Drew's Trouble with Cats and Roaches

To all,

Due to the interest in this series, here is part 12. To say the least I have heard commentary both ways on the loss of one of my strongest characters. Regretfully, sometimes real-life mirrors fictional life. No, there are no other species yet, I was not dating an alien...well?

But trust, honor and duplicity can carry over and mask your normal internal protection devices, no matter the sex or species. So, I felt it needed to be played out this way. In my own personal loss and betrayal, I was reminded again that it's the ones closest to you that can hurt you the deepest. When that trust is broken, it can be devastating.

This chapter deals with trying to handle the responsibility of a combined set of species, all with their own spin and shade on the issues. The sad part is that humans are the worst of the lot.

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 12

***

"I need you to vote with your heart and mind, just say a name to vote. There is no shame and there will be no harm, no matter how you vote. We will start in the front row, just broadcast or say a name out loud." Then Drew pointed at the first seat on the left.

"Lord Drew" and so votes were mentally tallied...all for Lord Drew.

Drew nodded when the Votes were cast. Tiffany burst into tears and slumped forward in her chair.

"I will lead the exploration of the Other space. I am now the commander of the new fleet." Drew stated without any happiness. He heard and felt the audience erupt with a verbal or mental cheer.

"I made a promise once, on the bridge of a star ship. I am not sure that I can now carry out the promise." Drew paused.

"What shall we do with Tiffany? Banishment? Enslave her again and see if she can earn her way back into our good graces, or fulfill my promise made so long ago?" Drew asked out loud so all could hear.

There was again silence, then in the same order, votes were cast with mental comments. The votes were tallied, two for banishment, two for slavery and the rest...fulfill his promise.

Thing Two turned and reached for the Claymore. Thing One re-manacled Tiffany and drug her from the hall into the grass of the Glen. She was shoved on her knees crying. She kept repeating the same mantra, "but I am a Queen."

Drew was about to lose his nerve when he felt a presence at the tree line. It was the alpha and he felt a simple statement come his way.

"Being Alpha is hard"

Drew looked into his eyes and knew it was much deeper than that simple phrase.

The blade arched over his head and buried itself in the soft ground below the grass. He did not remove it but turned and walked away with both Goldie and Kitten rubbing against his legs.

***

A pyre was built, and Tiffany was raised to her ancestors. Many helped with the preparations because of the services she had done for the Pride and Humanity. But betrayal brought its own response. No one stayed once the fire was lit. No one sang her history. No one sang her virtues. The wolves did not howl in her honor.

Drew sat with his Dad and got drunk.

Both Goldie and Kitten wedged themselves in at the open door and just watched the fire burn from a distance. Drew could reach in and see that they had no idea of significance of what they were watching. They had no feelings about the loss of Tiffany, to them she was there and then she was not. Drew wished it were that easy for him.

So passed the life of Queen Tiffany of the Pride.

***

Now that Drew had partially pulled his own head, out of his own ass, he began the process of integrating humanity with the aliens under his charge. He was now working on his drem, a comingled colonization. He specifically did not want a Kettle world, human world, finch, or fox world. That went for humans too. He had not agreed to ever have a colony just made from the Northern Alliance, North African, Chinese, Russian Federation, European, etc. There had been much early 'discussion' on people, size, and experience, and he knew in his heart, that his path was true.

Drew had originally defined 'village size', around 120 people. That tended to be the size that could be guaranteed to be kept together. It was a human construct, widely studied by anthropologists and business leaders. A single leader or small group was ok up to 120 people and then a "management' change had to take place.

There had been so much to do, belief freedom, and tolerance of others was to be maintained. The term 'law' had been in the process of negotiation since the beginning and was in the final throws of closure.

Open and transparent governance, freedom of the transference of knowledge, all the items that could make the new colonies work. With the exception that it started out with a lie. Tiffany's loss had been broadcast as a terrible 'training accident.' Once news of the leadership change reached social media, there were multiple calls for meetings from all over the globe.

The first demands for a meeting to was with the Chinese Republic. Drew agreed to the meeting and then set the stage for all following dramas.

He sat in his office going over mundane tasks at his conference room. Elsa sat on a pillow between his legs sucking his cock deep into her mouth. Her libido had continued to climb during her pregnancy. She was at the self-admitted level of a nymphomaniac, as she entered her ninth month. She smiled as she reminded him, she was a doctor, and could prescribe her own cures. She swore orgasms were the only thing to keeping the children quiet in her huge extended belly. She quietly played with the extended lips of her pussy and her clit as she sucked him deep over and over. After she came for the third time with her own ministrations, and he finally asked for a 'rain check'.

Drew stood and straightened himself out, literally. He helped Elsa off the floor and gave her a soft kiss. He smacked her butt as she toddled off to his private restroom to clean herself up. He slung on his coat, and buttoned it, trying to hide his erection.

The was a knock at the door and it swung open. Thing One and Two, fully armed, were there for escort. He walked down the long corridor and into the great room. He took the steps up to the elevated platform in front of the grand fireplace and viewed the scene.

The large conference table from Tiffany's private meeting room had been moved to the lounge area, along with the large ornate chairs. Recording equipment could be viewed, mounted to catch all the participants. Drones from the various media organizations buzzed and jockeyed for position just outside of the official barrier.

The Chinese delegation came into the room and Drew waited, alone, to greet them. There was some immediate consternation amongst the older members delegation and Drew just smiled and bowed. A younger woman came forward, their interpreter.

"I am so sorry, but we must ask why the venue has been changed? Why are we meeting out here and not in your office? Why is there recording equipment and the media out here with us?" she said as she waived her hand at the drones.

"This is the new format, and it will be followed for all meetings, with all parties, from now on. We want to stop all the unfounded rumors regarding secret negotiations and unfair advantages given to certain human factions. We just want the world to know that we are continuing to follow the language and commitments of the original colonization offer. Nothing more, nothing less." Drew paused waiting on the translations.

Drew was aware, after the fact, what Tiffany had promised every single nation she had met with in secret. During her office remodel, Eddie had installed cameras and audio devices. It turns out that she had added her own, too. Drew and Eddie had long talks about privacy and that turned into a not so polite talk when he found out, Thing One and Two and his Dad were also involved in the espionage on Queen Tiffany.

The interpreter returned from talking with the Chinese elders after much heated discussion in mandarin.

"I am so sorry, but during earlier discussions, concessions were made and promises given..." she started. Drew held up his hand in the universal palm up to stop. He wanted to save her and himself from hours of unneeded pleasantries.

He turned to delegation of old pissed off men and stated in rather fluent mandarin, "We are grateful for your time amongst us and for your efforts to meet with us. We are unaware of any separate agreements you have thought you had. If you have something in writing, please forward it for review. But please humbly understand that all preparations, all logistics and intermixing of colonists shall be as originally proposed." Drew paused to allow them to absorb what he had just said.

"This is unacceptable. We had agreements to have our own colony. You cannot do this!" stated the red-faced older man, loosing what Drew thought would be a normal calm comportment.

Drew bowed slightly showing deferment to the man's age, "I am so sorry if there was confusion," Drew paused and looked into the eyes of the puffed-up older man, "You have no colony. The colonization effort is under control of the young Lords clan and the Pride." Drew again paused and said in English, "Period,"

Drew shifted back to mandarin, "As I stated, if you have any agreements in writing, with a signature, please forward them for review. We are not saying we will honor anything you produce, but they will be reviewed. As for changes, there is no change. The original offer was thought through and stays in effect. If you want to send people off to be colonists, they will be colonists. Not Chinese, Russian or Northern Alliance colonists, but plain colonists." Drew ended and smiled and bowed slightly.

There was a large burst of mandarin between the members of the delegation as Drew turned to face the media.

"There seems to have been an unfortunate misunderstanding between parties on the spirit of our adventure. The tower of babel we call humanity, will NOT be spread. It will be mixed and meshed at a series of locations. Humanity will be joined with several species to share in the joys, hardships, and triumphs at the different colony locations. We will decide who goes where. The village proposal of 120 people maximum will stay in place." Drew paused. He then did not what else to say, 'must be getting old' he thought. As he was turning to leave, Thing One reminded him of armed ships.

Drew nodded to her "One more thing before I leave you. Any armed ship entering our space without explicit permission from me, or our young lord, will be considered a Pirate or privateer, no matter who's flag it is flying. It will be removed from our space, one way or another. "

One of the drones opened its audio and the reporter on the other end asked a question. Drew knew it was coming but wished he could avoid it.

"Lord Drew, there are rumors circulating on the death of Queen Tiffany, would you care to comment?"

Drew took in a large cleansing breath and slowly let it out, "First of all, we are not back in the old days of reporters popping questions. Please do not consider this a precedent." Drew paused again starting to tear up.

"The Queen was one of the first Cats that I met when I joined the Pride. We lived through many battles together and she was one of the saviors of Earth. We all miss the Queen and what she did for the Pride over the years. I miss both her and Queen Meme with all my heart. As for rumors, I don't give a damn about rumors." Drew turned away but the drone started asking more questions.

Drews eyes flicked to Thing Two and he nodded. The drone was blasted to pieces by a short burst of energy.

"Like I said, it was not meant to be a precedent," he said as he walked from the room.

His thoughts became very linear and straight forward. 'If they didn't like the rules set at the original offer, Fuck'em. Let them stay home. They can wait until the offer is made again...if it is ever made.' Surprisingly, it was all a human issue. The other races were grateful to be included in the original offer through the Homogeny...just always seemed to be the humans.

***

As he entered his personal suite, Drew was accosted by the affections of Elsa, Goldie, and Kitten, not necessarily in that order. Elsa had plans to gather his cum, Goldie and Kitten, not liking being kept away from him, just wanted affection.

He kissed Elsa softly on the lips and promised 'after dinner' and gathered up the other two and set off to his fathers.

As usual, he had to stop off for a brief respite at the playground. The children's new adventure was to try and entice Goldie and Kitten to come up the back stairs of the giant playhouse, across the rope bridge and then slide down the circular slide. They could usually get Goldie to do it once, but Kitten would do it all day long if the children were there.

Every day, Drew could see the physical changes in Kitten, she was nearly the size of a full-grown Puma. He was glad she was healthy, but she shied away from sharing the pain she went through in the transformation.

He was up and moving with Goldie beside him and expected Kitten to catch up. He heard moans from the children as Kitten tried to leave. Drew spun when the playhouse erupted in cheers. Kitten had simply vaulted off the handrail of the 'second floor' and sailed over a second group of children. The giggling and clapping were infectious.

They wandered through the glade and he watched Goldie try and corner the same squirrel she had been trying to corner for the past week. It just skittered up the tree turned upside down and scolded Goldie for bothering its afternoon.

The animals knew the way and were on the porch and through the open door before he could hit the steps to his dad's cottage.

"Dad, you at home?" Drew asked at the doorway. He could hear movement and some muffled sounds from the bedroom.

"Where the hell else would I be?" came a reply and he trundled out of the bedroom, pushing his furry friends and made for his levitating chair. A warble and grunt'y growl came from the bedroom after his dad's departure. Finally, two cheerful looking female aliens exited the bedroom, nosed up to his dad and then departed out of the back door.

"What?" his Dad asked after Drew stood there with a smirk on his face.

"Nothing Dad, just happy seeing you out of that chair and getting some 'exercise' that's all."

"I love you my son but fuck off. I am not dead." Sr. paused to get into his chair and seated. "Bent and twisted a bit, but not dead. And to be honest they do most of the work." His dad smiled and then opened a beer and settled back in. Drew did not usually visit unless there was something on his mind.

"Dad, do you want to come back out to space? Its looking like there are not going to many of us left at the refuge. Pride members I mean." Drew commented.

"No, my son, my space days are over. In my short lifetime, we went from no aliens, to bunches of them. I got to go play in space on the station. I got a stupid Idea to go kill a Roach hive. Then, got shit out the ship I was flying at near the speed of light. I helped save Earth and survived to tell about it. Fell in love with an alien of all things and then lost her." Sr paused to drink deep of his beer, "No, I have no interest in going back out to the cold and dark." Drews Dad smiled and did a soft pull from his beer.

"I already did the body count my son. I will be the last remaining Pride member, although adopted, on planet. Of course, I assume that Elsa will now be coming with you. I will be the caretaker of the Pride refuge and embassy while you are gone." His dad finished and then dropped the dead soldier in the recycle bin.

Drew turned his head and stated, "Eddie is here."

Edie stepped on the porch to the wagging and swishing tails and the smile of Drew Sr.

"Hello Eddie, sit down and take a load off," Sr commented.

"Good morning Lord Drew and Sr., I have completed the research you requested Lord, but there is not much light to shed on the situation," Eddie commented while accepting a beer.

Sr. turned a questioning look at his son.

Drew sighed," I asked Eddie to do some research. What we call mental illness...in the Cats heritage. I just don't know how I could have missed what the hell was going on with Tiffany. I can sort of read minds for god's sake. Was it something that she kept hidden all this time? Was it some event that started her down this path? And how the fuck didn't I see it? She was sleeping next to me at least 30 percent of the time." Drew was working himself up and getting more agitated by the minute. "How could I have been this stupid?"

Eddie let Drew expend his energy and then leaned forward and put his hand on his shoulder. "There is an ancient saying that does not translate very well so I asked my mate to discuss it with her human counterparts in Xeno-linguistics. Her human counterparts just laughed when they finally understood the question being asked." Edie paused and looked at Drew with sadness.

"In almost all human cultures there is a fundamental subtext to this human quandary. 'The ones closest to you are the ones that can hurt you the most.' It seems you humans have the same success or failure with trust. Especially to those that you love. And because of this deep altruistic trust, when it fails, it seems to hurt psychologically the most." Eddie finished his beer and recycled it with a clink of glass on glass.

"We will never know for sure when she shifted her perspective. I do believe she loved you and honored you. I noticed the change in her behavior when the Others arrived. I noticed a change when Elsa became pregnant. When Meme died, the change just glowed and many of us started to worry. When you set the date to go back to space, we knew to worry." Eddie just paused and looked deep into his friend's eyes, "She did love and worship you. That is all I can tell you my friend. And as your friend, I am sorry I did not bring my worries to you earlier."

***

Drew continued to meet with different national delegations to the same result. Hurt feelings, and a lot of loud noise. The Russian delegation had to be taken offsite by force. He held firm through it all. Humans were not going to transfer their nationalism from one world to another. Drew was going to force people, one way or another, into some version of peaceful coexistence. 'Peaceful' being a questionable concept.

A species was recommended by the Grell to help with 'peaceful coexistence'. They were what humans called the Dragons. It was easier to think of a miniature Godzilla with wings. If using the term 'miniature' meant a two-meter-tall lizard type creature with a six-meter wingspan. The Grell used them on many 'minor' planets and on the space stations as a peace keeping force. Gentle giants, that were hard to kill and followed the 'rules' to a 'T.'

Sr. was not thrilled, mostly because he had a habit of skirting the rules but welcomed them into the refuge. He laughed at the thought of Kay being alive. They aggravated her more than almost anything because she never followed the rules. More than once Sr. had to get her out of a holding cell on station because she had tried to hit or shoot one of them.

***

Drew was a little bit surprised with his calmness. With the addition of the Dragons for shipboard and onsite security, things seem to come together. Everyone on the original two ships were loaded and were settled in. Cargo had been loaded for weeks. Things One and Two had been appointed as captains for the two cruisers, Artemis, and Aphrodite.