Mel and Jule were enjoying a beer and debating if they should turn in early. A keening from across the bar disrupted them, one that became louder as its source approached. Captain Barbara Dorab was on a warpath and it appeared to end at the two of them.

Captain Dorab stopped long enough to pound the girls' table. “I heard there was a briefing for three of my pilots. I did not receive an invitation.”

With an eyebrow raised, Lieutenant Sawyer pulled out her phone and started looking through her messages. She found what she was looking for, and showed the captain. “Nope, it was sent and even responded to. We were even told to pass the information on to the pilots when they showed up in the morning.”

Captain Dorab looked at the message. “Weird. That's even my syntax.” She looked at the women. “Fine.” She pulled out her phone and did some quick scrolling. “It was answered before I was even aware of it. That is strange.” She took a step back. “Okay, carry on. Expect a bottle of something from me later on; I have to deal with an issue and no one is going to be happy about it.” She walked off.

Jule toasted the departure. “That was definitely interesting.”

Mel put her phone away. “Not a good sign.” She sat down. “I may be a little paranoid, but it feels like there has been a narrowing trap the last few days.” She shrugged it off. “But let's put that away until after the mission tomorrow.”

The server dropped off a bottle of scotch and two shot glasses and disappeared. Jule looked at the label. Her eyebrow went up. “Not bad. Not great, but definitely not bad.” She smiled at Mel as she opened the bottle. “I'm beginning to like her.”

Mel smiled back. “Definitely.”

They toasted to the captain and the mission tomorrow.

* * * * *

While everyone else was showering. Walker was looking for something in one of his thicker tomes. He kept comparing his drawing of the demon with pictures in his books. There were far too many demons that integrated bird parts into their anatomy, and not just the wings. Fortunately, he knew his books, and soon found what he was looking for. He then muttered something under his breath, and walked the book over to Rodriguez.

He looked over at Rodriguez and held the book open towards him. “Hey, Sergeant, I know what we're facing tomorrow.” He looked at the entry. “It's a chetan.”

Rodriguez looked up from the leg he was tightening. “A what?”

Walker showed him the picture. “It's basically a Lakotan bird spirit. Represents the east, but also speed vision and dedication. The thing that bothers me is that it's a good spirit. It could have been corrupted, sure, but that's not normally the situation. I'm sort of worried that if the spirit is protecting something then this could be a bad mistake.”

Rodriguez's eyes rolled. “This is why I hate dealing with demons.”

Douglas put on a shirt. “Tricky things, spirits, and demons are. They're representations of our inner souls, our emotions, given flesh.” He sat down on a bunk. “The problem is finding out what they symbolize for the person summoning them. Figure that out and you get a better feel for the spirit and why it was summoned.”

Walker glared at Douglas. “Great. Since we have no idea who the summoner is then we'll have to pay attention at the site for the sort of magic used.” Walker fell into his bunk. “This just complicated an otherwise simple mission.”

Douglas smiled at the budding parapsychologist. “Yeah, but magic is never as simple as it seems. And we're just at the beginning of it; can you imagine when we finally get good enough at it that we can do forensics on the magic involved?”

Rodriguez glanced at the barracks clock and glared at both of them. “Meanwhile, gentlemen, you had best get to bed early. We have a lot to do in the morning.”

Douglas grinned as he lay down. “Good night, John Boy!”

Walker fluffed his pillow. “Good night, Ben!”

The two looked at each other, then Rodriguez. “Good night, Grandpa!”

Rodriguez flipped off the switch. “Just shut up, you two!” He knew the giggling would stop soon. In case it didn't, he knew where his knife was.

* * * * *

The morning came. Walker shoved Douglas awake. Douglas tried to cast a spell, but the motion caused him to fall off the bunk. He stumbled out of the blanket. He glared at Walker. “That could have flattened you.”

Walker grinned. “Guess I'm glad we're not in a blue zone.” Douglas glared at him.

After they dressed, Walker proffered Douglas a pair of sheathed daggers; he had already put on the matching set. “Want to help test out the daggers?”

Douglas smiled and grabbed them. “Definitely. And the sword?”

“I tried to get Samuels to take it, but he said he preferred a good gun. I'll be leaving it behind.”

“Sounds good. Although you could bring it along in case Kev shows up.”

“Maybe next time. Besides, I'm sure he has something better.”

They laced up and left for the departure site. They grabbed some rolls from a table and then everyone confirmed that their equipment had been stowed, and gathered around the coffee container to try to get enough coffee into their systems to function more efficiently. Walker explained the knives to Lieutenant Sawyer, she was impressed and let the two wear them into the field. “But remember to use them only if you can get in without getting hit.” They nodded and then Walker explained what the chetan was and his concerns. Lieutenant Sawyer took some notes and thanked Walker. The rolls were gone by the time Lieutenant Sawyer gave the order to depart.

Everyone mounted the vehicles and departed. The trip was silent as everyone went over their notes. The leaders were nervous as they conferred via silent channel about Captain Dorab's messaging issue and Walker's notes. Throw in the staged feeling of the demon they had recently fought, and they didn't like the threads coming together; they decided to remain a little more frosty than usual. The corporal, the private, and the wizard all joked and tried to keep things light by joking about some of the other scavengers; Rodriguez did his part by glaring at them every so often to shut them up for a few seconds, after which they returned to joking.

The three pilots were less than happy. They had received their orders just the night before, which meant that they had had to go through their preflight rigamarole with half-tired crew members. That also meant that their crews had been up most of the night fixing small things; they would wake up just in time to repair anything broken or damaged in the fight. The pilots were not happy and were even now pretty much ready to kill just out of pure annoyance.

They arrived at the ancient silo soon enough. The silo looked unremarkable enough; it had split into two parts, and one had fallen and crumbled. There was no sign of the demon that they knew was inside the silo, but the lack of a visible sign of its presence made everyone a little nervous. The pilots and Lieutenant Prowse suited up in silence as Rodriguez and the boys walked and then crawled up to their assigned vantage point. They set up their weapons; they would be ready when they received the word to fire upon the silo.

Lieutenant Walker grabbed the ring and looked at it. “Huc.” Just in front of her formed the familiar circle and Kev formed in the light. He was wet, scowling, and in a pair of shorts.

"You owe me a surfboard.”

Lieutenant Sawyer smiled as she reached for a small bag inside the flivver. “Luckily for you, I figured that you would be pulled from a potentially interesting point at some point. Put this on. The boots are optional.” She tossed the bag at Kev.

He ripped open the package and grabbed the pants. “Thank you. I was surfing off Perth when I received the call. I was unable to reach the shore before being transported.” He pulled on the shirt. “While my gear should be safe during my sojourn here, the surfboard is likely to float out to sea.” He began pulling on the boots. “These vestments feel good.”

"You're welcome. And sorry; I'll see what I can do about replacing your board.” She pointed at the silo. “That's why I called you. I know it's being paranoid, but something feels off and I needed a wildcard.” She gave him a tablet. “Inside is a 'chetan', a bird demon of sorts. We're pretty sure that something fishy is going on, as the chetan is usually a friendly spirit. So be on guard, and do the minimum needed to defeat the demon. But you're here in case there's a surprise. Also, that means no tattoos until we've been good and ambushed.”

“Confirming: I am here as support and to act against any unexpected developments.” He shook his hair dry. “Understood.”

She offered him a rifle. He took it, looked it over, and looked through the sight. “I have not fired one of these rifles in about eight years.” He looked at her. “May I have some extra ammunition?” She slapped two magazines taped together into his hand. He loaded the magazine and nodded.

She nodded back. “And now that you've been briefed and armed, let's get this thing going.” She shifted her voice to the subvocal range. “Teams, we're a go. Bravo Team, you're on.”

"Confirmed, Lieutenant. Telemetry data received. Commencing run in 3. 2.”

The Pheobus suits moved as one. As they moved in the silo was hit by firearm fire. Kev joined in, but in single-shot mode. Lieutenant Walker pointed out the toggle for autofire; he looked at it, toggled it, and took aim. “Thank you. It has been a while.” He grinned as there were instantly more shots fired. She smiled, and they fired at the silo.

As predicted, the chetan flew out, a flaming skeletal bird that quickly became a flaming blur. It quickly reached the guys, diving into them from above. A volley of missiles from the Pheobus team knocked it away. It stood up and screeched at them.

It fell near the silo, which was rapidly disintegrating under the combined fire. It raised its head, screeching to the heavens. Just before the silo disintegrated, two more flaming blurs departed the silo.

Lieutenant Sawyer sighed. “Here's where it gets fun.” As she aimed at the beings, she saw something glint behind them. She focused her sight on the glint and saw runes. She paused a moment before looking at Kev and then Bravo Team. “Kev, Walker is about to go on the move. He's your new ward.” Kev nodded and ran towards the other flivver. “Walker, you and Douglas are to split from the team and investigate their lair. Look for runes.” Without a word, Walker grabbed Douglas, motioned for him to follow, and the pair started towards the former silo.

"Lieutenant, Pheobus One. New bogies. New plan?”

She thought for a moment. “Modified. Take out the bogies in turn, starting with the original. We will re-assess based on casualties.”

"Roger.”

The first bird went down, exploding as it fell. There was a burst of flame followed by a burst of wind, with not even ash afterward. All four of the armored suits weathered the blast. Lieutenant Sawyer, Rodriguez, and Samuels were tossed to the ground. Walker and Douglas were sent flying but were caught by Kev. He helped them to their feet.

"Walker is my new ward.”

Walker was confused for a moment but recovered. “Okay, cool. We need in that lair.”

Kev looked at the silo. “It looks open.”

Douglas shrugged. “So let's walk on in.”

Lieutenant Sawyer saw them enter and turned her attention back to the now-pair of chetans. They looked brighter as if they had somehow gained power from the sacrifice of their nestmate. The color of the flame had changed somewhat as well, looking a little redder. They looked confused.

She heard Lieutenant Prowse's voice in her head. “Lieutenant, that was rough. You guys okay?”

“Roger. You and Bravo Team: You're on stand-by unless attacked. I want to see what happens.”

She received four rogers and the suits faced the pair. The pair jumped up; as they did purple wisps poured from their bodies and they became even redder. Flames covered their bodies and they ignited. As they ignited they filled out, becoming hawks of solid flame. They were surrounded by a nimbus of orange light, vaguely resembling the sun coming over the horizon in the morning. The nimbus faded and the birds flew off, quickly disappearing over the eastern horizon.

"Man, I hope we got that on video.” She lowered her rifle. “The situation is over. If you're in the lair stay there. Everyone else stand down and prep for home.” After receiving all of the confirmations, she started walking to the silo. As she did so the suits landed and Bravo Team's flivver started towards hers. Rodriguez joined her.

Pheobus One contacted her. “Lieutenant, are we cleared to leave?”

Doing some quick math, she figured that they could transport the Kronus using the flivvers. “Yes, Bravo Team, and thanks. We'll schedule the debriefing when I return.”

“Roger, Lieutenant. Let's do this again.” The Pheobus suit transport pulled out.

"Lieutenant Prowse, stay frosty. I want to confirm that we are finished here.”

“Roger. Consider me frozen.”

She ended up in the silo, Rodriguez in tow. Samuels was out of breath; he had run from where both vehicles were parked. “You need more time on the track, Corporal.”

“I'll remember that, lieutenant.”

"So, Walker: How's it look?”

"I'm still working out the details of the thaumaturgic circle, but you'll note the brick that carved a notch into it.” He pointed to a brick that had carved a small furrow into the circle of runes and red chalk. “It looks like the circle was here to draw the chetans in, capture them. and then make them attack whatever showed up. When the first chetan died, its death throes propelled the brick into the circle, and that disruption is what freed them. ”

“Kev, any issues with his interpretation?”

Kev looked at the circle. “None. His analysis is spot on.” Walker beamed. “I would suggest, however, that we look for something that may have been left behind.”

Douglas chimed in. “Already doing that. There's some weird interference inside the walls of the silo. It's almost like there is a mana storm right here, scrambling my senses, making it hard to figure out what's going on. I'd advise some serious caution here.”

She looked at Kev, who nodded. “All right. With three magic advisors, this is definitely going smoother than normal.”

Douglas seemed to have picked something up. “Kev, grab the lieutenant and get out! Everyone else, this is going to get bumpy!”

Kev grabbed Lieutenant Walker and jumped as far away as he could; he made it halfway back to the flivvers. He turned just in time to see the remains of the silo blow up in a large explosion. He was able to protect Lieutenant Sawyer from the explosion, but he still felt the heat. When they investigated the remains, the inside was completely black, with no sign of anyone else.