Date Sunday 07/03/2060, Location 48.4913, 44.552

Marius and Nadia were left in their room, and the rest of the team headed into the middle room to confer. There were some snide remarks and crude jokes, talk about becoming their dealers and such like, but gradually the mood sobered as they contemplated the situation.

After a few minutes, Kai realised that both Shimazu and Hunter had gone quiet, both staring off into space with looks of concentration on their face. A minute more passed, then Shimazu leant over towards Hunter, and started to talk about non-specific volumetric uptake of endorphin receptors. The two of them started to confer, discussing how they could best address the removal of the chemicals from their system and the physiological conditions that could aid this. Quickly Kai was left behind in the conversation as they went beyond his knowledge of biotech - the practical applications of treatments and the immediate work of dealing with wounds and saving lives, into the field of medicine and holistic therapy. After a few minutes though, they came to a consensus and approached Kai with their plan.

Kai listened, then sighed deeply, before pushing himself to his feet and returning to see Marius and Nadia. When he entered, he could sense the tension in the air, along with the faint smell of the two – their bodies struggling with the after effects of the drug, sweating and shaking in response to chemical needs. Kai adjusted his posture and put on a slight smile, but kept it dialled down to something subtle and reassuring. Speaking carefully, he told them what Shimazu and Hunter had discussed, about the effects of the drugs on their system and how best to get through the ordeal.

While he was doing this, the others bought in a number of bottles of water and some food, then left quietly.

"So, both of you – what we need is for you to drink at least a litre of water an hour, more if you can stomach it. Go to the loo as often as you can, and help your kidneys flush this stuff out. And it'll not be fun, or exciting – but do situps, crunches, jog on the spot, star jumps – whatever. Push your body, make yourselves sweat, get the heart rate up and exercise hard. You'll feel like crap, but it'll distract you from the cravings for one, and it'll help metabolize anything left for two. Don't worry about tomorrow, Marius – Shimazu will drive, and he's promised not to scratch it. You both get to sleep all day, if you can power through the night."

Nadia looked rebellious and Marius didn't look impressed – but he nodded in acceptance, and laid a hand over Nadia's, shooting her a look and she kept her peace. Kai left the room, and as he turned to shut the door, saw Marius starting a series of deep squats, encouraging Nadia to do the same. He pulled the door closed quietly, and returned to the others to let them know how it had gone.

In the morning, they grabbed a quick breakfast from their supplies in the truck, and got back on the road around 09:00. Marius and Nadia looked awful – pale and wan, tired and very grumpy. However, they had both obviously showered not long ago, and when they were examined, there was no sign of the tremors that had been present the night before. They both climbed straight into the back of the truck and into bunks, wrapping themselves up in blankets and strapping in, then falling asleep quickly.

Aswon and Hunter headed into the trailer again, to keep an eye on the cargo. Kai leant around the rear door, with Shimazu by his side.

"Can you check the cargo over? Carefully?" Aswon and Shimazu looked uncertain, but then Shimazu nodded.

"Keep an eye on me, just in case." He stared at the boxes for a moment, penetrating his ward and examining the swirling mass of mana underneath. He wobbled a bit, and Aswon and Hunter started to move towards him, ready to catch him – or restrain him as needed. A moment later he blinked, then looked around at them.

"Just the same as before. No better, no worse. Still awful."

Aswon and Hunter returned to their places, strapping themselves into the harnesses set up while Kai shut the door and headed to the front. With the two of them in the back, it left Shimazu to drive, with Kai and Tads in the front of the cab, stretching out in the unaccustomed space. Shimazu spent a minute or two adjusting the 'trode net onto his head and ensuring that it was properly set, then thought about starting the engine. In response, the massive diesel engine rumbled to life, making the truck vibrate. In the back, Marius stirred slightly in his sleep, clutching his pillow tightly.

Tads concentrated for a moment, establishing her spell and linking her mind to Shimazu's, feeling his thoughts as he piloted the truck out of the car park and onto the main road, heading north east along the highway into the centre of Volgograd. As they drove along, Tads experienced what Shimazu was feeling, the weird dichotomy of feeling the truck respond to the power of his thoughts, and the sensation that he should be driving using his physical limbs.

Kai gave a start as Tads moved suddenly, then his face broke into a genuine grin, as she too raised her arms to grip the imaginary steering wheel, and her feet started to press on the floor on peddles that existed only in her mind. They moved in perfect synchronisation, the truck sweeping around bends and changing up a gear as they performed their pantomime, fighting through the early morning traffic of heavy industrial vehicles and smaller commuter cars.

He was distracted by a call from the back, as Hunter cleared his throat.

"I've been working the numbers, and I think we're about 670 clicks from Samara as the crow flies, or around a thousand clicks actual travel distance. If we push on for the day and don't run into anything, we'll arrive at the base around midnight or so."

"Hmm – I don't like the sound of that. I think we should try and do a midday arrival. Is there somewhere we can get to today that's close enough to make that possible?"

"Let me check…" There was a sound of key pressing just audible over the link, then Hunter spoke again. "Ok, we can get to Saratov. That's well over half way, and past a lot of the worst traffic and road conditions. If we stop there, we should be able to leave early in the morning and get to the base just after midday."

"I favour this plan. It means if we are looking at option two, we have more chance." Kai frowned as he heard Aswon speak.

"What do you mean, option two?"

"Well, the way I see it, we have a number of options for this job. Option one – this is a milk run. It's actually really straight forward, and he just needed a trustworthy set of couriers who wouldn't ask questions, and that's why the pay is fairly low. Option two – it's a horrible double cross, and we'll get to the military base and find ourselves under attack for trying to sneak a nuclear bomb into their grounds, or something like that. Option three, we open the crates to find out if it's a bomb, or zombies, or canisters of anthrax or VITAS dispensers, and have to decide what to do with them."

"It could be option four – cryogenically cooled hookers, being taken to the base for the troops as a reward," added Hunter with a snort. The banter continued for several minutes, and by the time they got to option fourteen, it was well out of the bounds of reasonableness or probability. While they'd gotten silly, the fact remained that the first few options represented good possibilities.

Kai saw something in his peripheral vision, and turned to look carefully out of the front window, watching as a second snowflake landed on the thick armour glass, then was joined by some more. He looked over to the sensor panel, and watched as the temperature sunk another degree or two, then craned his body down, so he could look up at the large grey clouds overhead, hanging low over the city.

A change in terrain caught his attention and he looked over to the right of the truck, to the area bordering the river. A huge corporate enclave took up all of the land from the waterfront to the main road, surrounded by a four metre high wall of plascrete, adorned with graffiti and tags in places. Beyond the wall, huge chemical tanks; pipes and fractional distillation towers rose in a jumble, filling the space like a maze. Kai poked Tads in the ribs gently to get her attention, then pointed over to the walls.

They drove past a gateway, and saw three men standing guard, one of them holding two large Alsatians on quick-release leads. They were armed with submachine guns and were wearing heavy long coats that bulged and hung strangely – almost certainly layered over heavy body armour. Tads sucked in a breath as she stared at the scene, looking at the magical plane rather than the physical.

"That's not somewhere we want to be. There' a background count over the whole area, rising in some places. Those dogs are dual-natured – they're astrally-sighted and can see spirits and such like. They may have other abilities too – running fast, or leaping, or even paralysing howls or something like that. But there's also a fairly powerful air spirit over the top of the facility that looks on the verge of being toxic. It's badly polluted and warped, that much I can tell you."

"Zeta-Imp Chem. Massive chemical company, they make loads of chemicals obviously, but also drugs, treatments, advanced plastics, weird metals, nano-machinery – all kinds of stuff. But it's all advanced manufacturing, and I guess, polluting industries. That'll explain the taint on astral space."

In the trailer Aswon watched as Hunter tensed up. His normal wry smile vanished and he took on a slightly haunted expression for just a moment. With a breath, it was gone, and he was back to his usual self.

"Something wrong, Hunter?" asked Aswon, keeping his attention on the warded boxes, and avoiding direct eye contact.

"Um… they're my ex-employers. We didn't part on the best of terms."

"Well, unless they can penetrate a pretty massive ward, and see through solid armour plate – don't worry about it."

The truck rumbled on, keeping up with traffic for the next kilometre, then another. The compound to the right remained as forbidding as when they first saw it – stark walls, rolls of razor wire, frequent patrols and sensor pods and every ten metres or so was a large clear sign marking it as corporate property, and forbidding entrance. They knew what that meant of course – inside the boundary of that line, they were on corporate property – not in Russia. Corporate law applied, and if you were caught, then summary execution was well within their rights. They drove on in silence, until finally they reached the end of the ZIC compound, and the city returned to a normal mix of smaller companies and corporations, side roads, decrepit housing and run down shops. Down by the waterfront they could see docks and cranes, boat yards and chandlers and a host of businesses related to the boating industry. Closer to the road were a cluster of mechanics and vehicle workshops, selling spare parts or doing repairs. Kai gave a start and looked again, then tapped Shimazu on the shoulder.

"Pull over, quick as you can, I think that's someone we should say hello to." Shimazu found a spot to pull up in, and angled to the side of the road, ignoring the honking of the traffic that got caught behind him. Kai pawed at the window for a moment, then remembered that they didn't open, and instead flipped the door open, leaning out and looking back at the figure which had emerged from a shop entrance a few moments ago and was now walking up the road, clutching a number of large boxes.

"Hey! Hello there. Momma Bear, isn't it?" Tads slumped in her chair as her astral form left the truck to go and hover next to the figure, examining her and the area around her.

"Oh, hi. Kai isn't it? I see you got your truck repainted. Nice… oh, in fact nice mods. Today's colour of the day, hey?" The heavy-set ork female was wearing a pair of denim dungarees still, under a large heavy overcoat. As she spoke she adjusted the boxes and examined the truck, and Kai, carefully.

"We like to mix things up, what can I say. Out for a bit of shopping I see?"

"Yes, just picking up some spares and supplies we had to get ordered in, then heading back to the quarry."

"The quarry?" As soon as Kai said that, he realised that he'd said something dumb. Momma Bear stared at him for a moment, as if expecting him to crack the punchline, but when he continued to look at her blankly, she shook her head in amazement.

"Wait, you DID get the card from Rocket, right? You've not lost it?" She looked at him sharply, shifting the boxes again to stop the top container from sliding off and falling.

"No, no, we still have it. Well, Marius does, anyway."

"Oh man, just wait until Rocket hears about this…" She snorted, and then started to walk, and her large shoulders heaved as she chuckled, walking down the path away from them in the steadily thickening snow. Kai leant back into the truck and pulled the door closed, and then waved for Shimazu to continue driving as he pondered the discussion. They pulled out into a small gap in traffic and continued their journey, and as they passed the first side street he saw Mamma Bear loading the supplies into the back of the dune buggy he'd seen them with back in the valley.

Back in the truck, they dug through Marius's gear, pulling out the card and examining it again. Kai filled in the two in the back on the other half of the conversation that they'd not heard – Mamma Bear had been too far from the microphone in the front.

"Do you think – any of these numbers might be a set of co-ordinates or something?" asked Shimazu. Kai read them out, and they could hear Hunter tapping away in the background, checking on maps.

"Well, if you take the figure of 50114 kilos max weight, and use that as a northing, and the figure of 43202 listed as max altitude and use that as an easting, then the spot highlighted is an old quarry, about 200 kilometres north of here." The truck fell silent for a few moments while they digested that.

"Nice thought," Kai rubbed his brow for a moment. "I think we might add this to our list of things to investigate, once we've dropped off our cargo. But for now, let's crack on."

They pressed on through the city, and the road gradually bent from heading north to a more easterly course, following the banks of the Volga River. The houses changed in style as they went from one district to another, but they all had a rundown air to them. The city seemed vibrant, but poor – as if the massive corporate presences here were leeches, draining the financial blood from them and leaving them poor and sickly. The number of commercial vehicles on the road was incredibly high and traffic was heavy, blanketing the whole city with a dense smog that coloured the snow as soon as it landed, forming grey and brown slush that piled up by the sides of the road.

They finally made it past the city centre and the turn off for the E119 to the North West, the route of the New Silk Road, and the traffic eased up slightly as they continued on the smaller R229 to the north east. It wasn't long before they spotted another huge conclave by the waterside – following the same pattern. Enormous walls topped with razor wire, oppressive armed guards, signs twenty foot high emblazoned with the Saeder-Krupp logo. Tads checked, and found the magical security was slightly lighter than on the ZIC compound to the south – but judging by the electronics panel in the back of the van, it was more than made up for by the massive number of sensors and drones deployed, in depth, across the facility.

"If you listen carefully, you can hear Marius' butt clench, even in his sleep," quipped Hunter over the intercom, getting a few snorts of laughter in response. The compound was, if anything, even more massive than the ZIC area, including a number of quays and floating docks that jutted out into the massive river. As they finally reached the end of the wall, and watched it turn sharply in towards the coastline, Shimazu checked the digital odometer in the corner of his vision.

"Nine point nine four kilometres long. That's from the first corner, to the one we just passed. I'd guess about one and quarter wide or so. So easily over ten square kilometres for the whole place." Hunter confirmed after a little check on the maps, and they idly discussed the kind of work they could be getting up to in a place like that.

It wasn't far until they reached the end of the city, and came across the Volga dam, a massive concrete structure sprawling across the four and a half kilometre wide river. On the far side they could see two enormous sets of locks, one of which contained a small container ship that was slowly rising to bypass the dam. This area had no wall – but it did have a double chain-link fence nearly six metres high, topped with more rolls of razorwire, and dangling signs claiming it as the property of Russia Hyro-power, a division of Shiawaise. Passing the dam appeared to be some kind of threshold – maybe a change in zoning laws or ownership.

Housing and businesses stopped abruptly, and the land became a mix of various shades of brown. Unlike the land to the south west that they'd been driving through, rather than small fields laid out in a patchwork, here the fields were gigantic, tended by automated machinery with long boom arms that drilled and tilled the fields, getting ready for the spring planting. Around each of these vast swathes of lands were simple wire fences, again with frequent signs claiming ownership for one agri-corp or another. Clearing the mass of traffic in the city and fighting through the narrow streets had taken them over two hours, but they accelerated now, pushing ahead on the clearer road and the truck rumbled through the deepening slush as the snow continued to fall.

They trundled along the road, travelling roughly parallel to the Volga as they headed north into the Russian interior. The road dropped in quality quickly as they left Volgograd behind, with long stretches of the road only having one usable lane. While the truck kept pace with the other commercial traffic heading in the same direction, this often lead to long queues of cars bunching up behind them, waiting to overtake and be on their way. The drivers seemed accustomed to taking crazy chances though, and despite several near misses, there was no trouble along the way.

Around 14:00, they spotted a building across the road in the distance, and as they closed the traffic bunched up and slowed down. A kilometre or two short they managed to get the sensors zoomed in enough and spotted that it was a checkpoint. Hunter informed them they were getting near the administrative border between Volgograd and Saratov Oblasts, the equivalent of county borders or prefectures. They slowed more and prepared themselves to join the queue – at least this one was nowhere near as long as the one to enter Russia. From time to time they saw a vehicle get checked, and then pull out from the queue and leap straight down to the front of the line, where it was checked next and allowed on its way.

They hadn't long stopped when they saw an official working down the line towards them, tablet in one hand and a radio set over his head. He stopped at each vehicle, and appeared to do a quick ID check – perhaps gathering the details to be processed by the checkpoint ahead.

"Tads, can you go and listen in on what he's saying, magically?"

"Yes, I can Kai. But if they have astral spotters out, or any spirits – they'll see me very obviously, and may assume we're attacking."

"Oh, right – don't do that then. I guess we'll just wait our turn." They watched him work down the short list of vehicles ahead of them, and then it was their turn.

Shimazu pushed the door open as he arrived, and the man climbed up the steps lithely and efficiently – clearly at home climbing up to talk to lorry drivers.

"Good afternoon Comrades, welcome to Saratov. Do you have a priority pass?" Kai slid over towards him, holding their collection of IDs from Milo, and with a sheaf of their paper money. All told there was around 250 Nuyen, or 500 Rubbles worth.

"Hi, here are the IDs. And we don't have a pass, but we'd be interested in buying one?" He gave his best high-intensity smile at the guy, and put earnest appreciation into his voice. The IDs were quickly slotted one after another, each making the machine give a happy beep and a flash of green light, and the small bundle of bills disappeared into an inside pocket."

"Enjoy your journey." The man started to climb down the steps, and as soon as he'd reached the ground, they heard him say into the microphone "Ygevny! Sending one down, all cleared." Before he waved at Shimazu to pull out and head down the road. They pulled out and motored down the side of the line, passing the line until they reached the checkpoint. To their surprise, they were just waved straight through, not receiving the same check the others had. Maybe their bribe wasn't as generous. Either way, once Shimazu had squeezed the truck through the narrow opening, he put his foot down, literally, and they picked up speed again, continuing along the cracked roadway.

Another hour saw them closing in on Saratov, and Kai went into the back to rouse Nadia and Marius, ensuring they didn't sleep too long during the day and stay up all night. Both looked a lot better, and a few minutes later they climbed through into the cab with a cup of coffee, looking somewhat awake.

They arrived just in time to spot the airbase off their right side, a huge flattened area clearly visible from the slightly raised surface of the main road. One long runway ran across the huge airbase, several thousand metres long, with a taxiway at each end leading to perhaps a dozen hard-standing pads. Four of the pads contained silvery jets, just visible through the snow blowing in the rising wind.

"Fast jets, probably could launch inside ten minutes of an alert being raised. But nothing on the end of the runway, so they're not on alert."

"We're only about a thousand clicks away from the top end of Turkemistan from here." Hunter called from the rear, and they could all picture him, intently staring at his computer and the nav-screen."

"About forty minutes flight if you stayed low, maybe twenty minutes if you hit altitude. Easy strike distance, and far enough back to make a strike against the base here difficult. Makes sense." Marius seemed torn, half his attention on the airbase to the right, and half watching Shimazu drive the truck along.

Driving past the airbase they entered the city proper, finding it to be a sprawling affair of typical Soviet construction. Drab and dreary, uncoloured concrete thrust up from the ground in a brutal and unappealing format, fashioned into factories, warehouses and apartment blocks that went back in rank after rank from the highway. They followed directions from Hunter to a hotel he'd found, travelling through the city centre and out of the city on the road to Samara.

By now the snow lay nearly 15cm deep across the ground, and as they turned into the white carpet that lay over the hotel approach road, for a moment the truck felt like it was about to slide. The deep tread bit into the soft snow, driving through to the concrete underneath though, and Shimazu let out a silent sigh of relief as he regained control and they drove up the road. The hotel looked good – in fact it looked great, considering the general state of the surrounding areas.

"The Hotel Mirage. Four stars. Cheapest you could find eh, Hunter?" Kai shook his head, wondering how much this was going to cost for the night. At the sound of their vehicle approaching, a valet in immaculate uniform appeared from the hotel entrance and descended the short flight of steps, braving the wind and snow and stood waiting patiently for them to pull up.

"Good afternoon! Welcome to the Hotel Mirage. I assume you're from the base?"

"Um... yes! Yes, that's right. We need a couple of rooms for the night, while we arrange our travel. And of course, somewhere to park the vehicle. Some of our team will be staying with the vehicle as we're carrying live cargo, so if we can park somewhere good, that will be appreciated."

"Of course sir. Would you like… me? To park your vehicle?"

"No, that won't be necessary. But if you can show our driver where to pull up, that would be good."

Shimazu felt a stare on the back of his neck, and vacated the driver's seat to allow Marius to jack in. While the poor valet walked around the hotel, guiding Marius to a parking place, the rest of the team grabbed their bags and entered the luxurious hotel lobby. After a few seconds, as he took in the scenery, he realised it was nice – but wasn't actually as good as it first appeared. Decorations were laminated, or coated, or on second inspection cleverly textured plastic.

What they lacked in original or genuine furnishings though, they made up for in service. Quickly they were checked in, and ended up booking two twin rooms and a single room for the night. A number of bellhops tried to assist them with their meagre luggage, helping them to their rooms. The hotel appeared quiet, and they didn't see any other guests on the journey to their rooms. Along the way, Aswon studied the pictures hanging on the wall, most of which had an aviation theme, or showed people in various military dress.

"I'm getting the impression, this place was aimed at the Russian Strategic Command and their staffs. I worked with some of them once, when we were contracted in the Urals. This place is typical – looks nice, staff to fawn over you, far enough back from the front lines that there's no real danger, but close enough to be able to go an make some commands life a living hell with your micro-management." Aswon's voice had a hard edge to it, and it was clear what he thought of such "rear echelon" warriors – or at least the ones that interfered with operations.

They made the most of their stay – discovering the billiards room, the swimming pool and the small gym. The restaurant cooked them a fine meal in the evening, and they staggered their shifts in the normal fashion – Aswon grabbing 3-4 hours sleep and then covering the rest of the night. The truck had ended up parked over four normal spaces, but was positioned right under a camera, clearly in view from the hotel security point.

They ordered breakfast for 6am, and after Kai settled up the three thousand rouble bill and recovered, were on the road by 7am, continuing on the road towards Samara. The snow had continued overnight, building up slowly until everything was covered to a depth of around thirty centimetres. The sounds of the city were muted by the white blanket that lay over the land, and the road was quiet. They saw a few snow plows out clearing the main road, and it looked like the city adjusted to a later start during the winter months.

As they headed north, Kai discussed the plan with the team. He had deliberately dressed in a very clearly civilian outfit, and had written a note, with the Brigadier's name clearly marked on the top in giant letters. He intended to get the truck to stop a hundred metres short of the gate, then walk up on his own, making it abundantly clear that they were no threat. Nobody had an issue with this – they were all a little nervous about just marching into a military base, given their legal status.

Now that Marius was driving, Shimazu re-joined Aswon in the trailer, freeing Hunter to return to the cab of the truck. He kept an eye on the weather reports, and monitored the condition of the road, keeping an eye out for problems and planning alternate routes in case they were needed.

They'd travelled about a hundred and eighty kilometres from Saratov, putting them near the half way mark, and the powerful truck and massive tyres, along with the surety of a rigger driving had let them keep up a good speed – they'd averaged over 60kph so far, despite the deep snow. The section of highway they were travelling angled inland, around a low but steep section of hills and crags between them and the river. This side of the ridgeline was covered in heavy forests, the massive evergreens laden down with snow forming a patchwork of green and white in a surreal herringbone pattern.

A glint of light in the forest ahead drew Hunter's attention.

"Marius, just ease off a minute, will you?" He felt the engine revs drop off, and the truck slowed gently in the snow, while he raised his assault rifle to his shoulder and peered through the scope ahead of them. "About 1200 metres, left side of the road, 352 mark 8. Looks like the front end of an SUV sticking out of the treeline, on a slope."

Having called out the position, the others checked through binoculars and Marius slewed the sensors and ran a sweep to confirm, while the truck continued to plow through the snow towards them. They never even noticed Tads vaulting from her body, and a split second later she was hovering over the waiting flatbed in astral space, examining it. In the back were four men, armed with some kind of gun – they were just grey blobs in astral space, but they looked about as big as Hunter's gun, though not as big as Aswon's. But she could feel the anticipation dripping off of them as they waited. A second later, she poked into the cab, finding three more men and a woman in there, also with guns. The passenger in the front seat had his hand up, telling the driver to wait, his attention focussed on the truck as it laboured up the road through the snow. Quick as a flash she headed back to her body, managing to merge with it first time at the low speed.

"Eight of them, four in the cab, four in the back. Nervous, anticipation, watching the truck, expectant. The one in the front is telling the driver to wait, and they mostly have guns about the same size as yours. Hunter. Nothing magic that I could see, but I get a really bad feeling from them – they mean us harm."

Marius hit the accelerator, and the engine roared, blue smoke bursting from the exhaust as he dumped fuel into the cylinders. The truck surged ahead, regaining speed and with expert control Marius danced between the six wheels, ensuring that all of that power went into driving them forward, not spinning out. The speedo rapidly climbed, and the bow wave of snow grew higher and higher as they rammed through the fall.

Ahead of them the SUV accelerated down out of the treeline, sliding onto the road and the doors were just starting to open to allow the attackers to get out – which just meant they could see the look of horror on their faces as they realised they'd miscalculated badly. Not only was the truck not going to stop – the team being pretty certain that none of their guns would actually penetrate the heavy armour installed. But also, that the truck had accelerated hard, which had thrown off their calculations. And now the behemoth was almost upon them, travelling faster than they'd thought possible in this weather.

Marius took great delight in aiming, and with exquisite care rammed the truck on the back left corner. The impact speed and weight of their truck sent the SUV spinning through the snow like a rotor blade, and the four hapless souls in the back were flung clear by the apparent centrifugal force. They arced through the air, and at least two soundly struck trees, sliding downwards in a broken and mangled form.

The truck continued along the road, sticking to it as if on rails, while Marius crowed with delight. The ram bars on the front had a slight extra angle to it, and a mass of white paint deposited, but otherwise the truck showed no sign of the impact. Tads once more left her body and went back to survey the scene. The four from the back were clearly dead, having hit the trees at far too high a speed. When she checked the bodies in the cab she found they had spun off the road and smashed into a boulder concealed in the snow by the side of the road. The two in the back were dead, their heads lolling at odd angles and their lower legs almost severed where the car doors had crushed them during the crash. The two in the front were alive, though badly wounded, barely moving in the cushion of the deflating airbags.

She manifested, appearing in front of them. The woman driver screamed, making the sign of the cross at her, while the passenger managed to raise his assault rifle and uselessly empty the magazine in her direction. Once the chattering of the gun had stopped, she could hear him mumbling in a dazed voice about robbing them, repeating himself over and over again in his delirious state. She looked around, and saw no other vehicles in sight, no life signs anywhere nearby. There was nothing she could do astrally, and she wondered if they'd be able to make it to a farm or some other civilisation.

But, on the road in weather like this – they were unlikely to last long on their own. She headed back to the truck and reported in, and the truck drove onwards, leaving the failed ambush behind.

"We not stopping to check the bodies?" Shimazu called over the intercom, once they'd been appraised of the situation.

"Negative. It'll slow us down, and I doubt they have anything we want or need." The German's normally dour voice still had an undercurrent of glee to it, that made it clear he considered this a good morning so far.

"Oh. I was just thinking that if they were dead, we could get some food for the leeches…"

"Shimazu! I'll make you some steak if you want. But please, can we stop desecrating the dead!" Tads sounded exasperated with him, and slightly disappointed. Shimazu muttered for a few seconds, but then went quiet again.

They drove on for another forty minutes, then spotted another checkpoint ahead. There was almost no queue at this one, and they saw an officer wading through the snow towards them, in a fashion similar to the first. They braced themselves for the bitterly cold arctic winds as Kai opened the door and reached down to great the official. Again they were asked if they had a priority pass and again Kai slid over a sheaf of notes along with the ID sticks. The remaining stash of notes, all the hard currency they had left came to about 200 Nuyen, and he hoped it would be enough.

Whilst Kai had been doing the negotiations, Marius had been examining the sensor data, and quietly shunted the output to the rear screens, so Hunter could see it too. Ahead of them, tucked in behind the checkpoint was a heavy duty APC, painted in current cammo patterns. There was also an extra squad of guards moving around in battle dress, along with the border guards.

With a curt nod, the officer told them to drive around to the front of the queue, but rather than letting them straight through, they were given the normal checks and questions. The IDs held though, and their stories were accepted, and after a quick external check of the vehicle, they were waved through. As they pulled off, they saw the troops mingling with the border checkpoint guards, and it looked like cash exchanged hands – they wondered what proportion of their bribe had been taxed by the army unit…

As they pulled away, Tads asked Hunter if he could configure the computer to record the current shape, colour and location of the truck.

"Of course, I can – but why?"

"Well, just imagine that guard remembers Kai and his winning smile, being in a blue truck that looked like a fuel tender. And a week later, we come back this way and finds him in a yellow truck that looks like a grain truck. Wouldn't you find that unusual, if you were a guard. Or expensive. Or likely to report to higher authority."

"Oh, I see what you mean. Sure." Aswon suggested adding a tag to their GPS location, and storing the data for a user defined set of time before auto-deleting it. Hunter and Nadia were busy for the next thirty minutes, knocking together a program to record data as requested, and building in some safeguards to auto-purge the information in the event of damage or remote keywords.

Time passed, and the truck rumbled on, then Marius called out, asking for a distance and ETA. Hunter did some quick maths, and provided the details – they were more or less on track, perhaps eighty kilometres short of their objective and just over an hour away.

"I want to top up with fuel. At least get enough so that if we have to leave the military base at speed, we have enough fuel to get to a major city." They kept an eye out for fuel stops along the main road, but the only one they saw was a small affair, and the fuel price was thirty percent over the odds. Tads pointed out that assuming it wasn't the 'option 2' scenario, they had a chit to allow them to purchase fuel – not just at normal price, but at cost price. On a tank the size of theirs, that was a significant amount of cash they would be saving. In the end, avarice overrode caution, and they pushed on without buying extra fuel.

Arriving in Samara, the directions took them away from the actual city, and into a large area in the loop of the river. As they pushed into the loop, they found the whole area covered in dense forestry, covered in a network of paths and trails. As they drove around the perimeter, they saw the occasional squad of troops jogging through the snow in their uniforms, looking pretty miserable while PT instructors bellowed at them, or smaller squads performing navigation exercises. In at least two places they saw trucks almost the twin of their own, though with no trailers.

As they drove around the woodland, they reset the vehicle shape and colour, reverting to the basic military truck and trailer – figuring it was better to be open about what they were driving, rather than to try and disguise it. The pulled up as planned, about a hundred metres away from the camp gates, and Kai got out of the vehicle, pulling his coat tightly around him to try and keep the biting wind out. As he walked towards the gate, a trooper emerged from the gatehouse, his AK held across his chest, and started to head out to meet him.

The team watched as Kai spoke, then handed over his letter to the confused-looking trooper. The Russian turned on his heel and headed back to the gatehouse, leaving Kai to stand in the middle of the road, the wind ripping through his hair and blasting him with sleet. He stood there for a minute, then two – then the trooper reappeared and pointed at Kai, then the truck and waved them towards the gate. Marius rolled forwards, slowing to let Kai jump up and climb in, before he rolled towards the entrance and drove past the opened barrier. A jeep was waiting for them and led them into the base, driving along the gravel road awash with slush and ice.

As they drove down the approach road they could see the layout of the camp more clearly. Each side of the road appeared to be a mirror image, a collection of large huts in two rows, facing onto a large parade square or exercise ground, with a further hut positioned sideways on, on the third face – presumably for the company commander or headquarters troop. The pattern was repeated several times, the companies forming into battalion groups. In between them, at the far end of the road was a large brick structure, which looked like the base HQ, with room for all the administration staff and lecture halls, kitchens and other requirements. To the rear of the area there appeared to be a small harbour and dock area on one side, and on the other they saw a number of shelters – then a helicopter rising above the trees amidst a blizzard of snow thrown up by the rotor wash. Unsurprisingly, Marius perked up at this and the sensors watched it carefully.

They drove up towards the brick area, and an officer in dress uniform came striding down the steps, ignoring the wind and sleet. Reaching the bottom, he stopped and came to a position of parade rest, waiting for the truck to come close, following the jeep. As they closed, he barked out an order and pointed, and the jeep led them around the corner. The jeep pulled up and the officer strode around the building, closing on their position. Kai dropped down, and discovered that as they had driven into the lee of the building, the wind was blocked, letting the snow fall straight down.

The officer approached, greeting Kai with a firm handshake, and enquired if they had the goods as promised – to which Kai nodded, and with a wave of the arm gestured the officer to the back of the truck. Opening the back door, he showed the officer the eight containers – Aswon and Hunter were both standing discreetly to the side of the door, just in case.

The officer leant around the truck and bellowed at the troops in the jeep.

"Call the Brigadier. Advise him the shipment is here! Then get the technicians over here on the double." Things started to move quickly then – possibly a little quickly. The team watched carefully as the officer bellowed at a passing platoon of troops who were marching in formation past the building, and they doubled over towards them, standing in formation at the back of the truck in a double row. A small GAZ truck then arrived, and a half dozen engineers or technicians climbed out with a bunch of equipment too. It felt very claustrophobic all of a sudden, and the tension mounted in the team as they felt hemmed in by the Russians.

Then the Brigadier arrived.

He appeared around the corner, and a sharply barked order from the Captain bought everyone to attention – including Kai who wanted to appear respectful and Aswon who just seemed to be having flashbacks. He was a big man, barrel-chested and in great physical shape. Beyond that, though, he just seemed to exude energy, and dominate the scene. He snapped a sharp salute without breaking stride, then approached Kai and thrust out his hand, grabbing Kai in a firm handshake and pumping the arm up and down three times, then releasing.

Aswon, Shimazu and Tads realised that the Brigadier was magically active, his aura glowed brightly. With another start, they also realised where they'd seen that magic before – in Kai. Pieces of puzzle clicked into place, and the reason his men were fanatically loyal and his battalion was not plagued with deserters became obvious. Watching as his will and Kai's were going to meet was going to be…interesting. He also appeared to be moderately powerful – certainly more powerful than Kai in his own way, though Tads wasn't sure he was stronger than her, not that she wanted to challenge him.

"He's the only magical thing I've seen so far," whispered Tads into their radios, "no spirits, no wards, no mages, nothing at all. At least until him."

While they had been looking at the astral, Kai and the Brigadier had finished their discussions, and Kai waved for Hunter to start pushing the boxes towards the back door. The Captain, the Brigadier's aide called for the troops, who arranged themselves in a double row, quickly moving the boxes out of the trailer and down to the ground and the waiting technicians.

The team watched as the techs moved to encapsulate each of the boxes in a large transparent bag, with hoses attached to a small pump, the pipes from which led to a gas cylinder. As the first box was sealed in, the technician reached through some gloves that were built into the bag, and tapped in the six digit code as it was read out by the next man over. The bag suddenly inflated, growing in size as a colourless gas erupted from the box. The small pump was engaged, and the bag slowly deflated, collapsing in until the box was effectively vacuum packed. After ten seconds more, the pump was silenced, the valves closed and the bag unsealed, letting the atmosphere rush back in, allowing the techs to slide the bag off.

The Brigadier moved in, and flipped the lid back, examining the boxes inside. He reached in and grabbed one of the inner cartons, pulling the lid up and examining the contents, then removed it – revealing a standard looking magazine – probably sized for an assault rifle. The tip of the round was painted a luminous green, what that signified was unknown to the team. The Brigadier replaced the magazine in the carton, and grabbed a phone from his pocket, and sent a quick message, then looked up and smiled at Kai.

A moment later Shimazu felt his pocket vibrate, and on checking his comm saw a message from Patrick of "Payment approved". A second later, they saw Kai twitch as his pocket vibrated, as the funds were deposited into their account.

"Troops, if you'd be so kind as to get this lot moved to the armoury as each box is cleared. Corporal, I think an extra hour in bed for your platoon in the morning, to make up for having to stand in the cold today. Now, I need to get back to my office." Smiles broke out amongst the ranks, but were quickly covered as they got to work, moving the boxes and carrying them carefully to the base armoury as they were cleared by the techs. The Brigadier nodded at the team. "I'll leave you in the capable hands of the captain, who will see to your needs and make facilities available to you."

He turned on his heel and strode off through the snow, heading back towards the building, and the Captain stepped into his place.

"Now, I believe you were to be given fuelling rights, and to be able to draw on basic loads at the armoury. Will you be staying overnight and need bunks, or are you leaving today?" The question sounded neutral and genuine, with no inflexion either way.

"Yes, we'd like to buy some fuel – and avgas if we can?" The Captain nodded. "And yes, stocking up on ammo would be good. We'd also like to visit your infirmary if we can, and purchase some medical drugs, if we're able – specifically anti-coagulants." The Captain stared at him for a moment, then shrugged and nodded.

"I see no problem with that. May I ask a question?" He waited for Kai to nod. "You appear to have completed this work effectively, and efficiently – both traits that the Brigadier, and I, value. Do you have another mission or task lined up – or are you available to discuss some possible work."

Kai grinned at him. "I think we can hang around a little, and make ourselves useful."

"Excellent – perhaps you can give me a thumbnail brief on your skillsets and experience." Kai looked thoughtful for a moment, then grinned again and turned towards Aswon.

"Time for some straight speaking, I think." Aswon looked at him for a moment, then stepped forward.

"I am Aswon, a mercenary, with experience in many organisations and several theatres of war. This is Tads, she is our spirit-talker. Shimazu is a bodyguard, specialising in close quarters defence. Hunter is a fighter, working at medium to long range. Marius is our rigger and drone force multiplier, Nadia is our logistics and computer operator, and Kai – Kai is our team leader and negotiator." He pointed to each of the team in turn, and the Captain examined them carefully, clearly making an appraisal and filing away details for future use.

"I will sort out some – opportunities then, and discuss them with the Brigadier, and we will speak again. But, for now, let me take you to the fuel depot and we'll get you gassed up."

He headed for the jeep, and the team mounted back up into the truck, and they followed him over to one side of the base to a large set of fuel tanks and pumps. After converting the price shown to them, they nodded to fill the tanks up to the brim – the cost of fuel worked out to about 6 Nuyen per litre, 60% of the street price. Marius also managed to get the fuel tank on the drone filled up, along with a canister of spare fuel.

As they were waiting for the fuel transfer to complete, Marius moved to the edge of the depot and looked out into the woodland, bordering the edge of the brigade area. In a clearing though the trees, he spotted a whole collection of helicopters, lined up.

"What's that over there?"

"That? It's the graveyard. Where we put the equipment we lack the parts to fix, or with issues."

"May I see that?" Marius asked, fighting hard to keep a poker face.

"I'm sure we can work something out..." The captain ushered them back into their truck as the fuel transfer finished, then led them to the armoury to fill up on ammo. But he noticed that Marius kept looking back over his shoulder, back towards the helicopters.

He turned to Kai. "You know? I think we might have some missions available to you that will benefit both of us."