With just a flick of his thumb, the seasoned hunter lit his cigar and let out a few puffs into the humid jungle air... much to the tigeress's dismay.

"Put that shit out, Verwey, are you trying to get us spotted?" The tigeress snapped to the old bear.

The red robin, sharing the same log as the young tigeress, let out a single laugh as he sighted his scope. "I say let the dead man smoke 'em. Hell, I'm half a mind to join him." The robin said with his trademark grin.

The old bear laughed, it was the first response he gave anyone all morning. "Like hell I would let you smoke this." He puffed out a thick ring of smoke as he played with the cigar between his fingers. "The hemp plant in this cigar comes from Earth but is grown on Mars, the soil makes it so much better. But it takes damn near a hundred years to grow and they only grow enough for a hundred cigars; on a good harvest. I have three right now and they cost a hell of a lot more each than what we're getting for this job."

The tigeress sighed with a shake of her head. "Remind me again what this job is? That transmission seemed... vague."

Verwey looked to the robin. "Why don't you fill her in, Clint? I'm trying to enjoy this while I still have lungs to huff it with."

Clint turned to the tigeress after putting the rifle on his lap. "You see, Sierra, we've been 'tasked' with taking out some rouge AI robots. By rouge, I mean WILD machines."

"Wild? What makes them wild?" Sierra asked with a since eyebrow raised.

Clint cleared his throat and Verwey rolled his eyes, he knew Clint was not going to make it short. It gave him plenty of time to ride the high he paid so much for.

Clint saw Verwey's reaction but paid him no mind. "Ten years ago, just before 'smart' AI was legally available to the public or to anyone outside the Federation Military in general, there was a private company that developed robots for the black market. On the surface they said they were using 'dumb' AI for the sake of keeping the law off them. Of course they used smart AI, but they made the AI similar to a Dekisa."

Sierra cocked her head back. "You don't mean those REALLY dangerous pack animals from Isal?"

Clint nodded. "I do. Trouble is, the company made the AI TOO similar to them, but did not realize it until they made robotic bodies for them; to which end they mauled nearly everyone within their sensors to death once they activated them. Those who escaped trapped them in the facility nearby here where they have been ever since..."

Verwey chimed in. "Until a few days ago when one got out an slaughtered a few nearby villages that had no way of fighting back."

Clint nodded. "The real danger is not just in that one, Dekisas often send out one scout to find the prey before the rest get involved. One more troubling detail. Because they are not animals that would kill each other once their food ran out, they instead would sit still and get smarter... thanks to the smart AI they each have. Chances are they will have planned out countless scenarios in case someone tried to stop them. That would be us, by the way."

Verwey put out his cigar and put it back into his hard case on his chest-plate. He looked to Sierra with a grin. "Well, no more sense in waiting then. Time to earn some scratches on that new armor, rookie."