As the sun rose for the start of another day, in three different households, a difficult and busy day was planned.
Genus parted from his lover around seven that morning to meet with his leader as Jake returned to the yard to prepare the Turbokat for the search for Dark Kat's hideout then, later that afternoon, taking out some vicious scorpions. If all went well, two major cases would be closed by end of day.
Callie and Abi woke in each others arms and kissed good morning. Knowing what she faced for the day, Callie took Abi on an aggressive ride of sex which left the brown she-kat limp and satisfied some minutes later.
"Wow! You were really hot this morning," she sighed languidly, sprawled on her back.
Callie smiled ruefully. "Yeah, well I just needed to release some pent up nervous tension. Today is not going to be nice and I wanted some good memories to get me through it," she murmured, sitting beside Abi and idly stroking the female's hip.
Abi instantly sat up and pulled her lover close for a tight hug. "Ohh, love...I keep wishing this was a bad dream but I know it isn't and I'm so scared for you."
The blond she-kat sighed as she hugged her lover tightly for a moment longer then gently pulled away. "I know. I'm scared too but we're going to put on brave faces and do what we must...right?"
"Right," Abi sighed as well. "Guess we better get moving then..." Callie could only nod and lead the way to the shower. They hurried with their wash and dry then returned to the bedroom to dress.
Finished dressing first, Abi studied her lover's back as Callie pulled a skirt on to go with the peach dress shirt she already had on. Though she'd promised not to dwell on it, she couldn't set aside her fears about what was going to happen when Callie told the Wotan she would submit to the 'genetic upgrade', as it was called by the wolves. She rather thought they would coax her to get it done immediately so as to prevent any undo stress that waiting would have caused.
"You know Abi, the Arcanian's will probably ask me if I want to get this done immediately since a lot of training afterward is required. I would, if I were them, so I don't plan on refusing when they do," Callie said firmly, finishing her dressing and slipping on her shoes not realizing she was mirroring her lover's thought.
"I'm certain you're right, Callie so I intend to be there for the whole thing," Abi told her stoutly.
Callie smiled wanly, giving Abi another hug while she murmured into the she-kat's ear, "...and I'd love to have you there so I'm not alone amongst strangers...thank you, Abi."
Abi hugged her back and nuzzled her face. "I'd never let you go alone. Just call me the moment they tell you when they intend to do it."
Callie pulled away gently, nodding her head. "Of course, as soon as I know...you will. Now let's get something to eat or we'll be late for work."
"Can't have that, we're the bosses after all," Abi said, tongue in cheek, trying to lighten the tense mood. It worked as Callie gave her an amused smile.
Some thirty minutes later they were parting in the parking lot beneath Callie's apartment building with a brief kiss farewell.
Meanwhile, just arriving at the salvage yard, Jake roared in the secret door and drove up to park next to the other cyclotron. Shutting down the engine, he pulled off his helmet and hopped off the bike. Going upstairs to their apartment, he found Chance getting a drink of water, already dressed for work.
"Good morning buddy, have a good night, eh?"
"Oh yeah, you with Tara last night?" Jake asked, leaning against the sink.
"Yeah, she was here until she left by cab for the museum about an hour ago. So what's on first for today?"
"Genus said he could tweak my scanner to find Dark Kat's hideout so that's where we're heading today. I think we'll sweep the warehouse area first then the mountains so we need to insure our tanks are topped off and we're fully loaded with the weapons we need. This afternoon, we'll go for those scorpions."
"A full day alright, glad we have no other work waiting for us and I checked our messages...no tows so let's get cracking!" Chance grunted, leading the way back down to the hangar, Jake on his heels.
In Feral's apartment, Kam was fixing breakfast while his mate finished getting ready for work. Feral walked into the kitchen as his mate was just turning off the stove. Kam glanced over his shoulder at the dark tom and said, "have a seat love, this is done." He turned to the table and slid bacon and eggs onto the plates already sitting on the table. Two glasses of milk were poured and a plate of toast waited along with cups of coffee.
"Thanks, Kam," Feral said with a smile as he grabbed a couple pieces of toast and sipped his coffee. It had been strange having someone make breakfast for him at first but he was fast getting used to it...being mated had its definite perks.
"You're welcome, love," Kam grinned as he set the skillet in the sink then took his seat to begin eating. "Today is going to be really busy," he mumbled around a bite of toast.
Feral grunted in response as he finished up his eggs then drank his milk before responding. "That's for certain. Once I get that report from the archivist, I'll be busy trying to close everything he might find still active. But that won't be the only thing that report is going to reveal if he's as good as Dr. Sinian says he is," he grumbled.
Kam eyed him questioningly, "sounds like you expect to find more than open omega problems, Uly. Care to enlighten me?"
Feral scowled a moment in thought before responding, "when I learned we had a system in place that was supposed to uncover these problems and let the proper agencies take care of them adding in the fact neither Briggs nor I was aware of said program, I knew I smelled something fishy about it. What made it all worse, was learning it had been like this for years! It could give me all the proof I need to bring that fat ass up on charges and make them stick. His days of skimming off city funds for all those 'projects' he swore were for the city's benefit will be over, if I have anything to say about it."
"Why didn't you have it investigated a long time ago, if you had such suspicions," Kam asked, though he was certain he knew the answer to that.
Feral sighed and admitted, "if I'd opened an investigation into the graf I suspected was happening, it would divide the city government at a time when we could ill afford to be distracted. Dark Kat most of all could have used that disruption to his advantage...meaning you would have encountered a city under brutal domination."
"And I wouldn't have you now," Kam said shuddering inside at how one event could have altered so much. "Well, I'm glad that didn't happen but now you'll have to deal with it and I'm sorry for that. It will be a grim time for the city for a while." Eyeing his mate as he took another sip of coffee, he debated telling him something that would annoy, if not, anger his mate then sighed mentally. If he didn't tell Ulysses now, the intelligent tom would discover it when he came aboard the Wotan to live.
"Uly, during our preliminary research before landing on your planet, we had uncovered some of these things you're just learning as well as some other information on your Mayor's less than savory behavior, but we can't tell you what we found," he said apologetically.
"Your non-interference clause, heh?" Feral asked but knew the answer even without Kam nodding, accepting the news pragmatically, much to Kam's relief. "Though it's a pain to know the information is already at paw, we'll just go with what this archivist has uncovered and hope its as thorough as what you can't tell me."
"I'm really sorry about that, but hopefully you'll be told enough to discover the rest on your own. I have great confidence in you. It's a shame your last act here will be to cause a serious disruption within your city government but, in the end, it will leave a clean slate for Ms. Briggs," Kam murmured obliquely.
Feral's eyes widened at what Kam was implying but knew he couldn't push the wolf to reveal more. Sighing in resignation at what the day was going to turn into, he said, "I'm sure you realize, Ms. Briggs must be elected to the position but I have a suspicion your statisticians have already weighed the odds about her winning the seat without contest too. However, thanks for the rather round about warning."
"You're welcome, love. Wish I could be by your side today but I have my own tasks to deal with today especially if Ms. Briggs agrees to be genetically upgraded. I'll be the one ferrying her to and from the Woton and staying by her side through it all, though, I suspect the lovely Dr. Sinian will insist on being there as well," he mused.
Feral's eyes rose at that comment and asked, "why would Dr. Sinian insist on being there too?"
Kam gave his mate a surprised look. "I thought you knew...the pair are attached, if I'm not mistaken."
Now Feral gaped at Kam. 'How the heck had I missed that?' He wondered in complete shock, blurting out, "Wha...Briggs and Sinian are lovers?"
"Yes. By your shocked demeanor, it's obvious you hadn't seen or heard about it, my love, but yeah, they are an item, I'm certain of it and I'm glad. Ms. Briggs has been alone a long time just as you were and for this major change in her life, she's going to need someone close to be there for her. This will be especially true when we all leave her to handle things alone," Kam commented quietly.
"Well, damn!" Feral said, shaking his head at this incredible piece of news. "Seems a lot of people are pairing up. Uh, not that I care that much...do you know if the SWAT Kats are paired to anyone of your crew?" He asked, curious.
Kam grinned in amusement. "Well, actually, Genus was the first to encounter Razor in an intimate situation in his other identity and they've been attached at the hip ever since, while T-Bone and Tara are dating...not really serious, though I suspect Tara is hoping it will be...given time."
Feral froze and eyed his mate for a long moment as he processed this information and came up with... "...are you saying Genus and Tara know who the SWAT Kats really are and so do you?" He growled, upset at all the shocks he was getting this morning and he hadn't even gone to work yet.
"Sorry to hit you with so much this morning, love," Kam apologized but couldn't help but laugh at the pole axed look on his mate's face which began to look thunderous at being laughed at. "Ah love, I'm sorry to laugh at you but that look on your face...oh don't take on so," he chided his irate mate. "It was pure chance they'd found out. When I asked for information on the backgrounds of the SWAT Kats, you, and the city officials, their identities popped up clearly in the timeline we tracked. I couldn't tell you later, because we did promise to keep it a secret for now so don't ask. However, if they come with us, which I'm beginning to think they will, you will know who they truly are as their secret identities are unnecessary aboard ship."
Feral shook his head to clear it of anger and annoyance, then gave his mate a sour look. "Well don't that beat all! I suppose it wasn't really that hard to find out who they were, eh? He demanded bitterly.
Giving Ulysses a commiserating look, Kam knew what it was like to be left out of the loop but it couldn't be helped. He reached out and gently squeezed his mate's nearby arm. "Aah Uly, don't take it so hard. The paper trail does indeed lead right to who they are but because you are too close to them, you and everyone else here, just didn't put the pieces together, partly because no one cared to and partly because not everyone had access to all the pieces of information that would give them the answer."
"Except me..." Feral muttered, frowning as a suspicion crept into his mind.
"Except you," Kam agreed, a small smirk on his face as he drank his own cup of coffee.
Feral sighed then stood up, carrying his dishes to the sink. "I don't have time to waste trying to guess or look it up so I guess I'll have to wait and find out later," he grunted in resignation. "Right now, let's beat feet. We both have a long day ahead of us."
"We do indeed, love," Kam agreed as he picked up his own dishes then helped Uly clean up before they quickly grabbed their coats and left the apartment.
Feral took Kam to the office with him. The Arcanian's had decided to park their shuttle on the enforcer flight line for convenience's sake and where it could be guarded better. After leaving Ulysses in his office, Kam went down to the flight line. Feral had informed his enforcers that the Arcanian's were allowed access to most of the facility except for certain high security areas.
Kam was pleased to find his crew standing next to the shuttle waiting for him as ordered. He nodded at them all and lead the way into the shuttle. Shutting the door, he turned and waited for his crew to sit.
"Report!" He ordered, looking at Tara first.
"I'm waiting for word of Ms. Briggs' decision, sir. I will be accompanying Dr. Sinian, as I know she intends to be with Ms. Briggs during the procedure," Tara said promptly. "We'll be bringing all the data we've managed to collect on Queen Callista with us."
Kam nodded and said, "I intend to be by Ms. Briggs' side as well. You go back to Dr. Sinian and when I get the call, I'll retrieve the deputy mayor then come to pick you and Dr. Sinian up next. If all goes well, we may be leaving sometime this morning."
"I hope that's true sir, we need to get moving on her training as soon as possible and may I say, sir, she is one very brave female."
"I agree, she is that and I don't envy her all that's going to ride on her shoulders soon, either," he murmured, shaking his head. "Donar?...what do you have for me?" Kam asked turning to his second in command.
"I'll be continuing my assistance to Professor Hackle with the robots, sir. Unfortunately, he still harbors some doubts about this plan and needs constant reassurance that he's not creating some kind of deadly army that kills. I'm guiding him toward using his genius for developing a kind of robotic laws the robots will exist by that will prevent them from harming Kats and will satisfy his conscience. I think we're making good progress. I'm also pressing him a little more about the 'leashes' we want to install in the Metallikats. Though he did agree this was a humane way to deal with the pair at that first meeting, he still has reservations."
"I take it those therapy sessions are not working?" Kam asked, dryly.
Donar sighed, his expression sour. "You're right there, sir and it doesn't help that the therapist will not admit that pair can't be rehabilitated. I went to observe one of the sessions and Mac and Molly are mulishly stubborn. They must have been a real piece of work when they were alive though the strange thing is, the two, despite being robots now, still retain a rather twisted love for each other. Anyway, its a stalemate and I don't have the authority to end it," he admitted, annoyed the issue couldn't be resolved quickly.
"Well from their records, the two are married, being robots didn't change that apparently. As for pushing for an end to the farce, I'm afraid that's going to be on hold for a while since the only one with the authority is Ms. Briggs. I'm fairly confident she's going for the procedure so that means she will be busy getting trained after. Just keep an eye on the situation for me, Donar. That's all we can do at the moment," Kam sighed.
"Yes sir."
Kam turned his attention on Genus, and asked, "Are the SWAT Kats ready to take care of those two problems today?"
"They are but Razor asked for a little help in accomplishing them."
"What kind of help?"
"In locating Dark Kat's hideout, he asked for a better way to speed up the search, I thought a small tweak of his own scanner would do the trick. As for the scorpions, he needs something much stronger than he has on paw that will capture them and allow them to be hauled into space for disposal due to the volatile nature of the things. They are nearly indestructible and use deadly energy bolts as their defense mechanism...nasty creatures and there are over a 100 of them. I thought I'd see if the Captain would be willing to allow the SWAT Kats to use one of our capture boxes for this. There's just nothing the Kats have to end this menace and these things apparently are capable of surviving in space so..."
"...not something we need to add to the other hazards of space travel. I get the picture, Genus. Hmm, let me speak with the Captain and we'll see what we can do," Kam said completing the thought then turned to his comm officer. "Call the ship, Tara and see if the Captain has time to speak with me."
"Certainly, sir," Tara quickly responded then opened a channel with the Wotan. Captain Ing was available and after a brief discussion, gave Kam permission to proceed.
"So there's your answer Genus. I guess this is one of those rare occasions where we are allowed to step in," Kam told his engineer.
"Great, thank you sir. When do you think I might be able to go get it?"
"When were they thinking of tackling this problem?"
"This afternoon. The morning will be for tracking down Dark Kat's hideout."
"Okay, that might work for me then. If all goes well with Ms. Briggs, then I should be able to bring down the capture box later today for you."
"Right, thanks Kam," Genus said with a grin.
"Anyone have anything else to discuss?" Kam asked, eyeing his crew.
He got three negative head shakes. "Excellent. Then have a successful day everyone. See you tomorrow about this time for summation of the day's events," Kam dismissed them.
They disembarked and went their separate ways. Kam returned to Feral's office to await the call from city hall.