Slinking in shadows on little cat feet she went, turning corners in lissome confidence and passing unheard and unseen through the ventilation shafts. Warm air flowed around her as she crept along, holding in mind her mental model of the secret location. This time, she would make a go of it. She had six shiny things she’d accumulated already, and the next was practically around the corner.

She’d memorized guard rotations, electrical schema and floorplans for months, and despite all her efforts she’d had to abandon everything on the last attempt. This time, she’d be better prepared. She scanned ahead through the darkness of the unlit shaft as her hair lifted and ruffled. She was determined to be professional. Through the rectangular sheet metal tube she crawled, alert for alarms.

Despite her precautions, the floor of the ventilation shaft bumped and squeaked as she passed gently through. She froze, listening intently. There were guards passing through the corridors below and she was ready to spring into action, or flee if need be. She pawsed on the edge of flight, her claws extended, her ears listening with full focus as her brain analyzed the sound of each footstep.

The footsteps faded to silence. They hadn’t noticed! She let go the breath she’d been holding and took a tentative step forward. There was a chance this evening would pay off after all. There was a tension between her great desire for her prize, and her need for caution. But you couldn’t just wait, either; sometimes you just had to calculate the risks, then step up and take a swing. Sometimes you might just get by with a cute smile, and sometimes you had to be ready to back up your actions, and be clever, and pick your battles carefully.

She was committing herself to it now, as she worked her way further down the shaft, and rounded a corner, and saw the faint glow of light ahead. She worked her way up to the vent grille and peered through. There was the red-velvet lined case, and there was the object she sought, gleaming gently in the subdued light. There were no guards in the room proper; the next inspection would be ten minutes from now. Just time enough if she was bold!

She extended a long pole, a pole that once had had a few colored feathers tied to the end, but which was now modified to suit her purrpose.  She slipped it through the louvres, and lowered the string gently, gently, snaking it around the infrared beams until the string’s lowest loop was just able to snag the object of her desire. She lifted it slowly as the seconds and the minutes ticked away. She dared not make a sudden move or it would fall to the floor and alert the guards. Up a bit more, carefully.

As it neared the vent, she got another tool ready, a long forceps, and as she drew the pole with her prize close, she suddenly darted out with the forceps to seize the prize before it could fall from the string. The prize was hers!

She slowly pulled it through the louvres and stashed it in her pouch just as guards started to approach the door. She held her exhilaration down as she turned and moved for the escape hatch and the rendezvous point. But her heart hammered with the truth inside her.

She was the Queen of cats, the Cat-Ra, and this was her night, and this prize was [i]her[/i] prize.