Bruno's Gustav slowly drove up the grassy hillside and lengthened out along the top. Mansod and Sifen took up the chores of driving the PAC-Wolves up onto the trailers. Once the four ruby-red Command Wolves were attached, Sifen activated their cloaking shields.

I stood about thirty meters away with Katrana and Kavid, looking back towards our former home and then out behind us to the Southern Frontier.

Bruno walked over to me with a small wad of cash. "I'm sorry, Captain. Since I was in such a hurry to sell yer old Zoids, I couldn't get much for 'um. After buyin' yer supplies…well, there just ain't much left."

"You did great, Bruno. We owe you a lot." I felt a lot of guilt.

"Na, you guys are my friends. That's what friends do. I know you'll be there when I need you." He gave me a dopey smile. "Well, I gotta check on the Gustav."

Bruno walked back to his silvery Zoid.

"I told Bruno I wouldn't make him leave his bar for at least another year." I looked over at my friend as he struggled with a trailer clamp.

"He knew he'd have to leave on a moment's notice sometime." Kavid re-assured me. "This kind of life is nothing new to him." I could only frown.

Katrana ran her arms around both of our elbows. "I'll do everything I can to make this up to you guys, honest. But right now I need you more than I can possibly put into words." Her tone grew much more grim. "The Stone Dragon will destroy this planet, not just the Republic. It's too powerful to let exist. The PAC-Wolves are the closest thing to a counter-force that we have, but only if you guys are at the controls."

She sure loved the melodramatic. Before I could reply, Kavid started up. "What do you mean, 'closest'? Don't you guys figure indestructible Zoids can eventually tear it down?"

Lieutenant Sared looked nervous, but gave us an honest answer. "I don't know."

I had to butt-in now. "Is it because of the Killer Spiner? True, I'm not feeling very good: my head hurts, my hands hurt, my cyberphonic implants hurt, but I'm okay. Sifen and Mansod have a couple bangs and bruises, but no breaks; they'll make it. Hey, I'll admit it: we got bashed pretty good out there--but because of the plasma armor, we beat a Zoid that normally takes battalions to take down, with just a handful of Command Wolves! Don't sell us short yet." I tried to smile.

So did she. "You're right." The smile shrank. "But the Stone Dragon can destroy battalions of Killer Spiners. I'm not even sure plasma armor can withstand its weapons."

"Is it a CPG?" Kavid was rock-jawed.

"No." answered Katrana. That was quite a relief. "But its weapons are not conventional. Command Wolf weaponry will never break its armor, either."

"Then we need equip them with weapons that can." I said, looking back to Klaylos.

Kavid looked at me, recognizing my loss in thought. "What are you planning?"

"Nevets."

The sound of grasshoppers was almost deafening, but that could only work to our advantage. The moons were both full, which didn't help things, but we managed to stay downwind from our target.

Nevet's home sat on the eastern side of town, with a heavily-armed Helcat parked beside it. Two guards walked posts inside the fence-line, carrying some rather brutal-looking anti-Zoid rifles. The fence stood only two meters from the side of the house, with a servants' entrance on the northern wall.

A single light shone from the upper floor of the large, two-story building.

I was very jittery. Any one of my friends could drive a Zoid, but subterfuge was not our speciality. Kavid and I had covered ourselves in black clothing and painted our faces with black paint, but it was all run-of-the-mill-quality disguise.

Still, if we were to have a chance against the Stone Dragon, even in our invincible little Plasma Armored Command Wolves, we needed a heavy weapon, and who better to get us one than a major in the Guylos Empire?

I crawled across the grass until I was about one meter from the fence. A guard stepped into view and leisurely passed by my position. He was a hairy, fat thug that showed little interest in his duty. He apparently wasn't trained by the Imperial army. I guess Nevets figured he could save a few bucks by hiring mercenaries.

When his gaze passed over my position on the ground, he reached into his non-uniform jacket and I froze. Had he seen me? I didn't even risk breathing.

My fears were quickly eased when he pulled a donut out of his pockets, began chewing and walked on.

It took a lot of strength not to start swearing.

Feeling a tug at my feet I looked back to see Kavid. "That was close," he whispered, "Guess these black jeans work better than we had figured."

"Yeah, well, we were just lucky. Give me the wire cutters."

After severing the fence-wire, Kavid and I crawled through the cut and approached the house without incident. The side door was unlocked, and we quietly entered the servants' entrance.

"I tore my pants in the fence!" whined Kavid.

"We don't have time to worry about it. Let's get the major and go!" Perhaps jeans hadn't been such a great idea.

After making our way upstairs, we reached the room that was still lit. Someone was talking from within, and it wasn't hard to recognize that awful voice.

"Despite your sparkling record with the Empire, your failure will stain my career for the rest of my life." griped Nevets

"We…we were fighting indestructible Zoids, Major. I must have shot them a thousand times!" Was that the Killer Dome pilot?

"Shut up you moron!" A slapping sound. "I won't waste any more of my time. You've failed, and I shall suffer for it for the rest of my career. You will die. The end." I could here a pistol being cocked. I had to move.

"Not tonight, Nevets!" I called as I swung around the doorway, tranquilizer gun raised.

"What?" he growled, but before he could move his firing arm, I shot him with the tranquilizer. He quivered and collapsed.

The imperial pilot was on his knees and bound with rope. "We only came for Nevets, not to harm you." Explained Kavid as I picked up the major. The pilot looked at Nevets, then at me, then back to Kavid.

"Take me with you!" he begged. Kavid froze in his tracks.

"What?"

"Take me with you! I can't stay here!" The pilot walked on his knees over towards us. "Nevets was going to kill me, and if you take him now, I'll look like an accomplice!" My friend and I looked at each other.

"Look, either I join you or I die! Please! I can help you!"

Kavid pulled out his largest knife and held it to the pilot's throat. "We don't need your help. Go home, buddy." With that, he cut the ropes and freed the man who had attempted to kill him only a day before.

We quickly made our ways down the stairs and charged out the front door of Nevets' large home. The guards saw us but were too boggled to understand just what was happening before them. Surprisingly, the fat guard did manage to get his rifle raised at us.

As planned, however, the chirping of crickets was drowned out by the roaring of a de-cloaking PAC-Wolf.

PAC-3 waved into vision standing in the street just in front of Nevet's home, and fired cannon shots at the guards and they dove for cover. Then, as Kavid, Nevets, the pilot and I escaped, Sifen's Wolf's missile launchers slowly opened and fired a volley of projectiles at the Helcat, which subsequently exploded and sent shrapnel and flame into Nevets' home, quickly transforming it into a massive fireball.

At dawn Katrana walked up to me as I drank my morning coffee.

"Good morning." Her smile was gorgeous.

"Morning." I offered her a mug. "Coffee?"

She stuck her tongue out. "If Mansod made it, no thanks." We both smiled. "Quite a stir you boys made last night. Word about it is getting spread all over the Empire."

I rolled my eyes. "Great."

Katrana patted my shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll be out of here soon. While you guys were out capturing majors, I was finding weapons of mass destruction."

I nearly spurt my coffee. "Really? Where?"

"It seems mister Nevets here has been trying desperately to get himself assigned a Berserk Fuhrer."

"A Berserk--are you serious?"

"Yup. It's on its way via a small Gustav convoy. Should be easy pickings." Katrana sipped some tea. "I don't know what Nevets has been up to, but for a guy who trucks around a small town on a third-rate Helcat, he's been getting some seriously strong Zoids as of late."

I sat in silence for a moment. "I doubt it's all about Nevets here. The Empire may be up to something, and he's just in the right place as the wrong time." An idea popped in. "Think you could get us this Fuhrer?"

Katrana's eyes leapt from her head. "Me? What about you guys?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but this Fuhrer sounds 'in the bag'. While you go for it, we'll go for a second CPG."

"You want two?"

"You should always have a Plan-B."

"I can't do it all alone."

"Take Bruno." I smiled as she bonked me on the head.

Nevets' eyes blinked open as the morning sun reflected off of the side of Bruno's silvery Gustav.

The major was laying on the ground next to the insect-like Zoid with a gray blanket covering him, but with only a rolled up jacket to use for a pillow. Both the jacket and blanket were rather dirty and grasshoppers had been enjoying the warmth of his body all night long.

I felt both reward and guilt as I sipped Mansod's "special" coffee and smirked at the Imperial officer's groggy lack of awareness. It was obvious he had a hangover from the tranquilizer, but he should have been thankful I didn't shoot him twice.

"Where…where am I?" he asked out loud to no one in particular, just whomever could hear it.

I picked up a cup of coffee and carried it over. Kneeling down next to him as he rolled over to see where the commotion was coming from, I answered. "You're with friends, Nevets."

The Major's eyes snapped around to focus in on my face and stared in shock, then rage.

Perfect. I wanted to be the first face he saw when he woke up.

Despite the flush of blood to his face, he grabbed the coffee I offered him and began drinking. It's strength didn't even make him flinch.

"Kelt! You dare to hold me as a hostage? You really are stupid. Just because you and your band of morons got your hands on some heavily-armored Zoids does not mean that you are any threat to the Guylos Empire!"

I grabbed Nevets by his bony shoulders and set his back against the Gustav. "Major, you've really got some thinking to do. Hasn't it slipped through that dense skin of yours that we are very, very pissed off that you tried to kill us off out at the granary? Right now we aren't too concerned about the Empire. We're more interested in seeing you suffer. Understand?"

Nevets' eyes grew a little bigger and he slowly nodded his head. "May…maybe we can…can cut a deal?" he sipped some more coffee. This time he flinched.

I grinned. "Now that's the Nevets that I know and love. After all, I did say that you are with friends."

The major jumped so much he spilled some of his coffee. "That's right! That's right! You did say that!"

I winked. "Tell me what you know about Charged Particle Guns."