Monday 28/3/2061, Location: 7.18113, 11.64264, Time 19:18

"Tads – can we get one of your spirits to do a perimeter search of the forest, please? I'm concerned that at least some of the people in those vehicles had to have survived. Maybe wounded, but they could be out there now, closing in on our position. And we're going to need some time to interrogate this guy, I think."

"Sure thing, Aswon." She sent a pair of spirits out, briefing them to look for metahumans in the forest around the clearing, reporting back to her if they found anything. She moved around behind the mage then, while Aswon stepped around in front of him, to stand by the side of Kai. Kai was silent now, just staring at the mage with a fixed expression, letting the tension build. Aswon glanced over at him, then pulled his taser out, hitting the test button and watching as a sharp snap of electrical power arced over the front of the device.

"Listen to me. I know how rare magic is in this world. I know how valuable it is. And I also know that if a mage takes significant damage in a short time, it can 'short' out their magic and leave them permanently scarred. I would rather end you, than destroy you. So it's on you – if you comply, and tell us what we want to know, then there's no reason to get heavy with you. You're just carrying out orders from your bosses – and our fight isn't with you. But if you want to play hardball…" There was another crack of power from the front of the taser, and the mage in front of him gulped as his eyes flicked from one merciless set of eyes to another, before he nodded somewhat spasmodically.

They took a moment to examine him, checking him over. He was fairly young, probably in his early twenties, a human with no real distinguishing features. Sandy coloured hair was plastered on the side of his skull, styled by the sweat he'd broken into while trying to flee. His green eyes were sunken and darted around the clearing, taking in the hostile expressions of the locals and the team, finding no sympathy from anyone. He wore a jumpsuit with green piping on it, and had a scabbard hanging from his belt, the handle bound in green fabric that matched the colour of the accent detail on his jumpsuit. Both the jumpsuit and his boots looked fairly new though, and whilst they were dirty from his run through the forest, they weren't grubby or stained – lacking that well-worn look of a regular uniform or long-term clothing.

Hunter had come up to join Tads behind the prisoner, and his eyes caught sight of the pommel, and a small green gem sitting in a socket on the end of the handle. A frown turned his normally ugly face into a true nightmare though, and he reached down to relieve the prisoner of his weapon. Surprisingly though, despite being surrounded, as soon as Hunter grabbed the sword, the prisoner gave a cry of alarm and grabbed at his hands, trying to force him to let go. It was pretty futile – even with both hands straining, he was no match for Hunter's physique, and he ended up being lifted bodily from the ground as Hunter raised the sword.

"Hang on, put him down, please." Aswon raised a hand, attracting Hunter's attention. He glanced down at the sword, examining the short amount of blade that could be seen exposed. It looked to be a fairly poor quality weapon – definitely hand-forged, and not by a master of the trade. Certainly it was no match for Shimazu's sword. "That blade – you forged that, didn't you. Made it yourself. Is that part of your magical oath and tradition?" Aswon hazarded a guess and gave an almost imperceptible nod as he saw the man's reaction. "Like I said, we'd rather do this the easy way. Keep that in the scabbard, comply with what we have to ask you, and you'll walk out of here with that blade, untouched." Hunter glanced at Aswon in surprise – wondering why he was being so magnanimous, but then relented and lowered the mage back to the floor and released his grip on the blade's handle. He could always take it off him later if he needed to, after all…

When Hunter released the blade and the mage relaxed a little, Tads leant a little closer and examined it carefully. The blade itself wasn't enchanted, though it did look ready to be used in the process – and she could see the imperfections and hallmarks of a blade forged and crafted by inexpert hands. However, the gem set into the pommel was definitely a live foci. She focussed for a moment and then probed at it, carefully examining the mana that flowed around it and through it, comparing it to her own spells and knowledge. When it had given up its secrets she stood back a little and sent a message out to the team.

"The sword has a gem in the handle, a live magical foci – but it's not that dangerous. From what I can determine it's a sustaining foci for an illusion spell, something like my phantasm. It's pretty low force though – if he tried to use it to hide behind, there's a good chance that even the local villagers would see straight through it, let alone trained observers."

"Hey – the spell you cast on your sword, your illusion – what do you use that for?" Aswon said out loud. He figured it would be a useful test of the man's reactions, and also reveal to him that they knew more about him than he might want to.

"It's to mark my rank in the order. I'm a Guardian of the Green Flame!" For a moment pride shone through his despair, and his eyes lit up. "I've not been a Guardian for that long, but my master says I have great potential."

"And he's a guardian of the flame as well?"

"Yes – but he's a Guardian of the Blue Flame – much more skilled than I am." There was a touch of reverence in his voice, a weird sense of tradition and respect for the title. Behind him Tads shook her head, trying to work out what this meant to him – it certainly seemed alien to her own ways of understanding magic.

"And what does that entail?"

"Well, you start off as a Guardian of the Green, but then can move on to a Knight of the Green Flame, and then you finally progress to be a Paladin of the Green Flame. Each rank reveals mysteries and secret knowledge, and as you advance in standing, your gain access to more resources and respect within the corporation. But if you are truly skilled, and dedicated, then you progress again to the next order – and become a Guardian of the Blue Flame. Eventually you might become a Knight, or even a Paladin then."

"Oh, I see. So it's a rank structure of magical groups, all serving Novatech."

"Well, I suppose so. But it's a lot more than that – there are ceremonies, and initiations, and tests. Its very complicated."

"And blue is as high as it goes?"

"Oh no – beyond Blue there is Red – but I've never met any of the Red Flames. They're amongst the most powerful sorcerers and conjurers you can imagine…"

Aswon nodded, then looked up at Tads and gave a quick wink. If his understanding of how things worked was actually valid then both Shimazu and Tads would qualify as 'red flames' for what that was worth, and he wondered what their captive would make of that…

"Well, it sounds like you have a long career path ahead of you," Aswon said instead. "But now tell me, what was the plan here?"

"Well, there were two plans, you see." He licked his lips a little nervously, and looked around himself again, but the situation hadn't changed – there were still four guards watching him, and the odds were stacked against him. With a little sigh and a slump of his shoulders, the last of his defiance seemed to leak away from him. "The first plan was for the local guards to come with the trucks and round up the villagers, and take them away. They weren't going to be harmed – just moved to live in tents near one of the bases."

"Yes, we gathered as much from the grunts out there – some of them were really enjoying the idea that they were going to be used as human shields…"

"I suppose they were. But the intention wasn't to harm them, or do anything bad – just to make sure that if the terrorists tried to bomb any more equipment, they'd be hurting their own people." Aswon and Kai exchanged glances, and Aswon's jaw worked, as he tried to bite down an angry retort. Kai laid a hand on his forearm, and then motioned for the mage to continue. "But they had a suspicion that whoever was doing the bombing had links to the villagers as well. So the guards were told to ride in nice and slowly, and ignore anyone running off into the forest – even if some of the villagers got away. They wanted them to go and find the guerrillas, and let them know."

"So that you'd get a response?"

"Yes. They had some forces out in the forest, hiding. They were supposed to come in and stage a counter-attack, when the guerrillas arrived, and were fighting the regular troops."

"And how's that working out?" Kai added with a smile. The prisoner opened his mouth to answer, then realised it was both rhetorical and pointless. "Yeah. Not good being on the losing side, is it. So you decided to split?"

"Once I saw the guards being taken down, I knew there was someone out there – but both my elementals had been killed. And I could see the force of the magical spell hiding your craft – I don't know how you got it that strong, but it wasn't something I could attack on my own. And then the relief forces didn't come… until I thought I saw one moving at the edge over there. But then it exploded!"

"Yeah. Shame that." Hunter sneered at him, and the prisoner shook his head in disbelief.

"I don't know how you did it, but those were armoured tanks! Anyway…when I saw that blow up I realised that this wasn't going to be a fight we could win. So I needed to get word back to headquarters. I tried my radio, but it was broken… so I took off into the forest, trying to get away from here and back to the camp at the top of the hill."

"Well, you were running the wrong bloody way, then!" Hunter giggled, then pointed in almost the opposite direction. "That's where your base is. You were running into the deep forest and towards a ravine. Guess you're a city boy, huh?"

"I grew up in Boston, if that's what you mean?"

Tads looked up as she sensed her spirits returning and turned her attention to them, then backed off a pace or two and turned away from the prisoner to make sure he couldn't hear her mumbling into her throat microphone.

"The spirits have detected a couple of live bodies out in the forest, near one of the crashed vehicles. Badly wounded, but alive for the moment."

"I'll go out with Shimazu to keep watch – just in case we need to get any info from them or patch them up. Aswon, Hunter – can you stay and watch the prisoner? Tads – we may need you."

Kai and Shimazu headed off, following the spirit that Tads dispatched to guide them towards the survivors, while Aswon and Hunter guarded the prisoner. Aswon talked to him about his magical order, finding out a little more about what being a 'Guardian of the Green Flame' was. Clearly there wasn't a magical oath of secrecy about the circle of mages, as the prisoner was more than happy to burble away, and Tads listened with half an ear about all the rules, strictures, ceremonies and methods they used. It seemed like a lot of nonsense to her, but then it was a mage, and not a shaman, and they had some very funny ideas about how magic should work.

For Aswon though, it made perfect sense – if you looked at it from a corporate point of view. It was all to do with hierarchy and order, rules and traditions. As he understood it, Novatech was a fairly new mega-corporation, having been born out of some shady dealings and frantic trading of shares that saw huge chunks of companies changing hands and being amalgamated. Despite the relative newness, they looked to have borrowed or acquired a bunch of traditions and ceremonies, no doubt trying to add some legitimacy to their mages and also to generate a sense of brotherhood and otherness, to more tightly bind them to the corporation and their management structure. Clearly their captive regarded himself as something 'special', and while he was – mages being incredibly rare still – it was purely by chance of birth, not on any individual merit.

Kai and Shimazu found the wreckage of the first APC that Hunter had destroyed, amidst a smouldering section of the forest. They could see where the round had penetrated the front of the vehicle, driving down into the internals and exploding violently. The crew of the vehicle had been immolated at their posts, but the passengers in the rear section had managed to bail out of the fireball, badly burnt and mangled by the shrapnel.

They found two of the troops still alive – both barely, and both likely to expire in the next few minutes unless they received immediate and prompt medical attention. Both of them were armed in rigid security armour, bulky and capable of stopping high speed rounds and fragments from grenades, but unfortunately of limited use in protecting the bearer from being trapped in a burning vehicle. But one of them had an extra radio or communication device, along with a small tablet computer nestled in his bag. They weren't sure if he was just the radio operator or the team commander, but it seemed likely that he would have more knowledge than the other survivor, who seemed to be just a rifleman.

Kai and Shimazu went to work trying to stabilise him, attaching the diagnostics leads of the advanced med-kit to his flesh wherever they could find some that wasn't horribly burnt and flaking off. Shimazu ran a bag of fluids into the victim while Kai administered the first shots the med-kit dispensed, looking to stave off shock, infection and systemic collapse from the widespread burns. The trooper really needed to be in a trauma centre given the nature of his wounds, but the closest class two trauma centre was probably in Lagos, hundreds of kilometres away – and there was no way he was going to make it there under his own steam.

"Tads, we have a casualty here – we're working to stabilise him, but we'll need your help, I think. Very bad burns, and his vitals are all over the place."

"Coming. Which way?"

"Head out of the clearing to the south-west, we're about eighty metres from the edge of the clearing at a guess – look for the smoke and wrecked vehicle…"

They continued to work on the body, dressing wounds and dealing with injuries as they found them, running in pain-relief intravenously and applying burns kits over much of his body. Despite their efforts though, he remained gravely wounded and hovered on the brink of death.

"We really need better facilities than this Kai, or we're going to lose him."

"I know. I'm not sure if we can do much more than stabilise him here. Tads is on the way though – she might be able to help."

"And what if she can't?"

"Then we'll find out if she's willing to probe the mind of someone dying…"

"I'd rather not, thanks!" She emerged from the trees, skirting around the smouldering ruin of the Novatech APC and closing on their position. "It's pretty traumatic, full of pain and raw emotion. And I don't ever want to be in someone's head when they actually die. I don't know what it would do, but I don't think I want to find out."

"Well, do you want to try a bit of golden mojo on this guy then, see if we can back him off from the edge?" Kai wiggled around a bit, continuing to monitor the body as it lay on the floor, festooned in bandages and probes, while Tads found somewhere to lay her hands. The golden glow from her hands lit up the clearing, rendering the branches and leaves surrounding them in a warm hue and reflecting the golden light from the moisture that had condensed onto everything as the temperatures started to fall. Across his body the skin glowed, blackened flesh sloughing off and revealing the pale pink of new scar tissue, and his gaunt appearance filled out slightly. The implanted cyberware in his flesh fought against her magic, impeding the flow of mana, slowing her healing energy and forcing her to strain and struggle against the resistance. Just like healing Hunter or Marius, she had to struggle to force the healing into him, and she was far less effective than on an unenhanced metahuman. He was by no means healthy, and would no doubt still require extensive rehabilitation – and it remained to be seen if the corporation might actually value him enough to invest in him… but he was at least stabilised.

"Alright… I'll give him a look. I'm not going to probe too deeply though – he still looks to be in pain, and it's not going to be pleasant in there. She settled down more comfortably by his head, gently laying her hands on either side of his temple and then concentrated, letting the mana flow through her into his mind, sifting through his thoughts. As she concentrated, thoughts and memories surfaced, and she called them out, relaying them over the comms system. Hopefully someone would write them down – or at least if Marius was listening, he'd just remember them.

"His name is Ortiz. Novatech employee, working as a special investigator. He's not assigned here, at least not normally. He works for someone called Odomona Jenkins. He's a director of a Novatech facility…somewhere in South America. Near a port or harbour or something. Puerto Rico? Guinea? Isn't that an island we stopped at? And he's working with or behalf of May Cruz. I think… yes, a big office, a vice president. Something to do with the Carrib-league. And rocket launch pads… oh, I think they are a space launch facility as well. Maybe… yes, I think rivals. Some competition between their facility and this one. Ortiz was sent to infiltrate the project here and report back to his bosses with information on how things are going. Not to sabotage, but to identify things that could be exploited. There's a code. Marius – I need you to remember this – alpha five dash golf, hash, nine, four, comma, three, seven, six, pappa, Juliet, six, Juliet, five, tango, two, percent sign, foxtrot, seven, one. I think that's a password for his computer or something – its burned into his memory very strongly, very important to him. He tried to send some information just before the attack, but he's not worried about it. He does want to report back about the attacks though, he thinks that they are important, and show a lot of local resistance. There's a lot of history here, he's been doing guarding on various facilities. But often he's been transferred over to other areas of Novatech, to go spy on them, or gather intel. Always seems to be reporting back to the same two people. His computer has a vanishing thing on it. I'm not sure what it is, but it only sends data out, and only at certain times. He thinks there's a lot of corruption going on here, some deals being made, and he was starting to investigate that. There's lots more thoughts here, and memories – but none of it feels related." She broke the link and looked up into the darkened forest, the ranks of memories fading away from her until they vanished, leaving her only with her own experiences.

"Does that make sense?"

"A vanishing SAN? Time based security measure – good to limit the chances of other people trying to get access. Can you bring his computer back? Or put it to one side? I'll see what I can find on it then. What you had sounds like a passcode for a secure section or vault."

"Can do, Hunter. I'll come back now and bring them along. I guess the next thing to do is have a look inside our mage friend's head…"

Shimazu picked up the body of Agent Ortiz and carried him back through the forest to the clearing, while Kai scooped up the medical kit and followed along behind, and they both followed Tads along the barely perceptible trail back to the village. She dropped off the deck with Hunter, then moved behind the mage once more, and nodded to Aswon. He in turn shifted his grip on the spear, standing fully upright and moving closer to the prisoner.

"Please. Don't resist. It'll be easier that way…"

Tads probed at his mind, feeling him unconsciously resisting and trying to make his thoughts slide sideways, distracting her from the information that she wanted. It wasn't that strong though – more the residual effects of security training and indoctrination than a conscious effort to deceive her, so she ignored it and pressed on, rifling through his mind and picking out the details she wanted.

When she was done, she backed off again and turned away, shielding herself from him and then relayed the information.

"It does sound like he's been telling the truth. Rod Fennyhough – though he calls himself Roderic now as he feels its more mystical and mysterious or something. He's twenty-four and was found to be magically capable a few years ago when the corporation did some testing, then he was put in the accelerated magical combat training program. Taught to summon elementals, and he's learnt some spells that are useful for working out in the field. He can throw fire, send blasts of mental and physical energy, create a small illusion on his sword and do some basic first aid kind of treatment on people. He did forge the sword himself, and it's keyed to him – not magically bonded, but unique and very special to him."

"We really don't want to take that then, I think. Would be super easy for them to do a ritual track on an item like that."

"I agree, Aswon. And it's not that good – I think Shimazu might break it for giving swords a bad name. But the gem in the hilt is bonded to him, and that's very definitely trackable, at least until we did something to re-use it. I'm not sure we have a use we need for it right now, though. Rod works for Novatech Africa-west, which covers from Nigeria up to Tunisia, and everything west of that. His boss is this Alfonso character, a dwarf, and Rod's mental image of him shows him holding a flaming blue longsword – that looks a lot more like something Shimazu would hold than his own does. He's got a dozen or more people in his magical circle, all like him, that report in to this Alfonso character, and they're responsible for magical security of buildings and operations. A lot of the time they're putting up wards around places, or binding elementals to them as guards, or investigating a magical occurrence."

"The office here reports in to some place called London, which is their regional headquarters. And Rod here thinks he heard a rumour about a team of specialists being sent to help out with the situation – all people in the blue group, which means they're likely to all have at least a few advanced magical traits or specialisms. But that was only as a by-product. He's also heard about a group called 'Shadowbringers' coming in from the UCAS. These made him want to wet his pants, it felt like. They're all supposed to be red-level casters, with pretty much unlimited funding and personal guards, sent in to deal with magical threats and disturbances. I guess we count under both of those categories! But Rod here has latched on to some of the rumours pretty hard – he's got aspirations, if nothing else. Apparently, they don't need to submit expenses for summoning materials, which he thinks is one of the most amazing things he's ever heard of. And he also really wants to be one because of the aura of fear and mystery around them – rumours abound of them just disappearing people that have failed them or let the company down. Hence the name, I guess. But apparently this group is heading here at the moment, and that's why this ambush was set up."

"I don't follow?" Kai said, looking over towards her with a frown on his face.

"Well, it seems this project is being run by Angel Desiree, who works for Novatech now, but used to be the Nigerian Finance Minister before she joined up. Lots of corruption and back room deals, trading on personal relationships and that kind of thing. Rod doesn't think of this as a bad thing – he just wants to be in on it, it seems. But Angel has been running the project and needs to keep it on track, and it slipping behind schedule and over cost is going to look very bad for her. So she went to talk to Alfonso to get some extra help with the ambush, to make sure they could catch the guerrillas and stop the sabotage. And Alfonso in turn impressed on Rod how important it was to sort the situation out. So he's feeling pretty bad about this now, and is wondering how he's going to salvage the situation and report back. But he does seem to have taken Aswon at his word that he's not going to be killed out of hand."

"So did he lie? I don't remember hearing all that from him?" Hunter asked bluntly.

"He's not told a lie as far as I can work out – just not expanded on his answers fully. I can't say that I blame him – but I don't think he's failed to answer a question." Tads chose her words carefully, aware that his treatment was likely to depend on her statement, and not wanting to be responsible for any suffering. While he had been free and a threat to them, she was prepared to fight him and cause injury and possibly even death. But now as a prisoner, she felt responsible for him to some extent, and certainly didn't want to hurt him. No matter how strange some of his opinions were and how self-absorbed he seemed. After all, if that was where the bar for punishment was moved to, it was going to lead to a lot of people they met being judged very harshly…

"What have you got from the computer, then, Hunter?"

"Interesting stuff, Kai. Let me read you some. There's only a few reports – it looks like after they've been uploaded to the vanishing SAN and connected back to his office, they're purged from the local device. Fairly robust security really, but not surprising if he was spying on his own corporation…" He sent a mental 'tap' on a button down the data-link cable, and the machine obligingly displayed the few messages located on it.

"There seems to be some kind of local insurgency at work here. I'm hearing rumours of several camps having been destroyed - not just damaged - with significant damage to the project infrastructure. Local assets are being very tight lipped, and I suspect they are aware that there are political factors at play here. I have included some passing conversations and a few captures of trideo doing the rounds in the bunk blocks - apologies for the poor quality, but they clam up as soon as there is an outsider around, so I had to hide cameras in the air-vents."

"We have been deployed in the deep forest, riding in Roughnecks. Apparently the sub-manager for the area, Clarance Desiree, is desperate to make up for losses and has hatched a plan, approved by his mother, to ambush whatever force comes in to rescue the village. Intel suggests we may have a small group of light infantry, with modern equipment, but we're assured no heavy weapons or fire support, and we should have overwhelming magical security from the local mage unit. I remain sceptical."

"We've just had the go-code sent. Squirting all info I have so far, just in case - all units are moving in, apparently we have troops on the ground in the village. Will report in later with post-battle results and findings. Agent Ortiz."

"They really had no idea who they were tangling with then." Aswon sounded almost sorry for them – hardly surprising as he'd probably been in a similar situation in the past where the higher-ups had committed forces without an accurate assessment of the enemy.

"And what exactly where their objectives?"

"Two-fold, Marius. First was to capture the villagers and use them as human shields in one of the work camps. Second was to use as bait, to draw us out and into the open, and then use the forces in the APCs to try and kill or capture us."

"So, there is likely to be a narrow window of success or failure. And we have probably already expended that time. I have almost finished recovering this vehicle. I suggest that we leave as soon as I have completed my work, before more forces come to investigate."

"What do we do with all the captured guards and the wounded?" Aswon asked, looking around at the rest of the team.

"Leave them to the villagers. Let them decide their fate." Marius suggested.

"You know, that might not be a bad idea." The team turned to look at Kai with incredulity. "No, hang on a second. We have a word with the villagers first – we don't let them go savage. But from a politics point of view, think this scenario through. Novatech come to investigate what happened to the attack, and find the wrecks of three APCs, a bunch of dead – sure. But all the rest of the troops are captured and detained, but being treated fairly and well, as prisoners of war. The villagers explain that the spirit of the mountain defeated the bad men, then left them to be returned home. News like that will spread like wildfire amongst the troops. They got hammered and lost badly, really badly. But instead of being killed or tortured, they were just captured – like they're impotent or not really important, and just handed back. It's a big PR move, and puts Novatech on the defensive, and makes it hard for anyone to claim they need harsher measures to deal with the threat."

"I'm not sure, Kai – that all sounds a bit… dubious."

"Maybe, Aswon. But then also think about the message that Hunter found. The person setting this up was Clarence Desiree. Want to bet it was a son or cousin or brother or something like that of this Angel Desiree? They're trying to keep a lid on things, and the family is trying to hide or cover things up. If this magical group comes in from oversees, and finds out that an attack was stopped cold, but most of the troops were captured and returned alive, but that attack was organised by a family member of someone running the project… well I reckon they're going to spend as much time investigating those relations as putting boots on the ground out here."

"So what do we do with this lot, then?"

"Well, if Tads is willing, can we alter the memories on this mage fella to forget all about us, and we'll just leave him behind with the rest – bound and gagged and with a blindfold to stop him casting spells. And the secret agent one – can you influence him to keep reporting in, and doing what he's doing, but put the worst possible spin on it? Anything we can do to keep the corporation fighting internally is a good thing!"

"I do not like the idea of leaving the mage behind here. He could cause a great deal of trouble."

"He'll be restrained and stuff, Marius. It's not that big a risk."

"I still do not like it. I would rather we find another way." He saw Aswon grinning like a lunatic. "What?"

"I've had a thought – it's a bit off the wall, but it might really help, especially as he's a mage and his mind is quite robust. We go find something in the woods that's got a bit of a bite or sting to it. We should be able to find something out there… and we get him bitten. Wait for the venom to go to work, and THEN Tads does her stuff. It'll make it a lot easier for her if he's already struggling to walk or talk, or think straight. But also then he'll not be able to make sense of what is going on. If we dropped him off a short walk from one of the camps, on the road, the patrols will probably find him. And if they examine him, he'll be talking nonsense, but clearly having been bitten by something, and it'll potentially be a day or two before they can start to interrogate him properly. By then Tads' magic will have long since faded away and just left the memories in place."

"That's twisted." Hunter grinned at him. "I like it."

"It also means we don't have to kill him, and it won't anger the initiate group, or give them much to investigate hopefully. Just one of their number ran away from an attack, got bitten in the woods and wandered around for a bit while delirious. Stops a lot of the investigation from even getting started hopefully."

"Well, I have finished lashing the ATV down, and I'm loading the gear back on top of it. When that is done, I intend to start the engines and get us out of here. So whatever you are going to do, make it fast!"

Aswon headed out in the forest, looking for something nasty – but not too nasty, that he could try and capture or immobilise for long enough to use. Tads got to work casting her spells on the unconscious Ortiz first, subtly influencing him to try and view all of his data in the worst possible light for any given situation and to report that back to his superiors in the Carrib League office. Hunter stood watch over the mage while Kai gagged and blindfolded him, then bound his hands behind him with some of the wire they had been using to bind the villagers when they loaded them into the trucks.

"Don't worry – this is just a precaution. We're going to drop you off near one of your camps, and all you have to do is walk down the road, back to safety." Roderic nodded in relief, disliking the treatment but realising that this wasn't going to be a deal he could change. He might possibly get off a spell and manage to take Hunter out in front of him – but he was unlikely to resist whatever Kai did behind him, and he'd already spied the heavy-duty taser in his hand.

Aswon returned a minute later holding a writhing snake that coiled and flexed around his arm, while the mouth was open and fangs extended, his hand gripping it just behind the open jaws. He moved close to the restrained mage, and motioned for Hunter to grab him and hold him.

"Hey – what's going on? Why are you pulling up my trousers?"

"Sorry chummer, this is for the best." Aswon moved the snake into range and the angry creature lashed out, biting deep into the exposed calf muscle. Rod thrashed and writhed, but Hunter held him firmly in place. A few moments later they saw his leg go into spasm as the venom went to work, and he started to twitch. Aswon pulled on the snake, working the fangs back out of the flesh and then throwing the snake towards the forest edge, watching it slither off back into cover, then nodded to Tads.

While the mage was distracted by the pain lancing through his leg and the weird sensations it was sending through his body, Tads cast her spells against him, trying to erase the last several minutes of his memories, and instead twisting his perception, adding in weird details about a tree-root that instead reared up and bit him, of wandering in the forest, lost and alone, his leg dripping venom, afraid and confused. She didn't know if it would last that long – he was fairly strong-willed, as most mages tended to be (at least the ones that were successful – the unsuccessful ones tended to cast their spells and give themselves a brain haemorrhage from the effort).

Kai headed over to the villagers and explained what they needed to do, persuading them that it was in their interests not to bully or abuse the prisoners, but just to keep them restrained until someone from Novatech turned up to reclaim them – but that they absolutely should steal all of their guns, armour, electronics and other devices and go hide them in the forest, to sell later…

They weren't done by the time Marius had the bird reloaded, but when he started the engines, they hustled along – especially when he ramped up the engines and made it clear that he was seriously thinking about taking off with whoever was on board, and leaving the rest to walk. They piled on board, carrying the twitching mage and securing him next to the side door temporarily, while Hunter worked out a course to the nearest intact construction site that would allow them to drop him off. The flight took no more than a few minutes, and they didn't even have to stop – Tads just levitated him out of the doorway and lowered him down to the road, twisting him round to ensure that he was facing the right way and watching him stagger and hobble up the road, dried blood caked on his left leg from the throbbing bite wound.

Moments later, they banked sharply and headed towards the new position that Hunter had identified, still near the top of the plateau but about fifteen kilometres from their previous position. All of the electronic jamming was turned off, and they engaged the stealth systems, dropping down to fly nap of the earth along roads, through ravines and across open land barely above bush height. Tads called forth a few more spirits, replacing those that had been damaged or destroyed in the fight with the fire elementals, and ensured that the craft was wrapped in the protective concealment of a spirt once more when they had dropped Roderic off.

When they arrived at the new location, they could see that the treeline was more pronounced here, the trees closer together and thicker, and there was no way they could hide the tilt-wing directly under the canopy – but the thicker, taller and stronger trees gave them good options to attach the cammo net to, extending a barrier down over the top of the craft as they constructed a huge tent of the netting over the top of the aircraft. The team got the netting up as quickly as they could, with all of them lending a hand to get them concealed as quickly as possible.

"Do we need to let Phoss and Ury know about this?"

"I think we should, Hunter – I'll let them know at dawn when we check in."

"Fair enough. So, how long are we staying up here, then, do you think, Kai?"

"I think we need to wait for at least a day, maybe two." There was a disappointed sigh from Marius, but Kai just shrugged his shoulders then heaved on one of the straps for the netting, pulling it into place. "The village got attacked, and if we hadn't been there, they would be on their way to a prison camp effectively. Sure, the ambush would have failed, but we'd still have cost the villagers their liberty. I'm not happy with that, and we need to teach them that kind of thing isn't gonna work."

"I agree." Aswon didn't surprise anyone with his pronouncement. "But I also agree with Marius – we should think about when we're leaving. We must have an end goal in mind, otherwise there will always be one more thing we can do here, one more task, or job. And I know we're not being paid for this. We might get some value from scavenging equipment like the ATV, but it's not going to cover the fuel to get here, let alone the price of any repairs if we do take damage. So I think we should be telling that pair that we're intending to leave fairly imminently."

"So, how about calling your village and seeing what they have to say about things?"

"I can do – but remember they're hundreds of kilometres away – word may not have reached them yet."

"WAIT! COMMS OFF, NOW!" Marius shouted out a command, his head suddenly snapping around to the west. He grabbed his deck and looked at it for a split-second and then fired off a bunch of commands and the team heard the systems on the tilt-wing suddenly fade away as he dropped all electrical power, shutting down the systems with sudden brutality. A moment later he hit the master breaker on his remote control deck, killing the power on that too. The rest of the team grabbed their devices and communicators and turned them off or pulled the batteries quickly, not knowing why but recognising the importance of his alarm.

Aswon caught a distant crack and turned his head to the north-west, zeroing in on a location and then flinching as the series of sonic booms arrived one after another.

"Looks like a bunch of fast jets, flying line abreast?" He gestured in the general direction, having caught a brief glimpse of a tiny but fast-moving target flying across the star-studded sky.

"Drones, I think – not aeroplanes. Still jet powered, but likely flying with a programmed pilot. Running a sensor sweep." He stared out that way, then reached for his deck, cursing quietly under his breath as he realised that he didn't have any sensor information or maps at the moment. "Just an estimate, but it looks like they were flying over the ambush site, and several kilometres either side. I guess the mage made it back to camp and raised the alarm."

"How much of a threat are they?"

"Well, they can outrun us – at least in the short term. Fuel capacity is limited, but they are all capable of speeds well over Mach 1. And likely to be armed with missiles of some kind – maybe air-to-ground strike missiles, maybe air-to-air. Possibly a mix of both. The sensors are likely to be at least moderately competent on them as well – we do not want to be caught in the open. But with the netting up and the spirit to hide us, and no electronic footprint, we should be ok."

"A question… the information we have about Novatech and what they're doing. Can we sell that and make money? Like we did with the shares in Fuchi after we hit their oil-wells?" Tads asked, looking around at them. "I don't know how it works, but if we've caused millions of Nuyen of damage, and they're sending super-fast jets after us – can we use that?"

"Maybe – it's going to be useful to someone for sure. Especially any information about infighting like the fact that one part of Novatech is spying on another."

"Useful yes – I'm sure I can post this on Shadowland and get some use of it. But Novatech isn't publicly traded, it's a private corp – so there's no shares floating around in the wild. Nice idea, Tads, but not going to work in this case…" Hunter looked up at the sky and swung his head around, looking and listening for any indication that the drones were going to be coming back. "We safe to turn back on?"

"Yes, probably. They looked to be flying a straight course, not deviating. Likely they will continue until they hit a programmed waypoint and then loop around to return to base and land. Probably the easiest mission profile that could have been loaded into their systems if they were scrambled – go from A to B and search for targets. Engage and destroy if found, but then return to base. At least that is how I would have set it up if I had to. Mind you, I would have anticipated such a situation and have worked out a contingency for it…"

"But that's because you're a good pilot, Marius." Aswon looked up as well, scanning the horizon from their position. "No sign of them, and I can't hear them anymore either. So we're probably good to start turning things on, but keep them in low power at a guess. Just in case." Marius nodded to him. "On the posting to Shadowland thing, Hunter – if you're doing that, can you go somewhat light on the details about the magical situation – probably best to keep them guessing there. But dropping in the specific names of the people running the show here might be good, will help apply pressure to them."

"Won't be a problem – I don't understand most of what you're talking about at the best of times…" Hunter winked at him and Aswon didn't bother arguing. He knew that a lot of the opposition that Marius and Hunter showed to their magic was lip-service, neither of them were stupid or uneducated – in fact, both were so far ahead of the normal levels of intelligence it was scary. Aswon was pretty sure Marius was by far the most intelligent member of the team, and his ability to recite random facts he'd heard only once several months ago was intimidating. But for all that, seeing someone with the size and power of Hunter and finding out that there was a razor sharp intelligence hiding behind one of the ugliest faces imaginable and a defensive barrier of sarcasm and dry humour was possibly even worse.

He wandered away from the others a little and powered his phone back up, trying to get a signal, before just shunting his phone through Marius and his sat phone after a minute of waiting for any kind of signal to register. A few minutes later he returned to the group.

"Well, I chatted with the shaman back at the village. My village that is. I told him some of the things that had happened, like the train accident, and stuff catching fire – general stuff, without details so they can't give anything away by accident, or be tagged in having any part of it. I did tell him that Novatech is starting to retaliate though, and to keep their heads down and noses clean. And I asked him how long we should stay here, or if he thought we'd finished what we needed to do. And… well. He didn't give me a clear answer."

"What did he have to say?" Kai cocked an eyebrow at him, wondering what response he'd get.

"That it was up to us, not them. They were just the messengers from the spirits, not the people setting us the task. It is the land that must be sated and protected, and that if we want answers from anyone, we have to ask the land. If we think we're ready to do that, then we go back to the village with the masks, and he'll assemble some people to sing us a song to talk to the spirits."

"So – do we do that?"

"Well, I hope everyone still has their masks. It might be that once we've spoken to Phoss and Ury that we do head back to the village. Maybe visit the nearest airport and refuel. But being away from here means we can't be found for a while, and could send the Novatech forces round the bend looking for something that's not here any more. On the other hand, it could give them time to dig in and prepare some really nasty surprises for us." He shrugged. "No way of knowing really. But I agree, we need to stay until after dawn, so we can warn Phoss and Ury, and not leave them hanging. Maybe make a call then?"

"Marius – could they have other drones up doing surveillance – quiet ones?"

"Absolutely, Tads. They would be much slower, but they could be arriving in the next hour or two, flying high and silent. The Novatech versions of my own surveillance drones, with a big lifting bag and a small gondola underslung. And if they have enough power to get through the night, with a SunCell on the top and the weather down here, they will recharge in a few hours, and could stay on station almost indefinitely." That sent a sobering thought around the team, and more than one of them glanced up at the sky to look for anything up there…

The team bedded down, making sure they had their watch schedule set, and that they had their equipment ready and to hand. Hunter and Aswon in particular made sure their heavy weapons were set up and loaded with their anti-vehicle ammunition – if they got interrupted, it was likely to be a heavy strike force and they'd need all the firepower they could get.

Despite that, the rest of the night passed uneventfully, with no sign or sound of drones or enemy forces. Tads was awake at dawn to summon her spirits and give thanks to her totem, but as soon as she was done with their magical protections and she was sure Aswon was awake, she headed over to the clearing to see if there was a spirit waiting. What she found was both Phoss and Ury, both waiting for her in astral, their auras giving off a tangible glow of excitement.

"Good morning. I have news for you."

"Hey – we have news as well. Big news. We've got someone that wants to meet you. But we wanted to warn you first. Stay here for a moment, will you?" Phoss didn't wait for Tads to say anything or acknowledge her, but instead disappeared in the blink of an eye. She returned a moment later, a huge grin plastered across her face, and then she craned her neck back, looking upwards at the tiny patch of sky above the clearing. Moments later the sky was blocked out by a huge set of wings, scales glinting with the morning sunlight even in astral space, casting an orange hue over the clearing as the enormous dragon paused mid-flap, then pivoted on the spot and slowly descended. The wings folded up to fit through the gaps in the trees, defying physics and making it clear that flapping was more to make people watching feel comfortable than being something that was actually required for flight – especially in the astral realm. Tads took a few steps back, and watched as the forty-metre-long figure lowered gently into the clearing, making it suddenly feel very cramped indeed. The tail curled around the body, while the wings folded up into an almost vertical position, and the long saurian neck coiled around, raising the head up several metres but then peering down towards her, huge dark eyes staring past a long snout and a pair of nostrils that seemed like tunnels.

Tads didn't know who the dragon was, but she bowed deeply from the waist. She knew enough to recognise yet another creature with unfathomable power that far outmatched her own skills with magic, and for whom she wasn't even in the same continent physically. When she straightened up, the dragon nodded to her and then seemed to dissolve, contracting in on itself and fading away to reveal a slender humanoid female in the centre of where the body had been, dressed in jeans and a white shirt, with a long mane of auburn hair cascading down her shoulders, and two of the most piercing green eyes that Tads had ever seen.

"I would like to present to you our employer. M'lady, this is the shaman of which we spoke, the summoner of the spirit of the mountain."

"I am pleased to meet you. I have heard things about you. Good things." Tads couldn't help but be relieved, feeling that despite the apparent friendly greeting, that she was in a dangerous and risky position here. "I would speak with your team, though. I have an opportunity that I feel would be beneficial. But such things are best discussed face to face."

"Of course, M'lady." Tads took her cue from Phoss, giving another small bow of subservient acceptance. This dragon seemed much less angry than Aden, but Tads didn't want to push her luck – she suspected that any creature this powerful could be irritated by the smallest of things. "If I might beg your indulgence for just a moment though – I would like to warn my team that you are coming, so they do not panic. Please excuse me." She bowed once more, wondering if the wry grin on the face was a good sign or one that boded just as badly for her as Kai's had done for Roderic. She flitted away and back to camp, jumping back in her body and then raised her voice.

"Everyone! Get up! We've got visitors coming to the camp in the next few seconds. FRIENDLY visitors!" She pushed down on the end of the gun barrel that Hunter was raising with one hand while he rubbed sleep from his eyes with the other. "Be calm, and for the sake of us all, be polite!"

"Who is it, Tads? Shaman? The spirit of the land?"

"No, much bigger. Oh." Tads suddenly realised that she'd effectively told a dragon to wait, and then put her on hold. "Big orange dragon. Be right back."

"What the hell is she talking about, Aswon?" Hunter asked sleepily.

"A big orange dragon, apparently. Which is news – I think good news. I only know of one huge orange dragon…but only rumours."

"I've heard of one as well – maybe. Someone posts on Shadowland as 'Orange Queen' and there's rumours they're either a dragon or acting on their behalf. Name I heard mentioned was 'Hestaby', but it's not confirmed."

"That matches what I've heard as well."

Tads flitted back to the clearing and materialised once more. "I do apologise for keeping you waiting, but most of the team were asleep after last night's battle against the polluters." She held her breath, hoping that her statement would be taken as an explanation and not an excuse. The figure just gave her a sympathetic smile and nodded at her. "But they should be ready for you by the time we get there. If you'd like to follow me?" She rose up above the trees, keeping her speed low, and watched as the metahuman woman transformed back into her draconic visage, and rose up to match her height, with Phoss and Ury floating up beside her, two tiny satellites orbiting their celestial mother.

She turned and led the way, travelling slowly. She was certain the dragon could have outpaced her with no effort at all, but Phoss and Ury were another matter – as far as she had seen so far, she herself could have run rings around them. But she led them towards the camp, moving in half kilometre jumps and giving them chance to catch up as they travelled from the clearing to the new campsite, then descending. The rest of the team had made it out of bed and into clothing, and were standing by the tilt-wing, armed to the teeth and looking around with confusion – at least until Aswon looked up and spotted them coming. She saw his mouth open slightly in surprise, before he took several steps back and cleared a space for them to land in, waving for the rest of the team to join him.

The dragon descended as before, gliding down as if strung on wires rather than moving under her own propulsion. Tads realised that both Marius and Hunter were staring up at them as well, meaning that the dragon had materialised fully, making herself appear present on the physical plane as well as the astral. The dragon landed, and then did the same transformation as before, collapsing in on herself to become a slender and attractive redhead. Phoss and Ury landed besides her, forming an honour guard of sorts – though it struck Tads that this would be purely ceremonial.

"Good morning to you, and welcome to our camp." Kai gave a huge grin of welcome and bowed theatrically. "I'm Kai, and this is Shimazu, Aswon, Hunter and Marius. I believe of course that you have already met Tads." He gestured with a couple of fingers to each of the team members as he said their names, but maintained eye contact with the figure in front of him.

"Good morning to you, Kai. Phoss and Ury have relayed some details of your team to me, and I sense an opportunity arising here. You see… I've got an idea…" She returned Kai's grin, and then there was a strange noise from behind Kai, a gunshot slap of plasticised flesh hitting together. He glanced back and saw Marius peering at him from between fingers where his palm had just slapped into his face while a look of horror grew on his face.

"Sounds amazing. Let's provisionally say yes, of course, but please feel free to elaborate." Kai's smile grew impossibly wider and he felt the look of horror from Marius as he signed them up for another dose of chaotic adventure…