FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Hay Planes, NSW, Australia, Earth

Mike looked down at the Fuel gauge on the dash board and cringed as the needle dropped to empty, the needed fuel and they needed it fast after using the last drops from the two Jerry cans they had brought. Phil checked the cars on board GPS and found there location tapping mike on the arm as he found where they were. The two had been traveling for about a day stopping at various locations along the way to change drivers, Mike had just got his P1's provisional licence several days before his Uncle was arrested and charged with assault and he was eager to drive so Phil had decided to share the driving giving the other time to sleep.

"Hay is the closest town to us at the moment, I think the Road House or a petrol station may be open" Phil speculated, he looked out into the murky black of night which was only smattered by the flash of reflective road markers and the light reflected by wire fences. "We can also stop for a rest you seem to be weaving a little"

Mike nodded "it the best course of action at the moment, the Fuel light has just come on and I don't know how long we can go running on just fumes" he drove into the town and found the road house, he pulled in next to the nearest free bowzer and packed the car.

Mike opened the petrol cap and began to fill the tank while Phil went inside to buy some drinks and some food. He finished the filling the tank when a he heard someone yelling obscenities; he walked over to a car park where a black rental car sat. The car was a current model duel cab Toyota Hilux with several spot lights on the bull bar, the driver's side door was open slightly and Mike could see a man yelling as he hit the dash board before trying to start the car again and like the last time the car just chugged then stopped, the door flung all the way open and Mike got a good look at the man.

He was a tall man with a clean shaven face and neatly kept hair, he wore jeans and a long sleeve shirt as well as what looked to be a suede jacket the man was of African/American decent and he looked to be a man of importance. The man turned to the car and began to kick it shouting obscenities like 'you useless piece of crap' and 'yeah your indestructible... NOT!!!!!' mike walked up and stood there until the man finished his Tirade hoping that he could be of some assistance. From the look of him he was ether ex-military or in some branch of government that needed security, the man turned around and spotted Mile giving him a snort before turning back to the car.

"Need help mate?" Mike asked as the man slammed the door, the man looked at him again and laughed. He knew that this man was clearly seeing him as just a kid fresh out of high school and not a guy wanting to help.

"sorry man, I don't think you can help after all this heap of junk is a rental" the man said with an American accent, he looked at the car and slammed his foot into the side board again scuffing his boots, "I should have gone with the other SUV's they had instead of getting this".

"I could help, I know a little about a Hilux's inner workings and I might see something you may have missed" Mike was not kidding when he said that he knew about how Hiluxes worked, his Uncle had one and as a bit of payback for all the beatings he sabotaged the engine on several occasions, "Pop the hood and let me have a look".

The man shrugged and did as Mike asked, the bonnet popped up and Mike lifted it up to its full height. "Ok turn her over" Mike called the engine made a sound of wanting to start over but didn't, Mike scratched his head "have you tried to pump the accelerator?" he asked the man shook his head and tried again this time there was a few splutters but still nothing.

"Well it's a start I suppose, but it's still a duel fuel piece of crap" the man said and thumped the dash again. This made mike look up at the man in surprise, running around to the cab he looked for the switch that was used to change between gas and petrol, within seconds he found it and he flipped it so it was now on gas, the only thing that made him cringe was the fact that the gauge was showing empty.

"Quick help me push this to the gas bowzer over there" he said and the two of them did so. By this time Phil had returned to see mike and the man pushing the Hilux next to the pump. The man began to fill the gas tank till it was at full capacity; he quickly went in, paid for the fuel and returned to the car to try again this time starting it on gas, with a cough and a splutter the car started.

"Thanks kid, you're a life saver" the man said with a happy cheer "by the way my names Stanley Donavan" he extended a hand.

"I'm Mike, Mike Hamilton please to meet you" he took Stanley's hand in a hand shake then realised that he left the hood up, he went around to close it when he spotted what he thought was a crack in the radiator. He informed Stanley and he gave him a nod, giving one of the hoses a squeeze but nothing came out, with a sigh of relief he slammed the hood down, gave Stanley another hand shake and went into pay for the fuel he paid for.

Stanley gave him a wave and drove away, Mike watched him leave then went to complete his task a little while after Phil arrived back at their car after a brief discussion on what happened while he was gone Phil decided that he would drive for a bit so Mike relinquished the driver's seat for the navigator's seat. Now that they were stock up on snacks and drinks to keep them awake for a while the trip could continue, but nothing would prepare them for what they were to encounter that night.

Hyperspace at that very moment

Marci looked at her new bridge crew and sighed, she missed many of the faces of her old crew but she was now coming to terms with the fact that they were not coming back. The good news was that some of her original crew were still aboard when the Imperium attacked the Chimera base thus they managed to survive. Her helmsmen was a good pilot but was only the backup and he was not very experienced with piloting a ship of this size, she would need to find someone more capable or train him better but that would have to wait as another more pressing problem was about to surface.

"Engineering to bridge come in" came a voice over the comm, Marci leaned ran her fingers over her personal console and brought up her video link a small picture of a Lioness popped up on the screen and smiled "Hi captain, listen we have a slight problem here" she said as her smile changed to a worried frown.

"Ok what is it this time? Did the bastards plant a bomb on the hull or something?" Marci asked looking at the small picture, behind the Lioness the FTL drive looked like it was overheating a common problem for a Quasar class heavy Frigate such as the Hornet but she remembered requesting the whole system be overhauled.

"No not this time, it's the cooling system the techs installed or should I say sort of installed" the Lioness looked back over her shoulder as a jet of steam shot out from behind her, "they installed it but they did a shotty job towards the end."

Marci cursed in a whisper knowing that the techs she hired ended up doing a botch job on her ships engines, the very heart of the hornet and now she was in pain "Hailey, how bad is it down there?" she asked in reply

The Lioness took a deep breath and looked back at the camera "Not bad yet, but we need to find a planet with a breathable atmosphere to complete the job" she jumped as a large clunk got her attention "and I think we need one now"

"Ok, do your best to keep the engines cool, I'll see if we have a place to land" she replied and turned to Galadriana, "please tell me there is a planet nearby" she said with a look of desperation.

"There's one in a system not far from here, it's uncharted but from rudimentary scans it has an oxygen/Nitrogen atmosphere" Gal replied, she forward the coordinates to the helm allowing the helmsmen to plot a course.

"Helm plot a course for the planet, drop us out of FTL when we get close" Marci commanded and the helmsmen agreed, he punched in the course corrections and the ship lurched to one side. A few minutes later the ship decelerated to Sub Light speed and moved behind the planets only moon.

"Marci, look at these readings, the planet it's..." Kal trailed off as the Hornet rounded the moon brining the planet into view, the sight was both mystifying and terrifying, they were looking at the planet Teran the very heart of the Human Imperium but the planet wasn't as developed, Kal checked the star charts and scratched his head "That can't be right, that's Teran but the coordinates are wrong".

Marci looked over the Cheetah's shoulder and shook her head "it's a Carbon copy of Teran, see no artificial moon" she turned to Galadriana "have the spotted us yet?"

The Black Dragoness looked over to her and shook her head "not yet but I doubt we will remain hidden for long"

"Ok that settles it then helm, find us a suitable landing site and take us in" she hit the talk button on her communicator "Nia, have you and the doc found the Sick bay yet?"

"Yes we have, the artefact is secure and we are tending to any crew who were injured during the evacuation" replied a feminine voice "and no he is not trying to get at my vulpine pussy."

"Ok just checking" Marci said trying to hold back a chuckle, she returned to her chair and began to look back over her crew, she sighed again and tapped a few keys on her personal computer screen brining up a list of her crew. She began to scroll through the names placing a killed in action (KIA) marker by those who didn't make it 'damn those Imperials, I'll make sure they all pay double for every member of my crew they killed ' she thought to herself. Suddenly a klaxon sounded "what the?" she was cut off as a large jolt rocked the ship, "Report, who the hell is firing on us"

"It's an Imperial cruiser captain Leviathan class, it must have followed us" the helmsmen replied as he attempted evasive manoeuvres. He ran his hands over the controls like an artist painting a masterpiece trying everything to keep the enemy from hitting them.

"Damn it, out of all the ships to find us it had to be one of the Imperium's newly found living ships" Marci cursed under her breath "Gecks, can you get a firing solution on them?"

The Gecko looked at the consoles in front of him and smiled "yes and there in Barrage range, request permission to unleash hell" he turned to Marci just as another jolt shook the ship. She gave him a nod and he worked like he was moving faster than the speed of light tapping keys left, right and centre then with a snort at the tactical screen he hit the fire button "eat lead you fuckers!!!!" he yelled while watching the feed from the rear external cameras, several turrets rotated around to face the enemy then unleashed a storm of weapons fire that cut through the empty space between the two ships. The Cruiser sensed the impending barrage and attempted to protect itself however due to a long sustained flight through hyperspace and a lack of nutrients had weekend it thus the ship was sluggish and suffered immense damage to many of its key systems including its long range communicators, sensors and several cannons used to disrupted shields.

As Gecks cheered Marci turned to the helmsmen "get us planet side, I don't care where you land us just get us down before they blow us out of the sky!!!" she yelled, the helmsmen complied and began to pilot the ship into the atmosphere. 'hope we can make it' she thought just as another massive jolt slammed into the ship, alarms sounded and systems began to spark before the bridge lights went dead.

The ship plummeted through the atmosphere like a meteor its outer hull glowing white hot. The cruiser fired several more shots but due to the damage it sustained it was firing blind, it was lucky to have landed a crippling blow as it was descending but now it was time to retreat to a safe place and lick its wounds. The hornet burned a trail across the sky heading toward the continent of Australia the crew trying valiantly to keep it in the air long enough to make it down safely not knowing if they were alerting the inhabitants of Earth in the process.

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Stay Tuned for Chapter 3