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Cole crouched at the top of the shimmering white dune and peered over the crest. The cruel twin suns struck his eyes as they peered from the shade, forcing them to hide behind their lids. Blinking painfully he adjusted to the light, eyes searching for their goal, and he saw it in the distance, the desert base camp of a dangerous arms dealing group known as Aries that had been supplying numerous attacks on the capital planets. The camp itself was made in an old Alkiir ruin with tall, thick walls. Atop them were several heat sensitive turrets, perfect for what he had in mind. The Dunescape was a vast, nearly planet wide desert far beyond the Prime Earth. Settled for no other reason than having an atmosphere, it was home only to the scourge of the galaxy. Beyond the reluctant hand of law, a dark blight shown out on a world perpetually in the light of two suns.

Satisfied with his recon, Cole dropped back behind the dune removing his hood with a smile, "You'll love this one Jane." Below him his twin sister turned from the speeder, clad in a dusty red cloak similar to his own, adorned with steel plates on her shoulders, chest and thighs. Behind her, a silvery tail swayed slightly in the light wind.

She chuckled, "What do we have? I hope this one's a challenge!" pulling a large rifle out of the trunk and resting it on her shoulder.

"Not even, they have heat sensitive turrets all over, poor guys," Cole slid down the ridge to meet Jane and the speeder. Once there he pulled in next to his sister and reached for his own rifle decorated with key chains, tallies, and scratched in doodles. Finally he pulled out a simple flare gun, this was vital; placing it in his chest holster, he then faced his sister. The two had been through over a hundred contracts, from petty arguments, industrial espionage, to sovereigns. Mercenary was a harsh term, Cole preferred 'an army of two,' only more effective. His train of thought was cut off when Jane spoke up.

"We've been getting a lot of Aries jobs lately, I'm almost sad our Capital checks are coming to an end," she joked as she looked with amber eyes to the great dune providing them cover.

"I'm sure there will be more; now what do you say we get us a terrorist sandwich?" Cole smirked along his white muzzle, now heading for the covering hill.

"My favorite," Jane laughed as they turned and ran for the dune. They both knew the statement was rather cheesy but neither cared; it was just them. The two had always given the illusion that they didn't take their jobs seriously, but the opposite was true. The siblings light hearted pretense was merely a tool in their vast arsenal, used to repress the scourges of the past and make life bearable. The reality was that when you're in the business of 'problem solving' no matter how tough or strong you are it fatigues the soul, and countermeasures must be taken.

As they reached the apex Cole flipped in the air and landed on a sandboard®that had expanded from the bottom of his boots. Meanwhile Jane slid on her rounded heels, gliding beside him.

Now aware of the new heat signature, the turrets turned and fired, but Cole thrust up a temporary hard-light shield that emanated from his gauntlet, protecting them long enough to get closer. Once within twenty meters of the wall the hill had flattened out and the shield was faltering, so in one fluid movement Cole upholstered the flare gun and fired it skyward through the dissipating barrier. Meanwhile the mounted turrets found a new red hot target in the air, hovering slightly with the aid of an anti-grav generator.

With the immediate threat distracted, Jane took an aluminum rod from her belt and without breaking stride, pressed a button on the side causing it to rapidly extend to its full ten meters; then stabbing it into the ground just in front of the wall, sending her vaulting into the air and onto the wall. Meanwhile Cole, close behind, activated a single use boost from the soles of his boots, firing plasma toward the core and turning the sand below him to glass, propelling him into the air to grab his sister's furred hand within a second. Once on the wall Cole fired a second flair to join the first before it fizzled and gave away their position.

Responding to the commotion, armed Aires members were flooding into the camps main clearing to combat the invading forces only to find two figures atop the south wall with defense turrets firing wildly into the air. The few seconds of confusion were all they needed to hoist twin rifles and silence half the crowd in a single movement. This immediately invoking a response in the remaining audience, rising arms to bear, firing aggressively at the source of threat; but they were gone. On either side with synchronic strides the pair flanked the scanning crowd atop the compound huts, waiting for an opportunity to pounce; finally jumping high over the gathering tossing a pair of pulse grenades, sending Grunts flying and giving them a place to land.

Now on the ground back to back, the brother and sister sporting a precision rifle in one paw and a heavy side arm in the other; sending a salvo of suppressive fire that made more room to breathe in the camp.

Surrounded by silence Cole and Jane strolled towards the main structure at the center of the ruin, stepping over ambiguous forms that had long ago sacrificed their freedom for a false security. Now confronted by a tall wooden door that gave entrance to a large mud palace at the center of an ancient city that had since forgotten its ancient inhabitants, millions of years past; this fact let Cole have no problem placing a clawed hand on the hard surface and sending a pulse through his glove shattering the foot thick the door, sending splinters flying into the room beyond.

Once the dust settled the two could see into the open room. On the ground was the unfortunate ambush team strewn about with shredded black uniforms, and shards of wood reaching skyward. At the far end of the room there was single man; the man they had come here for. He sat at his desk calmly with plans and tools spread across the surface and an oaken lance protruding from the wall beside him.

Finally leaning forward and raising his arms to beckon them in with a hearty voice, "Cole Moor, welcome, and this must be your sister Jane, it is nice to finally meet you, I didn't expect you to take this long. Sorry it had to be on poor terms, my men were merely doing their jobs; but please, come in." The pair simply stood in the damaged doorframe with ears at attention, not knowing what to do for the first time in their career, this was supposed to be a simple 'grab and go' op, but the target was just inviting them in, making Cole wary. Realizing his mistake the jackal like man spoke up again, "Oh, how rude of me, my name is Charles Taggard, your employers probably just told you to 'grab the man in the tie,' but alas I know when I am beaten." He gave a light chuckle, and Cole moved to step towards him but Taggard interrupted again, only more serious this time, "Wait, I have one last ultimatum. "Cole and Jane stopped, fearing a weapon, while the target raised one hand as the reached for something in his side pocket but halted when the space between his hand and hip was filled with a supersonic tungsten projectile, singing his fur and leaving a crater in the wall behind him.

Jane blew the smoke from her revolver and strolled over to Taggard, and snatched the thing from his pocket. To her surprise it was a simple piece of parchment, so she turned to Cole and handed it to him whilst keeping eye contact with the man at the desk. Upon opening it he found it was a drawing of the outlying mountain range that made up the east border of the vast desert with the difference of a small red 'X' nestled within the hills. Now Cole turned to Taggard and placed the map on the desk in front of him, "What's this?" Cole demanded.

"It is a map, an illustration of my final request, an offer you may want to listen to." He paused, waiting for objection, when satisfied there would be none he continued, "I understand that there is nothing I can do to avoid my capture but once I am gone I will simply be replaced by another, and Arik Krogh will be the man to do it." He sighed, and then briskly moved on. "The point is that Arik has been after my position for years and was the traitor who leaked my location. In being a businessman, disloyalty is a liability, and that just won't do. Now the part that concerns you; this map displays the location of a certain Aries treasury that Arik just so happens to hold the key to. Collateral damage is just a natural consequence of Arrogance." Finished with his proposal he now clasped his hands together and placed them on his desk.

Now it was their turn to make a deal; Jane pulled a short crystalline steake from her satchel and rolled it in her paw as she spoke, "We'll think about it," pausing she turned to him. "Okay, try now to move around too much otherwise this will be very uncomfortable." Before the man could respond Jane plunged the yellow-orange spike into his shoulder causing him to shout in more surprise than pain. Taggard watched in horror as the area around the wound started to glow similarly to the shard itself, and was spreading. Even more terrifying was that in the wake of the glow his body was flaking then disappearing in the air like embers, he tried to scream but it had already spread to his throat; the last thing he heard before his head was consumed was to "hold still."

"Looks like it was his first time; the Capital probably won't be happy about us using a port crystal, he'll be pretty stressed when he arrives," Cole warned.

Jane scoffed, "They whine about everything. Besides, even if that guy was lying it's only a short jog away and could still be profitable even if it's a trap; traps we can handle.

Cole realized that it was no use to argue with his sister. She won everything. "Alright, let's have a look," Cole grunted as Jane patted him on the back as she stepped around shards of wood and onto the main terrace. "I saw some malnok on the way in. What do you say we upgrade from the speeder?" he asked.

"Sounds good," Jane exclaimed as she broke into a sprint towards the stables. Cole racing behind, bounding past crumpled uniforms on the ground finally coming to a halt behind Jane as she sharply took a corner, then continuing. After another corner they reached their destination; the malnok stables. It wasn't so much a stable as it was a place they just rested; there were only two, one asleep and the other 'looking' at them. Cole knew of course that it had no eyes, none did. Malnok evolved in the desert and had little use for eyes for there was little to look at. In place of eyes the giant lithe reptile had a pair of thick long horns pointing to the rear of the creature, dominating most of the head. The horns themselves acted as powerful sensory organs, covered in several divots that detected micro differences in air pressure. It also sported an unbelievable sense of smell and hearing, making it capable of echolocation in addition to scent tracking. Food was scarce in the desert so it was vital to have these tools in your repertoire. Furthermore they were great hunters and were favored among bounty hunters, which was perfect for their needs.

Cole slowly approached the animal and began to speak in a tongue foreign to Jane. He uttered towards it in a fashion that she could not describe with clicks, hisses, and other strange sounds; causing his muzzle to move in impossible ways. When he finished the malnok calmed and lied down, crossing its forelegs to rest its head in. Cole now turned to Jane, "She is ready to ride."

Before Jane could respond and ask what her twin was doing he moved to the second one and began to converse with it. She knew he was always good with animals, but this was different. Rather than giving commands he spoke smoothly and provoked understanding within the creature. Deciding it could wait she turned to her malnok, hesitating before placing her paw on its scaled head, having her hand glide back along its skull and to the southward horns; eliciting a low rumble from within. Suddenly it snapped to attention when Cole emitted a sharp yip from on top his malnok, "Get on, we're moving out." Jane quickly hopped on and patted it on the side of the neck, prompting the reptile to follow behind Cole. Gradually picking up speed as they neared the east wall and without slowing each malnok bound over the barrier effortlessly, upon landing they broke into a newfound sprint.

The speed was incredible, it made you wonder why they named the speeder the way they did. Sheltering from the wind behind the great crest of the malnok, Cole snuck a look toward the scarred hills in the distance only to be greeted by gale force winds, sending his hood flying from his head to reveal a silver mane of hair raging behind him, his fur flowing with speed. Now glancing behind himself he saw his sister close in tow.

Bringing his hand to his ear, he pressed a small button on the piece, "Switching to coms; how ya' doin' back there?"

"Fine. Would you like to explain what you did back there?" Jane inquired.

"Mother taught me," Cole said coldly. To this Jane did not respond. Their parents had died a long time ago, with faces lost to the past. They were forced to raise themselves; and train themselves. Brother and sister back to back against the world; it was no way to live, but they did.

It didn't matter now that they were nearing the end of their life long quest, and a few foot soldiers weren't going to stand in their way.