Star Kitten (39 page)

Kscheeech detailed all he
knew about the battle and his clever employing of Porko welders to
cut open a large hole in the security wall to let in supplies and
reinforcements to General Bengal. The Captain’s report basically
matched all that Solomon had heard from the crew of the
Varanus
; plus a few
details he didn’t yet know like the destruction of the command
headquarters on Star Pussy, the murdering of innocent bystanders,
and even the killing of undesirable kitchen staff Kscheeech had
seen butchered in the Starfish restaurant.

Things like that bothered
Solomon. Remembering his own past; Solomon knew oh so very well
about the consequences for military leaders of soldiers who had
been committing atrocities toward noncombatants and civilian
targets. Excuses could be made for troops going too far or becoming
ravenous killers when unsupervised by direct command.
They
could always claim
they were “following orders” and courts would typically buy that.
However, the commanders and their army leaders would inevitably be
held accountable.

Solomon groaned and rolled his eyes
worriedly when Kscheeech detailed these actions and eyewitness
accounts while they met in his private office in the terminal
command center. Kscheeech could see it was troubling him, and
hastened to change the subject to something more positive; like the
great new Chef he’d captured (Rex Middlefield) and also the fine
liquor he’d acquired. He reached into a sack of plunder he’d
brought up from his ship like souvenir pens and notepads he’d
found…also a T-shirt from a Star Pussy gift shop that said “I F***
on the First Date”… and a magnificent souvenir Star Pussy snow
globe. The snow globe had four Pumalar Females posing in alluring
positions, and giant block letters spelling out STAR PUSSY. Solomon
chuckled warmly and gradually forgot his worries. Then Kscheeech
pulled out a bottle of fine Scotch Whiskey imported from Earth and
offered it to Solomon for a nice jolt to get his mind completely
cleared.

Solomon frankly loved the idea of a shot of
whiskey right then. Remembering his past and the humiliation of
trial and banishment had left his mouth as dry as the desert sand
on New Australia’s planet surface. Those memories STILL haunted
him, even after all these years and right now a shot of whiskey
sounded fantastic! Kscheeech pulled out two oversized shot glasses
that were humorously shaped like female human breasts (both said
STAR PUSSY in hot pink letters over the top of the boob). He then
poured them both a dram of Scotch. Solomon snickered boyishly; then
grabbed one of the hilarious shot glasses and joyously swallowed
down the fine Scotch. Kscheeech laughed too and slowly sipped his
own glass down about halfway while Solomon winced a bit from the
effect of the burning alcohol. It had been months since Solomon had
drank even a drop of whiskey. But he recovered quickly and gestured
with the now empty Boob Glass for another. Kscheeech laughingly
poured him another shot while Solomon grinned mischievously.

Suddenly Kscheeech got up
and walked over to the door of Solomon’s command center office to
open it. Solomon just sat in his desk chair confusedly and sipped
his Scotch, watching the funny little lizard-like being saunter
over to the office entrance. Finally Kscheeech could make the
introduction he'd been longing to make for the weeks they'd been
flying through space back from Star Pussy: Felina Toyger, the
famous
Star Kitten
. She'd been waiting outside the door in the hallway all
along.

"Now, S-sssolomon... If I may introduce you
to s-sssomeone very special," began Kscheeech. He then reached over
and opened the door of Solomon's conference room office to invite
Felina inside. After a few moments, Solomon could hear a person or
being in the hallway standing up from the floor of the hall and
walking toward the doorway. He froze with excitement and
anticipation!

Solomon had been secretly
expecting this all along; and was almost hesitant when he’d greeted
Kscheeech earlier to ask about whether his trusted little
subordinate had found someone just for him. He didn't want to
interrupt Kscheeech about it while the Captain was giving his
report either. Truth be told, Solomon had been anticipating it for
the nearly two months since
Anarchy
and the Naustie fleet took off for Star Pussy;
and he most certainly hoped Kscheeech had him brought back much
more than just a bottle of Scotch with two obscene shaped shot
glasses, a snow globe, and an offensive T-shirt.

Even when the
Varanus
had landed, he
kind of hoped she'd be on board: the woman of his dreams. But
Kscheeech wasn’t on the
Varanus
, so he kept to himself and
waited for the next ship. Solomon just knew Kscheeech would bring
back to him someone very special to be his mate. Of course, Solomon
didn’t specifically ask for such a favor… he just kind of expected
Kscheeech to make it happen. Asking for something personal like
that, to be brought females for enjoyment; it wasn’t his style to
delegate such a task to subordinates. He just knew somewhere in all
those hundreds of females brought back from Star Pussy, that he’d
find someone all for himself.

However: what Solomon had been imagining all
along was his dream GIRL—a woman that is—preferably a beautiful
African or Middle Eastern female who’d been working as a maid,
waitress, or secretary on Star Pussy… maybe even a body worker! No
he had certainly NOT been imagining all along to be meeting a six
foot tall elegantly shaped she-cat.

Yet it mattered very little because once she
walked into his room; once Solomon greeted the gorgeously groomed;
and freshly brushed up Star Kitten, Felina Toyger; he was downright
mesmerized. He stood up from his desk chair and absent-mindedly
downed the rest of his Scotch at the sight of her. Then he quickly
remembered his manners to set the glass down with minimal
embarrassment. She actually stood eye-to-eye with him! Almost the
same height; with an amazing body, she had luscious velvety light
brown and black striped fur that covered her curvy body (which he
quickly noticed, looking her up and down). She had a warm smile and
bright green eyes that melted his cynical heart like an ice cream
cone on a hot August afternoon. Solomon's jaw just dropped open
with stunned surprise. She was not what he had imagined at all...
but something told him she was everything in the galaxy he ever
could have wanted.

Felina smiled warmly, and softly purred.
Kscheeech smiled too. Solomon just guffawed in amazement… then a
warm contented smile broke across his dark brown face. It looked
like the man had suddenly seen something he’d been desiring all his
life. Something he’d always wanted; but didn’t know until now
exactly what it looked like. Kscheeech just chuckled softly to
himself. His work here was done, and he knew it. He just softly
muttered, “I guess I’ll just let you two kids-sss get to know each
other,” then he slowly backed up and turned to leave the room.

“My work here is done, I believe…,” muttered
Kscheeech humorously to himself, “I think I’ll go find Rex and
s-sssee what’s for dinner.”

The other ships in the pirate fleet
gradually made their way home to New Australia, via various
circuitous routes. Some even did some additional raiding on the way
home, which only aided in further confusing the entire
Interplanetary Authority as to just how many damn pirates there
actually were out there!

The
Basilisk
for instance, was a
captured former Zorgolongian Galactic Patrol Ship that had recently
been lured into docking with what it
thought
was a disabled Zorg
freighter. However the seemingly vulnerable freighter’s hold was
actually hiding about 150 Naustie raiders onboard. This ambush
happened about ten months before the raid on Star Pussy.

Zorgolongian patrol ships
carried a crew of 116, plus room for about 200-300 troops when at
full capacity. So the
Basilisk
would have made an excellent reinforcement craft
for the attack on Star Pussy if it had been called in for support.
However, the arrival of the
Warthog
and
Varanus
ended up supplying plenty of forces to tip the
balance in favor of a Naustie victory.

During the ambush ten
months before the Star Pussy raid, the hidden Nausties surprised,
then wiped out the boarding party of Zorgolongian strike troops.
They rushed the command bridge of the
Basilisk
before the Zorgolongian
Captain could follow protocol and seal off the bridge or
self-destruct the vessel if all else failed. Therefore, the
Basilisk
was captured
completely intact; and became a proud new member of the Naustie
fleet just ten months before the attack on Star Pussy. The old beat
up freighter which had been used as the decoy… was simply scuttled
and left to drift in space.

But alas, the
Basilisk
never saw any
action during the epic battle on Star Pussy less than a year later.
And the Captain knew his crew members were still spoiling for a
fight. Therefore when it crossed paths with another civilian ship
on the trip home, the Captain decided (unwisely as it was to turn
out) to let his men have a little “fun”. Their victim was an old
Zorgolongian freighter heading through the Pumalar star system.
Slow-moving, carrying lots of passengers and food... it was an easy
target for the much faster
Basilisk
. Basically they just
overtook it and sent a Ship-to-Ship message for the freighter to
surrender or be fired upon. The Zorg freighter, knowing it was
outgunned (knowing it couldn’t outrun the faster patrol craft)
surrendered without any further argument; and allowed the
Basilisk
to dock with
it.

Naustie warriors then rushed on board and
took it over from bow to stern in a matter of minutes. Eventually
the Nausties hauled off twenty-five female Zorg crew members, plus
fifty-seven Zorg passengers (also female) who’d been traveling
onboard. Those were snatched right up and dragged away, but the
remainder of the male passengers and crew were given an ultimatum:
either join the pirates or be discarded into deep space to die (in
the most horrible way imaginable… strangling in the empty void of
space). Naturally all of them readily agreed to switch sides and
join the pirates.

The freighter they
captured though was not scuttled (like it should have been);
because the Captain believed he could man it with enough of his own
crew (and some of its own original Zorgolongian crew who’d agreed
to switch sides and join the pirates). It was also loaded with food
in its cargo hold; and the Captain of the Basilisk wanted to bring
all of it back to New Australia to trade. This would be
challenging, given the size and complexity of the much bigger
freighter, but the Captain of the
Basilisk
felt they could get it home
under the command of
his
trusted First Mate, who was also a Zorg
himself.

Disastrously though, after
only a few weeks traveling in a wide arc near the Zorgolong star
system, the previously
trustworthy First
Mate (at least apparently) turned on his own Captain; and
mutinously tried taking the big freighter back to planet Zorgolong!
Theories abounded later, as to how it might have happened. But
somehow the group of captured Zorgs still on board—who’d nominally
agreed to join the pirates—had staged a successful mutiny of some
kind, forcing the First Mate (or convincing him) to betray his own
crew. There were sixty three of them (including seventeen females)
sent back to serve under the First Mate on their original ship.
Some were even manning controls on the bridge of the ship (which
was at the very least a rather odd breach of security
protocol).

No one ever really found out what happened
on that command deck, but some Nausties would later speculate that
he’d merely fallen in love with—or under the influence of—one or
more of his fellow Zorgs. Maybe it was that. Maybe the First Mate
really did decide to try and go back to Zorgolong; after so many
years away from his home! There were so many possible motives.

Regardless of the motive
though, the Captain of the
Basilisk
had simply no choice but to give chase and
destroy the captured freighter, killing not only his former First
Mate; but all the 53 crewmen he’d sent over to operate it. There
were also a hundred and six Pumalar marines sent over (ironically)
to protect the Naustie crew; but the Captain of the
Basilisk
knew it would
have been quite easy to close off the bridge and trap those big
beasts below decks. That’s why it seemed so bizarre. Had a Naustie
officer REALLY committed a mutiny?

Within a day, the Captain
of the
Basilisk
had caught up to the captured Zorg freighter and obliterated
it with thermonuclear missiles. There were no survivors; and little
left as far as evidence or remnants of the destroyed ship. Body
parts floating in space; and a few ship components was all that
remained. It was a sad day for everyone on board the
Basilisk
; and many
mourned the loss of not only their fellow crew members; but much
worse the denigration of their own self-image as loyal Nausties. At
the end of the day, Naustie Pirates had always seen themselves as
something of an elite brethren. The mere notion or thought of a
Naustie Pirate turning on his former Captain and fellow crewmen…
that was incomprehensible. This betrayal (if it was one) was quite
unsettling to the remaining crew of the
Basilisk
. It was quite a long sad
flight back home to New Australia for all of them.