FSE

Furry search engine

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This story is for those who are 18 years old or older.

1. Feih Strikes

Corporal Thorn's hopes of a quick rescue were as low as the setting sun when he returned from the edge of the proposed landing field and found Feih staring intently at the sky. He sat down on the bedding she had made and prepared for his evening meal. He had almost started when a bright flash of light from above caught his attention. He looked up into the twilight sky and saw several more such flashes.

"It begins again," commented Feih. He looked at her then back to the darkening sky. "Your people are engaging the Soriss."

He broke out his binoculars, scanned the sky for any recognizable objects and instantly locked onto three tire shaped Soriss cruisers that were firing on some distant target. Two beams of blue light swept across them and despite the electronic protection built into the unit's circuitry, the flash from the explosion temporarily blinded him. Once his sight had returned all he saw was empty space. He pulled he instrument away from his eyes and saw several more such explosions arcing across the sky. The source of the beams moved at incredible speeds among them.

"Magnificent, isn't he?" asked Feih.

"It can't be him," thought Matt. "He wasn't due back for another two days" He pulled his glasses down and saw that she was standing and asked, "You can actually see what's going on?"

"No, but I know he's up there. We all do." Feih grin grew so wide that all of her teeth became exposed.

He checked his sensors, found that no other Dorzeli were nearby, then returned his attention to the battle above just in time to see the detonations retreat back to the point where they had first started. He looked through his glasses and saw the reason why.

Feih gave voice to his observation; "There are too many for him and your forces are withdrawing."

"Damn!"

His shout caused Feih to spin around and face him. "What's wrong?"

Surprised by her quick movement, he paused for a second then answered, "I've received an encoded transmission; they've changed where they're going to pick me up." He looked to the equivalent of northeast. "They're going to try again in three days on the other side of 'Lake Michigan', near the foot of those mountains."

He realized that she was not familiar with the Alliance's code names and prepared to explain, but she didn't need one; "I know the lake you're referring to and where they intend to land. I can..." A bright flash in the western sky interrupted her.

Matt gasped and dropped the binoculars so that they swung and hit him in the chest. "Th-they've stopped transmitting."

Feih looked back up into the darkening sky and growled, "I hope he comes back and kills them all."

He looked at her and saw that she had a look of extreme anger on her face. He was glad not to be the object of her anger. She calmed, sat down and turned toward him. For the first time since she disarmed him he felt no fear of her.

"I apologize for my display, but the Soriss have been the enemies of the Kroon Empire for centuries so when they found us marooned here on Dessla - my family was the first one brought here so my parents named it - they started to systematically kill us off." Her anger returned with renewed vigor; "They killed them, my young sister and my mate and have reduced our gene pool to the point where it's become almost impossible for most of us that are unmated to find suitable partners." She turned away from Matt. "Bisafah, the young one you saw, was...he should've been able to have made that kill on his own long ago." Feih closed her eyes. "His parents are blood cousins that were orphaned and separated from us during the first Soriss attack and grew to maturity and mated without knowing any better. By the time I found them he was already two seasons into his life."

Her tails thrashed across the ground and she clenched her fists so hard that Matt expected blood to ooze forth at any second. "Those (it translated as bastards, but Matt believed it must have meant more than that) in the Kroon Empire did nothing to stop this from happening and now our enemies have killed more of our potential allies."

Matt had been unprepared for the strength of her emotions; nothing in the database provided by the Mendalls had indicated such from a known ruthless species. He could not help but feel empathy for the pain she had experienced in revealing her family's and peoples' misfortunes at the hands of the planet's invaders and tried to think of something to say to ease her anguish as tears rolled down her face and snout.

"I'm so sorry, Feih" was all he could say.

She glanced at him, frowned and re-closed her eyes. "Why should you be sorry? Your people had nothing to do with the slaughter of over two thirds of my people and half of the Dorzeli-An." She turned away from him, lowered and shook her head. "Why should I expect any other intelligent beings to feel sympathy for a species with such a deserved reputation as mine?"

He did not know how to answer her. He only knew what his sister had done for him after he had been ridiculed for his obsession over Freerah that he shared with several dozen other humans after she had visited them. Matt stood and walked toward her. If he was wrong, what he was about to do might invoke the response that he had feared the most since he first met her, if not...

Within seconds he was standing closer to Feih than at any time since she had disarmed him and was surprised that she appeared not to have noticed his approach.

He placed his left hand on the covered portion of her powerful right thigh and said, "I can."

He held his breath when.

He almost cursed himself for going too far when, with a frown on her snout, she opened her eyes and looked down at him, until she smiled.

For that moment she looked so pleasant that he did not react quick enough when she moved her leg and his hand slid down onto her bare leg. The strange sensations that he had felt when they had first touched returned with renewed strength. He looked down at his arm as a feeling of well being spread up to his shoulder then throughout his entire body. It felt so good that, instead of removing his hand, as his instincts said he should, he massaged her leg. A rumbling purr drew his attention upwards where he saw a smile on Feih's face and that her eyes were closed. Then the smell he had detected when he had seen her nude the previous night returned.

Its effects upon his body and the wonderful feelings he was receiving through his arm so overwhelmed him that he did not take notice when his hand slipped between her leg and her "suit" until he heard her growl. Startled he looked up and saw that her pleasant expression had been replaced with one of anger.

Shocked by her sudden change in behavior and where his hand had wandered Matt removed it and backed away. His earlier fears of her what her true intentions were returned with a vengeance when she moved after him. He turned and tried to run, but was tripped up by one of her two tails. His fall was stopped when the other caught and encircled his body.

He closed his eyes and prepared to activate his timer, but when she released him so that he stood upright he heard something most unexpected. He turned back and was stunned by the expression that was her face and the harsh but familiar sounds that came from her open mouth; he was the first human to hear and see a Dorzeli-Ki laugh.

Fear was replaced with anger at the dangerous practical joke she had played on him, but he was so pleasantly surprised at how similar the un-translated sound was to human laughter that he had to smile.

"I'm sorry," began Feih after taking a few deep breaths. "I just couldn't resist the temptation." She took a few more and became a bit more serious. "I didn't mean to scare you or make you angry, but I had to try something to make you feel at ease around me. Your constant fear was becoming...annoying."

He smirked. "It smelled that bad?"

"Yes and no." Her ears drooped as she continued, "I usually only play such games with those that are important to me." Then, with a tone of deep sadness in her voice, she said, "Or a friend" and looked directly into his eyes.

He stared back in disbelief. Did she actually mean him? When he pointed to his chest to make sure; she nodded once and smiled.

"What about your family and the other Dorzeli-Ki," inquired Matt, still stunned by what she had said, what he had felt and what he was still feeling; a lack of any fear of her, or was it something else?

She looked back in the direction from which they had come. "Most of the ones I considered my friends have either been killed by the Soriss, in hiding with their families or, like mine, actively on the offensive. Because of this we can't stay in any one place long enough to maintain any lasting relationships." She looked back at him. "The others you saw are what's left: cousins, their mates and my brother. I've been holding us together since my parents' death by taking their place as the head of our clan."

Out of curiosity he asked, "Any challengers?"

She lifted her right hand, opened it wide to display her impressive claws to full effect and answered his question with one of her own. "What do you think?" A small grin came to her face.

He smiled before he answered. "From what I've seen you're the biggest and, probably, the strongest of your group; and their best fighter?"

She smiled. "You're very perceptive." She lowered her hand and rested it on her knee. "There were a few initial differences of opinion, but they eventually came to see things from my perspective. Our recent successes against the Soriss have also helped. Why do you ask?"

He chose his next words carefully. "Well, many ancient cultures on Earth used similar attributes to pick their leaders. I wanted to confirm my suspicions about yours. I hope I haven't offended you."

"No, you haven't." Feih looked back at the forest. "Some of the surviving friends I had when I was young now head a rival family that has made occasional raids into my territory. I'm afraid that when the Soriss are gone I may have to fight them." She sighed. "I can't believe that the Soriss and our exile have brought my people down to such a low level."

"Maybe you can reconcile with them."

She thought about it for a moment then said, "I'll try. But until then..." her smile returned and she patted the ground where he had stood a few moments earlier. "You can come back and continue with what you were doing; it was most enjoyable."

Perplexed by her request he just stared at her. The possibility of fulfilling one of his most closely held desires, and the tightness in his pants pushed him to return to her side, but, as much as he wanted to rejoin her, the image of what had happened to the Soriss soldier held him back; precaution won out; "I think I should get some rest for tomorrow's long walk."

Her ears drooped and, after a painful moment of silence, she said, "Of course, you're right." She reached down, opened her pouch, removed his rifle, wrapped her tails around it and extended it toward him. "You may not yet fully trust me, but I feel that I can now trust you with this." He reached out for it and she dropped it into his hands.

He was happy to have his only effective weapon back and tried to restore her cheerful demeanor when he said, "I believe that I can now. Thank you." He checked the power cell's energy level and ran its automatic diagnostic program. Satisfied that it was fully operational he returned to his pack to resume his evening meal. This caused him to fail to notice the way Feih had stared at him while she licked the part of her tail that had touched his bare arm arms. Once done she licked her snout with her long tongue and returned to her previous position the moment he sat down.

After he had finished his rations Matt reviewed the data he had gathered so far, including his most recent experience:

"That suit of hers felt like some sort of flexible armor and not only is she definitely warm blooded but that was not skin I touched. It was more like a fine coat of hair, like a Great Dane's. And what I felt when I touched her...it was so much like that time back on Earth with Freerah." He thought for a moment then laughed to himself. "Her sense of humor must've come from the stress she's been under all these years if she was telling me the truth. I hope she doesn't have any more jokes like that last one."

He looked back at Feih and saw that her eyes were closed and that her breathing had slowed. His sensors indicated that her heart rate had also decreased, but, without the sensitivity to check her brain wave activity, or a baseline from which to work, he could only assume she was asleep, so he made sure that his self-destruct was still armed and that his visor was in night vision mode before he laid down for a hopefully good night's rest. Ninety minutes after he had fallen asleep Feih opened her eyes and crept toward him.

Corporal Thorn's proximity alarms awoke just in time to see Feih spring at him. So fast was her attack that she had pinned his arms to his sides before he could reach for his rifle.

He looked at the enhanced image of her opened mouth and screamed, "I thought I could finally trust you." When she appeared to hesitate he, in a softer but still panicked voice, added, "Please Feih, Don't do this."

She ignored his plea and deftly stabbed one of her sharp canines into his shoulder then released him.

He did not know why she had let him go, but he was determined not to give her a second chance at him and tried to reach for his weapon. He panicked when his arms failed to respond. Seconds later he slumped to the ground, unable to move.

Feih picked up the paralyzed human and raised his head so that their eyes met. "I'm sorry, Matt, but at the rate we were going you'd never have made your new rendezvous on time."

He knew that she was right; his superiors had misjudged the density of the forest and at the rate they were going he would have arrived two days too late to be picked up by the rescue ship, if one had gotten through the Soriss blockade. He also wondered why she waited until after she returned his weapon strike at him. Was it to prove that it did not matter how well he was armed, that she could have taken him at any time? Or was there some other unfathomable alien logic at work in her Dorzeli mind?

When she removed his helmet and he lost its night vision enhancements he attempted to activate the timer, but it did not respond to his commands. He tried every possible code combination in an attempt to start it, but they all failed as she laid his limp body down so that his head rested upon his pack.

It was then that she decided to talk to him; "Despite your attempt at trying to kill me I'm not going to harm you and you might even enjoy what I have planned." In what little light that was left he saw stand and walk away.

Matt was as profoundly confused as his body was numb by her behavior and what had just occurred. He could not imagine how she could have known about his pack's detonator. And what could she have meant by his enjoying being devoured alive?

Feih returned a minute later, picked him up, raised hip up and raised him level to her face where he noticed that she was chewing on something. The strawberry-like smell caused him to assume that it was one of the large fruits that she had earlier identified as a Sangian during their last walk, when he inquired if it was edible; she had warned him that the effects on his system may be very different than a Dorzeli's, if not outright harmful; this was the first hint that the Dorzeli diet consisted of something other than meat.

She swallowed the remainder of the watermelon sized fruit then said, "I can imagine what you think is about to happen to you, but please realize that this will be the safest way I know of to get you back to your people undetected as we'll have to pass close to a Soriss outpost to get you back to your people." She then held him in one hand and, with great care, striped him of his uniform and under garments without causing any damage to them. It was then that he made contact, but instead of his main system he acquired the data stream from his helmet's camera; he found it unusual that it seemed she had put it down so that it was pointed at him and her head and was set to its widest angle.

Once he was nude she looked toward his camera and, in her language, spoke in what he thought was a somber tone. When she finished she looked back at him and opened her mouth. Instead the fatal bite he expected he felt her tongue lick across his entire body, covering it with a thin layer of her saliva and what smelled like juice from the fruit. This confused him as he could feel nothing else and it felt to him more like she was grooming him rather than preparing him as her next meal, but, in the belief that this was what she had planned, his thoughts drifted back to his parents on earth, his sister on Mendall and his comrades whom he could not keep from being killed by the Soriss. These thoughts and his feeling of utter helplessness and betrayal caused his body to react.

Then the same sensations he had experienced when they first touched returned and they were much stronger than that first time.

When Feih finished her task she looked at his face and noticed that two streams of moisture had descended from his eyes.

He thought he heard distress in her translated voice when she said, "I'm sorry that you feel that way, but I assure you that you'll change your mind after this part of your journey is over." She licked her snout then opened her mouth wide, very wide.

Desperate to stop her Matt tried once more to activate the timer but it was of no use. Either it was malfunctioning or her venom had somehow interfered with his biology in such a way that he could no longer control it. His only hope for possible vengeance would be his backup; he had set the fail-safes in his sensors to automatically detonate his spare energy packs thirty seconds after brain death.

Feih raised him up, pointed his feet at her mouth and wrapped her tongue around them and pulled them in.

Matt's link with his camera allowed him to see all of her actions from its perspective. The sight of the descent of his feet then legs into her maw both disturbed and fascinated him so much so much that, as much as he wanted to, he could not block it out.

He watched her mouth appear to open wider (or had she gotten bigger?) than he thought possible and saw her take great care to keep his body from her sharp front teeth, although he was too numb to tell it any of them had scraped or penetrated his body as his chest disappeared into her mouth.

Once his hands were in she removed hers from his body, raised her face to the sky and straightened her neck out. He saw from his camera's feed that, with over three-quarters of his body contained within it, her throat had expanded to more than twice its original diameter. He closed his eyes and focused on the video once her mouth closed around his head and the strong fruity smell and her scent overpowered his sense of smell.

Matt's helmet camera recorded and transmitted his body's journey through Feih's chest and into her upper abdomen and when she lowered her head he saw the expression of profound joy that was on her face and that her horns had a faint amber glow. When he came to a rest in her slick stomach he lost his last connection to the outside world. Thhat was when an unusual sense of peace came over as him as he thought, "It's over; at least my body will help her fight...them" before he lost consciousness.

Feih's entire body trembled as she gathered all of Matt's possessions, including his rifle and helmet, and sealed them in her groin pouch. She soon shook so much that she could no longer stand and lost her balance, fell and rolled onto her side. Despite this she was overjoyed by what was happening to her.

Her horns glowed brightly and she gasped, "Yes, I knew I was right about him!" before she passed out and fell into a deep sleep.

Their strike team had failed to return from their mission on time so there was no other choice for the commander of one of the last forward bases that remained in Soriss hands but to follow the orders Field Marshal Grahl. They were explicit; "You are to do whatever is necessary to stop them, even if it means the life of everyone here, or I will guarantee that if you make another miraculous escape the punishments I'll inflict upon you will make you scream for death."

She remembered the anger she had felt at that command as she watched the last six interplanetary capable fighters take off into the night sky and spilt off into two teams of three each in order to search best for their quarry.

"This will end it," she thought. "Tonight or tomorrow: I'll either be free to be with him or dead."