Date 03/01/2060, Location 39.67442, 62.56576

On the morning of the third, the team arose early and split up into two groups, leaving their cheap fleapit of a motel after a brief breakfast.

Tads and Shimazu took the bikes, and headed south, out of town and to the farmland out on the plain. Finding a side trail from the main road, they rode out for a while, until they were surrounded by farmland. Hundreds of workers would tend the fields for most of the year, but the hard and barren winter soil needed no work yet, and the area was deserted. Tads settled down on her haunches, and let her hands spread in front of her, examining them minutely. Her eyes dilated slightly as she perceived astrally and examined her aura closely, watching the subtle flickers of astral energy from her sense of self curiosity and examination.

Shimazu stood to the side, quietly, eyes unfocussed as he stood still and let his mind wander. The fields, mountains and sky all blurred into shapeless colours as he relaxed; his breathing slowed along with his heart rate. Then, with a sudden spring of motion, his arm crossed his body and his hand unerringly found the grip of his sword. He grasped it firmly, drew and his arm straightened driving the tip of the sword through the air like the tip of a whip. The motion stopped as abruptly, the sword extended from his body in a straight line, angled slightly upwards and held at shoulder height. If an opponent had been in front of him, the wound would have run from right hip up to the left shoulder. Carefully, he moved nothing but his head, checking his foot position, the rotation of his arm, the position of his grip on the sword. The arm bent and sheathed the weapon, he returned to a casual stance, and let his eyes defocus and his breathing slow again….

Tads ignored the sound of the drawing steel, minute grunt of approval and swish as it was sheathed over and over again. Her senses were concentrating on the field, reaching down into the living manasphere of the earth, her mind questing underground and searching for life. Worms, ants, grubs… she felt them moving under the surface, going about their business. She examined them, studying the interplay of energy present in their living forms. Her mind brushed over the roots of some hardy perennial plant, and she compared the aura of the plant to the animals. For hours, she ignored the demands of her body for movement and relaxation, instead forcing her mind to focus on the flow of mana through the world.

She felt the arrival of the two workmen from their auras, feeling the a mix of curiosity and alarm as they moved from the tedious task of checking the fences for damage from winter storms to wondering what the two strangers were doing. The wash of sudden terror they felt as the sword appeared to materialise in Shimazu's hand as he turned to face them. A vague sense of his raised eyebrow and silent question of "do you want to go about your business?" She ignored the mundane though, trusting Shimazu to deal with their inquiry and any issues with their presence.

Aswon, Marius, Kai and Hunter piled into the Traban, and drove across town a little, heading for the auto-dealers. They spent the next few hours working through the list of supplies required by the tribe, slowly amassing a small trove of cam shafts, timing belts, spark plugs and a myriad of other things required to keep a clan on the move in the wild lands. At times communications were hard when they found dealers with no English skills, but between Hunter and Aswon they solved most of those, and where they couldn't they found that Marius could show technical specifications and slowly work through to what they wanted. Kai moved in for the negotiations over price, and between them they managed to secure everything on the list – taking the small stuff with them and arranging for the big stuff to be dropped off at the yard.

On the way back from the last dealership, Aswon asked them to take a slightly different route, directing them past Almoni Ko'Chasi Mosque and down a side street, until they pulled up outside a large and shabby looking warehouse. Outside, hanging from the roof overhang were some battered and aged mannequins dressed in outdoor clothes. Skeptically, the team pulled up and followed Aswon in, discovering inside a large warehouse of outdoor and survival clothing, accessories and utility equipment.

They spent a while shopping, picking up some more armoured jumpsuits and secure clothing, waterproofs and other items that would be useful such as a set of fishing rods, reels, tackle boxes and suchlike. As they browsed, they were under the watchful eye of two staff members, who after a curt welcome, didn't speak to them again.

With a small pile of stuff to purchase, Aswon approached one of the staff. After a quick look around, he asked tentatively if he could get any ammunition here. The man examined him for a moment, looked at the others, then nodded – and guided him down to the back of the warehouse and through a semi-concealed door into the next unit over. Here the walls held a variety of pistols, rifles and a few other weapon types. The others followed him in, and soon they were examining the hardware, comparing it to what they knew.

Kai spotted a hunting bow, made of advanced composites with multiple pulleys and an integral laser sight, and headed over to that, and was soon pointing at boxes of shafts and set of interchangeable screw in hunting tips whilst the unsmiling staff member assembled a new pile. Hunter was pointing at pistols and using a combination of gestures, Uzbeki and English had acquired a large calibre European model called a "Grafsvarta", which was added to the pile. Several boxes of hollow point and explosive ammo were requested, and the staff raised an eyebrow.

"Going hunting. Very dangerous wildlife", said Kai. "Um… wild…. Badgers. Yeah, very large, very dangerous."

The man stared back at him, unblinking, then after a moment said "Albatta".

Aswon leant in and whispered into Kai's ear "he said 'sure'. I'm not convinced, but he doesn't seem to care." Kai shrugged and shared a look with Aswon, and the team started adding gear to the pile.

Hunter looked thoughtful for a moment, then also came over, and tried to explain what he wanted. Between pictures shown on phones and some discussion back and forth they determined that yes, what he was asking for was indeed a rail mounted grenade launcher to fit to his assault rifle.

"Badger?" said the clerk, moving his hands quite wide apart. Hunter and Kai nodded in agreement whilst Aswon stood shaking his head in amazement. The clerk however went into a back room and then came out with a large plastic box, with the familiar Ares logo on each face. Opening it up, he pulled the foam and packing materials out of the way and then hefted the Ares Antioch grenade launcher, showing it to Hunter – who nodded emphatically. It was repackaged and added to the pile.

The two men added up the combined totals, and showed Kai the total who just nodded and waved for Hunter to pay the man. Hunter checked the amount, just over twenty thousand, pulled out the credstick and then keyed in a generous tip – a very generous tip as it happened. The clerk saw the amount paid, and called over his co-worker and they engaged in a rapid discussion – far too rapid and full of slang for Aswon to follow. A moment later, the clerk reached over and gently grasped Hunter by the forearm, waving him forward and into the room behind the counter. He pulled aside a curtain, and there lying on the floor was a large plastic crate in a dull green. Heavy duty clasps were flicked open and the top lifted up, revealing a set of four, disposable light warhead launchers.

"Badger" said the man, quite emphatically. Hunter smiled, and then rubbed finger and thumb together, saw the price, and then nodded. They grabbed their purchases, and with a great deal of effort managed to cram them all into the car and headed back to Kirils.

When they got back to the yard, they met up with Tads and Shimazu, who had not long returned from their day in the countryside Tads had an idea which she shared with the rest of the group… why not take the tribe a present? They could purchase a cow, from a slaughterhouse here in Tashkent and take it back to them, and present it to the whole tribe. Initially they were unsure – but after discussion came to the conclusion that this was not a bad plan, and set out to find and purchase a dressed carcass. They figured that it was only a few hours south on the highway, and given the lack of heating in the new trailer and the ambient temperature – and that it would be consumed almost immediately – the lack of refrigeration shouldn't be an issue either.

With all of the car parts, supplies, new guns, ammunition and fresh sets of armour and armoured clothing, and with nearly 700kg of carcass swinging in the rear trailer, the team were finally ready and bade farewell to Kiril, and to Tashkent. They pulled out and headed south, taking the main route towards Samarkand.

As they left the city, they became aware of a large truck on the road, travelling at speed and closing quickly. Aware of the recent activity with the Triad, amongst other things, the team prepared weapons and started to pay close attention to the pursuing vehicle. Tads summoned a spirit of the plains, but her attention was not focussed on the summoning as much as it should have, and it seemed to be quite draining – she certainly spent the next few minutes rubbing at her temples anyway. They watched as the truck got closer and closer, settling in behind them. After a brief discussion, Marius looked around carefully, and spotted a sharp turning off the highway onto a dirt track leading to fields, waited until the last moment and then violently swung the truck to the side, barrelling down the turning at a dangerous speed. His skills, and cyberware, were more than up to the task though, and even with the weight of the trailer, he pulled the manoeuvre off with ease. They saw the other truck brake, but then continue, and as it passed they saw the ID tags and vehicle livery – it looked French? Confused, they pulled over and watched it disappear up the road and out of sight. Marius activated one of his new drones, and sent the Dalmation heading up the road in pursuit at high altitude, to keep an eye on the truck and see if it stopped to lay in an ambush.

Kai asked Tads to do a quick magical check around the area, which she promptly did, and reported back a few moments later that it appeared clear, with no sign of astral over-watch or spirits present.

After ten minutes Marius got the truck turned around, and then headed down the road. Using the telemetry from the observing drone, he could tell that the French truck was now doing about 65kph – so he slowed to the same speed, to keep a reasonable distance between them.

Tads checked the speed of their vehicle and decided to take a chance, and projected her form out of the truck, surveying the area with her astral senses. As she did so, she almost immediately spotted a spirit watching the truck, pursuing them from high above. She could feel the alarm radiating from it, and it turned to "run", fleeing at speed back towards Tashkent. It was a watcher spirit, a short formed gathering of Mana that would last no more than half a day – so it had been summoned by someone in the last few hours, that was for sure. She flew in front of the truck and then with a lurch of effort rejoined her body as it drove through her astral form, and quickly advised the others of what she had seen, and asked if they wanted her to follow it. When they agreed, she threw herself out of her body again, and up into the growing darkness. Looking around though, she saw nothing – the vital few seconds taken to talk with the rest of the team had given the spirit enough time to break clear at the phenomenal speeds possible in astral space. She returned to her body again and informed the team that she was unable to pursue.

Now even more paranoid, the team followed the French truck, still under surveillance, watching as it stuck to a steady 65kph all the way past Jizzakh, and the site of the previous ambush, and then on to Samarkand, five hours later.

The paranoia slowly drained away as they continued to travel along the road, following the French truck that didn't do anything suspicious. After a while, Kai used the satellite phone to contact the Tribe, advising them that they were heading their way, and that they would arrive in a few hours – and that they had planned to be earlier, but were behind a single vehicle that was travelling suspiciously slowly. A poke from Aswon and a point to the rear trailer, and he also remember the carcass in the back, and advised the tribe to make sure they had the fire pit laid out, as they were bringing them something nice.

They drove around the edge of the city, then pushed on into the dark countryside and continued along the main road, Marius keeping a careful eye on the fuel reserves on the drone. Past Kattakurgan, Naoi and then turning south west to Bukhara and Turkmenabat, they retraced their steps. Finally after ten hours of driving, they got close to the nature reserve where they had been ambushed previously, and arrived just in time to see the tribe swarming over the French lorry, its driver already in captivity and engineers working to repair the electrical systems from their zapper strip attack.

As they drove along the highway, they saw the tribal vehicles lurch around and redeploy, as they raised weapons and made ready to attack – and the sat-phone rang. Confirming that they were the vehicle, they saw the ambushers relax, and go back to securing the French truck, making it ready to travel overland into the desert.

It was about 05:00 by the time they reached the camp, which had relocated to the north of their previous location. As they drove over a sand dune and spied the vehicles and tents concealed in a natural depression, Tads suddenly looked up and exclaimed "oh no!"

The others looked at her, wondering what had suddenly occurred.

"We told them we were coming, and that we were behind a single truck… we told them speed and timings, and let them know when to ambush him."

The others nodded. Yes, of course. They knew that – what was the point?

"But we also told them to get the fire pit going… but Kai didn't mention the cow at all, now I come to think about it. They don't know we've bought them meat! We told them to get the fire lit, and set them up to ambush the vehicle. Remember they were going to kill us all, when they'd captured us? What if they think we're going to eat him?"

The mood in the truck turned sombre, as they worked through the chain of logic, and wondered what they were going to do about this one…