Drew's Trouble with Cats and Roaches Pt. 11

To all,

Due to the interest in this series, here is part 11. This chapter deals with trying to handle the responsibility of a combined set of species, all with their own spin and shade on the issues. The sad part is that humans are the worst of the lot.

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 11

***

Two of the three rehabilitated Cat Other cruisers were fitted with added bug armament and weapons. The third would be finished in several months and would remain in earth orbit for the Prides use. The smaller of Other's shuttles had been refitted more in line with the Corvette and it too would stay for the Pride.

When the formal diplomatic complaints came through channels 'requesting' the equal sharing of the Bug weapons stored in orbit, Drew just had to remind them who saved Earth and why those weapons were floating in space and not destroying it. Grumbles from different political factions were heard and duly ignored.

The uproar from certain political factions regarding the new exploration was a different matter. It had been many years since earth had sent ships out to explore and colonize. Everyone wanted their piece of the proverbial pie. The UN had requested a meeting of the full assembly and Drew informed everyone he would NOT come unless representatives of the Homogony were present with voting power. After much debate, concessions were made.

It seemed that the 'pie' was too tempting.

Drew sat contemplating this issue in the rear passenger seats of the corvette. He was coming to realize this was his future, playing diplomat. Not a good fit, but he did not have much choice. The Cats were no longer refugees, begging for help. They were about to become the representatives of a species that controlled 1000 times the space of the Sol system.

And he was Lord Drew Scott, Protector of it all.

***

Lord Drew walked down the same oversized corridor and stood in front of the same two oversized ornate doors that he had once before. This time he had Eddie and Abraham with him on the walk. The two scholars were full of interest and intrigue and an absolute fascination with the duality of Humankind.

Eddie was providing the same running dialog that he had with Alexander only it was being done with the Cat mental transfer. Human psyche and its use of architecture as a form of authority had been a fascinating subject for Eddie and Abraham the whole shuttle ride over to the Northern Alliance Capital. The size, shape, ornamentation of the exterior of the building had caused them to be a touch late. They waited for a good 20 minutes for the doors to swing open. That whole time, while Drew was trying to stay calm and not be insulted.The two scholars, were mentally babbling away about a picture here, size of a sculpture there, and every other oddity they could find. At least they were entertained. Drew hoped leaving the building was as much fun as waiting on the rudeness.

Finally, the doors swung open and the Aid to the Ambassador came out apologizing to the Cat representatives. Drew just waived off the false pleasantries and walked in to find almost all the same participants as last time.

Drew just walked in and slapped his sachel on the overlarge conference table. He did not pull out a seat or even attempt to sit. Eddie and Abraham took a place behind Drew's shoulders as a sign of respect.

"And so, gentlemen, we meet again. I agreed to this meeting only out of respect for the Ambassador." Drew paused and looked around the room at the other participants, "You are a different case. Why was I asked to come here? I have already responded to multiple emails and communications. Wasn't that enough?" Drew queried.

"You are freezing us out! You are stopping our participation in the colonization of worlds that could mean millions for our people. You are willing to share with aliens, but not your own kind? What type of person are you?" stated the unknown rotund man with white hair, and goatee.

Drew looked from the very embarrassed Ambassador to the rotund man. He searched the rotund man's mind and got the impression that this was Richard "the dick's' boss. "Well, hello there. Nice to meet you. Next time I am addressing the Ambassador, and you jump in rudely, it will not end well. I will have one of the two Cats behind me, rip out your tongue and eat it in front of you," Drew ended, almost laughing at the disgusted comments Abraham and Eddie were making about this human discourse. 'Eat a human tongue raw, yuck' was shared mentally. They then got into a scholarly discussion of roasting vs smoking tongue.

Drew looked back at the Ambassador and asked, "Why have I been asked here to hear the same complaints?"

"The Northern Alliance wants to participate in this new venture, and we are looking for your intercession with the UN," the Ambassador finished, and the rotund man positively vibrated in place.

"I will explain again. The UN is creating the team from multiple human nations to take place in this first wave. The Homogony is recommending certain species that seem to get along with Cats, humans, and other species. Go talk to the UN."

"We have and they refuse to discuss our conditions.," responded the Ambassador.

"Ah, the conditions I heard about. I will not allow armed forces in that parcel of space. Not unless they are controlled by my command structure." Drew paused looking directly at the Rotund man, "period."

"We will not depend on aliens for our safety or the security of our fleet," the rotund man growled.

"Gentlemen, this is not a discussion point, these are the rules, my rules. I will not have a bunch of armed humans, doing what they want, when they want and where they want. If you want to go, you will be under command of the young lord and my Queen Tiffany." Drew again looked at the rotund man, "Period."

"Who is this young lord and why won't you give me his name? Maybe I can talk some sense into him," stated the rotund man.

Drew smiled, and investigated the man's mind. Singularly one dimensional.

"Let me explain how this works on a Cat level. The individual is the individual. Since information is shared mentally, the being standing before you," Drew pointed at Eddie, "is that being. If I am explaining to someone else, a cat, to whom I am talking about, they get a mental picture and sort of a Bio," Drew paused again.

Drew walked over the rotund man and held out his hand, as if to shake. The rotund man looked confused but stood and took Drews hand. Drew forced mental pictures into his head.

The rotund man screamed and fell back into his chair

Security personnel flooded the room. Weapons magically appeared in both Eddies and Abraham's hands. Outside, the Corvette was already off the ground and powering up weapons.

"Don't fire, please god don't fire" ordered the ambassador.

'I have inbound" Drew, Eddie and Abraham 'heard' from Thing One in the Corvette. "Let them come and learn," responded Drew.

"The personal names I use for my Pride members, are a construct to help bridge some communication issues with human interaction. As you have now experienced, the Cats don't need that. They know pretty much on meeting, who and what they are, and what YOU are. I have now given you a little bit of what I get all the time."

Drew passed for a bit. "Ambassador, I would recommend you call off the inbound craft or the space above us is going to get very crowded." Drew calmly cautioned.

"I have you, you twisted sick alien hybrid. I swear we are going to dissect you to find out about the drug that changed you. That and this sickening breeding program you have." The rotund man stated almost salivating on himself.

"They have arrived, three armed shuttles or troop transports," received form the Corvette. Drew could hear the engine and the hot human weapons. He could also hear the powered-up Bug weapons of the Corvette.

"Mr. Ambassador, please call your air traffic control and let them know a very large craft is inbound from near earth orbit. It's going to need some space in the sky above."

Drew decided to speak out loud for the benefit of the other humans in the room.

"Eddie and Abraham, put away your weapons. Things are going to be tense enough, very soon." Drew inhaled loudly and to add a dramatic affect, looked to the ceiling, "Park 'Mother' directly over our position please, 5000 feet"

They waited only a few second before everything started to shake.

"Gentlemen let's go outside and complete this talk. As before, our meeting has all been recorded and placed out for public consumption. Your shielding was again inadequate." The Pride party walked outside the building, but as they exited, a darkness fell over the campus of governmental buildings.

They all looked up and saw a monstrously huge ship sitting directly above their location.

"It's not complete, but I made sure propulsion, shielding and weapons were the first to be upgraded." Drew looked up at the underside of the third cat cruiser. While not completely refurbished, It was something to behold, especially in atmosphere. "We saved a whole bunch of stuff from the Roach dreadnaught that Tiffany and I killed. I am so grateful they towed it out of low earth orbit before the big bastard smashed into earth."

Drew had paused again looking at certain things on the huge ship that he had helped Tiffany design. "Want to see?" Drew stated with a lot of excitement in his voice and enjoying the 'circus,' like a 5-year-old.

Drew spun to look at the group, the excited 5-year-old was gone. Just a very angry human hybrid was left. 'Light it up" he said out loud in a deep steady voice.

The hum and vibration were beyond words. Even from 5000 feet, the energy that bled from the Cat, human and Bug weapons made everyone noxious, except for Drew and his packmates.

Drew was almost yelling so all could hear. "Last time I came here it was because someone stole our children. You know or guess how that ended. Now I come a second time and am threatened with dissection. Not a good negotiating ploy."

Drew specifically turned to the rotund man "Like you now understand, Cats can tell a lot about each other, by just being close to them. I can tell much more, because of my changes. And you sir, are a xenophobic asshole and can't be trusted at all."

Drew looked up and sent word for the cat shuttle to come down. It had been patrolling above the Cruiser just in case.

Mt Ambassador, I cannot say it's been a pleasure. Let me make something quite clear. If anyone follows us into our new space with an armed fleet, none of that fleet will return." Drew turned back to the rotund man as the shuttle landed and spoke directly to him.

"Period."

***

From a couple hundred feet above the sanctuary landing pad, Drew and the others could see a procession waiting on their arrival. From the Cockpit he 'heard" "I think I'll just wait in here until Tiffany has her say... its shielded and I can always quickly fly away." Was heard from Thing One with a hell of a lot of mirth.

He too could feel the angry emanations coming off his lovely queen as she paced in front of the others.

The shuttle touched down with the Corvette already settled beside it. The hatch opened and he stood looking at the Eddie and Abraham to join him. They just smiled and shook their heads. They did not want to get caught in the blast zone when she erupted.

He calmly walked down the shuttle ramp to the waiting, loving arms of his queen...just kidding. Tiffany erupted when he was only halfway down the ramp.

"Rip out his tongue? Eat it in front of him? Are your out of your human mind?" Tiffany stated with her hands on her hips. He knew this was partially for the social media playback. He could see the drones capturing vid that would later be used to soften his hasty approach to diplomacy.

"You made us sound downright barbaric. You will send that awful man that threatened to dissect you an apology note, do you hear me?"

"Yes, my Queen, I understand" Drew noted with feigned humility and nodded his head.

From behind him he heard what only could be described as giggling from the heads of two scholars that were peeking out to see if it were safe outside the shuttle.

"Good, now as for some surprise fleet from any other group of aliens or humans that shows up to threaten this peaceful partnership of colonization, you were quite right. They will never be seen again."

"Yes, my queen," he said playing the part and looking dejected.

She turned and walked away with a swish in her step. The two scholars followed afterwards arguing the same issue of what to add to the smoke to get the best taste out of Tongue.

Drew just paused to smile now that he was not on camera and watched the way her ass and tail swished. Females of several species had this affectation and it fascinated him.

"Oh, someone is getting pounced tonight," Thing One commented from the open hatch.

"You think so?" Drew cocked his head and asked.

"Oh, hell yes, you just showed how powerful the commander of our fleet really is, bringing her Lord to his knees, in public." She smiled.

"Definite pouncing tonight, if not by her, by me, Thing Two is one cub ahead."

***

Drew had made an earlier suggestion, and the partnership team had run with it. Representatives from all the human cultures and alien races had come to the sanctuary to live with each other and share information. As each of these participants arrived there became a semi-formal ceremony of welcome. Gifts were exchanged and pleasantries shared.

One such gift brought a special joy to Drew. More for the reaction by the recipient than anything else. Tiffany was given a kitten. It was explained to her, in this seafaring African culture, a cat was normal on every voyage.

She stomped in the door with the kitten in her hands exasperated. "What is it with you humans and pets?"

Drew just started to laugh. Which pissed off Tiffany, who had this kitten trying to climb out of her arms to explore. Add in Goldie, that found this new playmate fascinating, and they had quite the evening. At first Goldie and the kitten faced off. A lot of hissing from the kitten and a bloody nose or two for Goldie.

Things settled down and, in a blink, the Kitten and Goldie were best friend. The kitten stopped trying to cuddle with Tiffany almost immediately and was either cuddling with Goldie or Drew.

Drew knew something was different about the Kitten. It had a nose and marking of a bobcat. He took her to Eddie.

"Well, she not a kitten like you think. She is a feline subspecies called a caracal. Its in the Big Cat family. She is going to be half the size of Goldie when she is grown."

Drew nodded and when they arrived back home, Tiffany took the news better than Drew thought. She tapped her pad and her eyes grew. Then her smile grew too. When the kitten came to her, for the first time, he saw affection.

"So, you won't be a useless pampered pet that will just eat food and sleep. We can make a warrior out of you little girl."

She picked up the kitten and they were off somewhere.

When dinner came, Goldie was banished to the corner of the living room as was her norm. Drew was looking for the Kitten, but the little one had not returned, neither had Tiffany.

Drew sent out a message about dinner and got back a 'See you tomorrow.' At that moment, the doorbell rang and Else was at the door with additional bottles of wine and a smile.

The next morning turned into evening before Drew heard from Tiffany. She begged off again and sure enough, Elsa arrived, Astrid in tow, with dinner already made.

The next morning, mid-morning to be exact, he was working in his office when he felt a new presence in the house. A child like presence but not a cub. Goldie was going crazy with playful barking and then a large thump was heard.

Drew rushed from his office down the hall to the great room. The scene was frightening. A large predator cat, like a small Puma stood over and on, an upturned Goldie. He started to yell, when the cat turned her head and sent a message like "papa!" She spun and bounded over the furniture and leveled him.

If he were not receiving all mental love notes from the cat, and understanding that this creature was Kitten, he would have been fighting for his life. She was purring and nuzzling him, as he laid flat on his back. By this time Goldie had joined the fray and was battling for face space to lick Drew and nose Kitten.

Tiffany sashayed into the room and nonchalantly stated "Oh I see you have met the new and improved Kitten."

Drew tensed and shoved the animals off him. Once he stood both Goldie and Kitten slinked away from him, sensing his anger.

"What did you do?" he stated with much more anger than Tiffany had seen in him since she laid prone on the deck of the Cat ship waiting to die.

"Answer me. What have you done? Did you subject Kitten to the same torture I was subjected to?" Drew stood staring. Both Goldie and Kitten were down the hallway laying together staying out of sight.

Tiffany answered in a shaky voice, 'I went to Eddie regarding the treatments and he said he has changed the formula to fit different genomes. He said it would not be as painful as what you went through. I thought it important to have communication with her if she was going to wander the colony ship. She got bigger but she did not seem to go through the same agony you went through, and she can communicate now." Tiffany was still in the frightened mode when she finished.

'I, we...do not experiment on family and Pack members." Drew was trying to bring his fears and temper back in control, "Do I make myself clear?"

Tiffany just nodded.

"Now I am going to take a walk to calm myself and have the same talk with Eddie." Drew paused heading towards the door, "I would like to have a calmer discussion when I get back. Will you make yourself available from your other duties?" he ended on a very formal tone.

Tiffany bowed her head and responded "yes my Lord Protector."

Goldie and Kitten scrambled out of the hallway, past a quite Tiffany and out the door to explore with Drew as he calmed down.

***

Drews discussion with Eddie was a bit less dramatic, except for Kitten trying to escape the Lab. Having a 40 lb. feline panic, thinking she was coming back to where she got hurt, was not something she was dealing well with. Drew calmed her and she ended up with her head and front paws in his lap for the remainder of the short meeting.

As Drew began to understand, Eddie felt he was being ordered to provide the treatment. It was an order from the Queen, no discussion and he was not being asked for options. This just heightened a worry in Drew and dovetailed in with other reports and worries that had been passed his way.

It made him frightened and angry. He needed to move and think.

Both animals felt the anger returning and this time, sandwiched him between bodies as he walked back into the Glen.

As he walked through the Glen, a mixed group of alien, human and Cat children were playing on the playground. Drew smiled remembering the argument he had with several Cat females and specifically Tiffany about the uselessness of playground when the forest was close by. Tiffany still felt it was a waste of his time. Drew hammering nails and cutting lumber when he could have been planning her new venture.

No one argued about it anymore, except for Tiffany. And the slide was the favorite of all species.

He sat on a bench and he could feel the two animals vibrating, wanting to join the cubs and children in play. Drew smiled at the discipline, as he held his hand over them. He could hear Kitten now view the children with a mixture of 'hunt' and desire of 'Play packmate'. As the alpha, Drew held Goldie's attention. Finally, he released them, and they raced over towards the children.