Monday 12/09/61, Location: 22.16513, 113.58226, Time 18:00
"Ok, we have a choice. We've got three people left to see, assuming we can get in. Two of them are in the Venetian, which is over there, that massive one." Hunter gestured to the next block over, and the huge complex that rose up, a marble edifice lit up by a thousand spotlights in the early evening gloom. "That's the Ten Thousand Daggers and Bravo Company. The other one is MET2000, and he's the only one not located on the strip. He's in the Grandview hotel, and that's couple of klicks away, in the old town section."
"We've been at this all day, and seen plenty of people. I think we need to start exercising a little more caution in our visits now!" Aswon warned. "I suspect word will be circulating about us, so we should be on our guard."
"Well, in that case – Hunter, order us a taxi, please. Let's get off the strip for a while, and disappear from the cameras and drones, and go see the guy to the north. Then we'll come back after."
"Roger that. Trying to book a slot now with him, then grabbing a mini-van." He fired up his deck, but didn't fully dive into the matrix, just using it to surf the various sites needed like people would from their home telecom units or portable pocket secretaries. A minute later he gave Kai a nod. "Both set up. Cab is coming, and we have a meeting booked with Hans Wolfgang for 18:30."
The cab arrived moments later, one of the automated fleet that plied the strip, using GridGuide and a SmartDrive navigation system to travel around the relatively small area of the city. Kai had to slot his stick along with the rest of the team to confirm their identity before the cab would move, but then they set off smoothly and drove past the Venetian's north side as they swept down the main boulevard towards the area of the city that seemed to accommodate various sports arenas and entertainment venues. They turned north, passing a giant athletics stadium and a horse racing arena, then approached the old city, watching the buildings rapidly rising up in height once more. Rather than the mega-hotels and casinos of the Cotai Strip though, these were mostly individual residential towers, stuffed full of apartments or condos, packed together in narrow rows with barely any space between them, rising up in a regular grid pattern that must have left the streets at the bottom in almost permanent twilight.
The Grandview Hotel was an old building, far older than anything on the strip. The weathered stones of the twenty-storey building told their own tale of age, and it was a much more modest proposition than anywhere else they had seen that day. As they drove along the block they caught a glimpse of the rear area of the hotel fleetingly, spotting a tiny pool and recreation area that looked more like a prison camp than the huge outdoor areas and sculpted leisure parks they had been dazzled with in all the other venues. Glancing up they could see the density of the windows giving the impression of rooms that might not have been much bigger than a double bed, and certainly nothing on the impressive suite they had themselves at the Parisian.
The entrance to the hotel was in much the same vein – while there was a canopy over the tiny slip road, there was room for only a single vehicle, and that was currently filled with a delivery truck offloading supplies. Their cab pulled up on the road alongside the hotel, the doors unlocking with a click as the vehicle reached a full stop, allowing them to alight. Up close, though, they could see that this was certainly not a budget option. The doors were large and well-crafted, slabs of ancient oak inset with frosted glass, and a with impressive decorative brass trim. Inside, a rich and luxuriant carpet led the way into a panelled lobby, festooned with lights and artwork, though in a much more modest and understated way to the newer upstart hotels of the strip.
There was a much more European flavour to the decorations and styling of the hotel, giving it a more 'old-world' feel of comfort and approach. None of the decorations were as flamboyant or gratuitous, and it appeared that whoever had decorated here understood that sometimes less could be more, or that understatement and restraint were also options. The staff, however, were just as keen and attentive as at the other venues, and they were quickly approached by a doorman, offering to help them. A quick chat with Kai, and they were directed to ignore the lobby counter and the rooms beyond, and instead travel down the large flight of stairs set into the fore section of the lobby, and into the Grandview Casino in the basement, and then to look for the third card table on the left.
At the bottom of the stairs, they saw the disguised shape of the weapons scanner, their experience of the day making them appear distinctly more obvious now, as well as the buildup of white-noise that started to fill their earpieces until Hunter shut them down with a quick command. It was no surprise then when a pair of guards converged towards them, appearing as if by magic from some hidden alcove. Kai and Shimazu slid into their now familiar roles, and soon enough a very bemused security guard was holding onto a small toolkit and wondering why the tiny blade it included could possibly have set off the alarm – but reassured as Shimazu walked back and forth through the weapon scanner once more without incident.
While they waited for him though, it gave them a few seconds to examine the casino floor, looking at the rows of tables for blackjack, poker, roulette and a few other games stretching off into the distance. The casino looked to fill the entire area of the hotel in a large open space, the vaulted ceilings supporting the weight of the building above. Brightly lit overhead but coloured by the glow of scores of fruit machines and other electronic entertainment, the space was warm and looked welcoming, more like a Christmas grotto than a place to lose vast quantities of money – something the architects had no doubt taken considerable effort to achieve. Tads stood looking at the bound air elemental that seemed to be anchored to the entrance to the casino, glad that she was able to mask the power of her staff, and saw that it was examining everyone that passed through the scanners, either up or down, studying them intently. There also seemed to be a ward that was moderately powerful just beyond the steps, and she readied herself to sleaze through it.
Once Shimazu was cleared, they headed over to the left side of the room, passing the first two poker tables which had a couple of people present and playing, to the third which had a dealer idly shuffling cards, and a single gentleman waiting in the chair, idly scanning his commlink for fresh messages, while he held a half-consumed drink in his other hand.
"Good afternoon sir, madam." The dealer announced, looking them over carefully. "You are welcome to join if you wish to play…" He placed the cards in the shoe and then gestured to the seats arrayed around the table. Kai smiled and nodded in thanks and headed over to take one of the seats next to the gentleman, giving him a good look over as he approached. The man appeared to be in his fifties, and wore a sharp-looking business suit, cut in a classic style. It was spotlessly clean, and looked as fresh as the man's clean-shaven face did. He could see the subtle flesh-coloured datajack just behind his ear, and the briefest flash into astral revealed a mass of darker masses in the man's head, the sign of hidden brainware.
"Good evening." The man spoke competent English, a precise and clipped version that carefully enunciated each word, but with a distinct Germanic accent. "My name is Hans Wolfgang. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I assume that you are Herr Khangal?"
"Yes, that's correct. A pleasure to meet you." Kai extended a hand and received a perfectly correct handshake, two swift rises and falls of the hand, gripped firmly, but not excessively so, while deliberate eye contact was made until the handshake was released. Kai wondered if Marius had a long lost twin that he was about to reunite with, and let the very genuine smile that image created bubble to the top of his emotions. Much better to go with genuine feelings where you can, especially if you were trying to fool someone! "This is the rest of my delegation, please allow me to introduce them…" He worked around the rest of the team, giving their cover names as well.
"Guten Abend Herr Wolfgang. Es ist mir eine Freude, Sie kennenzulernen."
"A pleasure to meet you too, sir. And how nice to hear the mother tongue."
"I am sure. It has been a while since I visited Berlin, what with the troubles."
"You have a good ear. And indeed – it is a shame what has happened to the city. I have not been there since the anarchists took over." Herr Wolfgang shook his head sadly.
The dealer gave one final shuffle of the deck, and then reached under the table and pulled out a small tray full of chips and started to pass them out. The chips were not the normal design of casino chips though, with the mix of colours, textures, holographic features and other design features that tried to make them almost impossible to copy – these were simple pressed discs, painted in bold primary colours and with a numeric value printed on them. They looked more like counters for a family board game, than anything else, and the team watched with no real concept or understanding as they were each assigned a certain number of each type of disk.
"Well, we all have chips it seems. Perhaps we can play, while you describe your particular requirements?" The dealer started to skim cards out around the table, and gestured towards Aswon in the first seat, then tapped an orange token with the number one printed on it. Aswon understood enough, checked his cards, and slid out a token, putting his stake in the pot. The dealer continued, slowly and methodically, not rushing but making it appear as if the whole table was playing the game.
"Straight down to business, I see. Very well…" Kai started to pitch his script, describing the fictional mission one more time, involving the others again when they reached the appropriate technical section. All the while they were talking, the dealer made 'suggestions' as to what to play or fold, subtly guiding them where he could to stretch out the game. As Shimazu and Kai studied Hans, they struggled to read him, watching him keep his 'poker' face intact as they played – and he listened. He appeared to be one of the stronger negotiators on the circuit, perhaps fitting as he also represented the most powerful and numerous mercenary company in the world. Kai continued, and revealed the nuclear aspect of the mission.
"Hmm." For the first time, Hans glanced up and over at Kai, before dropping his eyes back to his cards. "Raise. Ten." He slid the appropriate chip into the pot, then glanced over to Marius, waiting for him to ante up. As play continued, so did he. "We can perform this job, but it will require specialist training. That is training that I am not confident is currently in place, in immediately deployable assets. This will delay the mission start. We CAN perform this operation. But I will not permit operatives who are not aware of the risks and mitigation factors to perform it. Thus, we will have a non-negotiable training period built into the ramp up and planning stage. If that is agreeable though, we can negotiate terms."
They continued to play cards whilst they finished the discussions, before thanking their host for his time, watching as the dealer scooped in all of the cards – and the betting chips, replacing them all in his tray.
"That feels like a no to me." Hunter said as soon as they reached the street. "Seemed more concerned about training times and making sure his guys were properly equipped – and if they'd done this before, they'd have a team ready to go."
"I also agree. MET2000 are a top-rated merc organisation for a reason. They recruited heavily from the former nation states of Europe as the mega-corps took over and funding cuts led to the slashing of their national armed forces. But they inherited a lot of the values of those forces – honour, loyalty, integrity, the requirement for training, drills and practice. That felt very much to me that he needed to be sure his troops understood the mission, and its implications. I agree with you." Aswon nodded to Hunter. "What did you get from him Shimazu?"
"Not a lot. He's by far the hardest to read of the bunch, and whenever I got a twitch or a movement, I was second guessing myself – was he reacting to Kai, or one of you… or was it because of his cards? I mean, the cards didn't matter clearly – but it could still have been providing all kinds of information and reactions that could mask or swamp his reactions to what was being said. It's not a technique I'd thought of before, but it seems to hold potential. From what little I got off him though, I agree – it's not them."
"So, that leaves two. Time to head to the Venetian, then?" Tads suggested, pointing to the south, where the hotel's presence could be detected from the glowing hemisphere of light spilling out, even though the buildings between them and the hotel obscured the actual building.
"No… I'm thinking we need to go back to our own hotel first. Freshen up. Grab a shower, take a break for an hour. Then go to these last two. And amongst other things, we should leave your 'toolkit' at the hotel!" Hunter pointed a finger at Shimazu. "It's going to catch us out sooner or later, and this hotel looks like it might be the biggest here, so potentially it might have the best security. Let's not take any more chances than we have to."
"You might be right. Ok, call us a cab, please, Hunter, back to the Parisian for a quick break. Then we go do these last two, assuming you can get us invites."
"On it."
The cab arrived three minutes later, and by the time they'd reached the Parisian, Hunter had meetings booked with both of the remaining mercenary agents for later that evening. The cab swept around the loop access road and dropped them off under the enormous canopy, and the team swept into the hotel, intent on heading for the bank of lifts to gain access to their rooms.
Presumably, there was a special school somewhere in Macau, that taught a very specialised and intense course on moving stealthily yet speedily, within the confines of glitzy and glamourous locations. The two security guards that materialised in front of them had also presumably graduated with top honours from the school, as they appeared in front of the group, and more specifically Shimazu. To give them credit, they did show a slight aura of nervousness as they held up a hand to towards his chest – they were well-built men, but Shimazu was bigger than either of them and moved with a quiet but dangerous grace. Hunter also loomed at them and gave them what might charitably have been termed a 'smile' and one of them dropped his hand to his stun baton, resting in the sheath hanging from his duty belt.
"Oh, is your toolkit setting off the weapon scanners again?" Kai said with a certain degree of world weariness. He flashed a look at the guard, rolling his eyes slightly, then twisted his head to look at Shimazu. "I told you, even though it's only a fifty millimetre blade on that multi-tool, it's bound to set off some alarms and make people nervous. You've got to be careful with things like that!"
"No sir, I am afraid not. It is the Wilkinson TZ-4 series vibroknife that is concealed in the inside left pocket of the gentleman's jacket." The lead security guard spoke with quiet confidence and certainty, his eyes fixed on Shimazu, watching him carefully.
"Oh, I see." Kai spoke quickly, before anyone else could. He'd gotten a good read on the man, and he wasn't sure how or why the scanner had picked it up this time when they'd managed to get out of the hotel earlier and it had seemingly defeated the scanners elsewhere all day… but for whatever reason this time, it had nailed the device with enough certainty to be able to identify the make and model of the weapon, not just its presence. They weren't going to get anywhere with their little routine this time, and he needed to head off any attempt to go that direction immediately, before they dug themselves a hole. "You are indeed quite correct – and I did protest to my bodyguard earlier that we were likely to run into issues. It's always difficult arguing, though – when someone is employed for the protection of others. Just like yourselves, I would imagine. Trying to strike a balance between being invisible and discreet, but looking after your guests and preserving their safety? A very difficult job, that most people don't understand."
"I'm afraid, sir, that this is a prohibited weapon, and we have to report such things to the police."
"Oh, of course, of course. We must follow the rules carefully. There can be no doubt about that. Nobody is above the law, right? Even if they're just trying to protect someone else. And we have felt very safe on the streets of this lovely city. But, we're also very busy people. So, could you take care of this for us? Is that a customer service that you are able to offer?"
"I'm sorry, I don't understand?"
"Well, I'm sure for a first offence, that it's normally just a fine. Probably a small fine, but then there's processing fees, administration, taxes, all things like that. But if we just hand over the fine money, whatever it is, when you talk to the police you can just sort out the paperwork for us, so we don't waste any time? I'm sure you're well aware of the local rules and regulations, and can get this all sorted out for us, and we'd be very grateful not to have our business trip disrupted."
Kai continued to obliquely work on the premise of just paying to have the 'whole situation taken care of for them', pulling out his credstick and waving it around carefully, until the second security guard took his hand from his stun baton and nudged the first in the ribs, giving him a look, then a sigh and a slightly more obvious look to think about what was being said. Kai pounced on the opening, trying to gently hammer in the wedge a little further, never mentioning a bribe or any kind of untoward activity, but firmly indicating that he wished for the security guards to 'just take care of the paperwork' for them.
It took a few minutes of negotiation, and a visit to the security room to drop off the vibroknife into a "safe place", before several thousand Nuyen were transferred to the two security guards and the team were able to head for the lifts and the upper floors.
They took a while to relax, get changed, grab showers and just sprawl on their beds – surprised at how tired they were from the day of negotiations and interviews, before getting dressed again and ready to head out, travelling the one block north to the Venetian hotel. As they entered the now familiar loop road, they realised that they were in once again for a 'visual feast' – the two-storey high Italian marble bridge over the road covered in reproductions of famous statues, along with the water features on either side of the road, cast-iron lamp-posts and multi-coloured lighting array confirmed they were definitely in 'hyper-hotel' country once more.
In a strange case of fantasy imitating reality, or perhaps just a twist of fate – the weapons scanners did alert as the team entered the enormous lobby and once more security guards appeared as if genies had been summoned to check over Shimazu – and this time it was actually his multi-tool that had triggered the alert. The guards were initially suspicious, wondering why the team were grinning or giggling to themselves, until they pulled out the tool and unfolded the tiny knife – not even sharp – and held it aloft to examine it and the rest of the various tools present in the kit. Kai explained that several of the other hotels had also 'alerted' to the vicious weapon, and it had been the subject of a bet amongst themselves… a minute later, they were given the tool back and ushered on their way.
Inside the hotel was just as ostentatious as they'd been prepared for – acres of gold leaf, painted ceilings designed to make the Sistine Chapel look plain, marble of every conceivable type, laid in patterns that made the eyes and mind boggle, and huge amounts of polished brass, copper, steel and other metals. They were not, however, prepared for the 'theme' area of the hotel. Once through the lobby and reception areas, they emerged out of the hotel into a huge enclosed area, sheltered from the outside world by the rest of the hotel curving around it.
Built to resemble the architecture of Venice, at least at the first few levels, the area was built up using stone and brickwork in the architectural style of medieval Italy – even down to the fabrics in use for the awnings on the decidedly modern shops selling the latest corporate products. What they hadn't been prepared for, though, was the canal system – seemingly dug out of the earth and laid out in a winding maze-like pattern. The gondolas that were placed in the canal were large, looking a little like the kinds of gentle rides found at a theme park, and as they were directed to enter one, the similarities became more obvious. The boat didn't rock up and down, presumably because it was mounted on a hidden set of guide rails below the surface of the water, and a tiny computer screen at the back of the boat let them key in their destination – the 'Blue Lagoon Venetian Pizzeria'. A moment later the gondola started to slice through the water, carrying them through the lush vegetation and high banks into the canal system. They caught sight of other boats as they sailed through or across junctions, gently gliding around, and got the impression that some people just took boat rides in their own right, rather than using them as a means of transportation to different destinations.
A few minutes later, they pulled into a small boat dock, and were able to depart from the gondola and into the restaurant. Aswon was scanning the area in astral, and they heard his sharp intake of breath, following his gaze to a huge ork waiting at a table.
"That guy's almost a zombie." He said quietly. "Both arms fully cyber-replaced, and looks like the spinal cord as well, eyes and ears, and possibly a cyber-skull. Don't expect much from him emotionally."
"He's pretty old, too. For an orc that is. Maybe cracking on for thirty or more." Hunter announced, examining their contact carefully, his eyes zooming in on the tell-tale signs of age.
That announcement sobered the team up, and they approached the table carefully, moving in behind Kai who put on a nice broad smile and made sure his body language was neutral and unthreatening.
"You are wanting to talk about contract? Sit, sit. I order beers. You like garlic bread?" Kai nodded. "Of course. Everyone like garlic bread. I order. You all join me, we drink, we eat, we talk. We make deal. Good." His voice was hearty, and though not particularly loud gave the impression that if he wanted it to, he could have bellowed fit to drown out a jet. The team sat themselves down around the table while their host ordered food and drink. There wasn't much in the way of choice, it seemed – he ordered a beer for everyone, and two for himself, and a large plate of garlic bread, then sat back in his chair. They all heard the creaking noise as the chair struggled to hold his frame, but their host ignored it. "I am Slavomir Rawciz, of Ten Thousand Daggers. This is my office. See the canal. Notice the lights. Look at the marble. Is all very impressive, no? Good. Now we have value for money for company. Is good. On with negotiations."
"Ahh, straight down to business. Good. A man after my own heart." Kai said. As the beers arrived, he made a show of downing half of his glass in one swift motion, then wiping the foam from his lips with the back of his hand, and giving a hearty belch. Slavomir grinned at him, his lips pulling back to reveal a mouth full of tusks and broken teeth as he seemingly approved of Kai's style. "So, we have a mission… but we need expert mercenary support. You see, there's a series of power stations…"
They gave the story one more time, the team following Kai's lead as he trimmed back on the niceties and distilled things down to the basics, speaking plainly and bluntly. Slavomir certainly seemed to naturally match this approach, being very forthright and plain-spoken. Much like their meeting with Jean Baptise earlier, it became abundantly clear that Slavomir had been an operator, and quite a successful one, before being rotated out to act as a sales advisor or contract negotiator. He wasn't polished or eloquent, but he was very forthright and spoke with authority and competence. They described the mission in detail, and received assurance that all of their requirements could be met. Kai dropped the nuclear angle as the meeting progressed, and they barely got a twitch from him, with just quiet assurance that this didn't matter – the mission objectives could be met.
"Is there anything you won't do? In terms of mission objectives?" Aswon asked.
"Everything has a price. Sometimes the price is very high. But everything is negotiable." Slavomir responded, fixing Aswon with a stare. The ork's cybereyes were artificial, of course, but somehow still managed to convey a flat challenge, daring Aswon to argue with him.
"I understand. I guess sometimes the price is very, very high – and then it is a matter of conviction and desire, that the buyer will understand. If they want a job doing, they must pay for it." He sidestepped the challenge, turning it around to be all about the Nuyen, and got a snort and a nod in return. Tads used the little exchange to send a brief message to Kai, asking him to find out if they'd done this before – figuring that he was just plainspoken enough that he might give it away to a direct question.
"Mr. Rawciz. Have you done a job like this before?"
"Of course! Nuclear mission not a problem. I have done a mission like this myself. Let me tell you…" Kai blinked in surprise, wondering if they'd found their smoking gun – then sat back in his chair as Slavomir told them a tale. It seemed an 'innocent' communications satellite had been knocked out of orbit somehow, back in the early fifties, and the Daggers had been contracted to go get it from its impact site – the only problem being it had landed in the former Libya, smack in the middle of the Desert Wars area. Having to contend with the other Desert Wars teams, the indigenous creatures of the region (and the team remembered those scorpions well enough to understand that was an issue all by itself!) as well as outpace the retrieval teams sent by three other mega-corporations, the Daggers team had found the impact site and recovered the wreckage of the satellite, including the nuclear fuel supply that had powered it. According to Slavomir's tale, reaching the satellite had been only the first hurdle, and the extraction under fire with the bulky and radioactively hot equipment had turned into a nightmare mission – one that had seen their exposure levels tripping their radiation detectors into dangerous levels and forcing them to improvise, scavenge and overcome a variety of threats.
He wasn't a fluid storyteller, nor particularly descriptive – but he spoke from the heart and it certainly sounded authentic. There were a number of times where it would have been easy to embellish events, but it was understated or glossed over, lending a compelling aura of authenticity to the tale. It was also telling that he considered this to be a 'nuclear story', of dealing with dangerous materials and coping with the additional threats, rather than a 'previous strike on a nuclear facility'. It could have been a very clever act of misdirection, but that didn't seem to fit with their impression of him.
They finished off their own presentation after the story, advised their host that they were seeing other companies but would make a decision soon, and did the usual wrap up. As they reached the conclusion, Slavomir reached into an inside pocket and pulled out a large fifty calibre bullet and passed it over to Kai.
"Here. This will give you extra information. We will speak again soon, when you wish to hire the best."
Kai took the bullet, thanked their host and led the team away, towards the hotel interior rather than back to the boat.
"Gimme that, Kai." Hunter held out his hand, waiting for Kai to pass over the bullet. As he received it, he gave it a careful examination, and then gently twisted the tip of the bullet, pulling off the cap and revealing a data chip inside in a carefully sculpted carrying case. "That's what I thought it would be. Probably all the brochures and marketing materials and stuff like that. Nice branding, though." He recapped the 'bullet' and offered it back to Kai, before pocketing it to examine later when Kai refused. "Ok, we gonna have to hustle. The next guy isn't that far away, in the London Bar. But that story time took up more time than we had allocated."
They hustled through the hotel quickly, their determined walk and the imposing form of Hunter leading the group moving people out of the way agreeably quickly, and they arrived at the bar only ten minutes later than their allocated time. The theming here was just as over the top as elsewhere in the hotel, and judging by the scoffs and frowns on Hunter's face, it certainly didn't match his experience or knowledge of London. It did look as though someone had done a matrix search and that any hit on the word "London" had been enough to justify cramming it into the bar though, as there were a number of items alongside iconic red communication booths and landmark statues or pictures that defied explanation.
"Who are we meeting?" Kai asked quietly.
"Staff Sergeant Terrance, Bravo Company." Hunter replied, rolling his eyes as he repeated the info.
"Got it." Kai approached the bar, and asked for the location, and was pointed to a large but somewhat secluded booth at the back of the bar. Waiting there with a drink in hand was a human in his late twenties or early thirties perhaps, his features at least half-Japanese, wearing a dress uniform, similar in some ways to that of Wu Jung from the 58th Battle Brigade.
"Great. Another jap." Hunter sighed, then set his jaw as they approached and the contact looked up at them.
"Ahh, there you are."
"So sorry we're late, Staff Sergeant Terrance. Our previous meeting overran slightly, and it took us a few minutes longer to get to you than we realised. My apologies for keeping you waiting."
"Hey dude, it's fine. I just had a couple of drinks while I was waiting. Null sheen. Take the weight off. And call me Clyde."
The team squeezed into the booth, and Clyde summoned a waiter to take drinks orders for everyone, replacing his own double vodka with a top up. His accent was very much non-Japanese, and as they examined him in the dim light of the booth they could see that his Japanese features were softened or mixed, and looked more like a UCAS-Japanese citizen, though his accent gave more a leaning towards being from Calfree. As California had been expelled from the UCAS back in 2036, it was possible he was the result of an impromptu meeting between one of the Japanese Imperial Marines that had invaded and taken over control of the state, and a local service provider. Not that it meant anything of course, but it might give some insight into his upbringing and cultural values… He certainly didn't seem to have any of the normal Japanese antipathy towards Hunter, greeting him just as warmly as everyone else.
"Listen, my dudes." He looked around conspiratorially. "I ain't supposed to say this, as these folks look after me and all. But seriously…" His voice lowered to barely a whisper, as if he was about to reveal a great truth of the world. Perhaps the location of Atlantis, or where a dragon egg had been found, or what was on the 263rd floor of the Renraku Arcology… but it turned out to be much less interesting. "Stay away from the fish and chips. They claim it's authentic London cuisine, but it's drek. I recommend the bacon buttie though. Ok? Oh – or the whelks. The whelks are awesome!" He leant back and gave them a wink, before slugging back the remains of his previous drink and making a start on the fresh one.
"Right, we will do, thank you… Clyde. Ok, so here's the basic outline of what we're after…" Kai started the show off, and gave the talk one more time. As he got settled into his speech, he watched as Clyde reached into a pocket and pulled out a cigar, lighting it up and puffing away contentedly. The smoke rose lazily above his head for the first thirty centimetres, then appeared to be caught in a sudden crosswind, being sucked backwards and upwards towards a hidden air-vent and whisked away.
"Ahh, yeah man. We can do biz like that. In fact it reminds me of a time I was out on the teams. I was in Bravo One-Four, as the team leader. We had a HALO jump into a hot zone, me and my buddies, you see…" He sketched out his story, describing how they'd had to infiltrate an area and strike at a hydro-electric dam, taking it out with a lightning assault. Marius was the first to frown as he listened to the story of how the pilot had ingressed to the area of operations, listening with rising incredulity at the description of some combat manoeuvres that would have been more likely to rip the wings off the transport rather than evade enemy fire. As they weren't in a casino, or even a restricted part of the hotel, their comms weren't jammed, and he sent out a quick query sub vocally, covering the movement of his throat as he raised the glass for a quick drink.
[Is this guy for real?]
The story continued, and Aswon was next to pick up on some discrepancies, as Clyde described one dubious-sounding decision after another as they 'tactically' closed to the site.
[I'm not sure this happened. Or that he was there, if it did.]
The story of the firefight and actual assault was one of epic derring-do, a frantic rolling combat action that went on as they penetrated the facility. Hunter snorted as he heard the details, but managed to turn it into a coughing fit to cover himself.
[This is grade A drek. The Colt XM877 D can't take a grenade launcher underbarrel. That's why the CAS have a dedicated grenadier in each platoon with an MGL-12 launcher.]
The story continued, Clyde becoming more animated as the team gave nods of encouragement and appeared to listen with rapt attention, unaware that for at least half of them they were just giving him enough rope and wondering what kind of knot he was going to use for the noose... According to Clyde's description, the only reason the other members of the team were there were to shout warnings to him and carry enough ammunition to keep him supplied, as it seemed he was in fact a one-man army, capable of downing any foe. The essence of what he described seemed vaguely possible, but some of the details seemed subtly wrong or incomplete.
"Well Clyde – that sounded amazing! I can see why you're working as the company representative. You must be one smooth operator, calm under fire and dedicated to the mission. Are the rest of Bravo Company just like you?" It was a testament to Kai's ability to act and control his own features that he didn't choke or just burst out laughing as he stroked the ego of the mercenary rep. "But there is something I have to mention. It's very important, you see… the targets we're going after… well…" Now it was Kai's turn to lean in and lower his voice. "They're nuclear power stations, you see!" Kai deliberately turned away, scanning the bar as if to look for people that might have heard him, knowing that Clyde would be focussing on him – and letting Shimazu in turn examine his profile.
[Hit.] Shimazu only had to say one word over the comms, for the rest of the team to suddenly feel the tension mount.
[Cover me.] A moment after she mouthed the words from behind her glass, Tads appeared to give a weird combination of sneeze and cough, and then dropped her glass, sending it tumbling under the table. "Oh drek. Sorry! Sorry! Just mind your leg, will you…" She squirmed down under the table to retrieve the glass. [Keep probing about the mission] the rest of the team heard.
"So – would striking at a nuclear power station be something you could do? Maybe striking at a few of them? Using different means, at different times?" Kai asked, fixing Clyde with a stare, then glancing quickly around the room. Below the table, Tads gently reached out and laid her fingertips on his foot, moving as gently and carefully as she could. Once she had contact with his shoe, their auras touched… and she cast her mind-probe. It proved to be relatively easy to slice into his mind and read the thoughts that lay there, as Kai described exactly what they suspected he'd been asked previously. She read the deception, the familiarity, the concern, the opportunism, all of the thoughts sleeting through his mind one after another.
"Yes, yes, I think we could do that. It would be difficult, though. More costly. There's specialist machinery required, you see."
"Of course." Kai nodded, as if that should be a self-evident fact.
"Have you done other missions, involving nuclear materials, then?" Aswon asked, trying to sound like a star-struck fanboy.
"Well, there was this one time, where we had to steal a nuclear kettle. That's what we call a reactor, in the biz. It was in a submarine, you see… wow, what a mission that was." As Aswon made encouraging noises, it was enough to set him off on an all new flight of fancy. Marius listened and his mouth gaped open – not in amazement as Clyde probably assumed, but in horror at the butchery of vehicle design and nuclear plant operations that would have completely rewritten the laws of physics if they'd happened as Clyde described them.
thump*
He paused in his story as the sound of a head striking the underside of the table was joined a moment later by a sharp intake of breath and a curse, before Tads rose up on her side of the bench, rubbing at her head.
"Sorry, thought I was clear. Found my glass, though, not broken." She held aloft her empty glass. "I'll go get some water. Clearly had enough to drink for tonight. Anyways, sorry, sir – you were telling a wonderful recollection of your mission. I'm sure the rest want to hear you finish!" She slid out from behind the table and headed for the bar. As soon as she was clear, she started to send a message to the rest of the team. [He has a data pad, inside left jacket pocket. Has the previous mission details on it. Contract has ended]
"If you don't mind, I'm just going to check on the mission maps we have, to see if I can pass them over." Hunter said, interrupting the story. "I think based on how you've performed on the previous missions you're telling us about, we can give you more information. It sounds like we've found our mercenaries!" He didn't bother waiting for permission, but just opened his briefcase up and powered up the deck, sliding a fibre-line into his datajack and starting to scan the area for signals. He found the datapad, connected to the hotel network, but unfortunately whoever set up the Bravo Company network security wasn't quite as stupid and brazen as Clyde was, and it turned out to be very competently secured. He might be able to hack the hotel Wi-Fi node he figured, but that potentially risked bringing down the security decker on his head – and he was pretty sure there would be at least one on duty in a hotel of this size, if not more. Instead he sent out a message over the comms from his deck.
[His datapad is secured, not easy to hack in. Might need to try something else.]
[Drop me a data cable under the table, Hunter. I have an idea!] Tads mumbled as she returned to the table. Hunter wondered what she was up to – she wasn't exactly noted for being technical, but she clearly had an idea for something, so he plugged in a spare data cable and let it hang over the edge of the table, concealed behind the lid of his case. Tads slid in past him, almost making it to empty space, and then with a little squeal of 'surprise' she slipped down under the table once more.
"I'm ok – just slipped on my water! Pass me a napkin down, I'll just mop it up before anyone else slips!" Aswon helpfully passed down a few napkins to the questing hand, then motioned for Clyde to continue.
"Sorry, she's a little clumsy…" He said quietly, then nodded to Clyde. "So what did you do once you'd taken out the guard on the engine room?" as if he couldn't wait to hear what happened next.
Under the table, Tads worked quickly, casting another spell – this time to create and manipulate some magical fingers of force. They grabbed the data cable and then snaked up the inside of Clyde's jacket, moving as fast as she dared, manipulating the cable to avoid touching him as it snaked up inside his pocket and then blindly moving around until it slid into the waiting dataport on the pad. [Access code Bravo-9-1-4-Charlie-Echo-7-7-3-Zulu-Hashmark.]
Hunter saw the unknown device appear on his deck's IO port and entered the code, trying to hide a grin as the encryption melted away and revealed the data on the pad. He set the deck to ingest all of the data, copying everything as quickly as he could over the local cable. The pad wasn't that full thankfully, and took only a few seconds to pull the data down, before he could start looking through it.
[Got it Tads. Unplug] She pulled the cable out of the slot, holding her breath as she worked to retrieve it as subtly and carefully as she'd managed to place it. Once it was clear of his body, she clambered up back into her seat, plopping down some sodden tissues that she'd dipped into her water. She held her breath – but Clyde seemed intent on finishing his story and was probably concentrating entirely on that, and hadn't seemed to notice what was going on under his jacket.
"Ahh – unfortunately there is a data lock on the maps. I can't release them until the contracts are signed. That's a shame. I'm sure we'll be back in touch soon, though." Hunter announced, his voice a little distant as he raced through the datafiles one after another, looking for relevant information.
"That is a shame. Well – Clyde, I can't thank you enough. I think we've definitely found our team of choice. Can I get your personal commcode, so I can call you straight away once our superiors have made their decision?"
"Of course!" They swapped details quickly, and as they started to wrap up the meeting, Tads elbowed her way out of the booth as quickly as she could, tugging on Aswon's sleeve to follow her. He didn't know what she was up to now, but moved with her – trusting it was important.
"Just stand next to me will you as if we're chatting while I do up my shoelace. I've left a lot of spell signature under that table, and I need to clean some of it!" She whispered, then dropped down to one-knee and started to untie and retie her laces, glancing backwards under the table and trying to disperse her mana-trail into the background eddies of the bar. Swapping legs, she did the same thing with the other lace, then when she felt she'd stretched it out as much as possible she stood up, taking Aswon's proffered hand.
"Got it all?" He murmured.
"No. Some of it. The rest will just have to fade. Hopefully be gone before anyone realises…" She sighed, then stiffened as Hunter's voice came over the comms.
[Everyone grab your glass. Don't argue. Take your glass with you. Explain later.] He shot a look around the group, and they all grabbed their drinks glass, wondering what was going on.
"Come on, everyone… back to the bar. Don't make the bar-staff clean up after us. Cor, it's like you've never been in a British Pub. Well known custom – taking your empties back to the bar. Come on!" He chivvied them along, making sure that the glasses were taken to the end of the bar, where a slightly confused barkeep was waiting. "Here you go – dirty glasses to go in the wash. He handed over his and Kai's glass first, then turned to take Marius and Aswon's next, handing them over as well, watching the barman place them in a tray in the glass washer built under the bar. As soon as all six of the glasses were in, he actually leant slightly over the bar, then flipped the door closed and smiled as he heard the automatic sprayers start to clean the glasses out.
The barman looked at him as if to complain, but Hunter had already turned his back and was leaving the bar at a brisk walk, with the rest of the team following along, just as confused. They followed the big ork out of the hotel, walking in silence as he strode along the centre of the corridors, scything through the evening crowd and creating space for them to follow him. Only once they were out of not only the hotel, but the hotel grounds did he slow a little and let the rest of them catch up.
"What was that about?" Aswon asked.
"I read something off his datapad. Notes from the meeting he had with the person who gave him the mission to strike at the Nucor plants. Here, let me read it to you." He paused for a moment, then started to speak again, his voice pitch slightly different as he read out loud, rather than talked. "Meeting today with a Mr. Gwat Yan representing Power Max Incorporated. ID checks were run, clearly low end fakes, but good enough for most booking systems. However, Mr. Gwat neglected to wear gloves when holding his glass, and left four good prints and two partials. IG9 ran down the prints, and we have a 90% certainty that these match Masao Yoshida, Japanese national from the Fukushima Prefecture, suspected to be a senior member of the Maruto-kai Yakuza."
"What's IG9?"
"Don't know, but I suspect it's their intel service or department, Kai. But notice the fake name? Gwat Yan? Yat Gwan? That's a deliberate spit in the face if ever I heard one!"
"And maybe he's not as stupid as he looked or sounded." Aswon added. "Getting prints off the glasses makes sense. And I understand why you wanted them washed! Something to bear in mind for the future!"
"Drek… yes. How many drinks have we had today?" Kai suddenly said. "And how many glasses have we left behind. Sure our prints are tied to those IDs… but they're also going to be tied to our OTHER IDs too. Drek."
"I think we should leave this city. Quickly." Marius announced. "We may otherwise find we have overstayed our welcome."
"I think I agree with you. Ok, back to the Parisian, we pack quickly. Message to Berty that we're having to leave, and tell him where we leave the jammer. I'll go and settle the account. Hunter – get us a taxi sorted back to the heliport, will you? Let's get out of here before anyone else has time to do some digging."
The team picked up pace, and headed through the evening crowds down the Cotai strip to the hotel, getting back to their rooms as quickly as possible and packing up their small amount of gear. Without being told, each of them also found a flannel or cloth and started to go over the rooms flat surfaces, wiping them clean and trying to remove as many fingerprints or possible traces as they could in a few minutes. As soon as they were ready, they headed downstairs and piled into the waiting auto-taxi and started to head north back to their arrival point.
"Starting pre-flight warmup." Marius announced as they pulled level with the airport and his deck entered range of the Broadsword. "We will still need a few minutes after arrival to check the engines and suchlike, but I will do what I can from here."
"Good stuff, Marius."
They arrived back at the heliport, paid for the cab and then headed for the Broadsword as quickly as they could, climbing aboard and stowing their gear while Hunter and Marius headed up front to complete the pre-flight. While they were working, Hunter downloaded the data he'd pulled from Clyde's pad onto the Broadsword's display system, letting the rest of the team see the mission briefing and all the confirmation they needed that it was Bravo Company that had been carrying out the strikes against Nucor.
"Well, Miss Dragon should be happy with this. How long until we're out of here?"
"Three more minutes." Marius announced.
"Great stuff. Plenty of time." Kai gave a sigh of relief and settled back into his padded seat with a big grin. "All the time in the world…"