Date: Saturday 4/9/2060, Location: 43.39301, 132.04516, Time: 08:00

The team awoke in dribs and drabs – Aswon being the first to rise as normal, with Tadibya not long after to welcome in the new dawn. She decided not to summon replacement spirits for the team – not until she'd gotten to grips with the local area and just what was going on with the place, for fear of insulting or upsetting any hearth or local spirits. It didn't stop her from heading out to the back of the house and greeting the new day though, meditating for a few minutes on the edge of the forest. Though it felt peaceful and calm, she couldn't fully relax, feeling that something or someone was watching her…

When Hunter and Shimazu rose, they joined Aswon for a morning run, heading up the mountain side following the rough logging road and examining the area. As they headed up the hill they could easily see where the trees had been replanted and managed, with a clear cut boundary from one band to another. The fast growing species of pine grew in wide swathes, with the trees being of a fairly uniform height in each area, jumping about two metres in height for each area they passed through until they saw a stand of fully mature trees that were starting to be harvested and the area cleared, ready to be planted again.

Unsurprisingly, Kai was the last to awaken, and looked slightly grumpy, having had very little sleep for some reason… which the rest of the team were quick to capitalise on, joking and teasing him all the way through breakfast. The family joined them at the table, with the father and brothers expressing some surprise at the amount of food on the table – but Mrs Yakovlev just smiled at them and told them that their guests had been very generous with sharing their supplies from their cargo helicopter. As the men tucked into the unexpected bounty with gusto, she gave a subtle wink to Tad, before having another sip of her hot sweet tea.

With breakfast cleared away, the team separated out, continuing their personal business – training and practicing new skills in some cases, meditating and trying to reach new levels of body control for others. Hunter sat down with his deck, using the satellite phone to log onto the matrix and start his searches. Although the bandwidth wasn't the greatest, and in introduced some fairly hefty lag into his operations, it also provided a much harder signal to trace – after bouncing through a couple of communications satellites and being aggregated into a signal containing hundreds of broadcasts covering a five thousand kilometre footprint, it was unlikely anyone would be able to tie the search back to his deck.

Using his contacts on Shadowland, he did some rooting around on the myriad forums and special interest groups, looking for information on Japan and the border controls in place. He quickly discovered that while it was not that tough to get into Japan legally, with a valid SIN making applying for a visa a doddle – it was quite time consuming, as you had to apply for the visa from the country of origin with sufficient time to process the application. Of course, that meant Russia in their cases – and as they were here illegally already, that made things very difficult indeed! With that option out of the question, he turned to some of the message groups that discussed smuggling items or people across the various borders.

Quickly he learnt a few things that was sure to make their coming journey interesting to say the least. The Japanese homelands were not that big – not relatively speaking, compared to the size of countries like Russia and the UCAS – which meant that there was a relatively small border to patrol. With the islands being isolated by large tracts of water, that added difficulty to people determined to slip in unnoticed. Certainly slipping in 'under the radar' proved to be entirely accurate to what they needed to do. The issue was that with a small border, the defences were strong everywhere – not for them the thousands and thousands of kilometres of nebulous wild land that Russia had to deal with for instance.

According to the various posts he read, the coastline was studded at regular intervals with sensor stations, radar towers that monitored the sea and air approaches in all directions that were connected to regional control centres using high tech smart bots to analyse and monitor conditions looking for anomalies. With none of the stations being particularly isolated, they had all the power they needed to practically cook birds that flew too close, and were linked by modern high speed fibre optic networks to the control centres that added expert systems to allow even faint returns to be tracked.

There were chinks in the defences, of course – no system was perfect – but unsurprisingly the posters to the forums were reluctant to divulge anything they'd found for fear the holes would be closed…though they'd happily make money shifting things through the routes. Otherwise, the people that seemed to manage to get through the network of defences worked on a more human basis – having a relationship with either the Yakuza clans for a specific area, or having leverage or control over someone who worked at a sea terminal or airport that could fudge the records a little.

Hunter also found some details on the actual nature of the systems used to chase down contacts – a whole battalion of 'Silent Wind' unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs. The drones were unarmed, but equipped with decent sensor packages of their own to supplement conditions in an area or patch a hole created by systems outages. They were insanely fast – their jet turbines propelling them at speeds over Mach one at need, allowing them to quickly close on a position and begin surveillance. Their only real weakness was their relatively small fuel tanks, giving them a limited life on station. Perhaps that was something the team could take advantage of…

Hunter broke away from the computer and found the rest of the team, briefing them in on what he'd found and the difficulties they faced. As he described the situation, Shimazu kept waiting to get a word in edgeways as the team fixated on getting past the border and into the country.

"There's something else you need to factor in. It's not just getting into the country you need to worry about, it's moving around inside. When people visit Japan, their visa or travel permit isn't added to their normal SIN – they're issued a guest SIN. Effectively they get a second form of ID that details what they can and can't do, and where they can go."

"Well, that doesn't seem so bad?" Marius grumbled, still trying to work out how he was going to defeat the sensor defences around the country.

"Well, first of all, it makes the system pretty unique to Japan, which massively cuts down on the number of people who can make the ID sticks – I imagine your friend in Constantinople has never seen one, for instance. But also, they will tie the details together for the two IDs, which means there's twice as many chances that a system will pick up on the forgery. It's expensive and the system is a pain to use – but that just describes being a non-Japanese person on the home islands. But you go into a shop to buy a sandwich, and your normal SIN won't work, even if you have credit in your account – unless you can also slot your visitor permit or shore pass stick as well."

"You know what?" Aswon exclaimed, "This job is starting to sound like more hassle than it's worth. Maybe we should just walk away. Either that or I need to get on the phone to Spook and tell her we need some additional help getting into the country for starters."

"Come on now Aswon, I'm sure we'll find a way. We just need to put some feelers out to our contacts, and work out what we can do to increase the odds. Spread a few Nuyen around, grease a few wheels. We'll find a way." Kai smiled and shrugged, giving off the impression of someone who really wasn't that worried. "But for now, I'm going to put that on the back burner and let it mull for a while. Tads, didn't you say you wanted to go shopping with Vadim?"

"Yes, we've found details of two talismongers here in Vladivostok. Or rather Hunter has, thank you. The Shadow Lands is a useful thing it seems." Hunter rolled his eyes as she butchered the name, but declined to comment. "The first one is a guy named Rudi Andalansi, who operates out of a small place behind a bar, down on the docks. Seems to cater for passing trade from the ships, according to the rumours on the forums. The other one is a lady called Anabella Jarowlski, but I'm a little uncertain about her. The word is that she's tight with the local Vory, and has a bit of a reputation for being quite violent."

"Ok, well, let's borrow a car and go shopping then, and not worry about Japan for a few hours. Let the subconscious mind have a little think, and I'm sure things will work out later on. Who's coming to the city then?" Kai asked, and got nods from Shimazu along with Tads, while Hunter, Marius and Aswon shook their heads.

"I'm going to stay here and try and fix the Condor. Hopefully Hunter is going to help me. The family tell me there are some local suppliers of drone parts and engineering supplies that they deal with for operation of their industrial equipment." Marius flipped his computer screen round showing a catalogue of spare parts that he was scrolling through, building up a shopping list.

"I'm going to meditate a while and do some training with the spear. I just get the feeling that I shouldn't be wandering around Vladivostok – not with how much I'll stand out. Especially not with the KGB potentially looking for us. I mean, how many two and a quarter metre tall black men are there in Russia?"

They grabbed one of the farm vehicles, a battered old truck which had seen better days over a decade ago, and was now possibly more duct tape and rust filler than original bodywork – but it ran, and there was room for them all. The thirty five kilometre journey into the city took about an hour, as they made their way through the city and out onto the long spur of land that stretched around the harbour. As they made their way out towards the destination they could see the massive Naval base to their left, nestled deep in the harbour and protected by the steep hills surrounding them, with half a dozen huge grey warships at anchor. As they closed in on their destination, Kai spent a minute of concentration slowly adjusting the tone of his skin and the structure of his face, adapting his features to more closely blend in with the locals.

The civilian docks sprawled along the land, quays lining the edge of the water and cargo handling docks jutting out into the cold green depths. Cheaply-built four storey apartment blocks clung to the sides of the steep hills, metal-framed windows and fire escapes rusting under the assault of the constant sea breeze while hardy grasses and shrubs grew through the cracks in the roads and pavements. They pulled out outside a run-down and disreputable looking tavern named 'The Second Mate' that had some trashy synth-pop blaring from cheap speakers that popped and hissed with every high note.

Inside the room was dark and depressing, a few hard-core alcoholics propping up their tables and getting a head start on the days' drinking, while a slovenly barman squinted at them as they entered, backlit by the bright grey skies. When Tads approached him and asked for Rudi, he gave them a glance up and down and then waved them over to a discreet door at the end of the bar. Through the door, they were met with a large room and a waft of cold and damp sea air, along with a smell that could only be described as a cross between decaying seaweed and peat bog.

Amongst the bottles, scales, bits of bone and other shamanistic paraphernalia they spotted a lone man who turned to greet them. He was thin and gaunt looking, with a mop of unruly dark hair over his deep green eyes.

"Hello, we're looking for Rudi. Some friends of ours said this was a place where we might find some specialist supplies?"

"I am Rudi, welcome to my shop. What wares do you speak of?"

"Well, I have a young apprentice here," Tads gestured at Vadim with her right hand, "who actually lives in the area – but is just learning about the art. One of the things we're going to start with is warding and astral barriers, so I'm looking for some supplies to build into the ward to make it last longer."

"Ahh, I can help with that. I take it you have some knowledge of warding then, if you're able to make your wards sustainable?" Tads started to chat with Rudi, getting a feel for him and looking around the shop as she did so. She carefully bought Kai into the conversation as well, making sure he got chatting so that when it came time to bargain over prices, she could let him take over to see just how low he could hammer the prices. As they examined his wares, the source of the smell became evident – much of the shop contents was made with materials gathered from the sea in one way or another. All of his warding materials for instance appeared to be derived from seaweed that had been ground up and treated in some fashion, creating a pungent and long-lasting signature.

Much of the shop seemed to have a shamanic bent, and it was certain that Rudi had some kind of nautical totem – whether that be seal, shark, otter or fish though, they couldn't say. He did have some hermetic spells in stock as well, and Tads took advantage of this to show Vadim the same spell presented in the two different styles. The hermetic version of the invisibility spell was just as much gobbledygook to him as it was to her, which reassured her that she wasn't looking at some weird kind of circumstance where he just looked like a shaman but studied like a hermetic. She'd heard of such a thing, but couldn't imagine how that would work – her mind just couldn't handle the leap needed for that to make sense to her at all.

While she was selecting warding materials and looking at the formulae on offer, Kai chatted away with Rudi, getting to know him a little better and giving him some information on their activities – nothing too specific, but enough to make it clear what kind of business they were in. Rudi it seemed mostly catered to visiting ships, selling good luck charms, curios and then more serious purchases for the large cargo haulers that could actually afford staff mages to provide protection.

When Tads had gathered together a large bag of warding supplies and plonked them on the rough counter, she could hear Kai telling Rudi that they were heading to Japan next, chatting to him as if they were lifelong friends, rather than freshly met. The feeling seemed to be going both ways though – Rudi was telling Kai about a possible location to refuel at near the island of Okinawa, from a group that styled themselves the "Dragon Pirates".

Tads also selected a number of spells, realising as she browsed through them that the shop seemed to lean heavily towards illusion spells and magic, along with a definite slant towards water elementals, spirits and undines. Still, that suited her plans quite well – Vadim was unlikely to cause any deaths as a direct consequence of his studies with an entertainment or stink spell, certainly compared to something like a fireball or acidbolt spell, let alone something like a manabolt. When she'd returned to the counter with a few low force illusion spells for Vadim to learn and practice on, Kai was chatting still with Rudi, discussing magical potions and was busy dialling Aswon on his phone to advise on magical effects. Somewhat uncertainly, Rudi took the phone from Kai as he proffered it to him, and held it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Who is this? I am Aswon."

"I'm Rudi. I think one of your friends just called you, but I'm not sure why I have his phone."

"Ahh, that is Kai. If he wants me to talk to you it will be in relation to magical components of some kind I suspect."

"Well, we were just talking about potions…"

"Oh? Potions you say. Interesting. What do you have for sale?"

"Well, I have some potions that will allow someone to breath underwater for a period of time. Or a different potion that would allow you to swim very quickly."

"Marvellous! How long, and how fast? These are intriguing!" Aswon had genuine glee in his voice, and Rudi relaxed a little as he discussed the potions effects with the voice on the phone. After a few minutes, Aswon asked to be put back on to Kai.

"Yo Aswon. Sound good?"

"Yes Kai – and potentially very useful. If you get the chance, purchase the potions at once – I would say anything up to about two thousand each would be worthwhile. Not more than that though."

"Gotcha. Ok, we won't be too long I think. See you in an hour or so." He disconnected the call and turned back towards Rudi.

"Oh… one other things I was after that I forgot to ask about. If we were using the swimming potion or the breathing potion, and met some big fish or something – you know, stumbled into their lair. Do you have anything we could use to protect ourselves with?"

"What do you mean?" Rudi looked at Kai with a slightly strange expression, and Shimazu suddenly focussed on him as his body language shifted subtly.

"Well, do you have any potions or magical things that would help us defend ourselves, or stop them attacking?" The posture changed again, becoming more upright and agitated. Rudi stepped back from the counter, opening up distance between himself and Kai, and his body tensed. Shimazu took half a step to the side and watched, getting a very uneasy feeling.

"You should leave them alone. That is your best defence."

"But if we did find ourselves in a situation like…"

"You should leave them ALONE." The voice was clipped and impatient now, any trace of friendliness gone. Kai took a deep breath, and then looked back at the others, confused as to how the conversation had changed so abruptly.

"Right, ok, good advice. Thank you. Let me just pay for these things, and we'll be out of your hair shall we? A pleasure. Don't forget to round up to the nearest thousand for your troubles…" Rudi almost snatched the credstick from his hand, before jamming it into the reader and stabbing at the keys. Once the transaction had cleared, he shoved the bag of warding materials and potions over to Kai swiftly enough they almost fell from the counter, before he stepped backwards into the darkness in the corner of the room and glowered at them. The team slowly backed out, heading through the bar and back into the street and their waiting vehicle.

"That was odd."

"I don't know what you said to him Kai, but it looked like you trod on some toes there. I thought he was going to attack you for a moment."

"I know, Shimazu. Still, he didn't. So let's not worry about it, and head back…"

Whilst the others were gone, Hunter and Marius joined the eldest brother in his logging truck and headed down to the industrial plant at the edge of town, and picked up the selection of drone parts needed to repair their Condor, along with a few spares that they needed to fix some of the lumberyard vehicles. They weren't all exact matches for the destroyed parts, but they were close enough that with a bit of trimming they should do the job, and while they weren't perhaps as neat and well designed as the originals, they did at least look sturdy and dependable.

Aswon called Spook and spent a few minutes describing the situation, asking if Spook had any contacts or swing in Japan that could make their lives easier, and if there was any more information about the job. She didn't have an update yet, but said that she would try and find out if she had any contacts she could poke or middlemen she could work through. With that done, Aswon headed off to the edge of the woods, aiming for one of the oldest and tallest plantations, trying to surround himself with life and mana.

He slowly sank into a trance, opening himself up to the astral realm and studied the spear laid across his lap. The astral shape of it glowed strongly, fine traceries of power rippling up and down the shaft and sparkling along the blade as he studied it.

"Well, we had a deal. And you upheld your end, so I will, too. I just hope I don't regret this…" He spoke quietly, looking down at the weapon that lay before him, reaching out with his aura to try and ascertain just what it was that the spear wanted from him. As he relaxed, he felt the faint tug of power from the spear as it pulled at his aura, trying to transfer a little of his power from him into it… and this time he let it go. In fact he willingly pushed, letting energy flow through his fingertips and guiding it into the spear, watching it disappear into the material of the weapon foci as it drank greedily from the source.

The air seemed to grow still for a moment, and then Aswon tensed as he felt something touch his fingertips. Eyes snapped open and he glanced down at his hands, just in time to see the ripple wash over them, racing towards his wrists. A horde of tiny scales flowed and grew from the shaft, coalescing over his flesh in constant stream of motion, a swell of power that left glittering iridescent overlapping diamonds over his skin. The effect raced up his arms, tickling his skin as it went, flowing around the limbs to encase them fully, while another surge washed over his legs, racing down towards his feet and up towards his groin with equal speed. Should he let go of the spear, cast it aside? What was it doing to him?

He took a deep breath and steeled himself. It made no sense that this would harm him, and he didn't feel threatened – at least not by the spear. The scales met on his body and grew around his torso, then crept up his neck and started to surround his face, closing in on his mouth, nose and eyes. Already the sound of the forest felt muted as the scales formed over his ears, blocking the canal. With iron self-control, he calmed his pulse and slowed his breathing, taking one last deep breath before he closed his mouth and his eyes, then started to very gently exhale. For a moment there was an increase in pressure as the scales covered the gap over his nostrils, then that eased. The tickling stopped, and he was still. He waited another few slow, ponderous heartbeats, and then opened his eyes. As he looked down, he could see the scales fading away, memories fading under the autumn sunlight as they seemed to sink into his skin or melt as if ice on a warm day.

"What was that all about then, eh?" he asked the spear. He didn't really expect an answer, and he wasn't surprised when he didn't get one. Instead he decided to meditate for an hour or two, just concentrating on the control of his own body and waiting to see if anything else happened.

When the rest of the team came back, they once again resumed their training and tasks separately. Tads took Vadim into the woods, and spent some hours teaching him the spells they'd purchased in town, showing him how to pull the mana to him and focus it, shaping it into different forms. Shimazu found Aswon, and they continued his training too, while Kai spent time chatting with each member of the family, studying their auras as he talked and laughed and joked, watching the subtle cues in their morphic fields as he did so, seeking a finer control over his own body by watching how he affected others.

After their training concluded, Aswon checked his phone and found a message from Spook, which somewhat mysteriously claimed that preparations were in hand, and all they need to do was let her know when they were travelling. It seemed maddeningly vague and unhelpful, especially from someone like Spook who was normally very professional.

Despite keeping her eyes open and looking for either a hearth spirit or a spirit of the land nearby, Tads didn't see anything throughout the day – but constantly felt like she was being watched, at every turn. She mentioned this to Shimazu, who nodded in agreement.

"I know what you mean Tads – but it's weird. I do get the sense that we're being watched or looked at, but I don't feel threatened. At least not yet. It's a bit creepy, but it feels more like a guard dog watching us and deciding if we're trespassers, rather than something hostile."

On Sunday they continued their studies and work on the drones at a leisurely pace, taking a little bit of time to relax and unwind after the events further west. Mr. Hu called Aswon and advised him that he had made arrangements for someone to collect the Mortar system and ammunition, and to pass over a selection of goods that he'd managed to get together. They were to rendezvous with a cargo ship south of Japan, about two hundred and fifty kilometres out from Tokyo to exchange goods, early on the seventh.

Now that pieces were falling into place, the team had a good look at the map, and worked out their rough route and itinerary. They knew they had to be in Tokyo for midnight on the sixth, and then leaving to fly south to meet the ship on the morning of the seventh. Working backwards that meant landing at the park for about eleven thirty in the evening on the sixth, just to be sure, and with the distances involved that meant dropping off the items for Gregory no later than about ten in the evening in Toyama bay. That suited Marius, who was in favour of a night landing to help conceal the craft, and in turn meant leaving Vladivostok by about no later than six on the Monday to give them enough flight time to cross the sea of Japan.

With the route roughly worked out, they updated Mr. Hu and Spook, and advised Vadim of their plans, before returning to their activities. Hunter and Marius approached Kai as he was talking with Mrs. Yakovlev and indicated they wanted a quick chat. Following them out onto the front porch, he gave them a quick look and then made a guess.

"So, how much is this going to cost?"

"Not that much…" Marius smiled at the tone of voice, knowing that Kai had already resigned himself to whatever the scheme was. That saved a bit of time and made things much easier. "We're both a little worried about the sea journey, and we've had an idea. The engineering suppliers that we got the drone parts from was actually pretty good – there's lots of industry in the area, and they make a lot of their own stuff in house. It's not the most fantastic gear, but it's very sturdy and reliable, even though we might wish it was a bit smaller and sleeker."

"Ok, so it might not be stylish, but you figure it's important. So what is it?"

"We think we can get the supplies needed to make a reserve fuel tank, based on the design we had previously in the other chopper." Marius frowned, and both Hunter and Kai saw his jaw tense as he remembered what had happened to their previous ride. "I'm not talking about anything quite so big. But with how efficient those engines are, even another two hundred litres gets us a good distance extra. And for a long overwater journey, I'd rather have that extra reserve to count on. If we get moving now, we can have it installed and tested by tomorrow, before we need to leave. It will cost us a little cargo space, and I know that's tight – but it also gives us more options for routes in the future."

"Sounds good to me – we're talking a couple of grand then?" They both nodded to him and he nodded back in return. "I'd rather not do any swimming this trip, so that seems like a fine idea."

With that sorted out, Hunter and Marius headed off to get the parts and begin fabrication, helped by two of the brothers who seemed intrigued as to what they were making. Between the four of them they soon had the tank manufactured and bolted into place against the outer hull, and connected up to the fuel system – and Marius even managed to squeeze a mounting point in under the wings for some drop tanks should they ever need to do a really long journey, along with the remote release clamps that would let them jettison the tanks if they got into combat.

Early in the evening on the Sunday, Tads accompanied Vadim out to the forest again for some more training, aiming to show him how to summon spirits and bargain with them more effectively for aid and protection. Vadim headed deep into the forested area, and took a side trail that broke the regimented lines of trees that had been planted, taking them to a small copse that looked far older and more mature than anything she'd seen.

"Legend has it that some of our great-great-grandparents were buried here, so we always leave this little area alone, and keep it just as it is." Vadim told her. He crossed himself, probably an automatic reaction learnt as a sign of respect, rather than a reflection on any Christian upbringing. Tads felt the background crackle of power as she entered the grove, and looked around her quickly.

"Vadim, we're not alone here. I think perhaps the spirits of your ancestors reside here, that or something else. Be very careful what you do…" She tensed as a sound halfway between a snort and growl sounded from behind her, and then very slowly she twisted, until the source of the noise came into view. "Oh my!"

The Wolverine glared at her, its brown eyes focussed on her with laser-like focus. Power radiated from it, as if the five metre length hadn't given away that this was no normal creature. Thick claws splayed out from its feet, cutting into the soft soil below it, and the brown fur bristled as it continued to grunt and snarl at her.

"Vadim, if I'm not mistaken, this is your totem, and also the spirit that watches over your family. It's incredibly powerful, and should be treated with the utmost respect. Don't ever think you can lie to it, or deceive it, and never disrespect it." She saw Vadim move forward to stand next to her, enraptured at the sight of the huge spirit standing before him. "I think it wants to explain some things to you… and I'm going to leave you here. This is between you and your totem, and nothing to do with me." She turned to face the totem, and took a deep breath, then slowly bowed before it, lowering her gaze to the ground and then her whole torso, hoping it would see the sign of respect and submission, and understand it for what it was. Warm breath rolled over her as it snorted once more, then she felt movement nearby. When she looked up, both Vadim and the Wolverine were gone. "Good luck, Vadim," she called out softly into the dusk, before she quickly left the grove and headed back to the house.

Heading back down the trail, a few observations fell into place. She'd not seen any signs of wolves, big cats or other predatory creatures in the area. At first she'd thought that was because of the frequent clear cutting and replanting, constantly disrupting the ranges of any animals – but she would have expected them to just move into the next eldest part of the plantation. But, with an apex predator that size in the area, enhanced by the spirit that inhabited it, she could well imagine that anything smaller would stay well clear. That might also explain why none of the family carried firearms of any kind while they were out in the land – they'd never needed to.

By the time she got back to the building it was fully dark, and she saw a few raised eyebrows as she entered alone. She mentioned that Vadim was up at the burial site of his grandparents for a while, paying his respects, and the others returned their attention to Shimazu – who was holding an impromptu class on Japanese culture and etiquette. Tads grabbed a drink and joined the class, listening as Shimazu covered the number of different ways you could bow to someone, and various other cultural facets that could easily throw an outsider.

When he'd finished, Aswon had a quiet word with Mrs. Yakovlev and got permission to use her kitchen, then set to with a batch of ingredients. In very little time the house was filled with the smell of freshly baked cookies, as he produced several batches for testing and grading. When he found the ideal mix of ingredients, he carefully made one more set, taking as much care with their appearance as he did with their baking, before lining a box with baking parchment and laying out the cookies to fill the container.

"There. Hopefully whoever we're meeting with will appreciate the gesture of hand cooked food presented as a gift and a sign of respect, without it being a gaudy display of wealth." He looked back at the team to get their opinion, and was dismayed to see Hunter and Shimazu busy polishing off one of the other batches, smears of cookie dough coating their fingers. "Touch this lot, and I'll hurt you!"

"No, you can have that lot. We're full." Hunter gave a large belch of appreciation, then started to lick the remains from the ends of his fingers with slow deliberation, determined not to miss any.

It was approaching midnight and the team were just getting ready to head to bed when Vadim returned. He was covered in scratches and superficial wounds, and his clothes were ripped and snagged as if he'd been dragged through not just one hedge backwards, but a selection. Despite that he had a satisfied grin on his face, and seemed to be blissfully unaware of his condition, his eyes sparkling with untold stories.

As they broke out the medkit and tended to his scrapes and scratches, he babbled on about a visit to a giant forest, full of strange things, where he battled against creatures that sought to destroy the trees, helped by his new giant friend. Hunter and Marius were giving him a funny look as he described a forest that went on as far as the eye could see, full of broad oak trees and stands of silver birch, towering redwoods and lush willows. Tads leant over in their direction to try and explain.

"Vadim's totem turned up, so I suspect he's been off to the metaplanes to learn something about his new powers – so he's not talking about the pines up on the ridge. He certainly seems to have gained a little power, so I guess he's been successful in whatever it was his spirit guide wanted to show him."

"Oh. More mythic nonsense." Marius sniffed, and pushed back from the table, moving away before Tads could do more than glare at him.

"Mythic nonsense is going to hide you from radar tomorrow, so watch it, mister," she called after him somewhat sharply, but Marius continued on his way, refusing to engage her. She grumbled under her breath and turned back to check on Vadim, who had slumped somewhat as the adrenaline wore off and the ravages of the last few hours took its toll on his body. Shimazu and Hunter took him to bed, and the rest of the team headed to their assigned bunks or hammocks, settling down for the night.

The following morning they rose late, stockpiling sleep for the day ahead. After getting a good breakfast and sorting out their gear, they once more borrowed a vehicle from the family and headed down into Vladivostok to go and collect the package of magical goods that they were shipping for Gregory. They had to drive through the centre of the city and wind their way around the sharp hills and switchback roads, before emerging on the east side and rounding the edge of the peninsula.

As they moved onto the eastern side of the land mass, they were greeted by a staggering sight. The entire eastern slope was covered in buildings and facilities, row after row of new construction, residential and industrial, all looking fresh and pristine. The quality of construction was far superior to that of the main part of the city, and the area was teeming with activity. A new airport had been constructed on pilings partially out to sea, and three large cargo ships were tied up to a newly built cargo terminus, while massive overhead cranes moved containers around in a carefully choreographed dance.

Security drones were everywhere, and there was a veritable horde of spirits on patrol around the site. Ten metre high wire fences marked the perimeter of the enormous area, easily covering more than thirty kilometres squared, and high-tech off road buggies crawled up and down the hillsides as they patrolled the inside of the fence.

They headed east, running parallel to the facility, heading for a much older and more decrepit area, and the small dock located there, but their journey down the road let them see the numerous signs proclaiming the land to belong to Yamatetsu, and showing artists' renditions of the facility. As they moved along they could see that some parts of the site were still under construction, but as a whole it looked to be about eighty percent complete.

The money poured into constructing something like this must have been immense, and had no doubt revitalised the local economy massively – it was easy to see why Yamatetsu was so generally well regarded in Russia at the moment – and no doubt equally hated in Japan, where they'd had the temerity to leave only a year before.

Their pickup at the docks was uneventful, the contact being at the agreed location and handing over a single large metal container with no shipping labels or other identifying marks on it. It was about a metre to each side, and weighed just over two hundred kilograms, but the team had more than enough muscle to get it lifted onto the truck and be on their way, returning past the massive corporate facility and retracing their route through Vladivostok and back to Vadim's home.

With a last check to make sure Vadim still wanted to travel with them, and not stay at home with his family, they thanked their hosts and got ready to lift off, ensuring that everyone was inside before the massive rotors kicked up a dust storm in the yard. Once they were at height, they headed south, out over the bay and then dropped down just above the waves to slip under the Russian radar. Most of their efforts was probably going to be spent on stopping people getting in – but it didn't pay to take unnecessary risks.

Once clear of the land and the questing energy of the sensor network, Marius eased up on the controls, slowly climbing to a more comfortable and fuel efficient altitude, set his throttles to cruise and turned south east towards the Japanese homeland. There was a fair amount of air traffic around, with a number of jets and sub-orbitals or semi-ballistic passenger craft in sensor range, their transponders squawking their IDs over ranges far outstripping his ability to detect them using his onboard gear.

About two hours later the sun disappeared over the western horizon, leaving them flying through the dark skies, a tiny blip amidst the crowded skies. Tadibya felt the transition from one side of dusk to the other, and tried to centre herself, mentally preparing herself to summon a spirit.

"Why are you looking so nervous, Tads?" Vadim asked quietly, having spent enough time with her now to recognise when she was steeling herself to do something she didn't want to.

"Because the spirit I'm going to call on is far bigger, far more powerful than what I'd normally do. It will be very draining mentally, and I'll be lucky not to get a nosebleed. That's something you're probably going to get used to, over the next few weeks when you practice. It's never good, but it's part of the learning experience."

True enough, as she called a powerful sea spirit to their aid, invoking it to become free of the watery domain from where it came so it could use its powers to conceal and guard them through the air and over the land, she was wracked with pain. A torrent of blood poured from her nose from the mental effort expended to bind the spirit to her will and bargain with it for its aid, before it acquiesced to her requests. Exhausted, she flopped back in her seat while Vadim fussed over her, holding a bandage to her nose until the blood clotted, and then grabbing her a handful of painkillers and some water to try and ease the massive headache that ripped through her skull.

When they were an estimated one hour from the Japanese coastline, Aswon sent a message to Spook, hoping that their encryption software was strong enough to keep the message secure – at least long enough for them to clear the area.

'Heading to mainland now. ETA Toyama Bay fifty-seven minutes. A'. A minute later, he got a ding from his comm-link as the message was raid and a response came back. 'Standby'.

They flew on, starting to spot lights ahead in a thin ribbon stretching port and starboard of them. As Marius started to drop altitude the lights flicked out of view, returning, then disappearing again as he used the visual reference to keep on a glide slope that would drop him down below the curvature of the earth by the time he got close to the Japanese sensor net. When they closed to a hundred kilometres from the shore, Marius dropped them suddenly until they were a scant twenty metres above the swells, rocketing across the sea at over five hundred kilometres per hour. They pitched up and down in the rough air, and everyone cinched in tight, trying to keep their stomachs settled as Marius battled the conditions to stay as low as he could to avoid detection.

Hunter was glued to the electronics display, scanning for sensors and updating the radar map as he picked up drones, patrol boats and radar towers, feeding the information into the navigation computer which constantly updated the map and showed the areas of least coverage, and from time to time they suddenly banked hard in one direction or another to avoid a sweep or take advantage of some mountain or ship that gave them a temporary blind spot to seek refuge in.

They swung to starboard, banking tightly as they turned, twenty degrees, forty, sixty – before starting to ease off a little and rise slightly in height. After turning eighty five degrees in total, they were in the Toyama Bay, threading the needle as they flew down the exact centre of the waterway, twenty three kilometres from each shore. Marius dropped a few more metres, skimming across the waves now and flinching as he felt radar strobes skittering across the body of the tilt wing. He wasn't sure if it was the radar absorbent materials coated on the hull, his electronic jamming or the concealment of the spirit that was saving them from being picked up, but whatever it was, he wasn't going to knock it.

Aswon's phone vibrated as he came into range of the shore based cellular network, and an email arrived flagged with high importance. He scanned through quickly, then hit the transmit button.

"Hunter! Shunting you a mail now."

"Bit busy here, Aswon!"

"I know, but it's from Spook. She's got a safe route for us from Toyama all the way to Tokyo. Sending co-ordinates now!" He shunted the message on, then tucked his phone away, staring at the opposite wall and trying to get his inner ear to stop bouncing around and calm down after staring at the screen.

They slowed, and lifted in the air, rising up to fifty metres. Marius didn't want to – but he had to, otherwise he was going to clip the bridge of some cargo ship in the port below him. By now he felt sure they must have him on sensors – as he flew in towards the large port lit up like a jewelled crown below him, he could see one of the radar towers up on the hill visually. There was nothing to hide behind any more, and only the spirit protected them. But still the alarm wasn't raised.

He quickly scanned the map and looked for the thin spit of land identified as the landing zone, and then aimed the chopper down in that direction, dropping height as soon as he was clear of the cargo ships in the waterway. As they spiralled down, they could see a medium sized grey van waiting for them on the edge of a cleared area. The side doors opened and three men climbed out, moving to stand behind the van and look up into the night sky.

They flinched as Marius flipped the craft around, aiming the rear loading ramp at them, and the rotors started to throw up fine debris into the air. The spirit concealment prevented them from spotting the craft, even though it was right in front of them, but they could tell something was going on from the effects on the environment. Marius touched down lightly and called over the speakers.

"Touchdown, ramp coming down. I want to be back in the air ASAP, we're a sitting duck here!" Tension crackled in his voice, and he scanned around him, watching for signs of official presence. He could feel someone steering a radar in his direction, the beam scanning over them several times but refusing to give a clear return – they knew that 'something' was here, but probably not anything more than that.

Shimazu and Aswon unbuckled and ran to the rear of the craft, quickly unfastening the cargo from the straps that held it fast to the floor, then sliding it down the ramp to the ground below. As the ramp had opened, the spirit had parted its veil of concealment, allowing them to see the cargo area, hovering in the air before them. One of the men wearing a dark suit waved a finger forwards, and his two burly associates sprang forward to wait at the bottom of the ramp to catch the box as Shimazu and Aswon let it slide down the metal, now working to arrest its speed as it tried to run away from them. When the two men had caught the box and started to drag it towards the van, he approached the ramp confidently, holding out a single credstick in his outstretched hand. Shimazu bowed slightly to him, and then took the stick, receiving a small bow in return, before the suit turned on his heel and swiftly headed towards the van, overtaking his two minions as they struggled to move the heavy container across the rough surface of the pier.

Shimazu and Aswon climbed back aboard and hit the ramp close control, then raced back to their seats, calling ahead to Marius.

"Back aboard, good to go. Package delivered, money received." Aswon turned to face Shimazu as he released the transmit button. "Well, credstick received anyway. Let's hope the money is on there." They crashed back into their seats and grabbed the straps, swiftly buckling in as Marius threw power to the engines and neatly pirouetted the craft in the air and started to head inland.

"Hunter, is this your idea of a joke?" Marius sounded upset, his voice blaring through their earbuds as he dodged his way between residential towers, heading south and further inland over the city.

"Negative Marius, this is the course provided."

"It's as crooked as a drunk's walk home!"

"Don't blame me – I just put in the info that Spook sent to Aswon."

"Well buckle up tight, then, everyone. This is going to be interesting."

They accelerated swiftly, and true to his word the journey resembled something more like a rollercoaster than a flight, as Marius bucked up and down through the air, crossing obstacles and flying around residential apartments that appeared before him. He thought it would calm down after they had left the city, but it actually got worse. As they flew inland, the route took them down gorges and clefts between mountains, flying along rivers and over highways, as they wound their way inland.

Several times he had to drop the craft to fly under a high bridge that stretched over a steep sided chasm, and he banked and rolled the craft at high speed as he flew through the darkness, his low light sensors struggling to update the rapid changes in the environment before him. Despite all the stress, Marius suddenly realised that he was having a blast… this was *real* flying, pushing both his craft and his own skills to the limit. And besides, he was pretty sure if someone threw up, he wasn't going to have to clean it up…

He flew onwards, rocketing through valleys as they rounded Mount Hotaka, then wended their way south east towards Mount Kaikoma, before breaking east and cutting through the Yamanashi basin. The mountains gradually turned into hills, then settled down further into slopes, while ahead the entire night sky lit up as Tokyo appeared before them. The light pollution was so intense they could even spot the dim shape of Mount Fuji to their south, the majestic mountain sprinkled with snow over the cone.

As they closed on Tokyo, there was again no choice but to climb a little, as the available concealment just faded away and the area built up. The last thirty five kilometres were covered in the sprawling suburbs of Tokyo, and there was nothing he could do but fly at a safe altitude over the residential areas that covered every square centimetre of available land. No challenges came though, no police choppers or drones pursued them, no calls over the radio demanding they stop and surrender. It was surreal, and slightly worrying.

At 23:45, Marius slowed to a halt, sliding into position over the park. He checked the map co-ordinates and then his position, before slowing lowering the craft, following the instructions from Spook to the letter.

He was concentrating on the landing, unaware that in the troop area, Aswon was reading out the message from Spook again to remind everyone of what to do.

"It says we're to land south of the fountain, on the west side of the ornamental pond, in the open area. There we will be met by an escort who will take us to the meeting location, at the Rose Garden. No non-ceremonial weapons will be permitted but the Johnson has personally guaranteed our safety. For what that assurance is worth."

Kai led the way, stowing his taser under his seat, and making sure his pockets were empty of grenades, flares or anything else remotely offensive. Shimazu took off the holster for his massive hand cannon, hanging it from his seat, then lowered his hand to the hilt of his sword – there was no question in his mind that this was a ceremonial weapon and wasn't leaving his side. Tads likewise took her staff, and Aswon looked at his spear for a good thirty seconds before deciding it was coming with him.

The engines started to wind down, and Marius opened the ramp, letting them see a small party of men approaching them carefully. All wore black suits and white shirts, but carried submachine guns on slings over their shoulders apart from the leader, who held some material or rags in his hand.

Kai led the way, flanked by Shimazu and Aswon, each holding their weapons carefully, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. Tads followed along behind Kai with her staff, pretty much recovered from her efforts at dusk now that the painkillers had had time to go to work, while Vadim walked next to her. Marius bought up the rear, his empty holster flapping on his leg without the comforting weight of his Ares Predator. Hunter meanwhile had made himself comfortable in the co-pilot's seat, keeping an eye around the cockpit. Given the typical Japanese reaction to meta-humans, he'd decided it wasn't worth the risk and he was better off just staying out of the way.

The small group of men approached and their leader strode up to Shimazu, stopping a few metres away and bowing to him. Shimazu returned to bow, matching the depth and keeping his face non-committal. As the man in the suit moved into the light, they could see he held a number of pieces of silk in his hand, long streamers about a metre in length and two centimetres wide.

"Heads up, got more people heading in from the other treeline – another half dozen!" Hunter called out. "Walking around to the back of the craft, they should be coming into sight in about ten seconds." Aswon turned that way, and saw the figures arrive, and as they moved into the light he saw them dressed much the same as the first group – but their features were subtly different. Rounder and with a slightly different colour cast to the first group. As he turned to look from the half dozen Chinese men to the half dozen Japanese men and back again, a horrible suspicion formed in his mind.

The leader of the second group stepped forwards, and he too held long streamers of silk in one hand. As he approached though they could see these were lighter in colour, a bright yellow compared to the deep red of the Japanese.

Both men stepped towards Shimazu and selected one of the streamers from their grip, pulling it out from their hands vertically and then flicking it through the air in a manner that appeared flamboyant – or perhaps symbolic. Shimazu seemed to have an idea of what was going on though, as he turned slightly sideways, exposing his hip to them, and the hand which rested on his sword. First one streamer was draped over the pair, then the other, and the two men tied a bow from the loose ends. They moved to Aswon next, who pushed his arm out straight, allowing them to peace-bond his hand to his weapon, before they moved to do the same to Tads.

With their task done, they split into two groups, one on each side of the team, and then gestured towards the path ahead, leading towards a brightly lit meeting area. As they moved forwards, Aswon glanced down at the ribbons that circled his hand and spear, and quickly checked them over astrally. They appeared to be completely mundane, with no hint or trace of magical power to them at all.

A break in the clouds exposed the nearly full moon, and between the moonlight and lamps dotted around the park, they could see more men forming a perimeter around the area, easily three hundred metres across. More importantly, they all seemed to be facing outwards – protecting the area from intruders or interference, rather than watching the team.

They closed on the Rose Garden, and saw that there were a number of tables laid out in the centre of the garden, and at the centre table, two elderly-looking men faced each other. One wore a white suit with a dark tie, his black hair neatly slicked over to one side and with typically Japanese features. The other side of the table was dominated by a Chinese man, sitting in an ornamental silk robe, trimmed in gold and silver, with a repeating abstract pattern worked into the material.

Kai took a quick moment to make sure his appearance was just right, and then headed towards the obviously waiting parties, schooling his face into a serious and respectful visage, while the team fanned out behind him into a v shape. The escort stopped at the edge of the gardens, splitting up to move away from each other and then also turning outwards to face into the darkness, spreading out to form an inner perimeter, leaving the team to discuss matters with the two figures sat at the table.

A quiet beep sounded over their comms as Hunter relayed a time check.

Midnight.