Star Kitten

by Purple Hazel

  Of course the dead: they got to be lauded as heroes; permanently enshrined in Naustie folklore as gallant warriors whose souls could now ascend to join their ancestors in Fukuoka at the grand table in the Great Hall of Warriors. The stories of their heroism would be told and retold hundreds of times over the decades. Grandchildren of the grandchildren of those standing around that funeral pyre that night would hear of their deeds.

  However, the survivors of the battle, especially those who’d been severely wounded like Bengal, would still have to endure the pain of recovery and rehabilitation; not to mention the longing for the glory they’d missed out on by living through the bloody carnage of the battle instead of dying heroically. Something needed to be done for them as well, most everyone agreed.

  A week after Bengal came out of surgery, he was finally able to visit the next Assembly of the Tribal Confederation as a delegate once more. To a standing ovation, Bengal entered the converted arena on crutches, along with 73 of his troops who'd been singled out for exhibiting extreme heroism in combat. Some were in even worse shape than Bengal… missing arms, eyes, or legs. But to their delight, a new citation for bravery had been created by the Tribal Confederation called the Order of Heroic Merit. Bengal presented each of the warriors with a scroll that commemorated their heroism; and each stood with Bengal before the Assembly while Bengal detailed their deeds to the nearly one thousand in attendance. It was a proud evening in New Australia’s history. For the rest of their lives, these warriors would be singled out amongst their fellow Nausties as “exceptionally brave”.

  These first 73 recipients were all later given a special medal to wear around their necks. Something permanent and enduring. Everyone in the Assembly agreed they needed to have some consolation for not having died as heroes in combat, so a large industrial diamond was fashioned and attached to an oval silver pendant for each of them with the words, “Order of Heroic Merit” etched around the rim. Carvings made of the newly developed symbol for the independent planet of New Australia, also adorned the top. Architeuthis himself was said to have come up with the idea for the symbol; and Porko miners produced the diamonds for it from the mines of New Australia. It was quite beautiful; and the new symbol created for this medal would also later become part of the planet's new flag: A crimson red flag with crossed miner's pick-ax and spear in white superimposed over a partially-clinched charcoal gray fist with claws.

  Meanwhile, more ships arrived, including the Chengshi. Its complement of prisoners was three times as large as that of the Varanus, and most all of them were Pumalars. To Solomon this meant even more opportunities for breeding; and Slart physicians were able to check all of the supposed “Empaths” to see if they'd actually ever really been spayed. Solomon suspected many might really be just normal Pumalar females with a knack for sensing and reacting correctly to others' feelings. Most any Pumalar female could do that naturally anyway. Typically Empaths had their uterus removed, so they'd never be able to have kittens; thus making them the perfect play partner—perfect gift for an adult of any species, especially male Pumalars. However Solomon's suspicions proved well-founded; because most all of them it turned out, had never been spayed after all!

  Truth be told, the female Pumalars on Star Pussy had merely taken injections of medroxyprogesterone acetate, a synthetic hormone that prevents ovulation in felines. The only side effect of medroxyprogesterone acetate was that the body was prone to gain weight easily; and that was one easy way for the Nausties to tell which of the “Empaths” might actually just be regular she-cats on birth control. The bigger—or pudgy—females were the easiest to recognize as being likely taking hormone shots to prevent pregnancy.

  The first one hundred Pumalar females who'd traveled with the Varanus had simply been given to General Bengal and the Smilodon Brigade as concubines. Tribal Confederation decided on that; and no one argued. Of course, Bengal was certainly in no condition to sire kittens! Thus he magnanimously shared the hundred beautiful she-cats with the nearly two thousand remaining members of his tribe. He promised Solomon that they'd be protected and bred to pregnancy if at all possible... as soon as possible… assuring Solomon that his warriors were quite "up to the task" of breeding new future Naustie citizens. However reality was (according to Slart physicians) it would take up to five and a half months before the effects of the hormone injections would wear off; and before any of the females could even get pregnant.

  And what of this next group of nearly 300 more prisoners from the Chengshi? Two hundred and sixty-seven were female Pumalars; and those were distributed to all the other Pumalar tribes on the planet, divided almost evenly among them. The rest were a mix of Humans, Zorgolongians, and Porkonjii which were nothing more than guests on Star Pussy who'd been caught in the wrong place at the wrong time when the Pirates struck; or employed in the facilities operating in or around the food court where the main battle occurred in the Pumalar Environ. These were distributed to appropriate tribes based on species; and as usual the several Schpleeftii tribes took the remaining human women that no one wanted (the more obstinate, complaining ones usually… the ones the other tribes rejected because they found them somehow unappealing). The furry rat-like Spleefs put them right to good use though, all of those females turned down by other tribes. No matter what they looked like, smelled like, or complained like… Spleefs just didn't give a shit.

  But the 267 Pumalar females were the real prized haul from that raid, no doubt; and Captain Kscheeech was proud to also inform Terminal Chief Solomon that the Warthog was also on the way (eventually) from Star Pussy, with hundreds more human females... plus likely some male humans for those who desired them. Solomon was mildly pleased at best. A thousand new females from various species; but especially Pumalars—that’s about half of what he was looking for out of the raid; not to mention the unfortunate number of casualties. However he was quite aware by now just how desperate the fighting had been.

  Kscheeech detailed all he knew about the battle and his clever employing of Porko welders to cut open a large hole in the security wall to let in supplies and reinforcements to General Bengal. The Captain’s report basically matched all that Solomon had heard from the crew of the Varanus; plus a few details he didn’t yet know like the destruction of the command headquarters on Star Pussy, the murdering of innocent bystanders, and even the killing of undesirable kitchen staff Kscheeech had seen butchered in the Starfish restaurant.

  Things like that bothered Solomon. Remembering his own past; Solomon knew oh so very well about the consequences for military leaders of soldiers who had been committing atrocities toward noncombatants and civilian targets. Excuses could be made for troops going too far or becoming ravenous killers when unsupervised by direct command. They could always claim they were “following orders” and courts would typically buy that. However, the commanders and their army leaders would inevitably be held accountable.

  Solomon groaned and rolled his eyes worriedly when Kscheeech detailed these actions and eyewitness accounts while they met in his private office in the terminal command center. Kscheeech could see it was troubling him, and hastened to change the subject to something more positive; like the great new Chef he’d captured (Rex Middlefield) and also the fine liquor he’d acquired. He reached into a sack of plunder he’d brought up from his ship like souvenir pens and notepads he’d found…also a T-shirt from a Star Pussy gift shop that said “I F*** on the First Date”… and a magnificent souvenir Star Pussy snow globe. The snow globe had four Pumalar Females posing in alluring positions, and giant block letters spelling out STAR PUSSY. Solomon chuckled warmly and gradually forgot his worries. Then Kscheeech pulled out a bottle of fine Scotch Whiskey imported from Earth and offered it to Solomon for a nice jolt to get his mind completely cleared.

  Solomon frankly loved the idea of a shot of whiskey right then. Remembering his past and the humiliation of trial and banishment had left his mouth as dry as the desert sand on New Australia’s planet surface. Those memories STILL
haunted him, even after all these years and right now a shot of whiskey sounded fantastic! Kscheeech pulled out two oversized shot glasses that were humorously shaped like female human breasts (both said STAR PUSSY in hot pink letters over the top of the boob). He then poured them both a dram of Scotch. Solomon snickered boyishly; then grabbed one of the hilarious shot glasses and joyously swallowed down the fine Scotch. Kscheeech laughed too and slowly sipped his own glass down about halfway while Solomon winced a bit from the effect of the burning alcohol. It had been months since Solomon had drank even a drop of whiskey. But he recovered quickly and gestured with the now empty Boob Glass for another. Kscheeech laughingly poured him another shot while Solomon grinned mischievously.

  Suddenly Kscheeech got up and walked over to the door of Solomon’s command center office to open it. Solomon just sat in his desk chair confusedly and sipped his Scotch, watching the funny little lizard-like being saunter over to the office entrance. Finally Kscheeech could make the introduction he'd been longing to make for the weeks they'd been flying through space back from Star Pussy: Felina Toyger, the famous Star Kitten. She'd been waiting outside the door in the hallway all along.

  "Now, S-sssolomon... If I may introduce you to s-sssomeone very special," began Kscheeech. He then reached over and opened the door of Solomon's conference room office to invite Felina inside. After a few moments, Solomon could hear a person or being in the hallway standing up from the floor of the hall and walking toward the doorway. He froze with excitement and anticipation!

  Solomon had been secretly expecting this all along; and was almost hesitant when he’d greeted Kscheeech earlier to ask about whether his trusted little subordinate had found someone just for him. He didn't want to interrupt Kscheeech about it while the Captain was giving his report either. Truth be told, Solomon had been anticipating it for the nearly two months since Anarchy and the Naustie fleet took off for Star Pussy; and he most certainly hoped Kscheeech had him brought back much more than just a bottle of Scotch with two obscene shaped shot glasses, a snow globe, and an offensive T-shirt.

  Even when the Varanus had landed, he kind of hoped she'd be on board: the woman of his dreams. But Kscheeech wasn’t on the Varanus, so he kept to himself and waited for the next ship. Solomon just knew Kscheeech would bring back to him someone very special to be his mate. Of course, Solomon didn’t specifically ask for such a favor… he just kind of expected Kscheeech to make it happen. Asking for something personal like that, to be brought females for enjoyment; it wasn’t his style to delegate such a task to subordinates. He just knew somewhere in all those hundreds of females brought back from Star Pussy, that he’d find someone all for himself.

  However: what Solomon had been imagining all along was his dream GIRL—a woman that is—preferably a beautiful African or Middle Eastern female who’d been working as a maid, waitress, or secretary on Star Pussy… maybe even a body worker! No he had certainly NOT been imagining all along to be meeting a six foot tall elegantly shaped she-cat.

  Yet it mattered very little because once she walked into his room; once Solomon greeted the gorgeously groomed; and freshly brushed up Star Kitten, Felina Toyger; he was downright mesmerized. He stood up from his desk chair and absent-mindedly downed the rest of his Scotch at the sight of her. Then he quickly remembered his manners to set the glass down with minimal embarrassment. She actually stood eye-to-eye with him! Almost the same height; with an amazing body, she had luscious velvety light brown and black striped fur that covered her curvy body (which he quickly noticed, looking her up and down). She had a warm smile and bright green eyes that melted his cynical heart like an ice cream cone on a hot August afternoon. Solomon's jaw just dropped open with stunned surprise. She was not what he had imagined at all... but something told him she was everything in the galaxy he ever could have wanted.

  Felina smiled warmly, and softly purred. Kscheeech smiled too. Solomon just guffawed in amazement… then a warm contented smile broke across his dark brown face. It looked like the man had suddenly seen something he’d been desiring all his life. Something he’d always wanted; but didn’t know until now exactly what it looked like. Kscheeech just chuckled softly to himself. His work here was done, and he knew it. He just softly muttered, “I guess I’ll just let you two kids-sss get to know each other,” then he slowly backed up and turned to leave the room.

  “My work here is done, I believe…,” muttered Kscheeech humorously to himself, “I think I’ll go find Rex and s-sssee what’s for dinner.”

  Chapter 20:

  Chasing the Anarchy

  The other ships in the pirate fleet gradually made their way home to New Australia, via various circuitous routes. Some even did some additional raiding on the way home, which only aided in further confusing the entire Interplanetary Authority as to just how many damn pirates there actually were out there!

  The Basilisk for instance, was a captured former Zorgolongian Galactic Patrol Ship that had recently been lured into docking with what it thought was a disabled Zorg freighter. However the seemingly vulnerable freighter’s hold was actually hiding about 150 Naustie raiders onboard. This ambush happened about ten months before the raid on Star Pussy.

  Zorgolongian patrol ships carried a crew of 116, plus room for about 200-300 troops when at full capacity. So the Basilisk would have made an excellent reinforcement craft for the attack on Star Pussy if it had been called in for support. However, the arrival of the Warthog and Varanus ended up supplying plenty of forces to tip the balance in favor of a Naustie victory.

  During the ambush ten months before the Star Pussy raid, the hidden Nausties surprised, then wiped out the boarding party of Zorgolongian strike troops. They rushed the command bridge of the Basilisk before the Zorgolongian Captain could follow protocol and seal off the bridge or self-destruct the vessel if all else failed. Therefore, the Basilisk was captured completely intact; and became a proud new member of the Naustie fleet just ten months before the attack on Star Pussy. The old beat up freighter which had been used as the decoy… was simply scuttled and left to drift in space.

  But alas, the Basilisk never saw any action during the epic battle on Star Pussy less than a year later. And the Captain knew his crew members were still spoiling for a fight. Therefore when it crossed paths with another civilian ship on the trip home, the Captain decided (unwisely as it was to turn out) to let his men have a little “fun”. Their victim was an old Zorgolongian freighter heading through the Pumalar star system. Slow-moving, carrying lots of passengers and food... it was an easy target for the much faster Basilisk. Basically they just overtook it and sent a Ship-to-Ship message for the freighter to surrender or be fired upon. The Zorg freighter, knowing it was outgunned (knowing it couldn’t outrun the faster patrol craft) surrendered without any further argument; and allowed the Basilisk to dock with it.

  Naustie warriors then rushed on board and took it over from bow to stern in a matter of minutes. Eventually the Nausties hauled off twenty-five female Zorg crew members, plus fifty-seven Zorg passengers (also female) who’d been traveling onboard. Those were snatched right up and dragged away, but the remainder of the male passengers and crew were given an ultimatum: either join the pirates or be discarded into deep space to die (in the most horrible way imaginable… strangling in the empty void of space). Naturally all of them readily agreed to switch sides and join the pirates.

  The freighter they captured though was not scuttled (like it should have been); because the Captain believed he could man it with enough of his own crew (and some of its own original Zorgolongian crew who’d agreed to switch sides and join the pirates). It was also loaded with food in its cargo hold; and the Captain of the Basilisk wanted to bring all of it back to New Australia to trade. This would be challenging, given the size and complexity of the much bigger freighter, but the Captain of the Basilisk felt they could get it home under the command of his trusted First Mate, who was also a Zorg himself.

  Disastrously though, after only a few
weeks traveling in a wide arc near the Zorgolong star system, the previously trustworthy First Mate (at least apparently) turned on his own Captain; and mutinously tried taking the big freighter back to planet Zorgolong! Theories abounded later, as to how it might have happened. But somehow the group of captured Zorgs still on board—who’d nominally agreed to join the pirates—had staged a successful mutiny of some kind, forcing the First Mate (or convincing him) to betray his own crew. There were sixty three of them (including seventeen females) sent back to serve under the First Mate on their original ship. Some were even manning controls on the bridge of the ship (which was at the very least a rather odd breach of security protocol).

  No one ever really found out what happened on that command deck, but some Nausties would later speculate that he’d merely fallen in love with—or under the influence of—one or more of his fellow Zorgs. Maybe it was that. Maybe the First Mate really did decide to try and go back to Zorgolong; after so many years away from his home! There were so many possible motives.

  Regardless of the motive though, the Captain of the Basilisk had simply no choice but to give chase and destroy the captured freighter, killing not only his former First Mate; but all the 53 crewmen he’d sent over to operate it. There were also a hundred and six Pumalar marines sent over (ironically) to protect the Naustie crew; but the Captain of the Basilisk knew it would have been quite easy to close off the bridge and trap those big beasts below decks. That’s why it seemed so bizarre. Had a Naustie officer REALLY committed a mutiny?

  Within a day, the Captain of the Basilisk had caught up to the captured Zorg freighter and obliterated it with thermonuclear missiles. There were no survivors; and little left as far as evidence or remnants of the destroyed ship. Body parts floating in space; and a few ship components was all that remained. It was a sad day for everyone on board the Basilisk; and many mourned the loss of not only their fellow crew members; but much worse the denigration of their own self-image as loyal Nausties. At the end of the day, Naustie Pirates had always seen themselves as something of an elite brethren. The mere notion or thought of a Naustie Pirate turning on his former Captain and fellow crewmen… that was incomprehensible. This betrayal (if it was one) was quite unsettling to the remaining crew of the Basilisk. It was quite a long sad flight back home to New Australia for all of them.