FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 1

Thunder crackled and lightning flashed as the rain-wrapped base came into view. It was built into the side of a mountain, and schematic's showed it went in several miles into the side of the mountain and then straight down for several more. The information they were given indicated approximately fifty Pelzigan scientists on this base studying a few exotic diseases that the UGSM had came across during their combat with the Lothians, throw in another hundred or so of orphaned Pelzigans that were possibly transported here they had at least two hundred possible infected within the base, and over six hundred Human Personnel. The base was rather large, meant to house over a thousand personnel, it was downgraded to the smaller amount due to the risk of Lothian attack. Jack maneuvered the Avius to fly by the landing pads to see what they were working with, and sure enough, two were open for crafts to land, while the rest contained the burning wreckages of ships half the size of the Avius. Jack shook his head at the fourteen meter long wreckages that littered the pads, obvious signs of people being there, but no longer. He swung the Avius around and went below the pads to check on the hanger and saw that it was ablaze, every single ship in there was burning, plasma scorch marks along the walls mixed with blood and ligaments, craters as well from explosive weapons. He shook his head and brought the Avius back up to the pads and landed her, and watched the rain continue to pour and a long arm extended from the cover the base entrance towards the Avius. The arm reached the Avius and a large blue umbrella-like shield flickered on covering the Avius from the acid rain. Jack began to power the ship down when an alarm warbled at him. He looked up and saw the blue shield begin to falter and he quickly powered the Avius back up, her shields flickering as they reactivated and the Umbrella failed allowed acid rain to pour on the Avius' shield.

Kyle walked into the cockpit and smiled at Jack, then looked out the window. "So....." He said, his face dead serious, "What'd you do?" He asked.

Jack rolled his eyes at him and crossed his arms, "I didn't do shit." He responded as he gestured out to the arm that had extended out towards the Avius, "Damn base must be experiencing power failures all over the place. Gods know how long it'll take for the Umbrella power back on."

Kyle allowed a small smile as he sat back into the copilot's chair crossing his arms as well, "Weeellll...." He said, "At least we don't have to worry about any infected escaping the base."

Jack nodded in agreement, "And we should be relatively safe here until that Umbrella comes on." He said to Kyle, "Mean, with it on, if there are any infected, they can get to us. With it off, we can't get into the facility but they can't get to us. So, damned if we do, damned if we don't."

Kyle nodded back and then repositioned himself so that his head rested on Jack's shoulder. "Hon...." He said.

Jack rested his head against Kyles and hushed him, "Everything's fine babe." Jack responded. For the last few days, Kyle was having nightmares, remembering his abusive ex that had reappeared back on Aura Station. He thought Kyle was finally past those thoughts, that event, but he knew that wasn't right. Kyle would still have those thoughts and that event did haunt him. Jack still didn't fully understand why Kyle had agreed to stay with him and assist Osman and her special forces unit known as S.T.A.T. Throughout the last two years, they had responded to hundreds of false alarms and to a few confirmed cases of the parasitic outbreak, the most recent being a freighter with its Human crew being used as incubators for the parasites onboard.

For the next hour, they watched as the acid rain hit the shielding of the Avius, and eventually saw power return to the landing platforms and the Umbrella shields came to life. "Time to move." Jack said as he got up from his chair and helped Kyle up. They both made their way back into the dining hall of the vessel where Terra sat at the table, eating some greyish nutrition gunk and working on one of the many probes they would be sending in. She wore a very standard white lab coat with a blue shirt and black pants underneath it that complimented her form very well. "Probes ready?" Jack asked.

She gave him a small smirk and nodded, "Ready as they'll ever be." She replied as she pulled a tablet that was next to her up and began turning the probes on, one by one. They were all relatively small, maybe four meters big and where covered in a black coating of paint. A few of them turned invisible and Jack could hear their small motors moving around him. "Just open the hatch and let them loose." She said.

Jack nodded and opened the hatch that was at the end of a hallway and the probes flew out of the Avius and towards the base. Jack sat next to Terra and watched the five different camera's maneuver around to the front of the base. Jack watched on the Camera feeds as the drones flew across the arm that connected the pad over to the main base, a blueish hue reflecting off of the cold metal as they approached the main door to the base. The metal that covered the front entrance was scorched black from the acid rain, showing sections that had melted away, and plasma fire with blood smears along the walls. "Lovely." Jack commented as one of the probes drifted towards the control panel, and a blue light in the shape of a grid began to scan the control panel which responded with its own lights flashing back at the probe, and there was a clicking sound as they unlocked, and the door opened. Inside was pitch black, sparking cables flashed in the distance of the corridor with hints of fresh blood sprayed along the walls wherever the lights touched.

"Terra to STAT Personnel, entrance is being probed now. Form a defensive position around the landing pads." Terra said into her earpiece as she continued to maneuver the drones into the pitch-black hallway, turning on night vision and scanning the hallway. The scene was something Jack remembered clearly from the Aura Station Incident. Bodies littered the hallway, some of them were Human with egg sacks that had grown through their chests and stomachs, and were now empty. "Shit," Terra commented as she sent the probes deeper. Suddenly, there was a small chirp and a sensor appeared on the screens. "STAT Personnel, have movement, contact ten meters into the corridor, be on guard." Terra said as she maneuvered the probe that had picked up the movement and displaying its motion tracker to the pad. They watched as it came across a grotesque creature, skinny with jagged bones, Human-like, with dark green eyes and a sickly pale skin. No body hair at all, almost like it had torn the hair that was on its body away.

"The hell is that?" Jack asked.

Terra shook her head, watching it maneuver itself along the walls with sharpened claws as it circled the probe. "New mutation?" She guessed as the thing gave a small, innocent like chirp. "Running scans on it now." Terra said, within the next twenty seconds, a full bio readout appeared on the tablet and she examined it while keeping her eye on the creature. "It's definitely Human." She said, "Or was a Human at one point, male. Appears to have clawed off its reproductive organs and all bodily hair. The skin on it is rather thick. Body temperature is through the roof and there are no signs of a parasite inside of it."

Jack shook his head, "No," he said, "The parasite has never used a Human host like this, only as incubators."

Terra shrugged, "Well, the majority of the outbreaks, especially the Aura Station incident, lasted only a few weeks while this incident was apparently festering for well over a month before containment was broken. We know the parasite adapts to the environment it's in. possibly without any Lothian or Pelzigan hosts, or a short supply of them, it adapted itself to using Humans as a way of spreading the infection instead of just incubating the young." She explained. "Would make sense, once again the Aura Station Incident lasted only a week or so before we blew the station up. And that freighter was only about three days old when we responded. Same for New Guineas Colony."

Jack sighed, "Well, luckily we were able to stop the infection from spreading too far on New Guineas." He said.

Terra nodded. "STAT Personnel, be advised we have a new Infected. origins are Human, the skin is thick and may require several shots to take down. It seems to stick to the walls and shadows." She said into her earpiece. There were several acknowledgments from team leaders. The thing continued to examine the probe until it turned its attention to the front entrance.

"Shit." Jack said as he got up and grabbed his pistol from the rack next to the table. "Jack to STAT leaders, new Infected has its attention on the entrance, prepare for contact!" He said into his earpiece. There was a string of acknowledgments, and then plasma fire rang out as they opened fire on the new Infected. Jack positioned himself at the ramp, watching, waiting for it to breakthrough. There was a shrill scream and a few laughs from the group in front of them.

"Contact neutralized." Reported a team leader, his voice a little shaken. "We will proceed into the facility now. Keep us posted with the probes."

Jack acknowledged, watching as the thirty or so soldiers enter the facility, ready for a fight. "Well," He said, "Best get whatever scans we can get before those guys kill all of them."