I was sixteen when I joined the federation fleet marines. Of course the records said I was older and there was no one to say otherwise. The basic course was very hard and we lost a third of the company. I was not going to give up and by the time I finished the advanced course I was at the top of the class.

My company was a first strike company and we went in after a mixed rogue world regiment. From the time we rushed off the assault shuttle to when our regiment arrived it was a constant battle and a nightmare. We were hit hard but made a stand and killed the bastards. At first I followed the orders of my sergeant but after he was hit, I was alone and on my own.

Even with the heavily protected armored combat suit, rounds still managed to kill us. An hour after we landed the regiment reached us. I was the only one still alive and I was firing into the bastards. I had been wounded many times and could only use one leg and my right arm. I was bleeding internally and was partially blind in one eye.

The bodies in front of my position covered the ground and in some places they were piled up. I was still willing to stay a marine but after I woke in the med bay, I found out the mind doctors and a med review had already decided to medically retire me. They said my actions were those of a hero but it did not feel like it to me.

I wanted somewhere remote and quiet and beside the medal for heroism they gave me colony credit for any colony. I picked Addison World, with its plague outbreak half the people were dead and the other half struggling to recover so it needed new people. I was not the only one going there, there were others from the federation and even further.

I stayed on the liner when we reached the heliopause station while a lot of people took the skip shuttles in. At low station I walked off with my duffle bags and looked around. I had several hours before the shuttle down and decided to look around. I found the merchant walk and looked in each store.

I bought a long knife in one and a skinning knife in another. I bought a bag of cleaning and tanning bots and finally I bought a net wand and a Richards twelve millimeter pistol. I looked at eggs for companions and other animals but they were very expensive. I went to wait at the shuttle lounge for the next one down to the north colony after turning in my duffles.

A small petite young woman sat down and she was very pretty and smiled, “I have seen you before.”

I sighed because this had happened a few times, “a news vid.”

She blinked and then nodded, “yeah.”

She looked around at the people filling the lounge, “I am Katelynn Hawk. My mother married a man and moved and I am just returning home now.”

I looked at her carefully, “you are from Addison?”

She nodded, “from the north colony. Well ... next to the new colony barrier.”

I smiled, “how old were you when you left?”

She smiled and wiggled and rubbed against the seat, “eight.”

I looked at her seat and she blushed, “sorry but you are making me very horny.”

I grinned, “that is a first.”

She grinned and leaned closer, “I have a large farm and grow local fruit and earth type vegetables. Right now most is going to waste since our manager died. I claimed our land and told dad off before I left.”

She caressed my leg, “we have an hour if you want to use a sleep cubical.”

We made it back barely in time and sat together on the way down. I had been thinking of looking for work after I got down. Cat, as she wanting me to call her talked me into coming home with her. Once we were down and had collected our things I called for a public flyer. When we reached her home I could only stare.

There were a few dozen huge fire and spice trees reaching into the sky and her home was fifty meters up and very large. There were fields with long vines on rows of rails. There were also a few dozen long greenhouses, stasis silos, a large barn and large water storage tanks. There were stairs but Cat led me to a lift.

Her eyes were very bright as she looked around, “first thing we have to do is look for squirrel rats. The manager brought in a dozen tame mini leopards and mini tigers but I do not know if they stayed.”

I nodded to a secondary branch, “there are two.”

She looked and grinned, “those are mini leopards.”

The lift stopped at a larger covered porch and we got off and walked towards a door. I saw the flap to let the cats in and thought of snakes or serpents but remembered they did not have any here. I set my bags down and she parked her float. The common room was huge with large windows and plenty of cushioned chairs or couches.

Along some of the windows were large ledges or what they called nests, some big enough for a dragon. I grinned as I looked around and then followed Cat towards the kitchen. We checked the stasis cooler and the stasis pantry. Both were full and the kitchen was clean. I heard a soft chirp and turned to see one of the small cats.

I grinned as I got out a blood fruit and knife and sliced it up. I put it on a plate and then set it on the floor, “call your friends.”

Cat giggled as the small tiger moved closer while watching us. It smelled and then took a slice and began to purr as it ate. We began to search the house and I was right, it was huge. Of course above, in and on other branches and trees were three more large homes we would have to look at later.

I followed Cat and put my bags in a large bedroom with nests above the bed and at the windows. That was where we found a stasis box with two very young dwarf dragons and a note. It said they were a week old and needed a good home. It was signed by the last manager and Cat looked at me and bit her lip.

I grinned, “pick one and we will go find fire and spice leaves. There was more than enough meat in the chiller.”

She grinned and looked in the box before picking one and I shut the stasis off. The two young animals looked out and I reached for the other one. It struggled but was to young to fight very much. I folded the wings and headed for the door with Cat cradling the other one in her arms. It was not hard to find the leaves, we just walked around the lower covered porch.

When we went to the kitchen it was to see a half dozen of the small cats. I sighed as I pulled out meat and cut it up and then more blood fruit. The last I set on a plate on the floor before we carried the dwarf dragons out the back door. I had read about this and set fire and spice leaves burning.

We moved so the two young dwarf dragons breathed in the smoke. It did not smell bad to me but the little animals went limp and I quickly put the fire out. I checked the one I was holding and pet and caressed it until it started to revive. It whined and I hesitated before I gave it a piece of meat.

It growled and started eating and I set it down, “vicious monster.”

I did not mean it as I got another piece of meat. Cat was feeding hers and petting it so I kept caressing mine. They stopped eating before we ran out of meat. I grabbed the plate and carried my little friend back inside. I set the plate down for the cats and then looked at the dwarf dragon, “I think I will call you James.”

It stretched and looked around and I looked at Cat, “so.”

She grinned as she stood from setting her Molly down, “so we need to find the farm office and get a couple of small bore rifles. After that we go look around the farm.”

I nodded and we began to explore with the two young dwarf dragons following and getting into everything. We finally left the house and took the lift down. I looked around and felt the pistol I was carrying and then headed for the barn. The little dragons spread out smelling everything and pouncing on anything that moved.

The office was in the barn and so were the drone charging stations for the harvest drones. Stacked in the aisle were large stasis containers. I checked a couple and they were full. There was a rifle rack in the office with a half dozen rifles. Below were shelves that held boxes of ammo. Only three were small bore and I checked two and gave one to Cat.

I made sure she knew how to use it and we loaded them and left. First we checked the barn and then moved to the first greenhouse. I opened the door and stepped into a jungle like atmosphere with plants seeming to grow wild. There were three center aisles and we started down the first.

I glanced at the dragons as they crowded close to our legs, “someone does not like it in here.”

Halfway down I heard a noise and brought the rifle to my shoulder. The rush out of planters was small animals I recognized as squirrel rats, “back!”

There were dozens which could overwhelm us. I fired into them as I began to back up. I bent to catch the dwarf dragon as it started forward, “no.”

I fired and kept moving but the rats were moving faster and by the sound there were more coming. I swept up James and spun, “out!”

Cat had wide eyes and was clutching her Molly. She nodded, turned and ran for the door. It swung open and I kept pushing her and let James go to slam it behind us. I backed away, “okay time for another plan.”

Cat waited for me and hissed, “what are we going to do?”

I grinned as I headed for the barn, “first the greenhouse was overgrown and useless. We are going to use the panels to amplify the sun and roast everything. Once we reset the panels we hunt the outside of the greenhouse for the hole they are using to get in. Three days with no water and intense heat and we bring in fire.”

She hurried after me and set her Molly down, “but if there are squirrel rats, the farm will be useless.”

I shook my head, “we need two things right now. A large bag and the water shut off.”

It was not hard to find the bag and the water shut off was behind the greenhouse. I had to make a net system like a fish trap for the bag. We walked around the greenhouse and I found one vent open. I used a moly bonder and affixed the bag to the vent. Next I shut off the power to the vent fans. If or when the squirrel rats came out, they would be caught in the bag.

Next I did some checking and found small remotes used to check the fields. I was able to open a door and send one into each of the other greenhouses. By late afternoon we knew only three had squirrel rats in them. They were all overgrown and the stasis silos were full, intact and sealed. That had Cat making calls to sell what she could, including what was in the crates.

We walked the fields and let Molly and James play their own game of hide and seek. We killed lots of squirrel rats in the fields before coming back to the house. First we cleaned the rifles and then made a detailed check of the house. All the cats were either in the house or outside in the trees.

I even went up to check the other houses and the small cats must have had a litter because there were probably three dozen. At least there were no rats in the trees or houses. We made dinner and fed our friends before the sun went down. When we walked into the bedroom I slowed and stared at all the cats in the nests.

Cat grinned as she lifted her Molly to one and I bent to pick up James. I set him beside the other dwarf dragon and stripped. We made the bed and I shut the light off while Cat slipped under a blanket. I followed and caressed her and she turned to snuggle. I woke to the rumble of thunder and cats and dragons crawling under the blanket with us.

I looked at the window to see rain and shifted to make room for everyone. Cat giggled as she began to pet and caress the animals. I caressed James and as many of the cats as I could. Finally the rain stopped and I lifted the blanket, “time for a wash and breakfast.”

That was an experience and my first with land animals that seemed to love water. Both James and Molly used the bath and swam like old earth otters. We had to find towels to dry them and us and then we went to get dressed. In the kitchen we had a lot of the cats and had to feed them as well as the dwarf dragons.

We ate fruit and then took the rifles and went to check the bags. I used a stick and beat them to kill the rats inside. Next I used remotes to check all three greenhouse. After that Cat had vehicles come in for the food that had been harvested. She found one whole crate of blood fruit and kept it for the cats.

Next it was time to walk the fields again. James and Molly rode on a float sled with a large stasis box. We used a grav tractor gun and picked up the dead rats and put them in the box. We hunted several of the fields and killed more than we had the day before. We even found a nest they made in the vines.

That I tore apart and killed the rats that came out. We used a remote to check the fields and then sent the harvest drones out. Normally they would put everything in one of the stasis silos unless they were full. We were almost back to the house when James growled and I followed his look.

I spun while pulling my net wand and pointed up and fired. The diving firehawk seemed huge to me as the net spread out and it flew into it. I was already moving and pulling Cat with me and it crashed to the ground. I grinned as I pulled James and Molly back and stalked closer. I knelt and one hand struck and I caught the bird behind the head.

It was struggling in the net and I tried to pin the wings, “go get one of the big crates!”

I knew it would sell at a high price and I even knew someone that would love to have it. He had been a patient in the hospital with me and was being retired. He was from a plains world and he talked of large hawks he used to fly and hunt with. Twenty minutes and it was safe in a crate and in stasis and I thought of adding fire and spice leaves.

First I had to do a med scan and found out it was pregnant. A call and I had a deal and we would take it to the port to send it off tomorrow. The huge hawk made me think and I ran an inquiry and found a couple of dozen blood falcons that were for sale. I used my credits to buy them since they hunted the damn squirrel rats.

I used a short line and chunks of meat to teach James to chase and hunt. Molly was next while Cat made dinner and then we fed all the small cats and gave them slices of blood fruit. We left for the port as soon as the rain stopped and I paid to ship the firehawk. Next we went to the marketplace. It was huge but only half the shops and booths had anyone.

The one with the blood falcons had a lot of birds. I told the owner why we needed them and he grinned, “bond a pair. I have already trained them to return to their nest boxes. Put them up in a tree or on the barn and feed them rats. A day and they will be hunting your fields and returning.”

Of course they were in pairs and had their own nest boxes and we had to borrow a float to get them to our vehicle. Cat was grinning all the way home and we were careful getting them up into the trees. We hung the nest boxes on outer branches and finally fed them and opened the boxes.

We went to check the greenhouses and I had to kill the mass of rats in the bags trying to chew their way out. Next we opened the bags to get rid of the bodies and then sealed them again. I let Cat start clearing one of the greenhouses as I took a rifle and went hunting. I was surprised and pleased when I saw a blood falcon dive and kill a rat.

I killed a couple of dozen before I stopped and went to help Cat. It was hot in the greenhouse but I did not mind the work. First we had to remove all the plants and then clean the building. After that we had to decide which earth type plants we wanted to grow and started germinating the seeds.

It was late afternoon when James and Molly got us to leave so we could feed them. We also fed the cats and then climbed to the other homes to check them again. They were all large like hers and looked comfortable. More than a few birds had started nests on their porches. We returned to the house and made dinner and sat on the porch looking towards the distant barrier.

I shifted and pointed to what looked like falling branches, “those look like they are through the barrier.”

Cat looked and nodded, “probably.”

She shifted and then turned, “if it is, we need to get a closer look and call it in. If the barrier is breached something larger could get through. Like a elephant wolf or a camo tiger.”

I turned to go in and grabbed the rifle I had learned to take with me. Cat followed and shook her head, “you need one of the bigger ones.”

We used the lift and walked to the barn. In the office we switched rifles for large bore and loaded them. Next we unplugged one of the farm carts and loaded James and Molly. It was getting dark when I drove along the side of a field on the way to the far end. When I turned at the wide cleared area along the barrier we could see a lot of branches and debris through the barrier.

Cat shook her head as she used her comm, “great something else that is going to cost credits.”

I reached for the rifle and pulled it across my lap. I pulled up to the edge of the debris and got out and cradled the rifle. I looked at where vines and limbs had made a tunnel through the sonic barrier. I moved forward and caught Cat as she got out while still talking, “wait.”

Something was moving around under all the green leaves and James and Molly were growling. I lifted the rifle and pulled my flashlight. I moved closer and blinked as a head stuck up through the leaves. I looked back and then moved forward and shifted the rifle. My right hand snapped down and caught the back of the neck and I struggled to lift the heavy cub.

I backed up and turned and Cat grinned as she moved to take it while talking on the comm, “just send out the cutters.”

She disconnected and held the cub, “a camo tiger cub.”

I nodded and looked back before I went to the leaves that were still moving. I parted them and then had to pull smaller vines out of the way. They were holding a second cub and behind it was a very large cat or what they called a camo tiger. Only it was not moving and I saw one limb impaling it.

I freed the cub and lifted it and moved back, “it looks like the mother was killed.”

I moved to set it on the seat of the cart and then moved forward, “James stay.”

I heard something moving through the debris, “hold them.”

I shifted the rifle as Cat came around the cart. The cub on the seat meowed pitifully as if for its mother while James and Molly moved to smell it. Cat caught it and set the other down as I used my flashlight. The huge lizard seemed to just come out of nowhere as it rushed straight towards me. Combat and my training taught me well and I snapped the rifle up and fired.

The large round punched through the chest several times and I lifted the barrel and fired twice more. This time the rounds exploded through the head. The lizard crashed and slid to a stop a step away and began to thrash and convulse. James and Molly were back to growling as I moved back and looked at the huge monster, “damn that is a big monster.”

Cat hissed, “it is a king lizard. From the size it must be a record.”

I nodded as I looked it over, it had to be at least fifteen meters. I had her watch as I used the cart which strained to pull the huge lizard away from the debris. Next it was the mother camo tiger after I cut the body free. I waited with James while Cat took the cubs back and found stasis crates. When she returned she watched while I skinned and cut up the king lizard.

I did a rough measurement and it was just over fifteen meters. I looked at the camo tiger and sighed and knew I could not skin it or cut it up. Cat smiled, “softy. We can bury it after the cutters get here.”

It took a few hours and a dozen men arrived. They cut up the broken limb and hauled it away. One looked at the huge king lizard hide and we bargained until he agreed to pay for the removal of the limbs and debris. Cat took turns moving the stasis crates and then we moved the camo tiger.

On the other side of the trees was a small cemetery. James and Molly watched the two cubs while I dug a grave for their mother. It was morning before I was done. As much as I would like to keep the cubs I knew it was wrong. I did some checking and in the south they had a type of zoo. The area or pens were open and natural and I made a call.

I grinned as a specialist said she would be here as soon as she could. It took a month to get the three greenhouses cleared and restarted. The others were already growing plants and the fields were doing good. The blood falcons were doing a great job catching squirrel rats. James and Molly learned to hunt small animals and there were several more litters of the small cats.

For some reason they always had them in a nest in our room. Six months and Cat was pregnant. The farm is doing extremely well and most of the produce goes off world. Well the Addison produce, the earth type is sold here on the planet. I still have nightmares about my service but Cat, the dwarf dragons and all the small cats have made it easier.

The farm is remote and quiet but with Cat and all the animals I am never alone.