Ch. 7 When are we getting out of here?

[Janxi]

Grabbing her own massive sidearm, a NG pistol, she pulled on her utility cap and followed Tori. She shot a longing look at Takota and gave a low combination moan-wail-growl. "A mission's no place for cubs..." she said as she realized her efforts were thwarted again.

Janxi reluctantly pulled the sleeve of her BDU up higher for Tori and grimaced. "If this hurts, you hurt, Doc Flatchest." But when you have endurance like Janxi's, a needle isn't even a mosquito bite. As far as biceps went, as impressive as Tori was, Takota realized with her "retard strength" she could punch through a tank with little trouble. It would take about a day for the symptoms to subside, but at least for now, though she still loved her dearly, she saw Tori as competition for the one and only tom at the FOB and would do all she could to show her up.

"Love tha military mindset, T-Bag. Like sending a jungle warrior to Sault Ste. Marie to rescue drownin' fishermen," she said referring to Tori's own experience before being accepted to a team. "As fer me, I was RLT, Second Marine Force Recon outta Lone Star. Was deployin' to Minnesota, and someone canceled the war. I put in for a special feline team enhancement program and got teamed up with Tori. Then we got to enhance a team with 'in-vire-mental special-i-zation' whatever the fox that means, special tactics and improved capability. Turns out, they sent two shagcats to fight rats. Now we got a third? Ain't much of a coincidence, iffen ya ask me.

"Anyhow, as much as I can't stop thinking about what I'd love to do with you right now, here's my business skills. EOD, trackin' snipin', divin' and arms and armor repair. Can maybe fix a coupla things too. Smurfette over there is my dive partner, jump mate an' battle buddy. And Tori forgot one thing. She's a pretty damn good small craft coxwain. We lost some people back there, but none of em drowned, and no one got eaten bah a big ol frog, or was it an alligator?"

She shot Shep a wink, then like Tori, her senses were overwhelmed by something other than horniness. The smell of the chowhall, coupled with Old Abe's hot sauce was just too much, even overcoming raging feline "teen" hormones. "Aww man, now it's just my tummy that's needin some lovin'. Come to me, ribs!"

[Mierin]

When Takota enters, Sam is a bit surprised to see that another cat has been assigned to her unit, but had a polite smile on her face as she says, "Corporal, welcome aboard." She then falls quiet as the cats get acquainted with each other. The idea of food sounded like a good one, though when Sam sees her brother, she smirks at him and says "Permission granted." Lookign at the cats and Shep, she tells them "Go ahead, I want to talk to the Captain in private for a minute."

[Takota]

The salute came quick and crisp when Takota was addressed by Sam and replied with a respectful, "Thank you." before he goes about talking with the others.

He watches Tori leave then return with the syringes giving Janxi and herself a shot. Of course the look Janxi gives him before that makes him smile inwardly but he is careful to mask his expression to others. He knows it is not anything about him really but it was still kind of fun while it lasted. Something he could brag about in a vid-message to send back to his old unit in Lone Star. He just wishes that he would have had the whole incident recorded to send to them.

Like the others though his thoughts soon turn to the same thing they are now interested in. Food.

As they head toward the mess hall he asks, "Is there anything you can tell me about our assignment? Nobody has told me anything except what I've heard you two talking about back there. Something about rats."

[Tori]

"Yeah, seems we gots a rodent problem. 'Parently, they somehow came in from Lone Star via rift and set up shop. Locals estimate mebbe 4,000 'er more in tha swamp. They're armed mostly with Splooge weapons, but scavenge CS heavy weapons." She her tail twitched at the happy memory of silencing some rail guns. "Not a lotta armor, but they got strength in numbers. They seem mostly intent on eradicatin' humans. When the battle began, they was killin natives an' CS troops, not capturin. We ain't seen 'em with any mecha, magic, or usin' psionics.

"Tha big problem is they got somethin' big to shoot down airborne forces. Several rescue and relief expeditions, includin' SAMs, helos and I reckon even Death's Heads got schwacked. General says it was inbound from NGR, but didn't say if it's missiles, energy or a big railgun. Before we can really get established in tha swamp, I reckon we're gonna have to take it out. Once we get air superiority, we can bomb tha beejeezus outta any group of rats we run into.

"There's small tribes of local humans here and there. Mostly they trade food and supplies with a bit of suspicion towards the CS. 'Parently, they ain't had too many good encounters wif deadboys. We saved a chief's daughter once, and got a boat, an' swapped slaughterin' a bunch of rats for some magic sap. Reckon' we made good on that!" Tori shot Janxi a look and giggled. "There's a few local tribes that have been reported hostile but negative contact with them. No contact with Splugorth, but this close to Atlantis, and seein' rats with all that hardware, I reckon it's only a matter of time. We also had a run-in wif the Horune on tha way in, and have some reports of Horune activity ashore."

She got in line and got a wing on her plate, before dousing it in sauce. Nothing else went on her plate, other than a "beverage, electrolyte, low carb."

She looked down at the wing, then up at Takota. "Oh yeah, this here's the Dinosaur Swamp. There's dinosaurs, some are built like a Linebacker tank! We ran into some raptors, sneaky, but you can drop 'em with a burst wif a pulse rifle. Everything's big. Spiders the size of hovercars, and frogs, too. Good concentrated an' sus-tained fire'll bring 'em down bafore they get too close to hurtcha. We got a report about a petal turkle, and saw its shell. Some Deadboys worked with natives and brought it down by feedin' it a fusion block."

As she was under arms, even indoors and at chow, Tori was a sailor and required to remain covered. Her boonie had small holes on each side to accommodate her little round ears. She chomped into her wing and chewed, swallowing the bite. "That's 'bout all I know, other than tha fishin's damn good. I reckon it's the Sploogies idea of a joke to breed, arm and feed a huge colony of rats in the far corner of the continent and watch them breed out of control til they're spillin' cross tha swamp an' into Lone Star. Guess we ain't waitin' fer that."

[Janxi]

Janxi wastes no time chomping on ribs. Like a proper jaguar, she cracks bones and sucks marrow. Each is doused with hot sauce and a bit of pepper.

"Tori's 'bout right. And I cain't think uf much to add. There's a smatt'rin of CS operators through the swamp. And if I got asked to pick a vehicle for the swamp, it would be a hovercar. We cain use roadbeds, while still fording rivers. No tire tracks or nuthin."

She takes a seat beside Takota and chomps on her ribs with one hand. With her right hand, she scratches his neck, now and again hitting him up with a nuzzle. "God yer hot..."

[Tori]

"Settle down Janxi! Shot ain't gonna work yet, but this is tha chow hall. It ain't 'Bahind tha Green Door!'" Tori was too busy laughing at her friend to eat anymore, but eventually, she calmed enough to take another chomp.

[Takota]

Ahh food! Just what Takota needed. Seeing the spread before him he lets out a happy sigh since it is not just the standard military fare he is used to getting. He picks a few things that smell good which of course consist mostly of the ribs that seem to be quickly disappearing onto the two plates before him. The hot sauce he avoids like the plague preferring the taste of of the meat itself instead of the stuff the others are pouring onto it.

Listening to what Tori describes Takota immediately finds himself thinking about the big gun she mentioned. Finding it and taking it out sounds like it might be interesting. Of course even a simple rat hunt could prove to be quite enjoyable even if they did not control the big weapon. Either way he was in for whatever they were told to do.

When the talk turns to what kind of critters are in the swamp Takota listens intently. The kind of things she describes he has never seen before and the more he hears the more he wants to get out there to see for himself.

Takota arches his neck into the scratching from Janxi and even returns the nuzzles every so often when he is not stuffing his muzzle full of food. He enjoys the attention even though he knows it is not really anything about him that is causing it. After her last comment he chuckles while casting a sideways glance at the jag-lion. "Uh huh. Once that shot takes effect you will forget all about me." Takota says in a joking voice.

Spending some time quietly eating his meal Takota breaks the relative silence as he remembers Tori's talk about dinosaurs "I've never seen a dinosaur but I once did have the misfortune to run across a Bruutasaur just outside of Odessa Base. Not quite a dinosaur but from what I know they look kind of similar to some of them. Damn ... that was a fight." Takota says after stripping the meat off of a rib and gulping it down. "Most of the things we ran across were bands of bandits or DeeBees though. Sometimes my unit was called in due to a particular menace of some sort but most were simple Destroy missions. Kill anything found that was not human or Coalition."

[Tori]

"When we got accepted to the Shagcat program, Janx an' I trained together at Pinnacle, then did some Lurps in Lone Star. An' fer that matter, I get it, we're Pinnacle kittens, but how come you ain't got no Lone Star accent at all, Takota? Yer all educated-soundin'!"

Tori took a few more bites and chased it with some of her beverage. Cats did not have taste buds that could detect sweet, and to certain cats, the hot flavor was very nearly candy. Both shagcats seemed to have that in common. They used hot sauce like a human might use syrup on pancakes. Plus, they were both serious rednecks, and what redneck didn't like hot sauce?

"When we was lurpin' back in Lone Star, we came up on some raptors, and even a T-Rex, once. 'Round here, I gotta say, they ain't so tough. F-me pumps over there an' I'll show ya some claws we kept for trophies when we get back to the squad-bay. An hey, you like bassetball?"

Right now, Tori was filling, and would be ready for a nap next. After nap, play was her goal, and basketball was her game.

[Takota]

Takota never really thought about the differences in accent between him and most of the others he had trained and worked with. He sits in silence for a moment as he considers the possibilities as to why that is. It doesn't take long before a possible answer pops into his mind.

"I can't say exactly why. I never really paid attention to it or given it any thought before." he replies as he finishes off the food he had piled onto his plate. "I have an idea though. I was not natural born therefore I did not grow up with others speaking in a different manner around me. When I 'woke up' this is the way I was." Takota suspects the genetics doctors could have given him an oriental accent to go with his species if they wanted to.

"Never played basketball before. Most of the others I was training with liked contact sports much better." He remembers his first game of football. That was not really his kind of game either, just like most other team sports, but a bunch of the dogboys wanted to have some fun at a cat's expense so they invited him to join. As it turned out he was fairly good at it. "I don't know the rules but I'll be willing to give it a try."

[Tori]

"Me mahself? I was cloned, too. All my Newfie nannies, the commandowomen and tha tigers that raised me were some serious rednecks. Iffen you was raised by doctors, then I guess ya gotta talk all edjacated and shit. If you was raised by rednecks, you gonna talk like yer country! Cloned to kill, but raised up from a cub. Janxi's a product of she-cats gone wild, so watch out!"

Tori's tail tip twitched with absolute glee. Giving a cat a ball to chase was just feeding their nature. "Bassetball gots lotsa contact, most especially wif da elbows. An' ain't a dogboy in tha world dat kin jump like a feline! This ain't 'bout tha canine no more. Tha alpha species is a-scendin'."

[dakota]

" Settle down Janxi." shep scolded softly as he sat down. "No need giving Takota the third degree, you'll get to know him better on the ground. and if you don't simmer those hormones, you sleep outside tonight." he joked before helping himself to his own plate of food. " Main thing you havve to remember about the Dinosars is they all try to eat us, but they taste real good themselves."

a group of dog boys passed, and a few chuckled comments Shep clearly couldn't hear were made about the adult stuck at the "kiddie cat" table. The speaker wasn't clear, but all eight thought it was funny as they sat three tables over.


Tim looked at Sam sheepishly, " Okay, lemme have it. I've seen that look enough times."

[Tori]

"Dat's the problem wif dogs," Tori said in a voice audible to all in earshot. "Dey hump every leg wif a pulse, and dere hobby's chewin' dirty boxer shorts. If I did't know better, 'specially after Socrates, I'd say every one of 'em was a lowdown snagglepuss. Y'all just exit stage left and shut the fox up! Heavens to mergatroid..." She threw down her fork to make it perfectly clear she was sick of dogs, and ready to throw down with them.

"Y'all crotch-sniffers want some?" She stood up and looked at the biggest, meanest one in the eye. "This here's a warrant officer, and one of mah people. You ain't talkin' bout him like that, and you ain't talkin' bout my crew like that neither. While y'all was chasin' cars, we was fightin' tha war, so if you're gonna talk, say it in mah face. Otherwise, shut the fox up and go home and snagglepuss each other while whisperin sweet nothins in tha shower late at night."

[Janxi]

Jan gave Takota a playful nip on the neck before she heard the dogboys, and Tori stepping up. "Watch this, lover..."

The massive cat stood up beside her little partner. "Y'all gonna hav'ta pardon my pardner. She just got off a mission wif some know-it-all, suckup, snagglepuss of a dogboy, and is juss a lil frustrated. Me? Mah frustrations are from somethin' entirely different. But you sack-lickers? Y'all juss thank dat warrant officer ya just in-sulted. He done saved yer life. He's juss 'bout to order us kitty cats to stand down, and to keep from usin' our claws to remove yer faces. So you git-ta go on to hump other legs, and we go on to whoop some ass. Apologize to the warrant officer, AND to us, and we'll call it right even."

Janxi looked for any that might be a kill hound, knowing such a challenge would unhinge him. She would intercept any moves toward herself, Tori, Shep or ESPECIALLY Takota, though she knew he could more than handle himself.

She then whispered, "T? Nike was awrite, but she was also a female, an a coyote. Aside from her, I'm down wif hatin' ev'ry snagglepuss dogboy."

[dakota]

"You two are exactly what they want" was all Shep said as he went back to his breakfast, barely even looking up.

One of the dogboys did start to take offense, a large wolfhound, but a "quit it" from a passing Psi Stalker soon identified the pack's leader. He looked at the Cats, then Shep," No offense specialist."

"None taken, Sargeant." Shep said, sipping his coffee. " Just make sure your pack realize while they were busy sniffing each other's butts, my pride was kicking ass and takin' names. You read me?"

The Psi-Stalker hesitated, then had to wave off a couple of growls from the other table. " I read." He joined the dog boys, and a hushed conversation ensued, with only a few wayward glances coming their way.

Shep looked at the cats. " "See, you don't always need violence to settle things." While the cats were distracted, he snitched the last rib from Janxi's plate with a smirk and then looked at Takota, " It's not these two you have to worry about, it's the sneaky old fox of a XO." He grinned, knowing the shags would catch his double meaning.

[Tori]

"Hooya!" Tori exulted at Shep't admonishment to the psi-stalker. When she saw him, and his Kiss-looking face, her ears pressed flat, and her tail began to swish from side to side at a furious pace. She issued a low moan of a growl herself, but returned to her plate, avoiding eye contact with any of them. Anyone that looked her way got a hiss for his trouble, from the little tabby.

"Mebbe not, Shep, but dey could all use an ass-whoopin, 'specially that Gene Simmons-lookin' son of a bitch, and his head hound in-charge," Tori muttered. She continued chomping her wing and in between bites, gave herself a good stretching, should she need to be nimble shortly.

"'Sides, our names are violence. I'm cloned to kill, remember?" Tori finished her meal, and began to relax.