A space shuttle landed, and the giant toad jumped out from it. Quak was disappointed when he had looked at a group of mouchi.

A bunch of cute little things, He thought.

The hamsters didn't look like dangerous beings at all. They were fluffy and plump, with idiotic smiles upon their big round faces.

Ah... I hope they are not pacifists.

Because if the hamsters were pacifists, then it meant that Quak had wasted his precious time traveling here; besides, they were a treat to his business. The toad didn't like – if not hated – pacifists.

Okay, Quak, focus! You've come here to do business with these primitives! He reminded himself.

Quak smiled like a professional seller. Then he began jumping towards the group of mouchi.

A little later the toad halted in front of them and said. “Greetings!”

The toad tried to sound as friendly as possible. He hoped to fool at least a few primitives to sign a contract.

+++

Seed watched the giant toad from the beginning. He had a telepathic connection with one of his mouchi.

Seed realized what the alien wanted quite quickly as the toad continued to speak with his naive hamsters.

Um... My mouchi serve as mercenaries? Actually, this is a good idea. A war is ever a profitable business, and many technological things can be scavenged in the debris after a battle.

The black ball drooled, imagining those yummy things.

No, definitely I need to encourage my mouchi to choose this profession.

Seed had even begun to think about his own mercenary company. He liked this idea, because it promised a lot of benefits.

+++

Frankly, Quak was dumbfounded when it turned out that those looking weak beings were eager to sign a contract with him. At first the mouchi had even fought with each other, so eager they wanted to become mercenaries. Quak was touched. He didn't expect to find so many fools on this planet. The toad wanted to accept all willing hamsters, but – unfortunately – their leaders intervened. They decided to organize a competition to choose the best ones among the willing ones.

Only the best ones will honor a deal with you, they said.

Quak could only smile politely in return, but in reality he was displeased, because that was a lost profit. A smaller number of recruits meant a smaller reward.

+++

Seed crunched a few diamonds, calming himself down. He didn't expect that his subordinates would be so loyal to him. When the ball said to his subordinates – through their mental connection - that some of them should become mercenaries, a fight broke out. All mouchi were eager to fulfill their creator's will.

Seed ordered to calm down, but unfortunately many of his servants were too excited to hear their father's command. It took some time for them to calm down.

Later a competition was organized. Seed needed time to create a portable cluster of psy-cells with a small biocomputer as its operator. This device should help to maintain a mental connection (in a theory) at a great distance between Seed and the hamsters who would become mercenaries soon.

It took a week to create this portable cluster of psy-cells. It was disguised as a war drum.

Finally Seed called one of his giant centipedes which swallowed the drum and left the lab.

Soon it will deliver a package to the mouchi, the ball thought. Um... Meanwhile, I need to continue to entertain our esteemed guests, I guess?

+++

The mouchi's competition lasted over a week. They ate, danced, brawled, sang, and celebrated a lot without a stop. One activity hid right behind another one. As a whole, it was one big activity in which Quak was forced to take part as the esteemed guest. The mouchi didn't give Quak even a moment to relax. Several times he had even fainted, but the cruel fluffy monsters continued their competition-celebration with smiles upon their round faces.

In a week the toad was tired. No, he was exhausted and had already hated these fluffy plump creatures to the bone. Besides, Quak's spacesuit was beautified. Many tribe's patterns appeared on its surface. They were made with the help of special sticky dye. Quak had even suspected that it wouldn't be easy to clean them off. But he endured it all to the end.

I can't lose my money! Over and over this thought forced the toad to smile and dance.

Finally the competition ended. The best warriors were chosen, and a mob of cheerful hamsters began to walk to his space shuttle.

A hundred and forty, Quak counted them quickly. My efforts hadn't been wasted!

He had even felt water in his eyes. It was the most difficult recruitment process in his life.

Soon the gray spaceship left the mouchi's system with new recruits in its cargo bay.

+++

A month later. Mercenary Training Base

Clarissa von Derlain observed a training of new recruits. Some of them were good, some of them were not, and some recruits were a waste of her instructors’ time.

We will dispose of them in the first battle, she concluded the fate of those pathetic recruits habitually.

Clarissa couldn't just kick them out, because they cost money to her company. They were a resource, her resource.

Frankly, Clarissa believed that some races hadn't been created for a war.

Take as an example that pair of birds, she thought and glanced at the said birds.

They were tall, with a lot of useless feathers, and could hold their rifles only with the help of metal manipulators, because nature didn't give them a pair of normal arms. Besides, they were cowards. Clarissa could see that clearly.

“Here they are,” Clarissa's uncle and second in command – Teodor - said and pointed at the funny and cute looking creatures, who were coming in the training ground now.

All hamsters held rifles in their arms but one. That hamster held a bloody red drum.

“Are they as good as you told me?” she questioned.

“Yes, Rissa. Just watch.”

The mercenary leader began to observe. She knew that Teodor would not waste her time.

It turned out that Clarissa's uncle was right. In a mock battle these new recruits moved orderly and as one. They were obedient and disciplined without even a hint of fear.

“Strange, these greenhorns give me a feeling of seasoned vets,” Clarissa said.

“Indeed. I feel the same,” Teodor shrugged and added. “Each mouchi – that's their race's name – shows an average result, but as a team they do a wonderful job.”

“Did you try to add other recruits to their team?”

“Aye. Their performance goes down.”

Clarissa nodded. Frankly, she didn't care why the hamsters performed so well as a unit. She only cared about their ability to do it in the future. A strong, fearless, disciplined unit was a good – even great - bonus to her mercenary company.

I hope they will perform on a battlefield as good as on the training ground, Clarissa thought.

Recently the woman had signed a contract with some kind of monkey race: they called themselves “Blurbok”. They lived on the ice planet currently and dreamed of taking back their home world from the invaders.

As Clarissa learned the blurboks had been preparing for their triumph for a long time. It was rumored that they had gathered a large armada of warships.