"Soon they will come," said Riker addressing the assembled Tabbys in the little clearing that served as the communities meeting space. "They will come and force us to stay here. They will make us stay on this Godforsaken rock for the rest of our lives," he paused with a dramatic flair, "and we don't know how long that will be."
"We deserve to go home," shouted a female voice from the crowd. "I miss my husband, my son."
Riker nodded. He was pleased at the size of the crowd. In the first meeting that he and organized, only a few had shown up, now there were at least 50. They... the jailors as he thought of them, would have to listen to their demands once he had enough support.
"You are right," said Riker. "And I'm sure your husband and son miss you." He started to pace as he talked, "We all have husbands, wives, sons, daughters, and parents who still want to see us." He held out a clawed hand, "Even as we are now."
The crowd murmured in approval.
"Despite how they see us, we still have rights, we were born human.." he paused and taped a claw to his black furred chest, "and we remain human in here... where it counts."
A few cries of "hear hear" came from the assembled group. Riker could see their tails twitching with approval.
"I have sent our signed petition to the Governor General of the Dominion," said Riker. "This island may be independent, but it is still part of the Commonwealth, and many of us were commonwealth citizens before we were taken. I'm told the Queen has sympathies towards us. If we could get her on side, it would be a tremendous step to us returning to our homes."
"And if that doesn't work?" questioned a voice from the back of the crowd. "What then?"
Riker recognized the voice and the Irish Cork accent. Rebecca.
The crowd parted as Rebecca walked to the front of the crowd. Her tawny-red fur shone in the sunlight. Even as one of the shorter Tabbys, she had a strength about her that few dared to mess with. "Besides," the Rebecca said "Not all of us were subjects to YOUR queen."
Riker grinned, he did his best to avoid showing his fangs. "She would be an ally for those that want to return home... that is all."
Rebecca turned to the crowd, "We can hold on to the past, or we can make our best lives here. It's not ideal, but it's a hell of a lot better than what they had planned for us on those labs."
"We just want to go home," a voice from the crowd said.
"Aye, I know that. I want to go home myself," Rebecca said. She motioned to Riker, "He's right, we are human inside, but if the war has shown us anything, it's that human kind has a very long way to go with treating anyone it perceives as an OTHER with equal respect. The world needs time to be ready for us, and we need time to be ready for the world."
Riker held up a paw to signal the crowd. He was losing control and had to shut things down, "We will stop here for today. I will send word when I have received a reply from the Governor General."
The crowd murmured and began to disperse.
"That was rather selfish of you," Riker said, watching the crowd of Tabbys leaving the clearing and making their way back down the hill to the Enclave.
"If we are to survive," Rebecca said. "We have to stick together."
"Sometimes, survival isn't enough. We have to LIVE."
With that, Riker began walked towards the edge of the clearing. He turned back, his green cat eyes narrow, staring through her. "And I'll politely ask you not to attend any meeting you have clearly NOT been invited to."
Rebecca watched the larger Tabby stalk off. She sighed and closed her eyes for a taking in the warmth of the spring sun. Things were just getting more and more difficult.
Her heart ached. She had left her daughter behind with her parents before attempting a transatlantic crossing to New York four years ago. The ship had been captured by Nazis a few days out of Dublin. Everyone on board had blood taken. After a few days most of the prisoners had been let go, set adrift on lifeboats, but Rebecca and one other were shipped of to some undisclosed location.
And then the experiments started.
Rebecca was a shell of a person by the time the lab was liberated. When the allied soldiers found her, she was curled into a ball in the corner of her cell, her mind more animal than human at that point.
"Animal," a dark thought crossed her mind. "That's all you are. That's all they will see you as."
It had taken weeks of therapy following the liberation to regain small pieces of herself. Just as she was starting to feel normal, she as well as the other surviving Tabby's were loaded on to a ship and sent to the Dominion "For their own good."
She could still hear the sailors aboard that ship whispering to themselves about the "Freaks" that they carried. One so bold as to say "Best to toss the overboard to drown like a bag of unwanted kittens."
She looked at her pawlike hands. What would her daughter think of her now? Her parents? After they arrived at the Enclave, she wanted to write, but couldn't bring herself to. "No," she thought. "Better for them to think I'm dead."
She had worked hard since she arrived. Day by day rebuilding her strength and herself. She missed her daughter dearly, but the best thing she could to is try and survive. One day, maybe in the far future, a cure would be found. If so she had to be ready. She hoped her daughter would understand.
She turned, and began a slow walk back to the enclave.