Deception was the only way. Dudley knew that even before Powers had explained his plan. They were outnumbered by the lizards about 1 to 100. There was no other way than coming up with something that just buys them time. And while Powers explained and explained Dudley realized that the captain of the Leviathan wanted to buy time in the same way a burglar would do.
It wouldn't be an easy task, machines needed to be built, holo projectors repurposed, energy redistributed, and everything to achieve the one goal to get off this dying planet. To get to this freighter vessel.
At least the basic structure seemed simple. The main strike force was split into two groups. The bigger alpha group would rush the enemies at the airfield. The beta group, which handled the heavier equipment would stay back and fall into the backs of the reinforcement Powers expected to come after they had taken the airfield.
The boarding of the ship would then begin. A third strike group, the gamma squad, would be stationed as a lookout on a hill nearby. Isaac had given them a weapon he called 'something packing some punch'. He would also be on this team. Besides keeping a lookout their job was to keep the airspace as clean as possible.
Powers had explained all these things in a less calm manner than Dudley was used to by him. The captain seemed angry in all his statements and every time he talked about attacking the enemy a little grin crawled over his face.
Dudley didn't like the way he looked there, it was a sort of maniacal state he just saw Powers twice during the time he knew him and the situation was always close to unsalvageable when he was like that. As the main plan was explained, Powers got back into a more known posture and cleared his throat.
"One last group, the delta squad, will operate at the tower used by the lizards as base. For brevity, we will call this building citadel from now on." Powers stated. "Their job will be finding a way to get our biggest advantage back up and running. The squad has to find a way to do so and then take care of their own extraction. If you don't make it to the ship until we start, that's it." He coldly looked through the crowd in search of someone and found her. "Kate, that's something you are made to do."
"Can I choose my own team?" she asked smirking. Powers nodded and Kate's head immediately turned to Kitty who replied with an astonished stare. "Katswell, you can show if you still have it in you."
"I? I mean sure, can do…" Kitty mumbled insecurely.
"And who else…" she started giggling. "Let's put the old band together, what do you say Dudley?"
"I'll play the lead guitar," Dudley said with a voice too stern for a joke.
"Fine then." Powers investigated the faces around him. "We will start the preparations in two hours. Time is of the essence. The enemy is not expecting a counterattack right now. I just hope you…" he looked down at the ground for a moment before waiving Dudley over to him. "I think you should maybe say something."
"I? Why should…" Dudley looked around himself. The rest of his kind, that's what sat there, the people that made the difference between extinction and preservation. And as he looked at them, demoralized, tired, and afraid, but still all fixed at him, he realized why he should say something.
"When I see into your eyes," He slowly said and started pacing in a circle to address everyone. "I see a plethora of emotions. I can see you are tired, I can see that you are afraid and I can also see resignation but… why do I not see any anger?"
Dudley started pointing at the remains of the city and continued with vile anger in his voice. "Look around, look what they did to our city, to our planet! Doesn't that make your blood boil every time you see that? Doesn't it flare your anger how they slaughtered us? You all lost a mother, child a lover. But the most infuriating thing is that we simply let them get away with it." Dudley had been at the point of screaming but calmed for a moment.
His foot stomped down to draw a line into the sand in front of him. "This is it. Not a centimeter further." He growled and his hate-filled eyes wandered through the ground searching and finding equals. "For every building they destroyed we will bring down a city of them. For every weapon they turned against us, we will turn ten back at them." With a step, he crossed the line and yelled. "And for every wound they caused we will send a battalion of them into the deepest parts of hell. Even if this is the final battle, I WANT TO FERTILIZE THE DUSTY FIELDS OF THIS HELLHOLE WITH LIZARD BLOOD TODAY."
More than just a few in the crowd stood up and yelled a kind of angry applause.
"NOW PACK UP AND SHOW THESE SAVAGES WHAT WAR MEANS!" Dudley was almost foaming from the mouth as he panted heavily. It took him a few minutes, during which he watched the crowd start to pack up, to calm himself a little. As he felt a violent, yet approving pat on his shoulder he had again banned the anger back into the deeper parts of his mind.
"The hateful approach, not too bad." Powers said and nodded. "That should help during the battle."
"I hope I could kindle some flames." Dudley panted still calming himself as he watched the people pack some of their things.
"I'm sure you did." Powers said and the two watched the packing crowd for a bit until the human raised his voice again. "I accepted something, Dudley."
"What is it?"
"I made mistakes," Powers stiffened up saying that like he was ready for a counterblow. "I didn't make the right choices for the crew and for us. But I think these mistakes were important."
"Can you… elaborate a little more?" Dudley turned around to the Captain who stared pensively at something in the distance.
"I pushed our crew, Ignored warning signs, ill-treated prisoners... Do I need to say more?"
"No I think I got you."
Powers nodded. "But without doing so we wouldn't have made it so far. We are standing on the corpses of giants Dudley. And we need to pay them the respect they deserve."
Dudley remained silent for a bit, trying to fixate his gaze on the same point Powers did. "Are you regret choosing my kind's side in this? The lizards would have probably been able to help you with the shuttle."
Powers shook his head and looked back to Dudley. "At first maybe, but the moment I understood the situation I never did so again. You know humanity by now. Over millennia we were left to our own devices. Waged wars against each other over sometimes big sometimes puny things. But stopping a sentient race from going extinct. No cause I have ever thought for was greater than this. I am willing to give every last drop of my blood to preserve your kind."
Dudley looked at his colleague and a shiver ran down his spine. He had never heard him speaking so dedicated about anything and he had heard some speeches by the captain before.
"Sly," Dudley sighed as he felt the possible finality of the moment sink in. "I am sorry for the things that happened between us over the years and I…"
"There is no need, Dudley. I also wasn't always treating you with the honesty you deserve." Powers extended his hand towards him offering a handshake which Dudley, without hesitation, accepted.
"There is a good chance that this is the last time we talk." Dudley somberly said.
"Then let us depart as friends." Powers smiled softly. "Do your best out there."
"If that's enough."
"If it's your best it's more than enough." Powers pulled the dog into a hug and squeezed him one time before releasing him. "I don't know if it means anything to you, but I am so proud that I had a hand in shaping one of the best captains I know."
"It… I…" Dudley was missing the words to give a reasonable answer, so he decided to nod.
"Well then, see you on board the Leviathan." Powers saluted.
"Safe and sound." Dudley meant and saluted back, and the men departed. There were still a few things to do for him. A few people he needed to see before leaving. One of them was Isaac. The scientist was yelling at Ryan who, untypical for the doctor, seemed kind of terrified by his crew member.
"Do not tell me that crap and do your damn job you quack!" he shooed the doctor away and to Dudley's surprise Ryan was obeying.
"Whoa, how did you do that."
"I am just sick of his infantile attitude," Isaac said taking deep breaths. "Nice speech."
"Thank you," Dudley said and then turned his gaze from the leaving doctor to Isaac. "Isaac I… I wanted to thank you…"
"Oh no no, do not start that." The scientist said raising his hands in a defensive manner. "I am not a friend of advanced goodbyes."
"I know, still, please, give me that moment, would you?"
"I… fine. But do not expect me to do the same. I will be waiting for you on board of the Leviathan. Possibly even with work for you."
"We've been through worse you think?" Dudley asked smiling.
"Indeed. Learning with you for the academy admission exam." Isaac's initial frown melted into a smug grin.
"You bastard." Dudley laughed and pulled the scientist into a hug he neither wanted nor appreciated.
"Let me go, I told you this is no goodbye."
"Okay… then instead of thanking you for all the time and effort I… just wish you luck."
"Luck is for the dimwitted" Isaac shook Dudley's hand smiling. "Wish for me to succeed."
"I guess I do that then." Dudley laughed and then left his friend who went back to his preparations.
Dudley continued searching for the others whom he had some words for.
Time was running, he knew that, so the steps he took turned quickly into running. The certainty that the day would either end with their success, which still came with the high probability of death, or by them failing in one of many ways which brought certainty to the death sentence. He visited the few humans left alive from the shuttles crew and wished them success, he liked Isaac's attitude in that regard.
The next stop was his mother who stood among other elders who prepared for the fight.
"Mom…" Dudley said softly and a pair of puffy eyes looked up to him.
"Oh sweetie." She said and rubbed over her eyes. "Are you okay? Do you need something?"
"I am okay, mom." He smiled and embraced her. "This is not a goodbye okay?"
"Promise to me Dudley. Promise that you'll return!" She started sobbing.
"I've done it once, doing it once again shouldn't be that hard." He looked down into her tear-wet face and said. "And you promise me the same, okay?"
She just nodded while laying sobbing in his arms.
"We'll take good care of her." The chief said and jumped on Peg's head.
"I expect nothing less, Herbert." he saluted to his former chief. "It's good to see that you are alright."
"Well after more or less replaced by your friend over there." He pointed towards Powers. "I got to say I was a little moody, but I am still not old enough to be scrapped so I am in command of this geriatric squad."
"I am sorry about that, he is known for taking the command into his hands… especially when things get heated up."
"Qualities of a dictator." The chief groaned.
"Inadvertent qualities, but you are not wrong." Dudley simply laughed. "Anyway, I wish you all success."
"Good luck sweetie" Peg released Dudley from her hug but just for a few moments before capturing him in another one. He returned the hug sighing. It was an act of prying to, once more, get her off him and get moving. As Dudley wandered through the people left of his kind he reminisced how it felt like going through Petropolis' most vibrant places just feeling the city's blood rushing beside him caring for their little worries while he cared for even smaller ones back then.
It was a simpler time and he was a simpler dog. But now he had grown up and the remnant of the city was anemic. If this is what was left of it, what was left of the world, was there enough of them to not go extinct anyway.
Dudley shook his head pulling himself back into the here and now. Thinking about questions of genetics he rather left for Isaac to answer. 'As long as there's life, there's hope' was his credo. He kept having small talks with people, trying to motivate them as well as he could until he saw them.
Rob and Kitty, both of them kissing intensively and, as soon as Rob saw him, with a hand placed on Kitty's butt. Dudley's reaction was a lot calmer, even if he still thought about cutting the boldly placed hand off.
"Guys, I quote Isaac here, this is not a goodbye." Dudley meant and was quite content that he was the reason that they broke their make-out session.
"You never know." Rob cleared his throat. "Speaking of which, you still owe me that beer."
"You'll get it when we are onboard the Leviathan. You will love the view there, ever drank a glass of wine while watching a hydrogen nebula?"
"Obviously not." Rob crossed his arms grinning excitedly.
"The red glow is a sight to behold, I can tell you… I remember seeing it the first time. I stood literal hours and watched it." Dudley sighed longingly with his eyes closed. "I even remember a poem by Roger W…"
"Uhm guys…" Kitty intervened looking profoundly confused at the two men who she swore had nothing but hostility in their eyes when seeing each other a few days ago. "What is going on."
"We… hmm, made peace would be a too strong description but I think we are on better terms," Rob explained amusedly.
"Indeed." Dudley agreed. "Also, I lately had an idea, maybe a bit extravagant but it could work for the three of us."
"I am all ears." Rob grinned and nodded.
"Yeah but I am not." Kitty said and started shoving Dudley away from Rob. "Dudley, we are going, Rob we…"
"We said it all, hun." He meant calmly. "Best of luck to you two. We count on you."
"Best of…" Kitty was about to finish her sentence but Dudley verbally burst in.
"Success!"
"Yes, right…" She kept on shoving Dudley away from Rob until he was out of earshot. "What the fuck, Dudley."
"Hey, we guessed you wanted us to get along." He chuckled and looked in her incredulous eyes.
"Yeah, but not you two planning to split me like a timeshare!" She protested.
"Hey, it wouldn't be like that… At least not completely. There are many different concepts." He laughed but wasn't met with counter laughter.
"Can we please not talk about that anymore? Where is Nick? We need to say goodbye to him." She looked around finding the boy standing with the other kids who looked less than friendly at him.
"MY MOTHER DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!" Helena screeched and Terry had to hold her back so she wouldn't attack Nick.
"I know… I... Helena I am sorry I…" Nick stammered lost for words.
"SORRY DOES NOT BRING HER BACK!" Helena cried and raised her rifle taking aim at him. All the teens stepped back. "I'LL MAKE YOU…"
"That's enough." Annabel stepped forward and grabbed the barrel of the rifle pushing it to the ground. "I remember that it was the four of us hijacking this lizard car. It is not fair that you are blaming this whole thing on Nick!"
"Anabe, hee mam ied, uhs leh hee sho hmm." Terry tried to argue.
"For crying out loud, Terry, shut the fuck up. No one understands what you are saying!" She yelled at him.
"FUCK YOU BEL!" Helena said crying and trying to pry the gun away from her.
Dudley and Kitty had been standing on the side line of the fight and the elder dog had kept Kitty from running to the teens for a while always emphasizing that he knew that nothing would happen.
Now he had let loose of the cat and she was running at the wrestling girls and ripped the rifle out of the knot they had formed. She threw the weapon to Dudley and pulled the girls apart with ease.
"LET ME DOWN YOU DOG FUCKING BITCH I…"
"I will not," Kitty said calmly and reacted to the comment just with an angry face twitch. "Go to your dad Helena, I think he needs you by his side and not picking fights."
"What do you know?" Helena growled and dusted off her clothes. "I don't care about him and…"
"It's okay Helena. Just go home to your dad." Kitty repeated her voice showing more empathy now.
The rat girl didn't deign another word at them and simply walked away.
"Hi, Terry." Dudley smiled friendly and the boy replied by running after Helena. "Oh, so an apology is worth nothing anymore, huh?" He called after him.
Just the hard core of the group, Annabel and Nick, were standing with them.
"I reckoned that you didn't single-handedly hijack a lizard vehicle," Kitty said not trying to hide her disappointment. "So, you, Annabel, and Helena… Terry too?"
Nick nodded silently looking ashamed at the ground. "I am responsible for all this…"
"You are…" Dudley said and stepped to Nick lying his hands on his shoulders. "And I know the place you are in. The only thing you can do is apologize, ask for forgiveness, and try to do it better from now on. Mistakes happen, even the painful ones."
"That… isn't as helpful as you imagined, dad." Nick said disconsolately.
"I know… it never is. But whatever happens, we are there for you." Dudley pulled his son into a hug.
Kitty stepped closer to Annabel and whispered. "I don't want to shoo you or anything, but I think your father maybe also wants to spend a few moments with you before the battle starts."
Annabel nodded. "You could be right Mrs. … uhm, what is it now? Katswell? Puppy?"
"This is a discussion we can have as soon as we are on this magical ship Dudley and his friends always blather about." She laughed.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Isaac interrupted making the whole group turn to him.
"A fitting quote." Dudley nodded and smiled at the scientist. "Hey Isaac I…"
"Oh do not start this again, I will not say goodbye."
"Sorry, just wanted to get under your skin."
Isaac groaned and then waved at them to follow him. "Come with me, I need to show you something."
"Okay, I'll see you in the squad then, Nick." Annabel hugged him and then left quickly. Kitty smirked and she and Dudley exchanged telling looks.
"Guys stop it!" Nick meant blushing.
"I would give anything to be this young again just for a day." Kitty sighed longingly.
"Funny, I say the same looking at you." Dudley smirked mischievously.
"You are a year…" Kitty stopped herself looking at the dog walking next to her. The posture, the behavior, and the linguistic style. "I sometimes forget the gap of 600 years."
"If we are being precise we should be…" Again he performed the complicated task of elementary school math. "619 years apart."
"621" Corrected him Isaac sighing. "Dudley these are simple calculations."
"You know that this isn't my strong suit. Ask me something else."
"If you wish… Calculate the mass of the homogeneous body defined by the equation x squared plus y squared is equal to or greater z which is equal to or greater three." Isaac stopped as he laid down the equation and turned around expectantly to Dudley. Kitty looked over to her fiancé and smiled softly, she was sure he had bitten off more than he could chew here asking for a harder problem.
"A paraboloid?" Dudley said and Kitty's jaw almost dropped to the ground.
"Yes, good."
"Maximum radius is 3 so… uhm… 4.5 times pi?"
"Are you kidding me?" Kitty asked while Isaac nodded approvingly. "You had problems with 12 times 2 while being able to do this?"
"Yeah, his problems were always the most elementary basics." Isaac sighed. "But good that you have not forgotten the other basics."
The four of them arrived at the edge of the bunker where Ryan was still walking around tending to the injured. His moves were a lot slower than before. Without the threat of new war victims arriving he could take a little more time to actually care for the patients.
"Ryan." Isaac said and the doctor, without looking at them, pointed at a field bed in which Keswick lay. The Puppy-Katswell family walked to his bed carefully avoiding making too much noise. The scientist was sleeping.
"He is, against all odds, stable." Isaac sounded like a ton of bricks had fallen off his back as he knelt down next to the field bed. "Just do me the favor and do not look under the sheets."
"Why what's…" Dudley took a quick look that drained the blood from his face. "Okay, yep, Isaac is right…"
"Why what…" Now Kitty looked under the blanket and in opposition to Dudley something from down inside her rushed towards her head. She looked upwards and could barely swallow back down again what her stomach tried to get rid of.
"Hey now I…" Nick grabbed the blanket but both Dudley and Kitty kept him from pulling it up.
"That's really something you don't want to see…" Kitty said softly to her son.
"Ryan says the wound should close itself in a matter of days," Isaac explained to them. "But until then we might not raise the cloth."
"W…W…Wh…" Keswick moaned marrowlessly.
"Hey Keswick…" amongst them all it was Isaac of all people who rose to speak. "Everything is in order, relax a little, we won the battle."
"I.. d..d..did… is…"
Isaac seemed to understand the shreds of sentences that came from Keswick's mouth and he delicately answered the question his tiny colleague had. "We lost people, yes. But we have a plan, although everything is hanging by a thread."
"Wh… i..i..is.."
"Dudley Kitty and Nick are here. They want to say hello…"
"Hey, Keswick." Dudley smiled friendly. Kitty behind him was fighting with her tears while Nick silently cried with his mouth forming the words 'My fault' over and over again. "I know right now you feel like drifting into delirium with your mind thinking through honey… at least that's my experience with that."
A grunt came from Keswick and Isaac translated. "He agrees."
"I just want to let you know that the next time you see us will be onboard of a spaceship. Isn't that exciting?"
Again, Keswick grunted and Isaac said. "He agrees once more."
"Oh, that's good I guess." Laughed Dudley.
"Keswick…" Kitty softly said and grabbed her friend's hand. "Do you…"
"I.. w..w..will not…" Keswick breathed the sentences and Isaac once again completed them.
"He is not going to die. He says you shouldn't worry."
"You make it hard not to worry about you looking like that."
"Do.. I.. n..n..n..ot…"
"He wants to know if he is not looking as good as always."
"Of course you do." Kitty meant sobbing.
"I can't…" Nick wanted to get away from the field bed, but Dudley grabbed his hand and pulled him back.
"Say something." The elder dog whispered to him. "Just anything."
"Keswick… I… I am sorry." Nick stammered.
"F..F..For wh…"
"I think that was quite clear," Isaac stated.
"It was my fault that we were attacked… I stole a lizard vehicle, that led them to us."
The little scientist stayed silent for a moment and then said. "I…I d..d..don't"
"He does not care as long as all of you are okay," Isaac said and then gently patted Keswick's shoulder. "I think that is enough for now, we better let him rest a little."
The group left the bed while Isaac and Dudley stayed back for a moment. "How much did you…"
"This is not important at the moment," Isaac whispered and gently pushed Dudley toward his family. "Let us say, enough."
"What are you talking about?" Nick asked being the only one not understanding human language in the group.
"About Keswick's healing process." Dudley quickly lied which earned him a stern look by Kitty.
"Okay guys… As I said, this is not a goodbye, I will see you on board of the Leviathan. Especially you Dudley, there is a game of chess waiting for us."
The scientist left, not waiting and not caring for anything they would say back at him. The little family was alone now, as alone as three people could be.
"So… the time is running out." Dudley looked at the two of them alternatingly. "Kitty, would you mind if I say something first?"
"No, of course not, go ahead." She said taking a step back.
"Nick I wasn't there for 16 years, I mean, you know that… I… dammit, best time to be at a loss for words." He groaned and kicked the sand.
"Take your time, dad." Nick sounded gentle, like he was the parent and Dudley the scared boy who wanted to tell something.
"I just want to say, I neither can give you back the years but, if we have the chance, I'd like to be there for you from now on."
"That sounds… nice." Nick hesitantly said and before he could react Dudley had already pulled him into a tight hug.
"Just be safe out there, okay?" He said to his son before letting him go again. Nick seemed a little confused about what happened but he managed to put a smile on his face. That was before his mom stepped to him with wide-opened eyes that forebode a teary goodbye. Without a preamble she hugged him sobbing kissing his forehead over and over again.
"Mom, it's okay don't worry!" He said as he struggled to get free. "I am not alone."
Kitty cried even more hearing that. "No I won't let you go!" she wailed.
Nick turned his pleading eyes to his father who then pried, as gently as possible, the mother of the son. Instead, he held Kitty in his arms now being the target of her sobs.
"You better go now. Be safe!" Dudley nodded to Nick and the boy returned the gesture before running towards a distant point where a group of resistance members were gathering.
"It's okay Kitty… We will see him soon." Dudley meant patting her head as her sobs slowly got quieter. The last few moments they stood like that, hugging, letting the silence be a part of their embrace. But it ended, like all things did, and Kate was waiting for the band to play their probably last gig.
-Author's note: Alright time for a last dance on the planets surface. I hope you liked the chapter, tell me what you think in the reviews and, as always, stay tuned :)-
