In an office chair on M'Raa...

[KAT MRess]

The light grew out of nothing. A very faint light, but it was enough.

She became aware of her surroundings. They were warm and comfortable and she felt lightly rested. Without opening her eyes she stretched and purred. Immediately her hands met something solid as they extended past her head. No matter, she arched her back, pointed her toes and flexed her arms.

That’s when the pain started. What started as a dull ache in the side of her head quickly spread to a raging throb throughout.

OW! she thought as she put her hands to her head and slowly sat up. The fading images in her mind jumbled together and she couldn’t make sense out of them. She dismissed them as dreams.

Then she opened her eyes.

M’Ress awoke when she stretched and purred. Now THAT is a nice sound. he thought and quickly realized who and what it was. He opened his eye and looked the figure in the dim light. It was stretched across his bed with it’s back arched, prominently outlining it’s figure in the dim light. After a minute of stretching the curvy silhouette lifted it’s hands to the head and started to sit up.

M’Ress smiled. Not the Earthlike toothy grin with the corners of the mouth upraised, but a proper Kzin Smile, ears forward, lips parted, and tongue slightly out.

“How are you?” He asked.

[KAT MRess]

Tr’rin stopped and stared at him. The pain in her head made it hard to focus but she was able to make out M’Ress. She looked at him and blinked to try and clear some of the fog. The pain made it hard to sit up straight, so she sank back down on the bed.

BED?!?!

How did she wind up in HIS bed?

She tried to fight the emotions that were also rising up, but the pain in her head made the whole thing unbearable. Just then remembrance came back and some of the images burst into memory. Confusion and pain won out and she broke into tears.

M’Ress saw this coming, he could see the tears welling up before they hit. It was the same for anyone after experiencing their first battle, more so for civilians. He stood up and took a small hand towel from beside the grooming area. He handed it over to her.

Tr’rin had balled up against the far wall of the bed. He spoke softly to her and she took the towel gingerly. That was good. It meant she wasn’t afraid of him, just confused. He sat back down and waited patiently for the flood of questions that was about to come.

[SSCF-LeRoy]

Excellent writing so far. Keep up the good work

[KAT MRess]

Ah yes... Leroy <evil grin>... you may regret asking for a recap earlier....






“What just happened?”

“You just woke up and I handed you a towel.” He wasn’t being sarcastic, a lot had happened and he was just trying to figure out the best place to start. He was about to continue when she cut him off.

“I meant before that!” she spat. “What happened up there… on the stairs… landing...” she was very upset and as a result, very confused.

“Bridge?” he offered

“Yeah… the bridge! What happened? What was all that about?”

M’Ress sighed and stood up. He moved over to the food dispenser and pulled another glass, explaining as he went.

“To explain Everything… would probably take days. Since we will only have a few hours until repairs are complete. I’ll attempt to condense it.” He sat at the desk and mixed another, considerably weaker, drink for her.

“Here drink this, it’ll help.” As she went to tip the milk down in one gulp, he held up his hand. “Slowly… only sip it.”

She slowed and gingerly took a sip and immediately winced at the burn that she was unaccustomed to.

[Soreyes]

 

[KAT MRess]

It was not the first time he’d had to explain the overall situation. The problem was he had to explain some history in order for someone to understand why they were in this position.

“The conflict between Kzin and Lyrans goes back many generations as you know. Each claim to be the “Superior” race. Each has it’s reasons to believe it so, and each has it’s detractors. To fully understand you would have to go back through history and make a complete research project out of it. For now, let’s just say we hate each other for plenty of reasons.

“As a military commander however, I am more interested in the strategic reasons for advancing my own people and protecting them. Lyrans are the closest and biggest threat to that.” He paused to take a sip of his own drink. She took another as well and didn’t flinch anywhere near as much as before.

“However, suffice to say some have … personal… reasons that go beyond the usual. In the past, despite our hatred, we had formed a temporary alliance to fight off a mutual enemy. Despite the fact that there is generations of hatred, some of us have a healthy respect for their warriors, such as Kzinbane. While some others feel we should have let them die off, some of us chose the high road to be better.”

His eye seemed to focus somewhere else, as his hand absently reached up to caress the side of his head where the other eye used to be.

“Despite our differences some of us took it upon ourselves to defend our hated allies. Hoping to bridge the gap and make peace for the better good for all. We protected them as we would our own. And when they faltered, we paid the price and willingly made our sacrifices on their behalf.” The hand stopped, clenched as if in remembered pain.

“Only to have them turn on us again at the first opportunity… without even so much as a thank you or acknowledgement.”

[KAT MRess]

Tr’rin was not by any means dim witted. She knew he was talking about himself. She also knew where this story was headed. And that was… answers. Not just any answers either. Highly classified answers, that most of the population could never dream of. By concentrating on what he was saying and sipping the alcoholic drink, it took her mind off the throb in her head.

“So despite our best intentions, those generations of hate and betrayal are very hard to overcome. Thus when we encountered that Lyran ship, instinct kicked in. Who’s to say who was at fault? I could have ignored him. I could have maintained a defensive posture.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“We’ll never know because the other captain is no longer around to tell us what he was feeling or why.” He finished by downing the rest of his drink.

Tr’rin paused before she spoke. “I know all about…” she stopped as she got one of those unmistakable warning looks from M’Ress that told her she didn’t know half of it. She couldn’t begin to imagine what he’d seen during his career, but again, she was not dim enough to be ignorant to the scope of the situation. It was simply something she had never been exposed to before. She chose her next words carefully.

“I can understand…” M’Ress visibly relaxed… “what is going on between our two races. But what I want to know is if the war has not fully started, why did THAT battle just happen? I mean, why… are we out here provoking them?”

It was the question he was dreading the most.

[KAT MRess]

“We are here to attempt to retrieve something that I missed out on a while back. Something that could be very important to a lot of people… and races. If we are successful… we will have knowledge that could shift the balance of power in the quadrant. I think you would agree that would be VERY useful in the upcoming war.”

So that’s what it came down to. Tr’rin thought. Intelligence

M’Ress could see the thought processes on her face. Knowledge was power in a war and they needed as much as they could get to help their own cause.

“So what is it that is so important?”

“To tell you that, I need to go back and recap a previous mission.”

She took a deep breath. He did mention they had several hours before repairs were complete. So she settled back and took another sip…

[KAT MRess]

Oh yes Leroy... there will be a recap...




Green and M’Ress were in a closed meeting.

“How, in the name of the maker, did she manage to turn a court Martial into a promotion?”

They were pouring over the Intelligence reports about the current status in the Federation. Although they knew that the info supplied by J’inn was heavily “edited for content” it still provided more for them to work with than they had before. Ascertaining the status of all the other major powers after the last war was important to decide where they were going to head for the next little while. Everyone else was pretty well into a state of rebuild except the ISC (who already thought they were superior) and the Romulans (their reports denied even being in the war let alone having to rebuild).

The most interesting piece of data, by far, was a Federation Court Martial of a noted Commodore Rolling. Instead of being sent to brig for thirty years, she came out off it with a promotion to Rear Admiral.

Highly unusual. Even for the Feds.

“There has got to be more to this.” mused Green. “You just don’t go through the trouble of charging someone with an offence just so you can give them a promotion. They must be trying to hide something.”

“Agreed. It doesn’t make sense.” Said M’ress “Problem is how do we get more info. You know as well as I do J’inn won’t give us all the data he has. He’ll use it to his own ends. Just like that legal contribution stuff he pulled on Chuut over his new Bar.” M’Ress grinned.

Green looked at M’ress, “Or another certain promotion that I know of.”

M’ress growled a deep throaty growl as Greens ears twitched back and forth.

“Any ideas?” Green asked after his ears stopped twitching.

“Not really,” looking at Green sidelong in displeasure at the reminder. “After the last war it would be difficult to get any info.  Hate to say it but that’s J’inns area.”

Green pondered for a minute.

“What about W.A.N.K.E.R.?”

[Soreyes]

“What about W.A.N.K.E.R.?”

Oh the Horror  the Horror. 

[KAT MRess]

M’Ress picked a dossier P.A.D. up and consulted it.

“Nah, that wouldn’t work. She doesn’t have a husband in Starfleet.”

“But she is a woman.” added Green “And she was accused of impersonating an officer, and a high ranking one at that. Besides, what better way for W.A.N.K.E.R. to keep tabs on the Feds with an agent in the mix.”

M’ress considered this for a minute. It was a likely course to follow, there was just one problem.

“How long has it been since you spoke to Redfur?” Green asked.

“Not long enough.” grumbled M’Ress “Ever since she got it into her head that I didn’t care any more, she’s been off doing her own thing. I have no idea where she is.”

“You are probably the only officer who’s had contact with W.A.N.K.E.R. and is still active. Think! There has got to be someone else.”

M’ress was trying to remember the names of those that had contacted his Ex-wife over the years. Many of those were too far into politics to get close to now. His brain focussed on one name. Yes, it just might be possible. He dug out another P.A.D. dossier and handed it to Green.

Green took it and examined it. It was not long before he handed it back and said,

“Good luck on that one. I got close before and I ain’t doing it again.”

“That makes you the resident expert.”

“That makes it your turn.”

“Fight you for it.”

They both stood looking at each other over the table. Slowly they raised their right paws  up to their hips and then rapidly pumped them into the air in front of each other.

Green smiled, “Paper covers rock.”

“Damn.” grunted M’ress, “I was hoping I would never have to… uh… encounter that one.”

[KAT MRess]

M’ress touched a button on the comm.

“Miss Throat?”

“Yessir.” A Very deep and rough, but distinctly female voice answered over the comm. Green winced.

“Please bring the report on all active Captains.”

“Right away sir.” And the channel closed.

“How to you tolerate that voice?” Green asked.

“You’ll see.”

The door hissed open and a VERY feminine figure walked in the door. Her fur was dark brown all over with tan highlights on the ears, nose and claws. The uniform was fitting but not snug and did only a little to hide the shapely figure underneath. By her gait you tell that there was military training, but it wasn’t the disciplined stride of a warrior. Rings, small and unremarkable (for professional discretion) adorned both ears, nose and one lip. The whole complimented by a pair of what Feds would call “Tiger Green” eyes.

“Here it is sir.” And she handed the P.A.D. with the report across the desk. “I think you’ll find a few surprises in there.”

“Really?” He took the offered PAD. “Indeed. Thank you, that will be all for now.” She nodded, turned and left the room. Green drew his breath in through his upper lip.

“I see what you mean.”

“So her voice is a little coarse” (One of Green’s eyebrows went up in a statement of “A Little?”) “She is an excellent Assistant. And you should hear her purr.” Both of Greens eyebrows went up at that.

“She was happy when I hired her.” M’Ress glared, answering Green’s implied question and then changed the subject, “Now let’s look at this list.”

“Your numbers have been a little lean lately, do you need a few more for a while?”

“Maybe a couple, just while I do this field op.”

“Ok I’ll send a couple over.”

M’Ress was still reading the list. He stopped and put down the PAD.

“What is it?”

M’Ress looked at Green.

“Gook is back.”

[KAT MRess]

“Really?” said Green, grabbing the PAD and reading it himself. “There goes the donut machine in the KAT House.”

“Not only that but Fur, Ajax, Hades, McCloud and Razor have become active again.”

Again Green’s eyebrows crawled up his forehead. He was starting to look like a Vulcan.

“Sounds like you’ve got enough, do you still need my guys?”

“My guys have been out for a while. They’ll need, ahem… reconditioning. Although, K’arbin should be available. I’ll have to call him back.”

“Where is he? I haven’t seen him for a while.”

“Deep space mission.” M’Ress answered rubbing his jaw.

“Doing what?”

“Anything he can find.”

“Ah, I’ll leave you to your choices then.” And he departed.

[KAT MRess]

A couple of hours later the intercom buzzed.

“First response to your hail has arrived.”

“Thank you send him in.”

M’Ress didn’t have to look up from his PADs to know who it was that had answered first. It wasn’t the klickety-klick-klick of ten nails on the floor. It wasn’t the pace of the footsteps. No, it was the donut crumbs that fell on his desk.

“Matfukazi, repotin as oded.” Despite the claw rake in front of his face more donut crumbs landed on M’ress’s desk.

“Yes, thank you.” M’ress replied while starting to dab up the crumbs with his index finger. “When was the last time you were assigned to a covert mission?”

“I wuz deep strikin’ in de laft wah.” Not as many crumbs this time. M’Ress restarted his dabbing.

“Excellent. Can you be ready within the next day for a field op?” and then hurriedly added. “Don’t answer! Just nod.”

Matsukasi nodded.

“Good. Dismissed.”

The all black figure with the white tipped tailed turned and left, donuts crumbs and all.

“I wonder if he got that tip from donut glaze?” M’ress wondered.

[KAT MRess]

M’ress touched a PADD and data started to scroll across his desk monitor.

Three more summons had been sent out and he had to wait until they responded. One in particular would take a bit of time. So he decided to pass the time by going over his Fed database.

He needed to find someone who he could cajole into helping him. As he ran down the list various names came up.

Tracey Greenough. Nope for this mission he needed a male. There was no way she could hide those… uh… drones.

As he thought about his requirement again, he realized he could narrow his search. He needed someone younger for the appeal. The list shrunk into a more manageable size as many names like Hooch, Hondo, 762, and Frey dropped off.

Still there were seasoned vets on the revised list. Boy this was tough work. He didn’t realize there were this many Feds to filter. But since he didn’t do this often, the candidate had to be naïve so he could manipulate them. Die Hard, Dark Elf, Fred and Storvick dropped off the list.

He needed to go to Star’s End Bar, which was developing a reputation as a “most wretched hive of scum and villainy”

he paused as he wondered where that thought came from

so that eliminated MOST of the Feds including Father Ted.

Fricking Good Guys. At least the list was very small now. In fact it was down to one name.

Leroy.

One Fed to feed them all.
One Fed to help them.
One Fed to lead them into…

He shook that thought out of his head as well.

Now how to get a private message to this young’un, without his superiors knowing, in order to set up a meeting.

[SSCF-LeRoy]

I would take offense at being called "naive" and "young'un", but then I realize that this was originally written four years ago

Thanks for the trip down memory lane

[KAT MRess]

Hee hee hee <Big Evil Cheesy Grin>



The next summons arrived at M’ress’s office.

As the recipient walked down the hallway, M’Ress could hear the steps through the monitor.

Klickety klick-thub. Klickety klick-thub.

Missing gutting claw, that could only mean…

“Steel-Claw reporting as ordered!” came the announcement the instant the door opened. M’Ress looked up just in time to see the snappy salute.

“At ease.” Although Steel-Claw assumed the “at easy” stance he was still rigid.

“I said AT EASE!” Steel Claw drew in a deep breath and visibly relaxed.

“That’s better. Do you have any idea why your were summoned?”

“None.”

“You’re not in trouble,” The relief was immediately apparent, the orange and black pelt rippled from top to bottom in a reset of muscles. “You’re just on loan for a bit. When was the last time you were on covert duty?”

“I was deep striking in the last war.”

Why did everyone get to deep strike except me? wondered M’ress.

“Good enough, get ready to depart within the next day.”

“Very Good.” Another salute and he spun and left the office. As he exited Green came back in.

“Just thought you might like to see this.” He touched the top of M’Ress desk in the middle of the viewscreen.

“Greetings, independent scientists and press of the United Federation of Planets, I, Chuut-Ritt, have the distinct pleasure to notify you that an object known as "The Guardian of Forever" has come into my possession, and I wish to share its benefits with all the scientist of the Alpha Quadrant….”

“So it’s finally open, excellent. All I need is two more acknowledgements and to send two messages and everything will be set up.”

“About those acknowledgements, I think they arrived addressed to me.” Green handed over a PADD and M’Ress viewed it. “Is he still afraid after that, ahem, “incident”?” Green ran his paw through the rather short trim he maintained on his head pelt.

“Must be. They say they’ll meet us at the bar instead of coming here. Actually that is very prudent, we could lose valuable time waiting for him to show up here and then moving there. I guess it’s time to send the last two messages.”

[KAT MRess]

M’Ress was feeling rather pleased with himself.

He had been able to manuever all the necessary people into to position without too much difficulty. The only thing left was to rendevous with  LeRoy near the edge of Fed/Nebula space to pick him  up.

After he had closed the line between him and Leroy he had briefly pondered whether or not the young Fed officer (Midshipman? He’s have to ask Karbin about that) was playing his own game or he had succeeded in convincing this officer to help him. He had used the line of reasoning that it would be of great benefit if the Federation could find out what the Gorn had planned in the near future. To do so meant that they needed to contact a Gorn operative to supply that info. Since the Kzin were also interested it just made sense that they could help each other in this endeavour. M’Ress would get LeRoy onto the station while LeRoy would do the actual acquisition of the data. LeRoy would then share it and they would all be on their way.

The first sign of a problem came when M’Ress suggested that LeRoy pose as “dinner” for him and his guests. A rumpled Fed uniform, leash and maybe a powered off prod was all that would be needed to show what they intended to do to a captured Feddie. It took many reassurances that he would retain all his fingers but he eventually agreed.

The message to the contact was simple, to expect the new “Treat” within the week”.

Once that was complete, all he had to do was arrive at the agreed co-ordinates and pick up the passenger. Then at the station he would rendezvous with the remainder of his entourage (Karbin and Soreyes) then his plan would be in full swing.

He couldn’t help but feel excited about getting into field work again.

[KAT MRess]

“Are you sure?” he asked his science officer for the umpteenth time.

“Yes sire. There are no ships in the sector just beyond the Nebula.”

M’ress was getting impatient. His rendezvous was late by more than half a day. He was holding his ship inside the Nebula just to be on the safe side, periodically using a tight beam scan to check the sector just beyond. The agreed meeting point was well within the range of the tight beam, as his science officer promised him, but there was still no one waiting there.

Over his left shoulder Matsukasi was quietly chewing, again, on another of those cursed earth donuts. Steel Claw was showing more restraint and interest by monitoring the sensor sweeps over the shoulder of the science officer.

“Mebe dey change dere mind.” said Mat in a small flurry of crumbs.

“He better not have.” Growled M’ress under his breath and quietly vowed to feast on all ten of his fingers if he did.

Another ten minutes went by with no contact. The thought of just how cunning this LeRoy might be ran through his mind again. He dismissed it with a shake of his head. If he was cunning enough to counter his plans then he wouldn’t have agreed to “dinner”.

“Are you sure that thing is working.” he demanded.

Steel Claw answered this time, “Nothing at all except slightly elevated tetryon particles from the Nebula.”

M’ress debated his next move. He knew the path in which LeRoy’s ship had to approach the co-ordinates. Maybe he could slip out and send a tight beam along that path. He could scan for quite a distance that way.

“Helm, ahead one-quarter impulse.”

“Aye Sire ahead one-quarter, exiting Nebula in 30 seconds.”

Slowly the KATNIP LXXIII slid forward out of the gases. As the viewscreen started to clear, M’Ress turned to the science officer and started to issue his command.
“Science officer prepare to initiate a tight scan along…”

“Sire, detecting the signature of a Federation shuttlecraft.”

“Fool! Why didn’t you detect this before?”

“Sire! The tight scan was configured for a full starship.”

M’ress realized that the shuttle would have been masked by the interference from the Nebula even with a tight beam. He could have swept over it a dozen times already. He wasn’t about to admit that oversight in front of the crew though.

“Prepare to hail the shuttle. Steel, Mat, see to it our “guest” is properly received.”

“Yessire.” They answered with a snappy claw rake (and flurry of crumbs) and turned and left the bridge.

“And would someone vacuum his face!” M’Ress yelled as the door closed.

[Soreyes]

I forgot about this little adventure. 

[KAT MRess]

LeRoy stepped into the transporter alcove. His heart was racing as his trepidation was running overtime. He had about a minute before the beam would send him over to the Kzinti ship, so he concentrated on calming himself.

The reason for this anxiety was quite plain. He had never met a Kzin face to face before. Oh sure he had met them in battle, but those exchanges were always over a com link. He had heard about just how large they were, at least a foot taller than himself, with large muscles and the speed to match. Physically he was no match. He had to outthink them.

He’d also heard that they had a good sense of smell. Indeed, if that were true, then they could smell his fear. He concentrated more to calm himself and remove the smell of fear. As the calmness slowly asserted itself, he let his mind wander about who he would meet. What would it be like on their ship?

He lost any more thoughts as the command came to energize.


The brief disorientation overcame him along with the curious light display that resulting from his optical nerves being scattered in the beam. Quickly the lights reassembled into coalescent figures again. Immediately the fear started to rise again inside, but immediately he staunched it.

What he saw was a transporter room, very similar to his own. There was console to one side that had all the standard lights and buttons, and power couplings at the back of the room. Standing behind the console was one Kzin who was stooped over looking at his controls and adjusting a couple of them, as the disorientation faded.

Standing in front of the console were two other Kzin. The one on the left was orange with black stripes not unlike the earth tiger. The other was all black except for a white tip of the tail and what looked like dandruff around his mouth. Both were seven feet tall, very muscular and dressed in the standard grey Kzinti military uniforms. Small sword insignia adorned one side of their collars with what appeared to be rank on the other,
The one on the left had two claws while the black Kzin had one. Both were standing with arms crossed and feet (paws) shoulder width apart (and they were big shoulders). But the most unnerving thing of all…

…they were smiling.

Very large toothy smiles… fangs and all.

[KAT MRess]

Steel Claw looked at the human on the pad. It seemed small, even for a human. But then they all looked small when the average height was only 5’ 10”. It was dressed in the standard Fed uniform of Red tunic, black pants and those boots. How could they ever put such constrictions on their feet? How does one feel the ground when you are in combat?

Steel Claw turned to Matsukasi and in the Hero’s tongue said, “I’ll bet his fingers wouldn’t even make a snack. Look how small he is.”

To LeRoy’s ears, all he heard was “Grrr, pfft hsss rowl.” As he did not have access to his Universal translator in this ship.

“And he reeks.” Responded Matsukasi. “Smell that fear.”

“Is that what that is. Well just keep smiling, it’s a human way of reassurance.”

They both turned back to LeRoy and smiled even larger.

LeRoy saw the lips curl even more and it was all he could do to keep an outward appearance of calm.

“Right this way Lootenant.” This time LeRoy understood as the Orange one spoke in Common. “The Patriarch awaits you in his ready room.” And he gestured towards the door.

Determined to show his lack of fear, he boldly stepped off the pad and moved toward the door. He paused outside to wait for one of them to take the lead. The Orange on stepped forward and the Black one moved in behind and they walked down the corridor. One question now burned in his mind?

Patriarch?

[KAT MRess]

Meanwhile, several light years away on the Star End station…

The darkened panel loomed over the doorway like an ominous void. Past the doorway there had been sounds of activity for some time now. Various sounds of hand construction. Not the usual whine of a transporter or buzz of replicator, but the sound of old fashioned hard work. Hammers, saws, and drills could all be heard being used. Someone was going through a lot of trouble to make this area something special.

The last few days had brought about a change in the noise. The power tools had faded to be replaced by silence or the testing of a loud sound system. After another couple of days the sound had stopped altogether. Now there was just an eerie silence.

Finally, a change was noticeable. Movement could be detected behind the panel and the doors. Not major structural movement, just slight shimmers in the surface. After another couple of days a sign appeared, a fairly large sign as it was written in the 8 major languages of the quadrant. The message was simple and straight forward.

“Coming soon…”

*****


She stared out from behind the one way glass.

Overlooking her creation, she felt a very strong sense of belonging. It had taken quite some time to pull this together, fortunately the landlord was willing and a deal had been struck quite quickly. After that, it had been a case of finding the old fashioned workers to hand-make everything in the establishment. From the burnished rails to the polished tables, everything had been made just right to her exacting standards. It had been costly, but it was worth it.

Her establishment had a very intimate and cozy feel. Almost like your favourite comfortable chair at home. Which was important. With the diversity of life forms that would be inhabiting the establishment, comfort and ease around each other was important.

All the major races had their own sections, there was even a gas chamber to one side for the Hydrans if they wished to liberate from their enviro-suits. A Gorn area was covered in sunlamps and surrounded by low-level force fields to keep the heat in that area. The Kzin and Lyran sections had the chairs with the grooves for the tails, the larger chairs in the Kzin section with the smaller ones in the Lyran.

Klingons had no chairs. Since they tended to party by fighting and jabbing each other with pain sticks, chairs weren’t necessary. A couple of vats of Blood Wine finished that area. The Feds were easy, comfy chairs and dim lighting.

The Romulans were not accommodated as they denied they were even there in the first place.

There was even a hot tub for the ISC (and maybe Hondo if he ever visited).

It was getting close to the Grand opening. The sign out front had been modified to include a date. Soon it would be time to throw the power switch for the sign and throw open the doors. The sound insulation had gone well and the stage was set for the evenings entertainment. It helped being the feature attraction as it save her a bit of cost.

*****

It was time.

She moved to the front door where two large Gorn were stationed as bouncers. She entered the pass code for the power systems.

Outside the doors were flung open to the waiting crowd and the sign blazed forth in bright neon pink. It read…



“Welcome to Kroma’s”

[KAT MRess]

As LeRoy walked along the corridor, he tried to take in as much as he could. Not many humans were able to walk a Kzin ship. That is, not able to walk a Kzin ship and live. He was well aware of the reputation of the Kzin for devouring prisoners. It was well known Kzin did not take prisoners, only meals.

Most of what he saw was battle equipment. Weapons systems, armaments, and spartan offices and quarters. Indeed it was a ship made purely for battle not much in terms of exploration or recreation.

The two Kzin stopped in front of a door and waited. Eventually it opened to reveal a turbolift. The 3 of them stepped in. After a short duration the door opened. They turned down another corridor and stopped after a couple of doors. The Orange one tapped a panel beside the door. After a pause the door slid open.

The chamber inside was large for this kind of vessel. It was also well lit and comfortably furnished. The large desk across the room in front of the door was occupied. Another Kzin was reading information as it flashed across various screens embedded in the desktop. Since the communiqué he had received had no signature or ID, he had to guess as to who it was that sent it. It seemed likely that this was the one. Since the insignia that the other two were wearing represented KOTH (he finally remembered the picture he had seen in the intelligence report before he left), he figured that this was someone of importance to KOTH.

LeRoy was motioned into the room in front of the desk. A hand was raised with a digit extended in a gesture of “One moment please” and he took the opportunity to examine the figure. It was an average sized muscular Kzin, wearing the standard grey uniform with a couple exceptions, white piping was added to the arms and the collar was more rigid. The only decoration was crossed swords on the left breast, denoting KLAW, one of the leaders of the Kzin military. Since the head was tilted forward he couldn’t see the collar decorations but he could see quite plainly the chocolate brown coloration of the head. And the patch over the left eye.

Eyepatch. That could only mean one thing.

The head came up and fixed the one good deep blue eye on him. He could now see the collar. It had the 3 pointed star and circle of KAT and the 5 claws surrounding a circle of high rank.

“Lieutenant LeRoy I presume?” The common English was very good for a Kzin. “Allow me to introduce myself, I am Patriarch M’Ress of KAT.”

[KAT MRess]

Leroy’s mind started to race. KAT and KOTH. With a Patriarch added in. This must be big. For the Kzin to send this much it had to be important. But he was just a Lieutenant there were much more qualified field operatives, why him? What was he getting himself into?

M’ress stepped forward and offered a hand (paw) in a greeting gesture. LeRoy took the offered hand and firmly shook it. Trying to remember Kzin etiquette he stammered out…

“I am honored to meet you.”

The corners of M’ress’s mouth turned up a little and he said “The pleasure is mine. It’s not often I get to meet dignitaries in this capacity. Please sit down.”

As LeRoy moved to the offered chair he could hear M’Ress hiss at the other two.

“Would you two stop grinning like idiots. Can’t you smell how scared you’re making him?”

He sat in the chair and immediately readjusted to the groove in the middle.

“We thought smiling was comforting to humans.”

“Smiling, yes. Grinning, no. Don’t show your teeth.” A pause. “No, like this.”

LeRoy snuck a peek and could see M’ress holding the bottom jaw of the Orange one. He was trying to push up the corners of his mouth, while exaggerating the smile himself. After a moment M’ress let go.

“It takes practice. Keep that in mind when dealing with humans. Dismissed.”

M’Ress moved around the desk and sat opposite to LeRoy.

“Now, I bet you’re wondering why I called you here.”

[KAT MRess]

LeRoy left the office feeling much better. He was headed to the quarters on the Kzin ship that have been made up for him. The Black Kzin with the dandruff around the mouth was escorting him.

The situation did not appear to be as severe as he originally feared. Apparently the Patriarch was an old field officer who didn’t get into the field much anymore. It seemed as though he was taking advantage of the Peace to get out and about. What concerned LeRoy more, was the information that M’Ress had spoken of. He did seem rather vague about what exactly it was they were trying to retrieve. It definitely was some information that the Gorn had acquired that he wanted, he just needed a Fed to actually get his hands on it. This worked very well as it was sensitive information that the Feds might be interested in as well. The reason LeRoy had been contacted was that they needed an inconspicuous agent to do it, as most of the major ones were well known (and currently assigned to other projects).

Another issue that was bothering Leroy was the “reliability” reputation of the Kzin. He seemed honest and forthright enough, however, he got the distinct impression that not everything was being told to him. There was enough information to explain the whats and whys, but again the hows seemed vague.

The plan was for him to pose as a meal for the entourage that would enter Stars End. He would change into ripped and beaten clothes and wear a collar with a leash. Prods would be used (that made him nervous) but he was assured they would be turned off. He would have to sell the occasional jab he received. They would search Stars End for their contact, make contact via prearranged signal, and then meet face to face with the contact for the exchange. After the exchange, he would be returned to his ship (with all his fingers). It all should take only a couple days at the most.

They arrived at his quarters. The Black Kzin (who appeared to be eating something) tapped a panel and the door opened. He turned and motioned into the room. This time he was smiling without showing his teeth. Since his face muscles weren’t accustomed to this action, it did look a bit silly, but he was trying and that made LeRoy feel a bit better.

“Thif iss you kwatahs.” He said through a half full mouth. It was then that LeRoy realized that the dandruff around the mouth area was in fact powder and crumbs.

“Thank you.” LeRoy replied. The Black Kzin put something on the table and left.