With the tilt-wing set to auto-pilot, and nothing in pursuit, Marius swapped to the internal cameras and had a look in the cargo bay, checking out the rest of the team and then focussing on the cargo they had snatched.
"Hunter… what exactly have they done to that computer… are all those bits taken out of the rack that Kai dragged back?"
"Let me go and see, give me a few minutes to check it over." Hunter unstrapped from the co-pilot's seat and moved into the troop bay, squeezing past the others to reach the cargo area. Carefully unwrapping the computer parts he checked over what Falcon had done, and tried to make sense of it all. It took him five minutes to do a quick evaluation and draw his conclusions, and he moved into the troop bay so that everyone else could hear him as he reported back to Marius.
"It looks like she's removed each storage bay one at a time, and then pulled out the storage devices, stacked them up in order and removed the hardware encryption module and storage controller for each bay, wrapping them up together. I guess that's the absolute minimum needed to recombine the data at the other end – but it would have needed some similar hardware to put them in. Either way, we're probably talking a good day or so to try and plug and resolder everything back into place and let the storage arrays rebuild. Going to be pretty tricky too…"
"So Kai, are we still heading to Baku to hire a decker? That doesn't seem like a job they're going to be happy to do."
"Can't we just send the parts via courier and let them worry about it?" piped up Tads. She looked at the mass of components and had some inkling of what Marius and Hunter must feel like when they looked at a spell formula.
"I recall that we were expected to transmit the data electronically, Tads, not physically." Nobody doubted Marius was correct, but that didn't make them any happier.
"Well, I can call Spook and discuss it?" Aswon did the maths in his head quickly and then looked back up. "I think it's about breakfast time in Hong Kong, so I can try her?"
"Well, if it's going to take a full day or two, fixing this – do we want to leave it until after the situation with the Russian base? We know that's urgent, and people are getting hurt!" Tads looked around, trying not to be confrontational, but it was clear she thought this was the priority.
"I don't like leaving it that long. We don't know what we're walking into up north, or how long it will take us. And besides – I don't think Spook counted on us having to deal with a team like Unsubtle. I don't think the job went like she thought it did, for sure!" Aswon shook his head as he thought about the team they'd had to deal with at the market, and he listened to the various chunters and noises from the rest of the crew – who evidently agreed with him.
"You know, there's someone we're not thinking about during this. I'm sure Nadia could put this back together. She's really very good with computers you know, and she's picked up electronics from me very quickly. I'm sure she could get on with this while we were away up at Samara."
"I'm sure she can actually, Marius," Kai said, speaking for the first time. "I'm just concerned about if that's safe. What if there's some big of code in there that calls for help or reports her location when it's put back together?"
"Well, I can scan it again for bugs and trackers," offered Hunter. "I think we can get to the point where we're as sure as we can be that it's clean externally."
"And I'm sure if we assemble it offline, and Nadia is careful, we can check it for logic bombs and screamers too. And if she doesn't use the deck to access the systems, but uses Tortoise mode, then there's no way any tar-babies or other ICE can get her." Marius referred to the specialised intrusion countermeasure systems designed to trap or attack the consciousness of a decker surfing the matrix, projecting their mind out of their body in a similar but distinct way to how he vaulted from his meat shell into a drone or vehicle.
"Alright – so if we take precautions, we can make it as safe as we are likely to be able to, and it's something that's well within her skillset. That sounds like the beginning of a plan." Kai looked around the troop bay, getting nods of agreement, then pointed at Aswon to go ahead and try to call Spook. The tall mercenary pulled out his phone and patched it into the vehicle systems, routing the input and output through his comms system to cancel out the incredible noise from the uninsulated compartment as best he could, and making use of the onboard power to boost his phone signal via the sat-com. When he got through, Spook said hello in an indistinct manner, and there was a lot of crunching. He wasn't sure what she was eating, but breakfast was evidently a mission in progress.
"'sup Aswon."
"Morning Spook. Well, we have the stuff – but there's a complication."
"I don't like complications. Not at all."
"Us neither, but we made the best of it. Like I said, we have the data, and it looks to be intact, but I don't think the mission went down as you expected. This team that did the job are a colossal bunch of pricks, and they screwed over the courier. And then we screwed her over even more – which I can't say I'm happy about at all."
"My heart bleeds"
"I'm sure it does. Look, I'm being dead serious here. If you need something shifting, then this Falcon – I think there's a reason she has such a good rep. I'd seriously consider her for any job you need doing, she's pro, and I think she deserves it. Just don't let her know that you work with us – I don't think she'll like us very much now."
"Oh Aswon, you big soft lump."
"I've said my piece, it's up to you now. But she got dealt a shitty hand at the meet, and made the best of it. The other team turned up and dumped a load of hardware on her, and there was no way she was going to fly off with that – she was expecting optical chips or disks, something that would fit in a bag. But she had to do a lot of hardware maintenance to extract the disks and encryption chips before she could leave and she seemed pretty focussed and competent on getting the job done."
"Wait, what? What do you mean hardware?"
"Yeah, so this Unsubtle team – or collection of fuckers that deserve to die as we're all pretty much in agreement on… anyway, it looked like they didn't do a data steal, they did a physical steal. Turned up with the entire node in a cargo box, and tricked the courier into accepting delivery by putting a hand on it. So she's got half a rack of equipment, probably weighed best part of half a tonne. So she had to extract just the critical data storage elements to get it down to something she could fly with. And she managed it – and then we ambushed her and took it. So now we have the data parts and the original hardware, and need to reassemble those so we can extract the data and send it to you."
"Oh for fucks sake! What kind of retards steal a node? Now they KNOW their data is compromised, and'll work to get it nullified. Crap, that means the data's got a much shorter life. Ok – more important to get that over to me sooner rather than later. Shit. Look – the data is worth a lot less now. Don't worry, our deal is still a deal, I'm not gonna stiff you Aswon. But I need that data twenty minutes ago."
"We're still in the air, heading back to our base, but it's our priority to get that over to you as soon as we can. We're going to reassemble it, and that's going to take one to two days, but then we should be able to do a good data dump over to you, and hopefully you can make the best of it. Assuming our base is still good."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean we left the rigger's girlfriend in charge, and we've got suspicions she's building us a secret underground lair. I'm just wondering how much of the boss' money she's spent while we were away on the job. But we have no idea what we're heading back to." Aswon heard Spook laugh over the phone signal, but pressed on. "Don't worry – I'm sure it won't be TOO bad. And we'll get to work on reassembling the hardware and getting the data out."
"Ok – that'll have to do. But I'm going to have to move fast with this. Ok, what can you tell me about this Unsubtle crew?"
"Leader is Modulo, heavily cybered human. Mean streak, bully, shallow and obnoxious. Fast moving, and likes to intimidate people backed up by his crew, but when he's under threat he'll get slimy and fake apologetic. Don't let that fool you though – he's planning a way to kill you. His troll bouncer goes by the handle Door, pretty average size for a troll on the running scene – so that's fragging huge. Carries what looks like an APC hatch as a personal shield, and has a massive two-handed combat axe. Didn't see any ranged weapons on him at all, but with that shield, he's likely to be a hard target. Their mage is a dwarf, goes by Gorgon. Seemed to be the butt of their jokes while they were yammering, but looked ready to go hot with the old fireball in the middle of the market when it got a bit rowdy. Appears to have some pain-suppression adept abilities mixed in with his mage, but we're not sure of that. And last of all was a female ork, pretty sure they called her Mono. Colour-changing jumpsuit, seemed to go with her mood. Looked like she was ambidextrous, and had a pair of concealed pop-out knives. Didn't see her move much, but we're pretty sure she's an adept of some kind."
"And they're complete arseholes?"
"Oh yes. Rude, looking to start fights, unprofessional, twatsticks. You deal with these people, be prepared for heat, poor results and pissed-off colleagues. Avoid – like – the plague…." Aswon stressed the words as much as he could, feeling a small measure of karmic virtue knowing that their reputation was likely to be trashed over a fairly wide area. Spook had a good rep, and once she told a few people, and they told a few people – they were likely to get shut out of a whole market. He smiled, revealing his huge incisors, and the others in the troop bay smiled back at him, assuming the call was going well.
"Ok, good to know. Well, I guess I'll sit tight then. And y'know… just wait."
"Yeah, you don't have to say it. As soon as we can."
"I'll not keep you then." She broke the connection, and Aswon switched back to the team frequency.
"Ok, she's not happy, but mostly with Unsubtle and the situation, not with what we've done. We need to get the data over to he P."
"Well, I've turned us towards the Ranch, rather than Baku, though we're taking a dog-leg approach just in case. While you were on the phone, Hunter and I have been scanning for tails, and haven't seen anything on the sensors, and Tads has been looking out astrally, and she's not spotted anything either. So, we think we're clear. ETA at the Ranch is about twenty minutes." As Marius finished speaking, Kai suddenly looked up as a thought struck him.
"Hey Hunter – can you get a vacuum or cleaning products or something and get all these parts wiped down? Just thinking, if Falcon left any of her skin or hair on the bits, couldn't she use that to make a ritual to track it down?" There was a snort over the radio, and then a somewhat snarky response.
"Tads? You want to do what we know you can?" Tads was already weaving her arms in a pattern, drawing in mana and using it to fuel her sterilising spell, killing off the organic material in a globe around the computer parts. Kai suddenly realised that he'd certainly asked the wrong person to take care of the problem, and smiled in apology to Tads – who was far too busy concentrating on her spell to notice. His mind did a mental jump onto another set of rails, and he tried to lighten the mood.
"Well, at least Falcon won't recognise me if we meet her again!" He concentrated his facial muscles, feeling them return to his normal features, rather than the Iranian visage he'd been 'wearing' for the last few hours. "I'm ok – it's just you lot that she's pissed off with."
"I wouldn't be so sure, Kai!" Shimazu warned. "She made a big show of sniffing me when I confronted her out the front of the market. If she's a shapeshifter, she's probably got a fantastic sense of smell. And I guess the number of times you went to talk to her, she's had more than enough time to get your scent. She might not care how you look, it's what you smell like. If that's the case, you're just as screwed as the rest of us!"
There was a chorus of laughter as they saw the expression on Kai's face, who hadn't thought that through at all, and they saw his shoulder droop as he realised he most certainly wasn't out of trouble… maybe they should steer clear of Falcon in the future after all.
They flew on mostly in silence, the team unwinding after a tense and fairly long day, the stresses of the long stakeout and quick but worrying fight at the end bleeding off and leaving them weary. Five minutes out, Marius called Nadia. She answered with a sleepy but angry voice that mellowed as soon as she recognised him, and became much happier when he said they were nearly home.
"The helipad should be ready, I hope. I will have the lights on for you!" Marius wasn't quite sure what she meant, but didn't push the issue, trusting that he'd see soon enough. He told the others to strap in and get secure, then lowered the craft down until he was streaking over the plains, rising up over the highlands to the east of the ranch well under the radar from Baku and using the terrain to mask their final destination.
As they cleared the crest of the hills, he saw a beautiful sight ahead of him. A large concrete pad was where the tamped earth had been only a few days before, painted with a large white H. Powerful lights to either side of the pad bathed the surface in clear and clean white light, the lamps only standing a few centimetres proud of the surface and no danger to navigation. A blob of machinery to the side of the pad was highlighted with a red warning light, and next to it was a windsock, idly fluttering in the night breeze, again lit up with a few small uplighters. It transformed a somewhat risky manoeuver into something a trained monkey could perform, and he quickly bought in the tilt-wing to land with his customary skill and grace.
"How much are we paying Nadia?" Aswon asked. "Whatever it is, she's worth it…." He glanced at Kai meaningfully. The roar of the engines died down as Marius shut off systems, and their normal hearing started to resume, while the team unbuckled, stretched and started to work out what they needed to do now and what could be put off until the morning.
"What time are we actually thinking of leaving to get to Russia?"
"It's an eighteen hundred kilometre flight. I'm not doing that until I've had a good eight hours of sleep. I'll fly on short sleep when I have to, but we have no idea what is going up there, and we may end up going straight into combat."
"Tads – does it matter to you when we get there? I would guess we want to avoid dawn or dusk because of the time it will take you to resummons your spirits and guardians?" Tads nodded at Aswon.
"Yes, a few hours either side. But it doesn't matter really other than that. I think you've all worked out by now that I want to get there as soon as possible – but yes, Marius needs his rest. We're no good to anyone if we crash on the way… I still wonder if we should land away from the base and get picked up, so the enemy whoever they are don't see us come in so obviously."
"I don't think Marius would want to leave the aircraft anywhere unguarded, and we might be just as vulnerable or noticeable coming in on transport the base has sent out for us," Hunter pointed out.
"Ja, that is correct. I think we should fly in, and we can use their hanger space to keep us undercover and out of the elements – and much safer and secure. But I have an attractive lady and a soft bed waiting for me, and I don't want to see any of your faces until about three tomorrow afternoon – so if you'll excuse me!" Marius grabbed his bag and headed for the door.
They filed out of the craft, sealing it behind them and heading to the house. The light was on in the kitchen, and when they entered they found it was Naena who had dragged herself out of bed at 04:00 to come and let them in. She'd also put the coffee machine on, and had found a few moments to lay out some snacks in case they were hungry. Most of the team grabbed a drink, a mouthful to eat and then shambled off to find their rooms and collapse after a twenty hour day, but Kai hung back.
He spent a little while talking with Naena and checking up that the ranch was ok, that Germaine had been a good guest and that there were no problems. He listened while Naena bought him up to date: Germaine had been somewhat challenging in some ways, being such a loud and forceful personality, but she hadn't done anything bad, and had seemed to enjoy herself, had been out riding with her bodyguard, and apparently hunting the critters up in the hills. Since Germaine had been to stay, she'd been telling her friends about the Ranch, and they had a few more bookings from her friends, and several more normal people who had also heard about the place – in fact there were two couples staying at the Ranch right now. Kai made a note to make sure that weapons and other confidential items would need to be hidden from view, to keep things quiet and peaceful.
Naena had continued talking, describing how Nadia had been organising men from the nearby town to come and work on the ranch, and how they'd been deliveries – some of them huge, with articulated lorries delivering massive containers to go into the ground, tanker trucks, concrete mixers – and a horde of men with spade, shovels, rakes and other tools who'd been beavering away on the ranch for the last few days. But, she'd said that she was doing things for Kai, so although Naena and Rusudan had been a little sceptical, they'd let her organise things and knew that Kai would be back soon to make sure it was all ok.
Kai wasn't sure what Nadia had been up to, but he nodded sagely, smiled and told Naena that it was ok, and that everything had been organised and planned – while making another mental note to make sure he chased down Nadia in the morning to find out just what she'd been doing in his name.
But from Naena's description, the Ranch itself was running like clockwork. They had guests coming in, and a horde of small jobs around the place that had been neglected for a while had been done. The family from Shirvan had settled down and turned things around, and were helping out – and they had enough interest and provisional bookings that they were running out of rooms and she wasn't sure where she could put everyone.
Kai jumped a little as Tads appeared behind him, walking through the room like she was in a daze. She headed into the kitchen adjacent to the long dining table, looked around, and then slumped and gave a sigh, before turning and wandering back – now looking a lot more with it.
"All the wards are still up, nothing untoward. No sign of magical activity, spirits – or of Grandfather. So I'm off to bed." Kai nodded at her, and watched her disappear, and then stifled a yawn, wishing Naena a good night and thanking her for the drink and food, and headed off to find a room to sleep in too.
Upstairs, Marius had shed his clothes and folded them neatly onto the chair, then climbed into bed, gently pushing Nadia over from the middle so there was room. She grumbled a little in her sleep, but then wiggled over, and pulled Marius close to her, wrapping his arm around her and holding him tight. One by one the rest of the team relaxed, and fell asleep, their bodies recuperating after a long and hard day.
A sliver of moon shone down through the broken clouds, the faint light just bright enough to show the edges of the ranch. All was quiet, calm and serene, with nothing bigger than a mouse moving in the surrounding area.
Quiet.
Calm.
Safe.
Marius suddenly jerked awake, his whole body tensing. He wasn't sure what it was that had startled him. Was it a helicopter, like back near the temple? Had he heard quiet assassins creeping through the hallway, or the sound of vehicles approaching? He strained to listen, trying to work out what it was that had roused him from his sleep after only an hour.
Then he felt it again. Under his hand, Nadia's belly was soft and smooth, the skin supple. And then it kicked. Once, twice… unmistakeably the kick of the baby growing inside her. He heard her grumble and a hand came down next to his, rubbing gently over her body, and she made a contended-sounding grumble in her sleep as the kicking stopped.
Moving slowly, he levered himself up onto his elbow and looked down at her. By the faintest light of the moon streaming through the opened curtains, he could see a tiny smile pulling at the corner of her mouth as she dreamt of what was to come.
He carefully laid down next to her, now wide awake with sleep a distant thought, and his mind raced as he considered the implications.
Time passed, and it was dawn before fatigue let him fall back asleep, questions of the future finally overridden by the demands of the present.
Tads arose at dawn, as she usually did – though she was considerably slower than normal to get up and dressed, heading downstairs to perform her morning rituals. Rusudan and Eteri were making a start on breakfast, setting the table and laying out supplies, and she gave them a sleepy wave as she headed out to near the stables to pay her respects to nature and commune to the world. When she was done, she headed back inside, accepting a drink of cold milk with thanks and blinking a few times as the cold liquid gurgled down her throat. Now more fully awake she headed into the pantry and looked around, evaluating stock levels and seeing what was in short supply since she'd last been here.
She was unaware of Rusudan and Eteri watching as she held her hand over the large barrel used to store oats, watching with amazement as food appeared to just cascade out of her hand into the container while she channelled mana into the spell. The stream of oats were occasionally highlighted by a sparkle of light, but otherwise it appeared to them that the flakes of oats were appearing through her palm, cascading down into the container and piling up towards the top. Facing away from them, they couldn't see the large liquid eyes and elongated snout of her Shamanic mask as she called upon the power of her totem – but they could see the vague spectral antlers that glimmered on either side of her head. They knew she could do it, and they weren't afraid of the magic, at least not from her, but it still was an unusual sight to say the least, and they stood entranced while she topped off the container with several kilograms of raw oats, before moving onto the sack of flour next to it.
They turned and resumed their work when Aswon appeared, looking indecently chipper after only a few hours of sleep, and accepted a steaming mug of coffee from Eteri. Not long afterwards the four ranch guests appeared, two couples who had come for a hiking and adventure holiday. They seemed a little nervous at first, intimidated by the tall Nigerian who had appeared overnight, but Aswon greeted them with a tight lipped smile, trying not to show his massive fangs.
"Good morning. I am Aswon. Please, be seated, and I will get you a drink. Ahh, thank you, Eteri. Do not fear, I and my boss who is probably still asleep are friends and business colleagues of Rusudan. We flew in early this morning, and are just here to help out." The explanation seemed to satisfy them, and they accepted their tea and coffee from Eteri, and settled down to breakfast, giving their orders for their midday snacks which father and daughter headed into the kitchen to prepare.
Leaving them to chat over the breakfast table, Aswon took his coffee and headed into the pantry, pulling the door closed behind him to make sure that if they entered the kitchen they wouldn't see Tads casting magic, her shamanic mask likely to lead to some excitement amongst the holidaymakers.
"Morning Tads, hey – I wanted to ask you something?"
"Mhhmmm?" She concentrated on her spell, litres of milk cascading out of her fingertip into the pitcher.
"Your enchanting kit…does it have much or any silver in it? I was just thinking you see, we could try melting it and using it to silver our weapons, in case we ran into any more shifters. It wouldn't last long – maybe not even more than a hit. But it might mean one good, hard, solid strike would do a lot of damage."
"I don't think so then," she said, putting the freshly filled milk judge back in the large refrigerator. "Pretty sure I've got some small bits of wire, not much. Just enough to do a bit of careful wrapping around a hilt or handle maybe. Not enough to cover a blade, maybe not even just the edge. But we could check with Aslick and see if he has stock?"
"Ahh, good point. Yes, he might well have it, or be able to get it."
"There's something else we could try. We have that punch dagger we got from the team that was chasing us when we moved the golem. That's not been used – if we got Kai to try and link himself to that, then we'd all have magical weapons. Even if he was just a distraction, or not well trained – it means he has a weapon that is capable of harming spirits. Might not be much, but it's better than some."
"That's an interesting idea." Aswon cocked his head to one side, thinking through whether Kai was more likely to be a threat to the enemy or a potential danger to his team mates…. "I don't know if Shimazu is a good instructor or not – but I'm sure he can show him some basic moves and get him at least familiar with how to wield it without cutting himself open. And I agree – having even a weak weapon would be better than no weapon at all, when we come to face that – thing." Aswon stared into the distance, remembering the frantic fighting retreat against the horror down in the stygian depths of the temple.
"Well, I've done my rituals, and the food is topped off. I'm going back to bed for a while." They left the pantry, and Tads smiled and greeted the guests, before heading back up to her room. Aswon took his coffee out with him and wandered back to the helipad to see what had gone on while they had been away.
Nadia had certainly been busy – as had the hired help, it seemed. The previous landing area had been compacted with some kind of machinery, and then a single large slab of ceramacrete had been laid over the top, about a hundred millimetres deep. The low lighting around the sides were made of sturdy material, and looked strangely familiar. An image of the last time he'd been redeployed from an airfield in Belarus sprang to mind, him standing on the running board of a troop chopper and looking out at the airport around him. Nadia, it seemed, had procured some second-hand lighting from the taxiway or runway of some airport, and the lights were laid out around the pad to light it uniformly and completely without shining up into the pilot's eyes.
He wondered if the manufacturers made similar lighting but visible only in the IR spectrum – with the vison enhancements from cyber-eyes and sensors, that would appear bright as day, but not show up or create a signature to more mundane eyes, and might give them a more stealthy base to operate from if needed. His musings had filled the time needed to reach the pad, and as he walked around it, he saw that it was very slightly shaped, curving off to either side almost imperceptibly. Deep ditches had been dug though, and in the event of a storm or flash flood, water would stream off the landing pad and have a channel to run down, keeping the pad usable.
The blob of machinery next to the pad looked like a reasonably professional pumping station – they'd seen a fair variety of mechanisms in their journey now, and this setup seemed to be on the higher side of performance and safety – presumably purchased second hand along with the lights. For a moment a smile plucked at his lips as he wondered if Nadia had commissioned a team to go and "acquire" the lights and pump, or if they were from a disused or closed airport.
He looked at the pump and then at the ground next to it, and realised that the hole that Tads had excavated almost as they left the Ranch a few days before had gone, no sign of it remaining at all. He tried to remember exactly where it was, and paced around, easily moving over the broken earth to the side of the helipad. When he examined the pump more closely, it confirmed his thoughts – Nadia had apparently ordered something 'big', as the fuel gauge showed ten thousand litres of fuel available – stored in a massive tank now buried underground, the excess earth used to cover and pack it in, and then landscape around the area. She certainly had been busy!
As he wandered back towards the house, he saw more of the drainage ditches dug around the driveway, separating the drive from the surrounding fields. Yet more were laid out around the garage block – a metre wide and over a metre deep. He wasn't sure what kind of flooding Nadia thought might blight the area, but it appeared she was taking no chances.
He breakfasted, and then settled down on the couch in the living area, listening to some music and catnapping until a few more of the team made it back to the land of the living. Shimazu, then Nadia, Kai and Hunter appeared, one by one and getting themselves breakfast.
Kai got Hunter to help him and they transported the rack and the stack of computer parts inside, carefully laying them out and describing exactly what had happened at the meeting, and what Falcon had been forced to do. Whilst she was listening, Nadia examined the pieces carefully, fascinated by the sight of the node, seeing for the first time physically the systems that drove the e-commerce, ordering and logistics systems she had used previously. When Kai finished his story, she spent a few minutes looking up some details on her own pocket secretary, and checking over the parts, before she sat back on her chair, positioning her loose-fitting robes around her comfortably.
"This is all fixable – but it's a lot of precision work. Heating and melting the solder is easy, as is pulling the chips. Putting them back in is a fiddly and time-consuming job, and needs to be carefully done to avoid burning out components. I think this can be done though… I would say between two and four days to get it complete."
"Really? That's with Hunter and Marius helping you as well, I take it?"
"Oh, then no. One to two weeks if they help as well. Big fat fingers." She smiled at him. "No, I need some space and time, and not to be disturbed, and I can get this put back together in a day, maybe two. Getting the data out is a complex set of steps – but straightforward. With the encryption chips, it shouldn't be technically hard, it's just a matter of getting the sequencing right. So another day or two."
"And you can do this for us?"
"Of course – but I need something from you in return."
"What's that?"
"Sixty five thousand Nuyen." She timed it just right, waiting for Kai to be sipping at his mug of warm tea and was rewarded with a spluttering noise.
"What do you need sixty five thousand for?" Kai sounded a little incredulous, wondering just what she had been up to. Aswon was about to describe the systems outside, but Nadia beat him to it.
"Well, there was the labour to compact the surface, the cermacrete and rebar for it. Some engineering time to calculate the weight limits. Lots of labourers for the ditch work and trenching for the power cables. The lighting system for the pad, and the installation costs. Construction and delivery on the fuel tank, a crane to lift it into position, and the labourers to shovel and cover it over, then compact the soil and shape it. The fuel was a major expense, and I couldn't fill the tank more than 20%, but that should be enough for a good few journeys." Kai boggled as she reeled off a list of jobs, working down her list displayed on her p-sec. Aswon boggled as he realised how big the tank was – if the 10,000 litres was only 20% of the fuel tank, he could see why she'd asked Tads to dig such a massive hole!
"Um – Nadia… that list you're reading from. It's got scroll bars hasn't it?" Nadia nodded at him. "May I?" She nodded again, and he looked down the prioritised task list, his eyes growing wider and wider as he saw how extensive the list was. Plantations. Stepped terraces. Underground rooms and corridors. Storage facilities. Electronic sensor networks. An annexe to the ranch with more rooms. A swimming pool. Livestock. Climbing and abseil pitches. Groves… the list went on. And on. And the costs estimated down the side added up to a figure that made Kai shudder.
"Well, that looks extensive. And some of those are long-term of course." He was relieved to see Nadia nod, and even more relieved when she swiped on the pad and showed it had scroll bars in both directions – and the column he hadn't seen showed that some of the projects were at the five year mark… "Well, this all looks super. I'm happy for you to carry on and work out what you want to do next." He pitched his voice just loud enough that Rusudan could hear, standing in the kitchen and washing up the breakfast dishes with Eteri. That should take care of that side of things.
He dug around in his kit and pulled out his credstick, and fired up their deck to fumble his way through the transfer mechanism, transferring over the sixty five she'd asked for, along with another thirty seven and some 'loose change' to her, leaving exactly four hundred thousand on their team stick to use.
"There's what you asked for, and a bit more to get started on the next projects. We'll try to get some more, but it may be a while before we're back from Russia, and the other places, so you may want to think about budgeting accordingly." Nadia smiled at him, and took the credstick from between his extended finger and thumb, then recovered her p-sec and started to update her project, planning how to spend new new funding.
It was gone three in the afternoon before Marius appeared, still looking a little sleepy, but freshly showered and shaved. He wandered over to Nadia, and quietly asked her if they could take a little walk to talk in private. She laid down her equipment and joined him, walking out of the back door and along the dusty trail that lead towards the hills. At a slow and steady pace, he walked with her down the lane, silent as they passed the tilt-wing and walked alongside the workshop and garage, where the truck lay screened by some hastily-hung tarpaulins. Eventually he spoke.
"So… do you have something you want to tell me? Any big news?"
"You know, then?"
"Yes, I know. I felt it move last night. And now that I'm looking – yes, I can see it. You're… you… you're kind of glowing?" Marius grasped at words, too young and too inexperienced with life to be able to articulate his feelings and what he was seeing. Expert as he was in his field, this was far outside his comfort zone. He felt her hand tighten in his, and looked up at her, seeing her concern.
"So, you are not angry?"
"Of course I'm not angry. I'm surprised! Or at least I was at five o'clock this morning. Why didn't you say something?"
"I wanted to tell you first, in private. But there never seemed to be a time. Always there was something, or people around, or we were being chased. I wasn't sure for a long time, but then my belly started to grow, and I felt it. And then I got scared, wondering if it was what you wanted. Is it? Is this what you want?"
"I don't know. I'm still trying to come to terms with it. It's a lot to take in, and adjust to." Marius sighed, looking ahead into the hills without really seeing them. "So – what do you want to do about it?"
"I want to keep it! I won't let you take it from me!" Her anger and uncertainty boiled forth, and she pulled her hand from his, balling them both into fists, eyes welling up with tears as she leapt to a conclusion.
"No no, Nadia. That's not what I meant. I'd never tell you to do that! I mean what do you want to do about us? Do you want to get married, I mean? Before the baby? Is that something you want?" He watched as her anger deflated as quickly as a released balloon, and then moved in to hold her tightly as sobs wracked her body. He still wasn't sure quite what was going on, but he'd spent enough time with her now to know when she was letting off pent up emotions. She cried for a minute, hanging on to him tightly and he smoothed her hair and gently rubbed her back, trying to express his support for her non-verbally. The sobs started to subside, and then one turned into a strange hiccup crossed with a giggle. As he leant back a little so he could see her face, he asked her; "What?"
"Getting married. I wonder if it would be the same. It's not like my family would be there, or my dad would get to sign the official paperwork. And the mosque would be very empty." She smiled at him, and her face lit up as she looked up into his face, seeing his concern for her, along with a good measure of uncertainty. The fears that she'd been facing along were somehow quelled somewhat, by being shared with someone else who appeared to be just as confused and uncertain as she was – but determined to do whatever he could to make it work. "And I'm not even sure… would we get married in a mosque, or would you want a church?"
"Well, I'm not exactly a religious person. I don't want to make fun of your beliefs, but they're not for me. But if you want to get married in a mosque, I won't stop that, and I'll be as respectful as possible. But I mean, does that still work?" Marius waved a hand in the air uncertainly, in a vague gesture that tried to encapsulate 'all that', being the belief system of a significant portion of the world's population.
"Well, if you're not a believer, then maybe we shouldn't make it about religion. Maybe something else, that joins us together. We're not so strict as the Caliphate or Iran…"
They ambled onwards, talking about their lives a little and for the first time in their relationship actually trying to work out what they wanted from the future, and if that included each other as a long-term relationship. Fortunately, with few exceptions, it appeared that their feelings were mutual, and they did want to be together – baby or no baby, and that made life simpler. Marius understood completely that Nadia had strong feelings about the concepts of 'house-wives' and who was responsible for cooking and cleaning – but on the other hand also understood the nature of what Marius and the team did, and how dangerous and time-consuming their work would be.
In turn of course, the benefits of their line of work was semi-regular large payments of cash, the kind of funding that made looking after a new baby relatively easy – although they both avoided talking about the risk that some border guards or toxic threat could just as easily snuff out a life as provide the means for a fat payout. They turned, and started to wander back, trying to make plans for the future, as best they could based on their current circumstances – Marius making it clear that while he was away he expected Nadia to take care of herself and be careful, getting help as needed around the Ranch and not to over-exert herself.
"So – do we tell the others about this?"
"I think not. Not yet anyway… it won't change anything, and we're just about to go all the way back up to Samara to deal with some kind of magic threat. I don't want any of them distracted. And there'll be time to tell them when we're back from dealing with the spirits and then Esprit, and we come back for a rest. I think that would be best – personally."
"If you think that best, I'll go with your decision."
"Our decision. This, is our decision. Like a lot of things now – a decision between us."
Walking hand in hand, they headed back to the ranch, mostly in silence and just enjoying the time together, both aware that it would soon be at an end, at least for a while.
When they got back, the team were all showered and changed, and had started to assemble their kit. With fresh supplies of socks and pants, restocked wash kits, cleaned guns and recharged batteries, they'd spent the last hour or so while they'd been discussing the baby getting the bird prepped and their mission kit ready. Nadia gave him a quick hug, and started to work on the computer parts, grabbing both Kai and Aswon and getting a detailed description of the order Falcon had worked in – or as much as they remembered.
Marius got to work getting his personal kit checked over and swapped out, then double-checking the vehicle to ensure it was ready to fly. Hunter had already worked out how to operate the pump and had refilled the tanks to the limits, giving them maximum range, so there wasn't that much to do. Once his checks were done, and his kit was prepared, they were ready to launch.
They all met back up, gathering around the table in the dining room and working out what time they were going to head up, plotting their journey. Working from the map, they had two main options – to travel up to the Quarry, refuel there and then make the shorter hop to Samara; or they could head direct to Samara and cut off the corner of the previous route, and just about make it. The downside was that they'd have less than a hundred kilometres of fuel left in the tanks, and if they found themselves in a fight that could quickly be exhausted by combat manoeuvers. Marius expressed that he thought that was too risky, and also cut down their options for pursuit or dealing with diversions en-route too much, so they decided upon the stop at the Quarry.
They worked backwards, planning to arrive at Samara late in the evening, an hour before midnight – hoping that their enemies would be done with any attacks for the day. Working backwards, they plotted the flight time back to the quarry, the time to refuel and then the route back to the Ranch, getting a rough departure time of 18:30.
With that out of the way they worked out their contact details – Kai tried to call Captain Zarkorov, but the phone went straight through to voice mail, and didn't give him the chance to leave a message – the mailbox reporting that it was out of room. They fell back to Tads calling the Doctor, advising her of their plans and that she would call back when they were nearing the base to arrange landing clearance and access to the air wing. With that arranged, Kai made a call to the Quarry, advising them they were on the way but just stopping long enough for a fuel stop.
With the arrangements made, they took off on time and headed north, slipping across the TCL / Russian border like it wasn't even there, as Marius found a mountain canyon that didn't appear to have any radar coverage at all. Hunter made a point of logging the co-ordinates in their database for future use, as they descended down out of the Caucasus mountains and into the grasslands beyond. Their journey up to the Quarry was quiet and uneventful, Marius sticking high enough to avoid rattling windows below, but low enough to stay out of the way of commercial traffic. With the spirit concealing their already stealthy craft, nothing of import spotted them, and they made good time.
At the quarry they landed and topped up the tanks, most of the crew staying aboard during the operation. Kai jumped out into the tunnels and jogged through to the recreation area – not meeting another soul along the way. He found Vishtar leaning against the cave wall, going over a manifest and checked in with him. It seemed that the Quarry just happened to be having a quiet day, with nobody in any of the hangers and no visitors around. Taking advantage of the quiet, Kai outlined the base that Rashid was setting up far down to the south, and asked if Vishtar – or his boss – might be interested in some kind of confederation or reciprocal rights deal.
Vishtar seemed surprised at first, and asked for some more details about them, but gradually seemed to be warming to the idea as Kai continued to describe Rashid and what he was up to.
"We're choosy with our cards as a general rule – though it doesn't always work like that. I mean, Bogbuster is a good example… but on the whole, the teams that come here are chill. I wouldn't want to upset that by letting anyone that they let in, also in here. That wouldn't be good for us."
"No, no – I can see that. But perhaps if you let people know about his place if they're heading down that way, it helps him get set up. And perhaps he can report back on the crews they get through, to see if there's anyone you've heard of, that you might want to give a trial membership to? Or let in on a temporary card?" Vishtar considered this for a moment.
"I'll talk it over with the boss. But I think we would at least chat to them and sort something out. So, if you'd be so kind as to arrange and secure a matrix chat room some time and invite us both, we'll see what we can sort out. And if the deal goes well, as a thank you for brokering it – we'll get you a card."
"Oh, then thanks – we'll do that anyway, but that makes the deal sweeter. Now, we're just heading out on a job – but there is anything you want bringing back?" Kai asked. Vishtar reeled off a list of things the base was short on – a lot of which was fairly mundane and domestic stuff, but Kai made a note none the less, before paying for their fuel and heading back.
It wasn't too long until they were back in the air and heading north east, on a straight line course for Samara. Along the way, Kai waved at Shimazu, attracting his attention and then fired up his comms over the noise of the engine.
"Shimazu? Been meaning to ask you. Just how the hell did you murder that beast so quickly? From what Hunter and Tads have said, it was the size of a Woolley Mammoth, and made the ground shake when it ran. What's going on there?" Shimazu gazed at him for a moment and then closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the fuselage.
"It wasn't something I had more than a split second to consider. It was mostly reaction – a wide swing to bring the body around and slice the side, and when it roared in pain, a stab through to the brain. I think it was roaring anyway, but you don't get chance to change your plans at a time like that. You just follow through and hope for the best." He opened his eyes again, and stared at Kai. "Strike hard, strike first, strike fast. Be decisive. And of course the fact that Tads has enhanced my sword played no small part in it, I'm sure. From what I can tell having talked with both Tads and Aswon – if it hadn't been enchanted, it would probably have bounced off the spirit's protective wards, rather than slicing straight through them."
"Ok, interesting. I'm just wondering if you learnt how to do something like Aswon's breathing exercises, if that would help. Being more ninja-like, I mean."
"I'm not a ninja… they're… we'll that's not me. Not by a long shot. But, learning to centre myself and achieve true Zen like states – that would be useful, yes."
"So your new vibroblade wouldn't have helped much in that fight then?"
"No – it might have made an irritating noise, but that wasn't the right weapon for that fight."
They settled back down, trying to doze during the flight, or using the time to read or practice some other skill easily performed while tightly cinched into an uncomfortable jump seat. But, soon enough the flight came to an end, and they heard Marius calling ahead on the guard frequency, citing the clearance code issued to them earlier. They spiralled downwards, spotting the base and the vast forested marshland beyond it that was used for training.
As they descended, Tads was on the prism and scouting around the craft, calling out a warning.
"I have multiple spirits, at least eight. No, at least ten spirits. A whole bunch of them are nature spirits, probably low to moderate in power, spread out over the base. But there are at least two more… eek. Ok, those two are nearly as powerful as I am, I think. And they're free spirits, from the look of them… or some kind of unusual spirit. Not sure. But definitely a lot more powerful. Here, Shimazu, you're good with auras, you have a look." She pulled off the headset and passed it over, and Shimazu looked out at the spirits, adjusting the selector to change angles.
"I concur. I think they are both free spirits, and different types too. But there's a certain coldness and strangeness about them. They're related in some way, and definitely share aspects. I can't determine what powers they have though. The rest of the spirits… that's weird. They're hovering in physical space, just hanging around and watching below. Oooooh, I get it. They're on the physical plane so they can affect the troops or anything going on down there. They have to be here physically to be on the right side of the astral divide. I suppose it's not that dangerous for them, as the Russians don't have anything to use against them. Hey, Marius – standby! One of the small spirits is coming towards us, and he's doing something!"
The tilt-wing dropped suddenly as Marius kicked the controls to the side and lowered the power, plummeting down towards the ground and then throttling back up to kill their descent. The spirit shimmered as it tried to use its power on the craft, but the guardian spirit that was concealing the craft against mundane vision deflected the power, countering it with its own force.
The crew readied themselves for combat, standing by door guns and grabbing weapons in case any spirit appeared inside the craft, but they made a good landing, putting down in the middle of the helipad and Marius immediately started to taxi towards the waiting hanger. Floodlights lit the interior and even this late, there was a lot of work going on, with crews all over the half-dozen helicopters inside.
As they trundled steadily into the hanger, following the lit beacons waved by some young aircraft handler, Marius looked over at the work, and saw that most of the birds were having sensors changed, or windscreen wipers repaired, nuts and bolts tightened, or blades polished. Suddenly it became clear to him, and he switched on the comms to warn the others.
"All of these aircraft are having maintenance done – all at the same time. That's unusual, but the type of maintenance is all wrong. Every one of them is having external components changed or fixed. These spirits must be picking away at whatever they can see from the outside, and using their powers to target the exposed elements. Will that work on us?"
"I'm afraid so, Marius," answered Aswon. "The ward is on the inside, not the outside. Stealthy, but does leave us open to assault. The best thing we can do I think is try to ward the hanger – it's got a good, clearly delineated edge, so it shouldn't be a problem. Will keep all of us safe."
"That's a fair volume to cover – I think it's going to take all of us to do that!" Tads responded. "And the question is, how strong do we go? A mid-force ward would be a pretty sure fire thing to put up, should keep the small ones out, but probably won't stop the big ones. If we go for a higher force ward, it's going to take us most of a day to do, if it works – but it should stop them cold. I hope. They were pretty powerful!"
"We can do little ones on the individual choppers nice and quickly, and that should protect them while they're out flying." Aswon pointed at the row of attack choppers being worked upon by the maintenance teams, slaving away under the spotlights. "We can either split off and do them individually, or try and team up and work through them quickly. Not sure one is better than the other…"
"Well, why do you have a think about how you're going to do that. I'm going to take Shimazu with me and go find the Captain or the Brigadier, and see what's going on. See if you can have a workable plan by the time I get back?"
"Are you sure that's wise? Going out, past those spirits?" Aswon looked sceptical, and as he cast a glance around the others, didn't see or hear anything that persuaded him otherwise.
"It'll be fine. Shimazu has his sword, we'll cope. Now, crack on." He lead Shimazu towards the entrance, setting off at a brisk stride, unaware that behind him, Tads channelled some of her power into a barrier around them to keep them safe from spells.
Hand on sword hilt, Shimazu led the way out of the hanger, scanning around him and peering into the dark forest on either side of the path that separated the air wing and the infantry base. If he remembered right it was about half a kilometre from one to the other – a distance that made him nervous to say the least. Soon the yellow light spilling out of the hanger was like a distant memory, swallowed up by the dense conifers, twists and turns. Dark shapes twisted by his imagination became threats in the treeline, and he felt his heart hammering in his ribs as he tried to keep his situational awareness and protect Kai, who was walking along and babbling about something – it was hard to tell.
They broke out of the narrow tree lined path and could see the barracks blocks to their left, and the main base buildings ahead and to the right of them, lit up by a few external security lights and the faint light from the stars above. As they looked around, they saw one of the spirits swooping down for a closer look, before bobbing back up to about thirty metres in the air. A chilling noise echoed out from it, reverberating from the buildings in a distorted parody. One of the two bigger spirits drifted over their way, as they lengthened their stride, trying to close on the main building as quickly as they could.
The spirit that had spotted them shimmered, and they saw the guardian spirit assigned by Tads flex in response, as its power battled against the spiritual energy from the attacker. Nothing visible happened, so they took it that the defending spirit had won whatever contest or battle between them. That seemed to act as a spur for the larger spirit though, which immediately gestured down towards Shimazu with a sinuous finger. A spell arced down from the spirit floating in the sky, a flash of mana almost too fast for the eye to register. Back in the hanger Tads grunted as she felt something batter at her mental barriers, but it burrowed through and struck Shimazu in the head.
"Kai and Shimazu are under magical attack!" she called out. Aswon and Hunter sprinted back into the tilt-wing to grab their weapons, while Tads looked around her to see what she could do. Back on the gravel path, Shimazu flinched as the bolt hit him, and then slumped. His limbs felt heavy, his legs thick and unyielding, and the world seemed to speed up around him. He felt tired and lethargic, and his reactions seemed to slow like he was walking through treacle, or dragging very heavy weights with every movement.
Shimazu pointed at the barracks block nearest them, waving Kai to go that way instead of towards the main building, further away.
"Spell slowing me down, need to get under cover." Every word felt like a battle, and he broke into a loose-limbed shamble towards the building, looking like someone struggling with the worst hangover in the world. As he ran, he felt his feet slipping and sliding, catching on every single protrusion or bit of slick ground, and he struggled to remain on his feet. Above them both, in the sky, more and more of the spirits flew their way, adding to the barrage of power being sent their way.
Aswon emerged first, but only just – jumping out of the tilt-wing door and brandishing his Purdey. Hunter was only a step behind him with his Ares Alpha, slapping a large magazine into the well and working the action.
"You there! I am Aswon! We need access to the roof!" He pointed up, making sure that his Russian wasn't calling the man a squirrel by mistake, and the shocked and surprised aircraftman stepped back from the enormously tall black man with a huge mane of dreadlocks and a large gun, then did a double take as he saw the shorter, but far, far wider ork that had apparently had his face replaced with a car crash. "Roof, man! Roof! Which way!" The trooper pointed at the triangular curved gantry and latticework that curved up and over their heads, over which was stretched the waterproof material that formed the actual hanger walls. Aswon scanned over it, but couldn't see any doors or hatches, or access routes. "Hunter, grab a rope please, then catch up with me outside."
While Hunter grabbed a rope, Aswon slung the gun over his shoulder and headed out of the hanger, double-checking his thoughts and examining the trees. He was right – the trees were too dense and far too tall to see the spirits over the main part of the base from here, and he remembered how many twists and turns the path had. What they needed was altitude, and that meant getting on top of the hanger, and quickly.
Hunter caught up with him and passed him the lead end of the rope, and with his gecko tattoo flashing brightly in the dark, Aswon scampered hand over hand up the side of the hanger. His hands and feet seemed to stick to the material like glue, despite the eighty five degree angle, and he ran up the side of the building on all fours, while Hunter paid out the rope behind him.
Back in the main area, the spirits had taken a moment to group up, and then the flock of smaller spirits had descended in a pack and had torn the two defending spirits apart, leaving Kai and Shimazu unguarded. That meant coming in range of Shimazu, and slow as he was, his sword still flicked out, cutting through two of the attacking spirits and ending their existence before they managed to pull back out of range. Kai and Shimazu forged onwards, heading for the barracks and wondering why they had pulled back. With their defensive spirits gone, they could probably have attacked Shimazu and overwhelmed him, bearing him down under weight of numbers with acceptable losses – but instead they hung back, using their power to try and make the pair slide, slip and trip at every step. A second later the answer become clear.
Appearing in an instant, a large hail cloud suddenly cascaded down upon them. Hunks of ice the size of a shotgun shell pelted down to the ground with great force, a dense blizzard of ice that nearly drove them to their knees. Kai managed to get his arms up to shield his head, wincing and crying out in pain as ice struck his armour and pounded at him. Shimazu was not so lucky, several of the large crystals of ice gouging chunks out of his head and blood started to ooze out of the wounds.
Knocked off balance, he slipped and fell, landing hard on his backside, blood dribbling down onto the ground as ice continued to rain down upon them. Kai turned, still covering his head with one hand and reaching out for Shimazu with the other.
"Get inside! Go, leave me!"
"Shut up, get up and MOVE!" he grasped the flailing arm and struggled to pull Shimazu to his feet, sinews popping as he tried to physically lift the much heavier man from the floor. Overhead the Blizzard seemed to intensify as Shimazu struggled to his feet and the pair struggled through the shower of ice towards the door and safety. More ice smashed into Shimazu's skull, opening up a score of cuts and gashes, and more trails of blood started to seep through his wet and bedraggled hair.
Aswon reached the top of the Hanger, and gave two sharp jerks on the rope, bracing his feet wide apart on the relatively flat top of the Hanger and readied himself. He grunted as Hunter started to climb, using his hands to climb up the rope while his feet scrabbled for purchase. He slid towards the slope, inexorably, despite his best efforts – but the further Hunter got, the shallower the angle became until eventually the friction on his boots arrested his slide and he could pull the ork up along the outside of the trellis.
With Hunter safely up the top, Aswon dropped the rope and swung the rifle round, sighting over towards the main base. He could see the eight or more small spirits darting about, weaving and bobbing like corks in a river, along with the two larger spirits who appeared to be moving in a series of gentle curving arcs. As he watched, one of them threw another large blast of cold ice down to the ground, then abruptly stopped. Both the big spirits and the little ones started to move around in an intricate dance, circling an area with their attention focussed downwards.
Six hundred metres away, Kai had managed to drag Shimazu to the door, wrenching it open and staggering into the ground floor of the barracks, leading the bleeding bodyguard into the sickly green corridor beyond. As the door slammed shut behind them in the wind, they heard a voice call out a curse in Russian from one of the NCO's rooms.
The spirits wheeled and watched the door, waiting for their prey to emerge, and on the roof of the hanger in the distance, Aswon started to breathe deeply, steadying his heart rate and following the motion of the spirits with his scope.
"It's ok, we're inside. Safe – for now." Kai sounded surprised, relieved and possibly a little contrite over the earbud, but Aswon relaxed slightly. Next to him Hunter had taken a knee and was scanning around the area – having decided that the chance of a good hit with his Alpha at six hundred metres was relatively small. Aswon decided to hold fire for a moment, giving the boss time to catch his breath and decide what to do.
The spirits continued to swirl around the barracks, blocked from entering by the wards, but with all the time in the world to wait, it seemed.
