The bald lieutenant ushered Karogen up the stairs, with the private stepping in ahead of the S.E.M.'s leader.  When they reached the ground floor, the two privates that had gone upstairs had returned and were guarding the exits.  The lieutenant pulled out his radio and keyed it.<br/><br/>"Oil Rig, this is Crude, we got him," he said.<br/><br/>"Roger, Crude.  Putting you through..." came the reply.  After a brief silence and a few clicks, the voice said, "Go ahead, sir."<br/><br/>Then, Lentan's angry but controlled voice filtered through the handset and into the room.  "Karogen, if you're wondering why my men are in your little hide-out, I'll give you three guesses.  Oh, and this is all encrypted, so shoot off that loose-as-cooter mouth of yours all you want."<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>"From the east..." mused Sergeant Halvorson.  "Well, that means you came out of the desert.  Let's see here... It's the Calor Desert... full of sand... to the east..."<br/><br/>"Easter of Calor," suggested Janus.<br/><br/>"The Sandman," said Fenson.<br/><br/>"...and you drift from town to town..." the sergeant went on, apparently not hearing the others.<br/><br/>"Driftwood!" said Fenson.<br/><br/>"It's a desert, not a river, asshole," said Janus.  "Tumbleweeds drift in the desert."<br/><br/>"Tumbleweed the Halfbreed!" Collins shouted, laughing heartily afterwards.  "Better yet, Halfbreed the Tumbleweed!" At this, Collins laughed so hard his stomach growled and he gripped it in pain for a moment.  None of the others found it nearly as funny.<br/><br/>"Naw, no tumbleweeds," said the sergeant, still thinking.<br/><br/>"I like 'the Sandman,'" said Fenson.<br/><br/>"Yeah, but the Sandman puts you to sleep, dickhead," shot Janus.  "This guy's got fox-ears and lives in a garbage can."<br/><br/>"And he shot my fuckin' arm," muttered Collins.  "Anyone gonna let the medic know about that?"<br/><br/>Almost as if on cue, a medic entered the room.  Collins started laughing again.  The sergeant waved the medic over to start his work, and Collins quickly stopped laughing as the pain returned and his bandages were removed.  In between Collins' moaning, the soldiers kept listing off ideas.  Janus kept suggesting names that incorporated the halfbreed's status as a bum, whereas Fenson just tried to think of something that sounded powerful.  The sergeant kept silent, musing to himself.<br/><br/>Finally, he came up with a single word.  "Bane."<br/><br/>Janus was puzzled.  "Bane?"<br/><br/>"Bane.  You know, like 'bane of my existence.'  Only not of mine, of the furs.  I figure with those ears we could get the jump on those bastards more than once.  You'll be our squad's secret weapon."<br/><br/>"Speaking of secret weapons," interrupted the medic.  "Here."  He tossed a yellow pill at the newly-named Bane.  "Digestive supplement," the medic explained.  "Swallow that and that lump in your gut will disappear three times as fast."  As he finished tying a new dressing on over Collins' wound, he stuffed another yellow pill in Collins' mouth.  Collins awkwardly swallowed it, then let out a guttural belch.  The bulge in his stomach was visibly shrinking now, to the point that it was flat again nearly a minute later.<br/><br/>"Do we get any more of those?" asked the sergeant.  In reply, the medic tossed a bottle of the pills at him, which he caught and pocketed.<br/><br/>"One bottle to a squad," said the medic.  He had finished with Collins and stood up, wiping his hands off in a dirty bandage.  "Nobody else hurt in here?"  When the answer came back no, the medic left the room.<br/><br/>The sergeant looked at the halfbreed.  "So... 'Bane.'  What do you think?  Will it stick?"