Heading back along the pot-holed roads of Issaquah, Mirage allows the Westwind’s autonav to select the best route to Thun-Field, planning on taking manual control back as the 161 enters Puyallup.

While the Westwind makes it’s own way out of Issaquah, she makes a couple of calls arranging for her decker friend Countdown to look after Kikumi, “It looks like I’ll be away a few days, maybe a week. I’m pretty broke right now, but the job pays well so I can give you a couple of thousand when I get back, to cover the cost, and the risk.”

With that out of the way Mirage sits back and enjoys the ride, keeping her eyes peeled for go-gangers.

"Hookay, meet you guys there."

Cypher slides out of the room, a barely contained ball of energy. He hops on the Yamaha parked out front and roars down the road at a reckless speed.


An hour later

Thun field is a small non-commercial airport about 5 miles outside the city proper. It has a two runways, 95, and 105, that run perpendicular to each other. There are 5 hangars that are right on the field, plus another 10 that sit back a ways. A small, automated control tower does most of the work.

As Hawk drives into Thun field, he drives his bike up to the hangar door. and bangs on the large door to tell Reynaldo to open up and let him drive in.

Mirage's white sportscar pulls up outside Hanger 4 as Hawk hammers on the door. Mirage steps out of the car, waving to the big Troll. She puts on her shades and casually looks around, on her guard against potential ambushers.

Cruising at a decent pace, Danny puts the sports scores on the car's audio feed and catches the latest from across the pond. The drive is uneventful, but he slides the Viper out of his holster and puts it next to his seat, just in case he needs to discourage some highwaymen or other gang activity. The sporty coupe, a recent model in shiny blue, contrasts with the bleak urban wasteland of Puyallup.

Danny's 3220 flies into the parking area of the Thun field hangar next to Mirage's white Westwind again. He reholsters the Viper and adjusts his sweater again for maximum concealment. Stepping out of the car, he keeps an eye peeled for any suspicious activity and approaches the rest of the group.

Just as Hawk's oversized fist started to pound on the metal door, he noticed a camera, near the roof and encased in a clear box, swing toward him. The lens seemed to focus in an out. After a few seconds, the large hangar's door started to slide on its side, stopping after a few meters.... just enough to let the troll get in.

As Hawk approached to door, soft mexican music started to filter out, as well as the smell of various spices mixed with fuel.

The hangar had probably originally designed to house rather large private jets. Some obvious work had been done. In a corner, dozen of large plastic walls had been put up, constructing something that resembled a small house of joined cubicles. The majority of the hangar space was occupied by a single element: a heavily modified UH-60 Pavehawk helicopter. It's blade were all folded in the same direction and both side door were wide open. Tools and large racks on wheels stat here and there.

On the opposite side of the helicopter, Reynaldo custom all terrain SUV sat quietly under a large grey cover.

Reynaldo's tiny legs were poking out from under the nose of the aircraft.

"Make yourselves at home. There's food in the fridge, music on the radio and beer in the cooler."

Mirage extracts her kit bag from the Westwind, she slings it over her left shoulder then walks across to the hanger entrance.

She remains outside the hanger doors until the rest of the team have all gone inside, keeping her eyes open for trouble. Her right hand rests on the grip of her Colt Manhunter, holstered behind her right hip.

The troll rides right into the hangar like he owns the place. The music rather soothing if a bit fast here and there. He parks his bike starting his own tour with the cooler. He grabs something to drink, bottled water if they're there, and beer if it's not.

"So anyone got plans beside fly there, and talk to the orks? If Cypher find out how close closest cascade ork camp to target, maybe I make few calls and drive early and talk to them and set up base.

Also, need info I asked for earlier from Cypher before we start. Maps, weather, local languages and how them get food, gear, and stuff. Maybe manifest log. Find out what they buy. With this info, maybe you guys make recon plan on flight over, I set up base, and we start working when you get there?"

As he walks past the gun turret on the heli, he adds, "Want me buy chip use for this or other chip for other things?"

"Have you had contact with them in the past?" Sparks asks as he pulls up a chair and lays his shotgun on the ground next to him. He had brought it in from the car just in
case.

Sparks really appreciated Reynaldo's place. Everything was situated for a dwarf which was a nice change from the rest of the world.

Cypher walks his Yamaha in and parks it next to the SUV.

"Not sure I can find where they Cascades live, but I can probably do the rest of the stuff. Yo, homes, wheres the jack?"

Danny walks past Mirage on his way in to the hangar. He gives her a second look, like he is surprised she is still standing guard.

"Are you coming inside my dear?"

“After you Danny.”

Mirage follows Danny into the hanger. As soon as she is through the door she speaks to the others, “I think we may be being watched. There is a black SUV parked up about three hundred metres from the hanger. Tinted windows, looks brand new.”

“It may be nothing, but it looks out of place here, like me and Danny’s cars do. Maybe you could look astrally Sparks?”

“Maybe the Monsieur Johnson is just keeping an eye on us,” she takes her gold-plated Manhunter from it’s holster, “but the last time I said that, turned out to be the bad experience I mentioned earlier.”

Reynaldo rolled out from under the nose of the aircraft, washing his hands with a little cloth and putting a few tools away.

"Well, even if it's.. como se dice... a public airfield, you cannot just stroll in here. The reason why you all got close to this place is because I okayd it."

Closing a tool box, he motioned for Sparks to throw him the cordless telecom unit.

"Let me see if I can do something about it."

Taking the receiver Reynaldo punched in a number from memory.

"Yes hello? Yes, hi. This is Mister Ramirez..... yes.... yes... thats correct, over at Thun Airfield. I don't want to bother anyone, but I believe there is an... how to say... unauthorized vehicle on the field's propriety. I was wondering if you could send a car just to check it over.... Yes.... I know... Rough neighborhod, I know. It's a black SUV. You can't miss it. Thank you very much Miss. Yes, and to you to."

Hanging up, Reynaldo muttered something under his breath.

As the rigger frowned, it became apparent things weren't going his way. Altought he hadn't argued with whom ever was on the phone, he didn't seem satisfied one bit.

When Cypher asked, for a second time, where the hangar's jackpoint was, the mexican dwarf simply made some sort of vague gesture toward one of the cubicles (which was, in his opinion, the living room... or at least an attempt).

Changing the receiver from hands to hands for a few seconds, he finally decided on dialing up another number, all the while cursing in spanish.

"Hola....Reynaldo..... Si..... I'm having a bit of trouble with some unwanted over here. You know you are being paid to keep an eye on who comes in and out of here.... yes..... I know I told you to let the cars and bike comes through.... Si...... Si.... Pero..... Si.... Well, there is a black SUV here, who souldn't be here...... No.... Nothing flashy.... Just enough to make him uncomfortable and leave.... Si.... Bien. Gracias. Hasta luego."

As he hung up, Reynaldo bit his lower lip. The people he had called weren't the most subtle of groups... but if whom ever was in that SUV was smart enough, they'd leave as soon as they'd show up. Hopefully.

This doesn't look very promising.

Mirage walks over to the table places her kit bag on the floor, "Reynaldo you don't look happy, what's happening?"

"Only I don't really like having to rely on other people to look after my safety and well being."

She puts her Manhunter down for a moment and takes her MGL-6 mini-grenade launcher from a second holster. She swaps clips, replacing concussion grenades with white-phospherous ones, then puts the weapon back into it's holster, and recovers her Manhunter.

"You know what I mean?"

Turning to the other dwarf she says, "I think we could still use the astral recon Sparks."

Putting the receiver down, Reynaldo tiny eyes went upwards toward Mirage.

"Those pendejos over at Knight Errant. I pay them good money each month to keep the place safe... and now, they tell me things about "jurisdiction" and "contracts". Puta madre... I had to bring in some of the... como se dice... locals. Whoever that is, they'll make them go away."

He took a brand new cigar from his breast pocket and smelled it. Biting the end and spitting it away in a bucket, he smiled at Mirage.

"Should be taken care of soon."

It doesn't take long for the loud roars of motorcycles to echo around the alluminum hangar. The rain had started up again and it was like a constant barage of noise. A few minutes later there was a nock on the door.

Hoze, the gang leader yelled into the vid cam, "yo man, take care of, they gone like cold wind in Mehico, laters."

With that the motor cycles roared and faded into the night.

Danny looked worried at first, but once he overheard the gang leader’s audio over the vidcam, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well, that was unpleasant. Good thing my mate [B}Reynaldo[/B] has this place covered.”

He walks over to the common kitchen area and grabs a beer.

“Hey, by the by, if you need any help with those sensors or cameras, let me know.”

Hawk Wing walked over to his bike as soon as Mirage mentions their "guests." He puts his beer on the ground, kicks up the jack, lifts the back of the bike, and rotates it 180 degrees so it faced back outside again. He hops on it, one hand on the accelerator and the other hand opening his bag. He stares intently at the dwarf who was making a call.

After he hears the roars of bikes he quickly decides to zip up the bag again without taking anything out, and has both hands on the bars. But soon he hears, "yo man, take care of, they gone like cold wind in Mehico, laters." And Hawk's body visibly relaxes again.

He decides to sit there on the chopper since he knows it fits a troll. He almost seems content to sit there and say nothing for that minute, as he calmly sips his beer that he picked up with his long arms. .

Once the unwelcome visitors have been dealt with Mirage reholsters her pistol and nods respectingly at Reynaldo, "Very nicely handled, so much for Knight Errant though."

"I think we should get this show on the road as quickly as possible, before anyone else comes snooping. How quickly can you contact your Cascade friends?"

Smiling a bit as Mirage repeats her question. "Hahaha. Never talk to before. Not 100% sure can even reach. Just know they over there and agree with Rey. They be good source for supplies to refuel and get gear. I can call to my salish contacts who maybe set me up with a meet there. I'm not best for negotiations, do speak Salish though. If anyone else tag along and can legal travel into Salish lands, then that help. I be translate. Or, I try work out deal with them meself." Hawk crushes the empty beer can in his hand, before walking it to recycling bin. Then he grabs another, and sits back on his bike.

"Hey guys, I got something here, let me..." the brash decker flups out a mat and hangs it ont he wall, the LCD mat sparks to life and displays a map of the Western half of what used to be Washington State.

"Ok, theres an old heli port on the Couli-knee river, its about 25 klicks North West of the camp, here is a large look at it."

"Ok that sounds like a good place to base our operations from, at least until we can contact the Cascades."

Mirage turns back from the map, to Cipher, "What else is there around the heliport? Maybe someplace we could hole up, or somewhere we could hire SUVs if we need them?"

Cypher takes a moment to admire the slim french womans form.

"Uh, well it looks like its an old abandoned aid station, from the Salishide/Tir war back in the 40's. High ground, river access, maybe a bunker and a fuel depot. There are a few access roads near it but it looks pretty isolated."

"Perhaps we should take a small team down there to scout the area a bit? Couldn't hurt to make sure we have a private place to work. Just say the word, I'll be happy to back up anybody making a trip down there. Meanwhiles, I need to procure a few pieces of equipment before this little camping trip starts up."

Danny took a look around the living area and had a seat, pulling out his pocket secretary to list out a few items.

To anyone in particular, he added:

"This place could be a fortress for all we know. Getting onsite unawares is going to be tough."

"As before... I'm in road trip. I more than happy help you scout person. If want, meet my place after grab gear, and we'll out... I live Salish tho."

Hawk pulls up his forearm and flips up his phone and looks up his own number. Then he also slots in a Small unit Tactics chip into the active drive. His eyes loll back as his mind suddenly is filled with fake memories of battles and fights strategies.

"Maybe should sort gear we bringing now, before we go down, we may be there for days."

I should probably go along too so we can get an astral look," Sparks chimes in. "I'll need to head home and grab some stuff first though. Clothes and stuff like that."

"Uh, guys, its like 300 miles away, thats about 10 hours of driving to get there as it is only accessible by service roads and old logging roads. If we go there, we should all go there."

"I have everything I need except rations," Mirage looks down at her expensive boots, "Oh yeah, and hiking boots."

"If somebody sorts that out from the advance nuyen, I'll stay with Reynaldo and the chopper in case our unwanted visitors return."

"we should probably get enough rats to last us at least a week, along with water and maybe some extra clothes for everyone."

"Ok 30 days ration bars for 6 of us. I can manage. I'll try get in touch with cascades get some info and maybe get closer. Or have civilizization place for yous. I know lotsa yous folks no like living in no electicity." The troll sits there musing on random thought patterns. "If want, park my place... then uh... carpool?"

I suppose where we're going we won't have a soy shake machine close by...

"Make sure to get some SuperSoy PowerBars. Sure, they might taste like road tar, but they keep you going. I've got to order some electronic equipment off of that advance too, mainly some additional sensors to avoid being detected. on our way in. Which chummer's got that credstick, eh?"

In response to Hawk, Mirage says, "I was planning on leaving my car in Reynaldo's hanger and travelling in the helicopter."

"How close is your place to the area the camp's in?"

"Ha ha ha... Far away! I live close here. Here's where bizness at."

"Cipher will you be able to access the matrix from the heliport? You got Satcomm?"

"Oh yeah, I have hi-tech capability, sat-com, dual encrypted inverse wave length scramblers, ultra low freq capability, I am sty-lin. So yeah I can do my matrix work from there. And I think I have the clearence just about bottled up, just need to know when we are leaving."

"Alright! Let's get show on road! Here my phone number and address." Hawk writes it down on a piece of paper from his little notebook before tearing it out and passing it to Danny "I only got bike, so either we go seperate, or we're using someone else's car."

After that Hawk Wing starts the engine up and rolls on back to his house. Being a dual citizen of both Salish and Seattle having residences in both places, it was easy for him to travel back and forth. He just hopes that it's just as easy for the rest of the team.

"I haven't ever been out of the 'plex. Are they gonna give me trouble at the border?" Sparks asks Hawk before he leaves.

"Maybe you should stick with us in the helicopter, I'm not keen on passing through border controls myself either. Anyway we could really use some astral surviellance at the heliport."

Mirage walks to the hanger door, "I'm going to keep an eye on things outside, in case our friends come back."

"I could always just make the trip from here," Sparks says after thinking for a moment. Communication won't be a problem if I materialize. Of course if you guys want non-astral magic support I'll have to go along.

"Yea they will. Need Visa get in Shide. Shide stricter than Seattle. I'll go grab my stuff and we can fly over then."

Hawk goes home stashing most of his gear away in the bags. He is a hunter by trade, but he likes to be incognito. He drives on back to the hangar. And drives his bike inside again.

"Ok I just got about everything done, were good to cross the border north of the Ft Lewis No-Fly-Zone, after that we will ahve to fly Nap-of-the-Earth as I couldn't hack the Salish system. Don't worry there radar floor is about 200 feet, we should be good to go all the way there. Assuming the info on the sight itself is good."

Standing up after the long wait, Danny looked positively ready to pounce:

"Ace! When do we leave, mate? I've got all of my gear in the boot of the car. Perhaps we can lose some of the excess attention we're getting on this helo flight."

Before she leaves the hanger on her patrol Mirage says, “Do any of you have a tactical radio that I can stay in touch with?”

“Mine is on channel 2-7-5-decimal-5-9-8, I’m running Ares 4th generation encryption.”

With nothing else to do and people still out... Hawk will take the oppurtunity load the heli with his gear then he'll chip in a bike B/R chip and fix up his bike until it's time to take off....

"I've got a transceiver and a mic, but it's not got all that fancy encryption. That must be some nice tech. Any road, perhaps I should tag along, just in case things get dicey."

Hawk turns his troll face into grin. "I too have Micro Transciever, also am Battle Tac equipped. I have Broadcast encryption and Decryption software too. Should we link up?"

Mirage looks impressed, "You're more high tech then I thought, I don't even have BattleTac myself."

"Change to channel 275.598, and we'll stay in touch."

She opens the hanger door, calling to Danny as she walks out, "Ok Danny, lets check our visitors haven't returned."

Mirage slips the door open an inch, scanning what she can see before opening more. The immediate area looked empty, so she moved the door open a little more. The rain had abated and steam was starting to rise off the concrete. The sun was peaking out from behind the clouds raising the temperature a few degrees. The area looked clear.