Drew's Trouble with Cats and Roaches Pt. 06

"That is what we need to do. To create confusion over the next couple of days. We need to send patrols out over the space where the kids were taken. We need to send out the shuttles looking like they are searching, but in the wrong locations and directions. We need to sew confusion in the enemy's minds. Then when we are ready, we strike."

"Tiffany will pilot the Corvette." Drew looked up and looked into his Queen's eyes. "We will work out certain logistics by end of day, but she leaves tomorrow for space and those spy satellites, are going with her. She will return to earth when needed and provide cover for the evacuation and trip home."

"Meme, I want you on the second shuttle that will be set up for medical and overall control of the evacuation. You will be the overall field commander for this whole mission. Again, we will define some details, but I want you to handle the command and control." Drew stopped and smiled because he knew what was coming.

"Lord, that should be you. You hold command and it is your right and place." Meme argued back.

"Meme, you do this every day. You keep this place running and keep me on track." Drew looked at her. She knew what he said was true and all the mental emissions agreed with Lord Drew.

"Plus, for me, I made the threat, I need to carry it off. I need to do this for my personal honor. I will lead the team in the rescue shuttle."

Drew took more tea. He could tell he struck a nerve with that comment. He paused and smiled at the next thought.

"The strike teams will be led by Things One and Two. They get first choice on their team members and then we can fill in the other teams after that. We need to pull them aside and get the teams straightened out. Bob goes in with the strike teams." Drew commented.

"I want the shuttles set up by end of day if that's possible. Meme, can you get the teams straightened out?" Drew paused again, he was tired, frightened, and already questioning himself. "Let's all take time to think of questions and meet after lunch."

He turned to leave and was almost to the door when a question was asked that he hoped to avoid.

"What team I on?" Kay questioned.

Drew stopped and turned to his Fathers mate. He looked to his dad for help and got a negative shake of his dad's head.

"Well I was not going to put you on a team. You already have proven yourself by saving earth..." Drew stopped because he could see the steam building behind her eyes.

"Bullshit, damn bullshit, I am 87^54%4#4%#2@ Slut Warrior. This my family now. Men no honor stole children of my family. I must go to rescue and avenge honor of Family." Kay responded and Drew could see the steam was still building.

Drew turned his head at a sound from the others that had waited when Kay asked the first question. Meme was doing a very human thing and covering her muzzle so he would not see her laughing at this uncomfortable situation.

Kay strutted over to him, reached up and grabbed his shirt and pulled him down so she could look into his eyes "Which fucking team I on?"

"You're with me...mom." Drew replied with a straight face. Both Meme and Tiffany were mentally fucking with him.

"Damn straight, and you behave, or I spank you." She turned to his Dad, "can I have beer with lunch?" and with that she headed off to the cafeteria for lunch.

***

The strike teams signaled that they were in place and ready. Drews team had been in place for hours, a short shuttle hop from the objective. The command and medical shuttle had circled around, landed at an airport about an hour in the wrong direction. They play acted like they had mechanical problems.

The Corvette had come back into system like they did before, first hiding in Saturn's Rings and then at the appointed time traveling towards earth and keeping a low profile.

In preparation for this mission, Drew had to lay down the law regarding lethal contact. The rule was, fire and kill only when necessary. Drew had to get through to the warriors that many of the humans they would contact had no idea why they were keeping the children prisoner. They were following orders. If they could be saved, Drew wanted them saved. If the enemy used lethal force, all bets were off.

Drew made all the team members wear body Cams over their body armor. Drew had to explain how much it would mean later when they had to justify their actions. Even the thought of having to 'justify' anything was more insulting to the Cats than anything else.

The storm was horrendous. Horizontal rains. It was a 'wintery mix' meaning things shifted from rain to sleet, to snow and back again in no order. The wind whipped in gusts up to 100 KPH. As planned, it kept the lazier of the humans huddled inside the main building.

At 'go' time minus 2 minutes the first of the strike teams moved forward and made the front door. Bob slid out and under. They all heard a click as the mechanism was forced and activated. 4 cats slipped past the slightly opened door and entered the dark cavern of a building. 2 cats remained by the open door waiting on the arrival of the shuttle and to protect the escape route. As soon as the first Cats entered, they could 'hear' the younglings crying, anger and general mumblings. They slid down the corridors until they encountered a room with 4 humans. Some type of office with the humans enjoying a game of cards.

Thing Two pulled out a cylinder and slowly slid it past the door and watched it activate. The Cats slid back down the hallway and let the chemicals react with the Humans systems.

They slid forward and saw the humans slumped over the table. Thing One took lead, and three of the team turned to corridor looking for the stairs. Thing Two slipped into the room and started to strap their hands. Something caught her attention, a smell. It was one of the no-honor humans that had taken the children. She double strapped his hands and feet and hauled him to the doorway edge.

She wanted to kill him outright, but she would follow orders. She dropped his fat carcass and then went to find the others. She may not kill him...now, but he was going to come with them to answer for his crimes.

***

As the strike teams entered the building, the recovery shuttle threw off its camouflage and lifted off. Drews team was armed and ready. Their job was to set up a perimeter and assist with the loading of the children.

They slammed down in the front parking area of the compound with the rear landing ramp open before they touched ground. They were out and creating a perimeter before the vibrations of the abrupt stop cleared the structure of the shuttle.

The recovery team verified the perimeter and the last of the two strike members slipped through the door to assist the rest of their teams. The two encountered the room of unconscious humans and continued down corridor following the scent of their family.

They reacted immediately to the sound of gunfire. They took cover at the top of the stairs and then slid down to find the shooter. One human in the back of the corridor, behind a heavy table shooting a projectile weapon. Thing Two was down, Thing One had the door to the cells open but was holding the children back because the human had a direct line of sight down the corridor.

Tita, the mother of the one of the children in the cells had just about enough of humanity. She wanted her child safe and wanted it now. She flicked the switch on her weapon to send a burst of energy. She warned everyone, this was going to react like a human RPG. She was not sure what was going to happen because of the energy blast would be concentrated by all of the hard concrete walls.

She swung her body out of the door opening and let the weapon fire. The resulting back blast of the explosion knocked her off her feet and slid her down the corridor. Her mind was ringing, her ears were ringing, and her fur smelled burnt. She slowly rolled and lifted her head. Splinters of the heavy desk were all that was left. She could smell burnt human flesh, but none could be seen.

She got to her feet but wobbled and had to grab the wall to steady herself. She staggered over to Thing Two and saw that she was still breathing but very shallowly. Thing One ran over and was yelling, to no avail, to take the children up. Tita waived her off and said that she would play caboose and do rear guard duty. It would give her time to clear her mind and ears.

Thing One took point and had the younglings follow behind her holding each other's hands as a chain. As each one past she could smell who it was until the last, her oldest toucher her cheek with his hand. She felt a tear form, he was safe.

She rolled Thing Two over and pulled a med kit from her satchel. She spread the nanite infused gel over the wound. Thing Two came awake when she felt the nanites and stimulant hit her system. She grabbed Tita by her uniform.

"They know, an alarm, they know. They must be coming." And then she moaned and collapsed.

Tita sent out a mental warning broadcast, pulled up Thing Two. Tita was a big cat for a female, she slung Two over her shoulder. She then started the climb to freedom.

***

"We have inbound hostiles coming from two directions. One group 4 minutes out, another 15." Meme reported. "What is the status of the children?"

"The teams were held up by a lone gunman. The children are safe and coming out of the door now. Thing Two is down wounded and is being brought up. My best guess is we will be ready when the first hostile ship arrives." Drew responded.

Drew was suddenly shaken by a human RPG exploding against a wall close enough to shake him and knock him flat. A secondary entrance to the compound building, unknown to them, was open and several guards in full tactical gear were flanking their shuttle. Before he could waive them off, Kay and another Cat warrior charged into the group in hand to hand combat.

The Cat that had joined Kay, Beta, tore into the humans and was like a feline chainsaw to human flesh. She may not kill them, but they would remember her and have the scars for life. She heard a growl, and cry of pain from Kay. The human Kay was intertwined with was a huge specimen and almost as big as a male cat. He had a large serrated knife and was pulling it from Kays body.

The human was smiling at Kay and the damage he had done to her body. She smiled and growled back and then Beta heard the ping of the dropped spoon. The human heard it too and looked between them. He saw one of his grenades, live now, that Kay held in her paw. As he tried to push her off, she grabbed his gear, lifting herself up to look in his eyes. She sank her fangs into his neck ripping into the flesh. He screamed for just a second before the explosion threw both bodies away from each other.

Drew first felt the warriors scream for help about Kay, then a warning of the grenade. He then heard and saw the explosion. The explosion not only took out the larger human guard but wounded two others that were by him.

Drew made it to Kay side, but she was already gone. The grenade shredded her body armor. The internal damages from the close-in explosion would have killed her anyway. He lovingly picked her up and carried her back to the shuttle. He entered as another cat was carrying Thing Two into the shuttle. Drew softly laid the body of kay on one of the gurneys. He grabbed an adjacent folded sheet, bent forward and kissed her forehead before covering her ravaged body.

"Are we all accounted for?" all the Cats signaled yes, but as he scanned the shuttle, he noticed someone not here.

"Where is Bob? Anyone have eyes on Bob?" Drew questioned.

No one responded. He charged back off the shuttle just as the enemy armored troop transport roared overhead and projectile gunfire splattered the dirt and pavement next to him. It circled and started to set down in the back-parking lot when a buzzing was heard.

The buzzing was from of a very lethal Corvette swooping in from above the treetops. It placed itself between Drew and the transport blocking the Transports line of sight. He heard and felt the bug weapons being brought up to full power. There were mental images coming to him. But he knew Tiffany and her crew were in direct communication with the transport and there seemed to be a standoff.

Drew took that moment to dash back into the building and look for Bob. As he passed by the office, he heard a harrumph. Bobs harrumph. He looked back in and was not quite sure what he was seeing. it looked like part of the desk had eyeballs. Bob then dropped his camouflage coloring and changed back to his original gelatinous clear form.

Drew could see he was hurt. Liquid had pooled around him.

"Bob can you talk?" Drew asked.

"Yes, but I am regretfully seriously damaged. A big human came in, I explained who I was and that I was an observer. He just called me an alien and plunged a huge knife into me and then laughed. He laughed at my pain." Bob burbled.

"Can I move you? we need to go." Drew asked.

"Yes, I do not want to stay here. I will not be much help though. I cannot move without losing more of me all over the floor." Bob responded.

Just then Meme contacted him warning of more incoming hostiles. He decided. "Leave, Go, escape" he sent. "I'll take the sleds with Bob." There were more 'discussions' but Drew ended them with a "that's an order."

"I hate to ask, but can you carry me? You know I hate to ask, but I would hate to leak me all over."

Drew just chuckled. Bob hated to be carried, but every youngling wanted to tote him around like a slippery pet. Drew carefully picked him up and cradled him in his arms and they darted out the secret side entrance. Drew stopped to look at the body of the dead large human, the one that had killed Kay and injured Bob.

"That is him, what would fill any creature with so much hate that they could just stab someone for fun?" asked Bob.

Drew did not answer but he knew a few people that were going to answer for it. He trudged through the woods and at Bobs direction found the hiding place of the sleds. He carefully placed Bob inside the canopy, slipped in next to him and tried to remember the codes and controls to fly.

Bob just looked at him sadly for a bit with his eyeballs floating. One was lower than the other, so he had a lopsided look. Finally, Drew heard the familiar 'Harrumph".

Drew looked at Bob, and Bob looked back. Bob stated 'Home!" and the sled energized and levitated off the ground. Bob said, "All Home!" and Drew looked out the canopy to see the other sleds lifting and following.

'I am going to sleep for a bit, but you really need to pay more attention when you are being taught things" Bob intoned.

Drew smiled at his odd friend and watched him turn a sold grey as he 'slept.' The flight home at treetop level, was filled with thoughts of Thing Two and Bob being injured and most of all the loss of Kay. He also began to get incredibly angry over the losses they had suffered because of an irritation human hatred about anything different.

There were people that were going to pay for this, and he was going to make sure it happened.

End of Chapter 6