Mr. Brackhaus had left – but the parents remained, and Marius made it clear that he certainly wasn't going to pass up spending some time with them, now that the risk he'd been trying to avoid was quite clearly realised. If his former employer was going to use them against him, then he was determined to salvage as much as he could from the situation. The rest of the team were formally introduced to his parents, and then introduced again in a rather strange situation, as each of his parents gave their full names to the team, whom they clearly regarded as 'adults', for whom it was inappropriate to ask them to use "Mr. and Mrs. Schroder".
The team listened politely as they were introduced to Professor Lottie and Doctor Karl Schroder, learning that they were lecturers in Advanced Robotics at the SK University in Essen and a Division Manager for Messerschmitt-Kawasaki respectively. They were both obviously proud of their achievements and qualifications, but also made it clear to Kai and the rest that they didn't expect them to use them socially, and that 'Lottie' and 'Karl' were fine. Marius seemed a little off-balance, no doubt still used to seeing them as 'mother' and 'father', though intellectually of course he knew both of their names – but his societal upbringing meant it was far from appropriate to use them.
The team gave Marius and his family plenty of space, letting them get to know each other (or renewing their relationship, in Marius' case), and fortunately it seemed that they were both entirely comfortable with Nadia, despite her cultural differences. It almost certainly helped that Nadia seemed to be agnostic, and was also exceedingly competent in the management of the ranch, and had already impressed them with her hospitality before they became aware of their familial link. Having a baby for Lottie to coo over certainly didn't hurt, and she seemed to take to her grandmotherly duties with a great deal of glee. Karl, in turn, was fascinated to hear about the recent developments in Marius' career, and ended up spending a lot of time with his son poring over the Broadsword with apparently mixed feelings. On one hand, his patriotic nature wanted him to compare the British design poorly against what he considered 'superior Saeder-Krupp engineering' – and Marius was far enough divorced from the corporate line now to appreciate the irony that his patriotism now was for a corporation rather than a country, but on the other hand, he was clearly impressed with the design of the aircraft – especially after Marius took them up for a quick flight and demonstrated some of its capabilities.
While Nadia and Marius were getting to grips with Lottie and Karl, the rest of the team found things to get on with. Shimazu spent a lot of time in the local town, making sure that the parents and children knew he was back and doing some intensive training in his 'academy'. Though his skills far exceeded those of his students, he still found it useful to help him analyse his own techniques – in trying to explain them to his students, demonstrate perfect form, and instil in them the discipline and restraint that he knew was necessary. He was honest enough with himself that he could detect a few bad habits that had crept into his style, and he spent his time honing his own abilities through his teaching – as well as using the experience of teaching itself to evaluate his skills there. The skills he'd learnt at the University of Cairo came in very handy working out which students needed the stick, and which needed the carrot, and within days of restarting his training, the hall was packed with youngsters working on their drill.
Back at the ranch, Tads had set to work on the hole – or rather the construction site. After examination and discussion between Nadia, Marius, Hunter and herself, she'd worked out what it was that was needed, and set to with making it happen around her other projects. Mega-corps would have bought in specialised drilling and earthmoving equipment comprising of state-of-the-art robots with advanced pilot systems using specialist construction knowledge, setting them loose on the site, for their hardened tungsten carbide bits to carve through the soil and rock, while nanotech lubricants sharpened teeth and optimised drill shapes while the process was in motion, creating efficiencies that would have made engineers of previous generations weep. Of course, that would have required the incredibly deep pockets only available to the mega-corps with their incredibly advanced construction facilities and workflows. Lesser-developed corporations and governments still required the use of backhoe diggers and dozers and more traditional earth-moving equipment – more powerful and versatile than the equipment in use pre-crash, but at least in the same kind of range. A skilled driver and machine crew could move perhaps a thousand cubic metres of material a day, assuming they had good access – a far cry from the three thousand that the latest semi-autonomous knowbot-equipped hyper-construction machines manufactured by the likes of Saeder-Krupp and Mitsuhama could reach.
But the team had a highly-skilled and experienced shaman, with a very powerful spell that could literally reshape the earth to her whim. She headed over to one corner, concentrated for a moment and the earth flowed out of the way, rock and soil assuming a liquid-like consistency and crawling across the ground as if it were an animate being, into a waiting container. The hole left behind was an almost perfect square one metre wide and long, and fifteen metres deep. After letting out a deep breath and releasing the mana, she cast another spell, levitating a slab of construction material up into the air and sliding it down into the hole to shore up one wall. A moment later a second joined it, landing at a ninety degree angle and forming a corner brace. A moment later, she cast again, this time slowly levitating Hunter down the hole, as he worked the chemical welder he was carrying and bonded the two pieces together.
The operation took only two minutes, and then she took a sidestep and started again… even allowing for some time to reposition equipment and to check their directions and design, in an hour she had carved out a thirty-metre-long trench to the full depth of their new facility, which was shored up and supported with a gleaming metallic wall. Hunter was grunting with the effort of carrying the heavy welder, but turned down any offers of assistance with that – claiming he was using it as a workout.
Often, they had to stop work and wait for the local labourers to catch up – Nadia had arranged for several teams to turn up with battered fork-lift trucks to cart away the containers of overburden and distribute them around the ranch, creating drainage ditches and culverts along with some banking designed to stabilise the area. Even with having to wait for their local teams to catch up with them, by the end of the first day, Tads and Hunter working in concert had most of the perimeter dug out, and could start to move inwards, moving out the vast quantities of earth needed to make the underground hanger a viable space. No doubt several large corporations would have offered Tads a six-figure salary to join their workforce given her prodigious talents, but it was unlikely in the extreme that she'd have found any satisfaction in doing work like that – and of course the tiny proportion of the population that were magically talented and did end up working for the corporations ended up being so closely guarded and closeted that they failed to gain the experience and exposure to the world that taught them the skills required to match that which Tads had gained, limiting their usefulness.
Kai seemed to have taken on a new purpose since the visit of Mr. Brackhaus, and spent hours on end at the archery range, training with his bow and meditating. Aswon kept an eye on him, choosing to do his own workouts and training fairly nearby as he worked on refining the movements and manoeuvres required for his own training, developing from the Nigerian Xhosa style and his own experiences. He recognised some of what Kai was doing from his own studies – turning his attention inwards towards the control of his own body and seeking to improve the magical mastery of form and function. When spoken to, Kai was much the same as he ever was, always ready with a random quip or amusing statement – but when he was focussed on his own activities, Aswon could see a newly-formed level of control building upon him. Kai even asked if Aswon would train with him, helping him master further basics with his small blade. Aswon swapped to his extendable baton – training with a knife against a spear was a bit much of an ask – but was somewhat surprised when Kai launched a flurry of blows at him, forcing him to backpedal and block furiously. The attacks were still a little clumsy, but Kai's recent focus had apparently given him some insights on how to control the production and distribution of adrenaline and other natural chemicals through his body, and he seemed to have gained considerable speed in his movements and reaction.
At the end of the week, Marius and Nadia loaded the parents into the truck along with their limited luggage, dropping them off at the airport in Baku to head back to Germany. After that much time in forced close proximity, it was somewhat of a relief to be saying their goodbyes – glad as Marius was to have reconnected with his parents, his exposure to the shadowy world they had experienced in the last eighteen months had completely destroyed any remaining faith in the corporate world, and especially in Saeder-Krupp – while his parents were still card-carrying SK loyalists, justifying some of their beliefs and statements with arguments that even a flat-earther would have found somewhat embarrassing, made even worse by their own highly intelligent nature.
But, with them gone, the ranch relaxed a little. The family were still taking care of their guests, running the ranch and trying to make ends meet, but the pressure was reduced on the team now to shield family members from what they were doing. Work on the underground hanger progressed at pace, with the running gear for the retractable sports pitches now being assembled and tested, covering the massive pit of excavated earth and rock. They'd also hired a small warehouse in Baku and had ordered the materials needed to refuel the SCRAMjet on the Broadsword and replace the cooling system, getting them all delivered to the temporary address. Hunter had dug up suppliers and paid a premium for the highest purity supplies he could get his hands on – figuring that the purer the supplies, the less chance of errors or problems there could be. Marius certainly seemed happy enough with that as a reason, though Kai grumbled about the extra cost. As he was almost certainly going to be in the aircraft if it ever got used again, and needing to escape from a situation though, he didn't grumble too loudly.
They continued to train and work on their skills, develop the underground hanger and wait for supplies. After checking the dimensions of the cargo area in the Broadsword carefully, they also purchased a lightweight vehicle, a rugged SUV to use instead of relying on motorbikes. The vehicle they got was just big enough for all six of them to squeeze into if they gave up any cargo space – but would at least let them move around a location under cover and away from prying eyes. Leaving someone in the aircraft, or using the single remaining motorbike as well did open up the cargo space and gave them some capacity for hauling gear around. The vehicle didn't have any armour at all, so was not well-suited to a gunfight – but slapping on enough armour to really keep them safe would have eaten quite heavily into the carrying capacity of the aircraft, so it was a matter of choosing their priorities.
When the supplies came for the aircraft, they found that refuelling the tanks and mixing the chemicals was actually the easier of the two operations. Making the insulating materials to fit into the leading edges of the wings was far fiddlier and challenging, though conceptually simpler. It took Hunter and Marius several days of trial and error and some considerable wasted material before they managed to get the process nailed down and the new materials fitted. No doubt the original manufacturers and the military had spares on hand or part codes that would lead to perfect replacements – but such things were not available to them, and nobody seriously considered doing a raid on the facilities to try and steal or acquire any.
As the days wandered by, the team continued to train – honing their skills to new heights, or branching out and learning new things, practicing with new equipment and old alike and developing their abilities. Early in August, they saw another news article that caught their attention – another one of the probes that were bound for Halley's comet had apparently suffered an 'error'. Details were not particularly rich, but the Whipple probe launched by the Novatech corporation had suddenly activated a thruster, swinging the probe more than thirty degrees off course before then firing its main engine on what was supposed to be an interception burn. Instead of lining the probe up for a later close pass by the comet, the change in direction had instead sent the probe on a widely inaccurate course that destroyed any hope of a successful intercept – indeed the 'expert' talking heads that contributed to the story all agreed that there was no way there was sufficient fuel onboard to correct the course and get the probe anywhere near the right area of space to take useful readings of the comet.
"What do you think?" Kai asked as they reviewed the news story.
"Smells like runners to me. I would be very surprised if those course corrections had not been checked, double checked and probably triple checked before they were committed." Marius was sketching out the course from the limited information given in the story, and his calculations seemed to agree with what he'd heard.
"Hmm… I wonder…" Hunter stared into the distance for a moment, then blinked and realised that the rest of the team had all stopped to look at him. "I don't disagree – this sounds exactly like the kind of job we're familiar with. But I have to wonder if it was a team like us… or maybe a team like us to get a comms device connected with a sat-link and access onto the Novatech core network somewhere. Then it's a pretty easy job to get a decker in – if they know what they're looking for. And something like this? It's a single line of code perhaps, just injected into a course file. Maybe even just changing a multiplier?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well Kai – imagine if it was supposed to angle up… just only by one thirtieth of a degree. But someone shifted the decimal point a few places to the right, and suddenly it's thirty degrees, and you're off by tens or hundreds of thousands of kilometres. And all it took was multiplying a value by a hundred when it shouldn't have been. If they didn't notice until the burn was complete, then the fuel is gone and it's already picked up speed down the wrong vector – nothing they can do. Even if they saw the burn underway and realised there's a problem – with the probes being that far out there's a significant time delay in radio communications. They're seeing something that's already happened, and by the time they work out what to do and transmit the fix, it's probably too late."
"Is this something you could do?"
"Technically, yes – though I'd need to see the code. But not with my deck – the automated ICE and enemy deckers on a system would pick me up in nanoseconds. But running a top end deck with the latest programs? Maybe…"
That, of course, led on to an idle conversation about the quality of Hunter's deck and how good his programs were, and how much it would cost to get something better – and when Kai and the team saw the figures spiralling up and past six figures, it was clearly something they couldn't afford right now – not and leave themselves with a comfortable operating margin alongside their other plans.
The team had agreed that they would remain at the base until at least the 26th of August – after finding out that Marius turned 21 on the 25th of August. He'd explained that he intended to have his birthday with his family, somewhere safe and secure, and was planning a quiet day of good food and company. As soon as he revealed that he would be 'coming of age', Hunter, of course, decided that he would need to celebrate in a different way, and began planning the party. More trips were made to Baku to obtain a variety of alcohol – which strangely enough Tads had a certain amount of glee and excitement for.
Having found that her spell that allowed her to create food was not only a huge bonus in any kind of survival situation and let her keep the ranch well supplied with staples like oats, it also gave them options to come up with more esoteric gifts – provided that she had tasted something at least once and had a chance to analyse the food for taste, smell, texture, aroma and all the other factors that went into its unique characteristics.
She'd spent some time as a result learning another spell – one that allowed her to create alcohol. So many of the smugglers, black marketeers, weapons dealers, border agents and other people they'd interacted with had been receptive to bribes of alcohol, so it seemed to her that being able to produce a quantity of the stuff on demand would be a very useful ability to have – but again the same aspects applied. She had to taste it, smell it… let the liquid roll around her mouth and feel the fullness of the liquid, the consistency, the after-taste and the fiery sensation as it went down her gullet. She didn't enjoy drinking particularly, so it wasn't actually enjoyable for her, but it was something she needed to do if she was to create any kind of reasonable facsimile. So Hunter going shopping and coming back with a huge variety of beers, wines, spirits and other strange concoctions was a perfect time for her to sample a wide selection of 'test subjects'.
Thursday the 25th of August came around soon enough, and the team let their hair down as far as they were comfortable – spending the day doing as little as they could from a 'being productive' point of view, spending the day eating, drinking and making merry. As the evening wore on, more and more drinks were consumed, and by midnight the living area was a pit of drunken revelry with a totally drunk Marius in pride of place – or as Hunter insisted on referring to him, 'The King of the Wankered', having been the butt of several jokes throughout the evening.
Saturday morning, in contrast, was a very quiet and subdued affair. Tads was relatively unaffected, having stayed off the alcohol the previous evening, but the rest of the team certainly felt a little delicate to say the least. That was particularly unfortunate for Aswon, who was awoken a little after eight by his commlink. Even he needed a good few hours' sleep, and he'd not managed that yet, his head still throbbed and he still felt slightly drunk – with the edges of a hangover lurking in the wings.
He examined the number, then groaned, even as he hit the accept button, wincing in anticipation.
"Good morning, Aswon!"
"Good morning, Germaine."
"Not disturbing you, am I? Have a little business proposition for you."
"No, that's fine. What can I help you with?" Aswon grimaced and grabbed the bottle of water by the side of his bed, taking a big slug to try and get rid of the taste of small furry creatures that had apparently decided to nest, and then die in his mouth overnight.
"I'd like to book in a few guests at your lovely ranch. Special guests – only a few, but they'll need looking after."
"Well, I can't see a problem with that – I can speak with Rusudan, and find out what accommodation is free, and I can -"
"No dear, you misunderstand. SPECIAL guests. They need entertainment. Very specific entertainment. I'm sure you and the rest of your team will be able to amuse them though, with some stories. Perhaps a dramatic recital. Maybe some art sessions. I'd leave that up to you though."
"Um… I suppose?" Aswon wasn't sure quite what he was agreeing to, but his head was pounding now as he tried to keep up with the conversation, and cope with the volume and force of personality. "I'm sure Kai will know what to do. When do you want them to stay?"
"Well, tonight if you have the space and availability. It's the end of summer, so the holiday season will draw to a close soon I expect. If that's acceptable?"
"I have no idea if we have rooms for them, I'll have to check and get back to you."
"Oh, or maybe just set up some hammocks or something outside? They're very outdoorsy people – just like you. Very like you, really." Aswon blinked, his mind feeling slower than normal as he tried to decipher the meaning of her words. 'Just like you…' Then it dawned on him – they were 'in the biz' – either smugglers, mercs or shadowrunners. Not that there was much difference sometimes between them. But people who would happily accept creature comforts, but wouldn't mind roughing it for a night…
"Right, I think I understand. Then tonight should be fine."
"Marvellous! I'll tell them about the booking. I believe they have their own helicopter, so they should be able to fly down to get to you."
"Oh, right. Ok, I'll make sure the pad is cleared then."
"Splendid! Well, I must dash, Aswon. Do take care, and we'll speak again soon! Cheerio!" The call disconnected, and Aswon let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding, then slumped back into his bed for a moment. He thought for a moment about going to wake up the rest of the team to share the good news, but then decided not to. If he was struggling on three hours sleep, they'd be far worse – and fortunately for them, Aswon was fundamentally a good person. He did decide to go downstairs though and rehydrate a little more, and get some food inside him to bolster his energy levels. Unsurprisingly he saw Tads out and about, having been up since dawn to refresh her spirits and welcome in the new day, as she always did.
The rest of the team stirred eventually, and struggled down for breakfast – though it was closer to lunch for most of them, and food was generally ignored in favour of lots of strong cups of tea and coffee.
"Everyone – Germaine called this morning. She's sending some guests over tonight. We're needed to entertain them."
"What? Why?" Marius rubbed at his temples, his expression clearly indicating that he wanted very little to do with anyone at the moment.
"She didn't specify exactly – in fact, thinking about the conversation, she was very light on details altogether – other than a few key details. There's three of them, they're coming by chopper, and they're in the biz. Well, I'm pretty certain they are. I don't know exactly what kind – but she indicated that they'd be happy with rough and ready accommodation."
"That's good – because as far as I can see, all the rooms are booked. Not full, but they all have someone staying in them." Hunter quickly checked through the booking system, confirming his suspicions. "So what's the deal – you think?"
"I don't know if it's another smuggler team that Germaine wants to introduce us to, or some 'runners, or quite who. But she was definite that we should all be there as a team."
They bounced ideas back and forth for a minute or two, then Kai had a sudden flash of inspiration.
"What about… if it's a team she's hired to go and recover a piece of artwork. She's not asking us to go, to make sure we're not involved. But we've seen the place, visited twice. Used the cable-car, and the main entrance. Seen inside his art room. Spoken with his guards… we could give them an awful lot of information about the site that would make their lives a lot easier. And would save them a lot of legwork in the area, cutting down the amount of time they spend there – and for his spy network to pick up on activity."
"That makes a lot of sense, Kai. I'm guessing then that we're happy to discuss this?"
"Yeah Aswon. Keeps Germaine happy, and that'll help us out in the future, I'm sure. But we're not directly involved. Ahhh – I think I get where Germaine was going. Entertainment. Stories – we're just describing things. Nothing in particular. I guess like Swoop telling her kid a story to keep him calm." Kai looked around the table and got a bunch of answering nods. They didn't know for sure – but it felt like the most likely explanation.
Nadia walked around the corner from the reception room into the kitchen, Marius Junior tucked into her arms, and found the team in the middle of the discussion, and asked what was going on. After they filled her in on the phone call and their various ideas, she smiled at them.
"Sounds like a time for me to suggest one of my next ideas then. I was thinking about an area up on the hill, a little way from all the buildings and activities. If Tads can do her thing, and create a hollow, a nice big bowl kind of thing – maybe we could put a bar-b-que area in the middle? Some benches around it, then maybe top off the area with some wind-breaks or something. Make a nice area where people could go to do outdoor food, and be loud and drunk – like last night – without keeping everyone else awake." She glanced down at Hunter for a moment, but then carried on. "Maybe we could get some tents up there, for people who like the more rustic side of things. It might be good for watching the stars too, with no lights around?"
"Heh… good idea, Nadia." Kai tapped on his chin for a moment. "Ok, yeah – lets do that. Nice quiet place to chat, out of the way. And… it might be a lot easier to bug scan after having visitors than indoors?" He glanced over at Marius and Hunter and got some affirmative nods. "And some tents and hammocks and stuff won't be expensive. You up for that, Tads?"
"Yes. It won't be any different from what I've been doing recently anyway. I can shape some of the earth and rocks to make some benches or seats, and dig out a fire pit, and can probably shape some wind-breaks or small walls as well."
"Ok, great stuff. Let's finish breakfast then, and crack on with that!" Kai grinned at them and gave Nadia a nod of thanks, watching as she handed over the sleeping baby to Marius to go and get herself some food.
They had more than enough time to do a run into Shirvan and grab some benches and bbq equipment along with some other sundries, and to wander up into the higher ground to the east of the main ranch building to find a suitable site. Under Tads' expert manipulation, they carved out a large bowl from the earth, flowing the soil and rock up to form walls around the top of the bowl and creating what appeared to be a natural amphitheatre. Rocks were extruded from the ground to make posts to support benches, and even hitching points for hammocks, with room to add a gazebo over the top. It did make for a quiet and secluded area, and at night if there was no fire in the pit, it might actually make for a great place to stargaze – just far enough away from Shirvan and most of the industries to not get caught up in their smog and pollution.
Around dusk, the team were ready, awaiting the arrival of their special guests. Tads had just replaced her spirits when they saw a chopper approaching from over the hill, flying down from the north-east. It was a fairly sleek-looking machine, and had the look of a predator – the styling betrayed its military origins. It was small compared to the old tilt-wing, let alone the Broadsword – probably not much larger than the average news chopper, but was slender, too. Unlike a troop chopper, it was obvious this had no room for a squad of troops.
"Can't see any weapons on there – but there's stubbly little wing pylons. Looks like it could…"
"Ja, Hunter. And there is an odd bulge on the nose. It does not look like a pop-up turret – more a turret… that has nothing mounted?" Marius sounded equally confused as he zoomed in his vision to examine the approaching chopper. Tads looked that way, dropping into astral space, and gave a little snort, before moving in-between each of them, gently laying a hand on each of their shoulders.
"You mind?" They looked at her quickly, then nodded, and she threw up a quick mind-link, then looked again in astral, revealing the fairly high force illusion spells wrapped around each of the wing pylons and the nose. It didn't reveal exactly what was concealed – not clearly enough to identify them exactly – but they could see the pods of missiles or rockets under each pylon and the large gun sticking out of the front turret.
"Ahh – that looks like a quad-launcher, probably light air to air missiles, suitable for suppression of air defence or interdiction. And… hmm. At a guess, the nose gun is similar to our own on the Broadsword. Possibly a little smaller. But she is most definitely not unarmed."
"Just hiding the illegal stuff then, I guess. Probably means the bird is legit and properly licenced, and they can land at commercial airports – as long as they don't get checked over too carefully." Hunter pulled a slightly rueful face, on one hand envying the flexibility it gave them, and on the other thinking about the mountain of paperwork required to keep the permits in order and flight plans filed.
The chopper came in for a landing, approaching the pad quickly and smoothly. As it approached the ground, it pivoted neatly in place before settling in the exact centre of the pad, the engine noise decreasing immediately.
"Rigger pilot, I would put money on it. Very precise control and feedback." Marius noted over the team channel. "Almost certainly will have external pickups and sensors, may be monitoring our radio channel, too."
The chopper had two hatches visible – one at the front, right in the nose where the pilot presumably was located, and another further back, in the main body of the aircraft. It was this door that popped open, revealing a female human, probably in her early thirties. Olive skin tones, dark hair and eyes gave her a mediterranean look, but what immediately drew the eye was the huge variety of tattoos that decorated her face and neck, along with the backs of her hands and lower arms, visible beyond the coveralls that she was wearing.
"Hello there. Welcome to Estara Ranch." Kai gave her a welcoming smile and moved forward, to shake her hand, making sure he was careful to keep his other hand visible and not to move too suddenly.
"Hey there. I'm Surak… you're… Aswon?" She paused for a moment as if checking a memory internally.
"Ahh no, I'm Kai. That's Aswon over there." Kai gestured to the edge of the pad where Aswon stood, his rifle down by his side, gazing out across the hilltop, looking for anything unusual. "Aswon – this is Surak, one of our visitors!" He watched as Aswon turned slightly in surprise, then shrugged and headed over, shouldering his rifle as he approached to leave both hands free.
"Hello. I am Aswon."
"Surak. Germaine suggested we come see you guys. We good?"
"You are welcome – I assume that you are not expecting anyone else?"
"No, just us. So, where do we go?"
"We have prepared an area up in the hills, with some food and drink. Nice and quiet, out of the way, and easy to make sure we're not going to be overheard or seen."
"Sounds good to me." Her eyes flicked around to the rest of the team, waiting at the edge of the pad. Marius was looking the chopper over with an expert eye, Hunter stood back a way, with his rifle held across his body and pointing down at the ground, while Shimazu was a few paces behind Kai, in his normal position. Tads stood a few paces off, staff in one hand, and was also examining the chopper still, looking at the illusions covering the weapons. "We ok packing?"
"Yes, we will be away from the other guests hopefully – however if you see anyone walking around, they may be holiday guests, so please be discreet. The area we go to, there is a very small chance of local wildlife. Anything that looks like a monkey – feel free to go weapons hot immediately and engage. They are a pest."
"Copy that. Chip, you're ok to tool up. Let's move." As soon as she spoke, the other side of the chopper sprang open, and a large male sprang out and down to the ground. He looked like someone had a description of Shimazu and Hunter, and had tried to make a composite amalgam of them – broad shoulders and a trim waist, tall for a human, well-muscled and carrying an Ares Alpha in one hand, while a katana was sheathed at his hip. The rifle had the standard underbarrel grenade launcher present, and they could see the short cable leading from the Smartlink connector to a port located on the man's wrist.
The engine noise died down, and the rotors slowed to a stop, and a moment later the front door popped open, and another man climbed down. He wore a flight suit, and had a small machine pistol located on a strap under his arm, keeping it tucked up safely out of the way. He, too, was fairly dark-haired, but his skin tone was slightly lighter than Surak's.
"Hunter… lead the way, please, if you will?" Kai asked, then paired off with Surak as they started to walk up the path into the hills. 'Chip' moved forward to walk alongside Hunter, reinforcing the similarities between them, and their pilot moved into third position, with Marius moving up to walk next to him. They made small talk as they headed up the path, climbing slowly into the hills in the darkening skies. Nothing of particular importance was discussed, just some gentle sounding out of each other, and it became apparent to the team that the guests were very definitely shadow operatives. The pilot sported obvious rigger jacks, very similar to those implanted in Marius, and Chip seemed to be as confident in his weapon handling skills and general athleticism as Hunter, while Surak chatted easily and animatedly with Kai about the weather, the trip down, politics, the news and a variety of other subjects, not really giving anything up, but still establishing a somewhat friendly and cordial relationship.
Twenty minutes later they had reached the bowl and settled in, lighting the fire in the central pit, breaking out some drinks and starting to prepare some food. The three guests sat close together on one side, while the team spread out over the remaining perimeter, relaxing a little but making sure they kept alert to changes around them.
"So… Germaine tells us you've been to the seaside. We're thinking of going to the seaside. It'd be interesting to go see some interesting places. Maybe take a cable-car ride or something. Look at pictures. You know… that kind of thing." Surak said, once they'd settled, then cocked her head slight as Kai grinned and the rest of the team turned to look at him.
"How interesting! Yes, we've been to the seaside, as it happens. We could tell you all kinds of interesting things. But as it happens… well. We've also got a way to show you some interesting things – Marius? Tads? Are you up for putting on a show?" Kai checked over and saw them both nods, and then turned back to their guests. "As it happens, Marius here has a phenomenal memory for things – it's a little bit scary sometimes. Don't let him see the number on your SIN kind of scary. But that also means he's really good at describing things. And Tads… well, you'll see." He waved towards them, and Tads got up, a little self-consciously, and reached out to gently touch Marius. After a moment, Hunter and Aswon leant in too, gently laying a hand on Tads to bring them into contact, letting her put up her mindlink. Once that spell was established, she concentrated, and then generated an illusion, a ball of light four metres across that hovered over the fire.
"We first approached Batumi, travelling down the E70 highway. Our truck had sustained some damage, so we needed to make repairs." There was a slight edge to Marius' voice, and Kai busied himself taking a drink – but as Marius thought about the scene and shared his memories with Tads, she altered the illusion, creating a first-person perspective shot of the road approaching the city. Marius continued, describing their arrival in the city, and quickly glossing over the search for somewhere to repair the vehicle, moving on to the sudden and unexpected message inviting them to the villa at the top of the hill. Details poured out of his photographic memory – sights, sounds, smells – all faithfully recreated by the trid-phantasm spell, while the guests watched with fascination. The pilot gestured with a camera, and got a nod, and he quickly started to record the details.
Over the course of the next half-hour, the team recreated their visit to the crime lord, showing the quality of the weapons issued to his guards, their apparent skill level and modus operandi, along with their best guess on the defences surrounding the building. Names and faces were shown of the various movers and shakers from the city, all paying their respects to the mafia don, before moving on to his speech and their interview. Marius skipped over some of the details, mostly to avoid revealing things about themselves, rather than because he didn't recall them, but the guests seemed to understand.
Occasionally, one of the others would add some little tidbit of information, with Tads swinging the magical viewpoint around to show something from a different perspective or reveal something that Marius just hadn't seen, building up a very extensive dossier on the building and the surrounding area, as well as the different approach they'd taken on their most recent journey, and the tour of the gallery. If Marius and Tads focussed on one picture having a nautical theme a little more than the others, it certainly wasn't a cause for complaint from their visitors.
"Can you show us the courtyard, and the main entrance, please?" Tads obliged Surak's request, creating a larger layout and showing as much detail as she could of the situation, pulling on the details remembered by all of the memories from the team. They watched as the guests moved into position by a wall, then ran through the scene, alternating positions of run and gun, taking cover and maintaining overwatch.
"They're very fluid – clearly they've done this kind of op before. Not having to check on each other for positions. They've trained hard, or have some kind of implanted ware or sensors to feed their positions out." Aswon murmured, watching as they mimed their way through an assault operation, miming the hacking of the door lock, and then entering the art room. Tads could see where this was going, and helpfully 'moved' them inside, and they saw them swiftly take several pieces of art, including the Jewel of Muscat, before making their escape, once more miming returning fire and taking cover from unseen assailants.
"We got invited to the party as we showed you." Tads commented. "Depending on your mission objective and how you want to play it, it's possible to get noticed and be invited up there for a social event."
"And you should be wary of the guards. They do not appear to be well-trained – but their equipment is top of the line, and I think they are also very loyal to him. Certainly the impression I get is that they would take a bullet for him – and bravery like that can compensate significantly for a lack of other skills. Do not underestimate them!" As Aswon sent a strong mental image, replaying his conversation with one of the guards, Tads shifted the image to show the top-of-the-line combat shotgun, fitted out with all manner of accessories and gizmos. Chip in particular seemed to take notice of the gun, moving inside the illusion to examine it more carefully, before grunting and nodding in approval at something.
"And equally, if you don't want to get noticed, then stay away from this hotel – definitely staffed by his cronies!" Hunter thought about the hotel, and Tads dutifully recreated the entrance, underground garage and the penthouse, along with several of the staff they'd interacted with.
"Interesting. Ok. What can you tell me about the businesses around the bottom of the cable-car?" Surak asked, leading to an intensive question and answer session about the town and the various people, which the team answered as best they could.
"Do we tell her about the curse? Or the suspected curse? Offer any help with that?" Aswon sub-vocalised.
"Yes. I think we should, for their sake, and Germaine's." Tads looked around and saw a few nods.
"We should make you aware of a potential risk. It is our belief that there is a chance that one of those pictures…" Tads focussed and the image shifted to show the picture, "may have some magical trace to it – possibly even a curse or some kind of back luck. We don't know for sure – but we suspect things, based on what we've heard, and seen. You may want to think about a warded box, just in case you come across something like that… that's something we could possibly help with, if you wish."
"Thank you – but I think we would be fine. We can make our own arrangements in that regard." Aswon nodded, wondering if Surak was their mage – and if she'd just sacrificed a little of her magic for some cyberware. She continued though, talking with her two team-mates. "I wonder… the social side. Maybe we could try… Marseilles?" Chip clapped his hands together, looked around quickly and then slung his rifle over his back, before taking a few steps and seeming to shrink down into himself, adjusting his gait and body language considerably. The pilot, Pipper, went the other way, seeming to grow more pompous and arrogant, striding around the firepit while Chip moved in behind seeming to take a servile position, almost like a lackey. "Could we have the courtyard again, please?"
As Tads changed the image once more, the team watched as the three visitors put on a skit, acting as international art dealers and media experts, playing out parts and chatting with imaginary people. Kai watched with a big grin on his face as they socially engineered their way past several situations, and seemed to swap from an armed assault to a con-job aimed at getting the artwork out without anyone ever firing a shot. All three of the guests seemed to throw themselves into their roles, and it was moderately entertaining to see them act out their parts – and very instructional. Kai was impressed with their acting talents, and Shimazu sat quietly, drinking in all their little mannerisms, physical cues and affections, marvelling at how well they managed to convey their fake personas.
The evening slipped by, and it was close to midnight by the time that the guests had plucked the team's memories clean – but they had a huge amount of information on Batumi now, and Surak had apparently managed to get at least nine separate plans devised to cope with various different situations – though Chip insisted for some reason that they weren't to do 'Plan M', claiming that he always died in that one. It appeared to be some kind of obscure in-joke they shared between them, as they didn't explain or expand upon it.
Finally as they approached one in the morning, the team made sure their guests had enough blankets, supplies and other comfort to bed down for a few hours, and made their way back towards the ranch, to settle down themselves.
They met again on the Saturday morning, around 9am, as the other team descended from the hill, having slept well and enjoyed their breakfast – apparently they did normally sleep in the chopper, and given the lack of size the opportunity to stretch out in hammocks and tents had been most welcome. Aswon and Kai had a quick whispered conversation and then Aswon extended an invitation to the other team to come back some time for a break, or if they needed to recharge their batteries – though he did make clear that they'd much prefer it if they weren't being pursued by anyone. One thing he did make clear was that they would not be happy about the ranch being used as a staging post for a job – refuelling to travel elsewhere was fine, but they didn't want another team going on a strike that might be backtracked to this location.
"We should also warn you – something we weren't aware of on our first visit. Or our second really – but it seems there is another power in Batumi. Someone down by the beach, or out on the sea. We were asked very specifically about that."
"Ahh – interesting. We were told to stay away from the beach. Interesting. We'll keep our eyes open, but we'll do our best to stay inland." Surak checked with her two colleagues for a moment, then turned back to the team. "Thank you for your hospitality – and your very entertaining stories. They were illuminating, and very informative. And they've probably saved us a lot of work. We'll let Germaine know."
"You're welcome – friends of Germaine are welcome to our aid."
"Good to hear Kai. Now, please excuse us – we must be off. Got to go buy a bucket and spade…" Surak grinned, and then herded Pipper and Chip back towards the chopper, before clambering back up and into the small compartment behind the pilot. It certainly looked cramped and uncomfortable, and not a patch on the passenger compartment in the Broadsword – though their craft would be significantly nimbler and easier to hide. Moments later the engines fired up and the rotors started to spin lazily at first, building up until they were a blur, before catapulting the chopper into the air in a sudden burst of speed. Pipper put the nose down, translating power into motion and the aircraft headed off towards the north-east, presumably heading towards Batumi, and leaving the team to head inside and grab some breakfast around the large dining table.
Just as Aswon was buttering some toast, his commlink buzzed, receiving a short message from Germaine – a thumbs up, an animated flag and the word 'thanks' – and a payment of five thousand Nuyen to transfer over to the teams credstick. He shared that around, then reached for the jam, wondering what flavour Tads had concocted that morning and hoping it wasn't Pineapple again.
"So – what do we do now? I do not believe we have any pressing jobs that we have taken? At least not yet?"
"Not yet Marius – give me a few minutes!" Kai grinned at him.
"I've got an idea actually – wondering if we could do some research, maybe find somewhere we can locate a tactical computer, maybe even a battle-tac rig. Something just lying around in a store-room at some merc base or security outpost. Somewhere we could um… borrow it from." Hunter pulled out a small piece of unidentifiable meat that had gotten stuck behind a tusk, and then sucked it into his mouth. "We could make use of that, especially if we can link it up with Marius in the aircraft. Might help a bit."
"Interesting – and I see where you're going with that plan. They're pricy pieces of kit. Another option might be to offer our services for a job somewhere, and see if we can claim one as a payment option from a corp or someone that manufacturers them?" Aswon glanced over at Hunter. "As long as we get one, that's what matters, right? Stealing one is one option, but not the only one."
"Yeah – I suppose. And maybe if we get a job working for one of the other mega-corps, we can prove we're not Lofwyr's bitches. Might send a message to him too!
Marius tensed as his commlink vibrated, a sudden chill going through his veins. Lofwyr hadn't heard that had he? He tried to banish the thought as pure paranoia, but he couldn't push it out of his head – he had been here, in this room, after all. Who knows what kind of bugs he might have planted? Thankfully though, the number seemed to come from the same grid as the contacts from Ares for his software upgrades – though not exactly the same number. He answered, giving a very brief greeting.
"Mr Schroeder. My name is Johnson. I have a proposal for you and your team if you're available. I have a job, something that needs your particular skills. Would you be interested in meeting with me – I have a secure Matrix chatroom set up, the details should be landing with you now." The commlink buzzed again as it received an access code and location, and Marius muted the device, before looking up at the rest of the team.
"We have a job offer it seems. Shimazu, you may want to fetch the trode nets for you and the others – we have a matrix meeting to attend."