PAC-Wolves: The Stone Dragon - Prol., Chaps. 1, 2

[pacwolf]

This is the rewrite of the Stone Dragon story I began writing last year. The first draft, which is partially posted on here, stinks. So, a couple of months ago I totally rehashed the story. Well, almost totally. The prologue and first chapter are very similar to the first draft, but from Chapter two on, its a whole new ball game. The complete story is 9 chapters, but I'd like to see what you think of the story step-by step.
Thank you, and enjoy!


Prologue

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.

[pacwolf]

Chapter 1 - Rock Bottom

Let’s just say keeping an Imperial-built sixty-five-ton steel robot quiet is a piece of cake. These guys in Guylos know how to shut a Zoid up. In the two years I’ve lived in the Guylos Empire I’ve never once come across a well-maintained Zoid that wasn’t stealthy. Well, except maybe that Iguan, but I only drove that for a little while out of desperation.

One nice thing about the Guylos Empire’s southern countryside is that it has a lot of hills. It is actually possible to keep a Zoid out of sight along the twisty-turny roads when you’re tracking someone

Like today.

I slowly walked my Lightning Saix through the hills, carefully keeping the steep mounds of earth between my prey and my Zoid. Imperial Zoids may be quiet, and there may be hills, but they are still huge.

Our prey-of-the-day was a convoy of Zoids controlled by Crotius Rykur. He was a wealthy scum ball who, naturally, acquired his wealth through crime and thievery. After he stole a group of five Imperial Army supply Gustavs on their way to Gellenos, the newest town on the edge of the Southern Frontier, the Empire slapped a massive bounty on his head. They wanted what he stole back.

I was happy to help. For a large fee.

Even with a plethora of bounties and bounty hunters out there, the Southern Frontier was filling up with thieves and criminals. It was a shame, too; I kind of liked the place. Of course, it was still a frontier for one basic reason: No one wanted to live there. It was mostly desert with a few mountains--not much value…at least on the outside. Thieves like the Death Sniper had stashed their goods throughout the land, and there were treasures to be found. Finding them was too dangerous for the average man.

That’s another reason we stayed in Guylos. We weren’t average.


The convoy was on the other side of the hill, and was guarded with pairs of Red Horns, Molgas and Hel Digunners. Not a bad defense, but I doubted that the pilots had any real skill. My team was a team of veterans, who were all very hungry at the moment.

This should be over in two minutes.

Sifen, my intelligent, yet occasionally ruthless friend, was staying far across the hills on the other side of the convoy. Mansod, the teams deadweight, was way behind making sure the convoy didn’t turn around on us. Kavid? Who knew where he was. He was the sharpest pilot I’d ever seen, but lately I was ashamed to call him my friend. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on that, though.

When the convoy reached a tight stretch of road between the hills, it was time to attack.

I flicked on my HUD-Comm to Sifen. “CR-3, confirm your position.”

Sifen responded with audio only, “Ninety west, sir. Waiting for command.”

I opened a line to Mansod, “CR-4, start tightening things up, we go in fifteen.”

“Yes, sir.” He’d been training with Sifen too long. Always too proper.

I really wished I knew were Kavid was, but we had to stay out of sight and keep the Comm transmitter power as low as possible to avoid interception. I just hoped Kavid’s eyes were as good as he said they were. I didn’t want to strike without a complete team, but I couldn’t wait for him any more.

After fifteen seconds, I made my move.

My Lightning Saix jumped the hill and ran sideways like a crab, strafing the two Red Horns in the lead. The shots didn’t break their armor, but it sure confused the heck out of them. The tight roadway didn’t give them enough room to turn around, leaving them unable to counterattack.

Sifen’s Red Horn came stampeding over the other hill, leapt into the air and smashed down upon a Molga. The slithering Zoid was crushed under the styracasaurus’ weight and exploded. Sifen’s Zoid emerged from the smoke and fire and rammed the lead Gustav, flipping it over and blocking off the roadway.

Rykur’s Red Horns were chasing me with laser blasts but quickly assessed Sifen as the greater danger and spun their main cannons back at him. Unable to turn their bodies around, however, their firepower was limited.

The remaining Molga and pair of Hel Digunners climbed up the steep hillsides to get around the flipped Gustav and its trailers. They took firing positions against Sifen, but before they could start their barrage, Mansod scampered up in CR-4 and shot a hole through the Molga and blew the cannons off of the Hel Digunners. That new Null Ray Cannon of his was worth every penny.

My Saix had an excellent firing position on the hillside and popped off the weapons array of the right Red Horn without taking any damage. CR-3 destroyed the weapons of the left Red Horn. Victory was ours, with or without Kavid.

I opened an all-frequency hail channel to Rykur. “Crotius Rykur, you are now placed under citizen’s arrest for crimes against the Empire. Please come with us peacefully to the town of Klaylos where we will deliver you to the proper authorities.” Man that sounded cheesy.

“The hell I will!” barked Rykur. The left Red Horn roared and charged down the road. One shot from Mansod’s new gun sent it sliding on its stomach, out of commission.

“Great job, guys.” I said to Sifen and Mansod, trying to forget about Kavid. “Now lets—.”

Before I could finish my compliments, Kavid’s face appeared on the HUD-Comm. He looked dead drunk.

“Don’t worry guys! I got ‘im!” Kavid’s Redler fell out of the clouds like a meteor. Its wings were folded up and its hybrid booster cannons were painting a trail of exhaust across the sky.

“Kavid!” I screamed, “No! Get out of here! We don’t—!” But it was too late. The Redler's wings unfolded and the cannons began raining explosive hail onto Rykur’s Red Horn. The Zoid was engulfed in fire as chunks of armor rocketed off of the body.

Then, it exploded.

The eruption knocked my Lightning Saix over; the shrapnel scraped and punctured my Zoid’s damage-free body.

“Yeehah!” cheered Kavid as his Redler swooped up and flew back into the clouds. He was probably going off to go get drunk again.

“Dammit, Kavid!” I cursed. My old friend had ruined a big catch, and his fall into idiocy was costing us more than money.


I slammed Kavid hard against the wall. “You stupid asshole! What the hell is wrong with you?”

His body was limp and he spoke annoyingly quiet. “I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know? Didn’t know? You didn’t even try to find out! How could you come to a battle like that drunk? We’re lucky we didn’t need your help!” I let him go and he slid down the wall to the floor.

“Damn!” I cursed. “How are we going to afford new ammunition now? How are we going to repair our Zoids, the Zoids you damaged with your stupid attack!”

His face was a void, even emptier than Sifen’s. Normally I’d be worried, but right then I was too mad.

“And how are we gonna pay off Nevets?” asked Mansod. It took all the strength I had left not to punch Mansod through the wall. As ill-timed as his question was, it was a valid point.

Major Erem Nevets was the local law authority in the town of Klaylos. He was the stereotypical corrupt military man: he ruled with an iron fist, but he could be bought off. He recognized us the day we moved into town, but agreed to let us live there if we paid him a hefty fee every month. With the loss of the Rykur bounty, there was no way we could pay him now.

“Where do you get all that alcohol anyways, Kavid?” His eyes were closed.

Sifen entered the room. “Jeremy, I have some moderately good news for you. A couple of Rykur’s henchmen had bounties on them.”

I didn’t even want to look up. “How much?”

“Enough to pay off Nevets for another month, but that is about it. Nothing left for ammunition or repair. Nothing even for food.”

The room was dead quiet as I thought, but there was really only one answer. “Then we need to find another bounty.”

Sifen tried to sound neutral, but I could here his frustration. “The Redler and Hel Digunner are out of ammunition, and the Saix and Red Horn need repair work.”

I heard loud snoring and looked at Kavid. “Let’s get over to Bruno’s and find some info.”

Sifen and Mansod left the room first, but before I left, I laid Kavid onto the couch. He really stunk, and I really wanted to beat the crap out of him, but I couldn’t just leave him there to rot. He…used to be my friend.


“So, how was the haul today?” asked Bruno as he slid us over a couple of beers.

“Lousy.”

“Yeah, Kavid screwed it all up by killing Rykur!” said Mansod. That ignorant nimrod needed to learn when to just stay quiet. A couple of patrons heard Mansod’s comment and looked our way. I stared at him and he quickly started drinking his beer.

“Did you get anythin’ then? What about Rykur’s cargo? Anything worth looting?’”

I froze solid. I was so mad a Kavid the last couple of hours that I had totally forgotten about the fact that Rykur was supposedly hauling a valuable cargo. “I…I don’t know.” I looked at Sifen, who was budgeting our money accounts while sipping wine.

“The local authorities found nothing in the Gustavs or the cargo crates on the trailers.” he said, “If Rykur had anything of worth, it wasn’t in that convoy. I had a difficult time convincing Nevets that we didn’t take anything.”

“Indeed!” said an annoyingly high-pitched voice from the doorway. “And you proved your honor most excellently, Mr. Sifen.” I knew who it was. His voice always hurt my cyberphonic implants, my “fake ears”. A mostly gray-haired, slender man of medium-height stood in the doorway. He didn’t wear glasses but had a lazy left eye. His jagged features made for an ugly face and a painful handshake.

“Hello, Major Nevets!” Said Bruno as cheerfully as possible, “Would ya like a refreshment today?” Bruno asked that every time Nevets walked into the bar, and it really annoyed the heck out of the Major. Thanks, Bruno.

“No, Mr. Saltus, as usual, I do not. I came here only to talk business with Mr. Kelt.”

I started seeing little shapes in my beer bubbles. They looked like little Molgas.

“Mr. Kelt? Excuse me?”

Sifen butted in. “He can hear you just fine, Major. What would you like to talk about?”

“Very well. I have come for your monthly…” he looked at the other bar patrons, “’rent’ payment. I trust you have it?”

“It’s not due for two more days!” cried out Mansod.

“Yes, well, I’m sorry to say that I need it now, and am unable to wait any longer. I’m sure you understand?” He sneered at me. I hated his sneer.

“Give him the money, Sifen.” Sifen nodded and handed him a bundle of cash. Nevets quickly counted it and freaked.

“There is only half the amount here!”

“That’s all you’re going to get, Major.” I said quietly. “That’s all we can afford. I’m sorry.”

Nevets slammed his fist onto the bar and turned me to look at him. “Sorry? Really? Why don’t I believe that?” he actually did the tough-guy thing pretty well. “You don’t call the shots, Mr. Kelt, I do. I’m getting sick of you and your stupid friends trying to patronize me. You either give me the money or I’ll have the Imperial Army drag your dead bodies back to Mt. Hoploy behind a couple of rusty Helcats. Do I make myself clear?”

As much as I hated it, he was right. Either we paid him or we died. Pretty simple concept. I began to see that our situation had developed far beyond bribery.

I looked at Sifen and nodded again. He handed the Major the rest of the money. Once he had counted it, the Major was much calmer.

“Very good. But I’m afraid your poor attitude has just doubled your rent. Next month I want twice this much.”

“What?” gasped Mansod. I stood up and stared face-to-face with Nevets.

“You know that we can’t afford that! What are you trying to do? Run us into the ground?”

Nevets sneered again. “I don’t think I need to answer that.” He turned around and started walking towards the door. He stopped and looked at us again. “Of course, you could always come work for me. Then your ‘rent’ would be much less.”

That wasn’t the first time he’d proposed such a thing, but it always made me laugh. “Not on your life.”

“Indeed. Just make sure it’s not on your life, Mr. Kelt. Ta-ta!” He pocketed the cash and walked out the door with a stupid victorious grin on his face.

I grabbed my beer and started feeling a lot closer to Kavid.

[pacwolf]

Chapter Two - Propositions

I woke up the next day with quite a hangover. Luckily, Mansod had started some coffee and Sifen had toasted some ration wafers for breakfast. Gad, they were bland, but I learned from Mansod that if you dip them in his “special” coffee, they were at least stomach-able. Such were the ways of suffering Zoid pilots.

“Good morning, captain.” Said Sifen. I nodded. Everyone knew what was coming next.

“Where’s Kavid?”

“In his room, I believe. There have been a few noises coming from it throughout the night.” Sifen responded.

I frowned. Not a great answer, but at least one with positive potential. I’d deal with Kavid after my meal.

Or so I thought.

Before the dripping wafer reached my mouth, there were knocks at the door. Odd. Nobody ever knocked at our door. Not even Nevets; he always barged in.

Sifen reached the door first and opened it.

Katrana Sared stood in the hallway, wearing a heavy green cloak. Her eyes searched the room and stopped when they found me. Sifen, Mansod and I couldn’t think of what to say, but her next words went straight to me.

“May I come in?”

The soggy wafer crumbled between my fingers and flopped to the ground, but my cyberphonic implants could only hear my heartbeat increase. Sifen, in a rare case of dumbfoundedness, stepped aside in silence. Katrana, quivering, found a chair and sat down. In a look of elegance, she threw back her cloak’s hood, revealing her gorgeous red hair, only briefly taking her eyes off of mine.

I wanted to say a thousand things, but our eye contact was like a lock; I had to wait for her to make the first move.

Unfortunately, Mansod didn’t.

“Katrana, what are you doing out here?” At least it broke the ice.

“I…we need you. The Helic Republic needs you back. Despite everything my father did to you, that I…did to you…we need you to pilot Zoids for us again.”

“Did a Gun Sniper step on your head or something, red head?” In all the emotion, none of us noticed Kavid enter the room. “Your father tried to kill us! You tried to kill us! We owe you nothing!”

With that, Kavid stormed out of the apartment. Katrana’s face didn’t change, but her eyes began to water. She knew that someone would say something like that.

Damn it all, Kavid.

I figured it was time I said something. “Including my aching head, this day has had a hell of a start. Let’s back up a little.” Katrana grinned. “Katrana Sared, it is amazing to see you again, despite what the town drunk had to say. We’ll try our hardest to get you something to eat or drink. Sifen, considering who she is and where she has come from, shut the door!”

Sifen nodded and quickly closed the door, then braced it shut with a chair in case Nevets decided to stop by.

Katrana had the old twinkle back in her eye when she looked at me. Man, I wanted to kick the guys out.

Sifen finally spoke. “There must be a grim situation in the Helic Republic for them to ask for our help.”

The twinkle faded as she picked up her coffee from Mansod. “Have any of you heard of the Stone Dragon?” We all shook our heads. “It’s not what you might think. It’s not a dragon- or even a dinosaur-type Zoid. It’s a heavily modified Liger Zero-X.” She frowned at the flavor of the coffee.

“What’s so special about that?” blurted out Mansod.

“It has thicker armor than a Panzer unit, sharper blades than a Geno Breaker, heavier weapons that an Iron Kong and is faster than a Lightning Saix.”

Sifen and I looked doubtful, but Mansod’s jaw dropped. He’d believe anything.

“It has been tearing up outposts and villages on the Southern Frontier for weeks now, and nothing we have can stop it.”

“Weeks?” inquired Sifen, “Then why haven’t we heard anything about it?”

“Because no one has survived an attack of the Stone Dragon.”

My jaw was set. Although the Helic Republic had betrayed me, it was still my homeland, and quite frankly, I was sick of living the life of a desperate loser in the Guylos Empire. Perhaps this was the chance the “Castaways of the Republic” needed to finally go home.

But to fight a super-Zoid...We’d done it before, and nearly died doing it. Still…

“Keep talking.” I said.

I could see agreement in Sifen’s eyes, but Mansod’s jaw was still wide open. Katrana smiled.

“The Emperor of Guylos wants a war for the Southern Frontier, and is egging the Helic Republic on. The citizens of the Empire would never approve of a war unless the Republic started it. Therefore, the Empire is using the Stone Dragon to lure the Republic to attack first.”

“I see where this is going.” I said. “We would be mercenaries that would destroy the Stone Dragon, but the Republic could deny any connection to it. Damn.” My sense of pride shattered.

Katrana held my hand. “Don’t look at it that way. We need you. You’re the best Southern Frontier pilots that we’ve ever had. We’ll give you the best Zoids available in the entire Republic for this battle. And after this is all over, you’ll be free to return to the Republic to start new lives.”

I saw the twinkle return to her eyes when she said a certain phrase. “You said ‘best Zoids’ didn’t you?” I asked with a grin.

Her smile stretched ear to ear. “Let’s go see them.”


I walked next to Katrana, but kept her at arms’ length. Could I trust her? There was absolutely no way to be certain. Sifen and Mansod stayed behind us, providing me with some feeling of security, but I knew that they were as nervous as I was. Kavid? Who knew where he had gone off to.

We said nothing but small-talk to each other as we walked across the town of Klaylos. She was obviously a woman with a plan, with a goal. I wanted to trust her, but the past cried to me to use caution.

After about twenty minutes we reached a wheat field. At the southern side of it sat an enormous metallic granary. A rather beat-up-looking Gustav hooked up with two pretty-big trailers sat beside it. The trailers were empty, but the clamps were in locked-down positions. Odd.

Katrana spoke up first, “This is my Gustav. Don’t let it’s appearance deceive you.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small remote control. Upon clicking a button on it, the smashed-up appearance of her Zoid faded away, revealing the Gustav’s true, perfect-condition.

“Impressive.” Said Sifen.

“After we went our separate ways, I focused my military career on the development of holograms and cloaking shields.” Lieutenant Sared said. She then clicked another button on the remote, and a brief flash of light fluttered across the Gustav’s trailers. As the cargo de-cloaked, I lost my breath. I had an idea about what was going to be there, but it still shocked me.

Four PAC-Wolves stood on the trailers.

“Ka…Katrana…” I clumsily started, “How could…I mean, how did?” I nearly ran over to PAC-1 and gazed up at the ruby red and black Zoid. Its shining silver Long-Range Cannon shone beautifully in the sunset.

Sifen and Mansod were also in awe at the PAC-Wolves. PAC-2’s Heavy Weapons system was as impressive as ever. PAC-3’s missile system and thrusters were just as incredible to the eye. Although PAC-4 had no upgrades, knowing that it was indestructible with the Plasma Armor modification made you want to take on a Berserk Fuhrer with it.

“These are not the originals, correct?” inquired Sifen.

Katrana shook her head. “No. As you know, PAC-2 and PAC-3 were destroyed by the Death Sniper. Unfortunately, PAC-1 was too heavily damaged from the Charged Particle Beam to be fully repaired. But this is the original PAC-4. They have all been plasma charged using the same process as before. Everything should be fine. You’re all set to go.”

“Not quite.” I said.


“Oh my god!”

“Well, Kavid, is that a good response, or bad?” I asked.

My friend stared for only a moment, then drew his blaster and started firing at PAC-2. The laser bolts ricocheted harmlessly off of the Zoid but caused the rest of us to drop to the ground. They also put a couple of small holes in the granary, which began to leak wheat grains.


It had taken three hours for us to find Kavid and get him back here, and this was not the response I was going to accept.

Enraged, I scampered up from the ground and sprinted for Kavid, who, as a reflex, turned the gun on me, but didn’t fire.

Our chests hit first as I clamped my arms around him and took us both airborne for a brief flight before we smashed the ground hard on my forearms and his back. My adrenaline level and his alcohol level made pain a moot point.

Pulling my arms out from beneath him, I began pummeling the man I trusted my life to. “You damn idiot! What is your problem?” I screamed at him.

He managed to shove me back and kick me off. His face was a bloody mess, but he had no desire to take revenge on me. “I was damn-near ripped to pieces in that thing, and you expect me to crawl back in one again and pretend it never happened?” He sniffed and wiped blood from his mouth. His eyes were very wet.

“I wake up almost every night shaking in pain, unable to feel my hands, because of what the Death Sniper did to me in the first PAC-Wolf 2, and you want me to start fighting in another one? Are you insane?” Kavid was on the verge of hysteria.

“Kavid!” I called to him, “The Death Sniper is gone. We aren’t going after another Particle Breaker Beam. We’ll be going after a tough target, yes, but he won’t have a Wave-Smacker. And if we do this right, Kavid, we can go home!”

Kavid sniffed again and turned to look at me. “Home?”

“Yes! Once we get through this, we can get out of this damn Empire and go back home to the Republic forever! No more Zoids!”

I could see that this was what Kavid really wanted. He used to be the best Zoid pilot I’d ever seen, but ever since the Death Sniper nearly killed him with the Particle Breaker Beam, he had started down the path of insanity. He needed to stop. But I had to ask another favor from him first.

“Just one more mission, Kavid. Please. Don’t give up yet!”

Kavid stared for a few more seconds, then squinted really hard. “Okay, Jeremy. One more mission. Then I’m done with this Zoid stuff. Forever.”

“I’ll be right behind you, bud.”

[Orange]

Not bad at all. The uber-zoids thing is a bit off, considering these guys are starving, but you came up with a decent explanation for it.

I did not know Lightning Saix's could circle-strafe. x.x

Try puting a bit more emphasis on the character's diolouge, there's a few choice words that could have used some more boom in them.

That, and 'idestructable armor' was always kinda cheezy to me, but since it's part of a story-arc, it's a bit moot at this point.

[pacwolf]

I think I waited too long to start writing back to any replies, but since berserkorangefury is the loner, I give kudos to him and will resond to his statements.

Super Zoids are a bit far-fetched, but I wanted to write a story where the good guys can stand up to big monster bad guys, and how else could a pack of Command Wolves do that unless they had an edge?

And yes, they had to be Command Wolves. This story was written for my customs I made last year.

I was surprised by your dialogue statement. I thought I gave these guys a lot of good growls. Maybe I should go get a thesaurus...

As for the Lightning Saix, it wasn't circling, it was walking sideways like a crab. Kind of hard to imagine, but how else could a Saix strafe something?

Thanks, BOF!

[Orange]

pacwolf said:

I think I waited too long to start writing back to any replies, but since berserkorangefury is the loner, I give kudos to him and will resond to his statements.

Super Zoids are a bit far-fetched, but I wanted to write a story where the good guys can stand up to big monster bad guys, and how else could a pack of Command Wolves do that unless they had an edge?

And yes, they had to be Command Wolves. This story was written for my customs I made last year.

I was surprised by your dialogue statement. I thought I gave these guys a lot of good growls. Maybe I should go get a thesaurus...

As for the Lightning Saix, it wasn't circling, it was walking sideways like a crab. Kind of hard to imagine, but how else could a Saix strafe something?

Thanks, BOF!

That's what I meant. How can a Saix crab-walk?

BTW, I'm a girl.

[pacwolf]

Well, guess I got the pie in my face. Sorry about the gender mix-up.