They descended at a fifteen-degree angle, dropping down towards the valley floor as they left the Ostry volcanoes behind them. Still wrapped in thick cloud, Marius had his virtual eyes glued to the sensors, scanning carefully with his passive systems and watching out for obstructions and enemies alike. Hunter was updating their maps, scouting around to see if he could find any better resolution copies posted on Shadowland or availaable to download without registering with a corporation. In the troop bay, Aswon sat with one hand holding his spear, the other hand splayed flat on the fuselage, channelling the shielding magics of the ancient weapon over their craft – while at the same time meditating on his interaction with the magical forces, seeking to understand just where those magical scales had come from and what their limits were.
Tads sat opposite him, channelling her powers into the craft from the other side, seeking to nullify any spirit powers that might seek them out and cause them harm while Shimazu sat with his blade laid over his lap and a cleaning cloth, gently working the dirt off the aged steel, and Vadim sat studying one of Tad's spell foci, worked in the form of a dream-catcher with intricate threads knotted about beads and feathers.
And Kai? Kai sat looking at a catalogue of antiques on his chip-reader, while one finger gently worked at his left nostril, grubbing around trying to get at a stubborn obstruction, a quiet squelching noise sounding as he poked the digit back and forth – thankfully quiet enough that even Aswon's phenomenal hearing couldn't make it out over the noise of the engines.
As they levelled out at the bottom of the long shallow dive and started to race across the barren landscape, Tads opened one eye and looked over at Kai.
"So Kai, the gold that we got back in the elemental chamber?" Kai paused, one finger still deeply embedded in his nostril and glanced at her, then raised an eyebrow at her, indicating that he was listening. The finger slowly withdrew, and he casually wiped his finger clean on his trouser leg. Tads stared at him for a moment, then decided to just continue her question. "Well, I want to get some new spells that I think would greatly help us. But I'm not sure I have the time to design them – not while we're globe-hopping like this. So I'd like to commission someone to make or get them for us, and that means paying them. And I know we don't have much Nuyen, so I was thinking we could maybe barter with some of the gold?"
"Hey! That's soul gold, you know? Paid for with part of my eternal being!"
"I didn't think gold could tarnish?" Aswon muttered quietly, just loud enough for a snigger from Hunter.
"What was that, Aswon?"
"Nothing, Kai. But I'm generally in favour of new spells if our spirit talker feels they're helpful." He nodded towards Tads, indicating his support.
"Well, how much do you need?" Kai gave Aswon a suspicious look, but Aswon just closed his eyes, slowed his breathing and concentrated on the spear, trying to attune himself to its presence.
"I'm not sure, Kai. It depends a little on who we sell to. If it's just someone that runs a magic shop but just sells on the things they get from other mages, we may need a chunk or two. If it's to someone that can actually enchant something using it, or make something themselves, it's potentially more valuable to them, especially considering where it came from."
"So we'll just have to wait and see is what you're saying?"
"Yes, pretty much. But I just wanted to let you know I was after some supplies as well, so you can plan ahead."
Aswon was just about to say something about Kai and his tendency not to plan at all, let alone ahead, when Shimazu called out to them.
"Looks like the weather is getting worse ahead. At least the clouds are darker and they look to be moving faster. Looks like we could be in for some more rain."
"Ok, not a lot we can do about that. So, Tads – what spells are you thinking about?"
"Well, a more powerful version of the one I use to treat injuries – so I can repair more damage, and deal with more severe wounds. There's a limit to how much I can fix with the current one, and I know that sooner or later that won't be enough." To her side, Aswon gave a little twitch, and she turned to face him, giving him a quick once over. She could see the glowing astral presence of the spear next to him, humming away magically. Concentrating, she could see a subtle flow of mana from the spear into his hand, and another on the other side returning – it seemed benign though, so she turned back to continue her conversation with Kai.
"Ok, that seems like a good idea. Anything else?"
"Yes, but it's not a spell I've ever heard of really. It might need some custom research, if it's possible at all. You know how I can do the mind-link, between two people to allow them to share their thoughts?" She saw him nod, and continued. "Well, a version of that but one that is cast over multiple people, preferably one that can be cast over the whole team, so that we can all communicate, almost instantly, with everyone else. Provided we stay within a kilometre of each other or something like that. I thought that where we can't stand close to each other, or where someone might be trying to listening in on the communications network, it would be really useful."
"That also sounds good. But you say it might need research? That sounds… expensive."
"It might be, yes. It might not be possible – but I think it would be and its worth checking. But if it is possible, and we can get the formula designed, then once we have I can see about getting it copied and we can look to sell it on as well, and that might help recover some of the research cost. It might even make us some profit."
"Well, that would be useful. I think by the time we're done with these volcanos, we're going to be short of working capital. I'm just hoping that our employers are going to turn up and pay us quickly."
"Let's just hope we don't have to go back to the park in Japan to get paid, then!" Hunter called out over the comms system. "Because I don't recall hearing you say anything about when or how we would get paid!"
"It'll work out Hunter, don't worry. You can trust me!" Kai heard Hunter snort, but he didn't bother replying beyond that. The team settled down into quiet contemplation as the tilt-wing flew east, heading into the looming black clouds that were working their way westward across the Pacific Ocean.
Aswon drifted through the darkness, feeling himself moving without effort. At first he thought it was just the movement of the tilt-wing as it conveyed them through the air – but then the sensation changed, feeling like he was descending. For a moment he contemplated opening his eyes to check their physical condition – but he didn't want to lose the connection he'd established. And it felt like a descent, not a fall… he relaxed, tuning out the outside world and concentrating on the experiences pouring into his astral presence.
A flicker of light ahead, as he spied something far away, like a spark in the darkness, a sudden blinding brightness. It flared again, and his assessment changed… not far away, just very small. Tiny, almost nothing. Yet despite that it glowed intensely, brightly – almost too bright to look at. It sparked again, but this time caught on something, and his viewpoint pulled back as flames erupted from the blackness, becoming a glowing coal bed. Heat washed over him, around him, through him as the flames danced higher and higher, slowly changing colour as the heat intensified.
Hands swam into his vision, coming from either side of his face. He sensed that they were, and at the same time, were not his hands. Maybe the hands of whomever he was experiencing this through. They waved around the fire, digits crooking and straightening in a complex pattern, with the occasional spark of power leaping from finger to finger. Without warning they thrust forward and into the flames, moving the coals around. His heart leapt, and he almost screamed in surprise, expecting a wash of agony to course through him – but he didn't feel anything. The hands grabbed something from inside the coals, a blade of wrought metal that had been lying concealed at the heart of the fire.
As the hands held the blade aloft, holding it by tip and root, he saw the same scales flowing out from the blade onto his fingers, rising up to cover his palms, the back of his hands, to flow up the wrist and head along his arms and out of sight. As the scales flowed around him the flames bent and deformed, also flowing around his limbs, deflected by some magical barrier, an arcane force that pushed the flames away from him to keep him safe.
'Is this the forging of a magical blade, imbued with a spell,' he wondered to himself, 'or is this the binding of some magical essence or being into a blade, the capture of some eldritch force?' He couldn't say either way, or if it was something completely different. The vision was unclear in that sense – but he knew with utter certainty that the blade that he saw in front of him was the blade that adorned the tip of his spear, and he had a sense of great age or the passage of time. His hands worked the blade, turning it over in the fire and heating the blade, then bending and shaping the metal slowly and carefully. He had already realised the hands were not his – their pale flesh looked nothing like his ebon skin-tone. But as he studied them he realised they were longer and more slender in shape, reminding him of a musician he'd once known, whose long elven digits had allowed him to reach across the strings of his instrument with ease.
His attention was snapped back to the coals in front of him as a roiling spot of fire bubbled up from the coals and spat towards him, a tiny fireball of intense white heat with a corona of flickering red and yellow flames. The hands and blade raised to intercept, and the scales glowed brightly, deflecting the fireball away from him, defending his flesh with an arcane barrier.
Slowly the flames seemed to fade away, the scene in front of him growing darker and darker, gradually fading from sight. All became dark, a scene of utter blackness where all he could sense was the slow and steady beating of his heat, a regular forty beats per minute. He concentrated on the beating, listening to the metronome precision and then realised that it was no longer pitch black, but was instead a dark grey tinged with an edge of redness, the strange darkness of the eye as it saw the faint echo of daylight through a closed eyelid. He opened his eyes, blinking in the brightness and saw his hands trembling slightly as they gripped tightly on the spear haft and made a conscious effort to loosen his grip and relax.
In the cockpit, Aswon wasn't the only one experiencing a strange and unsettling feeling. Marius sat in his seat, body relaxed and head lolling to one side while the fibre cable snaked out of the large jackport on the back of his head. His brain was divorced from his meat body, instead experiencing life through the rigger interface and letting him feel his skin of aluminium panels covered with radar absorbing materials, to feel the throbbing power of his engines as they pumped power to the rotors, whirling away as his 'legs' propelled him through the air. His sensors probed ahead and around them, questing through the roiling clouds as his virtual eyes and ears strained for input and he felt the wind and rain lash at his being.
And his being felt cold, sluggish and like it wasn't performing properly. All through his body he felt things were just not quite right. Fluids weren't pumping from one place to another properly. Control surfaces moved more slowly than they should do. The speed of the rotors was not quite what he expected, and felt just a little tight and constrained. He checked the engines, worried that they had somehow picked up a fresh dose of ash or contaminants – but no, they were fine. If anything, they were performing much as he would expect. It was everything else that felt a bit rough.
He took his time, probing each system in turn, working through all of the controls, flight systems and diagnostics until he found the unhappy answer. He was cold. Too cold. He thought back to how and where they'd acquired their current ride, and realised the answer was staring him in the face.
Designed by the Aztechnology mega-corporation as a stealthy, low-level, discreet and fast special forces transport, a number of design choices had been made. They were fast, faster than most other craft Marius had ever flown short of a full-up jet transport or fighter. They had stealth designed into the airframe, not just added on as an afterthought. They were just big enough, with just enough fuel range for a typical combat mission from a forward base to cross enemy lines and drop troops into the enemy's rear to sow havoc and destruction. They had enough armour to deflect most small arms fire from pistols and submachine guns, along with stopping the odd rifle round. They carried some heavy machine guns – enough to clear a landing area of troops and to stop light vehicles in their tracks with accurate fire. If those were the parameters of the mission – then great. The tilt-wing was superbly engineered to accomplish that task.
But they didn't carry any missiles, large calibre guns or anti-vehicle weapon systems like lasers, rail guns or heavy bombs. Against heavily-armoured targets their firepower was useless, likely to bounce off and sound no worse than the monsoon rains on a tin roof. They lacked the armour to absorb even glancing hits from weapons of that kind – a railgun was as likely to punch through the windscreen, penetrate all the way through their cargo and explode out the other side having transited them longways as it was to stop inside the craft. They lacked the legs of a dedicated transport – military or civilian, and certainly couldn't cover the long distances of a standard passenger jet as it ferried wage-slaves from Asia to North America or from Europe to the Middle-East. And with their low-level stealth design, their service ceiling was low, similar to that of a standard helicopter, as they'd already discovered when looking at some of the higher peaks they had to reach.
The main consequence of that limitation was that they'd never reach the same dizzying heights as a commercial jet passenger plane, or a military interceptor. Never would find themselves at twenty-thousand metres where the outside air temperature dropped below negative fifty Celsius. And with Aztechnology so focussed around the old country of Mexico and so heavily invested in food production and consumer goods manufactured in temperate climates, their craft was designed to operate in those environments. More effort had been put into cooling components and keeping things running in the warm and moist air of the equatorial regions than had been placed on warming – as they'd discovered when sleeping in the tilt-wing overnight when the temperatures dropped enough to be uncomfortable and to make sleep difficult without wrapping up in layer after layer of insulation. And that meant that as they had flown further and further north, the temperature dropping with each degree of latitude crossed, the systems had to work harder and harder to operate in the steadily dropping temperature. Quite simply, the craft was not designed to operate in cold-weather environments for extended periods – quite unlike the MI-6 chopper for instance, which the Russians had apparently engineered to work in pretty much any environment known to man (but had paid the price for in weight and agility!)
"Kai, we have a problem. This craft is not optimised for these temperatures. When we land we need to try and secure a number of supplies – additives for water and hydraulic systems, low temperature lubricants, insulating pipes, electronic bay heaters. I will compile a list. But without these things, we will suffer reduced performance and may find ourselves having reliability issues. And this is not a part of the world to entertain such issues. I have checked," he said, pre-empting Kai's next question, "and it is not an engine problem, or anything to do with volcanic ash or debris. It is the way the aircraft was designed."
"Gah. Ok, sounds like we don't have a choice. How much?"
"Unknown. It depends on what items are available. But we must have them." The comm line went dead as Marius signed off and Kai frowned. Marius was grumpy quite often, and downright vindictive if anything happened to his vehicles – but he was extremely proficient, and none of the team had any reason to doubt or argue with him over the operation of their craft. If he said they needed the parts, then they really didn't have a choice… Kai flipped open his data pad and checked his records, looking at their cash reserves and trying to work out how to make things stretch. Suddenly their forty-six thousand six hundred and ninety- seven Nuyen didn't seem so much…
About ninety minutes after leaving the Ostry volcano, an alert buzzed on Kai's wrist com, and he patched himself into the radio after checking the map and getting an updated position from Hunter.
"Battle Barge, Battle Barge – this is New Fish. We're about thirty kilometres out, permission to land?"
"New Fish, be advised weather is good, landing is cleared. Approach from two seven zero, signal with transponder double ping when in position."
"You heard the man, Marius. Double ping thing when we get there!" He switched back to the main radio frequency. "Battle Barge, my pilot tells me we're in need of insulation and cold-weather additives for things. Do you have any stock of that?"
"New Fish, the market is open. Feel free to browse."
Marius slowed a little and dropped altitude, emerging from the underside of the cloud into the lashing rain and staring out across the endless rows of waves as they thundered across the surface of the ocean. Far in the distance he spied Attu island thrusting up from the ocean, a crumpled mass of land that reminded him of a piece of paper scrunched up and thrown onto the floor. It was a fair-sized island, over sixty kilometres long and nearly thirty wide, with peaks over a thousand metres high dotted all over the surface. He swung to the south, flying in a gentle arc around the island and looking for the landing strip. He thought he spied a runway on the eastern end of the island, running parallel to the coast, but it didn't match the co-ordinates he had, which lay out further east – actually in the bay.
What he found instead was the superstructure of some kind of warship, thrusting out of the surface of the bay. Painted a dull grey and with sloping angular surfaces, the top of the structure was covered in masts and antenna, along with a slowly turning radar set.
"Just once, I'd like a normal landing spot," he muttered to himself. He didn't know what he was supposed to do here, and couldn't imagine trying to land on top of the small superstructure – but he activated his transponder and pinged it twice, as Kai had relayed. His eyes caught a movement about a hundred metres to the west, where the waves suddenly started to break unevenly, slapping against some unseen obstacle. As he watched, the pattern of the waves changed, and a small calm spot appeared, perhaps twenty five metres across. Curious he drifted sideways to approach and scanned downwards.
In the back, Kai was manning the optics and saw the same thing, but as he checked in astral space, he saw a strong astral disruption growing and twisting out of the calmer patch of ocean. It was quite strong, though not as bad as the crater back in the desert where they'd found the wandering Imam – that had been an awful sight to behold. This was still strong through, and he called out a warning to the others, making sure that Tads and Vadim in particular understood what they were flying into.
Marius glanced around, his sensors flitting over to the island superstructure now a hundred metres away as he hovered over the strange patch of ocean. Something clicked in his memory as he realised where he'd seen a silhouette like that before – it reminded him of a series of Russian naval ships, dating back to before the crash… their first attempts at engineering stealth designs to counter detection. That meant the ship was over seventy years old, and he wondered what it was doing there.
"Stand by for landing, New Fish" The radio call was short and cryptic, not offering any further information. As he glanced down, he could see the waves now breaking against something – but couldn't see what it was at all. There was definitely some kind of barrier though, and he zoomed in on the ocean with his optical sensors as he struggled to maintain a perfect hover in the howling winds. Viewing close up, he thought he could see a huge cylinder in the water, translucent and almost impossible to see by itself, rather than by the effect it had on the water around it.
Suddenly the water inside receded, draining away and dropping dramatically, becoming the inverse of a fish tank. As the water level dropped, he could see a large set of doors appearing through the shallowing water, surrounded by large inlets around with the water frothed and surged. As the last of the water was sucked down the inlets by hidden pumps, the doors cracked open down the middle, sliding away from each other to reveal a dark cavern below them.
"Great." Marius sighed, then got a reading on the width of the opening. It was going to be another tight landing – not quite as close as the courtyard at Chun's place, but not much better. He took a deep virtual breath, and then started to manoeuvre, turning into the wind and slowly starting his descent. With painstaking precision they dropped down the transparent tube, Hunter staring out of the window with trepidation as he saw fish swimming by on the other side of the barrier before they dropped neatly through the doors and entered a large and dark artificial structure beneath the ocean. Overhead the doors moved together, sealing tightly above them, trapping them underground in whatever this place was. Marius continued to reduce power, lowering them to the deck below which glistened with a spray of water that had evaded the suction pumps from the unorthodox landing system.
As they touched down, the radio chirped once more.
"A landing officer will board your ship to brief you. Remain onboard until that time."
He powered down the engines and and now that he wasn't focussed on flying, took a really good look around them. The structure they were in was easily sixty metres long, and over thirty wide, and nearly twenty-five high, forming a huge metal box. He could see reinforcing ribs up the sides, one every three metres with deep recesses between them. Hanging from the latticework above them hung mismatched lamps slung on cables that were draped over and through the metalwork, and everything looked dirty, rusty and old. Pools of stagnant-looking water spotted the deck below them, and materials were scattered around the perimeter. As he checked the area, he saw someone in a naval uniform marching across the deck towards them, and gave Kai a call, then continued his survey – spotting a few patches of burnt and scorched deckplate. A quick estimate of the spacing matched the thrusters on several variants of Thunderbirds or VTOL planes he'd seen, and he wondered if they had as much fun as he did trying to fit through the narrow entranceway.
Kai moved to the rear of the tilt-wing and opened the back ramp, squeezing past the bits of cargo and fuel barrels to stand at the top of the angled accessway. As the man in the naval uniform appeared in view, he slid his smile into place and adjusted his posture into position one – 'friendly and welcoming non-threatening greeting' in his catalogue of body language.
"Permission to come aboard?" Kai was surprised as the man called out to him asking for formal permission to climb the ramp.
"Um, sure. Come on up!" The man winced slightly, then sighed and started up the ramp and approached Kai until he was standing exactly one metre away, then came to attention and saluted. Kai beamed at him and mirrored a salute that owed more to action trideos than naval experience, but at least indicated that he was trying. Behind him Aswon twitched as his hand came up by reflex to return the salute from the stranger.
"I am Lieutenant Rakonovich. I am here to meet your Captain, and see your crew for inspection."
"Captain? Well, our pilot is called Marius, he's up the front. I'm kinda the team leader, if that's what you mean?"
"If you are the leader, then you are the Captain, though I will need to meet your pilot, too. Your whole crew, please."
"Ahh, step this way then, please. Sorry about the cramped quarters, you know how it is. Cargo everywhere, people to see, places to go. Right – this is Shimazu, Vadim, Tads, that's Hunter coming through the door now, and Marius just standing up behind him. Over here there's-"
"I am Aswon. And that is Tadibya." He pointed at Tads, and gave Kai a funny look.
"Yes, that's Aswon, as I was going to say, and I'm Kai. And we're team New Fish." The Lieutenant looked around and nodded at everyone except Tads, turning to face her last.
"Well, obviously, you're going to be a problem." Aswon bristled and took in a breath of air to demand some kind of explanation, but Vadim and Hunter also looked at the visitor angrily. None of which Rakonovich noticed as he'd reached down to grab the small satchel that was slung over his shoulder and was busy rooting around in it. "Ahh, here we go." He grabbed a small furry object and handed it over to Tads, who carefully extended a hand to tentatively accept the thing, whatever it was.
"Now, as this is your first visit to the Battle Barge, there are a number of rules to explain to you. First of all, of course, is that no women are permitted on board." He smiled at Tads briefly then continued talking as she unfolded the small fake beard with bits of thin elastic running from either side to secure it to her head and looked at him incredulously. "Next is no red-heads – but that doesn't appear to be an issue either. No whistling on board ship."
Tads held the beard up to her face and felt the coarse fibres poking and irritating her skin, and started to gather mana to her, fighting against the static of the background count and weird feeling to the place to mask her physical appearance. A luxurious beard sprouted from her chin, silken hair curling out and crawling up and around her mouth to also give her a bushy moustache. She moved the leant hairpiece away from her face and proffered it back to Rakonovich, who examined her briefly, nodded and then accepted the scratty hairpiece back and thrust it into his satchel without comment.
"Excuse me – the no woman thing – is that a superstition, or a rule?" Aswon enquired.
"Yes." Rakonovich nodded, then continued. "We ask you not to start fights, but if you do, just remember that you're underwater. Explosive or armour piercing ammunition, grenades, and other such weapons tend to damage the hull and let the water in. That's bad for everyone. And last, and most importantly, when the bell tolls, stop and pay your respects."
"How? I man what do we do to pay respects? And to what?"
"You will understand shortly, I'm sure. And just be respectful – no particular actions are required. Now – you're in the main landing bay. We're not expecting anyone else, so you don't need to move over at the moment, though if we get someone unexpectedly, we may need to wheel you over to the side if your pilot isn't around. To the fore is the fuel store and the access way to the Barge." He pointed to the north wall of the hanger, towards a heavy doorway that had been added to an opening cut in the forward bulkhead.
"To the rear," he turned and pointed south, "is the next cargo area, which contains the market. Feel free to browse the wares there and barter for anything you need. Now, if you go forward and take a right through the tunnel that's where the Barge is, where the Captains are normally found, the crew quarters and mess desk is, and the engine room. I'd suggest not going there though, due to the contamination."
"Contamination?" Aswon enquired
"Yes, from the engine room. Lots of radiation. We advise people to stay clear."
"And did you say Captains? Plural?" Hunter asked.
"Yes, that's right." Rakonovich didn't elaborate further.
"Is garlic allowed on the ship?" Kai asked.
"Um, yes? I don't see why not?" Now it was Rakonovich's turn to look confused.
"So are we on a sunken ship?" Aswon looked around, waving his hand generally at the walls and decks surrounding them.
"Indeed. You're in the middle cargo bay of the Glorius Conveyor, a bulk tanker."
"Well, I'm sure there's an interesting story there – but for another time. Meanwhile, can we purchase some fuel, please?" Kai asked. "We need to top off our internal tanks and our reserves."
"Not a problem." He pulled a radio out from his pocket and activated the press switch. "Fuel crew to main hanger." He waited for an acknowledgment and then pocketed the radio again. "Certified credstick, I presume?" Kai nodded and pulled out his stick, and Rakonovich reached into his satchel and pulled out a short range cred-reader, similar to one normally found in a retail shop, and ran Kai's stick through to establish his credit rating. Hunter eyed it up carefully – it was only a low power design, which meant they were relaying the signal to somewhere else on the ship, and that must have an uplink via satellite to verify the stick. Potentially he might be able to access the systems to gain matrix access himself if needed.
The fuel crew arrived quickly, dragging a long hose with them which was connected to a fuel port in the deck of the ship, and they quickly refilled the tanks while Rakonovich supervised and monitored the fuel transfer quantity. While he was busy doing that Hunter wanted over to him.
"Just wanted to double check, then – so we can carry our weapons with us?"
"If you wish. Just don't damage the ship." He gave Hunter a bland look. "Fill the tanks all the way up?" Hunter nodded and headed back, just in time to hear Aswon talking quietly with Kai.
"Once he's gone, I think we should 'uninvite' him from the aircraft, and make sure we have him not permitted through the ward. Just in case. I presume that's what you were on about with the garlic anyway?"
"I was joking. I think I was joking, anyway. You don't think he is a vampire, do you?" Kai turned and looked at the Lieutenant astrally, and when he saw a rather run-down but normal-looking metahuman body decided to risk it and purposefully assensed him, trying to determine his nature. As far as Kai could see he was exactly what he portrayed – a normal man, bits of cyberware implanted in his body that created little black spots in his aura, suffering a little with ill-health but not showing any signs of hostility, alarm or magical nature. He didn't spend that long looking at the Rakonovich though, as his attention was diverted by the set of four ghosts that walked through the wall from the fuel area, diagonally across the corner of the hanger and then headed out of the hull of the ship. He studied them for a moment, staring at the space on the metal plating that they'd vanished through.
"Er, excuse me Lieutenant. I could have sworn I just saw a bunch of ghosts wander through over there…"
"Oh, yes. They're everywhere on the ships. Just don't break the rules and you'll be fine."
The team exchanged glances with each other, and started to pay more attention to what was going on around them, keeping an eye out. It didn't take more than another minute or two for them to spot a few more ghosts, these wandering from the market area towards the bow of the ship. They didn't even need astral sight to see them – they were manifest and clearly visible to both Marius and Hunter as well as the magical members of the team, glowing with a faint blue aura as they wandered through the edge of the hanger dressed in some archaic naval uniform of some kind.
It only took a few more minutes to get the main tanks topped off and the barrels refilled, and for their credstick to be run through the reader and debited with a touch over five thousand Nuyen.
"Right, I'm thinking we should go and check the market out. But I'm also thinking this place is a bit weird and creepy and we shouldn't leave anyone alone here. I'm not even sure I want to think about splitting into groups either. How about we all go?" Kai looked around at the rest of the team, and saw a bunch of nods along with murmurs of agreement. They headed down the ramp and sealed the aircraft up behind them, then wandered towards the aft hatch into the area that was supposed to contain the market area.
As they got closer to the hatch they could see the depth of the structural ribs on the side of the ship, and could appreciate the true size of the vessel – Marius estimated it was over two hundred and fifty metres long based on the size of what they'd seen so far, but that a proportion of it must be flooded for it to sit under the water as it did. As they wandered through the hatch they entered another cargo bay, though this one was perhaps only a quarter of the size. The rear part of the bay was walled off, patched and reinforced – presumably cutting off the flooded part of the ship. In the space that remained, though, was a large mass of industrial racking bolted to the deck and bulkheads, with a sturdy security mesh welded in place over the front and sides, studded with doors and hatches. Inside lay box after box of cargo, with all manner of labels, logos and codes. They recognised the branding of all of the mega-corps, along with scores of AA companies from all over the world, and at least twenty different languages.
In front of each section of the racking were trestle tables laid out in a row, with half a dozen crew stationed behind them. They glanced up and waved as the team entered, but each seemed to be in the middle of repairing something or working on a device of some kind, and they returned their attention to them.
"That looks like a bilge pump. And I am pretty sure that's a sensor pod the next man is working on." Marius said, pointing at the respective people with his chin.
"The one over there has an air-con unit from a rack mounted host array. Looks like he's cleaning and servicing the motor." Hunter added. "Hmm… maintenance tasks on important stuff, but things that don't need to be done at the specific location. One way of keeping your people busy I guess when there's no customers."
Marius led the way over to the first crewmember, and asked about some of the cold weather supplies he was searching for, and was directed over towards the third table down on the rear side of the cargo area. This man put aside his motor, carefully laying it to one side and wiped his hands free of grease as he listened to Marius reel off a list of things he wanted. Unlike the other sets of shelves, this man seemed to have a much more massive array of stock, but in much smaller quantities than the others. He had at least some of what Marius wanted though, and started to pull down supplies from the shelves, lining them up on the trestle table neatly.
"So my friend, we have here four low voltage heating bays with moisture traps, ten litres of anti-freeze, fifteen metres of twenty mil insulation cladding, two litres of glycerol additive for hydraulic motors, some cold weather lubricant, a two hundred gram pack of thermal compound D7…" he continued to read through the list of supplies, checking over the boxes and tallying up the cost as he went. "All told, I can do you this for…" the sucking sound between the front teeth made Kai brace in horror – "two grand. Cash on the nose."
"Would you be interested in a trade of some kind?" Hunter enquired, before Kai could splutter.
"That depends on what you have to offer." The crewmember turned away from Marius to give Hunter a glance, his eyes fixing on Hunter's uneven face and rough complexion.
"I would have to check with our… quartermaster," Hunter responded after pausing for a moment, "But I think we may have several kilos of prime quality steak, some fresh mushrooms, a small crate of apples, oranges, pears, grapes and limes. We may also have a few litres of fresh cream, honey, nuts and fresh oat cakes. I am sure we have some of that to spare, but as I say I would have to check." The crewmember stood with his mouth slightly agape, then looked over to his companion on the next table over.
"Fresh steak, mushrooms. Been a while since we had nice food. What do you think?"
"I think the captain would be fine with that, as long as he gets a share!" His friend added, nodding emphatically.
"Ok – let's have a look at the merchandise, and we'll see if we can do you a deal."
Hunter was just about to lean over the table to shake hands on the deal when speakers buried behind the shelves came to life, and three loud, clear rings of a bell sounded, echoing around the chamber. All of the crewmembers quickly put down their projects and jumped to their feet, standing upright with hands clasped in front of them. The team glanced around and on seeing the same action from all of the people here decided to follow suit.
"Nangalla-402. Four, oh seven. On Patrol." A few seconds of quiet passed, with nobody in the bay moving at all. Then, the ringing of the bell came again, this time slower and more drawn out. As the third chime faded away, the crew picked up their items again and carried on with their maintenance tasks, and the one dealing with them leant over towards Hunter to shake on the deal.
"Hey, my friends! Once you've bought your essentials from over there, feel free to pop over for some quality porn or drugs! I've got a wide variety of products at good prices!" The call from a crew-member on the other side of the bay made Kai and Aswon turn, and they smiled and nodded, giving a wave of acceptance.
"Kai – might be worth going to check out. See if they have any medical drugs, rather than recreational? Maybe you and Shimazu can restock your supplies with some bits?"
"Worth a look, Aswon. Come on, Nurse Shimazu!" Shimazu rolled his eyes at Aswon, but headed over to the other side of the bay with Kai to check out the wares. Predictably much of the stock was street drugs of various kinds, or chemicals used as precursors in their manufacture. However the merchant did have a selection of drugs and medical supplies that had originally been destined for a hospital or clinic somewhere, with cases of anaesthetics, anti-bacterial dressings, surgical kits, wound pads and a host of other supplies in need by the street docs and black clinics found in every major sprawl.
Kai started to poke around and found some generic anti-venom, one of the things they'd wished they'd had previously – but the seller wanted them to take a whole case, and the asking price of two thousand Nuyen was a little too rich for Kai. As he enquired about other products he found the same kind of deal in place…the goods were for sale and the price was reasonable – but only if he purchased by the box, case or pallet. Nothing was for sale individually or in small quantities.
Tads asked about magical supplies and was directed over to another seller, and she headed over to see what was available with Vadim in tow. The magical supplies were limited in one way – there were no spells, no grimoires or research books, no items of an individual nature. What he did have though was a small selection of general goods. Pointing at a box on the bottom shelf, the seller opened the lid to reveal bottles of inks and stacks of chalk, all prepared ready for warding rites. Box after box of them piled high in a crate, twenty cartons to a side and stacked more than a dozen high. Tads boggled at the stash – there were enough materials to ward half of Russia, or so it seemed. The seller opened the next box and she saw a magical glimmer of expendable foci, magical materials designed to provide a one time boost to a particular magical spell that could be used in an emergency to push a spell out.
Aswon meanwhile had wandered over to another salesman who had started to let him know about his wares – weapons and armour. Aswon found himself enquiring with the man about rifle ammunition for his big fifty calibre rifle, and found just the same as the others – a minimum order of one full box.
"Team, I think we've hit a smuggler nexus," Kai called out over the comms. "I've been through a few, but they're not that common. Mostly found on the bigger routes. This place probably gets people running stuff over from the UCAS or the NAN, and they'll sell it here to get it off their hands. And smugglers from the Asia side will come here and pick up bulk stuff, and then move it to their contacts all up and down the coast, from Russia, down through Japan, China and beyond. That's why they're wanting to shift bulk. They're…. think of them as wholesalers. They want to sell to shops, not individual customers. If that makes sense."
"That does. How about we head back to the craft and get some food. Maybe a bit of good will will persuade them to break up their stuff a little for us." Hunter suggested.
"You do know it's going to be harder than normal to do that here right? Because of the twisted mana? I don't know how well she's going to do, and we may be asking too much."
"It's ok, Aswon. Let's give it a go."
They each thanked their respective crewmember, and headed back towards the door – then pulled up sharply as a dozen ghosts sprawled through the door. They were split fairly evenly between two groups, one set distinctly Japanese in appearance, the others looking like Americans. Both were dressed in naval uniforms of a very old design.
"Ok, make sure your weapons are not active. I think they're crews from two different ships – I guess from the last world war? At least I think that's what the uniforms are from. It's hard to tell with them punching each other like that!" Aswon lead the way, squeezing past the ruckus and trying to avoid getting involved, with the rest of the team following his lead, ducking past the flying fists and shouted insults as the two groups of ghosts laid into each other with a vengeance.
Once back at the tilt-wing, they found a few large containers and the rest of the team cleaned them out and lined them with plastic sheeting while Tads went to work casting her spells. It was more difficult than normal working through the charged environment – now that she'd seen a few, she suspected the number of ghosts here had twisted or aspected the mana of the area towards certain types of shaman or magic of which she clearly wasn't one. None the less, she had gained in power and expertise, and worked slowly and carefully, showing Vadim what she was doing and turning it into a teaching opportunity. A few times she thought she'd reached too far, and was starting to get a nosebleed – but it was sweat from the intense concentration as she pulled out all the stops to make kilo upon kilo of fruits, vegetables, fresh meat and drink. She was sure that "Noodles", the Bachus shaman she'd met back at the Quarry, could have done better – certainly the spread that her other team members had reported sounded grander than what she was making – but it was pretty good quality, and she thought that if people had been living underwater here for any length of time, fresh food was likely nothing more than a distant memory.
Thirty minutes later, with a bedraggled and drawn-looking but triumphant Tads, and a crate with fifty kilos of fresh produce they headed back towards the market, carefully carrying their precious cargo. When the crew saw them enter with the large box of supplies, one of them got straight on the radio and called for the Captain, asking him to come to the cargo area. With nobody else about, all of the sales crew gathered around them, and started to carefully unload the crate, laying it out along the trestle table in neat piles and making admiring and amazed noises as they did so.
The Captains arrived just as the last of the supplies were unloaded. One was a man wearing a Russian Naval uniform, the left breast covered in ribbons and medals, half covered by a white bushy beard that made him look like he was moonlighting as Santa. The other was a ghost, dressed in a pale tan uniform that was pressed and pin sharp, with a broad cap over his head. Like the other ghosts he had a faint blue aura to him, but he walked with the same proud stride as his living compatriot. As they arrived at the table, most of the crew braced to attention, and Kai followed suit, adding a salute on top. The captains returned his salute gravely, and then nodded, at which the men relaxed slightly to a parade rest.
"I am Captain Zharkovski, commander here. This is Captain Clements. Welcome to the Battle Barge. I understand that these supplies are from you?"
"Hello Captain, Captain." Kai nodded to them in turn. "Yes, that's right. We thought that maybe your fine crew might really appreciate some fresh food, to help raise their morale. And that maybe we could come up with some kind of deal as to the cost of some of the supplies we're after?"
"Indeed. Serving here can be a draining process, and many of the luxuries of civilian life escape us. But duty is a heavy burden that cannot be ignored, and some have paid a higher price than us." The living captain nodded respectfully to the ghostly captain. "This will indeed bring much cheer to our crew. Send for the cook! And how much were the supplies?" The crew member who had organised the cold-weather supplies came around the end of the trestle and showed the captain the list of supplies and total. After a moment of consideration, the captain looked up at Kai again. "Do you have more? I think we can make this last a good few days between all of the crew, but we could probably keep some more in the cold store if you have it?"
"Let me check with my pantry manager…" Kai turned to glance at Tads who considered for a moment and then nodded. She mouthed 'same again' to him and he turned back towards the captains. "I think we have enough supplies on board that we could provide at least as much again, if you are interested?"
"Excellent! Most excellent!" He tapped a few keys on the datapad and then handed it back to the crewmember who studied it and then nodded acceptance. "Well, the cook will be here shortly to collect this and take it to the galley. Now, is there anything else you have for sale?"
"Well, I think we can provide fresh water – pure mountain spring water, free from all industrial contaminants." Kai avoided looking at anyone else, knowing that he was going to be getting dirty looks from Aswon and possibly Shimazu and Vadim.
"Ahh, also of interest. Yes. The water reclamation unit is effective, but does leave a taste in the mouth. How many thousand litres do you have to sell?"
"Well, I'm not sure we have that much." Kai caught the expression on Tads' face, and decided not to push his luck. "But I tell you what – if you have any portable containers suitable for holding water, we'll do our best to fill them up for you, and supply them free of charge. Seeing as it's our first time here, and we want to make a good impression."
"Agreed." The captain looked down at his wrist, sliding back the sleeve of his uniform jacket to study the small display wrapped around his wrist. "Excuse me, I'm needed back on the bridge. I will leave to you conduct business, and send over a crewman with some containers. Good day."
The crew braced to attention again, with the team following suit, salutes were exchanged and the two Captains did a smart about face and marched off the way they had come, chatting quietly between themselves.
"Right team, let's get back and get some more food from the um… pantry. And check our water supplies. And maybe get some painkillers ready and a warm blanket…"
Marius headed over to the crewmember, and pointed at the supplies.
"May we take these and I can start installing them, while we prepare the food and water for you?" The crew member didn't look sure at first, and Marius took a moment to marshal his thoughts. "We have made a deal with your captains. We do not want to let them down – and after all, we cannot leave without your permission. Or we can pay the full price now to take the goods away, and you can issue a refund of whatever the captain has agreed on the price when we return with the second load of food?" The crewman thought for a moment, then nodded, handing over the supplies as he saw the logic of the argument. Marius loaded himself up with the most important supplies, leaving Hunter and Shimazu to grab the rest.
They left the food with the crew member to pass on to the cook, and trooped back with Tads, then started work on a second container full of food. Midway through a crewman turned up with a large steel barrel on a sack-cart, leaving it by the side of the rear ramp. A slightly grease-stained and sweaty Marius grabbed his radio frequency and name before returning back to his maintenance tasks as he installed the heaters, insulation and other components, adding anti-freeze to systems and trying to prepare the bird for further cold weather. Tads settled back down with Vadim once more, sitting cross legged.
"So, what's the first thing we do, Vadim?"
"Clear the mind and concentrate on the item you want to make. Imagine a steak, get the picture in your head. Think of the marbling, the texture, the smell, the taste. Imagine the weight in your hand. Then start to open your astral form to the manasphere, and begin collecting power…." He recited the lesson from earlier, and Tads carried out the instructions, recreating the first food package and adding a few variations and alternatives along the way. When she was done, they moved onto the water, which at least had the simplicity of all being the same and much easier to get consistency and texture given its nature.
Forty-five minutes later, they called for the crewman to return to collect the now full barrel of crystal-clear water and the large box of food, taking it away to wherever the first one had gone. Tads sat with a cold flannel over her head sipping at a glass of water, washing down the dose of painkillers she'd just swallowed and waited for the little specks of light to vanish from her sight after the extended period of casting, while Vadim sat studying the spell formula for both spells, seeing if he could make sense of them. He'd have to be in a lodge to learn them properly and absorb their magical energies – but he could at least try and familiarise himself with their form and structure to hopefully make it easier later.
"So, are we all good to go?" Kai asked.
"Actually, I want to go back to the weapons dealer. I'm thinking this might be a good chance to get some ammunition for the heavier weapons – although they might want to sell in bulk, for a system like that it's going to be a smaller quantity than for something like a pistol or rifle."
Once more the team trooped back to the market, and Aswon approached the relevant crewmember, enquiring as to the types, calibres and quantities of ammunition available. On the off-chance, he checked what the situation was for rifle ammunition, and found that along with regular copper-tipped rounds they also had explosive and hollow-point varieties for sale – but with a minimum quantity of one crate. Aswon didn't have the money, nor the inclination to purchase five thousand rounds and lug that with them, so he moved on to the fifty cal ammo for his sniper rifle. The choice was more limited here, with only regular rounds being available, but as he had thought the boxes were smaller. They haggled for a few moments, before agreeing on a price of two thousand Nuyen for a thousand rounds of ammo.
"Stocking up for the next twenty years, Aswon, at the rate you shoot?"
"Don't forget, Hunter – it's the same ammo for the door guns. Given how fast they can fire, I'm sure it'll come in handy!"
"Ahh, good point. I hadn't thought of that."
Shimazu and Hunter lugged the heavy boxes of ammo back to the tilt wing, handling the thirty kilo boxes with relative ease, and they soon had them stashed away securely. Kai checked once more, and nobody else had anything they wanted or needed at the base – Tads having decided that they were unlikely to want to purchase one or two nuggets of gold, not in the unworked form they had.
Marius radioed through for clearance, and Lt. Rakonovich gave them permission to start up, informing them that he was raising the caisson and beginning to pump out the water. By the time Marius had finished the preflight checks and had warmed the engines up, the doors were just cracking open above them, dumping the last hundred litres of sea water down on them from high above. Inside, Kai asked Shimazu to do a quick scan, just in case they had any stowaways onboard – but a thorough inspection of the tilt-wings internal areas showed no unexpected passengers, living or dead.
Checking his position carefully, Marius took off and slowly rose through the hanger, neatly sliding into the tunnel and once more sliding past the bizarre fish-tank style view before gunning the engines and quickly vaulting into the air, letting the wind push them away from the shaft. The doors were already closed beneath them and the water started to pour in as the barrier was retracted, hiding any trace of the underwater base that lay a few metres beneath the waves.
As Marius climbed a little and swung the craft around to point towards the Fox Islands, he started to fly past the bridge of the submerged warship, lying at right angles to the cargo ship they'd been on – and his attention was drawn to the pair of figures that walked out onto the gantry surrounding the bridge, dressed in their military uniforms, looking down at the water below them.
"You may want to take a look down there…" he called out, and his body tensed, ready to trigger his defensive systems, as a dark shape swam into focus, slowly emerging from the dark green seas.
