Sunday 12/06/2061, Location: 67.8139, 48.96953, Time 08:35

"You can all hear me ok?" Aswon activated his throat mike, waiting until he'd got confirmation from Hunter, Marius and Kai, before continuing. "Ok, small wrinkle. We can't call Tads, Tads. Tads is the word up here for Shaman. So if you call that out, you're going to make a bunch of people turn and look at you, wondering why you're calling their names…"

"So what do we call her?" Hunter glanced over and made eye contact with Aswon over the chilled and slushy ground.

"My friend? Companion? Or just make sure you're in her eyeline… I'm not sure. I'm starting to get a bit of a grasp on the language, and I've been watching the cultural stuff going on in the last couple of hours, and I think there's definitely some important social aspects to names, right?" He glanced over at Tads and saw her nod, a little unhappily. "Maybe some stuff that's best not discussed openly. So let's just tread carefully, ok? Right…"

Kai had led the group of refugees close enough now that he could talk with Tads, Aswon and the locals, and started off with his trademark grin and some nice, relaxed and welcoming body language.

"Good morning!" He started in English, but when he saw some blank faces from the villages, he tried again in Russian. Seeing some understanding there, he carried on. "These poor people had their transport…broken a short while ago, so we rescued them from the island they were on. We won't leave them here – we intend to take them to a city when we have worked out where they need to be. But it would be very helpful if they could stay as guests – we would be responsible for them."

Parako nodded, and then called out, bringing someone out of the chum to gather up the visitors and take them back inside for food and drinks. Hunter suddenly gave a start of surprise as a small cone of fur slid around the side of the chum and started to make a beeline towards him, pursued by three more with mild variations in colour and style. The thing suddenly slid to a halt, and two arms raised up, pushing back the mass of fur to reveal a child's face. It stared at him for a moment, then pointed and giggled at him, before a stream of Nenets burst forth, bringing the other children to a halt too, staring at the strangers.

"They're like little furry wigwams," Hunter noted, dropping back to Ajerbaijani to avoid starting a diplomatic incident.

"Do you know how fast children grow, and how much of a pain trying to shape furs are?" Tads responded. "Those let them grow for a couple of seasons before they need to be handed down…" She glanced over at Parako for a moment, then looked at the tilt-wing. "I think we should get ourselves hidden away, and then all get inside for a chat. There's a lot to discuss!"

They hustled over to the tilt-wing, and pulled out the camouflage netting, working to get them draped over the airframe as quickly as they could. The colour wouldn't help at all really, being far too lush and vivid for the environment, but it would break up the shape just as well here as it had in the forests of Nigeria, and the spirits assigned to conceal the contents would be able to deal with the colour issue without too much trouble.

While they were working, one of the Nenet villagers came over and started to talk, eventually managing a few words in Russian and indicating that he was the owner of the 'stretched' skidoo they'd noticed near one of the chums. He clearly wanted to know more about the aircraft, and kept pointing at the fuselage, landing gear and other parts while burbling away happily to himself. Marius kept a close eye on him, but it seemed that he didn't want to damage or interfere with anything, but he was very curious about the mechanics and systems.

Once the aircraft was covered in netting and a fresh spirit set to conceal it, Marius locked the doors and followed the rest of the team into the chum, now getting more than a little crowded with the press of bodies inside. Parako and her fellow shamans were sat to one side of the central fire pit, while Kai and the rest of the team were sat opposite them. Captain Hook and his crew were set on the edge of beds, still looking a little shell-shocked, while opposite them the rest of Parako's family were busy sorting out food and supplies.

Tads picked up on a few phrases that gave her some concern, and headed over to see them, approaching quietly from behind and listening as they discussed how much of their food they could share with the strangers, while still making sure that they had enough for themselves. Speaking quietly and trying to be discreet, she moved to the middle of their group to examine their supplies, and quickly started to make some new food for them. At least here she felt entirely comfortable with the types of food and how they should taste, and it didn't take her long to create enough supplies that there was no question about sharing with the strangers – or that anyone would be going hungry once they were gone. She made a mental note to check the other chums and families in the village to make sure they were equally well supplied before she moved on.

"So, Captain Hook… is this your normal area of operations?"

"Yes, Kai. Been running the route for a couple of years now. We try and stick close to the circle – we'd kitted ourselves out for the cold, customised stuff and made sure it all worked. Got to know people and places – and just quietly got on with shipping stuff about. We might not have been the fastest, but we were quiet and discreet."

"Just in Russia?"

"No, we worked all the way round – covered the Trans-Polar Aleut, across to the northern fringes of the other NAN nations, wherever the goods needed shipping."

"And I presume like us, you were happy to just move stuff around for people as needed. Supply and demand." Kai gave a little wink and a grin to make it clear he didn't have an issue with any of this, and got a nod from Hook.

"Yes. Long as it paid, and the cargo didn't cry… that's fine. Move stuff wherever you needed it. Not quite sure where we are right now, mind…" The captain phrased it innocently enough, but it was obvious that it was a request for more information. Hunter pulled out his tablet and keyed it alive, then zoomed in on the map to show the position of the airship and their meeting point, before slowly panning down to plot the rough location of the village.

"We've got some business to take care of here – one of our team is from here, this village I mean – and they've found a problem that needs sorting or something. But after that we can take you to somewhere… where do you want to get to?"

"Any major city would be good. More than we were expecting really. But anywhere with an airport or a train terminal would be great – we can dump the gear and get tickets to somewhere else from there, and see what we're going to do next."

"Hmm." Kai nodded sympathetically. "Look, we've just met and everything. But your gear – you're not exactly carrying a lot, though yes I can imagine you don't want to try and get near an airport with those weapons," he gestured at the assault rifles and side arms present amongst the Captain's crew, "but if you want rather than dumping them, we've probably got room in our cargo hold for them. When you get sorted out with what you're going to do next, we can try to arrange a meet up and hand them over."

The captain of the other team looked at Kai, searching his expression carefully. For anyone paranoid, or perhaps used to reality in the shadows, it might sound like it was a carefully worded "request" to hand over the guns as a fee for passage. Most people wouldn't have considered it unreasonable even, if they were dumping them anyway… but then Hook smiled at Kai and nodded.

"You're a good chummer. We definitely owe you."

"No problem. Now, please excuse me… we need to crack on with this situation of ours. The sooner we get it fixed, the sooner we get back to business and are free to drop you off. So, chill, enjoy the food and drink and we'll try to get this sorted."

When Kai plonked himself down on the small cushion next to the team, Tads cleared her throat, gathering the attention of both sides – and Captain Hook's team as well.

"I would like to cast a spell on everyone present, to allow us to share our thoughts. It's voluntary, and you can't be forced to reveal anything you don't want to – it will share only the thoughts you want. But it will also allow us to understand each other without having to translate between languages." She paused for a moment, then repeated the same thing in Nenets, then again in Russian, making sure everyone in the room understood what was going on, before moving as close as she dared to the fire and stretching out both her arms, and then a leg – balancing precariously but making sure that everyone that wanted to be involved could reach out and touch her simultaneously.

"Right, that's better," She thought. "First let me recap my visit to the Brigadier…" She went through her journey down to the waiting troops, of manifesting and arriving in the tent, her welcome from the Brigadier and the Captain, their hospitality. With the mind link up she was able to convey much more the mood of the meeting, the subtle body language changes and facial expressions and the tone of voice used. Kai sat perfectly still, his eyes closed and let the thoughts wash over him, trying his best to absorb all the little clues and tells given off to gain the best understanding he could.

"That's not gonna work. Sorry."

"What do you mean, Hunter?"

"It's not just him. He's the man on the scene, sure. He's in charge of his men. But he's following orders from his high command. And they're following orders from the Politburo. If he doesn't do the job, someone will take him round the back of the tent, put two in the head and give someone else the job."

"So we need to get the Politburo to change their minds?"

"Yes – and that's what's not going to happen. A whole bunch of powerful, arrogant, old men, locked away in a room and pandered to by everyone around them. People so used to just deciding what a situation IS then expecting the world to conform to it, that it's become normal to them."

"Surely nobody lives like that?"

"Sorry, Tads," Hunter frowned. "I mean, my friend. But that's exactly what they do. Look – remember the spaceport? Remember how remote that was? These people are the descendants of the group that made that decision. That said they wanted one of the largest space launch facilities ever made, to be constructed in a remote desert a thousand kilometres from anywhere, just to try and keep it more of a secret. Do you have any idea of the engineering and logistic difficulties involved in doing that? And it's not just that… you've seen the map – look at the length of the railroad to Vladivostok. I tell you, if there's something to admire about the Russian mindset it's that once they've decided they're doing something, they bloody well do it. No matter the cost."

"Hunter is correct. History is full of examples of things called 'Hero Projects' where the Russian economy was bent upon achieving a goal, and ensuring it was done, regardless of the cost – economic or social," Marius added.

"To a certain extent, look at your people. It's a hard life up here – don't tell me it's not. Months long days or nights, bitter cold, scrabbling for food – but you fight to survive and have done for generations. You haven't given up the land and moved to easier and more productive homelands…" Hunter sighed, the sound of his exhaled breath easily heard in the silence as everyone listened to their thoughts. "Unless you can persuade a bunch of twenty old powerful men in a room three thousand kilometres away that this is a bad idea, it doesn't matter what the Brigadier wants or doesn't want. It's gonna happen…"

"Maybe we need to remind them of recent history. Ask them if they're trying to create another Yakut. They understand that pain, that struggle. And they certainly don't want to open up a fresh war on another front, especially not against a foe with magic that they so clearly lack."

"But you would have to be careful presenting such an argument," Marius warned, "they must not see this as a threat, or possibly even a warning. Perhaps a cautionary tale. I agree with Hunter, these are people so used to being told only the news they want to hear, that often they cannot see objective reality in front of them. Or accept it."

"I can't believe they're going to sweep in and take a whole region down all at once, mind. I mean, logistically, is that even possible?" Kai asked.

"No, not by himself." Hunter pulled out the roll-up screen and smoothed it out, then connected up his tablet and projected the image he had of the northern part of Russia onto it, along with some added graphics. "Look, this is very rough – but this is what I can get quickly. This is the Nenet Autonomous Region in some kind of Oblast or admin centre or something. But roughly speaking, this is where are the Nenets are. It's a wide swath of land west to east, but not that deep. But the border is easily a thousand kilometres long, probably more. Most of it wooded, and heavily so on the southern side, before entering the coastal plains and the tundra."

"How many men would it take to control that?"

"More than he has – but not by much. He's got a division, which is about ten thousand troops if I got that right?" Hunter glanced over at Marius.

"He is in command of the 38th Motor Rifle Division, and at full strength including auxiliary units he should have just under twelve thousand troops at his command. Of course, he has significantly more than that if you include the logistics and supply units also associated with such a formation. But even allowing for understrength units within his formation, it would be prudent to allow for ten-thousand, yes."

"Ok, so I reckon he's probably responsible for the western half of the country – and that means another Division size force over to the east. Now they're going to be nervous as all hell over there because of how close they are to Yakut…" Hunter made the eastern end of the map flash for a moment, the border with Yakut being painted onto the map, in some places only twenty kilometres from the Nenet border. "So they're probably not going to have an easy time moving up as the western forces. But that means you've got ten thousand men covering five hundred kilometres, or about two hundred men per klick. They're not going to be walking in single file, but moving in platoons with a gap in between – but that's still effective spacing to make a dragnet as they sweep in."

"That does fit with how they were camped out when we flew over last night." Tads confirmed.

"Close enough then that your people won't be able to hide from them. Maybe the hunters or woodsmen, but not families. Especially not if you're loaded down with gear and the huts." Hunter gestured at the internal structure of the chum, pointing at the long slender logs that made up the main structure, over which the hides were stretched taut. "And that means they're going to be able to capture your young, old, sick and those who manage the camps. Only the most active, the ones used to hunting, hiding and tracking are going to be able to slip through."

"So the lines are very shallow?" Kai asked, looking down at the map and then blinking as Tads sent over a mental image of the bivouac positions she'd seen from the night before.

"Pretty much no depth at all. It's still effectively a single line, with no reserve. But each one of those platoons is going to have a number of rifles, probably a support weapon, maybe a grenade launcher. And Marius said they're a motorised division – so that means there are APCs and strike vehicles as well, enough to carry them all. They're moving dismounted for better coverage, but add in some chain guns and heavy machines guns, maybe light cannons – they can fell trees and clear out an area if they need to. And of course, they have radios. They spot a problem, they can call in some mortar fire on it. We've SEEN those suckers in action." Hunter thought back to their action at Samara base, of his excellent view of the woodland as he hung out of the bank ramp of the aircraft, watching as an entire platoon of heavy mortars opened fire on the signatures he'd spotted – the marching wall of explosions devastating a huge area behind him, while the blast wave boiled up above, chasing after them.

"Ahh, yes. Forgot about those. And I guess they've not left those behind."

"Russian doctrine is for standard formations with fixed constituent parts, straight out of the manual. If the Brigadier has deployed with orders, there is no reason to believe that he will not also have a spearhead force of light armour, a recon force of choppers and several other specialist units – such as the snipers we have also encountered."

The hut had been silent as thoughts flickered back and forth. But now there was a certain glumness to it, as the team remembered just how powerful a force it was the Brigadier commanded, with the exception of magic, and the locals started to understand the scope of the huge force approaching them. Kai glanced over to Hook and his team, curious to see what they made of it all, and saw they were just sitting quietly, looking slightly bug-eyed and a little over-awed.

"We also do smuggling…" Kai sent a quick cheery thought, and gave them a grin. "But from time to time we do other work, too." A cheeky wink topped off the grin, and Hook gave him a very long, considering look, clearly re-evaluating the team that had rescued them.

"We really need the Politburo to have a change of heart, then. Whether for their own reasons, or from external pressure. It's possible we can play the eco-damage card again. Possibly even try to get some of our drac… some of our other friends involved." Aswon stopped himself before he sent over an image of Hestaby or the two drakes to everyone, but instead thought of some powerful figures with strong interests in preserving the natural world. "Maybe we can get someone like KSAF or some other news outlets involved. It might be topical after what happened recently."

"I wonder if I could work the Pattersons' angle. That's my job, after all. Well, 'Ivana Woltchok' has it as her job anyway." She waved the ID stick around. "Maybe there could be reports of some new species found here that are unique, and would make people want to come and study them – though that might bring its own problems, of course. But it delays things and gives us a chance to find a better solution."

"Is that the ID that was awarded the Hero medal?" Aswon asked, and saw Tads nod in return. "That's probably useful then. Powerful combination, and one that the figures in Moscow might find hard to ignore – if they discredit someone they've given an award like that to, it makes them look very foolish!"

"What about the telesma?" Kai asked, pointing up at the massive stack of gathered material. "Could they be persuaded to stop the invasion and the mining by the value of this stuff?"

"That's probably our best angle as I see it." Aswon gestured towards the forest to their south, and then the ocean to the north. "The area's unspoilt – or as unspoilt as anywhere is these days. Rich in telesma. And that can be very lucrative as we all know. But you just can't harvest it on an industrial scale – it just doesn't work. Slowly, by hand, with individual skill. The difficulty is in persuading the Russian government that this has more value than the minerals out there which can be strip mined and processed by the ton rather than some plants by the kilo. We'd probably be better off telling people we've found Orichalcum!"

"But that doesn't exist naturally." Tads shrugged at him.

"Why not? Don't you mean we just haven't found any yet?"

"Afraid not, Hunter. Orichalcum is… well, it's weird. It shouldn't exist. Chemically it's an impossibility, the formula just doesn't work. It breaks all known rules when it comes to valences and molecular bonding, charge potential and any other accepted rule you might care to mention. It's just not possible to make – apart from the small fact that it obviously is. But the only way is through a complex ritual, as you've seen Ta…our friend here do back at base. And it takes a lunar month. No longer, no shorter. People have been trying for nearly fifty years now, and nobody has ever found a way to do it."

"Hah! That's gotta piss the corps off no end then."

"I'd imagine so. If someone did find a way to synthesise it, to make it at scale during an industrial process…the effects would be world-changing. Being able to supply their own magical adepts and casters with enough raw Orichalcum to build a foci of their dreams? Well, you'd still need to do the enchanting, of course, but you could double their power with a month's work. Maybe more. If you can supply enough raw materials, without having to risk your mages to go collect it in the first place – well it would give whichever corp had control of it such a leg up, they'd get a pretty unassailable lead over the others. As long as they can keep hold of that secret, of course. And If we thought all this probe race nonsense was making the shadowscene hot, it'd have nothing compared to that kind of situation!"

"Alright, so we can't tell them we've found magic rocks. But we do need to persuade this Politburo to bugger off and leave the people alone. So how do we do that. The same as last time?"

"To some extent, yes, Kai. The same tactics will have a roughly similar effect, probably."

"I don't think so, Aswon. Different scenario. Dealing with a corp it's all about the bottom line – and that seemed to work. Once we got up to tens of millions in losses, someone decided to cut the project and do something else. But this… this is dealing with a nation state. In some ways they're poorer, less well resourced. But they can also do shady stuff like writing off costs or justifying it as employment programs, or engaging jingoistic national pride. The fight might feel similar, but it is NOT the same." Hunter warned.

"And I would also draw your attention to another small fact. We have a personal relationship with the Brigadier. But even if we did not – we are potentially talking about interfering with a Russian Military Operation, carried out in Russia, by the Russian Army, at the orders of the Russian Government, all of which makes it entirely legal, right and proper. Maybe not ethically palatable, but certainly not legally wrong. We should bear that in mind." Marius phrased his thoughts carefully and precisely.

"Could the people emigrate? And would they emigrate? Could they find somewhere else to go that offers them the same kind of life, but without sitting on top of a pile of mineral wealth?"

"I don't think so, Hunter. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't want to go. This has been our home for generations, far back into the mists of time. As long as we've had songs, they've been sung about this land. So no, I don't think they'd want to go. But I also think they couldn't go… there's not the transport capacity to move everyone, not the supplies to make it feasible. And where would they go?"

"Perhaps the Trans-Polar Aleut?" Aswon suggested. He gestured to the map and Hunter obligingly bought up a new graphic, showing the TPA territory running around the very top of the world, encompassing some of the most remote areas of land on the planet. "I mean, look – they've got a big strip of land over to the east, thousands of miles, on the northern border of Yakut. As far as I know Yakut only has an offensive with the Russians – they're not going to try and piss off the NAN governments, even one as poor as the TPA. Just not worth it. But if anyone is going to have a similar lifestyle, it's going to be them, and I can imagine your people finding not only the climate and environment similar, but also the culture. Assuming they'd welcome you in of course. And even then – with only fifty thousand or so of you, I think the impact on them would be minimal. Or possibly even seen as a positive thing."

"Maybe." Tads sounded sceptical to say the least. "But like I said, I just don't know how they would actually get there. We'd have to go across a couple of thousand kilometres of Yakut territory by the looks of the map, or get a sealift going. And I just don't see those happening."

"We will not leave the land." Parako stated flatly. It appeared that they'd been having a very quiet or private side conversation, done as much with gesture as words, and she expressed herself very bluntly and plainly. "If we have to, we will die defending the land from intruders."

"It might come to that…" Hunter sighed. "But figures. Ok, so you're staying, and we need to stop the army. Next plan…"

"We said earlier that the troops to the east are probably worried about the Yakut – given how close the Nenet and Yakut borders are. If we could get the Yakut to start a fresh offensive, or launch some kind of operation, that's probably going to be a major issue for the Russians. Very distracting."

"And how the hell do we do that, Aswon?"

"Oh, not the faintest idea, Hunter. Not a clue – but we're just talking about options, right?"

"I do not like that idea. From my understanding of their country, they are all weird shapeshifting magical creatures, and all humans are treated as second class citizens. That does not sound like something we should encourage – especially not this close to the country we are trying to protect." Marius was clearly not keen on dealing with magical weirdness as a matter of principle – but he also had a very strong point about how Yakut was rumoured to treat their population.

"Maybe we don't need an actual invasion. Just the threat of one – enough to make the Russians look over their shoulder and pause." Aswon shifted on his cushion as he considered the options. "It does sound like the talismongering is the best option we have to go on. It's not ideal – but it's the best we have. If the Nenet people can gather enough telesma for their shaman, and process it, then that becomes a valuable cash crop not available in most other places. It gives a source of income for the Russians, but also a reason to protect and preserve the area from outside interference. Question is, would it be enough?"

"And would the Russian Politburo understand and appreciate the value of what they have. I doubt any of them are magically inclined. And would they accept being forced into this decision? I do not think we have the time to gently manipulate the situation to make them see things our way – they must be forced to the table, and quickly, if this is to work. And the last thing we need is a vengeful government chasing after us."

"True enough, Marius – actually that's an interesting angle. I wish Shimazu was here… he'd probably have some insight. But we shouldn't ignore Mitushama here. A Japanese company, they want to move in and do the mining – but there's a lot of cultural baggage there, too. As a company, they value honour – or at least their value of honour. If we can frame any of this as being grossly dishonourable, that's going to make them hesitate or try to change that narrative… but even if we do swing this through, I think we're only pushing the fight a few years down the line. Maybe five years, maybe ten. I don't know if the villagers here will be happy to keep farming telesma, or if the Russians will keep up their side of any deal we could strike."

"I'm actually in favour of getting some dragon interference going on this," Hunter added, ignoring the quick looks from Marius and the others. "What – dragons. Big scaly buggers. It's not like they're secrets. So sure, we've had some dealings with some of 'em. Big woop. But they also come with big mojo – and that's summat we need."

"Alright, so let's talk about the elephant in the village square. The Orange Queen is clearly someone we should consider. Ice Maiden might be a bit far away, and might be interested intellectually, but we don't actually know how green she is – though she appeared to be very carefully watching the borders, so might be very strongly opinionated against Mitsuhama with what they've already done. Definitely not Aiden – not his area, not his interest."

"Not unless we want everything fireballed into oblivion anyway…" Hunter quipped. Aswon continued…

"I don't think we want our German friend involved, for a number of reasons. But Lung and Ryumo? Maybe. Lung, we think, has ties with the Triads, but Ryumo is in bed with the Yakuza, and word on the street is that they're so tightly knit with parts of Mitsuhama that they might as well be considered the same thing. So that… might be bad, if he knows and doesn't care. But if he doesn't know and does care – that could be a powerful ally. Very high risks though."

"All this talk about talismongering – that's pretty dependent on the Nenet people actually being happy to gather the materials and then pass them on to the Russians. If this was the best or only way we could find to keep the country safe from being invaded – would they do it?" Kai turned to stare at the four shaman sitting opposite the team. "Don't have to be happy about it, or want to do it. But would you do it if it meant keeping your people safe?"

"If you had just asked us – we would have said no, Kai. But we have tasted your thoughts, seen what you have seen. We understand what we face now, where before we did not." Parako looked at each of the others, and their unhappiness was manifest. But as she faced back towards Kai, her shoulders slumped a little. "But we would do this. Not happily – but if this is the only way we can save our people…"

"What do we all think? Is this a plan we can sell to the Russians?" Kai glanced around at the others.

"Well, it could be a public relations win for the Politburo if they have the sense to spin it the right way. Saving the Russian people from the boots of the foreign corporate raiders. Preserving Mother Russia. Bolstering defences against Yakut. But they have to have this sold to them perfectly to see this as a win."

"It might also give them a somewhat reliable access to rare materials at a scale that is otherwise unlikely to be found. That might give them some useful bargaining power against the corps." Marius held two hands up in front of him as if weighing and balancing the contents. "It is a difficult projection to make – but as I understand it, because of the essentially unique and hand-gathered nature of your magical materials, it has resisted all efforts to scale up beyond essentially a cottage industry?" He looked at Tads and got a nod in return. "Even if they only have twenty villages worth of materials being gathered, that would still probably represent an order of magnitude more in terms of capacity than they have managed before, at least centrally. That means this is unknown territory."

"I could maybe try to summon some spirits. Some… big spirits?" Tads looked around somewhat nervously, and then sent over a few choice memories of Pebble, the assault on the top of the mountain, and the state of the attack chopper that managed to limp back to Novatech HQ. It seemed to add more than sufficient context for her tribal fellows, who seemed torn between wanting allies that powerful, and respecting the fact that a spirit that powerful set free might not necessarily be their ally – and that could be devastating.

There was a creaking sound behind Kai, and he glanced over his shoulder to spot Captain Hook and his team all staring at Tads slightly open-mouthed. As Kai examined their body-language, he saw them swapping glances, and a few thoughts flashed around the group, referencing older shared memories that he had no context off. But it certainly appeared that while they might have had a mage themselves, 'Robyn' was clearly not as powerful as Tads, or certainly not used to operating in the same kind of fashion, and they were more than a little intimidated…

"Hey, Captain. Why don't you and your team come for a walk with me. Let's go down to the beach, have a chat… see how involved in all of this you might want to me. Don't want to put pressure on you or anything, or make you feel involved in stuff you don't want to be. And of course, you've heard ideas and thoughts – but no firm plans. If you don't want to be involved, it might be easier if you're not aware of things at all…" Kai smiled at them, taking the sting out of any possible threat behind the speech, and his thoughts flashed, making it clear it was as much for their protection as for his own – after all, they couldn't reveal what they didn't know!

"I'll come with you. Want to stretch my legs anyway." Hunter rolled forward onto his feet in a single smooth motion, leaving the cushion he'd been sitting on nothing but a flattened disk of fabric. Whatever stuffing had been inside it had clearly lost its fight against his bulk, and made no attempt to rise. He led the way outside, with the Captain and his team following, Kai bringing up the rear. They wandered down towards the water, until they dropped out of range of Tads and her mind-link, leaving their thoughts their own, at least for the moment.

Back in the chum, Marius was giving Tads a thorough briefing on logistics, explaining how the Russian model in particular emphasised an 'organic' logistics tail that was attached to the units they supported, giving them a very strong degree of self-reliance.

"It is very likely that with the formation so widely, and thinly, spread, that they have multiple logistics routes, taking a wide variety of roads and paths to keep the soldiers supplied. This will not be like the single rail line in Nigeria, where one accident on a bridge will close things down. This is likely to be a minor inconvenience for one company, making them dip into their supplies rather than be maintained with fresh foods. Unless we are to embark upon a hugely widespread campaign, targeting every truck, tanker and bowser we can find, we are unlikely to cut off their supplies."

"Well, if that's not going to work, then I think we have to go with the plan we have – the talismongering. So we'll need to do the best PR job we can, so we need Hunter to do his thing on the matrix for sure, and get stuff lined up. And then get Kai doing some face to face promotion with people. And I need to speak not just to our local villages here, but every village with our people present, all the way from here to the eastern borders. This is only going to work if we all buy into it."

"It would be better to convince the Russians to support your efforts, certainly. Use the Nenet people to gather the materials, otherwise there will inevitably be damage to the forest and the tundra, and that will destroy the venture very rapidly."

"You're right there, Marius – they have no concept of how delicate the eco-system is, or how easily it is to kill off the telesma. And they'll also need protecting against the Yakut – they'd love to get hold of this stuff just as much as anyone else!" Aswon tapped the east end of the region on the screen, highlighting once more just how close the enemy country was.

While they went through plans inside, talking with the shaman from the surrounding villages and finding out where the other families and tribal groups were likely to be, outside Kai was chatting with the Captain and his team, working out where they were going to drop them off. At the moment Murmansk was one option – though it was a major Russian naval base and security was quite tight there – the Captain and his team had pretty solid fake IDs and it had the advantage of being close by – no more than a couple of hours flight. Otherwise it was likely to be somewhere like Helsinki, allowing direct access to international flights and a reasonable gateway to many other cities around Northern Europe.

The Captain had made it very clear, though, that he and his team were not interested in participating in the coming conflict – though neither did they want to stand in the team's way. They were a professional team, it seemed, but well aware of their limitations and interests, and certainly didn't want to risk crawling out of the shadows onto a more public stage, running the risk of being identified. Instead, they were willing to quietly help out with any mundane tasks for the next few days and would otherwise keep their heads down and out from underfoot as much as possible, trying to make sure they didn't interfere with the planning the team were doing, or bring them any trouble.

Kai also offered to put them in touch with a few of his shipping contacts, to see if they could help with the movement of stock once they were set up. They could hear the others talking over the team channel from time to time, so they left the Captain and his guys helping out some of the villagers, who were setting off towards the forest to collect firewood. At least the physical exercise would keep them warm and busy…

Kai was most of the way back to the main chum and was back inside mind-link range when his com-link started to vibrate, forwarding on the message received from Marius via the satellite link. He checked the ID, confirming that it was Ludmilla, before he picked up the call.

"Good morning Ludmilla, it's Kai."

"Kai, hello. Bad news about The Linerburg, but good job on getting the crew out safely. And my cargo."

"No problem. We're just tied up with a small job at the moment, but we're going to try and get them to safety fairly soon. We've not long finished talking about which city in fact, and…"

"That's all very nice," she interrupted, "but I have a serious issue now with this cargo. It must be delivered and on time. Just to confirm that the airship is a complete loss. There's no way the crew are going to be able to salvage anything."

"No, the airship is gone. Crashed, and burnt." Kai schooled his voice carefully, making sure he didn't show any signs of irritation at being cut short by Ludmilla. "But they were attacked just before we landed – so we have your cargo safe and sound still."

"Good. Well, in that case, I have a new job for you. I wish for you to deliver the cargo for me, to its end destination. Delivery must be on the 20th June, no sooner, no later. I'll pay one hundred thousand for delivery."

"Um – I'll have to check. As I mentioned, we've actually found a situation that needs dealing with, and we're on with that at the moment."

"Don't play hard to get with me, Kai."

"I'm very much not – we are dealing with the situation now though, and we should be able to resolve it in the next week. Of course, it depends where we need to drop off at?"

"The location is a smuggler stop commonly referred to as 'Bright Spark', located at 67.8139 by 48.96953. It's an old airbase, dating back to way before the crash – tucked away in an energy farm now."

"Kai – that location is in the United Kingdom!" Marius warned as he checked the co-ordinates. "Western side of the country, near some place called Swindon. Getting in or out of the UK is going to be hard – as hard as Japan was, but twice as bad if we get caught. This is EXTREMELY dangerous!"

"Ahh, Ludmilla – Marius has just informed me that it's in the UK somewhere. That of course means that it's somewhat…involved, let us say, getting past the border forces."

"And that's why the pay is a hundred thousand. We have a deal, then?"

"Hey Kai – if you're considering this, make sure it's for the same deal – she covers the fuel and ammo costs, then it's worthwhile!" Aswon chipped in.

"Well, we can certainly take care of this for you, Ludmilla, if you're willing to engage in the same terms as before. Cover our refuelling expenses and any out-of-pocket costs for any unpleasantness, and we'll make sure your package gets there on time."

"Very well, deal."

"Excellent, thank…" Kai realised that she'd disconnected the call and looked down at the commlink, verifying it wasn't just his imagination. She was certainly being very brusque with him – which presumably meant that the cargo was very important to her indeed.

"Well, crap. That puts us on a bit of a time pressure doesn't it. Are you good with this, Tads?" Aswon's voice was full of concern, and he looked up at them as Kai and Hunter peeled back the flap of hides and came back into the chum.

"I might need to stay if we're not done. If I leave, abandon my people and my tribe… well, I don't think Elk would like that. And if I leave, there's a good chance I won't have my power anymore, so I wouldn't be much use to you."

"Well, if you stay, I stay. I promised I'd help you, and I'm not going to let you down." He glanced over at the shaman who were watching the new development with interest. "I guess we need to get moving on this sooner rather than later."

"Sounds like we need to get a meeting set up with the Brigadier. Maybe we can fly down there, talk to him face to face. See what he thinks of the plan so far, and if he can help us sell it to his higher-ups. That's assuming he wants to help of course – but I can't see him not wanting to. This is not just the decent thing to do for the people, it DOES actually help the country, makes it stronger. That's going to be key, for him." Kai pointed a finger at the shaman still sitting around the fire. "I'm guessing you don't have a king, or supreme leader or anything for your people – just loose family groups that cross paths from time to time and try to stay in general touch, and not piss each other off too badly?" His thoughts might have seemed a little crass as he fired them over, but they caught some memories along with them, or his own tribal culture roaming the plains of Mongolia, caravans and small family groups existing in a more moderate, temperate version of the Nenet people, sharing many of the same principles.

"It is not our way. But we can speak to the others. Explain what you have shown us. I think we can convince them." Parako seemed to be taking point for the group, but checked often with the shaman introduced to them as Noley. Kai assumed it was because Tads had been her student, and this was her village – not that it really mattered. As long as the four of them could convince the other shaman and by extension their villages or families to fall into line, they had a chance.

"We are definitely doing this, then?" Aswon asked, trying to clarify the situation. "If we are, then are we calling in the dragons for aid? Assuming they answer the phone, of course…" Aswon turned to face Marius, already feeling the wave of distrust and disquiet bubbling off of him.

"Yeah – but not Lofwyr or Aiden, that's for sure. But I think we're going to need all the help we can get." Hunter slid his thoughts over to them before Marius could interrupt. "Tell me I'm wrong." He stared at Marius for a moment, but the German stayed sullenly silent. "I do have a question though – this magic plant stuff and animal gizards…" He waved over to the large pile of telesma which was still being sorted through. "You've got a lot. Like a huge amount – way more than I've ever seen us have or collect. What's it for, is that normal?"

"The visions we had – we foresaw some of this. Not all – and not enough. But we saw a brewing storm, and made preparations. We thought that we could prepare for the conflict to come, that we would need weapons and protection. But the storm is upon us, and there is no time – and we also did not see the size of the foe…"

"We have got to stop that from happening. If this turns into an insurgency or a guerrilla war, then your people are going to suffer a lot more than the Russians. Especially with your way of life – you rely too much on the land. Sure you can go to ground and hide – but not gather food while you do it. That's not going to work!" Kai spoke with certainty and was relieved when all four shamans nodded in agreement with him.

He was just about to speak again, when there was a bunch of shouting from outside, the fisherman calling for Parako to come to them. Parako shot to her feet, somewhat alarmed – clearly this wasn't a normal occurrence, and headed out quickly, closely followed by the other shaman and the team. They headed down to the water's edge, stopping when they saw the fisherman holding up his net, letting the sunlight sparkle and dance on the fish, reflecting on their golden tinged scales.

Aswon, Kai and Tads all dropped into astral, examining the fish, and all three of them saw the same thing at the same time, their expressions stunned. The fish glowed with magical energy, tinged with huge potential. The fisherman landed their catch, letting the still twitching fish spill out onto the ground, and Tads dived forward to grab one, holding it up close to her to examine, while Kai and Aswon leant in on either side of her.

Each of the fish's scales glittered, tinged with a faint aura of metallic gold. A small, faint fringe, gathered and held in place on the rough edges of the scales, rubbing off onto her finger as she gently ran it down the flanks of the fish. Tads turns her hand over, and stared at the exposed finger, now shimmering faintly with a small but noticeable amount of orichalcum.

"I thought you said that was impossible?"

"I did, Kai. And it is. But we're looking at it. Guess this has never happened before then in your memory?"

"No – never. No idea at all." Tads shook her head and then looked around, finding a small bowl in the fishing supplies. She slowly scraped a hand down the fish on both sides, then carefully rubbed it over the lip of the bowl, watching as a small mound of flakes tumbled to the bottom. She grabbed another fish and repeated the process, gradually building up a pile of raw orichalcum in the bowl.

"That's about a hundred thousand's worth of telesma there. Just from a handful of fish…" Aswon let out a low whistle, then turned to look at the rest of the catch, easily ten times as many fish. "That's… well, that changes things for sure. I don't think anyone is going to ignore that as a revenue stream!"

"What weapons we could make from this…" Parako examined the bowl carefully, glancing over to the rest of the shaman, who seemed equally stunned by the find. "But we need time – time we do not have. There's no way you can hold these invaders back for a month, is there?" She asked the question hopefully, but didn't seem surprised when the team responded with a firm no.

"I don't know how this got there, though. Is it growing on the fish? Is this a new type of species? For here, I mean?" Aswon waited while there was a flash of thoughts, trying to translate between the different dialects of the Nenets, through Russian and into English. "Pollock and haddock, just what you'd normally catch? Huh… not that then. And it's not the fish themselves - there's no magic there at all. Just mundane fish… I wonder if there's something in the water?"

Hunter reached over and grabbed the boat, and with a massive heave, lifted the bow out of the water, almost to the point of the stern submerging. There didn't appear to be any flakes of gold or signs of coating anywhere along the underside of the vessel. He tried rocking it from side to side next, but there was nothing down by the stern either, at least as far under the normal water line as he could see.

"Well, one way to find that out. Someone get me a towel, will you, I'm gonna get cold if I go in here…" Hunter started to divest himself of gear, handing his rifle over to Marius for safe keeping, and then starting to strip off.

"I know you've got that thing inside you for breathing, but I can help you swim better and faster, if you want?" Tads offered. She didn't understand exactly how Hunter's cyberware functioned, but she knew he could hold his breath for thirty minutes or more if he needed to, so the diving wasn't the problem. The near-freezing water, though, was another matter. When Hunter nodded agreement to her, she dropped the mind-link, gathered her power and then concentrated, reshaping his aura and transforming him into a large seal. He seemed surprised, and possibly a little annoyed – but lacking any way to express this.

At least nobody here seemed surprised or upset, and the fisherman just stepped back out of the way, letting Hunter slide down to the water's edge and then gracefully drop down into the dark waters, sliding underneath the smooth surface and disappearing from view, heading for the spot the fishermen had identified.

Kai took advantage to leave the group, heading over to the nearest bit of woodland and find the Captain and his crew gathering up deadfall and rotten wood.

"So, we've chatted with Ludmilla, and she's asked us to complete the delivery. Heading over to Bright Spark, in the next week or so."

"Ahh, I did wonder. Well, that's good – and at least that's one client that isn't going to be chasing us."

"Indeed. Our first time to the UK, though. I understand the border is a little rougher than most."

"You could say that." The captain stopped for a moment, then looked over at his crew for a moment, before rubbing his stubbly chin with the pincers on the end of his cyber-arm. "Look, you've done us a solid so far. Let us return the favour. It just so happens, I have a bit of an understanding with a tech that mans part of the radar network that looks after one segment of the border. I can pass some details onto you, codes and the like, that should let you slide right on in. Give you some ideas on routing as well, that will make things easier…"

"That's very decent of you. Ok, what do we need to know…" Kai pulled out his own datapad and started to make notes, ready to pass on to Marius later.

A few minutes later, Hunter surfaced, and with a convulsive heave propelled himself up onto the land. Tads waved for him to stop, and grabbed the bowl once more, carefully scraping off the small flakes of precious metal that has accumulated on the massive whiskers. Once she was done, she reversed her spell, and waited for Hunter to get dressed. Tads threw a quick spell on him, raising the temperature by twenty degrees, letting him at least get back into his normal clothes in comfort.

"What did you find down there?" Aswon asked, still trying to grapple with the enormity of the discovery.

"There's some kind of vent or fissure, maybe thirty metres down. Not that big, but gently bubbling away. Noticeably warm water coming out of it, you could feel it just swimming over it. And the fish are going mad for it – massive boils of them, huge balls, twenty or thirty metres across. Feeding on the sediment and plankton, I guess. That must be growing like mad as well in the heat. But I think whatever the source is, it's in that fissure, and the particles are being carried up with the rising warm water. And when the fish swim through it, it's just catching on the rough edges of their fins and scales, and gradually building up."

"Could Mitsuhama have planted this? Is this part of their operation do you think?"

"No – I don't see what they'd get from this. If anything this is bad for them. I don't know if we can keep this quiet – but this is world changing. Natural orichalcum? No, this is going to set the world on edge. This does nothing to help their cause. But it does help us. If the Politburo doesn't listen to this news, and think long and hard about that deal, well, then they're a lot more foolish than we think. We really need to get this news to the Brigadier, soon."

Marius pulled up his rigger controls and fed power into the systems on the tilt-wing, beginning the pre-flight preparations…