The wheels hovered for a moment above the grass, then slowly touched down as Marius eased off the power.
"Don't worry team, I've got a plan. Just roll with it, we've got this. Tads. I need you to make the back of the chopper look like a special forces craft on the inside. Lots of equipment hanging on the walls and stuff. Make the jeep look like cargo boxes, that kind of thing. You up to that?" She snorted and stared at Kai for a moment, then started to draw in the power required for a major illusion – something that would stand up to close scrutiny.
The engines started to wind down, and the massive rotors slowed. Around them were several knots of soldiers, standing in groups of three with rifles nestled in the crooks of their arms. On the other side of the clearing several more troops could be seen hefting shoulder launched missiles, whilst at the north end the ZSU quad gun was tracked in on the rear of the chopper. Marius cracked the rear ramp, letting it slowly lower to the ground.
"Remember folk, we're Russian special forces, on a secret mission. It'll be fine. And we can always drops the Brigadier's name if it starts going south. You ok, Tads?" He looked with concern as she suddenly slumped to the side, her hand reaching out for the structural member nearest to her. However, the inside of the chopper flashed, then changed dramatically. Cold white fluorescent tube lighting illuminated racks of black body armour, climbing harness, bizarre looking scientific gear, things with red and green flashing lights on them, and rack after rack of guns. It was as if they'd stepped into a scene from a movie.
Kai strode down the ramp, bold as brass. Only the tension in his shoulders told the people behind him how much he had to concentrate to stop his legs being wobbly with the faint after-effects of the capsules full of drugs he'd been shot with. Shimazu stalked down the ramp with him, one pace to the right, one pace behind, with his hand on his sword hilt. Hunter stood at the top of the ramp on one side, Tads clung onto the other side as casually as she could manage, trying to calm her breathing and get rid of the massive headache that had appeared as a result of the spell.
As Kai and Shimazu strode clear of the ramp and to the side of the tail, a senior-looking Russian officer and his entourage approached him. There were a pair of riflemen, a sturdy fellow with a radio backpack, someone carrying some large folio cases, and a beefy man with just a sidearm formed up in a loose gaggle around the officer.
"Ahh, there you are. Well done, and thanks for your assistance. I think if you'd not been holding the border so firmly, they would have chased us over. We'll just assess the damage and be on our way, out of your hair." Kai spoke so matter of factly, and with such sincerity and aplomb that the officer and several of his men were making micro-nods of agreement until the words had truly sunk in.
"No! We're detaining you. Yes, detaining you. We need to see your identification and travel permits." Even saying that seemed to be an effort, making them feel uncomfortable with challenging Kai's authority.
"Did you not see the fight? The huge winged magical beasts, the enemy of our country, trying their best to destroy us? Just kilometres away from here? Didn't you see them trying to attack us? Don't you feel it's your duty to protect Russian citizens from the enemies of the State?" Kai just sounded so reasonable, it was hard to argue against him – and as he asked each question, a plaintive note in his voice, once again they found themselves nodding along with him.
The officer was just about to speak again, when a flash of light caught the attention of Kai and Shimazu. Streaking across the clearing from north to south, a fiery streak of intense light raced only a metre above the clearing. First one, then two, then three of the soldiers holding their missiles and facing towards the chopper were engulfed. The fireball had turned, approaching them at a staggeringly fast rate, and now it came towards them they could see the wings and long sinuous neck, the form of a firebird travelling as fast as it could while supernatural flames billowed out from it. It was halfway towards them before the soundwave of the exploding missiles managed to overtake it, causing the soldiers near the chopper to start to turn, to realise that something was wrong.
Time seemed to slow. Marius yelled a warning over the comm-net, his reactions still tuned to the speed of the mechanical systems in the chopper. The others heard him starting to shout a warning, and were looking up – but far too late to be able to respond. All apart from one person.
Shimazu felt the strange sensation of his reactions accelerating around him. It was like zooming in on a picture whilst at the same time pulling back away from what he was looking at. The centre of his vision became hyper-focussed, whilst his peripheral vision extended and he just seemed to take in more of the situation around him. But mostly what he took in was that there was a very fast, very large, very on-fire bird aiming straight towards them, travelling at several hundred kilometres per hour. Years of training kicked in, and his sword was in his hands without conscious thought, just as his legs propelled him for first one, then another stride towards the target. The sword rose in front of him, and extended towards the foe, angling to about thirty degrees.
It put him, and his raised, razor sharp blade directly in harm's way. It was not the rational move – but it was the one he made. And it was not the move the creature expected either. It had no time to bank or change direction, no chance to avoid the impact. It struck the sword head on, and it took all of Shimazu's might to keep the blade from being ripped out of his hands and sent flying through the air. His sinews bulged, and the impact made him slide backwards across the mulch of last year's leaves and this year's freshly growing moss.
For the Siberian firebird though, things were a lot worse. It struck the razor sharp edge of the sword with enough force that the blade was forced to saw through its beak, neck and body with barely a moment's notice. The creature quite literally cut itself in half upon the raised blade, killing it instantly. It lost control of the fiery nebula wrapped around the brightly coloured body as the mana field it instinctively channelled and controlled broke down.
It detonated with the force of small bomb. Which was unfortunate, as it was centred upon Shimazu, and right between the Russian soldiers and Kai. The three explosions from the far side of the clearing rumbled and were met with a fourth explosion, the death throes of the firebird, sending a rolling shockwave around the woods and startling a thousand small birds into the air.
The explosion covered several metres, lancets of white and orange flame erupting in every direction. Shimazu's supernatural reflexes let him get an arm raised to cover his face, but was blown back several metres, rolling across the ground with the force of the blast. Kai was similarly blown back off his feet, his flak jacket absorbing the brunt of the impact. The Russian soldiers were likewise thrown back from the explosion, being driven to the ground by the unexpected devastation that was visited upon them. The jet of flame seemed to engulf them and then intensify – fresh explosions rocked the clearing, creating a secondary echo that rolled off towards the hills.
As the smoke cleared slightly, driven upwards by the heated air, they could see that at least three of the Russians were down or seriously hurt. From the massive gaping wound on the side of the officer and the flames still trying to catch on his uniform, it looked like his sidearm had cooked off with the rounds in his pistol detonating sympathetically from the intense heat of the blast. The radio operator was only just better off, with fumes erupting from his radio as the heat made the high-capacity batteries rupture and blow. The trooper carrying the folio case was dashed to the floor, his head slamming into the ground and striking a rock, blood running from the wound freely while his skin down one side of his face was red and raw from the blast. The other troopers were more fortunate, shielded from the blast by their comrades or lucky enough to be standing another metre further away from the blast.
Marius was glued to the sensors, watching the reaction of the troopers gathered around the clearing. Most of them had dropped into combat positions and had their weapons raised, thinking it was an ambush or a grenade that had gone off. The chopper made a variety of odd noises as he flexed and tensed, his wish to be back in the air translating to various mechanical systems activating around the craft. Hunter and Aswon, though, grabbed the small fire extinguishers and ran out of the back hatch towards the burning grass and smouldering people, aiming the cones at the flames and smothering them.
"MEDIC!" Kai bellowed, pointing at one of the command group riflemen, who was aiming his weapon straight at his chest and still trying to process what had gone on. "Go get a medic and stretcher, NOW!" His voice rippled and resonated as he modulated power through his vocal cords. The trooper turned and ran for the woodline, his body obeying the 'command voice' after years of drill and training. Kai tensed for a moment as he felt a strange magical sensation, then relaxed as he recognised Tads extending her magical shield over the four of them now outside whilst she waited at the top of the ramp, still clutching at the struts to support herself.
"You three over there, look north. You three – watch east! There could be more of them!" Aswon pointed at the nearest groups of soldiers and in the direction he wanted them to watch, barking out orders like he was back on active duty. He lacked the magical control that Kai possessed, but did have years of training and experience. He also stopped watching them, getting on with his business, and the subtle reinforcement that he just expected the order to be obeyed added further weight. At least two of the three in each group did turn to scan the skies, looking for more foes.
Hunter dropped the fire extinguisher and pulled out his knife, sawing at the straps holding the radio onto the trooper's back.
"Easy now, lie still. We need to get this off you, before another cell ruptures. Sorry, sorry, I know it hurts. Lean forward now, nearly there…" He worked swiftly, ignoring the guns pointed at his head by the soldiers around him. As he cut the last strap loose he gave a massive heave, sending the radio flying away from them. On landing, they could hear a hiss of high pressure gas being released along with a foul chemical smell. Hunter kept the radio-man pinned down gently, telling him not to move while he gently peeled back the collar of his uniform to reveal the deep blistering all up the back of his neck.
Kai had moved to the officer and knelt behind his back, supporting him and stopping him from rocking in either direction. He too had pulled out a pocket knife and was sawing away at the fabric around the wound, struggling with the sturdy material. A quick assessment of the wound and it was clear that the blast had damaged the man's hips and was deep – already bright red blood was flowing freely into the deep cavity. It probably wasn't life-threatening unless he went into shock, but he could end up permanently disabled from this if they weren't careful.
"I need the medikit please, we need to stabilise him quickly, then treat the chap with Hunter. But this is the more critical." Shimazu ran for the first aid kit, returning at a sprint. They worked fast between them, their previous experience letting them drop into mutually supporting work. Kai attached the leads and sensors, supporting the patient and keeping him still, then reading off the diagnostics. Shimazu, who was more free to move, donned some sterile gloves and started to irrigate the wound and then sprayed a coagulating agent into the blast hole before it could refill.
With gentle but precise movements he attached the scanner over the wound, letting the computer scan the flesh and then checking as the micro-laser pulsed and cauterised the worst of the tears and gashes. Blood expanders were applied, along with anti-bacterial agents and a dose of one-shot repair bots – tiny machines that would break down their own bodies to latch onto the damaged bones and shore up their structural integrity. They were clunky and crude compared to what was available in a major hospital, and Shimazu had heard that some corporations had managed to get reliable nano-technology working in a field format – he wished he had some of those.
They worked quickly but surely, patching up the wound and making sure it was clean and hygienic. Fortunately the explosion had no metal or chemical debris to deal with, making it unnaturally clean. When they were done the inside of the wound was lined with a thick layer of hardening flesh-foam, covering the raw surface, but there was still a significant hole in the man's side.
While they were working, Aswon dropped into astral sight, assessing the man. He ignored the bright jagged auras of the people at the side, still showing intense fear, confusion and anger, focussing instead on the officer. He had some 'ware scattered throughout his head – at least his eyes were replaced, along with the near universal data-jack in the side of the neck. There were some implants through his body following his nervous system, almost certainly something to boost his reaction speed in combat. The implants were more than he ever wanted in his body for sure, but not as heavy as the modifications that Hunter or Marius had gone through.
"Some essence loss, but most remains. It should be doable, with care." Kai nodded with understanding, not turning from his work on the patient. When he'd finished the current task though, he did look up, aiming for the only other person in the group who had been armed with only a sidearm – assuming that he was some kind of special rank.
"We're going to call in our specialist to help deal with this, from the chopper."
"Specialist in what?" the Russian responded, his thick accent making his words difficult to understand.
"Alternative healing. Your officer needs her help to make sure he'll walk again properly after that blast." The man nodded, and they waved Tads over. She stumbled down the ramp towards them, wavering slightly as she crossed the intervening distance. As she crouched over by the body, Hunter reached down and grabbed the strap on the back of her jacket, supporting and steadying her.
Kai and Shimazu moved on to the other two wounded men while Tads attended to the officer. They ignored the mounting golden glow that intensified behind them, just like they ignored the gasps of the men surrounding them. Slathering on burn cream, applying a dermal stapler to close the gushing head wound, cleaning the area with sanitising gels and fresh bandages, they didn't see the orb of magical energy hovering over the wound, knitting flesh back together and revitalising the body. They didn't need to though, they'd seen it before.
Another group of troops came running over towards them, two riflemen carrying a stretcher and a combat medic, struggling with his massive backpack. As they arrived the slowed to a halt, exchanging looks with the troopers already there. The riflemen stood around looking uncertain, stretcher in one hand and their rifles in the other, whilst the medic moved around and assessed the wounds, quickly finding there was nothing to do.
Hunter gave a heave as Tads finished her spell, lifting almost her entire weight. The spell seemed to have really taken it out of her, and she looked around with her eyes unfocussed. Keeping a tight grip on her and doing his best to disguise her state from the onlookers, he started to guide her back towards the chopper. The Russians stirred a little, not feeling it was quite right to be letting what should have been their prisoners wander around so freely. Nobody wanted to be the first to move though – not when their prisoners not only seemed to be quite handy with a blade, but also with not only a medical emergency and clearly the wielder of arcane powers.
"Right, you there." Kai pointed at the trooper with a sidearm. "Until your officer here is back on his feet properly, you're in charge. We need your men to keep an eye out on the perimeter and be ready in case the enemy make another incursion across the border. You should probably think about getting a transport over here for the wounded – they're fine now, but could do with an afternoon to recover and get some rest." The man listened, and whether he was taken in by the act of command, or that it just made good tactical sense, soon pulled out a small tactical radio and started to bark commands out to people. As the team listened to him, it became clear that the Sergeant was in fact the Captain's driver and general hatchet man – certainly nobody seemed to argue with his orders or ask for the officer to confirm them.
"Now – you there. What's your name?"
"Svenski," responded the confused medic. He didn't know what had happened here, but these people were ordering the troops around and having their orders followed. Working on the basis that only the nail that sticks up gets hammered, he decided that unless he got told otherwise, he'd treat them like officers from some other unit.
"Well Svenski, the captain here has been treated with 1cc of nor-adrenaline for the shock, and some type B plasma expanders…" Kai reeled off the treatment that had been applied to each of the three wounded individuals. "Oh, and of course our specialist here has called upon the spirit of the Rodina to heal the Captain. He'll still be tender for a day or two, but he should be fine."
The medic nodded, furiously jotting down notes, and glancing down at the three casualties. All three were slightly vacant looking from the painkillers, but were in good shape and clearly had been treated well. He watched as Kai crouched down by the Captain, kneeling on the scorched earth and gently helping the officer to sit up.
"Sorry to have to rush this, Captain, but we're on a time-sensitive mission. Army command needs what we have managed to steal from the enemy, and we need to move quickly. What we've managed to steal will help with the upcoming offensive, and will save many lives. We need to move out, and fast."
"Mission? What mission?" The officer tried to concentrate, but it was hard to focus with the drugs coursing through his system. He studied Kai's face, considering his words. They sounded right, and reasonable. Was there a secret missions? Well, if it was a secret, it stood to reason he wouldn't know, right. No! Wait, he should have been warned. Shouldn't he?" Emotions warred across his face and he seemed to hedge his bets a little.
"Of course. I will need to see the cargo though, for my report to divisional command."
Kai held his poker face still, then nodded at the man.
"Of course. Here, let me help you up. Be careful, but you should be able to walk as long as you are careful. What unit is this?"
"I am Captain Jakeri, commander of the 896th Border Guards Company, 89th Guard Motor Rifle Brigade, 20th Army. Who are you people?"
"Sorry Captain, but that is need to know information. Let's just say that you've stumbled on a highly classified Spetsnaz operation, and the less you know officially the better. But, we'll walk you to the chopper and let you inspect the cargo, for your report. I'm sorry though, we need to keep this quiet, so we'll escort you while your men stand guard here. None of the Russians saw him activate his transmit button, relaying his words to the team. They just saw him carefully help the officer to rise, finding with a great deal of surprise that he could walk, if he was careful.
By the time the slowly moving group had made it to the ramp the others had re-arranged slightly. Aswon stood by the greenhouse, guarding the plant. Hunter was by the top of the ramp, looking like he was on guard, but mostly making sure that Tads didn't fall over or pass out. If her illusion dropped, the chances of them getting away with this was much reduced. They carefully moved the officer around the "cargo containers", holding their breath in case he saw something that didn't look right. He moved around the jeep and their two guests though, not even questioning what he saw, until he was able to look at the storage box.
It looked impressive, with the cooling fins, pumps, dials and gauges, the faint vibrations of the motor. The officer stood, staring at the box, not quite sure what to say now.
"As you can see, the temperature controlled environment is holding up for now – but we only have limited battery life and we need to get back to central command. But the magical plant inside is being kept just like the enemy keep it, and we feel this will be key to brewing up a defence against their spirits and strange creatures. We need this intelligence. Our troops need this intelligence. And we can only get this back to command if you can stop these creatures from chasing us."
"What can I do to help?"
"Keep the sky safe behind us. Can you do that, Captain? Can your unit continue to hold this sector against aerial assault and keep the line?" The Captain threw a shaky salute at Kai, then gave him a shaky smile. He wasn't quite sure of anything anymore, but this certainly sounded like he needed to stop the enemies of the motherland invading and recovering this plant. Whatever it was.
Kai escorted him back down the ramp, waving over the riflemen and medic to them and instructing them to get the Captain to the vehicle, to keep him warm and safe and listen to his orders to help keep the area secure.
With another salute from the bottom of the ramp, the Captain was ushered away between the two burly riflemen who helped him limp towards the open door of the BMP. Hunter hit the button to close the ramp as Kai strode up it, and then informed Marius that they were all secure. A moment later as Marius watched from the sensors, troops started to move, heading towards the north edge of the clearing. The ZSU started to swing around, the barrels of the quad mounted heavy machine guns slewing up into the air to point towards Yakut and the border. He needed no further orders, and the engines started immediately, the rotors spinning as soon as his gauges read even a marginal level.
As they clawed their way up into the air, ponderously rising above the trees, Hunter keyed up his map and marked their current location on it, annotating the marker with notes about the unit, their arms and armour. He felt the nose of the chopper sink slightly as they transitioned into forward flight, and saw the map slowly start to shift as they picked up speed.
The journey back to Tara airport was quiet and uneventful fortunately, and they slowly settled down after the excitement of the border crossing. Tara airport was just as quiet as when they had first encountered it, and they settled down on the same pad as they had used before, wondering if they would get the same service. Sure enough, a full minute went by before Tariq shuffled out of the shed and started to head their way. He'd covered a good ten metres or so before looking up to see who it was, then promptly turned on his heal and head back away from them, towards the building.
In the back, Yaan and Voiddelan had their faces pressed up against the window, looking out at the area around them. Kai came back to check on the cargo and Aswon, and they twisted round to face him as he came past.
"Hey, where are we? In Russia now?"
"Yes, at a place called Tara. It's a good two hundred kilometres inside the border, though we're going much further in. It should be safe enough though, if you want to get out here." The siblings looked at each other for a moment, then she answered.
"I think this is far enough. Thank you for taking us over the border, and for stopping the hunters. I don't know how much further we could have run. But yes, we'll get out here. Is there a city nearby?" Aswon rose from his position and wandered into the living module, and they could hear him rooting through things, with the occasional avalanche of small items falling from a locker as he opened them – the result of the extreme manoeuvres taken during the crossing.
"Well, Tara – it's a good hour or two walk from here, but after the journey you've been through, I think that won't bother you. And it's a large town, not a city – but there should be work there, and somewhere to stay. But here, it's not much, but its some petty cash to get you started." He handed over a few hundred Rubles from their stash of random hard currency they'd acquired. It really wasn't much once the exchange rate was factored in – but the cost of living was certainly going to be low out this far from the main cities, and it was likely to get them a week's worth of food and maybe a roof over their head for a few days.
"And here, take this with you." Aswon passed over a large rucksack, stuffed full of gear. "There's a couple of changes of warm clothes for both of you, a couple of spare pairs of socks, a pair of water bottles and a washkit, enough oats to keep you in porridge for a week. Oh, and for you…" he pointed at Voiddelan, "there's a small pistol for self-defence, and some ammo. For you…" he pointed at Yaan "…do as your sister says and stay out of trouble. Have you ever shot a pistol actually?" She shook her head at him wordlessly.
Tariq had reappeared with the hose, and was mooching towards them, and it appeared that they would have plenty of time to cover some basics. They offloaded from the rear ramp, and Hunter came back and patiently explained the basics of shooting. He emphasised the details of trigger control and the position of the safety – Aswon and Kai snorted at the subtle reference to Nadia, while the kids just nodded and listened carefully.
The fuel tanks had been topped off by the time they were done, and Kai stopped them just as they were departing.
"Look, I know we said we'd never met and you'd never seen us before right – but just on the offchance, here's a number. We travel a lot, so could be anywhere, but you never know…" He thrust the card into her hands and then waved them off. They returned his wave, then turned and headed for the airport hut and the road beyond it that presumably led towards Tara itself. Kai tried to call Ludmilla, but the phone call didn't even go through, let alone reach her. He frowned, but wondered if it was just cell-reception that was the issue as they were still fairly far out of town.
They were well in the air and headed back west when Kai called out to the rest.
"So, how much did the fuel cost us?"
"I don't know, I thought you paid?"
"No, I was with the kids sorting them out. I saw him take the fuel hose off and walk off, and thought you'd sorted it, Hunter?"
"Pfft, not me. Did ANYONE pay?" There were a chorus of negatives from the rest of the team, and they discovered that nobody had exchanged any money at all for the fuel, or indeed offered or had been asked for payment. Maybe Tariq was going to take the hose back and then come back with the cred-reader?
Kai tried to call again, with the same results. He sent a text message instead, hoping that it would get through whatever relays or security protocols were in place. The message disappeared into the ether, and all he could do was wait until they were nearer a place with better coverage to try again.
The chopper had not long passed the small town of Krutinskiy on the shore of the Ozero lake, about 200km west of the airport when Marius felt a strange trickling sensation down his side. Like getting a stitch. Suddenly the pain flared up, and his side cramped – at least that's what his brain told him. In the real world rather than the translated experience of the rigger environment, alarms started to go red across the cockpit. Master alarms gave a low strident buzzing, and the chopper suddenly started to shake in a noticeable fashion.
They sagged and dropped to one side as one engine completely failed, and Marius fought against the controls to get them back on course. A part of his attention activated the comm system while the rest of him tried to diagnose the problem and work through it.
"Alarm on the port engine, showing complete loss. Hydraulics are bottoming out, and the pitch control on the main shaft is down. I'm going to have to put her down and work out what's wrong. Check for obvious physical damage."
The team started to look around them, making sure they hadn't been hit with something, or that no small sabotage charges had been snuck aboard. The chopper continued to lurch through the sky, side-slipping as Marius fought against the controls. As he looked around for a clear flat area that he could land in that wasn't on a road or in a settlement, the shuddering stopped. A bare second later, all the alarms winked out, and he heard – and felt – the port engine spinning back up to speed. The chopper righted itself and started to pick up speed again as everything returned to normal.
"Marius! Fly level and not too fast, I'm going out of body!" Tads didn't wait for a response, and pushed her mind clear of her body, letting it slump against the seat behind her. There was no time to discuss it – but she had a horrible feeling about this. Her astral form rose through the body of the chopper, pushing through the ward – her aura attuned to it during its construction ensured that it was no impediment to her.
She pulled herself along the chopper, making sure she didn't lose contact with it. She didn't understand the astral mechanics of it, but it was a phenomenon she was aware of – but somehow relativity mattered. As an astral traveller, she could travel 'normally' as a spirit through the world around her – seeing the details of the world and her environment clearly, and moving as swiftly as a top flight athlete – without her body to slow her down, she moved with the dexterity and grace of her mind. Or, she could move 'fast', channelling all of her power in movement. Measured against the speed of the world, she could travel kilometres in a second, covering vast distances in a short time – such as her race to try and help Saito. But, while travelling this fast, she saw only the vaguest of details as the mana field distorted and flowed around her. It took major things like a city or a mountain to show up, and it could be difficult to navigate.
The problem here was that the chopper was doing over a hundred kilometres per hour – faster than she could move at 'normal' speed, but way slower than her 'fast' speed. While she was 'in' the chopper, in a metaphysical sense, she was attached to it and moved over and through it. But if she lost contact then she was 'in' the world, and would sync to it – and the chopper would leave her behind. Then she'd have to travel swiftly to a point in front of it and slow, hovering patiently and waiting for it to move through her position, and then make a grab for it and try to synchronise her aura to it again.
It was for this reason she carefully moved up the top of the massive hull, climbing towards the engines to see if any critter or spirit was using its power to try and take them down. She knew from experience that an awful lot of spirits had the ability to cause or enhance 'bad luck'. Things would break around them, or fail in the worst possible way. Depending on what it was, it could be as inconvenient as a snapped shoelace to…well, an engine failure on an aircraft in flight. She thought that was pretty bad.
She saw a flash of movement from the engine – a spirit of some kind quite clearly. She didn't know if it had seen her, but it was definitely coming out of the right side engine – she guessed that was the port one. But then to her surprise and dismay, it ducked down into the craft, ignoring her ward as if it wasn't there at all. It just entered the craft in complete ignorance of the magical defences she and the team had spent a full day labouring on. She ducked back inside the chopper and scrambled back into her body, resynchronising her aura and trying to remember that her meat form couldn't float or fly.
"ASTRAL ALERT! Intruder in the craft!" she shouted, probably a little too shrilly. Well, better to warn them and apologise for screeching at them later if they all survived. Now they were warned, it was time to get some backup, and she started to call upon the air and wind around the craft, trying to summon a powerful wind spirit to stand with her and help her defeat whatever foe this was. She tried – but nothing happened. No spirit answered her call. A moment of doubt flashed through her mind, wondering if she'd done something to offend her totem again. Her thoughts flashed back to the square near the railway station. No! No, she had upheld the ideals of her totem. It couldn't be that… think, think… She looked around, checking the astral environment out and trying to 'taste' it. She unstrapped and crawled out of the turret and past the front seats, still checking the environment out astrally.
Marius didn't know what was going on, other than the shaman was alarmed and that he still couldn't explain the massive failure in the port engine or the equally bizarre restoration of power. It sounded like magical shenanigans was going on, and the thought made his teeth itch. It defied logic and offended his sensibilities, and also made him feel very uneasy. Trying not to dwell on it, he concentrated on keeping the bird level and smooth. Power was at 60%, well within the most economical and least stressful range, and he made sure that nothing was done that would put even the slightest bit of stress on the aircraft, trusting the magical members of the team to deal with the issue.
Aswon was still in the greenhouse, but had grabbed his spear and was standing ready. His breathing was deep and even, and it was clear he was still trying to remain calm and provide a neutral force to the area to keep it astrally clean. Shimazu had his hand on his sword and was looking around astrally, as was Kai – but neither of them knew what they were looking for. Neither did Tads, to be fair, but she at least had caught a glimpse of it.
That was good – as once again, all she really caught was a glimpse. As she was working her way back from the cockpit towards the cargo area, she saw the traces in her peripheral vision as the spirit sank into the guts of the aircraft, melding through the radio operator's panel. The spirt was short and somewhat hunched over, and didn't look that powerful – but it was also clearly not a normal spirit either. It was not like any form of nature spirit she'd ever seen, in fact.
She thought for a moment, then called out to Hunter to go grab her a bowl and put a little porridge in it. While he went off with a puzzled look on his face, she watched the console carefully, moving around it and trying to make sure the spirit didn't disappear.
A minute later, Hunter was back with some sloppy but serviceable porridge. Tads took it from him and carefully crouched down near the bottom of the panel, holding the bowl on the floor.
"Excuse me. If you'd like to come out, I have some food for you. We don't mean any harm, we just want to know who you are. But this is for you, regardless." She waited, and then stifled a breath as a nose protruded out of a dial, followed by some cheeks and then the rest of the face. It looked at her for a moment, then down at the steaming bowl. "Go ahead, it's for you. I'm only holding it so it doesn't slide away.
The spirit eased out of the console to the side of her, then materialised. Tads was even more surprised – in its material form it could be hurt by weapons, disrupted and attacked by anyone. As a result most spirits tended to stay entirely on the astral plane, or just manifest in the physical – appear in a ghostly nebulous form but without any physical presence. But the spirit was definitely here – she could tell when it laid hands on the bowl and took it from her hands.
He was only about a metre high, and appeared to be very elderly. A large nose stuck out from a deeply lined and wrinkled face framing sunken eyes. Huge hairy ears adorned each side of the face, wrapped in curly grey hair. It wore a pair of rough-looking trousers and a smock, and the outfit was topped with a cap of some kind. The spirit looked at her again, and then waddled off down the side of the living block, before pulling down on one of the fold-up bench seats in the main area, then laboriously climbing up into the seat to consume the bowl of food. His tiny legs swung underneath him, as he dug into the porridge and consumed it with gusto.
"Oh, tell the man driving the horse that one of his pins broke. I fixed it though." Tads and Hunter could barely make out the words around the mouthful of food, but the meaning was clear. Hunter sent a message though to Marius, but got no response other than a strange grinding noise.
"So, what do we call you? I'm not going to ask your real name, but it's rude to just say 'hey', so what name can we call you by?"
"Grandfather. Hrm. Where did the two other nice young people go?"
"Ahh, we were just helping them out. They left to go on another journey, somewhere else."
"Oh, shame. I liked them. Very nice."
"Is there anything you want? Is there anything we can do for you?" The beady eyes flicked around a little, and the spirit leant forward and lowered its voice.
"I've heard that porridge made with brandy is very nice?" It gave her a smile, managing to look both conspiratorial and slightly embarrassed at the same time.
"We don't have any brandy, but we do have some vodka. I could try that?" offered Hunter. He reached in and took the now empty bowl, heading for the tiny little galley in the back of the module.
"I like him, he seems nice."
"He has his moments. So, I'm very curious. We put up a nice strong ward around the helicopter, and you were outside, in the engines. But you got straight through the wards no problem. Is that something you can teach me?"
"No."
Tads waited a moment, but he just sat swinging his legs, looking around him. No further explanation seemed to be forthcoming.
"Are you staying with us long? Are you going anywhere in particular?"
"Yes and no."
She waited again, but he seemed content that he'd answered her questions. She dropped into astral and examined him. If he wanted to be curt, so could she. She gave him a quick look over, trying to get a feel for what he was and more importantly how powerful he was. She figured he was pretty strong, at least as strong as the spirits she would normally try to summon.
The spirit's gaze fell upon the greenhouse, and he looked over with interest. A moment later he plopped onto the floor, and started to waddle over to it, Tads following along behind. Entering the area he saw Aswon staring at him, spear in hand.
"What's this then?"
"A special box to keep the plant healthy. We don't want to cause it any harm."
"Oh, that's nice. It's nice in here though. I like it."
"Goooood." Aswon stared at him suspiciously. A quick glance to Tads. She shrugged. He returned his stare to the small elderly man standing in front of him. In his head he ran through the mantra…'don't touch the box, don't touch the box, don't touch the box." It seemed to work though, as instead he made a series of gestures in the air, as if directing an invisible orchestra.
Aswon frowned and dropped into astral at once, checking him out. His frown deepened as he tried to work out what had changed. If anything though, it just appeared…nicer in here. Slightly more positive and vibrant. The old man smiled at him, then turned and waddled off to another fold-down bench, and repeated the process of struggling into it.
Aswon checked over the area, trying to tune out the sounds of Tads explaining what seat belts were, and why it was a good idea to wear them, and that no Marius was a very good driver, but that meant that sometimes his horse jumped over very high fences and made everything fly in the air. He winced as the analogy was taken out into a dark alley and beaten severely, but still couldn't see what the man had done. If he'd done anything. He tuned back in, and caught Tads explaining which four members of the team could see the spirit in astral space, and who to go to for help or if he had a problem.
He checked on the plant again, and the next time he looked up the spirit had faded away or moved. Tads was still sitting there, waiting patiently and gave him another shrug. There was nothing to be done at this point it seemed – they'd lost one set of hitchhikers but picked up another.
The helicopter flew on, crossing fields and woods, rivers and roads. Sometimes small corporate enclaves appeared on the horizon as Marius gently banked them around to give a wide berth to anyone who would object to their presence. The kilometres marched by, and a couple of hours later they landed once more at Grigorie's dilapidated service station.
There were two other vehicles present – a mid-sized panel van parked pretty much next to the station itself, and a battered and old looking tilt-wing jet, parked a good way down the car park. Both vehicles were dirty and battered, decidedly worse for wear and looked unremarkable.
Kai and Shimazu went to arrange for fuel, Kai trying Ludmilla once more on the phone but with the same lack of success. Inside they had the same response as they had previously – surly abuse and rudeness, but quick service as soon as they flashed their cash around. A couple of middle-aged women wearing street clothes were sitting in a booth at the far end, watching them carefully, while a short and dumpy human looked to be fiddling with some kind of small mechanical object. He glanced up, gave them a once over, then returned to trying to get a greasy O-ring off a component, muttering under his breath as he did so.
Refilling the chopper cost just over seventeen and a half thousand Nuyen, leaving their credsticks empty and depleted. As a team, they had a couple of hundred rattling around, and a few of them had some money put by from earlier scores – but they were now essentially broke. Once the chopper was fuelled up, they had a quick look at the maps and worked out what to do.
From Grigorie's to the location Ludmilla had given as a drop off point was about 1240km – doable on their fuel tankage, but would leave them with enough to take off and travel a short distance only. It was a touch less to the Quarry, and there was fuel to be had there – and from the Quarry to Ludmilla was only 700km. If they went to the Quarry, filled up, they had enough to get to Ludmilla and back…
They hedged, and started off flying a course down the centre of the triangle. For at least a while it wouldn't commit them to either course, though they would reach a point of no return after a few hundred clicks where they would need to commit to one or the other.
As they took off and started flying their route, Tads tried to summon a spirit again, seeing if an air spirit would answer her call and guard the chopper against further mishaps. Instead, Grandfather appeared at her side. What's worse was that she felt that he appeared because he had heard her calling, not because she had called. It was a subtle difference, but it meant that he owed her nothing, and she had no bargaining power over him.
"Yes?"
"Um. It doesn't matter. I was trying to get someone else." The old man faded away, leaving nothing but questions in her mind behind him.
They flew for thirty minutes, and Kai hit the redial button one more time.
"Hello darling! I've been very busy!"
"Good afternoon Ludmilla. I'm hoping you've seen the updates, but just to let you know that we have your plant, alive and well, and we're en-route now. We're actually only a couple of hours away, if we come direct to you – but we need to sort out somewhere near you to get fuel."
"Darling, don't be silly. You can get some fuel here. Come to me, now, with the plant. We will meet, have some food, sort out your pay. It will be lovely. I will send you the exact co-ordinates and frequencies. Ciao! See you soon! Bye!" The connection was broken. He stared at the phone in his hand, wondering what it was going to be like to come face to face with her. Only one way to find out. A moment later the phone buzzed as he received a message, and shortly thereafter they banked slightly to the right and started on their journey.
Hunter entered the co-ordinates into the mapping software: 56.64946, 43.37541. The map zoomed over and displayed the standard resolution images, along with the option to purchase higher resolution details or become a premium member and go ad-free. He sighed and fought through the popups and looked at the area then keyed up the microphone and broadcast out to the team.
"Ok, the location is on the shore of the Volga, right by a massive reservoir. Looks like a hydro dam, easily 500m long, and a big substation next to it. I can see pretty big ship locks to the north east, so it still looks navigable to larger cargo vessels. I can see a hexagonal shape to the southern end of the dam, looks like it's on top of where there'd normally be a tower or something, so I hope that's the helipad. Marius, looking at the shadows you want to come in from the west or south – there's a whole shitload of high voltage lines in the other directions. It's on the edge of the town of Zavolzhye – about one point five clicks from the city centre. Around that, lots of arable land, looks like big fields, very regimented – so maybe lots of corp presence rather than local landowners."
The team digested the information and had a quick look at the maps, but there didn't seem to be any further information to glean from them at this point. They flew on, their journey uneventful as they flew over the Russian countryside. Squawking one of the transponder codes that Milo had arranged for them, they avoided any interference from civilian airfields, and they were not high enough to be in controlled airspace for the major airlines.
It was well after dusk as they arrived at Zavolzhye, and Marius followed the advice and came in from the south, overflying the edge of the city. It seemed like a typical small city, maybe 50,000 in population. Power didn't seem to be an issue, but that was not surprising with the massive hydro station literally on the edge of the city. As they flew down towards the dam the true size of it became apparent – the dam was over half a kilometre wide, but the berming and banking on the side, the artificial quays and locks, the docks and repair yards easily took up over ten kilometres of the shoreline.
As predicted though there was the helipad, an octagonal reinforced structure, well-lit from angled lamps around the outside and with a helpful illuminated wind sock well clear to one side. Marius bought in the chopper slowly, checking out the pad and looking to the side with some concern on seeing the absolute rats nest of high voltage lines leading to the substation. The pad had no weight markings on it, so he couldn't tell if it was rated for a bird as big as this. On the other hand, the Russians liked to build strong generally, so he should be ok as long as he was gentle.
They touched down carefully, Marius slowly lowering the power and letting the suspension gradually increase the weight on the pad in a smooth fashion. There were no creaks or groans, and everything seemed fine, so he went through the normal power down procedure while the team got ready to move the box down the ramp and out.
To the side of the pad, on the north edge leading to the dam, was a small low built structure, set well back from the landing pad. It had the look of a military bunker – squat and low, with heavy reinforcement ribs running down the sides. A large set of blast doors opened, and a single man walked out, dressed in smart black trousers and jacket with white shirt and matching gloves. He waited patiently, the edge of his hair blowing in the wind and the rotor-wash.
As the rotors slowed, and he saw the rear ramp starting to lower, he strode over towards them.
"Good evening, welcome to the Lady's residence. Do you require assistance with your goods?"
The team were carefully moving the box down the ramp, supporting the weight between Aswon and Shimazu.
"Actually yes, that'd be great. We really don't want to drop it or tip it over."
"Assistance will be summoned." The head tilted for a moment, and he seemed to gaze into space for a heartbeat. "Staff are bringing equipment to assist you."
"Now that's efficiency," they heard Marius mutter from the rear. "Headware computer and commlink. Nice."
Moments later the blast doors slid open again and two men pushed out a large trolley with bulbous tyres. The moved the trolley into position and stood aside, letting the team slide the plant container onto the centre.
"Please follow me, and I will take you to the Lady." The besuited man turned and headed to the door, briefly holding his hand to a scanner at the side and then swiping an access card through a reader. Obediently the door whisked open, leading them into a short corridor that terminated at a large freight elevator. The team followed along, pushing the cart, while the two lackeys in jumpsuits followed along behind them. A quick glance showed them as being unarmed or armoured, with minimal cyberware on display – just a datajack in each.
The journey down from the helipad was only a floor, but as the door opened the noise rise was incredible. The area beyond the doors led to a gantry that overlooked the generator hall, and they could see the enormous turbines sitting in the vast concrete box that had been constructed, pipes easily five metres across feeding into and out from them. More jumpsuited worked moved around the space, checking on machinery and performing maintenance.
The butler led them on though, walking the length of the power hall and into what appeared to be a large complex built onto the side. They saw side passages leading off, all in the same uniform construction style – heavily reinforced ribs of concrete forming a distorted pentagram. Many of the passages were labelled – 'stores', 'engineering' and 'laboratories' were all passed, as the butler led them further and further into the complex.
They reached another heavily reinforced door that required further identification. As the massive door slid open, they could see a marked change in the décor – instead of bare cerma-crete walls and floors, the area beyond had a standard office style carpet and there was wooden style panelling on the walls. The lighting was recessed into a drop ceiling rather than being LED strips bolted to the roof.
They were led through what felt like an admin area, then took a sharp turn into another corridor, where the details of the furnishings were again dialled up a little. The carpet became thicker, the wood effect walls were replaced with real wood, the lighting changed from a practical white to a slightly warmer colour. Finally they reached a large wooden door covered with ornate carvings. Instead of another ID check, this time the butler knocked three times with a pause between each, then reached down and swung the door open widely and moved in to stand at the far side.
"My Lady, Kai and Party." His rich baritone rang out like he was announcing the arrival of visiting dignitaries, and he waved for the team to enter. As they walked in they could take in the room around them. It was large, easily ten metres to a side, and covered in carved wooden panelling. A couple of suits of armour were visible, tapestries and paintings hung on the walls, and there was gold, silver and gem-encrusted jewellery and decorations dotted around the room on display stands. In various places swords, axes or other primitive and old-looking weapons were hung on stands or directly attached to the wall.
Leaning to one side in a large and luxurious looking piece of furniture was a middle-aged woman dressed in a long and flowing dress. A cigarette was in a long ivory holder, the fumes rising in a slow and lazy plume before being whipped away by the artfully concealed air-con in the ceiling.
"Darlings! You're here. How lovely to meet you at last. And this is my plant, I hope?" Kai nodded to her. "May I see it?"
"Of course, but only for a short time if you please." It was Aswon that responded. "We have learnt that the temperature of the plant is crucial to its survival, as well as the aura of the surrounding area. We would hate to have succeeded in your request only to have it wilt upon arrival." As he spoke, he unclipped the panel on the front of the box and opened it up to display the contents to her. With a bulge of his muscles he shifted the trolley first one way and then the other to allow her to see it from a different angle, and then started to attach the cover again, conscious that the cold air was escaping into the warm room already forming a layer of condensation on the edge of the case.
"The aura of the surrounding area?" She raised the cigarette holder to her lips and took a deep draw, letting the smoke escape slowly from her nose as she listened to Kai's response.
"The plant it seems is psychically sensitive. Changes in the mood around it will affect it. Taking it somewhere where there is death, misery, pain and suffering is likely to kill it – as is, somewhere heavily polluted or barren. For instance, a sterile laboratory with no living material might cause it to suffer shock. We constructed a greenhouse in our transport to provide plenty of biomass around it to try and avoid this issue."
"I see. While positive emotions are good? Just as bad?"
"Generally good, though we have limited experience. However, from what we have seen a home, with people who love and laugh, growing plants, positive thoughts and hope – these are all good."
"What about really dirty banging sex?"
"I..um…errr. I'm not sure." Aswon shook his head to try and get the sudden image that had appeared out of his mind. "I suppose if people are having fun or there is generally positive feelings, then that would help." The rest of the team seemed equally thrown off track at the unexpected departure from expected behaviour.
"Marvellous. Well, that seems to be fine. Let's get that taken away to somewhere more appropriate to store it then, shall we?" She arched an eyebrow at them, but the butler had already given a microscopic wave to the two minions who had trailed after them, and they moved around to carefully push the trolley back through the door and into the complex behind them. Clearly, this was a rhetorical question, so the team moved out of the way to give them plenty of space. "Come, come, sit and we shall drink and sort out business."
"Now then, drinks will be here momentarily, but let's discuss your pay for the mission…"
The team settled down into the indicated plush chairs and settees and Kai perched on the edge of his seat – game time.