Tads strode across the base towards the woods at a brisk walk, her breath misting around her as the temperature dropped. As soon as she stepped into the forested area, she stopped and took a deep breath, calming her mind and her breathing, then called upon the spirits. In astral space ahead of her, a sylph appeared with limbs and body made of tightly twisted vines and leaves, dark pits for eyes. Tads imparted the knowledge of the three people she sought, giving it a perfect image of their faces from her memories and send it to go and search the woodlands for them. It vanished, and she waited, concentrating on breathing deeply to calm her pulse. No more than fifteen seconds had passed before it reappeared and told her that it had located them, before it zoomed off at a speed she couldn't hope to match.
With a sigh, she started off down the trail in the direction it had gone, waiting for it to realise that she couldn't move that fast – at least not in the physical realm. Sure enough, moments later it returned with an exasperated expression on its face. It saw her following then zoomed off again, to return a few seconds later. After this, it stayed with her, leading her down the trail and past several forks, before guiding her into a clearing. She saw her three 'acolytes' standing under a small lantern hanging from a plastic stake, their faces relaxing into a welcome as they recognised her. The weak light from the hanging lamp illuminated only a few metres around itself, revealing a clearing in the pine forest, with snow now lying over thirty centimetres deep in a crisp white blanket.
"Sorry I am late!"
She paused to catch her breath and looked over the gathered troops. How did she want to do this, and how would it be best that she handled it?
"Before we go too much further, there are things I must tell you and information you must have, to understand and to make correct judgements, both now and in the future. Are you prepared to listen for a short time?" She saw them nod, and continued.
"I am Ivana Wolchock, known as Tads to my colleagues. I learnt of my magic whilst with the Nenets tribes of the far north for a period, and since I did not have expectations of being seen in the manner that they would see a tribal Elder, I was not prepared for this. But I have seen this work for them and it is their model I will follow, and if not - you will tell me what you need."
"I am a shaman of the totem Elk, and Elk's beliefs and teachings affect how I do things, what I do and sometimes even how I see the world. What does this mean to you and why should you care? You asked me here as wise-woman, but as any Elder, any person of authority that speaks to you, I have my own thoughts, biases and agendas. You must know this, because I will not be here for long, and if you choose another Elder, whether from your number or from another passing shaman, you must be aware of their biases and agendas."
"What do I mean by biases and agendas? In totemic terms, my benefactor Elk is an honourable guardian and protector of the land, who stands proudly against threats, and does not fear to fall in combat because he knows that others will follow to defeat the threat. When not fighting, Elk thinks and prepares. Other totems have other priorities. Bat is a traveller, who cannot stay in one place long. Mouse is clever, resourceful and curious. Wolf is loyal to his pack. But some shaman may embody less positive traits. Rats can be thieves and cowards, to pick a self-centred one, and others can be worse."
"What am I telling you? Beyond the military, be wary of whom you put your trust in. If they want something from you, ask yourself why and what they can do with it before you give. I don't say not to give, not to trust, just to be aware of the motivations of those you choose to put your trust in. You have come here to trust me, and I appreciate that, but I do not want to leave you to be taken advantage of by someone less scrupulous who might follow me. This does not mean that you should not follow lawful military orders!"
"I am not sure about me personally, but Elk is actually a really good fit for you. You are here to fight and defend your lands and your people and when not fighting, you train and prepare. You behave with honour in following commands given by your seniors and supporting your comrades. As long as you behave appropriately, I am sure that Elk will watch over you and be there to support you, even if you cannot feel or see him as I do."
"Now, you asked for this – what do you require of me?"
While they contemplated her speech, she had a moment to collect her own thoughts and look around her. She dropped into the astral realm, and her breath caught. Along with the three men who had seen her this morning, there were a dozen or more men standing out in the darkness, unmoving and deathly quiet. She'd had no idea they were there – and she reminded herself of where she was. Of course the soldiers would be trained in ambushes, moving quietly in the woods and remaining stealthy. But, as she examined them carefully, looking at their auras that glowed bright as day in astral space, she detected only curiosity and contemplation on what she had said, with no trace of belligerence or hostility.
"We want to you lead us in prayer to the Motherland?" said Iosif, who appeared to be the spokesman for the trio. "It's been a long time since any of us had someone to perform a sermon." Tads listened carefully, and thought she detected a note of pleading in his voice. They appeared to be sincere in their beliefs, but she guessed that without practice, without regular experience of expressing that belief, they felt uncertain about what it was they actually wanted. That was going to make things tricky...
She called them forward, into a rough circle and got them to link arms with the men on either side. She took them through a series of movements – shuffle left a step, shuffle left a step, stamp left foot. Shuffle right, shuffle right, and stamp right foot. All timed to match a steady cadence, kept by her clapping hands, she kept them moving, making sure they didn't get cold, then mirrored their movements in a smaller circle inside of them, making sure SHE didn't get too cold either. Once they were settled into a strong rhythm, she started to chant and let her thoughts pour out. It was a little outside her comfort zone to be sure and she wished that Kai was here. He just seemed to have a way with people that she wasn't sure she could ever emulate, but she did her best. Talking about the land, the roots of the mountains and the ancient bond between the people who guarded and protected the land, and the land that nourished and fed them in return she ensured she stayed well clear of discussing organised religion and the military as far as possible – she didn't need the Brigadier or the Captain having issue with her for undermining their authority or being seen to foment rebellion.
She kept the rite going for about fifteen minutes, thinking that it was long enough to feel authentic and meaningful, without going too long that they got bored or would notice that she really didn't know what she was doing. She stuttered a few times, and found herself wandering down tangents, having to fight to get herself back on track – but overall it wasn't terrible. At least they continued to chant and move, stamp and sway along with her. She wrapped up the 'service' and the group broke up, some of the soldiers seeming to quickly shun the body contact with others as if they felt slightly embarrassed – she guessed they were used to paying their respects to the land in a more quiet and solitary fashion than she had. She shrugged, and snorted a little to herself. Well, that's what you get for asking a tribal clanswoman to teach you her ways.
Iosef, Kiril and Anfim approached her, and as before it was Iosef that spoke.
"Thank you. That was… unexpected. But good!" He seemed to rush out the words in response to the frown that had started to form on Tads' face. "It was your own style I suppose, and we had not experienced it before. But I liked it. We were all together, and one with the land. So, when do we meet again?"
Tads took a deep breath, trying to work out what to do. But hey – at least they were asking her back again, so it can't have been that bad. Iosef spoke again before she had worked out what to do.
"How about in two days time. It's a new phase of the moon?" He spoke hopefully and a little hesitantly. When she nodded though, his look of worry turned into a smile.
"If something changes or comes up, or we end up called onto a mission – how do I contact you?"
"Just leave a note pinned to your door. The sentries will pass the word along to us."
Tads looked around and realised that most of the other troops had gone, slipping away quietly into the night. She hadn't heard them go, and they didn't leave that obvious a trail, and it drove home to her that she was dealing with professional soldiers. Certainly she didn't want to have people like this after her – they seemed quietly competent in their movement and stealth skills, so she could only assume they were just as good with breaking things and killing stuff – and she didn't want to be the target of that!
She asked the three if the sermon had been acceptable, and saw them squirm a little, before they struggled to find a few things that they had liked about it. She suspected they didn't want to offend her, but that it really hadn't been what they had expected from her. While they chatted, they grabbed the lantern, and the three of them escorted her out of the clearing and along the twisting paths back to the edge of the wooded area and out onto the gravelled path, before they split up and headed back to their individual barracks. Tads looked around, then headed for the darkened and hunched bulk of the admin centre.
She wound her way through the ground floor corridors again, retracing her steps to the infirmary. It was quiet at this time of night, with most of the patients either trying to sleep or reading quietly under angled lights. She saw a few waves and smiles from the people that she had treated and helped along the way, which she returned as she walked the length of the ward to the Doctor's office. The door was slightly ajar, and she could see Dr Astirdar tapping away on her computer – presumably catching up with her notes. A gentle rap on the doorframe was enough to inform her of her presence though, and the Doctor stretched and then stood up, coming to the door.
"Oh, it's you! Hello. Have you come to check up on your patients?"
"Well, not really. I'd mostly come to see if you had any new patients that needed some help with their recovery."
"Ahh, right. Well in that case, come with me. I have something that your talents can probably help with." Dr Astridar led her to three beds all on the same side of the room. In the beds were three sleeping men, swaddled in bandages around their midriffs and shoulders, with neck braces on and significant bruising showing on their arms and shoulders. "These three were caught in an accident in the motor-pool. Working on an APC, and there was some kind of mishap with a jack, and it rolled back off the ramps and caught them. Severe crush injuries, with damage to ribs and lungs…"
Tads listened with mounting discomfort as the Doctor read out the injuries and effects in a dry and emotionless voice, cataloguing the damage done to their bodies as if she was reading a cake recipe. For Tads, her imagination provided the gruesome details of their injuries, but also helpfully filled in the feelings of horror, pain and despair as they were trapped by the heavy vehicle, feeling the pain and injuries mounting up under the crushing vice like force. She held up a hand to stop the doctor from continuing.
"I just need to know if they're all ok with me using my magic on them, that they don't have an objection to this on a religious basis."
"Well I don't know about tha…" the doctor broke off for a moment, and stared at her. The seconds ticked by, then she turned the page of notes over, and looked at it carefully her eyes tracking back and forth a few times. "Oh no, look – here it is." Despite what she said, the clipboard was still angled away from her, and the Doctor made no effort to actually show her. "It says here that the nurse has checked with all three, and they expressly gave their permission for magical healing to be performed. Well, that's all cleared up then." The doctor raised her eyes, staring straight at her. Tads felt that she'd missed something here – but drained from a busy day of warding and then the pressure and stresses of an impromptu sermon, she just nodded her head in acceptance.
"I need to take them out into the woods ideally. Or at least out of this building." The Doctor looked bemused by this, so Tads tried to explain the concept of the mild mana warping in the infirmary, caused by the general nature of despondency and gloom. She wasn't sure she made much sense, but the doctor eventually nodded when she didn't give up, and agreed to have an orderly push the trolleys to the edge of the building but no further.
As it happened, they only needed to go up the corridor as far as the junction for the background count to die away a little and for Tads to perform her healing without impediment. One after another she cast her magic, pouring golden energy into their sleeping bodies and accelerating the natural healing process. They all had similar injuries, having been extensively crushed by the fifteen tonne vehicle, and she thought they were lucky to be alive at all. Their injuries were widespread and serious, but not complex though, and her healing energies worked well on them. The first trooper was left with some bruising and would be tender, but likely to recover within a day, the second man was left with barely a sign of his injuries at all. The third proved to be more tricky – the effort catching up with her, and restricting her efforts somewhat. She was successful – just not as successful as the first two. He would have perhaps a few days of recovery needed to cope with the bruises and strains, though she thought that all the ribs and collarbone injuries were dealt with, and the internal organs were fine. After the effort from all three though, she had a pounding headache, and her vision was slightly blurry.
Returning the third patient to the ward, the Doctor came to examine them all and update their charts, and she seemed most pleased – insisting that Tads came into her office and enjoyed a toast with her. Too tired to refuse, Tads threw back the shot of Vodka and then pulled a face as the fiery liquid rolled down her throat. She made her excuses shortly afterwards, and headed back towards the barracks, swaying and weaving a little as she did so.
Aswon sat on the office chair in his room, his rifle laid out over the desk in pieces. With a thin rod, some lubricating oil and a selection of rags and swabs he was meticulously cleaning the barrel, breech, trigger sear and the other moving parts. Kai had hopped up onto his bed and lay there, staring at the ceiling as they chatted.
"So, what exactly can they do to the radio guys then if they steal their stuff?"
"I know of some things that can be done – but not how they are done." A quick squirt of oil onto a part, and he selected another cleaning rag to carefully clean the dovetail grooves. "I was a hunter, not a shaman. But I have heard of the tales. Normally to find or affect a person with your magic, the group must send an astral scout out, a spotter if you will. They follow the questing tendrils of magic, riding the winds of fate and following the heartbeat of the land to track down their prey. They act as the eyes and ears of the shaman, focussing their will on the target."
"When the shaman has access to a sample of the target like a lock of hair or some blood, or they have a treasured object of great meaning, then the scout's job is much easier. They can comb an entire desert in minutes instead of hours, following the trail of belonging that leads to the target. The link glows brighter, like a river in flood. And that allows the shaman to concentrate more of their power on the spell, and less on the search."
"So, whatever they do, they can do it better – faster and quicker, stronger?"
"Yes – they can focus more of their ability and power on the effect, and less on the search for the target. As to what they can do, that depends very much on the group and their aims, as well as what training they have received. If they wanted to spy on the person, they could probe their thoughts and listen in on their conversation, even the words that remained unsaid. They could try to control their thoughts and move the body like a puppet, forcing it to dance against their will. It would be possible to subtly influence them to change their behaviour, to report things wrongly or make mistakes. If they are punishing a transgressor against the land, they could channel bolts of pure power against the target to fry their brain and destroy their soul, to make them shrivel and wither like a plant under the noon-day sun."
"So, they can make them explode into a fireball?"
"Ahh, no – not like that. Not like the mage on the trideo, from the show. No – the magic that they show are manipulations of energy. They control the mana to make a fireball or a lightning blast in their hands, that travels from here to there." Aswon waved his hands around, demonstrating with the can of oil and a rag. "The fireball is created by magic, but then it exists in the world – and it must travel like a normal ball of fire, if there was such a thing. So windows or walls will impede it, things may catch fire as it passes. When it hits, it will explode and damage all around it, causing death and chaos. But those spells cannot be cast by ritual means. You can still kill, still harm – but the spells will channel the mana from the casting shaman, to appear and be focussed by the spotter on a specific target. The magic appears THERE, there is no travelling – but that is why you need the spotter to view your target, whoever has offended your tribe, to control it and focus it.
"And while they are doing this ritual – can you spot it?"
"Yes, it is possible. If the target is magically aware, then it is easier. But as the power builds up, sometimes you can spot a shimmer in the air, or the hairs on the back of your neck will stand on end. Sometimes you will get that strange sense that you are being watched."
"Ok, interesting. So, if someone has already cast a spell on the radio guys – would we be able to tell? Can we detect it?"
"Perhaps – it very much depends on the time. After a spell has been cast, there will be a taint, like a flavour to the mana. It can be sampled and categorised, like the spoor of prey that you are tracking across the Serengeti." Aswon looked back over his shoulder and saw the look of confusion on Kai's face. "Ok, another way to describe it….hmm. Imagine if a man walked past you that hold a freshly roasted leg of met, dipped in herbs and spices and roasted over an open fire. As he walks past you, right there and then you can smell it, and detect the flavour – you know what beast it was from, and what herbs are on it. Now the man walks away, and the smell starts to fade as the wind catches it and spreads it far and wide. The longer you wait, the weaker the smell gets and the harder it is to determine the type of meat and herbs, and to identify what they were."
"So if you found them just after a spell had been cast on them, it's easier to spot and tell what it is, and what type of magic it is, if you get to them sooner rather than later. And if you leave it too long, you might not spot it at all?"
"Exactly!" Aswon dropped the used rag into the bin and selected another from his pile, feeding it through the slot on the end of the cleaning rod and then pushing it into the barrel of the rifle like a ball of wadding.
"So, what type of things can they do otherwise, other than just killing them? And how do we stop it?"
"Well, like I said earlier, there are lots of different ways to spy on someone and listen to their thoughts and opinions. But you could also perhaps mute them, take away their power of speech entirely. Or scramble their language to make it so that others can't understand them – for a radio operator that would destroy their purpose, and throw their platoon or company into disarray. As to stopping them…" Aswon considered for a moment, idly twiddling the cloth back and forth in the barrel of his rifle. "If you got them into a warded area, like our truck, while the spell is still building up – it may well cut them off entirely."
"That is what Tads has been doing with whoever is trying to track her, right?"
"Yes. And she's likely to spot the power build up early, while the scout is still trying to find her, which leaves them likely to know only a vague direction she lies in, rather than the specific area. But if they are sending a spell, rather than just tracking your location – if you do this only a second before the spell hits or four hours before – the result is the same, in that it makes the spell so much more difficult to complete it will likely fail."
"So we need to put wards on their vehicles as well then, really. So we need some more bits of chalk and stuff for you three."
"Indeed. And it depends how many vehicles they have and how strong a ward we need, but that will get very expensive, very quickly. There is another thing that can be done, a technique mostly known as 'shielding'. Tads can do this, and she extends her magical defences over people, granting them protection with her power. "
"Like her holding an umbrella over them to stop someone hosing them with water."
"I suppose so. Though magic is not really like a hosepipe. But sure – close enough for this purpose. She can do that, but the size of her umbrella is limited, and can only be in one place at a time." Aswon stopped and considered for a moment. "Actually, ok, an umbrella is a good analogy after all. You can get a thicker umbrella if you're a better mage, and it's stronger and stops a more powerful attack. Of course that means that Tads has to stay with a radio operator, which means travelling with them to war. And if she goes, I assume we go – which means we're all going to the front lines. And that's not really what we do, is it?"
"No, no it's not. I don't want to go to war, and I suspect that neither Shimazu nor Tads would either. I'm not so sure about the others though…"
They continued to chat, the conversation ranging back and forth over the nuances of magic used to both attack and defend. After a while they heard a door open and footsteps approach, and Marius appeared around the doorway, looking a little bleary-eyed.
"Can't sleep" asked Kai.
"Not with you talking that loudly about people's heads exploding and wondering if we're going to war. The answer to which is 'no' unless there's a serious amount of pay involved by the way."
"Oh, sorry. Guess we should have closed the door." Kai pulled a face. "I think though that we need to work out what this attack is, and track it back to the source – I think the Brigadier will be very impressed if we can do this, and that's got to earn us a lot of leeway with getting hold of something like a helicopter." Marius nodded in agreement, and the scowl leeched away a little as he contemplated the image in his mind. On the bed, Kai let a millimetric smile tug at the corner of his lips as he neatly defused the social landmine.
"So, we're putting these wards up – do we go completely overt and get some spirits summoned as well, to be obvious guards?" Aswon started to tidy up the rags and cleaning fluid into their case, and then with deft fingers slotted parts together, beginning the process to rebuild his rifle.
"I like the idea – it does show that we've spotted what is going on, but on the other hand it makes them react to us, and puts them on the back foot a little, getting inside their head and making everything they do a little more dangerous." Kai looked around as he hear Marius shift, leaning in from the doorway.
"Can we have a spirit on standby, set to listen to someone? So that if we detect the door to the locker opening, we can send the spirit there to arrive in a fraction of a second and get a look at what is going on?"
"I don't think Tads would have an issue with that, and with her power and ability, I think that's well within her reach – so I would assume so."
They continued to chat about magical responses and defences, including spending a little time working out just how big the whole battalion area was and if putting a warding dome over that was remotely possible. When they realised how much area that included, they put that plan on the back-burner, as something perhaps a little optimistic for the number of people available to complete the ward and the difficulty involved.
It was at this point they heard Tads come in, still wavering and looking shattered. She grunted at them, and headed straight for the showers, and not long afterwards looking cleaner but no less grumpy or tired, to bed. The others took this as their cues. Aswon woke Hunter to cover a few hours of watch duty, and the rest of the team headed to sleep.
A few hours later, Aswon awoke feeling refreshed and ready, so he relieved Hunter and took over his position. Hunter headed to the outside door, leaning out for a minute into the cold night air and gave the sentries a big smile as they turned towards him.
"Evening guys. Don't worry – just checking you're ok." They looked at him unsure of how to respond, but he ducked back inside the door and let it swing shut behind him.
"Why do you do that?"
"Keeps them on their toes, Aswon. Keeps them guessing." Aswon shook his head at the irrepressible grin on his face, and watched as Hunter headed back into his room and heard him settle back into bed.
The night passed with incident or disturbance. As Tads left the safety of her lodge to join the others for breakfast, she found that there were a few choice offerings again, laid out by the truck. They couldn't have been there too long, as the small bowl of soy-milk was not completely iced over yet, despite the cold outside.
Over breakfast, Hunter asked Marius just how many cameras he had in the truck, and Marius informed him that they had six cameras overall, with three of them mounted and converted to send the images wirelessly, ready to go. Their plan was to put one in the locker, pointing straight out towards anyone that opened it, while the other two would go in opposite corners of the room, and point at the locker itself, so no matter where the thief stood, they'd be visible.
"You've got a full set of cammo fatigues, haven't you, Marius?" asked Kai. Marius nodded in response around a mouthful of porridge. "I wonder if we can have a word with the Captain, and get you some rank badges or something. That'd let you wander the base without being challenged by any of the troops, for use." Marius nodded in approval again, and continued his chewing.
"I could make you invisible as well, if you wanted?" Marius swallowed hastily and turned to face Tads.
"Nein! That would cause more problems than it solves, I think."
They finished their breakfast, and Aswon, Shimazu and Hunter went to get changed into their running gear. As they came out into the corridor, they were somewhat surprised to see Marius and Nadia had also gotten changed.
"I thought we'd join you this morning – get some practice in."
"Sure, we can go slow for you…"
"You just run as normal, Hunter, and we'll keep up." He scowled at the grinning Ork.
The headed outside, and the team received another surprise – the guard had doubled this morning, and there were now four sentries standing ready – and two of them had their PT kit on under their great-coats. As the team warmed up, two of the sentries dumped their bulky top layers and stripped down to patrol webbing and their firearms, and did some stretching alongside them, and then followed along as the team started their morning run.
Hunter did slow the pace, if only slightly, and led them on a nice gentle circuit around the base. His powerful legs broke the snow at the front of the group, closely followed by Shimazu who was not much smaller. Following them came Aswon whose long legs propelled him easily through the trail left by the first two. He also had a gait that suggested he could run for hours upon end, keeping up a ground-eating lope that could cover huge distances. Nadia followed along, now running through compacted snow and slush in a clear trail battered down by the three team-members ahead of her, while Marius bought up the rear.
After a while, Marius seemed to be lagging behind more and more, with the escorting troops getting closer and closer behind. Aswon dropped back and took up station by his side, his legs rising and falling higher than normal as he ran through the undisturbed snow to his side.
"Your breathing – it's all in the breathing. Try and pull in through the nose, and out through the mouth."
"I know"… "how to" … "breathe!"
"Of course you do. But not how to breathe and run. Panting just wastes energy."
Aswon coached him, trying to get Marius to follow his instructions. He noticed that the normally pale skin of the German was flushed and mottled. Aswon thought about it a little and realised that though Marius was trim and in reasonable shape, he wasn't really used to running around – that's what drones and vehicles were for. As far as he was aware, Marius didn't really 'do' sport, and running around like this was anathema to him. That in turn made him wonder just what Nadia must have said to make this appear to be a good idea… He resumed his efforts to teach Marius how to control his breathing more effectively, coaching him as they went.
Ten metres behind them the pair of sentries slogged along the track left by the team, wondering what kind of idiots willingly went for runs in this kind of weather when there wasn't even a corporal shouting at them… They had watched the German falling behind slowly over the course of the run, and could see the tall black man talking to him now, but they couldn't hear what he said.
"Hah, you can tell he doesn't know how to run. Look at his arms and legs, floundering about. No wonder he's tired, he's spending half his energy like a drunken windmill."
"Yes, can't argue with you. And it's costing him, he's losing ground all the time."
"The rest are fit, mind – good pace. Not this one. I think he'll give up soon, and cry."
"No, I don't think so. Look at him – look how much tension is in the body. I mean, that's not helping him either – but he's got guts. If he was going to quit, he'd have quit a while ago. No, he's going to see this through to the end, even if it hurts him.
Aswon listened to the conversation behind him, his ears easily filtering out the ambient sounds and amplifying their quiet conversation. He thought about telling Marius, but decided to wait until the end of the run before he did so – it'd probably make him feel better.
They ended their run near the assault course, slowing for a quick turn about the course at a brisk walk, then slowing more to a gentle walk to let their muscles relax without freezing up. As they walked around, Hunter described the obstacles in detail, relaying his experience and thoughts about how to handle them and how he'd found it to the others. Sometimes he had to speak up a little to drown out the laboured breathing from Marius, but he carried on regardless, choosing not to make jokes about his performance.
After all, there was plenty of time for that later…
Tads returned to her lodge to prepare for the day's magical efforts, leaving Kai on his own. After clearing away the dishes and tidying up a little, he headed out and smiled at one of the sentries.
"I'm off to see the Captain or the Brigadier, whichever is available. Coming?" The sentry fell into step with him as they strode across the snow covered path, and Kai saw him discreetly calling in the movement on a small radio. He knew the way by now, climbing to the third floor up the grand staircase that flanked either side of the huge entrance hall, and then heading down the corridor into "officer country" as he thought of it.
The Captain was in the mess room where they'd had dinner previously, finishing a breakfast of toast and eggs, and waved for Kai to sit down. While he finished his meal, Kai went over all the options, threats, risks and counters they had discussed the night before, breaking down the options as simply as possible for the Captain to understand and relay to the Brigadier. Zarkorov waved over one of the mess staff and quietly spoke into his ear, then continued his meal, waving for Kai to continue expanding on the plan to bug the lockers and then respond to any intruders.
As Zarkorov was just mopping up the last bit of yolk with the end of his crust, there was a knock on the door and the MP from the previous day came into the room, holding two radios. He double-checked the settings matched, then set one on the table in front of Kai.
"Ahh, thank you Sergeant Vostok. Now, Kai – take this radio with you. Sergeant Vostok will keep the other, and it's on a discrete frequency, only these two sets. If any of your alarms are tripped, raise the alarm and the Sergeant and his men will come with you. Not only will they be there to perform any capture required and ensure that prisoners are taken into custody – but they can also ensure that none of the troops make a mistake about who YOU are working for and there's no unfortunate incidents."
"Oh, excellent plan, Captain. That should make things easier. Now, there was one more thing – I wondered if I could get an extract from the computer on the lineage of each of the troopers, to see if we can detect any other common threads or confluences…"
"No." The word came out flat and final sounding, and wasn't expanded on. Kai blinked a little, wondering what kind of situation would cause the conversation tone to shift that abruptly and what the background was. He couldn't think of anything, but decided not to push – his grasp of language was good enough to detect a final answer when he heard one. Instead, he pushed himself away from the table, excused himself and left the officers' mess to head back to the barracks block.
After their walk around the assault course, the runners headed back to shower and change, and the team assembled again in their normal daytime gear. Marius and Nadia were both heavily dressed, anticipating working outside again for most of the day and learning from the previous day's experience. Tads, Shimazu and Aswon were dressed in a similar vein, also planning on working on the buildings inside and out. Kai was in his usual gear and was going to stay in the truck, monitoring the cameras and communications for the team, while Hunter was planning on going to the range to do some more shooting and some hand-to-hand lessons.
Kai looked over the team, and saw that most of them now carried either tasers or stun batons, along with their extendable staffs and such like – keeping them fairly discreet but to hand if required. Tads also told them that she had a powerful spirit on standby, and could send it over to the building in a heartbeat to find the intruder, if one was detected. With that, they split up and went their separate ways.
Kai called in the details, and Sergeant Vostok went with Marius and Nadia. The platoon was told to open their lockers, and then sent down to the parade square, leaving only Marius, Nadia and the sergeant in the barrack block. After a quick but thorough look at the contents of the radio operator's locker, giving him a chance to memorise the contents, Marius carefully planted the micro camera to look out of the locker and positioned the activation switch in the hinge. After that was set, they put up the cameras in the corner of the room, ready to capture the image of their burglar. With the work done, the platoon was allowed back into their barracks and told to secure their lockers. They could see the burning curiosity in their faces, and were sure that the conspiracy whispers would start the moment they left – but they were fine with that.
As they left and the MP Sergeant headed back to the admin block, Marius turned to Nadia.
"Did you notice anything funny when we were putting up the cameras in the corner of the room?"
"The painting was done very poorly. But other than that – no, not really."
Marius spent the rest of the walk telling Nadia about the design of the building, and how strange it was to find – in this day and age – a building without security cameras of their own for starters, but how there was no provision for extra cabling and security features to be built into the fabric of the building. Nadia walked along in silence, soaking up the information like a sponge, as they headed past the warding team and headed towards the graveyard.
Arriving at the KA-60, they found two junior technicians, sheltering in the lee of the aircraft and stamping their feet to keep warm, guarding a trolley of spare parts, tools, lubricants and a rugged waterproof data-slate with the technical specs for the helicopter.
"Captain Gorchenski detailed us to assist you today, sir!" Marius snorted as they applied the honorific to him. Clearly their status was still uncertain, and the techs were not taking any chances of causing offence. Well, it didn't bother him. He and Nadia set to, ripping into the engine of the wounded aircraft and with the assistance of the techs pulling out engine panels, cowling, sumps, and the thousand and one other parts that made up a modern aircraft engine.
As they progressed, Marius realised that he was looking at a minimum of three days work to overhaul and certify the engine for even a test start-up. After that there was certainly another couple of days work to attend to a lot of the more cosmetic or non-essential damage. Technically they could skip that and still have a working aircraft, but Marius was pretty much decided that if he was going to hand over an aircraft as repaired, that everything would be as good as he could get it.
The warding team had headed over to the next building on their list and started work, continuing from where they'd left off the previous day. As before, with three of them working on each building, they managed to get the sigils drawn and the runes inscribed in fairly short order, working through each floor in a pattern that kept them out of each other's way and let them finish the ward in around an hour. It wasn't that strong, but it was there at least, and would take 'some' effort to overcome.
The team, apart from Marius and Nadia, returned to the truck for lunch, checking in and seeing what was going on. Hunter put in a quick call over his com to Marius to confirm they were ok, and confirmed that to the rest of the team. As they finished their lunch, and were about to split up again, the radio squawked, and Sergeant Vostok asked Kai to head over to the MP's office. Hunter grudgingly postponed his plans for more combat training and agreed to watch the cameras until he returned.
In the MPs office, Kai sat down and Vostok told him that there had been another theft – this time in B company, 2nd platoon. Looking on the map of the base they had sketched out, this was from the company block to the north of the one they had staked out. The victim this time was a Gleb Popov, who had reported the theft of a fountain pen from his locker. Kai examined the slightly blurry image taken by the MP who had examined the scene, and saw another 5 digit cypher lock with a thumbprint reader through the hasp and of course one of the standard issue lockers.
Kai spent a few minutes going over the time line of thefts, ensuring that he had the locations and order of attacks correct, and then marked up the rest of the platoons and companies with the names of the radio operators in each.
Deep in thought, Kai headed back to the truck, and got Hunter to call up Marius, discussing the new development with him. They worked out if they pulled one of the cameras from the setup this morning, taking a bit of a risk with visibility, and with some quick work to configure the other cameras, they could probably cover Bravo Company Platoons 1 and 3, as well as Delta 2 – giving them three times the opportunity to catch the thief.
Marius headed back from the chopper, leaving Nadia and the two techs working on cleaning the manifold, and headed to the truck to set up the remaining cameras. According to the schedule, Bravo 2 were out somewhere in the woods doing a navigation exercise, so Marius grabbed his toolkit and headed to the barracks on his own. It only took him a few minutes to recover the camera from the corner of the room, then he put in a call to Kai and met up with the MP to repeat the earlier placement. With the practice and experience gained earlier that morning, the two new installations went like clockwork, and in an hour he was back at the graveyard with the aircraft and was back to work.
Kai went to try and find the Captain to update him but was told he was unavailable. Instead he had to leave a message with his desk sergeant. Having a think, he constructed a somewhat vague message that would hopefully not reveal too much to anyone except the Captain, making sure the desk officer wrote it down word for word.
As the warding team moved from building to building, Tads and Shimazu saw Aswon stop and bend over, picking something up from the ground. He examined it for a moment, then put it into his pocket.
"What was that?"
"Found a rock. If we see a thief, it'd be nice to have something I can use at range." Tads and Shimazu thought back to the few times they'd seen Aswon throw things – particularly remembering the shot from the truck to the idiots that had been trying to shoot them up with paintball guns. Oh well, if they did find the thief, it'd be amusing to see how they coped with a high-speed rock to the back of the head.
With Kai back on the cameras, Hunter headed back to the combat ring and the gentle ministrations of Petrovich. The hard faced DI nodded at him and pointed to the bench, so he could sit and watch the platoon fighting and training. This platoon was 100% human, but didn't seem bothered by his presence. He sat and watched until someone tapped out after a bit of heavy contact and had to go sit down for a few minutes, at which point Petrovich shouted over to him to replace the miserable excuse for a man that was the wounded trooper.
An hour slipped by, then another. Two more buildings were warded by the team, and they moved onto the next. They were about a ten minutes into the task, which now felt like a fairly routine operation, when all three of them froze as they felt a sensation – it was hard to describe, yet apparently shared across cultures and time, some primeval sensation that was part of their DNA. Most people described it as feeling like someone had walked over their grave – but for the team they knew that it meant that someone had crossed one of their wards, having to batter it down to allow them to pass. After a moment of quiet surprise and shock, they burst into action.
"Stand to, stand to. We have a ward breach, Brigade Alpha, um…building antelope. Second company, it's second company, the southern building on the left side as you look at the admin block!" Aswon called in the position over the radio, heading out of the second floor barracks room with stick of worn chalk still in hand. He heard the clatter of feet and looked down, and saw Shimazu sliding down the stairs at breakneck speed and hitting the ground running, arms and legs pumping as he accelerated around the corner of the building.
Kai gave a start of surprise at the sudden burst from the radio, and then scanned the sensor feeds carefully.
"I show no open lockers, no activity on the cameras planted. All buildings show as secure. Wait, which building?" Aswon repeated himself, and Kai double checked the plans. "Ok, that's one of the first ones you did yesterday then, yes, southern side of the top brigade area.
Tads had laid herself down on the floor, tucked out of the way and projected out of her body. She didn't want to be too long – her body was going to get very cold laid against the side of the stairwell, open to the elements – but moving in astral gave her unparalleled mobility. With a blink of motion, she moved, covering the hundreds of metres from one brigade area to the next and then looking down to survey the area. It was all quiet, and she couldn't see anything moving across the landscape. In the edge of her vision she saw Aswon and Shimazu heading across to join her, sprinting across the snowy vista.
To the north west, Hunter suddenly and unexpectedly tapped out of the hold that the trooper was practicing.
"Sorry, mission call. I have to go." He turned on his heel and jogged out of the barn, threading his way between the benches and equipment, then breaking into a run of his own as he headed down towards the barracks area.
Over to the north east, Marius and Nadia heard the call also, and slid down the fuselage to the ground.
"Keep working on the main engine shaft, it's nearly out. We'll be back soon!" Marius called to the two surprised technicians, then broke into a run to try and catch up with Nadia who had shot off along the path. As he ran behind her, his eyes looked over her and noticed a strange bump under her back, bought into highlight whenever her arms pumped. His eyes widened and with a mental command he changed frequency to the one he used to communicate just with Hunter.
"Hunter, this is Marius. Just to make you aware, we're running down your way from the graveyard – and it looks like Nadia has her sub-machine gun strapped to her back. Keep your eyes open."
"Oh shit."
"Yeah," Marius was glad of his router and advanced comms equipment – he wasn't sure he had the spare air to actually speak those words at the moment, but he concentrated on what Aswon had taught him that morning and it seemed to help a little.
Tads swooped down from her high perch, and started to go through the building. She dived in through the roof into the corner of the barracks and looked around the top floor – it was barren and empty of life. She surveyed it for a moment, then dropped down a floor and repeated her slow and deliberate examination. Still nothing. Down one more floor – then she spied a target. A man, crouched over by a bed and fiddling with something. She flew over to the other side of the room and examined him, being careful to keep a few metres away from him. His aura was a bright swirling mass of colours with dark spots radiating out from him in angry flickers. He had some kind of device by his feet, a grey box that he kept reaching into.
Aswon slowed as they ran across the quad, watching as Shimazu continued to accelerate to his top speed. He seemed intent on reaching the building with the same speed as a cannon-ball, but something told Aswon to slow down and think. He dropped to a walk and looked around him, and spied a platoon of bedraggled and miserable looking troops as the turned the corner of the admin buildings, walking 2 abreast and heading towards the barracks block.
Shimazu reached the building and charged up the stairs, taking them two at a time and reaching the top floor in record time. He barged through the door, sword in one hand and taser in the other, ready to unload on anything and anyone in his way – but saw nothing.
Tads saw Hunter approaching from the other side at speed, Shimazu entering the stairwell and leaving her line of sight and Aswon slowing as he approached from his side, and then flitted back to her body. She dived in, and as soon as she had control over her physical form, keyed up the microphone.
"Alpha building, one life sign on the first floor. Repeat one life sign, in Platoon one. Be careful Shimazu, he has some kind of box or device or something in front of him and he's reaching in and out of it!" With her message relayed, she leapt out of her body once more, vaulting skyward and back over to the scene.
Shimazu spun on his heel and pounded down the stairs, dropping the two flights in a matter of seconds and then throwing the door wide and charging in, at reckless speed. If the opponent was ready for him, it could go badly – but it might also give him the edge to get in before they had a chance to react.
Private 3rd class Kazimir Kulikov jumped in surprise as Shimazu threw open the door and entered the barracks with weapons drawn. His knee hit the bowl of water in front of him and soapy suds sloshed sideways suddenly, spilling onto the floor. The toothbrush he'd been using to the scrub the bedframe clean with dropped from his fingers as he turned to face the Chinese man that had burst in.
Shimazu barked out a command in Russian – "Stop what you're doing, drop any weapons and turn around slowly." At least that's what he meant to say. Unfortunately, he did what the rest of the team now called 'doing a Kai'.
"You will end! My weapons will twist your body in half!" he half-yelled, half-screamed at the Russian trooper. He watched in astral space, and saw the flicker of anger, fear and adrenaline spike through his body.
Kazimir slid over to one side towards his locker and pulled it open, grabbing his bayonet from within and then holding it out towards the brutal-looking thug that had threatened to kill him. He didn't have the same reach as the nutter with the sword, but he'd had years of bayonet training and was determined to go down swinging.
Shimazu looked at him, his aura now flickering with fear and rage, and realised that whatever this was, it wasn't who they were looking for. It just felt wrong – the massive wash of shock and surprise that exuded from him was completely wrong for a thief caught in the act. So, he turned on his heel again, and barged back out of the room, and headed up the stairs and aiming towards the roof for a better vantage point.
Hunter sprinted towards the barracks block, the concrete building growing larger and larger as he approached, until he could start to make out details on the shape of Aswon, closing from the other side. Then he slowed, catching his breath and starting a rhythmic scan of the windows on his two sides of the barracks. With his relative position, he could see what Aswon could not, and vice versa – if the thief was somehow lurking in the building, they had them contained, he hoped.
Aswon meanwhile had spotted the platoon closing on their position. It seemed that they were heading directly for the building they were currently investigating – and that simply wouldn't do. He headed over in that direction, walking sideways so he could maintain a view on the building until he could reach earshot of the platoon.
"Sergeant or Corporal – please stop your platoon. There is an intruder in your barracks block, and we're waiting for the MPs to arrive and investigate." He had his finger on the transmit button as he called out, releasing as soon as he was done. He was rewarded a moment later as Kai did the same, keying up the base radio and the teams comms so they could all hear him calling in the alert to the MPs. A sharp barked order called the platoon to a halt, and the NCO approached him. Aswon felt a little sorry for them as he took in their state – they looked to be coming back from the assault course, and looked tired, wet and cold and were now being told to stand in formation in the cold wind. Some days it just sucked to wear a uniform.
"Thank you. I've just heard that the MPs are on their way. There's one subject in the bottom barracks that we want to detain for questioning. But for now the barracks block needs to be treated as a crime scene, and not contaminated." The NCO nodded, then turned on his heel and headed back to his men and started to bark orders. They responded a little raggedly, obviously tired and somewhat dulled from their dip in freezing water, but their two abreast line split down the middle, flattening out in the direction from which they had come. Once they'd formed a somewhat straight line, they started to spread out, forming a picket line on the north side of the barracks block, each man about two metres from the next.
Tads had zoomed into the building again, and was working her way down. On each floor she assensed the barracks and the lockers, carefully peering around for a spell signature or trace, something to work on. As she checked over the middle floor, she picked up a faint 'whiff' of magic that made her stop and backtrack, then carefully examine the area again.
Focussing her attention carefully she picked up a trace of a weak magical affect. She turned over the 'feel' and 'flavour' in her mind, examining it and establishing the subtle nuances, locking in the signature into her brain. During her examination she tried to quantify what the spell was – but it was not one she had encountered before. She was fairly sure it was some kind of telekinetic manipulation – magic that changed the physical environment in some way. She continued to study it, hoping to glean more information. With a sudden thought, she called her spirit to her, asking it to look for wielders of magic or power in the nearby area – that was not her team or the Brigadier. The spirit nodded in agreement and then disappeared from view.
Shimazu had made it to the roof, and checked around to ensure that there was nobody up here hiding. Satisfied that he wasn't about to be ambushed, he carefully moved up the steep slope and clambered over the ridge, peering around the barracks block. There was a dead area immediately around him where the edge of the building blocked his view, but otherwise he had a commanding position.
Marius and Nadia emerged from the tree cover and the path leading from the graveyard, and took in the scene before them. In the distance they could see the line of troops forming a picket, and the first of the red caps emerging from the HQ building racing down towards the barracks. A chunky but indistinct figure on the roof could be seen, sword in one hand. The even chunkier shape of Hunter was on the far side of the building, and the towering form of Aswon on the near side. He knew Kai was in the truck on the cameras, so that left only Tads unaccounted for – he figured she was flying around the place invisible.
He concentrated and bought up an internal menu, selecting an option and his vision suddenly swam and distorted. His cybereye beamed out a series of ultrasonic pings, painting the landscape around him and sensitive detectors fed back the echos to create a wireframe map of the surrounding area. With Nadia at his side, he started to walk from north to south, down the treeline, casting his head back and forth as he did so. It was a trick he'd heard about from another pilot back when he was flying for Sader Krupp – good for detecting mages and creatures that had used magic to render themselves invisible. While they could bend light around them all they liked, or the adaptive colouration of a creature might make them almost impossible to spot, very few creatures or spells seemed to have any defence against echo-location. It was short range of course, and subject to noise – but he figured that if any potential thief was lurking around under some kind of invisibility cloak, this was his best chance of finding them.
Returning from the vehicle pool, the air corp, the small marine dock or the rifle range, more platoons appeared around corners or along paths, heading for their barracks and then stopping in confusion as they saw sword armed men on the roof, civilians standing with tasers drawn or staffs extended, and other platoons forming picket lines. For a few minutes the scene teetered on the edge of chaos as more and more men poured into the area in small isolated platoons with no idea what was going on.
"Ok guys, do I need to make the Sputnik call? Someone talk to me?" Kai kept his eyes on the cameras, just in case, but had his hand over his earbud, making sure he heard every sound transmitted.
"I think we're good. Save it – honestly, it's confusing out here, but nobody is shooting or looking like they're about to. I think it's probably on any officers minds already and they're trying to work out what's going on. Just everyone, be cool. Lower your weapons, but keep them to hand." Aswon's voice sounded calm and business like, and he led by example, lowering his spear to his foot and leaning on it, making it clear he wasn't threatening anyone.
The red-capped MPs that had run out from the HQ building, started to reach the platoons, passing information to the NCOs, and one after another they, too, shook out into a line abreast formation, slowly forming a larger and larger picket line around the barracks blocks, closing off access to the forest and major paths out.
Through it all they could hear Kai on the radio to the MP, dual-transmitting to keep the team up to date.
"We have detected a magical breach on one of the barracks. We suspect an agent has committed another theft. We believe that magic was used in the 2nd platoon barracks. We have no sighting of the thief, and have no idea what they look like. Our team has spread out around the building to try and sight, capture and detain the thief. The thief may be impersonating a trooper or using a disguise, but our team are armed only with non-lethal weapons, and we intend only to stun and capture any opponent."
The door burst open and a man emerged, flak jacket half on and with his spare uniform top wrapped around one arm like a buckler. In his other hand he held the bayonet, blade glistening and gleaming with the last rays of sunlight. He looked around with a crazed expression, clearly looking for some kind of foe, his eyes skipping from one person to another.
Aswon looked at him, focussing all of his will and mental discipline and trying to penetrate to the core of his being. He felt a moment of clarity, and saw the astral form of the confused man, saw deep into his soul – and saw just a man. Not a mage, not a shaman. Not anyone with protective magic wrapped around them – just a scared man who didn't understand what the hell had just happened, or quite why some huge Chinese guy had threatened to unscrew his spine before running off and disappearing. A man who was quite clearly as mundane as they came, with not a single shred of magical power in his being.
They heard the slightly weird echo as Kai keyed up the team comms to relay a received message from the short range radio issued by the base.
"Ok, Kai. Just what the hell is going on?"
The team looked around at each other and the hundreds of Russian troops now forming an uncertain picket line around the barracks.
They all wished they knew.
