Help for the Trolls, part 2

With the Queen defeated and the Nexus closed, a swarm was incoming.

Blitz said they'd be less resistant to mundane weapons since the Nexus was destroyed. Could we lure them to a spot where we can detonate the explosives Spark had brought along? Yeah, there was a place back toward the front, where we came in - a depression with water in it. I led the way, slipping a bit on the crumbling dirt. We got a good head start but the beetles were gaining on us and more were arriving from other directions. A couple bugs made wild jumps at Spark as they closed in. They emitted flames but they seemed weaker. Another tried to spew flame at Blitz, and cooked his armor pretty good. I took another glance at the digital display and we were where we wanted to be. I threw on the brakes as we arrived at the confluence of a few tunnels with a 20-meter drop off straight down. Spark set the explosives and then pointed out an access ladder we could use to get out of harm's way.

Spark headed up first then Blitz. Then me, of course. Blitz sent a blast of energy at the rear of the swam, to send them steamrolling toward our trap. It worked, as they started piling up on themselves in the bowl-shaped area below us. Spark activated the explosives. Nothing. A few agonizing seconds went by as we clung to the access ladder. Our hearts sank. Then the explosives went off. BOOM! Smoke ripped up toward us and a strange smell of burning assaulted our noses. It seemed more chemical than death.

Then the ladder started to loosen. I frantically looked for a place to connect my grappling hook in my climbing kit. I saw part of the infrastructure above us that I could loop onto. There was a separate I-beam that ran parallel to the one the ladder was on. I fed the stable rope to Blitz after I'd secured it, then I leapt five meters to the ground. Blitz got down safely. Spark followed but none to gracefully.

We retreated back the way we came, with Blitz checking out Astral space to see if there were more bugs out there. "Let's get out of here," he said. "These things are toast." We got back to the place where the Nexus had been. Now there were piles of carapaces almost fused into the "altar" as if they climbed onto it as they died. I found a "smaller" beetle shell intact. Its legs were gone but the rest of its Rhino beetle-style body was there, albeit fragile.

After we'd collected some material we headed back to the surface, realizing it was hard to process how long we'd been down there. Ben was there waiting, feeding wood into a big iron cooking stove. "Do you bear good tidings?" he asked. "Yes," Blitz said, pulling out a beetle horn and tossing it to the Troll. It landed on the ground near his giant feet. "Done." Ben shouts a hurrah and called out to the camp to rally to him. "Our home is saved, and we have these little fellas to thank!" As more Trolls emerge, a few grabbed me and Blitz and tossed him in the air in celebration. It hurt our sore bones so much. Elias poured something from a gas can into a tin cup for Spark. "Drink up! It's a good day!" Grain alcohol by Trolls.

I uploaded the footage from my cyber eyes to Ben's tablet so they could watch the Run. A young female Troll hooked it up to a widescreen TV that had been hidden under a tarp. They played it like a movie.

Later Schroeder broke the material link on the glove Blitz had acquired so he can use it in the future without being traced by the former owner.

Help for the Trolls, part 1

Owing to getting the drek shot out of me in several recent jobs, I went under the knife to get dermal plating. The things are visible under the skin so I guess we're doing this all the way now. No looking back; this is my life.
After showing our asses on the last job, I was keen to lay low for a while. Spark and I had to convalesce after surgery (she got dermal plates too).
Blitz was trying to trade the glove he got of that mage on our last job, guy named Schroeder. A Troll fixer he knows of offered to help him, perhaps to acquire it perhaps to help him retool it so it was attuned to him and NOT traceable by the old owner any more. Blitz was also trying to find a way to get a SUV in the deal, since he wanted a functional vehicle. The Troll offered him a job too, something about helping some other Trolls who got chased out of their warren. What the fuck chases a Troll out of its home?! Bugs, he told Blitz. Yikes, some bugs! We take the gig. Healing goes well and we were finally ready to hit the streets again.
It was time for some legwork. We had the name of the contact and where his warren is. Their crew is called The Little Guys. Cheeky.
We headed over to the address, a place on the edge of the city where they started to build infrastructure like a subway stop, but it seemed they abandoned it. There were big, man-made 'hills' and piles of debris and materials like scrap metal that sat between buildings. The place smelled like a cafeteria - cooking and smoke. A big Troll sat on an economy car like was a couch. "Who goes there?" he asked, as if he was under a bridge in a children's story. He tapped a metal staff against the pavement. Blitz introduced himself and us. "Thought you'd be bigger," the Troll bellowed. Blitz motioned to me: "That's him." The Troll replied: "Thought you'd be bigger too. And you have a wee one too," he said of Spark, the Elf. He goes by Ben, with Leon and Elias by his side.
They showed us footage on a tablet of meter-long beetles with large jaws chasing Trolls! Their movements seemed not quite corporeal. Then their mandibles shot out flames! Another clip showed a nest. How many were there? "It's hard to say," Ben said. "Those seem to come and go. Maybe a dozen? Two dozen? They also seem to be of the same mind. It's hard to explain."
The warren was a couple stories below ground. Ben drew me a crude map of the tunnels, rooms and the bug nest.
We did some research that showed that the beetles - Insect Spirits likely - could be harmed by mundane weapons but magic worked far better. So we grabbed some mission-specific gear. Spark wanted explosives. We all got flame-retardant clothing.
A couple days later we returned, to find plenty more Trolls milling about. Ben gave us a pep talk and then we headed in.
I led the team down the subway stairs to where passengers would get tickets and go through turnstiles. The Trolls had ripped out those same turnstiles and decorated with wild street art mosaics of all kinds of found items. Blitz was trailing me and Spark was covering our six. The plan was to protect our magic user, as he was the one would likely do the most damage to the spirits.
Up ahead I saw and heard a burst of flame. Paused; no movement. Then scuttling. SmartLink rangefinder said targets - three of them - about one meter tall each were advancing on us. I fired off probing shot at the smallest and it went down dead. Blitz went astral and saw the others coming, spurting flame. They were scary fast. Blitz blasted another with magic energy, and it too went down for good. Spark fired a shot too, at the last one as it jumped at us. It hit Spark then hit the ground injured.
I broke into a jog as we fled toward the nest. There were mounds of dirt that I wasn't prepared for, which lengthened our route. We saw a downward stairwell covered in a crust of wispy material, though it wasn't spider's web. Man, I don't know much about bugs, I realized. We could hear them skittering about down below. I rushed down the stairs and quickly headed for the door we were seeking. It smelled like earth, where the Trolls were digging. But right above me in the beetles' wisps was one of them, and it sprayed us with the flame attack we'd prepared for. The fire-retardant gear helped soak up some of the damage though I could feel the effects seep through to my armor. The other two team members seemed to dodge it. Spark peppered it with gunfire and it fell from the ceiling. Spark rushed past me and through the door, taking point. It looked like inside the Trolls were making some kind of aquifer. We had to get across, and the place where we were headed was flanked by a group of smaller beetles. Spark headed at them, spraying bullets to chase them off. Blitz moved quickly to the door, taking the lead.

We arrived in a Troll dwelling, with big stuff all around. Blitz was practically face-to-mandible with a much bigger beetle with many legs and prominent insect features as it sat in a multi-tiered nest made of mud. The nest had a geometric pattern quality to it. The bug rose up, a prominent ridge on its head. It's times like these that I'm glad I can't see in Astral Space. The thing was the size of a step van and that's enough for me to know.
It raced at Blitz, with flames starting to manifest. Spark unloaded another spray of gunfire. I checked around for any other beetles hiding, and found none. I pushed against the door we came through, in order to keep any other beetles from getting in.
The queen raked Spark with her mouth as the Elf back pedaled and grabbed her with her mandibles, crushing her in her grip.
Blitz yelled "This is the source!" and motioned to a gaping black hole of nothingness beyond the nest. He hurled magical energy at it. "Keep her off me!"
Spark slipped from the queen's grasp, clearing me for a shot. I dropped to a knee, bracing my back heel against the door to keep it jammed shut. I swung my rifle up and poured all me focus into the shot. With the queen's 'crown' in my scope I fired, tearing a layer away to expose an interior with an orange glow.
It washed flames over Spark and Blitz but they seemed to weather the attack. Blitz then unleashed another spell, pouring so much effort into it he wobbled, nose bleeding and spent.
A howling noise and air rushed toward the darkness. The queen stood up tall, fire licking, then she froze in place. As the noise stopped, I could hear the sound of a distant stampede coming at us from beyond the door.

Stealing the tech, part 3

We only had an address for where we were going to find Kurtis. So we didn't really know what we were dealing with. The place was basically a nice neighborhood apartment complex. I asked Oskar, a contact of mine, if he knew anything - perhaps how to get in, physically or electronically. All he knew is the area is packed with international corps and a lot of in-and-out traffic. Also, those in town for extra-governmental work wind up there - as Crescent Moon Tower.
We took the subway to the site, walking there and noting possible getaway vehicles we might steal later. The tabled we stole from the first site connected to the Matrix and seemed to give indications of a general location to seek. We found a maintenance man we bribed to get information on any new arrivals with serious medical equipment. He told us the room we were looking for and we headed off to the 12th floor. We tried to walk with purpose past a lounge full of suits who glared at us as we passed. I saw one nudge another and make a note of us. We went to an intersection and headed left to a locked door. Spark buzzed the intercom and said she's from Alder Tech and was verifying security because of the incident at the other facility recently. A doctor answered the door and let us in. Spark gave her a once over and saw she was of similar build and size. Then she stunned into unconsciousness her with her Narcojet pistol. Blitz and I dragged her inside and shut the door. As we went past the bathroom, there was a bodyguard sitting on the toiler - not shitting, just sitting there with the lid down. He held a Ingram SmartGun on us, almost casually. "Why don't you put the lady down," he said. "Guns in the tub." I did, walking slowly toward the tub and putting my gun in. "You next," he said to Blitz. He opened his jacket to show him he was disarming. The merc tossed a black hood at Blitz and told him to put it on. "I know guys like you. Put it on." Blitz tried to hem and haw and buy time. I looked away for a second and thought he was complying, but then he managed to cast a stun bolt. The merc wobbled and dropped his gun, then collapsed in a heap. Spark saw another bodyguard come at us from a room deeper in the apartment unit, and she fired a stun capsule at him, knocking him out cold.
We rushed to the bedroom to find Kurtis in bed. "I'm not going to resist, just make sure my doctor is able to care for me," he said. We told him we were not there to hurt him. We grabbed the wheelchair for him and found another to put the still-unconscious doctor in. We scrammed, and I suggested we go the opposite direction of the lounge on the way out. There was a corridor that circumvented that area, so we took that way. It led to a service elevator. It went down and opened to a direct access to the back way out of the building and onto the street. The maintenance man who we'd bribed earlier was standing nearby. He told us the way was clear and stepped aside. We spotted a small utility vehicle just inside the building. I told the man to act like I'd tased him as I raised the Taser at him, telling him it will look on the security cameras like he tried to stop us. I pretended to zap him and he went down. We loaded up the truck with the two wheelchairs and I grabbed the wheel while Spark rode shotgun. Blitz headed off on foot, splitting up with us.
A quick call to Mr. H and he gave us a place to meet to make the money drop and exchange of the tech.

Stealing the tech, part 2

Drones started to come to life around me. Not good. All alone on the first floor.
I hustled to the back, looking for another way out. There was an emergency door but it was welded shut. "This is not up to code!" I yelled in sarcastic frustration.
The other two came back down the stairs. Blitz was in a bit of haze, though I wasn't sure why. We headed for the tower, which was how to access the subterranean tunnel to the building we were seeking.
The tunnel's motion lights kicked on as we entered, showing a five-meter wide hallway that extended for a ways. There were all kinds of parts and equipment strewn all over, including hardware that included vehicle-grade weapons. We raced down the tunnel toward our destination. Halfway there the tunnel bent toward the other building. But just beyond the bend were targeting barriers. I strained to move them out of the way of my two companions with the intent of pushing them back into place to dissuade pursuit. Far ahead of us we saw two red lights come on and the sound of electronic pinging. Seemed like two entities. "You have anything for this?" I asked Blitz. He sneaked toward the lights, using some wrecked targets as cover, cutting the distance. We were about 35 meters from the red lights, whatever they were. Blitz moved up about half way; threw out a hand and the sound of metal smashing echoed from where the red lights sat. The other one whirred and moved to track Blitz. There was a muzzle flash and the sound of gunfire from the other threatening light source. Hard to tell but it seemed like a pair of sentry auto-guns. Blitz got hit but the plates in his armor seemed to absorb most of it, staggering him.
I ran up to Blitz and tried to shoot the red eye. I only winged it. I was close enough to see it at that point, a sort of tripod. It returned fire and a bullet ripped through my hip and some of the plates in my armor.
Spark stitched up the other gun emplacement and it went quiet. She came over to me while taking out a medkit. "It's not bad enough to waste time on that," I told her.
We went past more equipment and came to another set of double doors. Spark took over point since I was not in top form anymore, hobbled by the wound. The area was strewn with junk - shipping crates, boxes, parts - almost a small landfill. Up the stairs we went stealthily. Spark moved a crate but misjudged its weight and basically threw it out of the way with a crash. "Sorry," she whispered sheepishly. She moved up to the first floor door. She paused with the door open and leaned back to tell us someone was in the room. "That's you," I said to Blitz, waving him up. He went through the door tumbling as he went. All I could hear was gunfire but I couldn't see what was going on. In I rushed to see someone running up on Blitz, but the person's back was to me. He turned as I entered, then I hit him with the taser zap and it seemed to disorient him. Spark hit him with a Narcojet pistol shot and he went down in a heap.
While Spark broke out the medkit for Blitz I headed past them into the building to find Kurtis, our goal. I headed for a door leading to a service corridor, ignoring the mess hall. I passed a stairwell and the hall opened to a lobby, which seemed unkempt as evidenced by the cobwebs. The double doors are open at the front of the building and there were two men just inside. They were talking to each other so I used their distracted state to make my move across the large lobby. I got to another stairwell and headed up. This area - a barracks, by the look of it - looked more lived in. I heard far off movement and approached quietly. As I got to the door I saw an orderly with his back to me at the door. I pushed him into the room, closing the door as I followed him in, my gun out. "Follow my instructions and you live," I said deadpan.
"Whatever you want to do," he yammered. "What do you need?"
"Throw your common the ground and tell me where Kurtis is," I replied.
"Kurtis? Kurtis isn't here. They moved him. I don't know where they moved him. That's above my pay grade. Just leave me alone." I spied his tablet on the table. I grabbed it and his comm, then I tased him unconscious.
Leaving the room I could see my teammates below me in the stairwell. Blitz motioned me to a room where Spark and I can set up an ambush on a foe I don't see yet. Spark brought the comm they also stole. She began linking them by another secure channel.
The trap was sprung. One guy went into Blitz's room. Another straggler came in later, and Spark moved out to attack him with the Narcojet. The capsule hit him but a wave of energy rippled and the capsule seemed to fall away without effect. The man turned to Spark and make a finger gun, seeming to cast a spell. I leapt out, tasing him. He turned his attention to me, splitting his two fingers to send two tendrils of energy - one at each of us. At the last second, Spark threw out an arm and literally grabbed at the energy lancing toward me, snatching it and absorbing some of it instead of me taking the full power of the attack. She shot him again and this one hit him right in the chest. He jerked back violently, stumbled and fell. Spark ran up and checked him for weapons. She motioned me toward Blitz.
"You called?" I yelled to Blitz as I walked toward the guy holding him at gunpoint. The guy turned to face me and I fired the taser at him. Seeing he was surrounded he surrendered.
"Otto's stepping up their game and not just in scrap metal anymore, eh?" he said, pointing to my cap.
I handed the tablet to Spark. "Maybe this well help us find the asset."
Spark said it showed a transfer to a safe house....in Hamburg. The asset was awaiting the Russians, a team led by a Maxim Sidorov. Spark blanched at the name but said nothing.
We headed for the door, double time. I led our exit out to the wood line while successfully evading security.
Eventually, back in Hamburg, I contacted Mr. H to give him the update. He paid us 80% of the fee and said he expected us to complete the job.
"Unfortunate but out of your control," Mr. H said. "We're knee deep in this so complete the mission and contact me then."

Stealing the tech, part 1

A little down time after the Poland mission. I spent some time trying to establish a safe house. I needed to be able to put people up in Hamburg after they are extracted but don't have a final destination - yet. After three weeks I found a place and purchased some air mattresses and food, etc. It's a studio apartment in a big building in a not terrible neighborhood. It's not done, but it's livable.
Blitz told me he was trying to track down those who could teach him Ritual magic, which he wanted to use to find his missing mother. I know a little about the story; he lost track of her when he was at the military academy attached to her work in the Ukraine.
Spark was busy building a shop for her cybernetics - a lab in her crappy dwelling.
I got a call from Oskar. He had a job: infiltration, recovery of tech, extraction. In Germany, fairly close by.
Code in hand I was off to make contact. The guy wanted to meet at the Blonde Scorpion, a bar we've met contacts at before. He said he'd be in the reflective vest. "See you tonight." Once we were there, it was easy to find him at the end of the bar. Fashion is strange.
I made introductions and he found us a table, though it was in the middle of the room. I did not approve, but he was paying for the job. Luckily it was too loud for eavesdropping. "You can call me Mr. H. I'd like to know the others I'm working with."
The target would be Alder Tech, a German development company that is under Saeder-Krupp. The item we were stealing was a bit of rigger tech, a platform, a prototype that had just been completed. It integrates multiple items at once, and is funded by the Russians unbeknownst to the devs.
"We don't want this tech in the reckless hands of the Russians," Mr. H. said. He wanted us to snag it and bring it to a drop point.
In my amateur style I tried to suss out his loyalties but I'm bad at it and he's not dumb. He didn't give away anything.
The terms were arranged, including a bonus if we didn't harm any civilians or damage the facility. I tried to negotiate a little better payday and lo and behold I did squeeze better terms out of the client. He complimented our professionalism and agreed to up the price of the job.

We were given an address for the lab, which is off the beaten path in a decommissioned Army depot. We had three to four days before the Russians arrived to collect the prototype.
There is a highway nearby, with an exit 15 kilometers from the site. There's a truck stop, gas station, restaurant and motel.
Spark did some computer shenanigans and got us cover IDs for the small scrap company that goes to the lab site to get waste metal.
Blitz went to Otto's, the scrap yard, to get hats with their distinctive patches on them. I had to help buy a few of them. I was so charming! But we had to wait two days for an order to be put in so we were a little nervous that the timing would be too tight. It worked out.
After that I walked the route between the motel and the lab compound to see if there was a path we could take if we needed to hoof it in and out. There was, through the woods to the back of the facility via a northwest approach. There was a four-meter tall perimeter fence with vines growing on it, indicating that it was NOT electrified and that it was not maintained. There was gravel for about seven meters to the scrap pile, with a gate at the yard. There was also a building, two stories in concrete with a guard tower on top. Another building sat on the other side of the yard.
I scrambled to borrow a Tiffani Defiance Protector stun gun, so that I had a non-lethal option to get the bonus pay.
In the morning, I kitted up with pistol, taser, knives, climbing gear, wire cutters and medical kit. On the way to the site, I stopped about a kilometer out and stashed my crossbow in a tree in case I needed more bang on the way out.
We walked in via the route I scoped out previously. It was 5 a.m. We heard the echo of a car door closing from the front of the facility. Next came the sound of tires on gravel, which faded away. After that, it was all quiet.
I led the team quietly to the edge of the fence. We went in through a sliding gate and were into the scrap yard. We used the debris as cover to sneak to the rear of the single story building at the back of the site. There was a security camera affixed to a swivel but we ducked past it.
While I guarded our six Spark was looking for an external cyber-terminal to hack. What she found was an air conditioning unit with a camera honing in on her movements. She ducked it and stumbled onto the terminal, and got access.
There was power to both buildings, and they were connected via underground tunnel. There was also a single-wide trailer toward the front of the site. Blitz did his astral thing - the sight-beyond-sight move - to see if there were people in the buildings.
There was one person in the trailer-building. We considered sneaking over there intent on capturing the person inside and use the tech inside to find the prototype. WAIT, instead... why not walk right in as Otto's employees with a question for personnel? Maybe we can barge in and neutralize the person.
Spark entered, shoving a device in the man's face to get him to sign off on a work order. When he went to sign, I jabbed the taser in his ribs and shocked the drek out of him. He went down in a blubbering heap. Spark had already found a computer linked to the facility's network. The idiot at the desk was auto-logged on. Spark went to work cutting security then on to a complex layout.
We headed for what the computer calls The Garage, the two-story building with the tower on top. There was a big garage door on one side and a set of conventional double doors on the other. Taser in hand, I pushed open the double doors. There was an anteroom with more double doors beyond that. Through the glass it was dark though it was obvious there was a large area, perhaps the entire first floor.
Dimly glowing LEDs and my cyber eyes show it to be a room full of drones. Blitz's magical senses didn't detect any life inside. Spark and I started looking around while Blitz went to check out the tower upstairs.
"What does a rigger platform look like?!" I asked Spark as I rummaged through desks and drawers. She showed me the headware and associated tech from the data Mr. H. gave us. There was hardware and software. Our focus would be hardware, Spark noted. The hum of Blitz's open channel droned in my ear. There was a 3-D printer that tipped me off that I might be in the right place. Spark found a digital paper trail identifying Kurtis Blomkampf as the person the prototype is installed in, and that he was convalescing in the other building, the one we'd been hiding behind earlier.
Spark headed upstairs to get Blitz. I gripped the taser in my off hand and drew my Ares Predator, ready for whatever trouble was bound to come.

Back to Poland, part 2

Spark and I turned back to the camp, having chased off the Russians. Blitz had taken the other two Russians prisoner and dispatched the dog creature.
Now we turned our attention to the truck, to get it unstuck from where it had become essentially a potted plant. All the Poles would fit into it so we wanted to get it operational and then head off for our vehicle. Then would could GET OUT.
Blitz had restrained our captives, who were unconscious. The two dogs were dying in smoldering piles. The woods felt like they were closing in on us.
Blitz and Karl, the leader of the Polish refugees, got back to work on the truck. I grabbed a few Poles and headed out in front of the truck to clear a path. Spark started helping the sick and elderly into the back of the transport truck. We were struggling to move a log that had fallen into the path.
Some kind of small drone came flying out of the brush ahead of where Spark had gone out to have a look around. She took a shot at it and struck metal. It swerved off course and ducked into the canopy of trees, but it was still functional.
I could hear the mechanics when something snapped and broke on the truck though I could not tell what. What ever it was, I was sure it would cause complications later.
A few Poles arrived to report fires spreading in the underbrush, probably the after-effects of the paranormal dogs and what they were spewing.
Panic! I rushed to the back of the truck and pushed with a mighty Ork roar! It finally started to roll out. I ran up to the driver's side running board and Karl shoved over so I could jump behind the wheel. As I pulled away, out of the smoke, a few more people in Russian uniforms arrived on the scene. They fired off a few shots but missed the truck and passengers.
I could hear the team shooting and slinging spells at the pursuing soldiers.
A shot hit one of the rear tires. The handling became rough but I steered off the trail to get out of the shooters' scopes.
We got clear and used the GPS to find my buggy. I hopped out of the truck and Karl shoved back over to re-take the wheel. Blitz and Spark stayed in the back of the big truck. We were off to the rendezvous shelter via a local highway. It was an old airfield, with an ancient hangar and out buildings. It looked abandoned until a few people came out to receive us. Among the refugees, everyone was a little sick and groggy but unhurt.
I promised to help with any further expediting of the Poles to future homes.
"I heard you guys were good," the leader at the airfield said. "Looks like you are." He looked at the three of us. "Motley crew just like us!" We all offered to help with our connections in the future, such as the Polish Army.

Back to Poland, part 1

Oscar, a mechanic I knew in Hamburg, called me about interest in a job - rescue/repair/extraction.
I got the other two on board and he sent me the information. A guy named Cordero wanted to meet at the Blonde Scorpion, a local bar that caters to ex-military/paramilitary down near the docks.
I hopped on the train to go meet my mates and the contact. It was evening. The place reminded me of the Outpost, the veterans social club we went to during the last mission into Poland. Cordero, a human, was in the bar in a corner booth. I grabbed drinks for all of us. Cordero was drinking a beer so I got a pitcher of the same stuff and three more glasses. He seemed wary, standing to shake our hands.
Straight to business. Said he'd heard of our successful jobs in extraction. He had a group out in the woods of Poland, in a makeshift refugee camp where they'd gone after escaping the Russian Army. They were camped around a power station nationalized by the Russians.
"We just got word that they might be in trouble," Cordero told us. The Red Army was out to find and crush them. Their transport was broken down and though they had mechanics they needed parts. Our job was to get them operational, protect them and get them out. "We're all allies against the invaders."
Cordero provided us with a GPS unit and coordinates to the power station. The terms were good and he covered the costs of any equipment we needed that was mission-specific. I made a note to get woodland camo and more rations.
We took the regular roads most of the way but then there was forest that even my buggy couldn't get through. We walked the rest of the way using the GPS, visually scanning the horizon for the tower. I was on point, Blitz carried the parts and Spark watched out six. The canopy of the primeval forest blotted out the sky. We could still hear drones in the air so we hugged the trees and kept the canopy between us and the mechanical spies.
Soon we spotted a land mine, which I stopped just short of. There were more traps as we got closer to the camp site. GPS got us to within sight of campfires, and there was a building too.
Spark took the lead and I moved to rear guard. She is better at talking to strangers, so we relied on her to keep us from getting shot right away. A big guy on guard chatted us up and said they were fleeing to Germany but the truck had broken down.
Blitz asked to see the truck as we exchanged concerns about the sound of dogs approaching, perhaps Russian patrols.
Spark and I started passing out the ration bars we brought. I passed out food to the children while Spark attended to the wounded. Blitz was working on the engine repairs. The truck was wedged in the mud here and had become overgrown, so getting it out was going to be more complex.
After that I talked to some of the Poles about exfiltration. Spark helped repair some of the small equipment in camp. But the dog sounds were getting close now.
I called Blitz up to help and we attempted to sneak closer to the noises. About 50 yards away in a gully there were two men in long coats and goggles leading a giant dog thing, probably paranormal based on its glowing red eyes. It was sniffing the air. The men had Russian military insignia on their clothing. There was another pair of men and a 'dog' further beyond them, farther from the camp.
Spark and I ran low through the woods to the enemies farther away. Blitz and the Pole who'd been on guard attacked the nearer team.
By the time we'd gotten into position Blitz had cast two spells to attack the dog, beast, thing. A pair of fists made of energy rushed out at it and knocked it over.
I shot at the other dog's handler while Spark fired on the dog. My Remington 950 cracked the air and the bullet ripped into the handler, hitting him in the flank and staggering him. Spark shot and killed the beast with a machine pistol. The animal began to smoke and spew. The other Russian shot back at my Elf friend with his assault rifle but missed.
I took another shot as I heard the other team of allies exchange fire behind us. But I had no clear line of sight and my shot went wide. Spark fired at the Russian who was unharmed, hit him and staggered him. The man took a knee and returned fire.
The dog handler took out a device and put it to his ear. Spark saw the movement and dashed toward him to knock the device away, which she did successfully. She then shot him in the side and close range. I tried to shoot the other Russian but he was withdrawing and I missed. He returned fire but missed me too. I fired again but the underbrush was causing havoc with my line of sight and my shot went astray - again.
The target of my attacks started to move deeper into the trees and I took what I figured was my last shot. I fired another round and missed again, and I saw him disappear into the undergrowth. I dropped the rifle into the low ready position and sagged in embarrassment. I could not have been less efficient, and it might cost people their lives, I thought in the moment. If the Russians come back soon we'd be in trouble.