Sunday 03/07/61, Location: 34.58482, 68.97008, Time 20:30

"I am bringing the aircraft back down. We will need to have it down to load the cargo anyway, and there seems no point in wasting fuel." Marius fiddled with his remote control deck and took direct control of the aircraft, commanding it directly rather than letting the automatics try to navigate the confusing mass of grounded aircraft and moving people. While his conscious mind was projecting through his deck to the aircraft, Aswon and Kai propped him up, keeping him from just slowly oozing to the ground.

"I'm gonna look for some bits then for you, Aswon. I didn't see any scopes for sale in the stalls, or bipods – and you're gonna need both for that new gun of yours. Something heavy duty!"

"Yes, that sounds good, thank you. The scope especially – nothing worse than putting a rubbish scope on a great rifle to ruin the experience. Topshot would never forgive me…"

"Ok, got a vendor that ships to us no problem… they have a scope here that's marked up as 'extra-rugged', a Leupold X-10 Arrow. It's got low-light and thermographic settings, a good level of magnification, loads of eye-relief so the recoil's not gonna smash your face up… oooh. Pricy, though."

"How much?" Kai asked suspiciously.

"Five grand, plus shipping. Comes with the adapter rail and mounting brackets though, everything we need to put it onto the new gun."

"That sounds pricy – do we really need one that good?"

"Yes." Aswon could not have been more emphatic if he tried, and Kai just shrugged, then nodded at Hunter.

"Alrighty, in the basket then. And I've found a GRS heavy duty bipod, looks really sturdy. Examples here of it being fitted to machine guns, so should handle the weight and recoil just fine. That's only four-fifty and shipping. Right – slot the stick, Kai!" Hunter held out a cable from his deck, and watched as Kai connected the cred reader to his deck, and then slotted a credstick into the reader, allowing the deck to do an electronic transfer of funds. "Cool. Order confirmed…and should be with us in a day or two." He pulled on the cable, disconnecting from the reader and letting Kai fumble with those one handed, the other hand still holding up their pilot.

"The aircraft is landed." Marius straightened up and he lost the 'far-away' look in his eyes that signified that his mind wasn't in the same place as his body. "All secure. While we attend the collection though – can one of you that is able stay in astral space?"

"I can." Tads offered.

"I think Shimazu should, to be honest. He's the most likely target, and it would be most helpful given how fast he can react… and you're better focussed on the real world where you might need to cast spells, I think." Aswon suggested.

"I need to keep my hand on my sword to see into the astral plane though…" Shimazu reminded them all.

"I can't see that being a problem at the moment, not really." Aswon grinned at him, gesturing around the place as they walked back towards the market. "It's not like anyone seems fussed, and I don't think your hand was going to be too far away anyway, was it?" Shimazu shook his head, then dropped a hand onto the pommel of the sword and extended his vision into the astral, looking around as they continued their walk towards the building they'd met the art sellers in earlier.

"That image you shared with us all, Shimazu, the one picked up from the blood. The image of yourself, coming out of the mist… I can't help but think that was Tehran. I mean, it wasn't dead clear, and there's no background detail or anything – nothing I picked up on anyway – but that's the only time I can remember where someone could have really seen something like that. So that does make me think it was maybe something to do with that courier. The question is, are they after you or the sword?"

"If it was the sword, maybe it was something to do with the Iranians. They were after us for a while as well." Shimazu reminded them. "They've been quiet for a while since they last hassled us, but it's not actually been that long, and maybe they're just been quietly looking."

"We did respond pretty quickly when you went down – thankfully – so it could be we disturbed whoever attacked you before they could get the sword. It's hard to say. They certainly didn't have time to cleanse their signature away, which we can be grateful for. It should make spotting them or tracking them a bit easier."

"If they were after the sword, then it makes sense that they would attack Shimazu that way." Marius said. "If they have done any research at all on us, they would know that he has to die. Or he would never, ever stop looking for it. They would never be safe." Marius glanced over at Shimazu, and got an emphatic nod of agreement.

"I don't know – why didn't they actually go for the kill then? I mean, sure – there was lots of blood… but…"

"Oh Kai – that was absolute a case of murder. That manabolt was cast with the intent to kill, there's no question about it. There was a clear desire to see him dead, there MUST have been, to channel that kind of power. That's just how the spell works, right, Tads?" She nodded along with Aswon. "If we hadn't got there when we did… well, I'd say it was about fifteen-twenty seconds away from being fatal. Tads managed to stabilise him almost instantly with her spell – I don't think you saw that as you were concentrating on the wounds. But she gave you the time you needed to actually plug some of the bleeding and keep him with us."

Kai looked over at Tads and saw her shrug somewhat modestly, then turned his attention back to Shimazu, casting his mind back to the event. He had been focussed pretty much exclusively on treating his bodyguard, and not paying any attention to what anyone else had been doing at the time.

"It was definitely an attempt to kill him. It's only the fact that he's so tough and hardy that he lasted as long as he did. If that blast had hit me, or Marius, or Tads – we'd have bled out much sooner. And they may have been getting ready for a follow up attack, but never got time to do anything because of how quickly we got there. Tads – the power of that attack, it's quite possible they'd have had to deal with some backlash from that, right? Some kind of stun from channelling that much power."

"Yes. I try to smooth all of my spells now to avoid things like that, but sometimes you don't have the luxury of time. And things like that, or casting the massive phantasm can leave you drained and stunned, and that stops you doing anything else as well." She shrugged. "It's always a balancing act."

"But if they intended to kill him then, that does make it personal. Some strong feelings of vengeance, or hatred, or something like that?" Kai queried.

"Maybe just a stone cold killer. Some people are like that…" The merc glanced over at Tads, choosing his words carefully. "In a lot of ways, I'm glad that Tads isn't like that. Think back… when we escaped from captivity, in the mountains. Who was the first person to kill someone?" He cocked a finger and pointed it at the shaman. "Not directly, sure… but that illusion over the road sent his vehicle and him tumbling to their deaths. And compared to then, the amount of power Tads can summon now, is actually remarkable. I have no doubt that Tads can kill – especially if it's in defence of her people, her 'herd'. But she's a protector, not a killer. And we should be glad of that. If she wasn't, if she was the same kind of twisted frakker that we followed the trail of when we were first chasing that painting – well, she'd leave a trail of blood that was considerably wider."

"The warlord shouldn't have gone around kidnapping people and locking them up." She said stubbornly.

"I know. And I'm not disagreeing with you. He deserved it. I'm just pointing out that I'm more than a fair shot with a gun. So is Hunter, and Marius, too. Kai is surprisingly proficient with his bow and his taser, when he wants to be. And Shimazu is lethal with that sword of his. But if you had a mind to be so, you'd put us all to shame with the body count you could rack up. And I'm grateful that you're the type of person that DOESN'T want to do that. But not everyone is as restrained as you. All I'm trying to say is that there are people with the same kinds of power as Tads, but without that moral compass, and they are cold, calculating, evil sons of bitches, and if we're facing someone like that – then that's a lot of trouble."

"That spell was very powerful, that's true. That's not something you learn on the streets. Like I said earlier, that's more powerful than any of the spells I can cast. So the magic I use to carve out a mountainside, or completely hide the Broadsword – more powerful than that. Not by much, but enough. That's not common."

"So we're looking at a professional mage assassin. Which sounds like a frakking awful combination, from my point of view. But it does also cut down the pool of likely suspects very significantly, and that might make it easier to work out what we're looking for. Or it might be easier for Hunter to do some digging on Shadowland."

The conversation paused as they neared the building, circling around to the same entrance they had used before. Aaabdar was there with his minions, but now a number of large parking crates were ready, sized for the pictures and the statue.

"Are you ready to take delivery? You can take some pictures as proof of condition if you are?" Aaabdar waved and the other men stepped back out of the way.

"We are. I think we're going to just make sure everything's ok. That everything's sterile, and clean." He gave Tads a meaningful look and she gave a tiny nod, while Hunter stepped forward with the bug scanner and started to work over the pictures and the packaging, one by one. While most of the attention was on him, Tads subtly started to gesture with her hands, sterilising the area and making sure there weren't any organic tracers or contaminants present on the pieces. Fortunately, unlike the healing spells and various magical barriers, this one didn't seem to have any optical components, and nobody noticed. Or if they did – they just didn't care…

When she was done, she dropped into astral space and had a look at all of the pictures – paying particular attention to the Jewel of Muscat. She studied it carefully, opening herself up on the astral plane and drinking in the aura of the picture, letting the eddies and currents of mana wash over and through her as she tried to determine if there was any magical taint or corruption to it. It was always a risk, of course – if there was any, and she found it, it could well affect her – but there wasn't really a way to determine what was going on with the picture without taking that risk, and she had faith in Kai, Shimazu and Aswon's abilities to notice if something went wrong.

"Where are we delivering them to?" Aaabdar asked. "Or are you taking them yourself from here?" There was a hopeful note from the end, and his eyes twitched towards the large statue.

"To the area being used for the aircraft to land in, please." Kai said, watching carefully as each of the paintings were lowered into the packaging carefully and the tops sealed. He'd moved around to one side, and Marius was on the other, recording the boxing up, so he could be sure they weren't being tampered with or switched out en-route. Aaabdar also took a couple of pictures, sending them off when the last of the crates were sealed and Kai was standing next to them.

"I have let the buyer know that you are happy with the transfer. Come, we will take them then." He waved, and his workmen pulled out a small four-wheeled trolley. With grunts of effort they lifted the statue onto the trolley, then balanced the boxes with the paintings on behind it. With a great deal of effort, they got the trolley rolling, two of them pulling it along and trying to stop the wheels from sinking into the gravel, while the other two pushed from behind and kept everything balanced.

The walk back to the landing area was slower, with much cursing from the men pushing and pulling the trolley as it ploughed a small trough into the path – but after a few minutes they made it to the area with all of the tilt-wings and choppers in, and happily unloaded and piled up the four boxes before taking one final photo and heading back to their building. The team waited until they'd gone before Marius lowered the rear ramp of the Broadsword, and Aswon, Shimazu, Hunter and Marius carefully started to move the statue towards the ramp and worked it up the incline to the cargo area, before returning and grabbing the paintings one by one from where Tads had been standing guard. Once they were all aboard, they spent a good ten minutes with straps and ropes tying the pieces down and trying to ensure that they couldn't move at all. While they were working on that, Tads filled them in on what she'd learnt.

"That piece we were after – the Jewel of Muscat? It's got a strong aura, and it is magical. But it's not an active magical item, in the way most people think of it."

"Not sure what you mean, then" Kai grunted as he passed over a rope to Aswon to run over the top of the statue.

"It was created by someone magically active, that much I'm pretty sure of. It's magically… aware let's say. Mana flows through it differently. It's kind of hard to describe. It's conducive to magic, and it holds some residual power – without being an active magical item." She suddenly clicked her fingers. "I know what it's like. In fact it might be exactly like this – remember when we were in Constantinople, and Shimazu was looking for a waterproof box to bury his thesis in? It's like that. Not the waterproof box – but the thesis. This might have been created by someone as part of an initiation or vision quest, some kind of process where they were seeking extra knowledge or insights. That's what it reminds me of." She suddenly sounded a lot more certain, as pieces of a mental puzzle slotted into place together.

"But… this was painted in 2011." Kai said. "And the awakening didn't happen until 2012. That's when magic returned, when the dragons came back… how was a magical painting created before the magic came back to the world?"

"Not just that." Aswon stopped what he was doing to take a step back and examine the box, dropping into astral space himself as he stared at the wooden planks. "What was someone doing in 2011, that was not only magically aware and active, but also active enough that they were initiating their learning or experience to higher planes of knowledge and ability. This wasn't just someone being a touch 'early' to the party. This was someone already active and doing things, when things shouldn't have been possible."

All work paused for a moment as the team shared a look with each other, wondering just what it was that they were transporting. It was also much clearer now why Germaine had gotten so annoyed about it being stolen from her by the other team, betraying their contract with her. Nobody seemed to have anything further to add though, so they hurriedly finished their lashings, and got ready for takeoff.

Aswon sent a text to Borgein, advising him that they would soon be on the way with his 'cargo' and giving a rough estimated arrival time of 23:00, and got an immediate response.

[Have found additional buyers. Is one additional kg possible?] Aswon looked up from his commlink as he heard the faint whine of the auxiliary power unit starting up, ready to feed compressor power to the main engines.

"Guys, wait up. Borgein wants to know if we can take him more product. We've got one, but he wants more."

"I don't have a problem with it. It's not like the dealers were short on stuff…" Kai said, ignoring the quiet cursing in German that could faintly be heard over the team channel. "It's what, going to take you two minutes to jog there, a minute to buy, two minutes back? We can wait five minutes right?"

"I'll call the dealer. Pass me the details, will you, Kai?"

"I'll call him. You get ready to go." Kai threw a credstick at him, and hit up the new contact on his phone. "Mr. Daruka? Yes, it's Kai. We came in and made a small purchase about half an hour ago. We'd like to get some more if we can?" A short pause, then Kai continued "Excellent. Someone will be with you in a minute or two." He flipped off the commlink and looked up at Aswon. "He's got plenty of stuff ready to go, just turn up with the stick.

"Who's going with you?" Tads asked. She glanced across to Shimazu and then back at Aswon, not saying anything else – but her meaning was clear.

"Take Shimazu with you."

"I'll go." Hunter called back, and they could hear the grunt over the commlink as he pushed himself out of his chair next to Marius. "Shimazu should be resting." A few moments later he appeared through the door, slinging his rifle over his shoulder and head, and letting it slide down to his side. "And no, I'm not racing you." He glared at Aswon as he moved to the rear ramp, setting off at a brisk pace, making Aswon hustle to catch up.

They threaded their way back through the market to Daruka's stall and headed in, finding the vendor in the same seat as before, with his henchman hanging back, guns still very much in view. There were three other people in the tent now as well though, prospective customers, no doubt – though they appeared to be checking their commlinks, perhaps looking at prices or supply details. Aswon ignored them and marched right up to the table.

"Four more kilos, please. Our buyer found some more capacity." Daruka smiled at him revealing lopsided and chipped teeth that could have benefitted greatly from a trip to the hygienist.

"I will do you the same price on those as the other, deal?"

"Sounds good to me." Aswon nodded, watching as Daruka selected four of the dark brown blocks wrapped in thin plastic. As Daruka slid them across the table in two piles of two, he held out the credstick, slotting it in place as soon as the reader was made available to him, and then authorising the transfer of twenty thousand Nuyen.

"You see how business is done? Simple, quick, easy. THIS is how it should be." Daruka had raised his voice, turning his head slightly to address the other people in the tent, but his eyes remained locked on Aswon, and there was perhaps the slightest hint of a wink at him.

"Nice doing business with you. Until next time!" Aswon scooped up the four kilos of drugs and headed out, closely followed by Hunter. They started off at a brisk walk as they threaded their way through the people moving between the tents or just meandering along the paths, but broke back into a jog as soon as they hit the route to the parking area. Closing in, they saw the jetwash from the Broadsword building up – Marius had clearly seen them coming, and as they got closer the aircraft lurched into the air, swinging around so the rear ramp faced them, hovering half a metre up. They picked up the pace and broke into a run, getting ready to leap onto the ramp as soon as they were close enough.

"Aboard, seal the hatch, Marius!" Hunter called out as he followed Aswon, lurching slightly as Marius fed more power to the engines the second he spoke. "In a rush, are we?"

"I do not like this place, and see no reason to prolong our visit here. We have deliveries to make."

Marius turned the Broadsword to face north, then angled the jets to transition to forward flight, quickly picking up speed and heading off into the darkness. In a matter of minutes, he was climbing up into the mountains that marched away to the horizon, gaining altitude to clear the peaks ahead and scything through the night. The concealing spirit muted the sound of the engines, already quieter than normal thanks to the stealthy design, so there was barely any trace of their passing, and they flitted over the barren landscape like a ghost.

[Extra ingredients procured. On the way to you now. Same ETA]

[OK]

"Contacted Borgein, he's good and expecting us about 11. We good with that, Marius?"

"Yes, that should be no problem. I would advise fastening seat-belts, though. We are passing through the territory of various hordes, and I will try to remain evasive." The team made sure they were strapped in, and felt Marius drop down to just above the height of the peaks, then start a series of rollercoaster like climbs and drops as he navigated through the mountains, keeping low and obscured as much as possible to avoid detection. It wasn't likely that the national government of Turkestan would have anything around to spot them, but the local warlords and commanders of the various 'hordes', the semi-nomadic bandits that represented the true power for much of the country might.

"Now that we're away, I'm thinking of diving back there, astrally. Just to check for that signature. Are you ok with slowing in about two minutes Marius? Just to make it easier to get back."

"If I must."

"Well, you probably don't have to, but it will make it easier."

"Two minutes, then."

The team waited, and exactly a hundred and twenty seconds later, they felt the aircraft slow, banking hard to starboard and doing a loop around a fixed point in space. Halfway through, Tads' head snapped upright from where it had been lolling in the safety harness since she'd projected out of her body. She blinked twice, then shook her head a little, worked her jaw and then activated her commlink.

"Back onboard, thank you, Marius. That was a lot easier." The aircraft finished the turn, then accelerated northwards, continuing on towards Tashkent. "I did a flyby down the east side, looking from the lowlands towards the area we landed in, cut across the south side, then overflew where we were landed, looking to the east. No sign of that signature. Saw a couple of little flashes in the astral, some physical adepts and one mage that wasn't masking. A few spirits – but nothing that gave me any clues."

"Ok, good work, Tads. It was worth a check."

"While I have your attention Kai… I'm going to need some money."

"How much." Kai sighed. Today was turning out to be an expensive day.

"I'm not entirely sure. But tonight made it clear that my healing spell isn't powerful enough. I need to get something to replace it. We can either buy that in, which will be potentially pricy, and then I can spend some time trying to learn it – or I can try to design it myself. That's going to be cheaper – though I need some materials – but it's going to take a lot longer. A lot, lot longer."

"Oh, if it's for a heal spell – just buy it in. Whatever it costs."

"Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Well, one day it's going to be my ass that needs healing, and I don't want any second rate spells!" Tads glared at him for the insinuation that her current efforts were 'second-rate', but as she'd just been given carte-blanche to spend whatever she liked, she swallowed her ire and instead sent a message to Toloya Popov, the cat shaman in Sochi, describing what she needed. They communicated back and forth while the aircraft flew on, eventually agreeing to a price.

"Kai, the talismonger in Sochi has the spell I'm looking for. Twelve and a half-thousand and a fresh bottle of full cream milk."

"Milk?"

"I think that's just the lazy side kicking in. They can't be bothered to go to the shops. But that's a pretty reasonable price for sure."

"Yeah, ok. Can they email it to you?"

"No, I need to go collect it. It's a physical thing, not a formula. But I had a look at the maps while we were chatting, and I have a plan. Once we've just about done in Batumi, I'm going to change into a bird and fly north. It's the closest we get to Sochi, about two hundred and fifty kilometres. It's a bit of a stretch, but I can fly for five hours or so."

"Won't you be naked when you get there? I mean, when you stop being a bird?"

"Yes. But I'll take some flats," Tads waved a hand at her body as she described the cheap, disposable, vending machine clothing that was sold in lower class areas all over the world. "I can land on a roof, change, put those on and then just levitate down to the street. Get the milk, go and buy the thing, and then head back to the roof. Take off the flats, change back into a bird and then fly back, with the heal spell in a bag. I should be able to manage the weight."

"But that's going to take you ten hours?"

"Yes, at least. But I figure if we time it right, I can do a lot of that overnight. If you guys all park up somewhere along the way, before you turn back east, you can just rest in a motel or something? It shouldn't be too bad. And it saves you all having to drive up to Sochi and back again, running the Russian border."

"Yeah, alright. It's not for a week anyway, so we can have a think."

They flew onwards, and a little before eleven, Marius called back from the pilot's seat.

"Aswon, the restaurant is in the middle of a very built up area. Hunter has been looking at the maps, but there is no good place to land for some considerable distance around the place. Do you want to call him and arrange an alternate location?"

"Oh, bugger. Wait one… Tads – got an idea for you? How do you feel about levitating me down out of the back?"

"Levitate? Oh, you mean hover over the restaurant, and float you down with the goods and back up with the payment?"

"Exactly!"

"I don't see why not. Can Marius hover that long?"

"Of course." Marius sounded a little put out that she doubted his abilities. "It consumes a great deal of fuel to hover – but we can do it for a short period of time. You would need to be quick."

"That's no problem, I'll call him and advise, and make sure he's ready."

By the time they reached Tashkent, Aswon had called Borgein and arranged for him to be ready. They flew in low over the western side of the city, trying to keep as much distance as they could from the airport to the east – the commercial pilots might not see them through the spirits concealment and the stealth capabilities built into the aircraft, but that wouldn't stop them slamming a two-hundred-ton aircraft into them at two hundred kilometres per hour as they came in on final, and Marius was pretty sure that would ruin everyone's day.

Soon enough though they were nearing the massive highway constructed by Saeder-Krupp, forming this part of the 'New Silk Road', thousands of kilometres of corporate owned black-top that linked Europe with Asia. Borgein's restaurant was set back a street from the highway, but easy to find, and he bought the Broadsword in over the rear yard and aimed the back ramp at the small greasy and cluttered space, opening the ramp and slowing to a hover.

Borgein came out in response to Aswon's signal, looking around as the weird gusts of wind blew up discarded ingredient cartons and waste, blowing it all over the yard. He looked up and saw the stars shimmering and twinkling, staring at them in confusion – he'd grown up in the city and was used to the ever-present layer of pollution that made the stars indistinct and fuzzy – but he'd never seen them roll or twist this way.

His mouth fell open as Aswon just appeared in front of him, slowly descending from the sky like some kind of dark angel, floating down with effortless grace. Instead of the lord's justice, though, he bought five kilos of pure Asian heroin, neatly wrapped and packaged, with a cred-reader hanging from his waist.

"Good evening. I come with your delivery."

"What? I mean…how… never mind. This… this is more than I asked for! I do not have the funds for this."

"We know. Pay us as agreed for the first two. The remaining three we are happy to supply to you. I believe the term is 'on tick'. Sell it, as you need to, and then pay us when you have the money. Consider it an investment."

"If you're sure. Ok." Borgein wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and he pulled out his credstick, jamming it into the reader and quickly transferring the funds over, before Aswon changed his mind.

"Thank you, it's been a pleasure. Please excuse us – we have other places to be, so this is a brief visit. But we'll be in touch." As he reached the end of the sentence, he was already starting to ascend, rising back up into the darkness above the restaurant. Higher and higher he rose, then he shimmered and disappeared. The wind seemed to intensify for a few moments, and then abruptly died down, letting the scraps of paper and cardboard settle once more to the ground.

"Well, they've upgraded…" Borgein shrugged and then looked at the huge quantity of opium in his hands, and smiled.

Back aboard the Broadsword, Aswon checked the ramp was secure and made his way forward to the passenger compartment, stopping for a brief moment on the way to check on the cargo, ensuring that all of the ropes and straps were still secure.

"All delivered, he's paid for the first two as agreed, and we'll sort out the rest later. Maybe swap it for goods and services, but that's something we can offer when we need it. Win-win, then."

"No problem. What we've made on the first two covered the fuel for the diversion right?"

"More than that, Kai, actually paid for a bit of the journey to the market as well."

"Great stuff. Right – home then, please, Marius, at your discretion. I'm sure you're itching to see Nadia and the kid."

"It will be pleasant to be back again." They accelerated back up to cruising speed, flying due west. It wasn't the most direct route, but if they'd taken that they would have overflown the oil fields on the eastern shore of the Caspian, and Marius knew from experience that the sensor coverage over the ports and some of the drilling facilities was quite intense. He didn't think they would be able to pick them up, but he also wasn't feeling the need to prove that – better to put a few extra kilometres on the journey and fly around the hot-spots.

They journey back was uneventful, with not a single sensor or border patrol picking up a trace of the team as they crossed the western borders of Turkestan and out over the Caspian, turning to fly south down the sea before heading inland near Qubustan. The Trans-Caucaus League border guards fared no better than their neighbours in picking them up, and the forty kilometre dash across the scrubland took only a few minutes. Marius carefully bought them down on the helipad, being careful with the jet wash from the engines and trying to keep it over the pad as much as he could, shutting down the engines at 03:34 as the landing gear settled under the weight.

"What are we doing with the cargo – taking it into the house?" Hunter called out.

"I'd say leave it in here." Tads gestured at the few sigils visible on the top of the passenger compartment. "This is the strongest ward we have, and the most resistant to any magical effects or tracking."

"Ahh, fair enough. Least they won't need lashing down again then!"

"Come on then everyone – inside and to bed, get a few hours kip."

"I'll stay up on watch for a bit, just in case. I can always get a nap later." Kai shrugged at Aswon, but didn't argue. He never understood how the merc could survive on so few hours' sleep, but he wasn't going to knock it when it meant his own shift on watch was so mercifully short.

They sealed the Broadsword up and crept into the house as quietly as possible, not wanting to disturb any of the family, splitting up to their rooms. Aswon stayed downstairs, grabbing a cup of coffee and changing his boots before settling down to keep watch, and to his surprise, Hunter remained up for a while with him, chatting about guns. Tads did her impression of a mouse and curled up in a corner of her bed, her arms hugged tightly around her knees as she curled up into what looked like an impossibly small space, while Shimazu threw a handful of painkillers down his throat and gingerly laid down on his bed, struggling to find a position where he didn't just ache annoyingly.

Marius, though…

Unfortunately for the pilot, as he entered the room he found the light on, and a very frazzled and tired-looking Nadia pacing back and forth, with a grizzling Marius Junior in her arms, bouncing him up and down gently. She looked like she hadn't slept since they'd left – her hair was all over the place, she had a smear of drool running down her shoulder, flecks of baby food splattered on her cheek and looked weary with her eyes struggling to stay half open.

Even so, Marius still felt a stir when he saw her, a feeling of longing and desire.

"Oh, you're back. Here, take him. He's teething, and he just won't stop crying." Marius took the baby into his arms, nestling the small bundle of warmth to his chest and holding him carefully. The baby whinged, letting out a continuous low droning noise of discomfort, a complaint about a pain he couldn't comprehend or do anything about, but clearly didn't enjoy. Marius gently bounced him up and down, trying to sooth him with the smooth motions, and when that didn't seem to work, swayed from side to side instead, making his own noises to try and calm his child.

"Hopefully, we are around for a few days at least, while we prepare for…" Marius looked over to find that Nadia had laid down on the bed fully clothed, and was already asleep, her exhausted brain shutting down as soon as she knew that someone else was taking care of things. "Look what you did to your mother!" he whispered quietly. Reaching down for an extra blanket, he carefully wrapped it around Marius Junior as best as he could without disturbing him further, and then carefully let himself out of the bedroom, heading to the end of the landing and the small reading nook at the top of the stairs. He settled down there in the padded chair and continued to sway from side to side, trying to comfort his child and stared blankly at the wall, letting his brain relax and just do nothing for a while.

Marius woke up three hours later as Vardo tried to creep past him, doing his best not to disturb him or the sleeping baby.

"Sorry, heading out to see to the horses. Do you want a coffee? Tea?"

"It is not a problem. A tea would be nice, and perhaps a small bottle of warm milk?"

"No problem." Vardo nodded at him, and then headed down the stairs normally, no longer affecting the 'cartoon stealth creep' that he'd been trying to use to sneak past. The baby wiggled slightly in his arms, but then quietened down, happy to stay wrapped up in the warm blanket for a little while longer at least. It wasn't long though before the other residents started to stir – Eteri was up next, heading out to join Vardo in mucking out the stables and seeing to the livestock, and he was pretty sure Rusudan and Naena would be up soon as well. Tads appeared coming back up the stairs, presumably having been out to do her dawn rituals – and it didn't surprise him to realise that she had managed to sneak past him without rousing him from his sleep.

The ranch slowly geared up for another day, with the various residents rousing and getting on with their chores and seeing to the tasks that needed doing, and looking after the few guests that were settled into the cottages. There was nothing on the agenda for the day, so they left Shimazu to slumber as long as he wanted to – his body certainly needed the time to recuperate from the assault it had received, and bed rest was the best thing for him.

Aswon and Hunter headed out into the hills behind the ranch after checking where the guests were, toting the large rifle with them, along with the two packages that had turned up overnight. Once up on the long-rifle range set up nearly two kilometres back into the hills, they unboxed the new scope and bipod and spent some time fitting them to the monster rifle.

"I got Tads to make us a couple of watermelons. Figure they'll make good targets." Hunter opened his rucksack and pulled out two large green melons and a black marker pen, then crudely sketched on eyes and a mouth onto them both.

"Bit of a waste of good food there, Hunter."

"You clearly haven't tasted 'em then! She's getting better at a lot of stuff, but these? Nah, there's something not right with them. They shouldn't be chewy."

"Ok, well, I guess so then."

"Shame the range is only fifteen-hundred metres. I think we should be aiming longer. Maybe we need an extension."

"One and a half kilometres is fine for zeroing in, thank you. Off you pop then – seeing as you're carrying them." Aswon grinned as Hunter made a face, watching as the ork turned and lumbered off towards the far end of the range. He was barely a speck when he reached the large slope of the hill that formed the backstop of the range, finding a place to set up the large fruits where they could be shot at. Two minutes later, he was back, breathing hard but not winded. It wasn't an Olympic time to be sure – but it was also over less than ideal conditions.

"Seeing as you set up the targets, you can have first shot." Aswon said, gesturing to the rifle that lay ready on the floor, supported on the bipod.

"You sure?" Hunter blinked in surprise. He certainly would have wanted first shot if it was his gun – but then they were very different people. Aswon nodded, and Hunter squirmed down onto the blanket that had been laid out, picking up the stock of the weapon and hauling it into his shoulder. Carefully seating the magazine into the receiver, he worked the action. "Range is hot!" he called out. It shouldn't have been necessary with just the two of them here, but there were some habits that were hard to break – not that he really wanted to break this one.

He pulled the gun tighter into his shoulder and laid his head on the stock, careful to make sure he had it as far back as possible while retaining the sight-picture. He was sure the recoil on this was going to be just as intense as his panther cannon – but he tended to fire that from the hip, rather than next to his face! The thumb of his right hand moved up to the fire mode selector, and flipped it down from the safe position to the single round icon, and then he paused. Tentatively he poked at the lever, which seemed to have a good degree of wobble or motion left on it. He lifted his head off the stock and examined it for a moment, giving it a wiggle.

Kneeling up on the dirt two metres away, Aswon watched as Hunter got ready to fire, frowning as he wiggled the fire selector mode. He wondered what Hunter was doing, as he flicked the weapon back to safe, then to fire, moving between them several times.

Hunter flicked down to fire again, then squeezed the selector inwards, depressing it into the body of the receiver. It sank about four or five millimetres inwards, and then allowed him to push the lever further around, past the shot icon to what seemed to be another position that had no markings or iconography listed.

"Hey, don't bend that! Hunter, you cretin! Don't break my gun!" Aswon called out in alarm, watching the fire selector lever apparently bend under the force from the calloused hands. "Stop!"

"Sights are hot. Firing." Hunter replied calmly. His Smartlink-2 had integrated with the rifle system, factoring in temperature and barrel condition, range information and a score of other factors, then placing a dot over his eye showing the expected impact point. He normally would have fired without using the scope, but at this range the target was almost impossible to see without it, so he'd snuggled his head back down onto the stock to regain the sight picture, even as Aswon started to curse at him. His real finger didn't move, holding in position on the grip, but his 'mental' finger tightened, squeezing the trigger and sending the firing command to the gun.

Both Hunter and Aswon had enhanced reflexes. One was the result of cybernetic implants, clusters of specialised artificial nerves and constructs threaded down his spine to control muscle groups and body functions. One was the result of magical enhancement, intense personal control and rigorous training to achieve 'super' human levels of response. Both achieved the same end goal, despite the different routes – and more importantly, the level of reaction allowed them to process what happened when the gun fired.

There was the sound of the first shot, the sonic crack as the massive round was accelerated down the barrel as the primer ignited the main charge, triggering the contained explosion and sending the heavyweight slug ripping down the barrel at over a kilometre per second. But neither of them were expecting the second crack as round number two was quickly inserted and fired by the mechanism as the barrel started to compress on the bearings and advanced gas recoil system. The third round followed microseconds later, clearing the barrel just before the actual recoil hit, the buffers having absorbed all the movement so far.

The gun lurched, and though Hunter had been expecting some recoil from the massive cannon, he hadn't expected the kick from a dinosaur he received. There was an audible snapping noise from his shoulder as the ceramic plate in his body armour cracked under the force of the impact, shattering into shards as if it had just stopped a round.

"What did you do to my gun!" Aswon exclaimed hotly.

"It's got a three round burst setting, it seems. You have to push the selector in and then rotate a bit more. It's err… got a bit of a kick though." Hunter hit the mag release button and watched as the empty magazine dropped out, and to his surprise he could hear the faint ticking and groaning as the internal mechanism of the gun cooled from the sudden thermal transfer. "Yeah, you definitely don't want to fire that without the bipod, mate." He worked his shoulder joint, wondering if he'd actually cracked or damaged the bone – but it seemed fine. Sore as hell, but without any lasting effect.

"Well, give it back to the grown-up now."

"Just one sec… holy drek! Ok… don't move the gun, but come look here…" He shuffled back out of the way, letting Aswon get down onto the scope to examine the target.

"There's nothing there. Did it roll out of the way?"

"No… I'm pretty sure it exploded. Or vapourised. Or possibly both. One shot is good. Three shots are fraking ridiculous, though! I like it."

Aswon fired off two more magazines through the rifle, getting the scope zeroed in perfectly – though it had been remarkably close on first fit purely by chance. The recoil was punishing, but manageable – but the impact from the 20mm rounds was very heavy, and he figured it would certainly be good against most civilian vehicles and lightweight security variants. Of course it was huge – it wasn't the kind of weapon he could casually walk into a bar with, or even around the roughest of neighbourhoods, without attracting extreme attention. But for when the mission called for effective long range firepower, he was certainly confident that he could deliver it.

The next few days settled down into an easy-going routine. Marius spent some time on the truck to ensure it was ready to go, running the engine for a while and doing a lot of preventative maintenance – it had been sitting still for several months, after all. Otherwise he spent a lot of time with his son and wife, relaxing and enjoying the family.

Shimazu stayed tucked up in bed for two days, reading through several psychology textbooks as well as a bunch of other material, resting and letting his body recover. He joined the rest for meal times and was no means an invalid – he could quite easily have gone for the runs that Hunter and Aswon did through the hills – but he figured quite rightly that it would slow his recovery back to full health, so he did only what he needed to do, and actually enjoyed the physical rest, working out with his mental faculties instead.

Tads, of course, buried her head into her spell design, working on new concepts and refining those in progress, seeking to further master her understanding of the aspects of magic. When she needed a break, she topped off the food supplies for the house, creating large quantities of flour and other basic ingredients that could be turned into tasty meals by the family, and she also headed into the local town and along the highway a bit to check out the local population. Encouraged by the changing attitudes of the local population to 'the ranch people' she even did a bit of healing – wary at first in case their reaction to magic was hostile, but then when it was well-received, managing to cure a number of people of some fairly crippling injuries and restore them to some semblance of health.

Kai, Hunter and Aswon kept themselves busy as well, training in their respective disciplines around the ranch, using the long and short distance ranges, and the archery range. Kai kept wondering why he caught Aswon grinning at him as he practiced shooting in the archery area, but the merc wouldn't tell him why…

On Thursday though, all became clear when a large package was delivered marked up for Aswon's attention. After the team had finished their evening meal, Aswon hauled out the box and slit through the security tape, opening it up and passing Kai a box – about half a metre long and perhaps a quarter metre deep. Curious, Kai opened it up and pulled out the multiple sections of a high specification take-down compound bow.

"What's this?"

"Well, we all got some new things recently. And I know you bought your own bow a while back – but you got what was available in town at the time. I don't know how good it is, but I do know this is one of the best you can get."

Kai pulled out the sections of the high tech bow, examining the multiple cams and high-tech limbs, the laser sight and adjustable counterbalance weights, the slightly greasy feeling string that had emerged from some mad-scientists nanotech bath to create something with a strength and flexibility that defied belief.

"You might want to check the other box as well. This one is for being serious with. The other one… well, I guess it's serious, but in a different way."

Kai replaced the equipment in the first box and dropped the lid back in place, then moved it to the floor next to him so he had room to pull up the second box. This was far longer, but slightly more slender than the first. Lifting the lid off the one and a half metre box, Kai stopped and stared at the beautiful wooden bow that lay inside, nestled in straw. He looked at the bow, drinking in the details for a good fifteen seconds, before glancing up at Aswon.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"I hope so. It should be a traditional hose-bow, made in Mongolia to the ancient methods used for thousands of years. Short enough to fire from horseback – or possibly the back of a motorbike, but powerful enough to put someone down…"

Tads pushed her seat back and rose from the table, walking round to stand just behind Kai. She reached over with her hand, holding her hand out.

"May I?" Kai nodded, and she moved in closer – not touching the bow, but letting her hand trace over it, moving along the limbs to reach the animal horn nocks at the end, drifting back along the string made of animal gut. "It's pure. Animal horn, sinew, wood, rendered glue. All of it natural. It's… natural. And I can feel the emotion of it. Made by craftsman. Much like Shimazu's sword. If ever there was a bow to be enchanted, it's this one. I'm not sure what I could do with the modern one, it's too…alien. Too difficult to push mana through. But this… it would drink up the power and bind it, absorb it."

Kai lowered the bow back into the box and closed the lid, much more carefully than with the first box, then looked over at Aswon. His face relaxed, changing slightly as his normally ever present control over it relaxed.

"Thank you." Aswon looked over at the team leader, and nodded, sensing that this was as honest as Kai could be. Simple, and without elaboration, but a genuine sense of thanks, without disguise or packaging.

"Don't think that this is going to save you from spending more money, though…" A laugh spread around the table, and Kai grinned at him, raising his hand in salute before it dropped to rest gently on top of the box with a proprietary air.

Later that night, as people were settling down to sleep, Shimazu laid in his bed and pulled up his commlink, dialling the number for his friend Sato.

"Shimazu! How are you?"

"Not too good as it goes."

"Oh? Why, what's up?"

"Someone tried to kill me. Almost got away with it, too. We were at a market a few days ago, just west of Kabul. Doing a courier job, we were there to pick up some artwork – the team and I. And we had a messenger come up, asked me to go off to see a Mr. Patel, about a rare item. Thought it was something to do with a sword. It seemed legit at the time, or at least she didn't come across as having an ulterior motive. Turns out she was the cut-out. Didn't know what was going on, but had been hired to lure me away."

"Sheesh… how many attacked you?"

"I don't know. We think just one. Hit me with a manabolt. Our shaman said it was a killing blow, directed with deadly force. I was bleeding out, that much was for sure. But our shaman had assigned me a spirit to guard me, keep an eye on me. As soon as I went down, it alerted her. And the team weren't that far away it seemed. They got to me quickly – really quickly as it turns out, managed to stop the bleeding and save my ass. And probably scare the assassin off before they could finish the job."

"Frakking scary… no idea who?"

"Well, we're not sure… we did get their magical signature from the scene, they had to flee before they could clear it up. And we did get some details from the cut-out." Shimazu went on to describe everything they'd found out from the scene of the assault, and from the memories and thoughts of the young girl. Checking his notes, he described everything in as much detail as he could, and fired off a copy of his notes to Sato as well."

"That's rough, man. You're recovering though, yeah?"

"I am. Couple of days I'll be back on my feet properly. But this person… they're still out there. Still might be looking for me. So I don't plan on waiting for that to happen. I want to find them first. Explain things to them. Make sure it doesn't happen again."

"I understand. Shimazu, leave this with me. Let me make some calls, do some digging. Alright? There's plenty of data here. Lots of little things. Just need to arrange the pieces of this puzzle to make a picture. But I promise you, if I can find them, I will."

"Thanks, Sato. I'll leave it with you." Shimazu killed the line, then laid back in bed, trying to banish the images he'd seen when checking the scene from his mind, stopping them from looping over and over again in his head.

Three thousand kilometres away in Tallinn, Estonia, Sato fired up his computer and started searching through his contact list, working out who to call first. Someone had attacked one of his best and longest-known friends. Someone who had saved his life. Now it seemed it was time to repay.