Tuesday 1/2/2061, Location: 43.5821, 39.75945, Time 14:09

The weather was cold, grey and miserable, with a low cloud that spat a persistent drizzle down upon them, cutting visibility significantly. As the water hit the windscreen, the passage of the aircraft through the air created patterns that swam and danced across the glass, distorting the view of the sea ahead. Not that Marius cared – he was flying on the instruments and ignoring the waterlogged visual feeds, keeping them steady at two hundred metres above the serried waves. The foul weather made his life easier – nobody was out for pleasure in such conditions, and the fishing trawlers and cargo vessels were concentrating more on their own affairs and not looking for ghost-like contacts in the area.

Closing on the Crimea's south-eastern coastline, he started to pick up the sweep of sensors from the shore-based systems, gently steering the craft away from the densest concentrations of defences and perimeter guards. They sliced through the border like a surgeon's knife, crossing the narrow coastal plain and then pulling up as they climbed into the hills and mountains that separated the 'riviera' from the rest of the peninsula. As they climbed up, the rain turned to sleet, then to snow, and Marius checked the outside temperatures carefully – but was relieved to see the temperature drop barely below freezing, and certainly nowhere near as low as they'd encountered up in Alaska.

Descending sharply on the western side of the dividing ridge, they threaded their way across the landscape, flying through valleys and between forests, avoiding towns where they could as they headed towards the port, slowly dropping altitude to match the falling landscape. Finally the city appeared on the horizon, a great glow of electronic noise that radiated over and above the hills that guarded the approaches to the conurbation. They slowed, and Hunter zoomed in on the map as far as he could before it lost resolution, painting a number of different possible landing sites. As Marius checked the emissions from the town and harbour, he selected a spot in the steep hills near a small quarry, bringing them down to a slow and low approach, a scant dozen metres above the rugged landscape.

"Tads, we have arrived. Transitioning to hover."

"Ok, I'll try to be quick." She felt her body sway in the harness as their forward motion stopped and they quivered in mid-air, the rotor down-wash driving the heather and low bushes outwards into two giant rings beneath their wings. She adjusted the headset and chose a camera that looked straight down below them, then calmed her mind and began to gather power. Beneath them the ground rippled and bucked, earth moving to the side in a flowing motion that would have alarmed any onlooker – but there was nobody out in the sleet to see as the land flattened and hardened to create a landing pad, recessed into the valley between the two ridgelines. A retaining wall was created from the displaced earth, forming a perimeter a few metres wider than the tilt-wing that was nearly two metres high, concealing the bottom of the craft and giving a firm anchor point that the camouflage nets could be anchored to.

Finally it was done, and Marius lowered them carefully to the ground. Half the craft was already concealed behind the ridge of earth, and they were all but invisible from more than fifty metres down the hill, concealed by the natural terrain features. Once the nets were in place, they would be protected from overhead view, and with a spirit set to conceal them as well, they'd be practically undetectable. That was easier said than done of course, as moving the heavy nets out of the cargo area and draping them over the wings and body of the tilt-wing was an arduous task. The advance of technology in the last sixty years had been staggering in some ways – but humanity was still to design an effective cammo net that didn't snag on every little protuberance of a surface.

When the nets were arranged, though, and the position concealed, they repaired back aboard to grab a drink and a few minutes rest, and to discuss the next step.

"I found a house," Hunter announced from the cockpit. "It's not for rent though, but it should be available."

"What do you mean?"

"I picked up a bit of gossip on Shadowland, Kai. Someone had announced that some of the locals had been picked up by the secret police, and disappeared. So we've got a house that should be empty and available."

"What happens when they get home?"

"No, Tads. They're not coming home. They've been picked up by the… look. It's a permanent thing. They're gone. So the house is empty." Tads slumped back in her seat as the penny dropped on what Hunter meant, and her face fell. "It's a detached house, middle class – for the area. But it's about seven kilometres from here, as the crow flies."

"That's a fair walk through the city, especially with kit. I mean, we can put a bunch of stuff in bags of course, but some of it's still going to be bulky as all hell."

"Don't worry, Aswon – I've had a look on the local map, and once we get down and past the quarry workings, and a couple of streets of housing, there's a hospital. So stands to reason we'll be able to get a taxi or two from there. And if we're coming out of the hospital with a bunch of bags, it might look like we've just been released."

"Ahh – good shout."

"And I also got some footage from a few different sites of submarine periscopes breaking the water and moving around, for Tads to watch, once we're set up."

The team finished their drinks and then packed bags, working out what they'd need for the job. Most of them eschewed their combat armour, going with only what could be easily concealed under their coats, and taking only the smaller weapons – sub-machine guns, pistols and hand weapons. Only Aswon took a long rifle, taking his Purdey, while Hunter grudgingly left his assault rifle behind and traded down to something more concealable. Kai packed his bow with him, along with a selection of arrows – but it at least fitted in with his cover story of being an international archery student. While they were packing, Marius worked through each of their ID sticks, ensuring that the beacon function was enabled on the small devices, just in case they ended up passing a checkpoint or police patrol.

With preparations made, they left the tilt-wing, Marius keying the security system to active and ensuring that he had remote access to the controls, whilst Tads called a spirit to her and bade it to conceal the vehicle whilst they were away.

The first half kilometre of the journey had them descending down the hill gently, working their way through the heather and low-lying scrubby plants. The ground was soft but not waterlogged, and they made good time, until they approached the edge of the limestone quarry and had to stop sharply. There was no safety fence or other marking – but the ground just fell away abruptly, dropping fifty metres or more in a series of very narrow terraces down to the quarry floor below. With only two choices possible for walking, they headed along the cliff edge towards the city, dropping down swiftly on the steep hillside, until they finally reached the ground below and broke out onto a paved road surrounded by the cheap and dingy blocks of flats. Sticking to the side roads and back streets, they made quick progress to the hospital without drawing any undue attention, and found a small taxi rank to the side, with a few bored-looking drivers waiting while they read the news on cheap plastic flim-sheets.

Driving to the western side of the city took longer than they'd expected as the taxis followed the roads that wound back and forth over the fingers of the hills, following the contours to keep the grades manageable. Soon enough, though, they pulled up outside some more of the crumbling and grim tower blocks that lined Serfafymovych Street, climbing out of the mini-van and paying the driver with a quick swipe of a SIN.

They split into two groups for the last few hundred metres, walking up opposite sides of the block to make them less conspicuous. Aswon, Shimazu and Marius took the more direct route, arriving at the property first, whilst Tads, Kai and Hunter took the longer route and ambled along, making sure the first team had time to secure the entry and allow them straight in off the street.

The detached house was painted white, and was in a reasonable state of repair – the red tiled roof was intact, and the garden was maintained and managed. All of the windows and doors had been covered with steel shutters, presumably as part of the police action that had secured the family – though by the time the second group arrived, Marius had managed to defeat the simple electronic lock holding the main door in place and had the door propped open, waiting for them.

Inside, the house was drab and dreary, little light making it through the perforated shutters and windows to reach the rooms inside. The wallpaper was a faded yellow, and might have looked cheery at one time, but in the gloomy light just looked depressing. There was a reasonable amount of furniture in the house, though it looked to be of cheap manufacture, and the 'luxury' items like the trid-screen were small and somewhat old. Still, the house was more than reasonable to live in, at least for a few days, and beat making a camp out in the wilds.

Marius was wandering around the house, and occasionally reminded them to be quiet with a raised finger pressed to his lips. After a ten-minute search, he found what he was looking for though – a small bug that was attached to the power cord for the kitchen light, concealed above the lamp-shade. It was a short-range design, quite sensitive, but without the power or range to reach far, and no onboard storage to speak of. He tapped away on his pad and then held it aloft, letting the other read the words there.

[Bug is sensitive. Broadcasts to a receiver nearby. Need to find it.]

Tads nodded, and settled herself down in the corner, then opened up her mind to the feel of the place, attuning herself to the house and its aura. A few moments later she called a spirit to her, the House Domovy. She imparted the mental idea of what they were looking for, and sent it to scour the house and report back to her, choosing to use her magical talents to achieve what the others had to use their eyes and hands for. The rest of the team dispersed around the house, looking for any signs of the transmitter or anything else they might find.

It was only thirty seconds later when the spirit returned, pointing excitedly upstairs. Grabbing Marius, Tads followed the spirit up to the attic and found a device nestled in the crawlspace under the eaves, sitting right up against the roof tiles. Marius carefully checked it over, before relaxing and removing the device from its hiding place.

"It is unpowered. The batteries have expired already. Either very low quality, or they were not fully charged to begin with. But the device will not transmit what we say." He gave the device another quick examination, then broadcast to the team. "It appears we have found the transmitter – it is inactive."

"I found something!" Hunter called out, glee in his voice. "Come check this out!" The team hurried into one of the bedrooms, and found Hunter kneeling on the floor next to a corner of upturned carpet, with a loose floorboard next to him. A stash of cheap and low quality pornographic magazines were strewn around him, and he had one opened and proudly showed them the centrefold image. "Check this out!"

"Thanks, Hunter. Not sure any of us needed to see that…" Aswon turned away pointedly and headed back downstairs. The upper floor of the house was decorated much the same as the lower – plenty of furniture, and certainly no slum – but everything was of a low quality design and of local manufacture. The former occupants had probably been reasonably well to do by the standards of the area, but that still left much to be desired.

They moved downstairs, and were pleased to find that the power for the house was still connected, and once all the curtains were closed and checked, they turned on the lighting and started to settle in. A quick recon showed no particularly good place to dig in the back garden – the well-tended lawn was overlooked on three sides by other properties, and it would not be subtle at all. Inspired by Hunter's exploits with the floorboards, though, Aswon peeled back the lino in the hallway and pried up a few of the boards under the stairs, revealing a small sub-cellar underneath. There was a drop of perhaps thirty centimetres under the floor joists onto a tightly packed topsoil that was littered with bits of cement and brick left over from the house construction. Other than a few cobwebs, the area was reasonably clean and undisturbed. The biggest problem would be squeezing Shimazu and Hunter between the joists – and if they really needed to, they could probably saw through one after propping up the beam with some of the brick leftovers, without damaging the structure of the house.

"That looks ideal. I can go straight down for a few metres to get under the house, then turn and head off towards the church."

"I'd advise going a little deeper to start off with, Tads – to make sure you're under the sewers and utility lines as well."

"Oh – ok. No problem." She set to work and squeezing down through the gap she crouched in the dark and musty cellar then started to draw mana to her, before focussing it and beginning to excavate downwards, forming a two-metre diameter circle that dropped smoothly through the earth. The others stripped some of the bed sheets from upstairs, knotting them together into a thick rope and tying that onto the top joist to give them an easy means of climbing up and down, while Hunter fired up his datajack and deck, linking them to his internal GPS and working to zero in on his current location with as much precision as he could possibly get.

Once she was four metres down, Tads stopped and then looked up at the faces gathered around the top of the shaft.

"I need to know which way to go!" The answer took a few minutes, as Hunter made his way down, having to cut a chunk of the large joist out to fit his large frame through, before descending down the knotted rope. Once at the bottom, he slowly rotated a full three hundred and sixty degrees, his eyes defocussed as he watched the readings from his cyberware dance across the display link built into his eye. Still zeroed in on the GPS settings taken up above, his orientation system had followed his movements down the tunnel precisely and now mapped out a heading for him, projecting a virtual tunnel onto his display which was overlaid onto the densely packed clay and rock wall.

"Bearing 114, range 572, elevation change plus twelve." His normal jovial tone was absent, replaced with a voice of precise certainty and he double checked the readings from his systems. Pulling out a knife, he scraped a two metre high by one metre wide rectangle onto the tunnel face. "That way please, Tads." As she resumed her digging, focussing the spell onto a smaller area to create a deeper excavation with each cast of the spell, Hunter started to fiddle with his bag of gear, pulling out a small tripod and a spare laser sight removed from one of the guns. He positioned this carefully on the far side of the tunnel, then spent several minutes lining it up with pinpoint accuracy.

"Everyone, please mind the laser. It might not look like much, but it should keep Tads going straight and at the proper angle. But a knock that shifts it just half a degree here will have us popping up and out of the car park at the other end, and that'll ruin our day." When he was satisfied, he engaged the laser, painting a faint red dot onto the back of Tads as she continued to work through the earth, her magic making the rocks flow and reshape around her, rising up to her shoulder height in vertical lines before arching in gently to meet over her head and forming a tunnel that looked for all the world like a gothic window that had been pressed through the soil.

They dug for another forty minutes, carefully checking the alignment of the laser and the tunnel, before Tads stopped and hurried back out, climbing up the rope as quickly as she could.

"Everything ok?"

"Fine, Aswon – but it should be getting near dusk. Need to refresh the spirits hiding the tilt-wing." He nodded in understanding and left her to move towards the door, glancing out for a few moments to make sure she was unobserved, before she slipped out to settle down next to the fence, crouching behind a concealing bush. Once under the open air and outside the hearth domain, she called forth new nature spirits to guard and protect them overnight, taking a few of them with her as she flicked over to the tilt-wing, asking them to guard and protect the craft – and explaining how to remove the camo nets if required so Marius could fly the craft over to them remotely.

Once that was taken care of, she returned inside, accepting a drink from Aswon with thanks, before she lowered herself down into the tunnel once more and returned to the end of the tunnel, taking a deep breath and then continuing her excavations. The tunnel flowed forwards, magically unfolding before her as she shuffled towards the target, occasionally being redirected a tiny amount by Hunter who was monitoring the laser line that marked their destination.

Back at the house, Shimazu and Kai slipped out and went for a wander around the area, trying to keep a low profile as they checked out the town. At one point they could probably have seen down to the bay – or at least some of it – but the blocks of flats that they'd taken the taxi to had ruled that out, rising up to block the view of the waterway completely. If they wanted Tads to do her phantasm of a periscope, they'd have to either scale the flats or find some other vantage point.

They ambled down towards the obscuring buildings, observing, and assessing the long blocks of concrete stained with the impact of weather and neglect over the years. A fire escape at one end of the block should allow them access to the roof, and it was protected with a cheap and flimsy lock – no real issue for them to deal with. It would put them in a somewhat exposed position though, with limited room to escape from, and Kai felt less than happy about taking some of the team up there to perform the deception manoeuvres. They wandered the streets a little more, never straying too far from their house and watching carefully for any patrols, studying the locals who mostly seemed to have little interest in looking about them, and were intent on getting back to their homes from their workplaces, hats pulled down tight over their heads and collars turned up against the sleet.

They returned to the house, wandering down the opposite side of the road and having a good look around to ensure that nobody was watching them, before breaking into a swift stride to cross the road and get indoors as quickly as possible. Once back inside they headed down the hallway and climbed down into the tunnel to check on progress, finding Tads had made very good progress, carving out the tunnel ahead of them. Smooth walls rose up on either side into the archway, meeting at a point above their heads – though Aswon was still going to struggle not to catch his dreadlocks on the rocky roof.

Kai wandered forwards, catching up with Tads and asking her to pause for a few minutes, maybe take a break and meet back in the house. They congregated in the kitchen a short time later, and he filled in the rest on what he and Shimazu had discovered.

"I'm thinking that I'd rather modify things here, than risk climbing up a tower block, even a small one. Just don't like how few options that gives us for getting away from there."

"So what did you have in mind, Kai?" Aswon asked

"I was thinking the tunnel is going well – remarkably well. You're what, probably half-way done already, Tads?

"Maybe. Hunter has been monitoring our progress, and he thinks we should be done by a little after ten tonight. So that's… about two hours."

"Excellent. Ok – Hunter, throw me up a plan of the hill, would you? Ahh, thanks." He gestured to the tunnel overlay showing on the screen, cutting across the church grounds. "What I was thinking of was a side tunnel, branching off somewhere in the wooded area. Let it run for thirty metres or so, then angle up and come out amongst the trees. Climb up and out – we know you can see the church from the water, so it stands to reason the reverse is true – from the top of a tree, you should be able to see down into the harbour ok, to do the deception."

"What about the guards in the compound?"

"It shouldn't be a risk really, Shimazu – they're perimeter patrols according to the dossier we have. My guess would be that the Admiral wants his peace and quiet, and his private woods, without being interrupted." Aswon shrugged. "I've seen it plenty of times when we've been working as mercs alongside regular units. The brass just like to have somewhere to call their own, with nobody to bother them."

"Well, I can dig a side tunnel with no problem. We can also put a bend in it, or try to bring it up between tree roots or something. And it should be easy enough to fill back in when we're done, at least for the first few metres."

"Good. Ok – let's do that then. Now – are you happy with the plan for this periscope idea?"

"I've been listening to Marius a bit, and he's been telling me about how submarines work and what it should look like – and I've come up with a new idea from that as well."

"Go on?"

"Well, we do the illusion of the periscope out in the water, cruising around until it attracts some attention and then submerge it as if the sub has gone into hiding. But a good while before, I've sent a spirit over towards the harbour – ideally flying over tonight in full darkness, with a tea-tray or a saucepan."

"A what?" Kai blinked in surprise, wondering if he'd heard right.

"Do you want to explain, Marius – make sure it's right?"

"Ja. We get a water spirit, which Tads assures me will be able to carry out this task, to take a metallic object and go to the bottom of the harbour. As soon as the alert is raised, and Tads stops her magical illusion, the spirit is signalled to begin operations. It will take the item and drag it quietly along the bottom of the sea floor."

"Why do you want to do that?"

"I was getting to the explanation. You see, the sound of metal scraping along the rock will reverberate through the water, travelling for some distance. On sonar, it could be quite noticeable. But it will sound quite distinctive. And you see the sound of a submarine bottoming out and crawling along the sea-bed to avoid detection and sneak away from a loci…"

"Oh… is a metallic scraping noise?"

"Exactly. If the spirit performs this action for twenty to thirty seconds, and then stops and relocates several hundred metres away, then begins again, it will create a number of confusing and non-sensical traces that should send a sonar operator mad trying to establish what is going on."

"Ok – that makes sense." He looked around the kitchen and saw a number of small saucepans sitting on the counter-top, ready to be used. "And it looks like we're sorted on that front too. Great. So – anything else? Any other notes and ideas?"

"I wonder if we should maybe have a look around for a dead cat, or hunt some local wildlife?" Aswon mused. "If for some reason one of those patrols DOES wander through the middle of the compound, and picks up a scent where the tunnel comes up, that could ruin things. But if we put a dead squirrel just off to the side of the tunnel entrance, that would distract the dog – at least I think it would."

"Hmm… Ok, that sort of makes sense. I guess we can find something about, somewhere. Or rather you can. After all, it should be just like being at home, hunting across the plains or something…" Kai grinned at Aswon, who returned his look with a stare indicating that he wasn't amused.

The team mostly relaxed in the house, taking the occasional turn at the window to try and peer out of the security shutters are the area around them, whilst Hunter and Tads continued on the tunnel . As predicted, a little after ten that night they called back to say that they'd reached the designated point, and should now be underneath one corner of the church, just inside the perimeter.

Aswon headed down the tunnel, struggling to squeeze past Hunter and swap places with him, and to join Tads at the end of the tunnel. They were still several metres below the church, and they all stopped, trying to stand as still as possible, letting Aswon and his phenomenal hearing listen for any signs of life or detection.

"I can hear something – just. It's right on the edge though… I'm just catching the occasional noise, and I can't work out what it is. Can you get me a bit closer, Tads – carefully?"

She nodded to him and then gathered her energies once more, then carved out a section to the side of the tunnel, forming a step up, then another, and another, rising about twenty centimetres each time. After a few steps she turned and made the next few appear in the side wall, then rose a few more, before turning again to double back towards the tunnel, but now offset by a few metres. The 'stairway' rose slowly and carefully, Tads mindful that she might soon run into the sub-cellar or foundations of the church, and depending on how it had been constructed – a powerful ward.

She stopped abruptly as the makeup of the ceiling changed, from the compacted clay and limestone sheets to a heavier and more regular stone, then jumped to the side as a small block of stone fell from the 'floor' above down into the tunnel. They all paused, freezing in place to see if there was any alarm or other sign that they were in trouble, but it seemed quiet and serene.

Aswon listened again, and then a grin formed on his face, his brilliant white teeth forming a surreal patch of light in the darkness.

"No wonder I couldn't work out what it was. I think they're watching a trid-show or something. It's a subwoofer. Just the lowest notes are making it down here, making the ground reverberate. I think we're good." He moved up, then carefully examined the hole where the stone had fallen. "It's the floor of the undercroft or cellar. Looks like fairly plainly-carved flagstones. "He started to scoop away at the ground, working to remove the next stone and enlarge the hole, repeating the process until he could remove a two-by-two area, large enough for him to poke his head up and check out the space above them.

"It's quiet, dark and doesn't look trafficked. Walls about a metre high, vaulted ceiling in a quad-mirrored layout. All made out of the local stone, and no sign of a ward or any other magical construct or beings. Nothing man-made apart from the structure itself."

Moving even more slowly and carefully now, Tads moved more of the earth, slowly scraping out another turn in her impromptu staircase, allowing Hunter and Aswon to slowly move down the flagstones one at a time and pile them up carefully below, enlarging the hole until it was big enough for either Hunter or Shimazu to move through. Once they had the hole excavated, they paused again, going quiet for a full five minutes and just listening, checking for noises from the structure above. Other than the occasional rumble from the sound system, it was eerily quiet down here, just the occasional gust of musty air washing over them.

"Where is that wind coming from – and why does it smell so bad?" Hunter checked the few external images they had of the church, and then highlighted two areas in the base of the walls located on opposite sides. While the stairs in were on the north and south faces, it looked like a small but solid grate was positioned half-way along the wall, just above floor level. He lined up the pictures and showed Aswon and Tads.

"My guess is that the air vents allow for some through-flow down here, enough to stop anything dangerous building up. But it probably lets in the rain too, and makes the place a bit damp."

"Makes sense. Well, we should probably report back and let the rest know. But I'm thinking now we've got this far, we might want to proceed into the cellar and see if we can get our bore-scope deployed and gather some intel during the day."

They moved back, climbing down into the tunnel and heading back to the house, before reporting in with the rest of the team. Tads helpfully recreated the scene at the bottom of the tunnel with one of her illusions, focussing on parts of the tunnel or what they'd done and highlighting them as Hunter and Aswon described the scene.

Kai leant forwards in his chair, hands steepled together with the point of his chin resting on the fingertips and stared at the illusion before him. For thirty seconds he sat silently, focussing on the tunnel before him as he tried to work out the risks involved and the best course of action.

"Right. Happy to take input, but I'm thinking that Hunter and Aswon should head back down there. Hunter, this is right up your street, and I'm thinking that you're likely to hear any trouble coming sooner than anyone else. See if you can get in a position to get some intel, as long as the risks are minimised. If we can get a good few hours of observations done, we can get some rest later in the day, or trade off shifts. And assuming we learn some useful stuff, we're all happy and in position to do our little deception plan, we'll look at going in just after dusk tomorrow – give Tads chance to call her spirits and recover as needed, so we've got the whole night to move in slowly if needed. But if we're that close to them, there's a chance for something to go wrong – so let's set up a two hour check in, from as soon as you get back to the end of the tunnel. Questions or comments?"

Kai looked around, but everyone seemed happy with the concept and plan as a whole. Hunter and Aswon used the bathroom one after another, and got some food and drink, before heading back down their tunnel towards the church, while the rest of the team appropriated beds, couches or armchairs to relax in and get some rest.

Aswon and Hunter squirmed up into the cellar, moving very slowly and carefully. It was just high enough that Hunter could move in a duck waddle, but Aswon's height meant that he had to crawl through the narrow confines. A quick exploration showed them the vaulted ceilings stretched away under the base of the entire church to the outer walls, the walls and arched roof supporting the floor of the building above. It was generally in good repair, though they did find one part where a few of the rocks had fallen from the roof above, revealing some clay and a tiny fragment of the marble floor tiles.

They struck gold in one corner, finding a small spiral stair that wound up the metre and a half to bring them level with the top of the floor. Slicing across the stairway was the ward, forming a shimmering magical barrier that occluded sight beyond – at least in astral. Aswon stopped Hunter moving, gesturing to the stairs.

"You can't see it, but the ward is there. Give me a minute." He moved forward gingerly and spent some time examining it, carefully assensing it's power, form and function. "I'm pretty sure it's a standard ward, which means the team putting it up probably just did a box over the internal structure of the church. Nothing fancy, nothing special – just a solid magical threshold in a regular shape."

"So can I go through? Or will it set off an alarm?"

"You're fine, there's nothing you can do that will set it off. I just need to go through without any of my powers being active, and without trying to do anything fancy. And Tads can get through the same, as long as she's not got any spells or spirits with her. It's just a passive thing."

Hunter moved up the stairs, oozing forwards with patience and care, until he was positioned just below the threshold, looking up at the large oak door above him. No light seemed to leak around any of the sides, and he still couldn't hear anything through it. A careful examination showed that the door protruded past the stonework on all four sides, meaning it had to open outwards, into the space beyond, which also mostly concealed the hinge areas the door was hung from.

Aswon grinned as Hunter pulled out the hand drill and connected a bit, then selected a site to work on, slowly turning the crank and beginning to drill a pilot hole into the door. Hunter was big – well-muscled, with broad shoulders and chest, the kind of person you'd expect to see at a body-building workshop or competition. Seeing him move with such delicate precision was always odd, and when coupled with his almost-silent movements moved it from odd to downright scary.

Drilling the hole took fifteen long, drawn out minutes. Hunter had to stop and check several times that something hadn't gone wrong, as the drill bit sank further and further into the door, whilst he carefully collected the wood shavings that were ejected. His small pilot hole went in as far as the drill bit reached, and he didn't break through to the other side, and he worked his way up the set of bits, until he eventually broke through with the ten-millimetre size, and that only when he had the bit secured in the very end of the jaws.

"The door is about a hundred and fifty mil thick, Aswon. We're not going to be kicking this down in a hurry."

"Built to last. Ok – let's get the scope through."

Slowly and carefully they fed the borescope through the hole, pausing as it reached the surface of the outer face and then viewing the picture. The doorway opened into a corridor of sorts, with the wall opposite being about a metre and a half from them. It was covered in some kind of richly textured wallpaper or fabric, thick enough they could see the relief pattern clearly even through the small lens of the camera. A few paintings hung in view, each in an ornate picture frame, and illuminated by a silver downlighter that held a bulb radiating gentle yellow light amidst metallic petals and vines that writhed about the lamp. The floor was a series of black and white marble tiles, shot through with pinkish rose quartz to form a flecked pattern, repeating down the hallway left and right as far as they could see.

They listened and watched for a few minutes, then gradually eased the scope further through, bending it sharply to look up and back at the doorway itself, confirming the position of the hinges and looking for whatever mechanism was securing it. There was no bar, but there was a large and fairly obvious keyhole, giving the appearance of an original nineteenth century fitting. Comparing the view on the screen with the equivalent position on their side of the door, the lock was clearly not one that went all the way through the door – indeed with the thickness of the door, it could well be just below the outer surface and more than a hundred millimetres deep from their side.

They craned the scope up and around, and found another curiosity. Above them, the original roof of the church was visible, rising sharply towards the bell tower many metres above them. Painted friezes decorated the walls, displaying religious images in deep lustrous blues and golds, highlighted with red and detailed with ornate text. Orthodox crosses were repeated around borders, and the stonework was carved with intricate detail, lining all of the alcoves and windows they could see. Chandeliers hung at intervals, casting light down in a glittering pattern through the mass of glass shards hung from the delicate filagree, creating a mosaic of light that sparkled on the walls.

As they panned down, their view met the top of the wall, which appeared to just hang in space, abruptly stopping about two and a half metres up. Working the scope from side to side, they realised that the internal structure had been built to separate the space out into rooms – but without impacting on the upper levels.

"Wow. I'm impressed. Maybe the Admiral isn't a dickhead after all. I wonder if the walls are all built free standing – so they're not damaging the original structure at all?"

"I reckon so. I can't see much of the wall – but it reminds me of the kind of thing you see in show homes or exhibition centres, where they decorate a space up as an example." Aswon blinked at Hunter, wondering when the big orc had ever visited a home exhibition, but declined to press any further.

"Well, it looks like they've spent a chunk of cash on making it as nice as possible inside, but without damaging the church. Let's pull back so we're flush with the door, and observe."

Hunter pulled the device back until the lens was aligned closely with the outer surface. The fish-eye lens gave him a reasonable view of the passage, though it was highly distorted, and they settled down to wait. They could occasionally hear a louder but muffled sound as the trid-show reached an action scene, but otherwise the place was quiet as a tomb, and nothing moved, until an hour had passed and they saw a pair of Naval ratings walking along the corridor. Dressed in their ship's uniform, they carried fairly heavy-looking sub-machine guns on friction slings across their chests, and their uniforms were fresh and neatly pressed. From the hang of the fabric, they were also armoured, and if the uniforms were military, it was quite likely they would be somewhat fire-resistant as well.

The pair watched as the ratings moved down the passageway, seemingly alert and looking around them. As they reached the doorway, they paused, and gave the door a quick glance over – with Aswon and Hunter holding their breaths and willing them not to notice the faint colour change of the camera lens way down in the corner of the door. Seconds seemed to drag past, but finally after three long seconds they continued their slow and steady pace along the corridor, disappearing out of view. Watching their backs, they could see the lightweight combat harness and belt was somewhat full, probably with spare magazines, and a tiny cable ran up from a pouch towards the neck.

"They moved pretty smoothly – reckon their reflexes have been tuned up slightly. And looks like they're wired up with decent comms too." Hunter scratched the side of his nose for a moment, then sighed. "Don't know if they're going to have much in the way of demo or explosives given the place – but maybe flashbangs or gas. Could be a problem."

"And they're taking their duty seriously. If they're on a regular patrol, I'd expect most troops to just ignore a door like this. If they're not, that indicates they're well-trained and conscientious. Which sucks for us." Aswon glanced over at Hunter, and their eyes met for a moment, sharing their concerns. "It's really hard to keep your guards paying attention to the small stuff on a duty like this. But I guess if he has faced some assassination attempts, that could explain a lot of it." Aswon made a note on his commlink, describing the guards and their equipment as well as he could, and noting the time of the patrol, then they settled down to continue their observations. Each would take fifteen minutes on the scope, studying it carefully for changes and subtle movement that might indicate drones or other surveillance measures, then trading off to stare down the stairs or against the wall, or just rest with their eyes closed, giving them relief from the concentration required.

It took three hours and one check-in before they next saw something move – when they saw a pair of guards walking down the passage towards them again. They were dressed in an identical fashion to the first pair, and had the same smooth, gliding, polished gait that spoke of tightly-controlled muscles directed by an enhanced nervous system. Through the miniscule lens they couldn't tell if it was the same pair or not – they certainly looked familiar, but they were both aware of how much two males of service age in identical uniforms and equipment with the same haircut would look alike.

Aswon made a note in his log again, and they watched as the pair approached and once more paused at the door. One of them reached out with a hand and pushed the door, confirming it was as expected, before moving off.

"Well, that's interesting, and worth knowing."

"What's that?"

"If we got Tads to melt the door or something, we could have her replace it with an illusion or something. Something that looked right. But that's not going to work if they're going to physically poke it, Hunter. Give the game straight up. I don't know if Tads could melt the door away or anything, but we know it's probably not worth trying now."

The guards moved off and it went quiet for a few more minutes, until they heard a noise below them and watched as Marius and Shimazu appeared to take over the surveillance duty. They passed over the notes and quietly exchanged positions, before heading back down the tunnel, leaving the others to cover the next few hours of duty until sunrise.

Above them, the church grew quiet and dark as whoever was living there headed to bed, extinguishing the lights, unaware that the rats in the tunnels below had exceptionally sharp and dangerous teeth…