“Supply check.” Ricky called, absently hitting a button on the side of his E-pistol to bring up the rear-facing display screen.

“Nearly out.” Rocco returned. “Less than half a mag.”

“I’ve still got seventy-percent.” Rocky replied while looking at his display.

Rocco’ assault rifle still used old fashioned self-contained exploding ballistics. While still considered outdated against the newer models, the Axiom machine pistols were electronic and used magnetics to supercharge smaller projectiles. The ammunition for these worked differently, a solid cartridge of magnetized metal was inserted which was then automatically cut and fired as needed internally. As such, there was only the display reading to know how many rounds were left, which was displayed as a percentile. These newer style weapons could hold many times the number of projectiles than the ancient style magazine bullets.

“Fourteen per.” Ricky grumbled while reading his own display.

“How do I still have so much left?” Rocky asked.

“’Cause like usual, you proper plonker, it was me and Rocco doing all the fighting.”

“Well don’t look at me.” Rocky replied. “That’s pure rubbish, I was never made for such violent activities like you two blokes. I’m sensitive and artistic. I would have been an engineer if you two tossers hadn’t dragged me into this life on the run.”

“Us two?” Ricky returned. “If I recall, I was the one that was always saving the both of your furs back home.”

“And that’s why we adore you big bro.” Rocco wrapped his big arm around Ricky’s smaller shoulders and nuzzled his cheek like a kit.

“Get off me you wanker!” Ricky tore himself from the much larger Titan’s embrace and scowled. Rocky and Rocco both laughed.

“Well now, are we to go gallivanting through the wildlands like some wastrels?” The Procyon scientist asked, the look on his face showing he was not endeared to the prospect.

“We’ll find a way through, don’t get your knickers in a bunch.” Ricky replied. “Kallerish is only twenty or so miles.”

They were moving deeper into the forests now, no longer in sight of the relatively small population and commercial hub known as Kinade Square. Though the trio hailed originally from Gunrock, they were now in Gothamir, in the southern hemisphere on a different continent. Gothamir was generally more affluent than Gunrock overall, with many such population centers dotting the map between the larger cities. Kallerish City was the capitol of Gothamir, and the third largest city on the continent. Additionally, Kallerish held the global headquarters for both the Trade Alliance and the K-Pac Corporation. Because of this, there would no doubt be a heavy Zenith presence there since Zenith was the parent company to all other corporations across Titan.

“What’s your name anyway?” Rocco asked the scientist as they walked.

“Wolton.”

“Are you from Kallerish?”

“Well, I’ve lived in Kinade Square for the past few years doing kinetics and aero propulsion research for Marshall Industries, but I was originally from Kallerish.” His face darkened some as he remembered the place. “It’s Zenith loyalist through and through. I hate it there.”

The words struck Ricky as odd…Zenith loyalist through and through…as if some places were not that way. It had been several generations now since the global corporations that had monopolized certain sectors of industry had either bought each other out or banded together and merged to form the global Zenith Corporate Empire. Zenith Corp was now the parent company to all other corporations across the plant. Part dictatorship and part global corporation, there was no place on Titan or the stars that was not under the rule of the Zenith Empire.

There were stories of the corruption in generations past, how the corporations had essentially bought the politicians back when Titan still had a government. They had been beholden to these companies that financed their elections and would then bestow favors on them that were beneficial to the companies. In turn the companies in a symbiotic parasitic relationship would line the politicians’ pockets with gold. That was all until the Zenith Corporation was the first to reach the technology singularity with their advanced AI research. After they had invented the self-improving AI system known simply as Zenith-1, which reached Artificial General Intelligence a hundred years ago and which is where the company took their name from, Zenith-1 began to rapidly improve itself and its data processing abilities at an alarming rate.

Within a few years Zenith-1 had conquered all technological challenges that had ever been set against Titanian scientists of previous generations. As it turned out, their society did not have to invent any advanced technology that rapidly thrust the planet forward in a single decade, they only had to invent an AI powerful enough to invent it all for them. Space travel and colonization exploded, as did mass-production of robotics engineering, all of which were controlled by Zenith. Soon the Zenith Corporation had its factories and colonies among the solar system and provided both the tech and for all their needs. Eventually, the old government had become obsolete.

Ricky had heard the stories from when his grandfather was a boy, how some people had gathered in a form of resistance to Corporate Empire, but they had been thoroughly squashed and made out by the corporate government owned media to be “violent extremists” and mocked and ridiculed. When they had been thoroughly crushed, the media indoctrinated Titans cheered their defeat. But before that, legend had it that Titan had supposedly been split into several different tribal and territorial governments that had all since been absorbed or ground to dust by Zenith Corp and its subsidiaries.

“What place on Titan is not “Zenith loyalist through and through”?” Ricky questioned out loud.

“There’s pockets across Gothamir.” Wolton replied with a sly smile. “They’re growing every day. Some people aren’t content anymore to simply be tax-cattle for Zenith and the rich. There’s a group of us that found each other, and we’ve come across some ancient history books that somehow survived, that tell a vastly different story than the ones that Zenith teach in their schools.”

“Like what?” Rocky was now walking on the other side of the smaller scientist, interested in the conversation.

“Like for instance the debt colonies haven’t always existed. There was a time in the past where Titans didn’t inherit the debts of their fathers. That was only about eighty years ago when the corporations voted to approve that. It was easier to pacify and subjugate the people to place them all under the weight of crushing debt than to either lead a war of conquest or to pay a livable wage to workers.”

“Pay a livable wage?” Rocky barked a laugh. “You mean to tell me that companies would actually pay someone to work?”

“Once upon a time. The government did not always provide for everyone’s needs.” The scientist replied knowingly. None of this made sense to the brothers, but they continued to listen interestedly. “Work was voluntary before Zenith Corp. You would choose your profession and companies would actually pay a Titan for their labor. With these wages you would purchase what you wanted, and what you could afford. It was called a free-market system. People would go to the companies that paid the most favorable amount. And if a company took advantage of their workers by paying less or forcing them into long hours, Titans could simply choose to work elsewhere.”

“You must have come from quite a family if Zenith chose you for a scientist.”

“My family has been indebted to Marshall Industries for decades.” Wolton shook his head, obviously not wanting to elaborate much on the subject. “What about you three? You obviously have rebelled against the debt system to be stealing tech from Marshall.”

“Yeah.” Ricky nodded. “Our family actually descends from the old palace guards of Gunrock, back when it was a Monarchy.”

“Ah yes, the Tristinian lineage. I’ve read about that. King Tristan the Third was actually the only king or kingdom to rebel against the Zenith Takeover, retaining its autonomy for generations. All the others fell into debt to the corporations and were forced into takeovers. They were all Leonids, which are now sadly extinct.”

“Not all.” Rocky chimed in. “Zenith still has many Leonids enslaved back in Gunrock, but they took the rest to the capital of Russevia, where they mostly work as attendants to the CEO now.”

“Such a sad state of affairs.” The scientist shook his head. “To think such a noble and proud race is now forced to personally serve the CEO.”

“Our family was punished for being loyal to the royal court. Our grandfather and father were both slaves in a mining colony in Gunrock. We were born into the mining colony, but our father helped us escape before he died, and we’ve been scrounging to survive apart from their system ever since.”

“So that’s why you’re thieves!” Wolton cried as though he had just put together some grand equation.

“I told you we are not thieves.” Ricky winced at the remark and looked to his two brothers who both seemed to struggle for a reply. “Just…not a part of the Zenith system.”

“Well the way you guys fight I’m surprised you haven’t joined the Union yet.”

“Haven’t heard of the Union.” Rocco replied from behind them while dutifully scanning the surroundings for threats. “But we do enjoy a proper scrap.”

“You enjoy a proper scrap.” Rocky scowled at his much larger brother, though Rocco was in fact the youngest. “I like a good nap.”

“You’ll get to meet the Union soon enough. Once we get to Kallerish.”

They continued to travel across the woodlands for the next few hours, having to take several breaks for the scientist who was unaccustomed to walking long distances, and several more to hide from the drones that would occasionally fly overhead. The patrols passed occasionally but did not concern themselves as much with the wildlands.

“Do your duty for Zenith Corp!” Came a sudden advertisement across their Net-Comm HUDs. “Your hard work makes Titan stronger.”

“We must be getting closer.” Ricky scowled while clicking the button on the side of his high-resolution monocle eyeglass to turn his HUD off. “I’m already getting adverts for Zenith.”

“Why do you guys still use those old, dated things?” Wolton asked with a smirk. “They’re practically archaic. Just get the brain implants and you can interface directly to the Titannet. It’s so much faster too.”

“You can’t turn those off whenever you like.” Ricky replied.

“To be fair you can try.” Rocky began to correct. “But Zenith can turn them back on “in emergency situations.” Also, they can track those.”

“Mine is encrypted.” Wolton looked over to Ricky, who was matching his pace. “A good programmer can encrypt them so that no one can track you.”

“Maybe.” Rocky replied. “But a good hacker can hack that good encryption.”

A sound of a branch snapping ahead of them brought all the brothers to defensive fighting positions. The fiery orange and gold sun was setting low in the sky, and the shadows were drawing long across the ground as twilight was settling across the land.

“Whoa! Lower your weapons!” Came a female voice as a figure stepped out from the branches.

“Display yourself.” Rocco grunted uncompromisingly.

A tall female Canid stepped forward into the waning light. Ricky had not had much exposure to Canids back in Gunrock and did not know that much about them. The little he did know he did not like. They had larger more aggressive maws than Procyons and were generally overall larger and more muscular. As Titans themselves were broken down into several species, the species themselves were broken down even further. The Canids had several different races among them including the Wolfen, Coyids, Dingo, and in the case of this female, the Foxen. She was the first Foxen that any of the boys had ever seen, with long red hair and red fur, mixed with a few white spots mostly around her maw.

The Foxen wore a skin-tight jumpsuit that showed off the curves of her body without being obscene. And she had an admirable body to be sure, along with a set of large pretty eyes that were simply spellbinding for the four males studying her.

“I mean you no harm travelers.” She stopped before them; her hands raised in a non-threatening gesture. “What are you doing all the way out here?”

“I could ask the same thing. Why is a single female Coyid out in the middle of the wilds?” Ricky asked suspiciously.

“I’m not a Coyid.” The female sounded offended by the mislabel and practically spat the word out in disgust. “I’m a Foxen.”

“And she’s not alone.” Came a voice from behind them. Ricky made a move to turn but the voice became stern. “Unless you want a few bullet holes tattooed on your back, I suggest you drop the guns.”

Ricky de-cocked his gun and held it out to the side but did not drop it. With a nod to the others, they did the same.

“What do you want?” He spoke over his shoulder. Most Titans had extraordinary hearing and so far, he still heard only the one person behind them.

“I said drop the weapons.”

“We’re not dropping them.” Ricky returned with resolve backing his voice. “If you wanna play quick draw, you might get one of us, maybe two, but I promise between the three of us, one will get you too. So, if you wanna play that game, then let’s all die…seems like a good evening for it.”

The level of conviction in his voice seemed to convince the Canid behind them that he was not bluffing. He heard a machine pistol not unlike his behind him de-cock.

“Fine. Let’s all disarm for now. No reason we can’t be civilized about this.”

Ricky turned to see a male Foxen holding his hands out. He was dressed much differently than the civilized Titans that he was used to, not entirely unlike the three of them, with a utilitarian look. Unlike the utilitarian look of the brothers though, he had added flair that served no viable functional purpose. He wore a bandanna; a fur lined vest and his triangular ears were stuck through with several gold hoops.

“Who are you?”

The Foxen smiled wide and made a grand sweeping bow.

“My name is Atani, and this is my lovely sister Amiga.” He motioned towards her as she nodded back. “We are what you might call, outsiders.”

“Outsiders my bloody ass, you’re pirates!” Rocco growled. On average Procyons were much smaller than Canids, but Foxen were on average the smallest of the Canids, and Rocco was one of the biggest Procyons. They were the same height and Rocco was heavier by a good fifty pounds and showed no signs of intimidation, despite the fierce reputation of the Canid race as a whole.

“Pirates?” The Foxen laughed. “What kind of fanciful stories are they telling in the cities these days? No, my good sir, I assure you we are no pirates, just a pair of freelance adventurers.”

“You were going to try to rob us.” Rocco growled through his teeth.”

“Rob you? Oh, certainly not. I was not going to rob you.”

“Try to rob us.” Rocco emphasized.

“We just needed to find out what type of blokes we were dealing with. This is dangerous country out here, filled with unsavory types, killers, robbers, cutthroats and brigands. We thought you to be one of their number, but I can see clearly now that you are among the finest upstanding members of Gothamir.” Atani flashed a predatory smile down at the scientist, as though he was contemplating him for a food source.

“Now that you see we are such good Titans.” Ricky said. “We’ll just continue on our way, and you can go yours.” He nodded towards the female. “Neither party worse for the encounter.”

“Sounds like a wonderful plan.” Atani turned as if to walk away, but made a grand gesture, slowly facing him again. “But then you might miss out…” He held up a clawed finger and frowned. “But no, I suppose fine upstanding members of Titan society wouldn’t be interested in an offer to make some quick credits?”

Ricky’s eyes narrowed. Everything about this Canid screamed trouble and he sighed when his brother took the bait.

“Sure we would!” Rocky said. “What kind of job is it?”

“Well, I’m glad you asked!” The Canid clapped his hands together, matching his enthusiasm. “You see, me and my sister have been wrongfully exiled from a small community on the edge of Kallerish.” He nodded and in an exaggerated display of sorrow, turned his head downwards. Amiga frowned and made a sad look as well.

“It’s a tragedy really.” After a moment of silence, Atani continued. “You see, we were falsely accused of things…well, the charges don’t really matter do they? The important thing was that a certain leader of our community was quite jealous of me for some odd reason or another and decided to fabricate some stories to sully our reputation.”

“Get to the part about credits.” Ricky growled, cutting him off.

“Well, you see…we were rushed out of our home so quickly, that we never got a chance to gather our belongings. It’s no big deal for the two of us to go out into this great wide world and find a way to make it. But there were certain items…heirlooms and such that my sister here would be quite distraught over having to part with.”

Atani nodded and his sister, seemingly on cue, covered her face and began weeping.

“You see good chaps…I myself could quite easily live without the odds and ends, but for the sake of my poor dear sister…”

“You want help retrieving your personal things from this camp. Where do the easy credits come in?” Ricky returned distrustfully.

“Well sir, among my most prized possessions back there are several unbelievably valuable items that would sell to a black-market dealer for quite a tidy sum. I could be convinced to let you all choose one item a piece and part ways, both of our groups better off than when we first found each other.”

Ricky stared at the Foxen for a long moment and to his credit, the wily Canid never broke character. He knew this was all a ruse and instantly believed all the stories he had ever been told about Foxen and their shifty natures. He was about to decline the offer straight out, but there was something about the girl that drew him in. There was no doubt in his mind that Atani was a pirate and a thief and thoroughly untrustworthy fellow. But something about Amiga and her sorrow seemed genuine or at least, not a total fabrication. He had always been a good judge of character and he saw a very real sorrow behind her demeanor. Ricky stared at her for a long moment, sizing her up, then held up a finger.

“We are going to go talk about this.”

Ricky led his brothers a dozen steps away from the pair who waited patiently. He knew that the Canids hearing was even better than theirs so there was only one way they could discuss this in private.

“Ricky has joined the room.” Came a computerized voice accompanied by a ding.

“Rocco has joined the room”

“Rocky has joined the room”

“We can’t trust these two.” Ricky thought into their private cloud server, the message being carried to the other two instantly.

“The guy could actually have something valuable.” Rocky said, the optimism coming across even over the Net-Comm server.

“Obviously, the guy is full of it. I’m sure whatever they were accused of to get thrown out of this community, they, or at least he actually did.”

“No doubt.” Rocco joined in. For some reason, his reception when using the thought-to-speech function always seemed a little fuzzy and farther away, as if he were standing on the other side of the room. Rocky had tried to tinker with his headset and Comm unit several times but could never fix it. “The question is what? Are they just a pair of con-artists and thieves or are they worse?”

They all mulled that one about for a few moments. It was a good question from the one member of their team not usually known for profound insights that did not involve monosyllabic phrases such as “Attack!” “Run!” “Go!” or the like.

“I don’t think they’re killers.” Rocky finally broke in. “I think they are just what they appear to be. A couple of thieves that were kicked out for thievery and now they want their stuff back. I actually don’t see the harm in this. And if he’s telling the truth about having a few items worth some money, we could sell them in Kallerish to try and offset some of the credits we lost when we lost the rest of those bots.”

“We are almost out of ammo, and we don’t have anything to trade or barter for more.” Rocco agreed. “I don’t think the pair of robots there are going to be worth a lot.” He made a gesture to the beaten up, dented bots that were still following them.

“And we still need to buy a ship.” Rocky continued. “Let’s not take our eyes off our main goal of getting off this rotten planet. Maybe whatever he’s got would cover us to plan another big heist, and the next one we can plan better and come out with enough credits to finally buy a ship and get off this planet.”

“You’re probably right. We’ve got these processors now, but I don’t know who we can sell them to now, unless we can find a buyer in Kallerish.” Ricky said.

“It’s not like we couldn’t beat them in a fight if they tried to double-cross us.” Rocco agreed with a smile.

“If we’re all agreed then.” Ricky nodded, and the other two nodded back.

“Ok, we’ll help you.” He said while leading his brothers back to the spot where the two Canids were waiting. “But know that if you try to double-cross us in any way…”

“No need for threats my good Procyon.” Atani replied in the most non-threatening voice he could muster. “We all stand to gain from this here.”

“And I will forever be grateful to you.” Amiga chimed in with a bashful smile. That smile froze Ricky’s heart in his chest, and he knew at once she would be trouble.

“Lead the way.” Ricky grumbled, and the pair of Foxen led them deeper into the woods.