Drew's Trouble with Cats and Roaches Pt. 12

Drew ordered them to launch but hold at the last transfer node, until all three capital ships were together. He planned to launch his ship Harmonia, within two days. For some reason, he had an uneasy feeling about entering the Others parcel of space. He wanted all his guns in one place, under one command, just in case.

Humans were again creating the most drama regarding the colonization, especially since they were down to only one sip in earth orbit. There was more and more pressure to allow the human factor to take precedent. He was amazed at how well the other species went along with the logic of the original plan. Co-mingle, use each species strengths to better the community. Fight and work together to build something new. It was humanity that was driving the 'divide, conquer and control' faction.

Drew finally said, 'fuck it' and sent everyone up to Harmonia. Elsa waddled abord the shuttle and made him promise he would be coming shortly in the Corvette.

He had said his goodbyes to his dad and everyone else. He stood in the hatchway and looked at the playground, now bereft of children. He looked at the lodge and remembered the times of joy. He felt a familiar presence again and looked to the timberline. He could not see the eyes, but he knew message that was being received. His father would be protected as a packmate and he needed to go, wherever he was going, in peace.

Drew took one last look around. He was not sure he would ever see 'home' again. He swung in, the hatch closed, and the Corvette raced into the sky.

***

The three had volunteered to do something incredibly dangerous. They used EV suits and Kay designed stealth sleds to slide through the nexus without detection. No one had ever attempted to transfer space in just EV suits, but they made it.

Thing One was the leader of the mission. Drew had forbidden Thing Two from joining her twin. The other two sleds were piloted by a kettle and a fox. All three sleds dragged drones behind them. As soon as they cleared and could find cover in the adjacent asteroid field, the drones were set loose. It only took an hour to find the first cat destroyer lying in wait. Three additional destroyer class vessels and one cruiser class ship were also detected.

They had been betrayed.

The fox pilot released her homing droid with all the pertinent information for the fleet and they settled down to wait. It would only take a couple of hours for that much mass to make the transition through space.

The rebuilt and oversized Cat cruisers popped into space in a triangle formation. Their weapons and shields were up before the ambush ships could make their move. The armored shuttles and the Corvette streaked and fanned out of the bays to provide added cover.

The young lord demanded to know why they were in his Clan's space. No answer was forthcoming. He demanded the hidden ships power down weapons and shields. Their response was a broadside of missiles.

The team hidden in the asteroid field saw their signal...aggressive action by the hidden ships. They sent their weaponized drones at the engines, control vanes and targeting arrays of the once hidden ships. Since the droids has been drifting well inside their shields, there was no opportunity for the ambushed ships to know what hit them.

The missiles that were loosed by the once hidden destroyer were swatted down by the Pride's vast array of weapons. Drew watched as one after another, the once hidden ships started to vent life support, have their engines blow up or have parts of their ships blown free by seemingly invisible hands.

"Harmonia to Artemis, please have your shuttle bring our warriors back to Aphrodite."

"Already on way Admiral." Thing Two responded.

"Lord, can you please reach out and offer peace to the warriors. The last thing we wish to do is cause more cat deaths" requested lord Drew.

There was a silent huge flash of light from the location of one of the hidden destroyers. Either the engines ignited, or they blew up their own ship. Another distant destroyer also became a small sun as it burst into light.

Drew mentally screamed "Stop!" he paused, "We are here for peaceful coexistence. Please stop this loss of precious life. We have enemies far worse than those in our ships or yours. Please no more death"

"Who are you to offer life?" there was a pause, "You who can talk to us in the cat way but stay hidden from our sight. Who are you to offer life instead of honorable death?" the unknown female voice asked.

'I am part of you but not," Drew paused not knowing how to respond. He heard a voice in his head, that reminded him of Meme, it said 'truth is always best".

"I am Lord Drew, Protector of the Pride and I say again, no more loss of precious life." He cast out and image of himself and of the love and loss he had suffered but also of the blending of Pride, Clan, and other species.

"We are not here to destroy but build. We are not her to enslave but help make all free. We want peace so we can let our children grow. We have beaten the roaches once, but they will be back. We together can bring an end to the suffering caused by death and loss by their kind."

Drew noticed he could feel and upsurge of emotion at the mention of children and roaches. He wondered if this clan was in the same shape as the Others.

"Let us talk of peace, please come over to our ship and talk about the future for Clans and Pride."

"We will come, to hear and see you speak. We make no promises," the female voice stated. She had not broadcast herself out during their limited dialog.

***

An antiquated cat shuttle landed in the holding bay. It was immediately scanned for explosives or other weapons beyond what would be expected. None were found. A group pf Cats existed the craft, with two humans trailing, a woman and man.

Drew was watching on the monitor, he flinched when he saw the humans. The woman seemed quite young and man very old. He could tell the way they were dressed and how they followed with heads bowed, they were slaves.

Drew stood behind the right shoulder of the young lord. Things One and Two were at opposite sides of the raised dais, fully armed. Surrounding the young lord and his young, very pregnant queen were representatives from all the races

As the Clans entourage came into the room, the six Cats spread out with a tall thin female in the lead. She seemed so thin as to be unhealthy. She was average height for a female Cat, thin and her fur and mane was missing the luster of his Pride's Cats. There were what appeared to be a male scholar, bent and looking ill. Two other females in the same shape as their Queen and two warriors that looked like they would prefer to eat everyone else. The two humans hugging the walls behind the cats stayed quiet and tried to blend into the paint. All the entourage seemed to be gaunt, with sunken eyes, including the two human slaves. The tall thin female Queen reached out with her mind.

"We are here. You have our ships trapped and disabled. What do you want with us? Why not kill us or let us kill ourselves with honor?" the Queen questioned.

"Why end your life Queen and that of your Clan, when your Clan can live and prosper?' The young lord asked.

"Are we to trust this menagerie of lesser beings? How do I explain bending a knee to this...?" she ended waving her hands at the dais.

The whole time they were in the room, Drew had been searching their minds. He was shocked how much they were just like the Others when they first clashed. They had lost territories and warriors to inter clan battles. They had only had a brief brush with the roaches but were slaughtered. They were out of food, water, and medical supplies. The missiles that they had fired in frustration were all that they had. They were at the end, their end.

Drew reached down and put his hand on the young lord's shoulder and passed this information to him privately. The Other Queen did not miss the interchange.

"We are not asking for you to bend a knee but join a partnership." The young lord chuffed and shook his head, "I assure you it took a while for my Clan to truly understand the benefit," he put his hand on top of Drews that was still sitting on his shoulder, "but I can promise that this menagerie as you called it, is stronger than one clan alone."

Drew did impart one quick request "slaves" to the young lord.

"One additional thing Queen, we do not accept the holding of slaves in our partnership." The young lord commented.

"These two have become useless and a liability to me. I only brought them as a gift since your slave resembled a much better version than these two. Do what you wish with them. They are the last of a group we took years ago."

Drew was growling under his breath, but he could also see the Queen was lying. These two meant something to her and she was putting up a front. She could no longer feed them.

Drew looked at Thing Two and asked her to call medical.

"We thank you for the gift, but they are now freed and will be taken to medical for evaluation." The young lord commented. With the word 'freed" Drew saw a brief flash of light from the yes of the two humans. They did not break their stoic look, but for a moment he saw hope.

Medical personal came in and led the two humans out the door.

"And for clarification, the human standing behind me is Lord Drew, Protector of his clan called the Pride. you saw him, and now know him. it was not a trick, he is connected to us all, the same as the rest of our lineage. "The young lord looked up at Drew and patted his hand as a type of signal.

"He is admiral of this fleet and creator of our partnership. My clan had been seriously hurt by war with the roaches. My father refused to become anything other than what he had always been, a warrior looking for his own death. He met that death at the hands of Lord Drew." The young lord paused.

"Lord Drew saved me when my father plunged a poisoned knife in my chest for disagreeing with him. He befriended my clan and then was deceived in that friendship when part of my clan betrayed me. They were slaughtered and some of Lord Drews clan died as result, including one of his queens. Yet he kept his promise in the partnership and here we are today. Give him honor where honor is due."

Drew stepped forward equally beside the Young Lord.

"Humans find food and refreshment to be a time of sharing. A calm chance to talk of things and get to know each other. Would you be willing to sit down and share our food and just talk as equals?" Drew asked.

The other entourage looked among themselves and held private talks. Drew could hear them all. They were starving, their children were starving. They had lost most of their warriors. The first destroyer went up when the drone disabled its engines. The second destroyer was ignited, when the warriors killed themselves by self-destruct.

"We will accept your offer if you have food that we can eat.' The queen commented

The young lord just chuffed, "Wait until you taste Lord Drews spicy lasagna."

***

Portable long tables that were a norm of Cat large halls, were set up in the large shuttle landing bay. Feeding stations on a war ship were normally small and spread out on shipboard not allowing for such a large gathering. Except for the royal and command tables, the rest of the beings in attendance, feasted cafeteria style.

After a short discussion, all decided to get in line. They looked in fascination at all the food and multiple choices. The young lord and Drew stood back and waited. The Clan Queen became curious and came to stand with them.

"Why do you wait? Are you not both lords?" she asked

"I do it out of respect. I came from humble human beginnings. I was a slave under our old lord for years and had to wait to see what scraps were left to eat so I could live. I never want anyone I lead to think that I am better than they are. I give them respect by letting them know that we all eat together, that I am no better than they are." Drew finished.

"I am trying to learn different perspectives from Lord Drew" the young lord commented. "Plus, I will fill a plate for my Queen since I know what she can and cannot eat during this part of her pregnancy. It has also made a subtle but surprisingly positive change in actions within my own clan."

The Clan Queen cocked her head and said "curious."

"You have no idea. It has been a fascinating but difficult transition. I lost half my clan in mutiny because they wanted the 'old ways' created by my father. I expected to have the Pride kill us all. That did not happen because of the strength of character of Lord Drew." The young lord continued to comment.

The new Clan group had stayed away from the buffet line and stood behind their queen. But they watched as all the species filed through the line. They were starving but stood strong and did not show weakness.

"It is time Queen, please lead your people through. We will follow." Drew commented

The queen and her entourage had been watching and gathered up trays and utensils. Drew was not sure that they knew what to do with them, but they went on the tray. Everyone followed the Queen's example except the two warriors that followed at the end.

The two warriors just grabbed a tray and started to heap meat in piles. It did not seem to matter what type of meat, just meat. Drew stepped forward and put his hand on their shoulders. He was answered with growls and blades coming out of sheathes.

Immediately there was the sound of weapons activated and powered. They were pointed at the offending warriors' heads by two of the Prides security staff.

The Clan queen mentally sent a blast of "Stop!" and so did Drew. They all froze in place for a few seconds.

Drew slowly reached down and removed the large knife from the hands of one warrior and dropped it on his tray. He performed the same slow movement on the second warrior.

"Yes, warriors you can use your own knifes to cut your meat, or you can use the ones we provide," Drew commented publicly, with slaps on the back of both warriors. The security staff powered down and retook their positions in the hall.

Privately Drew talked to the two warriors with a cat mental bond, "Warriors, I just came to let you know that there will always be plenty of food. If you have not been eating regularly, that much food will make you sick or could even kill you. Please eat sparingly and let the food digest. You are in no danger here, please take your time. All food left, we will package so you can take it." The warriors nodded and went to the end of a table away from the rest.

Drew turned face to face with the clan queen. He had felt her hand touch him as he talked to her warriors and he had let her share in the dialog.

'How did you know?" she asked with a much harder edge than he had heard from her so far and that was saying something.

"Queen, please let us eat, let us relax a bit and you and I will take a walk through the ship and I will promise to answer anything I can, " Drew paused looking into her hollowed eyes that flowed from her hollowed cheeks, "Please."

"Tell me about this thing you make called lasagna,' she nodded and questioned.

"It's a food stuff that is made of ground grain. Original concept from one part of earth called China and then imported in concert to another part of world called Europe. Made into an artform of culinary delight in a country within Europe called Italy." He had taken her arm and led her over to the one tray in the food line that was empty.

"Seems it is all gone?" she commented with a hint of sadness

"They are bringing out another tray. Like I promised your warriors, and I promise your clan, we will always provide food, water, and other sustenance. When people are no longer thirsty, hungry, or sick, they have a chance to think and dream of bigger and greater things than themselves. We must always strive for this in all of us." Drew ended what he felt like was a sermon.

"Your people are quite different Lord. I hope we can find common ground to 'dream' of better things"

The command table slowly completed their meal, the Clan queen was fascinated regarding the pregnancy of the young queen of the Others. The truth came out by accident when she mentioned that she could now wear her earring with two crystals for her two pending cubs.

The Clan Queen snapped up her head when she heard the flapping of ears from the other Pride females. When she realized the count of the young it meant, she sat flabbergasted and silent.

She finally stated, "very different indeed."

She turned to Drew and the Young lord "May we take that walk now? I would love to see the children if it is permitted."

"I think that can be arranged" Drew said with a smile

He sent a mental blast to certain members of the pride to create a logistics plan to tow the disabled Clan craft to the Others home world. All of that remaining Bug tech they had secreted away from Earth would come in handy sooner than they thought.

***

Back on earth at the Northern Alliance headquarters.

"What do you mean it's all gone? How is that possible? I can still see the damn big ship through my home telescope." The rotund man with goatee demanded.

It's just the shell. All control surfaces, all weapons, shield controls, optics, really anything of value is just gone." Quoted the bird colonel.

"what about all the little ships we saved, the ones that did not burn up?" goatee asked.

"Gone" said the officer in his starched uniform.

'Well fuck, fuck and double fuck. We will still get there. We will take our place among the stars. That asshole cannot squeeze us out." Shouted the rotund man with the goatee.

End of Chapter 12