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Chapter 13: Changing Command and Preparing for War

Megakat City......

The bombshell from the Mayor's office that Steele was being kicked out and a well respected Squadron Commander would replace him as commander was dropped that week and the population cheered. The enforcers were relieved but also confused. Their present temporary commander was out, a new temp was in and though no one was sorry to see Steele ousted, many were shocked and surprised to see Colonel Sharpclaws in his place.

Not that they disliked him, on the contrary, they liked and respected him, but the tom was not in the line for Chief Enforcer so how had he gotten selected, was the main question among the troops.

Knowing what an uproar his selection would cause, Colonel Sharpclaws made a point of reversing all of Steele's bad decisions and quickly beefing up patrols that had been cut to the bone. This perked up the troops spirits more than anything else he could have done. On each shift, he gave a rallying speech, asking his troops to give their all to rid the city of the petty gangsters before the omegas could sweep in and take over. That won him many cheers and promises of standing behind him.

Rather than micro-manage, he sent much of the work piling up on his desk to his former peers, giving them back the authority that Steele had stripped from them. Soon his firm paw on the controls began to show some effect as arrests rose and quiet began to return to the streets.

Not wanting to rock the delicate boat Sharpclaws was manning, T-Bone and Felina did their teamwork under the radar. Their hidden assistance succeeded in speeding up the taking back of the city from the criminal element.

Only one thing did rock their personal boat badly during this time.

"T-Bone!"

"Yeah, Lieutenant!"

"The portal has vanished!" She said, barely controlled tears of anguish filled her voice.

"No!" T-Bone bellowed in angry fear. "When did that happen?"

"Dr. Sinian notified me just a few minutes ago. She said it just glowed brighter than popped out of existence," Felina choked.

Silence greeted her for some minutes.

"T-Bone?"

"Gods! How are they going to return now," he breathed, pain and sorrow choking his own voice.

"I don't know.......can I come over......" she begged softly.

"Of course," he murmured then cut the connection.

Later that night they comforted each other, crying for their loss until they fell asleep in each others arms.

Pushing past their grief, the pair continued their hard work and by the end of another month, things were almost back to the point when Feral had disappeared. Mayor Manx was forced to accept that Callie had been correct as he quickly noted the Katizens were much calmer and complaints fell. Slowly enforcer recruitment began to increase, training was accelerated to fill badly weakened squadrons.

In a run down factory near the docks.......

One person wasn't happy about the changes and was forced to move up his time table. He had an unhappy feeling he had waited too long already as he stormed around his secret hideout, roaring at his minions and ordering them to hurry up with the preparations that still needed three weeks more to finish properly but that he was insisting be completed immediately.

They worked frantically and nervously as they got the machine Dark Kat felt would help him succeed in taking over the city. In preparation for his attack, he called in all his temporary allies in the city and held a meeting.

"The time table must be moved up. I intend to launch my attack in five days instead a month from now. Your intended part must now happen on the fourth day at six in the evening where you will pound the city's enforcers from all parts of the city until dawn the next morning. They will be so exhausted, it will be easy for me to sweep in and crush the rest of the resistance and the city will be mine," he said with cold determination.

"You're too late, Dark Kat! You should have been ready last month but now the enforcers have taken out nearly half our forces and I heard they are recruiting again. Where do you think we can get more soldiers at such short notice to replace all the ones we've lost?" One of the crime lords demanded, nastily.

Dark Kat moved suddenly, reaching the complainer in a second and snatching him up by his collar, slowly choking him. "Get it from outside the city, I don't care but if you intend to be alive when I've taken this city you'll do what I tell you!" He snarled coldly then let the nearly blue faced Kat drop to the hard floor where he lay coughing as he tried to get his breath back.

No one else dared say anything as Dark Kat eyed them all. "You have your orders, now go and don't fail me!"

Later that night at the salvage yard.......

"Thanks to your plan, the city is finally getting back it's streets," Felina sighed as she munched on a slice of pizza.

"Yeah, worked better than I hoped it would, but I'm still worried," Chance said, relaxing on his couch with Felina sitting close to him.

"You think Dark Kat is still going to make his move?"

"Yeah. I think he's probably pissed at the switch in command and his attempts to disrupt and weaken the city's forces, failing. So now he'll have to move up his plans and it could be very soon."

"I hope we're ready then.....recruitment is up but the troops are very green and Dark Kat is no push over. Colonel Sharpclaws took me aside and spoke of his concerns on handling a major omega with such an inexperienced force and I had no comforting words to give him. He's right to be worried......I am too. We've done as much as we can to try and prepare for Dark Kat's move but I'm afraid it might not be enough," she said grimly.

"Unfortunately, so am I," Chance sighed. "I really wished Jake was here. He'd have invented something to deal with this," he murmured sadly.

"I know," she said softly, gently caressing his arm. "I wish my uncle was here too."

That pretty much killed any further conversation and soon Felina left for home leaving a worried and sad SWAT Kat behind.

Earth.........

Waking the next morning, early, Razor went out to the garden to walk and think. He was worried about his partner. If the criminal element had learned T-Bone was alone it could make them bold. Things couldn't be good with Feral gone as well because it meant that idiot Steele was in charge.

He shuddered as his mind easily came up with scenarios of a devastated city. Only thing that made him shove that away was remembering Jeffrey had said the city looked calm and peaceful only yesterday but he couldn't shut out the niggling feeling that it only appeared things were okay.

"Penny for your thoughts," Feral's voice murmured from behind him.

He turned to see the tom standing nearby and eyeing him with concern. "I'm worried about when we get home. Things look good that we'll make it there finally but home might have a nasty surprise waiting for us."

Feral sighed and nodded. "Yes, I've been thinking about that as well. With me gone, things with Steele could have easily gone downhill rapidly. The criminal element will smell his weakness and take advantage even if the omegas don't at first and then if they learned your partner was flying solo......" he shrugged his shoulders and his expression went grim, "......well that's an open invitation isn't it?"

"Oh yeah, most definitely. I wouldn't put it past Dark Kat to orchestrate some kind of wearing down of the enforcers before striking with all he had."

Feral scowled at the scenario Razor painted. "Kat's Alive! He could make the crime lords cause a major crime wave and when my forces are exhausted and decimated, he swoops in and pounds what's left into toothpaste. From there he can take over without any real effort."

"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid is happening."

"Gee, are you guys always this grim?" Came a young voice from behind them.

They turned and saw Leo eyeing them with pained concern and a small smile.

"Unfortunately, that scenario is probably 90% accurate," Razor said unhappily.

"Truly? Things are hinged on you guys that precariously? One would think you were irreplaceable," he said, mild disbelieve in his voice.

They had the grace to look embarrassed. "Well, no we're not irreplaceable but we do possess the experience and knowledge about these deadly criminals more than anyone else and we know about our....uh...replacements," Feral said in their defense.

"All I can say is I'm glad I don't live in your city. Anyway, I came out here to tell you that after breakfast we're all taking as much rest as we can. We would like to have a pleasant chat with you guys before we do because it will probably be our only opportunity to do so before you're sent home. Would you join us?" Leo asked warmly.

"Sure, we'd love too," Razor said, speaking for both of them.

They trailed after the kitten back into the building. All the psychics were sitting in the large meeting area, chips, snacks, and drinks were sitting on the coffee tables and they looked up with pleased expressions when Razor and Feral walked up to them and took a couch that had been left for them. Leo went to sit with Alice and Tina on the floor.

"We just wanted to get a last chance to talk with you, trade ideas, and perhaps learn a little more about what you may be jumping into when you arrive home. We are all concerned we're sending you into yet another nasty situation even though it is home," Jeffrey said, smiling wanely.

Razor gave Feral a questioningly look. He wondered just how much they should tell these kittens. It wasn't like they could help them in any way so why worry them? Feral's return look was equally questioning.

Before either could come up with a story that might placate the kittens, Leo spoke up and dashed that hope to pieces.

"They are looking at a war by their most vicious omega the moment they get home. They are concerned they will be in the fight of their life and are worried they might lose this time," he reported grimly.

Both Razor and Feral hissed in annoyance but Leo simply gave them a bland look. "I knew you wouldn't tell us the truth because you didn't want us to worry since we can't do anything....however in that, you're very wrong."

Feral winced. 'Crud! There is simply no way to hide anything from these kittens!' Razor's look told him he felt the same way.

"Alright Leo, tell us what's up?" Jeffrey said easily, relaxing in his chair as he prepared to listen.

Leo nodded and proceeded to report every word the pair had said much to their consternation. The kitten shouldn't have been able to have sneaked up on them then stand there long enough to have heard every word of their discussion much less remember it word for word.

When he'd finished, Razor muttered, "geeze, privacy doesn't exist here much."

"You got that right," Feral muttered back, unhappily.

"Don't feel too badly! I've had several years to get used to their way of getting information. You've only had a couple of days," Dr. Runion said with a rueful smile.

"I commiserate with you," Feral said, shaking his head.

"Well, we don't feel beating around the bush and hiding things because they might be unpleasant solves anything. On the contrary, it only makes hard decisions that much more difficult to make or complete with any accuracy." Jeffrey said blandly and without a trace of guilt. "Now, since there is no reason for us to doubt your assessment of the danger to your city, we have some good ideas about how we can even the odds against you," Leo said grimly.

"Huh?" Razor blurted. "Just how do you plan to do that?"

"Oh, we have contacts that can provide us with weapons your world has never seen, certainly not your omegas, and that is how you'll have a better than average chance of saving your city," Tim spoke up with a smirk on his grinning face.

"Weapons? Now wait a minute, Jeffrey......." Dr. Runion objected quickly.

"It's alright, Marion. These aren't like nuclear or anything like that. Besides, they already have that as well as lasers, which we are barely learning to use. No, these are things that are specifically made to control large crowds, riots, and terrorist situations and that are totally different or more powerful than what Aristal uses for the same things," Jeffrey soothed her.

"Why, you little sneak!" Razor gasped, staring at Tim with a hard look. "So that's why you pumped me for all that information on our weaponry."

"Guilty!"

"So, we've put in a call to our contacts and they will have what we need in a few hours. Just before we send you home, Terry, our expert in such things, will show you how the weapons are used, then we send you home and pray for the best outcome for you," Jeffrey said smugly.

All Feral and Razor could do was stare at the kittens with looks of disbelief and amazement.

Dr. Runion sighed and shook her head. Sometimes these kids were just too bright for their own good but their hearts were always in the right place.