Poppy’s grip tightened around me, and I could feel her trembling increase the further she got into her story. I honestly couldn’t blame her for being shaken as she recalled and told me the events of the day of the Leeds Incursion. I couldn’t see her face as she held me from behind for comfort, but her voice was raw with emotion. At first, I thought it might be because that was the day she lost the only family she had left, but it was more than that.

There were traumas there that she didn’t like to revisit, a far too common story among Altered who had survived Incursions. I was told that there were plenty of second generation Altered out there, in a few years Vanguard University would probably start getting some as students, but they didn’t have the baggage that those of us who became Altered during Incursions have. They’re born Altered, they grow up with it being normal for them, and they’ve grown up here in Amethyst Harbour, so they’ve never had to face the destruction, lives lost, and the fear of death or capture by the Titans.

From my limited experience with other Altered, those memories left a lot of us newly Altered people with one of three options. The first is to try to completely detach from that new reality and hide from it somewhere deep inside your mind, like my sister did at first while she was in the hospital. The second option is to bottle up all those emotions, and the memories associated with them, until you eventually go crazy or get a therapist. The final option that I was aware of wasn’t much different from the second, to bury the past, try and forget about all the trauma, adjust to your new reality, and set goals for the future to keep yourself on track… and maybe get a therapist if the trauma doesn’t want to stay buried.

The third option was what I was doing, and I was pretty sure that was what Poppy and Ainslee were doing as well. So, purposely digging up all that buried trauma was painful for my girlfriend, her voice was choked with tears, and nearly gave out several times during her story. As much as I wanted to hold and comfort her, she continued to hold me close from behind as if afraid to let go.

I couldn’t blame her for being so shaken by the time her story was finished. I couldn’t imagine what it was like for her, running through the city and trying to keep ahead of the Titans while guiding another girl, especially after that girl lost her sight and seemingly became dependent on her for getting her to safety. Then to be buried alive and having to watch Lindsey inch closer toward death after likely saving her life, listening to her last words, and sharing their first and only kiss under such circumstances until her cocoon began to manifest.

As much as I could tell that the events weighed on her heart, and her hesitation was clear in her raspy voice and staggered breathing, she had a reason for telling me all this. Lindsey was an Oracle, and she needed to tell me the whole story before I could be expected to believe that. The truth of the tale was apparent in the pain in her voice as she told it, and the haunted look when she was finally done, and I turned around to hold her as she had been holding me during the telling. She wouldn’t make this up, and it sounded like Lindsey, despite being blind, had saved her life twice while they were running, once from the attack that they had avoided by stepping into an alley at Lindsey’s warning, and again when she pushed Poppy out of the way of the collapsing ceiling of the tunnel.

If she really was an Oracle and saw Poppy’s future, then I was relatively certain Poppy would only bring this up if there was something important in her predictions. She didn’t just make predictions though, she made accurate predictions, about me and Poppy getting together, me being reunited with my sister and Ainslee, and even about Karen joining our group. They were vague, but at the same time, spot-on enough that it gave credence to her abilities.

And then she told me the important part, the part that Lindsey told her to remember no matter what. The part that made my heart nearly explode in my chest from anticipation, fear, and shock. Lindsey gave Poppy the time, date, and location for an Incursion, and told her that it was our chance to change everything. Rust Ridge Australia at 16:37 on Saturday, October 26th, 2041. That was around two and a half months away.

That was a lot to process. Even the next morning, I found myself trying to come to grips with that information as I went through my morning routine and ate breakfast with the family. This news, if accurate, would allow us to know the exact time and place of an Incursion in advance. Instead of reacting and responding late with whatever Vanguard forces could arrive fastest, we could act.

So many possibilities were running through my mind at that. We could evacuate the town well beforehand and set up an ambush for the Titans, we could take the fight to them for once, and most importantly, we could mount an operation to get inside the Breach so Kelly and I could rescue our mom and other people still being held there and treated like Kelly was. My heart was practically vibrating in my tiny chest at the possibility.

I needed to report this to Vice-Commander Carpenter, and probably take Poppy with me when I did, in case she didn’t believe me and wanted to see Poppy’s memories to verify that she was telling the truth about what happened that day. So, with that in mind, while the others waited in Karen’s room and organized our camping gear, Poppy and I headed to the office of the Vice-Commander. Unfortunately, the VC was not in her office when we arrived.

“Sorry, Cadet Major, I’m afraid that both Vice-Commander Carpenter and Commander-General Kline are both very busy this morning and won’t be able to see you,” her secretary informed me.

As much as I would have liked to talk to one of them then and there, I knew how busy they both were with running both the Vanguard and the city. I sighed and tried to mentally shrug it off as I replied, “I understand, thanks for letting me know, Pauleen. When the Vice-Commander is free, could you please tell her that Cadet Lancaster and I have some important information to share with her when we’re back from our trip?”

“Of course, would you like me to make an appointment for you on Monday, say… Right after lunch?”

It was probably the best I was going to get if she and the Commander General were both busy and we were going to be occupied for the weekend. Unless, of course, Davenport made his move fairly early, and we had to deliver him for a hearing. In which case, I could hopefully talk to her and the Commander General afterward. So, I agreed, “That sounds good, Pauleen, thanks. The information is really important, but it’s not critical yet.”

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Karen grouched as she, Ainslee, and Kelly loaded our camping gear and supplies into the cargo space on her hover-jet. It was hard to tell if she was honestly complaining, or just putting on her usual act, but either way, her reluctance would at least be believable for anyone watching us.

“I thought you’d at least be happy they’re letting you out of the tower for a bit for this team-building trip,” Kelly replied equally grouchily. I knew that she was just acting, though, now that she was trying to give Karen a chance and knew the details of why we were going on this trip.

“I am happy to get out of the tower,” Karen practically growled in response. “I’m just realizing now that it means I have to spend three days with the four of you.” Okay I was pretty sure the act was for anyone who might be watching now, because she said four of us when she knew Moonlight would be around too, though she would be staying ethereal most of the time to watch our backs.

When I found out that Karen had her own hover-jet yesterday during our talk, I decided that we should use it for this trip rather than try to requisition one from the motor pool. If her hover-jet was recognizable, then I felt it would get the attention of anyone watching the tower for signs of Karen leaving. When she used her comm implant to remotely pilot it to the tower and I got my first look at it, I was glad that I did.

Karen’s hover-jet was one of those deluxe luxury models that only the wealthy can afford, something that her aunt and uncle had ‘encouraged’ her to buy before she kicked them to the curb. It was a dark metallic purple in color that I hadn’t seen on other hover-jets and was very sleek and expensive-looking. Yeah, this vehicle showing up was definitely going to get the attention of anyone watching for Karen.

“It’s too late to back out now,” I told the Dark Elf cheerfully as they worked. “We’re all going to have so much fun while we get to know each other better.”

Ugh. I wasn’t good at this whole false cheer thing, and it made me sound like an airhead. Poppy was the cheerful one in our group, or at least she usually tried to be, but digging through those bad memories last night made her uncharacteristically withdrawn and quiet today. I wrapped my arm around my girlfriend and held her close while we watched the big people pack to let her know I was there for her.

They were taking their sweet time loading the hover-jet. That was more by design than from any fault assigned to Ainslee, Kelly, or Karen though since I wanted to make sure that whoever was watching the tower for Alistair Davenport had plenty of time to spot the vehicle and Karen. After all, nobody was going to walk into our honey trap if they didn’t know about the bait. Finally, they packed up the last of the gear and Ainslee folded up the small hover-dolley to load that inside as well.

With everything packed up, we all climbed into the hover-jet, and once the doors were closed and the autopilot was set to take us to our destination, we were free to drop the act. Karen practically collapsed into the driver’s seat as soon as we were hidden behind the tinted windows. “Second thoughts?” Ainslee asked her as the rest of us settled in.

“No…” Karen replied breathily, almost too quietly to hear. Still, I could hear a tremor in her voice, and I thought she was going to leave it at that, but a moment later she took a deep breath and said somewhat louder and with more confidence, “No. If he’s as bad as Lily told me and he’s after me…” She took another deep breath to steady herself. “If we can stop him now, before he can hurt anyone else, then we should.”

“That’s right, think of the girls we’ll be protecting from him,” Poppy encouraged as she and I sank into one of the soft and comfy seats. Poppy and I both had our voice projection apps on so we could communicate without having to be right up close to the others.

I couldn’t see Karen’s face at the moment, but her voice spoke volumes. It was still breathy and tremulous as she agreed. “Yeah, we can do this, and he’s not going to hurt anyone again.” She sounded scared and worried, and I honestly couldn’t blame her for that given that she was the bait for this trap. It was probably the most emotionally vulnerable she had been around us since we met, and I hoped that meant that she was going to start letting us in. So, of course, that was when she hastily added, “This doesn’t mean that we’re friends or anything.”

“Of course, it doesn’t,” my sister agreed in a tone that I just knew meant she was currently rolling her eyes.

We were just reaching the city limits, and halfway to our destination, when Ainslee announced, “Looks like someone is taking the bait, we’re being followed.” She had been carefully watching a hologram being projected from her comm ring since we left the tower and was currently frowning.

“Are you sure, Honey?” my sister asked, looking behind her. I doubted that she would be able to see anything through the tiny rear window, though.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” the Baobhan Sith replied with a grim tone in her voice. “I’m patched into the vehicle’s rear camera. There’s a hover-bike back there keeping pace with us, just barely in sight. It’s been trailing us since just after we left Vanguard Tower, and I seriously doubt that whoever’s riding that is leaving the city for a camping trip at ten-thirty on a Friday morning on a sport bike. Those things have no cargo space, and if he was out to feel the wind on his face, he’d be pushing that bike to its limits and would have passed us a long time ago, but he’s been matching our speed.”

“Well, at least we know someone is taking the bait,” I said thoughtfully as I flitted forward to look at the hologram. There wasn’t much traffic leaving the city with it being a Friday morning, and yet, there was indeed a hover-bike following our course and staying barely in visual range of the rear camera. If this wasn’t a luxury model hover-jet with all the bells and whistles, I doubted that the rear cameras would even have the range to detect our tail. “That’s him?” I asked, pointing out the small vehicle in the holo-image.

“Yeah, that’s our guy,” Ainslee agreed with a grunt. “I saw him start following us just after we left the tower and I got suspicious when he kept slow to let us get some distance before pacing us when we got just far enough ahead that he could keep us in sight. So, what’s the plan, Lily?”

I considered it for a moment as I kept my eyes on the holo-image. This guy would probably either report to his boss and then wait near our landing site for him to be sure we didn’t leave before he could arrive, or he would drop some sort of GPS beacon so he could easily find his way back. Of the two options, the first seemed the most likely.

If he did stay, he probably wouldn’t follow us immediately, at least not very closely, and risk us sensing him. With so many Fae in our group, following us too closely would be a big mistake since Fae generally have very good senses, and Kelly’s hearing and sense of smell were even better as a Huli Jing. If he wasn’t stupid, he would probably want to let us make some distance first before he followed our trail or possibly wait for his boss and backup since he would know we weren’t going anywhere by keeping an eye on our vehicle.

“When we get to the location, we gather our gear, start hiking, find a good camping spot, and then start setting up camp as if there is nothing wrong. If my guess is right, our tail will try to find out the general direction we’re going in before he reports to his boss, so let’s leave a trail that will be easy, but not too easy, to follow,” I announced after thinking it through.

Ten minutes later, Karen took over manual control of her vehicle and brought us in for a landing at an empty landing pad at the edge of the Vanguard-owned wilderness preserve and training area. There were no signs to announce what the area was, and I felt some relief at that since I would rather Davenport and his minions didn’t know that this was a survival training area. If they thought this area had any direct links to the Vanguard, they could get spooked and not take the bait.

As soon as we landed, we all got out of the vehicle and started to load our gear on the collapsible hover-dolley that we had brought with us to make things easier. Otherwise, we would have had to make several trips back and forth after finding a campsite that worked for us. Not only would that be super annoying for those of us doing the heavy lifting, but it would risk spotting whoever was following us and scaring them off. That was why we had made it obvious that we were using the dolley when we brought our gear out to the vehicle from the tower, though it helped that it saved us several trips as well.

Once we were done and our gear was all strapped down, I sent Moonlight to scout the area ahead on the first trail we found. Poppy and I kept close to the others to avoid any predators or birds that might want to make a meal out of us, and my sister offered to haul the hover-dolley. As we started out on the trail, I set my comm crown to the secure channel that I had been told to use while we were on this trip, started the encryption program, and had the others do the same with their own comm devices.

“Overwatch one and two, this is Honeypot,” I announced to the teams who were hopefully already on site and listening. “We’ve arrived, and we’re good to go. Enemy scout incoming, they’ll probably close in and land once they think we’re well out of sight.”

A woman’s voice immediately replied, “Overwatch One here, we read you loud and clear and have eyes on you. If you keep following that trail, you should find a nice spot to set up camp on the shore of the lake about an hour’s hike away.”

“Overwatch Two, reporting,” another voice, this one a deep baritone, announced. “We spotted you making a landing and have eyes on your tail. He’s hovering just above the treetops and waiting. You ladies try to have some fun; we’ll keep our eyes on the enemy, and let you know when trouble’s gonna come calling.”

“Yes, fun, because that’s what this trip is about,” Karen muttered as she nervously wrung her hands.

I landed on the Dark Elf’s shoulder and tried to gently reassure her. “Karen, they’re right. Let’s try to enjoy ourselves until they or Moonlight tell us that danger is imminent. If you spend all this time worrying about things, it’s just going to make you a nervous wreck by the time something does happen. They’re watching our backs, and our entire team is watching yours. We won’t let anything happen to you, so try to relax, and let’s enjoy a nice hike before we set up camp.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re riding on my shoulder, and I’ll be the one doing the hiking,” she grumbled, though she did stop to let out a deep breath and at least tried to relax. “I guess you’re right, though, we have two special ops teams watching over us, what’s the worst that could happen?”