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This whole mission was going to suck. He hated the feel of the sands beneath his boots, and the whipping winds that gusted hot and foul up against his lean face. The bony rogue stood with his arms folded across his chest, currently leaned up against a rusty looking Command Wolf with a cigarette held tight between his teeth. This whole mission stank of something fishy, and he couldn't have been more pissed off to have been signaled out to take part of it--especially with some lowlife newbie in tow. Rumor had it, the guy he was waiting for wasn't even with their group. So what? They were hiring scum now? 'Course, he didn't know the details. Nobody but the Boss and a chosen few did, and he wasn't high up enough on the food chain to wheedle it out of anyone.

His teeth clinked roughly together with disdain, and a ragged exhalation of smoke washed forth only to be swept away by the winds. The man eventually tipped his head up, stringy, greasy locks of dark hair tucked behind his ears. His sunken eyes trailed over the Command Wolf--and the other that was nestled within its shadow. Yeah, that was smart. They didn't even know this guy, but they were letting him use a Zoid? He knew they were rogues, but come on! Even they had to have standards!

Taking another slow drag on his cig, the man folded his tattooed arms across his chest and let his chin sink down once more. They were wasting time; according to the information they'd gathered, the Empire's shipment would be a few hundred miles from here in less than an hour. It'd be better to take them by surprise instead of having to trail along behind, especially since they didn't know what sort of guards would be with the cargo.

"Punk better hurry his a** up." Came the grumble, and only the winds were there to howl their sympathy.

The gentle clank and hiss of pressurized valves was enough to get him to lift his head again, hollowly eyeing the roused Wolf. So he was finally ready? With a soft, irritable sound, the man made to climb the thick limb of his own Zoid. He was surprisingly dexterous, and soon his spindly body had easily settled into the cockpit of the machine. He wanted names now, did he? Squashing a snappy retort, much like the way he smuggled out the butt of his cigarette, the man spoke in a thin, rasping voice, "Call me Raze. You?"

A careless flick of his calloused fingers sent the dead cig spiraling to the desert below before the cockpit slid into place with a solid click. He flipped a few switches to establish contact with the other Wolf, easing his hands onto the familiar controls. "We get in, we get out, and whatever we find is ours for the picking unless we get our brains blasted out."

Good. Looked like they'd get there in plenty of time. Its creaking jaws parting in a silent howl, the Command Wolf lurched into action. It was an older Zoid, for sure, and he probably needed its joints looked at. After a few stiff steps, the metallic beast seemed to settle into a loping sort of run without too much difficulty.

Moments turned to minutes, and the silence stretched between the two mobile Zoids was comfortable. Raze had fixed himself another cigarette to preoccupy himself during the boring, fairly uneventful trek through the desert. It'd been nearly an hour before he finally reestablished the com link, jerking the Command Wolf to a halt. "Hold up. There, straight ahead--you see it?"

The steely grey Hover Cargo moved at a slow, but steady pace across the scorching sands of the desert. There was a crackle of static from Raze's cockpit before he swore; who the hell were they supposed to crack open a Hover Cargo to see what was inside? Especially if it was armed. But maybe that was the weirdest thing of all. "Where's the patrol?" He demanded, biting down a little harder on his cigarette than he'd intended. There was a few Rev-Raptors, and a smattering of Molgas... nothing that a pair of Command Wolves couldn't handle they tried.

"There's gotta be nothing good in there." The rogue muttered furiously to himself, glancing at his screen to focus on Blade's face. "So what now, new guy? We could try to take them out all at once, or maybe sneak closer and try to board..."

Raze grunted an acknowledgment at that, nodding slowly to show he understood. Despite his lack of enthusiasm at being paired with someone outside the clan, he had his orders; Blade was the one in charge here. Though he'd be reluctant to admit it, that suited him just fine. He was good at doing what he was told to do.

"Don't want to alert the others that we're here." He grunted, coughing from smoke that swirled into his lungs. "Got some of the side hatch doors we could try and get into, or the rear ramp." The patrolling units were scattered far enough that they might be able to pull something like that off. If not, they could always try to ditch the Command Wolves as well... but that would leave them unarmed, and extremely vulnerable.

"If we can get to the back, I think I can open it." Raze finally said after a moment. "The Boss gave me a jamming system that should unlock the ramp... Your Wolf's got radar capabilities installed in it, too, so you can keep an eye on what our friends are doing." The Wolf rumbled low with a growl; it was ready to move.

"Or shoot me when I'm not looking." Came the grumbled assent, though he didn't sound as though he believed it. Not all of it, anyway. The Command Wolf slowly creaked into motion, skulking across the sands towards the oblivious bulk of the Hover Cargo. He froze a few times on occasion whenever he felt like movement would give them away, using the towering sand dunes as camouflage. As the Cargo eventually rumbled past, Raze made his move.

There were Zoids flanking either side of the transport near the back, though the distance between them and the actual ramp was respectable. The Command Wolf snuck into the shadows created by the behemoth, and Raze tapped into the encryption system. A few kinks here, a few there--nothing too special to break into.

With a groan, steel jaws cracked open to give Raze the briefest glimpse of the interior of the Hover Cargo. He hastily piloted his Zoid backwards, not wanting to get caught if there was a sentry posted inside. The Imperial forces continued on, unaware of the intruders in their midsts.

"So far so good. Don't see anyone inside." The rogue relayed, squinting into the dimly lit interior. "You want both of us inside, or should someone stay out and keep watch?"

"Roger that." The man grunted before falling back, keeping a wary eye on the swishing tails of the Rev Raptors ahead. Smug Imperial bastards--it'd be too easy to pick them off like this, but he wasn't stupid. Besides, he really wanted to know what they were keeping all up in there...

As Blade would look around, he would see a numerous amount of Zoids, varying in type and even some that looked heavily customized. Weaponry, armor, and ammo were aligned in heavy crates throughout the deck, as far as the eye could see and possibly even farther back. This was a heavy shipment to be so poorly guarded; there weren't even any guards patrolling the inside.

For now, the interior was safe.

What was that supposed to mean? Clumsily, the Command Wolf clamored aboard, and Raze had to bite back a curse when he laid eyes upon the machines. "What is this? They aren't giving these out to their grunts, that's for sure..." Which was strange. "The Imperial military outpost is coming up--the Boss thought that was where this shipment was headed." But that couldn't be now. The Empire just didn't have that sort of money to spend on every lowly recruit! ...Did they?

"I don't like this." Raze muttered mostly to himself, creeping through the rows of unmoving Zoids. He was careful when moving through corners, not wanting to be taken by surprise, though he didn't need to worry; this place was empty. "So Zoids, some customized, mostly pretty powerful... and parts. Lots of parts." Where was this Hover Cargo headed?

Should Blade glance down at his radar again, he would notice that it had frozen, apparently jammed up from being inside the transport.

The lone Wolf continued to wander deeper into the Hover Cargo, soon pushing past Blade's line of sight. Swallowed by the shadows, lost to the day that shone through from the open ramp, it was almost impossible to spot the other. The crates and immobile Zoids did well to hide them, though Raze paused to check in at Blade's report. "Stuck? Huh... Damn thing must have given out again. Everything's fine on this end. I'm just double-checking to make sure that's all there is here. The Boss won't believe his ears when we tell him about all this... and so close by!"

The sound of the pilot chuckling drifted through the established com link. "If we're lucky, we'll even be able to get back and organize a raid; we haven't gone too far from the main site. And if all this is here for the taking..."

A crackle of static.

"Wait, hang on. Blade, there's something else here." Raze sounded puzzled. "Wait... Wait, wait, whoa--!!!"

The man's cry ripped through the com-link before the screech of ripping metal drowned out everything else, and the floor of the Hover Cargo seemed to tremble minutely. Then it was silent, with only static gently humming from the connection to the other Wolf.