THE DEFINITION OF PEACE
Chapter 9: Going to War, Part I
An hour after their return from Enforcer Headquarters, Chance brought some food and drink down to the hangar for his partner. As he entered Jake's work room, he noted the Turbokat's comm unit was in pieces on the work bench.
Raising an eyebrow at the sight but wisely not saying anything, Chance laid the food down on the only clear section of the bench then quietly left his partner alone. He knew Jake would work around the clock to get this finished and the best he could do was get some rest himself then load up the Turbokat with what he thought they needed and wait for Jake to tell him what else he wanted added.
At Enforcer Headquarters, Feral felt replete for the first time in weeks and was luxuriating in a long hot shower. It felt soo good. By the time he decided to get out, the water was growing cold. Sighing he stepped into the dryer and stood there with his eyes closed. After being under public scrutiny in that cell for so long, the peace and privacy of his room was a welcome balm to his badly battered spirit.
Finally thoroughly dry, he padded naked to the bed and crawled under the covers. The bed was like heaven and he was soon out cold.
He slept for more than twenty-four hours. Sgt Fallon didn't allow anyone to trouble the Commander. By the time Feral came out of his room, Fallon, who had someone watching, was ready for him.
"Good afternoon, sir. I have a meal ready for you in your office and Lt. Commander Steele has been notified that you're up and is preparing a report of what's been going on while you rested." He told Feral briskly.
Feral smiled warmly, "You know, Sergeant, I really missed you."
Sgt Fallon blushed with embarrassment at the compliment.
"Thank you for your thoughtfulness. Now, have you taken a break yet, yourself?" Feral asked seriously.
"Uh, I took a short nap, sir. I was busy getting information collected for Commander Steele." Fallon admitted.
"Are you finished doing that for now?"
"Yes sir." Fallon said, cocking a questioning eye at his Commander.
"Then go take three hours downtime. I'll let Steele know. We need you sharp and alert." Feral ordered him.
Fallon blinked in surprise but responded with a brisk salute and a..... "Yes sir."
Feral smiled at his sergeant's retreating back. 'That is the most valuable Kat on my staff.' He mused as he made his way to the elevator.
After getting updated by Steele and eating a nice hot meal, Feral had to endure a full and complete physical. Steele apologized but told his Commander the medical staff needed to know just what had been done to him. Feral understood the need but truly hated the process.
It was well after dusk when the medicals finally released him. There was a lot of buzzing going on among the staff about Feral's tests but they weren't ready to release any information until they had time to process it.
Sighing in relief to be free of the poking and prodding, Feral took a stroll around his headquarters. His enforcers were relieved to see him back and he took the time to talk to them to ease their fears and give them hope that this would be all over soon.
He made his way back to his office where Steele and he talked about the mission tomorrow. Sgt Fallon was back on duty and had ordered the pair of officers dinner which they appreciated.
By seven p.m., Feral put out the order for the team going on the mission with him to get some downtime. He returned to his quarters to do the same. Earlier in the day, while he had been asleep, Steele had the entire headquarters readied for this first push to stop the Kat who would have peace at any cost. Now it was up to Feral and his team to find him.
A distance from Enforcer Headquarters, at the salvage yard, Chance sighed as he checked the time. It was going on five p.m the day before they were to leave. He'd brought Jake his dinner and noted his friend had barely touched his lunch.
"You have to stop to eat. Need fuel for that super brain of yours to stay sharp." Chance said resting his paws on his friends shoulders and gradually squeezing to get him to stop what he was doing.
Jake growled at him but he stopped working and began to eat his food while his eyes feverishly stared at the nearly reassembled comm unit.
"So how's the work going, buddy?" Chance asked as he leaned against a wall, very careful not to get near his partner's work area.
The cinnamon tom sighed but gave a tired grin in response. "Nearly done. Gotta finish putting that together then installing it and that other smaller unit into the Turbokat."
"How much longer is that going to take?" The sandy tom asked in concern.
Jake scratched his neck and stretched. "At least another three hours."
"Well, don't forget you have to be fresh for the battle, buddy. Exhausted is not what we need when you are the only one who's going to have the most important part when we get there." Chance cautioned his perfectionist partner.
"Relax, Chance. I'll hit the bed immediately after I'm through. Besides, I can catch a nap on the flight there. It's nearly a three hour trip. Speaking of which, are the fuel tanks topped?" Jake asked returning to his work bench.
"Yeah, and missiles are loaded. Was there anything else you wanted aboard?" His friend asked.
"Uhm.....let's see.......the new stealth gear and uniforms I developed for this..........plenty of fast acting sleep gas......oxygen and add to our first aid kit the trauma gear we put together and a stretcher....blankets.....the water cistern........oh.......find something that can be used to make a collar for a tiger.......I want to put a tracer on Feral. I've already made a mini-radio for him that he can carry around his neck then use when he's in his normal form. Make sure the hover cat is loaded and both the single and double cyclotrons. Check that we have sufficient grappling line and extra climbing gear....we or the others might need it. And, lastly, add extra parachutes and pick up an extra large coverall in dark blue or black for Feral. That should do it." Jake finally said, not seeing the look of annoyance on his partner's face.
"Geez, why the heck didn't you tell me this earlier? How about rations too, for crud sake?" Chance said almost facetiously.
"Oh, good idea. Forgot that." His friend said distractedly, not really paying that much attention to his friend.
Shaking his head, Chance just snorted and went to work. Earlier in the day, he'd cleared the garage of the few cars that had been waiting for repair then had loaded the jet. Now he had to load the other things Jake wanted and it took another two hours to accomplish.
Going back upstairs to the garage, he made a sign to say they would be closed for at least a week for a family emergency. Fortunately, they had no work backed up at the moment. He went around to check the yard and secured what he needed to before coming back in and calling for a dinner delivery. Once he'd gotten Jake to eat his dinner, he left his partner alone and went to relax and veg before the TV for a little while.
Chance yawned and shut the TV off when it was close to ten o'clock. Jake had not come up from the hangar. Sighing, he went down to find him. When he didn't see him at his work bench, he guessed Jake was installing the comm into the jet. He walked out into the hangar proper and headed for the jet's parking area.
Leaping to the wing, he peered over the cockpit and found Jake with half his body buried under his control station. Soft mutters and growls floated up from the reclined Kat.
"How's it going, buddy?"
A bark of pain was heard then an angry, tired face popped up and scowled at him. "Crap, Chance you startled me." He hissed rubbing his forehead.
"Sorry, but its getting late, Jake. I hope you're nearly done."
Jake sighed and disappeared under the panel. "Yeah, just have to finish the wiring and test it......about another thirty to forty minutes."
"Okay, just make sure you take a hot shower and drink some warm milk so you'll sleep soundly." Chance said then left his partner to get done in peace.
He took his own advice and was soon climbing into his bed and settling down. As he began to drift to sleep he was relieved to hear the shower come on. Smiling to himself, he allowed his mind to shut down.......tomorrow would be here all too soon.
Author's Note: Sorry I took so long to get back to this. I was stuck and had lots of little stories pushing at me to put them on paper. So now I'm back and hope to get this done soon. Hope you will still read it even after this long.