Dear diary, I am the best cat burglar this side of the universe

I wake up to the sound of an alarm blaring through my room. I quickly jump out of bed and walk to the door. In the hallway, the same alarm is going now, and red lights are on as well.

“Hey, what is going on?” I ask a passing soldier.

“The prisoners escaped and caused a riot on the ship. You should stay in your room.” She says before continuing on her way.

I quickly close the door and start packing. I stuff the tablet and the magic book in a basic bag. I strap my sword to my back and my axe to my belt and head out. Disaster, here we come, I hope. I cross the hallways all the way to where I think they are holding the amulet and walk up full of confidence. There are still two guards, but that is a lot fewer than the eight or so that had been there before.

“Hello,” I say with a bright smile.

“Why are you out? There is an emergency going on,” One of the shoulders asks.

“That is why I am here. I am to make sure the artefact is still safe,” I say with a lot more confidence than I am feeling.

The soldier nods. “Alright, then, make it quick.”

“Thank you now. Would you be a dear and open it.”

The soldier nods and opens the door. I walk inside without further problems, and for some reason, the soldiers don’t follow me. I walk further in each step, feeling heavier than the last. Oh, so that is why they did not follow me. Good to know. I slowly make my way forward until I reach a pedestal of some kind. On it sits another amulet, this one with an additional pale cyan gem in it.

Now, to get it, I just have to go through the cage around it. Yeah, or just melt it. I guess I heat up my hands and start pulling at the bars slowly, ripping them apart. Once the gap is big enough, I grab the plate and stuff it in my pocket before running out. Or jogging this extra gravity is really unpleasant.

Once I see the soldiers guarding the door, I start shouting, “We have a problem!”

“Problem? Ma’am, what is going on?”

“The artefact is gone, scorch marks everywhere. Lock down the shuttle bay,” I say with deep breaths.

They start running off, one further into the ship to what I think is the direction of the shuttle bay, the other one further inside the vault, probably to check. I am not sure if that room was rigged to an alarm, but if it was, you can’t really hear it over the other one, and I created a diversion already. Now that just leaves the spaceship. I start running again, this time with a lot more speed, heading for the private doc.

Once I arrived, I ran into another problem. The door or, more accurately, its lock. I bang the door a few times, seeing how sturdy it is, but it looks stable. Smashing it out is going to take a while, at least; I guess I could always try to burn my way through. As I start creating a flame in my hand, the door suddenly opens.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Tav?” a confused Lucy asks.

“Oh great, you are here. Start up the shuttle. We are getting out of here.”

“What, why?” she asks, even more confused.

“Ship is being taken over, lots of people are dying. You can stay if you want, but I am not.” I explain as I pick up the remote from before and open the shuttle door.

“I see I am coming with you then.” She says as she picks up some stuff from the table and follows me inside.

Once we are inside, I close the entrance, jump into one of the pilot seats and stare at one of the closed doors. Then Lucy presses one of the buttons on one of her tablets, and the door starts opening. I start up the engine to check if everything is going according to how it should be. And once everything is in order, I turn to Lucy.

“Are you ready?” I ask

She just nods. What is enough for me? I give it my all, and we fly out of the doc in full force, making sure to make as much distance between us and the massive warship. Once we make it a safe distance, I slow down the ship.

“Okay, do you know how the navigation works on these things?” I ask.

“It's on the centre console above your head”, a voice that is distinctly not Lucy’s says.

I turn around to determine where the sound came from, but the only thing I see is a little black cat with green eyes. Wait, when did the cat get on board?

“Lucy, do you own a pet cat?” I ask, a bit confused.

“A pet? What do you take me for a common animal.” The cat says.

“Yes, that was exactly what I took you for, but I feel that is wrong, so who and what are you?” I ask.

“Tav, that is a Catolasis,” Lucy whispers in my ear.

“Wait, I thought those were bipedal, so what? When they are young, they walk on four legs?” I ask, confused.

“No, I am a Catolasis gamma. We are smaller and look more like pets,” the cat says. “The name is Kuro.”

“You kidding? Well, I guess why not welcome on board, Kuro,” I say as I turn back to the navigation.

“Wait, you are just going to let him stay. You said that they were taking over the ship.” Lucy says in a distressing tone.

“Hardly so the more barbaric of my species got out and tried to fight, but they are not going to get anywhere. It did give me a good cover to get out.”

“Wait, but you said,” Lucy says, looking at me concerned

“She lied. She is a thief. She stole something from your ship and is trying to get away,” Kuro says.

“What did you steal?” she asks me, a bit concerned and pleading

“This,” I say as I take out the plate from my pocket.

Lucy gasps. “You’re working for the traveller?”

“No, I am not. This is just me returning a favour. Did you not say that a Traveller saved you once? Helping me is like returning the favour on that as well.”

“And the Catolasis?” Lucy asks with narrow eyes.

“I have no clue how he got on board,” I say.

“Oh, I hide in your shadow.” Kuro says, “I mean, there are not many people that can conjure fire from their hands and steal from the alliance. So if there was any way for me to get out of here, it would be with you.”

“Fine, but where are we going then?” Lucy asks.

“A planet called Juticar, according to your tablet that, is her last known location.”

“And you really think we can find her there?”

“Or we find a trail we have to wait and see.”

“And you, Kuro, will you leave us on that planet?”

“If you prefer, but I would really like to meet this Traveller type myself. Apparently, she is starting some kind of rebellion,” he says with what I think is a smile.

I look at Lucy. “I mean, if we all are going to the same spot, we might as well travel together.”

“Fine, but I don’t think it is wise.” She says.

“Well, now that that is settled, I am taking this chair for a nap. Wake me up if you need anything,” Kuro says as he jumps on top of a lazy chair.

“There is one more thing,” Lucy says.

“Shoot,” I say.

“Can I keep the ship after we are done?” she asks with a grin on her face.