A/N: Hello all! I'm back! Hope you enjoy! :)
In the Dark of the Night
By
18lzytwner
Chapter 1
As the sun faded over the distant mountains and the planet of New Thundera got ready for the ritual of putting her children to bed, a ship out of control careened toward the planet's airspace.
"This is cargo transport Three Delta Niner requesting immediate assistance! Rescue mission only partial success! We have severe engine trouble due to enemy fire! I say again! We are requesting immediate assistance!" The voice came in over the radio and Panthro immediately picked it up from his seat at the Control Room monitors.
"This is Cat's Lair. We read you. How many souls on board?" He asked as he hit the red alert button causing all of the alarms in the Lair to go off. The sounds of feet hitting the metal floors were soon heard.
"There are three crew members and four rescued passengers," came the reply.
"All right, don't panic. We've got assistance coming your way to accommodate everyone aboard. Stay on your current path," Panthro instructed as he turned to the group that had gathered around him. They didn't even discuss what was needed to be done. They had the information they needed.
"Cat's Lair come in! We just lost our port thrusters! The ability to slow our descent is gone!" The voice once again was filled with panic.
"Empty your trash chute. The blast from that should help you. The ThunderCats are on their way," Panthro said.
"Trash chute away!" The voice told him.
"It bought us only a few seconds…" at this point the voice sounded like the Cat on the other end of it had given up. Then there was silence. The video screen showed the panther everything he needed to know. The HoverCat, ThunderClaw, and ThunderStrike swooped in and quickly aided the ship into a landing out in a field not far from the Lair. The personnel aboard were evacuated and rushed off to the Lair as the chill of the evening autumn breeze.
"Everyone accounted for Lynx-O?" Panthro asked over the radio.
"Have a med team standing by. Three of the rescued Cats are not in good shape," the lynx explained. The panther quickly put in a call to Tygra who was prepping the Med Bay.
"ThunderGuard report to the hanger bay immediately! Personnel requiring transport to the Med Bay!" Panthro made the general announcement.
"Sir! Should we contact King Lion-O?" One of the soldiers, an eager puma by the name of Punthar who was helping in the Control Room asked.
"Put out a radio transmission. It won't be safe for him to travel until the morning anyway," the panther told him.
"Yes, sir," the puma nodded. Quickly he went to work and beamed a transmission to Lion-O who had taken the ThunderTank out to meet the Berbils at their new settlement on New Thundera. He had taken Cheetara with him, as she had been the only one off duty that morning. Ben-Gali, Pumyra, and Lynx-O had not yet arrived until after they left and now the only ones guarding Third Earth were the ThunderGuard.
"King Lion-O, this is Punthar at Cat's Lair. The ship with the rescued personnel has arrived. The mission was not a complete success and Lord Panthro requests your presence as soon as you can safely travel," the puma relayed the message and it went straight into the storage bank in the ThunderTank. It wasn't unusual as the Berbils would have offered their friends a real place to sleep instead of inside the ThunderTank for the evening as the outside temperatures began to drop near freezing. Winter was slowly approaching and the need to travel only when the sun's warmth was around was paramount. It conserved fuel and prevented anyone getting caught in any sudden weather changes. What wasn't exactly usual was the fact that Lion-O was in fact sleeping out in the ThunderTank. He'd packed extra warm clothing and decided it was best for him to bunk out in the Tank's back half. As of late the lion had been plagued with nightmares and he didn't want to wake the village in case he woke up roaring at the top of his lungs. There was a knock on the cold metal shell and he cautiously opened the hatch.
"What are you doing out here my King?" Cheetara asked.
"Protecting everyone else's good night sleep," He gave a slight smile.
"The nightmares again?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, the very same," he nodded, ushering her inside and closing the door. He quickly handed her one of his extra blankets and she wrapped herself up in it before taking a seat on the left side of the tank.
"Perhaps when we get back to the Lair, you should have Tygra give you something to help you sleep," she suggested.
"Perhaps," he nodded as he took his spot on the bench on the right side of the tank. He started to nod off when he suddenly felt something bump into him. Peeled his eyes open and found that the cheetah had snuggled up close.
"It's probably best if we huddle for body heat since we left the wonderful warmth of the hut," she pointed out.
"Excellent point," the lion admitted. What he wasn't about to admit was his feelings on what he thought they should be doing instead.
To Be Continued...