Start date: 09-08-2001
Finish date: 02-28-2003
Rating: K+
Warnings: mild language

Summary: Professor Isaac Hackle's private journal, detailing parts of the three years they spent in the swamps fighting the MetalliKats.

September 27, 1996
It happens today. Eugene has warned me that it would be today, and what time. I'm currently readying the last of my equipment, and packing it in my all-terrain truck. I've got several systems that are going to be put to good use a few years from now, when we re-take the City. Time to get the TurboKat from my past self.

September 30, 1996
The death count is in the thousands. The missing and captured count is in the hundreds of thousands. The survivors of MegaKat only number a thousand at best, and most of those are Enforcers. Why must my good intentions go wrong? I should have destroyed the MetalliKats when I regained my memories. Commander Feral and I have agreed that we should lead the survivors into the swamps near MegaKat to re-take the City. We've also agreed to keep the SWAT kats' identities secret from all but a select few. A very select few. Feral's been declared rogue by Central Command, and when the City has been re-taken, he will likely be stripped of rank and booted out of the Enforcers.

October 1, 1996
Callie and Manx have joined us, with even more those who want to retake our city. She's convinced Central Command to let Feral retake the City, and allow him time to set up some semblance of martial law before turning himself over to them. Callie is handling my death pretty well. He's my past self, but he's also my future self. I will someday go back in time to the day I left, and re-take the life of Jacob Clawson.

October 14, 1996
We've set up a base in the volcano at the Nature Reserve. Callie is almost two months pregnant. I've already offered to be the kitten's god-father, which she accepted. It's crazy being the god-father to my own kitten.

November 12, 1996
The bunker is complete. It will be the main housing for all the kats. We've set up our outpost camps, ten of them, which will move every five to seven days, and will consist of up to, but no more than ten fighters each. Each team will patrol and make attacks for a six month period. These will be our first-strike and first line of defense against the robots. I'm already working on modifying the original source programming that I have, so I can slip in a disc, access it, and reprogram the matrix with one keystroke. I just hope we don't lose too many kats before our past selves get here.

December 3, 1996
Felina's given birth to a strong little tiger tom-kat whom she has named Jacob. I hope he has Chance's eyes. Commander Feral has volunteered to be his grand-nephew's god-father.

December 25, 1996
Merry Christmas. I've started manufacturing weapons for the resistance. They bring in salvage with each hit and run raid they make. Not only are we equipped with Enforcer issue lasers, but upgraded models used by the MetalliKats, but now I'm modifying them further. The new ones will punch a nicely sized hole in two inches of tank armor, making them quite effective. Now all I have to do is whittle down the energy requirements so we aren't limited to two full-power shots.

January 4, 1997
Jacob opened his eyes. They're the same shade of green that Chance's were.

February 14, 1997
I gave Callie and Felina some chocolates that I had smuggled in from New Cymric. They both kissed me on the cheek, thanking me for the 'thoughtful gifts'. I wish I could tell them who I really am, but they wouldn't understand.

March 3, 1997
Chance would be 32 today. My heart breaks for little Jacob, who will never know his father. My kitten will be a little more lucky. He or she will know his or her father, but much older, and under a different name. I wish I could change what had happened.

May 12, 1997
The latest model of laser-rifle has been completed. It has many new features, and at full power, it'll get five shots, and make a slightly larger hole than the previous model did in hardened armor. I'm still researching better optics.

May 28, 1997
Against a doctor's recommendation, Callie is going with us to one of the outpost camps. Felina's going too, and so is Jacob. I also argued that the girls and the kittens, one as yet unborn, should stay at main base. No such luck.

Our camp includes:
Sgt. Micheals,
Major James Taggart, the only dawg Enforcer, who just transferred in two weeks before this mess started
Commander Feral,
Myself,
Felina,
Jacob Furlong,(kitten, not officially counted)
Callie,
Theodore Clawson, my father,
Brian Briggs, who was officially transferred to MegaKat's resistance per Callie's request,
Leonard Briggs,
Mike Clawson.

All of us know the SWAT Kat's identities. From now on, Mike and I work on our weapons, and are co-designing a shoulder mount laser cannon for serious anti-armor capabilities. We'll be raiding what's left of Pumadyne labs for equipment.

June 4, 1997
Our raid was a success. With little resistance from the few robots there, we got the old Behemoth prototype, which had sat in a warehouse, partially repaired. It was driveable, so we took it. It's being sent to Main base, where it'll be used for defense. We barely got out before reinforcements got there from the City. We also have the only prototype EM pulse cannon. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.

June 6, 1997
It was a long and hard delivery for Callie, and it's not everyday that a tom gets to help deliver his own kitten. She's a tiny little peach colored thing, named Julie Erica Clawson. So adorable and precious. When I gave her to Callie, she started sobbing, and wouldn't stop. I asked her what was wrong, and Callie said that she wished she had been a tom, to remind her of Jake. I told her if I were Jake, I'd want a daughter, so I'd have two sets of green eyes looking at me when I came home every night. That seemed to calm her a little, but she still cried. I told her that she would never forget Jake, and that Julie is his legacy. I offered to cuddle and comfort the kitten when she got done feeding her. She agreed, and I got to spend several hours purring to a kitten. A kitten who will never know that I am her father. God, Callie, I wish I could tell you I was Jake...

June 9, 1997
Happy Birthday.

July 12, 1997
I threw Callie a surprise birthday party. I has some beef and stuff smuggled in, for a steak for her. The rest of the beef got put in a stew for the rest of the camp. I had to get Felina to make the steak for her. I got to sit back and kitten-sit two kittens, mine, and Chance's. I hope they grow up friends. Side note, I learned the recipe, after all these years. Yesss!!!! I've put that in a secret place.

August 9, 1997
Repeat birthday performance for Felina. I did the cooking this time. Once again, the meat not used for steak was put in a stew for the camp. We also liberated a few dozen kats from a work camp two days ago, among them Chance's father. He stayed on after we sent all of the rest to main base. He critiqued my cooking of his steak, but was satisfied in the end.

August 28, 1997
Jacob started walking today. Jacques was the proud grand-father...

September 4, 1997
Against my advice, we attacked Metallikat HQ, only to get beaten back. Most of the teams lost kats, we were the only ones who didn't. The Enforcers left in our group are going to be stationed with other teams on our next rotation.

September 27, 1997
One year since I died. One year since my worst nightmares came true. One year. Why didn't I destroy the MetalliKats?

September 29, 1997
Two injured and starving kats made their way into camp today. One was Hard Drive. The other was Turmoil. Gods, they want to join us and help fight the robots. Felina was nervous around Turmoil. Feral doesn't trust them one bit, nor do I, but they're kat, not robot. Necessity makes strange bedfellows.

September 30, 1997
Upon first sighting Jacob, Turmoil said, 'He looks like T-Bone, stripes and all.' It wasn't long before Felina told her that Chance was T-Bone. She promised to keep quiet. Felina's understandably nervous about Turmoil, who's real name in Anna Paplovic, but she told her, "I do not hold his love for you against you. I loved him too, but I had bad motives. He chose somevone who shared his ideals. However, I vant to destroy the MetalliKats for killing him. I vant to avenge both of us."

October 2, 1997
Hard Drive, who's real name is Marcus Roberts, asked if we could make him a surge suit. I admit, the capability for electronic espionage and reprogramming of attacking robots is staggering, but I'm skeptical. I will make it, but there'll be a few... modifications to the suit before he gets it.

November 3, 1997
Surge suit complete. Now we see if we can trust him past shooting at the robots. If not, there's a self-destruct device on-board. It'll disrupt his electrical signal if he's energized, and explode if he's not energized.

December 3, 1997
Jacob is one year old, and has started babbling in the last few weeks. I hope we can train him to be quiet so we won't be given away.

December 20, 1997
We had to abandon camp, robots attacked. I've convinced Callie and Felina to stay at main base with the kittens, at least until they can wean them. When the kittens are weaned, the kittens can stay with relatives there. Hard Drive is the only reason we survived. He jumped into a robot, and set it's target as the next robot. He kept leaping from robot to robot doing that. Impressed, Feral has assigned him to electronic espionage next time we get sent out. We're on our way to Main Base.

December 25, 1997
Merry Christmas! We hope to make it to main base tomorrow. We had to make a six day trip out of a two day trip. We're all looking forward to a nice six months of rest.

January 4, 1998
Mike and I have finally competed modifications to the Behemoth tank. It'll handle just about anything we can throw at it. I'm not sure about the robots, but we can't damage it.

February 14, 1998
Valentines again, and again, the girls got chocolates. I also got chocolates for Anna.

March 3, 1998
Chance would be 33. Felina was very pensive today. Dad listened to some preacher a few days ago and 'got saved'. He seems happier. I was never much for religion. Time will tell if he truly has changed.

May 29, 1998
We've been sent out again, this time, no kittens and the girls stay at main base. Anna and Marcus have a budding romance starting. I hope it lasts. Unfortunately, he'll be leaving to zap around the computer systems for a few months.

June 6, 1998
Happy birthday for my daughter.

June 9, 1998
Happy birthday.

July 3, 1998
Commander Feral tried a second raid on HQ, but we were beaten back again. We lost several good kats. The Commander and Lt. Col. Briggs are the only Enforcers in our group. Sgt. Micheals and Maj. Taggart are luckily, in another team, acting as their leaders.

September 2, 1998
One year until the City is free.

September 27, 1998
A lot of running and hiding has been what we've done for the last few months. Marcus finally rejoined us, from his long foray in the MetalliKat's computer systems. He found out the SWAT Kats' identities. He wants to help re-establish the SWAT Kats when we re-take the City. Amazing that a couple enemies of the SWAT Kats want to remake the SWAT Kats, now that they, no, we are dead. Ironic that two criminals want to fight crime now. Two years have passed.

December 25, 1998
Merry Christmas. We're on our way back to main base. From what we've heard, the Enforcers are fast dwindling from our ranks. We're going down to two Enforcers per group. I've convinced Feral to choose Felina as his second.

February 12, 1999
We just got a new prototype weapon in from a recent raid made by several field groups. With slight modifications, it makes a perfect defensive emplacement here at main base. It's a large laser cannon that can burn through our best armor with ease. I wonder how it would fare against Duralag carapace? Ah, I can't get the metals to make it, so why wonder.

February 14, 1999
More chocolates for my ladies.

March 3, 1999
Chance would be thirty-four.

June 6, 1999
My precious Jewel is two today.

June 9, 1999
I'd be thirty-two today. Kats I wish I could tell Callie...

July 12, 1999
Callie is thirty-five. It's almost too much to bear, watching her age early from grief.

August 9, 1999
Felina was depressed today. I think it's from never being able to share her birthday with the tom she loved so much.

September 1, 1999
At sunset tonight, we met the SWAT Kats. They had been brought forward in time by the PastMaster. We've just finished repairs on the TurboKat. Time to free the City.

September 2, 1999
The MetalliKats have fallen, and I'll make sure they get melted down this time. The SWAT Kats got sent back in time. Felina and Callie are extremely depressed. Dad has brought the kittens in.

September 15, 1999
I finished the outer skin of the TurboKat II replica with the molten remains of the MetalliKats. Irony is the best vengeance.

September 16, 1999
I'm expecting Chance, er, Eugene today. He sent me a message that he'd be coming today. The replica TurboKat II stands ready for whatever he needs it for. I don't know what he has planned, but I hope he knows what he's doing.