Jupiter Fleet 1: Werewolves Don't Purr (35 page)

“Leona,” thought Vihaan, the COBRA adept, “your mother is doing very well, and has only a short time more to go on the table.”

Sarah and her brother listened shyly as the thought-amplifier relayed the words of the red-furred adept, who very plainly was not speaking with his mouth. After a while, Leona led them away to her quarters and they recorded a video message to Thor, letting him know that they were fine, Grandpa was fine, Grandma appeared to be doing fine, and even Gramps’s boat was fine.

“Dad,” enthused Young Will, “that pilot Hiroshi put the boat inside the shuttle right out of the water! And not a scratch on it!”

Leona called out two beds for the kids, her dad went back to use the bed in the conversion lab, and after more excited talking than Leona had indulged in for a very long time, they all went to bed.

Early the next morning (after coffee with the kids), Leona made her way to the Command Deck. Commander Gupta was already there. He had a big smile on his face and his tail was wagging slowly.

“I have some very good news for you, Leona. The prime minister of India has agreed to recognize our ships and the station as a separate country named Jupiter Fleet.”

“Wow! That is amazing, Commander.”

“It is no longer Commander, it is Mr. Gupta. I resigned my commission in the Indian Navy so that I could stay on board. All the members of COBRA who served with me on this ship are being recognized as heroes back home. The president of India said to me that several of us are being presented with Maha Vir Chakra. This is a great honor.”

Leona sat down in her chair, smiling.

“After I sent down a shuttle with a communications terminal in it,” continued Gupta, “I was able to telepathically convey everything that has happened to us in a very short time. The president and prime minister were both very impressed with what we have achieved. They are also in communication with the prime ministers of Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, and the rest of the British Commonwealth.”

“So what is next, Mr. Gupta?”

“The president of India is requesting to make a formal state visit on board the
Space Dog
. They have offered to make India the first official space port for our fleet.”

“That is wonderful! Wait! We can’t have a state visit, I have nothing to wear. I need to get my hair styled, my fingernails look like they’ve been through a war, which they have. What am I going to do?” thought Leona, gulping.

“Perhaps you could go shopping, and get all those things done.”

“Where, in which of those countries? Um, if we’re going to survive as a self-sufficient country, we’re going to have to get all these capabilities on board our vessels. In order to do that, we need money.”

“How do you plan on getting money?” Gupta had pricked his ears up, albeit in a hesitant fashion.

“We are going to have a garage sale!” thought Leona.

“I do not understand. What are you planning to sell?” thought Gupta.

“How much do you think the plans for a shuttle craft would sell for? Or the Med Bay design?”

“I think they would sell for a lot of money—even the small things, like the laser auto-cannons. In case the Supes come back to the planet, everyone will want one,” thought Gupta.

Leona shifted position in the Supe-shaped chair. Oh yes, that was another thing she would want for them, and pronto—human-shaped chairs!

“Did any news organizations contact us requesting interviews?”

“Yes, I believe they all did. As soon as the prime minister announced that he was in contact with us, the news organizations started trying to contact us through any means they could think of, but mainly through their offices in India.”

“Have we heard anything from Thor or Admiral?” thought Leona.

“No, we have not heard anything. However, several Supe ships have docked at Jupiter Station. We did not see any fighting preceding their docking. I do not know what is going on,” thought Gupta, his ears going back.

“It looks like we could have a tough decision to make. Should we stay here and help Earth prepare? Or should we head back and see if we can help the station?” thought Leona.

“I think the station should come first. Without it, Earth, even with our help, would not stand a chance.”

Leona turned to Hiroshi, who looked much better after a night of sleep. “How quickly can we offload the people who want to go home?” she asked him.

“If we unload them all to the same spot in an area that would be just below us, we could probably send the shuttles in rotation to move them all in six or eight hours,” answered Hiroshi.

“Mr. Gupta, please ask the Indian government for permission to unload all the people who are leaving the
Space Dog
. It’s going to be a big job to get them home.”

Twenty minutes later, Mukesh Gupta was finished talking with various Indian government officials. He gave himself a shake, from snout to tail, and then turned to Leona.

“I have set up a plan to return our passengers. We can take them down to Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Terminal Two, in Mumbai. Some of them can be transported right away from there to their homes in India, and others will be taken to the nearby hotels until their paperwork for getting back to their nations without passports can be processed. So many of the people were taken by the werewolves without any identity documents at all, yet international travel requires proof of citizenship.” Gupta showed a small amount of fang. “Some officials have asked who is going to pay for all this.”

“Tell them that if they will give us temporary terms—at cost, no profit—then we will cover the cost of getting those people home. Very soon, we should have a lot of money.”

Gupta wagged his tail slowly in agreement.

“Mr. Gupta, would you mind staying behind and negotiating some trade deals with a variety of countries and industries? You can take one of the smaller shuttles, and someone from the group that has been training to fly it. Also, you can take a couple of werewolves with you as your guards in case of any hostilities,” thought Leona.

“I would be most pleased to do this. I will take some of the COBRA unit with me. Also, I would like to take two of the people who can communicate with me telepathically and speak English. As well, I think I should bring a thought-amplifier terminal with me, so I can speak directly with people over the telephone and for video calls.”

“Good idea.”

“I will also retain lawyers in all the different countries that we want to do business with, so that we can begin the process of marketing some of the technology we have.”

“That sounds good to me too.”

“And there is something else, Leona, which my commandos have been asking me. We will be taking advantage of our travels to buy some tea.”

Leona smiled, thinking about her own thirst for coffee. Gupta’s tail started wagging in agreement with the sentiment.

“I have one question before I start preparing to leave. What title would you like me to use when I communicate with all these people?”

“I think Mr. Ambassador has a good ring to it. We are going to need ambassadors, and you can be our first one,” said Leona.

“Ambassador Gupta! I do like the sound of that.”

Four days after the Jupiter Station team started scanning wolves, there were thousands of wolves on the station working on installing the missile batteries. With all the werewolves going back and forth to the ships in a red-furred stream, no one seemed to notice that there were a lot more wolves wandering around than the installation accounted for.

“The
Space Dog
has the left Earth orbit. They appear to be on their way here,” Thor thought to Admiral.

“That would explain the Masters asking for an immediate meeting with O’Neil,” thought Frosty.

“Don’t you mean, the ‘blood-sucking aliens’ asking for a meeting?” asked Thor, exposing his fangs.

“They do not suck blood as far as I recall,” thought Frosty.

“It’s a slang expression,” thought Thor. “The ‘dirty rotten blood-suckers that think they’re superior,’ you know?”

“Oh, ‘the infestation,’” said Admiral, grinning toothily.

Frosty snickered. Admiral gave him a look and then turned to the marine officer who was standing with them.

“O’Neil, are you ready for this meeting?” thought Admiral.

“As ready as I’ll ever be. Are you sure the squadron werewolves are on our side?” said O’Neil.

“As sure as I can be,” thought Admiral.

Without saying anything more, O’Neil put on his thought-helmet. Then he and his entourage made their way the meeting room.

Admiral and Frosty followed at a distance, trying to be as inconspicuous as they could, which was difficult, considering that they were both twenty-foot-tall werewolves.

O’Neil walked into the room and noted that there were three Supes in the room instead of one, along with the squadron Alpha soon to be known as Mergnot, and ten honor guard wolves.

O’Neil sat down beside Ashley. He spoke briefly to her, and then she turned to the Supes and addressed them telepathically.

“The human commander wants to know about the progress of the installation.”

“The installation of the missile batteries is proceeding quite well. However, I regret to inform you that you will never be to able use them.”

“And why is that?” thought Ashley.

“Because, on my signal, our squadron werewolves will take over this space station. We have far more wolves than you have humans to defend the station.”

Ashley talked quickly with O’Neil and turned back to the Supes.

“So you’re breaking your agreement with us, then?” she thought to them.

“Yes, how observant of you.”

“We formally request that you declare, on the record, your intention to break this agreement and enter into hostilities with us.”

“I doubt that any of our courts would hear your plea, but very well.”

The Supe took the contact recording device and, placing his hand upon it, made the declaration. After that, he looked at Ashley. The purple fronds atop his head swished in some kind of emotional display that humans could not interpret.

“Now, to the part of this that I’m really going to enjoy.”

The Supe signaled to his squadron Alpha wolf. The Alpha (in future to be known as Mergnot) took Ashley from her chair, and held her with her neck exposed. He then took one of his large claws and placed it like a dagger against her neck. Ashley squeezed her eyes shut and then reopened them.

O’Neil calmly started taking off his thought-helmet. Ignoring the razor-sharp claw at her throat, Ashley addressed the Supe.

“You should know: the human commander was wearing that helmet, not for his protection, but for yours.”

O’Neil turned to Mergnot and broadcast to the room. His augmented telepathic voice was very strong.

“WOLF! Release her now!”

The squadron Alpha let go of Ashley and stood still, pretending that he was dazed. It was a good simulation; from his thoughts the Alpha appeared to think of nothing so much as clouds and rain. The honor guard moved to take action against O’Neil.

O’Neil broadcast again in the loudest thought-voice he could muster.

“WOLVES, IT’S LULLABY TIME.”

The ten honor guard werewolves promptly started looking for a spot to curl up. They all lay down on the floor and went to sleep. One of the Supes got up from his chair and frantically started trying to wake up one of the werewolves.

O’Neil went to the comm system and telepathically broadcast to all three of the visiting ships and the whole of Jupiter Station, “WOLVES, IT’S LULLABY TIME.”

All over the three ships and the station the “treated” werewolves began curling up and going to sleep. The rest of the wolves took this as their cue, and readied for action.

The fear and confusion telepathically radiating from the Supes was intense. They could not understand how this human was controlling their wolves.

“I think you’ll find that on all your ships, the wolves are now holding members of your clan in potentially lethal positions,” broadcast O’Neil to the three Supes.

The trio of Supes went to the communication terminal and learned that werewolves on every ship had turned against their erstwhile Masters and were holding them with claws to throats.

“What do you want?” one of the Supes asked.

O’Neil pointed to the lead Supe with his arm outstretched. “I believe that under your laws, due to the breaking of the contract and the opening of hostilities, I have the right to kill him.”

O’Neil was pointing at the Supe that had led the negotiations. The two others in the group broadcast shock and horror—and a smarmy wish to separate their fates from that of the oath-breaker.

“Yes. Yes! That is our law,” replied the two.

“That only applies to our own people, not worthless slaves like you,” sneered the lead Supe.

O’Neil looked at the squadron Alpha and nodded. The supposedly dazed silver wolf walked over and, with a slicing motion of his claws, killed his tormentor instantly.

O’Neil then looked at the two remaining Supes. A wave of implacable coldness rolled off him, and they leaned back away from him in terror.

“We’re going to take two of your ships. From the third ship, we are going to take everything that could possibly be of value, including your weapons systems. Then, you and all your clan members will be placed onto that last ship. You will leave this system and tell all ships that would want to attack here that we can take your werewolves and command them, even though they may not be in line of sight. Your other choice, if you refuse, is for us to kill you all right now. What do you choose?”