JonMo and B127MZ crept up as close as they dared to the big Intruder ship. It was yet dark and a half hour before dawn. B127MZ led the way there with his excellent night vision. They got as close as they prudently could and hid behind a small hill in the trees. B127MZ pointed to the pack JonMo was carrying and JonMo knew what he meant. JonMo carefully removed to pack and took out the bomb that had been carefully prepared by B127MZ. It was a micro fusion bomb that had to be oriented such that the blast went upwards. Nothing else could likely damage the Intruder ship.
Meanwhile, the six Intruder robots were in a group to confer and issue assignments. Two would patrol the perimeter, three would do the final work on the transmitter and one would guard their ship. It was a half hour before dawn and their assignments would begin shortly.
NaVatch, MoTac, and LoSat were getting their final briefing from the female Big Cat EvNat. She was a cat of many talents including strong telepathy, superior athleticism, and a clever strategist. They were poised for action as soon as the robot bird made an appearance.
M237B9 waited underwater in his ship. He knew that it was a risk to engage the fighting power of his ship at the wrong time. He also knew what time the robot bird was to take flight and had worked out his plan. A lot depended on another robotic fowl that he had set floating on the surface. It was listening for the roar of JonMo's bomb blast and M237B9 was waiting for that robotic bird to dive. That was his signal!
JonMo carefully took the micro fusion bomb up to the edge of the tree line, where the trees met the Intruder's territory. He did it with the utmost quiet and care to not make a sound. His Intruder sensor was beginning to alert him through a silent tactile touch on his wrist. He had to start his approach to the big Intruder ship in five minutes. His Intruder alert intensified then began to wane. This indicated to him that an Intruder robot was patrolling the perimeter. He would have to wait until the alert stopped. This would indicate that the nasty robot was out of range. It did go out of range and he was beginning to move another alert began. Either that Intruder robot was doubling back or another one was on the same perimeter duty. It was difficult to determine the direction of the alert, but with patient focus, JonMo knew that this was Intruder robot number two. Time was running out. He turned and looked back the way he had come and made a small hand movement.
B127MZ caught that movement of JonMo's hand. He immediately moved south away from the Intruder's territory and behind the small hill. There he took out the robot bird that would notify the Big Cats in the trees on the north side of the Intruder's land. He released the robotic bird and it moved silently further south and then took flight. It reached the natural flying altitude of the native birds it was emulating and arced to the north.
B127MZ silently went back to his waiting position. JonMo was gone. He picked up this laser cannon and moved to a position where he could see things unfold. He was ready to go as fast as possible to JonMo's position if JonMo was in danger. His Intruder sensor had given him the same warnings and information as JonMo's. He knew that JonMo was taking a big risk by starting his approach to the big Intruder ship, but time was running out. He needed a distraction and the robotic bird was just about to land at the feet of EvNat.
EvNat took one brief look at the bird. Its appearance was the signal. She turned to her three Big Cat warriors and nodded her head. Action was on the way. They had to draw the Intruder robots away from their big ship to give JonMo the best chance to plant to bomb. He then had to leave quickly to not be killed by the blast. MoTac headed east with LoSat while NaVatch and EvNat went west.
EvNat's Intruder sensor was alerting as she arrived at the edge of the trees. She went out into the Intruder territory and faced the big Intruder robot who began quickly making its way to her. It paused when it recognized the laser cannon on her back and that is when she fired. The blast slammed into the left shoulder of the Intruder and spun it around. The left arm was now missing. EvNat quickly bounded back into the trees and the incensed Intruder robot followed. The Intruder came in range of NaVatch who made a perfect shot into the hole that EvNat had made when she blasted off its arm. NaVatch's laser cannon bolt went into the inner parts of the Intruder robot and it toppled unmoving onto its face.
All heck now broke loose across the Intruder territory. With maximum defenses alerted, the remaining five Intruder robots made their way to the place where their fellow robot met its demise. EvNat and NaVatch had gone a bit north and had turned west toward the beach of the raging sea. They ran at the speed and quiet that these Big Cats could run. When they reached the beach they turned south. EvNat wanted to get into a position to protect JonMo.
JonMo had begun to creep and crawl as much as he could silently manage toward the big Intruder ship. It was about seven meters away and he knew any sound would alert the Intruder robots. He had begun this knowing that the Intruders were patrolling nearby and a third Intruder robot was making its way to their big ship. The sun's light was just barely showing over the eastern horizon. He moved as fast as silence would allow with his only real hope of survival depending upon a successful distraction to draw the Intruder robots away from him. Then he heard a laser cannon blast and then another. The Intruder sensor alerts indicated the retreat of the Intruders from his position. They were moving fast and he quickly reasoned that this was his best chance. The shadow of the night was quickly being lost. His black clothing camouflaged him and he started crawling as fast as he could as his Intruder sensor alerts became weaker and weaker. He made it to the big Intruder ship and though it was a tight squeeze to get under it, he made it to the middle of the ship. He set the fusion bomb facing so the blast would be toward the bottom of the ship and set the timer for four minutes. Then, as fast as he could, he made his way to the edge of the big Intruder ship where his Intruder alert suddenly became active. He looked for a place to hide and made his way under the boarding ramp. He would die there in the blast in three minutes.
Then he heard a mighty roar. It was EvNat running around the big ship. JonMo exited from under the boarding ramp and ran for the trees. EvNat raced toward the quickly approaching Intruder robot. As the big Intruder raised its right arm to blast EvNat, she leaped into the air. The robot's blast went under her. Her leap was tremendous in a backward flip that brought her laser cannon level with the Intruder robot's ugly head. That's when she triggered her laser cannon blast and the robot's head was no more. Its body fell to the dirt and EvNot hit the ground and kept running. B127MZ was just out of the trees and was aiming this Intruder when he witnessed the amazing maneuver of EvNat. He saw JonMo coming towards him and turned and ran with him as fast as they could. They made it behind a hill and JonMo covered his ears with his hands as a mighty roaring blast split the air.
The big Intruder ship lifted three meters when the blast erupted. The micro fusion bomb blast did its job spectacularly and tore a five-meter hole completely through the ship. Shrapnel flew up high in the air and began raining down close to the ship. Some of it clanked onto the lifeless metal body of the headless Intruder robot. EvNat was not harmed as she was 100 meters away when the bomb went off. She had crouched down with her big paws covering her ears.
The four remaining Intruder robots all began to converge on their newly repaired communications tower. One was being dragged by one of its fellow robots. It had lost a leg from an ambush that MoTac and LoSat had set. The robots' last chance was to get a message off to call for reinforcements from their home planet many light-years away. That is when M237B9's ship made an appearance.
M237B9's ship popped out of the water and went at maximum thrust to the enemy territory. When he got over it, he saw three Intruder robots with one being dragged. They were setting up a defense at their repaired com tower. One of them was moving fast to a gun placement on the com tower. M237B9 sent a guided micro-fusion missile directly at it. The missile reached to gun placement just as the Intruder got to it. The explosion was spectacular and the tower began to lean. JonMo, B127B9, and the Big Cats all gave the com tower plenty of room as they figured M237B9 had this. He did. With the big Intruder ship disabled, M237B9 knew the odds were in his favor.
He came around to face the three remaining Intruders as they were sending laser cannon blasts as fast as they could. M237B9 juked and dodged and sent his ship's more powerful laser cannon blasts directly at the three robots. Before they could run for cover, the blasts vaporized them. The com tower structure, weakened by the micro fusion missile, made a slow crash to the ground. M237B9 radioed B127MZ to request that he disable the com equipment on the tower but not destroy it. He then saw JonMo and B127MZ along with the four Big Cats converge on the fallen tower.
M239B9 landed his ship in front of the downed com tower. When he got out of his ship he saw the four Big Cats roaring with joy and dancing about. He imagined that they were telling and retelling their exploits that helped bring down the Intruders. They were ecstatic that gone were the ones who had so casually murdered one of their own.
JonMo and B127MZ had appropriated an antigrav sled from the tower. It was now loaded with all sorts of electronic equipment. B127MZ said, "M237B9 and I will sort through this equipment to see if we can find out more about the Intruders and their mission here. He asked if any of the Intruder robots were intact enough to hook up to equipment that could pull information from them. JonMo got from EvNat that they had destroyed the innards below the head of one and JonMo knew of the one EvNat had blown the head off of. Between the two they might have enough to put together one Intruder. They would first have to find out how to do that safely.
They decided to check into the Intruder's equipment and the robots to determine the threat level before informing the Kingdom of Exdom of their miraculous victory. JonMo and M237B9 took M237B9's ship to gather up what was left of the two fallen Intruder robots. B127MZ took off at a run to go get his ship from the raging sea. It was not too far, just a bit south of the boundary the Intruders had set up.
By evening both ships were set down near the fallen com tower. B127MZ took the Intruder's com equipment to analyze in his ship while M237B9 took what was left of two Intruder robots into his ship to see what information he could extract from them. Meanwhile, the four Big Cats were anxious to get back with their fellows to share the news and their exploits. JonMo convinced them to wait until the next day to leave. B127MZ and M237B9 would work all night analyzing the Intruder data. JonMo and the Big Cats decided to go check out the several structures the Intruders had built. Maybe something useful was there.
The next morning, after JonMo had a nice breakfast of roast pig and fried bird eggs, both found by NaVatch, they all met to discuss their findings. B127MZ went first, "The Intruder's interstellar communications equipment is quite primitive to what the Centerhome Explorers used over 3000 years ago. It will work but must be above the tree line to have an unobstructed view to work. It is quite weak but will connect over many light years with a limited data send rate. The address of the planet they were trying to connect to is 17 light years away and nowhere near the Centerhome group of planets. I assume that the Intruders are a race that has had faster-than-light technology for a short time. There is not much more information as point-to-point communications was com tower's purpose."
M237B9 then spoke, "The electronics brain of the robot that EvNat and NaVatch dispatched was still intact but was inert due to not having power. The body of the robot by the ship taken out by EvNat had a working power supply, which I connected to the Intruder robot's head and electronic brain. It immediately went into a convulsive state trying to send out commands to its body that did not exist. After it settled down, I was able with much tinkering and effort to connect to the head's data port. Connecting to the data port made the brain electronics quiet and subject to inquiry. The patterns in the data that I extracted helped me decipher its language. This is what I found out."
M237B9 revealed, "There seemed to be much concern by all of the Intruders that it was imperative to be successful in their mission here. The population of their planet had declined over the centuries due to fear of scarcity and government policies had limited childbirth to an unobtainable goal of zero growth. The last 100 or so years there were devoted to gaining faster-than-light drive so they could conquer another planet and use its population to rebuild theirs. All their wealth and resources went into this effort. Yet, it would have failed because they planned to enslave the population to grow abundant food and strongly encourage slaves to have children. Schemes like these may work in the short run, but these ruling men would also enslave all future children of the slaves. Breakdown and rebellion would be inevitable." M2327B9 continued, "This is the good news. Their big ship, now inoperable, was their only one. If the Intruders had had success, some of them would go back to bring the ruling class of men to this planet. The Intruder robots found this planet but were never able to reveal its position in space to their masters. Their big ship had no interstellar communications and that is why the com tower was so important to them."
JonMo said, "We can now report to the Kingdom of Exdom and all of the Big Cats that this planet is free from the oppression of the Intruders. Over the next years, we should gain what we can by using their technology and ours to build a defense in case others arrive here. It seems unlikely, but somehow the Intruders found us." M237B9 said, "I think they did that by following the communications of the Centerhome Explorers. Looking back at records, it seems that they have been trying to contact us for about a year using a newer technology. It was not until they went back to an old technology that we were able to get their warning."
JonMo had related the information to the four warrior Big Cats. They knew that the Intruders would have hunted them down and killed them. All were profoundly grateful for their deliverance.
The Big Cats related to JonMo what they had found in the structures left by the Intruders. Most were group sleeping barracks and there was one medical building that would serve their slaves. Also, there was a supply of foodstuffs which must have been very precious to the Intruders. This was starter food to keep the population going until the first crops came in. They would need a contingent from the Kingdom of Exdom to clean out the buildings and see what could be reused.
They all, JonMo, B127MZ, M327B9, and the four Big Cats, decided to meet in three days at the open ground in front of the castle in the Kingdom of Exdom. The Big Cats had the task of breaking the news to the citizens of the kingdom who were hiding near the foothills. They, of course, would also break the news with much fanfare to their fellow Big Cats.