Miranda sighed as she and Jodie had been assigned to greet the Gen:Lock group. Not that she wasn't happy to see them, with regular calls and messages back and forth it was almost as if they were still in the Anvil.

"Think Leon's woken up yet?" Jodie asked her, she shook her head. "I don't know, the others don't want to talk about him much." She crossed her arms. Miranda didn't like thinking about the fact now two of the people she cared about were either stuck or hurt because of uploading to the Holons. She was starting to think the men in her life were cursed, and Jodie was next.

"HEYYYY!" Migas waved as the doors to the Renegade opened; he ran down and gave Jodie and Miranda fist bumps. Okay so not all the men in her life. "It's almost as if I haven't seen you in months guys. How's the techs treating you?"

"They're fine. They actually get the striders ready on time." Miranda joked and Migas looked mock hurt. He clutched at his chest and then started to laugh, they all turned to look at the rest of the gen:Lock Squad coming down the ramp.

"Welcome back to the Anvi-" Miranda shook her head looking to the rest of the Gen:Lock squad. She felt the room cool by a few degrees, Jodie reached out and grabbed at her arm and shook her a little bit. She elbowed him to let her go as they watched.

There was a ghost on the transport.

Leon walked down the transport ramp; he smiled at their gawking and stopped in front of him.

"Leon?!" they gaped unison.

"Kinda." Leon shrugged. Miranda took a step away from Migas and Jodie to reach out to Leon. Her hands passed through his arms and her eyes widened. "Sorry. But uh." He pointed back with a thumb and She and Jodie saw one of the Holons inside the ship open one eye and wave at them. She waved back automatically, eyes wide.

"Oh shit man." Jodie breathed. He sounded like she felt, off balance.

Leon shook his head, "Don't. I'm alive." He told them; Leon was one of the few good commanders in the strider program; he always looked out for his unit. Miranda inspected him; his mixed suit was a combination of the gen:lock uniform and his strider uniform and other than the change to his uniform Leon looked tired. More than usual; Leon by default almost always looked tired. This was different; he looked… exhausted.

"Does this mean someone else is going to take over our squad?" Jodie whined and Miranda sighed hitting her forehead with the palm of her quiet moment of inspection over.

Leon rolled his eyes and he shared a look with Miranda and It felt like home for a moment. Too bad it was be short lived. She assumed now he would be permanently assigned gen lock. They would have to look for a third, seriously this time.

"C'mon I'm assuming you're here for the debrief." She gestured for them to follow, turning her back on them so they couldn't see her face. She was sure Leon didn't need to see the guilt in her face.

The whole team was escorted to the debriefing room, Jodie and Miranda explaining any new additions as they passed by. They had scavenged alot of technology from the Union attack and were at work to find ways to either counter or use that tech to their advantage. Or to use it to patch holes in the walls that still lingered.

They arrived as the Debriefing room light went on. Colonel Marin waited inside, Leon had sent ahead a report on his condition; So she wouldn't surprised by his presence. She saw him and nodded, they would talk later. They all took chairs, with Leon and Chase nabbing one before someone else could.

The rest of the Vanguard started filtering in, he got a few waves and congratulations for being alive, and so on before the lights dimmed.

"Alright Vanguard," Marin started. "We've been pushing the Union back slowly, thanks to our victory in Chicago. In the last month and a half we've completed over 18 sorties into Union territory, with some victories this time. Today we're making another one. This facility is a research center, we're going to go in; steal what we can and blow it up on our way out. Our drones noticed they were working on some new toys, let's destroy them before they get put to use."

She described its layout, and the plan. It was simple, Gen:lock and Alpha(Jodie and Miranda) would attack and get rid of any Anti-air defenses as well as dealing with any resistance as they had infiltrators place demolition charges inside the facility as it went several stories down.

Then they'd bombard it from above and below.

Simple.