Date: Thursday 2/9/2060, Location: 52.30972, 104.20729, Time: 13:00

"Based on what might be happening, I'm going back to the craft to run some checks and diagnostics, and make sure we're pre-flighted as far as possible." Marius looked around the rest of the team for comments, but saw only nods of agreement.

"I'm thinking, we ought to survey the lake a little. Tell me – how good are the sensors on the new ship? If we fly down the middle of the lake, can we scan the whole width? I mean, how wide is it?" Kai glanced over at Hunter, who reached for his map to check on the figures.

"Length is about six hundred kilometres. Width varies a lot of course, but on average we're looking at about fifty klicks or so. I can plot us a course to try and stay central, so we'll have equal coverage on both sides, but I'm not sure about the range."

"We'll probably have the reach to cover the lake and get some signal – but at the end of the range gate sensor resolution is not great. We'll see big stuff, but smaller targets will be harder to lock up or spot. Especially with the enemy we're facing were its likely to be creatures that the software would normally filter out. We've got a power amplifier on board of course, so we can boost the raw power to the sensor systems and get a bit more reach, but that also degrades our stealth a lot. But again, that probably doesn't matter against this enemy as they're not looking for us electronically."

"Ok, that sounds reasonable then. Hunter, can you look at a course, while Marius heads back to get things ready? With a tug on his flight suit to centre the seams on his shoulders, Marius headed to the door and let himself out, heading down the wide wooden stairs while impassive historical figures stared at him from their ornate picture frames. Hunter started working out a route map, trying to keep a smooth and flowing course without hard turns and switchbacks that would keep them centred as far as possible.

"If we're going up the lake, then I think we need to make magical preparations. And that means giving Tads time to summon some more powerful spirits than she normally does, and deal with any aftermath of the attempt. And potentially, we need to ensure that we've got spirits ready as soon after dusk as we can. Let's face it – they're almost certainly going to come at night aren't they? So we need to be ready, very quickly after dusk. Which is…."he checked his communicator and pulled up a data feed for their local time zone. "according to this, about 19:47 tonight. So we need to be back somewhere near here, and ready to go at just after that time, so Tads can recover."

"So, the sooner we're ready, the better. If we can get out of the city I can summon some spirits and be ready to fly soon after, depending on just how big the spirits need to be. Then we can fly north under escort, investigate and get back here for this evening."

"How many do you think you can summon, Tads?"

"Probably at half a dozen or so. It depends just how big we're trying to go, and how the spirits react from wherever we do the summoning of course. Nothing is certain."

"Well, let's not go shooting too high, then. Keep it reasonable, and we'll go for a look, but work on the basis that if we run into trouble we disengage as quickly as possible and get out of there. We're going to look, not attack." Tads and Aswon nodded in agreement, while Shimazu just sat and listened, his face as impassive as it normally was, while Hunter nibbled on his lip as he concentrated on trying to work out the course details on his tablet.

"I'm sure you've already started to think about things like this Tads, but I think we should have at least a low power spirit concealing the craft. It will help us pass by some creatures unnoticed, but not be so magical as to draw attention from the enemy awakened. Normally of course having magical concealment makes us more obvious to a magical foe, not less – but I think even a low power spirit will be worthwhile for the good it does us against many of the enemies creatures, and it's worth the risk."

"Ok, got the course planned, ready to go." Hunter squirted the data to Marius, and then started to pack away his screen and tablet. The team grabbed a last mouthful of food, their loose gear and then headed out, following the route Marius had taken a few minutes before. The sentry watched impassively as they all filed out, the staircase creaking as Hunter and Shimazu strode downwards. As soon as they were out of sight, the sentry eased from his position and made a call to his NCO, to pass up the chain of command…

They'd only made it to level with the stadium, about half way back to the tilt-wing, when Kai's communicator buzzed at him. As he answered, he saw the Colonel standing in the war room, a blur of figures behind him examining the maps and markers laid out on the tables.

"Ahh, Mr. Kai. I'm informed that you've left the hotel?" An eyebrow raised, somewhat at odds with the rest of the body language. Kai thought he was trying to soften a demand for information into a polite request – which meant at least he was treating them like useful guests still, rather than just resources to be used.

"Yes indeed, Colonel. Based on the information we have, we thought we would try to scout up the lake, and look to see if we can spot any of the enemy. We're aware that you have to pull political strings to get access to resources such as satellite or aircraft that can do recon missions, so we thought we'd try to help out."

"Ahh, I see. Very well, then thank you – and good luck. Do you know how long you'll be?"

"If we're not back by dusk, then something has happened, and it's possible that we're not coming back at all. We don't plan on engaging anything – we're just going for a look. But the enemy doesn't always see it the same way. And, it's possible that what we do may trigger some kind of response, so just be aware."

"I trust that if something does happen or is triggered, that you will provides us with as much notice and details as possible?"

"Of course Colonel. We're just about to board, so I will hopefully see you later, with some news. Not sure if it's good or bad though, we'll have to wait and see." The Colonel nodded and Kai disconnected the call as he climbed aboard. Already the engines were making noise and Marius warmed up the lubricants and control systems, taking the time to do everything by the book and double-check every reading and gauge. As they climbed aboard, Hunter caught sight of Vadim moving around and quietly called out over the team comms net.

"We need to have a talk with and about Vadim as well. Once we're done here, we need to know what to do with him. He's still active military, which means if we take him out of the country, will probably classify him as a deserter. We need to sort that shit out sooner rather than later." Hunter having made his position clear, strode up the ramp and called out.

"Heya Vadim. Oh, just so you know, I think that General fella will be here in a moment. Tuck your shirt in, yes, to make a good impression?" Vadim's head snapped around to stare at Hunter in horror, his mouth agape, and then he twisted from side to side in panic, looking for somewhere to hide or try and be inconspicuous. After a moment of looking around the cramped interior, he dived into the space where the bikes were normally lashed, and wedged himself near the outer hull, crouched down as he 'tided' some cargo straps. Hunter smirked and then called out to Marius that they were all aboard, and moments later the engines started to ramp up, spinning the blades and bringing them up to take-off speed. As they lifted into the air they saw Vadim glance out wide-eyed, looking around for the Colonel…until his glance found Hunter staring at him and laughing like a lunatic. Vadim's features sagged as he realised he'd been had, then firmed up as he gave Hunter a determined look, that indicated that he'd won this battle, but that the war was just starting.

They flew out of the city to the east, and Marius ran them alongside a low hill covered in scrub and light woodland, until he found a suitable clearing. It was only a few minutes of travel out of the city, but it was far enough that the air felt noticeably cleaner and purer, and once they'd landed they could see little nearby that was man-made – just the occasional farmhouse on the valley floor below them.

Tads moved over to sit between a trio of trees, and concentrated on her summoning, weaving mana together and using it to call for the spirits from the forest and bind them into a powerful spirit, great enough to leave the area and accompany them on their mission. While she got started, the rest of the team used the time to pull out their supplies from the back of the tilt-wing, spreading it out over the clearing and checking it over. Tads had warned them it might take an hour or more before she was fit to engage in battle after summoning the spirits, depending on how reluctant to answer her calls they were, so the team paced themselves.

Working slowly and methodically, they emptied all the kit out of the tilt-wing and Hunter started a nose-to-tail scan with the bug detector, making sure that nobody had placed any trackers on the craft while they'd been out in the city or at the Hotel. Marius broke out his toolkit and started some maintenance tasks on the engines and control surfaces, making sure that the craft was as ready as possible for the coming flight, while the rest of the team got their actual cargo and unpacked everything as far as they could, checking it over thoroughly and then giving it a good clean before carefully packing it away again, making sure it was ready for action.

The afternoon was warm, the skies clear and the air still, and soon they were all sweating in the slightly muggy air as they carried out their tasks. Vadim broke off from cleaning weapons for a while to sit with Tads, watching as she summoned a spirit and bound it to her service. He carefully studied her actions and posture, trying to emulate her approach. Both he and Tads were somewhat surprised to spot a watcher spirit pop into existence before him, a nebulous creatures made of sticks and grasses that seemed to extrude from the ground. It wasn't a powerful spirit, and when Tads examined it she quickly determined that it was not long for this world, the magical energies binding it together already starting to weaken and unravel – but it was Vadim's first spirit, and he studied it with interest.

Tads summoned her spirits, and found them to be somewhat hard to master and bargain with, independent and bull-headed. After bargaining with her first, and pouring power into it to help it grow and shake loose the shackles that bound it to the area, she sat back rubbing her temples and breathing slowly and deeply, fighting off the edge of headache that had formed. Lying back on the soft grass, she talked with Vadim about magic and spirits, describing her experiences in different places and relaxing while the pain receded, trying to share her knowledge with him.

When Hunter had finished with the bug scanner and found everything to be clear, he pulled out his computer and hijacked the signal from Marius to do some data searches, looking for information on Lake Baikal and the weather they were likely to encounter. There didn't seem to be a great deal of information out there, but it kept him occupied and he figured anything they learnt would be useful. Aswon and Shimazu busied themselves with a few laps of the clearing when they'd finished their tasks, keeping in shape, though Kai seemed happy to watch them exercise from the rear ramp.

The sun moved across the clear blue skies, starting to drop towards the horizon, while Tads continued to summon. The spirits answered her call and agreed to help her, but each one appeared to tax her heavily, and she had to rest after each one. Eventually, she seemed satisfied with the number she had, and climbed stiffly to her feet, joining the others. They'd spent over four hours in the clearing, which left them only about two hours to dusk – when all the spirits would vanish and need to be re-summoned.

"Sorry everyone, that was harder than I thought it would be. But we have some powerful spirits to protect the craft and us, and hopefully if we end up in a fight against Yakut forces, they'll help us hold our own."

"No problem, Tads – hopefully we won't need them, but if we do, they'll probably be really important. While you were summoning though, we've had a discussion with Vadim by the way. Talking about the future and what we're going to be doing and where we're going next." Kai smiled at her, and she glanced over to Vadim, who was watching and listening to the conversation intently.

"We explained that we're probably leaving Russia – that makes things complicated of course, as he's in the military and we don't want to take him out of the country if that would make him a deserter or anything. But, we're not sure on the status. We think it's possible that the Brigadier has just removed him from the books, and made him disappear, or if he's marked as being on assignment somehow. But we're going to try to get hold of him before we move on from here."

"Yes, and having spoken with Vadim, he's made it clear that he wishes to stay with us if possible and learn from us – though mostly from you – as much as he can about magic." Aswon added. "We talked about Frederick and the other mages attached to the forces, and Marius said it sounded as if all of the army mages are hermetic in outlook, rather than shamanic. I'd have to say I agree with him. It would fit the profile for many of the armed forces, they do seem to prefer neatly labelled and understood things, with rules and order than the more freeform approach of most shaman."

"Long-term though, Vadim does want to go home – turns out he's from Vladivostok, has some family there and a fiancée. But he's happy to stay with us for now, if he can."

"Great, thanks Aswon. And you, Kai." Tads mused for a moment, then called out again. "Hunter – next time you're on that shadownet thingy, can you try to find any talismongers or magic users based in or around Vladivostok? It'd probably help no end if we can set Vadim up with a contact or two for when he gets home. He'll need some supplies for things like wards and watchers."

They chatted as they flew on, until they felt the craft start to heel over to port, swinging out over the lake. Marius fed the image from the forward sensors to the screen and Shimazu put on the viewing prism so he could look out around them magically. The lake was huge, stretching off to the horizon and disappearing over the curve of the earth. Intellectually they knew it was big, but emotionally it was still surprising. Marius raised them up, increasing height until he was about a hundred and fifty metres above the water's surface – or as he put it, 'out of tentacle range'.

The tilt-wing raced across the sky, the only man-made object moving in view, lancing through the yellow-orange rays of late afternoon. The huge golden orb of the sun was heading towards the western horizon, bathing them in a warm glow and the winds were calm and serene. Below them, waves rippled down the lake from north to south, and Hunter checked them carefully – about thirty centimetres from peak to trough. That didn't seem that high, although they were moving fairly quickly. As Marius finished the gentle arcing turn to the north, they found themselves heading up the centre line of the lake. A smudge was just visible on each horizon, the shore of the massive lake distorted by the heat haze rising from millions upon millions of litres of water.

They flew onwards, scanning the skies around them and keeping a watch out for hostile creatures, though the area seemed quiet and peaceful. After they'd covered about two hundred kilometres of water, not spying anything to alarm them, they approached the line Hunter had sketched on the map – the 'soft' border between Russia and Yakut. They raced past a large island on their port side, easily sixty kilometres long that alternated between heavily forested areas and large barren, windswept plains. A few abandoned houses could be seen, but there were no signs of life.

"What the hell?" Shimazu tensed, then reached for the controls of the viewing prism, adjusting the focus slightly as he examined something ahead of them. "Ok, magical power ahead. Something big – really big. And powerful. Really powerful." Sensors focussed ahead, and they could see what at first looked like another island ahead but on the starboard side. As they closed the distance, they could see a narrow spur of land that joined onto the eastern shore.

"Ushkan Islands according to the map. Couple of smaller ones in the middle of the lake, and this one here – it is shorter than the first island, though not by much – but it's much higher and steeper. According to the topographic scan, I'm not sure there's anywhere flat enough we could put down safely. That's all kinds of messed up!" Marius sounded put out, as if nature had conspired to insult him personally by denying him a landing zone.

Shimazu pulled off the viewing prism with a wince of pain, staring blankly across the cabin and blinking his eyes rapidly.

"You ok there, Shimazu?"

"Yeah, I think so. Or I will be. Ok, don't look at the light for too long, and be careful if you try to assense it. It's bright enough to hurt." He handed off the viewing prism to Tads, then used both hands to rub at this eyes and try to refocus his gaze. "That place is hugely powerful – definitely a dragon line or ley nexus of some kind. Enough that astral space is warping around the peak. But it doesn't feel hostile or like a ritual done by people. There's a sense of… I don't know quite how to describe it. Watchfulness maybe? Like something is waiting, preparing for something. But it's not something soon."

"What do you mean Shimazu" asked Kai. "Are you saying it's not Yakut magic?"

"I don't think so. Ahh – I know what it reminds me of. One day while I was at university studying, we got taken out to the Pyramids to go and touch some of the stone work there. It sorts of feels like that – something ancient and timeless. Whatever is happening there is happening on a historical scale. Hundreds and hundreds of years… not a week or tomorrow." He gave a little shudder, as a thought crossed his mind. "That means that whatever power its gathering, it's not done yet. It's going to get stronger."

Up in the cockpit Hunter smiled as the tilt-wing angled west a little and a red exclusion zone appeared around the island, marking a ten kilometre 'do not approach' around the shores. Marius it seemed had no interest in going anywhere near the power site. As they flew past, the team examined the island carefully. Other than the highest reaches of the peak that dominated the centre of the land mass, the whole place seemed to be covered in lush, thick, dense, vegetation, with no signs of metahuman habitation.

They flew on, and as they left the island behind them, they discovered they'd picked up an astral escort. About ten kilometres off their port side a powerful air spirit was trailing after them. It was flying quickly, though nowhere near as quickly as they were. As they overtook it, it was clearly observing them and watching them carefully. As it was just about to fall out of range to the rear, it accelerated to several thousand kilometres per hour, overshooting them in a quick burst before dropping to a slower speed again, watching as they caught up and overflew it.

"It's having to do that to keep up. Burst into fast-travel mode to get ahead, then travel normally to watch us. That's what I have to do when travelling a long distance. While you're going fast, you don't really have a sense of where you are or your surroundings, so you have to drop out to normal movement every now and then to get your bearings. I've asked one of our spirits to guard the craft, in case it tries to cause any accidents or failures, and warned the rest to stand ready to help me destroy it if it becomes hostile."

Continuing north, the spirit stayed with them, keeping them under careful observation. The tension mounted as they tried to split their time on the prism system, keeping the spirit under a careful watch while still checking out around the craft in case it was a decoy or distraction.

They were about a hundred and fifty kilometres from the northern edge of the lake when they spotted the land on either side starting to rear up, rapidly gaining height from the water in a series of serrated ridges and crags. The lake was a little narrower here, no more than forty-five kilometres from west to east shore, and that allowed them to get a little more sensor resolution on the steep hills that rose up, rapidly turning into mountains.

Marius caught a twitch on the sensors, and directed his attention to the western shore, where a sensor ghost was strobing on his display. The computer didn't know what to make of it, and was painting it as a possible hostile aircraft, approaching under stealth. Calling out an alert to the rear, he pondered for a moment on what to do…if he focussed power down the bearing, he might be able to burn through whatever deception systems they were using. On the other hand, the other craft would definitely pick up a sweep of that power and know they'd been spotted. If he kept an eye on them without altering his sensors, they might think they'd not been spotted at all. His mind was made up though when Hunter managed to get his binoculars focussed on the spot and steadied his movement.

"Birds. It's a massive flock of birds. Big birds too – I can just about spot them, from here. I mean they're all still black spots really, but I can see hundreds of them, maybe thousands. And call me paranoid, but it looks like they're flying out to intercept us."

"It's worse than that!" Tads' voice cut over the radio. "I can see the spell that's covering them. I can't tell yet if it is one huge spell or several smaller overlapping spells – but it looks like some kind of control manipulation. So there's a good chance an enemy shaman or two are over there, shaping their minds and sending them to do the job. While I don't think they could hurt the craft directly, I've got to ask if a few dozen of them suicide into the blades or the engine intakes – can they force us down?"

"Yes, enough bird strikes will take us out of the sky. What's the other spirit doing?"

"Still following and observing. Ok, the flock of birds are accelerating now, beyond a normal speed. They've got to have spirit support too."

"I'm turning us around, hang on." Marius reefed around in a tight turn, pulling them all over to the port side as he changed heading to head south and back towards safety."

"They're altering course and pursuing, still going pretty quick – though not going to catch us. But it looks like someone or something doesn't want us looking at the north end of the lake."

"I guess so. It would have been nice to get some solid intelligence." Kai sighed. "But, this was supposed to be a recon mission, and we've discovered something we didn't know before. So let's get back to the city and brief the Colonel.

The tilt-wing shuddered for a moment, then seemed to straighten out, before giving another tiny little shake. Tads scanned around, then described to the rest of the team what she could see.

"It looks like a couple of air spirits, laid out ahead of our course. They're creating strong up or down drafts in the air. Ahh, I get it. They're not strong enough to get past the spirit on the craft directly – it's keeping us safe from their mischief. But they're affecting the air itself with their natural powers, rather than attacking us, so the guard spirit isn't being involved. They're just making us fly into rough air."

"They're going to have to do better than that, then." They could hear the disdain in Marius' voice, and the craft smoothed out as he focussed his weather radar and other sensors ahead of the craft, mapping out the pockets of wind shear and nimbly either flying around them or just flying through them with skill.

"Alright, those birds are still back there, though they're not going to catch us now. But I'm pretty certain that what we saw there was one huge spell. That's pretty frightening – the area it covered was huge. Enough that I'd have thought it would take a full team to achieve that using a ritual."

"A ritual spell? Cast that fast?" Aswon looked startled. "That doesn't sound feasible. I don't doubt what you're seeing Tads, but it doesn't fit with my understanding of magic. Hmmm." He considered for a moment. "I wonder if they had a team cast a spell ritually, if they could quicken that spell to a foci, or using a special sustaining foci to keep the spell alive without further effort – that might do it. Or maybe they were casting the spell anyway. If those birds were to fly down the length of the lake under control, then head to the city – do you think they'd arrive about the right time for what we think is the start of the attack?"

"At the speed they were going, I think that's a strong possibility." Tads answered.

"If Yakut know the Russians have lots of helicopters, and are willing to sacrifice some animals – that'd be a great way to ground them. Thousands of animals throwing themselves to their deaths at high speed, clogging up the engines or just hitting rotors and damaging them. Do it enough times and not even armour will save you. Even if it's not that, there's some serious power being thrown around there. I agree with you Kai, we need to get that information back to the Russians."

"Ok, can you get me a radio link to the Russians?" Kai asked.

"No – not yet. We're way out of radio range for our own systems, and there's no phone or matrix infrastructure around here to latch on to. It's dead, electronically. Technically, we could get some kind of connection via my sat-link, but even that's hard to hold stable at this kind of speed, especially if we have to manoeuvre. But we should be back towards the base by dusk, and we'll get comms back shortly before that."

They flew south, the lone spirit still trailing after them and keeping them under observation, but not making any threatening moves. Tads did wonder about banishing it to stop them being watched – but that did mean that the enemy would know they not only had active mages on board, but also get a gauge of her power. In the end she decided to remain passive – after all, it was just watching them fly along, and that didn't really reveal much at all.

As they headed south and over the border, Marius picked up some surface contacts on the lake and after adjusting the sensor feeds spotted some small motor launches. They were reasonable sized boats, but very small in terms of ships. As they got closer he could make out some details – the boats were about eighteen metres in length, and perhaps four metres across the beam, low slung and fairly sleek looking, with what looked like rapid firing deck guns and multiple light torpedo launchers fore and aft. At a guess they were the largest boat that could be transported easily overland and sent from whatever coastal or river based dock to the land-locked Lake Baikal to provide some naval presence. He steered around them, and easily managed to avoid their search radar and sensors, the carefully designed hull of the tilt-wing and advanced electronics deflecting and swamping out the return signal.

"Hey, the spirit's broken off – I thought it was doing a dash ahead, but it's gone. Or its hiding well enough I can't see it!"

"How long ago do you think?" asked Kai.

"Probably just after we crossed the border area. So a bit before we flew over those patrol boats."

"Well, the boats couldn't hurt it, could they? Maybe they don't want to spook the Russians or show their hand too early." They flew onwards, keeping an astral watch out, but the spirit didn't reappear at all, or not that any of them spotted. Marius flew slightly further south over the water on the way back, before turning in, keeping them further away from the Yakut border and any spying eyes. As they approached the city from the south east, they spotted an observation tower to their north, sitting atop a ridge with great views of the surrounding countryside.

"Someone check that tower out – I've got a number of heat signatures moving around up the top, looks like multiple metahumans." The team examined the data that Marius threw up on the monitors, spotting the moving forms of people standing on top of the tower, peering out from over the guardrail. Shimazu had a good look through the viewing prisms, trying to get a read on their emotions and intentions.

"They're watchful, but not hostile. No intent for harm or subterfuge that I can sense. But they do feel like what they're doing is important. To them, or to someone else I'm not sure which."

"Something else to check with the Colonel. Though if they've let the enemy get a watch post built this close to their forces, then I think there's not a lot we can do to help them at this point." Kai made a note on his phone, adding it to the list of things he needed to speak about.

Marius flew onwards towards the city, running a sensor sweep of the Angara River to their south as well as the land they were flying over. The river was more an extension of the lake at this point, over two kilometres wide in places. The shores to both the north and south were broken and craggy, a thousand spurs and offshoots with as many places to hide or lay low. If the Colonel didn't have Naval assets to draw upon, finding anything in there would swallow up huge amounts of manpower.

The flew into the city proper, and just as they were turning north, saw the Irkutsk dam straddling the river, three kilometres of sturdy Russian construction that channelled the waters of the massive river through its belly, feeding the cities insatiable need for power.

"Get a good sweep on that, please, Marius. I've got a horrible feeling we were looking at the wrong dam earlier. I'd made the assumption that the river fed into the lake – not the other way around." Hunter sounded distracted as his fingers flew over the keypad, entering instructions into his computer and manipulating the map. The sensors quickly flipped over to their port side, and Marius recorded a detailed sensor sweep of the dam, mapping out the buildings, road and rail-line that ran over the top, the ingress towers and the overall proportions, as he continued to fly north to reach the airport.

Landing was as smooth as usual, and there were fuel technicians waiting for them, ready to attach the hoses and top off their tanks, all without being asked to. Marius had a moment where he missed working for a larger organisation, where things like this were the normal, and he didn't have to constantly worry about where his next fuel load were coming from. Then the thought was banished from his mind as he remembered how little his former corporation cared about him on the mission that had led him to this point. Or Hunter and his tale about the unethical production deep under the mountain that had led to him being sent into exile.

A UAZ pulled up near the landing apron, and unsurprisingly Colonel Frunze climbed out of the passenger seat, heading towards them with his cap removed, lest it be blown off by the still spinning rotors. Kai climbed down from the side door to greet him.

"Ahh, good evening, Colonel. Good to see you again."

"And good evening to you Kai. What did you see?"

"Well, let's start with the journey back. We passed a tower with a bunch of people doing observations and surveillance. We just wanted to check this was something known about?" He flashed up the sensor data, ran a few seconds of video and pinged up the map showing the location on the hilltop.

"Ahh, that is the weather observation tower. Lieutenant Yahontov is based there."

"Fine, fine – ok, that's the easiest one dealt with. Now, we flew up the centre of the lake, and scanned as we went…" Kai talked for a few minutes, describing what they had seen along the way and giving the Colonel as much detail they had about the spirit they had seen and the enormous flock of birds, tightly held under magical control. The Colonel listened, but also didn't see too worried about the birds – until Marius added a description of what trying to fly a troop helicopter or gunship through an environment filled with thousands of birds would be like, and how enough birds fed into an engine or smashing into the rotor shaft would take down even the most heavily armed and armoured craft.

"Colonel? The dam down to the south. What can you tell me about it?" Hunter asked, joining the group. He was still tapping away on his computer, and his brow was deeply furrowed.

"The hydro dam? Not a great deal. It's many decades old, and feeds a large proportion of the city's power needs. It's also one of the primary routes to the other shore and the neighbouring suburbs. The city power department run the dam, and it seems to have been operating normally. Why?"

"Take a look at this, will you. This is the dam, and the river beyond it. Winds though the city, and exits to the north, then heads into enemy territory after a while." He tapped a button, and five large areas were added, shaded cells that corresponded with the locations of regiments or divisions of troops. "Now these are your locations, including your H-Q brigades and regiments near the sports stadium." The Colonel looked and nodded in agreement, then Hunter hit another button, and the base map changed, exchanging the view of the city buildings with a topographical map showing contour lines instead.

"Now look here, this shows the height of the city, to the nearest ten metres. I've just worked together a little program, to simulate what would happen if the dam is compromised." He hit another command, and a low resolution jerky animation started to play, showing a deluge of water shooting out from the dam area and spreading downstream quickly – but also breaking the banks of the river to either side, and sending questing tendrils of water along the lower ground. As the frames advanced, the water expanded, a tidal wave washing over several of the encampments and flooding along several of the main arterial roads.

"I've done some very rough calculations, and we're talking about a tidal wave of perhaps five to six metre height, travelling at around two hundred kilometres per hour. Driven by the immense pressure of the water in the lake, it will rip across this land and scour it clean. Please tell me you have troops stationed over at the dam."

The colonel watched the last frame of the animation play, then looked up at the team.

"There is an MP regiment over there, keeping the area secure, but they're mostly monitoring traffic flow and monitoring troop movements. Like I said, the dam is a civilian structure, and has been exceptionally quiet. There's not been even the vaguest hint of trouble from around there." Shimazu gave the Colonel a sharp look, then cocked his head to one side as he thought through the implications of that.

"I think we should get some watcher spirits over there immediately, don't you, Tads? Even if they only act as a tripwire."

"Yes Aswon, we can do that. But I also think you should get your troops moving to higher ground Colonel. There's plenty around the city, and the sooner you start, the better." The colonel looked at the map again, then at their concerned faces.

"I accept that you feel this is a risk, and a likely consequence – but the dam is huge, and incredibly sturdy. I just don't see how the enemy could breach it, and cause the level of damage you're talking about. And moving the troops – all of these regiments and the entire one twenty seventh division – on the eve of an attack?" The colonel shook his head. "What you ask, is difficult. Normally the logistics of a move like this are planned days in advance, MPs detailed to marshal traffic, routes planned, road capacity plotted. And many of these troops have been dug in, or are tightly packed around fuel bowsers and spares trucks at the moment. You're asking me to disrupt all of that, based on – what appears to be – a hunch."

"Yes Colonel, we are." Kai projected confidence into his voice. He pointed over the colonel's shoulder as the sun started to dip below the horizon, sinking behind the hills to the west. "We've got about fifteen minutes to dusk, and we'll be entering the danger zone then. The enemy will be busy summoning replacement spirits and moving their troops. You need to be ready, and getting your troops moving, too."

"Do you have any proof of this, anything certain I can take to the general?"

"No, sorry. Just lots of experience, and trust in my team. This feels right – it's by far the most dangerous thing we can see them doing to you and your forces. I hope we're wrong, but I don't think we are."

"If I give movement orders now, our troops will be all strung out, in chaos for several hours. There's no way to hide that from the civilians, and we already know the enemy have spies in the city."

"Perhaps you can issue some rumours that the enemy has been found over there?" Kai pointed to the north west, then tapped on the map, highlighting several higher areas on the topographical map. "Use that as a justification for moving the troops, and not mention the higher ground. It might buy you some time, or keep the enemy guessing about your intentions."

"Very well. I'll go and brief the general, and pass on your assessment. But – can you go to the dam and check it out?"

"We can – but you should get some mages and probably some engineers over there as well, along with a guard force. And we should work out some way to speak to you securely, so we can let you know what is going on."

"Here, let me give you my personal frequency and encryption key. Nobody else in the city has this, so it should be secure." They swapped electronic keys, and the team headed back to the tilt-wing, starting to get ready for lift-off. The Colonel climbed back into the UAZ which set off with a screech of tyres, sending a few aircraft technicians darting out of the way. At least the Colonel seemed to be taking them seriously….

As the engines started to spool back up, Marius called out to the team over the communications system.

"Let us look at this from the enemy's point of view. If we were going to blow up the dam, how would we do it? I see several options… we could try to use some magical creatures or spirits to break through the base of the dam, and erode away the foundations where it could not be seen and is hard to detect. Or we could try to plant a bomb inside, to wreck the flood gates or spillways, or maybe even just the generators. Just sending the city into darkness may be enough of an advantage to an army that can mostly see in the dark?"

"If they're mostly magical attackers, maybe they can use a spell to breathe underwater, like a fish does? Could they come in through the pipes, Tads?" Hunter looked back at Tads who nodded and gave him a thumbs up.

"That sounds more like the style of approach that might suit the enemy. But we should still check for bombs or explosives, sabotaged machinery and the like. We've seen them use high technology resources already, after all." Aswon cautioned them. "Tads – your water spirits, could they batter the dam down?"

"If they were big enough, or there were enough of them, yes. But also it could be a more long-term plan like Marius said – perhaps they've had smaller or weaker spirits slowly burrowing under than dam for weeks and weeks, while the fires in the city distracted everyone else?"

Kai listened as the ideas flowed around him, then dialled the Colonel's number, cursing under his breath as it went straight to voicemail.

"Dammit, I was hoping to get him. I'm guessing he's in with the General. Ok, I'm sending him a message and advising that they redouble the watch on the lake, and get some aerial scouts over there. And to see if we can get that weather woman free from her duties and down to the dam. I think we need to get her data to the dam engineers to talk through what she was going on about.

The tilt-wing banked sharply, and the team glanced up at the monitors as Marius changed the feed, showing the west side of the dam as they flew past. They could see the river was lower on this side, far lower than the massive body of water on the eastern side. Yellow lamps were studied along the walls and buildings, illuminating key areas of the structure, but driving the rest of the building into a patchwork of deeper shadows. Two forests of electrical pylons sprouted on either shore, just west of the dam, with a criss-crossing network of power cables that Marius gave a wide berth too. On top of the dam, they saw a number of cars driving along the wide road, at least two lanes in each direction that they could see, along with a series of rail lines and overhead gantries, heavy-set concrete buildings and towers. The dam was an impressive and immense piece of engineering, over twenty metres high and scores of metres thick at the top – no doubt far thicker at the base. For a moment, Kai wondered if it was really feasible to blow something up this big…

"I've had a good look around us astrally, no sign of creatures. But we should keep our eyes out for anything larger than normal, just in case." Tads continued to flip the view around the craft, checking out both banks and the water below."

"Just a thought – do we know how Yakut has dealt with the cities that were in their area, when they broke away from Russia? Did they raze them to the ground, or do people still live in them? That might give us an idea of how willing they are to destroy a city with this many people in it."

"Tads – what kind of sense did you get from the owl when you were poking around it its brain? I know it probably didn't share many of the same values…"

"No – it was very different, very different indeed Aswon. But to answer your question Marius, I got the impression that it viewed all the people living here like sheep. A resource, a food source – not something to get sentimental over. And if a sheep tries to attack you, you kill it out of hand, using whatever force is necessary." She completed another sweep of the area, as Marius started to drift lower, keeping a cautious eye on the high-voltage lines. "No signs of creatures, no spell signatures, no spirits, no wards – it's all very quiet."

"Can I have a quick look, Tads?" Shimazu waited for her to remove the goggles, then pulled them down and took a careful look around them. "I thought as much, something the Colonel said. From here, I can't see a single burnt out building or sign of an arson attack. No damage to the city at all. I think they've been diverting attention away from here elsewhere, and keeping this area quiet, to get people off guard."

"Huh. I just realised – we really didn't need to ask the question about how they view the people in the city. They were willing to put a bomb and poison in the water supply, and risk massive civilian casualties. It wouldn't have just been the troops drinking that water. Babies having baths, old people, mothers, children…they would all have been affected. I don't think they're bothered about the suffering they'd cause at all."

"I can't land anywhere near the dam – it's all covered in either buildings, roads or those stupid power cables. I'm setting us down on the south bank, a couple of hundred metres downstream from the dam. There's a clear area there, some kind of construction depot of some kind." Moments later Marius lowered them down and approached the land mass. A massive dust-storm blew up from the unprepared surface – it appeared to be a cement factory of some kind, and drifts of dust lay everywhere. Marius didn't let it phase him though – he watched his sensors carefully and bought them in for a gentle landing, quickly throttling down the engines to reduce the wind and dust storm as quickly as possible.

The team got ready – asking Vadim to stay and guard the craft again, and keep an astral watch out for anything nearby, and leaving the comms system unlocked so he could talk to them. Marius grabbed his remote control deck and ensured it was connected to the craft and slaved to the controls – using it he could remotely fly the tilt-wing if need be, as long as he had a decent signal anyway – but could summon the chopper to him if they need to get away from the dam at short notice.

With weapons checked and slung, toolkits stashed into bags and comms earbuds and throat mikes engaged, they climbed down from the tilt-wing, landing with a crunch on the gravel below, and turned east, heading out of the construction yard and through some waste ground towards the edge of the transformer yard, and to the lit bulk of the dam beyond.

"HALT! Stop, or I will fire! This is a restricted area, show me your papers!" A figure appeared from behind a tree, where he'd been concealed from their approach. Just their luck to disturb a wandering guard with their landing, it seemed!

"Ahh, we don't have any papers. Well, most of us don't. She does though." Kai tilted his head towards Tads. "But we do have permission to be here. We're on a personal mission for Colonel Frunze."

"Of course you are. And I'm on the Politburo, but I'm just taking a walk out here for the fresh air."

"Well Comrade, that's alright then. I'm sure you won't have a problem if I call the Colonel. I'm just getting my phone out, nice and carefully." Kai did move slowly and carefully, though mostly because he didn't want to spook the man. He was pretty sure that if he looked like he was going to fire, Shimazu could cross the five metres of undergrowth and chop his arm clean off before he'd finished thinking about pulling the trigger…. But then they'd have to sew it back on, and Tads would only have to heal him up afterward, and they just didn't have time. "I'm just calling the Colonel now…" He called, then listened as it went through to voicemail again. Dammit! "He wants to see some papers – why don't you show him your ID?"

Tads nodded, then moving as carefully as Kai had, pulled out her ID and carefully cross the space between them, offering it out to the guard. He in turn walked out from under the cover of the tree into the evening light, and they could see his helmet and sleeve markings, showing him to be a member of the MP force. He slotted the ID into his hand scanner and glanced at the result – then did a double take as it identified one Ivana Woltchok as a Russian national, an investigative journalist – and also as a recipient of a national commendation that identified her as a Hero of the Russian People. He removed the ID, then reslotted it, running it through the scanner again, and then swallowed as the same data was returned.

"Sergeant. I need you at the west side of the transformer yard. I've found some….people," he glanced over at Hunter as he spoke, putting just a little emphasis on the word, "who claim to be on a task for some Colonel. One of them has a Russian ID and a Hero medal." He lowered his hand from the shoulder slung radio, and a short blast of angry Russian burst out of the loudspeaker, demanding he repeat himself. The MP did so, and was told to wait there, and the Sergeant would be there soon.

It didn't take more than a minute for the sergeant to arrive, so he must have been based at the dam itself. The UAZ he arrived in had clearly seen better days, and only one headlight worked, casting a single yellow beam of light towards them as he drove around the perimeter road of the transformer station before swinging across the rough ground towards them. He went through the same routine, slotting the ID stick in his reader, doing a double take and then rechecking the data.

"Sergeant. We are pushed for time. I'm sure you've heard the rumours about the attack that may come later tonight. We need to get to the dam to check it out for saboteurs. We need to get in there soon. Check with Colonel Frunze if you need to, but can we please stop fucking about?" Hunter smiled at him, showing his tusks and putting some real passion into his voice on the last few words, along with an air of exasperation. Bizarrely enough, his rough and uncultured voice, seemed to strike a chord with the sergeant – either that or his fluent and flawless Russian just sounded much more convincing than Kai's mastery of the language. But a moment later he did what so many Russians bureaucrats would recognise as the best tactic – he shifted responsibility to someone else.

"Captain, this is Sergeant Rekonovich on the south side platoon. I have a situation out here that requires your authorisation. I have a small team of six armed people, claiming to be carrying out a task on behalf of a Colonel Frunze."

"He's based in the 91st Headquarters brigade, currently billeted in the Hotel Royal, and attached to Lieutenant General Alikhanov, if that helps." Hunter added.

"Well, we'll see about that. Radioman! Get me a connection to the 91st HQ, at once. Tell them we have people claiming to be army troops working for some Colonel there." There was a pause, and then they heard the Colonel over the loudspeaker. His voice was broken and distorted, being sent over the connection to the MP's station, then broadcast over the open mike to the sergeant.

"This is Colonel Frunze. Who is this?"

"Colonel, I'm Captain Gagarinov, 429th MP Company, currently in command of the dam. I have some people here claiming to be working for you on some kind of special mission. I just wanted to confirm that they were lying before I have my men shoot them or take them into custody."

"Well Captain Gagarinov, I'm glad you called. Wait a moment." Kai's phone rang in his hand, and he carefully hit the accept call button. "Kai, are you near the dam, and with some MPs bothering you?"

"I'm afraid so, Colonel. Sorry to bother you." The MP and sergeant both changed position, their pistols quickly lowering to point at the ground.

"Captain, I've just spoken with my team, and I can confirm that they are indeed carrying out a sensitive mission on the General's behalf. Stand down, and allow them access to the dam at once."

"But Colonel, they don't have any papers, except some obvious forgery about being a Hero of the…."

"Captain. Perhaps I wasn't clear." The Colonel didn't raise his voice at all, but there was a steely undertone to it. "You are to offer assistance to this team at once. You are not to interfere with their mission. You are not to get in their way. You are to do exactly what you are told, at once. Because if you do not, then before the night is out, you will be on the next train out of here, heading for the Perkoltsky mines, where you will be digging out uranium with a hand trowel. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"

"Yes Colonel." The defeat and dejection in the Captains voice was clear, along with an edge of simpering desperation. "At once, Colonel. Sorry to have bothered you with this Colonel. I'll tell my men to comply immediately."

Both the MPs had holstered their side arms by now, not wanting to take the risk that the Colonel's displeasure might splash any lower down the food chain.

"Escort these people to the dam. I'm going back to the post to make sure everyone is ready to provide whatever assistance is required." The sergeant instructed the MP and then climbed back into his UAZ before driving off towards the dam. The MP nodded – there wasn't really much else he could do, and waved the team over, then lead the way down the road around the forest of pylons and transformers. He had to speak up a little to be heard over the omnipresent low hum of the equipment, and they could feel their hair stand on end as they got close from the charge in the air.

"So, what can you tell us about the dam? Oh, and you can call me Kai, by the way."

"Well, we don't know much to be honest. We mostly watch for traffic and keep things moving, and keep the perimeter secure. There's a lot of civilians working in there though, many engineers and some office staff. I think the head Administrator is Tolstoy."

"And is here there now?"

"Oh no. He'd only be there during the day. But there'll be a shift engineer in charge."

"I see. So there's a night shift in there now. What time did they come on, and what time does the next shift start?"

"Four this afternoon, and they're on until eight tomorrow morning. There shouldn't be anyone else coming or going mid-shift, that I know of."

"Well, tonight might get interesting. We need to get in that dam, and talk to the shift leader. It's possible that someone might try to blow up or sabotage the dam tonight, so we're going to need you and your men on alert."

Marius quickly checked the signal on his remote deck, confirming he could still reach the tilt-wing as they rapidly closed on the bright oasis of light that surrounded the main pedestrian entrance, the team striding forwards rapidly while the MP struggled to stay ahead of them and look like he was in charge of the situation, when he really felt like he was sliding down a greased slope with no idea what was going on.