KIMBERLY

	“The Mule is taking too much fire! We have to pull out!”
	“Hold position, we're almost there, just keep them pinned down.”
	“MUTTs are online, open the doors!”
	I watched through the periscope as the bay doors on the sides of the transport trucks slowly rolled up and open on their rails, revealing Harriers in the Federalist blues, their distinct cobalt blue chassis with royal blue extremities. Before they could disembark, I saw a flash of red fly from Eddie's spitfire in a burst, and soon that side of the transport erupted in a blast of fire that nearly toppled it over. It was no surprise that the MUTTs facing us disappeared without a trace, caught up in Eddie's bombardment.
	“Good effect on target, line up another one and let them have it!” I said, “James, take out that support truck, keep them blind!”
	“On it!” James called, firing off three beams in its direction. The truck turned abruptly, attempting to dodge the incoming fire, only for James to land one more shot directly through the front hover engines. The front cab of the support truck dipped down into the sands below, tumbling over itself at a speed that made me wince. 
	I watched as it rolled more than a dozen times across the sand until it slammed into one of the taller dunes, dust clouds marking its way. If they weren't dead after that, they'd wish they were.
	“Good, now pick off the MUTTs,” I instructed before listening in on the enemy again.
	“Where the hell did that come from?!”
	“Barker, do you have eyes on them?”
	“Barker's truck just took a hit!”
	“We just lost two MUTTs, they have to be to the East!”
	I quickly turned the radio back to local channels, “We just hit the hornets’ nest, boys. They haven't spotted us but they know which direction we're in. Fire and reposition.”
	Eddie let off another concentrated fireball that blasted through the first transport, the hull cracking open in a fury of flames that threw its respective halves away from one another. I saw parts of MUTTs thrown up into the air, another one falling to the side behind the transport before a beam from James finished him off. 
	Not a moment later four more MUTTs piled out from the second transport, all of them taking up positions behind the dunes. I kept the periscope low, watching James and Eddie circle down and around one of the dunes to a better vantage point.
	I turned to Carter, “How’re the others doing?”
	He closed his eyes, divining the situation further north, “Judging by the concentration of aether blocking my vision, they’re pinned down. Can’t tell how many there are,” He answered. 
	Tiggs tapped his hand on the steering wheel impatiently, “We can’t waste too much time around here if we want to help them out.”
	I turned back to the periscope, watching the battle unfold. The enemy was taking potshots in our direction, still unsure where we were. I heard Tiggs yelp as a fireball passed over the ridge we were hiding behind, the ball bursting against a rock not far from us.
	“Shit,” Tiggs swore, “That was too damn close! We should move!”
	“Easy,” I said softly, “They’re just searching, they haven't zeroed in on us yet.”
	I saw James fire a beam at the enemy Harrier over the dune, the energy blowing the arms off its hinges before burning into the sand and turning it to glass. James quickly ducked back down before the other three returned fire, and he moved away from us below the sands. I saw Eddie’s aether signature circling behind the enemy’s blindspot. Two MUTTs ran out from the dunes toward James while the remaining one laid down covering fire.
	“James, fall back,” I barked, “They’re charging your position!”
	“A little busy getting hammered right now!” James hollered back, “Eddie, a little help?”
	Only a second later did I see a firebolt shoot across the dunes and slam into the two Harriers approaching James, the fire spraying across the sands like paint spilled over a canvas. Parts of the MUTTs scattered all over, some of them flying right over us.
	“SHIT! Stop helping! Stop helping!” James cried, “Dammit, Eddie!”
	I heard a low chuckle come from Eddie before he let loose another shot at the last MUTT, taking out the second transport in a bright blazing explosion. It retreated behind the destroyed transport, returning fire after it moved, but by then Eddie had already changed positions.
	“Good moves out there, Eddie. Doing pretty good for having another MUTT on your back,” I noted.
	“These guys are just green, that’s all,” He replied.
	“Easy for you to say, they’re not shooting at you!” James quipped.
	“Yeah, thanks for the distraction,” Said Eddie.
	“You asshole!”
	I couldn’t help but smile, those two were ridiculous, “Get your head back in the game, James, I count one active MUTT left over here, then we need to book it north to hit the rest of them.”
	“Alright, got it,” He said, finding his way around a rocky hill overlooking the enemy. Not a moment later he was already letting off shots from his aether rifle. I saw the aether signatures on the enemy unit wither away, evidence that he had found his mark. I was impressed with his results as always, doing a quick assessment of the surrounding area.
	“There’s one signature left, looks like the first one you tagged from this group, James,” I called out, “The one missing its arms.”
	“That one’s harmless. Want me to nab it for ya before he takes off?” He called.
	I looked to Carter who smiled at me, “Would you? Just take out a leg, and we'll come back for it. Tiggs can fix that later.”
	“Gee, thanks,” I heard Tiggs grumble, “As if I didn’t have enough on my plate.”
	“I thought you gremlins loved fixing things,” I said, giving him a sideways glance.
	Tiggs turned back to me, an annoyed look on his face before he turned back forward to rev up the engines, “I like fixing things, I don’t like extra work.”
	“Well think of it this way, you won’t have to fix as much on that MUTT as you would her old one,” Carter said, “Could probably just ditch that one.”
	“That’s wasteful! Think of all the work I put into that baby, and you’d just toss it aside? Out of the question!” He growled, turning us towards the smoldering wreckage of the transports. Eddie and James were already making their way in, where James quickly found the surviving MUTT. He released his bayonet and quickly hacked one of its legs off at the joint.
	“Phew, alright, now we go north, right Captain?” He asked, turning his eye to our truck.
	“Right. Eddie, you take point, hit anything in Feddie blues, James you back him up and catch any stragglers and anybody that looks at us funny.”
	“Copy.”
	“Gotcha!”
	We moved out immediately, crossing the dunes as quickly as we could. I kept to the radio, listening in for the enemy once more. 
	“Can't...”
	“Repeat! What's your E.T.A?!”
	“Enemy hit us… from behind… all wiped out…”
	“Shit! Barker's team is gone!”
	“There's more of them?!”
	“Eyes south, keep them off the Mule! Switch to local Channels!”
	It wasn’t long before we had them in our sights, there were several Harriers as well as a support truck that were already out of commission littering the battlefield. There was a Mule and several Dingos out in the middle of the wastes firing at a plateau just north of them. It was obvious they had been shelling the crap out of it, as most of the rocks had been scattered about and it was now not much more than a pile of rubble. Whoever was still there they were hardy bastards because they would fire off several aether beams before ducking back behind the rocks. From my periscope I could tell they had quickly retreated, moving away from the blackened stone pile down behind the dunes.
	The Mule fired its artillery battery and we watched as it soared up and fell back down into the plateau, the energy exploding in a brilliant light that kicked dust and pebbles up in all directions.
	FWOOM!<i/>
	The shockwave hit our truck and shook us violently, Eddie and James having to brace their Harriers to keep their footing. I looked through the periscope again, ignoring the waves of aetheric energy interfering with the signatures. I counted them visually, swapping back to the local channels, “I count six Dingos and a Mule. They know we're coming.”
	“Any chance our friends are gonna pitch in to help?” James said, annoyed at the odds we were up against.
	“I don't know,” I answered truthfully. I hadn’t seen them fire again in the few moments since we had arrived.
	James sighed, “Well… let's hope they're still alive, or this'll have been all for nothing.”
	“Stick together, but keep it loose, it looks like they all have aether rifles,” I warned them, “Hit the Mule first, that'll give our friends an opening.”
	“Yeah, and keep them from shelling us,” James added.
	Eddie was first to fire, directing a shot at the back end of the Mule. The shot landed, blasting the Mule’s armor off. It turned, attempting to dodge out of the way of his second shot, but it was slow and lumbering and the firebolt carved its way through its rear balancer. I watched as one of its legs was thrown off the balancer and it fell backward, the Dingos beside it scattering to avoid getting crushed. They returned fire, Eddie just ducking beneath a shot that pierced my MUTT strapped to his back. My heart skipped a beat when he nearly tipped over from the extra weight.
	“Eddie, pull the release on the rig, it's getting in the way,” I ordered, “James, covering fire.”
	“On it!” James called.
	I saw as he lifted his rifle overhead and fired wildly in the enemy's direction, forcing them to take cover. 
	“Make sure you keep your arms forward, Eddie!” I warned as he went for the quick release. The cables snapped outward, whipping against my MUTT and the sand. 
	“Eddie, fire once and move, use my old MUTT as a diversion.”
	He followed my orders well, using a single shot from the spitfire before he was on the move again. Half of the Dingos swarmed, three of them hiding behind the downed Mule while the others were heading straight for Eddie's last location. James attempted to pick them off, but they were faster than he had anticipated. I watched Eddie reposition further north, climbing up the side of the rocks and rubble of the shelled out plateau. It gave him the perfect sightlines for the incoming Dingos, who were already breaching the ridge to find my broken down Harrier laying uselessly in the sand. 
	They seemed to look at one another for a moment before one fired a shot at my MUTT's chassis for good measure. Tiggs wasn't going to like that, but at least it worked. Eddie took careful aim while James continued firing at the three who turned to meet him, dodging his shots well enough while attempting to close the distance.
	Eddie waited for the perfect moment when they converged, a firebolt screaming across the battlefield and bursting through one of the Dingos before slamming into the next and exploding, sending the last one careening back the way he came. The impact nearly flattened the Dingo, there was no way the rider survived.
	“And I thought I was the crack shot!” James whistled obnoxiously into his mic, “Any sight of our friends?”
	I looked in Eddie's direction, finding his aether signature, and two others not far from his position, “They're about thirty yards from Eddie's position, due west. Worry about them in a minute, keep hammering those last three Dingos.”
	“Uh, Captain, I think they're giving up.” James pointed out. Sure enough, the three Dingos emerged from behind the Mule. They held their MUTTs’ hands high to show they were unarmed, seemingly ditching their weapons.
	I tuned into the open channels listening in for their broadcast. When I didn't hear one, I decided to make the first move.
	“This is Captain Kilroy of the Star unit,” I began, “If you Feddies are on this channel, respond immediately or we will open fire on you.”
	“This is Lieutenant Ryans of the twelfth armor regiment, third company.” I heard one man answer, “We surrender.”
	“You guys aren't Crowns?” I heard another one ask.
	“We're operating under Oceana Venture,” I answered curtly.
	“Mercenaries? Great. Well at least we won't be executed by the Crowns,” One of them sighed bitterly.
	“Are there any other survivors in your Mule, Lieutenant Ryans?” I asked him.
	“No. The Mule crew died on impact…”
	“If I find out you're lying, I'll have you shot,” I bluffed.
	“Then go ahead and look for yourself. Doesn’t make much difference.”
	I switched back to our local channels, “Eddie, go check on the Mule, see if the crew's gone. James, keep those three in your scope.”
	I quickly switched back to the open channel, “Get your Dignos in a row and open your hatches, I want to see three riders lined up with your hands on the back of your heads, if you don't comply-”
	“You'll shoot us. Got it,” Ryans interrupted.
	The three Dingos did as instructed, each of them lining up before sitting on their back haunches, their front hatches opening immediately. All three of them stepped out, wearing the typical Federalist blues and helmets that served more as a symbol than any practical camouflage, not that Star’s reds were much better I had to admit. The three soldiers were much more clean cut than the guys we fought at New Vaelyn. The one I presumed was now their commanding officer was a larger man with a shaved head and a well-groomed beard, his skin tanned much like Jackies had been. Golden epaulets adorned his broad shoulders, signifying his rank.
	Although I was unfamiliar with the Federalist dress code I had to wonder if he had lied about being a Lieutenant.
	“Tiggs, take us over to ‘em,” I said. Tiggs looked to Carter who shrugged his shoulders.
	“Plan on lettin’ ‘em go?” He asked.
	“What else can we do?” I said, “We’re not exactly equipped to take prisoners and I don't make a habit of shooting soldiers who surrender.”
	“It’s your call, but we’ll probably be fighting them again later,” Carter sighed. Tiggs shook his head and put the truck in gear, heading for the three Dingos. I moved from the support console to the passenger seat beside our gremlin driver, keeping my headset tuned to the open channel. 
	Seeing the Dingos banged up as we got closer and closer, the Harriers smoking in the dunes and the other Dingos freshly made to join them, they already suffered major casualties before we had even arrived to wreck their Mule. It was no real surprise that they would surrender now. James and Eddie emerged from their positions to join us, no doubt fully aware of my plan to see these guys off. They met up with us as we approached, but before we arrived I saw a flash of red light that caught the attention of our enemies, who tripped over themselves trying to get away before it was too late.
	The hissing of aetheric energy burned its way through the sands and in turn completely vaporized the three men that stood there before us only moments ago.
	“WHO THE HELL FIRED THAT?!” I screamed into my headset, looking out of the side window to either of our MUTTs, “JAMES?!”
	“Wasn’t me, Captain, I swear!” He quickly replied.
	“Came from them,” Eddie pointed over to the burned out plateau, his tone more on edge than usual. Tiggs opened the glove compartment and pulled out a pair of binoculars, handing them to me. I looked through them and spotted two familiar looking MUTTs, one of their rifles glowing red from overuse. I felt dejected and angry, those bastards, the fight was over already.
	“Local channels, now,” I barked, switching over quickly, “James, take him out.”
	“But… Captain,” James protested.
	“Ignore that order,” Said Carter as he took up the radio receiver next to him, “Captain, get a hold of yourself. Do you have any idea what would happen if Oh-Vee found out we fired on our own? Every merc would be chomping at the bit to get the bounty they'd put on our heads,” His hand covered the radio so as to not let the others hear us.
	“He was shot during the firefight,” I argued through bared teeth.
	“You gonna kill Jackie, too? ‘Cause if not, word'll spread and then we're through,” Carter argued, knowing that I couldn’t do that.
	“We'd never survive, and even if we did we need that money, Kim,” Tiggs pointed out, “If we hit the red then we're gonna be doing shit way worse than this just to claw our way back up.”
	“I don't care! We can't just let him get away with that!” I hollered. Carter grabbed my shoulder and gave me a gentle shake, “Listen to me. This isn't Mexico, we're not freedom fighters here. We're just here to get paid. We wrap up this mission and I'll find us something better when we get back.”
	I scowled, thinking of anything to say. The two MUTTs trotted their way over to us, two Dingos I glared at. Jackie and Quill.
	Jackie was missing the rig carrying Garth, I noticed, which only upset me further. He made his way over to the three Dingos now without their riders and stopped before the blackened glass. There he stood before them and opened up his cockpit, staring down at the ashes that scattered in the wind. I noticed his aether rifle had been melted away, half of his Dingo's arm was missing and there were scorch marks along the side of his chassis. He either burned it out completely or he was unlucky enough to take some of the Mule fire. It didn't matter which, I knew who had fired the last shot.
	I clenched my teeth, looking Carter in the eyes. He shook his head. “Team, grab two of the Dingos and leave one for Jackie. We'll pick up the extra Harrier before we head back,” He said, still looking at me, “We can make use of them.”
	My frown deepened, “I'm not going to use them. Not after this.”
	“What difference does it make?” Tiggs asked, clearly annoyed with me.
	“The difference is I'm not a murderer,” I spat, “I don't kill people when they surrender. You guys never seemed to have a problem with that before.”
	“Yeah, well I'm not a murderer either,” Tiggs growled back, “But what I am is practical! They're dead, they're not gonna use them anymore. How is it any different than when we take parts from the ones we kill in battle?”
	I threw up my hands, “It just is! I guess I shouldn't expect a grease goblin to understand that!”
	“So what, we just let ‘em fall into someone else's hands? Would it make you feel better if I stripped them for parts instead?!” Tiggs yelled, “They're perfectly good MUTTs!”
	“Do what you want, I'm not using them! They'd stink of blood!”
	Tiggs groaned with frustration, but Carter put a hand up to him before folding his arms, “What about that Harrier from before? The one we crippled. We talked about fixing that up. Would you still use that one?”
	I rubbed my eyes with my thumb and my finger as I considered it, “If the rider is still there, then we let him go, alive<i/>.”
	“Fine. James, Eddie, grab those Dingos and escort our friends<i/> back to New Vaelyn. We're heading south to pick up that Harrier for the Captain.”
	“Copy. Stay safe,” James said, clearly not happy with the situation.

	The trip was only a few minutes back south where we found the still smoldering wreckage of our last fight. It only took a few moments to find the Harrier we had disabled. The rider had attempted to push himself away with little success, having given up only a few yards from where we had left him.
	I slung an empty backpack over my shoulders and checked my knife as we circled it before Tiggs set us down and I hopped out of the truck, heading straight for the cockpit. Carter followed after me while Tiggs grabbed a tow cable from the back winch and started tying up the Harrier as best as he could before pulling it away from the burning wreck.
	“Carter, check for any other survivors,” I said flatly. He nodded and after a few moments he shook his head, “No one but him. There's a motorcycle still intact over there,” He said helpfully, pointing at the flipped over support truck. I nodded. At least this guy would have a means of transportation.
	I kicked the hatch a few times and saw the eye of the Harrier come to life, centering its red glowing iris on me.
	“Open up and we'll let you live,” I called through the metal of the hatch.
	After a moment of silence, I could hear his muffled response, “If I open that hatch, you'll kill me.”
	“If you stay in there, you'll die,” I countered.
	“My mates will rescue me.”
	I groaned, “Listen. I'm sorry about your mates, but you're the last one left. You really think the Brekkies'll come for you?”
	I was met with more silence for a time, and soon enough the hatch opened. Inside, to my surprise, was a dwarvish man who looked like he had only just gotten out of basic, his hair still freshly buzzed and his face clean shaven, which was even more pf a shock. There were a few bruises on his cheek and nose, probably banged up from our scuffle, I figured. His Feddie blues were tucked neatly under his belt, though he had opened up the buttons to his uniform to cool himself off, sweat staining it through. He had some muscle to him, but he wasn't in the best of shape by my estimate, whether that was due to the shoddy training the Feddies gave or the fact that he was probably drafted only a few weeks ago and pushed into service. Cannon fodder, I thought.
	The Feddies were getting desperate. I saw his helmet had been tossed aside along with an empty canteen, both deemed useless to him now. I held my knife up in my good arm and held out my fake hand for him to grab.
	He hesitated for a moment, looking over the metal hand in front of him before slowly taking it. I pulled him out and helped him to his feet.
	“What are you guys, scrappers?” He asked, looking at Carter and Tiggs before his eyes adjusted to the light. When he looked at me he noticed the star on our red jumpers, “No… you're the mercs that did all this.”
	“Easy. This was just part of the job, the fight's over. We're letting you go,” I said, “There's a motorcycle over by your support truck.” I pointed it out to him, “There's probably some food and supplies still in there. Take what you can and leave.”
	“But…”
	“We just want the MUTT. If you got anything in there that's important to you, you better take it now before I do,” I warned. He shook his head, looking between me and Carter.
	“I only just got it yesterday,” He admitted. “I don't understand. Why are you letting me go?”
	I looked to Carter who gestured for me to do the talking, clearly disinterested.
	“Do you want to be a prisoner?” I asked incredulously. He shook his head. “Then don't ask questions, just go. And pay the next guys you fight the same mercy,” I said before shoving him towards the support truck.
	“You guys'll just shoot me in the back,” He said warily.
	“If I wanted you dead I'd shoot you through the front,” I replied, “You can go back to the Feddies for all I care.”
	“I'm not going back to the Brekkies,” He replied defiantly, turning back to me, “I never wanted to be a part of this stupid war in the first place!”
	“Then where are you going to go?” I asked, genuinely curious.
	“I don't know… nowhere is safe now. I can't go home either.”
	I sighed and put my knife away, “Where are you from?”
	“There was a town on the East side of the Oasis called Bright Arbor… it's gone now, the Crowns took it,” He looked distraught, but shook his head, “All my friends and family… I can't go to them, they would execute me for sure.”
	“Are they really that bad?” I asked, “That's the second time I've heard you Feddies say that of the Crowns.”
	“It could all be bullshit for all I know, Federalist propaganda or something, but I'm not gonna risk it! Would you?”
	I shook my head, “No, I guess I wouldn't. You could join Oceana Venture.”
	“Mercs like you? I doubt they'd take me, I've had enough of fighting.”
	Tiggs scoffed, having finished tying the MUTT up for towing. The Feddie and I watched him head off looking for other useful parts he could salvage from the wrecks we had made.
	“What’s your name?” I asked nonchalantly.
	He gave me a wary look before he answered, “...William.”
	“Got any experience mining aether, Will?”
	“No. I used to be a farmer,” He frowned after saying that. It was obvious to me that he had liked his life before the war uprooted it.
	I nodded and took him by the shoulder and moved him away from his crippled Harrier before wrapping my fake arm around him and turning him back around to face it, “You have MUTT experience, obviously, which is more than most can say. Maybe you’re not suited for combat, but who cares? I'm sure Oh-Vee is looking for laborers that know how to use a Wagon. Miners, haulers, welders, work that needs to be done for the war effort. Hell they may even need a farmer for these lands. Not everything with MUTTs and war is about fighting. We need supplies, food, basic logistics. That’s important work. More important than fighting in my experience. You can survive off that.”
	“You can't tell me that would be much safer with the Brekkies counter attacking again any day now.”
	“No, I can’t, but you wouldn't be going out to the front, looking for a fight only to lose to two of my boys as the lone survivor,” I pointed out, “You won't get that lucky twice. Not everyone's happy enough to see you survive.”
	“Man… there were only two of you? What the hell…?” He was at a loss for words as he looked at the carnage from our battle. Eight MUTTs and three support vehicles, all crushed by only two Harriers. I could see the wheels turning in his head, the little miracle that he was even still alive dawning on him, “Maybe I will join Oh-Vee. It beats the firing squad, especially if their mercs can kick ass like you guys,” He chuckled nervously.
	“Right,” I smiled, “Just remember, not all of them are as nice<i/> as us.”
	“Why don’t you bring him with us,” Carter said, heading for the back of our truck, “That way he doesn’t get harassed. I can find him a job when we get back.”
	“You’d do that?” Will asked, turning to face Carter.
	“Sure. Just hand your firearm over to Captain Kilroy and we’ll call it even,” Carter pointed him back to me with a smirk. I had noticed it as well, his holster tucked under his jacket. I felt it when I took him under my arm. Will turned white as a ghost, probably worried that we thought he was going to try something.
	“Just hand it to me, nice and slow, Will. I’ll only keep it ‘til we get back to New Vaelyn,” I said, gently pulling on his jacket. He looked down at the gun and frowned, slowly reaching in and taking the whole holster out. From the make of it, it looked like an old war revolver that had been modified to use aether like the ones we had seen in Mexico. He turned the gun around so it was facing away from me, placing it in my open palm. I smiled, good.
	“You can keep it,” He said sheepishly, “Never liked that stupid thing, anyway.”
	“You sure? These things aren’t cheap,” I said, but he nodded, insisting I keep it. As if to prove his point, he gave me the holster too, “Well alright. But you’re gonna want to lose the uniform, too.”
	He took a deep breath before pulling on his jacket hard enough to snap the buttons off, yanking it off his arms before he threw it into the sand. He looked like a burden had been lifted from his shoulders, and he even smiled at me.
	“Why don’t you go hang out with Carter,” I said, pointing him to our truck.
	“Where are you going?”
	“I’m gonna look for supplies in the support truck,” I answered.
	“I can help,” He offered, but I shook my head.
	“I don’t think you’d want to see what happened to the guys inside.”
	“I… I guess you’re right,” He relented. “I didn’t know any of them, but…”
	“Let’s just leave it at that. I won’t be long. Carter’s the man in charge, so do whatever he says.”
	“You’re gonna owe me, Kilroy,” Carter said with a tone that told me he meant it.
	I gave him an exasperated sigh, “Just don’t let Tiggs bring back every little scrap, alright?”
	He shook his head and went back into the truck, Will nervously following behind him.

	Food and supplies were scarce in the enemy’s support truck, but it was more than we had from what I could salvage. The bodies of the three men who had been operating it were broken and strewn about the interior, one had nearly been twisted to face backwards, his body pulverized by the crash, while the other two - an officer and the driver, had been bloodied and battered against the dash, their features so brutally disfigured it was like witnessing nightmare parodies of what men looked like. Glass from the shattered windshield had sliced up their faces and necks, and I caught myself wondering if they had died on impact or bled out. They could have been the ones to call in our attack, I considered grimly.
	I did my best to ignore them, keeping my mind on the job. I felt pity for them, but there was nothing for it, this was what happened on a battlefield. Electronics, rations, I even found another handgun with the commanding officer, whose uniform wasn’t much different from Lieutenant Ryans. Was Tiggs right? Was I really any different for scavenging from the dead just because of how we killed them? Thinking about it brought my blood to a boil again, that bastard Quill… I should have squeezed the life out of him that night. 
	Of course it was different! How could they not see it?! They didn’t have to die! Quill made war criminals of us all! I smashed my metal fist against the frame of the cab, the metal bar bending before it popped off and clanked against the floor. It rang in my ears, and I felt pain in my right arm - the one I no longer had. My breathing was ragged. What would Miguel have done?
	I hadn't asked myself that in some time. Was he even still alive? Somehow I doubted it… he was probably executed with the rest of his men.
	I grabbed everything I could and stuffed it into my bag before heading back to the truck. There was enough food for a few days in here that I gladly shoved to the bottom of my pack. I took any cables I could and cut the ones I couldn't and took them anyway, rolling those up and hooking them through a loop on my bag. Tiggs would need as much of this stuff as he could get, I knew. Headsets, helmets, radios, I took what I could but he would have to get some of this himself if he didn't want me to break it. I did find him a set of tools: a few wrenches, screwdrivers, things of that nature, though whether he deserved them was up in the air for me.
	I put them in a side pocket and sighed. The bag was filled to the brim with whatever I could find. That would be enough for one trip. When I climbed out of the truck I saw Tiggs already hard at work.
	 He had whipped up a repair kit for the MUTT he intended me to be the rider for. Carter and Will sat on the foldout stools under a small awning that hung over the side of the support truck, both of them watching the gremlin go to work.
	“He's certainly… energetic,” Will said, seeing Tiggs slam several parts together and fastening them in a matter of moments. What exactly they were I couldn’t say, until it started resembling a shoulder joint for the downed Harrier.
	“He's part of the team for a reason,” Carter said, “He'll have a MUTT ready before sundown, just you wait.”
	“Not if we don't help him,” I said, tossing the bag of goodies through the back door of our truck, “He needs one working arm on that one before we can even hope to get the other limbs on. Come on, we should drag them over for him.”
	“That’d be much appreciated,” Tiggs called to us, “There should be another tow cable in that compartment there,” He hollered, pointing at a panel on the side of the truck. I opened it up and found it exactly where he said it would be, putting the rolled up line over my shoulder, “Come on, you too Will, you could use the exercise.”
	That seemed to get a snort out of him and he hopped up on his feet, “Just point me to where I need to go.”
	“That’s the spirit, follow me, and grab your old jacket, we’ll need it for something. Carter, get behind the wheel,” I said, pointing him at the truck. I took Will to the back and unhooked the tow cable Tiggs had latched to the winch, while Carter undid the awning and took the stools inside. I kept the cable over my shoulders and went looking for the missing limbs for that MUTT, quickly spotting the two arms that lay over one another, one still holding onto the aether rifle.
	“Well, let’s get to it,” I huffed, heading off for them with Will following close behind me, his jacket wadded up in his hand. Carter fired up the engines for the truck and brought it over, and I quickly hooked the cable to the winch before climbing up onto the top arm.
	“Looks like the rifle’s still active, so be careful,” I warned, seeing a gentle glow coming from the power pack on the side. Will winced away from the hand, unsure of what exactly that meant, “Just stay away from the front end over here,” I pointed, “And it goes without saying, but don’t pull that trigger. Come up here and help me with this.”
	I watched as he attempted to climb up the arm, but his short stature made it difficult for a dwarf of his size. I smiled and held a hand down for him to grab, pulling him up enough for him to climb the rest of the way on his own.
	“You’ll have to work on that,” I laughed.
	“Oh-Vee’s gotta have some stools, right?” He chuckled.
	“I’m sure they do. Now, hold onto this part here,” I pointed to the metal casing around the power pack, “I’m going to unlatch it and remove the aether inside.”
	“Wait a minute, don’t we need special gear for that? I heard those things were really, really hot!” He protested.
	“Not if you’re me,” I said, flexing the metal hand of my fake arm, “Now wrap your hands with that jacket and hold it,” He gulped but nodded, bracing himself on the casing after putting his hands in the jacket.
	“Not so hard, I still gotta open it,” I laughed, unlatching the locks on the back side before finding the lever hidden below the panel lining and pulling it. “Watch the steam,” I warned. 
	He eased off the casing, which popped open with a hiss of steam blowing out the sides, both of us moving away to avoid getting burned. Will slowly guided the casing away, revealing the inside of the power pack. Inside was a contraption of red-hot coils and copper heat sinks and cables that I couldn’t even begin to explain how they worked. That was Tiggs’ job anyway.
	At the center of the contraption was the aether crystal, its glow a subtle blue beside the glowing red metals surrounding it. It was embedded within several metal prongs, like the head of a jeweled ring fastened into the rifle’s intake like a lightbulb. At the top of the crystal was a T-shaped handle driven through to make it easier to remove, though no one seemed to figure out how to keep it from burning their hands because it was as red as the coils beneath it. I shrugged and reached over, easily taking hold of the handle with my fake hand, twisting it until it was loose and pulling the hot aether out. It hissed against the metal on my hand, a small wave of heat coming off of it from its prolonged use in the rifle.
	“Hold out the jacket like a hammock and don’t let it touch you,” I said, holding it over his arms. He began to panic, his face turning white, “W-what? I don’t think that’s gonna work!”
	I laughed and tossed the crystal down into the sands below, watching it burn it into glass, “I had you there for a minute!”
	“You bitch!” The color slowly returned to the dwarf’s face before he let out a small laugh, “Yeah, you got me.”
	“Alright now let’s get this arm over to Tiggs. You get on the ground and help me wrap this thing up.”

	I began tying off the first hand, throwing the cable down to Will who managed to catch it and run it beneath. We did this several times before we finished and gave the signal for Carter to go, hopping off before I got dragged with it. It took a few tries, the arm was pretty heavy, but eventually the truck began to pull it over toward the downed MUTT.
	“This is the left arm!” I shouted, directing Carter to the correct side of the Harrier.
	“Do you guys always do this?” Will asked beside me.
	“Pretty much,” I answered, “Gotta cut costs however we can. You wouldn’t believe how much a MUTT costs to replace from scratch. We find the best parts we can out here and have Tiggs replace them, good as new; and the parts we can’t find we buy. Armor plating, joints, power cables and pipes, manascopes,” I pointed to his old Harrier, “Limbs. Tiggs will make his own modifications, but most of the time it’s as simple as plugging one part in where another is broken. The people that made these things really knew what they were doing.”
	“No they didn’t,” Tiggs hollered from beneath the MUTT, “Those bastards at Harrier made these parts cheap, these damned balancers break at least once a month and have to be replaced and those leg joints would seize up every day if I didn’t grease them up like an eel in lard.”
	I saw Will visibly gag at the thought and I laughed, “What about the bearings?” I egged Tiggs on.
	“To hell with the bearings! I’ve seen walnuts sturdier than these damn things! And nobody, I mean nobody<i/> has even thought of an effective way to absorb the heat coming from the aetherpacks! If you don’t shut it all down every now and then you’re gonna be short a MUTT and if you’re real<i/> unlucky, a rider, too,” We heard the gremlin make a sound with his mouth like an explosion, and Will looked to me in disbelief. I nodded, having seen it first hand, which only made the dwarf’s brows raise as if to say, do we really use something so dangerous every day? 
	Tiggs quickly wrapped up whatever he had been fixing on the balancers to join us at the arm. Will and I helped remove the half melted parts while Tiggs put it all back together with salvaged parts, almost as good as new. We held the arm up for him with help from the truck, allowing him to get to work reattaching it to the rest of the MUTT. Once that was finished, we dragged the leg into place for him and I hopped up into the cockpit, using the arm to hold the leg in place at the instruction of our gremlin mechanic. Hours had passed with plenty of breaks to eat, drink and cool off between, and by the time we had the machine up and running again, the sun had gone down.
	I sat in the open cockpit of the Harrier standing above the support truck, happy to be in a MUTT again. I looked out to see Tiggs giving me the okay to move. I pulled the manascope headset over my eyes, not bothering with the helmet for now. I took the first steps for this MUTT of Theseus, feeling it balance well with each step as I marched it over to find the aether rifle we had left behind. 
	Beside it I could see the cracked and blackened glass where the aether crystal still sat, the metal frame and handle encasing it no longer glowing red and threatening to burn any who touched it.
	I took up the aether rifle with the new arm and shook the sand off, taking it in both hands before I knelt down and hopped out. Tiggs and Will had followed me over, keeping their distance in case something had gone wrong. They ran up beside me as I picked up the aether with my metal hand.
	“Might as well rearm it,” I said, “Just in case.”
	Tiggs pulled the cuffs of his gloves and nodded, quickly climbing his way up to the cockpit of the Harrier before finding a way across the arms and to the rifle. It always surprised me how agile gremlins could be, but I guessed whenever it came to machines, they were squirrelier than most in more ways than I cared to count. I climbed up after him, reaching my cockpit before tossing the aether to him. He caught it and quickly placed it in its fitting, slamming the casing shut on it before locking it in place. It didn’t take long for the aether to start glowing again, its energy bringing the rifle back online.
	“Guess we’re ready to head back now,” I said.
	“Not like that, we aren't,” Tiggs replied, pulling a device out of his pocket that looked like a handgun with a barrel that was entirely too short. On the backside was a tube that he loaded a red ball into, “You’re still wearing Feddie blues. Close the hatch,” I did as I was told, hitting the switch to bring the hatch up and let it lock into place. I used my manascope to keep an eye on what was going on out there. Tiggs pressed a button on top of the device and a light seemed to scan the front of the MUTT. With the pull of a trigger, the ball was shot out of it and splattered across the MUTT. I opened the hatch and stepped out. The usual Star red was now messily splattered across the chassis front, “There. I’ll get the back of it, too.”
	“What is that?” Will asked as he watched the gremlin scurry up the MUTT and wipe off any paint that might have gotten onto the visor.
	“Quick drying paint applicator, it uses these specially made paintballs of mine. The whole thing's my own little creation,” He explained with a smile, “Specifically for quick jobs like this. We’d get shot a few miles out if we showed up in Feddie blues. Even further if it was purple and gold I suspect,” He chuckled.
“Crowns,” Will grumbled at the thought.
	“Looks good,” I gave him a thumbs up, “Let’s pack up and move out. We’ll rest soon, but the Feds are sure to come looking for their missing caravan.”
	Carter and Tiggs nodded in agreement and Will seemed eager to move on after hearing the Feds might be back. I got back in my new MUTT and powered it up. 

	I felt vindicated after a couple hours of marching. A few lights from the sky, airships most likely, had begun searching the area where we wrecked that Fed caravan. I didn’t have the firepower to take any of them out from here, nor was I totally sure who they were. The magnification on my new rifle was good but not that good. As I watched the lights from behind the dunes, I heard a few bangs on the side of the MUTT. I reached over and hit the switch to open the hatch, “What is it?”
	“The Commander wants you to rest,” It was Will. I was glad he respected Carter enough to call him that now.
	“And you?”
	“On watch. In the dog, er, MUTT,” He explained. I gave him an incredulous look with a raised brow, “Ask him yourself. Both of us will be up,” He showed me a simple rune on the back of his right hand, something I recognized as Carter's handiwork, “Said he’d blow me up if I tried anything.”
	“Commander’s orders, I suppose,” I smirked, powering down the Harrier, “Well, better do what he says,” I climbed out and loomed over Will, “You're lucky it's that spell, quick and painless. You wouldn’t wanna go the same way as that poor sonuvabitch back in Yonkers.”
Will visibly gulped, “Who?”
	“Some rat man stole the Captain’s wallet. He used his horrible necromantic magicks to make his blood seep out of his skin, his muscles stop working, and his lungs deflate in seconds.”
	“That’s horrible!” He wailed.
	“That's not all, either,” I continued.
	“Then w-what?” The dwarven ex-farmer whimpered.
	I smiled, “The Commander scooped his eyeballs out. An eye for an eye or some such nonsense.”
	“Kim, stop messing with the new guy,” Carter scolded from the back of the truck, “I can assure you that my magic just boils your innards.”
	“Okay, now I know you’re screwing with me,” Will puffed out his chest and tried to look tough. He climbed up and sat on the opened hatch, not daring to touch the controls until necessary.
	“Go to bed, Kim,” Carter said, “That’s an order.”
	“Yessir,” I gave him a pat on the shoulder as I ducked into the truck. 
	Tiggs was at the console, fiddling with a few knobs on the radio, while receiving a message, “Looks like the boys made it back to base,” He explained, reading off a message he printed from the console, “Huge fight took place while we were gone. Enemy came from the west. You’ll be glad we missed it when you see it, or so they're saying. The Lucerne's<i/> still in one piece by some miracle,” I nodded and took my place on the lower bunk. We would see tomorrow what the damage is. I found it strange that Oceana Venture never sent out defense orders for the western front, but then I was beginning to think how incompetent the higher-ups were. After shutting down the radio, Tiggs took the top bunk, dragging his feet as he went.
	“I'm sorry about… before,” He started after settling in, “I know that kinda stuff upsets you. I'm sure James and Eddie felt the same way.”
	I rolled over in bed, facing the wall, “Forget about it, Tiggs. You already made it up for me with the work you put in today.”
	“Still wanna kill that guy, don'tcha?”
	I sighed, “Yeah. I do. So he better hope I don't see him again.”
	“Well, if it means anything to ya, I wouldn't bat an eye if ya did.”
	“Still, Carter’s right, I can't lay a hand on him as long as he's a part of Oh-Vee.”
	“Could always have an accident in the field,” The gremlin suggested with a snicker.
	“Thanks, Tiggs, that's why you're my favorite,” I smiled, “But I'd rather shoot him face-to-face.”
	“Eh, it was just an idea. Anyway, better get some shuteye before we move out.”
	“Right,” I said, closing my eyes. My mind wandered as I began to nod off, thoughts of my squadmates, of friends from the past, Mexico, and Miguel…