Harden's Folly

          Harden placed his hand on the track he could feel the vibration of the train, it was getting closer. He was not sure how much track to grease, so he and his bandits had over the last three hours slicked up the next three miles just to be sure. "Get ready Boy's, fire-up and start building your steam we are gonna take this baby down, Do you hear me!" His crew responded with enthusiastic grunts and "yeah we gonna show dem who's the man" kind of phrases.

          This next three miles was a perfect ambush area. His steem sand carts were fast and capable, they could keep pace with the train easy, the tracks were low to the surface, for some reason, not built on an elevated pad, must be due to few rocks in the area. So the Rail base was not that much higher than the surrounding surface.

^{Source https://wonderopolis.org}

          Little did Harden know he and his men were in a lot of trouble. Jerrisin had heard of his plan, and The Company, knew about the issues for this stretch. They had a hidden camera that ran its signal back to the train along the very rails it ran on. Jerrisin was ready. She stepped to the ring box and called on Toledo, "Toledo, get the SteemScorps ready, programmed for tire take out, I want that bastard Harden alive. Put three of them on him, take the other sand carts out as you see fit. We should be hitting the grease in 5 minutes, we will slow a little, then drop the sand. Don't screw up, I said alive and I mean that. Roughed up a little is fine but no holes in him. Are you clear on that?"

          "Man I can't believe she still has the hots for him", Toledo said to Micova, "...I heard that asshole, now you and Micova do your jobs and kill the gossip, or I'll kill you." Toledo gulped. Micova looked at him and shook her head, "I always said that mouth of yours was gonna get you in trouble, not to mention the stupidity of always forgetting to un key the ringer. Let's get the men ready, she did say we only needed Harden alive, rest are fair game", she smiled and let her teeth slip out a little bit.

          "Soanaria, you stick with Toledo, anything happens to him, and I take it out of...well you know what will happen. Take Barklet with you. You three have one job, capture Harden. No doubt Jerrisin will be along to help you, do not get in her way, but don't let her go off half cocked like she can sometimes.. Toledo, you listen to Soanaria, you do what she says when she says, I want you back in one piece". Micova looked over at Toledo to make sure he understood.

          "Cat on a hot tin roof Micova, I don't need a babysitter when are you gonna learn that, Just because I goofed that one time and got hurt, you got to stop protecting me like a newborn cubby, but I will be careful, when we get more than a minute to breath we are going to need to have a sit down." Toledo reached out gave her a hug, and wisphered very softly, "Love you two, and I will be fine".

          "Alright the rest of you kittens are with me. Harden may be a norm, but some of his men are mutts, so lets go kick some puppy butts." she told the rest of the crew as she was buttoning her last silver clasp on her glove knuckles. The mutts might like to spend silver, but they really hated being cut or shot or hurt by it. "All of you be careful, try not to use your claws, we do not want to scare the norms. Your speed and agility should do, the mutts don't carry guns but they do have some nasty crank crossbows, the norms among them they have guns so take them out first".

          The train started to slow and lose traction as it rolled on to the greased tracks, Jerrisin applied a little bit of sand so as to not make it appear like the trap she had set. She turned to the engineer, "slow just a little bit, I will let you know when to get going again". She looked out the small side window from the engine and saw him. It had been five years but she still had some business to finish with him. He looked older, more worn, one thing being a kitten did was help the eyes, and the ageing. she owed Harden, and she would pay him back. "Okay", she spoke into the ring box, "Harden is on the Red and Black sand cart, get the Scorps out now". Soanaria opened the Scorp box and set them loose, they literally flew from the train in a rush to attack the sand carts.

          Harden looked up as he heard a cargo door open on the train, and saw the SteemScorps streaming from the train. "Look alive boys, looks like they may be onto us, steemscorps coming our way, Jorral break off and see if you can do anything, Stalinger, you go with him, rest of you lets go."

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          The SteemScorps were closing on the sand carts, Jorral's was the first to be stopped, then Stalinger's, but they stopped half the Scorps. Micova could see they were norms, "Rallin, and Florak, go take care of those two, careful they do have guns" Rallin and Florak just grinned at Micova, as they jumped to the roof and then took off to the back of the train, leaping off at the caboose, the train had moved that far down the line.

          "Stalinger, look out we got incoming, screw the tires" Jorral shouted as he pulled his pistol and started firing. Stalinger looked up at the first shot then added his pistol to the mix. It did them no good, the kittens were on them in a heart beat, so fast and agile and able to never leave themselves as a target when going out at full speed. It came at a cost to them, but over the short distance it was doable, had they been spotted earlier they would not have been able to make the distance. Florak looked back toward the train, moving away, then she sank her teeth in and replenished that which she had lost from Jorral, while Rallin did the same to Stalinger.

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          The SteemScorps managed to take out three more of the four sand carts remaining, Harden's was one of them. Soanaria saw Hardens cart flip over. She, Toledo and Barklet took off after Harden, for a norm he was fast, he got one round off, and winged Barklet, Before Toledo had his arms around him in a choke hold. Soanaria did her best saunter, up to Harden. Harden could not help but notice the sexualness of her approach, as he tried to grasp an extra breath of air. "The mighty Harden", Soanaria softly lisped out at him, noticing his pheromones as she walked and spoke. "How the mighty has fallen. Someone on that train went to a lot of trouble for you, I am not sure if you will be pleased or not, but I do know she will be pleased." she told Harden. "Put him out Toledo, how are you Barklet, you gonna live or do you need a little motherly love"? she teased. Barklet looked her up and down, yes she was hot, and she was steeming right now, and looking, he felt it with every fiber of his male body. "Yes, I will live the small wound, and as for the motherly love, will I survive that"? he asked in a joking manner.

          The train had stopped, Sonaria looked back to where they had come, and saw a sand cart approaching. "Well, well, well, it looks like we might not have to walk to the train, these carts may be toast, but looks like Florak and Rallin had a wonderful time. Is he out cold Toledo? and under control"? Sonaria asked. "Yeah he should be out for a few hours, but I have him tied and I did give him the knockout shot, so he should be fine. pity, no real bruises on him. I hope Jerrisin is okay with that". Florak pulled the sand cart over to them.

          "My, my, my, look what the cat dragged in. No problem for your three I see". Florak smiled as she spoke. Soanaria looked at her with almost glee in her eyes, "Ah, I see you two had a very very nice time. Barklet got a small boo-boo, I'll be looking after it when we get back to the train. For a norm, that Harden was fast, but good for me", she whispered that last part so Barklet would not hear, as she smiled to Florak. Florak gave a knowing smile right back at her.

          Micova watched the sand cart approach, she was worried that something may have happened to Toledo. The fight with the mutts went with no problem, they were castoff mutts, no band to belong to, no alpha male or female to control them, to teach them, it was a massacre, they stood no chance against the kittens, she almost felt sorry for them. "Micova", Jerrisin called. "When they get here, have them bring Harden to my car, then get ready to get this thrain back on schedule. Have Kalin guard the engineer, and put Florak and Rallin in charge of the kittens when they get here. I am sure you will want to look after Toledo, and Soanaria, well we know what happens to her after a fight, so leave her to her vices". Jerrisin walked toward the rear of the train and the last car before the caboose.

          The sand cart was finally approaching. Micova was bouncing from one leg to the next until she caught sight of the cart and could see that Toledo was okay. Micova set about getting everyone ready to depart, she informed Kalin that he was to ride "shotgun", and got the rest of the kittens in and settled letting them know who would be in charge of them. Then she started toward the approaching cart, She raised her arm to get them to stop.

          "Toledo, I am glad to see you survived", were the first words of greeting. Toledo was unsure how to react, he was unhappy that Micova thought he needed a babysitter, but also confused about it all. "Soanaria, you and Barklet take Harden to Jerrisin's car, then you have the rest of the evening off", she looked over at Barklet's wound, "Do you need to have that looked at". She asked Barklet, at the same time she saw the look in Soanaria's eyes, "Humm never mind, you too after dropping him off have the evening off also.". She turned away from them and grabbed Toledo's arm, to lead him to her private car. When she got there she used the ring box to call Jerrisin.

          She wasted no time when Jerrisin pick up, "Soanaria and Barklet are bringing you Harden, Kalin is riding shotgun, Florak and Rallin are watching the kittens, I let Soanaria and Barklet know that they have the evening off, so we will be ready to roll when you give the word.

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What are Jerrisins plans for Harden?
Will Toledo's confusion be finally put to rest?
Will Barklet survive the nursing?
What other adventures await the kittens?

We may never know.

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          So I am a beginning writer, I have been using a few different contest to try and improve my writing, and putting my thoughts down on the computer. It is not easy, but I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn. One of the things you always hear about learning how to write is - "write, write a lot, write every day", so I am trying to improve. The above is my entry into:

Neoxian's Daring and Intrepid Steampunk writing contest!