Over the course of a month, little was gained in the deliberations between those siding with Anton and those still supporting Janos. The war was only growing worse for Anton's rebellion despite the inclusion of the mysterious Wolf's Dragoons. The precarious nature of the ordeal, however, only furthered Major Alexandros's resolution that committing the Blackthornes Dragoons could not only turn the tide back in Anton's favor, but also grant him access to new systems through BTD's recent goodwill ventures.
One incident that none could have foreseen would put any chance of the Blackthornes ever joining Anton out of reach, however. It began with sacking of the new supply camp being set up on Aspropirgos. The remaining company, under command of Captain Clevin, had landed on the planet with the intention to resupply before continuing their patrols, unaware the camp had already been infiltrated by planetary forces. The government of Aspropirgos had hoped to capture as much equipment as possible to defend themselves once they declared the planet a free state, hoping to return to the Magistracy of Canopus. Captain Clevin's ship had arrived on planet first with only his command lance believing he had only to finalize the agreement before requesting the remaining ships to land. As soon as the bay doors began to open, however, multiple RPGs were launched into the opening in a surprise assault as troops rushed the dropship. To their dismay, three of the four mechwarriors had survived and were already strapped into their mechs, albeit with the intent to showcase them rather than fight. Captain Clevin got off the order to waive off the rest of the incoming ships before he and his remaining lancemates turned on their attackers. The resulting fight would last a full day before all three mechs were brought down with no survivors. A parting shot from First Lieutenant Jiggetts made sure that there would be little equipment recovered for the government as well.
Honing his anger over the loss of his friend, and knowing that many of the corps felt much the same as well as embarrassment for being surprised in this manner, Colonel Sley called a final meeting between the two factions where he would lay this latest loss at both their feet, pointing out that it was their bickering and refusal to focus on the mission at hand that had forced them to weaken their forces so much in the region that someone would actually dare to raid them for once. The Heart Guard, along with many of those that had sided with Kearny's Ravagers, agreed they felt ashamed over the loss and placed the ruling with Colonel Sley. With only Major Alexandros and his closest supporters remaining, disaster appeared to be averted until a communique was received with the sudden and horrifying revelation that the Major had left the planet with his forces in tow, making their way toward the former base on Salur before moving on to join Anton's Rebellion.
Though he had withheld his emotions until that point, Colonel Sley's rage finally revealed itself as he announced that they would only enter this 'Marik Civil War' long enough to remove Kearny's Ravagers from it, and then deal with Aspropirgos directly for their duplicity. On January 22, 3015 Blackthornes Dragoons entered into the system they had briefly called home. Though initially outraged by the turn of events, Duke Halas allowed the Blackthornes to deal with the situation themselves, as he could not afford to send anyone in time to prevent the forces from joining the Rebellion otherwise.
