Cats and Dogs – Missing

It has been exactly one month today since the disappearance of SPD Commander Anubis Cruger. His ship, sent on mission to retrieve possible intelligence from the wreckage of Sirius, lost contact. All search parties have been ordered to retreat as of today, at eighteen hundred hours.

Now, those closest to Cruger – the B–Squad power rangers and Dr. Katherine Manx – sit at a round table, in conference with the soldier in charge of Cruger's recovery mission, Supreme Commander Birdy, and a SC hired attorney. No one is happy. The rangers are solemn, and slightly angry, but Dr. Manx is immovable.

"Dr. Manx, please—"

"Don't lecture me on protocol, sergeant!" her steady voice, hardened by grief, bounces around the room loudly. Everybody winces at the venom in it. "I understand that you have to give up the main party searches but that does not mean you can decide that he is dead!"

"We have had no signs of life in a month, Doctor, that means that—"

"Have you even been looking in the right places? Do you know where he would be if he were stranded? Do you know where he would go after a crash?" Kat's voice rises as she continues and soon she is standing, fist pounded into the table to the point of denting the steel. Her eyes no longer sparkle but are a dull, steely grey/green. There is no life in her anymore, it died with the news of Doggie Cruger's disappearance. "You're all nothing but useless idiots being used by the puppet master known as Supreme Command!"

"Please calm yourself, Dr. Manx," Birdy presses on. He and Cruger weren't the best of friends but he's not jumping for joy over the latest development. Not only did he have the duty of telling his rangers, but also looking into the frigid eyes of who was once Katherine Manx.

"Go to hell, Birdy!" Kat swipes at his outstretched hand with her claws. "All of you!—you're giving up on him! He's out there, alive, and you're just sitting here saying he's dead!"

"Kat," Sky speaks up timidly, afraid of her wrath and sorrowful. He and the rangers, just as stubborn as anyone, have accepted things. They have mourned, even holding onto hope far longer than anyone besides Kat. Even they, however, have acknowledged that Cruger has no hope of return. They have given up. "I...I'm sorry, h–he...he's gone."

Kat turns to her tearful rangers. They continued to search with the SC search parties up until a week ago. They were hopeful, and stubborn, and as determined as her that he was alive. They had worked tirelessly but even their candles had burned out. She looks at them with love, tenderness, and defiance. "No, Sky, he's not."

"Ms. Manx," begins the attorney.

"He's not!" she repeats angrily at the avian alien.

The old, feathered thing waits a moment before straightening his eyes and clearing his throat. "Ms. Manx, as Commander Cruger's executrix, you have control in this situation. You are named in all of his documentation and his will. We need your cooperation in this. He would want you to help us with this."

Kat stops and turns to him with such darkly powerful eyes everyone holds their breath. They're still, and affect the man in a metaphysical sense, as he feels his heart stop. Her fangs peek out of her lips and her eyebrows tilt to a degree that only enhances her frightening expression. "What did you say?"

The man stutters, "I–we–well, I was—"

"How dare YOU!" Kat begins hissing in uncontrollable anger, hair standing on end and ears perked at a worrying angle. Her pupils become threatening slits. The color of her irises has gone from sparkling emerald to a deadly dark green. She approaches the man, who ducks behind the sergeant for protection. The larger male alien, skin like a jellyfish's, holds back Kat. Soon, though, her rage is all encompassing, and the rangers also join in trying to hold her back. Her claws are fully extended and they swear she is ready for blood. "How dare you say that! You have the audacity to be speaking for a man who's not dead! You know nothing about him!—you know nothing!"

"Kat, let it go!" Jack orders, holding her shoulders.

"Get off me! All of you, back off! If you all think he's dead then you're no better to me than them!" Kat throws the rangers back with all her strength. As she turns back towards Birdy and his cronies they stand ready. However, she throws them all away without hesitation. She grabs the tentacle of the sergeant and brings his noseless face close. "Back. Off."

"I can't do that, ma'am," it garbles, but she can sense the fear in its voice.

"Useless," she hisses before throwing him solidly against the wall. His head hits the steel and she grabs his collar forcefully. "Where was Commander Cruger's ship, last?"

"I can't—"

Kat presses her clawed hand to his trachea and lowers her voice menacingly. "You tell me where Cruger was last or I'll give you a new meaning to dishonorable discharge."

"Last coordinates...came from directly over Sirius...then some Troobian drones came out of nowhere and shot it down." Kat grips the sergeant tighter, urging him to wrap it up. "We've searched Sirirus top to bottom and couldn't find a thing."

Kat looks at him for a moment before throwing him back again. "You really are as stupid as I thought." As she heads for the door Birdy tries to stop her but she glares at him, "you idiots have been looking in the wrong place for a month! If Cruger is dead because of your mistakes I'll come back and make sure your fate is much worse than his!"

"Kat, wait!" Jack pulls himself up and tries to catch her. "Cruger is not alive, Kat! You need to accept it and grieve!"

Kat turns and computer–locks the door before Jack can stop her. "Doggie is alive, Jack. When he crashed, he would have gone straight to the underground bunkers he personally designed around the days of the first Troobian emergence. He knew those things inside and out. If he went anywhere, it was underground, which I'm sure those idiots didn't think to check."

Soon, the other rangers have joined their leader, looking pleadingly at Kat. Z presses her hand to the glass, "Kat, think this through. You saw the wreckage—"

"There is no argument in this, Elizabeth," Kat says firmly. "I am going back. I will find Doggie, bring him back, and everything will be fine."

And with that, Katherine walks away. She goes down the hall to the hangars. She ignores Boom as he begs her not to go do anything rash. She ignores the cadets who watch her ominously. Once seated in the backup deployment ship meant for deep–space recovery, she takes off without looking back. There is one priority in this mission: to find and retrieve Commander Anubis Cruger. "Hang on, Doggie."

Katherine realizes how hopeless this is and how crazy she seems. She knows people think she's just a hopeless romantic in denial of his death, clinging to nothing but memories. They'll know, she thinks, that they were wrong when she brings their rightful leader back home.

"Dr. Manx, launching from hangar 1B; retrieval mission. I'll be back soon, with Cruger."