Surefoot 41: Stray

*

The turbolifts weren't working now, but there were still ladders nearby. But he was tired from carrying Hobbes. He couldn't carry Hobbes all the way there! What if he dropped him! What if they both fell, all the way down?

He turned to the dog. He couldn't leave him behind. What if he wandered off?

Cal knelt and let Hobbes leap up against him, forepaws resting on Cal's shoulder, as Cal fixed his shoulder bag around him as a harness again, slipping an arm under Hobbes' bottom. "Don't you fidget now!"

It took forever... and Cal almost slipped twice. But he kept going, switching arms, and taking stops for rest along the way.

Deck 5.

Deck 4.

He hurt. But he remembered what Power Cat says: "You are stronger than you might think, smarter than you might know, and braver than you might feel. Believe in Yourself."

He kept going.

Cal collapsed onto the floor on Deck 3, letting Hobbes wander off while he lay there, aching, his head still hurting. Hobbes had been so heavy!

He wanted to lie there on the floor and nap, even if it was cold and hard. But he had to get home to Mom and Dad. They would surely be waiting for him!

His quarters were there -- and the door was open! "MOM! DAD!"

Hobbes barked and raced inside first, Cal following... but it was as dark and empty here as everywhere else he'd been. "Mom? Dad?"

From his bedroom, a familiar light and voice came to life. "Calvin?"

He brightened and rushed in, never so glad to see- "Nanny!"

The holographic head turned in the globe. "Calvin? Where have you been? Your parents, everyone's been worried sick about you!"

"I- I- where's Mom and Dad?"

"They left! Everyone evacuated! When they couldn't find you, they thought someone had taken you with them into an escape pod! You need to find a crewmember and report in!"

Cal's heart was racing. They left him? They left him behind? "I haven't seen anyone around! Call Mom and Dad!"

"I can't! My access is limited to intraship communications, and that isn't functioning anymore! You need to find an escape pod! They have equipment onboard that can send an automatic distress signal!"

Now his breathing quickened, and he wiped sweat off of his face.

"Calvin," Nanny said, her tone changing, "Put your hand on the globe, let me check your bioreadings. You don't look well."

"I'm- I'm just tired-"

"Do it, Calvin."

He didn't want to, he wanted to go find Mom and Dad... but Nanny's words were a comfort, someone telling him what he had to do. He wiped the tears and snot from his face onto his sleeve, and placed a clammy hand on the surface of the globe.

Nanny's face reacted, photonic eyes widening. "You need to find an escape pod, Calvin. Now. Pick me up, take me with you." After a moment, she added, "Hurry. Please."

He did so, though she felt heavier than she usually did, carrying her under his arm as he stepped back into the living room.

A flash of light from their windows caught his attention, and he stopped. The view outside lately had been boring; Dad said that they were posted on the edge of the Sherman system, away from its sun and its planets, and it was usually dark. But now... now he saw ships.

Klingon ships.

And Starfleet ships! And they were firing at each other! Swooping around, having a real fight!

And among them, a ship like the one Power Cat flew! It even had the red paw print on top of it!

POWER CAT WAS HERE TO SAVE HIM!

At any other time, Cal would have loved to stay and watch a real fight.

But now, now all he wanted was his Mom and Dad.

"Calvin," Nanny urged. "Let's go, please. Hobbes too."

He nodded, heading back out into the corridor. He felt sick, dizzy.

Then he heard a voice and picked up. People! People were still here! He rushed ahead and around a corner, Hobbes following, both of them running into-

A Klingon!

He stood impossibly tall and wide, in scary black and grey armour, with a fierce, swarthy face topped with rows of bumps on his head and knives and other weapons on his belt. He grunted as Cal yelped, before reaching out and grabbing Cal by the shoulder, his grip tight. "SoH 'Iv? Jang puq, ghu!"

Terror galvanised Cal into action, as he struggled to free himself, while Hobbes barked and snapped at the Klingon's boots, and Nanny scolded, "Let go of him this instant, you!"

The Klingon kicked Hobbes viciously, making the dog yelp and limp away, before striking Nanny's globe, making it fly out from under Cal's arm and smash against the nearest wall, bouncing and rolling away, even as Nanny shouted, "RUN, CALVIN! GET AWAY!"

The Klingon drew his disruptor pistol out and fired at the globe, missing once, but then hitting it and making it explode into a million shards.

He holstered his weapon and lifted Cal up off the ground, shaking him. "Jang puq, ghu!"

But Cal still couldn't understand. He kept looking back at the remains of Nanny, and in the direction where Hobbes had run off. He... killed Nanny. Cal had always said he'd hated her, but he didn't mean it! And Hobbes was hurt, he needed help!

But the Klingon dragged him off, to a cargo turbolift that appeared to still function, and they descended to Deck 6, but in a section he wasn't allowed to go in, with all the Science Labs. They entered one lab, where other Klingons milled about over the computers, using devices that looked a little like tricorders, but darker and uglier.

One older Klingon with more emblems on his uniform than the others stopped and regarded the arrivals. "NuqDaq globfly poHlIj?"

The first Klingon shoved Cal closer to the other one. "ChoQ 3, nIteb ghaHtaH!"

The older Klingon approached Cal, sneering slightly as he touched his own chest. "HoD Kutuz. Qatlh naDev?"

Cal swallowed, feeling like he was going to melt. "I- I don't know what you're saying-"

The Klingon grunted and then said slowly, in Federation Standard, "I said I am Captain Kutuz. Do you understand me now?"

Cal nodded.

"Good. Why are you still here? Why did you not flee with the other Starfleet cowards?"

Cal wiped his face. "I was- I was hiding- they couldn't find me-"

"Obviously." Kutuz drew in closer. "I don't suppose you have any intelligence to offer on the secret weapon they were testing onboard this vessel?"

Cal frowned, confused. Did he mean the Deck 6 Project, where they were? Why would he know anything?

Kutuz drew back again. "No. I suppose you wouldn't." He looked to the Klingon who had brought him in. "GhaHvaD HoH."

The Klingon holding Cal reacted, indicating the boy. "GhaHvaD HoH? GhaH ghu!"

Kutuz regarded Cal once more. "Segh je? 'eH ghaH nuq'e' vo' tetryon radiaghta; pung Data' ghaH. 'ach vogh latlh ruch."

Cal gasped. What were they saying? Was it rude, and his Translator was keeping him from hearing it, or was it because it was just Klingon?

The Klingon holding Cal made a sound of acknowledgement and dragged the boy back out into the darkened corridor and along towards an open shaft near the cargo turbolift. He looked up, perplexed and afraid; was he taking him to an escape pod? Taking him back to find Hobbes? "Wha- What are you doing?"

He shook Cal as he continued to force him along. "YIjot, ghu! Ghotvam'e' vatlh Hoch!"

Panic set in, and Cal began struggling. Nanny told him to get away from the Klingons. "Let go of me! LET GO!"

The Klingon stopped, made an impatient sound, and drew out a wicked-looked blade.

Cal cried out, doubled his efforts to break free, but remained weak- no- please don't hurt don't hurt me Mommy MOMMY-

Suddenly a huge furred hand shot out of the shadows, grasping the Klingon's knife hand. And then the body attached to the furred hand followed and growled, "Hey Bubulah: why don't you pick on someone my size?"

Cal's eyes widened.

POWER CAT?

The Klingon quickly released Cal and flung him against the nearest wall, before facing Power Cat, snarling, knife raised.

Cal collapsed to the floor, watching with astonishment as his hero grappled with the Klingon, moving at warp speed as he knocked the blade from the Klingon's grip, before he raked the Klingon's throat with his claws, drove a fist into his gut and finally brought his knee up into the Klingon's Rude Places, making the Klingon double over and collapse into a heap.

Then he turned to Cal. And smiled, as if nothing had just happened. "Hello! You must be Calvin Meacham! I'm-"

"Power Cat!" Cal declared hoarsely, rising. He looked different to the image in the holoprograms and on his posters and pyjama top: he was... fatter, with brown fur and no mane, and he was disguised in a Starfleet uniform with Captain's pips rather than his costume.

But he did have a bright red paw print on his uniform collar, next to his pips.

Maybe he was Power Cat's Dad?

Suddenly, all further thoughts fled Cal as he began to fall to the floor again, feeling like he was on fire.

Power Cat caught him before he hit the floor, sweeping him up in his arms and resting him against his shoulder, patting him and assuring him, "There, there, it's okay. We're here to get you back to your Mama and Papa."

Cal clung to him with his remaining strength...

No. No, this was his hero.

Then he watched as a half-dozen others in Starfleet uniforms raced up from the darkness, stopping and remaining silent as Power Cat made a shushing gesture, pointing down the other end of the corridor as he whispered, "I hear about six of them, in one of the Science Labs, five metres away." He indicated the Klingon on the floor. "Get him secured on our shuttle. Report, Lieutenant."

As two of the Starfleet people dragged the Klingon off, a scary-looking, black-furred Cat Lady regarded Cal before quietly responding. "Sir, we've been to Main Engineering. No one there... but the Self Destruct has been activated. We have fourteen minutes."

Cal looked up to see Power Cat frown. "The reports from Captain Taaers was that they didn't have time to set it."

"I know; it appears to have been activated by a set of hidden Security Protocols outside of the Command structure."

"What? Outside of-" Then he noticed Cal looking up at him, and sniffed, frowning. "Ensign Eydiir..."

A young dark-skinned human female drew up to them, peering with dark eyes at Cal. Cal looked back, afraid of the stranger at first -- until she saw that she, like all the others, wore the same red paw print on their collars. They must be Power Cat's Friends! "The subspace interference is still affecting our tricorders along with communicators and sensors, but... my eyes say it's tetryon radiation poisoning, Sir. We need to get him-"

Suddenly Power Cat twitched, and slammed the young woman and himself back against the wall. "COVER!"

Disruptor bolts flew down the corridor, as Cal saw the others take cover around corners and alcoves, before Power Cat shielded the boy's head with his hand. Cal listened to phaser fire being returned, and further disruptor bolts being fired and hitting walls.

"Captain Kutuz!" Power Cat called out. "This is Captain Hrelle of the Surefoot! I know you're with your landing party in there! This ship is going to the Seven Hells in just over ten minutes! You can't get back to your shuttle except through us! Let's call a truce!"

The firing stopped, and then the voice Cal recognised from before called back. "HoD! bel tagha' 'e' vItIv. Hrelle Hoch 'oH Surefoot! Jegh'a' bISaHchugh 'ej jIchegh maH Duj? "

Cal frowned to himself. He wanted to know what they were talking about! Why didn't his Mom and Dad include Klingon in his Translator?

Power Cat grunted. "Clearly you have the same communication interference as we have, and you haven't looked out the nearest window lately. Your ship fought valiantly; it earned its place in Sto-Vo-Kor while the others fled. All you have is your own shuttle, and our ships waiting nearby. The honourable course of action is to surrender."

The Klingons went silent, as Hrelle looked to another member of his party. "Ensign Kitirik, what's the status of the subspace instability?"

Cal turned his head again to see a reptilian figure looking a little like the Oberon's Saurian Chief Science Officer, including his Starfleet uniform topped in Science Blue, but this figure was smaller and had mottled green skin. He glanced at a tricorder in his webbed hands. "Respected Sir, our scanning devices remain ineffectual due to the rift between space and subspace here, but the level of interference itself can be measured... and indicates that it remains strong, definitely centred within the vessel."

Cal felt Hrelle react. "So, it's not likely to have been a Klingon weapon which caused all this chaos?"

"No, Respected Sir; it is certainly reminiscent of the subspace isolytic weapons banned under the Second Khitomer Accords. Forgive my lack of more precise details-"

"Nothing to forgive, Kit. You only came over from the Iberia for a visit, and I press-ganged you because we don't have an experienced Science Officer of our own. You've been invaluable to us." He looked to the Cat Lady. "Time?"

"Twelve minutes. Let's not die onboard this [BLEEP]."

"Language." Hrelle glanced down at Cal, before looking back towards the Science Lab and calling out, "Kutuz! I have a critically-ill child here, he needs to get off this ship! I want to call a ceasefire!"

The disruptor fire ended. Cal saw Hrelle twitch his ears, before he announced, "They're trying to beam back to their shuttle!"

The Reptoid's colours flushed. "Respected Sir, they cannot- the subspace interference will prevent a safe lock-"

Cal started as he heard... something from the Science Lab. He tried to look over Power Cat's hand to see, but his hero wouldn't let him.

Power Cat silently motioned to the Cat Lady to investigate. She moved carefully down the hall, in case it was a trap, while Hrelle adjusted his hold on Cal and headed in the opposite direction. "Come on, we've got to get back to the shuttle. Gorman, Eydiir, bring up the rear. Kit, stay beside me, I promised Captain Caine to return you to the Iberia in one piece."

Cal felt like he was going to be sick, and he could barely cling to Captain Hrelle... but still he struggled weakly. They- They needed to get- "Hobbes!"

"Hmm? What's a 'Hobbes'?"

Cal felt dizzy. "M-My dog- Klingon- kicked him-"

"Where did he go?"

"Our quarters- Deck 3- please- get him-" Thoughts of Hobbes being hurt, or worse, made Cal sicken and start to cry.

"Eydiir," Power Cat prompted, handing over Cal as he straightened up. "Get to the shuttle, on the double. If I don't join you before the countdown reaches five minutes, detach and get out of the blast radius."

"Captain," Eydiir started.

"Go! Now! I'll get the dog! Mr Gorman! Get them there!"

Cal began crying as he was carried off, watching Power Cat race off. Then they moved in the opposite direction, into the Shuttlebay, and to an airlock into another shuttle, where Cal saw that nasty Klingon who kicked Hobbes, only now he was manacled and kept on the floor of the shuttle in the aft.

A human woman with blonde hair like Mom was sitting in the cockpit, and turned to face them. "Where are the others?"

Eydiir lay Cal down on a bed and opened a medical kit. "The other Klingons attempted to beam back to their shuttle; Lt Shall is checking for survivors. The Captain is after a dog."

"A dog? Is he crazy?"

"You may ask him yourself if he returns, Lt Velkovsky; if he does not in five minutes, we have orders to leave. Kit, assist me: 50cc hyronalin, then ready the cortical stimulator in case he goes into arrest." The dark-skinned girl looked into Cal's eyes. "Stay still, young man, we are tending to you-"

But he still tried to lift his head up. "P-Power Cat- he'll- save H-Hobbes-"

"Why do you continue to refer to Captain Hrelle with that garish appellation?"

Now he reached up, touching the red pawprint emblem on her collar. "Power Cat-"

She gently but firmly reached up and removed his hand. "That is a medical designation recognised by the Interstellar Aid Registry. We are crewmembers on an ambulance ship. You are delirious."

Then the Reptoid touched Cal's sweat-soaked pyjama top, indicating the image of Power Cat on it, sporting an almost-identical pawprint symbol, as he handed the woman a hypospray. "Best Friend Eydiir, Power Cat is a popular felinoid fictional hero among many young humanoids now. I have watched it as well... purely as a cultural exercise, of course. He is the Paw Prince, the Mane Man, the Purr-fect Hero, Paw-some..." He coughed. "The writers are fond of puns."

The woman grunted as she pressed the tip of the hypospray against Cal's neck. "Indeed; that would certainly explain your own interest. The resemblance appears superficial. What does this hero do, then?"

"Power Cat is brave, generous, caring. He protects children, animals. All innocents, everywhere. You can depend on him."

The woman grunted again. "Perhaps... not so superficial, then. Ready 20ccs anaprovaline; the hyronalin will cause him discomfort, and he has been through enough already-"

"Where the [BLEEP] is he?"

All heads turned to the black-furred Cat Lady as she entered the shuttle, the nurse responding with, "He went for the boy's dog on Deck 3."

"He did what? Stupid [BLEEP]! This ship's about to blow itself to [BLEEP]!"

"What happened to the Klingons, Lieutenant?" the red-headed human male Power Cat called Gorman asked. "Any of them make it back to their own shuttle?"

The Cat Lady hissed. "Not... in one piece." She dropped some devices on the floor beside her. "So I grabbed their tricorders for evidence about what they were doing on the Oberon." Then she turned. "I'm going back for Uncle Esek-"

"No!" the nurse cut in, pressing another hypospray onto Cal's neck. "His orders were to leave if he wasn't back in five minutes before Self-Destruct!"

"[BLEEP] his orders! I'm-" Then she stopped, her ears twitching, before she leaned out of the airlock and shouted, "You took your time, you fat [BLEEP]!"

"Bad language is neither big nor clever." Power Cat entered, catching his breath... but holding Hobbes in his arms. "Irina, detach and get us out of the blast area, double quick!" As the door slid shut and there were unclamping sounds outside the shuttle, Power Cat turned to the Reptoid. "Kit, see to this cheeky little quadruped, he's got some internal injuries, possibly a fractured hind leg."

Cal just stared in abject amazement, tears running down his face. He did it! He really did it!

Power Cat made some soft, comforting sounds to the whimpering dog as he handed him over, swaying slightly as the shuttle began moving, before kneeling beside Cal and smiling, wiping the tears from his cheeks. "He'll be fine. And so will you."

Cal smiled weakly. "You're... Paw-some..."

Then he passed out...

*

Angry voices seemed to drag Cal out of the darkness. Familiar voices.

"...tain, I am grateful to you and your crew for all you've done for us, but you have no right to-"

"I have every right, Captain Taaers! You were conducting experiments onboard your ship in violation of the Second Khitomer Accords! We have the proof from the Klingon tricorders!"

"I don't have to answer to you, Captain!"

"No, but you'll be answering to Admiral Tattok!"

"Don't bet on it, Hrelle."

"And what does that mean?"

"Captains," interjected a soft, gentler voice. "Now is not the time. Bag your testosterone."

After a second, one of the voices responded with, "Thank you for your intervention, Counselor."

"Oh, don't thank me, Captain Taaers. I can tell you're clearly hiding something, and I know my husband well enough to know this won't be the end of it. But for now, our young stray is awake, but pretending to be asleep so he can listen in on you."