Friday 09/09/61, Location: 31.346, 121.63067, Time 06:00

Tads headed out of the aircraft at dawn, just as she did every morning, and after a quick check around to make sure it was safe, she settled down to the ground, sitting on the rough concrete at the bottom of the steps. A few deep cleansing breaths, and she started her ritual, giving thanks to her totem for another night survived, praying for guidance for another day and promising to do what she could to preserve her tribe and people. A few heartbeats, then she started to summon spirits, calling upon the land spirits of the area to aid her for the day. Unsurprisingly they had a distinctly nautical and industrial theme when they appeared, fitting in with the area and the hundreds of people that worked in the docks each day, along with the visiting sailors. She left the largest spirit until last, making sure that she had a personal guardian for each of the team summoned first before she called on a much larger spirit to protect the Broadsword. The sheer size of the vehicle along with the highly processed and complex manufacturing required to make it meant that it was much harder to conceal and protect from a magical perspective, and needed a powerful spirit to do so. That in turn put much more strain on her, and often led her to nurse a headache or some other pain from the effort…

Today it wasn't too bad, and was soon banished with a pair of standard painkillers and a glass of water, and she patrolled around the landing bay a little, just for a change of scenery. It wasn't a particularly refreshing experience – the noise of the busy port was an aural assault, and the smells of the kilometres of industrial warehousing, docks, cranes, and the massive city itself wasn't like breathing the pristine air of home – but it was at least different from being cooped up in the aircraft for hours.

She heard someone stirring inside, and headed back to check things out, being unsurprised to see Aswon making himself a cup of coffee and grabbing some fruit. He never seemed to need much sleep, and though he'd been on the mid-watch, covering the early hours of the morning, the few hours of sleep he'd managed to get always seemed to leave him refreshed and alert. He toasted her silently with an apple while he sipped on his steaming soy-kaf, acknowledging her provision of fresh food.

He moved down to sit on the bottom of the stairs, and she stood near him, watching in companionable silence while he broke his fast. A few minutes later she heard him put down his cup, wedging the sliver of apple core he hadn't eaten into it, then pull out his commlink and call Spook, having a brief conversation with her before disconnecting.

"She's still worried 'bout the kid, understandably. But she told me she's not going to chase up on the people she called. They're not the kind of people you poke and remind apparently. They'll either come through for her, or she'll just have to leave them be."

"Oh. Well, if it is a dragon we're looking to get in touch with, I suppose that makes sense."

"Yeah. But she did tell me that the old couple from the tailors are making progress. Apparently they've made some top-quality bolts of silk, and they've found someone who can turn it into some cutting edge garments that are creating a bit of a stir. The fashion world is buzzing, wanting more of it, and the price is rising nicely with the demand… so we might get a nice little bonus through sometime soon."

"That'll be nice!" came Kai's voice from just inside the cabin, announcing that he'd woken up, too. A moment later his face appeared at the doorway, squinting up at the sky as he checked on the weather – or possibly made sure that nothing was on fire and that the world wasn't ending without him. "I like Nuyen."

"Well, I actually told her that we'd be happy to take Nuyen, but we'd also be happy to take some payment in the form of things like tickets to fashion events, or backstage access to expos and things like that."

"WHAT?"

"Think about it, Kai. All those moves and shakers, leaders of industry, crammed together in a small place. The whole fashion industry is a constantly moving target, one that relies on perceptions and beliefs, fads and constantly changing trends. If ever there's someone you could convince to spend ten thousand nuyen on a ripped bin-bag, it's someone at an event like that!"

"Huh… true, I suppose. But I do still like cash…"

"So do I," Shimazu announced as he appeared at the top of the steps, handing Kai a steaming cup of 'kaf, matching his own. What are we talking about, though?"

Aswon went over the news again, then repeated himself for a third time as Hunter and Marius appeared, disturbed by the growing volume of chat from the rest of the team. Now that everyone was up though, Tads got their attention and then gestured to the city.

"I was thinking of spending some time hunting down a talismonger, maybe seeing if we can find some more supplies today, if we're not doing anything else. I'm not after anything in particular, but figure it would be useful to have a source if we're over here. Or at least check the prices."

"Are we staying for that long?" Marius looked around, making brief eye contact with each of them in turn. "It was my impression that we were going to be on our way soon. We have two issues to deal with – the mark on the child, and looking at procuring a Battletac system, if possible. And I believe that The Noodles said he could assist with that."

"He did," Hunter confirmed. "I get the impression he knows of somewhere that might have them, and is willing to broker some information about them, in exchange for some loot of his own if we do go raiding. Sort of like the deal we had with Daewoo."

"Yeah, that's what I remember." Aswon nodded. "And I'm sure he's going to make out like a bandit, too – but as long as it's not at our expense – do we care?" There were several shakes of the head and shrugs, acknowledging that they either didn't care, or just accepted that it was the way of the world.

"It might be good to get some local work. Hunter – you want to try calling Mr. Noodles? You speak his lingo…"

Hunter sighed, but then nodded, activating his deck and sending a quick message, then studying the response.

"He's not available at this time of day, according to the message. Get the feeling he's a bit of a night owl… maybe try again at lunchtime, earliest…"

"Alright then - I'm going to try Harry Wu – the guy we spoke to the other day, before we went off to do this job? He's local, and he might have some local work for us – just something that will take a day or so. Might help us get some rep, earn a bit of Nuyen… any objections?" He checked around, and when nobody indicated it was a problem, worked through his contact list and called. When the video window lit up, he realised he'd caught Harry at his own breakfast, eating some kind of krill-cereal.

"Morning Harry, hope it's not a bad time?"

"Nothing that can't wait… what's up?"

"Well, we've just finished our job, and we're looking around to see if there's anything else we can pick up while we're in the area. Just looking for a quick job really. Wondered if you needed anything doing."

"What's your range on that thing?"

"If the money is right, worldwide. We might need to hop around a bit – we can do a couple of thousand kilometres without refuelling, and we've got some contacts around the place – why?"

"Well, as it happens, I do have something that needs to be done. Delivery of some gear, very hush hush, down to the Javanese Republic."

Hunter already had the cable in his datajack and was logged into his deck from the call to The Noodles, and a moment later the screen lit up, showing the eastern parts of Asia as he accessed his map library. Another moment later a dotted line appeared, travelling down from Shanghai to the general area of the Javanese Republic, showing the minimum and maximum distances to the nearest and furthest parts of the islands, along with an estimated fuel cost for the round trip.

"Well, if the money is right, we can do that. Looks to be around four and a half thousand kilometres each way, so the fuel isn't going to be cheap… but we can do it. I mean, other than wetwork and kidnapping, we're mostly up for stuff. And those… if it's the right subject, we've been flexible before. If they were deserving." A look washed over Kai's face, a brief moment of darkness as he remembered the past, before it cleared and he fixed a smile back on his face. "But a simple transport job? No problem. We have another job in four weeks or so, but we can easily fit this in before that!"

"Well, that suits me. I've got eight pallets of hardware, should fit inside your aircraft ok, from what I remember. If you can get it down to the customer with no official interventions, I can go…" Harry paused for a moment, staring into space above his commlink as he worked the figures in his head. "Say, ninety kay? Would that work for you?"

"I'm pretty sure it could. One issue is that we don't have anyone really local for fuel in the area, they're much further west or east. If you could possibly help with a contact in the area, that would make life much easier, improve the odds for us sneaking in quietly."

"I'm sure I know someone down that way. Let me see what I can do. But you up for the job?" He asked Kai, who held up one finger and quickly cycled his glance around the group, getting nods or shrugs from them all. "Yep, we're good to go."

"Great stuff. Let me organise things my end, then. I'll get the loading sorted – you at the same place as you were before?"

"Yes, same landing pad in fact. Exactly the same."

"Ok, I should be able to get the cargo to you by ten, maybe eleven. And I'll work on the fuel arrangements."

"Marvellous, Harry. I'll look forward to seeing you later then, and we'll get ready and start route planning." Kai saw Hunter drawing breath and guessed what he was going to say. "If you can get us the fuel stop info sooner rather than later, it would help hugely with the planning, make everything smoother. I know you'll do what you can, but my navigator is gonna bug me about it." Kai grinned at Hunter, and got a raised middle finger in return, but Hunter also grinned afterwards.

"I'm pretty sure I can get you something in the Dayak Council territory, just to the north. But let me get on that. After breakfast…" Harry smiled, then disconnected the call.

The team started to look at the possible routes they could take down towards the Javanese Republic, deciding to try and steer clear of the Philippines and the Imperial Japanese Navy if they could, taking a slightly longer route through the middle of the South China Sea. From there, things became uncertain – did they head down over Brunei and cut through the middle of the Dayak Council territory, or fly east or west around it – depending very much on where this possible fuel stop might be located?

Kai's commlink buzzed angrily at him, an incoming call from an unknown number, just as the time hit 07:20 exactly. He gave the display a curious look for a moment, then hit accept – recognising the face on the other end of the call as 'Mr. Black', the elderly Chinese man that had been one of the two that hid given them the job to travel around the Ring of Fire. He racked his brain for a moment, then gave a tiny nod as Marius reminded him of the man's name over their private comms.

"Mr. Kuro! Good morning. A pleasure to see you, sir."

"Ahh, the winds of fate have seen fit to blow two leaves together once more. I understand that you have a problem, and require assistance. If you wish, you may petition for aid. Travel to the Grand Temple of Mount Heng, then climb the ten thousand steps, and perhaps luck will be bestowed upon you." Kai was about to respond, when the call disconnected without another word.

"Sweet – sounds like an invitation!" Aswon chirped, getting an angry scowl from Marius. "Well, it is. Not often you're going to get something like that."

"You have no idea where we are going, do you?" Aswon shook his head, so Marius continued. "Mount Heng is part of a mountain range in the Hunan region. It is reported to be one of the five sacred peaks of China, places of mythical events and happenings." Hunter's face had fallen now to join that of Marius, as both of their 'mythic-bullshit' meters started to twitch. "I remember reading something about this."

"Well, you would, wouldn't you." Kai quipped. Marius glared at him, but carried on.

"It is said that an elderly business man appeared one day, and claimed the mountain as his own, telling everyone that he had dominion over it, and that none may approach without his permission, and specifically that modern equipment was banned from the area. Not surprisingly, the local warlords and military juntas took offence at this, and told him to be quiet and get back to his care home. But after this, the old man disappeared, and there was a series of earthquakes, floods, landslides, fires, tornadoes and all manner of other natural disasters that hit the area, hitting the towns and military bases, but leaving the villages untouched. Pretty soon they worked out it was the spirits of the area, and realised that the old man was not just an old man. So they ceded control of the mountain to him, and it is now reputed to be a lair for Lung. Assuming that he is the old man, of course. But it seems likely."

"Oh – very much a 'you and whose army…oh THAT army' situation?" Aswon grinned, imagining the response for the local warlords picking that fight and having no idea who they were going up against.

"It would appear so. But that is likely our destination."

"Got some info from Shadowland. One sec…" Hunter focussed for a moment, then started to speak again in the slightly flat monotone he used when he was relaying information he'd found online. "Hengshan, also known as Mount Heng, is a mountain in southcentral China's Hunan Province known as the southern mountain of the Five Great Mountains of China. Heng Shan is a mountain range one hundred and fifty kilometres (ninety three miles) long with seventy-two peaks and lies at 2718′6″N 11241′5″E. The Huiyan Peak is the south end of the peaks, Yuelu Mountain in Changsha City is the north end, and the Zhurong Peak is the highest at one thousand and three hundred metres (four thousand and three hundred feet) above sea level."

"At the foot of the mountain stands the largest temple in southern China, the Grand Temple of Mount Heng otherwise known as Nanyue Damiao, which is the largest group of ancient buildings in Hunan Province. Its founding year is unknown. The earliest documented records show that it was built in 725 CE during the Tang dynasty. The temple lived through the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties despite suffering six fires and undergoing sixteen large-scale renovations. At the end of the Ming dynasty, the temple was burnt down. In 1882, during the Qing dynasty, the temple was rebuilt following the layout of Forbidden City in Beijing, thus it was also called 'Little Palace in South China'. The majority of the buildings have been preserved till today. During the Cultural Revolution, all temples were regarded as engendering the values of the 'Four Olds', and suffered devastating destruction. The valuable historical stone tablets, inscribed boards, Buddhist statues and scriptures were all destroyed. Starting in 1980s, continuous renovation projects have rehabilitated destroyed buildings and statues."

"Three religions, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, co-exist in the Grand Temple of Mount Heng, and the area is visited by thousands of tourists and pilgrims each year, who come to make offerings or plead for an audience with the spirits rumoured to inhabit the mountain. No industrial development is permitted inside the mountain area, stretching out between forty and fifty kilometres, depending on the direction. The mountains are regarded as 'sacred' and high-tech equipment is frowned upon and has a reputation for actually glitching out. Aircraft steer clear and there are advisories about "weather anomalies" along the ridge of the mountains."

"Ahh, here's a bit more," he said after a pause of a few seconds. "Oh, more of the same, I think. Thousands of pilgrims travel to the area each year, climbing the ten thousand steps to reach the peak and give offerings to the ancient spirits and pray for guidance. Oh – this bit's important, though. A lot of back and forth, from different commenters, and some people saying this is all drek, and not substantiated, but some others saying it's true… there have been reports sometimes of senior politicians or army personnel taking choppers to the top of the mountain to 'pray' - and there seems to be an almost 1:1 correlation with terrible accidents, mishaps and mechanical difficulties that has killed, maimed or severely wounded people who took this route. Lots of accidents and random freak weather, people saying the actual details have been suppressed. Some other people claiming they've seen data, liberated accident reports from hosts in the area during runs. But either way, it sounds like if you're going to the top of the mountain, you need to climb. No shortcuts!"

"Well, that's interesting." Kai winced. "Ten thousand steps sounds like a lot though…"

"If we're going, we should consider taking some offerings. I think that would do us well… we should think about what to take, and make sure it's meaningful. Not necessarily the most expensive thing, but something that shows we've thought about things."

"It'd be a long way to go, but we could always take him a couple of kilos of that orichalcum stuff. Just need to take Tads home first…" Hunter suggested.

"Oh – not quite the same, but I do have that bit of crystal I found. Virgin telesma. It's at least unique, and valuable to him or any of his mages." Aswon replied.

"Can always just offer him part of my soul." Kai grinned at them. "Only because I can't offer him any of yours, as I understand it…"

"So – what do we do first. The delivery run for Harry Wu? Look into the job for The Noodles if he comes through with something, for some kind of tactical gear? Or go to the mountain?"

"If the dragon has invited us, we shouldn't keep them waiting."

"True, Tads. But there was no time limit on the invitation, and remember these are ancient beings that have plans that stretch for decades, if not centuries. An extra day may just be a blink of an eye to him…"

"That's a fair point, actually. Serious suggestion – what about taking him a suit of the silk stuff? Maybe take that as our first payment – then it's potentially at cost to them as well? But something that beautiful, and hand-made – that's got to have a certain value as well, yes?" Kai looked around, getting a couple of nods of agreement.

"I'm not saying no here – just looking at the logistics. That would force us to go to Hong Kong first, to actually collect stuff. It's going to double the trip length."

"True, mate. But we can still do it on one tank. And… we could collect Spook and her kid while we're there, actually take the kid along to be checked over. Might be easier for old lizard face to fix it if he's seen it." Hunter pointed out.

"Huh. If we're doing that, then we might want to consider going all the way down to the Javanese republic and doing the drop off, then heading back via Hong Kong and grabbing Spook. Do it as one big loop all the way round." Aswon suggested. Hunter sketched out a route – from Shanghai down over the China Sea, stopping off at Elune's Bay for fuel, then all the way down to the far reaches of the Republic, before turning round and heading back to Elune's Bay, to Hong Kong and finally up to the mountain. His route took them west of the Philippines, keeping out of waters likely to be patrolled by the Japanese navy, and was nearly nine thousand kilometres long.

"Hmm. At least eighteen hours flight time. But not too bad over two days. Assuming we stop somewhere overnight after the drop-off, that is doable. And would get us to the invitation the day after we have been issued with it. But also means we can collect some offerings, in Hong Kong. Though I am not sure I want to pander to this concept." Marius sniffed at the idea of showing obedience or obsequious behaviour to Lung.

"Just like buying a cigar for a corporate CEO, mate." Hunter seemed to share his opinion, but also appeared to be more morally flexible if it meant getting in favour with someone that could help them. "And Kai's mate said we'd have stop somewhere in the Dayak Council territory. No idea where that is, or could be – but that's something else to factor in. We need more info, though, to work out if that's going to help us much."

Hunter continued to route plan, with input from Marius, while the rest got on with the usual fare – checking their gear over, diving out to get fresh food and keeping an eye on the news. More and more strange reports were filtering in, from all around the world, it seemed, with odd people being rushed to emergency rooms, strange maladies affecting people almost at random. Conspiracy theorists were of course linking it to the approaching comet, which then let the news anchors segue into articles about how the number of probes in the race to actually approach or land on Halley's Comet had dwindled to none – then surged back up as corporations had revealed their 'backup' plans to intercept the Comet as it completed its orbit around the sun before heading back out into deep space.

Just before eight, Kai got a call from Harry Wu, confirming that he was on the way with the gear, though caught up in traffic and likely to be closer to ten-thirty for his arrival time. Kai queried him on the goods they were transporting at the request of Marius.

"Look, I don't need to know exactly what we're carrying… but some idea on the… volatility would be good. If we have to pull any hard flying for instance, would the cargo slosh about, or get exited in some way. And are we annoying any particular people that might come looking for us specifically? That kind of thing."

"That's ok. The shipment is mainly top end assault-rifles, fully tricked out with all the latest gear. Bunch of ammo, some sidearms, some one-shot supplies, stuff like that. As long as its tied down and doesn't get bashed around too much, it should all be safe. And otherwise – just want to avoid the authorities. There's an import ban on stuff like this unless it goes through some very specific channels, and my customers are on the 'absolutely not' list, so that's never going to work for them. But nobody should know you're coming…"

"Right… ok, thanks. That should be fine, then. I'll let my pilot and loaders know. And the fuel stop? And delivery point?"

"Still working on the fuel stop, and I'll get the delivery location over to you when we deliver. Prefer for it not to go out over the air at all, if we can help it."

"Sounds reasonable to me. Ok, see you in a couple of hours, Harry. We'll be ready."

He was interrupted as a drone delivery arrived, addressed for 'Dr Julian Barnham', carrying two mid-sized boxes. He was just about to query them when he remembered that this was one of the fake IDs that belonged to Hunter, and instead accepted the delivery and called to the ork to come and collect his packages. Following him into the Broadsword's passenger area, he was amused, and then irritated when Hunter unwrapped the two identical items – two cheap 'stairmaster' exercise platforms.

"It's for you weak-ass complainers to start practicing with! Reckon you can get ten thousand steps done today while we're flying down!" His guffaws followed him into the cockpit, dulling but not cutting off entirely as the door closed behind him whilst he went to share his humour with Marius.

Aswon had made arrangements with Spook, warning her that they'd probably be back to Hong Kong the following day, and that he needed both her and her child, ready to go for a trip out into nature, able to climb and go out into the weather. She'd been curious, but also trusted him enough not to ask too many questions, and said that she'd get them ready. She also said that she'd speak with the Farooqs and see if she could get hold of some of the vampire silk to take as some kind of gift or offering.

Tads stuck her head into the cockpit, poking Hunter to get his attention.

"I had a thought. Can you order something for me from the matrix? I'm sure it probably exists – some way of cleaning yourself, that doesn't use water?"

"Dry shampoo? Probably. Oh – for the bint down on the island."

"Her name is Alorra. Not bint!" Tads sighed, but then gave up the fight. Hunter probably wouldn't use the name to her face, but he wasn't going to be told what to do either. But her train of thought was interrupted by Marius.

"You may not want to do that. I do not know, maybe this is a magical thing. But she has given up something significant to work with the Naga, to be with the beings of the water. Maybe this is part of the price. Trying to work around it… might be as unwise as flying to the top of the ten thousand steps." Tads blinked a few times, wondering why it had taken Marius to point this out to her, to shift her point of view and make her consider that as a possibility. "If you wish to take her something, perhaps takes some foods that have an exceptionally high water content, or are juicy and succulent. She can only gain liquids from her food, I believe you said? If so, that might have particularly high value for her."

"You're right… thanks, Marius." She checked her commlink for the time. "Right, I'm off to find the local mini-market or stall or something. See what foods I can find that might be local to this area, that we can study and take down for her. But I can also make her a whole bunch of other stuff."

Time ticked by, until a little after ten thirty, when The Noodles appeared, looking for Hunter. Kai was happy to delegate down the negotiations to him once more, hanging back a discreet distance to listen in on the conversation – though it was barely understandable to him. He managed to pick up the gist of the negotiations though as they exchanged codes and concepts, wrapped up in the language of servers, icons, menus and pulses of information and gigawotsits per thingum. It sounded though that The Noodles had a location in mind, and a target for a heist, a somewhat similar job to the raid on the car factory, where the team could find some top-end tactical gear along with some other components that they could liberate that would be useful to the smuggler stop. The Noodles would provide the information and remote support in exchange for a modest slice of the loot from whatever they could obtain. Hunter for his part managed to delay the mission for a few days at least, to allow them to deal with the 'urgent threads that required executive CPU allocations and raised processing priority'. At least that's what it sounded like…

He was just about to call Harry again when the delivery van appeared at the smuggler stop, driving into the loading bay and then waiting to be directed – the young driver apparently expecting that their vehicle would be hidden once more, and that he would need to be guided into position. Once they had the van backed up and stopped in an appropriate position, Marius lowered the rear-ramp and asked Tads to reveal the cargo bay – getting the spirit to stop its concealment for at least a few minutes while they loaded the gear.

As the crates were unloaded, Marius pulled a face, seeing the obvious and clearly stencilled identifiers for Saeder-Krupp over all of the shipping crates.

"Don't worry, mate. They're clearly false – designed to throw people off the trail. Nobody would be that obvious – probably all Ares gear inside there." Aswon tried to sound convincing, but the raised eyebrow from Marius indicated that he was fooling nobody. Still, unhappy as he was, he didn't stop them being loaded aboard, and they worked quickly to secure the load, strapping down the crates to the positions at the front of the cargo bay. Once they were all loaded in, they could load the fuel and the vehicle around them, making the bay uncomfortably full once more – a single fifty-centimetre-wide channel down one side all the room that was left to move from the rear ramp to the door into the passenger compartment. They were also pretty much at their weight limit, it seemed, and Marius was careful with the warm-up sequence, making sure that everything was allowed to run up to speed slowly, and that nothing was rushed or missed out in the pre-flight checklist.

But, just as they ticked past eleven in the morning, they lifted off slowly and gently, then turned and headed out of the smuggler stop, over the water and merging in with the horde of traffic that filled the waterways and airspace around the port.

"I checked everything for bugs after we loaded and Wu had left. Didn't want to annoy him." Hunter told Marius, keeping the information just to the pair of them, and getting an approving grunt in return. "No signs of any trackers or unexpected electronics. Crates are all sealed well. We could probably get in them with a bit of effort – if we needed to. But the packaging looks legit – seems they have come out of an SK munitions plant somewhere…"

"Well, at least we are smuggling high-end gear. If we do end up having to fight at the delivery site – we can break open the containers and be assured that the merchandise will work well." Hunter glanced over at the comatose form of Marius, trying to work out if that was dead-pan humour or a plan of action, and finding himself unable to decide either way… instead he turned back to the map, checking their route and monitoring their position as they flew through the congested and tight confines of the port area, heading out towards the sea. Once they hit slightly more open water, Marius gently banked to starboard, treating the Broadsword gently as he felt how heavy they were, before heading south-east. They didn't have a lot of room for manoeuvre for the first leg of their journey, passing between the island of Taiwan and the mainland, but then the routes gradually opened up and the shipping could diverge slightly. They kept low, out of the sensor view for most of the area, but that meant that the largest of the ships plying the waterways were a hazard – or at least a source of detection, but Marius was on top of their own sensors and navigated around them easily enough.

Not long after they turned south, Kai received a message, passing it on to Hunter immediately.

"Got a location for this fuel stop. Somewhere identified as BP-12. Co-ordinates are negative 1.67738 by 117.43858. I've got a big string of code letters and stuff, and a radio frequency. Sending that to you now."

"Got it. Yeah – encryption key for messages, just for authentication probably. Location is… well, it's in open water between the two major landmasses. Quite a way out into the water actually – about a hundred klicks. In the Makassar Strait."

"Could it be a ship? An oil tanker with a helipad, maybe?" Aswon guessed.

"Could be. My money's on an oil rig through. Map shows the water being fairly shallow there, in relative terms. Maybe there used to be oil or gas extraction, or it could have been a mining rig perhaps. But regardless, we got a fuel stop, it seems. Plotting that in now… makes the run down to there from the weird bint about fifteen hundred clicks, and from this new place down to the Javanese Republic about another thousand. Easy travels, there and back. That's useful actually – opens up a whole new area we can cover, without stretching things from those South-Africans to the east, or the nutter with the knife on the beach. Good stuff…"

Their journey down over the South China Sea was uneventful – far enough west to avoid the Philippines and any Japanese patrols or interdiction craft, far enough east to avoid Vietnam and the various cartels, warlords, pirates and other denizens that plagued the shoreline there. Heading almost due south now, they closed in on the Spratly Islands, and their rendezvous with the strange druid living there.

They were close to three in the afternoon by the time the islands came in sight, and Marius bought them down for a STOL landing, still treating the aircraft carefully. Thankfully their previous visit had told him that the rough landing strip was actually not that bad, though it did definitely live up to the description of 'short'. They decelerated hard upon landing, and still only just managed to stop before running out of dusty and sand-covered airstrip. Once more all was quiet on the island – though that was still a fairly generous description for what some people might just have termed a sand-bar with delusions of grandeur. The couple of battered and clearly deserted huts at the end of the landmass were still decrepit and run-down, with no signs of power or habitation. Someone must have seen them, one way or another though, as within a few minutes they spotted the druid swimming up towards them, flanked again by a pair of Naga.

"Ahh – you're back. Elune's blessings upon you."

"Nice to see you again." Kai had spotted her approach and subtly moved, making sure he was upwind of her for the greeting. He also pitched his voice to be loud and clear, making any closer-approach unnecessary. "To get straight to business – we would like to buy some fuel. But we also have some gifts for you as well, to strengthen our relationship. And we're happy to discuss any possible work or favours, of course…"

"I see. Well, let me grab the hose. The rate is the same as last time…" Kai nodded to her, and she headed across the beach towards the closest hut, pulling open the flimsy and rotting door and stepping inside. The occasional flash of colour through the holes in the walls betrayed her movement, and they could track her activities. Hunter took a deep breath and started to walk over to her, his neck bulging and contorting for a moment as he switched over to his internal air-tank and shut down his nasal passages. He nodded to her and grabbed the end of the large-bore hose, heaving it into his arms and heading towards the Broadsword, unrolling it as he went, letting her focus on the connection to the pump. As Hunter got his end coupled up, she fired up the tiny power system, engaged the pump and fuel started to flow over to them, refilling their tanks.

Alorra meanwhile headed back out and stood at the very edge of the water, one foot in the surf line – creating a disjointed image with every wave that rushed in towards the beach, reaching a point only a few centimetres away from her foot and then breaking on the invisible force projected from whatever magical foci held up her spell, sending counter-waves rushing out sideways from her position.

"I have some foods for you – fresh from the market this morning for some of them, and some created for you while we were flying down. Hopefully you'll like the taste of most of them, and enjoy them…" Tads approached with a large bag, the loose fibres displaying a massive variety of fruits and vegetables inside. They were all things that could be eaten raw, and would at least keep for a day or two, even in the relentless heat of the area.

"Ohh – thank you. Those look interesting. Did you say created?"

"Yes, I did. I don't have the most powerful spell, so sometimes the taste isn't quite right, or perfect. But they're all fine to eat, and nutritious. And… well, actually – it might be something I can teach you, if you have the time and willingness to learn. It would only take a few hours probably, but we could maybe try and arrange some time in the future, when we're not in the middle of a job."

"Tads." Marius called out. "A question. It is about four or five hours to dusk, and you will need to replace your spirits then, correct?"

"Yes."

"But you need to be on land to do so. Ideally." She nodded to him. "I wonder if we might be better to wait until dusk here then. We do not know what the next landing point it – but even if it is a rig, rather than a boat, it may still be floating in the water. As I understand it, the way the magic works – that would not count. It really matters, I mean, that no matter how big a structure is, if we are in the water, we are not 'on land'."

"Oh – I see what you mean. Well… yes, that's right. I thought that oil rigs just had really long legs?"

"Some do. It depends on the depth of the water and the method of constructions. Some have very long legs that go to underwater tanks or weights, that hold them in place. We do not know what we will encounter."

"Well, in that case… it sounds like I have a few hours now. If you're willing to have me in your lodge or place, I can happily try to teach you the spell. There's nothing I want in return, just to be clear."

The pump cut off as the tank was filled, and Alorra grinned at them.

"There is unfortunately something I want from you, though." Kai took a breath, turning it into a 'dramatic sigh' then tried to breathe shallow as he came to slot his credstick to pay for the fuel. Fortunately the repairs that Marius had performed last time seemed to have the device working well, and though they ended up over sixteen thousand Nuyen lighter, it took only seconds to process and Kai was able to retreat to a safe distance quickly enough. "If you are willing to teach me, I will welcome you – but be warned, we will need to go below. My friends will help us though."

"That's no problem – I have a spell of my own that would let me breathe under the water." Tads quickly cast it upon herself, smoothing out the backlash over a few seconds until the mana had dissipated, then signalling that she was ready. "I'll be back when we're done – not sure if it will be before or after dusk, though I'll be as quick as we can."

With that, she walked into the water, following Alorra into the shallows, the water rising up her body as she strode down the shallow incline. It was a strange sensation to duck under the water and feel herself submerge, but still not need to breathe, and she had to concentrate on not opening her mouth and keeping a little pressure in her nose to keep the water out. Her spell oxygenated her blood for her, but did nothing to prevent her drowning…

As they descended, the two Naga approached, and Tads realised just how large they were for the first time – each nearly as broad as Hunter or Shimazu, and approaching ten metres long, they were hugely powerful looking creatures, and more than a little intimidating. Their eyes were cold and dark, their fins sticking out of the side of their head gently rippling in the gentle current. Their long sinuous bodies were sheathed in fine scales, with a repeating pattern running down and giving them a somewhat hypnotic appearance. Alorra gestured for Tads to rest a hand on 'her' Naga, doing the same with her own. Once Tads had done so, the Naga flipped neatly end over end and started to wiggle the bottom half of its body, propelling it and her down through the water. The scales were rough enough that she didn't have to grip, or not hard anyway, to remain in place, and she was drawn downwards at a rate far faster than she could have hoped to swim unaided…

The rest of the team on the beach watched them fade down into the depths, disappearing from view into the darker waters. After a few minutes of standing around, they realised it was somewhat foolish to just stay outside and wait, and set up a watch rota, then returned to the aircraft and got on with other things. Aswon in particular hijacked the matrix bandwidth and started to do a little searching on the news channels, looking for more information on the strange occurrences that were popping up, gathering some data on just where in the world they were appearing. The more he studied, the more reports he found, with all manner of strange mutations and expressions of animalistic traits appearing, spread evenly all over the world, and affecting all of the different meta-types.

"Hunter – I got a question. Can you do me a search… or set up a monitor thing? I'd love to know if any one country starts to report more of these changes. Or… actually – even more important, is anyone on one of the orbital enclaves or stations reporting anything weird. Would love to know if anyone in a place like that has some kind of fit or mutation… they're not exactly equipped with the best medical facilities up there, so will be interesting to see what happens!"

"Sure… I can do that… give me a few minutes." Hunter wasn't sure why Aswon wanted to know, but it didn't strike him as too difficult, and it helped pass the time.

It was actually just after dusk when Tads reappeared, being towed by the Naga up towards the surface and then left to walk up the shallow incline and out of the water. Shimazu was on watch at the time and alerted the team, who came out to check she was ok. Aswon bought a towel and a change of clothes, which she gratefully accepted.

"Sorry, took a little longer than expected. Let me get into some dry clothes, and I'll get the spirits called – then we can be out of here?" There were nods, and Aswon and Shimazu held the towels up – giving her a little cocoon to get changed in. Not that they were particularly worried about her, or expected her to worry about any of them – but the weird druid and her Naga escort were still watching from in the water. Two minutes later, she was in dry clothes and towelling her hair down. "Thanks. Ok, a minute or two, and I'll be with you." She sank down onto the sandy beach, digging her fingers into the sand and firmly rooting herself in the domain of the earth, then started to call upon the spirits of the night, bargaining with them for their protection and service. As usual, the spirits assigned to each of the team members proved to be manageable, while the one that covered the Broadsword was more challenging – but with nothing more than a nagging headache, it was soon done and they were all back aboard. Marius opted for a vertical take-off rather than trying to run over the dusty strip, but again was careful with his movements, aware that they were running heavy.

"What did you get up to?" Aswon asked.

"Well, it was down a way, a good way actually. Hunter could have swum down with his air-tank, I think. I'm not sure anyone else could have held their breath that long. Not by a long way. But then we got taken under a shelf of rock, into some tunnels. Back under the island maybe, or at least into the structure far below it. Fairly twisty turny passages, full of sharp rock spikes. It was pretty confusing. But inside, there was a cavern, an air pocket. Inside there was all kinds of plants and growth, some of it was photo-luminescent. Very weird lighting, but you could see. And she had a lean-to there, along with her shamanic lodge. And bones…" Tads shuddered. "A lot of bones, dozens of corpses worth. But she ignored them – paid them no attention, so I didn't ask. But she let me into her lodge, and I taught her the spell. She wanted me to show her the spell lots of times, kept studying the food as I made it – but I think she wanted a good stock of food as well. It was cool in there, so it's probably going to keep for a while. But I taught her the spell, and she has plenty of stuff to study. And she seemed really pleased by it."

"Great. Happy watery bint."

"It's important, Hunter. She could be a really useful contact. Those Naga… well, if we ever do anything working in the waters of this area, I'd rather be friends with them, rather than enemies." Aswon cautioned.

"I agree. I'm pretty sure that when we left her lodge, we came out via a different tunnel. It was hard to see, and very twisty turny in there. But we came up quite slowly as well, gently. I think to stop me getting hurt?"

"Yeah… too long at high pressure and the gas in your blood seeps into the joints." Aswon shook his head. "Very painful, and potentially deadly. But at least they seem aware of that. Interesting – it sounds like they're at least open to the idea of visitors. Or have had them…"

The team fell silent for a while, reading, monitoring the news, learning from a chip-reader or just thinking about their own particular things. They flew south for a while before cutting in east, skirting around the edge of the Philippines but sticking much closer to the Dayak Council territory. Marius fed the sensor image to the screens in the back and drew their attention to what he was picking up – which was mostly a lot of nothing.

"Way to the right of the picture, the west side of the land mass is Brunei – that has some lighting and signature. But notice how the rest of the image is pretty much dark? I am detecting very little in the way of power grids or electronic signatures. It appears that there is very little development – or what there was has been reverted to nature." Marius didn't sound happy at the concept, though given the high-tech demands of most of his skillset, that was hardly surprising. "I am detecting almost no sensor feeds, no electronic signatures. No movement, no power, no activity. I am reducing our own electronic signature to the minimum I can without harming our performance – otherwise we will stand out considerably."

"Wow… that is dark. I'm surprised… there must be a lot of cultural pressure there." Kai zoomed in on the picture a little, frowning as the darkened image seemed to break up into a noisy mess. "I mean, I would have thought there'd be some stuff. Like, the equivalent of Aswon's tribe back in Nigeria… but this is… sparse."

"Worth noting for the future. Outside the main cities, we're not going to find fuel, ammo, anything high-tech then. Not a good place to be working if we're not prepared." Aswon murmured, equally surprised by the darkness he was seeing. "There's one… oh, wow. Ok, small fishing village at a guess. Must have some solar cells and a battery, and that's enough for a couple of lights. And some oil lamps it seems." He squinted at the image, zoomed in to over two hundred times magnification. The sensors on the aircraft were having difficulty resolving any detail at all, and the image was blocky and crude, as the sensors tried to determine the darkened landscape, and the 'smart' image processors started to just invent random colours and details to fill in the blanks.

"I will avoid overflying the island – staying about a hundred kilometres out to sea and working around. With the landscape so quiet and peaceful, I am worried that not even the spirit can mask our presence entirely. Too quiet…"

They flew on past the darkened landscape, spotting the occasional cluster of electronic lights around a larger village or small facility, but so much of the island was just a darkened mass that it was actually a little unsettling – reminding them of the vast empty steppes of Russia or some of the desert areas they had crossed. Normally though, the coastal regions tended to attract life and habitation, and that in turn meant human activity and the trappings of civilisation. None of that seemed to be visible here, and they wondered how impoverished the population was – or how few resources they must have to have avoided corporate investment and exploitation.

Swinging south, they flew down the straights, and when they were closing in on the co-ordinates given to them by Wu, Hunter sent out a message on the correct frequency using the encryption code provided.

"BP-12, BP-12, this is unlisted flight 'New Fish' approaching from zero-zero-zero, looking for landing permission and fuel."

"New Fish, this is BP-12. Identify type of craft and requirements."

"BP-12, we are an air-track, closing at two hundred and seventy-five knots. We are a quad-jet, approx. wingspan twenty metres, length twenty-five metres, weight twenty-five thousand kilos. Looking for a thousand litres of JP-1 or equivalent fuel, New Fish."

"Fish, you are cleared to approach, platform Three-Alpha. Transponder beacon active on one-twenty-one point seven, ILS is available. Pad is identified visually with red-red-yellow. Twelve out."

"I have the beacon. And the ILS." Marius said approvingly. He zoomed in the sensors, and saw lights appear in the distance, growing rapidly as they approached. "Does look like an oil rig – modified though. Lots of landing pads. I have ours… visual confirmed."

The rest of the team looked at the screens, seeing the large structure growing in the distance. Lights festooned it, looking amazingly bright after the darkness of the ocean and primitive landmass that they'd been watching for the last hour. Four enormous legs plunged down into the sea, with a lot of equipment or construction between them, while about thirty metres above the water the platform flared out, growing in size to almost double the area of the legs. At least a dozen pads were present, sticking out of the rig in all directions, seemingly in a variety of sizes. They appeared to be aimed for one of the larger pads, and as Marius adjusted the sensors to focus on his electronic destination, they could spot landing lights flashing in the colour sequence they'd been told. Other pads further around the rig had blue, orange and green lights present, flashing in sequences of three colours at a constant rate, making the top of the rig look almost like a disco floor.

"Seems like a professional organisation. Their ILS is competent, guiding us in on a generous glide path, and keeping us isolated from other traffic." Marius noted. He relaxed a little, glad that he wasn't having to approach the large and convoluted structure with just his own guesswork – though he did keep a careful watch on the sensors. Just because he knew where he was going, didn't mean everyone else did… "It looks like they have some dock facilities, too. There is certainly some form of cargo receiving facility down at the water level, and what looks like some kind of dock or berth in the centre. I would suspect they can handle larger vessels outside the perimeter of the legs – perhaps with small shuttle craft. Ahh – no, I see a pontoon. Perhaps they just run a raft out to allow transhipment."

As they closed in on the rig, Marius could see lots of additional icons appearing on his display, the various beacons identifying the pads, with a variety of sizes and weight limits, festooned around the central core. Now that they were close he could see a lot more detail – the top of the rig was lit up with floodlights, carefully angled and shielded to mostly illuminate the centre and the inner edges of the pads, making sure not to blind the approaching pilots. He hummed to himself, spotting things like the lift-rafts, fire-fighting stations and cargo handling facilities, realising that not only was this not a small operation, but that it was also seemingly well organised and controlled. He approached the pad smoothly, transitioning to vertical flight and gently placing the Broadsword down in the exact centre of the pad. This place seemed to be professional – and his pride ensured that he wasn't going to be found wanting!

"This place seems pretty obvious… how do they avoid the authorities?" Shimazu asked.

"Well, they're in a weird position here. Technically they could be seen as being in Dayak Council territory, being between the two main landmasses that make up the area. But we're over a hundred kilometres out from the shore, well into what most countries and corporations claim as international waters. Probably a very murky area, legally." Hunter had thought the same and had done a very quick matrix search, finding a couple of articles about other rigs and arcologies, and situations that had arisen from their positions.

"Given the tech level on display, I doubt whether they have a navy to enforce their borders either. Or at least nothing beyond speedboats – maybe a small corvette or two. Certainly nothing like a destroyer flotilla."

"And I bet this place has a bunch of money going through. I'd be surprised is some of that doesn't end up as back-handers to whatever passes as a government around here." Kai noted. "Percentage of fuel fees, cargo shipment, landing permits, cheap goods. This could be a nice little earner."

"I'm trying to work out if they can get their own fuel sorted here…" Hunter sounded absent-minded, as he concentrated on the sensor feed, checking over the core of the facility and looking for the tell-tale engineering structures needed for fractional distillation. "I can't see them doing it here – though they might still have active well-heads. There's certainly what looks like a drilling rig still in position in the centre.

"I'd imagine they do still drill then – and have a nice little contract with someone. Take the crude oil out, to somewhere nearby that can crack the crude and produce some fuels, then ship them back here. Whoever has that contract has a nice load both ways, no rush. They can just ply their trade back and forth, taking a nice little profit both ways. Cushy number…"

"Is that relevant?" Tads asked.

"Potentially. If we find a captain of a tramp freighter who seems to have a disproportionate amount of power or respect, or say in things – we may have found their fuel carrier. But there's probably people skimming funds here for the government of somewhere, possibly working with whatever local crime syndicates are active. We should be careful who we talk to and what we say. I agree with Marius – this place is organised, which means they're potentially not going to be as forgiving as some other places. But they're also going to be business focussed. Need to be careful about anything that could be seen as a threat to their operations."

"Ohh – look at that. That has some nice lines…" Marius slewed the sensors over to one of the pads sticking out from the other corner of the rig, highlighting a small thunderbird. It was small by t-bird standards, but probably still as long as their own craft, but was blockier and more slab-sided. Notorious for being as aerodynamic as a brick, t-birds were brutes, relying on pure power to muscle their way through the air. "It is a scout – quite lightly armoured. Which means it has only twice as much armour as we do…" Something that sounded suspiciously like envy coloured their pilot's voice.

"And the crew don't look happy…" Hunter steered the sensors over to the left a little, focussing on the edge of the pad. A couple of people were arguing, it seemed, facing off against someone in a hard-hat and boiler suit – presumably someone who worked on the rig. There were four crew from the aircraft out on the pad, and Hunter pushed in the sensors to get a view of them.

Out at the front was a female elf, her long blond hair blowing in the wind and rippling out almost like a cloak. It must have been long enough to reach her hips – if it hadn't been fluttering in the constant wind and she seemed to exude a sense of style and grace. She was the stereotypical 'pretty elf', and even dressed in combat trousers and a flying jacket she looked smoking hot.

Standing behind her were three others, two orks and a human. The first ork was heavily cybered, her arms sporting obvious chrome and even at this range the ports and jacks on the side of her neck were glinting in the numerous lights of the landing pad. She stood with folded arms and an intense look that was fixed upon the rig-worker, staring at him from deeply sunken eyes. The other ork, a male, looked relatively scrawny next to the female, though he was probably still built as well as Marius or Kai – he just looked slender next to his team-mate. His tusks were broken and chipped, and he had a strange nervous energy about him, shifting from foot to foot and glancing around the place, as if expecting an ambush. The last of the trio, the human, was noticeable mainly from his dress – appearing to wear a pair of pyjamas. Shimazu leant in close to the screen, examining the man carefully.

"I'd put money on him being an adept. That looks more like a gi, and a well-worn one at that. Looked after – but very flexible. I can't see it being armoured, so he's probably very skilled."

"Pah. Or a noob."

"Perhaps, Hunter. But he doesn't look new. Or excited. He's watching, and waiting. I'd be careful around him, for sure…" Shimazu continued to study the man carefully, and the others re-appraised him somewhat. If Shimazu thought he was worthy of watching, or perhaps respect – well, that was something to think carefully about. Often the quietest member of the team, when he did have something to say, it was normally carefully thought out, and came from a position of calculated observation. Or was a death-scream that was often the last thing an opponent ever heard. Either way, it was noteworthy…

"Looks like we got our own hardhat! Heads up boys and girls." Hunter looked out of the cockpit window, tearing his eyes away from the team on the other landing pad. The man who appeared had a radio and earpiece on, along with a bright orange jumpsuit and his yellow hard-hat. He got to the top of the steps leading up to their platform, and radioed in, then pulled out a small pad and started working on it. Occasionally he'd squint over the pad, before shrugging and going back to his work.

"Let's go meet the locals." Kai announced, waving to the door. As usual, Shimazu preceded him down the steps, appearing out of the spirit concealment and popping into existence on the landing pad. The man in the boiler suit didn't seem at all surprised, taking the sudden appearance of a huge man with a sword in his stride and if anything looked a little bored.

"New Fish?"

"Hi, hello there. Yes, we're Team New Fish" Kai gave him a megawatt smile that had no effect on the man, stepping to the side of Shimazu.

"You're going to have to get your spell slinger to drop your invisibility or whatever if you want fuelling. Gotta see your bird."

"I'm sure that can be arranged. Say – can you tell me – the crew over there, on the other pad." Kai gestured across the open space on the side of the rig, towards the other large landing pad a hundred and fifty metres away. "Do you know what the problem is over there?"

"Nah. Maybe arguing about fuel costs. But it costs, what it costs. No squabbling." Kai nodded, hearing the subtle instruction in his voice. "Maybe they wanna get some cargo, or reserve something, and we ain't got no slots. Dunno."

"Well, we'd like to top up our fuel – and will pay the going rate, without issue of course." That at least made the man nod his head and give the edges of a smile. "But we also have some other services we can offer. For instance, we have a cargo of fresh tropical fruits, obtained from a market this morning. Still succulent and in their prime. We'd be happy to ah… donate, some of our fine wares to the management and crew here, in exchange for some information. A bit of a rundown on the place, maybe a chance to introduce ourselves. Want to get off on the right foot, you see."

His carefully modulated speech sounded reasonable, calm, respectful and… well like it made so much sense. They could see the worker wavering, probably considering what his cut would be of any bribes or 'donations'.

"Alright. I can get you in to see the gaffer, I suppose. Let me make a call."

"Guess I'll make some fruit then." The throat mikes didn't carry the sigh from Tads as she started to summon energy to her, reaching out for some bags to drop the created food into.

"Mavellous!" It wasn't clear if Kai was talking to her, or the rig worker. Maybe it was both. But either way, he had a smile on his face that would put a used-car salesman to shame…