Title: THE PRINCESS AND THE COMMANDER
Author: ulyferal
Rating: T
Warnings: Some sexual innuendo.
Disclaimer: “SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron,” its characters and concepts are copyright to Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc and are used without permission.

The past...

Two kittens dashed madly around an imposing mansion with exotic gardens, squealing wildly as they tried to escape their watchers. Feeling put upon, the pair of nannies trotted after the errant kittens. For just a moment, the five year olds managed to get far enough ahead that they could safely jump into their secret hideaway before their caretakers came around the corner. They held small paws to their mouths to keep their giggles from escaping while the nannies trod irritably past their hiding place.

As soon as their caretakers were out of sight, the pair slipped out of the huge bush with the hollow center and went back the way they’d come, laughing wildly. They dashed back to the pool area they had just left and were just about to jump back in when a pair of powerful paws grabbed them both by the scruff of their necks.

“What have you two been up to this time?” the voice of the formidable Chief of Security, Brandar, asked, shaking both of them.

“Nothing, sir! We are just going swimming!” the male of the pair said innocently.

“Nothing, eh?! Humph, why don’t I believe that.” Brandar snorted and looked up when two out of breath nannies reappeared, having guessed the little devils had doubled-backed on them.

They marched up to Brandar and each took a kitten from him.

“Thank you, Brandar. The Princess and Ulysses were supposed to be getting changed for lunch, but obviously they wanted to continue swimming,” Nanny Whitetail said, still out of breath. She glared down at the little dark brown furred male.

“But, we weren’t hungry!!!” Princess Zulara whined as her nanny began to pull her toward the mansion.

“Your Queen mother wishes you to be present for lunch and none of your complaining is going to change that,” Nanny Tolson said firmly.

Both kittens pouted and shared a look of annoyance behind their nannies’ backs as they were unceremoniously dragged to their rooms to be cleaned and dressed.

Eight years later....

“Aw, shoot. I’ll never understand this stuff. I don’t understand why we have to learn it anyway,” adark furred tom kat said to his companion.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have to understand why, we just have to learn it, Ulysses, so stop pouting and help me figure this out,” a pretty auburn haired and cream furred she-kat said with a sigh of annoyance.

“Just because, isn’t a good enough answer, Zulara!” Ulysses Feral said, feeling put upon.

“Well, that’s the only answer I have for you. Now, get back to work unless you want Ms. Levear to give you even more work to do,” Zulara said bluntly.

“Crud!” Ulysses muttered darkly but went back to his work.

A year later...

“But, father... didn’t he tell you anything??” Princess Zulara said, tears falling from her eyes.

“Oh, my child! I’m truly sorry, but what Ulysses’s father told me is private and I promised to tell no one. All I can tell you is what I’ve said already. The Feral’s had to leave and no one could know where, for their safety. I am soo sorry, daughter. I know how much you and Ulysses cared for each other. Your mother and I loved him too as if he were our own son, but there is nothing I can do about it,” the king said sadly as he hugged his grieving daughter over the loss of her beloved playmate and long time friend.

Two decades later... Megakat City... the present...

Princess Zulara stepped out of the royal jet with four of her guards following closely. As the Chief of Security for the King and Queen of the Tanloran Empire, it was her responsibility to insure the safety of the royal couple. Her security team had already arrived a week ahead of the royal entourage and had secured the area, scanned the drivers of the limousine, checked the security of the hotel they were staying at, and the route to the hotel.

As she reached the ground, her second in command was waiting for her to give her a briefing. Her deep blue eyes swept the area, alert for danger, as she listened to his report. A beautiful heart-shaped face of cream colored fur was nearly hidden by the bill of her cap. The shoulder length auburn hair was billowing in the breeze of the flight line, and her body was completely encased within a silver and blue security uniform. Her black nearly thigh high boots gleamed in the morning sunlight.

She nodded at Lt. Commander Lingore in dismissal after he’d completed his report then turned to signal the guard waiting at the top of the jet stairs to allow her mother and father to deplane. They blinked in the bright sunlight as they came sedately down to stand beside her.

Her guards surrounded the royal pair as the Princess led the way toward a pair of doors leading into the terminal. Waiting for them was a portly kat with a pretty blond she-kat standing beside him. Sighing to herself, Princess Zulara walked to the male then stepped to one side.

“I present their royal majesties King Torrence and Queen Cecelia of the Tanloran Empire,” the Princess intoned formally.

“Greetings, your majesties, I am Mayor Manx and this is my Deputy Mayor Calico Briggs. Welcome to our faiiir citae. I am truly glad to have you visit Megakat City and hope yourrr visit will be a pleasant one,” Manx said pompously, reaching to shake their paws.

The King stepped forward and shook Manx’s paw vigorously. “A pleasure to meet you, sir. My Queen and I look forward to seeing all the sights of this amazing city that I’ve heard so much about.” Ms. Briggs was shaking the Queen’s paw and smiling warmly at her.

Smiling broadly, Manx made a gesture toward the waiting cars. “I hope the accommodations we’ve made for you both arrre adequate. If theirr is anything you requirre, please don’t hesitate to ask I or Deputy Mayor Briggs. We have a graand ball planned in a week in honor of your visit. Until then, your limousines await to take you to your hotel.”

“Perfect! We could stand to freshen up a bit. It’s been a long flight,” the King said with a pleased smile.

As the group followed the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, they poured out another door and were nearly set upon by the press being held back by enforcers. The royal couple did not stop to talk. A press conference was set for later. The news hackers would just have to wait till later, but it didn’t stop them from taking lots of pictures and yelling questions.

Princess Zulara climbed in the car with her parents as her guards and the rest of the royals' entourage got aboard theirs. Soon, the long line of limousines was snaking their way toward the Megakat Grand Hotel.

So far there had been no problems! Even the press conference, held in the hotel ball room, had gone well. Zulara stretched and decided to take a walk around the hotel before turning in for the night. It had been a very long day. It was a nice night, and it was quiet in this neighborhood. She nodded at the well-placed guards that were unobtrusively stationed around the hotel as she passed each one. Making a complete circuit of the building, she felt reasonably satisfied with the security so went back in and up to her rooms located next door to her parents.

The next few days were a whirlwind of visits to important places. She was impressed by the size of this city and how modern it seemed compared to her own country. She had to admit, the bay was her favorite view from her hotel window. She had gotten a glimpse of Enforcer Headquarters as they were being escorted to yet another place of interest and was quite impressed with it. She hoped she’d be able to make time to see their Chief Enforcer and share an exchange of security methods between their countries. She was surprised that the Commander of the Enforcers had not been introduced to them by now. She found that a little strange.

It was on a tour of the Megakat Natural History Museum when things went a little sour. Her parents had already left, but she had wanted to see the huge jewelry collection so had stayed behind. As she looked into a case of exquisite necklaces from the past, she heard screams and shouts just outside the room.

Pulling her weapon, she and her guards quickly ran to the door and peeked around it. Her eyes widened at the sight of a strange little creature that was knocking Kats off their feet with a glowing pocket watch. It was apparently heading for the room she was watching from. She didn’t plan on waiting for him to run into her. She slipped out of the room and signaled her guards to spread out, and they fired their weapons at her command on the creature before it could turn around.

To her shock their blasts had no effect on the creature except to make it angry. It whirled around to point its watch at them when something powerful slammed into it and flattened it to the floor. Down the hall ran two colorful Kats, one of which had fired the weapon that had sent the creature sprawling.

Screaming with fury, the creature rolled to its feet unharmed. “You’ll not take me, SWAT Kats!” It aimed its weapon at them. He didn’t see Zulara race up and tackle him, sending him to the floor again.

The SWAT Kats ran up. One of them shouted at her, “Roll off him!” She did quickly, and the one who had yelled at her fired a strange kind of missile that struck the creature dead on, exploding a gooey black mixture that prevented the thing from moving.

“Gotcha this time, Pastmaster!” the bigger of the Kats said.

The smaller of the pair reached down and picked up the pocket watch the creature had dropped.

“You won’t be causing anymore trouble now that we have this,” the smaller tom said triumphantly.

“Are you okay, miss? That was a brave thing for you to do!” the bigger kat said, reaching down to help her stand.

She smiled and accepted the paw up. “Just part of my job, sir,” he answered politely. Then cocked her head at them. “You’re not enforcers, are you?”

“Huh! Us? Nah. We’re the SWAT Kats. We do what the enforcers can’t do! My name’s T-Bone, and that’s my partner Razor!” he said proudly.

“T-Bone, we better scat before the enforcers get here!” Razor said, tugging on T-Bone’s arm.

He handed the pocket watch to a she-kat who had just walked up. “Here, Dr. Sinean, give this to the enforcers. Come on, partner,” he snapped again as he began to take off.

“Yeah, right, Razor. Sorry we have to get. The enforcers don’t like us interfering with their duties.” T-Bone smirked then ran after his partner down the hall away from the arriving enforcers.

Zulara shook her head in confusion.

“Are you alright, your highness?” her second in command asked anxiously as they came up to her side.

“I’m fine, Ruelen, thanks!” she said distractedly. What a weird encounter that had been, and it made her mad. ‘Why hadn’t they been warned of such problems before they made plans to visit this city?’ she thought angrily. She obviously needed to meet the Commander sooner than she’d planned.