FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Hello~? Nobody?" Carbon fit Sydney's helmet over her head and cracked Ex's cockpit open to the elements. "This isn't right. Why would nobody be using this cavern? It's the largest on the planet."

The vanguard squad peered past the cooling engines rear of their orbiter to behold a massive cavern resembling a geode--only the crystal structures lining the floor, walls, and even ceiling were all dilapidated stone buildings. Near the center of this ancient-looking city sat a shallow pond of water, one open enough for the remaining landing parties to use as a forward base. The remaining teams began exiting their shuttles and gunships cautiously, leading the gang to promote the same course of action so they could live up to their vanguard role.

"Well I don't know a thing about this place, so don't look at me." Cid hopped out of Ex's core and adjusted her suit legs. "Ick. My creme filling sounded far better than the reality."

"Sorry I added to it. Queoo don't like abrasion, after all." Carbon requested Ex to wave an all-clear for the remainder of the orbiter. "I expected at least a little anti-air resistance. Looks like we have at least a small calm. Someone had to have seen us coming, though."

"Agreed. Let's take up our defensive perimeter before they show up." Ilaria walked out of the vessel with a slight limp, the nearly doubled gravity compared to Earth leading to a strain in her robotic leg. "Looks like it'll be a longer walk than I guessed. This is brutal."

"It's not terrible. Bit hard to breathe, though." Iolvin passed his sister and immediately sought a decent sniping post. "I think I'll take that tower by the far cave wall. That work for you, Lulu?"

"Go for it. Just remember the extra gravity makes that a lot further and higher than you think."

"I'd have never thought of that spot." Adrian struggled to hold his sub-machine gun as he followed behind. "Lead the way, honey."

"Nope. You're staying behind with the boys. If I take fire you've got to..." Yoyo slumped his rifle over his shoulder with a pained sigh and halted his husband. "Our boys still need a father when all's said and done."

"And you won't make it back alive if you already think you're dead." Zoë shoved her larger husband from behind and waved calmly to the other. "Keep an eye on our kids and help Carbon, Adrian. I'll make sure he doesn't get himself killed."

"We could use the help, that's for sure." Sydney scanned the ruins of the former Ors estate, the large compound sprawling several kilometers of what likely the civic center of this town. "We have some serious ground to comb so the more the merrier."

Rose took a few deep breaths of pleasantly compatible air as she led her husbands into the open. "Where should we start? Any ideas, Carbon?"

"That's all on Eve. I'm not remembering anything from my memories." Ex's shell shut tight as Carbon led the robot to the opposite of Yoyo's tower. "This is larger than I expected too. I'm helping the front line to buy more time. Call me if you need me, Eve."

Evelyn materialized atop the crumbled wreckage of a former home. "Stay safe, my love. It might be a while." The enigma perused the various collapsed structures, her view pausing on the rocky landing pool of shallow water. "That's... where our father lost his mate..."

"You remember that much? I can't even..." Sydney sighed as she shot her grapple into a rooftop of a relatively intact building and used its pull to assist a paws-on climb. "What's the significance of that spot? Was it more than just a pond?"

"It wasn't flooded before. It was a flower garden." Eve walked closer to the edge of the field and found one such flower. "These agate flowers were popular in this area. His--Niishal's--sister loved them." The phantom snapped the odd stone plant free and held its glassy petals to the lights of a further lander. "Let's start here. Niishal spent a lot of time here with his family, so there's a better chance we'll find something useful."

Themis snapped a picture of Eve holding her flower. "So is everything on this planet made of rock? How is that even possible?"

"It all mineralizes soon after growth for protection. The insides are still squishy." Rose picked up a shard from a broken vase or bowl and passed it to Phoebe. "The stars we're circling right now aren't particularly nice to squishy things, hence the literal stone skin. Æti in the rings of this moon and her larger planet takes the brunt of the bad stuff away, but even the Yangurraa needed to live below rock."

Pho offered the relic for a photo after inspecting it. "It's smart. Rock shields them from above and water runs downhill into pools. What about sunlight, though?"

"Not all of those rocks are opaque. Light filters through in places." Eve held out an arm to showcase the open field. "This was a basking garden long ago. It would look brighter but the stars haven't risen yet. Takes a while when Yangurraar is tidally locked to her larger planet."

"That explains the long days in their local time system." Ari finally figured out a proper way to ready her bow in the extra gravity and beckoned the others. "They've got this. Let's join the rest of the defense team." She paused to sign for her twins. <You two still can't use your portals, can you?>

The girls looked to each other and then simultaneously shook their heads. <Nope. If oxydium really is all around this moon that might explain it a bit. We probably could make them, but it's... much harder.>

<Stay with the search team then. You've got your different eyes than the rest and that might come in handy.> Ari waited for her girls to confirm with a nod and replied with one of her own. "Okay, then. Let's figure out our nest and dig in deep."

"Yeah, and we can pray we don't need to raid the locals for their ætir. Not getting my hopes up with this scrap heap though." Carbon waved Ex's arm to her wives. "We'll be keeping an eye on you when we can. Good hunting."

Sydney threw an arm around Evelyn and cringed at the forgotten chill of her body. "Thanks, Otter. We'll try to surprise you with something. Stay safe until then."

"Ditto that, my Meerkitten."

Eve smiled as she noticed a bit of blush in Sydney's cheeks, even through her helmet visor. "She's nervous. Carbon usually has a pretty solid game face on missions."

"I got that. It's not her I'm worried about." Sydney nudged her snout toward Ari's twins and their intensely focused expressions. "I'm not sure if it's their loss from the last mission, but those two... something just isn't right if they're not grinning like devils. I have a bad feeling."

Eve waved to the girls with a smile, the act normally cheering them up and oddly failing at the moment. "Okay, you're right. We're all doomed if even the 'M's can't find a bright side to this."

"I'm not too sure about that." Rose grinned against all odds as she watched her husbands record and catalog the ruins around them. "If my rascals can forget about our impending doom, certainly the rest of us can."

---

"Well what the hell is that?" Ilaria groaned as she rose from her ass and squinted through the rising sunlight, the star that powered said light annoyingly producing more ultraviolet than white spectrum. "How the hell can you see anything on this planet? If this is what you call daytime..."

"Magic hour. I think you'll see better once both stars rise higher." Carbon rotated Ex's torso a bit before finally admitting defeat. "What vector are you talking about, Ari?"

"My twelve if you can see me. Um... Also, if Yoyo is at north it would be south-east, maybe?"

"Ah, the smaller exit tube." Carbon swiveled her view to face the spot and flipped through a few targeting filters. "Good call. Looks like we finally have some company for brunch."

Yoyo cut into the radio conversation as a laser panned to the spot from his tower. "I don't... Oh, they're cloaked. Infrared seems to work partially."

"Is that so?" Vasily pulled a set of goggles down over his combat visor. "They're faint, but my son's right. Attention, all troops. Equip thermal gear and target sector D-2."

"Aye, sir."

"Roger."

"Da."

"Affirmative, sir."

"Oui."

Ari gawked at the respect her father had already garnered across the whole of the battle-ready fleet. "Now I see why the Volk is legend."

Carbon corrected her, "Don't jinx it. By definition, legends are the famed dead."

"Don't worry, old pal. I don't intend on leaving you friendless today." Volk smirked as he targeted the incoming battalion, gathering their ranges with field math since the stars were disrupting range-finder tech. "I don't like what I'm seeing, though. Looks like five of those walkers behind them, Carbon. Can you handle them somehow?"

"Let me check." Carbon launched one of Ex's shorter-ranged aerial camera drones about the same time the Canadians launched one of theirs. "I spot six in a standard radial petal formation. There's a cannon team at the center. I don't think they'll be an issue if we don't push for the cannon."

"I don't like that nasty plasma artillery shit. We might need to make a push soon." The elder ranger pulled out a monocular and checked for a flanking or pincer group. "If push comes to shove can you take out those hunks of junk?"

"Ex is the most advanced fir golem on the planet. He's got them barely out-gunned so long as they're picked off in small batches. I'd rather a plan where Ex gives us point defense though."

"We can split them up with my son's sniper fire. I think the Russians have anti-material rifles too." The old dog perked up as he found a small group on the fringe, near a smaller flow tube. "Aha, ya' sneaky bastards. They have a flanking team ready at E-8. I'm guessing they'll try artillery to take our focus followed by the flankers to push the advantage."

"Agreed. We can last a small while hiding in the buildings around us, long enough to snipe away the flankers and force their retreat. A few key hits to one of the cannons afterwards and they'll let up on those to think up a new plan."

Ari pulled up her bow and loosed an arrow to a neutral side, testing the effect of the stronger gravity on her shots. "Crap. They'll be out of my range for a while. You sure we want to fall back when we're this far off?"

"We're not looking to actually fight. If we can buy time we'll be winning this battle." Vasily checked the landing craft parked in the center of town. "We just need to keep them out of range of the inner city. If we find what we need and ride the hell out of here, that's a success."

"Seems legit." Yoyo shifted his rifle to the flankers and began marking them down in case he needed to fire. "I've got the flankers at E-7, dad. They're three hundred meters give or take from your spot."

"Thank you, Iolvin."

"Like father, like son. He might want to kill the laser dot though. That's like a disco light show to me." Carbon readied her anti-artillery countermeasures and shifted Ex's frame to sit firmly in place. "Time for your game faces, people."

"Actually, I think we might have an issue." Yoyo shifted his scope to settle upon a building near the defensive line. "Carbon, what do you see over there? I caught some kind of heat source for a flash. Whatever it was, it was large."

Vasily checked around, following Carbon's orientation before switching to night vision to follow his son's laser. "There anything our size on this rock? Space rats?"

"Not really. Yangurraa are the biggest thing that goes underground." Carbon popped open her cockpit and hopped out, leaving Ex with standing defensive orders. "Something huge ~is~ over there though. I'm looking through rock mind you, but I'd guess twenty feet or so long."

Ilaria drooped her forehead into her free paw. "Ceylon. That sounds like Ceylon."

"Uh... Oh, yeah. That's him in there. I see that looped tail sticking out." Yoyo sighed as he realigned his rifle to the flanking group. "He followed us? How the actual fuck could he do that?"

«My... My deepest apologies. I omitted myself from your minds so I might follow.» Ceylon used his psychic ability to trace Ilaria's location and soon poked a head out to greet her. «I must protect my liege, even if she does not approve. However... deception was my last resort. I would have preferred another option.»

"Damnit, Ceylon..."

"At least he means well." Carbon shrugged her shoulders at the scenario, but as she started to climb back into Ex she had an idea. "Wait, we could use this. Ceylon, you hid from me and that's not easy. How many Yangurraa could you hide from at once?"

Vasily grinned at his old friend. "I know that look. You've got one of your coin-flip plans."

"One that needs the right pieces on the board to work. Ceylon?"

«I could perhaps obscure myself from hundreds if they were in close enough proximity. As they are though... perhaps a dozen?»

"We only need ten. This could work." Carbon smiled at the artillery formation. "We will take casualties if they bombard us, even if we execute our current plan perfectly. Without artillery though, we don't need to lose a single soul."

"You mean I can go home to my children in one piece?" Ari stood and walked closer to the hybrid. "I'm listening."

"There's a flaw in those cannons; we abuse it to detonate them when we don't have explosive charges. The power core is lightly shielded and can be dislodged with enough force." Carbon inspected the cannons and smiled when she spotted the exact flaw she described. "The Sect of Xor extremists on Earth fixed the glitch, but these guys haven't run into us yet. It requires a lot of strength and thus Ex, but Ceylon is a pretty strong guy too..."

"I get you. He can break up a core without them knowing."

"The power discharges into the cannon itself and the whole fir explodes a pawful of seconds later. Just walk away and that part is child's play." Carbon sat down and shut Ex's frame around herself for some further observation. "No, the hard part will be distracting the ground troops so he can sneak past them."

"The only way we can force a ground push is if we make the artillery useless." Volk checked the current formations and sighed in annoyance. "You think they'd send in the robots if we hit the flanking team?"

"I like how you think." Ex rotated into a new position, readying his weapons to protect the path to the flankers. "They won't risk losing the cannons. They know they have the numbers once we cross into the open, so we'll barely do just that. We hold our own against the flank with their smaller numbers, they call for help, and then we dig in again once the main force has started moving."

"Then Ceylon strikes to ruin their open field advantage. That might work." Ari held out her arm and slowly matched her suit's active camouflage to the environment. "Carbon, can you see this?"

"Huh? Oh, you." The hybrid checked first via Ex's sensors followed by her own bare eyes afterward. "Actually, I'm not sure what your girls did but that's invisible to Ex, and he's calibrated for cloaking tech. It's still a bit hard for me to see, and even then it's just a fringe glow of your body heat."

"Perfect. Remind me to fuck my girls into the floor when we get back as thanks." Ari shifted her whole suit to match and stood tall. "We'll trail behind Ceylon and sweep after him. Heavy snipers can clean up the robots left standing. These fuckers are about to suck down their own strategy with a twist."

"You're the spitting image of your mother right now. You've become a hell of a woman." Vasily picked up his rifle and moved closer so his daughter could configure his suit. "Gods fucking damn. I could fuck you senseless right now, and I'm not even really into that."

"Not sure how to feel about that, dad. Thanks?" Ilaria grabbed her father by his stiffening cock, using the contact to change his own suit's camouflage with her nanites. Then she teasingly ran a finger under her tail to slice open a peek of her pink. "Let's earn us some time and maybe I'll let you take me."

"D-Deal."

---

"<Don't hold a grudge. Tell me if she's gonna make it or...>"

"<Colonel...>" Niishal sighed as he checked over Vivian Optik, unable to determine anything with the cloudiness in his vision. "<You Terrans handle the deathly haze differently than we do. It appears you are more susceptible to it.>"

"<I'll do anything to save her, Niishal. My scientists aren't equipped to handle this.>" Colonel Optik grabbed both of Niishal's hands and clasped them within his larger ones out of desperation. "<You're the only one that recognizes this sickness. You might be the only one that can save my Vivian. Please...>"

"<I simple cannot, not like this.>" Niishal looked to Lirou as he thought of a solution. "<You have my ætir in the secure laboratory with the letter C on the doors. With access to that I should be able to derive an antidote of sorts if it is even possible.>"

"<That's in the far side of the base, son. We'd die of this shit before we took two steps.>"

"<That is not entirely correct. You would likely have a few moments. Lirou and I would fare well enough however. With her aid I should be able to reach the ætir. It is too heavy to move alone.>" Niishal groaned in disapproval as a thin layer of Vivian's hair shed at his touch. "<We will need to act quickly. Decide faster.>"

"<Fine, but I'm coming with you; that machine of yours is heavy.>" Colonel Optik stood and pressed for the door, his men opening a path for him in awe of his sacrifice. "<I'd feel better about this with volunteers. Anybody want to earn a Purple Heart today?>"

"<You're damn right, sir.>" An intelligence officer, Lieutenant Breen, walked forward and saluted his superior. "<I'll ease that burden. We're all dead if we don't try anyway.>"

"<That's a hell of a man that can give himself for his fellow soldiers. Good on you, son.>" The Colonel looked around to scared faces and empty stares. "<Nobody else? I don't ask this lightly.>"

"<This is more than enough, Colonel. We are stronger than we might look.>" Niishal walked over to the holding cell and easily opened a large, unpowered door to free his friend. "Come, Lirou. I know you hurt, but aid is further away."

"I know, Niishal. I'm able to speak their English in bits and pieces." Lirou hissed as she stood, her wounds aching but thankfully not incapacitating her. "The ætir could likely help me. Let's find it."

"Thank you, my lover. Let's get you fixed up and perhaps we'll discover what's become of Eiita in the process." Niishal helped Lirou to the security door and readied himself for the deathly haze. "<Colonel, we are ready. Mind you, this won't hurt at first. Without treatment however we will all certainly die, quite painfully.>"

"<Niishal, son... Why are you doing this for me? I done got you locked up and tested like damned rats.>"

"<Because I once lost a mate to war. No man should suffer that fate, especially when another might prevent it.>" The Yangurra opened the door on his own and led the others out, quickly sealing the barrier for the sake of those inside. "<More so, I have lost one child to the same fell swoop. I am lucky enough to have another child I will... likely never set eyes upon. I cannot idly deny another man his lineage and call myself a remotely good father.>"

"<What're ya' tryin' to say, Niishal? I don't think I'm trackin' here.>"

"<You do not know? Is your species unable to tell yet, perhaps? I barely noticed myself.>" Niishal took the Colonel's baffled expression and returned it with an impulsive chuckle. "<Perhaps today will not be remembered entirely for grim events. Colonel, I am not doing this for your wife. The one that draws me to action is her child."

---

Crack-ack! Ka-Crack!

"Wha!?" Evelyn snapped out of her daydream as gunfire sounded in the distance. "What the hell is going on, Carbon!?"

"I wish I had your radio, that's what. That thing is clear as cool water." Carbon paused his whispered words and returned on radio a bit more subdued. "Not a good time to talk, honey. We're sneaking up on a bunch of golems."

"I'm not using a radio, Carbon. I basically am a radio." Eve scampered atop a fallen building to obtain a better view. "Well I didn't expect that. You're attacking on two fronts? Should we seek cover?"

"No, we've-" A volley fired from the artillery cannons, searing plasma gliding slowly to the edge of the derelict city. "Ah, yes? Yeah, we can't stop the next few salvos. Watch your heads."

"It's okay. They're firing blind, so don't bite off more than you can chew just yet." Sydney joined Eve, but was promptly shoved just out of sight in case of enemy spotters. "What? I can't protect our queen if you hide the chessboard."

"They can see your thermal signature, Sydney. I'm ice cold, so allow me to check."

"Oh. Well be my guest, then." Cid slid down the toppled rooftop of the building and landed next to the 'M's with an impact-absorbing somersault. <Stay near strong cover, girls. You can't hear this artillery coming so play it safe.>

<We could see that through a mountain it's so bright.>

Michelle bopped her sister in apology, instead returning the kind gesture with one of her own. <We'll keep that in mind. Thanks for watching our tails, Sydney.>

<Keep an eye on Eve for me, would you? I'll go check your cousins.> Sydney gave the girls a few slaps on their backs and slid into a sturdy building across the road. "Rose? You guys still here?"

"You realize you were talking over a radio, right? You didn't need actually to find us." Rose stretched her limbs freely as she pulled herself up from the floor using her vines. "We're fine in any case. My mates had a few hours of rest, so we should probably get back to the search."

"There's artillery. We need to stick to these ~convenient~ stone buildings as we move."

"I'm not so sure about that. My mates have already cleared this place in about ten minutes." Rose nudged her head toward Themis as he appeared seemingly out of thin air. "If they can do that, I'm ~pretty~ sure they can outrun explosions."

"Hey, you're finally up. Good." Cid walked over after getting the otter's attention, distracting him from a glassy vase he'd found nearby. "Finding gifts for the wife? Total keeper."

"This? I just thought Phebes might want a look. It doesn't look old like the rest." Em tossed the item to his wife for safekeeping. "Let me find him. We've been trying out our time-shifting while we got some fresh air."

"Oh, that's right. I forgot you guys were using your helmets before." Sydney noticed a blur as Phoebe flew around another room. "Are you ready to go? Why the super speed if you've cleared the building?"

"Time passes faster for us when we do that. We live every second we speed past."

Rose offered a simpler answer for the gradually more confused meerkat. "If it takes ten seconds to walk across a room and they do it instantly, apparently they see it as ten seconds from their perspective. They're ten seconds older in that instant."

"That also means you lose ten seconds of their lives. Are you okay with that?"

"No, but we can't afford to debate that when we're being shelled." Rose lovingly pressed her forehead to her husband's own. "My men needed time to suck up this local air, time we didn't really have. I can't complain if it helps our chances of having a future. Right?"

"Right." Em smiled at Rose's nervous shying away from a kiss due to her different mouth. He then promptly planted a kiss on her lips anyway. "I love you, Rosey. Now let's get moving so we can get off this rock."

"S-Sure. It's just... I wanted to see Yangurraar in its prime. Shame we only see this destroyed rubble town."

Phoebe flashed in front of Rose and sucked the life out of her with his own kiss, his paws deftly stealing the vase away in the same motion. "We'll rebuild an image of that for you, then. Maybe when this crisis is over we'll return to dig up more relics."

"Yeah. I'd like that a--"

"<Yamil, no!>"

Completely out of the blue, an enormous stone slab slid aside to reveal a small Yangurrar child with apparently the strength of a bulldozer. "<I'll be safe, mother. My skin itches too much from the dark. I'll return in-->" Rose and the child stared at each other a moment, but upon spotting Sydney he screeched at the top of his lungs. "<Mother! They're here!>"

Out of instinct and a lot of specific training, Rose closed the gap and subdued the shouting child to silence him. "<Quiet. I don't like knocking out children.>"

"<Let go of my sprout, now!>" The child's mother emerged with a large weapon in her hands and vines. She charged the device enough that it glowed yellow on the business end, immediately loosing Rose's grips. "<How many of you must die before you get the hint? You may have killed off our family, but this will never be your land.>"

"<Well nobody can know that if you don't leave messengers alive to relay the message.>" The boys both gave their wife a knowing glance, only to have their assault request denied with a shake of Rose's head. "<You did well to stay hidden for so long. You may want to take your weapon and retreat though; there's cannon fire coming down upon the city and it isn't safe out here. Save your child.>"

"<Why would your own family fire upon you? You're trying to trick me!>"

The child returned to his mother and waved his hand downward, seemingly in a dismissive motion. "<No, mother. Please don't burn her. I've never had a great aunt before.>"

"<Yamil, stop playing games. Get back inside.>"

"<But she feels like that 'Chleek' you told me about...>"

The mother examined Rose for a moment, revelation hitting her face as she noticed familiarities in leaf and queii patterns. "<You... Lend me a queo, slowly.>

Rose eased a vine forward and raised the bud on the end for easier access. "<I'm not sure what he's talking about, but either way I can prove I'm not an enemy like this.>"

"<Agreed. The other assassins failed to live long enough to Link.>" The woman met the bud with one of her own, looping her vine around it with such leverage that she could still do damage if needed. «This... does feel similar. Gods, the markers line up as well...»

«Wow. I think I get it now. You're not here to claim this land...» Rose stood tall and chose to speak out the remainder of her discovery. "<You're part of the Ors family--our family.>"

"<'Ours'?>" The mother looked to her sides and nodded as she extracted recent memories of Rose's mates. "<This... This pleases me more than words can describe!>"

Rose bowed her head politely. "<I am Rose, also of Ors. These are my husbands, Phoebe and Themis. They are... irregular hybrids from what you call Terra.>"

Pho extended a paw, the woman meeting it with a tendril for lack of understanding the gesture. "<I'm Phoebe. Nice to meet you.>"

"<Same here.>" Em offered a paw as well, but the mother stared at his camera with distrust. "<It's a camera. It records moments as pictures.>"

"<Interesting. You don't have the capacity to recall memories?>"

"<Oh, we forgot this guy. Take both our paws, please.>" The woman did just that, the trio Linking through their queii. «Our veile is Jeeves. We need to share him, sadly.»

«How... odd. And your genetic makeup is... There are at least five species involved? This is the work of Xor, surely.» The mother broke the Link and lowered her weapon, ready to trust her new guests. "<You have interesting mates, Rose. My name is Hori, and I believe... perhaps my grandfather was your cousin. Oh! This is my son, Yamil.>"

"<Are you... alone here? Does your own mate live?>"

"<No. The same zealots that aim for our land have also angered Xor's avatar. My mate Po went with the fleet to stop them, and yet the avatar grows still...>"

"<That's what we're trying to fix. Perhaps you might help us with this.>" Rose noticed eyes settling occasionally upon Cid and sighed to clear the air. "<This is Sydney. She's part of the family as well, and my new sister. She's Terran, but also mixed with some of their local wildlife like my husbands.>"

"<I see. So our family is larger than I could have hoped. This is good! We might rebuild our status!>"

"Uh... Hi?" Cid took her paw off her taser and eased her tensions. "So what's going on? This is all gibberish to me."

"This is Hori, and she's your two-generation younger cousin. We're family." Rose perked up as she remembered the Link capacitance of Sydney's suit and guided the meerkat's arm outward. "You can talk if you Link to her. Chit chat while I grab Eve for a proper family get-together."

"S-Sure." Sydney offered her her paw and Hori accepted with an understanding nod. «Are you getting this? I don't do this too often.»

«I've always speculated that the Link transcends language. It's a tad strange, yet I do understand.»

«Well the only other people I've tried this with are my wives, so--»

«Yes, your... Your wife--Carbon, is it? She seems familiar.» Hori stiffened as an explosion rattled the walls. «Perhaps I should keep my prying for another time.»

«I think I get it now. We can share memories, right?» Cid closed her eyes and tried her best, but only gathered a similar binding sensation between the two. «I think I feel that too. Not sure what it means.»

«Ah, I understand now. Your wifes are relatives of mine. Carbon is Rose's sister, yes?»

«Yeah, that's right. I guess that means Eve is your sister as well.»

Hori furled her brow at the mention of Eve, their shared memories focusing on the enigma. «Evelyn... She is so very like Carbon, yet far, far more complex than I can understand. Who is this plant?»

«I'm not sure you can really call her a plant like yourselves. I dunno. She's just Eve.» Sydney noticed Rose's return with said enigma in tow, the meerkat pointing the pair out for Hori. «Ah, there she is. I'm sure Eve could explain all the sciency mumbo jumbo better than I could.»

«The goddess!?» Hori spun to her side, accidentally breaking her Link in the process. "<By my roots... Am I truly witnessing Gaia herself? Have you returned, Great Mother?>"

Eve froze stiff or a moment, then carefully yet gently rested her hands on the nervous woman's shoulders. "<I get that a lot these days. I'm not sure what it means, but I apparently look like Gaia. I've also been told I have Xor's-->"

"<She shines like Xor, mom. She's pretty.>"

Eve giggled at Vamil's sudden wondrous outburst. "<That. Something about me apparently looks like Xor too.>"

"<Yet you are neither? How is this possible?>" Hori took a deep breath as she calmed down, finding the ability to Link with Eve soon through their shared touch. «So... You are Evelyn. Then Sydney and my other relative Carbon are your mates?»

«I was also Carbon's veile before an odd battle drew me out.»

«...Peculiar. Then Carbon also looks like the goddess? One of our family? Perhaps this honor might rebuild our name.»

Eve shook her head. «Sadly, that's not the case. I think... I'm slowly figuring out why that is, actually.» Eve took a moment to extract some missing links from Hori's recent memory. «Ah, you are a few generations newer than Carbon's father, the former Chleek Ors. That puts us... roughly one and a half thousand Terran years apart. I never thought space travel took quite that long.»

«If Terra is the goal, that estimate may be correct.» Hori dug deeply for a conversion. «Ah, and with a 'year' being that long... wouldn't that take about a hundred less?»

«Nishal had a long stay on Terra. He died there in battle for his family's beliefs.» Eve broke the Link, donning her head as she tried to parse through some of her recently uncovered genetic memories. "<I directed us here to fill in some gaps in his memories. Being a hybrid, Carbon's and my combined recollection of Nishal is patchy. I'm sure however that the key to negating Xor's pull on the galaxy lies somewhere in those memories. Our former Chleek devoted himself to the cause... having caused it himself.>"

Hori moved to hold her child as another explosion shocked the ground nearby. "<So you seek remnants of our Chleek, then? What have you found so far?>"

"<We have his ætir, and we've been finding all the remaining ones planet by planet. We know for a fact Nishal has touched every last one.>" Evelyn hinted that the lot should head for the fissure in the ground whence the mother and son emerged for more safety. "<The Cordura family has the only remaining ætir on this planet, correct? Perhaps we should prepare an assault on their cavern rather than risk your lives by searching for scraps here.>"

"<Nonsense. Our family serves its Chleek with utmost loyalty. Now that he has been found we have a purpose once more.>" Hori led her child into the hole, revealing a tunnel to a secret sub-cavern as the others followed. "<If genetic links are what you require, we have plenty of those. Our family is still a hundred strong even in hiding. I am curious, though... Who did our last Chleek choose as a successor? Or shall we prepare a divining ceremony for Carbon and Rose?>"

"<Technically, Carbon is also Chleek. She chooses to use her original name out of Terran cultural habits though.>" Eve followed closely behind, the enigma muddling her thoughts over just how much of Niishal's past she should reveal. "<I would ask that you follow that choice as well, to avoid bringing back memories of Niishal's last living actions. We both don't like to dwell on that moment.>"

"<For our Chleek's sake, I will do this. I can't say the same for all of the family, however.>" Hori stopped at another stone slab, this one carved intricately with glyphs. She Linked with a vine and the door slid open on its own power, the thickness obviously acting as security against invaders. "<Where is Carbon now? I'm sure our people would love to greet her.>"

Rose caught up to survey the path ahead, spotting light further down. "<She's fighting Cordura's best warriors as we speak. If time or victory allows we might get her to visit, but she risks everything right now so we might finish Eve's task.>"

"<Then it is settled. Our task is Evelyn's task.>" Hori frisked a queo in the air to greet two guards at a much larger fortification. "<Kinsmen, I bring good news. By word of our new Chleek, we are to assist these newcomers.>"

The leftmost guard groaned and rolled his eyes. "<Our Chleek? Don't play games with me again, Hori...>"

"<Then would you deny a Great Spirit's avatar, Danesh?>" Hori giggled as she presented Eve to the guards. "<She was a part of our new Chleek, as her former veile. Is such a transformation sufficient or do you need more proof of her greatness?>"

"<N-No, I don't. Great Mother...>"

Hori nodded a few times for herself, then bowed in thanks as the gate began slowly opening. "<Well then, my new kin. Welcome to the Fourth Sunken Garden of Ors.>"

---

«This is blowing my mind a bit.» Carbon settled near a now-startled Ilaria to form a Link between the otter's spine and her vines. «Your boy Ceylon is doing great, considering he's spastic on land.»

Ari repeatedly clutched down upon her bow in annoyance. «Hey, don't talk like that about him. Ceylon is risking his life for ours.»

«I know. I'm just curious if he can understand us in a Link. Looks like that's a negative.» Carbon looked to her old friend Vasily and sighed when he realized they couldn't talk the same as with his daughter. «Looks like he's in position. What was the signal you two worked out to start the fireworks?»

«Nice choice of words. I have a magnesium arrow I was going to use as a last-second diversion. He's waiting for that big-ass sparkler.» Ari slowly pulled that arrow from her waist quiver and noted a striker on the tip. «Think I should just light this candle?»

Carbon made a few paw signals for the others just in case. «Go for it. We're all ready.»

Ilaria struck her arrowhead on a rock and lit a small fuse. She only had seconds to get rid of the arrow by way of a high, arcing shot before the magnesium core combusted with the brightness of a thousand stars. The distraction proved most useful, the cannon teams having let down their guard; one team in particular stepped a few paces away from their heavy plasma gun enough that Ceylon could lunge to disable it. In a surprising show of strength the Versa ripped a protective cage off the cannon and kicked the underlying power control crystal enough to crack it.

"That'll do, Ceylon! Get back here!" Carbon rose up and issued a heavy swath of covering fire for the now-detectable giant. "The two golems on the far sides won't likely get destroyed. Vasily and I have the right. Go!"

"And leave me to get the other myself? Fuck, Carbon!"

Vasily popped up to his hindpaws and immediately shot one of the cannon crew that reached for a weapon. "You've got your brother, Ielunschra. I advise you make liberal use of him."

"I'm watching her, dad." Another artillery crew member fell in a mist of glowing chartreuse followed by the crack of Iolvin's rifle. "I have a powered shot charged and waiting, Lulu. Get him to show his ass for me."

"Let's allow the massive explosion to go off first, maybe?" Ari didn't need to wait long, the damaged cannon's crew attempting to futilely flee from the hissing weapon. A moment later the heavy gun exploded into a searing fireball of plasma which within seconds caused the other cannons to do the same. "Guess that's my cue. Line up your shot, but keep my position in mind. I'm getting close to the guy like Carbon recommends."

"I won't harm a hair on your pelt, sis." Yoyo shifted his rifle to rest upon a walking tank, though not his target one. Already on fire and heavily damaged, the otter smiled as another sniper team punched four shots through the cockpit to silence the pilot. "Other teams are doing better than we thought. This looks like it'll work, sis."

"It better. We can't let our whelps get fried by these space guns." Ari struck the side of her target mech with an explosive bolt, the arrow exploding a moment after dropping to its feet. "That got his attention."

"But he's still sitting on his ass." Yoyo set his sights over the joint between the walker's hips and spine, but slats of potentially deflecting side-facing armor blocked his shot. "Don't just let him turn his torso. I need the legs to move too."

Ari dove into the turning side of the mech as a flaming volley of death zipped past her. "Looks easier from a mile away, bro." She noticed the golem was losing balance as it sped up its turning rate to follow her and beamed a smile of ingenuity. "Get ready, Yoyo. He'll definitely know our plan if you miss this."

"I've got the guy zeroed, Lulu. Just do it."

"Ready! Aim!" Ari created a nanite zip-tie and used it to fasten one of her tendril anchors to an arrow. She buried the anchor into the rock far to the mech's side and reeled her tether with all of her robotic arm's extreme might. "Fire!"

The golem sped up its rotation to an extreme, forcing it to take two steps in the right direction to keep upright while tracking Ilaria. "Perfect. Watch your tail!"

Faster then the sound could ever match, a magnetically assisted slug of tungsten slammed hard enough into the exposed weakness to turn partially liquid. Glowing slag fractured into streams of brilliant light, glowing like instantaneous lightbulb filaments powered by pure destruction. A moment after the sound of the shot finally arrived the upper half of the golem slid free of the waist. Counter to Ilaria's expectation of a massive explosion from some hidden ammunition store or power supply, the broken war machine instead slowly bled to death--both with lubricant as well as the sole inhabitant's glowing chartreuse blood.

"W-Wonderful..." Ari moved closer to check that the machine was dead inside and out, regretting that move when her confirmation became a gurgling cough from within the beast. "Good... Good shot, Yoyo. Ah... Let's help dad."

"Something wrong?" The twin's earnest concern affirmed the intimate connection he shared in addition to his emotive sixth sense. "Should I give it a courtesy shot?"

"Y-Yeah, please." Another enhanced rifle shot punched through the rear of the cockpit to silence all doubt of death. "Thank you, Yoyo. Now about dad and Carbon..."

"Looks like they have it under control." Yoyo adjusted his sights to settle upon Ex as it charged over for its own assist. "Big Guns just rolled up. I can't see dad but I think Carbon's got this under control."

"Oh, shit. Yeah, I thought we were holding Ex in reserve for stealth." Ilaria started jogging to join the fight, but froze and nearly tripped upon spotting Ex's large hand grabbing her limp father by his backpack. "Something's wrong. Dad's knocked out."

"Get in there. I'm charging another shot for that fucker."

Ari felt the emotional backlash from her brother and growled in shared anger. "Don't you dare grant this one a courtesy shot. I'm ending him myself."

"No, stay back. We've got him rigged." Carbon dove toward Ari and slid muzzle-first into the otter's hindpaws. "Live blast!"

"What!?" Ari squeaked in surprise as Carbon forced her down hard and produced a wireless detonator. "Oh, fuck!"

"Fire, Fire!" Carbon clamped both paws around the detonator switch three times and triggered two bundles of plastique wedged and creamed into their target's spine. In moments the stone monstrosity matched the rocks and rubble on the ground save for fresh carbon scorching. "Thank your dad for that. He took a hit getting in close enough to plant the payload. Our usual plan doesn't anticipate good pilots."

"Is he going to be alright!? How bad is it!?"

"Relax, Ari. His suit took the biggest hit and Ex is sealing it back on the line. Cat's gonna have my hide when she sees all his fur's burnt off though." Carbon stood cautiously, making sure the remaining golems were destroyed before excessively exposing herself. "Let's get back there and check on him. We need a plan for the next wave."

"There's more? Where?"

"I Linked with the enemy through his golem until he hurled me off. There's a lot more coming, and without a defensible position we can't handle what I saw." The hybrid dusted off her suit and found her custom shotgun in the nearby dirt. "Let's count our dead and lick our wounds while we can. We've got some serious planning to do."