Chapter 27
They were too late. The moment they came out of hyperspace, Buster had to put a paw to his eyes to keep from being blinded by the flashes. Blue flashes, green flashes, and white flashes of light. “No,” Whiskers hissed next to him. “We are too late. It has already begun.”
Buster nodded. Their position gave them a view of the entire battle zone. A BPS battle group led by the Batpooh was in protective orbit over Sirius Five while a larger group of Cat warships bombarded them. Behind the Cat ships were asteroids that seemed destined to wipe out everything.
He nearly didn’t recognize the Batpooh from the damage it had sustained. Its hull was pockmarked with dark splotches, bits of the front had come off, and one hyperspace generator was hanging on by a thread. The only good news was that the bridge seemed to be intact—at least for the moment.
Getting a transmission through to the Batpooh was a difficult task with so many ships all trying to communicate with each other. He let Dodger deal with the overlapping noises until the intelligence agent found a clear channel. “Captain?” Dash asked, panting.
“It’s me. What’s the situation?”
“We’ve taken heavy damage to all decks. Half the group is gone already and we can’t get the colonists off the planet.” Dash stopped for a moment and then said, “The admiral wants to talk to you.”
“Buster? What are you doing here?”
“I brought the princess. We’re here to stop this.”
“There is no stopping this. Not even if you give them the princess. Get out of here while you still can.”
“No, sir. We’re not leaving. Not until this bloodshed stops.”
“Captain, that’s a direct order—”
Dodger shut down the transmission. “Should have figured on that,” he said. “Want to try your luck with the Cats?”
“Can you get through to them?”
“I’m trying. They use a different encryption.” Dodger’s paws flew over the controls. “I think I’ve got something.”
Though the image was blurry, Buster could tell that they had reached Captain Morgana’s ship. The sound was garbled, but she didn’t sound pleased. “You dare try to break our encryption! Your victory will be short-lived! Soon we will destroy you.”
Whiskers gently pushed Buster aside. She leaned down towards the screen so that Captain Morgana could get a good look at her. “Captain, this is Whiskers, princess of Cattatonia. I wish to speak to my mother.”
“Princess? I’m not sure—”
“You will put me through to her ship. Is that understood?”
“Yes, your highness.”
It wasn’t the queen’s image that came on the screen, though. Draco’s sneer was evident even with the static. “So, you have realized the error of your ways? You wish to come crawling back to us?”
“I do not crawl to anyone. Where is my mother?”
“The queen cannot be bothered now. Once we have disposed of these feeble Dogs then you may talk to her.”
“Draco, stop this. I will return to Cattatonia. I will marry you as soon as we are able. Please, call the ships back. Let the dogs save their colonists.”
Draco pounded the armrest of his chair. “No! They violated our territory. They turned our princess against us. They must be made to pay for these crimes!”
Buster leaned down to the screen, hoping Draco could see him as well. “Duke Draco, this is Captain Bulldog. I will surrender myself to you and your justice if you end this attack on the Bloc. I’m the one you want. I’m the one who should pay for my crimes, not them.”
“This will be your punishment. You will watch your pathetic fleet be destroyed.” The transmission ended and it was Buster’s turn to pound the armrest.
Whiskers put a paw on his shoulder. “We must talk with my mother directly. She will listen to us.”
“How are we going to do that? Draco will intercept any transmissions we send.”
“Then we will not send a transmission. We will board the ship and locate her.”
“Board the ship? That’s suicide. We’ll never reach her.”
“Leave that to me,” Dodger said.
#
Another explosion rocked the Batpooh. Spot held on to the edge of the his station until the tremor died out. “Weapons systems are down to twenty percent,” Jake announced. “We used up the last of our torpedoes.”
“And we’ve hardly made a dent in them,” Dash said.
Spot couldn’t disagree with that assessment. They had managed to take out three Cat warships, but in the process they had lost six of their own. Those ships that remained were so battered they wouldn’t be able to reach hyperspeed, provided they ever got the chance. And Sirius Five was still facing annihilation from the asteroids. The battle had disintegrated more than half, but those that remained could still kill every living thing on the planet.
Spot’s job in this crisis was to work with all of the remaining ships, trying to organize a defense as well as to dispatch medical teams. He had given up the helm controls, seeing little point to them at this point. They were sitting ducks here, trying in vain to defend the planet from the Cat onslaught.
Marshy was still out there. He couldn’t be sure where. The transports had all taken cover on the fourth moon, where they would probably be stuck until the Cats took them captive. At least Marshy would live for a little while, until they executed her along with the others.
“Admiral, we’re getting another transmission from Captain Bulldog.”
“Those fools are still here? I told them to clear the area!”
“Sorry, sir,” Buster said. “We’re going to attempt to find the queen and negotiate with her directly.”
“What? That’s suicide!” Spot said. He ran over to the communications station so that he could look Buster in the eye, probably for the last time. “They’ll kill you on sight.”
“Maybe, but we have to try.”
“Buster—”
“There’s no point arguing about it now. You’ve been a good friend, Spot. My best friend. I need you to do one last thing for me.”
“Name it.”
“Keep that flagship distracted while we make our approach.”
Spot stared at his friend for a moment. He wanted to tell Buster again that this was crazy, that they stood no chance of reaching the flagship, let alone the queen of the Cats. But he knew there was no point. A Bulldog didn’t change his mind once he’d made it up. “All right,” Spot said. “We’ll do what we can. Good luck.”
“You too.”
The transmission ended and Spot turned to Jake. “Target the flagship and give it everything we’ve got.”
“Gladly,” Jake said.
Spot put a paw on Dash’s shoulder. “Contact the other ships and give them the same instructions. Put everything we have on the flagship.”
“I’m on it.”
Spot returned to his station and looked over at Admiral Barker, who nodded to him. “If we survive this, I might put you in for a promotion,” the admiral said.
Spot watched from his displays as Buster’s shuttle began moving towards the Cat fleet. The Batpooh shook from another hit. It returned fire, its weapons centered on the enemy flagship. The other ships joined in, tiny explosions blossoming all along the flagship’s hull. Spot hoped none of those shots hit wherever the queen was located.
“Keep firing,” Spot said. “They’ve got a ways to go yet.”
The Cat fleet returned fire, the deck shaking violently beneath Spot. Warnings of hull breaches came in from several decks. They wouldn’t be able to take much more of this pounding. Maybe it wouldn’t matter if Buster could reach the queen and convince her to call off the attack.
“We’re just about down to harsh language,” Jake said as the Batpooh rocked again. What the ship had left continued firing at the flagship. Spot watched Buster’s shuttle continue towards it, reaching the halfway point. Just a few more minutes—
The lights went out with the next series of hits. It took several seconds for the dim blue emergency lighting to come on. When it did, Spot saw the news was not good. Jeremiah’s voice came from the intercom, shouting over the sound of hissing and sparking, “She’s just about had it. We’re running on emergency batteries.”
“Put all power into the weapons. Begin getting all personnel into escape pods,” Admiral Barker said. “We’ll cover Buster as long as we can.”
Spot sounded the evacuation alarm. It probably wouldn’t matter, as the escape pods, like the transports, would eventually be picked up by the Cats. That was unless Buster and Whiskers could work a miracle.
Another explosion shook the Batpooh. Spot’s displays went blank. That meant the main computer had gone down. “Switching to manual,” Jake said.
“After you finish, get to the escape pod, Lieutenant,” Admiral Barker said. “That goes for the rest of you.”
“Admiral—”
“That’s an order, Commander.”
“We can’t leave you!”
Admiral Barker smiled. “The captain is supposed to go down with his ship.” He guided his hoverchair over to Jake’s station to take over the controls. “Go on, all of you.”
“No, sir,” Spot said. “I’m staying with you.”
Jake nodded. “Me too, sir.”
“Me too,” Dash said.
“Get out of here!” Admiral Barker thundered. He took his pistol from his side. “Now! This is my job.”
Jake could have probably disarmed the admiral, but Spot took him by the shoulder. “You heard the admiral. Let’s go.”
With Dash’s help, Spot managed to drag Jake away from his station, towards the escape pod along the port wall of the bridge. There was room for ten in the pod, more than enough for all of them, and supplies to last for a month. Not that they would need to worry about that.
Spot was in the process of activating the pod when he heard the bridge elevator doors open. He heard Nina’s voice a moment later. “What are you still doing here?”
“What are you still doing here?” the admiral countered.
“I thought you would be too pigheaded to abandon ship with the others.
“This is my job.”
“What about me? What about our puppies?”
“Nina, please—”
“Bob, I love you. I came close to losing you before. I don’t want to lose you now.”
“I have to do this. Buster is out there. He needs my help.”
The Batpooh shook again. The ceiling caved in over the helm station. Spot heard Nina scream and ran from the escape pod. She was squatting down on the floor by where Bob was still trying to fire the Batpooh’s weapons at the flagship. For the moment she appeared all right.
Admiral Barker slapped at the controls furiously and then gave the console a final punch. “Batteries are out.” He steered the chair over to Nina’s side as Spot helped her up. “That’s it.”
“Let’s go then,” she said.
He nodded. “I guess so.” He took her paw and went with her down to the escape pod. Spot followed them, taking one last look around the bridge. It was gone now. The ship he had served on for years, where he had grown up and even fallen in love was nothing more than debris now.
The door lowered over the escape pod hatch. Spot helped Nina and Admiral Barker with their straps and then strapped himself in. “Here we go,” he said and then pulled down the lever to launch the pod.
The explosion was worse than any during the battle as rockets fired the escape pod into space. With any luck they would rendezvous with the transports on the fourth moon. There he could be reunited with Marshy—at least for a few hours. Then he could tell her everything he had wanted to but hadn’t been able to.
The g-forces of the explosion had just died out when Nina cried out. She put both paws on her stomach. She turned to her husband with a pained smile. “I think they’re coming,” she said. She turned to Spot. “Get the medical kit.”
“What do you want me to do?” Spot asked.
“Just catch them,” she said. “I can handle the rest.”
Spot gulped at this. Despite all of the chaos and carnage around them, two puppies were about to enter the world.
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