Date Wednesday 10/03/2060, Location 53.38042, 50.27575

In the grey light of pre-dawn, Aswon sat in his wheelie chair, motionless. Barely breathing, he was almost as still as a statue. Only the slight rise and fall of his chest gave away his respiration, and his eyes flicked around the passageway, his attention flicking around the doors looking for the slightest change. It wasn't anything he saw however that disturbed that routine, it was something he heard. The sound of gravel crunching, as someone walked quietly on the path outside the barracks block. Slowly he turned his head to the side, then back, letting his ears move around to try and gauge the location and distance.

Slowly he rose, his feet rolling from the side onto the flat, silently pushing him down the passageway into Shimazu's room. His hand extended down over the sleeping man's mouth, pressing down slightly to wake him and keep him quiet. As Shimazu blearily blinked and began to struggle, his eyes blinked open blearily to focus on the Nigerian standing over him.

Aswon raised his other finger to his mouth, then moved it to his ear, then pointed outside. It returned to point at Shimazu, then made a slashing motion. Shimazu nodded, and Aswon removed the hand from his mouth, ghosting back out into the corridor. Shimazu rolled out of bed, sword appearing from under the pillow in one smooth motion.

A black finger adjusted the radio, lowing the volume to the bare minimum, then gently pushed the transmit button.

"Tads, this is Aswon. Tads, come in. I hear motion outside the barracks, possibly closing on your location. Stand by, stand by." He spoke quietly, but didn't whisper, his voice barely audible, hoping that Tads was being her normal self and rising with the new dawn to pay her respects to the spirits. His motion had carried him to the door, and his spear was clutched in one hand. He sensed Shimazu behind him, ready to back him up. One deep breath, then another, taking in a lungful of air and ensuring his body started off with a surfeit of oxygen.

Striding quickly he pushed through the door, his hand pulling his spear to him into a ready position. As he turned to the left slightly, he felt Shimazu brush past him, turning to the right. He saw the sentry on his side start to turn towards him, moving like he was in treacle to his heightened senses. And ahead of him were three more troopers, the source of the sounds of movement. They too turned, a strange look of surprise and something that looked like guilt on their faces, turning away from the back of the trailer.

"What's going on out here?" Aswon asked. His voice was quiet, but clear – carrying across the clear air. His customary accent was almost absent as he enunciated clearly and looked at them. The three unexpected visitors stood there for a moment, the strange looks still on their face, their hands held out in front of them. Aswon and Shimazu both dropped their gazes to those hands, examining just what it was they held – and blinked in surprise.

The three troopers held a strange mix of items – a bowl of what looked like milk, a small handful of wild flowers, still dripping with dew and melted snow, a plate loaded down with oatcakes and a small selection of twigs bound together by twine into a very crude pentagram. They stared at the trio of troops, who in turn stared back at the two team members casually holding their spear and sword – not quite ready for combat, but clearly indicating it was a possible option.

"We came to see the wise woman, to give thanks and offerings." Silence. The moment stretched out, as they looked at each other, the seconds ticking by. Then Aswon depressed the transmit button again.

"Tads, you have visitors. You might want to get out here." The back door swung open gently, and Tads stood there, looking down at them. A spirit was by her side, clearly visible to the team members, but invisible to the troopers in the physical world. The trio turned and held out their offerings, then bowed their heads – but in the moment before they did, Tads recognised at least two from the infirmary that she had healed the previous day.

"It's ok, I think. These people were hurt, and in the ward where I went to help out yesterday. The hospital ward that is." She slowly climbed down from her lodge making sure the heavy door didn't hit anyone, and took an oatcake from the plate, gave it a sniff then bit into it. She chewed for a moment, then took the proffered bowl of milk and washed it down.

"Thank you, that's good. Why don't you tell me who you are and why you're here?" She smiled at them, then made a gesture to Aswon and Shimazu, who relaxed their stances and lowered their weapons completely.

The three troopers finished making their offerings, which Tads accepted with a slight blush but a sincere expression on her face, then introduced themselves as Iosif Lebedev, Kiril Pavlov and Anfim Novikov. Iosif had been healed of a particularly nasty ligament tear on the side of his knee, while Kiril had been suffering from an excruciatingly painful case of shin splints – Anfim was a new face, though apparently a friend of them both.

"We're grateful you came and cured us of our ailments of course – but we're more grateful you came to us at all. Many of us follow the old ways, quietly believing and keeping our faith in the land. We do not often worship, as the Church frowns upon us even now, though they claim to allow people freedom to pray as they please. But we think your coming is a sign – we know we're training up for a new conflict somewhere and your presence is a gift from the land, letting us know that we fight for Mother Russia. Will you lead us in prayer and affirm us?"

"Marius and Hunter are going to love this," Shimazu whispered into Aswon's ear. The Nigerian nodded in return, then looked back at Tads, watching as she struggled to find the right response.

"I will have to speak to the commander of the base, and ensure we have his permission. But provided he does not mind, then yes, we will find a place and give thanks to the land. I'm just not sure when. I will see what we can arrange – but we've already been given some tasks to perform around the base, so we shall have to see." She glanced over the soldiers, dropping into astral and looking at them and their auras. She spotted some cyberware implanted into them – mostly minor repairs and replacements, with a few small utility items – but she detected no deception or dissemblement from them.

Shimazu and Aswon headed back inside after a nod from Tads, happy to leave her chatting with her new acolytes – or whatever they were.

"Well, at least something good has come of this." Shimazu said as he pulled open the door and stood to the side, letting Aswon precede him into the corridor.

"What's that?"

"I'm picking up some of the language – I followed a reasonable amount of what they were saying to Tads there. I wish I had your ear though, you seem to pick things up really quickly." Aswon just beamed a smile at him revealing his fangs while he headed back to his chair and resumed his watch post. Shimazu checked the time, then decided to crawl back into bed, seeing if he could get a little more sleep before everyone else started to rouse.

An hour later the alarms started to buzz and the rest of the team roused, emerging from their rooms to use the toilet and showers, then start to get breakfast ready from their supplies. Aswon filled them in briefly on the visit to Tads, and as predicted both Hunter and Marius pulled faces indicating what they thought of the worship of mumbo-jumbo.

After food, Aswon, Shimazu and Hunter got on some fresh fatigues and then headed outside into the chill morning air. Once more gentle flakes of snow were falling, and the air was still and quiet, the sky a solid blanket of grey. They did a few minutes of exercises, gently warming themselves up under the watchful eyes of the sentries, and then when they were suitably ready, took off at a steady jog in the direction of the forest edge. The two sentries exchanged glances, then one of them sighed and broke into a similar jog, following in their trail through the blanket of snow that covered the ground. The other sentry, the senior of the pair (though only by three weeks – but it was enough) stood at his post, watching the other man slogging after the trio.

"I was thinking maybe of going to run the assault course a couple of times today. From what Hunter said, it was pretty good fun and sounds like a challenge." They heard a stumble from behind them, as if the pursuing sentry had just skidded in surprise at hearing someone wanting to run the course 'for fun'.

"Well, you can do it alone, then. I don't fancy inflicting that on my fingers and toes. I'm not designed for this climate, you know." Hunter ginned at Aswon, then picked up the pace a little as if to prove the point. The long-legged tribesman just extended his stride a little though, easily keeping pace with a ground covering lope that had been perfected in years of travel through the scrubland of Africa. Behind them Shimazu thundered along, his bulk and physique coping with the snow and conditions with brute force rather than technique – but proving to be equally adept and able to handle the new pace. Behind them, the unlucky sentry slogged on in their footsteps, his weapon held across his chest wondering what kind of people went for morning runs through the snow when they had the option to stay tucked up warm in bed…

Back at the barracks, the remaining four of the team left the shelter of the building into the snowy landscape. They split into two pairs – Marius and Nadia in front, heading towards the air-wing, while Kai and Tads followed them in the general direction of the admin building. The remaining sentry watched the two pairs as they started to diverge, his head turning between them. After a sigh, he started to stride after Marius and Nadia – deciding that anyone walking towards the central building was probably going to be watched by someone else.

Marius and Nadia made their way across the base, walking in silence. Marius was happy to keep his thoughts to himself, thinking about the task of rebuilding helicopters almost from the ground up using old parts and limited resource. Nadia meanwhile looked around her with a childlike smile. She'd seen snow of course – the mountains and highlands of the Trans-Caucus League were high enough to suffer frequent snow storms and blizzards and they had the trideo in their house. But living so close to the coast, it was not something she'd really experienced for herself, and the walk across the quiet base laid under a covering of overnight snow, while evergreens had their boughs weighed down making the forest appear like it was covered in white blanket. She held onto Marius's arm and let him steer, while her eyes sparkled with joy as she looked around her.

It took them a while to reach the hangers, and by that time, the joy had worn off slightly, to be replaced with a creeping chill that made her pull her coat more tightly around her. The sentry broke off as they reached the main admin building, happy to stand post outside rather than risk the wroth of the air force if he 'trespassed' onto their turf. Marius and Nadia continued on, ignoring him though, and asking to see the commander of the air wing as they reached the main officer. The junior officer who was running the office that morning, asked them to wait, then knocked on the door of the Group Captain's office, entering at the barked command. He was in there for a few minutes, then appeared at the doorway again, and waved them inside.

Marius and Nadia entered the office, again noting the slight improvement in quality of furnishings and comfort. A figure in immaculate uniform sat behind the large desk, fixing them with a basilisk stare. The triangular plaque on his desk proclaimed him to be Group Captain V. Gorchenski, and Marius saw a large stack of chips lying in his in tray, indicating that he was as buried in paperwork as most other senior officers tended to be. He also, for some reason, had a face like a smacked arse, and there was a palpable air of distaste as he looked at them.

"You asked to see me?"

"Yes we did. Thank you for seeing us so promptly." Marius stood upright, making sure he presented himself smartly – not quite bracing to attention but in a close approximation of it, hoping to give the right impression without opening himself to a charge of impersonation. He made sure he spoke with his best Russian accent and explained that he had volunteered to try and assist the base with his mechanical skills, aiming to repair some of the equipment and return at least one, and possibly two helicopters to active service. The Captain responded with sneers and curt dismissal, casting doubt on his abilities and chances of success. Marius bit down on his temper, resisting the urge to snap back at him and just restating that he was only trying to help, and that the Brigadier seemed grateful for his offer of assistance.

The meeting ended mercifully quickly, with the Captain saying that he could take a bare minimum of tools to go and work on a chopper – but that it would have to be in the graveyard, as there was no room in the workshops at the moment. Marius stood for a moment, his nose flaring in anger as he was dismissed – it had been a long time since his talents and abilities had been questioned, and then ridiculed in such a fashion. Without a word he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room. Nadia gave the Captain one more long hard look, then strode after him, closing the door gently behind them. She caught up with him outside, and just as he opened his mouth to speak, Nadia interrupted him.

"Well, there's a worried man – and it's no real surprise he treated you like that." Marius's moth snapped shut and he stared at Nadia in shock. "Think about it, my love. Here you come, someone that looks like his son, and you promise to get two machines back in operation, after only a few hours of examination – and do something he has failed to do in several years. If you succeed, you embarrass him utterly in the eyes of the Brigadier, showing him to be inefficient and unproductive at best – and at worst, someone who doesn't care about the defence of the Motherland. Now, from what we've discovered about the Brigadier – just how is he going to react to someone who he thinks might be trying to sabotage the defence of his homeland?"

Marius blinked at her, then exhaled sharply. He stepped back from the engineering problem he'd been contemplating, and the fury he'd felt at not being given the tools to do the job, and considered it as a political and human problem, realising that Nadia was right. He leant forward and kissed her, thanking his decision taken on the spur of the moment all those weeks ago.

"I suspect you are entirely correct. How we handle this will be interesting – and delicate." He thought for a moment, studying her face, and thinking about the skill she had shown in reading the Captain's fears and worries. "I need your help working on the helicopters today – but I also need your help in working out how to handle the Captain. If we're to get these craft fixed, we need those resources – both parts and access to the workshops. Will you help me work out how to handle him?" Nadia smiled at him, and for just a moment, all thoughts of engineering and flight dynamics were driven from his mind as his sense reacted to her unconscious release of pheromones and his (remaining) hind-brain reacted to her happiness at an instinctual level, dumping dopamine into his system and rewarding him with a shudder of joy. Nadia found herself in a similar position as the man she had chosen treated her as an equal, a partner with valued skills and of intrinsic worth rather than a second-rate citizen.

They gathered the tools they'd been permitted, loading them onto a trolley and pushing it down the path leading to the graveyard, leading behind two sets of footprints and a wobbly set of parallel marks that slalomed back and forth as the wheels jumped and wobbled with a mind of their own – in accordance with some strange rules of the universe that seemed to govern such things.

Kai and Tads climbed the steps at the front of the building, pausing just in front of the sets of double doors to look over the base behind them. Kai snorted with humour, and when he saw Tads look at him in confusion he extended a finger towards the edge of the base. When Tads looked in that direction, she saw Aswon, Shimazu and Hunter in the distance, jogging along through the snow with the hapless private following them, his great coat billowing in the wind. They turned and entered, knocking the snow and slush from their feet on the giant mat and then crossing the large hallway to the waiting clerk, announcing their wish to speak to Captain Zarkorov.

A few minutes later once the call had been made and an escort sent for them, they found themselves led back upstairs to the third floor and into the officers' wing, along quiet corridors where a thousand dead eyes stared at them from photographs along the walls. Their escort bought them to an operations room, where half-a-dozen NCOs worked away at terminals and charts, updating the thousand and one details about the brigade and their readiness and ensuring the mighty engine of bureaucracy was fed. The Captain was waiting for them in a side office, his computer screen blank and his desk clear of paperwork.

"Come in, take a seat. Tea?"

"Thank you, but no – we're fine, we've not long had breakfast."

"Very well. I'm afraid I don't have a great deal of time this morning, so let us get straight to business then."

"I've been approached by a few of your men," Tads said, taking over the conversation from Kai, "and they've asked me to perform a service. I wanted to make sure that it was ok to do that." The Captain tilted his head at her with a somewhat surprised look on his face.

"I can't see any problem with that as long as it doesn't disrupt training. If they're held outside the core training hours and nobody wants special allowances, I really don't care. I mean, don't hold them inside the chapel or church, and I can't see it being a problem." Tads nodded at him, then changed tack.

"And I also understand that you're wanting me to go scouting for you. I'm trying to find out some information and get that done sooner rather than later, so that if there's any issues with the journey I have time to recover. When do you want me to…" The Captain raised a hand to interrupt her.

"I am preparing a dossier and briefing information. As soon as it is prepared, I will let you know."

"Oh. Right. Ok then." Tads fidgeted a moment. "That's everything from me then I guess."

"Good. Is there anything else I can assist you with this morning?"

"Well yes. In a roundabout way." Kai settled back in his chair. "I've noticed that the Brigadier doesn't have any bodyguards. Why is that?"

"Bodyguards? Of course not. Why would he?"

"Well, who defends him against threats then?" The Captain snorted, then spun around a little on his chair, pointing at a picture showing the brigade formed up in battle dress, weapons held at port arms in front of a podium with some visiting general. "Well, ok, good point. But I mean who is around him, who is closest to him on a daily basis?"

"Well, I and the other staff officers, a selection of NCOs and administrative personnel."

"It just so happens that Shimazu was trained at one of the finest bodyguard academies in Japan, and I think it might be a good idea for him to conduct some extra training for your staff close to the Brigadier, teaching them on what to look for in terms of counter-intelligence training, looking for saboteurs and infiltrators, and techniques of close protection. All he'd need is some time, and a classroom mainly. Maybe some clear space to demonstrate some techniques for restraining and capturing suspects."

"Hmm. Ok, maybe that's not a bad idea. I'll arrange a room and some time – it will certainly have to be in the evening to avoid disrupting our normal schedules. Anything else?"

"Well. Is there anything else you need? Personally I mean." Kai spoke softly, and his body language changed slightly, seeming to somehow exude a seediness that was surprising. The Captain sat back and stared at him for perhaps ten seconds, his eyes like gimlets.

"No. Nothing at all."

"Ok, fair enough. I just wanted to check. Well, we've taken up enough of your time, and you're obviously busy, so we'll get out of your hair and leave you to it. Thank you, Captain Zarkorov, for your time today." The Captain stared at him again for a moment, then nodded in dismissal, and they both stood and left the small office, while the Captain turned his matrix screen back on, diving back into his work. They were escorted back to the central lobby by one of the Corporals from the main office, before being left to head back to the barracks block on their own.

They'd been back for about ten minutes when they heard the joggers return, watching them enter the building steaming slightly from the exertion. Outside the trooper was flapping his coat back and forth, trying to wick away the sweat before he lost too much body heat to the cold air. Hunter dumped his top layer and grabbed a water bottle and a couple of small chocolate bars then went outside to the sentries, giving them each a water bottle and a random flavour bar, then passing the still sweating sentry his towel.

"Good pace this morning eh? Same again tomorrow?" He grinned, and then turned away before there was a response, coming back inside the building. The last they saw of them before the door swung shut was both sentries looking at each other, trying to decide if the risk of being caught eating and drinking on duty outweighed the lure of gifts.

Moments later the showers were running, filling up the block with steam and the three joggers stripped and headed to get clean. After two months of being crammed in the truck together, Tads and Kai barely noticed as they wandered past almost naked, with wash kits in hand. Instead they focussed on the rough plan of the base they'd found, working out the order of buildings to work on protecting.

Over in the graveyard, Marius and Nadia had worked up a bit of a sweat themselves, clearing away the weeds from around the KA-60 attack chopper and dragging tools up towards the top of the craft. The morning rushed by as Marius worked on the craft, explaining to Nadia as he worked the principles of flight and engineering, describing what he was doing and getting her assistance as he stripped down the rotor shaft and swash plates, showing how the control rods adjusted the angle of attack and gave the pilot control by adjusting the pitch – or at least how they were supposed to.

Much to his disgust, despite copious amounts of lubricating fluid and working the mechanism, the crude Russian design required a certain amount of percussive maintenance to free the frozen rods and get things moving. As they worked down the rotor shaft, he looked in horror at the equally frozen and seized gearbox, realising that this was going to be a long job. Minutes turned into hours and the cold seeped into their bodies, fingers growing numb in the relentless cold. Marius continued to work on the gearbox while Nadia grabbed loose scrap from nearby and fashioned a shelter over the top of the rotors, using scraps of plastic and tarp to stop the snow from settling into the area they were working.

Once showered, the three astrally active team members – Tads, Aswon and Shimazu - gathered the materials they needed and headed out to the first barracks block, accompanied by one of the sentries. They spent their morning gently chiselling designs into the brickwork, filling them with coloured sand and burning incense, wafting the smoke into the runes and then sealing with spray varnish. As they worked around, they inscribed unique sigils into each block, working from a pattern sheet that recorded the blocks done and the pattern assigned.

"How will this help?" asked Shimazu. Aswon responded, displaying once more his theoretical knowledge of the magical world.

"With a ward in place, forming a barrier on the astral plane, you have a couple of options. If you have knowledge of masking, you can attempt to slide or sleaze through a ward, interpenetrating the strands of magic and working through protective fields without disturbing them. Otherwise, you have to batter at the ward, using your sheer power to supress it, forcing it down to allow you to pass through. If anyone forced their way through a ward put up by us, then we'll know – we'll feel the magical ripples as their might pushes the ward out of the way." Shimazu nodded in understanding – he knew this much, but he sensed Aswon was just covering the basics before leading up to something.

"So, we'll know one of our wards has been disturbed – but we're looking at doing over twenty of them over the next few days. What happens if someone disturbs a ward, and we get on the phone to the Brigadier, and say 'hey, there's a magical being breaking into one of your buildings!' and he says 'Great – which one? It's kind of a big base…' So, we're putting a unique twist or flavour on each ward, trying to make each one distinct. If we can call up and tell him that the ward on building number 5 is down, because we felt the ward with the Hyena running being disturbed, that's a lot more useful to him." Shimazu nodded in understanding, looking over at the ward that had sprung into place over the first barracks block – an almost undetectable shimmer in the air, hidden from casual view and observance even to magical beings.

They pressed on, working around the first battalion area, warding one barracks block after another. Each took about an hour, and though they got funny looks from some of the troops leaving or returning to their barracks, the presence of the sentry prevented anyone from bothering them. Every building got a unique rune, inscribed almost like a keystone as the finishing touch, which was checked and marked on the map, making sure that the wards tallied up with their map of the base.

Hunter headed out, looking around but finding no sentry left for him – something he figured would change by tomorrow morning. But for now… he shrugged, then headed off at a brisk walk towards the back of the assault course, finding the large sheltered area full of birch chippings and sawdust in the barn-like structure, where he found a class undergoing instruction in hand-to-hand combat techniques. As he stood at the edge of the barn, the instructor fell silent mid-sentence, and all eyes turned to him, making him feel like the lone gunslinger walking into the tavern in some cheesy trideo western.

"I'm looking for Nikolai Petrovich. I'm told he's the best instructor on the base?" It never hurt to try and make a good impression he figured. As he spoke, a figure emerged from around the screen at the end of the combat area, dressed in a white vest top despite the chill snow filled air. His huge arms were covered in tattoos that lead up to his neck and curved around the back of his bald head. His mouth sneered, framed with a bushy moustache and revealing a mouth full of obviously metal replacement teeth.

"I am Nikolai. Who are you that comes to my training area?"

"The name's Hunter. The Brigadier said I could come and watch, maybe train with you – if that's alright with you."

"Here there are only men, only participants. You stay, you fight – clear?" Hunter shrugged, nodded, and then moved over to the bench with the class, sliding onto the empty end of a row next to a small troll that none the less filled out his uniform quite nicely. He watched as the drill instructor continued to demonstrate the moves he was teaching, then called up a student to show a slow motion demonstration. Nikolai stood in the back of the sparring area, arms folded and watched them demonstrate.

Soon enough, the demo was over and the troops were split up into pairs, working together to go through their set of programmed attacks and counters, forming two loose lines across the training area. The instructors stalked up and down, correcting errors and occasionally taking over, all the while haranguing and shouting at the troops. Hunter sighed a little – it was clear that the instructors here believed in "old-fashioned" teaching methods – shouting and beating, hammering lessons home with pain and humiliation. It worked – that couldn't be argued with – but it wasn't the most effective or quickest of techniques. Still, given the culture, it was something he was expecting.

The troll he had been sitting next to seemed to come in for a lot of punishment, finding himself used as a meta-human punchbag and demonstration model far more often than anyone else. Fortunately, he was a tough cookie, and seemed to absorb all the physical abuse thrown at him, without suffering any lasting damage. Hunter watched and learned, practicing and trying to keep up with the class as best he could. It was clear they were a trained combat unit, not basic recruits as they were being shown some fairly advanced take-downs and combat moves, rather than the basics – but like the troll, Hunter was pretty tough, and absorbed everything thrown at him.

When they stopped for a break and water, Hunter sought out the troll, striking up a conversation with him. Most of the unit were human, though there was one dwarf and one orc along with the troll. The troll seemed surprised that Hunter should approach him, and was somewhat guarded to begin with – but opened up after a minute when he realised that Hunter wasn't trying to set him up for a fall or a practical joke.

When they resumed, everyone shuffled around, finding new partners to spar against, so Hunter squared up with the troll. The training was hard, especially against someone with arms that long, but that just meant that Hunter had to redouble his efforts. A couple of times the drill instructors came over and corrected his technique, and he found himself flying through the air and landing on the birch shavings hard enough to drive the wind from his lungs, or smoothly taken down by a leg sweep and ending up with his arm twisted to what felt like breaking point, forcing him to quietly tap-out. By the end of the session though, he'd managed to get a few licks in on his opponents, and felt he'd learnt something – and had struck up a cautious acquaintance with Dimitry the troll.

Hunter chatted about the assault course, telling Dimitry how he'd found it, and Dimitry confirmed that the bend in the pipes was well known, and a common source of trouble for the orcs and trolls on the base, due to their larger physiques – and one they dealt with in exactly the same was as Hunter had managed, though without the benefit of his air-tank. Hunter also learnt what the course record was – realising that he was several minutes off the pace if he wanted to set some records.

Their discussion came to an end as the platoon headed back to their barracks to eat and get ready for their next programmed activity, so Hunter waved goodbye to the few troops he'd spoken to and followed suit, heading back to a hot shower, soaking aching muscles and gently kneading the couple of bruises that were showing already from the arm-bars and strikes. He heard some of the rest of the team return and went to go have some food with them.

After lunch, Tads, Shimazu and Aswon returned to their warding, grabbing some fresh supplies and heading to the next building on their list. Marius and Nadia hadn't returned, and the team assumed they were up to their elbows in grease and helicopter parts. Hunter headed off to the range again with his pistol, looking to get some more practice in, leaving Kai on his own. As they started work on the next ward, Tads saw Anfim hurrying out of the building, and called over to him.

"We have permission from the Brigadier for a meeting. We just need to find a place now."

"I know of a place – a clearing in the woods, natural and quiet. I can show you?"

"Excellent. I'll meet you and the others tonight then, at 21:00 – you should be done with your tasks for the day by then, right?" He nodded, then looked at his watch and excused himself, heading off at a run to fall in next to his platoon on the central square.

Kai was just wondering what kind of mischief he could get up to, when there was a knock on the barracks door – a sharp rapping that carried throughout the building. He sprang up from his bed and headed over to open it, revealing a mid-rank NCO standing in pristine fatigues. He had a few extra rank patches and a red beret rather than the normal black the rest of the troops wore – though Kai had no idea what that meant.

"I am looking for Kai. The Captain sent me over to find him."

"Ahh, that's me, what can I do for you?"

"The Captain advised me to speak to you over a strange crime we've had reported. He said you had 'alternative skills and experience that might be useful'. I'm not sure what that means, but it doesn't really matter."

Kai grabbed his coat and motioned for the trooper to lead on, following him out of the barracks and headed towards the other brigade area. Along the way he introduced himself as Sergeant Oryn, a member of the MP force attached to the base, and he explained that they'd had a report of a theft, that seemed unusual.

The MP angled them slightly, aiming towards a unit marching in formation towards the admin building, calling for a halt, then telling the corporal he needed one of his men, beckoning the trooper over with a crooked finger. The trooper fell out and double-timed over to them and fell into parade rest while the rest of his unit resumed their march.

"This is Ivan Kuznetsov, D company 1st Platoon, who has reported the theft." Kai looked the trooper up and down, then carefully altered the pitch of his voice, emphasising certain sounds and modifying his vocal range to more closely match that of the average Russian. While he stared into the forest, his face subtly morphed, changing the skin tone slightly and becoming a touch less Asiatic, a touch more European.

"Tell me about it. Tell me everything you remember." The words rolled out of his mouth, a subtle tang of command underlying them, strange harmonics at work that trigged a reaction in the subconscious. Ivan started to speak, almost before Kai had finished asking the question.

Kai listed as Ivan detailed the simple and plain looking gold wedding band, a slender thing that was not ostentatious nor particularly valuable. He'd taken it off before they went to the range, putting it into his locker nice and safe. When he'd returned it had gone. His platoon had laughed at first, while he'd turned his locker upside down, then searched the bed and surrounding floor, but slowly they'd stopped, as he'd become more and more distraught. At any moment he'd expected one of them to produce it, to reveal the joke – but they hadn't. More and more frustrated, he'd yelled, then cried as the minutes went by. His section helped, moving lockers and beds, and the others joined in, one by one until the whole platoon had turned the barracks upside down looking for it. Way beyond the bounds of a joke, he'd said he was going to the MPs, a last chance for a joker to reveal themselves – but nothing.

There was sorrow in his voice, mixed with rage and a sense of loss. He described his wife, back home in Moscow, and how he had met her after seeing her perform at the Opera. How the wedding band had a line from that Opera delicately etched into the interior surface. Their wedding, with him attending in his uniform, and her accompanied by her fellow performers. How he kept it clean and safe, not wanting to risk it being damaged anywhere.

Kai listened, making mental notes about the facts relayed – but paying more attention to how he was being told the information. Ivan probably didn't realise how much he was giving away, but it was clear to Kai that Ivan had no idea where his ring was, but he was sure that nobody in his platoon had taken it. Next he quizzed him about the locker – and Ivan suggested showing it to him instead.

They headed to the barracks, and Kai saw the similarity to their own accommodation, right down to the identical lockers. Ivan had a fairly decent padlock on his locker, keyed to his fingerprint and a 5 digit code. Kai was sure that given time his team could get through it – but they'd probably leave some kind of sign of their attempt, and it might not be quick. Looking around though, he saw no cameras present, or alarms – then realised that with the external fence, armed guards in the towers and a thousand trained killers on the inside – the average army base barracks probably made for a quite unattractive petty theft target.

He clapped Ivan on the back, and then kept his hand on his shoulder, staring into his eyes.

"Don't worry Ivan. We're on the case, and we'll do everything we can to get this back to you. Now, where was the rest of your platoon going?"

"The Assault course."

"Ahh, then what I want you to do is stay here, and maybe search your bed one more time – for about as long as everyone else is running that assault course ok? It might take so long, you only get to catch up with them when they're on the way back here." Ivan's eyes opened wide for a moment and he glanced over at the MP, who decided not to say or do anything except turn on his heel and leave. Ivan went and picked up his pillow and looked underneath. "Good man, we'll see you later." With that Kai headed off after the MP.

"Ok, that does seem a bit odd – why go to the trouble to break into his locker, and take just a wedding ring, but leave everything else – I saw the pile of cash he had in there. I mean, sure a gold ring has some value – but why not take the real, actual, cash?"

"Yes, exactly. And it's the same with the other one?"

"The other one?"

"Yes, this is the second petty theft we've had, in the last few days."

"Ok, right. Can we go see someone in the admin building, someone with access to the training schedules?" The sergeant nodded and escorted him over to the main building, leading him into the large admin pool on the ground floor. He found a clerk and asked him to get ready to filter the training schedules, then looked at Kai for the criteria.

"Ok, let's see. Can you filter out the names of all the people who were on some kind of training exercise outside of the base, or unable to leave their activity yesterday between 14:00 and 15:00…" the clerk tapped away furiously on the keyboard, building some kind of arcane text string to enter into the control system – it looked utterly unlike anything that Nadia or Hunter did, "and also who was off base on Sunday between 10:00 and 11:00, that's when this first one happened yes?" The sergeant nodded, "ok, can you show me who was on base at that time?" The clerk finished constructing the abomination of a query, then hit the submit key, pushed their chair back and wandered off.

"Hey, where are they going? Where are you going?" The sergeant wandered off after the clerk, leaving a confused Kai standing by the empty desk. He watched them wander up to the water fountain, grab a cup each and fill it, then wander back to the desk, all without a word. The clerk sat back down, and waited a few moments, sipping gently at their drink, before the computer made a rough sounding beep noise, and a wall of names flew past, too quickly to read. At the bottom of the list, a summary line showed 429 names matching. "Damm, didn't think it would be so high. Ok, that's not the answer. Can we go see the person who reported this other theft?" The sergeant nodded, finishing his drink and crumpling the cup in his hand before launching it into the bin at the end of the desk.

The second case was another trooper, found in a glade in the forest about a kilometre from the barracks. He and his platoon were being assessed on cleaning and preparation of wild game caught in snare traps, it seemed – or there was a very strange ritual going on that only required 10 rabbit sacrifices. As with Ivan, the trooper was summoned over by the Sergeant, and told to report to Kai. He was Dobry Smirnov, a youngish lad, not yet even twenty. His locker too had been raided, with no sign of damage or forced entry, and the only thing that had been taken was a gift - a spent bullet case on a leather thong, from his first kill out hunting with his father nearly ten years ago. His father had died several years later of pneumonia, and the bullet had great sentimental value to him.

Like Ivan he was from D company too, but he was from the 3rd platoon. He'd taken off his necklace before they went to go and do some amphibious warfare training down by the river – worried that during his dunking there was a chance of losing it, he'd stashed it carefully in his locker before they headed out for the day's activities, noticing it gone immediately on his return – three days ago now.

Kai asked some more questions, getting more detail on the history of the item, and re-asking some questions – but the story didn't change much.

"Listen, Dobry – that's not much to go on. I might need to get my wise woman to come and talk to you, to cast a spell on you to find out more information. That's ok right, you want to get your things back and find the crook, so that's ok, right?"

"I… I guess. It won't hurt will it?"

"No, no, don't worry about that. It'll be fine. For now though, I need to check your locker out." Leaving Dobry to his camp fire cooking, they headed back to D company and climbed the stairs to the top floor, going to investigate Dobry's locker. Like the first, it was locked with a padlock with fingerprint and 5 digit code, but it was from a different manufacturer to Ivan's.

Even more perplexed, Kai told the Sergeant he'd get on it, then wandered off, turning over the various aspects of the crime in his head. He looked up after a few minutes of wandering and found himself outside the central building again. Bounding up the steps, he retraced his steps and found the clerk again.

"The sergeant sent you for more information?"

"Something like that. Pull up the bio for Ivan please, D company."

"Ivan Kuznetsov, D company 1st platoon?"

"Yep, that fella. Place of birth, date of birth, former jobs, parents' names – whatever you have." The clerk typed frantically, and then a record appeared, the text listed in green on black on the ancient screen. "Ok, great, now can you pull up Dobry Smirnov, D company, 3rd platoon. Same details." More rapid fire typing, then a second window appeared. Anticipating the next request, the clerk hit a complex series of keys and they separated, into half the screen each. As the clerk scrolled down, both windows moved in unison, keeping track.

Kai traced down – place of birth – different. Date of birth – very different. Career before entry – different. They scrolled down and found no common factors between them. Kai looked disappointed.

"I was sure I was on to something. Nothing at all the same between them. Dammit!"

"Sorry, no – they are very different people. Nothing the same between them except their job."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing the same. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, you said they had the same job – that's not here. Look, one of them was an engineer in a repair shop, the other worked in media."

"No, that was their former job. Look here – military occupation code – DK39-V1. Radio Operator. Will that be…" the clerk looked up, but saw only Kai's back retreating as he briskly walked towards the doors, heading outside without a word. He kept up the pace all the way back to the barracks.

Marius and Nadia were finishing off their work, numb, cold, tired and hungry. The recalcitrant chopper was finally succumbing to their efforts though and now not only the rotor shaft, control rods and pitch controllers were working, but they'd managed to get the gearbox unjammed as well. They were both filthy, wearing as much engine grease and lubricant as you'd normally put in a car, and pretty short-tempered. Nadia coughed and pointed, and Marius turned to spot the Captain of the air group. He took a deep breath and calmed himself, remembering what was at stake.

"Good afternoon Captain. Thank you for the tools – we've made excellent progress today on repairing this craft. But it's no wonder it's been here so long. Now I have seen how short-staffed you are, and how limited your resources, it's no wonder you're overstretched keeping up with their unreasonable demands." It took every ounce of self-control to keep his voice sincere as he spouted his lines, but was gratified with the arrested look on the Captain's face. It was obvious this wasn't what he expected to hear.

"I intend to tell the Brigadier, via my commander that he needs to emphasise your department in his budget – you cannot make a house without tools, and you cannot keep a complex aircraft operational with too few parts and insufficient labour. I mean, I'm only one man…" he felt a nut spang off the back of his head, "with one exceptional assistant and logistics expert, and it's taken us all day to get just this far with one machine. Honestly, I don't know how you've done it." Marius waited, wondering if he'd laid it on too thick.

"Well, as you say, these are complex machines and we are short of trained engineers and parts. And yes, we struggle to keep our craft working in these conditions." He waved around the graveyard and the layer of snow now 75mm deep on any flat surface. Marius leant back and squeezed Nadia's knee and shared a glance with her, and neither of them mentioned that it was much nicer inside the massive hoop like structures that the regular crew worked in on the main repair area.

The Captain climbed up the side of the chopper, and they showed him their work, and what they'd achieved so far that day. Despite himself, they could tell that he was impressed with their accomplishments.

"Well, it seems you do want to really get things working for us around here, and as you say, we're very short of engineers. But I'll have some men come over to assist you tomorrow and bring some parts, and a tent or something to put over the chassis. Good work." They watched him climb down and turn away from them, starting to walk back to the heated officers and workshops. Nadia held another nut in her fingers, twirling it back and forth.

"I can hit him from here, right on the back of his stupid fat head." She said quietly.

"I know. Come on, let's go back and tell the others what we've achieved. Maybe they'll be more appreciative."

As it happened, they walked back in at around the same time as Tads, Aswon and Shimazu got back from their warding. Both Tads and Shimazu looked shattered, while Aswon looked his usual chirpy self.

Aswon and Marius both started talking at once, trying to tell the team about their day, talking over each other and clearly both expecting the other to stop. Kai emerged from his room though, and spoke loudly.

"Everyone shut up." To their surprise, they did. "Listen to this – I think it's important – really important. He spent the next few minutes describing his chat with the MP, and then each of the troopers that had been stolen from.

"Why steal something with so little value, but so personal. Surely the thief would not get much for such a thing, unless they are going to ransom it back to the owner?" Marius mused. He was distracted from continuing his chain of thought though as Aswon's mouth fell open and his eyes opened wide, displaying the white around his dark brown iris clearly.

"It's not that – possibly. Maybe. There is a type of magic I have heard of – rumours and whispers on the wind, tales told by my tribal elders. Where if you take a thing, a normal thing from a person, but a thing that hold great value to them – you can use it as a link for magic. A connection or bond between them, a way to force magic to hunt down the owner. A way to channel magic TO the owner, no matter where they are."

They fell silent for a moment, then Kai continued his story, revealing that they were both radio operators. They exchanged glances, and now all of them were thinking along the same lines.

"Well, they are going to war, with Yakut. A nation of considerable magical power that has resisted the Russians' attempts to recapture half their country for some time. Of course, it could be a coincidence, and it could be local sprites or pixies from the woods, or magpies looking for shiny things. But I don't think anyone believes that, do we." Aswon glanced around each of their faces.

"But if these magical enemies manage to get a hook into the radio operators, infiltrate their communications net and compromise that – across a systematic front…" Hunter fell silent, as his imagination followed that chain of events.

"Then we could be looking at the Russians losing several Brigades. Not just this one – but the ones either side, taken out by the artillery calls or mortar fire directed on them by the compromised calls for support from magically controlled radiomen. I hate magic."

"Not when it's keeping your truck safe, you don't!" Tads looked indignant.

"That's different."

"We have to tell the Brigadier. We need to get the word out, and get other Brigades to investigate and find out if this is going on just here, or in other Brigades and Divisions too." Aswon said emphatically.

"No – not yet. Think about this – as long as we get this wrapped up before they start the actual assault, it's easy to disarm the entire strategy – just replace the compromised radio operators. It's no good having a hold over people that aren't in the attack on your land. But if we leave them in place, we don't tip our hand. Sure, let's tell the Brigadier that we suspect we've found a major problem, and that we're investigating it – but let's not be hasty."

They considered his words, and slowly nodded – that made sense. They needed to do something, and investigate for sure – but it wasn't perhaps quite as time critical as they had first thought. And not tipping off their enemy was also a factor, after all they had no idea who might be involved in the conspiracy – if there was indeed one at all.

The team crowded into a room, finding seats and space on the bed to sit, and thrashed out ideas for a while. Kai suggested that they work with the admin staff, going back over records looking for any examples of petty thefts, no matter how small or insignificant they looked in terms of monetary value, to see if there was a pattern, or to establish how long this had been going on for.

Tads covered the role of Domovoy and Leshies, spirits of house and forest in Russian folklore and since the awakening documented spirits and forces of nature, found in rural areas and forests – such as the camp they were in now. Domovoy were the guardians of the house and hearth, and provided they were respected and acknowledged would keep a house safe from harm – but if spurned would cause accidents, loss and grief to the inhabitants. Leshi meanwhile were more wild, spirits of the forest known to abduct children to feed to the wild animals, with a noted propensity to lead travellers astray and confuse them from their paths. Either could be the cause of these losses, punishing the men for their transgressions.

"On the other hand, I can also summon a spirit, and ask it to look for these items. Particularly if I do a mindlink with the two victims first to get a really good idea of what we're looking for. We can search the base for them, though that will take a while for how big it is – and we won't necessarily tip off any enemy that we've rumbled them. And if we can't find them, it might tell us something – that they've been shipped off the base?"

Next up they tried to work up how the thefts had been done – but the field was wide open here. After all, as Kai had pointed out, the padlocks were only a sufficient deterrent for a regular person – for anyone that walked on the darker side of the law, there were ways and means, tools and techniques that could be used.

Kai led them upstairs in their barracks, walking them around the top floor and identifying the layout in the troops' quarters where they were the same, pointing out the minor differences. As they examined the lockers, Marius disappeared back to the truck for a few minutes, returning with his electronics toolkit and some spare parts. While the rest of the team talked and discussed, he fashioned a tiny camera triggered by a slender reed switch. Fitting the switch to the hinge side of the locker door, and putting a camera on the back wall, they could be assured of catching a view of anyone that opened them.

"D company has three platoons – and platoon 2 is the one that's not been hit yet. Why don't we go plant this in the radio operators locker, nice and quietly. And just wait for it to be tripped?" Marius suggested.

"Now that's an idea – and let's not let any of the troops know – it'll help with trying to get a read on their reactions." Kai added. "Hey – when is D company scheduled to have their wards put up?"

"Thursday – it's one of the last set of buildings on the list. Not for any particular reason, we were just working across the map."

"Ok Aswon, no problem. What happens if we let people know that – do you think that will force their hands? Make them strike quicker than they wanted, if there is any magical element to this?"

"Um – I still think we ought to tell the Brigadier. No, listen, wait a minute. Say we find someone on the base, some enemy – whatever kind. It's going to end up in a fight. A fight, where foreign civilians on a Russian military base, surrounded by a thousand armed Russian troops kick off, and nobody knows what's going on. We're going to get shot. A lot. Think about it."

"Ok, you're right. Let's go talk to the Brigadier."

The emerged from the barracks, and Kai informed the sentry that they were heading to go and see the Captain, then the Brigadier – and that it was important, and no he wasn't cleared to know why. Looking at their expressions, the senior of the pair nodded, sending the junior running ahead towards the admin building. By the time they reached the third floor, the Captain was waiting for them.

"Captain, sir. Trust me. You and the Brigadier need to hear this. Right now." The Captain examined Kai closely, then his eyes flicked to the others – Marius and Nadia still covered in oil, Tads and Shimazu looking pale, drawn and wan, and Kai looking incredibly intensely at him then sighed, and waved for him to follow him, leading them back to the Brigadier's dining room.

Kai explained to the Captain and Brigadier, explaining what had happened, what could happen, and what they were going to do about it. The rest of the team chirped in to add depth and insight, and through it all the Brigadier stood silent, listening and assessing them. When they had finished, he stood silent, the second ticking by. His eyes flicked back and forth between them, staring at them as if he could see through their flesh and into their souls. For all they knew, maybe he could actually do that – they weren't entirely sure what other abilities he had, after all.

"Interesting. Dangerous, alarming – but interesting. And you think you can investigate this and bring it to a successful conclusion?" Kai nodded. "Very well, please do so."

"It's be really handy if we're able to carry our weapons on the base – if this does turn nasty, the other side are going to have no issues with killing people, whoever they are." Hunter stated. The Brigadier pinched the bridge of his nose and contemplated the request.

"Do you know how many rules that breaks? You even being here is bad enough – but to let foreign nationals run around with guns, on a military base. No, no – quiet. I've not said you can't. I'm just making sure I'm not going mad. Keep them discreet, and if you have non-lethal weaponry then that should be your first choice." He looked up, and his face had changed. His eyes were cold, his jaw clenched and his voice was quiet. "If I find you taking the lives of any of my troops or the people of Russia, without good cause, you will answer to me."

It wasn't a threat, and there was no drama – but that made it all the more chilling. Not even Hunter smirked or made light of the statement, they just gave sincere nods. After a moment, he waved his hand, and his eyes warmed, his face softened a little and he seemed more like his normal self.

"Perhaps go and see the MPs and requisition some of their stun batons. Oh, and if something does happen, then the codeword is 'Sputnik'. Captain, see to it that this is passed down to the officer core only, and the reason is not discussed – but that if the codeword is given, they are to tread carefully and treat our… guests, with some restraint and trust." The Captain nodded agreement. "Well, I'm sure you have plans to make – I know we do. I won't detain you."

The team took their cue to leave. As they filed out, they heard the Brigadier musing to the Captain, wondering if the plot was as real and as widespread as they feared, where they could take advantage of it as a false-flag operation, and use it to feed disinformation to the enemy. The rest of the conversation was cut off as the door swung shut and they headed back towards their barracks.

"Nadia, can you knock together a little program to record video as soon as an input sensor is triggered, to stream that video out to one of our devices and to also trigger a text alarm when it happens?"

"Doesn't sound too difficult, I'll get on with it when we're back. Though I might want to grab some sleep tonight you know. It is nearly nine."

"Oh crap!" Tads looked at her watch and then turned and ran off into the darkness, confusing the team as well as the accompanying sentries. They suddenly remembered that she'd agreed to meet some of the troops in the woods for a service.

Quickly the form of the shaman faded into the night as she ran in the general direction of the woods, though Aswon could make out her cries of dismay for some time.

"Oh crap, crap CRAP…"