Chapter 67 – Intelligence

Tiny yawned and stretched. She had been watching Serena at the university from one of the roofs of the campus buildings. As the human was now heading home, it was time for Tiny to deal with her other duties.

She made her way down the fire escape stairs on the backside of the building and around the bike racks to slip into a set of bushes undetected. This strip of dense foliage ran all the way around the campus and allowed Tiny and the other cats unseen passage to streets in all cardinal directions with houses with back gardens. Tiny pondered if to head to the library to meet with other cats and get some good lunch but opted to do another patrol around the apartment complex in which her girls lived and maybe check if Serena had arrived home after that.

Kuria, Anne and Melody were indeed home. The best way to find out if they were okay and everything was in order was to demand food. If something was up, they wouldn’t have time to provide something proper and Tiny would need to worry. So, she teleported into the kitchen and complained about the lack of food.

“Tiny! Hello.” Melody instantly jumped to pet the large cat. “Hungry? Hold on.” The human moved to the fridge and dug for some of the delicious food she had made the evening prior. Melody opened the jar she found and poured the meal onto a plate and placed it on the floor before Tiny. “There you go.”

Tiny devoured the fancy food happily and was content with the fact that her girls were fine. Melody had gone to snuggle with Anne and Kuria was studying. So, Tiny went onward to Serena.

Serena had also arrived home by now and was making food for herself. After a little more observation to make sure she actually ate her food and went to rest afterwards, Tiny decided to check in on the new human. Only that Tiny didn’t know where she lived. There was a way to get that information though.

Every cat from Hell knew the importance of a good intelligence network. Border world cats often didn’t set these networks up themselves, even if they tended to form communities of their own. Just a single hell cat would often organize a proper exchange of information between all the cats of a given town. Tiny had sought out a congregation of cats to get information about the new arrivals in the city, mainly a woman who seemed a little out of place moving into an apartment, which Tiny was told was on the south side of the city, beyond the train station.

Having made her way to Chrissi’s new apartment, Tiny took her time to watch for a while. Chrissi seemed to be unpacking. There wasn’t much harm in being in the way and giving her some moral support, so Tiny teleported inside.

Chrissi was startled by the large cat suddenly appearing in her new home. “Ho! Tiny. Hello.”

Tiny apologized with an indulgent rub against the human.

“Aww. Sorry for being startled. You are of course always welcome in my home.”

Tiny appreciated that and kept rubbing against Chrissi.

“You know, I should take a small break and give you the attention you deserve. Thank you for coming by.” Chrissi led tiny to the brand-new couch and sat down, allowing the large cat to jump onto her lap. “Still not used to you hell cats being able to just pop up anywhere you want. It’s a great thing though. I mean, who doesn’t love random cats appearing in your home?”

Admiral Douglas was cleaning out his office. He decided to take everything important home before officially resigning. After all, the reaction to his report proved that none of his superiors nor the intelligence services could be trusted. Whatever he didn’t secure now might be gone the moment he resigned.

There was a knock at the door.

“Come in.”

A young man in uniform hesitantly opened the door. “Admiral.”

“Petty officer Lopez.”

“I’m sorry sir, I just felt the need to ask you if the rumours were true.”

“About my resignation?”

“Yes, sir.”

“They are, but don’t tell anyone just yet.”

“Of course, sir.”

“Lopez, please come in properly and close the door.”

The petty officer did so.

“Lopez, I have always turned a blind eye to your connections and your little deals. I am sure you know that.”

“I do, sir, and I appreciate it.”

“And I appreciate you not stopping your little smuggling operations just yet. I need to make use of your contacts.”

“Sir?” Lopez sounded a little incredulous.

“I know this office has been bugged to hell and back, so…” Douglas wrote a note and slid it across the desk. “Can you do this?”

“Depends on how fast you need this done.”

“As soon as possible but it matters more that it happens at all.”

Douglas wrote another note and took the first one back, pulled out a lighter and set the first note on fire in the ashtray on the desk.

Lopez read the second note. “Do you need confirmation later?”

“No, but…” Douglas pulled a small paper from a pocket and wrote the number from the paper on the note. “Call this number, tell them everything and…” Douglas leaned in very close. “Follow their instructions. Understood?”

“Understood, sir.”

“Good. You should get on this as soon as you can, dismissed.”

Midshipman Wilson ran. He needed to get this message to captain Harriman immediately, before anyone could contact the USS George Hammond. He stormed onto the bridge with brazen disregard for any and all protocol.

“Captain!”

“Midshipman, what are you doing?”

Wilson held up his phone. “A message. From Douglas. Here.” He was out of breath and handed Harriman his phone.

The captain took a moment to read before answering. “Does anyone else on board know about this?”

“No, sir.”

“This must remain between us for now.” He turned to another crewmember. “Lieutenant, contact the Nemesis. We have a problem.”

Focalor’s projection paced back and forth in Harriman’s office. “This is precisely what we feared.”

“Douglas is a true patriot. That he has gone through unofficial channels to warn us means this is serious. He must really think this to be a threat to the US.”

“And he is right. If you would indulge a few hypotheticals?”

“It’s all we have, hit me.”

Focalor frowned. “What we expect is that they will target our operations in this world. The FBC has done that in the past and has paid the price for that. Just like last time, this will take the form of terrorist attacks and potential assassination attempts against our associates and the installations we use. Depending on their timing, this might be very bad for everything in this universe, not just on this planet. Option two is an open attack on us in this world. This would expose us and force our hand. That would be the end of humanity as you know it. The only acceptable human surrender in that case would include an ideological purge and the loss of human sovereignty. We would seize total control.”

“You talk about them attacking your stuff here, on earth. What if they had a way to invade Hell?”

“Same outcome, just with a lot less hope of us leaving eventually. A human defeat here would mean that we direct you towards a better future and then let you off the leash again once we can be sure that you understand what we taught you. A human defeat after an invasion of Hell, something unprecedented, not even the angels managed that, would result in a permanent vassalization of humanity. We wouldn’t let you off the leash ever again and the leash would be a lot tighter. There are plans for that case and they are… harsh. Our current estimates expect a reduction of human population of around seventy percent in the initial ideological purge and an eventual decline of humanity down to a manageable size of a few million within four to five centuries.”

“The absolute worst case.”

“Almost.”

“How is that an almost? What could be worse?”

“Captain, these are religious fanatics. Their ultimate goal is to protect human souls from being corrupted by us. If that means sending them to the afterlife to get them out of our reach, then they might just do that. If we retaliate against whatever their attack will be and they see no other way out, they will start killing everyone in an attempt to save their souls.”

Harriman rubbed his face. “And they might try doing that as fast as possible to not leave anything up to chance. Nuclear Armageddon.”

“We have the means to stop that, even in the last second. Every other scenario leaves room for mercy. Room to not invoke the purge protocols. This does not. If we need to stop the deployment of nuclear weapons, or worse, then there is no option outside taking control anymore.”

“We can’t allow that to happen.”

“In that, I agree.”

“But what the fuck can I even do? We don’t even know who these people are exactly. Who is involved, how far does this conspiracy reach? Is it limited to our government? What if we go after the American cell and make the mistake of thinking there are no others? What if there are indeed no others and we make this an international issue by accident, creating more of these groups?”

“Captain, let me stop you right there. I appreciate your desire to help but the best thing you can do is to keep your crew safe. Douglas’ message included the idea to not return to a US controlled base, but an allied harbour. Do that once we have returned the portal to Hell. For those few minutes the chariot isn’t here, I will have combat trained demons on your ship to protect you. Once we return, we will escort you to safety. Beyond that, I will have to discuss our options with the high inquisitor. But rest assured, we can and will protect you.”

“Thank you, executor.”

Focalor took a deep breath. “No more titles… just call me Focalor. We have been through enough together.”

“Then you can just call me Walter.”

“It would be my pleasure, Walter.”