The Enforcer Days- Jake Writes Home
By AJ Siytangco



	Whenever he had any free time at night, and whenever he wasn't
peeling potatoes or scrubbing things down with Chance, Jake Clawson
wrote back to his parents on the farm.  He had been doing so since he
decided to leave home in search of adventure.  Naturally, he wrote
several letters about the part of his life as an Enforcer cadet.  He
wrote about his opinions, his comrades, his training his triumphs and
failures.  
	Jake writes:

	Dear Mom, Dad, Josh and Jenny,
	Hello from hell!  Just kidding, but I sure wouldn't want any of
you to see me here now.  It's night again, the only time a kat can
really rest out here.  What with all the training and classes and
potatoes to peel.  Ha! I move to the city from the farm to find some
adventure and I still end up peeling potatoes.  Ah, the farm.  How
are you doing, mom, dad? And Josh and Jenny, too.  I know Josh is
dissapointed that I left but, I'm a tinkerer not a farmer.  You
really should've let me modify the tractor, dad. Well, Josh is
probably handling the farm better than me.  Like I said, I'm no
farmer.  
	The base is chock full of things I'd give a years supply of tuna
to get my hands on.  But it's also chock full of work!  Those darned
instructors are working us into an early grave(Don't come running
just yet, mom!).
	Thankfully, I have a great bunch of pals to help me through it.
There's Ralph.  He's the first one I met.  An honest kat if I ever
saw one.  I'd really like to help him out somehow.  He has a wife and
kittens, and times aren't looking too good for him what with a family
to support.  So he turns to the Enforcers.  He's a great martial
artist.  He's the higest in Lt. Tar's class, and the second is quite
a ways behind him.
	Then there's Chance.  A gruff, rugged kat whose attitude befits
his huge frame.  Chance is by far the strongest kat in the bunch, and
the best pilot the Enforcers will ever put out.  He's just great.  I
was assigned to play his RIO, and the first time we went up, man he
took to the air like a tuna to water.  I still have to work on not
getting sick whenever he does his high speed turns.
	The three of us, Ralph, Chance and myself seem to have become the
trio of mischief, even though most of what happens are by accident,
like the time when we accidentaly... never mind.  There are some
things I'd just as well forget.
	Then there's Paul, the youngest in the group. He joined because
his dad and grandad were Enforcers, so he figures he should follow
suite.  He's young and not too sure of himself.  He sticks to Ralph a
lot.  I suppose, you could say their opposite poles of magnets.
Ralph is older, experienced, more certain about life while Paul is
young, brash and lacks self-confidence.
	Miranda is the girl he's taken a liking to.  They seem to fit
each other nicely.  She's nice, and smart.  Miranda joined because
her mom and dad always wanted an Enforcer in the family (from what I
can tell, she's got a pretty big clan, encompassing almost any
profession!)
	Of course there's always a black kat in the bunch.  In this
bunch, it's Will Tailor.  News is his dad is filthy rich, and is a
major investor in Megakat city.  That's probably why he acts as if
he's somebody and picks on other kats, Paul being the first.  Why the
crud a rich kat like him would join the Enforcers, I can't say.  He's
not really "bad" as in bad to the bone.  In fact at times, he tries
to be good, to fit in.  He's just so... irritating.  Aside from a few
skirmishes between us, he's pretty much a tolerated member of our
training unit.
	Enough about them,  have I got a story to tell!  I join the
Enforcers to find an adventure, and in the six weeks that I've been
here, I haven't found much of it. But, I believe that lady luck may
have smiled on me a bit today, even though I didn't think it was a
blessing at the time.
	I was on KP duty when it happened.  Earlier today I supercharged
one of the Jeeps in mechanics class.  We were told to "examine the
vehicles, ascertain it's defect and return the vehicle to working
order."  Fine, I thought, no problem.  Let me get my paws on the
thing then let me go.
	A few minutes into the exercise, I knew what was wrong.  Or
rather what *were* wrong.  A busted radiator, a loose fan belt, and a
faulty gas line which caused too much gas into the cumbustion chamber
and drowned out the engine every time it was reved.  Standing there
fixing the jeep, I couldn't resist the temptation to add a few things
and change a few things here and there.
	It purred like a kitten!  It could've done twice what the normal
specs would indicate, I'm sure of it.  If only I had the chance to
test her out.
	Of course, that alone wouldn't have put me on KP.  What did was
that the jeep was Commander Feral's, and he didn't know a thing about
driving supercharged vehicles.   The instructors do that, bring in
stuff that isn't working right and then make us fix 'em. Good
practice for the students, and less maintenance kats to pay.  Fine by
me actully.  It's this friend of mine Ralph who isn't very
mechanical.  But boy is he good in combat!  His side kick is a... I
think I mentiond that already.
	I'm babbling again.  Back to Feral's jeep.  Well... let's just
say that his auto-insurance  skyrocketed and leave it at that.
	So there I was peeling potatoes when my mechanics instructor, Lt.
Bills came up, with another guy in tow. I had never seen the other
kat before, but it was obvious he wasn't a soldier because he was in
a lab coat.  He looked as if he were just a little older than me.  He
glanced my way and scanned me from head to toe.  "Is this him?" He
asked the Lt. 	"That's your kat."
	They seemed to understand each other.  I on the other hand was in
the dark, so I stopped peeling and asked what this was all about.
"Come with me, Jake." The guy said, "Let's take a walk."  I was
hesitant but Lt. Bills said he had excused me from peeling for a few
minutes.  Curious about this new Kat and eager to get away from
spuds, I stood up and went with him.
	"My name's Gretty.  Louis Gretty.  I'm a scientist for the
Enforcer R and D team."  He waited for a reply.  I didn't have one
just yet.  "I have to admit you're a bit of a surprise.  I've been
watching potential candidates, and initially, you weren't among
them."
	I remember the first question that came to my mind was:
"Candidates for what?"
	What he said next almost blew me away. "Candidates for a small,
special class. Of researchers.  We plan on investigating cutting edge
concepts and technologies. Sound interesting?"
	Interesting? It sounded right up my alley.  "Tell me more, doc."
I told him.
	As it turns out he had acquired permission from on high to put
together a class of, as he put it, "...highly driven, technically
inclined and mechanically gifted individuals.".  He intended it to be
a sort of honor roll.  He said it was voluntary, and if I joined, I
would be exempt from mechanics class and machine shop. 
	I didn't answer him.  I thought things thru for a minute.  He was
very patient and waited.  He probably noticed that I was hesitant
because he directed me to their building.
	They have their own building!
	I walked in and watched as he laid his palm on a platform and the
door opened automatically.  I inquired about the palm-recognition
mechanism.  That was the first time I had ever seen one of those
things.  I said to myself, heck, if i don't join, at least I'll get
as much out of this visit as I can.  But in truth my desire to jump
right in was waxing, and my hesitation waning.  This guy had won
himself a new disciple in yours truely.
	"The palm-print identification unit is really experimental" He
explained.  He went on to say that the fur on a kats paws are thinner
than on most other parts, so the laser on the palm rest can penetrate
and read the prints.  But he said that it was still too crude, and
some exceptionally thick hair on a paw could still mess up the
reading.  He was working on a more advanced design, maybe a larger
palm rest which would allow a larger laser.  I suggested a faster
laser, or a more intense laser.  Maybe even one which could fire at a
certain frequency wherein the light would go past fur and stop at the
plam itelf.
	We went on and on and on.  If I try to write down everything we
talked about I'd put you to sleep, so I won't.  Anyway, that's all
for now, mom, dad, fellas.	Till next time...


								Love, 

									Jake	:)