While Hunter started to gather data and compose a post to throw up on Shadowland giving some details about the encounter with the Merrow, Marius banked gently to the left, bringing the Broadsword to a heading of zero-six-two, heading towards the Philippines.
"We are three hundred and seventy-five point one two kilometres from our destination. Flight time should be approximately forty-six point eight minutes."
"Well, I'm glad that you're not being precise, Marius." Kai quipped, grabbing a look at the map. The area was a very generic blob of green, with no real detail shown on the available imagery. It seemed to be a fairly common issue they faced, where the freely available maps and information on the matrix were definitely sub-standard, with all of the 'good stuff' locked away on corporate hosts or requiring specific memberships or authority to access – none of which they had, or were interested in handing over their details to get hold of. Perhaps they really did need to invest in a better deck for Hunter so he could actually do some hacking runs against data-stores and corporate info-vaults after all…
"Oh, Hunter – when you finished the thingy, can you check out this contact number. Well, letters. Or whatever it is…" He checked on the contact details he'd been given along with the co-ordinates for the drop-off point. It certainly wasn't a regular comm-code number like he was used to!
"Sure, squirt it over…" Hunter sounded somewhat distant, no doubt half his mind focussing on the task in hand on his deck, while he sent and received data onto the matrix upload portal. "Oh – it's a node address."
"And what's that?"
"It's like a comm-code, but for matrix use. But it'll take a voice call, a text, a data packet, stuff like that – then routes it on to another address. Gives you some privacy and anonymity. Is that for our contact?"
"Yes… so how do I call them?"
"If you want to let them know about our arrival, just say – and I'll send them a message with our estimated arrival time."
"Yeah – ok, do that, please. At least then they can be expecting us. Or have time to set up the ambush properly…" Aswon frowned at Kai, not finding his joke particularly funny, but then sighed, as once more Kai just grinned at him completely unrepentant.
They flew onwards, Marius keeping them at a steady pace and moderate height, his attention working through a constant cycle of sensor checks and readings, keeping an eye out for any further Imperial Japanese Navy ships or other installations. Eventually they closed on the westernmost islands of the Philippines, and he started to pick up readings from the islands themselves, plotting positions of radar and other sensors and working with Hunter to update their map. Previously they'd been much further to the east than this, and they'd not travelled near this area at all, so he had no expectations of what they were going to find.
"I am picking up a number of shore-based radar systems, but there are significant gaps in the coverage, and a variety of signal strengths. Some areas should have coverage, but appear to be lacking – I suspect because the power systems are not reliable in some of these areas. It would explain why they have warships patrolling the approaches, if the sensor net is this poor. I foresee no problems making landfall, without detection." Even so he eased them down towards the ocean slightly, not wanting to court danger.
They started to cross over or by small islands, scattered rocks that weren't big enough to land the aircraft on, to longer thin ridgelines that knifed out of the water's edge, larger domes of volcanic rock that had been thrust up out of the water thousands of years ago and worn smooth by wind and tide, to large outcroppings that had managed to gather some soil and support vegetation, before crossing the northern reach of a much larger island that actually showed signs of metahuman habitation. The land rose up to nearly three hundred metres, and Marius rose slightly, making sure he was still well clear of any pylons or towers that might crop up suddenly on the other side of a ridgeline, before descending once more as they crossed back over to the sea.
"Twenty-five kilometres out – just over three minutes!" Marius warned. In the passenger compartment, the team checked weapons and armour, then unstrapped and moved into the cargo area, getting ready to deploy. "Entering the bay now, stand by." They aircraft angled up slightly as Marius bled off speed, slowing as he approached the settlement. Below the aircraft the waters turned a lighter shade of bluey-green as they entered the shallows. "I can see a harbour ahead – decent quality by the looks of things. Solid quays coming out and a good breakwater, with a few fishing boats inside. Cheap housing spread around the dock and down the beach front in both directions, fairly standard construction. Similar build materials and quality to the general area around Port Harcourt."
The team listened in as Marius continued to describe the village as they approached, building a mental picture of the area while they gathered near the rear-ramp. It sounded very much like a typically poor single-focus village, in this case probably based entirely around fishing. Most people would be employed in manual labour positions, with minimal education and services present, poor or no healthcare, and nothing in the way of luxuries, with large families sharing one or perhaps two bedroom shanties and living in a hand-to-mouth fashion.
"Target in sight – appears to be an old school. Large pre-fab modules, actually more sturdy than anything else here. Looks like they have a sports court of some kind – solid surface though, so I will aim to touch down there. Surrounded by vegetation on three sides, no more than twenty metres out though, so be wary…"
The craft angled up again, shedding all forward momentum and then spinning around swiftly enough to make those in the back grab hold of the side of the fuselage as Marius turned to ensure the back ramp was aimed towards the school. Potentially it gave those in the back the most exposure if anyone came out of the building shooting – but it also let them apply the most firepower in that direction, too, and Marius knew that unless they had seriously miscalculated, the team had far more in the way of ability to rain down destruction than most people would expect. It also gave those in the back the best coverage against any ambushers lurking in the treeline.
"Target emerging – hey! We have met her before. In the previous drop off on the stupid rafts. It is 'Emerald' – I remember her clearly!" A moment later. the wheels touched down with a gentle bump, and Marius throttled the engines back to their minimum settings – but he didn't power down, keeping the engines running at the lowest possible power settings, just in case. "Zooming in – yes. Exactly the same facial features, height, description – we met them before, over on one of the other islands to the south-east, when we sold the weapons purchased from the South-African expats."
"Well, hopefully that will make things easier, then!" Kai sounded quite chirpy at the concept of not being met with instant suspicion and hostility.
"They have spotted us! Through the spirit concealment – looking straight at us!" Marius warned, somewhat surprised. He didn't understand quite how Tads did her mumbo jumbo still, but it was generally so reliably effective that he realised he'd come to rely upon it just as much as his ECMs and stealth systems – and it came as a somewhat rude shock to him when the figure was quite clearly looking in their direction, unerringly staring at the rear ramp. She took a last deep drag on her cigarette and then dropped it on the floor and ground her foot on it, before starting to amble over towards them. Short and stocky she was wearing cheap-looking clothing, faded from the strong sunlight and hard conditions, and her nose was slightly kinked from some fight or accident in the past. A submachinegun was hung under one arm on a sling, ready for action but not in hand, and she was studying the aircraft with curiosity as she approached.
"Doesn't appear hostile – wary, careful. No sense of danger, though." Shimazu murmured after quickly checking out the woman in astral space and probing her aura. "Not magical, minimal cyberware."
"Ahh – so good to be here!" Kai gave a wide smile as he descended the ramp, Shimazu close in on his right hand side, Aswon further out, already scanning the woodline for any signs of trouble. Tads waited at the top of the ramp, her magical shielding covering the team, and they could just about hear the sounds of the door thumping open behind them as Hunter hurried out of the cockpit to come and join them. "We weren't expecting to see you here, Miss. Emerald, but how nice to see you again!"
Shimazu felt the aura change as he descended the ramp, the sharp spike of anger, hostility, confusion and betrayal – and his eyes widened as the figure grasped at the handle of the submachine gun and started to bring it to bear. His reflexes kicked in, and without hesitation or conscious thought, he stepped forward and around Kai, shielding him with his own body, while his hand tightened on the hilt of his sword. Yet the mix of emotions coming from the woman confused him, and his read of her kept his hand in place, the sword resting in the scabbard still. She wasn't attacking – she was reacting as if she was defending from an attack…
To the side, Aswon caught the sudden blur of movement out of his peripheral vision, and turned himself, his own reflexes kicking in to match Shimazu's, slowing down his perception of the action while he swung his own rifle around in what felt like slow-motion, bringing it to bear on the angry face of their contact, wondering just what Kai might have said or done to have provoked this reaction.
Atop the ramp, Tads started to gather energy to her, ready to let rip with a stun-ball on everyone that she could see. She was pretty confident that her magical shielding would protect the team-mates that cluttered her line of sight – but even if it didn't, and they dropped to the ground unconscious, she could live with that, as long as their opponent was, too!
"Why do you call me that - that's not my name!" Her voice was raspy and aggressive, and her other hand had come up to grab the fore-grip on the gun, holding it unerringly in front of her, now only thirty centimetres from Shimazu's chest. Aswon couldn't work out why he hadn't moved, knowing that this woman was lucky to still be in one piece – but while neither she nor Shimazu were attacking, he was content to remain still – though his rifle barrel was lined up perfectly with her ear now.
"You remind me of someone I met, not too long ago. If that wasn't you – I apologise… but you look exactly the same as them." Kai spoke calmly, his voice muffled slightly by the presence of Shimazu in front of him. He didn't know what was going on – but he also had more than enough faith in Shimazu to trust him implicitly in situations like this. He'd obviously seen a threat and responded, and Kai wasn't going to circumvent him. "Anyway, regardless of that, we're here for business – we have a delivery for you, and aren't looking for any trouble." Kai saw the autocannon in the turret above him tracking around as Marius took control, locking up onto the woman as well. If he fired that, there'd be nothing left but her shoes probably…
The woman stared at Shimazu, their eyes locked together, seconds passing as they both examined each other intently. She broke contact first, letting the gun ease down slowly, though her hand stayed tightly in control of the weapon, while her other hand rooted around in her pocket before pulling out a battered phone. One handed she opened the menu and found a contact number, dialled it and then started to speak quickly, words tumbling out of her mouth. She paused for a moment, then leaned to one side, aiming the camera at Kai. Somewhat to the surprise of the others, Shimazu shifted, making it easier for her.
"She's conflicted, not really hostile. Very confused, and paranoid…" the bodyguard subvocalized. He kept his hand on this sword, but mostly so he could still peer into astral space and check on her aura. It was a complex and fascinating swirl of emotions. But while the situation clearly wasn't calm, for some reason he had faith that this was just some kind of misunderstanding. Misunderstanding of what he didn't know, but he just couldn't detect any innate hostility in her.
"What's your name?"
"Kai. From the New Fish team…" The woman squinted at him for a moment, then continued to chatter away, though they could all hear her relay Kai's name over the commlink to whoever was on the other end of the call. Tads frowned, drawing in more and more power, getting ready to unleash a spell that was going to put her to sleep for a week – when suddenly the woman let go of her gun and relaxed. It wasn't quite a smile – but the relief coming off of her was palpable. More convincing to Tads though was that Shimazu relaxed, stepping to the side and out of the way, resuming his customary position behind and to the side of Kai.
"It seems you met my sister – Emerald. I'm Ruby though."
"Well, that's fine with me. We still have some business to conclude, I believe? A delivery for you and your fine friends, to help you with your struggles." Kai gave a slight smile, and kept his appearance calm and unruffled.
"Okay, then." If Ruby was impressed with his calm demeanour, she kept it hidden, instead turning towards the building and shouting out a sentence in the local lingo. Thirty seconds later, the door opened, and a handful of men emerged and headed over their way. They were all male, with a mix of clothing and body types – but all of them had what appeared to be a fine spiderweb of white material draped over them, covering arms, legs, body and head. All of them carried machetes or large knives in belt loops – though given how close they were to the jungle, that seemed to be more prudence than an effort to arm themselves.
"Do you want a hand unloading?" Tads offered.
"Nah – we got this." Hunter came back up the ramp and she heard him give a small grunt as he grasped one of the boxes, carrying it by himself down towards the ramp, muscles bulging and depositing it into the waiting hands of the first pair of workers, then grinning as they almost dropped it, not expecting the weight. To the side, Ruby had sparked up another cigarette, taking a deep drag on it and then letting smoke emerge from her nostrils, winding around her head in the damp air.
"Are there instructions?" I mean, I'm guessing they're pretty standard rifles. But anything special we need to know?"
"I don't think there's any kind of guidance – but I can show you?" Aswon offered. Ruby nodded, then gestured for the pair to set down the weapons crate and open the top.
"Do your men speak English?"
"No, not really. A few words here and there perhaps." Ruby shrugged.
"Well, if you can let them know I will demonstrate slowly, and show them what they need to know then…" Aswon pried open the top of the box, revealing the set of rifles inside, still encased in their original vacuum packaged bags. He waved for the men to gather around him, listening with half an ear as Hunter continued to ferry the supplies out and pile them up nearby, as he tore open the bag.
Pulling on the tear-line, he ripped open the bag and removed the rifle, checking the magazine well and the chamber to ensure it was absolutely clear, then grabbed the gun in two hands. Looking up he checked that he had all their attention, and swung the gun around to point at one of their feet – feeling uncomfortable as he did so, despite checking the weapon was safe only moments ago.
"Ahh-ahh-ahhhhh!" he said loudly, then shook his finger to reinforce the point, gesturing with the hand from the barrel of the gun towards the foot of the person he'd let the muzzle aim at. With that hand, he then deliberately moved the barrel of the gun, relocating it away from the worker's foot. Then he mimed looking over to the jungle suddenly, as if hearing something – and let the rifle aim back towards the person again. "Ahh-ahh-ahhhhh!" Once more, he gestured to the risk, and looked around the workers, making brief eye contact with each of them, trying to make sure they understood the point.
Next he turned the rifle around, so the chamber was facing the group and worked the slide, then pointed to his own eyes, and into the chamber – getting each of them to look in the open chamber one at a time. When they'd all looked, and had seen the empty space, he gave them a thumbs up – then grabbed a single round of ammo, holding it up to show them, and slid it into the chamber, then repeated the operation, showing them all what it looked like with a live round present, getting them to check and nod their understanding.
Then, with pantomime levels of slow and deliberate action, he started to swing the barrel around towards his demonstration victims foot, hoping they understood what he was doing.
"Walang! Panganib!" One of them said sternly, then pushed the gun barrel away into a clear area.
"Good!" Aswon grinned at him and gave him a thumbs up, reassuring him that he'd understood correctly and done the right thing. He worked the bolt, catching the round as it was expelled, and then showed them all the empty chamber once more, letting them see it was clear – before quickly palming the round back in place without them noticing. Once more he started to move the rifle towards the man's leg, wondering if they'd stop him. Just before he was about to actually bring the weapon to bear, he stopped. "Walang. Panganib." He repeated it twice more, hoping he got the pronunciation of the unfamiliar words right, then half worked the bolt, enough to open the chamber and show the round without actually ejecting it. He saw some gasps of surprise and confusion, and at least one of the men who then gave him a very sharp look and a nod of understanding as to what he was trying to demonstrate. The man gestured to the barrel, and then the man's leg, and started to fire off in Filipino, sharing his wisdom – while Aswon and Hunter listened intently, trying to pick up some meaning.
Aswon continued, next covering off trigger discipline, demonstrating several times to them of keeping his finger off the trigger unless he actually wanted to fire. He worked through the men, calling each one over one at a time, and handing them the rifle – and then making them check the chamber to ensure it was empty before they did anything else, before demonstrating how to hold and shoulder the rifle, and then move into a position ready to fire. Working through the line, he made sure to insert his loose round into the chamber as he handed over the weapon to the man who had spoken before – trusting that he would have the confidence to do something about it. Sure enough, he checked the chamber as soon as he was handed the weapon, and wasn't too surprised when the round came flying out, letting out with another rapid burst of language, and even shaking his finger at Aswon with mock anger for trying to trick him. The rest of the group laughed, and Aswon joined in, grinning and giving the man a clap and then a thumbs up to show that he'd done well – continuing to listen and try to sort through the language and get a feel for what was being said.
"Perhaps we can get them to record your demonstration, so they can watch it later, and share it with other people they hand the weapons over to?" Tads suggested.
"I'd much rather not – I definitely do NOT want to be on record as giving weapons training and supply to a bunch of guerrillas, thank you very much. I mean, not that the Japanese occupation force are going to be falling over themselves to treat us well if they did catch us – but that's definitely not going to help! I don't mind doing it," he flashed a glance to Ruby who nodded at him around another deep intake from her cigarette, "but I don't want evidence of doing it, thank you."
"Well, perhaps then we can do a mind-link, if they're willing. Or I can cast a spell on them to let them translate your speech? But that should make it easier?"
"Maybe – I'm not sure we're at a trusting place with these people yet for something like that. It's a good idea, though."
Kai, meanwhile, moved over to Ruby, turning his back on Aswon and the trainees.
"That seems to be progressing. Perhaps, though, we can get down to business, and cover off the unpleasant part of the negotiations…" He pulled out the cred-reader and flipped the power switch on, letting it go through its start-up and verification routines. "I'm sure you'd much rather we gave you the guns, but unfortunately we do have expenses to cover.
"You're right… it would be nice. But this is the real world…" She reached into her sling bag and pulled out a small case, just bigger than the palm of her hand. The top side had a keypad and slender display, along with a thumbprint scanner. She rolled her thumb over it, and when a light went green pressed in a nine-digit code on the keypad, angling it slightly away from Kai to reduce his chance to observe it. The box clicked open, revealing a cred-stick nestled in the middle, surrounded by a soft clay and some wiring. "Here, this should cover everything."
"Thank you… that's an odd cred-stick holder?" Ruby gave him a slightly scathing look, but didn't say anything, and he slotted the credstick into his reader, querying the amount it contained, and seeing a balance of ninety-eight thousand, eight hundred and thirty-four Nuyen. He frowned a little, trying to remember just what had been discussed in terms of payment with Spook – but not wanting to disturb the others. Suddenly, though, Hunter lifted his head up and sniffed several times, his head twisting back and forth.
"I can smell low-grade explosives. Something home-cooked, a C4 derivative or analogue. Something along those lines anyway." He sent out the message subvocally, alerting the team over their ear-pieces.
"Hunter… this cred-stick case has a code lock on it, and some kind of clay or squishy substance inside?" Kai spoke out loud, gesturing to the now empty case, and Hunter wandered over towards them and sniffed again, nodding to himself firmly as he took a closer sample.
"Courier case I take it?" He glanced over at Ruby, nodding in approval at her, and she returned his nod. "Makes sense. Don't want to lose your money, but don't want the Japs to get it either, do you." He took a few more sniffs, then seemed satisfied that the size of the case accounted for all of the whiffs of explosive material he'd picked up on and returned to the study group, watching as Aswon continued to demonstrate how to operate the rifles safely.
"Interesting. Well –I've checked the amount, and it's more than we were expecting. We were only looking for seventy-five thousand. So I can take that much off the stick and return it to you? I'm afraid we don't have any more guns or equipment to pass over to you to use up the rest."
"What? But I thought…. No, ok, that's fine." Ruby seemed genuinely confused, then immediately seized on the idea of getting some of the money back.
"Look – I mean it. We're out here to make money, sure. But we also want to make friends, contacts. To help people. It's not all about the money. As long as we cover our expenses, we'd rather not screw people over. And we know how hard you're fighting against the subjugation force. We're not interested in helping them. That's why we ended up doing a run to your sister… we had some arms, and found out that she needed them – and we sold them at pretty much no profit, just adding on the cost of our fuel. We could have just taken the whole lot, but I'd rather be honest with you, and make a friend or contact that we can work with for years, rather than just gouge you and never see you again."
"Could you get more weapons for us, with the rest?"
"In theory – yes. We have people who are weapons dealers, people we know in China – but they're not close. By the time we got up there, and budgeted for fuel to get back, it would use up a fair amount of the money, and we couldn't bring many guns back with us. So I'm not sure that's a good use of your money. And I'm guessing that stick held pretty much everything you had? All the funds you'd scraped together for your next bit of conflict?" He saw Ruby nod, and rubbed at his chin as he pondered the situation.
"We were planning on leaving almost straight away. Heading off on our next bit of work. But if we're going to be supplying you with some more stuff, we need to understand what you need. Maybe we do need to stay a while, if we're welcome?"
"Of course. But you probably want to get your pilot to turn off the engines then – he must be spending a lot on fuel otherwise!"
"Good call. Ok, Marius – slight change of plan. We're probably staying for at least a little while, so you probably want to power down. And if we're going to be working together, I should probably introduce you to everyone…" Kai did just that, introducing each member of the team to Ruby and giving a very brief discussion on what they did for the team.
"I'm guessing you don't have any more money – because if you did, you would have asked for more guns."
"That's it – that was all we'd managed to raise over the last year from everything we've done."
"Hmm… ok, what about trade goods, or barter. Is there anything you have that we could take and sell, to get you more money? We're smugglers mostly, but we trade a lot, and have moved legitimate cargo around as well. Maybe we can work something out?"
Ruby turned to one of the workers and asked him to do something, with Aswon and Hunter listening in carefully, trying to determine what was said – they were starting to pick up a few words, and some linguistic nuance, but it was a slow process. The worker returned about two minutes later carrying a box, probably big enough for a pair of shoes, which they handed over to Ruby.
"So, where are you heading next?"
"We don't specifically have plans – we were going to do this job, and then head off somewhere else, depending on what happened. Maybe back to our home base – but we don't have anywhere specific we need to be."
"Ok, maybe we can help each other out, then… so, what do you know about the textiles market?"
"Nothing really. Maybe a little something if it's very old – I'm interested in antiques, so if it was an ancient tapestry or something like that I might be able to offer some advice. But otherwise I don't think we're that knowledgeable about it at all. Why's that?"
"Please be careful then with this – they're still very delicate. But have a look in the box." She offered the box to Kai, who took it carefully from her, and started to open the lid – feeling Shimazu close up on him as he did so, ready to spring into action if it was required. But as he opened the lid, inside he saw a mass of fine white thread, loosely looped and filling the box from one end to the other. "Try with the back of your hand." Ruby made a motion, and Kai wondered what she meant for a moment, then gently brushed the back of his hand over the contents – and found himself shuddering as the incredibly fine and soft material stimulated the hairs on the back of his hand.
"That's so soft? Is that silk?"
"Vampire silk we call it. But that's what we're collecting here… it's very fine, so it gets everywhere, if you're not careful." She gestured at the clothing of the workers, and suddenly the fine white marks made sense. "We have an arrangement with some people that come and buy this from us, and ship it out to sell to some manufacturers, to turn into clothing. It's hard to weave, but makes for strong and very pretty fabric, that's very expensive. Not that we see most of that money…"
"I can understand that." Kai looked up at the grey clouds overhead, then back at the material in the box. On a hunch, he pulled out his commlink and turned on the torch light embedded into it, then shone it over the silken thread, gasping as it shimmered in the light, refracting the white light into a gentle rainbow that suffused through the neighbouring fibres. "That's beautiful. And I can imagine that it's highly sought after as well – and a bugger for you to get past the blockade. So, do you have a buyer?"
"No. The people that come to move it just purchase it from us, then take it away to sell. We're pretty sure they're gouging us, but we haven't found anyone else we can trust or get to come and smuggle it out. And we've been worried that if we go looking, they'll sell us out to the occupation force." Ruby shrugged. "Is it something you could buy from us, and take to sell. And use that money to get more guns?"
Kai paused for a moment, making himself review what she'd just said. It sounded like she was willing to take the team on trust, effectively – taking the silk to go and sell, and then using the money to top up the remaining funds. They had an opportunity here to just leave with a quantity of goods and cash, and disappear into the night – but Ruby seemed to have been convinced that they were trustworthy, at least to some extent.
"Yes, I think we can work something out. Of course, it depends on how much of this you have, and how soon you need to get it sold. And who we can find to shift this to – we don't want to sell it too cheaply, after all!"
"Guys, come look at this stuff. Hunter – I think we need some research doing on this stuff."
The team headed over, taking turns to examine the silk inside the box. Kai shone the light over it, making it glimmer, and Hunter found a loose end, pulling on it gently and watching it gently unspool.
"How long is this?"
"It's probably a few hundred metres, maybe a kilometre long. But still a little fragile at this stage, until it's woven."
"I need to do some checking on this stuff." He moved over to the tail ramp and sat down with a ponderous thump, then jacked into his deck, connected up via the sat-link and started doing some searches.
"How do you gather this?" Aswon asked.
"By hand, from the jungle." Ruby gestured out into the wilderness, beyond the small sports area.
"Oh… that explains it. Some of this…. It looks, well, very clean." He keyed up his transmitter, sending the next part sub-vocally. "Looks like it might have a slight edge of mana wrapped up in it, or at least some bit of it. Possibly telesma… if it's been hand-prepared, that would help. Might be worth a lot more to an enchanter rather than a tailor. If there's more, we should have a look at it."
"Concur, Aswon. There's definitely magical potential there." Tads confirmed a few moments later, after carefully checking out the supply.
"I'm going to call a friend of mine up in Hong Kong – see if I can find a buyer." Aswon informed them, then pulled out his commlink and headed away from the group, already dialling. He, too, had to jump on the sat-link, there being absolutely no signal or service here. "Spook? Aswon… got some questions for you."
"Go ahead."
"We're doing the drop off now of that job you put us onto. Turns out they have some local supplies, some silk. Really soft and beautiful stuff, slightly iridescent. Do you have anyone that works in the textiles industry you could put us in touch with or broker a deal for?"
"Well, the city is well known for its suits and clothing, as well as the high-tech trade. After all – didn't I get you some sharp threads made up same day ready for your meeting with Grandfather?"
"Well, technically speaking, it wasn't you… but I take your point. Yes – I can imagine someone along that line of work would be great."
"How much are we talking about here?"
"I have no idea yet – but our customer needs a buyer, and certainly has some stock, and would love to sell it on for a good price."
"I can make some calls – can you find out what kind of silk it is, and how much you have, and ideally a price for it. That'll help a lot!"
"Sure, will do Spook. Will get back to you as soon as I can."
When he got back outside he found Ruby talking with Kai, describing how the building was dedicated to refining and cleaning the silk gathered by teams that ventured into the jungle that covered nearly all of the island, gathering the cocoons and returning them to be treated and then teased out into loose silk, ready to be gathered up, boxed and sold to the smugglers that came by every now and then. She invited them in, and most of the team followed her – leaving Marius to watch the sensors and Hunter to continue his digging on the matrix.
As they entered the building, they were struck by the smell that pervaded the structure – it was like boiled pork, and the entire building seemed to be seeped in it – every surface, every item, every fixture seemed to have a faint tang to it that, though not particularly strong, seemed to be overwhelming at first. Inside the building the internal walls had been smashed down at some point in the past, leaving only the structural columns intact. Wooden contraptions were fixed up on all the walls, and kilometre after kilometre of silk thread were wound around the various pegs and turns, stretching back and forth across the room, slowly drying. Several dozen workers were dealing with the silk, working in large baths to clean materials, or winding silk up into loose bundles, running it through combs or other finely crafted pieces of wood for some purpose or another. It was a hive of industry, and silk was everywhere.
"How much is in here?" Kai asked, looking around while he tried to work out just what was going on.
"We maybe have four hundred kilos saved up at the moment. Somewhere around there. It's light, but bulky at this stage. You don't want to wind it too tightly until it's been woven together into slightly thicker strands, something suitable for clothmaking. Or you get breakages…"
"We can definitely do something with that kind of volume, I'm sure. And I'm certain we can get it all in the Broadsword. That's our aircraft… yeah – we might need a lot of boxes or something, but this is doable."
"Just got a quick update from Hong Kong," Aswon said, checking over the message on his commlink. "I'm being told that raw silk is easily worth a hundred Nuyen per kilo. So if you've got four hundred kilos, then that's 40,000 Nuyen resale value. We'll have some fuel cost to come off that, I'm sure – Kai can work that out, but that should give enough money for enough guns to make a trip worthwhile."
The smell was intense enough that none of the team wanted to stay inside if they didn't need to, so they headed back out into the fresh air – or what counted as fresh during the rainy season. It was hot and humid – but at least it didn't smell of boiling meat out here, and the small amount of breeze coming from the sea was very welcome.
"You're gonna like this!" Hunter announced over the comms, but they also saw him coming out of the aircraft, heading their way, deck hanging from one hand. "I got some good intel on this stuff. Here and a couple of other places are noted as being good for the production of this 'vampire silk', in the last year or so, and it's really caught on for some designers. Something to do with how the weave captures the light and stuff, and they can do some crazy drek with fibre optics and colour changing modules. Anyway – there's a bunch of fancy-pants designers going mad over it, and because it's hard to get hold of, that's pushed prices up – which has made it seem really exclusive, and that in turn has made the price go even further up, as celebrities and stuff try to get hold of it. According to what I just found, it's in real short supply, and we're not looking at a hundred per kilo – think more like five-hundred."
"Well, for two hundred thousand minus fuel costs – we can definitely get you some guns!" Aswon announced. "What kind of guns do you need?"
"Yes."
"No – it doesn't work like that." Hunter sounded a little cross, and he pointed at Ruby with a gnarly finger. "You gotta tell us what you need, and what you're using them for. And what you're trained to work with. Looking at your boys earlier, they can use rifles, shotguns, pistols… but ain't no good giving them heavy crew-served weapons. They'll not understand how they work, and they won't maintain 'em right." He sighed. "Look, wait here a minute." Trotting off towards the aircraft, he returned quickly with his assault cannon, making the eyes of Ruby and the handful of workers that were still experimenting with the rifles go wide.
He gestured to Shimazu's pistol, gesturing for him to pull the large revolver out of the holster and hold it up. "That's a gun. And those are guns." He gestured towards the AK rifles, with their basic but functional design. Then he swung around his own rifle, the heavily customised Ares Alpha, brimming with electronics, underslung grenade launchers, advanced recoil dampening systems and other gadgets. "This is a gun." And then he let the Alpha fall onto the sling as he released it and hefted the Panther in his hands. "And this is a gun. But your guys – you need simple, reliable stuff, easy to use. Low maintenance. We get you this, and it'll probably break in two weeks out here, and be useless."
"Hunter does have a point – something we haven't discussed or really considered." Aswon nodded. "If you're going to be using them here, or on the main islands, you want something with the simplest possible maintenance. The jungle is notorious for being hard on machinery, so you want something easy to clean and get at, with a simple design. Something that works very well in the rain, and is probably better used at shorter distances – you're not going to be doing anything at over a hundred metres in that lot." He gestured at the jungle surrounding them, the dense double and triple canopies and extensive ground cover that seemed to fill the space.
"So ok, guns like that. Something so we can fight back."
"Maybe some grenades as well then – they're pretty easy to train for, though not explosives. Far too risky." Hunter shook his head. "If you didn't know what you were doing, you could end up trying to disarm explosives with your face or something…" Ruby looked around the team as most of them started to laugh, or at least grin – apart from Aswon, of course. "But yeah – we can get you some gear. Assuming we can find a buyer for all this."
"I'll get back to her now." Aswon said, composing a brief message to Spook, identifying the potential amount of cargo they had, and the specific type. He was about to confirm this to the rest when they saw one of the workers from inside come running up to Ruby, calling out to her and delivering a message. He and Hunter had only picked up a few words and phrases, but it was as much the tone and delivery that gave him a sinking feeling, as much as the word 'danger' that he caught.
"Sorry, it seems that one of my collection teams is badly overdue – and still hasn't made contact. A team of eight gatherers should have been back a good while ago, and they've just missed their second check in call."
"They're out there… in the jungle?" Aswon asked.
"Yes. Only a couple of kilometres or so probably, in that direction." Ruby gestured towards the centre of the island.
"I can go have a quick look." Tads said quietly, and after a quick series of glances amongst the rest of the team, they nodded to her. She headed over to the rear ramp and sat down on it, making sure she was clear of the edges in case it got closed while she was out of her body, before sending her spirit dashing up into the air, following the outstretched arm that Ruby had used.
"We should be prepared for a number of contingencies. Their comms may be out due to flat batteries, or a fall or something – but equally they could be pinned down by Japanese infiltrators and having their comms jammed."
"I will prepare the drones, to provide combat support." Marius keyed alive the drone rack and started to prepare the vector thrust drone for use, checking the ammo capacity and fuel levels while the other systems started to warm up. "Two minutes ideally. I do not suggest we use the recon drone – not through this density of foliage. It will be too difficult to move around."
"Are you going looking for my men?" Ruby queried, several emotions vying for control of her face.
"There's a good chance we are, yes. I mean, if we give Kai another thirty seconds or so, the answer will be almost certainly yes." Now it was Aswon's turn to get a series of grins and laughs from the team, as they checked over their armour and weapons once more, before grabbing water bottles and some other survival equipment from the cargo area.
"Hey! Don't put me in a box! I mean, yes, we're going to help. But don't take that for granted!"
"Sure, Kai, sure."
"Don't mock me, Hunter!" Kai turned back towards Ruby. "But, yeah – we'll go look for them. I mean, I did say we're after a longer-term relationship with you people. Can't say that and then leave you with a missing team now, can we?"
In the jungle, Tads slowed, looking around her. She'd shot out to about five kilometres, hoping that was as far as they could have been, and planning on working back towards the tilt-jet, so that if she did get seen by something, at least she'd be coming from the opposite direction. As she looked around though, she squinted, shielding her eyes from the intense brightness around her. The jungle teemed with life, millions of insects, billions of microbes, plants of thousands of types, all competing in an incredibly diverse biosphere. All of it alive, each thing adding to the overall spark of mana that filled the area. While it was nice to be, for once in an area of relatively unscathed wilderness, not polluted to hell by corporate greed and despoiled by industry, it did mean that the entire landscape was almost blindingly bright and hard to make out any details.
She manifested, appearing as a ghostly figure amongst the trees, hovering about five metres above the rich mulch of the forest floor. Around her birds screamed at her sudden appearance, and other creatures ran for cover at the presence of a large predator amidst them – while other things turned to watch her just the same, their eyes now seeing her physical presence rather than just her astral form.
A large flock of butterflies flapped lazily towards her, their brilliant rainbow-hued wings catching the shafts of brighter light that made it through the dense canopy above, illuminating the markings on their membranes. Each of them was nearly fifteen centimetres wide, and their wings had a peculiar set of markings upon them, swirls of colour that surrounded a large 'eye' in the centre of each wing. For a moment, Tads forget about her search, mesmerised by the rainbow of colour that fluttered towards her, delighting in the vivid colours and their gentle movements. They swirled around her, weaving a complex pattern as they intertwined in a complex dance. A few landed on her, their wings fluttering gently, making it appear as though the eyes were blinking, while antenna gently waved in her direction, making it appear as though they were sniffing her.
Then a sharp pain shook her out of her reverie, as one on her arm sank fangs into her wrist, piercing the flesh and digging deep. Sudden alarm overtook her – her body wasn't here, it was safely back on the ramp in the landing zone. Only her astral form was here… but the butterfly had latched on and was busily feeding upon her… which meant it was very definitely a dual-natured critter, just as happy to operate on the astral plane as the physical one. Her spirits were started to move down, ready to attack them, and she saw the swarm of butterflies expand outwards, encompassing them as well.
"No! Flee!"
She didn't want to kill the butterflies, and she didn't want her spirits to attack them – no doubt they could crush them easily, one by one. But there were hundreds of them, swirling around in a swarm. Could they kill them all? Did they want to?
Instead she accelerated away, returning to the aircraft in a blink of an eye, only realising a moment later that she'd travelled directly, not even doing her customary dog-leg to throw off any pursuers. As she merged back with her body, she blinked and saw the rest of the team almost ready now, geared up and prepared for the jungle.
She turned her arm over and checked the wrist.
Looked at the two puncture wounds, close together, on either side of the vein.
At the two large spots of blood welling up from the wounds.
"I think I know why it's called Vampire Silk..."
