Ch 3 The river flows to the ocean

[Tori]

With her limited vocabulary, Tori may not have known the definition of "irony," but she knew it when she saw it. She did not want to debate Socrates, or give anyone cause to doubt the loyalty of the Shagcats. As Janxi once said, they liked hunting, and as long as the Deadboys let the two kitties kill, the pair would be loyal. It was a blissful existence in an imperfect world.

"I can think of 12 reasons for us to be good servants," Tori said. She would never call animals citizens, because they weren't. And the 12 reasons were well known to all dissidents and free thinkers, a C-12. "Those 12 reasons make the choice easy. 'Sides, the corporal and me like what we do, and we're real good at it."

Were there no humans and officers around, Tori would gently point out to Soc that each and every Coalition animal was like the dolphin. Instead of being captured and thrust into servitude, they were cloned or bred for it. They had to fight or die, and submit to whatever their human masters wanted of them. If Bradford or even Sam wanted a borg, Janx and Tori would be remodeled. If they wanted a juicer, or Bastet forbid, a crazy, the cats would find their brains full of wires.

"I'm sure the two little fishies got the same choices we did, Soc. They always said, 'Don't humanize the enemy. See them as savages and beasts unworthy of com-passion. Show them no mercy, shoot them down like rabid dogs on your farm.' It's funny to tell an animal like a dog or cat how to kill when we think of what humans or horunes can do and how they see us.

"Still, the fish tried killin' us, that's for sure. No matter what, it's a good day when we can kill them 'fore they kill us. We're gon' get one more meal and maybe some sleep 'fore we hit the AO. Remember that we're alive 'cuz we were willin' to kill. That's good 'nuff for me."

She relaxed slightly, still at the turret, and pulled off her helmet for a pinch of catnip and a breath of uncompressed air. In the dark submarine, with red lighting for landing ops, her eyes dilated to fill almost all of her yellow iris. She licked her orange nose lightly and seemed to relax.

"Ahh, hell, and Doc, you got something for our heads? Mine's killin me, and Janx won't shut up." Tori's moan had stopped, but Janxi had said little about it.

[Renekin Skywalker]

Socrates never verbally challenged the 12 reasons, and with the NGR there, it was not the time to try. "The distinction is in sentience. I was wondering if, like us, the Horune's borg-creatures could elect to go AWOL." He took off his helmet, his ears still pressed against the ringing that lingered. "After all, the power any one leader has lies solely in those that are loyal to it." He grinned a rather cryptic grin. "And it is in the inability to change that loyalty where the true pity lies."

[Tori]

"If they know a friend from an enemy and can choose to hold and fire a weapon, that's enough fer me. Fox'em, I say." Many humans did not consider dogboys, battle cats, d-bees, mutoids or near-humans to be sentient, or worthy of anything conceitedly known as "human rights." Most would think Socrates, or the Shagcat team were any more than well-trained pets that could not think for themselves. No time or place to debate philosophy in front of officers, foreigners and strangers. She'd love to ask Socrates if he would change loyalties, but that would wait.

She saw his ears in a pained posture and swished her tail in a friendly gesture. "Yeah, that gun was the foxin' worst. Someone wanna tell us what the fox that was and what to do about it?"

[dakota]

"You three are making my head hurt as much as those sonic blasts." Shep grumbled, holding his helmet. "Far as you three go, and any other of Lone Star scine geeks contributions to the war, you have just as much right as the rest of us. That was part of General Sykes mandate back when he formed the SOG. As long as I'm your XO, you get anyone giving you flak because you aren't human, you let me handle it."

The captain looked at Shep curiously and was about to say something when the sub suddenly surged sideways. " I think we have found your storm. Fasten yourselves in. "

A voice came over the sub's comm, and the captain answered while shaking his head. " Captain Fraser, my men will stay to monitor the engines if I may keep your squadmembers as gunners in case the attackers return?"

[Janxi]

Janxi shook her head at the peptalk and sighed. A human would never understand what it was like to be an animal in the CS military. No matter what a CWO or even a general said, he could be trumped by Bradford. She, as a hybrid, was luckier than Tori. No chance a hybrid could be fertile.

She stayed on her gun and continued looking for targets. "Sir, aye aye, ventral gunner remaining on station, sir."

[Renekin Skywalker]

Socrates braced himself against the lurch. "So, this what it looks like under a storm." He said, his weapons holstered and safetied against the movement of the vehicle.

He let himself enjoy the turbulent waters from the viewing dome for a moment before returning to his psychic scans of the area. He also hoped the weather wouldn't interfere with those like it would with sonars and radars.

[Tori]

"Skipper?" asked Tori. She had been on high seas before and in nor'easters on Lakes Superior and Huron. Still, she knew her human and Shep would probably not like the storm much. "Can we dive b'neath the waves. We learned in pilots school that half-a wave length determined wave depth, so if we're not on the shelf, and even 100-foot swells would mean we only need to get under periscope depth to get out of this pitchin', sir."

Tori smiled at Janxi's mistrust of humans. Dogs were a trusting sort, and that was fine. Cats tended to mistrust. Shep had pretty well proven himself to be an okay leader, but he was a warrant officer. If personnel wanted her and Janx to lead the Mexican Expeditionary Force armed only with Chi-Town Sluggers, the cats would swing for the fences with every vamp they found until overcome. Humans had choices in the military. Animals had none.

"Aye aye, sir. Top turret, manned and standing by. And Socrates, wait til we get in the surf zone, if you can see up into the waves, they'll be some of the biggest breakers you ever seen. Unfortunately, there ain't much sunshine, and them waves are gonna kick up all kindsa silt, too. Yer view may not last." Tori smiled a fangy grin as Socrates seemed to have no fear or motion sickness. He would make a fair Marine, or even Special Warfare with his courage. She was warming to the dog, slowly, but surely as he showed his best traits.

[Mierin]

Sam nods at the Captain as she does her best to keep her balance after the sub is rocked by the storm. "Of course. Anything we can do to help." She hopes that they'll be able to make it through the storm ok, looking for something she can hold onto to keep herself from being knocked to the ground.

[dakota]

"The river gets to shallow to stay beneath the water at the mouth of the river. That will be the worst

The submarine felt the brunt of the storm surge as it tossed around a bit, but the crew was experienced enough that it barely bothered them despite feeling like they were inside a washing machine for twenty minutes. The slowed progess continued until the captain spoke," We have cleared the river, the ride should now get smoother now." Anyone looking forward has a spectacular view of the raging surf as they advanced out into it.

The sub dove beneath the storm surge as they reached the ocean and the ride suddenly was much smoother at they found a cruising depth well beneath the hurricaine's reach. Shep had again retreated beneath his helmet, huddled in the corner with the gear. The captain looked at Sam," We will be near your dropoff point in about an hour. If you wish, there is food in the small galley in the crew compartment if you wish a hot meal before you disembark."

A strange noise escaped Shep at the mention of food, possibly and irking sound just as the two NGR gunners returned , looking at Janxi and Tori in their seats.

[Tori]

Tori purred as the German gunner returned to his post. She liked having a weapon to shoot, but at that moment, the thought of hot chow took precedence. "Top turret's yours," she said to acknowledge his presence and that he was now manning the turret. "Good gun, too."

She got off the turret and walked to the small galley to explore her options. As a feline, she looked at once for meats, fish and poultry. She selected some barbecued chicken and warmed it up. A half of a chicken, with a little yogurt would do for her appetite, at least for now.

"C'mon fuzzface," she said to Janxi. "Chow looks pretty good. Let's get it while we can."

She smiled over to Shep. "Make fists with your toes. It helps with seasickness."

[Janxi]

Janx saw the gunner approach and stood in the little sub. It was a tight fit, but cats were masters of the tight fit. She removed her helmet and gave the gunner a friendly nuzzle and said, "Bottom turret's yours."

She heard food mentioned and followed Tori to the galley. There she grabbed a full rack of ribs and chomped into them. "Hey Tori, will ya pass the sauce?"

[Renekin Skywalker]

Socrates watched the cats all but dash into the galley area. "You may as well have Shep's share." Socrates said, jokingly. "He won't be eating."

Heading to the galley himself, Socrates produced a bag for Shep. "You shouldn't bury yourself in the helmet. It'll smell otherwise." He said, and quietly went for food.

In the galley, he took a varied portion, mostly of the greens he might not get while in the field. Meat wasn't too much of a worry, so he didn't binge on it.

[Tori]

Tori basted her chicken in the chipotle sauce. Cats could not taste sweet things, but other flavors were interesting. As a Texan cat, she loved all things hot. After giving the chicken a dousing, she passed it over to Janxi and munched on the leg.

She looked at Soc's plate of mostly vegetables and then up to him. "You feeling okay, Socrates?" Like most animals, Tori was carnivorous. She resisted dairy, and only ate veggies to balance her diet, and then only rarely. The feline metabolism was geared for meats. Veggies also came in handy with tummy aches, like how dogs and cats ate grass when sick.

"What about you, Richardson," she said to her human. Shep was in a bad way, and Richardson showed some of the same tendencies. "You feeling okay over there? You, Autumn or the captain want some hot chow? This could be it for a while."

[Dome]

Richardson shakes his head, all this philosophicalness wasn't helping calm him down much. It just hurt his head. He says ,"Captain, how long till we hit dry land?"

[Renekin Skywalker]

(Which captain?)

Socrates shrugs. "I'm fine. Just getting plant nutrients. There'll be plenty of options for meat in the field. Don't know if navy cats have done long-range recond work, but you can trust me. There's always meat in the field." He hold up a green. "Broccoli, however, wouldn't grow wild if you paid it."