Chapter 27

Freyja's mind raced as everyone followed Kira-217 out of Kait's house. The Hive had just assassinated the President on live television. Sure, the man had been a wannabe dictator and certified piece of trash, but still. He was gone, along with who knew how many other people who formerly held power. The smart thing would have been to let the old man ramble about aliens then hide. Capitalize on him being a fool then catch the entire Earth off guard when he was actually right for once. But that wasn't what they did at all. Either the two Hive members posing as Secret Service agents lost their cool at being insulted, were jittery because they were cats disguised as Humans, or they were intentionally trying to plunge the Earth into chaos. Soften things up before their main ship arrived in two weeks.

Freyja didn't pay close attention as she followed everyone to a large wooden barn some distance behind Kait's little farm house. She still noticed the perimeter of house cats patiently loafing in the sun around the building at regular intervals. Two more were stationed by the door, seated like regal sphinxes protecting it.

"You're saying all my cats are infected by alien brainworms?" Kait asked, skeptically.

"All but the ones inside your house and the latest babies. The Hive sent the bulk of their trash here with orders to wait until their Commander arrived with Sparks for them to use," Kira-217 explained.

Kait eyed the ring of cats around the building which all stood, one after another, to face her. "They did start acting real weird a few months ago. So that would explain things but...they can turn into monsters like what we saw a minute ago?"

Odin scoffed. "Those two were idiots. I can't believe they did that on camera."

Freyja turned slowly to face him, then crossed her arms. "And, just who was it that turned into the murder octopus at the hospital?"

He winced.

"You knew there were cameras there too, right? You guys know there are cameras EVERYWHERE ON EARTH. RIGHT?" Freyja asked.

"Wait, he's an alien too? I thought you said they were only in cats," Laurence asked. The bikers certainly looked like they were questioning whether to pull their guns again.

Freyja took a deep breath and uncrossed her arms. "He's my cat. They don't have to look like void spawn hell creatures when they shapeshift. They can look like people."

Kira-217 gently grabbed Sam's phone and turned him to face her, then she smiled. "Right. Now, as many of you in Chat know you've been selected to join this Unit. If you haven't checked your emails, phones, or chat apps please do so now. We've sent you instructions with how to reach this location as well as funds necessary if you do not normally have money to reach this area. If you don't choose to join us then you can keep the cash, of course."

"How much money are you talking about?" One of the bikers asked.

"Just ten thousand dollars each," she replied with a wave of her hand. "It's not like Leon Funk misses it."

Sam's shell-shocked expression finally cracked. "You stole money from the richest man in the world?"

Kira-217 shrugged. "He didn't notice it in January."

He nearly doubled over laughing but caught himself and straightened up so he could continue to film everything. Kira-217 approached the door and chittered at the cats guarding it. They backed away and bowed to her before she opened the building and walked inside.

Hive Standard, Odin said then sent the details on the language across the Link.

It took Freyja a moment to catch that the Probe had ordered the Hive members to let them through because the Commander was on the way. She'd picked up bits of the language from reading Odin's mind, as well as a few others he had learned over his long life, but this was a much more thorough explanation of Hive Standard and how to speak it properly.

The barn itself had a dirt floor, a few worn cat trees, and plenty of wooden walk ways for cats to play and travel on. The few that were lounging here and there snapped to attention, getting to their feet and sitting. The majority of the cats, however emerged from where they'd been hiding and moved into an orderly formation, like troops preparing for inspection. She supposed that was exactly what this was. She just didn't expect to see so many of them.

"Holy shit. That's a lot of cats," Sam breathed.

"Kait, how many outside cats do you have?" Kira-217 asked, fully knowing the answer.

"Uh, since the kittens were born last month? I think there's about a hundred and ten," Kait said.

Kira-217 shook her head. "You have one hundred and twenty two cats. A few ferals nearby joined your colony after Hive members were Host Given. They've been helping with perimeter security patrols."

"That's a lot of cats," Sam said.

"That's a lot of aliens," Laurence corrected. "Shit. I didn't know you had this many cats, Kait. I knew you said you had trouble covering the food but, this is a lot."

"People keep dumping them! Am I just supposed to let them starve?" Kait shot back. She hung her head. "To think. All this time I've been feeding aliens."

"Just the last six months," Kira-217 said. She looked up suddenly then gently clapped her hands and grinned. "The Commander is almost here. Hurry. Let's go greet them!"

***

Freyja continued to chew on the idea that the Hive was clearly trying to destabilize the Earth as the group waited by the gate. Humanity wasn't the most stable to begin with. It was more like chair missing a leg. It might stand on its own for awhile but you wouldn't want to rest anything important there. She felt Odin's concern for her growing as she ruminated on the situation.

"I'm fine," she said out loud.

He shook his head. "No you're not."

"You aren't either. But we're as fine as we're going to be right now," Freyja replied cutting the Link to him. The last thing she wanted was to upset Odin because she was distracted trying to figure out contingency plans for how to fight a war on two fronts.

He quickly re-established the Link.

Why did you do that? We need to be connected, Odin said.

Because my being upset is upsetting you, she replied.

What's upsetting me is this Local Probe dragging us back and forth by the tail and the rest of the Hive spitting in the eye of Tradition. They're fools if they think killing that naked truck man was a strategic move, he said.

Naked truck man?

He passed her the memory of sitting behind a pick-up in traffic that sported an old airbrushed painting of President Butcher clothed only in an American flag from his first administration. Her stomach turned. At least that guy had been eaten by aliens.

I see why the bikers stabbed that guy's tires, she said.

"You hear that? Sounds like an old twin cam police cruiser," one of the bikers said.

Freyja hadn't picked up any names beyond Laurence's but certainly picked up this guy's curiosity about the bike that was coming their way. She adjusted her eyes to see better at the distance. The bike was black and chrome, and the rider wore leather and denim riding gear. A pink, blue, and white get-back whip with a sizable ball bearing at the end hung from the handlebars. It matched the Trans pride flag painted over half the rider's helmet.

"The Commander is here," Kira-217 said as the newest biker pulled up next to Kait's van and cut their engine.

"Got here as soon as I could," they took off their helmet and shook out their half shaved hair. "Traffic was a bear. Thought I heard random gunfire too. Did something happen?"

"Butcher's dead. The Hive's gone public," Freyja replied, not letting Kira-217 get the satisfaction of running the show completely.

"He's dead?" the Commander asked.

Kira-217 glared at Freyja. "Don't step on our toes again. Remember who has the warship."

"You keep beating around the bush," she shot back. "This person is the Commander you've talked about? I can't even feel them in the Link at all."

"That's because Page doesn't have a cat yet," Kira-217 said.

Page dismounted from their bike and strode over. They were confident, which made sense. One had to have some kinda balls to ride around with a Trans pride flag these days. Freyja wasn't sure if they were the sort of biker Laurence and the Brothers of Fervor were or not, but they definitely had an air of 'don't fuck with me.' Especially for someone the same height as Freyja. The gnarly looking scar across their face that looked like it had been made by a stray bullet certainly helped.

"I won't step on your toes again but you need to be honest and tell us your plan beyond 'get people from the internet to join a unit.' This isn't going to be a clear cut fight against the Hive now that they've killed Butcher. It's going to be dirty and Humans are going to be gunning for anything they remotely suspect is alien. We're lucky Butcher didn't mention the Hive being inside cats on the news or every cat in the United States would be shot," Freyja said.

"Fine, fine!" Kira-217 said with her hands in the air. She motioned to Page. "This, is Page Simmons. They're the last surviving member of their club. Four years ago they were attacked by one of Butcher's 'anti-crime' squads he dispatched after the Brothers of Fervor shootout. They're also an unofficial grandmaster at chess."

Freyja wasn't sure how one became an 'unofficial' chess grandmaster. Were there underground chess tournaments queer bikers entered? There were aliens invading, so who knew?

"They targeted everyone but the Brothers," Page said, staring straight at Laurence's eyes. "From what I hear they made Trans and queer organizations the priority because clearly we're 'violent extremists.'" They leaned on the gate and turned back toward Kira-217. "But you said he's dead?"

"He is. It happened while you were in transit."

Page laughed. The summer sun glinting off their emerald green eyes. "Sweet. Load me up with a cat, Two-Seventeen."