be accurate to simply add them to the total personnel assigned to any given mission. They are the lynchpins of the mission, no amount of personnel could replace them, just like a nuke could never be replaced by smaller conventional bombs."

"So your saying that I am being classified as some kind of WMD?"

"Better, actually." She replied faintly smiling at Josephs continued struggles to come to grips with his circumstances. "It is fair to say that you will be the nuke that ends the war, even if your only an E grade now the potential you bear is beyond anything any other blessed could hope to come close to. You have no idea what your really capable of, not even I as a max level S grade can sense the true depths of your potential which is both thrilling, and terrifying."

She let that statement rest for a few moments allowing Joseph to comprehend the message. He was beyond valuable, the whole of the northwestern border army couldn't compare to what he could do given time. And the general was fully committed to giving him the time he needed to grow.

"Be that as it may I promoted you to captain, freeing you from many of the mundane activities that are required of lower ranked officers. Instead you will be spending your time delving, and in combat training with me. A dull sword is useless in the war we are fighting."

Joseph understood now why the change. He was being given exactly what he wanted, time to grow. He couldn't help but feel a great swell of gratitude towards the general for her considerations.

"Now, Captain." She snapped back into her professional demeanor, indicating that what was to follow would be orders not suggestions. "You will report to the D grade operations base due west of here. There are three D grade towers that we have established a base around and routinely receive resources from. The previous captain regrettably perished on the front 6 months ago, as such you will be given command of the post and delve those towers a minimum of 2 times a week each. The loot will be packaged and sent back here to headquarters at the end of every Saturday. What you do outside of your delving runs is up to you, but once per week on Monday nights you will report to me here for sparing."

The tone in her voice brooked no argument, it was clear that she meant what she said and expected to be obeyed to the letter. As most of what she said lined up with his overall goals he really didn't mind. The part about taking over command was a bit iffy but he would deal with that as it came.

Raising himself to attention Joseph snapped a salute saying. "Ma'am Yes Ma'am!"

"Good." Came the reply followed by a soft smile, "I know that I am kind of throwing you to the wolves here, but after what I have seen I think it would be more accurate to say I am throwing the wolves to you."

Joseph didn't know what to say exactly so he simply did an about face and exited the room, Gamba followed quickly behind they both having been dismissed at the same time. They walked together silently back to Gamba's car, when they got in Joseph asked. "How do I get to the western camp?"

"Don't worry about it Captain." Gamba pulled out a phone from his breast pocket and quickly dialed a random number. It rang only twice before someone picked up.

"Triple D base camp logistics team this is Sergeant Cole."

"Yes, this is Lt. Col. Gamba I have your new CO Captain Thornwood with me and I need you to send someone to come get him."

There was a brief pause on the line as Sergeant Cole could be heard shouting orders at whomever was near him. 

"Not a problem sir, we will have an escort for him waiting at headquarters within the hour."

"Good work. Click!" Gamba abruptly disconnected the phone having completed his objective. "There will be a convoy for you arriving in about 40 minutes, please feel free to wait either here or in the canteen that is just across the road. Show them your ID and you will be able to eat for free."

"Thank you." Joseph said sincerely, he hadn't had a decent meal in a while and was looking forward to what they had to offer him.

Fortunately for him it didn't matter if he had his Captain ID or the Lieutenant one, both could eat for free so he was fine. Crossing the street and stepping into the single story building he was blown away by how many options they had. Any thing you could think of from barbeque to Italian was available, with full time chefs churning out meal after meal for the warfighters. These occupations were mostly staffed with F grade delvers who lacked fighting abilities, but they made up for it with their willingness to do what they could do to help.

Joseph could feel his mouth start to water as the thick savory aromas assaulted his senses, he was practically drug by his nose towards a steak house nestled into the left side of the building. Once he arrived the only thing he could think was, "Lets eat!"