Drew's Trouble with Cats and Roaches

To all,

Due to the interest in this series, here is Chapter 21.

My apologies to those that noticed that the Roach (Actually called Zito in human English pronunciation) ambassador popped up out of nowhere. Since I write this stuff, I just sort of knew where it came from, the original Drew

SR'S

Troubles story. That is about his dad and it is not the same exact Roach/Zito but a younger one. That story is included in my list of published stories. My apologies if it was confusing.

Also, there is no open sex in this chapter, hints of sex going on, but no open sex, sorry. I kept writing and then I found an end...and on to the next chapter. Due to the buildup, next chapter will have lots of sex.

It's time to get back into space. Bureaucrats will start to creep in on the ground on both series. It is inevitable in the reaches of human societies. Cockroaches, bureaucrats and at least one accountant to keep track of them, will rule the world for all eternity.

Us explorers, artists, and adventurers, only hope to leave an acknowledged smudge on history.

Any aliens, real or imagined, are purely a construct of my twisted and warped mind.

I thank everyone so much for reading my stories and enjoying them.

As we enter and play in this year of 2021, please stay safe and sane.

Part 21

***

The UN shuttle landed on private pad by the Castle living quarters. Lady Target and Drew were there to meet the newest ambassador to Cat space. The ramp slid down and the hatch slid open. A living, breathing, 2-meter cockroach exited the hatch and skittered down the Ramp. It was only the second one Drew had ever laid eyes on, not counting armored ones trying to kill him.

On top of its head was a '10 gallon' cowboy hat.

"Your idea?" Drew heard from Target.

"I was hoping it would make it easier," he said with a shrug.

Drew felt two sharp claws grab his earlobe and pull his head down to her lips.

"Fuck you my Mate...fuck you. It does not help." Target quietly whispered in his ear.

He just smiled and stepped forward to bow. "Welcome Ambassador, to the Cat home planet."

"Fuck!" was heard coming from Target behind him. He spun thinking it was about the Ambassador.

Target looked up from her pad. "Aya has vanished. She left a note saying she was going on an adventure!"

Drew closed his eyes for a moment and then turned back to the ambassador and bowed again. 'It seems Ambassador I have a family issue to deal with." He heard a series of klicks and low frequency whistles.

"It would not have anything to do with that small shuttle dancing...yes that is a good word...dancing through space on the way to the 'lost' Cat colony?" the bug translator spit out.

Both Target and Drew were speechless.

At that moment, a young puppy sprinted around the corner with a young human and Kettle in hot pursuit. One look at the monstruous insectoid Ambassador and the puppy named Lady yipped and darted back through the legs of her pursuers. This left the two young staff members face to face with the large Zito. The Human screamed and grabbed the frozen Kettle who stopped open mouthed.

Drew just chuckled and seeing the eyes of the Ambassador swivel in his direction, he looked back and shrugged.

"My apologies Ambassador, these two are some of the younger staff and have not yet been exposed to enormity of the beings in our universe. They were slaves, held on one of the moons in Earths solar system. They were freed together and are rarely far apart from each other."

He turned to the two younglings and commented "Bow to the Ambassador, Porthos and Aramis." Drew stated watching them bow and pointing out who belonged to which name. "Where is Athos in all of this mess with Lady?"

Aramis, the female Kettle bowed again and responded, "She is helping in the Kitchen Lord Drew."

Somewhere during this period, Lady had creeped closer, hiding behind the legs of the two young staff and then made a surprising sprint to Target to hide behind her legs.

The ambassador was startled and a little unnerved by this fast-moving furred creature.

"What is that?" the ambassador asked after a very shaky series of clicks.

"It's a new family member. A canine named Lady. Part wolf, part Australian sheep dog we think. She is young and will be growing quickly." Drew paused in his explanation, curious. "Are you ok Ambassador? We humans have lived with canines in all shapes and sizes as 'family' members since the dawn of humankind."

At this point Target had picked Lady up and was being licked under her chin by the very young pup, "It took me a while to understand it too. I had seen felines on station before, but not dogs running loose. This one has taken my heart though and she is incredibly good with the children."

"I truly do not understand, I have met many different species, but I am...made uncomfortable, by her. I will have to think on it," stated the Ambassador. With that, they ventured into the castle to set the ambassador up in a suite of rooms that look like it was designed for this purpose.

***

He sat on his patio watching the Comm Vid for the tenth time. It was taken from two of the long-range sensors that had been dropped at the transition point by the small scout shuttle. The vid showed the shuttle after transition heading inbound to the Marauder home world. A ship patrolling the lone habitable planet, had fired a volley of missiles at the scout craft. Instead of dumping and running, the scout ship had accelerated toward the missiles and just before impact, there had been a distortion, and then explosion.

A first view seemed to imply impact and the obliteration of the small craft.

But Drew could feel his daughter. He knew she was still alive, but how? He kept looking at the vid over and over. It still looked like she was shattered in the destruction of the small ship, but he knew different.

He finally received the information he was looking for, no true debris field. Even a ship of that size left a decent debris field if destroyed. It was odd to be delighted and made comfortable by a

negative

. The lack of something, in this case a debris field, made him feel more comfortable with the 'feeling' of life still breathing through his daughter. He had reached out to Elsa and then Target, to let them know that she lived. That quieted some worries for the moment.

But where was she and the other crewman?

***

Target was suited up in her comfy flight tacticals and leaving on one of her quarterly visits to the colonies to check on the freed slaves and their progress. She had scheduled some time to check on the newest batch that Nalia was initiating to the ways of the 'wild' colonies. This group should be the last from Earth. They would be, potentially, the hardest to place.

This group was bred for one reason, sex. They were all gorgeous and exotic as hell. Every fantasy and fetish would be in that room. Target was afraid that Nalia was dealing with a bunch of primadonnas that would find no place on the frontier. But that is what her niece had signed up for, and she knew where to ask for help.

She watched the opening lecture, and then met with a series of the freed slaves that reported to have piloting experience. Some had both in-atmosphere and in-system flight capability. She gave them contact information. The colonies could always use more shuttle pilots, even ones that were handsome, beautiful, or erotically furred or feathered.

Target then went on her way to the Atlantis continent. She had taken Lady to get the young pup used to travel and to meet multiple species. She did not want another prissy canine, that was afraid to fly or lacked social graces like Goldie.

Drew, realizing that he had an empty house, had contacted Thing One and then Thing Two to see if he could rendezvous with the Cruisers and hang out while they were on patrol. They both gave him the same answer, 'fuck no.'

Thing Two's explanation, being the more vocal of the twins, set him straight. "The last thing I need on my bridge is a bored male. That, and you being the mighty Lord Drew, will have every one of my Cat, Kettle, and Foxy crew with wet panties. They would be waiting for a moment when they can drag you into closet or bathroom and try and have their way with you." She had paused, "not to mention your time in my cabin for only a short period, will just make the long patrol time harder. "

She ended the conversation on a happier tune, "You know we love you, but we will see you when we switch over patrol duties and we are relived in a couple of months. Now behave and go do your Lord duties while we do ours."

Drew knew that she was speaking for both sisters, but the answer was plain and simple, 'scram'.

Not to be waived off, he next contacted his father. While still in an exo-suit, he was back into the home engineering and was a favorite of the young kettle female engineers for multiple reasons.

"Dad, dad are you there? The vid comm was not on, only audio. All Drew heard was a lot of fumbling and grumbling.

"Move your knee honey. There we go. Now settle down so I can talk for a bit," he heard what he thought was bodies shifting into more comfortable positions, some servo noise and some muffled female giggling.

"Go ahead son, things should be calm for a bit." Drew Sr. stated with additional muffled giggling in the background, "seriously, sit still. I am old and have to focus without you sliding up and down," more giggling.

"Dad, you want to go on a road trip? Should be a quiet one, no one shooting at us, just time up at my cabin in the valley? Its summer up there so it won't be so frigid." Drew asked.

"Sure son, it would be good to spend some time together. What about other family?" Drew Sr. asked.

"I was thinking about picking up Goldie and Kitten but that would be about it." Drew responded.

"Sounds great, lets pick up some beer and tell old male war stories." Drew Sr commented but could hear muffled groans from behind Sr. voice. "No dear, just us males, I'll be back in a couple of days" and more female moans.

"When we going son?" Sr. asked.

"As soon as you finish what you are up to dad. You still over at the Kettle community?" Drew responded.

"Yup, have that place we talked about, just at the outskirts, I'll send the address...um as soon as I am finished with the project I am working on." Sr. commented and there were more giggles in the background.

"Not a problem dad." Drew ended the call shaking his head and trying not to picture what was happening at that moment.

***

The basic colonial shuttle that Drew grabbed was nothing special and did not denote that Lord Drew was at the helm. That was perfectly fine with Drew. As the bureaucratic sector of the land born government grew, so did the aspirations of some of same said Bureaucrats.

Demands for added staff, added budgets, more trips to 'assess' the situation, were coming at an amazing pace. He was hoping at this point to have Alexander take over the whole Pride and Pride space. But Alexander was having enough issues keeping the lid on the Rouge elements of the combined cat clans.

That mess reminded him of his own ancestors in the Scottish Highlands. One Scotsman insults another of a different clan and then both clans were at war. Different genetics, same issue. And depending on what he was going to have to do to get his daughter back safe and sound, he may have more Cat issues to deal with, the Marauders.

He spun the shuttle down and gently set it on the pad at the outskirts of the kettle compound. There was an entourage waiting with his dad and he just stayed planted in his seat as the kiss's goodbye were shared amongst the old man's lovers.

"Don't you say a fucking word Drew!" demanded his Dad as he swung into the copilot's seat. Drew was impressed with the change in the spine support that his Dad now sported. Gone was the full exoskeleton and in its place was a fine woven mechanical exposed 'spine' support that hugged his back from tail to neck.

"Nice Rig Dad!" commented Drew.

"Yesseree, it's much better that that clunky frame I have been living in. A couple of the younger engineers took me on as a special project. Quite a fun barter system they have in place." Sr. commented with a huge smile and a slight grunt as he tightened his straps.

"Wish the tanks could fix you Dad..." Drew stated.

"As you know son, I should not even be alive.: Sr. paused to reflect his life in a second or two.

"You gave a fine speech about it to all the Earther morons at the compound that one day. I was so proud of you." Sr. paused again thinking on the blowback to that speech.

"So now I have the coolest back support modern engineering can provide. I have more girlfriends than I can shake a stick at and while I miss Kay something fierce, I am damned happy." SR. paused and looked around the shuttle.

"We not picking up some furry hitchhikers?" Sr. asked.

Drew was quiet for a second because he knew what his Dad's reaction would be. "Yes and no, Goldie and Kitten have glued themselves to Nalia lately, so they are playing unofficial security detail back at the capital for her. Ummm...we are going to pick up Hoppy because she wants to visit her queen." Drew paused quickly and then stated, "And before you start, she will be with us only as long as we are in the shuttle."He had caught Sr. unaware, but then shut him down with the comment.

"OK son, I'll keep my nerves in check and my comments to myself...fucking talking spiders." Sr. commeted, getting the last word in.

"Dad?" Drew questioned. But Senior just waived his hands and refused to respond.

Drew brought the shuttle down at the Pad by DB's house in New Hope, Omega. Standing beside the pad was a much larger Hoppy than Drew remembered. Drew looked at his dad for reaction and he got a look that shot daggers and a rude response.

'You're an asshole my son," Drew just smiled and kissed Sr. on top of his head and went to greet the rest.

With the ramp extended and the hatch open Drew could now see a second female next to Cara and DB. She was gorgeous. Cara was starting to show quite a bit for her first pregnancy, so Drew focused on his adopted daughter and not the beauty next to her. After the pleasantries he was introduced to Alainn, the new member of DB's family.

Drew remembered the name from the lists and letters he had delivered. At one time, he had hoped the O'Connor clan would refuse. He would not have felt bad letting them swim off the coast after how they had treated Nalia.

During additional pleasantries, Drew tried not to stare at Alainn. He ripped his eyes away from the exotic beauty and waived Hoppy to climb abord. It became glaringly obvious how much the young spider had grown when she had to literally climb through the oversized hatch instead of just walking through like in the past.

As Drew strapped back in the pilot's seat, he gave a sideways glance at his father. He got a mouthed 'asshole' back at him. Drew just gave out a short laugh and took the shuttle north.

***

Drew flashed over the Omega colony looking at the changes that had been wrought during winter. With the spider compound for soil stabilization, the roads had started to take on a more 'civilized' look. At least on the larger, more traveled arterial roads. They did not have the look of muddy wallows, as they had the spring before. He drove the shuttle low and over the dam, seeing the spillway and holding walls being strengthened by the same compound, just used another way.

Drew was always amazed at the Kettle. Born engineers. He had seen them in action on ships and in-station, but they shifted their engineering behavior to the Civil side without a misstep. He may be a figurehead, but the Kettle community were going to be the backbone of the Cat home world stability.

He streaked up the giant dormant volcano that was the creator for the whole continent. Drew had climbed out of the lowlands and now streaked along the jungle band.

Home of the spiders.

He turned south along the border between the colonists and spiders, just to have a look at that border. Before he had shut down and removed the Odessa, there had been serious deforestation. He could still see the scar, but he could also see the joint-replanting effort, spiders, and colonists.

Drew reached certain coordinates and set the shuttle to hover. The hatch opened and Drew looked out across the treetops.

"Hoppy just signal when you want to get picked up and we will come get you or send someone. Take your time and enjoy being with family." Drew commented.

Hoppy was busy wrapping her boxes in web and just shoved them out the door when complete.

"My nest is now with you Lord Drew and with Cara and DB in Omega. I will do my duty to the queen, my birth mother. I will try and impart all that I have learned. I am grateful for your words after the river incident, it helped me frame how to think about the brutality of life. I am also grateful for the caring and what is called love, from my new nest mates. I will contact you soon." And with that she just crawled out the hatch and vanished at the end of her filament as she lowered herself to the trees.

Drew slid the hatch closed manually and turned to his father.

"Better now?" Drew asked.

"Damn straight. I own the fact that I do not like spiders, son. Especially ones that should be part of some old earth vid. 6-foot spiders that can talk. It's just plain creepy." Drew Sr. responded.

"Let's get to the cabin and relax Dad." Drew chuckled as he turned the shuttle north.

***

An older model Cat Destroyer exited space by the node close to Marauder space. Following close behind was a small scout ship. The Cat destroyer sent out notification of its peaceful intentions and moved forward towards in-system space. The Scout craft sent a zipped file of its report and quietly followed the destroyer deeper into Cat space.

A large Cat cruiser popped into space blocking the pathway and demanded the destroyer stand down and be ready to be boarded.

Thing Two sat in the captain's chair smirking as Thing One stood by fuming. It was an odd occasion that both sisters were on the same ship, but Thing Two had turned up pregnant after her last shore leave at the capital. It seemed that she and Target had come to agreement, after much tequila, that Thing Two could bathe Lord Drew.

One thing led to another and she had two cubs on the way. That evened up the cub score the two sisters had held over the years. Thing One was on-board to relieve her very pregnant sister.

There was a fluttering of ears from Thing One, "You can be such a slut."

"That my dear loving sister is an earther term. You were the one to slip into his bed last year. So, no name calling." Responded Thing Two.

She touched her screen and called up the Vid connection that was being sent from other ship.

"Hi Auntie! Oh my, Hi Aunties! I did not expect to find both of you on Harmonia. It's been a while."

Both old warriors were flabbergasted and did not know how to respond.

"Niece, what the hell are you doing on that rust bucket and what are all those people doing behind you on the bridge? Who the hell is the Captain?" questioned Thing One, even though she had not taken over the captain's chair yet.

"Now play NICE Auntie. Do not talk about my ship that way. You are talking to Captain Aya Scott of the Cat Destroyer Osiris. Late of what we call the Marauder navy. I won it in a chess game." Aya sat there smiling and just beaming in her captain's chair. Her feet could not reach the ground, but she figured she could have a foot stool built.

"The folks you see behind me are freed slaves from all of those ships that have gone missing before the dragons showed up. They would very much like to go home or be new citizens of Cat space if room could be made for them." Aya stated bouncing in her chair.