I swore to myself that I'd never go the route of the scoundrel, of the downtrodden, of the…the bounty hunter. But I had a big mouth to feed, and my friends and I--"The Castaways of the Republic," as we called ourselves--liked to eat. Finding work in the Guylos Empire was difficult, especially for veterans of the Helic Republic. We couldn't join the Imperial Army; we tried that once already and were chased out of the country for being spies. Once back in New Helic City, the Republic's Army found us and chased us clear back to the Southern Frontier for being traitors. We figured we'd have an easier time staying out of site in Guylos, since less people know us there…but we also knew we had no friends.

Kavid Deen, Kellar Sifen, Harley Mansod, Bruno Saltus and I—Jeremy Kelt--drifted through town taverns trying to scrape up any information we could on bounties. We focused mainly on Helic Republic bounties, as a gift to our old homeland, but they were hard to find in the Empire, so we tracked down a few Guylos bad-guys now and then. We didn't find many at first--people don't like to share information with strangers.

Our saving grace came when Bruno bought an old bar in the town of Klaylos. It wasn't very far from the Southern Frontier, so business was good--frontiersmen liked to drink. On-the-run guys who need a drink will say anything.

Our need for strong Zoids was pretty intense until about a year ago when Sifen and I went back to the Bay of Rocks and looted the Death Sniper's old cavern--we figured he owed us. The Sniper had quite the supply of weapons, to be sure, but the Zoids he hoarded were the true prizes.

A fully armed Red Horn was in the caves, as well as a Hel Digunner and beat-up old Redler. After a couple of months we were able to buy parts for the flying Zoid and get it into the air.

The golden prize was the Zoid that I now pilot: a Lightning Saix. The robotic cheetah was in perfect condition, with no flaws or weaknesses to be found. I have to say it puts my old Command Wolf to shame.

Mansod was happy to take the Hel Digunner we found, but I felt there would be a fight for the Red Horn. To my surprise, Kavid wanted the Redler. I had always assumed he hated to fly, but he has thoroughly enjoyed the little dragon.

He has also enjoyed the beer bottle a bit too much. We're all getting a bit sloppy, but Kavid is falling the hardest.

I'm not sure if Sifen likes his Red Horn--he's never showed much enthusiasm towards it--but he doesn't complain, either--that's just his way.

We miss our old lives in the Helic Republic, but the Guylos Empire is not the source of evil that the Republic's politicians always make it out to be. To be honest, the war is escalating; everyone can feel it. Both governments are looking for whatever reason they can find to scale their massive Zoid armies against each other. Planet Zi is a tense place to live nowadays, no matter which side of the Europa Continent you live on.