Benton heaved the big phaser rifle onto his shoulder and headed for Security. The doors parted to reveal Sitto Lan manning the main console as usual. "Sitto!" called Benton.
"Yo."
"Are you still monitoring that life sign?"
"Yup."
Where is it now?"
"A few miles north of the city on the borders of a large forested area."
"Any other life signs nearby?"
Sitto punched a few commands into his console. "Yes. One other, but it's not Slartan, it's Human."
"Who is it?" asked Benton, but he already knew the answer.
Sitto worked his station. He said, "There's a Starfleet com signature." Sitto narrowed his scan. "It's Lieutenant Milano."
"That's what I was afraid of," said Benton. "Francesca's in grave danger!"
"What? From Spot?" asked an incredulous Sitto.
Benton turned to face Sitto. He pulled back the uniform sleeve on his left arm and showed Sitto the bloody bandage where Spot had bitten him back in his holding cage.
"Oh geez!"
Francesca walked behind Spot. After she had sprung Spot from jail, she had wanted them to head due north into the forests, away from the population centers. She figured that was where Spot would be happiest since that was where the wilderness was the thickest, but Spot had been veering northeast. She was tired of arguing with the stupid tribble, so now she was reduced to just widely-spaced complaints.
"Where are you going? Are you looking for food? I brought sandwiches, you know!"
Spot ignored her and trundled on. Soon enough he came upon a building that seemed to be camouflaged to blend in with the surrounding forest. Spot headed for it, but Francesca hesitated. She had a weird feeling that something wasn't quite right here. She quickened her pace to catch up with Spot and reached him just as the tribble reached the door to the building.
The door was slightly ajar, and Spot squeezed through. Francesca tried peeking inside, but the interior was dark. She didn't really want to go in, but she didn't want to stay out here all by herself either, so finally she pushed the door open just enough to let her squeeze her thin body in too.
Her eyes adjusted to the dim light in a few seconds and she looked around. Inside, the building was all one big room. There were row after row of shelves and low tables with small cages on them. Spot was nowhere to be seen, of course. Francesca whispered, "Spot! Come on, let's get out of here."
A commotion was starting somewhere off to the left that sounded like a bunch of animals making noise, so Francesca went to investigate. There was Spot, amidst a group of cages that all held animals of one sort or another. They seemed excited to see Spot and were being quite vocal about it.
Francesca said, "What's going on here? What are you guys doing locked up like this? In a secret warehouse...? In the middle of a forest...?" Something was definitely weird about this. Spot meanwhile had climbed up a table leg and was nudging open the lock on a cage that held a small beige cat. The cat meowed a "thank you" as it sprang out of its prison, and Spot answered with a chirp.
"Here, let me help," said Francesca eagerly. She began popping open the cages one by one freeing the captive pets until she was surrounded by a miniature stampede of dogs, cats, wuzzles and goombas. When they were all loose Francesca said, "All right now. Let's get out of here!" She ran foward the door and the stampede followed her.
But as she emerged back out into the light of day, she was stopped by Officer Nedic Arn, who had just arrived on the scene to check up on things.
"Who are you?! What are you doing here?" he demanded brusquely of the intruder.
Before Francesca could answer though, the door burst open and the stampede of family pets thundered out, sending Francesca sprawling into Arn's arms. He was caught off guard and the both of them went down in a tangle of arms and legs.
"Get your hands off me, you masher!" sputtered Francesca as she tried to extricate herself from the hapless Arn while at the same time slap him silly.
Arn defended himself as best he could until Francesca scrambled off him. He jumped back to his own feet, and shouted, "You're nuts, lady!" but the escaping animals quickly regained his attention.
Last out the door was a small beige cat bearing a smaller, round rider, and when Arn saw them a new anger burned in his eyes. That little off-world creature had been the bane of his existence these last few days, but now he would get it!
Francesca gave a small yelp and jumped back a step when Arn drew his pistol. "Look out lady. I'm gonna get that critter," said Arn. He took aim.
Just then another voice called, "Please stop right there, sir!" It was Benton and Sitto. They had finally arrived on the scene.
"What?" said Arn. "Where are all these people coming from?!"
"That animal is my responsibility," said Benton. "I'll take care of it." Arn lowered his gun, not quite sure what was going on. Sitto, who had been carrying the big phaser rifle, now handed it to Benton with a concerned expression on his face. "You sure you want to do this, Benny? You want me to do it?" he asked.
"No. I have to be the one," said Benton as he flipped on the targeting sensor. He raised the rifle to his shoulder and swung it around to point at Spot, who was still racing away from the scene on the back of the cat.
From her place in the doorway, Francesca cried, "Oh no! Don't do it, Benton."
Benton heard her, but if Spot had turned dangerous he had to do it. The figure of his life-long friend centered in the targeting scope, but suddenly the image became blurry and spoiled his aim. Benton reached up and wiped the tear from his eye and took aim once again. The cat that was bearing Spot away was running at full tilt and would soon be out of range. But there was something about the cat that bothered Benton at the back of his mind. What was it? It looked familiar.... Of course! It was the cat named "Mr. Tuvo." But what was it doing here miles from home in the middle of a forest?
Then, Benton became aware of the large number of other small animals running around amongst the trees. They all looked suspiciously like pets. Then he remembered the unusual number of "Lost Pet" posters he had seen before. Something was definitely not right here. All these animals must have been stolen. He knew that Francesca had nothing to do with it, so that just left...
Benton swung his rifle around toward Nedic Arn just in time to see the Slartan officer pointing his own sidearm at him. Benton squeezed the trigger, and his blast shot Arn's pistol right out his hand.
"AAAH!" cried Arn.
Francesca strode forward and clobbered Arn with a well-placed clout to the jaw. Arn dropped like a sack of neutronium.