Chapter 17
Once the prisoners were locked into the cells in the basement, Willa had some of her Warrior Maidens guard the Mutants. There were seven of them and they took up almost all the room in the cells.
"You need twenty girls to guard us?" one of the jackals smirked.
"They're there for your protection," Willa smirked.
"From what? The ThunderCats won't hurt us," one of the lizards decided to be brave and speak up.
"Snowmeow eats Mutants and he shares with Ma-Mutt," Willa chuckled as the big cat jumped up on top of the desk in the room and made himself comfortable, while the former horrible hound curled up on the chair. Willa left the room to join the others in the large dining room.
"You are so willing to give us your hospitality. I mean no offense but that is not the typical story I have been told about Thunderians," Arzu said as she said down at the table in the main dining room.
"Well we trust Slythe and you landed your ship, so we're willing to talk first," Lion-O said as he sat down across from her. The meaning was clear. The ThunderCats would hear their story before making any decisions but should things not be to their liking, then things would be different.
"You must explain that one to me. I know Slythe was doing the bidding of the High Council, despite his better judgement," Arzu gave her friend a look.
"Well bucking the High Council didn't exactly work out for you," Slythe pointed out.
"Very true. I'll bug you about your story later. Right now, I believe I owe you a story," she smiled slightly. She took a glass of water that Snarf had delivered to the table and sipped a little.
"About three years before the destruction of Thundera, I pissed off a few people in the High Council. Needless to say, I soon became persona non grata on my home planet. My crew was given a choice. Join me and never come back to Plundarr or stay at home and serve ten years in prison, most of it hard labor. The bulk of my crew had no loved ones or any particular attachment to home as we spent the majority of our time in space working on repairs to spaceships too large to land and satellites. So, they decided life in space was better than prison," Arzu started.
"You'll have to forgive me but what would cause the High Council to give the entire crew a sentence like that?" Cheetara interrupted her.
"We were required to report when ships where no longer repairable or when the damage to them is too great. I made a call to the planet that one of the ships we were working on was not safe to be occupied any longer. Her life support systems were malfunctioning. The backup systems were doing what they could, but they were not meant for continuous run for longer than a couple of hours. I made the decision to evacuate the ship and then my crew and I would attempt repairs, allowing the backup systems to operate at a much lower rate and it could last much longer. Problem was that every time we tried to replace something it would break. The system was just too old, and it just couldn't be fixed. I ordered my crew off the ship. We were ordered back on by the Mutant High Council and I refused. I told them it was too far gone, and we needed to forget that ship. The High Council ordered the crew back on the ship, but the Captain refused, knowing that the ship was unsafe. They backed down so we figured that they finally realized it wasn't worth it. The Captain and his crew were reassigned but I found out that a new crew, who had no idea that the ship was broken, would be taking over. So, my crew and I did the only thing we could do," Arzu stopped, taking another sip of water.
"What?" Panthro wanted to know.
"We blew it up," the female vulture, who had introduced herself as Esen, spoke up.
"Ah so destruction of government property. Hardly seems fair considering you were preventing people from dying," Lea gave a look.
"Yes, well that is basically treason to the High Council. The only thing actually worse than that is treason," Slythe explained.
"You guys have an odd way of doing things," Ben-Gali said.
"Yes well. Every ship that no longer functions costs money, time, and supplies. Things of which the High Council didn't think about until it was too late. We overtaxed our planet, so supplies began to run low. They decided to steal from Plundarr's moons, hence the mess they're in now. There was a shortage of skilled laborers, because they were busy sending people off to be trained to fight instead," Arzu told them.
"So why did everyone think you were dead?" Tygra asked.
"There was an incident with one of the escape pods on the ship. Seems someone outside my crew was sent to sabotage it. The High Council figured they'd get rid of me and my crew, so we faked my death," the female lizard said.
"Figuring that would let you and the crew move on and not be disturbed," Slythe said.
"Exactly," she nodded.
"So, the mutiny then?" Lion-O wondered.
"It's a weird situation we found ourselves in," Arzu started.
"Dinner is served," Snarf announced from the doorway of the dining room.
"Thank you Snarf," Lion-O smiled and quickly he, Cheetara, and Panthro got up to help him serve everyone.
To Be Continued…
