Date Tuesday 13/04/2060, Location 50.10234, 43.23581

"Let's not rock the boat here, especially not with these assholes. They're clearly looking for us to start something, so we're not going to give them the satisfaction." Kai pushed himself to his feet, and carefully cleared away his rubbish, encouraging the rest of the team to do the same, then sauntered out, ignoring the loud whispers and laughs.

They headed back to the pod, meeting up with the rest of the team, and spent the night there, keeping out of the way and avoiding trouble. One by one they turned in, leaving just a single person up on guard, and rotated through the night on their normal schedule – just in case, until morning.

Early on the Wednesday morning, they rose, stretched, and headed out from the pod, leaving Nadia behind to keep an eye on things and deal with Victor and his crew if they turned up. They walked swiftly down the tunnel towards the entrance, warming themselves up, and then once they were suitably attired in PPE, went for an early morning run around the quarry to keep in trim – or get to the same level of fitness, depending on which team member it was. With the run concluded, they headed into the recreation area, and saw the Gnome and the Dwarf eating two enormous bowls of the stir-fry that it seemed was the stock meal for the base.

They paused as the team came in, and gave them nods of recognition, but continued to eat. As the team got breakfast – including a fresh slab of steak conjured up by Tads and neatly chopped and added to the mix - there was muttering amongst them, with Tads pointing out that it HAD to be the 'Half Pint' crew, just by process of elimination. Still, none of them really wanted to push the issue, so they left them to apparently stock up on their carbs for the day. Once they'd breakfasted, they grabbed a container for Nadia and headed back to their pod. The caves were quiet, and they didn't see or hear anyone from pod five as they passed.

Once showered and changed, the team split in two, and began their day's tasks. Marius and Nadia supervising Victor's crew, with Hunter doing more research and planning, and the rest of the team heading to the rec-area to do the warding requested. Kai, Tads, Aswon and Shimazu headed out together, ambling back down the tunnel again, which was now becoming familiar enough they could spot distinct shapes in the tunnel walls to show them where they were.

They got to work in the large cave, slowly drawing their intricate markings up the walls and over the arches, across the floor and around outcroppings. It was painstaking work, and took most of their concentration, leaving little room for idle chatter. Shortly before lunch, the Bogbuster crew started to roll in, arriving in twos and threes, with many of them looking the worse for wear. Clearly much alcohol had been drunk the previous night.

Strangely enough, a lot of their bravado and swagger was also absent – initially they wondered if the pod five crew were going to start messing around with their warding or make life difficult, but they seemed quite meek when they were outnumbered and without their boss to watch over them – or to goad them on.

Nadia arrived around midday, and grabbed food her herself, Hunter and Marius, and a few minutes later, disappeared back into the tunnel to head back. The warding team pushed on – they wouldn't stop for lunch, it would disrupt their flow and concentration. Better to push on, ignore the odd growl or hunger pang and get it right first time. It was hard enough to concentrate with the comings and goings of the Bogbusters anyway, wondering if any of them were going to do something stupid.

Back in the pod, Marius was double-checking the installation of the rigger console, while Victor and his crew were installing sensors on the other end of the fibre optic data lines, whilst Hunter was continuing to map out known civilian radar emitters and sensor blind spots and dead-zones on the route east. Hunter's stomach growled, and he looked up suddenly.

"Hey, Nadia's been gone a while hasn't she?" Marius stood up and frowned, then looked slightly cross-eyed as he focussed on his retinal display and checked the time.

"Yes, you're right. She should be back by now. Even walking carefully with a box of food."

The two of them frowned, and then headed out of the pod, walking down towards the base entrance, then across to the rec-area. When they got there, they asked if the rest of the team had seen Nadia – and were told that she'd left some time ago with food, heading back to the pod.

Marius's frown deepened, and he grabbed his little inspection torch from the pocket of his utility trousers.

"Well, she wasn't in the main tunnel, I'm sure of that – but it's going to take a while to find her in the side tunnels. Maybe she was looking for a short cut?" He sounded like he didn't really believe that was what had happened, but was trying to stay positive.

"Don't worry – I've got this." Hunter focussed, and neural commands raced through the cyberware interface, activating the olfactory booster built inside his nasal passages. Tiny sensors locked onto the smell of Nadia's perfume, and like a bloodhound, he turned and followed the scent out of the room, his head questing left and right as he worked along the trail.

Sniffing and moving left and right to triangulate on the trail, he moved down to the main passage, crossing over and onto the long drag down towards pods five and six. About half way back, in one of the regular pools of darkness between the widely spread lamps, he suddenly turned left, diving into a side passageway that led further into the hillside. He slowed now, checking himself and being sure of what he was smelling – but the perfume was unmistakeable, and the trail led on further and further into the darkness.

A sudden boom rolled down the tunnel towards them – clearly a loud and explosive noise of some kind, but muffled and distorted by the bouncing of the shock waves off the rough tunnel walls. Without a word, they both picked up the pace, breaking into a jog as they dove deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of side tunnels. They rounded a corner, and walking towards them was a large and powerfully-built female, with Nadia tucked under one arm and flopped limply downwards, and the other arm holding a large combat shotgun that snapped around to aim at them.

"You just stop right the fuck there!" she exclaimed. Hunter stopped and raised his hands to his sides, well away from his body and making it clear that he had no weapons drawn. Using the bulk of the ork to shield him, Marius reached into the back holster and slowly eased out his heavy pistol, getting ready to attack whoever this woman was that had tried to kidnap his girlfriend.

"Just back the fuck up, and get out of the way. This girl needs help, and I'm going to get her some." The woman's voice was flat and dangerous, with a sharp edge to it. Despite the weight of the shotgun, it was held unerringly pointed straight at Hunter's face. Marius paused on drawing his pistol though when he heard her speak, and let it slide back into the holster, instead stepping around the bulk of Hunter and into view, with his hands on display.

"That's my partner. She's on our team. What happened to her?" As he spoke, he moved over towards her, keeping his attention focussed on Nadia. The woman looked at him intently, and after a moment's consideration raised the shotgun to the ceiling, like she was just lifting a stick, clearing both Marius and Hunter from the weapon zone. She twisted slightly and lifted, a powerful arm raising Nadia's limp body so Marius could reach out and grab her, taking her in both of his own arms. He slowly lowered himself to the ground, holding Nadia out to him, and checking her over. She had what looked like an impressive bruise forming on the side of her face, but otherwise didn't seem wounded.

"She looks like she needs first aid – I'll go get the others." Hunter turned and broke into a sprint, winding his way back through the tunnels as fast as he dared and retracing his steps quickly. It didn't take him long to reach the rec-area, where his sudden entrance made them all pause.

"Nadia's unconscious, found her in the tunnels – or some woman with a shotgun did anyway. But she's hurt and she needs a medic. Let's GOOOO!" He didn't wait to make sure they were following – trusting that they would do what needed to be done. He was rewarded with the sounds of feet behind him hustling to keep up, as all four of them abandoned the warding ritual, dropping chalk, ink, brushes and gem dust where they had been working, and grabbing their kit bags and day-sacks as they ran past them, following hot on his heels.

It took a little longer to get all five of them back to the tunnel where Marius sat on the floor cradling Nadia's body to him. Kai and Shimazu gently eased her out of his grip and gently laid her down on the floor, propping her head up on a squished-up jacket and began a thorough examination. Aswon stared at the lady opposite, fixing her with a stare while he tried to work out what was going on, and she returned the favour. Tads meanwhile checked over Nadia astrally, finding no particular malaise – but she did seem to be thoroughly unconscious.

"It looks like she's taken a right good punch to the jaw, caught her by surprise. No marks on her hands, no scrapes indicating she tried to fight them off – no marks at all, that we can see. Probably got caught completely flat-footed." Kai spoke dispassionately in his 'doctor voice' identifying the marks and signs that led to his conclusion, showing her fingernails and hands. He glanced up and to the left for a second, and his voice changed a little. "Oh, hi Gemini."

With Kai and Shimazu's examination complete, Tads moved in, and a moment later golden light filled the tunnel, as she went to work on the bruise on her jaw. Slowly the oedema faded, leaving no trace behind. Nadia lay there, still unconscious but with no sign of physical malaise.

Marius stood trembling, his lips pursed together, his face white. Hunter stared at him for a moment, then followed his sight line, down to Nadia's waist. At the frayed and cut belt, cut away with a quick slice from a knife of some kind, at the buttons of her trousers ripped away as strong hands had ripped at her waistband. Hunter reached over and gently kicked Kai in the backside, and when Kai turned to look at him in annoyance, pointed a finger down at her waist, directing his attention that way.

Kai moved his focus down, checking over the limp form of the girl.

"Ok, someone cut away at the belt here, then ripped at the trousers. Area is dry, no signs of trauma. No blood, no scratches, no marks. No moisture of any kind. I think we've got to be pretty glad you were for a walk when you were though Gemini, thanks."

"Icy. She was lucky though. And I'm pretty certain I know who it was."

Hunter though, listened to Kai and took solace in the fact that things had not gone as they could have, and turned to see how Marius had taken the news. When he turned though, Marius was gone. A quick check, and all he saw was the fading glow in the tunnels that indicating that someone was heading away from the scene, fast. He hustled to catch up, wondering just what he was going to do.

Aswon listened, and once he felt like he knew exactly what had gone on, headed back to the rec area, looking for Vishtar. He was in luck, as Vishtar was standing in the middle of the area, looking around at the half completed work and abandoned materials, slowly rotating in the centre of the cave with his hands on his hips.

"Ah, Vishtar – sorry, we had to stop work. One of our team got assaulted in the caves, we got called to go and give medical attention and make sure she was ok. And we have someone who saw it, and thinks she knows who it was." Vishtar didn't respond, but gestured into the tunnels, and followed Aswon swiftly back to the scene.

Kai and Tads were still tending to Nadia when they returned, but it appeared that Shimazu had headed off as well, after noticing that Hunter and Marius had disappeared. Kai gave a quick summary to Vishtar, who listened attentively, with a look of unhappiness on his face. When Kai had finished, he asked Gemini what she'd seen.

"Was wandering the tunnels, just walking through the dark. Heard a noise, and investigated. Two of them, big men, cammo fatigues and great coats. Holding her up against the wall. One of them cutting and ripping at her clothes. I dropped a flashbang to scare them off, watched them scuttle into the darkness. Thought about chasing them down, but would have had to leave the girl. And you know… rules."

Vishtar started to speak, then stopped, and looked around. He manifestly wanted to say something – but for whatever reason didn't.

"Well, I'm glad you were in the tunnels Gemini, really glad. Let us know if there's something we can do to say thank you. There was no answer, so Kai looked over, to spot Gemini staring at Tads with a look of anger on her face. Turning towards Tads, he saw a look of guilt or shame on her face for some reason, but decided not to do anything right now.

"Dammit. Kai – I'm sorry this has happened. But technically – ahhh. They haven't broken the rules of the base. You know what I said… you can fight, and as long as you don't leave someone getting worse, well that's ok. And she wasn't. And nothing had actually happened. I think we all know it was going to – but it hadn't happened yet, and it's not provable. I'm sorry." Kai looked at him, and read his body language – it was clear to see that he was unhappy with what he was saying – but he was going to stick to his guns for some reason.

Hunter caught up with Marius in the pod, finding him near the front of the chopper. The normally methodical workmanship was gone – socket sets removed bolts and let them just drop to the floor as Marius worked around the housing that had been so painstakingly put together earlier so he could dismount the machine gun. As Hunter got close, he could hear him muttering under his breath.

"Dead, they're all fracking dead. I'm going to kill every last fracking one of them." Hunter watched for a moment, then dived inside to get some gear, leaving Marius to continue spreading parts all over the floor in his desire to get the heavy firepower removed from the chopper as quickly as possible.

A minute later, Marius felt the presence return, and turned to snarl at Hunter, to tell him to leave him alone, and not to try and discourage him from launching his assault. As he turned though, he saw Hunter had instead gone to get his rifle, his armour and a set of the load bearing equipment – which he was rapidly stuffing magazines into. And by the side of his pile, was a smaller set of body armour – about the right size for Marius. Hunter looked at him, and just nodded, no trace of mirth or sarcasm, no sign of his normal humour. It was the nod that told Marius he wasn't alone in his quest. His face was still flat and emotionless, but he gave a curt nod, all that was really needed, and returned to his work on dismounting the machine gun.

Another couple of minutes passed as they armoured and armed up, and they saw Shimazu arrive. He walked towards them, but stopped when he was perhaps ten metres distant, watching as they worked, his hand dropped to his sword hilt and resting lightly upon it. They both glanced at him for a moment, but didn't say anything – and neither did Shimazu. After a few seconds of uncomfortable staring, Shimazu watched as they got back to work on their preparations. He'd had the idea to come back here, but now he was here, he wasn't quite sure what to do.

Marius finished with the machine gun, setting it aside on some boxes and turned his attention to his drones. There wasn't really a use or need for the blimp – it wasn't really a combat vehicle. But his vector thrust craft could mount some auto-fire weapons and would be a potent combat multiplier. He made a start on the pre-flight checks and kept himself busy. Hunter had finished gearing up and now moved around to secure some demo kit, getting pockets full of grenades and blocks of plastic explosive ready, just in case.

Not long after, the rest of the team arrived, carrying Nadia with them. They saw the state of Marius and Hunter, and the worried look on Shimazu's face, and after carefully setting Nadia down in one of the bunks, Kai headed over to near Marius. Without addressing him specifically, he raised his voice to ensure it would carry to everyone in the team.

"Right, we all need to calm down and not do anything crazy here. Let's get Nadia woken up, and find out what happened, and work it out from there, ok. Ok?" Marius ignored him and continued his preparations, strapping ordinance onto the drone. Hunter looked at Kai and neither agreed nor disagreed, though he'd clearly heard. "Most important thing is we make sure Nadia's ok, and find out exactly what happened, not what we THINK happened." Marius still didn't respond to his words, but he didn't argue either. Kai accepted his passivity for the moment, cast a look at Aswon and Shimazu and then headed back inside to Nadia.

Gently as they could they woke her, keeping her lying down on the bunk. She was clearly confused, and couldn't account for being in the pod, and was still obviously stunned. They listened as she described getting the food, wandering back along the main tunnel towards the pod. She was in one of the dark patches, between the lights – then suddenly darkness…

"We think you fell over a rock, and bashed your head. We're just worried about you for the moment. Just lie still, and let us look after you."

"But Marius, and Hunter. I needed to get their dinner."

"Don't worry Nadia, we took care of it. They're fine. Just relax. Listen, Tads just wants to check you over, and make sure it was just a rock you fell over. That's ok right?" Nadia nodded, and Tads leant in, casting her mind-link spell. She got Nadia to talk through the walk back, in as much detail as she could. The concentration exhausted her, and she slumped back onto the bed afterwards, closing her eyes and falling asleep – but a natural sleep, at least.

"Couldn't see anything in her mind, Kai – nothing to say she was attacked, nothing suspicious. If it was them, they caught her completely unawares. Oh, and by the way – when that woman who found her was describing what happened, I um… checked her out. Astrally. She seemed to be truthful as far as I could tell. It was kind of hard though, she's stuffed full of cyberware. But I think she definitely knew what I was doing."

"Oh, that's why she was so annoyed. Well, next time, don't get caught eh?" Kai smiled at her and all Tads could do was sigh. It wasn't like any of this was something she wanted to happen.

In the pod outside, Aswon saw movement then heard a shout, asking for permission to enter. He saw the woman from the tunnel waiting at the entrance line, shotgun sticking over her shoulder. He waved her over, and ambled to meet her halfway.

"I got something for your boss. It should help him out – and a message for your mage if you can pass it on?" Aswon raised his hand to accept the small chip she offered him, and looked at her with confusion. "Next time – tell her to ask first, alright?" The look of confusion on Aswon's face didn't go away, but she didn't wait any more, and turned on her heel, heading back the way she'd came. Aswon watched her take a few steps, then turned himself to deliver the chip to Kai. Once inside the quarters, he recounted the conversation, and was surprised to have Tads push past him and jog off towards the entrance, chasing after Gemini.

Kai had inserted the chip into the computer and found a fairly small video clip as the only contents. He started it playing, and watched as the screen flashed to life showing a confusing mass of lines circling around the screen, varying in intensity.

"What am I looking at here?"

"Oh – ultrasound. Ohh, I gettit. I think that's the footage from her headware camera – she's got cybereyes with an ultrasound modification. Like bat vision." Kai nodded and watched the screen. "Each of those lines are the contours on the cave as she's moving through them, bright for close, dim for far away. We had a guy show us what a killhouse looked like through his ultrasound once, back in Southern Italy when we were fighting the Bucks. Anyway, maybe she's practicing with new eye mods, or she's training to move quietly or hunt or something."

They watched as she moved through the confusing mass of signals, until the point of view rounded a corner and saw a tangled web of lines clustered to one side. The vision mode changed, turning into three crude shapes of white and yellow heat, a few cooling yellow footsteps and the dark greens and bluey blacks of the cave background. Aswon was just about to start explaining thermo vision, but Kai interrupted and let him know he'd sort of worked it out.

The vision changed again, to an inky blackness. A couple of compression artefacts were seen wandering over the screen, tiny patches of grey in the stygian darkness. Then those faded away, and the screen took on a faint red hue for a moment. The red ramped up to pink, then almost white for a second, and finally the scene appeared ahead in colour, fading fast. It showed two large, burly men holding Nadia up against the wall, a knife in hand. Both were cringing from the light, but turning towards it in automatic reaction, leaning back and away from it as it overwhelmed their senses. The light faded almost as quickly as it appeared, the darkness returning. The vision mode changed again, and in thermo they watched as the two attackers ran into the tunnels, leaving Nadia to slump to the floor. The viewpoint wobbled as Gemini closed the distance, then swung wildly in a slightly nauseous way to look down at the body, then back up into the tunnel. There was a moment of decision, then the camera sunk, looking down at Nadia and two hot arms appeared in the view, lifting her up. Slowly the camera proceeded through the tunnel, holding the body just in the bottom of view, until two forms appeared around the corner. The vision changed back to 'normal' and they spotted Marius and Hunter, then the video cut, returning them to the menu.

"Hunter! Get in here and look at this!" Aswon played the file again, and got him to check the time stamps on the footage and compare it to their expectations. The video file looked unedited, and matched in time, the file size was right, and the playback looked just like he would expect to. Aswon sat back and steepled his hands, deep in thought.

"Kai – I think we have to trust this. But also, we should never get on that woman's bad side. Ever."

"What do you mean? I agree, but why?"

"Because she's better than good. I think, what she did was threw a flashbang into the tunnel, to scare them off – probably just around a corner or some obstacle to direct the blast. But she timed it so tightly she had her eyes shut to avoid blinding herself – and opened them to catch the last of the light, trusting in the flare compensation of her cyber systems so she could ID the aggressors, using normal video where it would show detail. She worked all that out, despite being caught cold in a tunnel, not knowing what was going on, and she got the job done."

"You sound like you admire her. Maybe I should hire her for the team."

"Maybe you should start paying your team." Aswon replied quickly. Kai coughed and turned away, realising that this was a losing argument.

In the tunnels, Tads jogged forward, not too worried about the darkness. She was astrally perceiving, and everything was a light grey, apart from the shape of Gemini ahead which was the bright actinic light of a living being – though with a core of darkness and death threaded through her where her cyber systems polluted her living essence. It was clear she in turn had seen Tads and had stopped, turned and was waiting for her.

"Hi there, Gemini isn't it?" The woman nodded, but then just stood quietly, waiting for Tads to speak again. "Look, about earlier. I know it's rude to look without asking, but we really needed to know if you were telling the truth or not." The seconds ticked by, Gemini fixing her with a cold, unblinking stare. Just as Tads was about to speak again, Gemini spoke quietly but clearly.

"I understand. I don't approve – but I understand. It should not happen again. I won't be so forgiving next time." There was no menace to her voice, no theatrics, no threats. Despite that, Tads felt a chill down her spine as Gemini stared at her.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again." Tads didn't know what else to say – but it appeared that her short and simple apology was enough. Gemini nodded once to her, then turned on her heel and walked away down the tunnel, with quiet cat-like steps, her cyber-enhanced reactions making it look like she flowed rather than walked. Tads turned, and saw Kai and Shimazu walking swiftly out of the pod and down the tunnel towards her. As they closed, Kai made a circling motion with his hand, and then caught her sleeve as he hustled past, dragging her along with him.

"Come on, we need to get to Vishtar and work something out, before Marius blows a gasket and launches a one-man war against those idiots. There's got to be something he can do!" She turned and walked as fast as she could – then after a few steps broke into a jog. It wasn't long before they were all running, heading for the rec-area to try and find someone they could talk to, hoping to head off the confrontation that seemed inevitable.

In the pod, Marius worked solidly on his drones until he had finished his preparations. After tightening the last retaining bolt on the weapon mount, he stood up straight, grabbing grenades and filling his pockets with them, then checked the clips in his pistols to ensure they were correctly seated, and took a step towards the exit – to be stopped as Aswon stepped in front of him.

"Marius – I have your back. If you go, I'll follow you – because that's what team mates do. So will Hunter. And the rest I think when they come back. But if you do this – we won't ever be welcome here again. Even if we take out this crew, with a sudden burst of irrational, unthinking but completely over the top rage and psychotic violence, and don't take any casualties…we're never going to set foot in this base again. We saw the size of the cave we warded yesterday – a new cave, that wasn't there before. Whoever runs this place has enough mojo that we can't fight them and win. We lose access to a base that covers all of the western parts of Russia, the Balkans, the TCL, as far down as Constantinople. Just think about that."

Aswon stepped aside, swinging round his rifle as he did so. With a deft movement he worked the action, chambering a round, and raised the rifle to rest on his shoulder. He'd said his piece, now he prepared to back it up. If his team was going to war, he'd honour their trust. Marius wavered for a moment, the logic and calm delivery of Aswon getting through his cooling rage. Aswon watched him, and sensing the hesitation decided to take a calculated risk.

"They have to pay for what they've done. There's no question about that. But a gunfight might not be the best answer. With minds as petty and little as that, we can destroy them in other ways. At least wait until the others come back before you make a decision, though. If the three of us go, then Nadia is on her own, unguarded." It was the last part that seemed to do the trick. Manifestly unhappy, Marius turned and glowered at him then stomped off to find a seat to wait. Aswon let out a deep breath, relaxing a little, glad that he wasn't going to be involved in a crazy assault.

Kai, Shimazu and Tads arrived into the rec-area, Kai and Tads both out of breath and slightly winded while Shimazu looked depressingly unbothered. Looking around they saw Vishtar sitting at one of the tables at the far end of the cave, along with someone they didn't recognise. She was tall, very tall – even sitting she was nearly a head taller than Vishtar. Thick brown hair cascaded down past her shoulders, and she was dressed in loose-fitting natural clothes – a hand-knitted woollen jumper and some cotton trousers. As the team entered, she paused in her conversation with Vishtar and they both turned to look at the team. Kai crossed half the room, then waved his hand in a 'me to you' kind of way, making sure it was ok to interrupt.

Vishtar waved him closer, and the tall woman shuffled backwards onto a chair further way, leaning back against the cave wall, and propping her feet on the chair where she'd sat a moment ago. Vishtar, who had been sitting opposite, turned to face them

"Vishtar, look – we've got a problem. Marius is…well Marius is pretty upset that someone attacked his girlfriend. When we left, he looked like he was getting ready to kick off a fight – and we don't want that, we really don't."

"Your team-mate – she is ok? Recovering?"

"Yes, she's fine – she doesn't remember what happened at all, they caught her completely off guard. Now look – when you started to talk earlier, it was clear you wanted to say something off the record to us…" As Kai said this, the eyes of the tall woman swung instantly to the back of Vishtar's head, fixing him with a laser-like stare. "…but felt that you couldn't for whatever reason. But we really need your help. So, if we were going to pick a fight with these rapist assholes, how far do we have to go? How far is out of bounds?"

"Outside of the quarry. Outside the fence line, or past the gate. Anything that goes on there is beyond our control and care. Inside, you follow the rules – all of them."

"Right, fine. Got it. Now I know you said that they technically haven't broken the rules because of Gemini stumbling across them. But this has got to have happened before. People managing to 'fall over some rocks' and so on?"

"Yes, it's happened a few times, as far as we can make out. But never anything we can prove." Vishtar squirmed unhappily in his seat a little.

"Well, that sounds like a health and safety issue. It turns out we've done some work in that area. Would you like a consultation perhaps?" Kai smiled broadly, spreading his hands wide and radiating helpfulness. Vishtar started to shake his head, but the tall lady leant forwards and laid one slender, long finger on his shoulder and he froze in place. She gracefully stood, then bent over and whispered in his ear for a moment, far too quietly to be overheard. Vishtar turned and looked up at her, and she nodded wordlessly, then smiled slightly, just a faint upturning of the lips really.

As she stood next to him, they got to see just how tall she was – easily two and a quarter metres if not more, though willow slender. Clearly not a troll, she looked entirely human, other than being ridiculously tall. Maybe it was just genetics… she started to walk off towards the staff tunnels, and suddenly both Shimazu and Tads took a step backwards. They'd both been watching in astral space, trying to get an idea of who the lady was from passive observation rather than active probing, but she didn't appear magical in any way.

However, with their astral senses extended, they both saw the wall ripple and animate, and a huge figure detach from the cave wall and stomp after her, made of a collection of boulders and rocks in a vaguely humanoid shape. It wasn't the earth spirit that Tads had called outside in the fight with the people pursuing Monty – it was far bigger and more powerful than that, more powerful than any of them for sure. It stomped off after the slender figure, not giving them a second glance though.

"Well my friends, it sounds to *my* ears that you're issuing a challenge of supremacy to the Bogbusters, a challenge to their reputation and honour. A challenge they need to accept, or they lose respect and position, causing you to swap places on the rep-board, and probably some considerable shame to them for their loss of position. That is what you said, wasn't it?" Vishtar cocked an eyebrow at Kai.

"Sure, sure. Something like that. I think. So how does this work?"

"Well, it's been a while since anyone has done something like this – but I need to go and inform the other crew that there has been a challenge, and they need to pick a volunteer to meet your champion in the arena, where they will set terms for the fight. The victor of the fight determines the victor of the challenge. We don't have enough room for jousting you see, so we have to make do." The reference went over Kai's head, so he just smiled and nodded like he was following along.

"I'm sure they'll pick a strong fighter of some kind – but it's anything goes in the arena, just remember that. Now, I need to go inform them of the challenge. Care to walk with me?"

The team followed along, and Vishtar talked to them about things – nothing to do with the current conversation, but just general gossip, the area they were in, what the local town was like. They chatted all the way to the entrance to Pod five, when he paused at the entrance.

"BOGBUSTER! ATTENTION BOGBUSTER" Several heads appeared to turn from the work they were carrying out on an enormous hovercraft, and people sat up in the cots to the side of the cave. "THERE HAS BEEN A CHALLENGE ISSUED. YOU ARE CALLED TO THE ARENA, WHERE YOUR CHAMPION WILL FIGHT FOR YOUR CREW. YOU ARE TO BE AT THE ARENA IN ONE HOUR, READY TO FIGHT!" Vishtar turned and smiled at the team, then pointedly showed them the time. "Don't be late, and be ready. I'll see you there."

The team watched as the crew raced around, presumably heading below decks to tell their leader. They took a moment to look at the massive craft, big enough to carry multiple trucks over rough ground it seemed, and with heavy machine guns and autocannons mounted around the hull on pintle and ring-mounts. Before anyone decided to do something about their presence though, they turned and headed back to the pod, to let the others know what was going on – though Kai took a quick surreptitious picture of the hovercraft before they left.

Back in the pod, they told the rest of the team what had happened, though only Aswon and Hunter seemed to respond – Marius still sitting and refusing to engage. It was only when Kai started to describe the hovercraft and cast the picture from his pocket secretary onto the larger screen that Marius turned to view it. Almost against his will it seemed, he told them what they were looking at.

"Zubr class ACV. Ex-Soviet army by the looks of things. Some of the largest landing craft ever designed. Carries up to 150 tons of cargo, pretty fast and very easy to move over terrain. Heavily armed and armoured."

"Well, that's what they have – and it looked to be a tight squeeze to get them into here, let me tell you. But, we need to get ready to fight their crew – not their craft. And if we win, we swap with them, and get to rub their noses in it. And if I'm not mistaken, we've met the 'boss' of this place, and according to Shimazu and Tads, she may be a very powerful mage. And I think she knows exactly what is going on. When we win at the arena fight, it's going to piss these guys off something awful. And instead of us kicking off the fight, it's going to be them – and then THEY get banned from the base, not us." Kai spoke with confidence and control, laying out his thoughts to the team. Marius seemed to withdraw back into his shell again, but at least he'd still not decided to launch his attack.

"So, all we have to do is win in this arena, huh?" Aswon framed it as a question, but there was a certain amount of disbelief in his voice. "What are the rules for the fight?"

"Don't know – we find out what the challenge is when we get there. Because we challenged, they get to set the terms, apparently." Kai waved his hand, as if dismissing the argument as irrelevant. Aswon shook his head, and grabbed his gun and extendable spear, clearly expecting trouble – or wanting options.

Kai headed inside to check on Nadia, finding her sitting in her bunk watching some recorded show from a chip. She had a drink and some painkillers by her side, and still looked groggy to some extent.

"Nadia. We're all off to go take care of some business for a bit. I'd like you to stay here, and if you don't mind, make tea for everyone. Is that ok?"

"Sure."

"Sure? You don't mind?"

"Kai, I'm not stupid. Everyone has been on edge, since you found me. Marius looks ready to murder someone. Hunter and Aswon have been walking around armed to the teeth for a while, and everyone is really stressed. I know something is going on, and you're not telling me. But at the minute, my head hurts too much, so I don't care. Later on someone is going to explain to me – but for now, sure. I'll make tea."

Kai smiled at her. She probably had some suspicions, but was doing her best not to inflame things, and was taking it steady. His estimation of her intelligence cranked up another notch. He turned and headed outside, to the waiting team and told them to start heading for the arena with all their gear, just in case.

"I'm going to pod one, see if I can find Gemini, before I meet you at the arena. Don't worry, I'll catch up with you." The team split, Kai leaving at a jog from the front of the cave, while the rest of the team headed down the much smaller passage at the north west side that lead deeper underground. Kai made it to the main tunnel without meeting anyone – but bumped into some workmen from the quarry who were heading into the base, their ear defenders flipped up onto their hardhats and high-vis jackets stuffed into a pocket. When questioned on where they were going they informed Kai that there was going to be a fight – and they really wanted to see who it was, and what happened.

Kai pressed on, getting to the entrance to pod one – but it seemed deserted. Nobody answered his calls, so he turned and headed deeper into the caves, working his way back to the arena area. He saw Stripes, Nelly and Gemini there, along with the rest of the team – and the Bogbuster crew, all clustered up together, armed and looking dangerous. Mixed in amongst the groups were quarry workers and the maintenance crew, forming little barriers of orange between the cliques. He walked up towards Gemini.

"Hey there, seems you've been around here for a while. Have you seen many of these?"

"Fights? A few, not many. Challenges – not really. Definitely not with the Boggies – not really their style. You must have goaded them pretty well to make them agree to this." Kai caught himself just before he revealed Vishtar's part in that, then decided to show some discretion. He wasn't sure why, but something told him that he was living in unusual times here. With a muttered thanks to Gemini, he walked over to the team, and made sure everyone was ready – safeties on, but rounds hot in the chamber, and all armoured up. It wasn't long until Vishtar arrived, and announced the fight, gesturing into the arena and recounting the challenge.

The arena was a rounded cavern, reasonably smooth and with a clear floor covered in fine sand, sunken down below the level of the tunnels that radiated off from it. Clear spaces around the outside let a reasonable size crowd watch whatever was going on inside, and it was easy to work out where the edges were. Vishtar called for the Bogbusters to present their champion.

A huge bull of a man appeared, stripped to the waist. As he stepped forward into the light, they could see he wasn't actually human – but a large and powerfully built orc. He wasn't hugely tall, but was wide with shoulders that rippled in the light, leading to a massively hewn neck and a stubby, bald head. His skin was a very light green, and one tusk was broken near the root, while small beady eyes looked out suspiciously from under his massive and pronounced brow. Around him the Bogbuster crew started shouting in Russian, repeating his name over and over again. Tads translated, a moment before Hunter did.

"His name is Ox apparently. Or that's what they're shouting anyway." Kai nodded, and then pushed forward to the edge of the arena.

"So, what's the challenge then, Ox? It's not going to be a battle of wits is it? I mean, if it is, it's not really fair, as you'd be fighting without a weapon!" Most of the crowd laughed, while the Bogbuster crew shouted and jeered at them. Ox looked confused for a moment, then realising he was being insulted, coloured up and roared in rage.

"Sorry, I don't speak Ox. You're going to have to try a civilised language. You do know how to speak, right, not just grunt?" His voice dripped with sarcasm, pointed vicious barbs of wit that obviously struck home. The Bogbuster crew grew more and more upset, while Ox seemed to be on the verge of apoplectic rage.

"I kill you! I smash your puny body to paste! I smash you with fists, until you are dead. Then I come for the rest of you and smash you too!"

Vishtar leaned in and shouted for attention, having to repeat himself several times to be heard over the bellowing from the hovercraft crew. Eventually they quieted down.

"The terms of the challenge have been set. A fight, to the death, with bare hands. New fish – who is your champion?"

Hunter stepped forwards, stripping off his load bearing rig, but keeping his body armour on. Tads and Shimazu had assensed the Ox, and clearly seen the almost black body, betraying the dermal armour lying just below the surface that covered all of his torso, his thighs and arms. With the dense armour plates implanted, he was carrying around as much protection as the average plated vest on his body, and it would soak and absorb a large amount of damage, saving the flesh below. They'd warned him of this, so he had no desire to strip to the waist to match his opponent, no matter how it looked.

"Well, I've got him all wound up now Hunter, he should be too furious to think clearly. Take advantage of that, and sort him out." Hunter shook his head as Kai spoke.

"I think I'd rather you hadn't."

Hunter stepped down into the soft sand, twisting his feet to gauge its' depth – only a few centimetres. Enough to soften a fall, or soak up some blood perhaps. Hopefully there weren't any pits or troughs hidden under the surface. Across the other side of the pit. Ox raised his arms above his head, and the crowd started to shout his name again.

Ox stared across the arena and bellowed once more.

"I KILLL YOU!" The Bogbusters cheered; Hunter remained silent, just moving his feet into a comfortable fighting stance and raising his hands before him. Vishtar took a deep breath, and then shouted.

"Ready?" His eyes locked on Kai, rather than Hunter, awaiting his nod…