Star Kitten (54 page)

By way of
comparison though, the Naustie Army was taking a terrible beating
at the hands of Earth forces. Gradually the Naustie strategy had
evolved into retreating; and leading pursuing Earth forces down
tunnels which had been bored-out underneath previously. Explosive
charges would be placed in a large section of the tunnel floor then
detonated when the Earthmen passed over this area like it was a
bridge. This would take out the Earther’s lead tunnel tank; and in
the ensuing chaos, Nausties would storm the cave-in site to
massacre the confused Earther troops. Occasionally it worked, and a
hundred Earthers would be eliminated. Other times it was a dismal
failure, leading to a couple hundred Naustie casualties with only
ten or twenty Earthers killed.

The good news
though, was that Porko Engineer units attached to the Naustie army
were getting smarter and smarter about setting directional charges
that really worked in clearing out hollow sections of rock. This
would be crucial too, because Cuttlefish had already estimated the
necessary amount of explosives to create a blast large enough for
his plan to work. As he kept telling Solomon, “Remember Commander.
We’re not detonating the magma itself; we’re blowing up a large
section of rock above it… just like we were uncorking a bottle of
champagne.”

Gradually,
Solomon began diverting supplies of mining charges down to
Cuttlefish and to his newly assembled team of assistant
“Volcanologists”. Quickly Cuttlefish decided on Porkos for the job.
They were much tougher than humans and really understood mining
already. After all, if they knew mining, they knew rocks and
explosives too; and since they could handle the heat coming out of
that hellish magma chamber they were far better than any Slart for
the task.

Finally,
Solomon gave the order for all civilians in the area to just move
even further away from the blast site. They had already followed
Felina out of their homes, yes; but Solomon wanted something even
safer for them. He knew he’d have to stay in his command center
which could be walled off from the blast with a simple cave-in; but
he wanted Felina, and their adopted four-year-old daughter, to lead
the rest of the nonessential personnel to safety. To that end, he
ordered a crew of Porko miners to create an escape tunnel to
eventually come out on the planet surface… far from where the
volcanic blasts might happen. This would take weeks to accomplish;
but it might ensure the survival of at least a portion of the
Naustie population.

They were to set off
cave-ins along the way, he would order them, to stem the flow of
any lava blast too; thereby effectively entombing the rest of the
planet’s mining network behind them. He saved this last most
terrible order for his most trusted Earther staff member Nicky
Ciancio to deliver. Nicky would be sent with them and be put in
command of the squad leading them out, because Solomon knew the
cold hearted old Mafia hitman would have no problem concocting most
any story necessary to keep the refugees moving and the tunnels
continually blocked up behind them. Tough old bastard that he was:
Nicky was just the man for that job!

Meanwhile, as
Cuttlefish and his Porko miners tunneled under, then honeycombed
the cavern floor of the Cave Lion tribe with directional charges
which would hopefully collapse it into the magma chamber below when
detonated, the Naustie Army fighting above them in the mines and
caverns of the old New Australia Planetary Prison was slowly
disintegrating. With the draining off of their best mining
engineers, setting ambushes without explosives was gradually
becoming suicidal.

At first, Vlad
ordered his Schpleeftis and Zorgs to tunnel out the back of
existing caves to conceal themselves. In larger caves he’d
sometimes hide platoons of Pumalars or elite Arian Knights units as
well. Tunnel tanks rarely followed into existing caves because of
the belief that this was a waste of time and electricity. These
gigantic machines could only operate for a few hours at a time
before needing their batteries recharged anyway. Instead, Earther
Infantry would burst into caves spraying the interior with EIC’s…
or toss in phosphorous grenades to incinerate anyone still hiding
inside. However, when the Nausties had tunneled way back inside
these caves, this was ineffective. Earthers found that if they
didn’t invest a platoon or at least a fire team of soldiers to
explore the cave for additional “rat holes” as they called them;
then in a few hours, a squad or even an entire company of Nausties
might emerge. That’s when things would get really ugly; because
Naustie warriors were fast, brutal, cruel, and fearless.

Because of this
tactic, the Earth offensive was slowed to a snail’s pace for a
while; as Naustie death squads using this method of ambush wiped
out hundreds of Earther troops; and disrupted supply lines. It was
effective no doubt; but it could only work for a while in slowing
down the Earth tank columns. Frankly, Vlad was running out of elite
fighting units really capable of executing these surprise attacks.
And besides once the enemy got wise to the tactic; Earth forces
were better prepared for them; and Naustie casualties when
attempting these ambushes were no longer acceptable. The losses
were too great to keep on fighting this way.

However another net
result of this was that it caused a concentration of Earth forces
into one major area of the planet. To that end, Vlad’s tactics were
effective because getting the Earth army to come together in a
confined area was the ideal scenario all along. A decent eruption
of the magma chamber might just wipe out half the Earth forces in a
matter of minutes. The images it conjured in Solomon’s mind were
both thrilling and terrifying at the same time. At times he’d
imagine the whole planet spitting up torrents of molten lava and
firing millions of tons of rock up tunnels and shafts killing
thousands of Earthers. However at night he’d have nightmares of the
whole planet exploding with volcanic eruptions vomiting up from the
interior, devastating all life on the planet completely, killing
everyone including his own family.

Felina could
see it in her husband, and she worried about him. He clearly was
not getting much sleep anymore. “Darling,” she said to him softly
one evening, “You need to rest. Make love to me, and let me relax
you.” Solomon could only bow his head in shame. He couldn’t bring
himself to tell her just how incredibly terrified he was deep
inside his heart. It was all in his hands now… he’d either preserve
Naustie independence or destroy the planet; and he had no real way
of knowing exactly which was going to happen.

Of
course, she sensed all this and felt nearly everything he felt. She
embraced him around the neck and pushed his head down onto her
furry shoulder to nurture her brave warrior.
This is what she said to
him
: “My husband…
it has only ever been you. Don’t you see? Only you could have led
this planet to independence and prosperity. And only you can save
it now. All of us who love you and respect your commands—we’ll all
perform our duty. We’ll all carry out the orders you have given us.
It’s because we believe in you. It’s because you have become the
great leader you always wanted to be. It’s what you longed for all
your life… to lead your own people to survival and freedom. Now
you’ve become that man you dreamed of being. You've become a loving
husband and father too. You're everything I'll ever ever need. And
I love you, Solomon.” To this, he sighed deeply and embraced his
wife. He wept quietly in her arms for a while. Cried for the first
time in over thirty years.

Eventually
though, the loving couple were suddenly interrupted by their
adorable adopted daughter Estrella, who burst into their cave
demanding their attention. After all, she was only four years old
now; and when she wanted Daddy’s attention she was certainly going
to get it! Solomon adored her. Didn’t mind the interruptions one
bit—no not ever.

Originally when Umberto (or “Feathers” as he was called)
brought the baby to Felina begging her to care for it, Felina
smiled warmly and agreed without hesitation. But when she asked
Feathers what the baby’s name was, he said he hadn’t thought of one
yet. Therefore… when Felina asked him what
he
might
name her, he said, “Well
Senora
, I believe I would name her after my own mother, Melody…. Her
full name was Melody Estrella Esperanza Milagros Carolina
Macarena.”

At
the time, Felina struggled to repeat the name back to him, saying,
“Melody what?” Feathers just chuckled a bit then patiently repeated
it, “Yes,
Senora
…
Melody Estrella Esperanza Milagros Carolina Macarena.” Felina tried
several times to get it all out until she had it nearly memorized;
then she finally asked, “So then, what did
you
call your Mother?” Feathers’ eyes got a bit glassy as
he began remembering his mother vividly. She was likely long gone
by now—was already quite old when he was sent to prison.
“Ah,
si
Senora
… I called her Ma-ma!” In the large
cave where everyone stood standing at the time, there were about
twenty other people from both the Schpleeftkorkii and Michoacano
tribes. Everyone laughed at Feathers’ naively honest reply. But
Solomon clarified, “No, my good man; my wife means what name did
she go by?”

Feathers gasped in realization, then smiled broadly.
“
Si Senora,
perdona me
'…
everyone liked to call her Estrella.” With his accent, it sounded
like “Eh-stray-uh” and Felina practiced pronouncing it over and
over until she could match his accent a bit. Soon the whole cave
was chanting it along with her in a low soothing voice, while the
baby cooed and yawned. Solomon then sent out for a “wet nurse” to
feed the baby, while Feathers smiled warmly down at the child one
last time. The child bonded with Felina immediately as she held it
in her furry arms. “
Si claro, Senora
,” whispered Feathers. “You should call her
Bebe’
Estrella
.”
Basically that just meant STAR BABY; and soon the name stuck.
Felina had been the STAR KITTEN, and now she had a daughter they
could call STAR BABY. Everyone everywhere started referring to her
in that way; and when she eventually started talking, it even
became the way she introduced herself. “Stah-babee… Stah-babee!”
she’d love to walk around singing.

So when
Estrella came into her parents’ cave only to find “Da-da” crying,
she immediately began to console him. “Da-da… owie? Da-da owie?”
she asked. Felina purred warmly and said, “Yes, Star Baby, Da-da
have owie. Da-da need kiss-kiss.” Estrella cooed concernedly then
embraced her father’s big scarred and muscular black arm, kissing
and smooching upward toward his cheek which he lowered down to her.
“Ah bettah… ah bettah,” she then said, clearly believing in her
four year old mind that she’d miraculously cured her father of all
his troubles in one simple gesture of affection. And she was quite
right of course. The beautiful little girl with pudgy features and
jet-black hair… olive skin and dark eyes… was the most wonderful
loving thing in his whole world besides his own lovely wife. For
just a brief moment the burdens of his heart were
lifted.

Besides, he
could take comfort in knowing that they would likely be safely far
away and miles from the blast when it finally occurred. They’d be
in the care of his trustworthy staffer Nicky Ciancio, tunneling
further and further away every day—every day that Solomon could buy
them some time that is. After all, the Naustie Army was in headlong
retreat by now; and the Earth Army was only days—maybe two weeks
away at the most—from closing in on them. That’s why the next day,
Solomon was adamant that the refugees; and his wife and daughter
included, immediately depart down the newly dug escape tunnel. The
sooner they left the better.

Slart
breathing devices were given out to the refugees so they could
endure the march, once they collapsed the tunnel behind them and
cut off access to manufactured air. Acetylene lamps were fixed to
helmets, or to head bands, or to the front of food supply and water
tank vehicles for lighting their path in the darkness. A battalion
of escort of troops was assigned to protect them on their journey;
and when the throng of raggedy survivors gathered in a large cavern
where the last of the Naustie army was camped, it was most
certainly a very dramatic and tearful farewell that day. To many,
this might very well be the end of "New Australia" as they'd known
it.

Thousands of
family members waved, hugged, kissed goodbye and made tearful
futile promises to reunite someday… somehow… with their male
warrior husbands left behind to make one last stand against the
Earther invaders. It just had to be a lie—everyone sensed it—but no
one wanted to let on about it in front of their own offspring. This
was going to be the last stand; and if they lost here (most
everyone believed)… if the volcano eruption didn’t work that is…
and Earth troopers exterminated the last of Naustie resistance
here, then the only hope Solomon and everyone else had, was that
the enemy would turn back toward the surface believing the planet
was finally secure.

Meanwhile, as
Solomon instructed Nicky Ciancio, the refugees and their Porko
miners were to drill in a switchback pattern up to the surface,
using existing tunnels occasionally but most of all avoiding
detection of any kind by Earth forces. If they indeed ever made it
to the surface, Nicky had orders to try and hail any Naustie
merchant ships patrolling the airspace looking for survivors on the
surface. That’s what Kscheeech and his fleet had been instructed to
do if it was reported in IPN news broadcasts that the Earth army
was achieving victory. If this occurred, Kscheeech and his ships
were to scoop up survivors if they could find any; and simply head
back to Frabrak 3 to start a new life. Of course, if on the other
hand IPN news reported Earth troops had been defeated, then those
same ships were to land and support the victorious Naustie army in
driving off the last of the Earth survivors.