Ch 3 The river flows to the ocean

[Janxi]

Janxi could take no more of Richardson trying to mate with Autumn, and his pretentious intellectual talk. She dropped into a quadrupedal crouch, nuzzling hard on Tori, and then lifting her bum like a cat in heat. She began to mimic housecat in heat yodels, though they were a bit more growly than the average moggy.


"Mmmmmrrroowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwoowowowowowowowooowwwwwllllllllll..."

[Renekin Skywalker]

Socrates glances at Janxi's reflection in the bubble-dome window. One step forward, two steps back. He thinks to himself, with a mental sigh. And he resumes his river-watching.

[Tori]

Tori giggled, which sounded like a collection of short hisses at her partner's antics. The glance from Socrates was a bit much. No cat ever would let a dog look upon a cat's antics, scornfully or indifferently. "The fox you lookin' at? Go watch your gator."

[Renekin Skywalker]

Socrates's eyes turned from the bubble-dome to look at Tori. "Hmm?" he asked, casually.

[Dome]

Richardson looks down at the crazed cat. Shaking his head he says out loud, "looks like one of the kitty's has lost it. We may have to put her down before the mission."

He says to Autumn, "home maker, probably not, but every now and then everyone wants to be taken care of."

[Tori]

Tori giggled harder, sounding like "Ss-ss-ss-ss-ss-rrrroowww." Something Richardson said struck her as even funnier as Janxi's antics.

"I wouldn't want to try to put Janxi down. I ain't that brave. And you may be my human, but I ain't gettin between you and a jaglion like Janx. It ain't gonna be purdy!"

[Renekin Skywalker]

Tori seeming to have released Socrates of her questioning, he returned his attention to the bubble-dome, and Janxi's reflection. He was lucky that Janxi's posterior was aimed at Richardson.

[dakota]

The next thing Janxi knew, something had ahold of the tip of her tail. Someone rathe, as Shep had collected himself enough to interfere. " Stand down." He said in a soft yet threatening manner as he removed his helmet. His eyes held the look of a man on the edge of sanity.

the captain of the boat looked at Sam," You have an interesting crew. In our navy, we do not mix genders on such small crews. " He looked at Tori," Do not be offended that my petty officer does not answer you. He understands you, but he does not speak American."

Slipping into the deeper water of the channel, the mini sub accelerated to cruising speed, which was much fater than was expected.

[Janxi]

Janxi pulled up to full height, as the submersible allowed and gazed at richardson. Her teeth were whiter than white, as her emerald eyes caught the dim light of the boat. She took a moment to lick her paws.

"Yes, what was it you were saying Corporal Richardson?"

[Janxi]

Janx looked at her tail, sheathed in armour. "I'm sorry, Mr. Trassk. Are you um, holding me back, sir? Believe me, if I had something to say, I would say it. For now, I am just thinkin' it's funny to watch humans in heat. You can let go now. You should take care of your claustrophobia, sir. You seem a little ill on the boat. My tail here is the least of your worries." A low moan begins in her throat. She blinks a few times to break up the stare, meaning she does not care to challenge, but grabbing a cat's tail was a fairly serious offense, and not something to go unnoticed.

"You should let go, sir. I won't kill him."

[Tori]

"She means it, sir. If we were going to do something, it would be done." Tori sat back on her hind-legs and arms. She gave her armored shoulder an instinctive lick. "We're just goofin' on them. I ain't never read a book, and really don't give two swishes of my striped tail about Danielle Steel's theory on human mating. We need to get on target. Too much time's been wasted with mating and with everything else. We need to kill, sir."

[Tori]

Tori looked at the petty officer and used her telepathy, "If you don't speak human, (as english was all she ever heard from humans before) then what do you speak? Can you answer me in your mind?"

[Renekin Skywalker]

"Janxi." Socrates said, and not without some measure of authority. Regardless of how the cats had convinced themselves of their inherent superiority, dogs were still higher on the food chain. "Your can assist in Shep's recovery by thinking before you act. Just because you believe it is a joke does not make it so."

[Tori]

"CORPORAL Socrates... CORPORAL Janxi is thinking, that's why nobody has been hurt. Even the domestic housecat would turn and swipe a beloved owner if her tail were grabbed. Janxi is a marine, and a well disciplined marine. We're cats, not dogs, and tail grabbing is dangerous with any feline. You may not like her sense of humor, Snagglepuss, but I found her quite funny. You really should learn to butt the fox out of feline business, but we'll take that up again when the mission is over.

"It is this sailor's duty to point out to Mr. Trassk and the skipper of the boat that Cpl. Janxi's parents were created in a laboratory by the good doctor's uncle to have certain rage issues to make her more efficient in combat. Her type also has the ability to punch through the pressure hull of this boat. This would cause an implosion of the boat. She is right to say she would probably not be able to speak rationally if she were going to harm Richardson, who she did correctly interpret as making a threat.

"We're on your team, sir. We're crass, uncouth, and full of ourselves. We're cats, and two of the best trained members of your team, cocky sons of bitches. You don't ask us if we can swim, you tell us to swim with sharks. If you tell us to jump, we will not ask 'How high?' We will find the highest flying transport we can find, and give you a HALO jump. That's what we do. We're operators."

Her tail's tip twitched lazily and she began to lick her paws casually. She imagined how slow Socrates would be in a scrap, or how Janx would easily bite through his skull, her jaguar hallmark, and began to purr. Nobody was in any danger yet, but if people kept grabbing cat tails, there would be some claws flying.

"Captain of the boat? Again, sir. Where can we get some chow and some sack drill?"

[Renekin Skywalker]

Socrates cracked a smirk at Tori's response. Then a smile. Then he actually chuckled. He seemed to enjoy her little story and the silliness of her veiled threat.

"If I had a nickle for each justification..." He suggested.

"Though," he added, in a somewhat wishful tone, "I suppose we all come to terms eventually with the fact that just because we justify ourselves, it doesn't actually mean we're right."

To indicate that the topic was more or less settled, Socrates also licks his own claws, portaying it as the full-stop that ended a statement. Then, he turned back to the bubble dome to watch the channel deepen.

Actually, for Socrates, the channel was a much more pressing issue than Tori or Janxi. Even if he hadn't sensed anything, yet, he wanted to stay on guard.