Drew's Trouble with Cats and Roaches Pt. 05

To all,

Due to the interest in this series, here is part 5. This chapter is back to the action of previous chapters.

Any aliens, real or imagined in this story are purely a construct of my twisted and warped mind. My attempts to enter a realm (writing), that has always eluded me, has been exciting. I hope you enjoy my continued tale of Drew Jr.

*****

Part 5

Drew could feel the calming effect of the forest as he sat beside the main house and sipped his tea while the morning dawned.

Then the morning shattered.

He felt a scream but did not hear it, then others followed ringing in his head. He knew immediately where the screams came from and who they belonged to. It was one of the littler youngling groups out hunting for paparazzi. They were in trouble. Their calls for help were quickly cut short, normally this would be by death. But it was not death, he could still "feel" them but somehow their 'voices' could not be heard.

Before he could get out of his chair, he was met with the feral growls of several of the female warriors. They acme to his side, armed and ready for battle. Tiffany was up, dressed, and armed when she joined him. Meme was only a few seconds behind.

He knew that the Pride was ready for conflict, they had been training for it since they arrived on Earth. Through all the emotions flooding him, Drew paused.

He needed to think like a human again, but a human with no honor.

He again, was on that field of battle covered in the entrails of others.

He again was in space battling Roaches, facing overwhelming odds.

And, just like those times, he paused to gain clarity.

He pulled Meme and Tiffany to the side, "Get everyone, Pride, and friends into the main house and lock it down. Prepare for battle. Bring the corvette over and station it over the lodge. This could be only a diversionary tactic to get to the rest of Pride. Protect the Pride." Drew paused, no one was arguing so he knew he was on the right track.

"I am going to take Thing One and Two and I want Alexander as scout. We are going to find out what happened to the younglings. Any questions?"

Meme spoke up briefly, "Alexander is the oldest of the younglings and oldest of the Lords lineage, but not yet a warrior. Why not another warrior?"

"Yes, agreed, but he is the best at woodsman ship and tracking. This is his chance to earn some scars. Things One and Two can kill anything that walks, slithers, or skitters. Let them work together so we can go in and get out quietly." Drew ended with finality.

There was no more discussion. Alexander was called and came prepared. The four moved out with Drew being the slowest.

***

Drew had to admire Alexander. While the two were not close, Drew had admired the natural leadership ability of the young male. He had shown that leadership on the Pride's escape from the roaches. Drew knew that one day he would be handing the Pride over to this young male if he could prove his bravery as well as his calm leadership.

While he had been in the woods strolling and even participated in several tactical training exercises, he was in awe of how the Cats moved in the forest, silent. He felt like he was tromping through the trail, banging pot and pans together compared to the Cat warriors.

It took them over a half an hour to quietly approach the spot of disappearance. Drew froze, there were other entities close by and they were curious. He also knew and could "feel' they were hunting his team.

He held up his hand in a fist while also sending out the mental command to stop and form a protective circle. Each of the team was several meters apart to allow fighting distance if it became hand to hand, weapons were pointed out, each protecting each other back.

They all froze, crouching, waiting on the attack to come.

Drew was trying to figure out what he was feeling and seeing in his mind. They were not human. They were not Cat and they were not any known alien species that he had felt before. He spread his mind out and found 6 entities, to his team of 4.

He told his team mentally where they were placed, very strategic, in a circle surrounding their circle. He reached out to the 'brightest' of them. The one he sent a mental message to, was surprised by the contact, and moved very slowly and silently in front of Drew. He could not understand the emanations he felt from the entity, but it was raw and simplistic in nature.

He sent out one simple feeling "peace' and waiting for any sudden aggressive movement.

Movement came, a large grey white timber wolf stepped out partially from a tree. He felt the others edge forward and then one stepped out in front of Alexander and growled bearing its fangs. Alexander growled back making the other wolfs hair stand up and it take a more offensive stance.

Drew 'yelled' at Alexander to "knock it off" and turned his head to make sure he understood. Alexander slowly complied. Surprisingly, the Alpha did his own version of a chastising growl at the younger wolf. The beta lowered his muzzle and moved back in the shadows.

Since the Cat's arrival, there had been a general standoff between the cats and wolves. The youngling groups had tangled with the wolves on several occasions and had each earned their scars. The wolves were not used to having to share their domain with an equally dominate species, so the boundary of the property became the untold demarcation for unspoken territory. No lives had been taken on either side, but even a smaller youngling was an easy match for a timber wolf one on one.

The Alpha stared at Drew and Drew stared back. Drew again reached out to try and have him understand looking for packmates. The Alpha swung his muzzle to look towards the glade they were heading to and Drew gave out and affirmative.

Drew asked something stupid of the Alpha "Touch" and then went down on one knee. The Alpha stared for a moment and crept closer. Drew put out his hand, palm up towards the Alpha and he could hear growls from the other wolves spaced around the Cat team. The Cat team could hear and feel Drew, so they stayed silent.

The Alpha did one curt growl and the rest became silent.

Drew was no longer a small man. He was just short of two meters and his broad shoulders would make a football linebacker proud. But he felt small, in a way, when the Alpha stepped up to him nose to nose. His palm contacted the broad chest of the Alpha and visions came to his mind. This startled the Alpha and he jumped back slightly causing more growling from the betas. The same process of growling to shut them up began but it was unsettling to Drew because he was inches from the large muzzle.

The Alpha sniffed at Drews face and again stepped forward. Contact was made and the visions flowed. Mental flashes of a shuttle coming down a few miles away and black suited humans moving towards the boundary. Movement seen over the boundary and then the younglings being taken.

Drew could only try and send back images of family and being grateful. The Alpha sent one last group of images, feelings and of all things, smells before disconnecting. His images, smells and anger were of two dead wolves laying in the forest, images of the black suited humans and the feelings of prey and kill.

The Alpha stepped back and turned and disappeared into the forest. Drew could track them and understood. The mercenaries had killed two of the pack and the Alpha wanted revenge.

There was a pause by the Team, the whole episode had only taken 10 to 15 minutes, but Drew was a bit shaken. It turned out so were the others. Drew unknowingly had transmitted it all to the team. After a deep breath and knowledge that there was no further danger they moved out.

They entered the clearing and could smell the smell of one of the humans that had attacked the Younglings. There was blood on the ground and a human body lay in the middle of the clearing. Thing Two ran forward to check the body and Drew screamed "NO!" as she reached for the body. Drew waived for everyone to freeze and slowly crept forward and found a trip wire that luckily Thing Two had leapt over. He traced the wire to an adjacent tree and found a claymore. That alone would have killed all living things in the clearing.

"It's a Kill zone," he called out. "Look for more wires and do not come near the clearing." He slid the pin back in the claymore triggering device and cut the wire. He then took the claymore and put it in his bag. He motioned Thing One and Alexander to sweep their areas. Thing One found another Claymore and disabled it and bagged it too.

Drew very carefully created a cleared path to the human body and Thing Two. As he cleared the forest floor, he found a pressure pad of unknown use. He decided he did not want to know what it was about for now, he just wanted Thing Two out the kill zone.

The whole time Drew was path clearing, Thing Two was mumbling verbally and in her mind about cowards and the cowardly way of a non-warrior. Drew reached her and the dead body. He looked underneath the cooling human body looking for traps or trigger wires. He found what he had feared, a grenade trap. Anyone moving the body would trigger the trap and be killed when the grenade went off.

Drew examined the dead body and found the cause of death, his throat had been slashed out, the wolves. They had decided to leave their dead comrade for bait, either for them or the wolves.

Drew had neither the time or patience to try and disarm the grenade, so he called out to see if anyone brought rope. Alexander tossed him a coil. While Thing Two made her way back along the cleared path, Drew carefully tied one end of the rope to the arm of the dead enemy. Drew then slid backwards until he could find cover behind a tree out of the clearing. He motioned the others to do the same.

When all was as safe as it could be, he heaved on the rope and flipped the body over. The resulting explosion was louder and more violent that Drew remembered from training. There was a deep crater and the body had been thrown a couple of feet.

"Shit, what were they trying to kill, the whole Pride? Two claymores and whatever that thing was." He did not realize he was speaking out loud until Alexander sent him a message "?"

He sent a message back "explain soon" and saw a nod of his head.

Drew became curious and waived for everyone to take cover farther back. He braced himself on the adjacent tree and began to hall what was left of the body towards him. About halfway to Drews cover, the pressure pad waited. As the body made contact, Drew and the other could hear a chuff noise of expanding air and then the sound of something buzzing and arching towards them.

"Incoming," screamed Drew, and while they did not understand the phrase, they understood as Drew dropped prone and covered his head. The first explosion would have been spectacular if they were not been so close to Drews position. The second and third explosion created additional damage and shrapnel sizzled in the air.

Drew could feel a searing pain on his cheek and shoulder. He called out to the others and they all confirmed they were ok.

Drew rolled over and tried to clear his head, his hand wiped his cheek and came back crimson. He felt others calling out to him. Scars on a warrior were not something to bring alarm, and Drew knew he had just gained another.

***

Thing One and Two took turns dressing Drews wounds on their retreat to the main house. The worried welcoming party all asked questions at the same time. Drew issued words of calm, but shortly pulled Tiffany, Meme, Eddie, Else and Bob into the meeting room. Drew poured himself a shot of Jack and sat down to talk out options.

"Well the kids are alive but far away and that whole area was set up by real professionals to kill the Pride"

"Eddie, I need to know how they got past the perimeter sensors and drones" requested Drew.

Eddie nodded in the affirmative and went to a corner to work on his pad.

"Lord, I do not doubt you, but how do you know the younglings are alive?" questioned Meme.

"I can feel them, can't you?" Drew responded.

"No lord, when they call, I can hear," she paused looking at his curiously, "but I am not sure what you mean about 'feeling" them," responded Meme.

Drew was confused, after all this time, new things tended to spring up, baffling them all.

"I can 'feel' all of the Pride members," Drew paused, "during that first battle, I could 'feel' as each of the Pride warriors were killed. I could 'feel' where they were and when their life ended. I do not feel like that with the younglings, I can still feel them."

Both Meme and Tiffany were dumfounded. "I have never heard of this ability in any Pride member my Lord. But if you are correct it will be a boon to finding them." commented Tiffany.

Drew turned to Else and Bob, "While I know you represent the UN and Homogeny, I am asking that these conversations be held in confidence. There will be some dark days that follow, and I am not sure where this will lead. There is going to hell to pay and I am not sure the Pride staying on Earth."

They both agreed and Drew was incredibly grateful for their friendship.

"Tiffany and Meme, please have the media handled, mention that we have had our children and Pride members kidnapped. Do not give numbers just say we were attacked by a well-planned and coordinated military attack against the Pride and we are evaluating options."

"Please message our representatives with the North American Union and tell them we are on our way in our Corvette to discuss the lack of protection that was guaranteed us." Drew requested.

"You know that Dick is technically still our representative?" responded Meme.

"Counting on it," responded Drew, "I think he is dead in the middle of it and I want to be in a room with him to confirm it, " Drew paused in thought, "I want to have Tiffany and Alexander with me."

"Alexander? Why Alexander?" questioned Meme.

Drew just smiled, "There are many ways for a warrior to earn scars. Not all of them need to be visible. If we stay on Earth, he will have to learn to deal with un-honorable creatures like Dick. Time for his first lesson." Drew paused, "Oh and I am taking Tiffany to keep me calm." Drew ended with a smile.

Tiffany, stoic through the whole conversation, responded with "That is not what you said last night." and chuffed as she walked out the door.

***

The armed Corvette streaked across the sky. Thing One and Thing Two at the Pilot and navigator seats.

Drew got a feeling about the younglings and asked to swing north into old Canada. Air traffic Control was having a fit, but they just ignored them and sent the new heading.

At a certain juncture Drew commanded "Mark this spot and send it back to Meme to find out what is beneath us. The kids are alive but well below the surface."

Both Things One and Two looked at each other, stayed silent and obeyed. They had already seen communicate with other races and now the wolves.

They reached the governmental building complex and decided to set down in the square in from of the building. It was not the designated landing pad they had been assigned and that did upset the air controllers. Drew was not taking any chances and wanted to the full line of sight of the square.

The corvette swung in a tight circle and landed in the grass by the front steps. Armed guards swarmed with loaded weapons and stationed themselves around the ship. Drew ordered Things One and Two not to shut the ship down but hover a 30 meters above the square in front of the building, shields up, weapons hot.

They smiled and nodded in the affirmative.

"If we are not out in an hour, start taking pieces of the building off until you make them understand." ordered Drew.

"Yes, my lord." they replied in unison, continuing to smile.

Alexander had his ears up and his heart was starting to race. The Lord had explained things to him on the way. Essentially as he understood it, they were going to war. But as the Lord explained it, a subtle war. Alexander was still trying to understand what a 'subtle war' was, but he presumed he was about to learn.

The hatch to the shuttle opened and Drew Scott, Lord Protector for the Pride strode out like he owned the world. Queen Tiffany followed with Alexander a close third. They were met by armed guards with powered weapons.

"Gentlemen, you know who I am, and who my entourage is. We called ahead and we are to meet with the Ambassador and Representative. Is there an issue?"

"Sir," the Captain in charge snapped to a salute, "We have been ordered to verify that you are not armed."

"We are not... but that is," Drew responded by pointing at the Corvette.

Thing One and Thing Two had been listening from inside the shuttle. They took that moment to power up the thrusters and raise the ship. It did a neat 360 as it rose, and then pointed its forward guns at the entrance to the building. The energizing of the bug weapons was especially frightening. They tended to bleed a green vapor from the open aperture of each weapon. The green vapor wrapped itself around the Corvette in wisps of deadly energy.

The guards did not know what to do when the ship lifted off, and they froze in place when they heard the distinctive buzzing of the bug weapons, hot and ready.

"Gentlemen, not to sound trite, but 'take us to your leaders'." Drew commented as he waived his hands forward.

Alexander stayed stoic. He had been warned and he had made a promise not to react to anything unless given signals by the Lord or Queen. It was extremely difficult to stay calm and not show the outrage he felt. The insult to being met with weapons after he had heard the Lord on several occasions announce their intentions. To be escorted under guard, front and back like some type of criminals. This seemed to be a scene from the human Vid shows he watched. It made his hair stand up in anger and blood boil.

The troupe reached two large doors at the end of a long, wide, vaulted hallway. They stopped, apparently waiting on permission to enter. Drew turned to Alexander and decided to be open about what he was seeing. Drew knew that the youth could see more than just the hall. "What to do notice about the hall we just entered and walked down?" Drew questioned.

Alexander looked about him and replied, "It was built to impress, at a scale much larger than human standard. A large ornate space meant to overwhelm human senses." The guards shuffled hearing such an open discussion from an alien being.

"And based on your understanding of human behavior and your studies, what do think we will find in the next room?" Drew asked.

"Either a large heavy meeting table meant to impress or a raised dais with benches so they can look down upon those that they meet." Alexander responded.

"It will be the first, but my guess is there will be a difference in the chairs they sit at. Ours will sit lower and be smaller. It is meant to work on human psychology. The Elders do the same, so this type of game playing goes across species. We will not sit, but stand, since we will not be staying long. Therefore, we will be looking down at them." Drew ended as he heard the door crack and they we told they could enter.

Drew stopped halfway in the doorway and paused looking at Alexander. "Making us wait outside is another part of that same psychology. They have known we are coming for over an hour, but they make us wait, hoping we would become nervous or agitated so we would make mistakes." Drew could hear murmurs inside the room.

"We do not have all day," came from the Representative Dick.

Drew just smiled and strode into the room. "Hello Dick," Drew did not hide his infection and the name came out sounding like he wanted it to, insulting.

"How dare you bring an armed ship with its weapons pointed at us" Dick screamed.