Let's just say keeping an Imperial-built sixty-five-ton steel robot quiet is a piece of cake. These guys in Guylos know how to shut a Zoid up. In the two years I've lived in the Guylos Empire I've never once come across a well-maintained Zoid that wasn't stealthy. Well, except maybe that Iguan, but I only drove that for a little while out of desperation.

One nice thing about the Guylos Empire's southern countryside is that it has a lot of hills. It is actually possible to keep a Zoid out of sight along the twisty-turny roads when you're tracking someone

Like today.

I slowly walked my Lightning Saix through the hills, carefully keeping the steep mounds of earth between my prey and my Zoid. Imperial Zoids may be quiet, and there may be hills, but they are still huge.

Our prey-of-the-day was a convoy of Zoids controlled by Crotius Rykur. He was a wealthy scum ball who, naturally, acquired his wealth through crime and thievery. After he stole a group of five Imperial Army supply Gustavs on their way to Gellenos, the newest town on the edge of the Southern Frontier, the Empire slapped a massive bounty on his head. They wanted what he stole back.

I was happy to help. For a large fee.

Even with a plethora of bounties and bounty hunters out there, the Southern Frontier was filling up with thieves and criminals. It was a shame, too; I kind of liked the place. Of course, it was still a frontier for one basic reason: No one wanted to live there. It was mostly desert with a few mountains--not much value…at least on the outside. Thieves like the Death Sniper had stashed their goods throughout the land, and there were treasures to be found. Finding them was too dangerous for the average man.

That's another reason we stayed in Guylos. We weren't average.

The convoy was on the other side of the hill, and was guarded with pairs of Red Horns, Molgas and Hel Digunners. Not a bad defense, but I doubted that the pilots had any real skill. My team was a team of veterans, who were all very hungry at the moment.

This should be over in two minutes.

Sifen, my intelligent, yet occasionally ruthless friend, was staying far across the hills on the other side of the convoy. Mansod, the teams deadweight, was way behind making sure the convoy didn't turn around on us. Kavid? Who knew where he was. He was the sharpest pilot I'd ever seen, but lately I was ashamed to call him my friend. Now wasn't the time to dwell on that, though.

When the convoy reached a tight stretch of road between the hills, it was time to attack.

I flicked on my HUD-Comm to Sifen. "CR-3, confirm your position."

Sifen responded with audio only, "Ninety west, sir. Waiting for command."

I opened a line to Mansod, "CR-4, start tightening things up, we go in fifteen."

"Yes, sir." He'd been training with Sifen too long. Always too proper.

I really wished I knew were Kavid was, but we had to stay out of sight and keep the Comm transmitter power as low as possible to avoid interception. I just hoped Kavid's eyes were as good as he said they were. I didn't want to strike without a complete team, but I couldn't wait for him any more.

After fifteen seconds, I made my move.

My Lightning Saix jumped the hill and ran sideways like a crab, strafing the two Red Horns in the lead. The shots didn't break their armor, but it sure confused the heck out of them. The tight roadway didn't give them enough room to turn around, leaving them unable to counterattack.

Sifen's Red Horn came stampeding over the other hill, leapt into the air and smashed down upon a Molga. The slithering Zoid was crushed under the styracasaurus' weight and exploded. Sifen's Zoid emerged from the smoke and fire and rammed the lead Gustav, flipping it over and blocking off the roadway.

Rykur's Red Horns were chasing me with laser blasts but quickly assessed Sifen as the greater danger and spun their main cannons back at him. Unable to turn their bodies around, however, their firepower was limited.

The remaining Molga and pair of Hel Digunners climbed up the steep hillsides to get around the flipped Gustav and its trailers. They took firing positions against Sifen, but before they could start their barrage, Mansod scampered up in CR-4 and shot a hole through the Molga and blew the cannons off of the Hel Digunners. That new Null Ray Cannon of his was worth every penny.

My Saix had an excellent firing position on the hillside and popped off the weapons array of the right Red Horn without taking any damage. CR-3 destroyed the weapons of the left Red Horn. Victory was ours, with or without Kavid.

I opened an all-frequency hail channel to Rykur. "Crotius Rykur, you are now placed under citizen's arrest for crimes against the Empire. Please come with us peacefully to the town of Klaylos where we will deliver you to the proper authorities." Man that sounded cheesy.

"The hell I will!" barked Rykur. The left Red Horn roared and charged down the road. One shot from Mansod's new gun sent it sliding on its stomach, out of commission.

"Great job, guys." I said to Sifen and Mansod, trying to forget about Kavid. "Now lets—."

Before I could finish my compliments, Kavid's face appeared on the HUD-Comm. He looked dead drunk.

"Don't worry guys! I got 'im!" Kavid's Redler fell out of the clouds like a meteor. Its wings were folded up and its hybrid booster cannons were painting a trail of exhaust across the sky.

"Kavid!" I screamed, "No! Get out of here! We don't—!" But it was too late. The Redler's wings unfolded and the cannons began raining explosive hail onto Rykur's Red Horn. The Zoid was engulfed in fire as chunks of armor rocketed off of the body.

Then, it exploded.

The eruption knocked my Lightning Saix over; the shrapnel scraped and punctured my Zoid's damage-free body.

"Yeehah!" cheered Kavid as his Redler swooped up and flew back into the clouds. He was probably going off to go get drunk again.

"Dammit, Kavid!" I cursed. My old friend had ruined a big catch, and his fall into idiocy was costing us more than money.

I slammed Kavid hard against the wall. "You stupid asshole! What the hell is wrong with you?"

His body was limp and he spoke annoyingly quiet. "I didn't know."

"Didn't know? Didn't know? You didn't even try to find out! How could you come to a battle like that drunk? We're lucky we didn't need your help!" I let him go and he slid down the wall to the floor.

"Damn!" I cursed. "How are we going to afford new ammunition now? How are we going to repair our Zoids, the Zoids you damaged with your stupid attack!"

His face was a void, even emptier than Sifen's. Normally I'd be worried, but right then I was too mad.

"And how are we gonna pay off Nevets?" asked Mansod. It took all the strength I had left not to punch Mansod through the wall. As ill-timed as his question was, it was a valid point.

Major Erem Nevets was the local law authority in the town of Klaylos. He was the stereotypical corrupt military man: he ruled with an iron fist, but he could be bought off. He recognized us the day we moved into town, but agreed to let us live there if we paid him a hefty fee every month. With the loss of the Rykur bounty, there was no way we could pay him now.

"Where do you get all that alcohol anyways, Kavid?" His eyes were closed.

Sifen entered the room. "Jeremy, I have some moderately good news for you. A couple of Rykur's henchmen had bounties on them."

I didn't even want to look up. "How much?"

"Enough to pay off Nevets for another month, but that is about it. Nothing left for ammunition or repair. Nothing even for food."

The room was dead quiet as I thought, but there was really only one answer. "Then we need to find another bounty."

Sifen tried to sound neutral, but I could here his frustration. "The Redler and Hel Digunner are out of ammunition, and the Saix and Red Horn need repair work."

I heard loud snoring and looked at Kavid. "Let's get over to Bruno's and find some info."

Sifen and Mansod left the room first, but before I left, I laid Kavid onto the couch. He really stunk, and I really wanted to beat the crap out of him, but I couldn't just leave him there to rot. He…used to be my friend.

"So, how was the haul today?" asked Bruno as he slid us over a couple of beers.

"Lousy."

"Yeah, Kavid screwed it all up by killing Rykur!" said Mansod. That ignorant nimrod needed to learn when to just stay quiet. A couple of patrons heard Mansod's comment and looked our way. I stared at him and he quickly started drinking his beer.

"Did you get anythin' then? What about Rykur's cargo? Anything worth looting?'"

I froze solid. I was so mad a Kavid the last couple of hours that I had totally forgotten about the fact that Rykur was supposedly hauling a valuable cargo. "I…I don't know." I looked at Sifen, who was budgeting our money accounts while sipping wine.

"The local authorities found nothing in the Gustavs or the cargo crates on the trailers." he said, "If Rykur had anything of worth, it wasn't in that convoy. I had a difficult time convincing Nevets that we didn't take anything."

"Indeed!" said an annoyingly high-pitched voice from the doorway. "And you proved your honor most excellently, Mr. Sifen." I knew who it was. His voice always hurt my cyberphonic implants, my "fake ears". A mostly gray-haired, slender man of medium-height stood in the doorway. He didn't wear glasses but had a lazy left eye. His jagged features made for an ugly face and a painful handshake.

"Hello, Major Nevets!" Said Bruno as cheerfully as possible, "Would ya like a refreshment today?" Bruno asked that every time Nevets walked into the bar, and it really annoyed the heck out of the Major. Thanks, Bruno.

"No, Mr. Saltus, as usual, I do not. I came here only to talk business with Mr. Kelt."

I started seeing little shapes in my beer bubbles. They looked like little Molgas.

"Mr. Kelt? Excuse me?"

Sifen butted in. "He can hear you just fine, Major. What would you like to talk about?"

"Very well. I have come for your monthly…" he looked at the other bar patrons, "'rent' payment. I trust you have it?"

"It's not due for two more days!" cried out Mansod.

"Yes, well, I'm sorry to say that I need it now, and am unable to wait any longer. I'm sure you understand?" He sneered at me. I hated his sneer.

"Give him the money, Sifen." Sifen nodded and handed him a bundle of cash. Nevets quickly counted it and freaked.

"There is only half the amount here!"

"That's all you're going to get, Major." I said quietly. "That's all we can afford. I'm sorry."

Nevets slammed his fist onto the bar and turned me to look at him. "Sorry? Really? Why don't I believe that?" he actually did the tough-guy thing pretty well. "You don't call the shots, Mr. Kelt, I do. I'm getting sick of you and your stupid friends trying to patronize me. You either give me the money or I'll have the Imperial Army drag your dead bodies back to Mt. Hoploy behind a couple of rusty Helcats. Do I make myself clear?"

As much as I hated it, he was right. Either we paid him or we died. Pretty simple concept. I began to see that our situation had developed far beyond bribery.

I looked at Sifen and nodded again. He handed the Major the rest of the money. Once he had counted it, the Major was much calmer.

"Very good. But I'm afraid your poor attitude has just doubled your rent. Next month I want twice this much."

"What?" gasped Mansod. I stood up and stared face-to-face with Nevets.

"You know that we can't afford that! What are you trying to do? Run us into the ground?"

Nevets sneered again. "I don't think I need to answer that." He turned around and started walking towards the door. He stopped and looked at us again. "Of course, you could always come work for me. Then your 'rent' would be much less."

That wasn't the first time he'd proposed such a thing, but it always made me laugh. "Not on your life."

"Indeed. Just make sure it's not on your life, Mr. Kelt. Ta-ta!" He pocketed the cash and walked out the door with a stupid victorious grin on his face.

I grabbed my beer and started feeling a lot closer to Kavid.