Monday 28/2/2061, Location: 40.02426, 48.95799 Time 08:00

"Well, for what it's worth, this is eastern Europe and western Asia. So Saito's job is somewhere on the right…" Hunter waved in the general area and gave Shimazu a glance who just shrugged in apology. "So for the moment, I think we probably need to ignore that, as it covers too much ground. So let's zoom in a bit on Turkey and the surrounding areas. We've got the free city of Constantinople, split by the Straits, with the Christian majority on the west side, and the Muslim majority on the east bank. Outside the city there's a weird macro version – the western parts of Turkey tend towards Christian populations, while the eastern parts are more Muslim, and very traditional at that. Proper old fashioned and non-progressive. And the actual east end of what's marked as Turkey here is the Kurdish Autonomous Zone – so that's the area already ceded by Turkey officially in some cases, or just in fact in others."

They all bent in and examined the map. Marius pointed at the area to the east, the edge of the Kurdish Zone.

"This appears nebulous?"

"Yeah, the data is for shit. Officially it's Turkey according to half the countries and most of the corps. Some corps recognise it as Kurdish territory, and a few countries. The rest just seem to ignore it. So that makes getting map data pretty much impossible."

"Well, at least we're a fair way distant from that Jenkins fellow." Aswon pointed out, measuring out the distance from their encounter with him in the truck that had led to them taking fire. "I mean, we seem to be ok with him now, after helping get his men back over the border and all – but it's good we're not in his back yard."

"And we think Aden has control of a bunch of this land don't we?" Kai gestured towards the fuzzy area marked as Kurdish.

"Yes – we strongly suspect that landing spot with the vineyard was his, and there's a couple of big mountains down that side of the country – so he seems to be behind a lot of the stuff in the area. And dealing with the Turkish military who are still going toe to toe with the Kurdish freedom fighters means we're dealing with something on the edge of that zone, more than likely. Artillery is not something you have on the front lines if you can help it. Even the self-propelled stuff which doesn't need external support tends to be noticeable just based on their size – and they have a firing signature from hell. I've not worked with many arty units before when I was contracting, but when we had it on call, it was awesome. Huge range, huge area of effect. Definitely not something to be on the receiving end of, even without special warheads."

"Well, we'll see what we can do with that then, when we've got some more data. Shimazu –" Kai turned towards his bodyguard "any idea how long the recon job was for? I know they didn't specify where yet, but anything at all?"

"Not really. I think he was under the standard rules of not giving out data about the job until he had someone lined up and vaguely ready for the job. But I can call…."

Shimazu paused as Kai's phone rang, the display panel showing "unknown".

"Hello?"

"Is this the team I have heard so much about?" The voice was surly and not particularly welcoming, a male and probably younger rather than older. There wasn't any betraying background noise they could pick up on, giving them little to go on.

"That depends." Kai grinned a little. "If you've heard good things about us, then yes – we're the team!" He paused, as his quip seemed to float off into the ether without response. After a lengthy pause he took a breath and then spoke again. "So, yes, we're the team you're after. Who is this?"

"This is Yez. Are you coming?"

"I think so – this is to do some… pest control, right?"

"Yes. I do not know you, but we are told you are trustworthy. That remains to be seen."

"Ok, well I guess that we have a mutual scaly friend then, right?"

"What?" For the first time the voice sounded something other than annoyed, showing instead a hint of surprise. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"No, that's fine, don't worry about it." Kai looked around, shrugging at the rest of his own team, but they just shrugged back at him. "Listen, Mr. Yez. We agreed to come and help, but we don't have any information really. What can you tell us?"

"The Turkish army, they have started using a new weapon. They tested it last year, only a few times – firing at hillsides down near the coast, where it had been reported we were scouting. Some we saw. Some we had…sympathisers report to us. But after a few attacks, they stopped. We thought that maybe the attacks were not working. Now we think they were just waiting for the start of spring."

"This time though, they have pushed much deeper inland. They have struck all along the lines between our countries, launching attacks from far outside our range." His voice was angry and slightly distorted as his chin worked. "They drive forward to a settlement and set up their artillery, then launch several hours of attack, before pulling back. By the time we get units in position to strike, they're long gone, and all we are left with is part of our country stripped of life, with men women and children burnt and blinded from the chemicals, animals dead all over the land, even the birds driven from the sky."

"They move to a position and attack from there, ranging a shot first and then striking in an arc and obliterating an area in a huge bombardment. Then they stop for a while and swing around, to strike elsewhere. Slowly they work through an entire hemisphere until they have killed everything they can, then they run away."

"Now high command has told us to pull back. We got told a special team was coming, that will deal with this threat. So we have stopped our strikes and other missions. We got told to do nothing that will tip off your upcoming attack. So now we do nothing – nothing but suffer. Our children still die, their skin dropping off in sheets, their eyes blinded, lungs seared. But we wait, as we are told. You had better not let us down."

"Well Mr. Yez, that all sounds…" Kai stopped himself, as the next word was going to be 'fine' and he realised that was probably not the appropriate thing to say. "Clear. Yes, that all sounds clear to us. We need to move as quickly as possible, that's obvious. But is there a particular schedule you are aware of?"

"No, but you are right, we need urgent action. As soon as possible. We can guide you to an observation point – command have worked out where the next attack will be made from, and there is a point we can get you to that will overlook this area. Again, we are told to stay clear ourselves and leave this to you. They seem to have a lot of faith in you. I hope that it is not unfounded." His voice was still angry and bitter, but after his description of the indiscriminate chemical shelling of his people, it was a lot easier for the team to see why he might be that way. "You have the ability to gather long range information, I take it."

"We're very adaptable," Kai said calmly and confidently.

"I hope so. I do not even know who you are, but High Command say I am to trust you."

"Well, I'm Kai, and my team is…fairly small." He heard the sigh as several of the others let out what they thought was a surreptitious breath as they'd fully expected him to name them all. "But, we are very effective, and can resolve this for you easily enough, I think. Now, we'll be heading in by air – can we arrange for a refuel somewhere?"

"No – we have no facilities or resources here for that. I can guide you to a landing spot, but you will need to take care of your own resources."

"Ok, that's no problem – it's easier if we can get fuel, of course, but we can make arrangements. So – we just need to know where to head to, now."

"I will send the information now." Kai's commlink buzzed as he started to get a side stream of data alongside the call, detailing the specific co-ordinates they needed to head to.

"Ok, got that, Mr. Yez. We're on our way. Now – is there anything else we need to bring – for your people?"

"Medical supplies? Survival equipment? Arms and ammunition? Especially anything that will help with chemical burns." For the first time since speaking to him, there was a hint of warmth in his voice. Kai looked over at Tads who was frantically waving at him, and when she saw she had his attention, she rubbed her hands together and mimed putting them over Aswon's leg. Kai put the call on mute for a moment and looked at her.

"Is it a book? What?"

"Ask them about magical healing."

"A good suggestion." Marius interjected. "You have seen the reaction to her magic in some Muslim areas. The Kurds are technically Muslim, but they form a different sect with different interpretations of the rules about magic. It will let us know about other uses as well." Kai nodded in understanding and then unmuted the call.

"How do you feel about our team doctor using magic to help heal the wounded and fix people."

"If it will save lives, then why would we object?" Yez said bluntly.

"We'll make what arrangements we can, and be with you as soon as possible. We'll call you when we're closer."

"Until then." Yez broke the connection and Kai sat back in his seat and looked around at the rest of the team.

After a moment's pause, Hunter keyed his deck active and shunted some data to the screen.

"I got the co-ordinates he sent. It's a small town on a main road, quite high up into the highlands. Assuming they are planning on launching an attack from there, then the town would give them decent cover against counter-strikes, but also allow them to range over this area." The map which had focussed on the town zoomed out, and then wedges started to appear around it, laying across the hills and rugged terrain that surrounded the small conurbation. "The town is nestled in amongst the hills, the terrain around the area is pretty rough, so I'd guess that the main roads are the arteries of the area – I wonder if that's how they're predicting where they're going to strike from. But anyway, I guess they're going to guide us to one of the overlooking hills around the town…"

"We will need to optimise our cargo bay on this one. We will need the surveillance and air-support drone, but I do not feel it worth taking the ground support. The kind of range we are talking about operating over, it will be a liability, not an asset." Marius added.

"I think we ought to leave the bikes as well. Especially as there's only a couple of us that can ride them reasonably well. But looking at those hills, I'd be very wary riding over terrain like that!" Tads exclaimed.

"For the medical supplies, we should be looking at some specialist anti-chemical or anti-burn kits, along with general battlefield med-packs I think. They're not going to be needing general supplies – getting caught in artillery is not like dealing with run of the mill injuries. It's going to be explosive and fragmentation damage for anyone close, and the chemical burns and effects for anyone further away." Aswon punctuated his next statement with rapid finger movements. "They don't need triangular bandages and a million plasters or small dressings. They need blood expanders and pressure bandages for the near effect sufferers, chemical burns kits and sterile bandages or synth-skin for those further away. And antibiotics too - probably a lot of them."

"How exactly do we deal with artillery anyway?" Kai asked. "I mean… my assumption is that we can kill the crew, of course – but will the army have replacement crews they can just send forward? Do we have to do something specific to damage the equipment? How long would that take to do?"

"Well, a lot depends on the type of artillery, of course. Basically there's two types we could be looking at. The first is towed artillery – massive guns on a set of wheels with long limbering arms, that are towed behind a tracked or wheeled carriage that often holds the crew. They drive up to somewhere, stop the vehicles and then unhitch the weapons. The limbering arms are separated out and spread, and form part of the stabilisation system, and the crew deploy around the weapon getting it ready to fire. Very old artillery all used to be like that, and it's a cheap way of doing things so it's more common in less developed countries and for smaller corporate forces. You keep things simple, and you keep them cheap. The crew are exposed though, and it takes time to set up and break down the weapons, so that's really bad if you're under attack." Aswon licked his lips and held up a second finger as he resumed his explanation.

"SPGs are the second type – or self-propelled guns. Here the artillery piece is mounted on a chassis, making it look more like a tank. I mean, depending on your definition, it might count as one, or a tank destroyer. The lines blur – though artillery tends to be capable of very high firing arcs, and might not be able to depress the gun to do direct fire at all, depending on the design. They all have very large calibre guns, though."

"Both types of arty are designed for precision long range shooting though, not direct fire. Generally an arty platoon is set up well back from the front lines, and will have calls for fire come in from forward observers, either ground or air units, directing fire at specific locations to supress the enemy, blast a corridor through an area, or provide a rolling barrage to support an attack or retreat. Most modern artillery has very sophisticated computer support for range-finding, shot tracking and analysis and co-ordinated fire as part of an IVIS network." He saw Tads raise a finger and smiled at her. "IVIS is inter-vehicle-information-system. All the vehicles talk to each other and share battlefield information from their sensors and systems. You don't even need to radio through information – what you see, they see. It's a massive help in combat where you need to react quickly. And for a combined arms assault, the arty commander – assuming they're decent – can see when a flank needs support, or a spearhead is pushing for a breakthrough, and support that. In my experience though, we generally didn't have that kind of support to call upon. A lot of my merc contracts have been working with a much smaller scale of warfare than that. When someone is pulling up arty fire either with or without you, then they are quite literally 'calling in the big guns'. Short of naval bombardment, you're not going to see much bigger on the modern battlefield."

"I would agree with everything Aswon has said – perhaps adding that some air-mobile units like T-birds can also bring firepower of an equivalent scale to bear. In terms of their destruction – taking out the electronics or power systems for their fire control is probably the most easy to achieve, or by damaging the breech on the guns."

"We can't break the barrels of the guns or something?" Kai asked.

"Unlikely. First of all, the guns are designed to have replaceable barrels, as they do wear out eventually and need to be replaced just as a matter of course. But, the gun barrels are designed to contain the explosive force of a shell measuring somewhere between 155mm and 200mm across, exploding inside them and channelling all of that power and force along their length to propel the projectile forty kilometres down range. I wouldn't recommend Shimazu try and slice one with his sword for instance – you're just likely to take a bite out of your blade or shatter it entirely. They're built tough! Even if we wrapped a bunch of C4 explosives around it, you're not likely to do much more than mark the barrel. You need something with a lot more focussed power – a C12 charge, specially shaped to direct the blast into a specific shape and form. We have some, and I can probably make the charges – but that requires some time and effort, not only to make them but also to place them precisely where they're needed."

"Could we melt them – with acid?" Hunter suggested.

"I dunno – we'd need a lot of very strong acid for that. I mean I suppose it's possible, but that's not something I'd fancy lugging into combat with me. It's a lot more dangerous to us in transit than C12 for instance."

"Oh I wasn't thinking about acid like that – I thought maybe Tads can create some, or use a spell to make it as we need it?"

"Oh, I see. Well, I guess so." Aswon stared into the distance for a moment. "She's more than powerful enough to cast the spell, but it would need a very strong spell to make acid strong and plentiful enough to do the job. But possible… and much easier than carrying carboys of acid into the hills, for sure!"

"I would need a powerful spell, you're right. But regarding the explosives on the barrel you were talking about. I think it's very much a matter of know what the barrel is made of as well. The metallurgical details might give us a clue to how to damage them. But Hunter's idea has given me one of my own. If you guys could gather a big bag of loose earth and pour it down the barrel – I could try and use my earth-shaping spell. As long as I can see it, I could turn it into rock, forming a solid plug in the barrel? That would mess it up, wouldn't it?" Tads looked over and saw Aswon nodding his head furiously.

"What about making a flat pancake of something like C12 to slip into the breach? I don't know if you can do crazy stuff like mix paint into it and kneed it together? But if you put a slab of explosive in there that looked like the gun itself, and they loaded a shell on top – effectively you've got a double-explosion going off. The breech is strong, sure, but probably not that strong."

"Or we can target wherever the shells are being stored. They're just the same as bullets, in theory – just on a much larger scale. But if you can get one of them to cook off, or explode – the sympathetic explosions will take up the whole dump. And a gun is no good without ammo to fire through it."

"Though most artillery pieces will carry a ready-supply or load of ammo with them. But once they have fired those, then yes, I agree." Marius added. "As long as they are not using two-part designs. Some systems I have seen have the explosive charges or propellent systems stored separately, and then mated up with a warhead just before firing or loading. If that is the case, we would need to change our approach. And ammunition storage systems are often designed with blow-out panels and coffer-dams to protect against ammunition fires and explosions, protecting the gun and crew from such traumatic hits."

Hunter meanwhile had gone back through his archive and was displaying the footage he'd taken up near Samara when they'd been helping to defend against the aggressing spirits. The dining room lit up in orange and yellow light as the screen did its best to display the incredible firestorm as the battery of Russian 180mm mortars reigned down destruction on the forest, obliterating an area hundreds of metres wide and long as the tilt-wing raced through the air. The firestorm stopped, mid explosion, then scrubbed backwards a bit, before advancing once more, this time much slower, the action progressing in a series of frames. Some deft work on the deck and a few coloured circles appeared in the mass of explosions, tracking dark chunks.

"Look at this," Hunter said. "See these circles here, are rounds set for ground delay. If you watch the yellow circles, you can see these go all the way to ground level, actually burrow into it – then explode, throwing up a massive amount of earth and sending out a shockwave. But if I rewind, and you watch the purple circles… they look like they have a different fuse setting, these are exploding about twenty metres up, and then showering the ground in white hot fragments." A purple overlay showed a cone on the frame, showing the deck's estimation of the fragmentation blast radius. As the software chomped through the footage, more yellow and purple circles appeared, along with more purple cones, and slowly a pattern appeared, showing the firing arcs from the battery of mortars and the carefully selected alternating plan of ground penetrating and air-burst munitions, designed to blanket the area.

"And why are you showing us this, Hunter?"

"Well, it's cool as all frak, Aswon, and I remembered I had the footage. And it's kinda relevant to what we're up against. But mostly because it's cool…."

"I admit it is interesting. But what would be really cool is if you could dig up information on the artillery systems of Turkey, and find out what kind of equipment they use, and what the important details are of it. That would be very helpful."

"But the explosions… alright, alright, I'm on it. Gimme a few minutes."

Sure enough, it took only a few minutes for Hunter to do a quick run on the matrix, managing to find and crack a site devoted to reviewing military equipment to get some good information.

"Ok, the T-155 Firtina, or 'Storm' in Turkish is a 155mm self-propelled howitzer. Built under licence in Turkey, the design is based on an Eastern-Tiger Corp blueprint. It's a fifty-six ton machine, twelve metres long, three and a half wide and almost the same high. Crew of five consists of a commander, driver, gunner and two loaders. The vehicle has a 52 calibre main gun, a 12.7mm machine gun for close defence, and an eight-cylinder diesel engine that gives it a top speed over sixty kilometres per hour. Listed maximum range is 'over forty kilometres', depending on ammunition type. Speaking of which it has room for twenty four rounds in the ready storage, and the same again in the main hull – so we might not find a separate ammo dump for these things."

"So how heavily armoured are we talking – the same as an armoured personnel carrier?" Aswon queried.

"Nein. At fifty-six thousand kilos, you are thinking more in terms of tank levels. Probably designed more for counter-battery fire, so air-gapped sheets of armour designed to defend against fragmentation and high-explosive attacks rather than direct fire – but still proof against our weapons. Possibly even our door guns, even loaded with anti-vehicle munitions. We need to be thinking in terms of 20mm cannon fire, missiles or other dedicated systems to overcome such levels of armour."

"Right – what about mind control of the crew. Is it open-topped or enclosed, Hunter?"

"Enclosed. Let me show you a picture." A low-resolution image popped up on the screen, displaying a large tank hull with a massive boxy turret located at the rear, with a single long gun-barrel poking out of centre, raised at a sixty degree angle."

"Crap – nothing visible there then, and if Tads can't see the crew, she can't affect them. Not until they come out of the vehicle for toilet breaks, or briefings or sleep or whatever."

"Is it likely to be thinly armoured on the bottom? Could we get in that way?"

"Doubtful, Tads. It is likely going to be armoured to a good degree, even if it is just to defend against land-mine attacks," Marius responded.

"Oh. Well, that's a shame. And I imagine it's likely to be warded, probably on the outside. It's not like it's subtle, and it's also an official vehicle – so no need to be subtle at all, I guess. If you're going to ward a vehicle like that, I guess you do it where it's likely to be as strong and as useful as possible."

"So can we use your spirits to help us?" Kai checked.

"Not really. I mean, they have to get through any ward on it first of all, but then it's a tough vehicle by the looks of things. They can make accidents happen – but only what could naturally happen. You make something like that slip and it runs into a tree – I think the tree's still going to come off the loser…"

"Maybe if it's in motion, on something like a mountain trail – we might have a chance. Use its own weight against it." Aswon frowned. "And of course it depends how many there are. If it's just a couple, we might be able to overwhelm the defences and get through magically. But if there's a battalion of fifty of them – I don't think that's an option. I don't know what we do if there's that many to be honest…"

"If there's fifty of them, we get into their mess hall and spike the food with laxatives and sedatives or something." Tads replied smugly. "That many people all in one place need logistics support, and we strike at that instead. Did we see where the guns were fired from, from last year?"

"No – we saw the effects only. No idea where the firing sites were." Hunter bought up the images from a few months back, showing the massive scars ripped into the landscape, that they'd observed as they crossed Turkey.

"The launch site probably isn't too bad – it's where those shells land that turns toxic. Unless they're the same kind of cursed ammunition that we took to Samara? We should head out to whatever recon site they have set up for us and have a look around – once we have the supplies sorted out anyway."

"Can we go to their base first of all? Maybe drop off the medical supplies there?"

"I doubt it, Kai – they probably don't have a base. From what this 'Yez' guy was saying, it sounds like they operate on a cell structure mostly, not surprising if they're trying to evade the Turkish authorities. They'll be small units, independent, constantly ready to move from one place to another. No centralised base or facility that can be targeted or taken out. No collection of VIPs that would be vulnerable to a special forces raid."

"Bugger. I wanted to get a feeling for the kind of pattern of these attacks."

"I doubt you would have gotten that anyway." Marius chimed in. "People caught out in the open during an artillery attack, tend not to report back in anyway. And against an enemy willing to use chemical munitions, that is even less likely. But, they are likely using a TOT attack – timed on target. The guns are elevated as high as they go, and they fire their first shot, then reload and lower the guns a few degrees and repeat. Every shot they fire is at a lower power and elevation. The idea is that the first few shots go so high in the air that they take the longest to rise and fall in an arc. If the calculations are done right, you can get a ten-shot barrage to hit the target all within a second of each other, even though they took a full minute to fire. The effects are devastating enough from one gun – but far worse from a platoon or more."

"If they're having to do special calculations and things, and co-ordinate between different tanks, can you and Hunter infiltrate their network and make their maps go wrong or something?"

"Not really, no." Marius sighed. "Whilst we have the skills to do such a thing, what we lack is the encryption and decryption hardware and support systems to make such a thing feasible. Against a local taxi cab – we can probably defeat their firewall and make their car stop. Against a military grade target – not a chance."

"I'd agree," Aswon added. "Their vehicles are going to be hardened against attacks like this from rival armies and special forces attacks, so we need to find another way I think. I'm still thinking in terms of taking out the ammo supply – ultimately that's go to be Aden's main aim hasn't it? Stop the shelling, as close to the source as possible. If we take out the ammo, it can't be used another way. Otherwise, could they take the warhead material and rework it into a bomb to drop from overhead, and flush out the Kurds that way? I think we need to look at the ammo as a priority."

"I think we need to get eyes on observations, and make our plans then. So much will be determined by what we find, that I am not sure it is worth making detailed plans from here. We need that information."

"I agree Marius. We need to get our shopping done and get over there as soon as possible. It's only about six hundred and fifty kilometres from us to the location given by Yez. So thirteen hundred there and back. That gives us nearly eight hundred for any recon flights and observations needed."

"Effectively we're just using the tilt-wing for transport on this, aren't we? Not for operational use."

"Yes, Tads. I mean, I can't speak for Marius, but I don't think he'll want to risk the bird for a direct attack – we have no idea if the artillery has an attached anti-air unit for instance. If it does, it's the kind of thing that would only need to get lucky once with, and we're out our main transport. I don't think it's likely they would have AA units with them – the Kurds don't have much in the way of an airforce, so it's very unlikely. But I'm not sure enough on that to put a bet on with our lives as the stakes…"

"So – what do we need, then?" Kai asked.

"I have our drones repaired and resupplied. The surveillance drone had taken a battering, but that was more accumulated damage – the vector thrust drone took that fireball down in Tehran. However, in the last few days, they have both been repaired and are fully operational. We need to offload the non-essential equipment from the tilt-wing, to make room for whatever supplies we are taking – but essentially, I am good to go."

"We need the med-supplies most I think, if we're going to win hearts and minds with the locals. But that's a bonus – otherwise we should be good to go with what we have. We have ammunition for our key weapons, and we probably have enough demo – if we don't we'll have to improvise along the way." Aswon looked over to Hunter. "I'm thinking we should be hitting up whichever contact you have at the hospital in Baku for our med-supplies – the ones you get your anti-coagulants from."

"I think he'll piss himself with the size of the order, but I agree, he's probably the best person we have to contact about this, Aswon. I might need your help with that, Kai. Otherwise, I'm looking at getting winter cammo nets, cold weather snivel gear and some top-up supplies – but a lot of what we needed we already had from working round the top of the ring of fire."

Shimazu stirred from his position, sitting forward and steepling his fingers together. He'd been very quiet for some time, as was common for him – but now it looked like he had something to share, and the others fell quiet.

"I have been thinking about the role of these artillery troops. They are soldiers, but probably their basic training lies behind them. Now they are specialists, troops who serve their machines. The machines do the killing – they do not. The machines let them kill from distances beyond their sight. They receive a target, they fire. It is reported to them if they need to fire again or change to a new target. Warfare for them is a distant affair. Great violence, to be sure – but visited against an opponent they cannot see. And likely, in the context of this war or conflict – against an opponent that cannot fight back. These are people that even in war, are used to being safe. Their armoured machines protect them. Distance protects them. Mobility protects them. They are unused to being threatened directly." He looked around the table at each of their faces as they absorbed his words.

"If danger suddenly strikes at them, it will have a psychological value far outweighing the size of the attack. Consider – if a message is found pinned to their tank, as they wake one morning – threatening a specific person by name. Some information gathered by Hunter perhaps… and then that person dies. Now danger walks amongst them, unseen, unknown. It will have a brutal effect on them."

"Ohh, maybe I should take my bow, then…" Kai smiled.

"Indeed. To have one of their troops killed in such a primitive and visceral fashion. To know that someone got close enough to silently strike at them, to take them down in the middle of their camp. That will sow a fear that cannot easily be overcome. Something to bear in mind."

"Chances are there will be a command vehicle of some kind. Maybe even a control vehicle with IVIS, as Aswon mentioned earlier. Likely to have the senior commanders in. Those sound like good targets to me." Marius smiled.

They spent the next few days getting supplies together. Kai went with Hunter to the hospital, and they ended up turning the screws on the corrupt pharmacist pretty tightly, threatening to expose the man for his previous dealings until they could obtain the details for the medical companies that supplied the hospital and some authorisation codes that would allow them to purchase the medical supplies from the wholesalers themselves. Five thousand Nuyen later, the team had a good supply of antibiotics, chemical antidote patches, artificial skin spray and a host of other battlefield med-supplies to take to the Kurds.

They also managed to get hold of a number of solar panel chargers and battery packs, electric blankets and small winter cammo nets to make up some heated hides or observation posts, or to just provide a good basis for their cold-weather camping. Aswon did some research to confirm his thoughts about the types of shaped charges required and spent painstaking hours carefully manipulating the blocks of C12 into the required form, before carefully packing them into containers and loading them aboard the tilt-wing.

During that time, Saito called Shimazu back, pressing him for an answer on his job offer. Shimazu managed to get a few more details from him, most notably the timescales for the job. On hearing that the job probably wasn't going to even start for six to eight weeks, Kai gave him the go-ahead to confirm the team were interested. Shimazu filled them in later that evening as they gathered around the table once more for food.

"So, it's going to some place called Baikonur. Some kind of space launch platform out on the Russian steppes. We'll need some specialist observation equipment – massively long lenses with special filters on them, to gather the intel needed, but all we have to do is get to a position to overlook the facility and observe – kinda like the temple in Tashkent. Hopefully with less tentacles though.

"Well, that sounds easy enough. But let's worry about that once we've done this one – concentrate on what we're doing. Ok?" Kai looked around and got nods of agreement from everyone.

By the time they had made all the shaped charges, grabbed the winter supplies and stocked up on medicines, several days had passed, but by the end of Thursday they were ready to go.

"Ok – Marius, one last night with Nadia and the kid. Let's be out of here at dawn tomorrow, and get over there first thing. We've probably delayed enough, and we don't want to piss off either the guerrillas or Aden. Get a good night's sleep everyone – we're probably not going to sleep well for the next few days."

One by one the team headed off to bed, getting ready to depart the ranch first thing in the morning, heading into the warzone to strike directly at the Turkish army.