FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The next dead zone in the system was pelted by clouds of ice crystals whipped up into a space blizzard. It cloaked a massive shape, roughly triangular. A mountain range violently separated from its planet. Makeshift moons of whirling rock orbited around and in some cases, between the upper peaks. Streaks of the universe glowed in black light where the hazy blue clouds were thin enough.

Fox was alone again. Shadows contorted oddly over slopes scorched and then frozen over. Nothing on the commlink but static. An odd sense of deja vu crept in as he swooped low to the mountain. Fog and emptiness had a way of stretching itself out into infinity.

And then, a halo of eerie green light. Venom. It was a frosty Venom. The light was a glowing square, a vacuum barrier over a hangar that whipped past him.

As soon as his head whipped forward, something revealed itself from around a spire. Too slow, too deliberate to be an accident. Letting its bulbous shadow ooze over the ground. Moving with sinister purpose. Gliding along against all sense of logic. Straight for his arwing- for him.

He's here!

Fox turned on the object as soon as it revealed itself. A charged shot obliterated a drifting asteroid that was far more mundane than its shadow had led Fox to believe. He was breathing hard as the golden comet passed him shooting straight down toward the mountain.

"Don't lose your marbles out here, Fox,"

Wolf plunged toward bell shaped turrets just then taking aim. He dodged the paltry laser fire from automated defenses and then fired back. Explosions and scattering ice bloomed among the crag riddled terrain. His lasers melted through a cluster of ball-shaped tanks, causing a chain reaction that detonated like fireworks hurling molten metal far up and out past Fox's flight level. By now he had collected himself enough to dodge the hazards.

"What are you even doing here?" Fox finally replied.

"Somebody owes me big. For a poker game he skipped out on,"

The wolfen popped up cruising alongside the arwing. Fox peered across the short gap of vacuum into a familiar face. One that he locked onto, despite all else going on. It got his blood pumping, eyes dilated and heat blooming in his cheeks. Wolf's stare all but grabbed him by the chin and demanded full attention.

The lips moved over sharp teeth. "Well? Your turn,"

"I've got to stop one of your old comrades," Fox huffed, "Now you know. Feel free to jet anytime,"

Wolf was silent for a time.

"Remember what I told you back on Fortuna? I said the big ape wanted you, but not if I got to you first,"

"I plan on keeping my word," Wolf went on when he received no answer, "Somebody's got to keep you from-"

He cut himself off with a grunt. Fox meanwhile frowned.

"Keep me from what? All you've done is tried to kill me..._how _many times now?"

The Wolfen banked sharply away, swooping down to a broad canyon system cracked across the space mountain. Fox was on his tail in an instant.

"Steel sharpens steel," Wolf said, twisting his way through a forest of stalagmites. The arwing never wavered from his rear view, "You had to be pretty sharp to face what was sailing your way,"

The Wolfen launched a flurry of lasers into another turret firing at them from the edge of the canyon. Fox's confusion-scrunched face was momentarily lit by the warm light of the explosions.

"Wolf, what are you even trying to say?"

Fox asked the question but had not touched the comm button. The commlink was overtaken with hissing static for a moment and the arwing was jerked a few feet lower. Grunting, Fox fought with the controls to shake out of it, but to no avail. For all it was worth, he might as well have been trying to push his fighter around by hand.

Caught in a tractor beam. Up ahead, there was another of those hangars in the side of a sheer cliff face.

A glance over revealed Wolf was in the same situation, but didn't look too concerned about it. He had fished a cigarette out of his leather jacket and took a long drag, leaning back in his seat with arms folding behind his head.

Fox searched between his seat and brought out his blaster as he and Wolf split paths, bound for different bays.

-

A crackling static passed over the ship as it was brought inside the forcefield. As soon as the craft was inside, the glowing green square shifted to red as the barrier was reversed. His craft settled into a cradle of robotic support arms with a bump and they locked down on it. No getting out now without blasting a way out.

Wolf's finger stayed on the trigger as a few final bumps and clangs finished grounding him.

The station wasn't decrepit but it wasn't exactly well maintained either. Walls were of the plastic-looking prefab variety and the machinery was a bulky, cassette futuristic maze of blinking lights. Equipment was scattered about the hangar- barrels, crates, staged haphazardly. Some overflowing with scrap metal or starship parts. An oil splatter here and there, a viny sprawl of extension cords powering lights mounted to rails or propped on stands. Skeletal ship frames were held in more landing arms.

It was a standard issue pirate chop shop.

The pirates at least knew not to rush in, or his wolfen's lasers would create some very big sparks in these confined quarters. It was a Chihuahua's standoff. Wolf clutched his laser magnum in his claws. The weapon's frame was built around a cylindrical overcharged energy cell, giving it the look of an ancient gunpowder revolver save for a short, hexagonal barrel.

Pushing his canopy open, he dove from the cockpit. Sure enough, the hiss of bay doors followed soon after. He ran and rolled behind some barrels as he was greeted with the first bursts of laser fire sparking off his cover. One of the spotlights from a catwalk above followed him as he dashed between hiding spots.

Wolf spun, crouched and aimed two shots at either side of the spotlight. A spark hissed with boiling blood and the light toppled over as it was dragged down by the felled pirate. Wolf disappeared into the darkness.

Shortly thereafter, one of the pirates was impaled through by a sharp, rusty piece of rebar and pinned to a chain link fence.

"Stick to it," Wolf said in passing.

Another guttural scream as somebody was taken from behind into the shadows and did not live much longer. But now, barrel mounted lights were clicking on and sweeping the area.

"Move up!" A gruff voice ordered, "Try to run and you're dead!"

One of the lights fell on a door just as it was closing behind a bushy gray tail. But the laser barrel peeked out and sent a bolt into the lead pirate's shoulder, spinning him to the ground with a shriek.

-

Wolf glaced around the storage room and its endless dusty racks under flickering lighting. Three green lights remained on the back of his weapon's cylinder. But a smile spread as he spotted an ammo pack on a shelf, with a couple grenades right next to it.

He scooped up the nice little treasure and stuffed them into his leather jacket. But now voices and footfalls were drawing close and he still didn't have enough to deal with the entire mangy pack.

There- a crate tucked by the door. Empty, with one end open. Perfect.

Guns raised, a trio of pirates entered a moment later. They cautiously began sweeping the room. Their species were mostly obscured by crude, metal armor and beat up, visored helmets. But the last to enter was certainly an avian of some sort. He swivelled his beak around to one side of the door just in time to see Wolf bringing the crate down toward his head.

With a mighty metallic crash, bird brain was hammered to the ground. A laser rifle was aimed at Wolf as he punched the door controls hard enough to smash the panel in. Then rolled under as the slab of metal descended. A grenade clattered through the last sliver of open space and there was a cacophony of simultaneous screams before the detonation bucked dents in the metal from the other side.

-

Fox took in a deep breath as his eyes swept the bay. Time ticked by and he gulped a dry throat. The lights among the arwing's controls flickered. He frowned at it but hardly had time to investigate. Probably a minute passed and it was still eerily silent outside. But then something caught his eye.

Crammed into the far side of the bay was the remains of a vessel. It had a sleek, slender neck leading up to the cockpit from a bulging double barrel fuselage. Panels had been scorched as they were removed forcibly. Wires, cables, air hoses and the usual guts of a starship hung over the network of girders underneath. Six wings fanned out near the rear trio of engines. The upper wings bore the crest of the Cornerian fleet.

That was odd. Pepper made no mention of a Cornerian cruiser being captured.

"Are you there?"

A female voice filled the cockpit. Fox's head darted down, but he quickly put together that it wasn't a pirate shooting at him.

"Who's there?" he whispered back.

"I've got the pirates locked out for now. I am..well, I brought you here. I need your help,"

"I don't know if I can help you much. Since you served us up on a platter to these pirates,"

"Us?"

"Nevermind," Fox snapped.

"I probably owe you an explanation. So if you hurry up, I can give it to you. The ship. Get in here,"

Fox scrambled out of the arwing, hopping down to the wing and then floor. One of the doors across from him was starting to glow as laser cutters hacked at it from the other side.

Sprinting toward the vessel, Fox circled around back to where the ramp was extended on one of the rear bays. As he approached, the interior lights winked on. An elevator hissed at the end of a long bay. After a short ride up, he was scrambling through the ship's interior. Doors hissed open for him and he followed the hints. Not toward the bridge but deeper into the lower decks.

At last he arrived in a chamber entirely bare save for a grated metal floor and cluster of steam pipes below. Still no sign of the mysterious stranger either. The fur on the back of his neck was starting to rise.

"Welcome aboard the Ultraviolet," The voice said from thin air, "Or to be specific, the engineering bay,"

The entire room flickered at once as the veneer faded away to reveal a clean, white and blue room with floor and walls of gridded glass. Several of the squares in front of him glowed, casting a pale beam of light upward. Inside the beam, a cloud of static formed, then merged and smoothed out as the hologram appeared.

It was the blue outline of a young, curly haired Rabbit clad in a labcoat. And only a labcoat. Her breasts were so large that any flesh and blood creature would have faceplanted under the colossal weight. The imprint of nipples pointed the way forward.

"AI Assitant researcher reporting. Designation: Dr. Lightfoot. Pleased to observe you,"

Fox scratched behind an ear, "N-Nice to meet you too,"

"You will note that I am not in uniform. Apologies, but I was hacked by the pirates. They could not reach my core files, but settled for altering my avatar's structure out of spite,"

"I'm sorry that happened to you,"

"Back to the task at hand," She snapped, "We were supposed to be field testing some new gear developed by the Cornerian army. Our ship diverted here thinking the system was under some kind of astronomical disaster. Turned out the sentiment was not appreciated. So here we are,"

She gave a shrug.

"I cannot bear to think of allowing such advanced tech to fall into the hands of pirates, or any other rogue threats to Cornerian security. Eventually they will tear this ship down to the frame and discover it. I want you to take and use it, however you can,"

-

Robotic arms unfolded from a cluster of machinery in the ceiling. Each arm presented Fox a new piece of equipment.

"You'll need to shed your clothes to equip this gear. Considering my own appearance, I can sympathize with any discomfort you may feel,"

Fox only waved a hand, "It's fine. Just give me some privacy, huh?"

Dr. Lightfoot said nothing, only disappeared in a wink of blue light.

A jumpsuit of chromatic gray that felt like liquid plastic in his hands. As he stepped into it, the material conformed immediately to his legs and hugged as close to a second skin as it could be. It hugged his hips, curved in at the waist and then to the slight outswell of his chest, tamping down the fluffy white tuft there. A slight squeeze at first, then it loosened up as the suit adjusted itself.

An hourglass curve was wrung from the male fox, leaving no detail of his physique to question. The line traced by his ribcage topped a flat stomach, a hint of abs outlined and even the indent of his belly button. From his slender, lean limbs to his waist, the round cheeks beneath his tail..he was more svelte in the skintight suit than he would suspect. Then, there was the bulge bundled up in the front. With the absurdly close-fitting suit, the outline of fluffy orbs and his sheath could be distinguished. Fairly modest in size, but noticeable all the same.

Well, there wasn't much complaining about the suit Krystal or other ladies commonly wore. Turnabout was fair play. He just had to be mature about it. And the point was not to be seen, right? Yes, he could tolerate it. That could give him a little extra incentive to remain stealthy.

Maybe that would require some practice, because he gasped and covered his crotch with his tail when Dr. Lightfoot spoke up again.

"Stealth Nanosuit Mark One. Provides full range of motion with no encumberance. Nanites harden upon impact protecting against battlefield hazards. Supports pre-programmed armor patterns for a variety of mission roles,"

A small polymer pack was next to be equipped. Once strapped on, the suit enveloped the straps and began to thicken across his chest. A darker breastplate, paulders and armored sections along his arms and legs formed. Tendrils curled up his neck and across his head, forming a light helmet along with a visor that raised up, pinning his ears back.

A soft, fluffy face and bright green eyes blinked in surprise at his reflection. But the suit wasn't done. He rose a few inches as wedge heels formed under his feet.

"Heels? Okay this is getting a little out of hand,"

As he stepped, Fox noticed that the footwear was entirely silent even on the metallic floor. He tapped his foot, then stomped. Barely a faint dull sound could be heard. The nanites would conform to the terrain so that he couldn't snap a twig even if he stomped on it.

"Stealth module is affixed at the base of the tail. Supports limited cloaking ability, but consumes auxillary power cells. Use sparingly,"

The thick metal ring clipped into place. It held his tail up a bit, making his rear end more visible. Tendrils rose on the suit to connect to it, forming a sort of thong pattern that at least masked the shape of his male bits up front. Though it caused him to gasp as a tentacle nudged down his butt crack.

Arched like he was working the corner, his tail swayed over his hindquarters. He pinched the suit and let it snap back, jiggling the cheek.

A small holodisc was presented in the grasp of a robotic arm. A tiny version of Dr. Lightfoot looked up at Fox as stoically as a big titty hologram could manage.

"So," She said, "Would you be up for escorting me to the base control center? One thing about this new form of mine- it's become very easy to charm my way into any security system. I can get you a ride straight to Polar's doorstep and shut down this outpost in the process,"

"Wait. You mean you can seduce the computer just because your avatar has- er, looks like that?"

"Correct,"

"I didn't think that's how computers even work..." Fox muttered, "But you're the expert. Let's go,"

"Just get us there in one piece. I'll show you,"

Fox picked up the disc and tucked it into the breastplate of his brand new armor.