Feebee and the other ‘volunteers’ had been left behind. The four Panthera had requested, no demanded, that the icecream fridges stay. It was all they seemed to care about, other than swimming in the lake. Feebee had been more ‘practical’, taking what her marines needed of the captured materiel; which turned out to be enough to resist a full-frontal assault on the cave. The rest was in the shuttle that MAJ Chen flew, low and cloaked, back to the waiting ship. It was also cloaked and sat in orbit.

  Feebee had asked for direct support, i.e., more marines but Chen had pointed out that the pirate she’d let escape expected three humans and four cats. So, that’s what she got along with first dibs on any of the captured materiel.

  Chen had been clear, “At some point, they’ll come for you. Don’t kill them all.”

  She’d promised to “try.”

  The ambiguity of her response hung between them. Chen shrugged and let it go, after all, she had let one of them escape earlier.

  Her marines, Alpha-2 and 3 had been like kids in a candy store. She restricted them to all they could carry which turned out to be a lot more than she’d expected. It just went to show that marine nanites really do enhance the operative.

  She felt sorry for anyone who got in their way, then shook her head, nah! She laughed, which caused Alpha-2 to look at her funny.

  “What?” She rarely laughed.

  It unsettled him. “You laughed.”

  She shrugged, “No one’s perfect.”

  The usual pencil line of cloud formed above them. Feebee checked her watch. It was earlier than normal which meant more rain.

  Three of the cats raced out of the cave and up the cliff to the lake. One always stayed back. Her protection detail; apparently. Charlie-2 today.

  As night drew in it had taken her a while to explain that she needed the fire to let the pirates know they were still here.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “But aren’t we supposed to be a covert unit,” argued Charlie-2

  “Well yes, but…” The whole deception thing, and drawing the pirates onto them, was too much for the cats, so she told them the fire was to keep her warm.

  She’d have preferred a smaller fire but the pyre they built more than did the job. Also, because they’d built it at the cave’s mouth, under the overhang, the smoke drifted inside. Alpha-2 was outside, somewhere, providing over-watch along with one of their drones. Her overlays were ‘overloaded’ by the roaring fire and smoke, making it hard for the drone to see any other detail in or around the cave.

  Maybe she’d underestimated the cats. Was that their plan? She looked across at them.

  One had curled into itself, half facing Feebee, half facing the entrance to the cave. She thought maybe she should view the cats in a new light until, with a crack, an ember flew out of the fire. It landed on one and started to singe its fur. The cat turned and half-licked, half-bit at the irritant. It yelped, burnt tongue. The other cats chuffed.

  ‘And then they do something like that.’

  The QI sent her a smiley face.

  Feebee leaned back against the wall, one hand on Hissy, watching the cats. She was beginning to discern differences in their behaviour and some of their patination. But the tags in her overlays made it easy. She looked up at Hissy; a solitary mote sat on the contrabass, like a bright green button nose above it’s gaping mouth.

  As she reached up for it, the mote leapt across and slowly danced around her hand and up her bare arm. It left a dark grey trail on her skin that slowly faded, without fully going away. It didn’t hurt, in fact the mote’s touch felt strangely warm, almost familiar.

  Another emerged from the wall, then another until there were more than a dozen marking out an intricate pattern on her arm. It was a swirling vortex that rotated around her arm. Somehow, from deep inside, a name formed which she knew to be the shape. The Void Spiral. One of the cats had crossed and batted at the motes. It was clearly frustrated, every time it should have made contact, the mote simply glitched, avoiding the swipe, only to reappear in the same spot a second later.

  It was, however, fun to watch. But what were they?

  “Are you alive?” Feebee asked a bright green mote that had landed on her palm, “Can you understand me?”

  Nothing. No response. “What was I thinking?”

  The motes jumped across to the contrabass and down Hissy’s throat. Her exterior, usually a dull brassy colour, lit up as glyphs popped with colour from the motes within.

  As the evening drew on, the motes settled and Feebee drifted off to sleep.

  Then, she was gently being shaken awake.

  Slowly, she opened her eyes. It was Alpha-3; he stood over her.

  The fire had burnt down to grey ash and any smoke had long since blown away.

  Before she could say anything, Alpha-3 shushed her, made the sign for ‘Silence’ then whispered in her ear.

  “Alpha-2 reports company. Ten hostiles; insectoid, like last time.”

  She gave him a questioning look and showed him a clenched fist. Ten?

  Alpha-3 responded; thumbs up, into a clenched fist. Yes; ten.

  Feebee scanned the cats and went over to Charlie-4, the one emerging as their lead. It tagged as C-4 in her overlays but also she noticed it had slight dappling over the left eye.

  She quietly explained what was coming their way and how she planned to deal with it.

  “Tell the others,” Feebee said gesturing to the other cats.

  “Action. At last.” It purred, content.