“Bravo One, in position.”

  “Bravo Two in position.”

  There was an empty crackle from the comm-unit and no

  reply. Two of the three-man team were now ready to begin

  phase two of their mission, but they could not do that until the

  third member checked in.

  “Bravo Three? What’s going on, have you lost the plot

  again?” Again, the call was answered by a crackling silence.

  Bravo One grew frustrated. “Sit-rep, now.”

  “Sorry, Bravo Three, ready.”

  “You little prat, when I see you…” Bravo Two was

  interrupted by Bravo One.

  “Enough Rocco, we’re in position. Beginning stage two

  of the plan. Watch my back guys, I’m going in.”

  Bravo One, his real name Ricky, came out from his

  position and made his way towards the promenade. He was an

  athletic young Titanian, an average size and of Gunrock

  nationality. He wore simple street clothes including a pair of

  loose fit cargo style pants and a vest, which was slightly out of place in the affluent area. As he entered the strip mall, a long procession of storefronts stretched out along both sides of the street. The Kinade Square was bustling with species from across Titan, a melting pot of commerce. There were Procyan Gunrock natives, like the three of them, and Viverrids, most of which looked deft of hand and shifty-eyed, tall fierce Canids from The Rook Coast and Lothan, Felids from all over Titan both large and small, and diminutive and crafty Rodentia from Rodan and The Federated Territories.

  Ricky paused at a flight of stairs leading to the second

  story of the promenade, which stretched above them twelve

  stories tall and waited for the signal. He spotted his mark

  coming down the stairs at the same time he saw Bravo Two

  emerge.

  “Ready.” Bravo-Two spoke into the comm a moment

  before he came barreling through the small crowd coming down

  the stairs.

  “Stop! Thief! Give me my Net-comm!” The massive

  Procyan plowed through a dozen people, knocking many down

  and the rest aside.

  One of these was Ricky’s mark.

  Ricky came out from the side to let his partner Rocco

  bump into him too as he came through the area and fell on top

  of the two Titans they had been watching for the last two days.

  “Sorry chap.” Ricky apologized, extending a hand out to

  the scrawny Rodentia scientist. “Here, let me help. That’s a

  good male.”

  The scientist allowed Ricky to help him to his feet with a

  huff and looked towards his partner who was also rising to his

  feet.

  “I never!” The Cynom Rodent exclaimed. “Someone

  should arrest that madman!”

  The two scientists walked away, talking amongst

  themselves about the incident as though it were the most

  exciting thing that had happened to them in years. Ricky looked

  down at the access card he had in his hand and with a smile,

  began walking the other direction.

  “Bravo Three, I got it, can you get those doors open?”

  He spoke into his wrist comm.

  “Scan the code.”

  Ricky did just that, waving the card under his Net-Comm

  wrist unit.

  “Thirty seconds to download.”

  Ricky passed Bravo Three at that point, who was

  dressed like a cleaner, who nodded as he passed by. He then

  walked straight over to the control lock door with a glowing

  Holo sign above it that read “Marshall Industries.” He held out

  his Net-Comm wrist unit and the door beeped and unlocked.

  “You’re clear.” Bravo Three announced.

  Ricky walked through a glass accessway that led to

  another set of security doors ahead. He made his way to the

  door and held out his Net-Comm again, worried that Bravo

  Three had somehow missed something in the data transfer. This

  door scanned for what seemed a longer than normal time, and

  Ricky thought more and more about an alarm going off and

  being swarmed by police units. Before he could panic, a beep

  sounded, and the auto doors slid to the sides. Ricky stepped

  through.

  On the other side, he was met with a long tunnel, softly

  lit on either side of the walls and ceilings with blue Holo-Tube

  lighting. As he made his way down the tunnel, he tapped the

  button on his wrist to activate his Net-Comm unit.

  “Which way, Rocky?”

  Bravo Three replied. “Man, they got some brilliant tech

  here, If I could get my hands on some of this stuff I could…”

  “Rocky.” Ricky admonished his younger brother.

  “Sorry. Up ahead there will be a fork, you wanna take

  the left side tunnel.

  Ricky followed directions, and when the tunnel opened

  into a large room, he took the left path through. Now he was

  entering an area with several doors on the left-hand side of the

  tunnel, all with modern security locks.

  “I’m almost in position.” Rocky said. “Keep going

  straight. At the end you’ll see the cybernetics lab. It’s the very

  last one.”

  So far, he had not run across another living Titan. He

  could sometimes hear them inside the locked doors he passed

  but was startled when a door opened and another Procyon

  wearing a lab coat came out, nearly running into him. Ricky took

  a deep breath, stifling a gasp, but the other Titan just continued,

  barely acknowledging Ricky’s existence. He probably assumed

  with Ricky’s attire that he was part of the maintenance crew.

  “Ok, I’ve remote accessed the door, go right in.” Rocky

  sounded in his Net-Comm earpiece.

  When Ricky made it to the door at the end of the hall,

  he did just that. Inside the lab was filled with advanced

  cybernetic and robotics parts, and several maintenance bots

  stacking, organizing and filing them. Other analytical robotic

  scientists toiled away on various lab stations, none of them

  looked up or noticed the newcomer. A Social Robot

  Embodiment or an SRE stepped forward to greet the newcomer

  to its environment. It was not an android and was not meant to

  look Titanian like most SREs were.

  “Greetings Titanian Lifeform, how might I assist you

  today?” The chromed “head” was really a monitor that switched

  on when it began speaking.

  Ricky clicked the button on the side of his Virtual

  Network Headset to bring up his HUD connected to the Net-

  Comm. He had turned it off before coming into Kinade Square

  to avoid the barrage of distracting advertisements and

  government propaganda that flooded many of the population

  centers on Titan but now he needed it again. He forced his

  brainwaves to type a reply to Rocky using the EEG function.

  “What is the name of the part again?”

  “A Delta-Ventron 4X CPU processor unit.”

  “I’m looking for a Delta-Ventron 4X CPU processor

  unit.” Ricky regurgitated the tech-babble. At least, to him it was

  babble, he was nearly completely tech illiterate, having grown

  up in Gunrock. He was better at it than the youngest brother,

  Rocco, but it was Rocky who was the one that took to tech like a

  fish to water.

  The SRE unit led Ricky to a group of storage units

  stacked 4 high and opened one of them with a wave of its

  hand. Ricky reached inside and took a handful of the small

  chips, placing them inside a hip pocket.

  “That’s it, I got them.” Ricky thought into his Net-

  Comm.

  “When do you need me?” Rocco’s response came into

  their private channel.

  “Seeing as how you’re only good at one thing and this

  mission is a sneak and grab, we don’t.”

  “If you’re not getting shot at, you’re doing something

  wrong.” Rocco replied defiantly.

  “You’re doing something wrong every day you wake up,

  you ogre.” Rocky teased back through the channel.

  “Your face is doing something wrong and I’m gonna fix

  it just as soon…”

  “Is it clear out there?” Ricky interrupted his younger

  brothers’ squabbling.

  “Clear.” Rocco replied.

  “Rocky what do you want to do? I have the processors;

  we could slip out right now and be long gone before anyone ever

  knew. Did you still want to risk…?”

  “Damn right. We’re nabbing them science bots.”

  Rocky’s voice came across in the earpiece. “They’re worth too

  much money to pass up.”

  “It’s gonna be hard to march twenty bots out the front

  door without being noticed.”

  “That’s where Rocco comes in.”

  “Rocco’s not known for his subtlety.”

  “No, but he makes a great distraction.”

  “Ah crap.” Ricky looked back at the SRE in front of him,

  mindlessly awaiting further orders from what it thought was an

  employee. “One more thing, can you hold this?”

  The social robot accepted the small blue disc that Ricky

  handed it without question. Ricky took a step back. A moment

  later Rocky sent a signal through the net to the device,

  triggering a room sized EMP shockwave that specifically

  targeted robotics. At once all the robotics in the room shut

  down. Immediately an atmosphere grate kicked outwards from

  the ceiling and Rocky dropped to the floor. He looked up and

  met Ricky’s eyes.

  “I’m gonna need ten minutes to re-route the alpha

  signals to the bots or Zenith’s signals will just auto-reprogram them

  all again. Go stand watch.”

  As the eldest brother of the trio, Ricky was usually the

  defacto leader and not used to taking orders, but in this case, he

  stepped towards the door without an argument. They all three

  had their strengths in different fields and hence, different roles

  to play. And when it came to anything tech related, Rocky was

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  in his element and Ricky did not mind deferring to him. The only

  problem that he had with this mission so far, and it was nagging

  him in the pit of his stomach, was that tactics was his forte and

  Rocky had come up with this plan.

  “Alright Rocky, listen to this:” Rocco began over the

  comm unit. “A female gets on a bus with her kit. The driver says,

  “Ugh! That’s the ugliest kit I’ve ever seen.” The female stomps

  off to the back of the bus and sits down. She turns to the Titan

  sitting next to her and says, “The driver just insulted me!” The

  male says, “You go and give him a telling off. I’ll hold your

  monkey for you.”

  “Shut up you cheeky wagger.” Rocky returned after a

  brief pause of radio silence.

  “I’m a wagger, you bloody panter? Say that to my face

  and I’ll split your head open. Out of all of us you’re the most like

  a bloody wagger.”

  “I’d like to see you try.”

  Ricky watched the view screen into the hallway for a

  couple anxious minutes. This was taking too long. He began

  fidgeting and when he realized this, he focused his attention on

  not fidgeting.

  “Both of you shut up. Rocco, you got eyes outside?”

  “Yeah. And something just came up.”

  “What?”

  “Zenith troops just flooded the square. They look like

  they’re searching for somebody.”

  “Bollocks!” Ricky swore aloud.

  “What?” Rocky questioned from the other side of the

  room. He had a virtual holo-display up and was tapped into the local

  neuro-net system.

  “Who could they be looking for in such a rich area?

  These people are all wankers and Zenith sycophants.” Rocco

  observed. “Something’s wonky here.”

  “Probably us you moron.” Rocky laughed.

  “All right, everyone change to server three just in case

  they found our channel.” Ricky said, while pushing some

  buttons on his wrist unit.

  A beep sounded to alert Ricky a new addition came into

  the virtual net-comm room.

  “Rocky has joined the room.” A computerized voice

  announced.

  “I’ve triple encoded our frequency and locked it behind

  a virtual network. It’s bouncing off several nodes at once.

  There’s no way they can hack into it.” Rocky proudly

  announced.

  “Rocco had joined the room.” Came the voice again.

  “Guys, they’re headed your way.”

  Ricky tensed as he glanced up at the hallway monitor.

  Three security bots were headed straight for them.

  “Company.” Ricky called back.

  “Zenith?” Rocky asked.

  “No, Marshall security bots.”

  “Oh, sod off with those second-rate beaters! Stall them,

  I’m at fifty percent.”

  Ricky drew out his sidearm from a holster inside his

  vest, an old analogue M1 Axion machine pistol and cocked the

  slide. He waited as they drew near, tightening his hands on the

  grip of his trusty old pistol. Just as he was about to push the

  button to open the door and open fire, the three robots filed

  into the door next to the one they were in.

  “Uh. What? They’re not coming for us?” Ricky spoke

  into the Net-Comm headpiece. “What else could they…?”

  His HUD was now active, and he could see a few

  diamond shapes representing the security bots. A new group of

  diamond shapes showed up at the entrance. These were the

  Zenith troops, he imagined.

  “Rocky, patch me into one of the workers in the next

  room’s Net-Comm cloud.”

  A moment later his display changed, and he was now

  looking through the Net-Comm headset of one of the scientists

  in the next room. The Marshall Industries security bots were

  aiming weapons at them and ordering them all to their knees in

  that calm neutral voice that most robotic units had. The sound

  piece from the scientist he was patched into was now patched

  into his as well, allowing him to hear the scene as though he

  were in the room with them.

  “What is this about?” The scientist that he was patched

  into demanded. He must have been the foreman, or lead, or

  whatever head scientists called themselves.

  “This lab is engaged in illegal research which is to be

  confiscated immediately. You are all under arrest by order of

  the Zenith Corporation.” One of the security bots announced.

  “But we weren’t…” The scientist turned towards one of

  his lab-partners. A small Procyan looked back at him and

  shrugged helplessly. He pulled out a massive Etcher-55 sidearm

  and blasted a hole in the nearest security bot. He hit it square in

  the processing unit and it fell to the ground useless.

  “I’m part of The Union Resistance.” The Procyan said,

  diving behind some lab equipment while firing the barking

  sidearm over the top.

  The security bots fired back immediately. They were

  armed with non-lethal stun rays and ultrasonic sound waves

  that instantly turned the innocent looking office lab upside

  down. Glass broke and papers scattered through the air as the

  beams followed the small rebel. His sidearm struck one of the

  other bots twice but the rest of his rounds scattered aimlessly

  about the room.

  Several of the other scientists went down from the

  crossfire. The security bot that had been hit kept coming. They

  were advertised as having decent armoring against most small

  arms fire but in practice were mass-marketed and cheaply

  constructed. Still, most could take a few rounds as long as they

  were not hit squarely in the processor housed in the “head”. A

  blue beam came across the display from one of the security

  robots and the lead scientist fell unconscious, the feed stopping

  just as he hit the ground.

  “We can’t sit by.” Ricky found a new resolve in his voice

  as he turned to his brother. “Keep going.” He smashed the

  button to open the door and ran outside.

  “Wait!” Rocky’s voice sounded into the comm. “If they

  distract all the guards, we might be able to slip out!”

  Ignoring his brother, Ricky came into the room and

  pointed his M1 Axiom at the nearest security bot. The muzzle

  flashed and a spray of projectiles tore through the armored bot.

  It turned, and the remaining two bots’ attention was now

  divided. Ricky took aim and sprayed the head. With a shower of

  sparks his bullets chewed apart the central CPU before it could

  bear its own weapons against him.

  Without pausing to congratulate himself he charged the

  other one, which was sparking electricity from several hits from

  that big armor piercing Etcher. Ricky tackled the bot to the

  ground. It began to grapple with him, but a long wrist mounted

  blade emerged from his left wristband, a device that Rocky had

  rigged up some time ago. He stabbed at the bot’s head several

  times before the blade punctured anything useful, but it

  eventually did, and the robot stopped fighting back.

  The Procyon’s small furry head peaked up from behind

  a desk, still armed with the sidearm that looked about two sizes

  too big for a Titan of his stature. Still pointing the barrel

  distrustfully at this newcomer, the smaller Titan spoke.

  “You’re not a scientist. Who are you?”

  Ricky paused for a moment as many competing ways to

  introduce himself came to mind. He decided most of them

  would probably reflect negatively on him and his brothers and

  instead decided on the direct approach.

  “My name’s Ricky, mate. We don’t have much time;

  Zenith troops are on their way.”

  “Are you with the resistance?”

  “Uh, I’m with…” Ricky faltered for a moment. There

  were many different scattered resistance movements that were

  growing on Titan, but he was not associated with any of them.

  “My brothers. We’re…uh.”

  “You’re all Procyons too, and you most certainly do not

  work here. Are you just a thief?” The Procyon laughed and

  stood up, dropping the barrel of his weapon to the ground.

  “Just a thief? Well not exactly a common thief, we sell

  things to the black market, and collectors and other sort. Things

  that Titans need and because of regulations and prices can’t

  always get their hands on”

  “Right. Well look, we must get these plans out of here.

  It’s pretty important that the Imperials don’t get their hands on

  what I’ve been working on.”

  A moment of silence passed as Ricky stared at the other

  Titan, weighing all the options before him at the moment. If he

  got involved here, it could jeopardize their operation. On the

  other hand, he found it hard to digest leaving this Titan to the

  mercy of the unmerciful Zenith Corporation and their thugs.

  “Come along.” Ricky nodded his head toward the door

  and led him into the other room, where his brother was still

  working.

  Rocky scowled as he saw the scientist in tow.

  “They’re ready.” Rocky typed out a command on his

  holo-keyboard. The science robots all lined up behind him

  dutifully. “They’re still going to need some reprogramming later,

  but for now let’s get the hell outta here.”

  Ricky turned back toward the only door in or out of the

  lab they were in and saw diamonds closing in fast on his HUD.

  “Yeah, about that…”

  “I see them.” Rocky nodded. “We’re gonna have to go

  through them I reckon.” He shrugged.

  “You mean you didn’t plan for this? You begged to be in

  charge of a mission, you knob! You begged and begged, and I

  finally went along. Are you saying you didn’t have an exfiltration

  strategy?”

  “I planned this for…” Rocky began but then stopped as

  suddenly as he began. “Exfiltrate means escape? No, I didn’t. I

  didn’t have a plan for getting out.”

  “How could you not have a plan for getting us out? This

  lab is the last one in a dead-end hallway with only one way in or

  out, and that way is now positively swarming with Zenith

  troops. How could you not have a plan to get out?”

  Rocky shrugged pitifully. “I figured something would

  come up. It always seems to. Besides, that’s usually your

  department.” He finally replied.

  “Well I don’t have a plan!” Ricky yelled, wanting to

  reach out and throttle his airheaded younger brother. “I didn’t

  bother since you assured me you’d ‘take care of everything’ this

  go-round! Remember that? Remember saying that? Remember

  saying ‘I got this’?”

  Rocky shrugged again. “You can jump in now if you

  want.”

  “I got a plan.” Rocco’s voice sounded enthusiastically in

  their ears. “I knew you idiots would need me and my ’only good

  for one thing’ thing sooner or later.”

  The sound of gunfire echoed from the other end of the

  hallway.