FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Floor sixty came up and Sam stepped out quickly. She saw Fren along with a badger man, red lizard man, and elven woman standing by a set of doors. Fren saw her first and happily beckoned her over though seemed curious about her company.

"Sam, this is an interesting surprise. Well timed one at that! I was just having a meeting with my fellow admin about the recent events. I never imagined you would come here! Anyways, this is Ssthrak of the Iskra systems, Golgar of the Trenton systems, Illwyn of the Sylva systems, and you know me, I run the Orka systems. We are the admin of the Ally forces. We run the military defences for the ally planets."

Sam gave a short bow, "pleasure to meet you all. It is nice to finally meet the ones who have been after me since I made first contact back on Earth. I felt sorry for Terry with the pressure you were putting on him to make sure I made it off planet. I really needed to do what I did though."

Golgar looked irritated, but so far all badgers had looked irritated, "you caused us too many headaches over that! Why couldn't you just play nice and come when we first called?"

Illwyn put a hand on his shoulder and he calmed down, "what were you doing for those five years anyways?"

"Ah, well, for one year I explored my planet. It is really difficult to do unless you have a lot of money. The other four years I spent in combat training with kitsune."

They were all surprised but Ssthrak was the one who spoke up, "kitsune actually trained you in their ways? They are extremely secretive and powerful! Only the Drakorna have been able to penetrate their lines in battle."

The male spoke up from beside Sam, "how does she keep getting so much royal treatment? I am sorry to offend but why would a hybrid be regarded higher than a full blood Kor'Ran?"

All of the admin looked to the male but Illwyn was the one to address him, "ah, Troy I presume? Son of Advisor Kalak and Witch Sorla? You really have no idea who you are next to?" The male, Troy, looked at Sam but said nothing. Illwyn continued, "she is the daughter of Queen Arlan and Duke Ordo. Their second child and as far as we know the only female of the Kor'Ran. She is no hybrid and surpasses any Kor'Ran in power by a large margin. You should be treating her as royalty and hoping she doesn't rip your spine out for insulting her."

"I... How are you sure? She is so small!"

"We are sure you were not so much different when you were as young. She really is only 38 years old. Actually probably a little less because galactic time is 380 days on her home planet, not the 365 that was used there."

Sam held up a hand to shush any more comments by him, getting a little annoyed, "I am right here, you know. Actually, the whole reason I came here was because I never got my ID or credit chip because of the whole issue of coming through the portal a year ago. I would appreciate getting those so I can actually do business and have a life off of my ship."

The admins looked at Fren and he smacked his own face, "I am so sorry. Yes yes, I will have my people work on that immediately. I can't believe I've met up with you twice now, asked a favor of you, and haven't even thought to have you come in to get your ID and credit chip."

"Also, I am curious. You wouldn't happen to know somewhere I can sell Khalar fabric, would you? I have a large roll of it here and would like to sell it to get some credits."

Ssthrak looked at the other admins and beckoned to Sam, "we could buy the fabric from you. We use it quite often and the stock has been limited or non-existent for a long time."

"Well that makes things easier. I don't know how you price it."

Troy was not done being confused by Sam apparently, "at that size that thing should weigh around 300 pounds! How do you carry it like it is just a staff?"

Sam was getting irritated with Troy and his questioning her constantly. She "dropped" the roll on Troy's foot, making him yelp and step away a few paces, "you really should keep your comments to yourself if you do not understand what is going on."

The admins all chuckled and Golgar seemed to be warming up to her, "the fabric usually goes for 475 credits a square ticc. It also usually comes in a two ticc roll because of how hard it is to make so it is difficult to understand how you have a roll so wide."

"I make it myself on my ship. I had a few scraps when I left Trenton and I figured out how to make it while abroad during the last year."

"Still, how do you make that size roll when no one can make more than a two ticc roll?"

"I have no idea. Probably something to do with the Ren'Indral tech on my ship. It seems to be quite capable of a lot."

They all seemed quite shocked, even Troy, though it was Illwyn who spoke, "Ren'Indral tech?! No wonder you were able to wipe out that fleet so easily! Their tech is legendary. Your ship is massive, too. I think I know which ship that is. It used to be used as a Vey'Ral hunter some millennia ago."

"So I've heard. So while chit chat is fun and all, I'm sure you all have business to attend to. I am not that interesting and also have things to attend once I have my ID and credit chip."

Fren waved her notion away, "on the contrary, you are actually quite fascinating! You are right, though. We do have a lot to take care of. As admin we have a lot of responsibilities. I will take you down to the office to have your ID and credit chip made so they do not give you trouble but then I must depart. Troy? Stop trying to get her to put you in the hospital."

The other admins left with a gracious goodbye, even Golgar, through an elevator farther down the hall that Sam did not see. Fren directed her back to the elevator that she had originally come up through and they headed down to the seventh floor. It was a far cry from the sixtieth floor they were on but floor levels must have held more important functions as you went up. Fren still had small questions as they went, simple things about her upbringing and life on Earth since, while he had overseen the import of many, he had never actually spoken with anyone from the planet. Sam did convey her worry about the suicide rate that was common with those who come through. Fren was not surprised but conveyed that it was not specifically life but more for those who get sent to the Wilds or encounter the Vey'Ral. Those are the unlucky ones. Sam's home was actually on the other side of the Wilds. Many days of travel by star drive. One day she should go there and meet her brothers. Sam looked at Troy and logged it as a maybe in her mind.

The elevator opened to the seventh floor and Sam saw a sprawling floor of desk workers. She cringed at the thought of having to do this kind of work. Fren noticed the cringe, "I take it you don't like this type of work?"

Sam shook her head, "I did a part time job for a while as a desk clerk. It was not for me. It pays the bills but I can't help but remember the drab of when I did it. The screens they are using are neat at least." They had glass touch screens they worked with looked much more interesting than the old monitors she worked with back in the day.

"Right over this way. We usually do IDs and credit chips on Trenton so we only have one guy who does it in this region." They walked over to a man who seemed completely human. Then again, Terry and Ananda had seemed human as well.

They approached him from behind and stopped at his desk. He seemed to be working on something rather intently but did not turn around at their approach. Fren cleared his throat to get the man's attention. He looked behind him, saw Fren, panicked, and turned around quickly. Then he saw Sam and grimaced.

"I've seen that look enough to know what you're thinking. Don't be such a dick, I'm not a Vey'Ral. I just need an ID and credit chip."

He frowned and focused on Sam intently. For her part, she just stared right back at him until she felt the tingle of him trying to use his Qi to attack her mind. That just pissed her off so she sent a wave of her own Qi back towards his mind. It was a trick she learned from the Kitsune and it was very effective against those wishing to assault her mind.

The wave hit him in the head and he fell back in his chair holding his head with a wail. A bunch of people nearby looked at them as he whined and held his head. Fren, confused, looked at Sam with a raised brow.

"He tried to assault my mind. I have defenses against that. He'll be fine in a few minutes."

Fren just shook his head, "you really shouldn't do that. He usually searches a person's mind to make sure they are who they say they are."

"A warning would be nice. It still felt like he was trying to assault me. Not that he could have actually done anything anyways."

They waited for a minute and he finally sat up in his chair, still holding his head, "holy hell that hurt. Who the hell are you?"

"Sam Pedersen. I'd say nice to meet you but I doubt it. Like I said, I just need an ID and credit chip. Oh, and Fren wants to buy my Khalar fabric."

The guy huffed and started tapping on a glass screen to his side, "Fred on floor six does purchasing. Talk to him about the fabric." Sam frowned at him right as she saw a flash and he was holding up a device. She just realized the picture of her frowning was going to be on her ID. She was going to kill this guy. She re-relayed her race, gender, allegiance, power level (which made him sweat a little), and parentage (which made him sweat even more). Fren gave a different name than her own: Illyana Sreknoda. Sam raised an eyebrow at him but Fren raised his hand to say "not now". The guy was obviously regretting taking a bad picture out of spite when he handed over the ID and credit chip and was shaking like a leaf. Sam slipped the ID in a pocket sewn inside her dress behind the breast region and the chip went in a small pocket at her hip for easier access.

Sam looked to Fren again but he raised a hand again, "I will send you a message later explaining the name."

Sam turned and walked away without a word and headed back to the elevators. Fren stayed to admonish the clerk but Troy hurried after Sam to keep up with her, "are you really a level nine being? At 38 years old?"

Sam just nodded and pressed the six in the elevator so she could sell her fabric. She wasted no time in locating Fred on that level. He was actually fun to deal with and seemed to be rather flamboyant, hitting on Troy a bit and complimenting him on his beautiful orange plumage. Sam had a good chuckle out of it as they completed the transaction. The fabric was worth a lot more than she had thought. The total for the roll came out to 750,000 credits. A small mint from what Troy said.

Sam felt good once she got outside of the building. She finally had become official and had some money. Now was just the task of purchasing the staff from Troy. She looked at him and spread her wings. He frowned and shook his head but followed after Sam as she took off through the air. She did some acrobatics in the air ahead of him to be a showoff, landing smoothly in front of his apartment. There were less people in this area so Troy landed heavily, throwing up some dust from the impact. He looked worse for wear than the first trip.

Troy took a few minutes to catch his breath this time. Sam thought that he might not have made the trip back if it had been a half mile farther. Once he seemed to be recovering she turned and walked away. She had a bounce to her step as she walked up to stand next to his apartment door. He glared at her but she just smiled right back. Sam knew he was going to start more shit and was not happy about it.

He walked past Sam and placed his hand on a scanner above the knob. It beeped and he pulled it open, grabbing the staff he had placed right behind the door before they left earlier. He leaned that against the wall and grabbed a second item from behind the door that looked like a calculator. He held it up and Sam figured he wanted her credit chip. She pulled it from her pocket and handed it to him. She watched the small screen on it as he pressed some buttons and was glad she had been getting lessons from her ship on language. The numbers were the same as the Ren'Indral and apparently it said he was withdrawing 700,000 from her chip.

"I hope you plan to correct your indiscretion before I correct it for you."

He stopped what he was doing and looked at her, frustrated, "what do you mean? I am collecting what is due to me for the staff."

Sam glared at him and crossed her arms while trying to keep herself from baring her teeth, "no, you are trying to rip me off. That staff was not worth anywhere near 700. Maybe seventy. Fix it or you are going to have a problem."

"I don't care who you think you are, but there is no way you are full blood Kor'Ran. There are no females. There were around seven thousand of us originally and every single one was male. All of them. There is no way there could be a thirty eight year old female. Period. So no, I am taking what is due to me and keeping the staff." He finished the transaction, tossed the chip back at Sam and grabbed the staff to walk back into the apartment. Sam grabbed the staff and did not let go, "you insolent child! I will teach you a lesson if I must. Do not tempt me."

Sam finally had enough of this asshat. She snarled at him, baring teeth and everything and grabbed the staff with both hands. He was surprised by either the snarl or the teeth behind her lips but what surprised him more was having the staff connect with his groin while he was holding it and flipping him up and over Sam's head to land on his back. She changed the end of the staff into a half moon blade and held it over his face, one of the points touching his neck.

"You want to try that again? Still think I am an insolent child? I'll make you a deal. Fix that transaction to seventy thousand instead of the seven hundred you took from me and I will leave you alone."

"And if I don't?"

"Well, there are some areas on my home planet that believe that you cut off the hand of a thief. I think that is fair, don't you? You stole from me." He tried to reach up for the staff so she separated it into two sections and slammed them down on his arms, pinning them to the ground with forks she formed on the ends, "I see you don't want to cooperate. I guess that means I'm cutting off a hand then... Or maybe I should take both."

He suddenly realized that the prongs of the staff had buried into the concrete he was laying on when he couldn't move his arms any more. He hadn't even had a chance to grasp the concept that she worked the metal like it was clay until now. He watched her as she pulled some of the metal off the rods and formed a foot long blade that looked wicked and dangerous.

"H-hang on now. Maybe we can work out some kind of deal! There is no need to get violent!"

"Violent!? You are the one who threatened to "put me in my place". You deserve whatever I do to you."

"Wait! Wait. I will give you your money back. Just stop this madness. I am a scholar, not a fighter."

"You don't act like a scholar. You act like you already know everything. A scholar would take an opportunity to learn, not to judge."

Sam pulled the forks out of the ground, freeing up Troy. He rubbed his wrists and gingerly stood back up. He had to fetch his transfer machine from a ways off where it landed when Sam flipped him over her head. She handed him back her chip and he transferred the money back, minus the seventy thousand. He sighed and handed her back the chip. She shaped her staff back into a standard bo style and appraised it, walking off.

"Well, this concludes our business. If we see each other again, try to be a little nicer, please. I prefer to keep my fighting to Vey'Ral."

Troy said nothing as he watched Sam walk off. Her Corran looked at him and they made eye contact before she seemed to smile before catching up to Sam. Well what was he going to do now?