A good method to not lose oversight while counting is to break down the amount that was counted into smaller groups. So instead of counting upwards from one to wherever it was a better idea to count to ten and simply keep track of the groups of tens you had counted. It helps to make a stupendous task a little easier. However, keeping two different counters in your head can get difficult sometimes. Even if miscounting on the one was virtually impossible, the ten counter was the one making problems the higher the number rose.

In the end, taking a note is always a good idea to take the stress off someone's brain. Too bad for Dudley that he was right now clinging his hands onto the rungs of a steel ladder that seemed to stretch both ways into dark oblivion. If his counting wasn't too wrong, which he couldn't rule out realizing that he also lost count of the times he lost count, he had counted to around 3200.

If Dudley estimated the distance between the ladder rungs, which were obviously made for bulky lizards, correctly, they must have climbed quite much already. He tried to calculate that for a moment but decided against it. Elementary school math and the decision to keep a secret around at least some things kept him from an answer.

He quickly glanced upwards at Kate. She was mumbling something to herself for the whole climb, probably a mantra that was keeping her mind off the pain from her burning muscles. He looked downward. Kitty was staring upward, right through him. She probably zoned out and tried to let her body do the work without bothering her mind.

It was impressive how well she was holding up. Was it the life-prolonging actions they had taken, or would she be able to keep up nonetheless? Dudley himself was over the point of burning muscles, the pain had yielded his will had prevailed. Unfortunately, now the only thing pulling him upward was his will and he hoped he could focus enough of it to stick to the ladder.

A few hundred pulls upward later Dudley gave up his counting attempts and instead perused the confusing archive of his mind about every detail about this mission. The three of them were equipped with the energy of one shared energy cell. So at least they had 33 percent each. Kitty had received her own multifunctional glove and a makeshift uniform that at least would have the shield and a few more necessary options.

Dudley thought that the uniform was fitting her quite well, Kitty on the other hand had already said she would look like a ten-year-old trying on daddy's Sunday suit.
The next thing on the agenda was reaching the end of this ladder but besides the general points, the briefing got lost on him. The memory would probably resurface when they were finished climbing, but maybe this was wishful thinking.

The silence climbed among them so Dudley thought about starting a conversation once or twice but was too afraid to snap one of the two or both out of their focus. It needed two hundred more rungs and still no sight of the platform Kate had talked about, for the wish for conversation to outweigh the fear.

"Kate, I don't want to nag…"
"Then don't." Kate cut him short immediately.
"Fine fine…" He sighed. That wasn't the time to mistrust Kate's leadership, after all, everything she had told them to do worked splendidly. Getting inside the complex was hardly a problem after she had found an interface to download a map of the facility.

It was a lot of sneaking through vents and ducts after that but, as she had predicted it, it brought them to this tremendously long maintenance shaft they were climbing right now. She forgot to mention however that from there they would have to climb almost to the top of the citadel.

"If Dudley does not want to, I would like to nag." Kitty groaned from behind them. "We have climbed 3800 rungs now."
"You're counting too?" Dudley asked and smiled a surprised smile.
"Yes but I might have miscounted, how much do you have?"

"I was about 400 ago at 3200… I would stick with your count, I am sure I miscounted."
"You are both wrong." Kate meant and stopped for a moment to look downward.
"We are at 3638. I estimate the platform we want to reach to be at around 4000."
"So we are there soon?" Kitty asked. "You could have told us."

"You would have seen it anyway in a few moments." Kate looked back up and continued climbing. Dudley sighed and followed her. The platform, if the small metal slap could be even called like that, barely had enough room for them all to stand on and it was a relief that Kate could open the hatch into a bigger maintenance tunnel so swiftly.

"Everybody still holding up?" Kate asked as she checked a holographic map.
"I wouldn't want to do that again, but I am okay." Dudley said and looked over to Kitty who tried to massage the muscles in her shoulder.
"My arms burn like fire." She moaned and Dudley helped her by kneading her shoulders. Kate looked up from the hologram and smirked.

"I didn't recruit you two for that." A quick laugh fled from her lips before quickly getting them under control again.
"I am just helping out a crewmate, no intentions behind it." Dudley smirked back at Kate and let go of Kitty.

"And I appreciate the gesture." The cat nodded approvingly.
"Sure, you two will have all the time in the world when we are back in the Leviathan." Kate looked one last time on the map and then pointed in one direction in the narrow tunnel. Leading the way, Dudley and Kitty followed her.

"So, this ship, the Leviathan… how much space is on there?" Kitty enquired pensively.
"We should have enough space for everyone if the rest of the crew is willing to share their cabins." Dudley's words were a guess. He knew they were probably right but he wouldn't avert his concentration from the task at hand to painstakingly crunch numbers.

"I would of course take you and Nick in." he added smiling.
"And what about Rob?" Kate sneered and turned Dudley's smile into a frown.
"Yes, also him… after all I also will give mom shelter."

"How nice of you." Kitty meant sarcastically. "Is that part of this idea of the two of you?"
"Obviously not, if I could it would be just you and Nick in there… and maybe mom." He replied and tried to sound as honest as he could.
"Fine but that wasn't the point of my question," Kitty said and her voice changed to being contemplative again. "We still have the moon people…"

"The maybe 20 thousand there?" Kate checked back. "If alive this will be a logistical issue, yes. We cannot accommodate so many."
"But we cannot abandon them!" Kitty firmly stated.
"I didn't suggest that we just need to find another solution."
"But what can we do?"

Dudley sighed, this conversation wouldn't lead anywhere if they were lacking the necessary intel.
"Let's cross that bridge when we get there." He said cutting the exchange about this subject short.
"But we need to find a solution…"
"We need to get off this rock first, no offense," Kate said as she stopped them in front of a panel that looked detachable from the wall. Kate got to work immediately and slowly but steadily loosened the stubborn panel.

"You know, I would be offended if you had seen the planet while it was thriving." Kitty sighed longingly. "It was a golden time compared with what you saw here. Sprawling cities, beautiful landscape, and the people, so so many people."
"Well, I somehow have a picture of your planet, or at least your city," Kate said still pulling on the panel. "The first drawings Dudley shared with people were landscapes. I liked your trees, they looked very bulky. On my home planet we mostly just had coniferous forests."

"Well, we had some of these too. Nothing bad to say about them." Kitty meant friendly before turning to Dudley. "Drawings and oil paintings, you discovered quite the artsy side on you."
"Oh well, I mean…" He said sheepishly. "I tried a few things, and it felt good to get these pictures out of my mind. It made everything more real."

"Over 600 years, I can't imagine how long this…" Kitty stopped in the midst of her sentence and stared at the ground. Dudley knew exactly what was going through her head so he gently grabbed her chin and moved her line of sight onto him.
"You will and can. But just be in the moment for now, okay? Things are going to work out, we will find a solution."

"I know I know, it just hits me like a train every time I think about it." She said trying to shake her worries off her.
"As much as I enjoy the conversation. We need to be quiet now…" With a jerk, Kate pulled off the panel and revealed the hallway lying behind it.

And they would have had a clear view of it if not for the lizard whose face blocked their view. Kate and Dudley both reacted quickly shooting the head of the scaled soldier but this time the alarm system was quicker. A shrill siren proclaimed their presence in the building to everyone.

"Well, that was unfortunate." Kate sounded annoyed more than anything as she nimbly slithered through the opening into the hallway. Kitty was right behind her effortlessly moving through the opening. Only Dudley realized, after the third try, that he wouldn't fit through the hole.

"Can't we just shoot…" Kitty's idea was interrupted by gunfire barely missing them. Quickly the cat and the human took cover in an intersection further down the hallway.
"You got to climb up further, remember plan B!" Kate hollered over to the opening. The last thing they saw of him was him giving them thumbs-up with a puzzled look on his face before disappearing into the maintenance tunnel again.

"What are we going to do now?!" Kitty yelled and fired a few shots into the hallway.
"The elevator is close, I will find my way around their security system. Keep them busy for a few minutes." Kate patted Kitty on the shoulder, a gesture that felt a little like she tried to encourage a little league player to give her best on the field.

After one last "You got this!" she sprinted down the hallway like her life depended on it. Kitty risked a quick peek toward the enemy. The group of lizards seemed small and just lightly armed. Mostly hand cannons and one with a plasma rifle.

A small force, and probably not a big deal especially with a suit that had shield capabilities. But being under heavy fire Kitty couldn't activate the shield like it was shown to her earlier. She was supposed to tap her arm but after furiously tapping her whole forearm with nothing happening she decided to sink her time into something more promising.

She moved the rifle around the corner. All the lizards were probably in the hallway now approaching, why not get them all at once? The shield might not work but switching the gun mode did. She held down the trigger and wielded a lance of bright light which she swept with one jerky move through the hallway.

The brief sounds of utter discomfort vanished promptly and Kitty peeked around her cover seeing just one lizard left who looked shivering at the cut-through remains of his colleagues. Kitty stepped into the hallway standing tall and taking aim at him. Seeing her the lizard first through his gun and then his hands up in the air quivering for mercy in front of an unforgiving goddess who simply smirked as she readied the shot.

"Nah, not worth it." Kate's hand seemed to appear out of the void just to grab Kitty's trigger finger holding it still. "We have Isaac for the war crimes, you should keep your hands off that."
Kitty looked up and gazed into the lizard's face outside of her scope. It looked young, Kitty had seen a lot of lizards, most pretty war grizzled veterans but this one looked like a recruit. Afraid, crying begging for mercy in mumbled words too unintelligible for her to understand. Its whole body quivered.

"I… guess you're right…" She slowly nodded and then addressed the lizard. "You. Leave. Now."
The lizard nodded tears streaming down its face. It spun around and sprinted back down the hallway where the group came from.
"Nice work cleaning, by the way." Kate praised looking approvingly at the carnage.
"I think I get the hang of this energy lance function." Kitty said and shouldered the rifle. "It is quite effective."

"But also drains the energy cell in a matter of seconds." Kate eyed the rifle scrutinizingly. "You're down to 60 percent of what you had. Maybe switch to normal burst mode."
"Noted." Kitty replied and the two of them walked to the recently unlocked elevator. The ride up to the top would be long, the two realized that as soon as the elevator stopped its acceleration after a few moments.

"Is… are they serious?" Kate moved to a panel in the elevator she had opened recently in an attempt to search for a reason.
"Is that maybe a safety mechanism due to the alarm?" The cat suggested but saw Kate shaking her head quickly in response.

"Nah, I think they are serious." She meant staring in disbelief at the panel. "They are okay with THAT speed."
"At least it's better than climbing." Kitty sighed shrugging.
"Well, you don't happen to have a deck of cards with you, do you?"
"Not in my loadout, no…"

"Well, then…" Moaning like an old tree during a gust of wind, Kate sat down on the floor.
"Do you think it's smart? Shouldn't we be ready?"
"Relax." Kate waved Kitty's concerns away. "This thing will need like ten minutes to the top. Come sit down and take a breather… You don't survive long in this business if you don't catch a breath from time to time."

"Yeah but…"
"Hey, chill down, will you?" she grabbed the cat by her hand and pulled her onto the ground next to her. "Enjoy every moment, it might be our last after all." Kate started laughing and was met with a puzzled look by Kitty. She didn't understand the humans. Was the gallows' humor a by-product of their long lifespan? Would she also start to be nonchalant about dying after a century?

"How can you say that? Aren't you scared?"
"Of what in particular? The lizards, the battle, the plan, our escape, death, the getaway, th-"
"Yeah, these things." Kitty felt overjoyed that Kate wouldn't simply continue rattling off the list in her mind.

"Experience helps." She said shrugging. "I am about 4500 years old, and I am doing this job for… 2000 years now. After a while, you have seen anything."
Kitty looked into the face of a dark-skinned woman who was not nearly graced by as many wrinkles as she would have expected for someone that ancient. Although that guess of hers wasn't sensible, lacking experience with human wrinkles, she would estimate a similar-looking person of her people to an age of around 40.

"You… are probably older than all of written history of my people… I…" Kitty wasn't usually the one making dumb jokes, that was Dudley's metier, but she was too perplexed for a more meaningful remark. "I really need the brand of this anti-aging cream of yours."

Kate just laughed, loudly, her voice echoing from the elevator's walls. "No creams, no tinctures… and some decades not even healthy food. A lot of aging and health care fears are taken from you if the tiny machines inside you work properly."
"Are there cases where they don't?"

"It happens seldomly but yes." Kate looked toward the roof pensively. "Some people aren't compatible… but you need to ask Ryan for details." She looked back down to Kitty and smiled. "On second thought, you better ask Isaac. He tends to be more patient if people are genuinely curious."
"Well, also Dudley said something along those lines but… I don't see that. I just see this attention seeking, distant, and arrogant guy. And, without trying to doubt anyone's judgment, I can't see the reason for him to be in any crew."

"There is a certain difference between his, how should I put it, working persona and private persona… working he is used to showing off his work and bragging and trying to gather all the credit for himself. He is over-ambitious when it comes to that, I can agree there. Then I think it comes from working for years in his particular field, the people despised it even he despised it but bloody hell... he is so good at it." Kate shook her head and gave a panel next to the elevator door a look.

A tiny shining light was there traveling upwards on a pictographic depiction of the tower. They were almost at the top, but at the current speed, there was still quite some way to go. "And then there is his private persona… I mean I am probably not becoming friends with him, but he can be likable I think… Dudley at least said so. And Sly is also quite fond of his scientific advisor so… yeah." Kate shrugged and silence entered the confined space, almost making itself home for a few minutes when Kitty expelled it from the elevator with a question. "You mentioned his field… What is his scientific field?"

"Applied physics mostly, but also he dabbled in biology and engineering… and the application in all cases were weapons. He is one of our faction's leading scientists when it comes to destruction of all kinds… He invented things that… I don't want to scare you…"
"You don't, don't worry." Kitty meant with the reassuring sound of a war veteran that saw too much.

"Okay… I remember, this one got banned, a device the size of a ship, capable of altering the fusion process in a sun in a way that it turns into a supernova in like 15 minutes. To set this into perspective, the sun of this system is around seven light minutes away from the planet… Have you ever tried to evacuate a whole planet in under 30 minutes? No chance."

Kitty stared at Kate for a moment letting her words cook in her head. "Was it ever used?"
"The trapped fleet of admiral Ortega used it once for a distraction…" Kate sounded less relaxed now as she stared down Kitty like she wanted to emphasize something that could well stand for itself. "The casualties were in a double-digit billion region. The enemy attack was repelled but… All this for so little."

The little light now finally arrived at the spire of the little pictogram and Kitty was thankful that she didn't have to dwell on this topic. In the back of her head, she noted to never anger Isaac or someone who was capable of using the atrocities he built.

As the doors swung open they revealed a commando central that seemed almost vacant except for a single lizard who typed frantically on a panel. His movements quickened the moment the two of them exited the elevator.

While Kate eyed the scene saying. "I have a bad feeling about this." Kitty had already taken aim and shot the rather thin lizard in the shoulder. Screeching he landed on the ground holding the spot where the energy bolt had separated his arm from the rest of his body.

"There, this should stop him." Kitty meant and Kate quickly ran over to the panel eying critically.
"That is bad… let me try something…" Kate started typing and Kitty turned her attention to the screaming lizard. She grabbed it by the collar and pulled it up to its feet.
"Where is everyone, what were you doing here?!" She inquired while giving the creature a good shake.

The words her internal translator could catch and repeat were all just callings towards several deities Kitty wasn't familiar with, to end the suffering. Dissatisfied and not in the mood to do the work for the strange divine pantheon she shoved the lizard ruggedly back to the ground. She took a swift look over to Kate who was still concentratedly looking at the panels.

Three loud thuds, louder than the lizard's moans, were coming from a wall close to the elevator.
"I think they're trying to breach." Kitty said and took aim at the spot where the metal bent a little.
"Alright, still over it here, cover me." Kate meant and tried to find a pose that compromised reading the panels and taking cover.

The metal wall cover flew into the room and Kitty started firing at the figure that jumped into the room behind a control console. She almost hit it, but just almost. Not a lot of time passed until a red glowing figure rose from behind the panel taking aim at her. Kitty yanked the gun at the figure and looked into Dudley's eyes who looked back at her surprised.

While his finger moved away from the trigger, Kitty's brain had already enacted the self-defense protocol that had kept her alive for so long. A white bolt of lightning hit the dog and catapulted him towards the wall where his impact caused a well-visible dent in the metal cover.

"Dudley!" Kitty gasped and let her gun fall to the ground, she sprinted towards. Dudley lay propped up against the wall his face contorted in pain.
"Ouch…" he coughed as he touched the back of his head.
"Are you okay?" She knelt down eyeing his body for obvious wounds.

"Well… I was worse…" Dudley slowly and with a lot of help from Kitty, got back on his feet. He shook his head and blinked a few times trying to clear his sight. "Nice shot."
"Stop it!" Kitty still felt the shock inside her bones, even her hands were still shaking. "I could have killed you!"

"Let's not dwell on that." He smiled and took her hand leading her back to Kate who had either not looked up during the whole fight or lost interest really quickly. She was still bent over the panel now looking quite concerned.
"You look worried."

"I am worried about our flight home." She mumbled and typed faster on the panels. "Now that's a bummer."
"I love it when you say things like that." Dudley meant sarcastically. "Share the good news."
"We can't simply overload the reactors, not like we wanted to at least," Kate explained. "The stabilizers here are not built in at least not in the capacity we want to."

"How much weaker are we talking about?" Dudley asked stepping next to Kate and looking down at the alien letters.
"They can hold but not for as long as we planned for…" Kate looked up and alternatively glanced at Dudley und Kitty. "But they would hold long enough to send a strong pulse towards the ship."

"Well, that's better than nothing." The dog said scratching his chin.
"Yeah, the fun doesn't stop there." She meant and grimly laughed. "The lizards have relocated the controls to another room and I haven't figured out which yet."
"Would we still conform with the time plan?" Kitty asked nervously, this new information sure wasn't setting them up for a clean getaway.

"Definitely not." Kate said. "But two of us can."
"Kate no." Dudley's tone reminded Kitty a lot of herself back then when she had to scold her son. "There's got to be another way."
"Now listen Dudley." Kate said and started typing again. "We both know that we all miss the shuttle if we all go. Also, Powers will need every hand on the battlefield right now."

"I know but…"
"Then why are we talking?" Kate moaned annoyedly. Now she sounded like the mom talking to a toddler. "From the three of us, I have the best chance to survive this ordeal."
"Do you have any idea what Sly is going to say to me if I return without you?"

"You shouldn't care about him so much right now." She stated and now fixed her gaze on him. "Dudley, take Kitty and leave, I'll handle the rest, you have my word."
Dudley gritted his teeth and withstood her stare as long as it was possible for him before he looked to the ground nodding. "Fine then, but don't dare to die, that's an order."

"You know I stand outside the hierarchy." She smirked and then looked over to Kitty. "Try to see him through, would you? I grew quite fond of his furry face."
"I try my best." Kitty said and slowly added. "Thank you."

"Yeah yeah, don't get sappy now." Kate had lowered her head back onto the panels in front of her and continued typing. "You two better flee through the window, they won't expect that."
Dudley nodded and again took Kitty's hand. It felt like he tried to rip out her arm when he started pulling her with him to the closest floor-to-ceiling window.

The two of them wouldn't spend time searching for a way to open them so Dudley simply pointed at Kitty's rifle and said. "Would you?"
She nodded, the glass was thick enough to withstand two pulses before cracking enough to leave a hole through which the two of them would fit. Dudley helped her through the crack and was about to follow her as Kate called over to him.
"Hey, Duds, tell Sly that we have to give our date a raincheck, okay?"

"I will." He said and gave her a last salute to which she replied with a casual wave of her hand. Then he also crawled through the crack to the outside where he stood next to Kitty on the edge of nothingness. A step further would just lead them straight down into the arms of an unrelentless gravity.

Kitty hugged the wall as close as possible, she didn't want to end up as a meaty pancake. Her fiancé next to her on the other hand stood there like he was just looking down from the next to last step on a flight of stairs.

"So what exactly is the plan now?" Kitty grabbed Dudley's arm and pulled him away from the latch.
"Oh well…" Dudley took her hand, pressed a few buttons on her suits upper arm, and then did the same to himself. "We jump."
"We what now?!"

"It's safe, come on, trust me." The dog laughed and eagerly stepped closer to the abyss. With the force of a body that is about to die, Kitty pushed her whole body against the wall she was standing at.
"I'd like to trust you… but I also like to live," She said wishing she could melt with the metal.
"You once told me you're not afraid of heights." He grinned and pulled on the arm.

Kitty's feet tried everything to stay in place. Every angle and position was used to prevent Dudley's madness. But the yank and the body weight of the dog pulling on her were too persuasive to not work.

"No! Dudley, no!" She yelled as the two of them started falling down the spire. And while all that left Kitty's mouth was a constant scream droned out by the roaring upwinds, the mutt's laughter was a clear unmistakable tone cutting the hissing noise of the air in half.

"You're mad! You are insane!" Kitty yelled not knowing if he could even hear it. She clung herself to the last hope that Dudley indeed activated some kind of device, gadget, or application that would break their fall in the last moment leaving them unharmed.

Dudley was almost in tears as he hugged her laughing turning his back towards the ground.
Just one of the two things Kitty hoped for came true. They survived, but unfortunately, their fall wasn't braked in the slightest as they crashed into the ground like a meteorite. Kitty had never asked herself how deep the crater would be that a skydiver would cause if he simply hit the ground full speed, or if there were a crater at all. She had the answer now: There was a crater and it's smaller than you would expect.

Dudley kept on laughing as she got up on her feet checking and counting her limps.
"That's not funny!" She said and hit him in the chest as soon as he was up on his feet too.
"Hey, don't be salty, you did well for your first jump." He smiled and patted her shoulder. "I was crying the first time I had to do this."

"Of course, because this is the sensible reaction!" She moaned and looked around. The dust of their impact settled and in the distance was their exfiltration point. The getaway car, a lizard vehicle, was there waiting for them. They had seized its controls on the way in. It had been a detour doing that, but Kate told her, with the power of her expertise, that this would come in handy.

This time Kitty took the initiative, she didn't want to wait for the lizards to see them, so she grabbed Dudley's hand and pulled him towards the vehicle. The dog quickly complied as he saw what she was up to. It took them quite a run and Kitty's lungs burned as they arrived at the vehicle.
Dudley took the helm from there and the enormous citadel got smaller quickly as they hasted towards the airfield.

"Okay ETA is T minus 30 minutes." Dudley sighed and let go of the wheel.
"Shouldn't you…"
"Autopilot." He said and walked to a window pane through which the citadel is visible. "The tech is maybe not that advanced but they got that figured out."
"So what are we going to do?"

"Watch the tower and hope Kate…"
A growling sound crawled over the land, sounding like the embodiment of steel uttering a death cry. The two of them stared towards the citadel as the quake started, first just some light tremors but soon Dudley had to jump back to the wheel to keep the vehicle from falling into crevices that emerged from the earth. It was like giant knives that were dragged through the ground tearing it to shreds. Another shock through the ground flung the vehicle around like a pebble. Kitty tried to grab onto something but to no avail. She lost her footing and flew across the cabin dashing against the vehicle's wall. Warm blood ran down her forehead into her eyes blinding her.

"Holy smokes…" Dudley yelled against the sounds of the earth breaking around them, Kitty could barely hear them even if she knew that he was just a few steps away in the cockpit. "The road is gone! How do I…" he fell silent as Kitty, following his voice, blindly crawled into the cockpit. Dudley hit the brakes which made her almost once more fly through the vehicle.

Quickly she was grabbed and placed into a seat where she finally had time to thoroughly wipe the blood from her eyes. The first thing she saw again was a concerned face checking the top of her head.
"That looks severe… but it should stop bleeding soon. Do you feel weird or anything?" He commented and then sat back behind the wheel.

"Dizzy…" Kitty groaned in pain.
"Okay, not too unusual…" He said and hit the gas pedal. "I'm sorry, I would rather stop and give your wound the time…"
"It's okay…" in Kitty's head, every word was painful right now. She just needed silence and some painkillers, and because she couldn't get the latter she would ask for the first. "Give me just a moment."

"Sure thing, just… You might want to take a nap, I need to find a way out of this debris." He said and then, very suddenly, silence sat between them as if it had never left the car. But this time the always-returning guest was not as unpleasant as usual. It took Kitty into its arms, rocking her brain softly before laying the passage into the dreamlands.

-Author's note: Well the first task is done, now they just have to leave the planet. Let's see how they handle that :D
Anyway, first part done, hope you liked it. Took me a while, I hope I can have the second part out quicker :) As always, tell me what you think and stay tuned-