Friday 12/11/2060, Location: 40.02426, 48.95799, Time 12:00

The team relaxed, winding down a little and feeling safer and more secure than they had for a long time. It wasn't as if the ranch was some impregnable fortress that would repel invaders, neither was it a place that held long-seated memories or hugely sentimental value to them. But it was a place that they knew they were welcome – in fact more than welcome. Kai still felt uncomfortable with Rusudan and his 'life debt', but the family was clearly grateful to them all for saving their lives from the mafia goons, and went out of their way to look after them. More than that, though, since the teams arrival, the ranch's slow but steady decline had been reversed. First with the arrival of Nadia and then with Gungul and her two daughters, there was a sense of life here, of normality and comfort that was missing from so much of their lives. Having a room that wasn't crammed full of supplies that threatened to topple over onto them, a bed that wasn't the hard metal floor of the tilt-wing and walls that didn't vibrate and roar with the resonance of the engines also helped, of course, and full-sized toilets and showers made a difference that was hard to explain to anyone that hadn't had to squat with knees half bent, trying to relieve themselves while the plane banked through the air, on display to the rest of the team if they hadn't averted their eyes.

Marius had indicated that he was going to be spending some time doing maintenance on the aircraft, and he did – but perhaps not in the fashion they first expected. He removed a bunch of the avionics panels from the tilt-wing and took them inside, setting himself up a workbench next to the bed, so he could clean, service and recalibrate equipment while sat next to Nadia, listening to her with part of his attention and working on circuits with the rest. It let him stay in close proximity to her while still getting something done, and to be around her as she caught him up on the last two months of events.

Hunter did some preliminary research and presented his findings to Kai, then set up communications to a company they found in the UCAS. The sales rep at 'Heraeus Metals' of New York didn't seem to fussed at their very specific requirements for rhenium and tantalum, and was happy to quote a price for the metals in the quantities they required, guaranteeing purity and form. During the negotiations Kai briefly touched on his next task of finding a fabricator to work them, and the sales rep passed on the details of a firm he recommended, that had helped with several of his customers. Soon enough they were having a three-way conversation with the technical manager at 'Boston Metal Fabricators Inc.', discussing the requirements for their project. Hunter passed over the schematic for the parts and they quickly broke down the sub-assemblies required and details the machining and work required to make up the device. It took most of the afternoon to get the details finalised and the contract drawn up, but it was all agreed reasonably easily, and soon their credstick was twenty thousand lighter, but they had a preliminary delivery date for twelve weeks time.

Aswon checked in with Shimazu, finding that he was planning on staying at the university for the weekend and heading back late on the Sunday night, having found a direct flight from Alexandria to Baku, as long as he didn't mind travelling at midnight. He was making good progress with the professor, and Aswon agreed to meet him at the airport, rather than have to try and find a taxi willing to head out to the ranch at that time of the morning.

Tads spent some time preparing her enchanting area, making sure that all her supplies were topped off and her equipment was in good working order, then setting up a hammock in the area and planning to make herself comfortable. If they were here for a couple of months, it made sense to make the best use of time she could, and that meant getting some time in for alchemy. Unlike her spell design work, the process of alchemy was time-sensitive and drawn out. The complex and involved work took a full lunar cycle to complete, requiring numerous interactions with the mixture and supplies, tweaking temperatures, adjusting pressures, checking the magical purity of the concoction and closely supervising every aspect of the process. Interruptions would ruin the effort, whether that be on the first day or the last, so it was something she could only set out to do when they had made firm plans to stay in one place and commit the time required, unless she was willing to throw away and waste the reagents and materials she was planning on working on.

Some supplies needed to be re-ordered or refreshed, so she travelled down to visit Aslick in his wobbly and decrepit windmill tucked away in the forest, and chatted with him for a while to see what new spell formula he might have for sale as well as renewing her supplies. She also got time to place an order for some of the radicals and reagents she required for her work. Aslick, or his suppliers in turn, had access to a number of the precursor materials she wanted, and it seemed easier to pay him a few thousand Nuyen to purchase them rather than taking a month to try and make them herself. It wasn't that she couldn't – she absolutely could, and make pure and magically 'clean' versions to boot – but it just wasn't a cost-effective use of her time.

Kai and Hunter also took a quick trip into the local town, looking specifically for the two policemen they'd had dealings with previously. One had apparently decided that the life of a law-enforcement officer had become too exciting, and had resigned and headed towards Baku to take up work in a private security firm. The other was still serving, having been reinforced with a few new recruits from the police academy. He wasn't exactly thrilled to see them, but neither did cause any problems – or try to duck their questions on the state of the town and recent events. The town seemed more prosperous and lively than before, with more stores open and none of the queuing they'd seen previously, no sign of the bouncers or enforcers checking that people were 'paid up' with their local enforcer before being allowed to buy their supplies. When Kai asked directly if there was any trouble in town, the policeman paused for a moment then took a deep breath as if to start speaking – then let it out slowly. After a few more seconds he simply stated that everything was fine, and that there was no real trouble to worry about. Kai watched him carefully – clearly he'd been about to say something else and had decided against it, but he also didn't look ready to say anything. His body language didn't suggest that there was anything 'wrong' – just that there was perhaps more of a story here then 'everything is fine'. For the moment he left it alone, making a mental note to check back later and see if he could determine what was going on.

With that done, they headed back to the ranch, Kai making a quick call to Germaine to let her know that they had her coat as requested. It diverted almost immediately to her voicemail, so he left a message to inform her of the situation and inviting her to call at her convenience to arrange delivery.

Aswon collected Shimazu from the airport the next day without incident, his flight back having been smooth other than one worrying moment as he tried to check in back in Alexandria, and his SIN had failed verification. On seeing the startled look on the border agent's face, he'd thought quickly and mentioned that he'd left his SIN in his pocket when his clothes were washed, and it had been 'glitchy' all day since. The guard had ejected and reinserted his SIN, and the second time it had checked out fine. Shimazu had no idea what part of the data check it had failed on the first time, but whatever details it had sought to verify the second had cleared ok, and reported back that he was a real person – or close enough for the airport security systems. He'd been on his best behaviour during the flight after that, trying not to draw any attention to himself if he could help it. His journey out of Baku airport had been smooth though, with his SIN scanning through first time, to his great relief.

Monday morning saw Kai getting a phone call just after breakfast.

"Miss. Germaine, good to hear from you!"

"Hello, Kai. I got your message. I had a busy weekend at the house, lots of guests, but they're all gone now."

"Well, no problem – and I hope you had a good time. We're back at the ranch, and just wanted to let you know that we have your coat for you. Would you like us to come and deliver it to you in Baku? Or anywhere else? Or we can meet here if you wish? What would be best?"

"Actually, I'm out later on this morning. Perhaps I can stop by and collect it from you. Around luncheon."

"Luncheon?" Kai rolled the unfamiliar word around his mouth. "When would that be?"

"Well, I would perhaps say two in the afternoon. It will be good to catch up with you, I actually have a little job for you."

"Oh? Well, the team are having a bit of a break, so I'm not sure if…"

"Excellent, they'll be all rested for what I have planned then. I'll see you then!"

"We'll get some food prepared." Kai managed, just as Germaine disconnected the call.

When he told the rest of the team and the family, he wasn't quite prepared for the level of activity that entailed. Aswon announced that he needed to have a bath, wash his hair and make sure he had his dark blue tie ready, while the family kicked into high gear and started cleaning and preparing a meal, erring on the side of lavish after Tads had spent half a day filling their pantry. Gungul started on the laundry, and the house soon smelled like a freshly cleaned crime scene, with the tang of bleach everywhere.

Germaine arrived in style, her deep blue Rolls Royce turning into the driveway a few minutes before two, sedately driving up the track and swinging into the gravelled area at the front of the ranch, coming to a halt in front of the main veranda where everyone had assembled. The bodyguard / chauffeur opened the rear door, allowing Germaine to climb out dressed in a tweed skirt and jacket over a white blouse.

"Good afternoon, Kai. There's no need to summon the whole house out for me."

"Well, everyone just seemed to come out, it wasn'…" He was cut off as Germaine's attention slid over to Nadia and her very evident bump.

"Good lord, man! Don't make the gal stand up when she'd in that condition. What are you, some kind of barbarian? And who's responsible for this?" Her eyes flicked from side to side, then focussed on Marius as the rest of the team pointed at him, subtly or overtly. "You? Young man, I do hope you're looking after her! If he doesn't, you just let me know young lady, and I shall have words!" She wagged a finger at Marius for a moment, then turned back to Nadia with a big beaming smile. "You look lovely, dear. Now why don't we go inside and have a seat and a cup of tea. Your young man can fetch that for you, and maybe ensure that you don't have to do anything else for the day."

Aswon bit the inside of his cheek to avoid smirking as the barrage of expectation was fired at Marius, while Hunter made no such effort and grinned like a lunatic. As Germaine moved over towards them, she gently reached over and ran a finger down his tie.

"Very nice, dear. Good colour." Aswon relaxed, grinning broadly at the approval in her voice. He couldn't help it – he suspected it was genetic or something. He followed the rest of the team inside and watched as Germaine was served some tea and offered a selection of food after she had settled herself in a seat. "Now then, Kai. This does change things significantly. Of course, I can't ask you to go and do this little job for me, not now. I'm not taking your pilot away from this lovely young lady, not in her condition. I shall find someone else."

"I'm sorry, but yes, I think that's for the best. Hopefully it won't be too long before we're back in action, though."

"Nonsense! You should take some time. They're only young once. I won't hear of it." She launched into a story, describing in detail the life of some uncle or cousin in her vast extended family, who left his young wife having just had the baby while he went on safari somewhere, ended up getting hurt and not making it home to the family for the best part of a year, leaving her to raise the baby alone – well alone apart from the cook, cleaner, nanny and a small selection of other staff, that is. But apparently the boy had turned out to be trouble, causing no end of mayhem at his first boarding school, which was all laid at the fault of the absentee husband and his lack of parental care during the first formative months.

Aswon slid into the conversation, raising the point about the quality of the horses at the ranch, and explaining that while the family had once had a number of additional horses, of finer quality – that circumstances had moved against them and led to the current situation. However, now the team were back at the ranch, he wanted to get the situation resolved – but alas lacked any experience with horses, understanding of what made a good horse or had any contact with anyone that did – perhaps save for Germaine.

She, in turn, launched into a long winded and thorough explanation of horse types that introduced them to a whole new world of terms, descriptions and acronyms, that became baffling very quickly, as much as they tried to keep up. Hunter quietly set his deck to record, so he could at least play back her explanation later and use it as a basis for some searches on the matrix. But, they did pick up that Germaine had a number of contacts that she was willing to reach out to, to try and help them out. The first was a horse breeder in Saudi Arabia, who was a keen member of the international racing scene. Though a racing horse was not what they were after, and would probably be 'quite expensive' (several of the team exchanged glances here, wondering if their definitions on a term like that included the same number of zeros after a significant digit), not all the horses bred made good racers, and sometimes a horse sustained a technically minor injury that would stop it performing at its peak, but still be a perfectly serviceable mount for somewhere like the ranch.

However, Germaine also had another option, a contact of hers based out in Sudan, who bred and exported the lighter and smaller desert coursers from that area. Optimised for life in the hot, arid and barren landscapes of the edge of the Sahara – particularly the areas of the Nubian or Bayuda Deserts, the hardy horses would find the reasonably arid conditions around Shirvan to be like a lush tropical oasis in comparison to the area of their birth, and should thrive.

"Perhaps, if you would be willing to introduce us to your contacts, we could arrange some kind of barter. A mission or some work done for them, with payment of a few foals instead of cash?" Aswon suggested.

"That might work. Certainly there's plenty of opportunities down there for some work, depending on how dirty you get your hands. But, you'll have to wait and see. I'll talk to my people, but only in a few months. Once the baby is sleeping well, and things are proceeding nicely, we'll talk." Germaine spoke firmly, and Aswon nodded, recognising and immovable object when he saw one. "But – for now, having had a lovely cup of tea and some very nice food, I think it's time to try this new coat!"

Kai collected the box and bought it over to her, presenting it with a flourish and watching as she excitedly opened the box and carefully moved the wrapping paper out of the way to reveal the coat. It was sharply cut, strong accented lines that would accentuate the build of some people, and hang off others like a sack. Unfortunately, Germaine fitted the latter category, and the result was a slightly uncomfortable and unnatural looking stance with the jacket giving her a very strange look.

"So, what do you think?"

"Truly, that's a magnificent jacket. I'm glad you like it!" Kai exclaimed.

"Very bold lines – I can see why the designers are so highly demanded, and why there's a queue for getting one." Aswon added. They went back and forth a few times, pointing out technical truths as they sought to say positive things about the garment and Germaine, without saying that she looked like a child poured into their Sunday best and looking uncomfortable and lacking in style.

"Well, thank you for bringing it over for me. I was thinking about a trip, but it's such a faff getting all the way over to the UCAS you know. I'm glad you told me you were there. But – enough of being a clothes horse! I think it's time to get some exercise. It just so happens that Nadia was telling me you've installed a shooting range for clays since I was here?"

"Yes, she has. Perhaps we can head over that way and launch a few, and let you get some practice. I presume you have something to shoot with?"

"Of course. Henry will bring it from the car."

Germaine and several of the team headed out to the newly set up area to the south, Aswon bringing some of the team's shotguns with him and a large box of ammo. Hunter scaled the tower and worked out how to launch the clay pigeons from the mechanism, and then started trying to set up a complex set of patterns to fox the shooters down on the ground below him. Unsurprisingly, Germaine's shotguns were also made by Purdey, and exhibited the same beautiful workmanship and decorative features as the rifle she'd gifted to Aswon. They'd seen her with guns before, back in the harbour in Baku, but after watching her shoot for a while, they confirmed that she was a very proficient shot – certainly Hunter had a hard time getting more than a couple of clays past her. Aswon meanwhile got some practice in with the shotguns, though he was nowhere near good enough to provide much of a challenge to Germaine – at least not with these weapons. He'd quite happily pitch himself against her with the rifle, but that wasn't the aim of the afternoon.

After shooting for an hour, they retired back to the house, with Germaine biding them all goodbye. When she was seated back in the car and Henry was moving around to the driver's door, Kai approached him, quickly and subtly passing over the bill for the coat – which Germaine had not discussed payment for.

"Perhaps you could pass this on to the appropriate person for processing – whenever is convenient?" The driver took the slip of flimsy plastic and looked at the bill to establish what it was, then nodded silently, pushing it into a pocket and climbing into the car. Kai had to move quickly to get out of the way as he turned the Rolls in the tight space out the front of the ranch, then headed back down the track towards the highway that ran to the west of the property, re-joining the main road and heading back towards Baku.

Over the course of the next week, the team attended to maintenance, carried out training and continued to wind down a little. Tads worked long hours in her lodge, learning some of the large collection of spells she'd picked up on their 'round the world' tour, spending hours and hours delving into the mysteries of the metaplanes as she sought enlightenment about how they worked. Kai spent most of a day with Nadia doing a thorough medical work up on her, checking out both her and the baby, and building up a full profile of her development and getting as much detail on her pregnancy as possible, to help make sure that the baby was healthy and trouble-free.

Shimazu worked on his training for a few hours a day, but found something to occupy him for the rest – travelling into the local town he found a hall that could be used as a training centre, and arranged for a number of wooden training swords to be shipped in. Advertising to the local area, and focussing on the youth, he set up a club where he taught swordsmanship and Japanese culture all rolled into one. Focussing on practical behaviour in the training hall, he worked out with the students, often using Kai or Aswon to help as sparring opponents, and attendance grow slowly but steadily as word spread about his academy, until the hall was bursting at the seams. He only had to ban one student for bullying and displaying 'dishonourable activities' for the rest of the kids to understand that some behaviours would not be tolerated, and seeing him demonstrated his ability and lethality with his own sword convinced them that not only did he really know what he was talking about – but also proved to be an aspirational target for them. Little did they know that without his magical power and advantages, they'd be hard pressed to master the blade to his level after decades of study!

As the due date of the baby approached, Marius and Nadia announced that they were to be married in a simple ceremony. Marius was an atheist, and had no particular belief in the sanctity of marriage as ordained by any religious order, but had repeatedly made clear that he was happy to engage in one if Nadia wished, partly as a mark of respect for her, and partly to make her and the child's life easier in the future. She on the other hand had been raised in what seemed to be a fairly strict religious household, but one where the religion had been twisted and warped to maintain the position of the lucky few at the expense of the rest. Her rejection of Islam had more to do with the lazy and belligerent nature of Turul's brother than any outright rejection of her faith. Not that it mattered why the well had been poisoned really – it was enough that it was, and she had no intention of following the traditions and cultural expectations that she'd been raised with.

It surprised nobody that Nadia had arranged and organised a simple ceremony, more akin to a pagan handfasting, with food and drink supplied, and a small marquee hired in from an events company in Baku, which ran with military precision. They exchanged simple vows to each other, and a slightly bemused clerk bought in for the day signed the necessary forms and recorded their marriage in law before being dispatched once the strict letter of the legal arrangements had been carried out. The rest of the team and the family were her witnesses, and got to enjoy an afternoon off, being waited on by the events staff for a change – a novel and slightly unsettling event for those more used to being the servers rather than the served.

Finally the big day came – Nadia suddenly feeling the pains of contraction early in the morning on the twelfth of December. Practicing her breathing and with Marius by her side, she got herself ready for the birth. Naena and Gungul both moved in to help, as experienced mothers with multiple children of their own, they were not phased by the idea of a home birth. Nadia had applied her prodigious organisational talents to the concept of her baby's delivery just as much as anything else she carried out, and directed Marius to the top draw of her dresser as he started to fret, where he found a long list of items that need to be checked or carried out to ensure the event went smoothly. With the pilot assigned his 'takeoff checklist' to work through in an organised and efficient manner, one source of distraction was dealt with, leaving Nadia to concentrate on the small matter of giving birth.

Outside the room, Tads had been alerted by the sudden activity and settled herself down in the corridor, sitting cross-legged and started to concentrate, summoning power to her slowly from the surrounding environment. When she had enough she manifested the power into a ring around her, sterilising everything out to a range of thirteen metres in a giant sphere. In the past she'd ensured that the team didn't leave any forensic evidence behind of their nefarious activities, keeping them safe from investigators – but now she ensured that no harmful bacteria would contaminate any materials or part of the birthing process. Her eyes flickered as she dealt with the mild backlash from the spell, but her new technique and the copious amount of time she had let her handle that with ease.

With that done she focussed her energies in a different area, summoning the spirit of the house to her and feeding it power, calling on it to aid her for the day. Once more she took her time, spending several minutes building up the power until she summoned a spirit that was as larger than she'd ever called previously. She was pretty confident that she wouldn't hurt herself doing this – but even if she did get a headache, she was counting on having the time to deal with that before she might be needed, and she thought that the more powerful the spirit guarding Nadia and the people in the room, the less likely they were to have any issues and to call upon her. Calling on the spirit of hearth and home was also likely to be safer than the more wild and natural spirits outdoors – it was a spirit intimately tied to the life of the ranch, a product of the desires and energies of the people living here, and asking it to guard and protect them would be a simple and harmonious task for it to carry out.

Kai headed in shortly afterwards, called by Nadia as her contractions started to intensify. He carefully checked her over, making sure the Saviour med-kit was hooked up and ready. The advanced diagnostic computer had already been primed, and though the respiration, temperature and blood-pressure were all in the 'abnormal' range for a person carrying out regular life, they were all in the acceptable levels for a full-term woman. He was hoping that he wouldn't need any of the nanite-based treatments from the medical marvel, but he'd taken the time to calibrate it carefully and hook it up as he was called in, just in case. His normal laid-back manner was gone, and everything was done with a quiet focus and level of precision that the team rarely saw – not that they did here.

The labour went on for some time, as first babies are wont to do, but everything went smoothly and as normally as could be expected. At 14:26, the fierce contractions pushed the baby out into Kai's waiting hands, cushioned and protected by the invisible spirit and guarded against mishaps and complications. Kai quickly moved to deal with the baby, ignoring the angry screams as the boy was moved from the warmth and confining safety of the womb to a colder and unknown world. Warm towels swaddled the baby as he moved to cut the umbilical cord, and a minute later he carefully handed the baby over to Nadia, watching as she gently clutched him to her breasts. The baby had his eyes scrunched shut, but sensed the warmth of the body, and as his cheek brushed against her neck, the last of the crying faded away, replaced with a tiny sigh of reassurance.

When everything was dealt with, Kai moved back, checking over Nadia and Marius – then moving out of the room with a big grin to let the rest know of the delivery. Mother and father didn't even notice him leaving, having only eyes for the bundle pressed between them.

"So, what are we going to name him? Do you have anything in mind?"

"It is a German tradition to name the first baby boy after their father. But we can discuss this."

"No, I can understand that." She smiled gently, her hand slowly stroking the peach fuzz that covered the top of his head. Her voice mellowed with the marvel of what she felt, and she cooed to him. "Hello Marius. Hello there. Welcome to the world, baby." She glanced back up at Marius. "How about two names?"

"Ja. I take it you have something in mind?"

"Perhaps my fathers name as well." Marius blinked in surprise at her. "Think about it Marius. If he ever finds out about us, he will be furious. Right up until we present him with his grandson, bearing his name." She smiled at him, her hand continuing to brush lightly at the baby's head. "It's a nice name too, of course. It's not all a cunning plan."

"I see your point. Marius Turul it is then."

They spent a while revelling in the joy of birth, cuddling the newborn baby and exploring the wonder of their feelings. After a while though, Nadia called out for the others to come in, knowing that someone would be waiting outside the door, just in case. When Kai poked his head in, she asked him to bring everyone else in, too. It took him a few minutes to get everyone together, but they moved into the room, filling it quickly.

"Hunter. I have been reading on something, and I have a job for you?"

"What's that?" Hunter looked mildly alarmed, wondering what Nadia had in store for him.

"It is strange, but I think I have the translation right this time." She gave a wry grin and they shared a look.

"Send me the link and I'll check it – but go ahead."

"We are not the Christian religion, but I want to borrow part of their belief. I want you to be the god-parent of little Marius."

Hunter sniggered as the baby was named 'little Marius' but managed to get his composure back quickly, turning it into a cough.

"Ok – that's not what I was expecting. And I think I can do that. Why though? I mean, why me?"

"Well, there are two reasons. If anyone ever tells him he's ugly, I want him to know that he's not. He can tell them he's not, because he's better looking than his uncle Hunter." She grinned at him and Hunter dramatically laid a hand over his heart and staggered back a pace, bumping into the wall and making it shake slightly.

"Ooops. I mean…ow. Oh, you hurt my feelings so bad. But ok." Hunter grinned at her, recognising her quasi-joke for what it was. He knew his looks were unusual, downright scary for many – but he'd accepted who and what he was long ago, and comments on his appearance were as damaging to him as water was to ducks. "So what's the second reason?" He saw the smile fade from her face as she grew serious.

"Marius will look after us both, me and the baby. And should someone try to hurt us – well, he would drive the truck into them. I know he would." Marius suddenly started as he realised he was being talked about, having been completely absorbed in dealing with his son. As the words filtered out of his sub-conscious and he processed them, he nodded fiercely. "But you, Hunter… you would reverse over them afterwards, to make sure. With you watching him, I know he will be safer from other things that would hurt my baby. You will take care of him because he is ours, and part of our team."

Marius stared down at Nadia, then flicked his gaze up at Hunter, wondering quite what she meant. For a tiny moment there was a pang of jealousy, a feeling of being excluded from something as he saw the weird connection between them. But then his intellect stomped on the nascent flame of jealousy, squashing it out of existence as he saw Hunter shift suddenly. In a heartbeat all the glibness and joviality faded from the massive ork. He saw him nod seriously, agreeing not just to what Nadia had said, but in some way agreeing with what she meant – or at least what he thought she meant. He thought about asking Nadia what the deal was here when they were alone later – but then decided to leave it. When she was ready, she'd tell him – and until then, he was prepared to trust her.

Another quick glance up at Hunter made up his mind. For all his nature as a practical joker, or the member of the team quickest to poke fun at someone or make a filthy joke, he was also probably the person he trusted most to have his back. Unlike the magical members of the team with their eldritch powers that seemed to defy logic and rational explanation, Hunter was the closest to him. A flesh and blood body, enhanced with complex and advanced cybernetic systems, improving on the basic design with technology powered by computers, maths and energy convertors, using systems he knew and trusted. Someone that knew all about the mega-corporations and the 'values' they placed on metahuman life, and how expendable they would regard people. And, for someone who had spent his whole life with people recoiling in fear from how he looked, he was someone who understood prejudice, fear and hostility, someone who understood how people could treat others for being different from them. Understood how fear could turn to hatred, dissimilarity to contempt and distrust to violence. And having someone who understood all of that watching over his son, ready to help protect him from those people – yes, he could live with that.

The endorphins of the birth were wearing off, and fatigue hit both of the parents. Kai ushered everyone out of the room, ensuring they had some food and drinks in easy reach, then closing the door behind him and leaving them to relax with their son. The team took turns, waiting near the door for an hour or two, before switching out with someone else, just in case they needed help with anything, but otherwise leaving them with some privacy and a chance to bond as a family – or at least what they perceived as privacy. The hearth spirit of the house watched over them, revelling in the feelings of joy they had and guarding them fiercely, ready to pounce on anything that might have attempted to harm them.

Things returned to normal, and they continued with their activities – Shimazu still teaching his classes, Aswon and Hunter training together or camping out in the hills to the rear of the ranch. Kai monitored the baby and both parents, but otherwise read and studied, catching up on world news and checking in on the international antiquities market. Tads began her first batch of enchanting, moving down to the workshop and pretty much living there, only leaving to empty her slops bucket or to carry out her devotions at sunrise and sunset each day. Otherwise she attended to the circulation with the utmost care, gradually transforming the radicals purchased from Aslick into the chemical monstrosity that was orichalcum – something that should have been physically impossible according to all known science, but seemed to be produced with great care and magical attention by skilled alchemists.

A month passed, with the baby growing in size by nearly ten percent. The glow and joy of birth had faded somewhat, and Nadia had an aura of tiredness about her as she struggled with the demands of Marius Junior, feeding every two to three hours. The number of adults around to help with care for the baby helped of course, but she was still snappier than usual, and Marius seemed to catch a lot of flak - which he seemed to accept with good natured equanimity.

As they entered January of twenty-sixty-one, the team gathered around the table, Nadia at one end gently rocking the baby to sleep after a feed with Marius sitting next to her, the others facing each other over the broad dining table while the older kids clattered around in the kitchen doing the dishes.

"Well, I think we should wait for the metal device thing to come from the manufacturers, then go chase Aden down with it. I just think in something like this, being proactive and showing the Dragon that we're on top of things is a good call."

"I have to agree with you, Aswon." Kai looked around at the rest of the team, gauging their mood. "Sooner is better than later, and we have no idea what he wants it for. But we also need to work out what we're going to do after that. We've still got money left over from the volcano job – despite Nadia's best efforts to shop us to death." He grinned at her, and she stuck her tongue out at him before focussing her attention on Junior again. Kai hadn't been best impressed when she'd handed over a big wodge of bills for him to pay for the various equipment and work done on the ranch, but whenever he'd tried a new argument, she just countered by saying 'seventy two days' to him and glowering fiercely. After a few times he just gave up, paid the bills and adjusted his projections for how long they could afford to wait until they needed to get a new job, still having enough money for a fuel cushion. At least with the food stores Tads had built up before she started her enchanting, they'd saved a good chunk of money they'd normally spend on feeding the fourteen of them. He took a breath then continued, wondering how Nadia would feel about what he had to say next.

"I was actually thinking about venturing out, south-east. Maybe heading down towards Asia and the jungles down there. All that wild land, deep jungles coating the mountains. Going to be stuffed full of creatures and some prime talismongering sites. Get some rare critters, some funky plants – can stock up on materials for warding perhaps for ourselves – but more importantly on the way back, I've got a contact in Nepal that deals with rare critters and magical components. If we have a good haul, we can earn a good chunk of cash. For starters I know that there's a real good demand for Naga artifacts and parts right now."

"Naga? Are you serious Kai?" Aswon shook his head. "They're sentient creatures. I do NOT approve." He held up a hand as Kai moved to speak, stopping him in his tracks. "Don't get me wrong – if we're talismongering in the jungle and we're attacked by Naga, I will have no problem at all about putting down an entire tribe to keep us safe. And if they're just dealt with, we can harvest all the parts we want – better than letting them rot. But I do not want to consider actively hunting down another sentient species as a deliberate act. That's a hard line for me." He saw Tads nodding in agreement, while the others seemed to be on the fence about it.

"I do not find the idea disagreeable. It is a long journey, but that will increase the value of any goods we get, allowing us to return a greater profit from our sales. We just need to ensure that we have adequate stops planned to allow us to refuel along the way." Marius glanced at Nadia, but she didn't seem to object to what he was saying, which he took as tacit approval for his plans to be away for a while. "If we are going that way though, we should be careful with the political and socio-economic situation in the countries along the way. Remember for instance what jobs Odemyod offered us back in Tashkent." He looked around and saw only blank expressions and sighed. "He offered us a job to take supplies to the Kabul Mafia in Afghanistan. There was the computer records we found after the bandit attack on the highway, and that led to some other work. But the impression was strongly given that the Mafia pretty much run the city and have a great deal of influence over the country and surrounding area. So we will need to be very careful…"

"I agree that the area will be full of valuable materials – but also some quite hostile conditions and local wildlife." Tads looked weary still – no doubt needing a few more days of long uninterrupted sleeps to catch up with the activities of the previous month. "But I also think that while the distance will increase the value of what we find, it's going to send our fuel bills through the roof as well. If it's several thousand kilometres each way, we're going to be spending tens of thousands of Nuyen on the fuel to get there and back, and that's going to eat into whatever we make from the sales. And it's going to take days if not weeks." She glanced over at Marius and then glanced at Nadia and the baby meaningfully.

"Much better in my opinion to stay around here. Remember when we'd just escaped from the warlord up in the mountain and we were going through Quba? The people there said there was wild creatures up in the hills, that we could make money from. We were originally planning to go look for them, but then went to Iran instead. And I'm sure there's other places around the country where we could go look, that wouldn't be more than a day from the ranch, allowing us to be close enough to home in case of trouble."

"Ok, that's a reasonable point. We could save a bunch of money on the fuel. Maybe worth talking with Aslick and finding out what's around the area or what he needs? We're also maybe close enough to do some work for the talismongers in Sochi – we know there's a couple up there, and we've dealt with them all in one way or another." Aswon stroked his chin as he contemplated that idea. "Yeah, that does make a lot more sense to me."

"Well, let's seen what we can come up with from a day of research and calling around then." He cut off as the trid unit suddenly flared into life and the news announcer appeared on the display.

"Good evening, I'm Sandy Boxman, and here's the news. Ares Space today announced that they will be preparing and launching an experimental new probe later this year, aiming to intercept Halley's Comet as it approaches earth. According to the press release, they intend to have their probe actually land on the comet's surface to perform a close range inspection and gather material directly from the surface for chemical analysis. As you're probably all aware, the Comet is a regular visitor to our skies, orbiting once every seventy-six years. This year, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Awakening, the Comet is due to have unprecedented visibility from our skies due to orbital mechanics, being visible with the naked eye from September this year all the way through to November, and again next year from March until April as it loops around the sun and makes its way back out of the solar system."

"Researchers at MIT&T have confirmed that the comet is, for reasons currently unknown, brighter than normal, with a magnitude of at least 5.7, up from the more normal 5.5. Some think-tanks have speculated that this is due to flares of solar-radiation impacting on the comet, but others have pointed to a relatively low period of solar activity at this time, indicating that this is not the reason."

"Following on from the Ares Space announcement, Yamatetsu and Novatech have both announced that they are also sending probes to examine the Comet and gain scientific knowledge from it, taking advantage of a number of recent advancements in electronics and materials analysis to get a phenomenal view of our extra-solar-system visitor. Several other corporations, including Sader-Krupp and Mitsuhama have scheduled press conferences for tomorrow, and speculation is rife that they too will announce missions to the Comet, with some going so far as to say that a manned-mission may be on the books."

"Whatever happens though, it appears that Twenty Sixty-One is going to be the Year of the Comet!"

Kai waved for Rusudan to hit the mute button as the news reported moved onto the next news item.

"Well, year of the comet eh? This could get interesting…"