[Hey Spook. Just taken off. Got a spot for us to head for?] Aswon sat back in his comfy seat, adjusting the harness slightly so he could keep his commlink visible without the strap digging into his armpit.
[Hey, trouble. Of course – tell your pilot to head to 22.32964, 114.23163. Got you some clear space there, understanding with the site. Let me know when you're about 30 mins away. S]
"Marius – got a location for you!" He called out the co-ordinates, feeling the aircraft adjust course slightly a moment later. He waited a moment, pretty sure that Hunter would already be checking the map on where they were headed for.
"Shows as a hillside, east side of Hong Kong. About ten clicks out from the centre. Checking… that's going to be about a ten degree slope? Are you sure on those co-ords?"
"Yep, spot on. I'm sure Spook knows what she's doing. She also wants about thirty minutes warning of our arrival – I think she's coming to pick us up."
"In that case, advise her now. We are not that far away," Marius called out. Aswon sent a quick message back, and got an immediate response from Spook that she was on her way.
Marius was true to his word, flying south-east until they were out over the bay, before looping around and flying west to approach Hong Kong over the hills. The concealing spirit and radar-absorbing design let them slip through the sensor net, and as they rose over the Kowloon Peak Park and started to descend towards Hong Kong, they could see the landing area. A huge swath of land had been cleared, and then part of the hillside had been excavated, building up an area downslope to create a level plateau. Three large apartment buildings were already built and in some stage of being fitted out, but the landing location seemed to be a large flat area at the north of the site, where a huge concrete pad had been laid over deep foundations, giving a lovely flat landing zone. Construction materials were piled up on the edge of the pad, and it looked like construction was due to start sometime soon – but for now there was a clear area for them to land the Broadsword on.
They came in smoothly, and as Marius was powering down the engines and shutting down the flight systems they saw a minivan bouncing over the rough access road around the edge of the site, the deeply rutted earth road making the vehicle bounce up and down significantly. It approached the large pad and paused, then flashed its lights a few times.
"She's not aiming at us?" Kai looked with confusion at the relayed sensor feed. "Is she signalling to someone else, do you think?"
"We're still concealed by the spirit – she probably can't see us!" Tads pointed out. "You want me to send the spirit away?"
"No, that makes sense. And it'll probably help us hide here." Kai responded. He saw Aswon heading for the exit door, activating the mechanism and dropping the stairs down to let him climb out into the warm and sultry night air. As he left the confines of the ship, he popped through the concealment of the spirit, appearing suddenly on the pad – and a moment later Spook spotted him and flashed her headlights once more, before slowly driving towards him, stopping when he waved to her. He held up a finger towards her, then ducked back into the concealment, moving slowly until he could see the aircraft.
"Why are we here?" Marius looked out of the doorway, somewhat disapprovingly.
"Because I've not seen my friend for a while. And she was very close by – and would probably be able to put some work our way. And it's good to get some face-time with your fixer, from time to time." Aswon explained patiently. "Besides. I want her to meet the team, too."
"And you think we should leave the aircraft. Here?" He gestured around at the building site.
"Well, I'm sure Spook wouldn't have told us to land here if they're going to start building in the morning. And I would like to take a little time here, maybe go for a drink, maybe a meal, catch up on some business. I mean, it's not like I'm planning on ending face down in a pool of vodka with the local crime lord and then collapse on the stairs in a pool of my own vomit or anything…" There was the sound of sniggering from inside the cabin as Aswon reminded them of the events in Sochi when Marius had met up with his 'friends' there.
"I do not know what you mean. I have no recollection of anything like that. And my memory is perfect."
"Maybe when you're sober it is…"
"Shush, you lot. Come on – she's got out and is waiting for us." Kai gestured towards the petite Chinese woman who had climbed out of the driver's side of the minivan. She was short and slender, with her hair neatly tied back, wearing an understated outfit that made her look like a low-level secretary in some mega-corporate office – and probably would let her blend in with tens of thousands of others in the area. The team filed out, clambering down the stairs and popping out of the concealment of the spirit to line up in front of her.
"Spook, this is the team – Kai, Shimazu, Hunter, Marius and Tads… everyone, this is Spook." Aswon waved to each of the team members in turn and Spook gave them a brief nod. Once everyone had been named, she reached into the van and pulled out a bottle of some kind of alcohol, presenting it to Kai.
"Good morning, it's a pleasure to meet you. Please, accept this, in light of my previous indiscretions."
"It's no problem at all – but thank you." Kai smiled at her and gave a nod of his head, before scanning the label and giving the premium quality spirits an appraising eye.
"So, I ask again – are we just going to leave the Broadsword here? In the middle of the construction site?"
"No work is scheduled to take place here until the end of the week – so unless you are planning to stay longer, it should be fine. If that's the case, I will need to find somewhere else. That's not a problem, I just need to know…"
"The power will not last that long. And I am uncomfortable with how open this area is…" Marius scanned around the site. Although there was a perimeter hoarding, it was only two metres high – enough to discourage children or the average person, but no impediment to a serious intruder or any trolls. Even Aswon would be able to peer over the shuttering with minimal effort. And with the rise of the hill behind them, anyone more than about ten metres away would be able to see over the top regardless of their own size.
"Well, I can get the night-watchman to hang around this end if you want, and keep an eye on things. And if you're worried about power… well, I can get a cable over here? There's power to the site…"
She pulled out her commlink and dialled a number, speaking to someone in fluent and rapid Chinese for a minute as she explained what she needed. After hanging up, she looked over the pad, squinting a little then shook her head. "It's very well protected – I'm not sure why you're so worried, I can't see a thing. What exactly is it you're hiding there, anyway?"
Both Marius and Tads looked over at Kai, who nodded and gave a little hand gesture, his fingers moving in a lazy circle. Tads asked the spirit to pause in the effort to conceal the Broadsword, while Marius remotely accessed the systems through his deck and powered down the ruthenium polymers, 'decloaking' the aircraft.
"Wow… that's…" Spook paused for a moment, letting her eyes drink in the details of the aircraft, "That's impressive. Ok, I see why you're worried about keeping it safe. Can I poke it?"
"What do you mean?"
"Can I touch it? I want to experience it. Tactile." Spook looked at Marius, and he gave a slightly uncertain nod. She wandered over and placed a hand gently on the aircraft, her fingers spread wide and just stood for a moment, as if she was soaking up the touch and sensation or some indefinable spirit of the aircraft. After a deep breath, she let her hand move lightly over the surface, stroking the surface, picking up the texture of the sensors and display modules impregnated into the hull. "Good spirit." She nodded in satisfaction. She walked around a little, looking at the aircraft, nodding her head in apparent satisfaction, while Marius watched her carefully. "Ahh – he's coming now." She gestured over the building site to where they saw a uniformed man in his 50s heading their way, a folding chair under one arm and a cable drum held in the other, playing out cable behind him and he carefully picked his way over the uneven terrain. Marius quickly re-engaged the polymers, sending the aircraft back to its concealed state, becoming a faint distortion in the night air.
When the watchman arrived, Spook spoke to him quickly, waving in the general area of the vehicle and then gesturing at the team and her minibus, getting a series of nods in return. He handed over the power cable to Marius, waiting for him to pull the connector out of the centre of the drum and connect it to the port on the underbelly of the aircraft. The guard set up his chair on the edge of the pad and settled into it, settling down to wait. While he'd been doing that, Tads had called an additional spirit to her and asked it to guard the aircraft, joining the one that normally provided concealment.
"I think that's as good as we're going to get, Marius – you good now?"
"It is acceptable. Not ideal, but acceptable."
"I'll need to be back here in the morning to replace the spirits of course, so I can check on things." Tads reminded him.
"And we're only going to be about ten kilometres away, I think." Aswon raised an eyebrow at Spook and saw her nod in confirmation. "So even with the towers and traffic and stuff, your remote deck will still reach won't it? If you needed to?"
"That is correct. I can receive an alert if the sensors are tripped, and take remote control." Marius let out a breath, as if finally accepting that the risks were small enough that he could stop worrying. "Very well. Let us go." Spook managed not to grin at him, turning away to climb into the driver's seat, with Aswon joining her up front, while the rest of the team climbed into the back, and a few moments later the van started up and Spook turned around, to head for the main gate out of the building site and onto the road network. She and Aswon chatted away, catching up on old times, while the rest of the team relaxed into the seats and looked out at the area they were travelling through.
After a few minutes, they noticed that Spook was taking a very odd route, and Hunter in particular started to pay a lot more attention. They seemed to be driving down back alleys, and cutting through car parks, around service access roads and through people's driveways a lot – only hitting main roads as they crossed from one side to another to reach another small and undocumented access way. As they went they realised they were skipping past pretty much every main intersection or junction, avoiding the nests of cameras and sensors dedicated to the local GridGuide system, flitting around the automated tracking systems that littered modern highways and were wending their way towards the centre of Hong Kong by a slow and cautious route that kept them almost entirely out of view of any central authorities. Spook clearly knew the area exceptionally well – or had a concealed datajack somewhere and a top-flight mapsoft chip that identified all of the possible routes she could take. Either way, it informed them that she clearly was very well connected and experienced in the area…
As they closed in on the centre of the city, even Spook's knowledge of the backroads and byways wasn't enough to keep them off the main roads entirely – but her route was still confusing and would have been a nightmare to track if anyone had been watching. They didn't head right into the core of the city, but instead travelled slightly upland, and ended up in an area that had a number of large sports complexes and towering apartment blocks. She pulled the mini-van up onto a large plaza and nestled it in close to the wall in some deep shadow and then stopped the engine, before climbing out and sliding open the rear door.
As the team clambered out of the vehicle they looked around – the area was oddly lit – the sports fields in the complexes themselves were illuminated by powerful lamps on soaring towers, meaning that even at one in the morning the fields were lit like it was daytime. That light cast a general sphere of dull illumination over the whole area, the light reflecting and refracting over the moisture in the air and the smog and pollution present in pretty much every urban area, and cast the plaza in a weird kind of twilight, with the normal street lamps then illuminating smaller globes around them, giving a strange patchwork affair.
Spook led them over towards an old silver bus that had been turned into a mobile food vendor, several of the side panels having been converted into hatches that gave access to the kitchen.
"What do you recommend?"
"It's all pretty good here, Aswon – but the pork dishes are my favourites." The team moved in to study the menu – everyone with the exception of Tads had at least a smattering of Chinese, and they were able to translate for her, and soon enough the smell of frying soy filled the air. Spook headed over to some of the cheap patio furniture that was scattered about and snagged a bunch of chairs to pull up around two of the small tables, pushing them together to make a communal area. As the team wandered over, Spook glanced at Hunter and Shimazu, and then at the furniture, wondering if they were going to cope with their weight – neither of them were fat, but both of them were probably closer to a hundred and fifty kilos than a hundred, especially with their concealed armour and hidden weapons tucked away under clothing.
She dropped off her food and went back to the bus, having a quiet word with the owner, who disappeared out of the back door for a moment, before appearing around the side of the vehicle, struggling along with two large casks that appeared to be full of some kind of liquid. He set them down, then picked up the flimsy chair and placed it over the top of one of the casks, forming impromptu reinforced seats for the two large men. Spook grinned at them, then gestured for them to sit and tuck in, and a few minutes later they were sat with some steaming bowls of noodles and a variety of side dishes, tucking into the food with gusto.
"Some CCTV around here, but it looks like it's mostly for control of the area on match days – not particularly heavy. Surprising with the size of the apartment blocks."
"They're all student accommodation – the area is notoriously lax, and the police almost never come here unless there's a full-on riot." Spook answered, then gestured with her chin at some people smoking something from a glass bong on the far side of the plaza. "Lots of students, lots of soft drugs. Subversive activity. Degenerate music… but also a lot of young, determined, idealistic and angry people willing to fight for their rights. So the police stay out and turn a blind eye to the area, and the students don't go too wild, and everyone's happy. And there's lots of people milling around at all times of the day and night, eating and drinking and providing good cover for meetings with bunches of strange-looking people…"
"So we're safe to talk here about the job?" Aswon queried.
"Probably as safe as anywhere else, provided we're not too blatant about it."
"Right. In that case then, we've been thinking about the job. We're interested in doing it – and we were considering sourcing our own stock, but our providers are quite far north and west, and we'd end up burning enough fuel getting there and back that it would probably eat up any potential savings we might have made. So it seems wise to go to the person you suggested – though I'm still not sure on the details."
"Well, the buyer has scrimped and saved to get their money together. From what I can work out, it's the funds from like twenty thousand people all doing little bits of work, pooling their funds together. It's a lot of money for them – I mean, it's not pocket change anyway, but proportionally it's a massive investment for them. They really can't afford to lose this one, it'd hurt them so badly. But they've got a budget and they need stock. So they've reached out, based on reputation, to some people they can feel they can trust. And I know some people with some stock. I don't think they're milking them dry, but they're certainly not being kind to them."
"But biz is biz?" Kai offered.
"Yeah, biz is biz. They've got the product, in good condition, ready to go. The buyers know they need to pay for delivery, for their special circumstances. So they've reached out and said they have a budget, for as much stock as possible, delivered to the location. If the delivery costs are lower, they can get more stock. If it's higher, they get less. But they can't shift on their price – the money they have is fixed. They just want to get as much as they can for it…"
"Could we not supply them with equipment, presses, or some kind of manufacturing capacity, to help them make their own stock?" Kai asked.
"Nah. Even simple stuff is pretty hard to make, you need some fairly serious machinery. And if you're out in the jungle or island hopping, you don't have the kind of infrastructure to make that work." Hunter said around a mouthful of noodles. He reached up and worked loose a piece of stubborn soy-pork that had gotten wedged into his tusks and slurped it down noisily. "You need a good stock of raw material, skilled operators for the machinery, decent buildings to work in, reliable power… too much for a bunch of peasants out in the woods."
"I presume we can shift the load quite happily?"
"For the amount we're talking about? Yeah. The ammo is probably the densest part of the shipment, but for the value we're talking about we've got plenty of capacity. Normally airlifting stuff like this isn't efficient, but it is fast. But we've got a nice big cargo bay, and plenty of lift rating – so we're fine here."
"On that note – they're not too fussed about what kind of stock they get, just to be clear." Spook raised her noodle container to her mouth and slurped a few down, but then lowered her voice a little, keeping the container high in front of her and partially obscuring her mouth. "I mean, if you went and knocked over a local militia or armoury, or found a barracks somewhere you felt you could hit and liberate the weapons, they're not going to turn their nose up at them. They just want to buy some stuff to use for their revolution, and they're willing to pay for it. The main requirements are simple weapons, capable of medium to long range and some burst fire. But if you get them some sub-guns, some pistols, some rifles – they don't care about the brands or the colours, as long as they work."
"What about explosives, rocket launchers, support weapons?" Aswon asked.
"Not so much – all of those generally require a bit more skill to use, or are harder to ship or hide. This is very low-level stuff, that they can teach some fourteen-year-old hold to use and fire in a few hours, and send him off to go deal with the Japs who killed his family." She paused and caught Tads looking at her strangely. "I don't have to like it or agree with them, but I understand them. Their people have been under Japanese occupation for years, and everyone knows someone who's been disappeared, taken away for questioning and has never come back. There's a lot of pain and anger there."
"Well, I think we ought to stay clear of that kind of job." Kai said, bringing them back to the main part of their discussion. "We could double our profits in theory, maybe even more, if we didn't have to purchase the stock up front. But I also don't want to poke the anthill and take risks like that, without recon – and that takes time. And even though we have a pretty stealthy aircraft, why go looking for more trouble like that?" There were a series of nods and grunts of approval from around the table.
"I very much agree. I was looking at the map, and if we did get shot down, it's a very long walk back to the tundra."
"Well, it must be a long way if even you're not happy to do it!" Aswon joked. Swoop looked at him, raising an eyebrow and wondering what she was missing. Aswon pulled out a pad, and then bought up a map of Europe. "Ok, so Tads grew up in a village up here, way up near the Arctic Circle. When we bumped into her, she was down here, in the Trans Caucus League. Which she'd walked to…"
"What?"
"Yeah. Except she'd gone all over the place along the way… probably about five thousand kilometres or so. I mean, in a direct line from here, we're probably not far off that?"
"Six thousand seven hundred and seventy-one" Hunter supplied after a very quick check. "Or about fifteen thousand nine hundred, with her sense of direction."
"HEY!"
"Well, he's got a point, Tads."
"I go where Elk sends me. I don't have to know as long as Elk does. Besides, like you could do any better. You'd never make it past a hundred kilometres." She turned to face Spook, a wry grin on her face. "He'd be unable to walk after a hundred kilometres, you see. He'd have too many venomous creatures hanging off him…"
Aswon's rebuttal was drowned out by the laughter from the rest of the team, and as that died down, Shimazu spoke quietly.
"You're wrong, though, Tads. He would make it past one hundred kilometres. Mostly because that's how far the cannon goats would punt him…"
"I thought you were my friend, Shimazu!" Aswon folded his arms and stared at Shimazu, who just returned his stare with no sign of repentance or sorrow.
"And what's a cannon goat?" Spook asked. She listened as Hunter told the story of their discovery in the deserts east of the Caspian Sea, describing the magically-enhanced creatures with the bullet-proof skulls that they'd encountered. That story, of course, then led on to the tale about the Scorpions, and how Aswon had seemingly become the tastiest member of the team for anything with a bite or stinger, and how Shimazu had ended up lacing him with some date-rape drugs…
"It's not even just critters, mind you. Your friend here," Hunter gestured at Aswon with a gnarly finger, "is the only man I know that defuses landmines with his face."
"That was a long time ago. And I was very unlucky." Spook was grinning now and motioned for Hunter to explain, and listened carefully to his follow on story about their border crossing into Iran, her gaze glancing over to Aswon every now and again as he tried to defend his actions.
"Of course, that's why he doesn't get listened to when he moans about me not paying him enough…" Kai joked.
"At least when I throw a grenade, I get it outside the vehicle and don't fill the cab up with IR smoke!" Aswon responded. "I don't make us nearly crash and kill us all because I can't throw something out of a metre-wide hole!" That sent most of the team off into another fit of giggles, and Aswon had to explain about their journey back towards Kum-Dag and their encounter with bandits and Kai's awful throwing.
That seemed to open the floodgates, and the team were soon telling tales, highlighting some of the crazier and more stupid things they'd done over the past year or two, interrupting each other, embellishing, exaggerating and becoming outraged as each of them dropped the other further into the drek when it came to doing things that looked less than impressive with twenty-twenty hindsight, or describing things that sounded crazy – Aswon in particular launching a volley at Marius about him being an international kidnapper, for having 'stolen' Nadia from her family… Spook went back for some more nibbles for the table and a couple of bottles of cheap wine, and listened avidly as the team described some of their antics, getting to know them better along the way.
"So – how come there are no funny stories about you?" She asked Shimazu, after she'd been listening for twenty minutes.
"Oh, I'm quite sensible, mostly. I mean, I did run into a tree once, in the dark. I couldn't see in the dark at the time, you see."
"Well, that sounds… expected. Almost normal."
"Yeah. Oh – but I mean, there was the time I died. I got better, though…"
"Excuse me?"
"Well, he didn't exactly just get better. It took a whole bunch of native shamans doing a ritual to get him back – we think. And a couple of them didn't survive the process… but yeah, Shimazu's a zombie." Aswon saw the look of disbelief on Spook's face, and then started to explain things, going over their encounter with the Horror in Sioux lands, and that of course then required back-tracking to the temple near Tashkent and their initial discovery of it.
"Of course, that's not the whole story. It's probably important to mention that the reason he died, was that he dived in the way of a magic death bolt thingy that was aimed at me." Kai added quietly, his gaze fixed on Shimazu. "He didn't mention that bit. But then it's not the kind of thing he would talk about. Just the kind of thing he does, to keep those around him safe." He raised his paper cup full of cheap wine, toasting Shimazu, joined by the rest of the team in a strange moment of seriousness.
"He also, however, does do stupid things. I distinctly recall seeing someone throw their sword out of the door of the aircraft while we were in Nigeria." Marius added. "And, of course a moment later, he threw himself out. And we had not landed. On account of all the armed men running around in the clearing…" That started another conversational thread off, and the team ended up describing some of the mission to Nigeria, their strikes against the corporate forces in the defence of the land. When it came to a description of the massive spirit that had been summoned and released to wreak havoc upon the corporate forces, Spook turned to examine Tads more closely.
"It was a way to defend the people of the area. Or at least defend the area."
Aswon snorted, but then rapidly tapped away on his commlink, sending a quick message to Hunter.
[Get me a description of her hero medal will ya?] A few moments later, he got a picture through, then a brief description, then a list of known holders of the medal, as Hunter quickly dipped into the matrix for the information. He forwarded the information on to Spook. She must have felt her commlink vibrate, as she quickly glanced down to it, then looked at him in confusion, wondering why he was sending her messages when he was right there… a moment later, she checked her message, then the follow-on messages that followed it.
"Excuse me just one moment…" She started to tap away on her own device, looking for something for thirty seconds, before turning back to Tads. "So sorry about that, just needed to check on something. So you…" A few notes started to come out of her commlink, "like to keep quiet and out of the way…" the music became more strident – and familiar, "and keep a low profile…", the Russian Federation anthem was now clearly distinguishable, even if it was slightly tinny and strained coming from the small device, "to avoid attracting attention? Have I got that right?"
"Well, we've all had our moments. I might as well show you mine, before someone else makes up some nonsense!" Hunter span his deck around, playing the video of his pit-fight in The Quarry. The footage wasn't great quality, having been shot on someone's hand-held link in low light – but it was clear enough, and Spook still winced when Hunter launched his crippling attack.
"What had they done to deserve that?" she asked. Hunter then went on to explain about the crew of the 'Bogbuster', and their actions – or attempted actions – against Nadia, and just how upset that had made Marius, and by extension the rest of the team, and how it had seemed the safer option to take it out in a one-on-one fight against their champion than to risk the enmity of the base and whatever weird spirits or magical forces were actually in charge there.
"Sounds like you've been having a lot of fun all over. Making friends and influencing people wherever you go – for better or worse."
"You could say that. Let's just say we won't be going back to Iran." Shimazu responded. Marius and Hunter were quick to nod in agreement with him.
"Well, much as I'd like to agree, we all know we'll be back there, if we're told to go back. To one particular mountain, if nothing else."
"No, I agree with Shimazu." Marius said with finality.
"You, of all people, know better mate." Aswon fixed Marius with a challenging stare. "Are you telling me that if the owner of that mountain tells us to go back and talk to him, you're going to say no. And make him send his agents out to come find us… or worse, come find us himself? Or herself? Because we still don't know…" Marius scowled at him, but didn't answer, and Aswon turned back to Spook. "On a COMPLETE change of subject, did you know that many people have assumed the Great Dragon Aden is male, but nobody knows for certain?" Spook looked at him for a few moments, waiting to see if there was a punchline, and then gave a little sigh, shaking her head.
"It's the height, isn't it? Makes you a lightning rod for drek. Serves you right for being so tall!"
"Pah. Well, maybe. So… yeah, that's a little bit about us. What can you tell us about the city? Anything we should know while we're here?"
"Well… that's a bit of a broad subject. Ok then…" Spook took a sip of her wine and then sat back in her seat, and started to describe the city and the political structure that managed it – the mix of corporate interests from the largest mega-corporations mixing in with the local players – the principal one being the bank HKB which was the largest indigenous corporation in the area with significant local power and prestige, and then the mix of local crime syndicates – the various Triads, the attempts to inroad into their power base from the Japanese Yakuza, the Korean Seoulpa Rings, even the Russian Vory, along with a thriving colony of smugglers that took advantage of the location in such a key trade position.
With the legacy of rule from the UK and then a transition of power technically to China, followed by the breakdown of the Chinese empire into warring states and the extra-territorial status of the mega-corps, it was clear that Hong Kong was a melting pot of political intrigue and manoeuvring, with the various factions constantly vying for power and advantage. Spook went on to describe how a lot of biz ended up funnelling through Hong Kong, rather than originating here. Most of the local work was aimed at corporate espionage, particularly with a financial element to it, but that tended to attract a very specific type of crew, rather than the stereotypical mix that many Shadowrunners ended up focussing on. Local jobs were often very stealthy, subtle and drawn out affairs of painstaking recon and recording, careful decker intrusions and long term social engineering that would have been anathema to a typical Seattle crew that favoured a quiet break in and a very noisy shoot-your-way-out exit.
As a result of it being a transit hub, though, it was relatively common to find first generation implants and gear filtering through the city – not the bleeding edge proto-types, but the first production runs of new products that had been mis-appropriated and diverted to other shippers thanks to some creative editing of records or shipping logs. The other advantage to the easy access by air, land and sea, and the constant struggle between factions was that the city was also a melting pot of culture – a fusion of east and west, with all meta-types represented locally, and probably less racial bias than many other places in the world. There was still some of course, but you were as likely to find refuge in some areas despite being a troll if you had Chinese heritage, than a white or black human…
By two in the morning, they were starting to flag a little, and Spook suggested that they find a hotel room – she had a contact nearby that could make some arrangements for a quiet place to stay in a cheap chain, no questions asked. It was close enough that when they agreed, Spook left the mini-van where it was, and they walked the few hundred metres to the hotel, stepping through the almost non-existent ward around the lobby to approach the reception desk. The clerk on duty clearly recognised Spook, but greeted her professionally and courteously. She quickly arranged for 'contractor rooms' – which turned out to be somewhat claustrophobic slender rooms, with a toilet and shower cubicle, and a single bed, with room to put a small amount of baggage and nothing else. They were just big enough to let a single business visitor that had come to the city for work to rest, get clean and be on their way, with no additional frills or space – but without them being the coffin hotels that signified that you were considered nothing more than a product to be as densely packed as possible.
Tads insisted on doing a quick scan on everyone before they bedded down, checking the auras of the team to ensure nobody was being tracked or magically affected, and also did a quick astral trip back to the building site to check on the Broadsword – but everything seemed quiet and safe.
The night – or what was left of it – passed uneventfully. Tads disappeared outside at dawn and called upon some new spirits and then flew over to the Broadsword with them, setting them to guard and conceal the aircraft for the day, checking everything was ok and that the watchman was still on duty, before heading back to the hotel and curling back up in bed for another hour, snoozing off the mild headache. The team assembled again a little after eight, heading down to the plaza to grab some food and settle down for breakfast. While they were eating, Aswon's commlink buzzed and he checked the message from Spook.
"Oh… you're going to hate this, Marius… Spook has an invite for us. To meet someone local."
"I knew we would end up involved in something!"
"Who is it, Aswon? I mean, I know it's Spook, but who's the other person?"
"Not a clue, Kai. Let me call her." He tapped in the commcode, and waited for the call to connect. "Spook, you're on speaker, at the plaza, team's listening in."
"Good morning to you all then. I've had someone reach out to me – with an offer. They'd like to meet you, this evening. It's a local gentleman. Let's call him 'Grandfather Fan'. Traditional Chinese gent, advanced in both years and wisdom. Strong family business. Keen interests in the local area."
"Ok, think I get your meaning here Spook. He's quite well…organised?"
"Yes, he is. And I think you're correct there. Is that an issue?" Aswon looked over to Marius and raised an eyebrow a little before he answered.
"I don't know. We visited Hong Kong briefly a little while back, when we were passing through on our way north, and ran into a little trouble."
"It was with the Blue Lotus Society. We encountered several members of the family that did not take kindly to our business dealings."
"Oh, ok – well that's good to know. But Grandfather is with the Red Cranes, so that's not a problem. Not directly at least."
"I'm guessing his interests cover the core part of the city then, and not the other side of the island, where we were? That would seem to fit the structure and power levels I'm aware of." Kai asked.
"Yeah, the Cranes cover the central business district and some of the suburbs, but not Aberdeen or the airport, places like that. Part of the lovely political rivalries we have to deal with."
"Is this a meeting we can turn down?"
"Surprisingly perhaps, Aswon – yes. He's asking to meet you, sending you a polite request. Not sending a messenger around to tell you to attend. I'd urge you not to be rude, but if you sent your regrets and left – then I don't think that would be an issue. Just don't send your regrets and not leave – that would be an insult that wouldn't go down well."
"I think we can take some time to meet your acquaintance. We're not up against the clock for this delivery, after all."
"Great… well, we have invitations to meet at the 888 casino tonight, at nine o'clock. I presume you've got evening wear? Suits or tuxes or something?"
"Actually, we haven't. They sort of got destroyed with the previous aircraft."
"Ahh – unfortunate. Well, I can get you sorted out with a tailor if you need it? We've got some people that do quick turn-around custom work I can recommend?"
"Then yes, please. We'll head over now – at least we've got most of a day to get sorted!"
"Right – I'll be round shortly then to pick you up from the plaza!"
"Thanks, Spook. We'll probably want to get back to the building site to get some things from the aircraft, is that cool?"
"Yes, no problem… I'll catch you soon."
Aswon disconnected the call, and the others started to eat more rapidly, aiming to finish their food before Spook arrived.
Once she'd picked them up, she took them to a quiet street a little way out of the city centre, dropping them off at a plain and undecorated doorway. Inside was a small waiting area, with an open doorway to a medium-sized workshop full of workers hunched over workstations – seeming to combine heavy-duty sewing machines with fabrication baths that probably made use of first-generation nanites. She introduced them to the owner, a trim middle-aged man who apparently ran the business, explaining that they needed some suits made for that evening, describing the type of venue they were heading to.
There followed a small consultation with a number of fabrics and styles displayed – the team went for some fairly plain but classical materials and looks, something timeless rather than cutting edge, and allowed the tailor and his staff to come and measure them up. Nobody seemed to bat an eyelid about the size of the concealed holsters worn by several of the team – though at this stage, the team would have been surprised if this had been an issue that Spook hadn't foreseen!
With a hefty deposit paid against the twenty-five thousand Nuyen bill, they were sent away for the rest of the day while the staff started pulling out bolts of material and firing up the software on their cutters and shapers, warming up the chemical baths that would seal and weld the ballistic weaves together and getting ready to sew the impact-resistant material together into a handful of comfortable and smart suits.
They headed back to the aircraft, grabbing weapons and equipment for their excursion later, and checking things out – and letting Tads prod and push them through the aircraft to ensure they all passed through the ward just in case there was any weird kind of tracking being attempted that she somehow couldn't sense, before they headed back into town to do a little window-shopping and see the sights.
Kai decided to send both Ludmilla and Germaine a brief message, explaining that they were in Hong Kong for business, and would be coming back – though they didn't have any timescale on that just yet, and checking to see if they wanted any small items bought back while they were here – figuring that even some wine or long-life food might earn them some kudos with the two fixers.
At around seven that night, they headed back to the tailors, getting the final fitting and approval done on the suits, checking for fit and form over their concealed weapons, and a little after eight, six very smartly-dressed but unusual looking meta-humans clambered into the van once more, along with a very demure and traditionally dressed Spook, and started to head towards the waterfront and the triple-8 casino, to meet the boss of the Red Crane Triad.
