The armored transport bashed through the gate while driving up the road toward the spaceport. Jage stopped the transport near an open hangar.
After Tyger and his team got out, Red looked around. “This place seems to be in good shape.”
“Maybe the bugs haven’t touched this place yet,” said Rila. “We better get moving.”
The Star Cats strolled through the open hangar door and spotted an odd-looking spaceship. It looked exactly like their original ship. Shaped like a giant modern fighter jet, except it was silver and blue.
Rila widened her eyes at it. “I never have seen this type of ranger
vessel before. It looks like our old one.”
“It must be a prototype,” said Maya. “This spaceport has a record of testing experiment spacecrafts.”
Jage glared at the ship. “It looks nothing like my lost ship.
Tyger heard a beep on his com-link and he pushed it. “This is Commander Tyger of the Star Cats unit.”
“It’s me, Tyger,” Patterson’s voice replied. “We made it to
the nearest battle starship.”
“Good to know, sir.”
“What is your position?”
“We are at the Hanson Field spaceport. There is a ranger ship
that looks new in Hangar 4.”
Patterson’s voice hummed. “That vessel must be the Star
Guardian. It is a prototype built with a cloaking device. I
know little about it.”
Tyger raised an eyebrow. “Is it operational?”
“It might be. They never tested it yet. Better than nothing I
suppose.”
Tyger shrugged. “Sounds like it will be worth the risk.”
“Contact me when you are in space. And hurry! The
entire planet is overridden by the invaders!”
“Affirmative sir.” Tyger turned to his team. “We have to get off this planet now. It is overridden by the enemy.”
Rila widened her eyes. “How is that possible? We only been
here for one day.”
Maya stroked her long white hair. “Since the invaders appear as
eusocial hymenopterans, they probably can produce hundreds of
armies by an hour.”
“Their spawn ships probably destroyed all the cities like drunken idiots,” said Red.
“Swarm ships?” Jage asked.
“Yeah, comrade. They swarm everywhere! Like drunken idiots.”
“Well they are not drunken idiots, but that is the reason we need to leave now,” said Tyger. “Planet Bellona is lost. Survival
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is all we got. Jage, can you fly that thing?”
Jage rolled his eyes. “I told you I can drive anything. Flying a ship is no different. Piece of cake.”
The jaguar kid raced up the stairway toward the ship’s hatch. He opened the hatch and jumped into the ship.
“What the-” Jage flew out of the hatch and tumbled down the stairway.
Rila rushed up to him. “Jage! Are you alright?”
Jage got up and rubbed his head. “Yeah... Who the heck knocked me down?”
From the hatch, a golden ball hovered out. It has two arms and a single red light, blinking as it spoke. “Who the bloody hell are you? Beep! Beep! This vessel is restricted under my protection!”
Red scratched his head. “Who programmed that monitor roid to talk like a British stereotype?”
The roid pointed his finger at Red. “Be quiet you furry beast! My name is Proto-05. If you don’t like that name, you can kiss my frisky cups!”
Tyger stepped toward the stairway. “Proto-05, we are the Star Cats special star ranger unit. Bellona is under attack by mysterious alien invaders. We need to use that vessel to evacuate.”
Proto-05 folded his arms. “I sense none trouble here. You must be joking.”
“We are serious. If you don’t let us board, we are all going to die here.”
Proto-05 stuck up his middle finger at the cats. “Piss off you furry bastards! This is my ship! Nobody is taking it from me!”
Jage pointed his light gun at the robot. “May I shoot him, sir?”
Tyger sighed. “Go ahead.”
“Wait! Wait!” Proto-05 shouted while waving his hands. “I will let you take it. Beep! Beep! Please don’t kill me!”
Tyger never encountered a roid who feared for its life. Who programmed that thing? Was it supposed to be a joke?”
Tyger walked up the stairway. “Thank you for your cooperation.”
Proto-05 watched the Star Cats enter the ship. “You better not put a scratch on this ship! Beep! Beep! My maker will kick my ass!”
Jage entered the cockpit, and he looked around. “Cool!”
He approached the flight panel and sat down in front. “This totally looks like the same controls in my old ship.”
Tyger sat behind him after the others got in. “Good to know. Get us into space now.”
“Yes, sir!” Jage typed on the panel, until the engines roared to life. The ship slowly hovered up and blasted into the sky.
“I feel like this ship is a reboot of our original ship,” said Red while he was shaking in his seat.
Jage laughed. “Maybe, but I am liking this thing.”
Outside the windshield, the sky turned dark, and the stars appeared.
Tyger stood up and beamed his eyes at the windshield. “Look at that.”
Floating across the orbit of Bellone were millions of broken spacecrafts. Pieces of mechanic parts and metal drifted as the Star Guardian thrust past them. There were even bodies of dead crew members, floating lifelessly.
“Holy bloody hell!” Proto-05 shouted. “You beasts are right!”
“No shit Sherlock,” said Jage.
“How awful,” said Rila with a sad tone.
“It could be worst... We could be among those bodies,” said Tyger.
Red looked at the window. “Where is the big bad alien ship?
It couldn’t have escaped so fast.”
“It probably uses the portal to make its departure,” Maya explained.
Tyger pushed his com-link. “Admiral Patterson, it’s Tyger. We
are on the Star Guardian, leaving Planet Bellona now.”
“I am glad you made it out of there,” said Patterson’s voice. “We lost the entire fleet against that damn thing. It is attacking another planet. We
are doing our best to save many lives as possible.”
“Do you need assistance?”
“Negative. I got a special assignment for your team. A few
hours ago, we received a message from Planet Amazon by Dr. Grace.
She said she found something that relates to the invaders. I want
you to meet her there and find out what she got. If it is vital, it might
help us stop the invaders. Hurry before all of our asses get kicked!”
“Affirmative sir.” Tyger turned to Jage. “Take us to Planet Amazon.
Patterson’s orders.”
“As you wish commander,” said Jage.
Rila raised an eyebrow. “Planet Amazon?”
“There is a scientist there who might know about the invaders,” Tyger explained. “Whatever she knows, it might help us save the colonies.”
“Oh good,” said Red. “I enjoy taking nature walks in the jungle. It makes me enjoy drinking vodka.”
“Bloody hell!” Proto-05 exclaimed. “I can’t walk through a jungle! My circuits will get wet! Beep! Beep!”
“But you have no legs.”
Proto-05 turned to Red. “That is a figure of speech, dummy! Beep! Beep!”
Jage rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I am beginning teleportation now. Let’s hope this trip will be worth it.”
Tyger hoped so. The fate of humanity was now in their hands.