Chapter 7
Mandora rushed the Evil Chaser Accident Investigation Squad, or ECAIS for short, over to Third Earth. She also sent a protection detail with them to make sure that whoever destroyed the ship would not interfere with the investigation. While that was going on, she would alert the Space Council of Planets to what happened and have them start an investigation on their end as well.
Lion-O ordered the troops on Third Earth to help as much as they could. He and a couple of ThunderCats would be heading over to the planet in short order but the long flight would bring them in much after things had already gotten underway. Captain Mitsu's team of rescuers was able to save the two pilots and bring them down to the planet surface. The two small aircraft they'd been testing were now part of the accident investigation and had to remain accessible to the Evil Chasers. The damage to them had prevented them from reentering the planet's atmosphere anyway and the Captain ordered that two more prototypes be produced as soon as possible.
"What is the safest path to enter the planet's atmosphere?" Tygra asked from the command seat aboard the Feliner.
"I would put in the coordinates for the Tower of Omens, sir. You should clear the debris field. The Evil Chasers have setup nets that prohibit any more of the pieces of the ship from entering our atmosphere but the pieces that already fell have left some sizeable craters," the radiocat at the Lair on Third Earth explained.
"How many casualties are there from falling debris?" Tygra wanted to know.
"We've got two Warrior Maidens dead while they were out hunting but the majority of the Village was spared thanks to that fire system we installed out there. There was some junk that landed near the Lair but luckily far enough away to just mess up the training fields, which were empty at the time, thank Jaga. We're still getting more reports in so by the time you guys get here we should have a better idea," the cat told him.
"All right. Very good. We'll alert you when we are within an hour of breaking the atmosphere. Until then, Feliner out," the tiger said.
"Until then sir. Third Earth out," with that the radio call ended and Tygra looked over to Ben-Gali who was in the co-pilot seat.
"What are you thinking brother?" The white tiger asked.
"It seems like odd timing for an attack on a transport ship doesn't it?" Tygra wondered.
"I'll agree with you there. We haven't had one raided in years. Now one blows up. I suppose it could have been a terrible accident. You and I both know some of those ships that we get landing outside the Lair are in pretty rough shape," Ben-Gali pointed out.
"You do have a point. Still I get this uneasy feeling," the orange tiger shrugged.
"Understandable since we know what is coming and we have no idea why the ship was headed for Third Earth. It didn't contain any Thunderians and it didn't have any familiar names on the manifest," his co-pilot said.
"How goes it boys?" Lion-O asked. He'd just returned from the secure video call line room that had been added to the Feliner after the last time it needed repairs.
"We're moving along. We've still got about twelve hours left though," Tygra informed him.
"Good," Lion-O nodded.
"So regale us with all the sordid details of what Lynx-O caught you and Cheetara doing the other day," Ben-Gali teased.
"Why?" Lion-O wanted to know; shocked he would ask such a thing.
"Because I want to know if Pumyra and I have tried it yet," that statement earned him a smack in the arm from Tygra.
"You hound dog you," the orange tiger smirked.
"Didn't you guys just make your relationship official? I mean you've only been on like three dates," Lion-O said.
"Please. When we were alone with Lynx-O all that time, do you really think we didn't engage in a little goofing around?" Ben-Gali asked.
"You said you never asked her out on a date!" Tygra looked shocked.
"Well we didn't have any real dates. I mean we stayed inside the fort that we'd built with the Berbils and we shared stories of our lives back home but I wouldn't count those as dates. We've known each other for a long time so after three dates, it seemed like a natural progression. Only problem is, it's hard to stop touching each other," Ben-Gali admitted.
"Uh huh. Hound dog," Tygra smirked. Lion-O laughed.
"Yeah well you keep thinking that until Panthro makes the moves on Lea," Ben-Gali retorted which got him a hit upside the head.
To Be Continued…
No cliffy this chapter but there'll be plenty more later…