The Alienbutt Saga, Book 1. War of the Coffee Bean. Part 21.

Turning to another seated figure, this one human and known to the rest of the universe as General Jee, he asked; “How does the sleeper project proceed?”
“We have several sleepers and another dozen who we have on the payroll. When the time comes we will have all the people we need in place. At your command we have people placed to kill all key Ick personnel, while the murder of the Fo’c’sle commander by one of her own will rip apart their most powerful ally.”
The one at the head of the table nodded in approval and took another sip of coffee, savouring the taste. He gave a rare half smile. “Who has been given the task of removing Wickede?”
“The Galactica Order have been given the task. They will dispatch a number of their top assassins,” replied Jee.
The one at the head of the table nodded his approval again at Jee’s choice; the Galactica Order always carried out its commissions and never failed. When they accepted a bounty then the target was living on borrowed time. They were a secret order who would turn down a commission as often as take one. one. No one knew who they truly were, but they had served the Coffee Houses before when they destroyed the Alienbutt home world, yet had refused a commission on the last of the Alienbutts when they had discovered that he somehow still lived. They were useful for now, but once the universe was secure they would be hunted down for that refusal.
“Supply the Galactica with a gift of a few of our new dreadnoughts as soon as they are ready. The hunt for Wickede can be the test run for them. Also inform our extremist operatives to increase attacks on the coffee distribution system, and find someone to put the blame on. We must ensure the optimum conditions are met for when we take control of the Senate and destroy the Ick. Once we have done that and control the inner systems, we can start to remove any that will oppose us in the future, destroying the other prophecy completely.”

Mr. Fluffy wandered into the hangar bay of his ship. He did allow Blackarachnia and the other human things to fly and clean the ship, but like everything in the universe, it belonged to him. Walking along the top of a barrier he saw a container that had been knocked over and some of those tool things that the humans used next to it. Nimbly he jumped down to investigate. The liquid that had spilt out of the container smelt strange and quite by accident, he had put his front left paw into a small pool of it. Finding it sticky, he took a few steps backwards in disgust and found himself standing amongst the tools. Placing down the sticky paw, he found a small tool stuck to his foot. Being a genetically modified cat of super intelligence, he had long ago learnt to walk on his back feet. This secret he hid when others were around so he appeared an ordinary cat, but now he stood up and looked at the tool. The humans called this a laser screwdriver; this he knew, as he understood their grunting and screeching. Using his other paw he turned it on. A shaft of red laser shot out to about a foot in distance.
Mr. Fluffy purred in delight and gave it an experimental swing, slicing through the metal post next to him. Purring even louder he began to move around, attacking anything nearby with this great new toy. Jumping and spinning, he worked through his hunting moves, using the laser screwdriver to slice up anything that came within range. Delighted with his new toy, he turned it off and left the hangar. He had taken fresh steps towards dominating the universe. He now had a weapon to slice open even the most metallic of foe, and by using Nifty and the other humans, he would ensure he would gain the opportunity and realise his destiny.
As he left the hangar he saw a maintenance droid in the corridor. Quickly checking that no one was around, he turned on his new weapon and leapt forward. An hour later, maintenance staff aboard Blackarachnia's dreadnought were puzzled to find a sliced-up maintenance droid and strange damage within the hangar next to the droid’s remains. They put down the vandalism to Nifty; more than likely she was in a bad mood with Blackarachnia. Quickly the damage was repaired and the maintenance droid put with the other scrap, and, just in case it was Nifty, no report was lodged.

To be continued.
Thanks for reading.

all images are mine.