Billie's Journal - Christmas

Kimano, Tsimshian, 25 December 2050

Christmas day is spent travelling from the shithole that is Kimano, through several hundred kilometers of corporate deforestation to a slightly less shitty fishing village that goes by the name of 'Kitsucky'. Well I aint exactly sure that's how the local braves, I mean native americans, would pronounce it, but it sure fits. Well, the sucky part at least.

We pull up at the local watering hole in our conspicuously clean and shiny corporate vehicle and stroll on in. The natives are all fisherman with the exception of the old lady running the place. While they give us a once over, it doesn't have the glare of the Kimano braves and they don't immediately try to kick us out.

And they have fresh fish on the menu. The vegetables that go with it are unfortunately boiled soy as is the crap they serve for beer, but the fish is fragging delicious. Finlay negotiates with the old lady for a place to stay and she directs us to the local padre, I mean priest.

He's suspicious but lets us crash in the wooden shack that passes for a church hereabouts. Like the rest of the village it aint exactly in good shape, but at least it's dry and warm. Unlike the shower the next morning. It ain't the first time I've washed in cold water in winter, but going by the screams, it is for Cleo. Though to give her credit she does come out shivering but clean.

We're at the docks before it gets light and Finlay offers one of the fisherman a wad of cash to take us out to the island mentioned on the file Zero recovered. Like the rest of the locals, he claims no-one's been living there for a long while. However, if the crazy corp types we're posing as want to play tourist he's happy to take the easy money. I think he gets a hint that we might not be who we claim to be when we load on the duffel bags full of guns, but he keeps quiet.

The dock on the island is about all that's left of the main village. And it's still falling apart. We poke around for a while but looks like the locals are telling the truth. Aint no signs of life in these parts. Gabriel, the padre, sends out a couple of cherubs to look the place over but they don't find anything, so he goes astral and takes a look himself. After an hour or so of freezing our butts off, he wakes up and tells us he found a warded area about an hours or so's walk from the village. At least the walk will warm us up.

Cresting the rise we spot what looks like an internment camp out of them NAN uprising trids. Long abandoned, with only a few buildings still intact. Gabriel points at a squat bunker in the middle of the compound and tells us that's where the ward is. We head down for a closer look. As we get closer, Finlay tells us he smells diesel and soon enough the rest of us can hear the sound of a diesel generator. We find it in the remains of the building closest to the bunker. An armored cable runs from it to a control panel for the bunker's only feature, a pair of heavy elevator doors.

Before we can get a good look at the place, the generator kicks into life and the elevator starts to rise. Finlay and Sharon take up covering positions on the elevator doors, while the rest of us take cover around the corner of the bunker. Gabriel mumbles prayers, while I ready the SMG. I also hear the click-clack of the slide on Zero's pistol.

I hear the doors open and a couple of bursts of assault rifle fire, then Finlay reports all clear. There are two bodies lying in the entrance to the lift, both in hazmat suits. I really don't like the idea of going down there. While we haul the bodies out of sight the padre steps into the lift and hits the button. Sharon tries to stop him and nearly loses a foot as the heavy doors close, only pulling it out at the last minute. Zero mashes the elevator button in a vain attempt to stop it, but down it goes.

The lift dings. There is a faint bang followed by the dull sound of automatic weapons, then silence. There's no chance he could of survived that. The lift starts it's return journey and I break for cover. There's a guard post behind us that will give a good field of fire on the lift. Sharon takes cover as well and Finlay heads for the roof of the building with the generator. Zero heads into that building and there is a mechanical stutter as she shuts down the generator. Smart girl. She then joins Finlay on the roof.

Just as I am about to ask what we should do, Finlay suddenly spins on the roof, his spear glowing with magical energy and thrusts out at empty air. No, not empty I realise as a yellowish mist forms around him. He twists away, swinging and stabbing at the cloud with his spear. I switch aim from the doors and put a round through the cloud, but it doesn't seem to affect on it.

Fortunately, Finlay's spear does and within moments it's all over. The cloud dissipates but Finlay warns that there is another astral presence, possibly our target.