Star Kitten

by Purple Hazel

  Razor interjected, "Yes Princess! We must let the sacred volcano decide… whether we live with HONOR… or join our brave ancestors at the great table!" The crowd rumbled with excitement. Felina had convinced them. They had literally nothing to lose. Felina called out one last time to them, saying "Thank you Chief Razor… and now those of you who wish to follow me to safety, pack up your belongings and families. We leave tonight." And in a wave of cheers and enthusiasm, the entire tribe did just that. Finally, the last of the endangered areas had been evacuated.

  Over the next few weeks, Cuttlefish’s plan seemed to be coming to fruition. The vent tunnels were dug, which routed intensely hot volcanic heat up to the sides and to the bottom of one of New Australia’s largest subterranean glaciers. Porko crews worked in the stifling heat wearing their surface environmental suits which kept them functioning well for up to two hours at a time. But even those hardened Porkos couldn’t take much more of it. That’s why Solomon recruited so many out of the Naustie army to perform this job.

  The result was that in only a few weeks, water was trickling—and then eventually gushing in torrents—down through those tunnels and into the magma chamber below. Cuttlefish’s predictions were coming true. The ongoing rush of water was leading to great agitation in his magma readings. He watched for daily changes caused by the movement of pressurized magma. Plus he watched for associated changes in the hydrothermal system surrounding the magma. The steady increase in bubbling at the magma surface was what indicated to him that things were progressing toward a major eruption. It just needed one last trigger to set the whole thing off.

  By way of comparison though, the Naustie Army was taking a terrible beating at the hands of Earth forces. Gradually the Naustie strategy had evolved into retreating; and leading pursuing Earth forces down tunnels which had been bored-out underneath previously. Explosive charges would be placed in a large section of the tunnel floor then detonated when the Earthmen passed over this area like it was a bridge. This would take out the Earther’s lead tunnel tank; and in the ensuing chaos, Nausties would storm the cave-in site to massacre the confused Earther troops. Occasionally it worked, and a hundred Earthers would be eliminated. Other times it was a dismal failure, leading to a couple hundred Naustie casualties with only ten or twenty Earthers killed.

  The good news though, was that Porko Engineer units attached to the Naustie army were getting smarter and smarter about setting directional charges that really worked in clearing out hollow sections of rock. This would be crucial too, because Cuttlefish had already estimated the necessary amount of explosives to create a blast large enough for his plan to work. As he kept telling Solomon, “Remember Commander. We’re not detonating the magma itself; we’re blowing up a large section of rock above it… just like we were uncorking a bottle of champagne.”

  Gradually, Solomon began diverting supplies of mining charges down to Cuttlefish and to his newly assembled team of assistant “Volcanologists”. Quickly Cuttlefish decided on Porkos for the job. They were much tougher than humans and really understood mining already. After all, if they knew mining, they knew rocks and explosives too; and since they could handle the heat coming out of that hellish magma chamber they were far better than any Slart for the task.

  Finally, Solomon gave the order for all civilians in the area to just move even further away from the blast site. They had already followed Felina out of their homes, yes; but Solomon wanted something even safer for them. He knew he’d have to stay in his command center which could be walled off from the blast with a simple cave-in; but he wanted Felina, and their adopted four-year-old daughter, to lead the rest of the nonessential personnel to safety. To that end, he ordered a crew of Porko miners to create an escape tunnel to eventually come out on the planet surface… far from where the volcanic blasts might happen. This would take weeks to accomplish; but it might ensure the survival of at least a portion of the Naustie population.

  They were to set off cave-ins along the way, he would order them, to stem the flow of any lava blast too; thereby effectively entombing the rest of the planet’s mining network behind them. He saved this last most terrible order for his most trusted Earther staff member Nicky Ciancio to deliver. Nicky would be sent with them and be put in command of the squad leading them out, because Solomon knew the cold hearted old Mafia hitman would have no problem concocting most any story necessary to keep the refugees moving and the tunnels continually blocked up behind them. Tough old bastard that he was: Nicky was just the man for that job!

  Meanwhile, as Cuttlefish and his Porko miners tunneled under, then honeycombed the cavern floor of the Cave Lion tribe with directional charges which would hopefully collapse it into the magma chamber below when detonated, the Naustie Army fighting above them in the mines and caverns of the old New Australia Planetary Prison was slowly disintegrating. With the draining off of their best mining engineers, setting ambushes without explosives was gradually becoming suicidal.

  At first, Vlad ordered his Schpleeftis and Zorgs to tunnel out the back of existing caves to conceal themselves. In larger caves he’d sometimes hide platoons of Pumalars or elite Arian Knights units as well. Tunnel tanks rarely followed into existing caves because of the belief that this was a waste of time and electricity. These gigantic machines could only operate for a few hours at a time before needing their batteries recharged anyway. Instead, Earther Infantry would burst into caves spraying the interior with EIC’s… or toss in phosphorous grenades to incinerate anyone still hiding inside. However, when the Nausties had tunneled way back inside these caves, this was ineffective. Earthers found that if they didn’t invest a platoon or at least a fire team of soldiers to explore the cave for additional “rat holes” as they called them; then in a few hours, a squad or even an entire company of Nausties might emerge. That’s when things would get really ugly; because Naustie warriors were fast, brutal, cruel, and fearless.

  Because of this tactic, the Earth offensive was slowed to a snail’s pace for a while; as Naustie death squads using this method of ambush wiped out hundreds of Earther troops; and disrupted supply lines. It was effective no doubt; but it could only work for a while in slowing down the Earth tank columns. Frankly, Vlad was running out of elite fighting units really capable of executing these surprise attacks. And besides once the enemy got wise to the tactic; Earth forces were better prepared for them; and Naustie casualties when attempting these ambushes were no longer acceptable. The losses were too great to keep on fighting this way.

  However another net result of this was that it caused a concentration of Earth forces into one major area of the planet. To that end, Vlad’s tactics were effective because getting the Earth army to come together in a confined area was the ideal scenario all along. A decent eruption of the magma chamber might just wipe out half the Earth forces in a matter of minutes. The images it conjured in Solomon’s mind were both thrilling and terrifying at the same time. At times he’d imagine the whole planet spitting up torrents of molten lava and firing millions of tons of rock up tunnels and shafts killing thousands of Earthers. However at night he’d have nightmares of the whole planet exploding with volcanic eruptions vomiting up from the interior, devastating all life on the planet completely, killing everyone including his own family.

  Felina could see it in her husband, and she worried about him. He clearly was not getting much sleep anymore. “Darling,” she said to him softly one evening, “You need to rest. Make love to me, and let me relax you.” Solomon could only bow his head in shame. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her just how incredibly terrified he was deep inside his heart. It was all in his hands now… he’d either preserve Naustie independence or destroy the planet; and he had no real way of knowing exactly which was going to happen.

  Of course, she sensed all this and felt nearly everything he felt. She embraced him around the neck and pushed his head down onto her furry shoulder to nurture her brave warrior. This is what she said to him: “My husband… it has only ever
been you. Don’t you see? Only you could have led this planet to independence and prosperity. And only you can save it now. All of us who love you and respect your commands—we’ll all perform our duty. We’ll all carry out the orders you have given us. It’s because we believe in you. It’s because you have become the great leader you always wanted to be. It’s what you longed for all your life… to lead your own people to survival and freedom. Now you’ve become that man you dreamed of being. You've become a loving husband and father too. You're everything I'll ever ever need. And I love you, Solomon.” To this, he sighed deeply and embraced his wife. He wept quietly in her arms for a while. Cried for the first time in over thirty years.

  Eventually though, the loving couple were suddenly interrupted by their adorable adopted daughter Estrella, who burst into their cave demanding their attention. After all, she was only four years old now; and when she wanted Daddy’s attention she was certainly going to get it! Solomon adored her. Didn’t mind the interruptions one bit—no not ever.

  Originally when Umberto (or “Feathers” as he was called) brought the baby to Felina begging her to care for it, Felina smiled warmly and agreed without hesitation. But when she asked Feathers what the baby’s name was, he said he hadn’t thought of one yet. Therefore… when Felina asked him what he might name her, he said, “Well Senora, I believe I would name her after my own mother, Melody…. Her full name was Melody Estrella Esperanza Milagros Carolina Macarena.”

  At the time, Felina struggled to repeat the name back to him, saying, “Melody what?” Feathers just chuckled a bit then patiently repeated it, “Yes, Senora… Melody Estrella Esperanza Milagros Carolina Macarena.” Felina tried several times to get it all out until she had it nearly memorized; then she finally asked, “So then, what did you call your Mother?” Feathers’ eyes got a bit glassy as he began remembering his mother vividly. She was likely long gone by now—was already quite old when he was sent to prison. “Ah, si Senora… I called her Ma-ma!” In the large cave where everyone stood standing at the time, there were about twenty other people from both the Schpleeftkorkii and Michoacano tribes. Everyone laughed at Feathers’ naively honest reply. But Solomon clarified, “No, my good man; my wife means what name did she go by?”

  Feathers gasped in realization, then smiled broadly. “Si Senora, perdona me'… everyone liked to call her Estrella.” With his accent, it sounded like “Eh-stray-uh” and Felina practiced pronouncing it over and over until she could match his accent a bit. Soon the whole cave was chanting it along with her in a low soothing voice, while the baby cooed and yawned. Solomon then sent out for a “wet nurse” to feed the baby, while Feathers smiled warmly down at the child one last time. The child bonded with Felina immediately as she held it in her furry arms. “Si claro, Senora,” whispered Feathers. “You should call her Bebe’ Estrella.” Basically that just meant STAR BABY; and soon the name stuck. Felina had been the STAR KITTEN, and now she had a daughter they could call STAR BABY. Everyone everywhere started referring to her in that way; and when she eventually started talking, it even became the way she introduced herself. “Stah-babee… Stah-babee!” she’d love to walk around singing.

  So when Estrella came into her parents’ cave only to find “Da-da” crying, she immediately began to console him. “Da-da… owie? Da-da owie?” she asked. Felina purred warmly and said, “Yes, Star Baby, Da-da have owie. Da-da need kiss-kiss.” Estrella cooed concernedly then embraced her father’s big scarred and muscular black arm, kissing and smooching upward toward his cheek which he lowered down to her. “Ah bettah… ah bettah,” she then said, clearly believing in her four year old mind that she’d miraculously cured her father of all his troubles in one simple gesture of affection. And she was quite right of course. The beautiful little girl with pudgy features and jet-black hair… olive skin and dark eyes… was the most wonderful loving thing in his whole world besides his own lovely wife. For just a brief moment the burdens of his heart were lifted.

  Besides, he could take comfort in knowing that they would likely be safely far away and miles from the blast when it finally occurred. They’d be in the care of his trustworthy staffer Nicky Ciancio, tunneling further and further away every day—every day that Solomon could buy them some time that is. After all, the Naustie Army was in headlong retreat by now; and the Earth Army was only days—maybe two weeks away at the most—from closing in on them. That’s why the next day, Solomon was adamant that the refugees; and his wife and daughter included, immediately depart down the newly dug escape tunnel. The sooner they left the better.

  Slart breathing devices were given out to the refugees so they could endure the march, once they collapsed the tunnel behind them and cut off access to manufactured air. Acetylene lamps were fixed to helmets, or to head bands, or to the front of food supply and water tank vehicles for lighting their path in the darkness. A battalion of escort of troops was assigned to protect them on their journey; and when the throng of raggedy survivors gathered in a large cavern where the last of the Naustie army was camped, it was most certainly a very dramatic and tearful farewell that day. To many, this might very well be the end of "New Australia" as they'd known it.

  Thousands of family members waved, hugged, kissed goodbye and made tearful futile promises to reunite someday… somehow… with their male warrior husbands left behind to make one last stand against the Earther invaders. It just had to be a lie—everyone sensed it—but no one wanted to let on about it in front of their own offspring. This was going to be the last stand; and if they lost here (most everyone believed)… if the volcano eruption didn’t work that is… and Earth troopers exterminated the last of Naustie resistance here, then the only hope Solomon and everyone else had, was that the enemy would turn back toward the surface believing the planet was finally secure.

  Meanwhile, as Solomon instructed Nicky Ciancio, the refugees and their Porko miners were to drill in a switchback pattern up to the surface, using existing tunnels occasionally but most of all avoiding detection of any kind by Earth forces. If they indeed ever made it to the surface, Nicky had orders to try and hail any Naustie merchant ships patrolling the airspace looking for survivors on the surface. That’s what Kscheeech and his fleet had been instructed to do if it was reported in IPN news broadcasts that the Earth army was achieving victory. If this occurred, Kscheeech and his ships were to scoop up survivors if they could find any; and simply head back to Frabrak 3 to start a new life. Of course, if on the other hand IPN news reported Earth troops had been defeated, then those same ships were to land and support the victorious Naustie army in driving off the last of the Earth survivors.

  But that didn’t seem very likely any more.

  About two weeks after the refugees had said goodbye to their loved ones digging defenses for a last stand against Earth troops; Kscheeech and his fleet were scattered throughout the galaxy hearing almost every day about Earth military units “driving steadily and meeting dwindling resistance from ‘pirate forces’ below the planet surface.” IPN broadcasts were not government-controlled. If that’s what they were having reported to them from Earth commanders on “Rijel 12” as they still called it, then it must at least be partially true. With immense dread, Kscheeech and the other ships hiding throughout the galaxy listened in on the IPN hourly news updates around the clock.

  For days the news had been very bad. Earth tank commanders wearing helmets with lamps on them to light their way in the dark were being interviewed saying things like, “We’ve cornered the last of the enemy—probably about twenty thousand of them by our latest estimates—in a defensive position inside a massive cavern about a mile below us right now.” Later yet another young Earther officer, speaking through a lensed sealed helmet to an embedded reporter assigned to his unit would describe it like this: “Our scouts are reporting we have one more cavern to clear tomorrow and barring any more sneak attacks by the pirates or ambushes; we may be able to confront this last defensive position in a few days. We’ll use this cavern here
as a staging area.”

  Little did that poor young Earther officer know, but his brigade was parking its tanks and setting up camp right on top of the very cavern floor that the Nausties were about to detonate… but to the crew onboard the Chengshi, it seemed like it was almost all over now. Maybe a week or so, and their home planet would be finished. A few more days of reports like this followed, while they awaited pensively the news they’d been fearing all along… that Earth forces had been victorious and all resistance had been eliminated.

  But that news never came! Something else happened instead. Something incredible! Something so phenomenal that for hours and hours one night the news broadcasters were at a loss on how to accurately describe it. Was it a natural disaster or was it devised on purpose by intelligent beings? On the Chengshi, Kscheeech sat at his command station watching the broadcast with nearly a hundred crewmen crammed onto the bridge. No one was quite sure what had really happened! And the excitedly concerned reporter on television was certainly just as baffled….

  “Good evening, I’m Patty Persian, and this is the IPN Galactic News,” said the stunningly attractive Pumalar female news anchorwoman. “Breaking news tonight from the renegade planet Rijel 12, as imbedded reporters on the ground with Earth forces have been sending desperate messages from the surface telling us, at least in one communication, quote—‘hell itself has cracked wide open.’”

  Her eyes widened as she spoke the quote. Then Patty continued, “Volcanic eruptions from the center of the planet have engulfed and obliterated thousands of Earth troops and their equipment; with nearly two thousand already reported dead; and another three thousand missing or unaccounted for at this time.” She spun her body and turned her head to change to a different camera view as a green screen backdrop behind her began to show live video feed straight from the planet surface. The scene was so incredible and awe-inspiring that the whole bridge of the Chengshi erupted in gasps and shocked epithets, like “holy shit look at that!”