Chapter 87

My team were out scouting again. The Vultoqi were building a series of constructions along various riverbanks and the Seers, via Roxanne, wanted to know what they were. The Vultoqi, as ever, were busy doing a lot of things that didn’t make sense, at least not to us at first view. Careful investigation usually found a reason for what they did, but generally they were just far too alien to simply guess. They didn’t use roads, nor any form of transportation, well, not since they’d stolen portal transportation during the first Orc invasion. Their construction methods seemed to follow the Dvergar style, in that they were all constructed via molecular building, they built them up one molecule at a time. Though unlike the Dvergar, the adelshaut appeared to be able to do it as a large group. We suspected that this was the same with their individual weapons as no two were exactly alike, although all were equally as deadly.

“Why rivers?” Kate asked in general when we were holed up for a while as a sweeping patrol of adelshaut were in the area we intended to cross.

“Dunno, possibly cooling,” I replied. “We know they aren’t territorial as such, nor do they use bridges ... or rather they don’t build them.”

“Yes, it was noticeable that the Powers simply took the Yr’ch this time and left the infrastructure ... if disabling the power and manufacturing plants,” Clara added.

“I don’t think they help them at all, plus the adelshaut would probably try to attack one if they could see them.”

“Yes, the Seers discovered that the Powers conceal themselves from the Vultoqi, but not us,” Róisín agreed.

“They’re still working on that one we captured, but as far as I can tell are getting nowhere,” I replied.

“Can’t see an adelshaut beating one,” Kate shrugged.

“Probably to stop the planetary powers from killing them unnecessarily,” Callum posited. “I think they’re only allowed to under certain conditions ... their own planetary denizens that is.”

“Just another thing we’re unlikely to find out,” I chuckled.

“True,” he grinned.

“Coast’s clear. Let’s go,” I ordered as the Vultoqi moved away from our intended path.

We slipped silently through the undergrowth towards where one of the completed structures was and finally reached it within an hour, discovering no door and no clues as to what it was.

“Can’t detect any connections to the river,” Róisín murmured.

“Well, unless it’s for the view, there has to be one that makes sense as they only build them on riversides,” I replied as I felt the Seers start to probe through us.

‘Scanning nodes, ‘ Lagertha eventually informed us.

‘Scanning for what?‘ I asked.

‘Us. They appear to be capable of a complex and varying quantum based scan revealing anything without the planetary quantum signature moving around in the area they cover.‘

‘Can we fool it?‘

‘Yes, we can add a ward to our armour and design a medallion for the wolves.‘

‘Why the waterside locations?‘

‘Cooling. They’re going to use a lot of power in a continuous scan, plus they can be set up to deny teleportation as well as portalling from an interface with the quantum boundaries. Unlike Mages though, they use brute force and have no fine control, hence the need for cooling, ‘ Lagertha explained fully.

“OK. Now we know, let’s get back to a safe site,” I ordered, then paused. “Vultoqi patrol approaching, I think we’ve been made.”

‘I don’t think so, but you may be right, John.‘

“Into the river,” I commanded. “We’ll hide underwater; it’s deep enough and muddy enough.”

We all moved swiftly into the river and sank down, using our Mage armour to passively supply us with oxygen from the water, a trick which I hoped the Vultoqi would be unaware of. Fifteen minutes later our passive scans followed the Vultoqi patrol of eight adelshaut as they began searching the area around the structure, though none came to the edge of the water. Yet it was also apparent that they were not going to give up easily either as we detected other patrols approaching.

The Vultoqi search was quite thorough. I’m not sure how they initially detected us, but, when it came to a physical search, they completely ignored the water. We even detected portals on the other bank of the river as another group came through to search. They went methodically over the area, destroying several places where a hide could possibly have been.

Finally, three hours later, the Vultoqi moved on. We waited for still another hour before daring to emerge.

“Wonder what the hell they detected?” I asked out loud.

‘I cannot detect anything, ‘ Arwen, who had taken over from Lagertha, replied. ‘Though Lagertha did report that the initial group came from the path you used to approach.‘

‘Well, they must have detected something, but we’ve learned that they don’t do water ... or assume we can survive under it, ‘ I replied.

‘Yes, Uncle John.‘

“OK. Let’s head back. We’ll go back on the same route and try to see what might have alerted the Vultoqi. Trius, lead the way,” I ordered.

We set off carefully until Arwen let us know we’d reached the area where the Vultoqi had most likely detected us and began a quick search to see if we could see any indication of what it was we’d done.

“This, I think,” Trius, our Drow scout leader, finally said as he showed us a very faint outline of part of a footprint in some slightly drying animal droppings.

“Bit careless of us,” I murmured.

“Ground is hard, grass is short and that would not normally be looked out for,” he shrugged. “Sometimes these things happen. Best guess is they assumed what it was we were looking for and headed there directly.”

“Looks that way,” I nodded.

“They’re good scouts. They’ve detected us Dökkálfar for far lesser things when we probed their planet and structures.”

“Yes, well folks, lesson to be learned. They’re good, so be careful,” I stated, then gave the orders to head back to the portal site.

“The enemy continue to probe us,” the senior adelshaut reported to the caveatra.

“The detector net will be working soon, they will not be able to evade it,” one of the patripure stated.

“We hope,” the senior patripure replied. “They have already shown what a capable foe they are. They must be a priority for extirpation.”

“Agreed,” the caveatra affirmed.

“How goes our hidden research facility?”

“It will be built soon. We continue to rebuild the old one in the hope that they will be looking there, not at the alternative site,” the senior adelshaut replied.

“Good. We shall prevail!”

“WE SHALL PREVAIL!”

“So, they’re very observant?” Roxanne questioned us at our debriefing.

“Very much so and getting better at it, I believe,” I replied, getting a nod from Trius as well.

“Some terrain is far easier to spot tracks or other signs of passage through,” he added.

“Aye, other teams are reporting similar problems. More interesting is that they do not appear to view water as a place to hide.”

“Yes, though the river itself was heavily silted and we were not visible. Saying that, they did not probe the water with any scans to detect us ... not that they would have spotted us anyway,” I replied.

“Might be a legacy of the Orcs not doing anything on or with water,” Arch suggested. “Still, it may be a useful way to approach sites of interest.”

“Aye, I was thinking along those lines as well. They’re putting a lot of effort ... or rather bodies onto this African site, though do not appear to be building anything,” Roxanne nodded.

“Suspect they’re up to something?” I asked.

“Aye, they never do anything without a reason; unlike you lot, always goofing off,” she chuckled.

“Want us to take a look?” I asked with a smile.

“Tomorrow. Go over the site details with the Seers, plan your route and be damned careful.”

“Yes, Mage Roxanne,” I replied formally.

The following day, the team, along with Trius and his scouts, were moving rapidly underwater up a major river using a similar method of propulsion to that of dolphins. The Seer group were keeping an eye out for us as we passed several Vultoqi patrols; normally we’d have had to hide up and remain hidden until they left the area.

‘Looks like you were right, John, ‘ Jemima informed me. ‘Their scans do not penetrate the surface.‘

‘We’ll take advantage of it until they figure it out, ‘ I replied.

Soon enough though, we had to leave the safety of the water and begin a tortuous approach to the centre of the local Vultoqi activity, which appeared to be centred around a series of bluffs and a cave network, though we’d never observed them using caves before.

The Vultoqi patrols were intensive, though we were definitely being a lot more careful to avoid anything that might give us away. Still, it took nearly ten hours to cover the three miles to the site and a place where we could observe from.

“Definitely doing something in the caves,” Róisín observed.

“Yes, not sure what though. They’re using a clever camouflage shield to hide the internals,” I replied.

“Yes, gives the impression at a distance that they’re just caves.”

“Trius, see if you can infiltrate any closer, please,” I requested.

“You got it.”

Once again, the Drow cloak stood them in good stead as Trius’ team closed in on the cave and soon we, plus the Seers, were scanning through them and assimilating the data.

“More portal development, Yr’ch style,” I finally stated.

‘Yes, John, ‘ Jemima agreed.

“Not going to be as easy to attack this one either. We’d have to come in on a narrow front and they’d be able to block our retreat very easily.”

‘Agreed. I have informed Roxanne and Arch of the situation. They will speak to Kordanta soon.‘

“Trius, retreat,” I sent out on the subliminal radio we used.

“Heading back now.”

Once the Drow had returned we headed back to the river and our hidden portal site in silence as we mulled over the potentials for an attack on the site as an effort to slow down the Vultoqi attempts to get an extra-dimensional portal functioning.

Several days later, at a leadership meeting attended for the first time by the hologram of Chakra, Kordanta explained his plan. “We can use Alliance forces to hold the perimeter, whilst the Shayetet Kheshig take out the site, with the Seers blocking any portals into the gorge and bluff area.”

“Estimated losses?” Simon asked.

“Amongst the Alliance, potentially ten percent, though we’ll be fighting a defensive battle. Amongst the Shayetet Kheshig, potentially much higher as there are a lot of Vultoqi milling around in the area of the bluffs and the gorge.”

“We can beef them up with the Mazdani and Athenian volunteers,” Roxanne stated. “No doubt the wolves, Nosferatu and Gorgons will help as well.”

“I’d like some Gorgons to help with the Alliance as well, particularly the aid posts as they’re vulnerable to counter attacks and can be distracted. I’d also ask for the weapon platforms too, to act as a fast reaction force behind our lines to concentrate fire on any attempts to break through in strength,” Kordanta stated, looking at Crnnch.