Date: Friday 3/9/2060, Location: 52.29031, 104.32098, Time: 07:00

Aswon stirred first, which was normal, but then blinked in surprise as he checked the time. It was unusual for him to sleep more than three or four hours, but he'd managed a straight seven hours overnight. He gingerly got up and checked the dressing pad that had been applied after his wounds were dressed last night, finding the skin showing only a slight discolouration and almost no tenderness… his body had obviously needed the rest, but had taken full advantage of the downtime. His head snapped up as he heard another very quiet and tentative knock at the door – that must have been what roused him from his sleep.

Grabbing his spear, he silently headed over to the door and then stood to the side, listening for a moment. He could just make out the sound of someone breathing on the other side – but only one person. He opened the door a crack, and saw the soldier on the other side, hand raised as he was about to knock again.

"Good morning, Private."

"Ahh, good morning. I hope I didn't disturb you?" Aswon shook his head at him. "You and your friends seemed to be early risers, and I wondered if you wanted me to get your breakfast bought down?"

"Oh?" Aswon stood up slightly straighter, and gave the man a tight-lipped smile. He hadn't been expecting that kind of solicitude. "Actually, yes, that would be great, thank you. I'll start waking the others up – I'm sure we have things to be doing, and they've had enough rest after last night."

"Yes sir, busy night all round. But a good one." The private bobbed his head, and then headed up the corridor, disappearing out of sight. Aswon eased the door closed and turned to examine the rest of the team. A single open eye peered out at him from under a small mound of blankets, blinking sleepily at him, before a small hand wormed its way out through the hole to rub some of the sleep away.

"Morning Tads. It's after dawn, but I think the spirits will forgive you, after last night." The hole in the blankets slowly enlarged as the shaman stirred, her body wiggling out of the tight nest, a lava grudgingly hatching into a somewhat chilly butterfly. Aswon flopped down on a chair and pulled his communicator out while Tadibya threw some additional clothes on, and checked his messages – after deleting the spam and adverts that had managed to get past his firewall and ad-blockers, he saw one from Spook.

'Data received, all appears well. Good job. Payment is inbound, as agreed.' Aswon took a moment to compose a quick message to Nadia, letting her know and passing on his congratulations for getting the complex task resolved so quickly. He felt Tadibya plonk herself down on the sofa next to him.

"Watcha doing, Aswon?"

"Just sending a message to Nadia. Spook has received the data, and everything looks good, so she must have finished reassembling that hardware and getting the databases decrypted."

"Ahh, good. I'll send her a well done too, let her know we all appreciate it. Besides, if she'd finished that, I've got some things I'd like her to find for us while we're busy with this job." Aswon quirked an eyebrow at her and waited for her to continue. "I figure it's worth finding some acid-resistant over clothing, or acid-proof armour. If we're going back into that temple and looking for that big bug thing, having something that won't melt if it spits at us has got to be a good thing."

Their quiet conversation had roused Kai and Shimazu, and the noise they made in turn roused Hunter and Marius. Soon the room was full of people getting changed, either putting on more clothes or taking some off to go dive into the shower. After spending so long cooped up together in the truck or the chopper, body modesty was something they were pretty much past now, and nobody really batted an eyelid at anyone else's state of dress – though Tadibya still tended to disappear into the bathroom or a quiet corner to get changed, still uncomfortable with the massive scars that dominated her body.

Kai pulled his own comm-link out and waded through his share of spam and inbox clutter, special offers and once-in-a-lifetime deals, gradually trimming it all down until his mailbox was clear again, then sent Captain Fredericks a quick message, asking him how things were going after last night's attacks. He was just hitting send when there was another knock at the door – much firmer and louder than the one that had awoken Aswon. The tribesman smiled as the rest froze or grabbed a gun, and headed to the door to let the private in, pushing a trolley laden down with dishes before him.

"Here you go sirs, and ma'am. I tried to grab a selection of things for you." He lifted the covers off the bowls, revealing a large dish of scrambled eggs, a plate of buttered black bread, then smaller dishes of sausage, bacon, mushrooms and something that looked like steamed fish. The colours were slightly lurid and every so slightly off – but it was all decent quality soy, even if it didn't quite match the real thing.

The private took a step backwards as the trolley was descended upon, as the team dived into the food, giving a hungry mob of seagulls a run for their money. With another nod at Aswon, he backed out of the room and pulled the door closed behind him. Clutching plates of food, the team relaxed, stuffing their faces with the hot and somewhat tasty soy substitutes.

Just as Marius was about to take a big bite of his bacon and egg sandwich, his comm vibrated, causing him to scowl. He considered the steaming food just in front of him, but his comm link shuddered again insistently, and he lowered the food back to his plate.

"What?"

"Herr Marius. There are soldiers just outside the back of the chopper, with crates. Many crates. They want to bring it all aboard, but I thought you would want to approve it." Marius nodded, then realised he'd accepted the call voice only, and transmitted back.

"Good, well done, Vadim. Tell them to hang on, we'll be out in a minute."

"Finish your breakfast Marius, I've got this." Hunter rolled up to his feet, wiping the last remnants of egg from the corner of his mouth, then poking Aswon. "Come on, you. I'm sure you want to stretch your legs, too." Aswon crammed the last corner of his own butty into his mouth, then grabbed his rifle and spear, following Hunter out of the door and down the stairs.

The tilt-wing dominated the street outside the hotel, and as Vadim had told Marius, there was a truck pulled up near the rear ramp, and a number of soldiers standing around, guarding a pile of large military containers, a dull olive green in colour and covered in Cyrillic-stencilled part codes or serial numbers. The sergeant in charge of the detail turned towards them to give them an appraising stare, and then sauntered over towards them.

"Kai?"

"No, the boss is upstairs stuffing his face with bacon and eggs" Hunter said, then rolled his eyes in mock disgust. "Besides, it's not like he'd do the work of loading stuff anyway, right?" The sergeant grinned at him revealing yellowing teeth, as he shared his opinion of officers. "So, what have we got?"

"Bunch of supplies, we were told to bring them and get them to you. Don't know what they are, we were just told to get them here."

"Fair enough. Let me get my load checker, and we'll get them on board." Hunter figured it was best not to insult the man by telling him they were going to scan for bugs to his face – though he'd probably realise soon enough. He banged on the side of the craft, and Vadim lowered the rear ramp, then moved to the side as Hunter vaulted up onto the ramp and headed inside to grab his equipment.

With bug scanner in hand, he headed back out and saw Aswon examining the crates carefully. They were all constructed of the same dull plastic material but varied in size, though each of them had common factors – the clasps were all the same, as were the handles on the ends. The ridges and depressions on the sides and tops of the crates all matched a common pattern as well, allowing them to be stacked together well.

They grabbed the first box down and flipped the top open, revealing a densely packed mass of Russian uniforms. Pulling out the first few to examine, they looked like standard battle dress – hard ceramic and plasteel plates over the core with lighter armour over the arms and legs, in a generic steppes camouflage pattern. The uniform fabric felt quite soft on the inside, with close fitting seals around the ankles and wrists, and a soft liner around the neck and head area, while the outside was coated with some kind of chemical that made the fabric feel quite slick. A quick check through showed a dozen uniforms, two each of a variety of sizes – showing a reasonable match to the members of the team. Hunter scanned over them, found them clean and Aswon and Vadim dragged the crate up to the top of the ramp.

They moved a few of the other boxes next, struggling with the weight a little, to get at the biggest one at the base of the pile – it only made sense to put that in the cargo area at the bottom. Aswon and Hunter grabbed the end and heaved, struggling to lift the box up and off the floor - it easily weighed over two hundred and fifty kilos. Flipping the top open, revealed mass of tubes, legs, sights and plates.

"Is that a frikkin mortar?" Aswon asked.

"It's a 2S12-S 152mm indirect fire tube weapon system, according to the blurb. So yeah, it's a mortar. Heavy-ass bastard too. But I like what they can do." Hunter smiled as his mind flashed back to the area north of Samara and the rain of rocket fire that had obliterated the two shapeshifters there. He scanned the box, then they closed the lid and with a mighty heave managed to get the mortar system up to the top of the ramp and stowed inside the craft.

The next box down was mortar rounds – large high explosive warheads, packed twenty to a box. So was the box underneath that – and the next three down. They checked and loaded all five boxes, stowing the hundred rounds of ammo together and making sure they were tightly lashed down – this was not the kind of cargo you wanted to fall over or move in flight! The sixth box was more mortar rounds, but with a different designation – these were solar rounds, designed to burst open at altitude and float down on a parachute, with the magnesium burning charge illuminating the landscape below.

Marius came out of the hotel then, and held up his hand to his mouth and ear indicating he was on his internal phone and looked over at them. He raised a hand and waved, alternating between a thumbs up and thumbs down position, then looked at them questioningly. Hunter quickly flashed a thumbs up, and watched as Marius nodded, then turned and started to wander up the street, walking in silence – but no doubt chatting away using his internal systems.

The ninth box was stuffed full of throwing grenades, aerodynamically shaped and with a contoured grip. They struggled to decipher the part code and turn it back into meaningful text, but they looked to be high-yield fragmentation devices, suitable for clearing out bunkers and houses, or other built up areas. Each grenade was nestled in its own small compartment, plastic arms holding them securely in place in five rows of ten grenades.

The tenth and final box was full of a long belt of heavy machine gun ammunition, plastic links flowing back and forth holding 12.7 X 104mm bullets designed for a heavy machine gun. Each of the rounds had a thin black line painted around, perhaps a third of the way from the tip to the base of the actual bullet, and the rounds had a slightly unusual sheen to them, indicating that they'd been either heat-treated, annealed or were made of some non-standard materials. While the mortar system was a fantastic piece of kit in itself, it was of limited use to the team, and likely was going to be sold on for profit somewhere – but this was another matter. The semi-armour piercing rounds were tricky to get hold of without legal paperwork, and a whole crate of it was like finding gold-dust. They scanned it quickly, then moved it into the chopper along with the rest of the supplies. As soon as they'd taken the last box, the sergeant had moved his troops back onto the truck and it had rumbled to life, disappearing down the street to return to whatever division or regiment they belonged to.

"Hunter? What were you doing under the chopper last night by the way?"

"What do you mean? We were at the dam, then back at the hotel there, talking with the general and then in the room…"

"Oh – it wasn't you? Oh crap… I saw someone big, your kind of build. Holding some electronic device, like this," he moved his hands apart about twenty centimetres, and mimed out the shape of a brick or cylinder, "and doing something with the landing gear on the wing. That one." He pointed at the starboard side of the craft. Hunter grabbed his bug scanner and dove out of the rear of the cargo bay, then skidded around underneath the fuselage, and started to carefully approach the landing strut, carefully looking about and watching the scanner as he probed for bugs or transmitters.

"Aswon – if this isn't a bug under here, I think I'm going to need your help!" he called out. He continued to worm his way forwards, slowly and carefully crawling across the street on his belly as he closed in on the wheel and hydraulic pistons of the landing gear. Peering to one side, then the other though, he saw no sign of an external device, or any kind of demolition charge. A crunching noise from behind him made him twist, and he saw Vadim crouching a few metres away, watching him as he lay on his belly.

"Popalsya!" It took a moment for Hunters brain to catch up with the translation – "got you!" Behind Vadim he heard a loud burst of laughter erupt from Aswon as he watched the exchange, as they both remembered Hunter telling Vadim the Colonel was coming aboard the chopper the other day and his frantic efforts to hide.

"Yeah, yeah, ok – you got me. Fair enough. You know this isn't over though, right?" Vadim just smiled at him and then offered a hand to help Hunter climb to his feet.

"Of course, Hunter. The battle is still young. But now you know I can shoot back, yes?" Hunter smiled at him and lightly punched him on the shoulder, while he started wondering what kind of practical joke he could come up with to get his revenge. He mused through various ideas while he got himself seated into the co-pilot's chair, fired up his deck and logged into the matrix, then started to have a sniff around some of the special interest groups, looking for the resale value of a Soviet 2S12-S…

Aswon busied himself in the back of the chopper with Vadim, strapping down their cargo and making sure the load wouldn't shift suddenly if they had to make some violent manoeuvers. He caught sight of Kai at the window, then a moment later heard him calling over the comm link, asking what was going on.

"Looks like the Colonel came through for us – delivered us a mortar and a hundred rounds of ammo, some armoured uniforms, a bunch of grenades and some HMG ammo that's going to be very useful."

"Great. Hang on, a mortar? We can't mount that on the chopper can we? In fact, can we use that – safely, I mean?"

"Hunter can probably give it a good go, but I tell you what, we're not humping it far overland. Damn thing weighs more than a troll. But – It's probably worth mentioning that I've got a contact who might be interested. Arms dealer, based down in Lanzhou – in one of the Chinese states. I mean, he's not close, but he's not that far away either, and if we're heading towards Japan anyway…"

"Certainly worth thinking about. We'd need to find out what everything is worth though, make sure we don't get ripped off."

"Well, I don't think my friend would rip us off, that's for sure. But I also can't see us using this in operations. Maybe if we took it back to the ranch, we might find some use for it – but even then we'd probably be better with a direct fire weapon.

"Well, I know someone who ships weapons and arms too – we can always contact both of them and use them to cross check prices and see how interested they are. It might even be worth seeing if we can trade them in for replacement gear rather than cash…"

Aswon saw movement at the front of the hotel, and watched as Kai, Shimazu and Tadibya strolled through the lobby and towards the chopper, still chatting away on the comms. As they got close enough they slipped over to speaking to each other, and Aswon showed Kai their new acquisitions. Tadibya meanwhile walked up to Vadim and waved him towards the troop compartment to take a seat. He looked at her a little nervously, wondering what the serious expression was for, but sat down as he was advised.

"Vadim, we need to talk about what we're going to do with you. We're pretty much going to be travelling to Japan next, way outside the country, and we don't know when we're going to be back. We don't want you to be labelled as a deserter or anything, and we don't want to take you away to somewhere you're not happy going to." Vadim shifted in his seat a little, but waited for her to finish speaking, taking a moment to compose his thoughts.

"I want to learn from you, learn about magic. I need to be better, and to gain more power. So, I wish to come with you. If you will allow it, I will stay with you, and learn all about spirits and spells and magical creatures. When I am stronger, I can protect my people against our enemy to the north."

"Even if that means leaving home for a while, travelling to strange places?" Vadim snorted and shook his head at Tadibya's statement.

"How is that different to being conscripted into the army?" Vadim smiled, and waved at his uniform, and Tads had to acknowledge his point.

"Well, as long as you know what you're getting into, that's fine. We'll see how we go, but I'll let Kai know you want to come with us." She nodded at him, and then smiled, and he returned the grin, relaxing as he realised the 'serious talk' was over and he wasn't going to be sent away or dismissed.

The front door of the hotel burst open again and Colonel Frunze bounded down the stairs three at a time, sliding across the tarmac as he rounded the end of the ramp.

"Kai! I need you to get in the air. NOW! Get the hell out of here."

"What? Why? What's going on?"

"We've just had news that there's a KGB detachment on the way here, with orders for your arrest." Kai looked confused for a moment, then a feeling of dread came over him.

"That guy at the dam? Shit, he really does have a relative in the Politburo?" Frunze nodded at him.

"I have no doubt in my mind that should they try to arrest you, either your mage or your bodyguard will deal with him – but that won't be the end of it. The more you do, the more they will hunt you down. You need to get the hell away from here before they arrive, otherwise we're all going to be dealing with this rather than something important."

"Crap – where's Marius?"

"He went up the street – he was on the phone to someone, no idea who." Aswon told Kai. "Can't see him, so he's up past the end of the street somewhere." Kai frowned, then adjusted his comm link and fired a priority alert, broadcasting to the whole team, just to be sure.

"Urm…red alert I guess. We need to scramble. Marius?"

"For fuck's sake Kai, I'm on the phone to Nadia. What?"

"You'll have to call her back, the KGB are going to be here in a few minutes with warrants for our arrest, that guy in the dam. We need to get airborne – now."

There was silence for a few moments, then the whine of compressors could be heard slowly building up, and lights started to dance across the cockpit as Marius remotely started the pre-flight sequence.

"I'm on my way – everyone make sure we're ready to take off and get everything secured."

"Roger that. You all heard Marius – asses and elbows, let's get ready to take off." Kai turned towards Frunze. "I hate to sound so mercenary – but what are we going to do about the fuel rights and things?"

"You have my personal number. Call me when you're in the air, and we'll work it out. But get moving!"

Marius appeared around the corner of the street, running down towards then distractedly, while he stabbed at buttons on his commlink to activate the next series of start-up commands and rushed through the pre-flight sequence.

Just before 08:00, the engines built up to speed, sending dirt and debris flying through the air, and Marius lifted them straight up, rising vertically above the buildings of the city until he was a good five hundred metres above the ground, before turning and heading a few degrees south of due east in a very vague 'towards Japan' sort of direction, then called the rest of the team to find out just what they were going to do next, and where exactly they were going.

Kai called the Colonel when they were clear, and true to his word he sent over a few encrypted identifiers to allow them to approach both Irkutsk and Novosibirisk, along with a few more details about the situation on the ground – a KGB Major was now sending out patrols to look for Kai and his team, rumoured to still be somewhere around the dam according to the local soldiers…

"Ok, thanks for that, Colonel. Remember that spirit we defeated is going to be out of action for a few weeks, but could come back after that. If it does, Captain Fredericks is going to have to deal with it – get him to keep a bunch of spirits handy and team up on it."

"I will let him know Kai. So, where are you headed next?"

"We've got a job in Japan we need to get to. Not sure how we're getting there yet, but we'll find a way I'm sure."

"Let me see what I can do." Kai could hear the smile on Frunze's face, even over the cellular link, but didn't pry – he was sure he'd find out in due course. Sure enough, a few minutes later he received a text message from the Colonel, with two sets of co-ordinates, both way to the east of their current location.

"Hunter, can you pull up the map on these two locations? 52.4129, 118.56754, and 51.68798, 128.88905 and tell me what's there?"

"Gimme a few." Hunter worked on the co-ordinates, checking the map and trying a quick search on Shadowland to get any additional data, before calling back to Kai five minutes later. "Ok the first one is a town on the river Shilkka, though the exact location matches a classified airfield just north of town. There's hints that it's a border defence point, with someone saying there's a squadron of Migs stationed there, and the second is near a town called Novokiyevskiy, positively identified as a Russian air defence squadron base – the eight hundred and seventy first air defence group confirmed to operate from that."

"Distances between them?"

"Just under a thousand klicks from here to the first, then seven hundred to the second airbase, from there just over a thousand to Vladivostok."

"Colonel Frunze is a good man – ok, lay in a course. Looks like we have a cover ID as a Special Forces flight, transitioning to the Far East. We should be able to make it in three hops then. Assuming we land at each airbase and take thirty minutes for rest and refuel, what would be our ETA?"

"Somewhere about mid-afternoon. Marius is muttering about running the border with Manchuria, twice, if we take a direct route, or increasing the journey length to go around and be more discreet."

"If we've got the legs for it, let's go around and play it safe. Get us on the way, please."

"Kai – just a thought? If we've got some new Russian military uniforms, we should probably use them when we come in to land at those airfields. It's probably going to save a bunch of questions."

"Good idea Tads. Can you get them sorted out and matched up please?" Tadibya nodded, then headed to the back of the chopper, and started to rake through the box and sort out one of the battle dress uniforms for each of them. A moment later the team members in the back felt the chopper heel over sharply as Marius adjusted course and headed east, following the Trans-Siberian railroad as it wound through the inhospitable landscape, and Tadibya had to grab at the ribs on the side of the fuselage to avoid being sent across the cargo hold.

Aswon got on the phone to Spook as they levelled out, after checking the time zone in Hong Kong, then plugged in his throat mike and earphones so he could actually have a conversation.

"Hi Aswon, how are you doing? Great work on that data by the way."

"No problem – that was one of our other team members though, but I'll pass on the compliment. And alive – which is a little surprising after the last few days."

"Sounds like a good story to share with a beer when you're next over here. So – have you thought any more about that job offer?"

"We have, and we're actually on our way. Technically, I think we can be in Japan by nightfall, though that would be pushing it a little for a midnight meeting."

"That boss of yours must be interesting to work for Aswon, knowing you. Keeping you on your toes, is he?" Aswon declined to comment, but his facial expression spoke louder than words. "Well, truth be told, I wasn't expecting you to get on your way so quickly. I'll call my contact though and get the meet firmed up, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

"Well, I guess we can arrange a layover for a day or a few days if need be – I'm sure nobody is going to complain about a chance to unwind a little. Not every day you get hit with a tidal wave, after all." Spook looked at him in silence for a moment, searching his face for any sign of humour.

"Ok, two beers. That's going to be an interesting tale. But let me get things fired up my end and I'll call you back." Aswon nodded and disconnected the call.

Kai meanwhile called his business contact, Gregory Zucco, an air-freight manager working for Yamatetsu, over in the port city of St Petersburg. Unfortunately he, unlike Aswon, neglected to factor in the time difference. After a dozen rings, a very grumpy and dishevelled face appeared, lit by a bedside lamp?

"Hello? Who is this? Kai? God dammit, Kai, it's two in the morning! What do you want, and can't it wait until later?"

"Sure, I can call you back later – but it was just to let you know we're going to be in Vladivostok shortly, and then heading to Japan, probably under the radar. Just wondered if you needed anything moving or shifting along?"

"That's the best part of seven thousand kilometres from me? Eight thousand for Japan?"

"Well, it's still Russia, right?"

"I'll call you back." The call disconnected abruptly. Kai mentally kicked himself, then shrugged. What's done was done…

They flew on, the team settling down for the two hour flight to the east. Aswon started to teach Shimazu his breath control techniques, showing him how to focus and concentrate the control over his own body, while Hunter spent some time researching and grabbing some online courses. Tadibya grabbed an unbonded foci, and spent time attuning to it, talking Vadim through the process and showing him how she slowly imbued her astral signature into the magical item, allowing her to channel mana into it to sustain a spell for her.

The landing at the first airbase went like clockwork – and wearing their Russian BDUs, nobody gave them a second glance. The sterile clothing, devoid of name tags, rank badges, specialisations or unit assignments actually added to the subterfuge, and the air base staff gave them a wide berth, not even questioning the unusual configuration of the transport. Soon enough they were on the way, flying in a loop around the border of Manchuria and towards the second fuel stop, where the situation was repeated.

On the second leg, Tadibya had a quick chat with Kai about outsourcing some work to Aslick, the talismonger that lived in the windmill near the ranch – explaining that she had some ideas for a new spell that would help the team communicate better in tactical situations – but that it would take considerable time to develop the spell herself. Kai approved of the idea, and Tads wrote a careful message to send to Aslick, making sure she didn't make the same mistake as her boss had with the time zones.

Aswon called Mr. Hu, the weapons dealer in China and left a message on his answering service, letting him know that he had some "high impact equipment to get rid of", and that they would be in Vladivostok for a day or two, and that if he was interested, please get in touch.

They continued to train on the third leg of the journey, making the most of their time in the air to hone their skills and cross-train, learning magical techniques from each other or just meditating on recent events and trying to improve their control over their own magical powers or bits of equipment.

Crossing Lake Khanka they headed south towards Vladivostok – chasing after the rail line on the last leg of its journey. Kai asked Hunter for a quick brief on the city, and after a few minutes of research he filled them in on some useful facts. As well as being the primary Russian port on the Pacific coast and home to their Pacific navy, it was a massively industrialised city with representation from all of the mega-corporations and a host of smaller trans-nationals and national companies. The closer they got to the city, the worse the pollution became, and they could see vast swathes of land that had been clear-cut or mined, with huge stretches of toxic wasteland stretching out towards the hills, proof that megacorporate greed was well and truly established here.

Aswon jumped as his phone buzzed in his pocket, jarring him out of the survey he was doing through the fibre optics. Handing over to Shimazu, he plugged in and took the call from Spook, listening as she explained that the meeting was now set up, and would take place at midnight on the seventh – four days from now.

Using their last set of access codes they flew down the main valley and out over the water, running down the centre of the bay before turning in towards the huge naval docks at the end of the peninsula. Their ID was challenged several times by various air controllers, but the details that Frunze had provided got them into the edge of the airbase, and once more the Russian ground crew ran out the fuel lines to them and filled up the chopper without any questions.

Now that the engines were quiet, Aswon briefed everyone on the due date for the meeting, explaining that they had several days to do the crossing to Japan and arrive. The conversation flowed back and forth for a few minutes – should they file a legitimate flight plan and try to enter the country legally, using a fake transponder ID and get hold of the required Visas and permits – or did they go in black, trying to run the border and stay off the radar? There were pros and cons each way, and Kai asked Hunter to do a little research on the permits required and hoops they'd need to jump through to get in legally, while Marius was to scour the maps with Kai, looking for the best crossing points if they went in quietly.

"So – what are we going to do for the next three days? I can't see the base letting us just sit on the pad for three days with no questions asked – and it'll be uncomfortable as hell if we did, with this small a space between us?" Aswon looked around the rest of the team as he raised the point.

"Could we get a hotel in the city?"

"Sure we can, Shimazu – but I doubt many of them have helipads big enough to land on, or that we can afford – and do we want to draw that much attention?"

"I have a suggestion?" Vadim raised his hand tentatively and looked around at them unsurely.

"Go on Vadim, what is it?" Kai encouraged him with a smile and a little gesture.

"I'm sure you could stay at our place? It's to the north of the city, not far from the airport. But it's got space to land, and I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind having visitors."

"Well, that would be useful, and help keep us quiet. Are you sure they won't mind, and that you have space? I mean, it's not as big as the old chopper, but it's still not something you can park on the drive. Well, Marius probably could…." Marius gave a millimetre high smile at the compliment.

"Yes, no problem. There's lots of room in the yard – we've got big cranes and lumber trucks and a huge barn and warehouse. Plenty. And I'm sure my parents will be fine."

"Ok – do you want to give them a call and sort it out?" Marius took the cue from Kai and passed him the sat-phone, letting Vadim dial his parents. They heard half the conversation, and saw a range of emotions going across Vadim's face – from joy, to frustration, to a mild case of dread, in a rollercoaster set of swings. He managed to cut the call off at five minutes, promising to be there soon.

"It's no problem. My mother wants to make sure I've not run away from the army, though. And for your own sanity, when she starts talking about my cousin's wedding, make sure you have an excuse to leave, otherwise you'll be stuck looking at the trid-photos." A chorus of laughter filled the troop bay at his obvious lingering horror, and parts of the conversation on the phone started to make more sense…

He pinpointed the location on the map, and as soon as they were done with the fuelling, Marius lifted off for the thirty-five kilometre flight north. As Vadim had promised, the land was fairly close to the international airport, and Marius had to swing west a little to avoid entering restricted airspace, but soon found the property on the foothills of the large range that stretched away north east. Vadim hadn't exaggerated the size of their yard, and Marius was spoilt for choice as he landed in the hectare of gravelled yard. He had to be careful and come in for as gentle a landing as he could, but still the downdraft from the rotors threw gravel out at speed, pelting the buildings with debris. As soon as they were down he throttled down quickly, letting the dust storm settle and hoping he'd landed far enough away to avoid damaging anything.

"Vadim – are you going to tell your family about your talent, by the way?" Tadibya asked him.

"I wasn't planning on it, at least not at first. I'd like to tell them about you, though." Tadibya looked at him with confusion. "Well, depending on how they react to you when they know, will give me a good idea of how they're going to take it." Another peal of laughter rang out as Vadim clearly slotted Tadibya into the role of 'canary' where his family was concerned.

"Nice idea, Vadim. But Tads – let's make a good impression. How about you rustle up some truffles for our hosts?"

"Maybe, Kai. Maybe. What did you say your family did, Vadim?"

"Lumberjacks. They manage the forest on this side of the hills."

"Not truffles then – not the right kind of gift. I think however a nice big haunch of reindeer meat."

They unstrapped and secured the tilt-wing, then headed for the house. Now that the dust had settled, a woman in her mid-fifties was standing on the veranda, wearing a brightly coloured apron and head scarf, and watching them with suspicion – at least until Vadim appeared, where the frown turned into a welcoming smile. As the team walked towards the house, they could see the range of hills behind the property, with strips of forest growing at different heights in lines far too regimented to be natural. Tads quickly checked the area in astral space, and was a little surprised not to find a background count or signs of pollution, which she'd been expecting.

Mrs. Yakovlev welcomed her son home with open arms and a rib-crushing hug, revealing a wiry strength to her as she almost lifted her son up onto his tiptoes. A bare second had passed before she started to ask him why he was home so soon, what had he done, had he deserted and bought shame upon their house and who were these people. Her tone was sharp and no-nonsense, almost scolding and they saw Vadim trying to get a word in edgewise. She then turned to them, and her sharp frown vanished back into a welcoming smile as she beckoned them up onto the veranda and into the house. As they filed into the house, the heard her switch her attention back to her son, letting him know that Mrs. Blakowitz's daughter, you know, from the general store, well she still wasn't married, and what a fine young wife she'd make for Vadim. The team tried to keep straight faces as poor Vadim was 'mothered' in front of his friends, under a relentless parental assault.

Eventually Vadim managed to get a response in, and managed to tell his mother that he was on detached duty, working with some special operatives on a secret mission, that he wasn't able to talk about. His mother listened, and her eyes narrowed, and she started to immediately question him on what exactly the secret mission was, was it going to get him into trouble, and was he eating properly.

"Mrs Yakovlev, I'm afraid we can't discuss much about the mission – other than that Vadim will be helping us out with some key tasks, and that the mission is going to involve working around some magical phenomena and creatures, and probably several spirits and magicians." Tadibya spoke calmly, noting with humour that she didn't have to worry about being spoken over – she had the mother's full attention. Tads saw her eyes narrow slightly, which in turn made Tads curious… there was something going on here. She waited for Mrs. Yakovlev to turn back to her son and then made a concerted effort to assense her, trying to pierce any masking she may have over her aura and wondering what she'd find.

She was a little surprised to find the presence of some cyberware – her entire left foot had been replaced with a fairly crude prosthetic, and she also had a datajack concealed in neck, under the bandana that tied her hair back. Beyond that though she found just a regular human female, a little run-down and showing signs of aging, but not concealing any magical power or traits. She did get an edge of strong emotion from her and took a moment to try and work out what it was. It felt somehow like she was entranced by something or someone…

Once she'd finished her initial interrogation of her son, Mrs Yakovlev started to make arrangements, directing people to rooms where they could sleep. Tads was allocated a room to herself when no wedding ring was spotted, while the rest of the team were told they would unfortunately have to share, and put into two rooms, both clearly already occupied. Vadim assured them that his brothers wouldn't mind, and would probably be more interested in the team than mind being forced to cram together for a few nights.

Once they knew where they were going, the team grabbed their gear and started to settle in. Aswon grabbed his hammock and found two sturdy wooden posts to sling it from, freeing up some space, while the rest worked out who was having beds, and who was sleeping on the floor on the pile of cushions, blankets and spare duvets that had been pulled from storage, smelling faintly of mothballs.

Tadibya delivered her gifts of the reindeer haunches, and offered to help in the kitchen, wanting to spend a little more time observing Vadim's mother to try and work out what was going on – she seemed a little resistant at first, mostly it appeared being a matter of pride. Aswon soon rolled up as well though, and he and Tads double teamed her, until she capitulated and started throwing a large roast dinner together. Aswon of course started to quiz her on how she was cooking and what local spices and flavourings she was using, giving Tads plenty of time to observe her.

There was a low rumble to the east, growing louder and louder moment by moment, and the team looked up and around with alarm.

"Ahh, it's four fifteen." Mrs Yakovlev pronounced, without looking up from what she was doing, completely unconcerned by the windows vibrating and the floor resonating beneath her. A second later there was a huge boom, followed a few seconds later by a roar of some huge engine, then shortly afterwards a second boom that set all the plates dancing on the shelves.

"What the hell was that?" Aswon asked, slowly unblocking his ears from the auditory assault.

"I can never remember if that's the Seattle flight, or the San Francisco one – but it's one of them. The other one leaves in the morning, but this one always comes out over the house. Noisy old thing, isn't it. Very fast, so I'm told." Aswon nodded in sudden understanding – if it was a flight to the UCAS West Coast, then it would be a suborbital – a rocket assisted hypersonic plane that cruised right at the edge of the atmosphere, travelling in a ballistic arc. Their incredible speeds, in excess of Mach 12 at peak made the journey very short and horrifically expensive – though worthwhile to the business community in a hurry. It also explained the punctuality – they required very careful handling and were reliant on extremely long runways and landing clearances, in turn necessitating very careful planning.

He was disturbed from his thoughts by a buzz from his phone. Making a polite excuse he moved away and checked, seeing a response from Mr. Hu. He headed outside to give him a call.

"Mr. Hu, its Aswon." They exchanged pleasantries, asking each other how business was and making the required five minutes of polite conversation that culture demanded, before they got down to serious business.

"So, Mr. Hu. We've come across a Soviet 150mm mortar system, brand new in box, with one hundred rounds of high explosive anti-personnel warheads, and a further twenty rounds of solar night shells. All legitimate, in trade for services rendered. But not something we're likely to use, so we're looking to find a buyer."

"Most impressive Aswon. Such a system will be valuable to the right person. But tell me, are you after a quick sale, or can you wait for the right buyer?"

"Oh, we're in no rush. I'm more than happy to wait to find the ideal customer. In fact, on that basis, if you feel you can move an item like this, we'd be happy to sell it to you in exchange for credit? We do have some requirements that you may be able to assist us with."

"Oh, that puts a different perspective on things. Truly we are blessed, for I feel that this may be a most beneficial opportunity. What kind of things are you after?"

"Well, mini-grenades of various types to fit in an underbarrel launcher for an assault rifle, high power tasers rated for taking down trolls, gas grenades, maybe some neuro-stun or equivalent chemicals. Oh, and perhaps some arrows for a composite bow – something good for a silent takedown. And of course ammunition for pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles and rifles – the higher the quality the better, and in particular any armour-piercing rounds you can get us will be highly valued."

"An extensive list – but I'm sure I can source some of this equipment. So what are you plans, more or less?"

"We're probably staying here for about three days, then moving to Japan for some work."

"Oh – that might work. Where in the land of the Rising Sun are you working?" Aswon paused for a split second, wondering how much to say, but then figured he had to trust his contact some amount – and besides, it was a big place.

"Tokyo."

"Ahh, very good. The south island – that makes things easier." A moment's pause, and Aswon could hear the tapping of keys in the background. "Very well, let me contact some buyers and sellers, and I will see what I can arrange. I will call you when I have some indication of stock availability if that is acceptable?"

"Of course Mr. Hu. It's nice to be dealing with a professional." A few minutes of banal chatter and he could end the call, returning to the house and giving Kai a discreet thumbs up.

The team mostly relaxed, reading and doing a little training, meditating or helping with the cooking, and the evening slowly wore on. Around six the rest of Vadim's family returned – his father, a big barrel-chested man whose face was a mass of wrinkles, while his hands were calloused and rough, along with his three brothers – one older and two younger. They clearly expected something, having seen the tilt-wing parked in the yard which certainly hadn't been there when they last came past the house.

Vadim introduced them to his family, and his family to the team, and they were treated to a series of firm handshakes and gruff smiles. When the introductions were complete, Vadim's brothers descended upon him, chattering excitedly to him and wanting to know all about what was going on. As the family relaxed a little, it became clear that they were typical of many blue-collar families – they worked hard for long hours during the day, but they relaxed equally hard at night. It wasn't long before the bottle of cheap Vodka was out and the boys were throwing back shots, and settling down in front of the trid unit – though at a stern look from the father they boys suddenly remembered their guests and offered them the spots on the sofa and armchair facing the battered set. The team waved them back to their seats, settling on cushions around the room and seats at the kitchen table instead.

Tadibya suddenly tuned in and found herself being referenced in the third person, and turned to listen more carefully, finding Vadim being ribbed mercilessly about her, with his brothers asking if she was his girlfriend. Was she? Was she really? She was, wasn't she? It was infantile and juvenile behaviour, but the more Vadim denied it, the more they questioned him. Tads was trying to decide just how upset she should be about this unexpected attention when one of the brothers noticed her watching them. With a nudge in the ribs to his brothers and a nod of the head, the questioning abruptly changed – instead telling him that she couldn't be his girlfriend, she was far too pretty for him, besides his dick was too small, his mind too simple. No matter what he said, they twisted his words, as they burnt off all the excitement of the unexpected reunion. Tads decided that it was probably safer and more diplomatic not to get involved at all, and left Vadim to it.

When it descended into a play fight as his brothers decided to test his self-defence training gained in the army, the team watched carefully, ready to step in. The last thing they needed was for Vadim to get hurt by mistake and for his totem to send him into a frenzy – that would certainly not make a quiet stay!

They ate dinner together, crammed around the kitchen table and the team listened as Vadim was bought up to speed on the happenings in the local town, the details of what was going on and who was seeing who, and how the forest management was going. It was a proper family dinner, and did as much to help them relax as actually being away from combat operations, letting the flow of normal lives wash over them and hearing the mundane concerns of regular people. As warned, at the end of the dinner, Mrs. Yakovlev produced a digital frame and subjected Vadim to several hundred photos of his cousin's wedding. Looking at the ill-fitting suits and the tractor covered in bunting, it was clearly a low cost local affair, with most of the guests looking like they were wearing their one and only suit, and trying to behave themselves until at least the reception party.

After dinner when people had gone back to watching the trid and catching up on some cheesy Russian soap opera, Hunter bought his rifle in and sat at the end of the table to give it a thorough clean. He soon found that Vadim's youngest brother came to sit with him, watching with rapt attention. After a few minutes he started to somewhat shyly ask questions about how it worked, and what Hunter was doing. The lad seemed to be pretty naïve when it came to guns, a little surprising for people who lived and worked in and around a forest, but Hunter started to explain the operation, and then supervised him cleaning the bolt and running a cleaning rag through the barrel.

Tads meanwhile headed into the kitchen area, and chatted with Mrs Yakovlev, watching as she tided the kitchen up and cleaned the surfaces, and gradually worked around to asking how they were provisioned for food. Tads ran into the same hesitation to answer as she'd encountered at the ranch – and used the same techniques to work around it, and when it was admitted that there were a few supplies they were low on, mentioned that she could possibly help with that by a little magic.

Mrs. Yakovlev produced a large ceramic container about half full of oats, and slid it towards Tads, giving Hunter a sidelong glance as he struggled to contain a laugh. Her expression changed to one of wonder though as Tads concentrated and raw oats seemed to just fall from the end of her fingertip into the jar. Her eyes sparkled with amazement and she quickly moved over to the pantry and selected the salt cellar, then watched with equal amazement as that too was filled. One after another she bought forth pots of staples, trays of vegetables or dried meats, and with every demonstration of magical prowess her excitement and glee became more palpable.

"So – I guess you can talk to the men of the woods then?" she asked Tads after the strips of dried jerky were placed in a yellowing and stiff plastic container.

"Forest spirits? Yes, normally. Do you have spirits like that nearby?"

"I believe so." She lowered her voice a little, pitching it so only Tads could hear her – or so she thought, unaware of the various magical and cybernetic enhancements available to the team. "My mother had the sight you see, and she talked about the men of the woods. Used to ask for their favour and work with them on the land, and it bought luck to our family. I think mother was disappointed that I didn't have any sign. She said it sometimes skipped a generation you see. But none of the boys have it, either." Tads commanded her face to remain still, and not reveal Vadim's secret to her.

The family started to turn in around eleven that night, and the team did also, mindful that their hosts were probably going to be up at dawn to go to work. Hunter tidied his cleaning kit away and plugged his deck in, doing a quick data search on Japan while nobody else was using any bandwidth on the sat-uplink. He found a bunch of tourist stuff that might be useful, but also there were numerous business articles that indicated the city was somewhat in turmoil with the demise of Fuchi, with the former corporations assets still being fought over by the two splinter factions that had been absorbed into other mega-corps as well as a host of minor players all trying to get a bit of action. Searching around on Shadowland he found the more unpleasant aspects listed – the massive oppression and systematic suppression of metas by the Japanese culture. On reading about 'Devil's Island', the internment camp where Japanese Orks and Trolls were shipped off to so they could be disowned, he realised how deep-seated their prejudices were going to be, and just how much fun he was going to have dealing with them.

Finally the house grew quiet as they all bedded down. Tadibya lay awake in her bed, reaching out astrally and looking for a hearth spirit. Given the nature of the house, she suspected there should and would be one – but she couldn't spot it. Mind you, as each of the team had an attendant spirit guarding and watching over them, it was hardly surprising that any spirit would be keeping a very low profile.

The house grew still, though not quiet. The snoring reverberated through the building, an angry buzzsaw of constant background noise.

.

..

Until two in the morning, when Kai was awoken by the insistent buzzing of his phone. Slapping at his device and cursing under his breath, he managed to silence it, but not before waking Shimazu and Hunter, who both lay still, trying to work out what was going on.

"Yes?"

"Oh hi Kai. It's Gregory. Listen, I hope this isn't a bad time?" Shimazu and Hunter both smiled as they heard Kai's other hand slap his forehead as he realised what was going on, before he took a deep breath and replied.

"No, no, it's fine. What do you have for me?"

"Well, I've got someone in the area that's got some fresh talesma they need to get to Japan, to the Toyama Bay area. I can get them to do a meet in Vladivostok on the 6th for deliver to Japan on the 7th if that works for you? It's only a single box, so it's only going to pay around eight to ten kay, depending on speed and discretion, but the works there if you want it?"

"Sure, we'll take it. Set it up, will you?"

Gregory disconnected with a chuckle, and Kai set his phone to silent, trying to get back to sleep past the symphony of snores from the next room.