Drew's Trouble with Cats and Roaches

To all,

7/30/20 update - My apologies to all. I have done some additional re-editing (still not perfect) and the apology was for dumping this chapter so quickly. Between work, plague, politics and family matters, I just wanted to get it off my desk. This is purely a transitional chapter, no sex, and the sadness of loss. Yes, even us writers get attached to certain characters.

Again, my apologies, and I hope you will enjoy 10, I have no idea where it is going.

Due to the interest in this series, here is part 9. This chapter continues to discuss the choices we make in life and how it has a ripple effect to those around us, especially those we love.

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 9

Drew spun his stave and sent the old Lords knife spinning out of their little circle. Now he was facing two unsheathed claws and he could not forget the feet, 'don't forget the feet'. He reminded himself.

A quick swipe from the old Lord barley nicked him but shredded his shirt. Drew just ripped it off.

The warriors from the other Pride gasped when they saw his scars, scars of a warrior. He was not going to tell them that he got most of them before he was Lord protector. He received them from his now queen Tiffany when she was a bitch on wheels.

He spun again and connected with the older warrior's shoulder, he felt something give and could hear the pain radiating through the old Lord's mind.

Drew took two steps back and planted his stave. "Are we done now? I just broke your shoulder. I could crack your skull at any time. Are we done? Will you go in peace and let us live our lives?"

The old warrior roared and charged. Again, Drew could see inside the mind of the old warrior and was ready. He side-stepped the raking claws and slammed the stave down on the knee of the Lord. He heard and felt the bones crack. The old warrior howled in pain and rolled down the little hillock they were fighting on.

His surviving son ran to his side and tried to get him to surrender. The old warrior screamed in frustration. He shoved his son aside but not before grabbing his son's weapon. Swinging it to point at Drew.

Drew stood impassively on the ridge of the little hillock providing an amazing target. A green beam buzzed past Drew, vaporizing the old warrior.

Thing Two walked up to her Lord, turned her head, and mentally asked him. 'Were you going to let I him shoot you?' He 'heard' what she wanted to end it with 'you idiot'.

"No, his son had flicked on the safety before his father grabbed the weapon. I would have moved before that was disengaged. But I knew you were aiming and would fire." He responded. He did not want to tell her his mental capabilities had morphed again.

She looked at him strangely but shrugged. "Thing One is pregnant again. I need to keep our count of cubs or better it. So, I must keep my Lord safe," she ended with a smile and turned to leave but froze.

Drew turned and found the members of the Other Pride kneeling before him.

He was now the Lord of their pride too.

***

Drew surveyed the field below him. He was not quite sure what to do, so he followed his own advice and started to the eat the elephant.

Drew could feel life below him, in the son that had been stabbed in the back. He broadcast out to all "We need medical to the younger son. He is still alive." he could 'see' people start moving and knew that help was coming.

Drew turned back to all the kneeling Cats from the far and distant 'other' pride. He shook his head at what was left of the Old Lord and then said in human English, "Not no, but Fuck No," He did not need to tell Meme NOT to translate.

"I need you to rise. I need you to meet with me and discuss...many things. Rise please, and do two things for me," Drew requested.

"Of course, my Lord, you now command us," responded the older son with a defeated air.

"Those are the things to be discussed. But please get those landing craft to the ground. There are too many guns in the sky facing each other. Put away all weapons, you have no enemies here. Our security people will keep theirs, but the rest of the Pride will put theirs away too." Drew provided a brief mental blast outlining disarming as soon as the Other pride had. He wanted the Other Pride on the ground and disarmed.

Drew paused looking for argument and received none, "We want those Cat cruisers to wait outside of the sphere of the earth-mars orbits. We can send coordinates. They will be close, but it will calm the fears with Earth Security. Come, let us talk and discuss the future."

Drew turned and found Meme and Tiffany waiting for him.

They were looking past his shoulder and he turned to find out what caught their interest. An older female and a younger female, the ones that were part of the old Lords procession. They were still on both knees, faces down in the grass.

Drew turned to face the elder son and asked, "Please help me understand why they are still prostrate?"

The son just shrugged, "They probably want to know if you are going to kill them now or later?" He could see Drews puzzlement and continued, "They are the old lord's queens. Since he lost, they are dishonored and would normally be killed. Or so the old lord taught us."

Drew just rolled his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "It looks like we have a lot to discuss."

Drew could hear old school thrusters lowering the Cat craft to the ground. He had forgotten how loud and ground disturbing they could be. But at least they were landing and not hanging over their heads.

Once the craft had landed and he could be heard again, he spoke to the two queens.

"When I said rise, it meant you two also. Unless you want to die, no one here will harm you." He turned muttering, "lots to discuss."

***

Drew had ordered the dining hall cleared so he could have a larger area to place all the foreign warriors. The Pride's security warriors herded the occupants of the original shuttle and the Other two cat crafts, unarmed into the dining hall. There was some mumbling about the female warriors being there and then about their lack of arms. All the mumbling stopped when food was brought out and placed on the tables. Silence ensued as the Other warriors forgot about their griping and started to gorge themselves.

Drew received security confirmation that all was well as he led his procession up the grand staircase to the larger of the second-floor conference rooms. He took his seat at the head of the table. For some reason, no matter the race, this seemed to be a norm in all cultures.

He sat until all the participants found seats and settled in. The elder son sat halfway down the table, next to him was an older warrior and behind them were the two queens. Across from them was Meme, Tiffany, and Eddie. At the end of the table was Bob and Elsa. At the door, with full armament, were Things One and Two. One was already showing with her new brood.

"I want to say as Lord Protector of this Pride, you have no enemies here." Drew stated as he looked them in the eyes. "I am sorry for the loss of your father and Lord, but we had no choice." Drew could feel no compassion or remorse for the loss of their Lord. This struck him deeply.

"I would also like to say, that I do not want your fealty," Drew paused looking at the Son, who stared back in shock. Drew could feel where he was 'feeling' the discussion was going to go, so he went there.

"This is no dishonor on your Pride. My time as Lord Protector is limited. As soon as one of the young males can prove he can lead the Pride, I will gladly step aside." Drew stated.

"And who will make the decision when it is right for you to step aside?" questioned the older warrior.

"My queens never shy away from telling me when they have an opinion or when I am wrong," a comment that brought chuckles to the Prides side of the table. "And I came to be where I am purely by chance. As soon as I can, I will be happy to allow someone else to deal with the problems that arise each day."

"So, you reject our pride?" the old warrior questioned.

"No, I do not reject your Pride, nor bring it dishonor. At least not in the way you mean. I am rejecting myself, as the person to be your Lord. I am offering a partnership. A brother and sisterhood between our Prides." Drew paused and looked at the old warrior and could see the fear that Drew was potentially lying.

"I do not know how many warriors are still on your cruisers," Drew lied he had already 'heard' how many warriors, females, and children they had lost after the few disastrous conflicts they had with the Roaches. "But we want all your pride to have a chance to relax, spend a bit of time outside. Our sanctuary is a safe zone. Any aliens you will meet are friends or now members of our Pride. You can see how we live and how we share amongst ourselves. It will also give time for the females that want to go to your Pride a chance to get to know you."

'Eddie please make copies of the ancient texts for our guests. I assume you will want to visit your brother in medical?"

All of the Cats from the other side of the table were shocked "He lives? How? It was a killing wound and the poison?"

"What poison?" Drew immediate sent a bast to security on the blade and the added danger. He got back a reply 'already neutralized.'

"My father always dipped his knife in the poison of the &%*$#, just to make sure..."

"Yes, your brother lives. We have blended our healing with the technology of many races. Any of your healers that are interested, can visit medical and see what we can accomplish." Drew paused.

"Two, can you please come over and bare your shoulder." Drew requested.

Two came and pulled up her flexible armor to show the nanite infused bandage that still covered the last of her wound.

"This warrior was gravely injured and almost lost her arm only a short time ago. As you saw by her actions today, she is a full warrior." Drew commented.

"Well enough to...?" questioned Two.

"Back to your duty station." Drew commented with a shake of his head. These two twin sisters would be the absolute death of him, he thought, death by sex.

Drew noticed how quiet the queens had been and the youngest could not take her eyes off One.

"You two seem to have many questions, but you do not ask," questioned Drew.

"It is not their place," stated the old warrior.

Drews whole posture changed. He sat up straighter, his arms became rigid and he leaned forward in his chair towards the old warrior. When Drew spoke, all at the table could hear the command in his voice.

"It is in my Pride, and it is here on Earth. All adults will have a voice. All adults will be heard. All adults have the right to individual choices, as long as it does not place the Pride in danger."

"That is what caused the death of the one female I briefly talked about, she put the Pride in danger. She died by my hand under my blade," Drew finished.

Drew looking deep in the eyes of the old warrior continued, "So, I want to hear from the two queens and what they want to say."

Drew shifted his eyes to the youngest and nodded his head, she began to speak after a slight pause, "You have female warriors and this one is pregnant, how?"

"I can let Eddie and our medical staff talk to your healers to explain the details. But, simply put, our old lord, as he was dying from wounds taken in battle, injected me with his genetic material. It changed my body to allow me to transmit his genetic material to the females of our pride. All of the pregnancies to date are pure Cat from our Lord's lineage," Drew finished but he felt a contact from Eddie stating they needed to talk.

Drews eyes flicked to Eddie, his eyes flicked to Elsa, she smiled and Drews heart stopped beating for a minute. Drew just sent back a 'later.'

As they were passing messages, One flicked her ear and that started all the Pride females in the room to do the same.

"Does the ear adornment have some meaning?" asked the older queen.

Tiffany and Meme looked at each other and as usual Tiffany deferred. Meme began to explain, "The earrings were the idea of our Lord. A variation on a human habit of piercing their ears for adornment. Ours, signify pregnancies. Each ring is a pregnancy and each jewel a cub."

Tiffany leaned back and flicked her ear making the twelve jewels tinkle.

"That's impossible." stated the old queen, "multiple births have not happened for a millennium."

"But here we do. We have a creche full of young pride members," responded Drew looking at the shocked faces of the Other pride members.

"I will not force you to accept our new ways. I will not force you to change. That is the free will and freedom of choice I have talked about. I know you have lost most of your females. I know you lost most of your young when your 'breeding ship' was blown up."

All the Other pride members were shocked that their secret was found out. Drew took a deep breath and continued.

"When I was in service to our old Lord, he experimented on me. He gave me medication that caused me to grow the mental link all the cats have. But the process changed me physically. It changed my size speed, strength, eyes, and my mental connection to all the cats. And it keeps on changing."

Drew paused again. "I can hear your private thoughts and understand them without translation. I have been listening in to all of yours and your warrior's conversations and know how badly your pride is hurt."

The old warrior growled.

"Don't! you would never strike me and either of my queens could kill you before you tried a second time. That is if they got to you before the two hellions at the door. If you wish to die, die for your pride. Do not give away all your experience and knowledge over some antiquated form of honor. Your pride is going to need experienced elders to lead them into the future." Drew again paused and looked into his eyes.

Drew looked over at the son of the past lord and what he heard was positive.

"There is a lot to do. Think, and try to understand a partnership. It would mean having to deal with us and our 'strange' ways and be equals with aliens." Drew paused and shrugged his shoulders, "For humans, it comes easily. For some Cats not so well. But the possibilities to help your pride to grow stronger are endless."

"The two at the end of the table are Else, representing Earth and Bob representing all of the other alien races that are part of what we call the Homogeny. They are here to help you if you decide to become part of our cat community on earth," Drew advised.

Drew turned to the Queens, 'Would you like to meet our children? They after all, are the future of the Pride."

***

Drew had been happy when the Other pride's ships had touched down. With the temporary peace, the younglings and other children had come flooding back into the glen.

The noise level was atrocious, but infectious as they walked outside and towards the dining hall. Tiffany and Meme had taken the queens and pulled them back to talk and let them see and interact with the children.

Noise was heard from around the shuttles, arguing, but not in a bad sort of way. Drew could see a handful of Kettle, Kay's race, looking the other Cat craft over, They were arguing amongst themselves and with the pilots of the craft. It seems the pilots did not like aliens poking and prodding around their craft.

Drew reached out to several of his warriors and asked if there was a problem. He received an almost hilarious running dialog. It seems that the Kettle wanted to start rebuilding the Cat crafts immediately because they were so antiquated.

'Since you can read my mind Lord, is there a problem with the other 'cats'? and why do they congregate at our ships?' mentally questioned the older son, and now young lord of the Others.

"No, all is fine. They are a race of engineers. They love to make things 'better'. They want to completely rebuild your ships because they feel they are antiquated and dangerous. That and they love to take things apart and put things back together. They say your cruisers are in worst shape."

"Do you have engineers amongst your crew that can 'talk' to these aliens and see if they can help?" Drew asked.

"No, my father said that was beneath us, we either paid to have repairs done, or 'took' others and made them help us," responded the son.

"You mean slaves, like I was?" responded Drew.

The son seemed extremely uncomfortable, but responded simply with, "Yes."

Drew paused and smiled. "It's part of the partnership we will be discussing. I come from humanity. I come from a family that is used to change and open to new ideas. I hope you will be, or at least part of your pride."

***

As they wandered through the glen, pausing from time to time watching the children play games, or answer a child's question, Drew could see the change in the stance of the son and the tightness of the Other queens shoulders melt away.

Drew was yanked from his casual walk by a mental blast that there was a disturbance in the dining hall. Drew sprinted the couple hundred feet in seconds. It turns out he was not needed on the scene, but glad he was there.

On his back, bleeding from one arm and part of his face was one of the Other warriors. Standing over him, in attack position, with claws unsheathed was Nella, one of the warrior nurses.

He looked for the head of the security detachment assigned to keep the peace. Their eyes met and she smiled. He received a mental broadcast of the incident, and then he smiled. The warrior had made comments to Nella that she ignored. He had then pulled her into his lap and placed his hands where they should not have been placed.

The other warriors were quiet once they saw their new lord stride into the room. "Except for those two," broadcasting a picture of the warrior still on his back and Nella, "all of you had better be kneeling before I finish talking," Drew was amazed how quickly they were out of their seats and kneeling.

"While you are here in the home of this Pride, you will never touch a female unless she asks you to. Is that understood?" commanded Drew.

"It is not our way and the way of the ancient texts." responded one large warrior in the back.

"You are wrong about the ancient texts," Drew responded, 'have you read them? I have, and I will be glad to open a set and have this debate later today."

Drew stared at all the warriors kneeling. "I want to say this one more time. You are not to touch a female unless she tells you to touch her. If you do, she has my permission to kill you. If she does not, I will. Is that clear enough for all of you to understand." Drew paused, "Is that clear and do we all understand each other?"

Drew could hear the mental grumbling, but it seemed to be understood.

Drew walked to the end of dining hall where the huge old lodge fireplace was located. He pulled the massive double handed sword off its keepers and then stalked back to the prone warrior. Drew nodded Nella out of the way and then stood over the warrior.

"Get up on your knees" commanded Drew. There was absolute silence in the large hall. The warrior still bleeding scrambled to his knees, face down on the floor.

Drew hefted the large blade and placed it under the chin of the warrior. Drew lifted the blade forcing the warriors face to tilt so Drew could look him in the eyes. "This weapon is like the weapons used by my ancestors. It may even be one. It was a gift from a friend, and alien friend, who found it on a different world, a galaxy away," Drew pause trying to think where he wanted to go with his speech, " I never thought I would ever use it. But here it is covered in the blood of one of my Pride members. She betrayed the Pride and therefore gave up her life. Her body was not treated with honor but dragged out of the Sanctuary and left to rot or be picked over by carrion eaters."