Aftermath of the Attack on Cait

[Cptn Elias Moore 0]

It was high noon over N'Goran, but most of the light in the Caitian city was provided by the fires raging through the surrounding forests. The solar eclipse was only just beginning to recede, and what little light the Caitian star could offer was blotted out by the smoke and ash hanging in the windless air. It was clear to see why the Caitians viewed the invaders as "demons." They had come with the onset of darkness and released a destructive inferno upon the peaceful felinoids.

 

The N'Gora Dome where the Challenger crew had feasted in revelry with the Caitians had been a primary target of the mysterious marauders. It was in near ruin, its domed roof caved in and chunks of its outer wall blasted away, revealing the rubble-strewn chambers within. But despite its condition, the building was known to all the local Caitians as a safehaven in times of crisis. Droves of Caitians, many wounded, many missing friends and family, were migrating to the power center of the trusted N'Gora tribe. The arena at the Dome's center was being cleared of rubble, and the survivors were assembling on the great sand pit seeking medical aid or looking for lost loved ones. Rumors were already spreading that dozens of Caitians had been transported off the surface by the invaders.

 

Other rumors spread as to the fate of M'nerrva, the tribal elder. Some indicated that she was merely missing, others that she had been killed, buried under rubble in the attack, and others still that she had been among the kidnapped. An N'Goran pack seeking survivors amidst the rubble brought rest to the rumors when they found their beloved leader, still breathing, at the outskirts of the ravaged Dome. Reports of this reached the gathering Caitians and greatly eased their worry and pain.

 

But some of the emotions of this mob were turning to anger. It was not lost on many of the Caitians that this attack had occured at the same time that the humans had come to the planet... and had targetted the same city that had hosted their diplomatic party. It was difficult to assume that these circumstances were mere coincidence. Caitians who had seen companions killed or abducted during the attack, who now wandered the N'Gora Dome alone and grief-stricken, were quickest to draw the conclusion that the humans had brought the invaders. The Caitians had long ago managed to achieve total peace with one another, but tensions raised when six humans entered the arena, surveying the damage...