In City 43 were Con, Bert, Dan, Nial, Steve and Karl with Ilse and little Ali. With them were nearly 20 Cats. On the way here, Con had discussed tactics with the two leaders of the Cats using Ilse as the translator. The fight began with the children going in first and some of the adults being in range and unseen thanks to their camouflage suits. Con was amused to see that the Cats got bored and restless where their name sakes would have used the time to nap. He watched, fascinated, as they set up ambushes. Many of the Aliens, after sunrise, were wandering around and some came out past the barriers. Con wondered if they had something like a swipe card as the alarms didn’t sound. Helpfully, they didn’t notice all the extra bushes. They didn’t notice the Cats either. To his relief, the Cats were proficient at silent killing. Con had no way to know that this city had been so devastated by the diseases that it had virtually been abandoned and the inhabitants knew it. Few had any fight left in them. They were now quarantined. There would be no relief till the diseases ran their course.
As the attack began, Con, Dan, Nial and Steve ran for the armoury with most of the Cats while Bert and Karl watched for Relogs accompanied by some Cats in hiding. The rest of the Cats were creating a diversion and thoroughly enjoying themselves. They were making a Hell of a noise. They were also further reducing the Alien population in their usual messy and spectacular fashion.
As Con reached the armoury, with the others covering, something was thrown out the door and there was a massive explosion. Con and Nial went down, badly injured but Dan was sheltered as he was behind Con and Steve was around the corner watching the rear. Dan was disorientated and deafened swaying on his feet. Seeing this, Steve burst in with several Cats who promptly dispatched the Relogs. Steve loaded up Dan with as many weapons as he could carry which left Steve free to fire. Since the Cats had hands, he got them to help and headed back to the others. He forgot to guard the armoury.
He sent Bert back to care for Con and Nial and headed for the headquarters with Dan, Karl and by now most of the Cats. He met no opposition and all promptly surrendered. But they now had a problem. Con and Nial were their pilots. They had no communication except by person. No way to get Con and Nial to the Healing Machines. Now what could they do? How could they get help? How were so few of them going to guard all these prisoners?