They lifted off, Marius banking smoothly and heading eastwards out of the city, lifting up and over the hilltop ridge and heading for the bay, before gently arcing around to head southwards. They'd looked at the maps, and decided it was pretty much a coin toss on the best route, and had decided to stick to the coastline towards their first stop. While it kept them near built-up areas, it also gave them good cover amidst the electronic clutter and plenty of terrain to work with, as opposed to the open water.
Sticking close to the coast, Marius could 'feel' the questing sensors of the air-traffic management systems and various radar and other sensor systems trying to detect him, their electronic beams caressing his skin lightly, always seeming to glance off or barely touch him, then questing into the empty space behind him. Mixed in amongst the various delivery services, taxi-craft, corporate transports and pleasure craft that all formed a congested air-space around the city, he wove his way through the traffic patterns like a ghost, sliding from one control zone to another, passing from Hong Kong to Macao, then further down the coast to the Yangjiang and Maoming sectors. Sprawling urban areas linked along the coast, swallowing and consuming all of the available space as the relentless pressure of population expansion had recovered from the ravages of VITAS, then continued to expand at a geometric rate. The wars that had caused China to disintegrate into warring states had dented that population – but also damaged their economies, and signs of their crumbling infrastructure were everywhere.
As they approached the southern island, Tads felt her spirits depart, swiftly replacing them and assigning the day spirits to guard and protect each member of the team. Summoning the larger spirit to protect the aircraft was last, even though it technically exposed them to the risk of detection for longer – the sheer size of the new aircraft required a larger spirit that was far more taxing to summon, and she feared the headache that could follow it if her concentration wavered even slightly.
"Kai – we are getting close."
"Ok, thanks, Marius. Can you patch me through to the frequency we were given?"
"It was a comm-code, but yes. Calling now." The rest of the team fell silent as the sounds of the call came over the speakers in the passenger cab, and a dull red light indicated a live-microphone on the side of Kai's chair.
"Shì de," Kai translated the Chinese in his head – 'yes'. He responded in English, testing the waters…
"Good morning. This is Kai, with the New Fish – we're close to your area, and ready to come in for a collection of goods."
"Ahh, ok. The Mosaic is awaiting your presence. The accent was strong, and the words slightly halting, but a moment later the call disconnected with no warning.
"The Mosaic? Is that a person? A street-name?" Marius called out.
"No idea… how long until we reach the co-ordinates?"
"Two minutes."
"Ok, let's gear up, people. Hopefully it won't be hostile, but we'd better be ready for a fight, just in case…"
The team busied themselves strapping on their discreet armour mostly, ensuring that armoured vests were tightly laced around their bodies underneath the outer layers, checking their weapons were loaded but safe, and that med-kits were ready to go in case they were needed.
"I think I know what the Mosaic is… it's the place." Hunter called out, than rather than explaining further, he shunted his sensor feed to the display screens for the rest of the team to examine. As they came in down the coastline, following a narrow sandy beach that split the green waters of the sea from some dense woodland, they could see in the distance a long breakwater curving out into the sea, forming a large protected harbour. The stone embankment stretched out for over a kilometre, curving into a sharp hook at the end, creating a long and wide stretch of water free from waves. The water colour seemed equally deep all the way along, indicating that it was reasonably deep, and it seemed like it would allow even a fair-sized merchant ship to dock alongside the pier on the southern side of the artificial harbour. There were no cranes or other dock infrastructure present, so it would be limited to manual unloading of cargo, but the ship would be safe and secure while it took place.
Inland, though, when they'd examined the harbour – they suddenly saw what Hunter meant. There was a large area, probably one and a half kilometres long and half a kilometre wide, that was then subdivided into squares that looked to be about forty-five metres on a side. They had a small island in the centre, and each of the squares seemed to be a slightly different colour, a huge variety of greys and blues, with elements of green in some of them. The different coloured squares looked like some kind of abstract set of artistic tiles, laid out in neat rows that filled the space.
"Drying piles? Evaporation ponds?" Aswon suggested.
"Something like that, I bet. Maybe washing some kind of produce and then letting it dry. They look to be sloped downwards from the centre, nearest the island – I guess that each of the colours is a different stage of drying or preparation… can't see any large pipework or machinery though, so whatever is happening, it's being done by hand." Hunter responded.
As they came in to land, they could see someone standing on the large dirt patch at the end of the mosaic area, looking around the sky for them – unable to detect them through the powerful magical concealment wrapped around the craft. That gave them time to study the man – or rather, dwarf – that stood waiting for them. He was only a bit over a metre high, fairly typical for a dwarf, but unlike the characteristic stocky and firm build that most dwarves had, he appeared to be composed of mostly pudge. There was just something about him that made him appear to be soft and malleable, and he filled out his clothing until it seemed more than a little taut. A small hat was perched on his head, circular and with a flat top made of some disc-shaped material with a tiny little round button in the centre, while his other clothing seemed to be pyjamas, made out of silk or some material crafted to look like it, in a uniform deep blue. A small satchel was slung over his shoulder, with the strap and body of the bag made from what appeared to be the same material.
As soon as Kai and the rest of the team stepped off the ramp, they blinked into existence as far as the waiting dwarf was concerned, materialising out of thin air. He gave a small start, but then headed over towards them – and even here his gait made him appear somehow soft and squishy in some way.
"Good morning. I'm Kai, and this is Hunter, Shimazu, Tads and -"
"I am Aswon."
"Yes, and that's Aswon. We're booked in to do a pickup for Spook, and to do a little deliver job?" Kai watched as the dwarf turned slightly, facing east and looking at the sky for a moment before turning back to them.
"The warmest wishes of the day to you, and may the dawn shine upon us both, and bless our business dealings. Wisdom and strength shall come together and allow us to forge a glorious destiny together." Hunter tried hard to restrain a snort, and Tads seemed a little surprised, but Aswon, Shimazu and Kai all seemed to take the flowery greeting in their stride.
"Indeed – let us hope that this is an auspicious start to a profitable and joyful business venture. So – are you… Mr. Mosaic?" Kai stretched out the end of his question, his voice rising in pitch slightly to match the eyebrow that arched delicately.
"Ahh, no – the Mosaic is the place, a name that has an obvious meaning when viewed from above – which I assume you have done? But you can perhaps call me 'Sandpit' – many do." He gave a little smile and bobbed his head.
"Well, it's lovely to be here. Spook didn't tell us anything about the place, so we didn't know what to expect – but it seems great so far. Unlike some other establishments we've visited, which seemed to be real shit-holes. Not like here, of course."
"Err… thank you?" Sandpit seemed to be not entirely sure if Kai was being sincere or sarcastic, and his half-formed grin was frozen in place. "Spook did mention that some people were coming to take care of a delivery for us…"
"Yes, that's us. We just spent a lovely day with Spook, having some fabulous food and taking in the sights in Hong Kong, and we've just flown down this morning. Speaking of which – do you have fuelling facilities?"
"For the ships, yes. Not so much for aircraft – whatever type it is. We can make arrangements, I'm sure – but it would be quite expensive. And require a little time."
"Ahh, well – perhaps not, then. It's not essential, we do have a reasonable range available. But it's always nice to top off the tanks. But in this case, let's get down to business. I believe we have several pallets-worth of basic rifles and ammunition to collect and deliver down to the Philippines?"
"Yes, indeed. I will arrange for them to be bought out." He reached into his satchel and bought out a small radio, one that looked more like a child's toy than something that would be used for secure communications over any great range. "Bring out the shipment." He dropped the radio back into the bag, but then pulled out a cred-reader, and transferred that to his other hand, flicking the power switch on and checking that it was starting up ok.
To the south-east of their position, they saw a door open in the low-profile building, and then a few people appeared, tugging on the handles for a pallet truck, pulling some cargo into view from the interior of the building, and then laboriously dragging it over the uneven terrain towards the team. Several large green cases were stacked on the pallet, sturdy wooden cases painted an olive drab and with stencilled numbers burnt into the outer face.
"What other goods do you have?" Aswon asked. "We may have interest in making other purchases to take onwards to our next destination, if appropriate."
"We have a variety of things in stock, so it depends what you're after. We've got a selection of drugs in, bagged up and ready to go…" Sandpit was looking at Aswon, and missed the sudden attention that Shimazu shifted onto him, and the sharp looks that Tads and Hunter gave Shimazu in turn. "…a variety of electronic goods, a great selection of chips with a wide variety of subjects."
"What kind of drugs?" Shimazu asked, ignoring the looks from the others.
"Mostly things aimed at the low-level street users – various varieties of Cram, Kamikaze, Burn, Jiggle, Disco – that kind of thing. Mostly capsule based in bags of twenty, then larger bags of ten, they're ideally suited for selling on to local distributors."
The pallet truck pulled up to a stop, the wheels grinding and crunching over the loose rocks and compacted soil. Once of the minions opened up the top case, revealing a neat stack of five silver packets. Pulling one out and turning it slightly sideways the packets reflected the morning sunlight, but could now be seen as some kind of waxed and coated paper bags, vacuum-sealed around the distinctive shape of assault rifles.
"Standard pattern AK-97s, one mag included. Full length stock, iron sights, standard furniture by the looks of things." Hunter hefted one of the bags, checking the weight and dimensions, then moved it back and forth slowly to examine the lines. "Looks legit, factory fresh, in the original production bags or very good copies." He shrugged and handed back the packet, letting the man put it back in the box and put the top back on. "What about that one…" He pointed at the fourth box down in the second stack, getting a frown and a somewhat resigned sigh. When his facial expression didn't change, the two men started to shift boxes, getting to the indicated unit and opening that one too, proving that they were all the same cargo – and not packed with straw or paper in everything but the top box.
"The last two boxes have ammunition and spare magazines, as request. It is a wise man that ensures he has enough bread to make a sandwich." Sandpit nodded, and grinned at them as if he'd made some particularly witty or insightful comment – but none of the team responded. The two other boxes were duly opened, revealing box after box of standard 7.62mm ammunition, all clean and looking well-manufactured, and certainly fit to be used in a standard grade infantry weapon. There were also a large bundle of spare magazines in the crate, bundled together in sets of four. "Enough spare magazines to be fully loaded and to supply each rifle with five magazines in total."
"Good – that's about the right kind of load for a battle encounter." Aswon chipped in, checking one of the bundles of magazines over, testing the spring and push plate to ensure they worked. "Do you have any grenades or explosives?"
"Alas not – but I was also told they wanted only the basic rifles, magazines and ammunition. I can arrange to get more stock in, but it will take time – and require a separate delivery?"
"Nah – thinking about it, they probably figure they're riskier to use and more prone to errors and mistakes by their own troops. Teaching basic weapon safety can be done easily enough with sticks or a safed weapon. Teaching someone how to handle grenades or C4 is more involved. But it would have been good to get some for ourselves."
"Ahh, I see. Well, I can make arrangements for the future, if you tell me what you want?"
"I'm not sure if we're coming back this way. Did you say though that you had chips as well? I'd like to see what kind of skills or information you have there?"
"Of course. Let us arrange the transfer of these weapons, and then I can show you the stockroom…"
Sandpit pulled out his cred-reader, and Kai waved his stick in the air.
"Ok, let's discuss price…"
"I thought this was already arranged?" Kai looked puzzled for a moment. Sandpit shrugged a little and was about to speak, but Kai cut him off – checking that none of the others were close enough to overhear him. "Ok, we're new here. Let's call it sixty grand, and done, right? First time and all…" Sandpit seemed surprised, but held out the cred-reader and let Kai slot his stick, arranging a transfer fee for the stack of assault rifles, magazines and bulk ammo. As soon as the payment had cleared, he raised his voice.
"Ok guys, payment is sorted – can we get this stuff onboard and lashed down?" Shimazu and Hunter started to grab the boxes, lumping them up the ramp and into the cargo space in the Broadsword and start getting it lashed down. Sandpit though gestured to Kai and then led Aswon back towards the building that the weapons had come out of, about forty metres away.
"Tads – how are we fixed for steaks? Wondering if we can do a little trade, or earn some goodwill?"
"No. Should have asked before I had to refresh the spirits at dawn. They're taxing, making them big enough and strong enough to cover the new aircraft. If you want stuff like that, ask for it beforehand."
"Ok, right – I'll do that next time." Kai grinned at her, but also nodded in acceptance, trying not to upset her or indicate that this was an issue. Mentally though he made a note – the last few times they'd travelled and wanted to be magically concealed, it had taken a bigger toll than normal on Tads – the new aircraft was a little larger than the old one, and that seemed to extract more from her, or require more effort than it had previously, and she seemed to need half an hour or so after dawn and dusk to recover and regain her full faculties. He broke into a fast walk to catch up with Aswon and their host, catching up to them by the time they reached the warehouse. The sliding door was pushed open, revealing the interior, lit intermittently by the daylight filtering through clear roof panels rather than by electric lighting.
The warehouse was full of racking, arranged into narrow corridors stretching off to either side of a central passageway – but every set of racking seemed to be somewhat different. Not just colours and finishes, but in shelf depth and height too, fixing system or construction, materials and weight rating. There was no uniformity, and some of the shelves had developed a noticeable bow in them, either storing or having stored something over their rated weight capacity. On the shelves was a huge variety of goods, most in nondescript plain boxes carrying just bar codes or arcane looking product codes, or maybe a terse description of the contents. Others were the more normal retail boxes, brightly coloured and illustrated, and these seemed mostly to be low-end electronics and retail goods for the home or vehicle.
"So, what chips do you have?" Sandpit led Aswon over to one shelf with several racks and waved for him to examine them, letting Aswon flip through the chips in their retail cases. Aswon started to examine the titles, hoping to find some know-softs describing military tactics, guerrilla warfare, weapons maintenance, even logistics or first aid knowledge – things that would be incredibly useful for the Huk forces they were supplying the weapons to. What he found however was 'Death Master IV – revenge of the Blood-Trolls', and 'Cyber-dick-Danny: French edition' and many other titles of a similar vein. It seemed that Sandpit's idea of chips was low-budget films – either regular action adventure or porn, duplicated and rebadged for new markets. Certainly nothing 'useful' unless you wanted mindless entertainment.
Kai, meanwhile, had been wandering a little and had discovered that the rest of the stock was equally poor fare – children's style walkie-talkies, tablet docks, home entertainment speakers promising unrealistic power outputs, wireless routers with a list of features that seemed basic and often redundant, and many other items that looked to have been cloned from the original design or were cheap rebadges of bargain basement brands, trying to avoid the stigma of known bottom-tier manufacturers. From the layout of the warehouse and the amount of goods present it was fairly obvious that this was Sandpit's regular kind of stock – cheap counterfeits sold under the radar to avoid official inspection to greedy folk in other countries, probably in turn then passing those off to other suppliers, all designed to extract the maximum profit from the end consumer and provide little to no value.
"I actually don't think we have much of a market for this stuff right now," Kai told Sandpit, fixing him with a vague smile, "but we might know some people that do. Can we swap details and maybe put you in touch, or get back to you later when we've set up some buyers? Maybe pick up some stuff on the way back through?"
"Of course. Very wise. A careful man does not upholster all his furniture at once." Kai blinked at Sandpit, wondering if the statement made more sense to him than it did to Kai, but then nodded along, not wanting to actually find out. They held up their commlinks and swapped calling information, and Kai collected a slightly disappointed-looking Aswon and headed back to the Broadsword. By the time they got back, Hunter and the rest of the team had the guns loaded into the back of the aircraft and secured them, strapped down firmly and were ready for take-off.
The sun was more than a few degrees above the horizon when the jets fired up and vaulted them into the air, the morning breeze barely carrying the sounds of the engines over the powerful concealment provided by the spirit. Marius took them up to five hundred metres and turned south-east, heading out over the South China Sea, picking up speed and heading towards the Spratley Isles. According to their information, there was another smuggler stop of some kind there, one where they could hopefully fuel up and get ready for the last leg towards the Huk drop off point. If the stop didn't have fuel, they could continue down to the southern end of the Philippines and visit the stop there – but it added a few hundred kilometres onto their journey that they'd rather not have to make.
The day was calm and clear, with scattered clouds high above them, and the sunlight glistened off the sea below. The water across most of the South China Sea was fairly shallow, at least in comparison to the other major waterways of the world, and the water was much lighter in colour than they were used to seeing – though at least some of that was the results of the rampant pollution. Several times, Marius adjusted course slightly to avoid huge flocks of gulls that were surrounding a patch of floating rubbish, diving down to pick at the flotsam and jetsam gathered by the tides, and they also over-flew long streaks of rainbow-coloured water that made the sunlight sparkle through a thousand different hues. It looked beautiful, but the beauty belied the toxic nature of the chemical spills that caused it, and as one of the team on astral overwatch looked down they could see the rippling bubbles of distortion in astral space as the chemicals killed the krill and other organisms in the water, leaving a trail of background count behind to mark the watery graves of countless minute lives.
"How we doing for fuel, mate?" Hunter was checking the map, making off their current position and the updating the map to show a circle highlighting their current fuel range – a green-shaded circle showing inside a yellow and then red-shaded area, depicting their comfortable radius allowing for combat or hiding, a caution zone and an area that would see them landing with only a small reserve of fuel.
"We are on profile. I estimate two thousand and twelve litres to reach the next location, leaving us with one thousand nine hundred and eighty-eight litres remaining. I am optimising our speed for economy."
"Great – plenty then." A few mental commands through the data-jack and the visual display updated, the circles expanding outwards to reflect the more accurate data. They could reach their alternate fuel stop quite safely now, though they couldn't make it to the one after that without stopping somewhere and topping off. "Is that why you're flying higher than normal?"
"Partly. But also because of the shipping. This area is one of the busier waterways in the world, and at our speed of approach, I do not want to get too close to a tanker or super-freighter. Some of those are more than sixty metres high from the water-line, more with their masts raised."
"Ahh, fair enough. Yeah, don't suppose slamming into the side of hundred thousand ton ship would do us much good." Hunter checked the sensors, spotting a couple of tracks on the long range radar, and slewed the optical sensors around to examine them. Some were trawlers or smaller vessels like yachts and high-speed supply ships, racing across the sea on their hydrofoils and leaving an enormous wake behind them. Others were tramp freighters, passenger ferries or small cruise ships, while a few were the truly huge container ships or tankers, leviathans of the sea that out-massed the smaller ships by factors of a thousand or more.
The sun rose higher and higher as they flew on, weaving a subtle snaking course as Marius kept them at extreme range of any ship that got too close, hoping to avoid even being the vaguest of sensor ghosts on anyone's systems. When they were about two hundred kilometres away from their destination, though, he stiffened as he felt a gentle touch down his spine, sending his electronic nerves into a spasm.
The rest of the team felt their stomachs drop as Marius plunged them down into a steep dive, loose objects in the cabin floating up into the air as gravity was counteracted by the sudden descent, before slapping back down to the deck as he pulled up.
"Alert – warships to the north-east." Despite the sudden manoeuvre, Marius' voice was calm and confident. "Search radars operating and we definitely got swept, but they should not have a lock on us."
"What are we looking at?"
"Replaying sensor footage now." Marius played back the optical and electronic records, going back thirty seconds and the team examined the displays carefully – Hunter leaning in towards the cockpit whilst in the rear area, they looked over at the large display screen mounted on the bulkhead. As the screen flickered into life they could see a dull grey shape slicing through the water – thankfully heading mostly away from them. The image stabilised a little as the computers locked onto the objects in the centre of the screen and adjusted the sensors, and they could make out the form of sleek vessel slicing through the water. Thankfully Marius had been on the ball and had zoomed in, getting a full optical sweep of the ship before he began his descent, letting them get a decent look at the craft.
The ship was probably at least a hundred and fifty metres long, with a sharp prow that sliced through the waves easily, and a large calibre turreted gun mounted on the forecastle with excellent firing arcs. Behind that the superstructure rose, climbing in several tiers with sharp, slab sided panels that had no doubt been designed to reduce the ship's radar signature as much as possible. A large bridge bulged out from the main superstructure with black portals evenly spaced around it, polarised windows that prevented anyone seeing in, but allowed the crew to see out clearly enough. On top of the bridge, the mast rose another twenty metres, with various cross-spars mounting aerials and radar domes or panels, along with a large flag with the ensign of the Imperial Japanese Navy blowing in the breeze.
Behind the bridge was the first of two funnels, then an oddly angled section with multiple hatches before the second funnel and set of cooling fins.
"Multiple launch cells, firing ship-killers. Couple of hundred kilo warheads, several hundred kilometre range. Onboard guidance that can be fed from satellite systems or targeting aircraft. Don't know what type the Japs use, but they're very powerful generally – a hit will take out the average freighter or tanker, and a smaller warship like these. Might need a couple for a bigger ship like a cruiser." Hunter sounded confident in his analysis, but he fell quiet as the image continued to pan to the rear of the ship.
Behind the second funnel was a flat area with more hatches arrayed in a grid pattern, sitting atop a large and boxy section with a shuttered door that led to a flat area at the back of the ship. This time it was Marius that provided the analysis.
"Surface to air missile system, small and agile and lower range – though they probably still have a fifty kilometre threat bubble. Very high speed though, and designed for taking out air targets such as approaching strike aircraft, or even detected ship to ship missiles. They also appear to have a large hanger there, leading to a flight deck. At least one helicopter is likely, and possibly they have multiple drones they can launch as a combat multiplier. Also there appear to be some wing-mounted miniguns and mounts for heavy machine guns down the flank – I would assume on both sides – for attacking short-range or small targets."
"Sounds like we want to stay the frak away from those, then!"
"Indeed, Aswon. I do not think they detected us – there is certainly no sign of action on them, and they remained on course while I dived. But we would have been inside missile range for sure, and possibly gun range – though the main gun is not likely to be designed for attacking aircraft. But they will have powerful sensors and computer support, and very well trained crew."
"What are they doing out here, then?" Tads asked
"Probably running BARCAP – barrier combat patrol before you ask. Keeping an eye out for people like us trying to get towards the land without permission. Or maybe just flat-out interdicting goods. You want to control a population, why not limit the food coming in to official shipments only and watch the prices soar, until you can starve the opposition of funds and supplies." Hunter sighed.
"How far to the destination – and is there any danger they can detect us there?"
"About a hundred and fifty kilometres now. And we should be fine – they can only see about thirty, thirty-five kilometres with their sensors, even with the height of that mast. So provided there is no other warships closer in, we should be fine, Kai."
They continued onwards, with both Marius and Hunter watching the sensors very carefully now – lower down they were harder to spot, but they also limited their own vision, giving them less reaction time if something did pop up on the horizon. But, nothing else untoward appeared, and soon they could see the smudge of land in the distance, growing rapidly as they closed in. Hunter made a snort of derision and checked his maps carefully, pulling even more of a face as he determined that they were in the correct area.
"Ok, coming up on the target – for what it's worth. It's a fraking shit-tip. About five kilometres long, but no more than a couple of hundred metres wide – at best. And the whole thing is only about twenty metres above sea level at the highest point. No signs of any activity there, no major landmarks. Not picking up any electronic signatures or beacons, no signs of life…" They waited a minute, watching the land grow larger, and Marius eased up slightly – checking the sensors all the time for any more vessels around them. The area seemed deserted though, and though Hunter did spot some buildings, when he zoomed in, they all looked to be abandoned and in ruins – with obvious water or wave damage to some of them, indicating that they'd been battered by a storm at some point. They did spot something that looked like a compacted gravel strip, nearly eight hundred metres long, running down the beach near the ruins, indicating that this was probably the right place – but even that looked to be in a very poor state. Marius opted instead for a vertical landing, not trusting the abandoned strip not to be too soft and to damage their landing gear.
"Looks clear on the astral, no signs of life, no wards, no critters, no traps." Shimazu announced over the comms as he cycled through the views on the optical sensors. "Area looks clean and natural, no background count… I think. No, wait." The rest of the team felt their pulses quicken a little. "No pollution, nothing nasty – but the water seems magically charged. Maybe something… positive? Maybe magical plants or something. But no sense of anything nasty there at all…"
"I am picking up very faint electronic signatures now – from some of the ruins. Adjusting…" There was a pause as Marius reconfigured the sensors, half his mind looking for more information while the other half bought the Broadsword in for a landing, being careful and ready to abort and throw full power to the engines and a radical manoeuvre to throw off any ambush that might be waiting for them. "Still only getting faint signatures – as if they are being shielded. Perhaps portable equipment. No tracking radars or other systems though. Coming in on final."
He stayed ready, but bought the aircraft in, aiming to put down swiftly and with certainty, minimising the time in a hover, not only to save fuel, but to avoid throwing up as much debris as he could. As they settled onto the gravel, he found it was surprisingly firm, well compacted and without much give – despite his misgivings – and he quickly reduced power as they settled down onto the landing gear. A moment later, the rear ramp opened, with Aswon and Shimazu descending cautiously, splitting out into different sides of the aircraft to look around. Tads hovered at the top of the ramp, keeping both of them in sight with her magical protection wrapped around both of their auras, while Kai stood next to her, ready to move in support. Moments later, Hunter pushed past them, having climbed out of the co-pilot's seat, grabbing his gun and then moving down the ramp as well, moving to the rear and securing his own 'sector' of the rear.
"Clear left." Aswon announced.
"Nothing this side. Water still a bit glowy," Shimazu still sounded a little suspicious, and they could see his head constantly turning from side to side as he examined the water.
"Village still…wait one." Hunter kept the rifle at hip level, snugged in tight, but zoomed in with his cyber-eyes. "movement, door opening in one of the huts. As a hand appeared on the door frame, the rifle twitched a millimetre, and the Smart-link sight locked on to her. "Single female emerging, no obvious weapons." He watched carefully as the figure emerged, turning towards him and giving him a friendly wave.
The figure was slight, appearing to be either a thin human or possibly an elf based on their general build. Dressed in long flowing robes, the figure had thickly matted hair, sprouting in all directions from their scalp and seemed to be wearing a variety of jewellery.
"Their robes are magically active," Shimazu murmured, glancing over and giving them a thorough stare, before switching his attention back to the water in case it was a distraction. The figure walked a few paces towards them, then reached behind its back, pulling forth a large sickle. The team watched carefully, prepared to spring into action if the figure seemed to be ready to throw it or launch an attack, but instead it sank to its knees and raised the sickle up high, along with the other hand, chanting in some smoothly flowing language. The chanting stopped after perhaps twenty or thirty words, then the figure rose back to its feet, put the sickle into the belt wrapped around its waist and then resumed their approach to the team. Closing in, the features appeared to be more feminine, though that was by no means guaranteed especially as it did certainly seem to be more elven than human. Hunter grinned as he heard a quiet whine, knowing the sound of the turret-mounted cannon twisting into a covering position.
"Oh lawdy, she stinks!" Hunter muttered as his sensitive nasal system twinged. Even from here he could smell the stale body odour and the rancid hair – and that was from ten metres away. Every step she took closer made the smell intensify, until he just shut down his air-intake and swapped to the internal tank and disabled his nasal filters entirely. He couldn't smell anything now – but that seemed to be very much a good thing as far as he was concerned, and the rest of the team could sort themselves out.
"Blessings of the sea to you, travellers. Do you seek fish?" She smiled at them, showing discoloured teeth, stained and pitted. Kai almost vomited as the smell of her breath reached him, even from a few metres away. He recovered, bowing to her but then taking a step backwards to put another half metre between them, managing to make it look somewhat natural.
"If that fish is jet fuel, then yes, please." She smiled at him, exposing her rotting teeth once more.
Shimazu had closed up a little towards her as she approached Kai, wanting to be in range in case she made any hostile moves – but as soon as Kai mentioned they were only after fuel, he detected an immediate change in her posture and attitude, watching as she relaxed and her smile broadened. He in turn relaxed a little, reading no hostile intentions from her at all.
"We're just a transport team, moving things from here to there. We're in need of some fuel and a brief rest, then we're looking to move on. We're not after anything else, or to cause any trouble."
"Then may Elune's blessing be upon you."
"Is that you? Are you Elune, I mean?"
"No, and yet, at the same time…yes."
"I see." Kai said, not seeing at all, but not wanting to admit it. Instead he nodded sagely, then took another strategic half step backwards as he gestured towards the rest of the team. "Grandfather Fan provided us with the information on your location, and said that we may be able to refuel here on our journey?"
"Ahh, very well. Elune sees all. It is acceptable." She raised her arms into the air for a moment, her robe billowing slightly. Kai smiled, then tried to withhold a wince as the stink from her armpits wafted his way.
[The magic on her robe – some kind of transmutation spell. Unknown effects.] Tads sent the message out and continued to study the elf, trying to work out any more details that she could without actively probing her and risking detection. The spell on her robes was not that powerful, but neither was it masked or cloaked – but it was not something Tads had ever experienced before, and she was somewhat curious as to what it was.
"Contact, seaward side – two figures in the water!" Marius' voice rang out over the comms, and the team swung around to look towards the beach – apart from Shimazu, whose hand fell to his sword while his eyes locked onto the elf in front of him, and his legs tensed, ready to spring towards her if she took any action while the rest of the team were distracted.
"Are those mermaids?" Hunter asked, lowering his rifle towards the water, trying to figure out what the angle of refraction was, and where he needed to actually aim to hit them.
"No – worse. I think they're Merrow." Aswon studied the figures, trying to assess them through the shifting water. "Never seen one, but heard of them. Sea-people, so – I guess in a way like mermaids Hunter. But fully intelligent, able to use equipment, and form civilisations. And they can probably understand us – so think about what you say next, Hunter."
"Ready to open fire." Hunter grinned a little as Marius confirmed that the front turret had swung around and was locked on. He lowered his rifle, letting it drop from the position where he could instantly fire at the new targets. It wouldn't cost him more than a second or two if it did drop in the pan, but it might help avoid a fight…
"Someone is watching us." Aswon turned towards the elf, gesturing with his hand towards the sea.
"No – someone is guarding us." She responded. The smile had faded away, and she stared at him, making him feel as though she was testing him in some way.
"From what? What are they guarding us against?"
"The men in the tin boats. Many of them. They often sail around here. We keep them away." Aswon blinked, then glanced out at the Merrow in the water. Each of them was probably three metres long, with a form that did look like a mermaid to anyone that hadn't seen them before. While a mermaid was traditionally beautiful, though, with the top half of a female human, these were covered in scales and retained the same overall look as the bottom half of their bodies. Their hands in particular were huge, with long spindly fingers and large webbing between them, along with vicious-looking curved nails. Their hair – or perhaps kelp or seaweed – floated around their heads giving them a wild and animalistic look. Both of them carried long tridents in one hand, leaving the other free, while their tails swished back and forth through the water, keeping them in position against the movement of the sea. He couldn't see how a trident would be effective against a boat – or certainly not a boat bigger than a small dingy – which meant that either they had magical powers they could draw upon, or those tridents were not the only weapons they had access to.
"Well, I'm glad you're being watched and kept safe. So – may we purchase some fuel?"
"Elune will bless you with some, yes." The elf turned away and headed back towards the hut she'd come from, and Kai let out a long breath, trying to clear his mouth and nose of the smell that had been slowly building up and making him want to gag. She returned quickly enough, dragging a long fuel hose with her that had seen better days – the sheathing was ripped and frayed and the rubber hose looked to be cracking, while the clamp on the end looked to be badly worn and quite irregular. Hunter grabbed the hose from her and started to work it around to the fuel port on the Broadsword, leaving Kai to pay. The elf pulled out a very battered cred-reader that was bleached an off-white colour, with the screen also discoloured and looking washed out to the point of being almost unreadable. Salt crusted around various parts of the screen, giving lie to the supposed waterproof nature of the device – though that might have happened when someone had cracked open the case to run some extra wires in that connected to the solar strip that was glued to the top of the device.
Kai tried to subtly hold his breath as he approached, slotting the stick as quickly as he could and then backing off, so he could 'check' on how Aswon was doing, leaving the stick in place while the fuel was transferred. He authorised the fifteen thousand Nuyen bill quickly when he returned, grabbing the stick and backing off before the smell overwhelmed him. He had no idea how she could stand the stench – or not realise what was going on, but he was determined not to give offence.
"So, thank you for the chance to fuel up – we very much appreciate it."
"Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Well, I would like to know your name – or the name you wish to go by, if you don't want to reveal your actual or true name. I know some people are careful with such things, and I understand that. But it's nice to be able to call you by something."
"I am Allora, the guardian of this place."
"Well, thank you Allora. But other than the fuel, I don't think there's anything we need – though we are always on the lookout for things that are strange or unusual. We like rare goods, things that are a little special."
"Sometimes we have things for trade. For the right people. Of course, it also depends what you have to trade for it. What do you have?"
"I've got an idea, Kai, give me a minute." Aswon ducked back aboard, striding quickly up the ramp and heading to the cargo bay, then rooting through his own kit to find his sharpening block. He had no idea what this Allora had, but this would certainly help her keep her sickle sharp, and he couldn't imagine this place having a grinding wheel or any kind of electronic sharpener. He spun on his heel and headed over, experiencing the smell for himself as he approached. He'd picked up on the warning from Hunter, but had been far enough away and as it turned out slightly upwind, so he hadn't experienced it – but as he closed to hand over the block, he couldn't help but smell it. He remembered once finding a wounded big cat on a hunt, that had either had a fall or lost a fight with some other critter, and had broken a leg. The bone was sticking out, and the creature had died some time later, probably from the infection and shock – then had slowly rotted under the hot desert sun. The smell had been awful, and he'd thought that he'd never smell anything that bad – let alone worse – again.
Now he knew he'd been wrong. He'd rather go through tear-gas training again than stand near this woman, and he handed over the block as quickly as he could then backed away swiftly, heading back to where he'd been to try and get away.
"What is it?"
"It's a sharpening stone. If you place the blade of your sickle upon it, then draw the sickle across the surface, it will help put a fine edge on the weapon. A little oil will help, but otherwise just a slow, steady motion should do the job. But it requires no power, and is easy to do. I hope it helps you."
"Well – this is very useful!" Allora pulled out her sickle and gently pushed the blade over the stone, examining it, then looking over to Aswon. He mimed a change of angle, tipping his hands over and showing her, one hand running over the other, and then calling out to her when she matched the appropriate angle when she tried again.
"Perfect – that's right. Gentle, smooth action, a single line, then adjust a little to catch the next part of the edge, then again, and again, all the way around. That should keep a fine edge on the blade with no damage to it."
"I will practice. So – what do you seek in return?"
"Um… what have you got? I don't see much on the island – unless some of those grasses have some kind of curative properties, perhaps. Or some of the sand has some special qualities?" He gestured around, but other than the waving grasses and sandy beach, he really couldn't see anything that could be of value.
"Ahh – magical plants, perhaps?" She smiled at his sudden attentiveness. "I will see what I can do – it appears that you have an interest in such things. Please wait here." She turned and headed towards Shimazu and the water, and the waiting Merrow. She walked straight past the bodyguard and into the waves – and to the team's amazement they saw the water break around her, being repelled by some force, away from her skin.
"So that's what it does – some kind of water repellent spell. Maybe a water barrier? Ohh – it might allow oxygen through, but not water – like a fish's gills?" Tads mused, her voice carrying over the team channel. "On the other hand – that can't be good! I bet she can't drink with that on either – it'd stop the water getting into her body!"
"Stops the water getting into her 'pits too…" Hunter added, and it suddenly it became very clear just why she smelt so bad – and probably why her mouth was so grim too. Unable to wash, drink or even clean her teeth, her hygiene was probably limited to rubbing things with sand – and they could all imagine how that would go.
Aswon moved closer to the water's edge, watching as Allora spoke with the Merrow. He could hear the noise but it was badly distorted by the transmission through the water, and partially obscured by the sound of the waves – he could make out some of the noises, enough to tell it was a language he didn't understand – but no more than that. He could at least determine that it did seem to be a comprehensive form of communication, not just sounds or grunts. One of the Merrow nodded to her, then span on the spot, both horizontally and vertically, then shot away into the depths.
"That's weird. I mean – it's pretty fast, that's worth knowing – but did you see the angle it dived at? The water must drop off REALLY fast here. There's no gentle shelf out, it drops sharply away."
"My friend will return soon," Allora announced as she emerged from the water, walking calmly towards them, dry as a bone. "Do you have anything else to trade?"
"We could maybe offer you a service, if you're happy to allow us to?" Aswon suggested, then pointed to the small net bag that hung from her shoulder. "The device there – it doesn't seem to work very well. Our pilot is a most expert technician, and I'm sure he could do something to make it work better."
"What?" Aswon ignored the outburst from Marius, and continued.
"I'm sure he could bring out his toolkit and examine your device, give it a good service and get it working much better. So you are better positioned to deal with other people that visit here, and make sure you can deal with them."
"That would be useful. I tried singing to it, and saying nurturing things – but it does not seem to work…"
"Hunter, can you get a crate or something down here please, something for Marius to use as a workbench." Kai asked. "I'm sure he'll be down here in a moment, and it makes sense to ensure he can do the best job he can." Kai's voice had taken on a slightly different edge – not the controlling power he used to make people do what he wanted, but a definite aura of command that the team rarely heard. There was some grumbling for a few moments, and they could imagine Marius unjacking from the rigger system and climbing out of the pilot's chair before heading aft. When he emerged, he gave everyone a somewhat disgusted look, but settled down on the fold-out chair that Hunter had put next to the crate and signalled for the device.
"I need good light, so everyone back away." He managed to get out past the gipping noise he made as the smell washed over him – but he at least managed not to make it personal as he shooed everyone away from him, including Allora. They watched as he got to work, slowly disassembling the machine piece by piece. The look of disgust on his face intensified as he scraped out sand and crystallised salt from the various parts of the machine, and removed a small sea-cucumber from what looked like the battery compartment. The muttering intensified and slipped into German, mixing in with expletives as corroded contacts were discovered, water-damaged components identified and decayed circuit boards were uncovered.
Marius was an expert with electronics – the team knew this, and it had been demonstrated several times that he could cobble together equipment from a pile of components and scrap metal given a little time. But this seemed to be a major challenge for him due to the widespread nature of the task, and he called Hunter over to act as an extra pair of hands – or possibly as part of a learning experience for him, as he worked on almost rebuilding the device from the core out. His fingers delicately worked to remove the corroded parts and replace them with new ones from the supply he'd purchased in Port Harcourt, cleaning the traces on the circuit board and testing the continuity of the power paths as he soldered parts in. His hands danced over the device, replacing part after part with fresh gear and fitting them swiftly and surely in place, then sealing them in with a waterproof gum to protect them. Finally he reworked the external solar system so that the cables ran into the device through fresh holes protected by a waterproofing grommet, backed up with fresh sealant, and liquid plastic filled in the roughly hacked out holes previously used.
Ten minutes later, the device was flipped over and he inserted a fresh battery, then turned it back over and powered it on. The screen flickered into life, at least twice as bright as it had been previously, and ran through the diagnostics quickly before getting to the authentication screen. He gestured for Hunter to take it back to Allora.
"The battery is rechargeable, and should last you for several days before needing a charge – but it will top up any time it is out in the sun. That should not be an issue for you here. I have sealed all of the external access ports to stop sea-water getting in. Do not hit it or drop it if you can. But this should work for several years now."
"Can I still sing to it?"
"If you wish."
"Will it help?"
"No." Marius started to pack away his tools, working as quickly as he could in case she came closer to talk to him. As soon as he had his tools back into his toolbox and the container of parts ready to move, he quickly retreated up the ramp, returning to the cockpit.
"What do you eat? If that's not a rude question." Tads faced Allora, making eye contact and trying to ensure that she knew it was a question aimed firmly at her.
"Seaweeds, things like that."
"Can I make you some food? I have the ability to do that…" She offered
"Not-fish?"
"Is meat ok?"
"NOT-fish?" There was a definite emphasis on the word this time.
"Ok, not fish. Can you cook here? Do you have cooking facilities?"
"What is cooking?" Allora seemed to ask with genuine curiosity, and the team looked at her closely, trying to work out if she was serious or not. What kind of person didn't know about cooked food?"
"Using a flame or heat, to make the food hot. Making it cooked often makes it browned or softer."
"Eugh." Allora made a face, and it seemed that the idea of hot food was definitely not appealing to her."
"I see. Ok, bear with me a moment." Tads grabbed a container, and then concentrated, making a couple of apples appear. A deep breath, then concentrating again, and a few oranges joined them. A deep breath – then a banana. Another breath, then a small handful of grapes. Allora watched with fascination, then took the bowl from Hunter as Tads handed it over to him to carry to her. She examined them carefully, then gave them a cautious sniff. Tads gestured to the top pile. "Those are grapes. Try one." She mimed taking a single grape and putting it into her mouth. Allora did, and her face lit up with glee as she bit into the succulent green grape, letting the juice explode into her mouth. A moment later she got an entire handful and crammed them into her mouth all at once, munching happily.
Tads had a sudden insight, imagining a period of time where perhaps the only liquid that she was able to imbibe was the juice of seaweed or kelp, or similar plants – of never being able to drink a glass of clear, cold water… and then being handed a handful of juicy grapes. She quickly found another container and started to cast her spell time after time, stocking up the bowl with handful after handful of the most succulent fruits she'd experienced. She stayed away from meat products, and especially fish, but tried to create a wide selection of fruits that could all be eaten cold. She was certain they wouldn't last that long in this heat and environment, and it seemed unlikely that Allora had a fridge to keep things in – but given the speed that she was cramming things into her mouth, the food wasn't going to last that long. She broke off long enough to stop Allora just biting into the oranges as they were, describing how to peel them and reveal the soft fruit within, then returned to creating a bounty of food for her.
"That is for me?" Allora managed to say around a mushy mouthful of apple, oranges and grapes.
"Yes – all for you. It won't last for more than a day or two unfortunately, but I can make you enough to feed you for several meals until then."
"That's amazing! Wait here…" Allora crammed a few more bits of fruit into her mouth, masticating swiftly, and looking at the new bowl that Tads was creating with covetous eyes. She headed swiftly back to the ocean and strode into the waves, walking down the slope until she was under the surface of the water, approaching the remaining Merrow. This time the conversation was much more animated and decisive, with Allora seeming to be much more forthright and determined with the remaining watcher. It nodded, and retreated out of sight a little, then returned shortly, with another Merrow – possibly the first one returning, or maybe a second – it was hard to tell.
It handed over a net bag to Allora, who took it and headed back towards the shore.
"Hunter… please – can you take this?" Kai asked. Except he didn't really ask, as he was backing off as he said it, as did everyone else, making sure Hunter was the closest to her as she emerged from the waves.
"Here – this is a trade. For the fruit, and the machine working."
"Um – thanks. Nice plants." Hunter looked at the bag sceptically, as water drained away from the contents, dripping onto the sand and forming a pattern of droplets marked by a darker colour, that slowly faded away as the sand leeched away the moisture. He turned and saw the rest of the team had backed away almost to the Broadsword. "Cheers. I think we're heading off now, though. Maybe we'll be back some time…"
With his quota of small-talk expended, Hunter shrugged, gave her a toothy grin and turned away from her, heading back to the ramp to rejoin the rest of the team. He turned on the ramp and saw her waving to him, then heading to go and grab the fuel hose, dragging it back towards the hut that she'd been in when they arrived, and slapped the button by the side of the ramp, then heading back towards the passenger area, dropping off the bag with Tads as he passed.
"Here's your seaweed. Hope it's worth it…" he said dismissively. Tads, however, seemed to grab it with glee, with Aswon also leaned in with some excitement.
"Oooh – look! Those… those are pure. I mean… they're unusual. I can't see making something embodying the element of fire from these… but if we need an enchanting focus to help someone swim really fast, or breath underwater, or summon a water spirit – these will be fantastic."
"Nice – but the other stuff there…" Aswon pointed at some brightly coloured stringy plants curled up in a ball. "Unless I'm mistaken, that stuff is Deepweed. That's pretty rare, and can do all kinds of weird stuff to you if you have the sight. I've heard lots of rumours about it, but I've never seen any. That's going to be interesting!"
The engines rumbled into life as they poked through the bag, while Tads and Aswon examined their haul of magical telesma, placing it into some sealed bags to keep them fresh. With a lurch, they rose into the air, Marius taking them up to two-hundred metres straight up, before spinning on the spot and starting to travel east, heading towards their meeting with the Huk.
"Hey, Hunter – just a thought. You might want to post about the Merrow sighting on magik-net. I'm not sure how much is known about them, so if you or Marius have any sensor footage or recordings, it might really help you with your rep on there. Just a thought."
"Right. Stories about fish people. Gotcha. I guess I got nothing else to do for the next few minutes…"