Feral's chopper set down at the north end of the museum and he watched as a beautiful female wolf entered and sat across from him. She nodded at him politely as the chopper once more took to the air, heading toward the Biochemical Labs.
No one spoke, as the chopper arrived at its next destination, landing and taking on board a slim built wolf who sat next to the female. Off again, they flew to Enforcer Headquarters where a burly wolf climbed aboard.
As the chopper lifted for the final time, heading toward the northern mountains, Feral studied the passengers closely, noting they were the same species and it was obvious now that they weren't Kantins. Their similarity to the primitive wolves that resided on Aristal was uncanny.
"So you're wolves," he stated, a questioningly lilt to his voice, glancing at his lover.
"Yes."
Feral shook his head. Despite knowing Kam was an alien, he still felt a strong pull of attraction. This wolf was everything he'd been looking for in a lover; considerate, gentle, extremely intelligent, well built, loving...but alien just the same. Swallowing hard, Feral turned away and stared blindly out the canopy window of the chopper, trying to reconcile his growing emotional attachment to Kam when he now knew the wolf could not stay on Aristal and how that made him feel.
Perhaps he should break it off immediately! He knew he was falling for Kam and that just wouldn't do though trying to separate himself from his alien lover would hurt him deeply. 'Kat's Alive! Why did I allow myself to become so enamored of him?' He asked himself bleakly. Shaking himself, mentally, he refocused on the here and now. 'Dark Kat had to be dealt with now, emotional issues later,' he scolded himself.
His self castigation ended when the chopper reached a rather remote area of the mountains. Kam signaled him to order the chopper to land in the nearest cleared area then leave. Feral gave the pilot the command and soon they were landing in a small meadow.
Feral and the passengers got off then the chopper raised up and flew back to headquarters per his orders. Giving Kam a questioningly look, he waited to see what would happen next. Kam started off for a heavily forested area, everyone falling in line behind him.
It took them some fifteen minutes of walking to finally reach the hidden shuttle. Feral stared admiringly at the sleek looking space craft. It resembled a bullet and was only as big as a city bus. He watched as Kam signaled the door to open and gestured for his lover to enter.
He cautiously did so, surprised to see a nicely appointed space with six seats when he got completely inside. Each seat had a control console in front of it. The two forward seats were obviously pilot and copilot as he noted Kam and the slim wolf at down there, the console filled with familiar and unfamiliar controls and readouts.
Feral was gestured to a rear seat by the burley wolf who took the seat in front of him. These last two seat were apparently for passengers, the forward seats for crew. He looked behind him and saw a door that probably hid the engines, storage, and armaments.
Suddenly a deep thrumming feeling came up beneath his feet. He looked forward and saw the burley wolf flicking switches and pressing different lights on his console. Beside him was the female wolf doing the same on her different style console.
A nervous tension seized him as he realized he was really going out into space aboard a real spaceship. It was both frightening and exhilarating! He just wished this was a pleasure trip rather than facing battle. It made him uneasy and fretful that he couldn't help in the coming conflict. He was never good at just standing by and watching. He thoughts were interrupted when the co-pilot gave a warning.
"Kam, sensors indicate a jet arriving overhead."
"That would be the SWAT Kats," Kam said calmly as his finger flew over his own console. The engines made a deeper sound. "Prepare for lift off!" He warned as he engaged the engines, the ship lifted from the ground smoothly and nearly soundlessly.
Clearing the trees that had hid it, the ship paused, hanging in the air with ease. Through the huge view screen, they saw the Turbokat coming up on them...fast.
"Razor!" T-Bone shouted, slowing the jets speed and going to VTOL immediately.
"I know! My sensors already detected it."
"What do we do?"
"Wait for it to make the first move."
"SWAT Kats!" Came a familiar voice over their comm..
"Feral?" Both blurted in shocked surprise.
"Yeah, it's me. This shuttle belongs to Kam and his team. Overhead, in space, his mother ship is under attack by Dark Kat. We're going up to help them. Do you copy?" Feral asked.
Kam had felt it would be wiser for the Commander to speak to their allies rather than spook them and his lover had agreed. Tara had shown the Kat how to use their comm system. The SWAT Kats weren't happy, they could tell, when the smaller of the pair responded with a less than friendly question.
"Why should we help them, Commander?" Razor demanded, suspiciously.
"For once SWAT Kat trust me that I know what is going on and am not trying to lure you into a trap. When we get up there, you'll see for yourself what I saw on the Megakat Observatory's telescope just a short time ago. Dark Kat wants to steal their technology and use it on us. I'm certain of it," Feral assured them gruffly.
"Surprisingly, I believe you Commander. Lead the way, we'll be right behind you," Razor agreed without further arguing, taking a leap of faith they were doing the right thing.
Grumbling in doubt but following his partner's lead, T-Bone guided the Turbokat after the sleek alien craft as they headed toward space.
It took them only ten minutes to break through the stratosphere which was Razor's cue to engage their speed of heat shield that would protect them while in space. Of course, it did have the down side of reducing them to using only sensors to 'see' what was going on ahead of them.
"Wow! Feral was right, there's a mega battle going on up here," Razor said moment's later when his sensors detected weapons fire. "Switching to the x-ray cam to see which is our enemy," he announced as they approached the battle.
"T-Bone, the smaller ship, see on your screen..."
"Gotcha, there's old ugly. I don't think he's spotted us yet," T-Bone said grimly as he got the Turbokat in position to attack Dark Kat.
"What do you intend to do?" Came an unfamiliar voice over their radio.
T-Bone blinked in confusion. "Who is this?"
The voice responded immediately, "Lt. Kam, pilot of the ship to your right quadrant. I need to know what you intend so that I don't clip you while doing my own run."
"Roger! We will attack Dark Kat directly. You can get between your mother ship and him once we've pulled him away then attack from that side, taking him between us," Razor jumped in, making a quick decision.
"Good plan! I'll wait for your first move!" Kam agreed grimly then turned to his copilot. "Donar, ready photon torpedoes."
"Aye sir!"
"Okay buddy, let's kick some Dark Kat tail!" T-Bone hollered as he lined up for Razor's first volley.
"You got it, T-Bone. Sending a brace of plain old missiles and scramblers away. Let's see how that new ship of his handles these," Razor called out as he fired.
Dark Kat was totally focused on the alien ship before him. He'd not been able to make a crippling strike as yet as the aliens were formidable, however they were not completely beyond his capabilities to take down. He just had to hit upon the right combination of weapons to do the job.
Suddenly, his ship rocked hard and alarms went off. Cursing he checked his sensors then cursed even more.
"The SWAT Kats! How did they know I was even up here?" He wondered angrily. "Wait, what is that?" His sensors had detected a second ship. It was much more modern and sleek, obviously it had come from the ship he was fighting. Snarling to himself, he fired a brace of missiles behind him as well as another few ahead to keep the mother ship off balance.
"If nothing else, we should be able to wear him down enough to use up all his munitions," Razor growled tightly when his own weapons only shook the Black Widow but didn't do it any lasting harm.
The shuttle decided to fire some of its own armaments to see if that could help against Dark Kat.
"Donar fire!" Kam ordered.
A burst of light left the shuttle and splashed against the Black Widow, scorching it's side. Dark Kat quickly took evasive action by dropping down below his pair of antagonists. That didn't help as the Turbokat kept on his tail and Razor fired nearly everything from his arsenal to harry him.
No longer trying to fight alone, the Wotan joined the shuttle in firing on the Black Widow. Dark Kat found himself pinned with alien weapons fire as well as the SWAT Kats persistent pounding on his shields with their own brand of unique missiles.
Not liking the odds and finding retreat a better option, Dark Kat sent his ship plunging back into the atmosphere to escape the pounding and to get away to try again another time.
Not willing to let such a devious and deadly enemy escape, all three ships pursued Dark Kat. The evil Kat hissed in fury and the edges of fear. His pursuers were determined.
The Wotan had to halt before entering the atmosphere but the SWAT Kats expected that possibility and managed to cut Dark Kat off sending him veering back up to encounter the Wotan.
Hissing in fear, Dark Kat sent his ship on an elliptical course to try and out run his pursuers. The shuttle engines were faster than the Turbokat but they didn't have enough fire power on their own.
Genus came up with a brilliant idea. "Speed ahead of the guy, Kam. I'm going to provide a nasty speed bump in his path."
"What do you have in mind?" Kam asked in concern as he pushed the shuttle's speed and caught up then passed the Black Widow.
"Oh, I just happened to have a couple of special little devices that should really make his day." Genus smirked as he pulled out from the armaments cabinet some paw size disks, activated them, then put them in the launch tube. He looked up to see where their target was. "Pull ahead and let him close the distance, Kam. When I toss this out, pour on the power to get out of the way," He warned.
Grinning, as he guessed what Genus planned to do, Kam did as asked and shot ahead of Dark Kat while calling out to Tara, "warn the SWAT Kat!" Watching for his moment, Genus waited until just the right second then fired the contents of the tube. "Hit it Kam!" He shouted.
Kam sent the shuttle hurtling forward at nearly light speed to escape being caught in the subsequent explosion.
The SWAT Kats, who had been behind the Black Widow, were nearly closing the gap when Tara shouted her warning.
"T-Bone avoidance alpha now!" Razor shouted.
Without hesitation, T-Bone pulled the Turbokat into a steep climb away from Dark Kat's ship just before Genus' present impacted the nose of the Black Widow.
Dark Kat was confused by the solid thump he felt against his forward shield but didn't have time to scream when the alien magnetic mines exploded on contact with his shields, which dispelled them leaving the bulk of the explosion to blow the Black Widow to bits.
The Wotan's much stronger shields protected it from the ship debris. Captain Ing sighed in relief, ordered the crew to stand down from alert status and put the ship back in regular orbit.
"Might as well release the cloak as well, Ensign. They already know we're here," Ing ordered, mildly amused. "Taglar...repair status?" He asked a tall wolf behind him.
"Well, we did suffer some damage to our cloak, hull damage on deck four but no breach. All is under repair and should be completed in a few hours, Captain," His Chief Engineer reported.
"Good...Tennar?" He called to his medical officer who was at a station on his left.
"Only minor injuries, Captain."
"Excellent, Liela, connect me with Kam," Ing ordered his communications officer, as he returned to his center seat and stared at the screen before him that was displaying bits of the alien ship drifting away, the Turbokat moving into docking position, and the distant shuttle hurrying to join them.
"Kam here, sir."
"Great job, Kam. I'm assuming your cover is blown?" The Captain asked.
"Afraid so sir, I was with Commander Feral when we found out the Wotan was in trouble. I made a command decision to take Ulysses into my confidence, recalled my crew and summoned the SWAT Kats to help. They don't have the whole picture yet and are probably bursting with questions," Kam told him.
"I've no doubt of that. Have them come aboard and we'll bring them up to date," Capt Ing ordered.
"On our way sir." Kam said then severed the connection "Well, now you'll get to see my home, Ulysses."
Feral grunted in response, as he watched the huge ship grow larger on the view screen.
"Tara, hail the SWAT Kats please," Kam instructed her.
"SWAT Kats on the line, sir," She reported moments later.
"T-Bone, Razor. My captain offers the hospitality of the Wotan. He would be pleased if you would accept and he promises we'll answer all the questions I'm sure you're just dying to ask," Kam invited politely.
"We accept! We'll follow you in," Razor responded after a moments discussion with his partner. "Wait here for them to join us, T-Bone."
T-Bone grunted an affirmative then brought the Turbokat into a holding pattern, waiting until the shuttle came up to them, passed them, before closing in on the yawning opening of the shuttle bay that waited for them.
Following close behind, T-Bone paused at the opening to all the shuttle to enter and park first before guiding the jet through the opening. In the large hangar a lighted, empty square glowed like a beacon on T-Bone's video display, the speed of heat shield still covering their canopy, letting him know where he was expected to land and he did so with ease.
Signaling the shield to retract then the canopy to open, T-Bone then Razor jumped down to the hangar floor. They walked toward the shuttle whose door was opening and stood nearby as the crew and Feral filed out. They stared uneasily at Tara and Genus but didn't show it outwardly. They had to remember, these two did not know them as the SWAT Kats, or so they thought.
Feral eyed them with his usual disdain and they gave him cocky grins, as usual. Kam stopped and faced them for a moment, saying, "welcome aboard the Wotan! We'll take you to meet with the Captain, now," Kam said with a small smile.
The group trooped through the hangar toward a far door. Beyond was a well lit corridor filled with people of mixed races going about their business.
Feral and the SWAT Kats forgot their animosity as they studied their surroundings, very much impressed with the alien ship and a bit nervous and weirded out by the strange crew.
They reached an odd door that turned out to be an odd kind of elevator that moved so smoothly and silently that it was hard to tell they were even moving at all. They emptied out on yet another corridor and were led to a door that slid open at their approach, revealing a large, comfortable conference room with windows that looked out into space.
They didn't see anyone else at first, as the three of them froze at the incredible view of their own world spinning below them serenely.
"Quite a view, isn't it?" Came a hearty voice from their left.
Feral, T-Bone and Razor turned to look at a wolf who wore a uniform and had the bearing of a leader.
"Captain Ing, this is Commander Ulysses Feral, T-Bone and Razor." Kam made the introductions. His crew had been included in this briefing and they had taken seats with their backs to the windows.
"A pleasure to meet you all, please, have a seat and we'll talk," Ing greeted them warmly, gesturing to a group of seats next to him.
Still in awe at the view, the three sat and stared until the Captain drew their attention back to him.
"I know you have a lot of questions but I think if we give you what our mission here is and some background, it may answer a lot of them. Is this agreeable to you?" The Captain asked politely.
After a moments hesitation, all three nodded.
"Excellent. Kam if you will..."
"Yes sir."
Kam stood up and turned to address the three. It took over an hour to brief them on the mission the Wotan was performing at the behest of their people.