Old Enemies -- Chapters 4, 5, and 6
Chapter 4 Lynx-O left the Feliner as fast as possible and headed for Cat’s Lair. Whatever was the problem, it had to be something serious, as Ben-Gali never raised his voice unless the occasion warranted it. The lynx entered the fortress and ran down the hall. He found Ben-Gali, Tygra, and Pumyra in the control room. “What’s going on?” He asked. “We have lost all communication. I tried calling the recruits as they informed me that they were entering the atmosphere. However I can’t get through. The communication channel isn’t working and they are off course.” Lynx-O could hear the frustration in Tygra’s voice from under the computer console. “I ran diagnostics earlier and everything was working.” Pumyra said. “What are their current coordinates?” Lynx-O asked. “I have them heading straight for the Berbil village.” Ben-Gali informed them. “I’ll get on the horn in the Feliner and give them correct coordinates.” Pumyra said and in a flash she had left the control room. “Is everything ready to go?” Lynx-O asked after she left. “All set. We just have to get these guys in safely and figured out what went wrong in here.” The white tiger said. “We cannot be late arriving on New Thundera. It is bad enough the Feliner isn’t outfitted with the Lockti’s technology and it will take ten hours to reach our home.” Tygra grumbled from under the computer. “I hear you.” His brother tiger agreed. “How do you figure on the recruits getting off course?” Lynx-O wondered. “That’s a good question. I know that Panthro has the coordinates programmed into the troop ship’s computer. Their charts aren’t off and for most of the way they should be on auto-pilot.” Tygra told them, he continued to examine the wiring and couldn’t find any problems. The wires seemed to be connected properly and nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. “Hey you need some help in there?” Ben-Gali asked. “If I could find what was wrong. Nothing appears to be fried under here. Press the COM button and try it again.” Tygra said. The white tiger went over to the board and pressed the button. Sparks flew underneath the terminal and Tygra growled. “Damn it!” He cursed. “Are you all right?” Lynx-O asked. “I’ll be fine. Found what the problem was. The wires were switched around. Negative to negative not negative to positive.” The orange tiger made light of it. Before Ben-Gali could say anything Pumyra raced back into the control room. “I gave them correct coordinates and they are coming in as we speak.” She brought them up to date. “Excellent, then we’ll be on our way.” Lynx-O smiled. ********************** Meanwhile Captain Bragg awoke to see Mandora staring at him. She had this very displeased look on her face. “What are you doing here? Where are the Mutants?” The Evil Chaser immediately barraged him with questions. “You called and moved up the time for the exchange.” He said wincing. Looking down he saw the burn marks, which had to be from the energy blasts from that creature. Mandora gave him a look as she grabbed her first aid kit out of her motorcycle. “What are you taking about? Why would I do that?” She asked, her tone was a little softer but still gruff. “I thought it was odd but I didn’t question. When I got here, you or someone that looked like you told me to release the prisoners. I started to do so and suddenly you became this large mummy thing. I…” Mandora cut him off. “Mumm-Ra.” She spat. Chapter 5 Lion-O sat in the control room on New Thundera and waited to hear from the Feliner. They had called earlier and explained the situation, so he was happy to hear that everything had worked out ok. Now they were to call once they were half way through their trip, just to check in. The Lord of the ThunderCats continued to scan the planet for any signs of bad activity. It had been quiet as of late and personally he was getting a little suspicious. He hated feeling like that but since their arrival everyday had brought trouble. The doors to the control room opened and he turned from the computer. “Still nothing from the Feliner?” Panthro asked. “No, but I expect any minute they’ll get in touch. Any ideas about the troop transport having the wrong coordinates?” Lion-O wondered. “I figure it might have been pilot error. I mean there are only so many times you can fly in a simulator. The experience with the real thing is something completely different. That and they’re under a lot of stress.” The panther said. “I know but it just seems that if they used the programmed coordinates it shouldn’t have been a problem.” Lion-O told him. “Well I’m having the engineers run some tests and look over the circuits. It’s possible there was a malfunction but with my baby I doubt it.” Panthro smirked. Lion-O smiled at that and the two turned to the computer screen. A few minutes later, a call came in. “This is the Feliner calling New Thundera. Come in New Thundera.” The video screen came up and the ThunderCats could see each other. “New Thundera here. Go ahead Feliner.” Lion-O instructed. “Well so far so good. We should be there in about five hours.” Ben-Gali smiled. “Good. We have your rooms ready to go. I bet you guys will be exhausted.” Panthro said. “I could use a good cat nap.” Tygra piped up. The group shared a chuckle but the laughter was soon over as the control panels went crazy. “We have an emergency broadcast coming in. Sorry to cut things short.” With that Lion-O ended the call and brought the other to the screen. “Mandora Evil Chaser First Class calling New Thundera. Come in New Thundera.” “New Thundera here, this is Lion-O go ahead.” “The Mutants have escaped from Captain Bragg’s Circus Train. Mumm-Ra impersonated me and broke them loose. By now they could be anywhere. I imagine they’ll be coming to Third Earth or New Thundera.” Mandora said. “Not good. Those recruits aren’t trained to deal with Mumm-Ra.” Panthro shook his head. “Thanks for the heads up, Mandora. We’ll keep you and the Intergalactic Police informed if we see or hear anything.” Lion-O told her. “Good. Mandora Evil Chaser over and out.” The call ended and Lion-O looked at Panthro. “I knew things were too quiet.” He said. ******************************* Mumm-Ra stood before his bubbling cauldron on Third Earth. Slythe, Monkian, Jackalman, and Vultureman stood on the other side of it; none of them wanting to admit that they still got the willies from the mummy’s first onyx pyramid. “Why are we still here? We should be rebuilding Castle Plundarr, yessss?” Slythe asked. At this Mumm-Ra smirked. “The four of your rebuild Castle Plundarr all by yourselves? Ha that is a good one.” He said. “We had slaves before, we can find more.” Monkian told him. “Silence! I will have no more talk about your pitiful excuse for a fortress! You owe me for saving your sorry behinds yet again! If all goes according to plan you can make Cat’s Lair your new home.” Mumm-Ra effectively silenced them. “We’re listening, oh great one, yessss.” Slythe said. Chapter 6 “So what is your plan of action?” Panthro asked the Lord of the ThunderCats. Lion-O sat back in his chair and gave his friend an unsure look. “I think that until Mumm-Ra and the Mutants rear their ugly heads that we can’t do anything. However I really don’t want to wait until they cause trouble either.” He said. “Maybe it’s time we called a counsel meeting. We have to update the others anyway. Hopefully a group talk will help us make a decision.” The panther suggested. “An excellent idea, old friend. You call the Feliner and brief them. I’ll round up the others and meet you in the counsel room in ten minutes.” Lion-O told him. Panthro nodded and dialed up the Feliner on the large screen in the control room. Cheetara, WilyKit, WilyKat, Snarf, Snarfer, Panthro, and Lion-O all sat in the counsel room, trying to come up with some sort of plan. Now that Third Earth was protected by the Thunder Guard, they had to make a good decision. More lives were at stake and no one wanted any chance of unnecessary deaths. “The transport ships haven’t been completed and our best way to Third Earth would be the Feliner and the ThunderStrike. Unfortunately, the soonest either vehicle could reach our destination would be ten hours.” Panthro told the group. “How long would it take to finish the transport ship?” Cheetara asked. “Even with the engineers that stayed behind it would take almost a week.” The panther said. “Well we can’t wait that long. How long would it take to overhaul the Feliner and ThunderStrike?” Lion-O wondered. “I have to rewire everything and adjust the size of the fuel tanks. Just the Feliner alone would take two weeks at the minimum.” Panthro informed him. “Two weeks? Ugh.” WilyKat said. “I’m with Kat. Ugh.” His sister Kit piped up. “There’s no way to circumvent the existing wires and just attach a larger fuel tanks? Snarfer, snarfer.” The younger of the two Snarfs wondered. “I built the Feliner and ThunderStrike to have just enough room for the existing wires. We didn’t have a lot of excess metal when I built those puppies and the amount of wiring and where I’m going to feed it will be different for both vehicles. There is also the Braille Board to consider. It isn’t an impossible job just something that will take longer than what we could have.” Panthro explained. “All right, well what’s the next idea?” Snarf chimed in, all too eager to change the subject. He didn’t mind flying but it was something he’d like to avoid. “We know that Mumm-Ra will likely attack Third Earth because he believes the Thunder Guard wouldn’t be as much as a threat to him as we would be. So why don’t we surprise him?” Cheetara wondered. “What do you mean?” WilyKit asked. “Well the transport ships can get from Third Earth to New Thundera in approximately an hour and a half. What if we had one of the transport ships come back to New Thundera and pick a few of us up? Then in a matter of three hours we would ThunderCats on Third Earth and Mumm-Ra won’t be expecting that.” The cheetah explained. “Hmmm, that sounds like an idea. We order the Thunder Guard to keep the plan under wraps. Then should Mumm-Ra attack Cat’s Lair, those that go can pop out and surprise him.” Panthro nodded. “That’ll scare him right of out of his bandages.” Kat smirked. “All right, then I guess it’s settled. Who should go to Third Earth?” Lion-O asked. The group looked at each other. Back on Third Earth, the Mutants scoured the furthest corners of the desert planet looking for what Mumm-Ra said they should find. “So what are we looking for again?” Monkian asked. “The Amulet of Seti, you fool.” Slythe admonished him. “And what does it do?” The monkey just never learned. “It controls cats and in this particular case, ThunderCats. Mumm-Ra will order them to destroy each other and then the Sword of Omens and the Eye of Thundera will be ours. Now get back to work!” Slythe smacked Monkian upside the head with his tail. Vultureman watched the whole exchange. It was true that if the amulet still existed it would destroy the ThunderCats but he seriously doubted that Mumm-Ra would share in all his new found power and wealth. The mummy had double crossed them before and it wouldn’t take much to do it again. To Be Continued...