Aswon ignored Shimazu's questions and headed into the temporary greenhouse area that had been lashed together. Dodging around plant pots that had been taped down to a pallet, he moved the temperature controlled box into position and strapped it back down, then found enough space to sit cross legged next to it and start to meditate. Closing his eyes, he thought of home, of the hunts and joy of tribal life, a simple way of life living with the land. Breathing deeply he tried to think of only the good things, hoping that his calm and attitude would help give the area around him a positive aura.
As he settled deeper into his meditative state he felt something odd – a certain homeliness. Maybe the plants helped, or that he was with people who had been though some interesting times together and had fought against some pretty grim opposition. Either way, it felt nice, and he tried to embrace the feeling and spread contentment around him.
Kai watched from his seat as people moved around him, feeling his head throb from whatever drugs he'd been dosed with along with the vibration of the chopper as it flew through the cold morning air. He bellowed at Shimazu, telling him to get out of the shower and unstrap him and help him get sorted out. He watched as Shimazu squeezed himself back out of the shower, dripping water sliding down his legs and landing on the floor, then exploding up into the air in a mesmerising pattern as the vibrations of the floor plating made them dance around his feet.
Shimazu ignored Kai who was still making odd noises and had his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth, and grabbed some clothes, pulling them on over wet flesh. He was still cold, and didn't care about being wet – he just wanted some layers between him and the bitter air and body-sapping coldness of the deck. Once he had some clothes on he got himself a hot drink, swigging the almost scalding coffee down as fast as he could to get some warmth into him and bring his core temperature up. As he stood by the heater in the back of the living module, he saw Tads dive past him into the shower, letting the warm water flow over her. He looked away out of respect – not only because of her nakedness, but also because she rarely let any part of her badly burned body show, even to them.
Once he was warmed up a little, he moved over to Hunter who was still sitting propped up against the wall, his rifle across his legs with his hands loosely holding the weapon. He looked stunned, and his eyes kept losing focus – but he was doing his best to keep an eye on the two guests secured in their seats. He pulled the medkit out and started to attach the leads and sensors to Hunter, doing his best to keep clear of his line of sight.
It didn't take long for the machine to beep and produce a report – internal bleeding caused by systemic shock, possible brain bleeds and lung damage. Shimazu read the report carefully and looked at the suggested drug regime, checking out the amounts suggested and post care plan, the carefully slipped the hypo-spray into contact before dispensing the drugs. A healthy dose of coagulants administered in several places to spread around the bloodstream, some low-level amphetamine analogues to perk up the system, some NSAIDS to help reduce the pressure and provide a little pain relief and a bit of plasma and blood expanders to bulk up the volume of fluids in his system.
It didn't take long – in face less than a minute to see the effects of some of the drugs. His responses increased along with his colour and the breathing became less laboured – although his feet started to twitch, probably due to the uppers. Still, his bleeding had stopped, his pulse was high but steady, respiration was much better and he appeared out of the danger zone.
With Hunter stabilised, he moved on to Kai next, attaching the sensors to him and strapping the sampler to his arm to allow it to draw a small amount of blood for analysis. His thoughts were confirmed when the machine beeped a minute later, the screen rapidly scrolling as chemical after chemical was listed. He paused the display and scrolled back through, then gave a little grunt of understanding.
Whatever drugs had been used on Kai – and presumably their two guests – was a derivative or related to Neurostun, a powerful sedative or tranquilising agent. Like many drugs, only a small proportion of what was used was actually the properly branded Yamatetsu version of Neurostun, rather than say the Pharmatech version of the product with just enough difference in the chemical structure to avoid patent infringement cases – but for those in the business, it was all the same really. Normally a gas that was used to knock out everyone in an area, it could also be fired from pistols and rifles in gel rounds or capsules designed to break on contact and soak through most fabrics into the skin and go to work on the bloodstream.
"You'll be alright Kai! It's just going to take a while for this to break down. No long term damage, just sit still and wait, ok?"
He wasn't sure if Kai understood him completely, but there wasn't a lot he could do about that. He scrolled down the display again and looked at some of the other chemicals mixed in – a bunch of them he'd never heard of, and had no idea what they did, but they hadn't flagged major alarms in the med-kits computer, so he didn't worry too much about them.
He looked over to the two guests in the seats just along from Kai, and saw them watching him. With their hoods down he could see both of them had a lean and gaunt edge to them. He had a short crop of brown hair and mid brown eyes, while she had her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Other than having his face covered in dried blood, they looked pretty unremarkable, just average people really. He moved over towards them, intending to check them over and ensure they were ok.
Both of them flinched back away from him, leaning as far as they could in their chairs and struggling somewhat against their bonds.
"Easy, easy there. Just trying to help out. Don't worry." He tried first in English, then repeated himself in less fluent Russian when they didn't respond. They seemed to understand the Russian though, and let him approach them to check them out. He pulled out a set of gloves, then with an anti-septic cloth started to gently clear away the blood on the side of the boys' face. He wiped carefully, expecting to find a wound underneath somewhere, yet despite the cloth turning a deep pink as it absorbed the blood, the boy's skin was smooth and undamaged. He smiled and then backed away carefully.
Dropping into Japanese, he turned towards Hunter and called over to him, raising his voice over the noise of the chopper.
"Something odd going on here. The boy was covered in blood, but there's no wound, no scar – nothing." He headed over to Kai, and repeated his warning in Mandarin, hoping Kai would understand him.
Hunter thought for a moment, and didn't like where it led. The only time they'd encountered something like that before was shape-shifters. And that was bad news, wasn't it? After all, they'd just invaded a foreign country from one they were at war with, and stolen a rare and magical plant. And probably killed some people, too. He fired up his secure link and squirted over a message to Marius, warning him that there were two possible shapeshifters in the back of the chopper.
"Why am I not surprised. We seem to have all the luck." Marius' response managed to convey his level of sarcasm adequately, and even with his body aching as much as it did, he still smiled.
"What did you say then?" Nadia had moved over to Shimazu, and was trying to confirm what was going on. When Shimazu repeated himself, Nadia nodded and moved over to sit across from the two restrained guests, her SMG on her lap, held ready to respond. She fixed them with a stare and sat looking at them, keeping them covered from a different angle to Hunter.
Tads emerged out of the back door in a fresh set of clothes, still rubbing at her hair with a small towel. Glancing around, she saw Shimazu standing alertly next to Kai, with Nadia and Hunter both with weapons ready on the other side of the open space, staring at their guests. It certainly didn't feel like a comfortable situation. At least Aswon was still chilled out, sitting in the greenhouse and softly singing to the plant.
"Shimazu – what's up with Kai? Does he need help?"
"No, he's just monged out."
"So what's different to normal?" The response was smoothly delivered, and she heard the snort of amusement from Nadia, Hunter and Shimazu. A moment later Kai broke out into a big grin, then looked slightly confused, as if something was bothering him a little. Still, the moment of levity helped a little, and she took the opportunity to head over towards Hunter and give him a quick examination. Dropping into astral space she examined his body carefully, shuddering slightly at the blackness of his soul and the frightening amounts of plastic, metal and ceramics that he'd stuffed into himself. Still, she got an idea of where the worst of the internal wounds were, and held her hands out over him, waiting for a nod of approval.
She summoned her power and cast her healing spell, the golden light washing over his head and chest, illuminating the rear of the chopper like late autumn sunlight spilling through a window. She moved her hands over him, guiding the power into him to revitalise his cells and repair the damage. The air was clean and pure, not tainted here, and she was able to guide the mana easily – unlike around the average city and certainly better than some of the places they'd seen. A minute later, the glow faded, the golden light easing off and she looked down with a certain amount of pride as Hunter rolled to his feet and moved around a little, testing himself for pain. He nodded at her with thanks, and gave her a big tusky grin, as everything he tried to do worked as expected.
In the cockpit Marius sat in his chair, secured by the five point harness. His head lolled to one side and his eyes were closed, and to anyone that didn't know him he looked asleep. But his mind was interfaced with the rigged systems on the chopper, controlling it with micro-adjustments and deft movements. Radar and lidar were his eyes and ears, and he felt the ground pass underneath him with more precision than his normal senses. As he flew over the terrain he saw more areas of land similar to the one they had left behind – systems of dykes and channels around large ponds and lakes, the twisted remains of pipelines and derricks, twisted hunks of concrete ripped apart by something in the past. He flicked through his sensors, confirming that everything was ok and continued the journey to the south, flying through low ground and between forests where he could.
Back in the makeshift greenhouse, Tads had gone to check up on Aswon.
"Hi Tads. Everything ok out there."
"I think so. Hunter is better, Shimazu is good. Kai should recover soon. And we have two new guests. You ok, Aswon?"
"I am well. All is calm, and at peace."
"Well, our guests have woken up, so I think it's time to go talk to them." Aswon opened and eye and squinted at Tads, then opened the other and looked at the pair in the seats, leaning against the side of the craft. Extending his vision into astral space he saw the aura – clearly an eagle, somehow disguised or in the form of a boy, next to the older woman. He took a deep cleansing breath. He couldn't change what was, only what happened. Shimazu walked past him holding two mugs of steaming hot liquid – presumably tea? He took another breath and closed his eyes, trying to radiate calm and serenity around him.
Shimazu held out the mugs to each of the guests, trying to guide them into the right place so they could hold them in their arms. It was a struggle with their hands tied and taped together, but he wasn't about to release them just yet – not until they had more story from them.
"Do you speak English? Here, have some of this to drink. Be careful, it's hot."
"Thank you. I speak English, little. Thank you." The girl spoke, apparently for both of them. After she had taken a few sips of tea, she spoke again.
"A ty govorish' po russki?" Shimazu smiled at her, and held up a finger, thought for a moment then responded.
"Ya nemnogo govoryu po-russki." His pronunciation was off he was sure of that, but it sounded like "only a little" to him. She spoke again, firing out Russian thick and fast, and he again held up his hand and shouted for Hunter to come over and have a chat. The big orc moved over towards them and knelt down on the deck, keeping his head below theirs to avoid appearing too intimidating.
"Hi! How are you?" His mastery of the Russian language was far better than Shimazu's, and the older girl looked at him closely for a moment.
"That of course depends on what you're going to do with us and how much you hurt us…."
"Oh don't worry – we have no plans to hurt you." She stared at Hunter as he spoke, examining his face and looking for clues as to whether he spoke the truth. It was hard in a face like his – it was one only his mother could love, and that only on a good day. She took a deep breath, then glanced at her younger sibling to her side.
"Can I offer you a deal?" Hunter nodded to her. "How about you stop somewhere and let us out, and we just walk away. We don't ever tell anyone we were in your vehicle, we don't ever tell anyone we saw you, or met you, or know anything about you, ever?"
"Well, that's an interesting proposition, to say the least. Let me think." He opened up his private channel to Marius and relayed what had been said.
"Can you find out who they…." The voice paused for a moment, then continued "…sorry, ridgeline. Can you find out who they are and what they're running from?"
Hunter turned back to the two captives, and gave them what might charitably have been called a smile. With gentle prompting and some easy-going conversation, he coaxed their story out of them. It was probably helped when he pulled out his knife and cut them free, then sat back down across from them, secure in the knowledge that his cyber-enhanced reflexes would manage to beat them on the draw if they tried anything. And if they did – well, they were in the air, Shimazu was to one side with his sword and Tads was with Aswon on the other side in the little greenhouse area. It probably wouldn't be much of a fight.
She was Voiddelan, twenty three years old, and from the Town of Murvalenko. Her brother Yaan was seven years younger than she was, and she'd looked after him for several years since they'd lost their parents. They'd lost their house when their parents died – supposedly in an accident. However she didn't believe the story, hinting that both of her parents were somewhat dissatisfied with the way the country was operated and run.
Things had come to a head when for some reason the police had taken an interest in Yaan, telling him that he had to join the militia and would be trained to defend the country. One night they'd snuck out of the boarding house they'd taken up lodgings in, carrying only a spare set of clothes, some food and a few personal possessions and had struck out for the border. She didn't seriously expect to make it, but she had to try – they weren't going to take her brother, no matter what.
While she talked, Hunter and Shimazu watched them, picking up on their body language and facial expressions. Voiddelan did all of the talking, with Yaan not saying a word. He alternated between looking at his older sister and around the chopper. Even when questions were directed at him, he just turned to look up at his sister, who answered for him.
"So who were those people, back at the farm? The ones with the capsule guns?"
"Trackers. Members of the police force. They specialise in hunting down people identified by the secret police."
"How were they following you?"
"They followed our trail." Her answer bordered on sarcasm, as if the answer was obvious, but then amplified her answer. "They are TRACKERS. It's their job, and they are well trained. When you are on the run through the countryside, you leave a trail, unless you too are very skilled. We, are not."
Shimazu moved into the greenhouse with two fresh cups of tea to give to Tads and Aswon. They accepted them gratefully, then Aswon pitched his voice low, using Shimazu as a shield.
"Hey, just mention to Hunter quietly – the boy is a shapeshifter, an eagle. She looks normal, but he's definitely a shifter." Shimazu stiffened slightly, then commanded his body to relax, and pushed out a wide smile then turned and headed over to Hunter to relay the message. Hunter listened, and threw Shimazu a sharp glance, then turned to make eye contact with Aswon. Aswon just nodded calmly at him, getting a curt nod in return from Hunter.
"Marius, turns out the boy back here is an eagle shapeshifter, at least according to Aswon or Tads. Does that change anything from your point of view?" He called again over the secure link, then listened for the inevitable sigh. Afterwards though there was a pause, then Marius answered in the negative. A moment later though Nadia wandered back from the cockpit area and took a seat, casually holding her sub-machine gun in the general direction of the two refugees.
Hunter chatted with them for a few more minutes, asking some of the same questions again to see if he got the same answers, then excused himself for a moment. Moving around the corner to break line of sight, he checked that everyone had their earbuds in and was receiving him.
"So, do we just get over the border and drop them off somewhere?"
"Ja. I favour the airport at Tara. It's close enough to the town that they can walk there and make something of their lives, and be away from us."
"What about the smuggler stop, the old service station. They might have a better chance of getting some work with a crew than just in some random city," suggested Tads.
"We could, but it was a pretty horrible place, and we don't know how often people stop there. They might have more chance at the quarry," responded Aswon.
The conversation wandered back and forth for a minute, weighing up the pros and cons of each place they could leave them. Certainly it was clear that nobody wanted them to stay with the team as a long term thing. Shimazu suddenly piped up over the link
"Um… eagle shapeshifter feathers. That's pretty rare right. Like, if we had some, could we use them as a component in a magical enchantment. Maybe on something like my sword?"
"We could, technically. But we'd have to get him to change, and it might hurt when we pluck it. And that also means he'd be giving us a magical link to himself, and I don't think he'd be happy with that – certainly I wouldn't want to give anyone a link to myself if I could help it. That's why I've been so careful about checking for those people in Iran trying to track us, and keep putting up wards on our vehicles. And I am not going to forcibly take something like that from someone that hasn't hurt us."
The conversation went back and forth again, this time discussing the morality of harvesting magical components from people against their will, and just how much they had to do to be counted as an enemy.
"Shimazu – there's also two things to consider. If we say that he's a shifter, then they know that we're magical, which we haven't confirmed yet. They may suspect, but they don't know. And the other thing is that HE might not know. And finding out something like that can be a shock. And shocks for people like that can….well they can make life interesting. Something to consider, perhaps."
Shimazu nodded, and wandered over to the UAZ deep in thought. He saw the pile of clothes that had been stripped off and dumped in a pile and absentmindedly grabbed at them to move them elsewhere. They were stuck, so he tugged more firmly, then put serious effort into it and gave them a yank. There was a tearing sound, and the pile of frozen clothes tipped over, the fabric of the seat and a chunk of foam frozen to the bottom. He looked around guiltily and then quickly pushed the mound of clothes upright again, putting them back as he'd found them, and then moving away from the car. Someone else could do that, and have to deal with Marius…
Hunter moved back towards their guests, and crouched down nearby.
"So, why were the secret police after him? He's just a boy?
"He is, but he's special. Special enough that they won't let him go."
"Special enough that he could leave you behind quite easily I think, but doesn't want to." Her face blanched of colour as she heard the hidden meaning in his voice, and she sat bolt upright, her hands hovering over the release mechanism on the seat belt. For a moment he thought she was going to bolt, but then she sighed and her shoulders slumped in defeat.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"We were being hunted because of what he is. You saved us from them, but we don't know what you're going to do with us either. We have no reason to trust you."
"Good girl." She looked up in confusion at him, hearing the genuine warmth in his voice, no trace of condescension or anger. "You're right not to trust anyone, least of all us. Go with your gut. But for now – do you want some food?"
She stared at him from under lidded eyes, trying to work out if this was a trap. Whatever, it was she couldn't work out what her options were, so she just nodded instead.
Soon there was a big steaming pan of porridge bought out, and Hunter served three large bowls, making sure to eat some quickly to show them it was safe. The two piled in with gusto – ignoring the spoons and shovelling the hot food into their mouths as fast as they could.
"Whoa, slow down there! You'll give yourself indigestion, or cramps. And if you have been on the run and not eaten properly, you'll make yourself sick." They slowed down, marginally, but still piled the food into their mouths at a rapid rate. "Besides, there is PLENTY more where that came from."
Voiddelan and Yaan looked up as the genuine peals of laughter filled the back of the chopper from Aswon, Shimazu, Nadia and Hunter, with only Tads looking at them sternly. The guests couldn't work out why people were laughing, but it wasn't aimed at them – and they did have hot fresh food in front of them, even if it was heavy on the oats.
"Hey Hunter. The rifles from the people chasing our friends. Have they been bug-scanned? Or any of their other kit?" Hunter closed his eyes for a moment, then shook his head.
"No – and we should have done it before. Let's get that sorted now, though." He grabbed the bug scanner and ran it over the rifles and ammo, then the credstick IDs taken from the hunters. Doing so let him examine the unusual looking rifles though – each was a single shot weapon feeding from a short magazine, taking a wide capsule into the mechanism and then firing them with a jolt of highly compressed gas from the cylinder attached to the underside of the barrel. He found some spare rounds, the capsules having a strange gel-like surface to them. Alongside them were a couple of more mundane pistols, fairly heavy in calibre and with standard copper jacketed rounds.
Last of all, he picked up one of the credsticks they had been carrying and gave it a careful examination. It looked similar to any other credstick – a small cylinder made of smooth metal, a small hole at one end to attach to a keyring or chain, and a cap at the other end. Flipping the cap open he saw the universal interface that would slot into a reader for a transaction at any kind of shop or terminal. After checking all three for bugs and finding them clean, he grabbed their deck and fired up the reader program – time to see how much money they'd been carrying.
He slotted the chip, then stared at the error message – "Error 97B, no device present." What? He went back through the steps, steps he'd done time and time again previously. No – he'd not done anything wrong or different – he'd run the program and inserted the credstick just fine. But for some reason it wasn't even being picked up by the terminal. Strange. He put the credsticks down and the gear away, then sent a message out to everyone over the comms.
"All the gear is clean, no bugs found. Something wrong with one of the credsticks when I tested it, but nothing important. Oh – speaking of being tracked, Tads – those things that attacked us at the lake. Can they track us?"
"I really hope not – but I can't say for sure. I think that they will be tied to either the lake itself, or an area a few hundred metres around it, that it would mark the edge of their domain or territory. That's commonly how spirits are bound, especially ones tied to the land. But these were not normal at all. They were twisted in some way, and I've never seen a spirit like that before – dripping mana, wet and dishevelled, screaming and multiplying so fast. I mean, they might be really common around here, but I've never seen or heard of them before, so I really can't say. But I hope not. And besides, the ward should really keep them out!"
She turned her gaze towards their guests.
"Speak of which, we should have felt a twinge when he came onboard. Nadia – was it through the back door on the side, or up the ramp?"
"I dragged them up the ramp. Why?"
"Wards can be set one of two ways over doors. You either make them so when the door is opened, it creates a hole in the ward, so you can move magical items, creatures or spells through the ward. Or you can make the door open and the ward remain across the space, forming a barrier. We made the back left door open a hole, so we can bring things in and out – but the ramp has a solid barrier across it, at least in astral space. So when you dragged them in, we should have felt it."
"Ahh, but if I have my timings right, I think you were slowly freezing to death on the island whilst frantically digging up a plant, and we were being assaulted by magical spirits that were bouncing off your shields. We might have missed it in the excitement." Aswon spoke calmly, trying to relay his thoughts as unemotionally as possible. Anything to keep the area clear of hostility or conflict that might harm the plant in the centre of the containment unit. Tads nodded at him as she considered his words – he certainly had a point.
"Stand by, twenty five kilometres to the border."
"Ok you two – we're near the Russian border, and have to get across, and that might not be so easy. Buckle up and hang on."
Voiddelan and Yaan followed Hunter's instructions and watched as the team moved swiftly. Aswon lashed himself down to the floor with some cargo straps, and ensured that nothing else was loose around him. Nadia strapped herself in opposite them and slung the gun's strap over her shoulders, while the others headed out of their sight, squeezing down the side of the living module and into the cockpit area, where they swiftly strapped in to the seats. A moment later, Shimazu hit the quick release and ran out of the cockpit, back the way he'd come.
"Shimazu, what's wrong?"
"The car, Hunter. Nobody lashed down the car. If we turn suddenly it's going to fly around in the back and smash everything to pieces!" He headed back and frantically started to ratchet the UAZ down into position, bedding the sturdy hooks of the ratchet straps into the cleats that ran down the cargo bay in parallel lines – thankfully strapping down cargo was something the military needed to do a lot, and their system had been refined over years of practice. When he was done, Shimazu jumped in the driver's seat of the UAZ and fastened the seatbelt, figuring it was just as secure as any other seat.
Ten kilometres from the border, Marius gave a twitch as his 'scalp' tingled. He focussed on his systems, flicking through the different sensors, and picked up a pack of birds on his radar. Strangely enough they weren't showing much of a vector change, which he'd expect given the speed he was going at and the range they must be at to have registered on his sensors at all. He narrowed the radar beam with a twitch of a phantom muscle, and got a range estimate. Four kilometres away. How were birds giving him a radar return at four thousand metres? He checked the readings again, splitting his attention between not flying into hills and trees and checking the range returned. No – they were right, which meant that these birds were much bigger than they should be.
He barked a warning out to the others, then warmed up the heavy machine gun in the nose, patching control through to the rear station and hoping that Hunter would get the hint. He squinted at the rapidly oncoming silhouettes and tried to work out what they were.
The others looked around them suddenly as Marius shouted the warning so unexpectedly, peering out through their windows to spot the threat. In the nose turret, Tads had an excellent view and spotted the shapes in the distance, and peered through the window focussing intently on the tiny shapes – not noticing the gun moving next to her head. Three metres behind her, Hunter slid the optical cable from the controls into his datajack, feeling it sync with his Smartlink. It felt odd to not have the gun in his hand, but not as weird as having the feed from the sensors overlaid over his normal eyesight. He closed his eyes, finding the image much less confusing to have the sensor feed floating over the darkness instead and studied the shapes.
"I don't mean to alarm you, but we're in trouble," Tads voice called up from the bubble ahead, barely audible over the roar of the engines. "I can see a couple of Siberian Firebirds and what looks like two Thunderbirds! And they've seen us!" Ahead of them, the birds wheeled sharply and moved towards them, dropping into formation.
"The firebirds have powers much like a spirit – they can cause strange accidents and breakdowns, make people forget what they are doing, lose concentration on things like grenades and explosive, and they can also move fast and leave a trail of fire!" She concentrated as she called out the information, and placed her shielding on the helicopter itself, Marius and Hunter – the only people she could see as she twisted around in her chair.
"The thunderbirds are bigger and tougher, and they can throw massive balls of lightning as well – I think that might be an issue for the electrical things." Marius heard her and couldn't help but feel a trickle of concern through his mind. Electrical attacks were a rigger's worst enemy – not only would the lightning stand a good chance of damaging the systems on the chopper, but the feedback through the jacks into his brain would be excruciating and potentially deadly. And if he lost control at this speed, and they hit the ground….well at least it would be quick for everyone. He also made the effort to close his eyes, fighting against the rigger interface to control his body. Using only the vehicle sensors he could at least rely on what he saw, unlike his normal vision.
Tads twisted back and watched as the birds grew larger in her view. They were definitely flying in formation, closing now and spreading to bracket the helicopter and outflank it. She wasn't sure how long they would be able to match their speed, but if they got to the sides and out of sight from her, there was much less she could do. She drew power swiftly, gathering it into a massive ball of seething mana and then focussed it, compressing it down into something she could hurl at her foe. A moment to confirm her aim, and she released it, struggling to control the backlash and the draining effect it had upon her mind. The ball of mana slammed into the thunderbird on the left, homing unerringly on its soul no matter how much it twisted to avoid it. The effect was devastating – one moment it was trying to evade, the next it was unconscious – plummeting from the air and twisting through space like a crazed sycamore seed, until it smashed into the ground below.
The second thunderbird screamed in rage, and as its beak opened wide a crack of lightning emerged from it, spreading wider and wider as it lanced through the air. Marius had no time to dodge or take evasive action, and the blast of lightning hit the side of the chopper, sending arcs of power out in every direction. Blue and white flares of coruscating energy jabbed out like savage forks, crawling across the metal skin of the craft. The sheer bulk of the chopper helped through, dispersing the power around it, a massive floating faraday cage that kept the vulnerable people inside safe. In the back Aswon watched as lightning arced across the windows and tried to concentrate on the beauty of the sight, rather than feeling the fear. Calm. Serene. All was well.
Hunter swung the gun over to lay the sight on the thunderbird and mentally pulled the trigger. The machine gun spat out a burst of fire, ten rounds each 12.7mm in diameter, flying through the air at over three hundred metres per second. His aim was true and the rounds impacted the bird, stitching down from the head along the body and out past the tail. The punishing recoil from the continuous firing was soaked up first by the heavy duty springs they had gathered in Batumi from Yosh, the shipwright, and then further by the mount itself, engineered by the aeronautical designers of the Red Army who had planned to mount a gun this size or larger.
The muzzle of the gun stayed resolutely on target, and his fire nearly cut the beast in half. It too plummeted from the sky, clearly dead and with sprays of blood forming carmine clouds in the freezing air. Over the sounds of the gun chattering, he heard the yelp of surprise from Tads, who had not been expecting the retort of the gun next to her head. Hunter grinned to himself, wondering how annoyed she would be.
The three firebirds burst into flame, arcing down and across the flight path of the helicopter. Each turned into an indistinct blue, a phoenix of incandescent light that left a trail of flaming wash behind them. They swooped in a complex pattern, arcing up and down, from left to right and formed a vortex of fire that looked too small for the bulk of the chopper to fly through.
Tads watched, gauging the moment and trying to estimate the distances involved. Her stunball was normally plenty big enough to deal with a number of foes, as the Mafia goons and many others had learnt to their cost. This though – this was harder. Moving so fast and in three dimensions made her mind ache as she tried to work out exactly the right time. She waited a moment more and then launched another ball of mana ahead of her. He timing was spot on, and two more foes arced down from the sky, leaving a fiery contrail behind them as they impacted into the ground at over a hundred kilometres an hour.
Marius gritted his teeth and tensed muscles, feeling like he was running an obstacle course. The massive helicopter reacted, the engines screaming as they hit the redline and went beyond their design specifications. The body of the craft swung up, arcing higher and higher, flipping around the rotors and performing a barrel roll. It was a trick that was impressive enough in a small attack chopper, the mark of a manoeuvrable aircraft and a skilled pilot. In the massive Mi-6 it was an awe-inspiring display of control. The chopper arced through a complex pattern, dodging through the complex web of fire and sliding through the gap created by Tads taking out two of the firebirds.
In the chopper everyone but Marius took a deep breath, trying to get their stomach to settle back to its proper position. A sea of small items fell from the air where they'd been lifted by the extreme roll, leaving a scene of devastation behind them. Aswon looked at the sea of dirt and stone scattered around the greenhouse, and shook his head to dislodge a few twigs and leaves that had landed on him.
A shudder ran through the craft, and a meter long rent opened up in the left hand side of the chopper as a massive talon sawed through the metal skin. It didn't strike any control runs or systems, and Marius clawed the chopper to the side, dislodging their attacker – whatever it was.
"Hang on!" He managed to shout, then thrust the controls around. The abused chopper hurtled through a spin, the tail whipping around while the nose of the chopper barely moved. In a moment they were sliding backwards through the air at over two hundred knots, and they saw the massive form of a greater thunderbird, angling up for another attack. As its beak opened, they saw the glimmer of light at the back of the throat as the lightning built up in intensity. It was easily half as big again as the first two creatures that had attacked them, and Marius knew they wouldn't be able to take a hit like that.
Applying full power to the rudder and rear rotor he managed to slow their spin for a moment. It was no more than a tenth of a second probably – but it was long enough. Another long burst ripped out from the nose as the heavy machine gun spat heavy rounds at their assailant, guided by Hunter's efforts. He wasn't experienced with the big gun, or firing from a moving platform, but the cybernetic enhancements gave him a chance, and a chance was all he needed. The rounds sawed through a wing, and the bird started to drop to the side in a dive that would be hard to recover from. A second later it fell unconscious as Tads blasted it with power, finishing the job. The chopper resumed its spin, until a few seconds later they were heading back towards the border, everyone inside shaking their heads and blinking rapidly from the effects of pulling the sharp maneuverer.
The last firebird wheeled over and accelerated away from them, slipping down their flank and heading back in country.
"Marius, turn, I can't see it!"
"Nien! We head for the border, let it run!"
She was about to argue, not wanting to leave a foe like that to their rear. As she thought about their tactics though she realised something was odd. Nothing had gone wrong with their craft. No malfunctions, no errors, no strange readings. No doors suddenly opening or systems depressurising. Sure, their wards were pretty good – but not that good. Something was very strange here.
The crossed the last kilometre swiftly and passed over the invisible line marking the border between Yakut and Russia. A second later the radio blared into life.
"Unknown aircraft. You have entered Russian airspace. Identify yourself or be destroyed!" Marius figured that it was only the fact that they were in a Russian helicopter kept them from being dead already. As he checked over their system he felt a tickle down his spine, icy cold fingers stroking and caressing him. The sensation was new, the rigged system of the aircraft being subtly different to that of the truck and the helicopters he'd flown before – but he recognised the problem. X band radar had the chopper locked up – meaning there was at least one full size SAM battery down there somewhere. He was a good pilot, but he wasn't sure he could dodge a missile, and he didn't think the magic users could do anything about a technical threat like that.
"Border guards, this is flight Lima Sierra one one five Romeo. We have come under attack by magical creatures and were forced into Yakut airspace approximately ten miles east of this position. Mayday, mayday, mayday. We have sustained damage and require assistance!" He gave one of the legitimate call signs that he'd picked up from his friend in Constantinople, and keyed up the transponder to match.
"Lima Sierra One One Five Romeo, you are not authorised for this area. Turn back or we will fire upon you!" Marius thought fast – it didn't sound like they were buying his deception, or they didn't care. Perhaps a new approach…he let some anger leak through into his voice and responded again.
"Listen, border guards. Look at the side of my fraking helicopter! Some massive lightning spewing bird just took a chunk out of a Russian helicopter! Aren't you guys supposed to be defending us from these evil creatures? Aren't you supposed to shoot down this shit to keep us safe?"
A moment passed, then another. With every tick of the clock, he got further into the Russia, further away from that cursed magical country.
"Lima Sierra One One Five Romeo, you are instructed to land. Proceed to co-ordinates five niner dot five one six seven nine by seven three dot zero eight six niner three. Failure to comply will result in your termination. You are instructed to land at the south end of the clearing, facing the tree canopy." As if to underscore their point, Marius felt an additional fire control radar lock onto him. It was in tracking mode at the moment, not fire mode – but that could change in an instant.
"Roger, will comply, heading to designated landing spot."
He throttled back and called over the comms to the rest of the team.
"We have to land, they have us locked up. Someone better get their thinking head on and work out a story, and we'd better get all of our gear hidden too. Move it, people!" He slowed a little more, trying to extend the flight time for the craft to give them a precious few seconds to do whatever it was they were doing. As he flew forwards he caught the odd flash of movement on the ground as soldiers turned to keep him locked up with their shoulder launchers. They definitely were surrounded and outgunned – time for a different kind of fight.
The comms net burst into chatter as the team tried to work out what to do, and the helicopter slowly started to descend into the clearing designated for them. As they neared the landing site, Marius saw another of the quad barrels ZSU anti-aircraft systems tracking them. It was positioned at the north edge of the clearing, which put it right on their tail – if they tried anything funny it would rip them to pieces, and their only gun would be facing the wrong way.
The massive helicopter slowly descended, the grass in the clearing blowing outwards from the enormous downwash, and around them handfuls of soldiers emerged from the tree cover to form a perimeter.