In the strengthening light, I can better see exactly what this train is bringing back to Cardinia. What had looked like bits of steel and stone hauled back in cars now take on the recognizable shape of specific types of pillars or stone blocks with letters carved in them. With a start, I realize that these are artifacts of Mara that the Federation must think are worth keeping. They are trophies.

I look on grimly, recognizing one enormous stone strapped into its own car as the stone usually suspended over the Striker arena’s gate. On it is engraved one of their mantras: MAY THERE BE FUTURE DAWNS. Still another car carries two pillars with carvings indicative of the Early Ones’ writing. Finally, there is the car that the others will be targeting, the one loaded with prisoners.

I wait until the light has fully brightened. Somehow, the arrangement of soldiers and workers milling around out here makes me uncomfortable. I see a few teams walking alongside engineers, all inspecting the objects tied to the cars. There’s a woman with them too, and I recognize her as Mayor Elland of Cardinia. She must have come here to Mara to inspect what they’ll be bringing back to her city.

None of it feels right. Usually, if the Premier is headed somewhere, the patrols are more structured, ordered into neat rows to await his arrival so they can easily and safely usher him to where he needs to go. I’ve seen it plenty in my lifetime.

But they aren’t out here. Neither is the Premier.

Had they changed their minds? Is the Premier not on this train after all? If that’s the case, it will make this mission an easier one for us. Talin won’t be at his side, a weapon we cannot defeat.

The light changes more. I exchange a brief look with Adena and the others near the station. They appear as confused as I am. We stay where we are until steam and smoke finally begin to pour from the train. It is going to move.

I watch as the massive machine yawns and roars, as the soldiers shout to one another and back away from the train. Then I tense for the first detonation of the cylinders hidden under its tracks, ready to move.

It doesn’t come.

Neither does the second.

The explosives don’t work. This is my first thought as I turn my eyes to meet Adena’s stricken ones. But when I look closer at the tracks, I notice that it’s not that the spheres she created do not work.

It’s that they have been removed. Someone has cleared away all of them since we planted them last night.

My blood runs cold at the same time I look up to see General Caitoman emerging from the front gate. Behind him march several patrols of soldiers.

They look unsurprised, ready to attack, and to my horror, I realize that there is an entire ring of soldiers who have been waiting for us already. They appear all along the edges of the train station now, along with the hulking shapes of Ghosts.