"So. Any tips on moving quietly through the jungle, then?" Hunter asked the two locals who were going to guide them through the forest. They looked at each other for a few seconds, glancing back and forth at Hunter and each other, and seeming to communicate through facial ticks and head tilts, until one of them shrugged and turned to face him.
"Perhaps take off the armour. And the gun. And the… rocket? And the other gun. And the pack. And.. those things, whatever they are." Hunter looked between them both, waiting for one of them to crack a grin – but they didn't, and after a few seconds it became clear that they weren't joking.
"Nah, that's not gonna happen. I'll just have to cope. I meant more – what do we need to watch out for round here. Like weird bits of ground, or plants that trap you, or animals that scare easily."
"Or that bite or sting when afraid. Especially anything venomous." Aswon added. Hunter smirked at him, but refrained from making any jokes.
"Well, the boars, I guess." The same guide said. "The boars are very nasty and mean-tempered. If you see a boar on the trail, get off the trail. They like to charge, and gore you with their tusks. Even if they're not hungry, they'll charge and fight you. Climb a tree if you can, but watch out for the snakes."
"Let me guess. Brown and mottled colour, look just like branches…" Aswon saw the guide nodding vigorously. "And they bite… and they're venomous?" The guide nodded again. "Well, ok then. Do the boars come in packs?"
"Oh no. They're too mean-tempered for that – they'd kill each other if they were together. Even at mating time, the males flee from the females once they're done – they get really mean then!"
Aswon and Hunter nodded in understanding, then asked some more directed questions of the guides as they set out on the trail, probing about different plants and animals they might encounter in the jungle they were moving through, trying to pick up on the dangerous items that could hinder their journey. Even though this was technically Aswon's homeland, his tribe was more at home on the plains than in the jungle, and this environment wasn't that familiar to him. They learnt about one particular flower, a broad-petalled purple flower with a yellow core that was something to be particularly careful of, as it released a strong musk smell impregnated into a thick and viscous sap that was very difficult to remove and tended to attract all manner of insects and small creatures, along with a few types of irritant vines and plants, some spiders with nasty bites, and of course a variety of snakes and stinging insects that could make life very uncomfortable.
They moved carefully through the jungle, following a couple of game trails, some paths evidently carved out by the locals, and occasionally a small stream that trickled down the mountain, making steady progress. The jungle was dark and humid, with visibility limited to between ten and twenty metres on average, the path winding back and forth around huge trees, thick choking vines and patches of broad leafed plants that grew in humps and mounds. Dead and decaying vegetation littered the floor, forming a thick and bouncy mulch that was alive with insects and sometimes gave off a pungent aroma when trodden upon.
Aswon and Hunter moved quietly, quietly enough to disturb the two guides who had expected the big ork to blunder and crash through the jungle, disturbing the foliage and alerting everything within several hundred metres – instead they were at first amazed, and then deeply impressed as he moved through the undergrowth more like a stalking panther than a charging boar. Occasionally he did make some noise – there were limits to how quietly you could move carrying the amount of gear he had strapped onto his body – but it was little and infrequent. They moved at an unhurried pace, walking for fifteen minutes or so, then stopping for a minute to take a drink and adjust their gear, or check their surroundings while they got their breath back. Travelling downhill through the jungle was just as tiring as moving uphill, with them having to pick their route carefully and climb down tree roots and over patches of vines, circumvent small rocky outcroppings and navigate down through the shallow but fast flowing streams.
Both of the team members had their senses active and alert – both magical and cybernetic, and they worked through their various senses as they moved, adjusting to the 'best' for each environment as they moved. Hunter found his ultrasound was much less useful out here than in the city, with the high pitched buzzing of insects and the weird calls of some of the creatures creating 'hot spots' of interference, and with the foliage giving fuzzy returns and weird shadows compared to the nice sharp edges and clear boundaries that man-made structures normally gave. Likewise, their hearing picked up on the screeches of monkeys, the snuffling of various animals and the buzzing of wings as a thousand different species that called the jungle their home got on with the evenings business of hunting for food – whether that be feasting on the plant life that was so abundant here or the various herbivores that made up the food chain.
Their progress was slow when viewed in comparison to someone moving through a city – they covered only three kilometres in the first hour, but compared to the wide open pavements of the average city street, the environments were worlds apart and their route was anything but direct. As they got closer and closer to the construction site, though, their caution increased and their speed dropped even further.
Following a slender game trail, they came upon a Y-shaped split in the path, and their two guides signalled for them to stop and to huddle together. With their heads almost touching, they spoke quietly.
"If you go left, you drop, and come to the clearing where they have put their machines. If you go right, it levels out then climbs a little, onto a spit of rock. It climbs above the trees and gives you a view of the land below – but the path is narrow and the drop is sheer."
"I think right then, up to the vantage point. A raised view will be far better for us for intel gathering than being at ground level. That good with you, Hunter?" The ork grunted his agreement with Aswon and saw the look of discomfort on the guides' faces.
"What's up?"
"Beyond here… this is where our patrols have been lost or attacked."
"You stay here then and guard the trail, and cover our path of retreat. We'll scout ahead and see what we can find." The guides nodded their agreement, and Hunter led off down the path, moving even slower now. Each foot was placed carefully, first the outer edge then rolling onto the sole, moving with slow caution as he transferred the weight slowly onto each leg and moved forward like a stalking cat. His head twisted and turned constantly, checking out the surroundings and looking for anything out of the ordinary, while his assault rifle was held loosely in his hands, ready to snap out a shot at a moment's notice.
They'd moved perhaps forty metres up the trail, out of sight of the guides and starting to climb a little with the ground becoming rocky and uneven as the thick loam gave way to the protruding rock, when Hunter froze, looking ahead and his senses tingling.
"Seen something?" Aswon subvocalised to him.
"Yeah – well, no. But something isn't right. Hang on." He crouched down, moving slowly and adjusting his point of view, eyes moving around and trying to work out what had triggered his subconscious alarm, and giving Aswon a clear view over his head. As he knelt down, he realised what had spooked him – there was a tree branch with a perfectly flat and level edge that stretched about thirty centimetres. He turned his attention to the shape, flicking through his vision modifications until he found a setting that most clearly identified it.
"Eleven o'clock, big tree, with the wide spreading roots above ground. Go up to the third branch, then out about two metres. Block about thirty centimetres long, fifteen wide and high, painted or coloured in two-tone cammo. Looks like a sensor of some kind."
"I don't… ahh, I see it now." Aswon leant over to the left, then the right, moving his body quietly to try and get a better three-d picture of the object. "Looks like a lens on the far side, facing down the trail. And an audio pickup of some kind."
"Hmm, only just visible from this side, and a bugger in the dark. But if you walked past then a great view of the back of your head, and a pickup of the noise of your footsteps. Bet it's passive infra-red too, probably with pattern recognition. Locals would have no idea they'd been tagged." Hunter stood up and crept closer, then carefully reached into a pocket and pulled out a small torch. Carefully applying a small amount of tape to the front, he masked off all but a tiny spot in the centre, then lined up the torch delicately and illuminated the rear of the device, making sure none of the light spilled over to the lens area or anything that would be in view.
"Nova-Eye BI94-6/5, according to the name plate. Not familiar with that, but definitely sounds like a Novatech product. We can check with Marius when we get back."
"What do you think – move around it?"
"Yeah, be slow, moving through the undergrowth – but there's got to be animals doing that too. It has to be filtering the noise quite heavily to not be constantly going off. I wonder if they've set it for metallic sounds and things like stone spear tips or wooden shafts touching things. Specific noises that are unique to man-made objects in the area."
"That'd make sense." Aswon checked out the path ahead of them. "It's covering about ten metres forward at the most, before the path twists and blocks line of sight. If we can get that far ahead, we should be good. Provided there's not more of them."
"Hmm. Look up and out a little more… see the leaves on the branches either side… they're ragged and twisted. Look like they've been partially burnt. I bet they've been running drones through here with vector thrust jets or stuff like that. Maybe to drop off the sensors, or maybe responding to threats they find…"
"Let's head back down quickly and let them know what we've found…" They marked the trail quickly, then headed back down, carefully scanning for any more of the mobile pods, until they met up with their guides, quickly explaining what they'd found and then beckoning them up the trail to show them. It took them a little time for their unenhanced vision to make out the box, but it was obvious when they did, as their expressions changed significantly. They studied the shape intently for a minute before backing off down the trail, out of range of the sensor pod.
"What is it?" They asked, and Hunter explained, demonstrating the camera on his commlink and showing the footage on his pad, letting the guides see how visible they were on infra-red illuminated cameras and with his system set up to flash an alert when motion was detected. Once shown a practical demonstration of the system, the lesson sunk in hard and fast, and they seemed to give off a weird sense of shame at their lack of technical ability.
"Now that you know what to look for, and how you look to those things, it might help you spot other systems. But for now, if you can wait here, we're going to work our way through the jungle and get further along the path to check out the camp. We're likely to be some time – you ok waiting back here for us?" The guides nodded, and Hunter and Aswon left them and headed back up the trail.
The pair moved into the jungle and worked around the sensor pod, moving forward even slower now as they oozed through the jungle, watching out for any kinds of artificial noise and checking their progress to make sure they stayed out of line of sight of the camera. They didn't spot any more sensors, and when they reached the turning in the path and were able to re-join it, the jungle started to thin dramatically. Ahead of them the sky was lit up in a ghostly white light, forming an irregular hemisphere of brightness. Slowing, they moved forward cautiously until they reached the end of the spit of land, a rocky outcropping that rose above the height of the jungle canopy and let them look down into the valley beyond.
Floodlights cast a brilliant white light around the compound and within it, refracting off the moisture in the air to create a pearlescent glow that suffused the entire compound with light. As the pair eased down into kneeling positions, they started to check out the area, gathering information and noting it down as well as grabbing photographs to share with the rest of the team later.
The compound was roughly square, with a gravel road leading off from one side that wound around the side of the mountain – presumably leading off to a slightly larger road, and then to the main road through the area. The land was churned up, thick mud mixed in with mulched vegetation and blackened wood, the remnants of an area slashed and burned to clear it for use. Several portable cabins were laid out into a tightly packed grid, with a few showing faint slivers of light around doorways. At the end of the rows of densely packed worker accommodation were a couple of much nicer-looking cabins – no doubt for the site manager or surveyor, or other middle management types that couldn't be expected to bunk up in a tightly packed bunkroom with the workers.
On the other side of the workers' sleeping quarters were a pair of generators, chugging away quietly in the night, with a large fuel bowser between them – from the looks of the design it was running on either some kind of methane or biofuel, rather than diesel, but it was presumably the main source of power for the compound. Thick cables snaked out of each generator to a distribution board that hung at a slight angle, the metal frame legs having sunk into the thick mud unevenly over time.
In front of the living quarters was a mass of vehicles and equipment, supplies and tools, laid out in various heaps. There were a few of the ten-wheel mobile cranes, each with a large hydraulic jib and heavy crane hook secured to the main body, along with heavy duty outriggers and a mass of timbers and boards used to stop them from tipping over on soft ground. Alongside were half a dozen trucks, simple looking cabs and large tipping load beds, designed to carry gravel, earth or supplies over rough terrain. Heavy duty bulldozers were next in the line, their massive blades lowered and wedged into the ground, while their thick tracks were cacked in cloying mud. At the end of the row was a large machine that seemed to be made up of some enormous crushing wheels and teeth attached to a funnel and some kind of conveyer belt, perhaps for grinding up rocks or for mulching trees perhaps.
Surrounding the cabins and trucks was a three metre high wire fence, topped with a single roll of razorwire that ran from post to post, in a continuous loop. The posts that held the fence up also held the light fittings, casting their luminescence over the interior of the camp, and also outside – but not on the fence itself. Indeed, the lights pointing outwards seemed to have been fitted with shutters or focussing equipment of some kind – for the area of the fence and a five metre zone beyond it was in darkness, before there was a brilliant white 'donut' of lit land, ten metres across, all the way around the camp.
"That look odd to you, Hunter?"
"Yeah. Really weird. Oh. Check the low end of the IR spectrum. Looks like they've got a laser detection system running, on the outside of the wire. Emitters and detectors out in the dark area, about a metre from the fence, creating three rings around the camp. Probably thirty, sixty and ninety centimetres off ground, at a guess." Hunter looked back at the generators, zooming in and giving them a more thorough and professional examination. "Those lasers are clearly drawing power from the generator sets. I'm not sure how much power they have – but it's possible they're capacitance lasers. It'd be a stretch, but it's possible there's enough juice in there for a short pulse at much higher power, possibly enough to burn through a limb – or an ass cheek, if you're not careful…"
"It wouldn't take much to give the locals really bad burns, not with the lack of armour they're going to have. There's also ultrasound running on the fence posts, short range, but covering the actual fence itself by the looks of things. If you somehow managed to spot and avoid the lasers by jumping over them, you're going to be dropping straight into an ultrasound zone and get picked up there."
"Especially if they're as tech-inept as they seem." Hunter said, expecting some kind of retort from Aswon – but instead, the tribesman just stared down at the camp, his eyes fixed like a hawk on one of the vehicles. "What?"
"Sure I saw movement. Just a flicker, second crane back. Near the bottom of the extending bit." Hunter looked down and studied the area closely, flipping from infra-red to normal, letting his cyber-eyes adjust and work through the various settings they offered to try and pick up what Aswon had seen. "I'm sure there was something there. But I'm not reading anything now… Oh… there you are." His voice had dropped to barely a whisper, but there was a weird edge to it now. "There's a spell effect down there, and I'll put good money on it being an invisibility or concealment spell of some kind. But there's definitely a magical aura there. Moving around." Hunter took a pointer from Aswon and looked down at the crane, but try as he might, he couldn't see anyone – but something did grab his attention.
"Ignore the compound for a moment. Look down at the end of the rock we're on. Does that look like a bit of webbing, over the very end?" Aswon looked, then nodded, and they crept forward, splitting up to move around to the sides and get a better view, discovering a pair of rucksacks hanging over the end of the rock, nestled into a crevice in the cliff-face. Aswon did a check, but couldn't spot any booby traps, so he carefully pulled them up, pushing one over towards Hunter and keeping the second one to check through himself. A few minutes later he looked across to Hunter.
"Well, I've got a few days of rations, standard army style from the UCAS army, a set of jungle fatigues sized to fit a well-muscled average height human, a small kit with some electronic gadgets, spare magazines for something pistol sized with 10mm rounds and a laptop."
"Similar, but I've got fatigues sized for someone my size, or maybe Shimazu, some throwing knives, a kilo of serious putty and some timers…" Aswon blinked at Hunter a few times, then did the mental translation of 'serious putty' and shook his head wryly, before gesturing for the Hunter to pass him the throwing knives and the demo gear, handing over the laptop and electronics gear in return.
"This looks like fairly standard issue C4, waxed paper outer, size is right for commercially available block, and the timers are pretty typical for standard uses. Not military issue, but screams black market untraceable gear. And the knives are pretty basic, but functional. Disposable and probably traceless…"
"The kit's got vampire taps in, useful for tapping computer networks midway through the cable to intercept communications, and a couple of other bits of kit to support that kind of stuff – there's clamps and bits in here to let you branch off a new connection to a third device to listen in on a network. And the laptop… well, it's old, battered, at least two generations behind the current market – and pretty much secure. Everything is locked down tight on it – this doesn't belong to a civvy. Someone has taken some serious steps to lock down every way of getting into the device or the hardware, and short of hooking it up to my deck and just brute forcing the passwords out of it, we're not getting in. Other than that, there's a maglock sequencer and what looks like a sat-phone dongle for the laptop, so they can get a matrix connection even out here."
"You know what this means?" Aswon smiled happily. "We're dealing with professionals. This smacks of some kind of special forces operation. The question is who – and do we do anything about it?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it looks like they've bought demo gear to the site, and they're over there doing something. I don't think it's flower arranging, so they're certainly AGAINST Novatech. That's not the same as saying they're FOR us, of course. But we might have compatible aims. And if they are pros, then getting them onside would be a helpful thing. I wonder if we could leave them a note and get them to call Kai. Let them know we found their camp, but didn't do anything about it. That ought to make them curious…"
"Or instead of letting them call Kai, maybe we set up a meet. Then we can stop Kai offering to work for them for free over the phone…"
"You… you probably have a point. That's a better option!"
"Let's have a look and see what they're up to." Hunter turned his attention back to the compound and zoomed his vision in, looking as hard as he could for the people moving around. "Where are they – I'll see if I can get through their stupid spell if you can tell me exactly where to look…"
Aswon looked again, waiting until he saw the figure again, this time climbing over a bulldozer and down into the space behind the blade and near the engine. As he watched he caught the edge of a second spell effect, from a hidden figure behind the vehicle. He kept up a running commentary as he watched the astral shape moving around, until he heard a quiet exclamation from Hunter – who had apparently managed to concentrate hard enough to pierce through the protective magic and spot the figure, confirming that it was a large figure, possibly an ork, wearing jungle fatigues and a small backpack.
The continued to observe the other team moving around down in the compound, as they progressed from one piece of construction equipment to another, presumably setting demo charges on key components. The bigger figure was the one climbing onto the equipment and planting the charges, while the smaller figure kept watch and generally stayed out of sight, covering their work.
Around half past three, they appeared to have finished, as they moved away from the vehicles and towards the fence, crouching down by a large pile of railroad stakes and a mound of gravel. The big figure moved in front of the smaller one, crouching down and pulling out a weapon of some kind – a small sub-machine gun or a large machine pistol. The smaller figure bent over them looking as if they were about to get a piggy-back ride, fiddling with something between them. A moment later, the invisibility spell covering the ork disappeared, exposing them to anyone watching – but the second figure remained cloaked in the magical protection.
"Did they just tie themselves together?" Hunter whispered. A moment later his question was answered as the smaller figure cast another spell, and then started to levitate straight up into the air. The ork sagged below them a little at first, until the slack was taken up, then was lifted into the air by their load bearing harness, swaying slightly in the breeze while they looked around, weapon at the ready. Up and up they rose, climbing high into the air and away from the compound, rising up through the lit dome of life until they started to fade out into the darkness, before holding steady at that height and starting to drift over towards the position held by Hunter and Aswon.
"Let's go sit a few metres back, weapons down, actually sit on the floor – be as non-threatening as we can. Find out who these people are, and what they want."
"Sounds a bit risky." Hunter looked very dubious at the idea of putting themselves in such a disadvantageous position.
"Someone has to make the first move. And like I said – I think we're dealing with professionals." Hunter gave him another look and then sighed, before quickly moving to sit down and lay his assault rifle by his side – making sure it was in a position where he could grab it with the minimum of effort and time. Aswon likewise sat on the other side of the trail, laying down his weapons and pulling out his water bottle – taking a quick sip and then forcing his body to relax.
The other team drifted through the air, moving closer with an ethereal silence as the spell conveyed them through the air – until the ork spotted them sitting and waiting. His gun snapped around to cover them, and their forward motion stopped, but they didn't fire. Aswon dropped into astral to check on the mage, and saw the invisibility spell pulsing around their form – including an outstretched arm pointing towards him, probably holding another weapon. He slowly raised the water bottle to his mouth and took a slow drink, then held it up towards them and gave it a little shake. After a second or two, he lowered the hand until it was resting on his right knee, then with a short stick in his left hand he pushed the rifle laying on the floor away from him a short distance. It wasn't far, but he hoped the symbolism wasn't lost on the pair.
A moment passed, then another – and just as he was starting to doubt his own plan, they resumed their forward motion, heading in towards the rocky outcropping and lightly dropping down onto it. The orc kept both his hands on the sub-gun, letting the mage behind him unshackle him and give him freedom to move. As soon as that was done, the mage dropped their invisibility spell, revealing a heavy-set human female, blond hair spilling out from under their balaclava, and a heavy pistol held in their hand. Hunter looked over at both of them, and then spotted the skin tone on the larger of the two, along with the edge of their features through the holes in the balaclava – and decided to take a chance.
"You're a long way from home," he said, in Sioux. The ork certainly looked tribal, and his skin tone matched as well. The ork cocked his head a little, studying Hunter, but said nothing. "Assuming of course, you are from the neck of the woods I think you are." He continued, looking for any signs of recognition.
"What's that, chummer?" The ork finally answered, in English. His accent was UCAS, but with a twist. If anything he sounded just like the runners they'd met in Seattle…
"Just wanted to say that it looked like you've just pulled off a nice operation." Aswon said, in English as a response. "Would you like a drink? Must have been a bit stressful planting that much demo one after another." He took another drink from the bottle, making sure to let it visibly pour into his mouth and swallowed obviously, before handing over the bottle to the smaller of the pair. They took it, sniffed at it cautiously, then took a drink, before offering it to the ork who declined with a shake of their head. Aswon took the bottle back, took another sip, and then resealed the container. "We wanted to get in touch with you, let you know that we saw what you did – and we're definitely not opposed to it. But we would like to know if you're just causing mischief, or if you're here…on business, let's say."
"And who are you?" The smaller asked, her voice curious.
"I am Aswon." He said, as Hunter knew that he would. "And this is my friend, Hunter. We've got some issues with Novatech, you see, don't like what they're planning on doing to the mountain – but we're still working out what to do about it. Sizing up options and things. We'd probably have been aiming to do something very similar with what you've done tonight – but I'm also lazy. Who wants to work and do something if someone else is also doing it, right? So, my question is – who are you?"
"Well, you answered my question – so I can answer one of yours."
"Are you here on a campaign, or just for the pretty lights?"
"Oh, we're here to see the pretty lights, for sure. But not just for one night. We're definitely here to make sure our message gets across. Or rather, our employer's message."
"And who do you work for?"
"Ah ah ah! My turn now. One question each."
"Fair. Go ahead, please." Aswon relaxed backwards and grinned, revealing his massive implanted fangs. Professional, and willing to deal – this was looking better and better!
"So what are you here for?"
"As I said, we have issues with what they intend to do with the mountain, and the people here have called out for aid. It'll come as no shock to you that I'm from around these parts" Aswon skipped the fact that he was from the other end of the country – in relative terms he really was from 'these parts', and that was close enough. "I think our goals might be broadly compatible – and that raises some interesting possibilities. Overall, we'd like them to stop despoiling the mountain and turning it into a toxic wasteland." The end of his sentence came out with an edge of bitterness as he thought back to the area around the cosmodrome. He wasn't sure how much of that was due to the rocket launches, and how much other industry – but the area was ruined and would probably not recover without serious intervention, and that was a bad thing. "We're not on the clock, not really. I have friends in the area, that have asked for help. But we're not being paid for this, if that makes any difference. From our point of view, though, one of the reasons we came to get some intel was that we don't want to cause a war in the area."
"So, where does that leave us?" the female asked. The larger ork fixed Hunter with a penetrating stare, concentrating on his response, while his partner stared at Aswon. If he was expecting Hunter to show some kind of signal though, he was doomed to disappointment.
"Well, we're not going to stop you – that much is certain. But perhaps some kind of joint operation might be possible? I'm sure working together we could be much more effective than working separately – and we run much less risk of accidently sabotaging each other's efforts or making things risky for each other."
"So, you were coming to look at this place?" She gestured back over her shoulder with a jerked thumb. "With a view to doing something about it?"
"Yes. We were gathering intel, to work out how best to slow or stop them. Certainly from what you were doing, it seems we were on exactly the same kind of mission planning – small shaped charges on the hydraulics, starter motors, air filters, locking pins – that kind of thing, right?" Aswon glanced over at the ork and got a curt nod. "Yeah, thought so from where you were moving – and that's exactly the kind of place that Hunter told me we should be aiming at."
"And what are your intentions now?"
"There are other sites, needing the same treatment. Though I imagine once you've set the charges off here, they may be upgrading their security somewhat. But this was only one of the options we were looking at – there's other things we're investigating too. Some of them are inherently better options than others, but we're trying to keep an open mind and look at them all, working out what kind of scale we need to work at." As Aswon finished speaking, the female lent in closely to him, invading his personal space to the point where she was close enough to lean in and kiss him – or smash his nose with a sudden headbutt. Either way, it was close enough to make him wonder what she was up to, but he stood his ground, not wanting to move and show any sense of discomfort or fear.
"What kind of other options do you have? I'm very… curious… as to what you're considering, and how we might, possibly, work together."
"We're part of a team. The rest of us are back at our base camp, waiting on the results of our recon. But some of them have talents and skills we don't, and access to resources and opportunities that are beyond us." He raised his water bottle, bringing it up between their faces, and then started to tilt it back, easing back a little himself, and taking a deep drink – but also forcing her to ease back a little herself to avoid getting a bottle to the nose. While he did that, Hunter sent a quick sub-vocal message to him.
[Give them Kai's number to chat?]
[Might make things more complicated. How about setting up a meet?]
[Yeah, we can make sure he doesn't do anything stupid then.]
"So – you're local then. But I'm guessing you're not?" Her gaze turned to Hunter, who nodded in agreement with her, but didn't elaborate. "We're from a fair way away, too. But ecological damage like this has to be stopped wherever it can be, don't you agree?" Her voice was light, but her gaze bored into Aswon and she studied his face, waiting for him to react.
"Yes, it does. But how it's done – that's the trick. We're wary of launching all out commando raids on the construction facility as our ONLY options. One thing we don't want is a corporation with the size and power of Novatech deciding that the raids were organised by the locals, then dropping chemical weapons through the trees to destroy them. Or even just launching a slash-and-burn campaign, cutting back the jungle in vast swathes and destroying their way of life – and causing even more damage to the land in the process." He returned her stare, eyes unblinking as he described a series of very probable responses to the assaults, and now it was her turn to sit back slightly and nod her head in unwelcome agreement. "That's why we're studying our options so carefully. The people here have lived with the land for generations. They're ill-equipped to fight against this threat – but they're also ill-equipped to deal with the fall out from people like us blowing up their enemies. Novatech won't hesitate to punish them for losses they suffer, using them as a punching bag even if they weren't responsible."
"I guess you're right. They're not going to care if they were the ones who did this or not, are they? Some local security manager is just going to want to take action so they can put a positive spin on things for their report to the head office." She pulled a face, and Aswon could see that she was contemplating the situation, and from her expression she was also now considering the impact on the locals, and didn't like it any more than he did. This actually made him very happy – she certainly seemed to want to stop the construction, but she was willing to make an effort not to embroil others into her fight, and that made him even more determined to try and work out something between them.
"Without wanting to know the specifics – have you done this elsewhere? We wouldn't want to ruin your plans – or be caught up in an act of sabotage somewhere you've already planted a little C4 at – that would ruin our day as much as theirs!" He glanced over at the ork. "Having got a little too close to demo set by other people from time to time, I can do without that kind of excitement in my life." He actually got a little snort and a nod out of the ork, a shared moment of people who had a definition of "excitement" that would petrify most others.
"We should probably set the timers on this lot and leave, thinking about it. Perhaps we can talk more once we're away." Aswon checked the time and then looked up at the sky – it was still fully dark, but the dawn wasn't that far off, and he imagined that the crew would be urged to be up as soon as it was light to make the most of the daylight hours. "Perhaps we can meet up with the rest of your team, to more fully discuss this? And to work out some options?" She looked back and forth, seeing Aswon nod, while Hunter just stared at her. She logged into her laptop and pulled up a map, scrolling around a little and then zooming in on a place. "How about somewhere here?" Aswon and Hunter tried hard to control their faces as she expanded the map and selected a spot that was probably only a few hundred metres away from their camp. Did she know something, or was this pure co-incidence? Aswon didn't think it was deliberate, but neither of the other team were being particularly forthcoming with details yet – as were neither he nor Hunter.
"How about here, a little further into the treeline – less chance of being seen from overhead." He gestured to a spot about a hundred metres further away from their camp, further into the jungle and away from their based."
"Agreed. At dusk?"
"Sounds good."
"Very well then. Set the timer for an hour, then let's get out of here." She said, turning towards the ork. He nodded at her and pulled out a small det-controller, keying in an access command and a timer, then setting it down carefully off the edge of the path and sprinkling leaves and debris over it to conceal it.
"Sorry, I never did tell you who we were… I'm Phoss, and this is Ury." She gestured to the ork.
"Thanks."
"I presume you know about the camera on the trail back that way?" Hunter interjected, gesturing down the way they were heading.
"Camera? No. We didn't see one, not the way we came in…"
"Right, follow me then…" Hunter led them down the path, going off into the jungle at the same place and working around the sensor pod, then leading them forward to show them the back side of the concealed device and the damage to the leaves. The other team nodded, examining the device carefully and Ury used some kind of low-light lens on his commlink to snap a couple of pictures. They headed back down to the Y-junction and found their two guides waiting for them – calming them as they immediately grabbed their weapons on seeing the two newcomers.
"Calmly, they're… sort of on our side. They're certainly against the enemy. It remains to be seen how friendly we can be." Aswon gave the other team a grin to let them know there was a certain amount of wry humour to his words. "But we need to get moving – in about fifty minutes this area is going to be crawling with security and response forces."
"We'll see you at dusk then." With that Phoss and Ury took off, working their way into the jungle and heading north, leaving Aswon, Hunter and their two guides to leave on the path to the east. They hustled, less concerned with stealth and more with getting away from the construction site and the fallout of what was to come. They didn't move so fast as to draw any of the local wildlife to them, but they at least had a reasonable certainty that the trail was clear of surveillance devices or enemy forces – and if they did come across a patrol or enemy team, then Aswon and Hunter were primed to launch an immediate and overwhelming assault at a moment's notice. Aswon also kept a close watch out for astral tails – he know that Phoss was capable of casting an invisibility spell at least, so she might be a summoner as well, but their trail stayed cold, with no signs of a tail.
Two minutes before the explosives were set to go off, Hunter got a notification from his commlink, flashing an alarm he'd set before they'd left the observation point. He called a halt, shucked off most of his gear and then popped his climbing claws, almost scampering up a tree to climb into the canopy and find a spot to observe from. With his GPS linked into his spatial recogniser and navigation systems, he aligned himself with the construction yard and then made himself as comfortable as he could, waiting for the timer to hit zero.
When it did, the sky lit up ahead of him, as more than a dozen separate explosive devices went off at the same time. He saw flashes of light fill the air as the smaller charges went off, no doubt severing hydraulic lines or blowing holes in the edges of reservoirs, taking out controls or other key parts of the machines. There was one explosion that lead to a fireball though, a huge mass of flames that roiled up into the air, forming a miniature mushroom cloud with black cloud topping the mass of flames, twisting in the air and spreading smoke over a wide area.
"Well, guess they had the fuel bowser spiked," he muttered into his comms, keeping his camera steady and aiming towards the camp.
"You coming down?"
"Not yet Aswon, give me five to ten minutes. Want to see what the response is to this attack."
"Roger, we'll keep eyes open down here and have your pack ready to go." Hunter grunted in response, and kept a lookout, watching the skies for vehicles as well as seeing how long it took before the fuel fire was bought under control. It didn't take long for the response – a little over five minutes from the first explosion and he saw aircraft rushing to the scene. From the direction of the top of the mountain he saw anti-collision lights heading towards the construction site, coming down the mountainside at a fairly low altitude. It was hard to make out what they were, until they were over the construction site, when the orange flames from the ongoing fire illuminated the sides of the heavy lift choppers – but at this range he couldn't tell if they were construction vehicles, troop carriers or something in-between. However, coming up from the lowlands were more lights, and when he got a look at the sleeker, leaner shapes and saw how quickly they were moving, and how much more agile they were as they darted around site, he knew that these were attack choppers. What kind would have to wait until he could show the footage to Marius, but he zoomed in his camera as much as he could and got some footage to show the rest of the team and to give them something to go on – as well as be a reference for him to do some research on the matrix.
After watching for a few minutes, he slid down the tree and reclaimed his pack, and the four of them headed back up the mountain towards their camp, arriving there without incident just a little after six in the morning. Tads was awake, of course, getting ready for her dawn rituals and to summon fresh spirits as the night time flock departed back to their home planes, and she welcomed them back, letting them know if had been a quiet and uneventful night – at least until the distant sounds of explosions had shaken things up.
It wasn't long before everyone else was up and getting breakfast, and Aswon and Hunter relayed everything they'd seen and found while on their recon, detailing their meeting with Phoss and Ury and spending a while describing their mannerisms and appearance, trying to recall not only what they'd said but how they'd said it, in as much detail as possible. Tads asked for permission and got a mindlink up with Aswon, then did a phantasm of the key events, recreating them from his memories – and also getting a feel for the spell signature that presumably belonged to Phoss.
"If they're from an eco-terrorist or protection society, do you think we can find out something about them?"
"How?"
"Well, that shaman we met back in Seattle. She was an eco-warrior, wasn't she? The one that was working with the decker, Rad?"
"Her name was Fang, or at least that is what she went by. And yes, she was some kind of ecological activist," Marius confirmed.
"So maybe if we can reach out to her, pass on the descriptions – see if they're known to her. Or even if she knows what type of group would care enough about this situation to send people over to blow things up?"
"Good call, Tads. The guy did call us 'chummer' as well, and that's a popular reference from Seattle. Might be worth a shot. Hunter – can you sort out a message and some pictures?" Aswon waited for Hunter to nod agreement.
"I have been looking at the data Hunter gathered, and I agree with his initial assessments. The heavier choppers are likely being used as cargo choppers or for providing lift to bridge sections or such like – though that means they are going to be equally useful as troop carriers. So we should count on the corporate forces being air-mobile and able to drop anywhere on the mountain inside twenty minutes at most, based on their response times here. The more agile choppers are dedicated attack birds, so they will not be able to transport more than one or two passengers – but they will have a dedicated attack platform and considerably better sensors. Count on them having multiple missiles available mounted on winglets and likely a nose-mounted cannon or heavy machine gun, possibly something like a minigun or chaingun. Whatever they are armed with, against us the firepower will be heavy and stealth or avoidance is our best defence. We are not equipped to take them on head to head."
"They looked to be coming from the lowlands?" Hunter queried.
"Yes, that is what I would expect. They tend to be less durable than the heavier aircraft, and require more precision maintenance and better facilities, so they are far more likely to be located down near an industrialised area with better transport links. For every hour they spend in the air, they probably need about three to four hours of maintenance and servicing – and that is not the kind of thing normally done at a forward base or rough landing strip."
"I bet their pilots are more likely to want their creature comforts too." Tads remarked. "I mean, the regular cargo pilots might sleep at the construction sites or something, but I bet the kind of officers flying these aircraft are the ones that demand hotels and luxuries."
"I wish you were wrong, Tads, but I cannot disagree with you. I have seen such behaviour before." Marius frowned, thinking back to his former life as a cargo pilot at Saeder-Krupp. "It does mean however that we should certainly scout out the top of the mountain as well. If the pilots of the cargo choppers are quartered there, then that is something we should examine carefully."
"Right, I'm tired. I'm gonna get some shut-eye." Hunter announced.
"Weren't you going to call Fang?"
"Later, when I get up."
"Give me the number then – I'll call her. By the time you get up, it's going to be stupidly late in Seattle. Now it should be about…" Tads squinted a bit as she tried to recall the pictures of the world map she'd seen and the markings of different time-zones. "About ten in the evening? I think?" Hunter shrugged and passed on the details to her, then settled down to sleep, as did Aswon.
Marius got Kai and Shimazu to come with him, and started to do some maintenance on the aircraft, saying that with the presence of both cargo and attack choppers at the mountain, the chances were that they would need to be deploying from their own aircraft sooner or later, and that he wanted to double and even triple check every system on their own craft and make sure all the cargo was ready to access and use at the minimum effort. That left Tads on her own, holding the sat-phone somewhat awkwardly and punching in the comm-code given to them when they'd stopped off in Seattle back in October the previous year. When the link was established she could hear music in the background, leeching through the pickup, and see the nondescript walls of the church behind her.
"Hello Fang, I don't know if you remember me? We stopped by the church last year and helped with some digging…"
"Oh, hoi. Yeah, I remember you."
"I'm sorry to bother you – but I'm after a little help. I wonder if I could describe some people to you, and see if you know them, or think you might know who they work for?" Fang nodded to her, and she started to describe them, then thought better and instead conjured up a tiny trid-phantasm of what they looked like, taken straight from Aswon's memory link. She could rotate the images and focus on things Aswon remembered then, and show a lot more detail than she could describe.
"Nope – can't say I've ever heard of this pair, or seen anyone like that. What's the deal?" Tads explained about the mountain and the corporate plans, keeping the details somewhat vague, but explaining why they were here and what they were trying to do – and saw approval in Fang's face. "Well, that sounds like I'd want to meet them. Tell you what – I can get Rad to do a search on them. I'm sure he could find them for me, and he wouldn't charge you too much. No more than a grand or two…" Tads gulped, realising that there was a reason she didn't handle the negotiations much.
"Erm, I'm not sure. Let me check with Kai, and I'll get back to you if that's ok?"
"Null sheen." Fang abruptly ended the call, leaving Tads staring at the screen for a moment.
"Cut you off, did she?" Hunters voice called over. She had thought he was asleep, but it was clear he wasn't.
"Yes. I don't think I upset her."
"Nah, don't think so. She just doesn't like wasting time with pleases and thankyous. Least that's what I remember of her. Cracking arse on her, though."
"And I bet you never mentioned that to her face to face…" Aswon's voice called over, revealing that he hadn't dropped off to sleep yet either.
"Course not. Didn't fancy having a bunch of spirits kicking me in the crotch!"
"Or having to deal with her boyfriend?"
"Him? The Ancients poser? Pah. Ain't afraid of him."
"Hmmmm." Aswon's voice proclaimed his scepticism of that. "I wouldn't be too sure. The Ancients are one of the biggest gangs in the UCAS – chapters all over the place, and they're rumoured to have solid ties with a number of arms companies. I'd be careful if I were you." He warned. "Anyway, at least they're not famous eco-terrorists, or at least probably not. But I've been thinking about if we should go back to the site to scout them out again, or try one of the others. And I'm thinking we might want to give them a quiet night, let them relax a bit. I'm sure they're going to be on alert after this morning's strike."
"Yeah, probably best not to stick our hands back into the fire!"
"And if we do go to another site, at least we know what to look for. Showed Marius the pictures of the sensor pod, and he said he's seen something like that in some security catalogues. They're off the shelf products, designed for really top end private use and commercial rollouts. Got a range on the transmitters of around a kilometre, which in terrain like this is more than plenty. But that means there's an active drone network out there – and it might be worth taking Marius with us to see if he can hack into it. He might need your help on that Hunter, to get into the computers on the far end, but if we can hijack their drone network, there's all sorts of fun and games to be had."
"And if I come with you, so I can picture where they are – I can do things to help too." Tads pointed out. "Such as send a spirit to go pick them up and take them elsewhere. Either bring them to us to do something with, or just drop them off the nearest cliff…"
"Sounds like a good idea!" Hunter gave a massive yawn, and then stretched. "Right, I really am going to sleep now…"
"What are you going to do, Tads?"
"Talk to the shaman I think. See if I can teach them some of my spells, like the ability to create food or water."
"That's good – that would be incredibly useful to them, if they can learn those, and I'm sure it will endear you to them and their tribes."
"I'm hoping so. And it will do them and their people good if the harvest is bad one year as well."
"Yeah, that's what I meant. But I have another suggestion for you as well – maybe get together with them to see if you can find the spirit of the mountain as well. Get yourself attuned to the land and see what's going on around here."
"Certainly something to consider. But you should get some sleep now, Aswon – even you. Or especially you – I'd rather you were rested for later on." She saw him turn his head towards her and give her a big toothy smile, before relaxing to stare up at the cammo net above his hammock and close his eyes.
While Aswon and Hunter slept, and the others worked on the aircraft, Tads went to find the shaman, and sat down with them, advising them on what had happened that night and how it might affect their plans, explaining once more the concept of summoning a powerful spirit – but only if they agreed, and understood the risks. When they all had agreed, she proposed that they spend the morning working together, learning a spell from her – how to create simple foodstuffs – both because it was a useful spell in its own right, but also because it would help them attune and learn to work together, becoming more aligned with each others' auras and magical signatures, which would only be a good thing if they attempted to summon a power spirit.
For the rest of the day they sat together, with Tads showing them various fruits and basic food stuff like oats as she conjured them, teaching them the theory and letting them study her and the spell as she cast it, then guiding them in their efforts to learn to replicate it, until all three of them had mastered the art. So engrossed in their work were they that they didn't notice Aswon and Shimazu head off mid-afternoon to the proposed meeting site to check it out and look for any features that could influence or impact the meeting, or their return.
An hour before dusk, they finished their meditations and practices, and carrying a bunch of conjured food stuffs of varying edibility back to the tilt-wing, they gathered together to discuss their thoughts with the rest of the team.
"So," Tads began, "We've had a chat, and all three shaman are in agreement with us, and have agreed to help summon a spirit, and to assist us with the rituals required. It's going to be a big one – bigger than anything I've ever summoned before, so there's a good chance I'm going to have a monster headache afterwards, and might need to rest for a while. But if it works, it's going to be a significant help to defending the mountain.
"How big?" asked Kai.
"Big. Very big. Like…" Tads thought for a moment. "Quoll Big."
"Oh…" Kai thought for a minute, then smiled. "Ok. I like big…"
