Chapter 18
After hours without hearing anything further from Cattatonia and still without any success at penetrating the energy field in the trees, Spot decided to follow Marshy’s advice. He had Dash bring a cushion into Buster’s office so that if trouble happened he wouldn’t be too far away from the bridge. Spot was curled up on the cushion for nearly twenty minutes before the alarms sounded.
As he sat up, the intercom on the captain’s desk buzzed. Spot leapt from the cushion to punch the button with his paw. “Status?” he barked.
“We have a Cat shuttle approaching,” Dash said. “They say they’re returning the away team.”
“Excellent news, Ensign. Keep our shields down and welcome them aboard.”
“Yes, sir.”
Spot rushed back onto the bridge, where he found Marshy just stepping off the elevator. From the way her jacket was unbuttoned, she must have just received a call as well. She smiled slightly to him, probably with some embarrassment to look so unkempt. Thinking of his talk with Nina, he smiled back and nodded to her.
Then he took the captain’s chair, where he saw the Cat shuttle approaching on the sensors. The shuttle was too small to be in visual range yet, but it would be within a few minutes. Of more concern though were the Cat warships nearby. What if they tried to stop the shuttle or even to destroy it?
Even as he thought this, the warships changed their positions, coming around to face the Batpooh. “They’re getting into attack position,” the security officer said. “Should we raise shields?”
“No,” Spot said. “Let’s see what they do.”
“But sir—”
“It’s not us we have to worry about, Ensign.” Spot watched on the viewscreen as the black dot of the shuttle became larger. A few more minutes and they would be aboard. Then they could get out of here and go back home. Spot resisted the urge to drum his paws on the armrests as he waited. “Lieutenant Ruff, prepare a course to get us out of here at the quickest possible speed.”
“Yes, sir.”
Trying to fight three Cat warships—and however many more might be lurking out there—would be foolhardy, but they could at least try to flee. The shuttle continued its approach, though far slower than Spot would like. So far the Cat warships were just sitting there, watching and waiting. But for how long?
“Sir, I’m receiving a transmission from the shuttle,” Dash said. “It’s from Captain Morgana.”
“Put it through.”
“Attention, foolish Dogs, we are putting the others of your kind in an escape pod. Once you have them, you are to leave Cattatonian space immediately. We will provide an escort to make sure you reach the border.”
“Thank you, Captain—” The connection went dead before Spot could finish. He watched on the sensor display as the shuttle came about ninety degrees. There was a momentary flash of heat, followed by something the size of a compact hovercar breaking away from the shuttle. “Track the escape pod and plot an intercept course.”
“Yes, sir,” Marshy said. The Cats had aimed the pod well, so that the Batpooh hardly had to move in order to align itself with the vehicle. Marshy fired the maneuvering rockets for a few seconds to get the ship in position.
“I’m going down to the hangar to meet them,” Spot said. “Have Dr. Barker meet me there. Lieutenant Ruff, you have the bridge. Let me know immediately if those Cat warships make any hostile moves.”
“Yes, sir.”
Running was undignified for even a temporary captain except in the most dire emergencies. This didn’t qualify in Spot’s mind, so he forced himself to walk quickly through the corridors, to the hangar. He saw Nina coming from down the opposite end of the corridor, her body clad in a tight-fitting blue biohazard suit and carrying a medical case in one paw.
“Let’s hope that isn’t necessary,” Spot said.
“I’ll still have to take them in for quarantine until we know they aren’t carrying any contagious germs.”
“I understand.” The Cats might not have infected their guests with anything, but that didn’t mean germs from the planet couldn’t make the Batpooh’s crew sick.
Spot opened the door to the hangar to find the escape pod drifting down to the deck thanks to the hangar’s internal tractor beams. He let Nina go first, hanging back until she gave him an all-clear. That was until he heard shouting inside the escape pod and saw it rocking violently. Spot took the pistol from his hip and then raced forward.
He threw open the hatch Nina had gone through, expecting to find a squad of Cats holding Nina hostage. Instead he found Nina standing over a Saint Bernard, who was rolling on the floor and howling as she tried to examine him. “I guess someone is ticklish,” Spot said and put the pistol away.
Jake took him by the arm. “We need to talk. Now.”
It was then Spot realized the escape pod was short two dogs.
#
Despite what Jake had said, Nina refused to release him or the Saint Bernards from sickbay. Her preliminary scans had cleared them of anything harmful, but she ordered them to wait in sickbay until more detailed tests came back. In issues like this the medical officer had priority over even the captain’s orders, so there was nothing for Spot to do but wait and hope the Cats didn’t get too impatient about them leaving Cattatonian space.
Only after taking her scans did Nina allow Jake to have a seat in her office. Spot sat in the doctor’s chair and tried not to look at the picture of Captain Barker his wife kept there. “What happened to Buster and Dodger?”
“They took Buster. Some trumped-up charges about him trying to kill their princess.”
“And Dodger?”
“He was on the shuttle with us. They even crammed him into that tin can with us. But when it launched, he was gone. Somehow he snuck out of there without anyone seeing him.”
“Sounds like what a Fleet Intelligence operative would do.”
“You mean he was a spy?”
“Yes. A real high-level one too. Nothing in any database about him. At least not the ones we can access. They probably have something on him at the First Mansion.”
“Guess that explains it then.” Jake shook his head. “He’s probably going back for Buster. Thinks he can break him out on his own.”
“What about that princess Buster supposedly attacked?”
“Not sure. She took us around the place instead of her old mum and then that night she sent a note to ask Buster to meet with her somewhere private. From what he said, they went up into some tree and had a nice chat. Got into a run-in with some critters up there but came down without much damage. Next thing we know, they’re taking him away, saying he tried to poison her in her sleep. Bunch of—”
“I get it,” Spot said. “Where are they holding him now?”
“Don’t know that either. Somewhere in that palace of theirs. A dungeon so it’s probably underground.”
Before Spot could say anything, the intercom buzzed. Dash’s voice came through. “Message from the Cats, sir. They want us to leave their space immediately or else they’re going to blast us. What should I tell them?”
“Tell them we’re on our way. And tell Lieutenant Ruff to get us moving—half-maximum speed, though.”
“Yes, sir.”
Spot could tell even before he got to his feet that Jake was angry. The flaps of his jowls went up and the hair to bare his teeth and the hair on the back of his head bristled. Spot had seen this look before when Buster got upset. “You’re going to leave them there?”
“No.”
“But you said—”
“There’s no good we can do. Not with the ship. They’d have us in pieces before we could get a transport on the ground.”
“Then what are you going to do? Roll over and show your belly to them?”
“For now, yes. At least let them think we are.” Spot stood up but didn’t dare risk trying to pat Jake’s shoulder at the moment. “Let’s go pay Dr. Ruff a visit.”
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