FSE

Furry search engine

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Lights flickered in the otherwise silent corridors as a black cat ran down them. He made no attempt to conceal himself on his way to the holding cells, the explosions had drawn the humans' attention away as they fought to keep their severely damaged ship functioning. He'd planted his own device in the primary fusion reactor room so that it would take out main power and force the ship to rely on the much smaller auxillary reactors. The cat knew that it had worked given that the alarms had gone silent and the corridors were relying on emergency lighting, even the artificial gravity was much lighter to reduce the power requirement. Now it was his task to lead the free ones to the servants' barracks where they would meet up with the others and lead the fogged ones to the port hanger to make their escape. He knew the route they would take would be otherwise abandoned with the human crew busy trying to control fires and prevent secondary explosions.

The door to the cellblock opened and Shadow cried out, falling down in surprise as he found several rifles pointed at him. He looked up at the owners of the weapons and one, the older of the two wolves, lowered his weapon and reached out a paw to help the cat to his feet.

One of the others, the deer, spoke, "We felt the ship shake and the gravity feels light. Has our plan to disable the ship worked?"

The cat nodded, "Yes, though I thought the explosions would be smaller. The second one felt like it nearly the split the ship in half."

"That would be the armoury, Captain. It must've been better stocked than we thought." said the crews' human companion as he hobbled through the group of Rukot. Shadow stared at the man, the lower part of his left leg was encased in wood and raised off the ground. He also had a crude-looking wooden object tucked under his left arm that seemed to be supporting his weight. In his right hand he carried something that looked like a longer, twin-barreled version of the other's rifles.

"We must hurry before the masters realize they've forgotten about you," Shadow said. "Will the human be able to keep up?"

"He will or we will slow down for him," Captain Rels responded, her tone said that it wasn't up for discussion.

"Follow me then, the servant's barracks are on deck 10," he turned and started walking down the corridor as he heard dozens of Rukot fill it and begin to follow him. The clunk of the human's wooden crutch echoed above the sounds of their claws and hooves against the floor.

<<Ginge, Fenthik, Gahn, guard the rear. The rest of you, stay between us and stay alert,>> Captain Rels ordered.

Within half an hour they were nearing their objective despite having to move slower for Roger's benefit. More than once various crew members had come out of the group to help him along when he slowed as a wave of pain went through him. Getting the entire crew up the lift to deck 10 had taken more time than he anticipated but Shadow felt they were otherwise making good time.

"The servants' barracks is at the end of the next corridor on the left," he told Captain Rels, stopping for a moment to let the others catch up. "Rest here a moment while I make sure the way is clear."

She nodded and held up hand, ordering her crew to halt.

At the back of the group Gahn looked at Fenthik and Ginge, <<I need to ask Roger a question.>> They nodded and he disappeared into the group.

The black cat turned into the corridor and they listened to him take a few steps before they heard a surprised cry. It was followed by the discharge of a plasma rifle and the sound of a body hitting the floor. The smell of burnt fur and charred flesh wafted down the hall.

Marrin, Captain Rels and Roger exchanged looks of alarm. They'd been found out!

Around the corner strode a lynx carrying a plasma rifle and dressed in a human uniform.

<<Fynor!>> Marrin exclaimed, <<We thought you were dead. What are you doing here?>>

The quartermaster stopped and looked at the Teshar's crew with a surprised expression, like he hadn't been expecting to find them here. He didn't answer the question and gripped his plasma rifle tightly.

<<Why are you dressed like a human, Fynor?>> Captain Rels asked. He didn't answer that question either.

"Captain, I think we've found who betrayed you," Roger said.

At his words Fynor looked right at Roger and the lynx's ears laid back against his head. He snarled "RACE TRAITOR!" and launched himself at the man.

Captain Rels and Marrin moved to raise their weapons but failed to do so in time as Fynor landed on Roger, knocking the shotgun out of his hands. The two of them fell to the ground as the cat grabbed his throat, claws extended. Several of the crew nearby backed up out of the way.

Marrin moved swiftly in an attempt to pull Fynor off Roger when a shot rang out through the corridor. A red spot appeared around a hole on the back of the cat's uniform halfway up the back and he rolled off the man to the side, eyes wide. A pool of blood formed under the lynx as the light faded from his eyes and he stopped moving.

<<Captain, something is wrong with the human!>> One of her crew exclaimed, snapping the deer out of her state of shock at what had just taken place.

Roger was rocking back and forth on the floor, clutching his at chest, handgun in his right hand. His legs kicked repeatedly and his mouth opened and closed several times, as if he was unable to breathe.

<<Nak! Come here!>> Captain Rels ordered as she knelt down beside the man and pulled the gun from his spasming hands. The wolf doctor appeared beside her and after studying Roger for a moment, placed an ear against his chest and tapped on it.

<<What is wrong with him?>> She asked when Nak sat back up.

<<One of his fractured ribs has dislodged and pierced a lung. He will die without immediate medical care.>> The doctor responded and then called out, <<Kouhm, Roger has a collapsed lung, we need your claws.>> He quickly removed the rag bandages that bound Roger's chest.

The older feline doctor appeared, knelt down beside his colleague, and performed his own examination of Roger before looking at Nak, <<We need to get him to a medical room.>>

<<There's no time, he will be dead within minutes.>>

Roger stopped moving and lay still.

<<You must save him!>> Captain Rels ordered.

Marrin moved over and placed a paw on her shoulder. <<We all said we were willing to give up our lives in this endeavour, Captain, including him.>>

<<This human does not die today,>> she responded, her eyes daring her first officer to object.

<<Do it,>> Nak said.

Kouhm extended a claw on his right paw and drove it into the man's chest in a smooth motion. When he withdrew it a small amount of pink froth bubbled from the wound. <<It's not working, we need a tube of some kind,>> he said flatly.

Gahn stepped out of the group of crew watching the scene and handed Nak a small metal object, <<Use this.>> It was one of the cartridge casings from the ammunition they'd disassembled to make the explosives.

The wolf doctor pressed it into the hole Kouhm had made in Roger's chest and almost immediately air hissed through it, followed by a gurgling sound. The man's chest began to rise and fall again and when he breathed in Nak held a finger over the end of the shell casing, lifting it each time he breathed out.

<<His pulse strengthens,>> Kouhm commented after a tense minute.

<<Will he live?>> Captain Rels asked, looking between both doctors.

<<We've only bought him some time. He needs immediate treatment.>>

====================================

"In here!" Jack opened a door and the mouse watched as Gahn, Nak and Gyth quickly carried Roger into a room that looked like a lab.

The free ones had rushed into the servants' barracks, three of them carrying the man who looked like one near death. All but one of the Rukot waiting in the barracks had looked at the scene with disinterest, like they couldn't understand what was happening. Jack had run over to the deer the free ones called Captain and she immediately told him to lead the three to the nearest medical room in a commanding tone that almost made her sound like one of the masters.

The door did not indicate that it was a medical room, or any other kind of room for that matter, but being on deck 10 the mouse had seen the inside before and it had certainly looked like a medical room to him.

Gyth had replaced Kouhm and was supporting Roger by the middle while aiding his breathing. The three Rukot carefully laid him on one of the beds and Nak looked around. He found only the most basic tools of his trade and they were diagnositic ones at that. There was no tissue stabilization gel or even a bone rematrixer, the two things that would save the man's life without wasting precious time.

Nak looked at Gyth, <<What is this place? They don't have anything we need in here.>>

Gahn unslung his rifle and took up a position guarding the door.

The lioness doctor looked at Jack, "I thought you said this was a medical room."

"It is!" the mouse insisted, "I've watched many humans with severe injuries come in here and walk out under an hour later completely healed!" He felt it best he not mention the times he'd seen completely healthy ones enter and never come out. He decided it was best to stay out of the two Rukot doctors' way and stood beside Gahn at the door.

<<There's no time to move him again,>> Nak said while he pushed her paw out of the way and once again used a finger to keep Roger breathing. <<Gyth, I'll take over. See if you can find anything, otherwise we are going to have to let him die. We don't have the time or tools to perform emergency surgery.>>

The lioness quickly went through the lab, turning up nothing useful until she found several trays on a metal workbench. Each was laden with vials that contained a yellow liquid that looked like tissue stabilization gel. She began examining them and was startled to see the trays were organized by the different races of Rukot and each vial had the name of a sub-species and gender. <<What is this place?>> the lioness wondered aloud before coming across the last tray of vials, most bore the word "Human" and a name, though some had no name and said "tissue repair" instead. She grabbed one of those and a nearby injector.

<<I think I found something, Nak,>> she said to the wolf, showing him the two items.

He studied the vial, <<We have no idea what this will do.>>

<<I could find nothing else.>>

<<It could kill him, there could be major differences between him and modern humans that we don't even know about!>>

<<He will die if we don't try.>>

Gahn shifted by the door and said, <<Captain Rels would probably want you to do it.>>

The two doctors looked at the young wolf and then back at each other.

Gyth loaded the vial into the injector and placed the tip near the shell casing sticking out of the man's chest. <<I will do it, and take full responsibility for what happens.>>

Nak's free paw came down to rest on the one she was holding the injector with, <<We save or kill him together.>>

He pressed her paw down, causing it to hit the injector's sole button and the contents of the vial were swiftly emptied into Roger.

Within moments the wolf doctor felt the end of the shell casing pressing hard against his finger and he lifted it up only to watch it seemingly pop out on it's own while the hole it came from closed. <<It's working,>> he said, staring in wonder.

Roger's eyes opened and he cried out as he began to shake violently. The two doctors held him down and stared at one another in horror.

<<What's happening to him?>> Gahn asked with a worried look. Jack's mouth hung open as he watched them from beside the young wolf, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

<<We... don't... know,>> Gyth said, grunting out words between each of the man's spasms.

The human's skin began to ripple outward from the injection site as if it was water that had a stone dropped into it. As the ripples moved across his chest the fading yellow remants of his bruises disappeared. When the ripples reached his neck Roger opened his mouth wide as they travelled across his face through and into his mouth. The doctor's watched in awe when with each small wave new teeth erupted from his gums and grew into place, though they were not completely straight. Small bits of silvery metal and white flakes fell out of a few of his other teeth as they too changed position slightly.

It was around this time that the ripples had reached his leg and he kicked it hard against the floor, dislocating the splint that encased it. Roger then stilled, his eyes wide open.

"Is he dead?" Jack whispered, breaking the silence.

"No, he is breathing,' Nak responded and placed a paw against the man's neck while looking into his unfocused eyes. "His pulse is strong, but he is unresponsive."

"Like hell I am!" Roger said and sat up.

"Roger!" Gahn exclaimed.

"What happened? Where are we?" Roger asked while looking at the two Rukot doctors.

"When Fynor attacked you one of your fractured ribs pierced your lung and it collapsed. We are in some kind of medical room on the human ship," Gyth replied, staring at the man in wonder.

"Fynor attacked me? I thought he was dead."

"He is, now. He murdered Shadow and when he saw you with us he went straight for you."

"Shadow is dead!?" Jack exclaimed. He'd simply thought that the black cat was in the now very crowded barracks and that in the rush to save the human's life the mouse had not seen him.

Gahn put a paw on Jack's shoulder as the mouse's expression turned to one of grief.

Nak spoke next, "How do you feel, Roger?"

"I feel... I feel no pain," he said and gingerly tapped on his chest, as if checking to see if his ribs were still broken. "My ribs don't ache anymore and my leg..." he trailed off and looked at the damaged splint before reaching down and tearing it off. He flexed the freed limb slowly as if anticipating pain but it never came. It was his teeth he noticed next and as he felt them with his tongue he noticed that they were somewhat crooked now, so much for those braces he'd endured two years of in high school.

"You've healed me!" He exclaimed and grabbed Gyth's head, planting a kiss on the startled lioness' nose.

Nak simply stared at him as Roger released the other doctor and turned his head, smiling, "Do you want one too?"

The wolf doctor slowly shook his head and continued to stare at the man.

Roger stood up a little unsteadily and the doctors rose to help but he waved them off while saying, "I'm fine, completely and utterly fine, whatever you did worked. How did you do this?"

Nak finally found his voice again and responded, "We could find no tools, tissue stabilization gel, or a bone rematrixer. There was no time to move you to another medical room to perform surgery. Gyth found a vial labelled 'tissue repair' and we injected you with it."

"It seems to have saved your life, but we don't know how," Gyth added softly.

"What vial? You mean a medicine did this?" Roger marvelled at how much medical technology had advanced since his time. His injuries would've normally taken months to completely heal.

"Yes, one from that workbench over there," the lioness indicated it with a wave of her paw.

Gahn cleared his throat, "We need to get back to the others."

Jack just stood there, still in shock over the second loss of a friend within the space of a few days.

"There will be time to mourn and honour Shadow later, Jack. His death will have been for nothing if we do not escape," the young wolf told him.

Nak and Gyth walked to the door and looked back at Roger who was now over by the workbench, staring at the vials.

"Roger, we must rejoin the others," Gahn repeated while Nak left. Gyth gently ushered Jack through the exit.

"I know, give me a second. These might come in handy," Roger replied and grabbed several without reading the labels, thinking them all the same. On his way out he leaned down and picked up the injector. He inserted one of the vials after ejecting the empty one and pocketed it.

====================================

Captain Rels stared at Roger and then at Gyth and Nak, "How is this possible?"

Roger pulled a vial with a yellow fluid in it from his pocket, "They injected me with this and apparently it healed me. More than healed me, I feel better than I have in years."

"What is it?"

Nak answered, <<We don't know, but it restored him far faster than stabilization gel and a bone rematrixer would have.>>

The deer exclaimed, <<You injected him with an unknown substance? What were you thinking?>>

<<We had little choice.>> Gyth answered and indicated Jack, who's face was stained with tears, <<Jack lead us to a lab, not a medical room. It was fortunate that we found anything that could help Roger, let alone heal him. The humans on this ship seem to possess more advanced medical technology than either of us knew about.>>

<<What exactly did it do to him? He seems different.>>

<<It mended his flesh and bones. If it has done anything else we won't know until we can examine him back on the Teshar.>>

"Where are my shotgun and handgun?" Roger called into the crowd, interrupting the Captain's questioning. Moments later a Rukot that resembled a marten handed the two firearms and the boxes containing their ammo to him. "Thank you," he told them.

Marrin appeared beside Captain Rels, speaking in English for both Roger and Jack's benefit, "Captain, it is time to make our escape, all of the enslaved Rukot are here."

Jack sniffed in hard and asked, "Where's Rex, Stoney, and Pinky? They were supposed to be here hours ago, before the devices went off and I haven't seen any of them since this morning."

"They have not arrived and we cannot wait any longer. If we do not continue we may be discovered," Captain Rels answered. "Maybe they are waiting for us in the hanger."

The deer turned towards the crowd that contained both her crew and the Rukot slaves. She yelled so that all of her crew would hear, "It is time to leave. Escort our brothers and sisters."

Almost in perfect unison, 114 voices filled the room, "I do not understand, I must get back to my duties." Several of the Teshar's crew cursed at the slaves' response. The 114 enslaved Rukot stood there, unmoving.

"Come with us," she tried to order them.

"I am supposed to wait here, Master Howard will be upset if I leave," the voices replied.

====================================

"WAIT HERE!" Roger's voice called down through the corridor.

"Okay!" came the disturbing and almost defeaning happy replies of the 114, it made him sick.

"This is so very wrong," he said to Captain Rels sadly.

"There is no other way, Roger," she looked back at him. As it had turned out, the enslaved Rukot would not listen to her. Marrin had come up with the idea, as the human in their group Roger was the only 'master' present and her first officer suggested that they would listen to him.

It had taken some doing, getting them all out of the servants' barracks and just this far through the halls of the ENS Retribution. They'd only come across a few of the ship's crew during their journey, a blessing considering that there were over 200 of them in total making their way to the port hanger bay and that the sound of all of their steps had to have been echoing throughout the ship. Most of the humans that saw them fled from the sight of their numbers, though a couple in guard uniforms had foolishly tried to stop them. The men were shot by the two Rukot with stun rifles and their unconscious forms tucked out of the way of the throng with their weapons picked up by some of the Teshar's crew near the front of the pack.

Captain Rels looked back down the hall and knew that her crew and the slaves filled back down it beyond her ability to see them. It was crazy, trying to move this many at one time, but the crew would not leave the others.

Fenthik and Jack came running back down the hall ahead of them and stopped in front of Captain Rels. The bear shook his head before looking at the mouse, who's grief looked like it threatened to overwhelm the poor creature.

<<We must find another route, this ship is heavily damaged and the way is blocked,>> the bear said without going into detail.

"St-Stoney's dead!" Jack wailed. He and Fenthink had been tasked with scouting ahead of them after the incident with the two guards and they'd reached a point where an entire section of the ship was destroyed by the explosion in the armoury. The mouse had become inconsolably upset when he'd found a small item on the floor, the half-destroyed remnant of the good-luck charm that Stoney had carried, his most prized possession. It looked as if the fox had been caught in the blast because he would have not willingly parted with the trinket. He showed Captain Rels an item clutched in his paw. She recognized it immediately, despite much of it being missing, as one of the countless small fox-shaped charms most vulpid Rukot carried.

Another of their friends had be killed and Captain Rels knew in that moment that the chances they would find Pinky or Rex alive were slim. The deer hoped she was wrong but it seemed as if five of the six free-thinking Rukot slaves had given their lives to effect this escape. She bowed her head as tears began to form in her own eyes, she'd agreed to take them away from this hell, now most of them had died here.

She steeled herself and gave the weeping mouse a sad look, "Many fall in battle, Jack, they are the heros. It is the ones that live who must carry on and remember their heroism."

"We were supposed to all escape with you!" Jack cried.

"But little mouse, you are not alone, in proving foresight might be vain." Roger intoned, his voice taking on a mournful and rythmic quality. "The best laid plans of mice and men go often askew, and leave us nothing but grief and pain, for promised joy." He reached forward and touched Jack on the shoulder.

Jack sniffed heavily at the words and looked into the group of Rukot, seeing the blank face of his twin. "Thank you," he said looking back at the strange man.

Marrin, Fenthik, and Captain Rels stared at Roger. It appeared as if they too were about to begin weeping.

"A man named Robert Burns wrote that over 200 years before I was born. I don't think he knew it would one day have a literal, rather than metaphoric, meaning," Robert replied softly. He sighed heavily and then looked Jack straight in the eyes, "Jack, is there another way to the hanger?"

The mouse looked much calmer and replied, grief gone from his voice, "Yes, follow me."

====================================

Captain Rels looked up at her ship in the dim emergency lighting of the hanger and hope blossomed within the deer. They'd made it!

Her gaze moved to the deck of the hanger underneath the ship and saw that her cargo was there and recognized the containers full of food supplies that had once been bound for Valkter along with the mining equipment. They would need it for this journey. She idly wondered why Roger's land vehicle hadn't been unloaded, probably because it was too heavy. Gahn had surmised when he and Fynor, the betrayer, first examined the thing that it weighed at least a tonne if not more.

<<We can leave the mining equipment, we will need the space, but we cannot leave the food,>> she said to Marrin.

<<How will we get it aboard, Captain? There's at least 60 containers,>> her first officer replied.

<<We carry them and use our lost brothers and sisters to help,>> Fenthik suggested.

<<I will not use them as slaves like their captors have,>> Captain Rels stated in a firm tone.

<<It would also serve to get them on the ship. Do you have another plan?>>

She sighed, it was the type of decision she'd had to make often during the war, to order others against their will or her conscience. This was why she'd become a freighter captain after the end of it, to avoid having to do such things.

She looked at Roger, while indicating two groups of containers, one of which included the container that housed the remainder of the man's belongings, and ordered him "Tell them to each pick up the containers in those piles and load them on the ship. They contain supplies we will need."

"Yes, Captain," the man replied and then called out. "Move the containers here into the ship above us."

"Okay!" Captain Rels shuddered at the chorused response.

Within a minute the enslaved Rukot and her crew were carrying all the cargo containers from the piles up several gangways that lead to the Teshar from the floor of the hanger. Every now and then she heard one say happily, "Work is good." She, Marrin, and Fenthik followed them. Captain Rels did not notice that Roger lagged behind.

Once the containers, crew, and the enslaved Rukot were aboard Captain Rels watched Marrin move to close the airlock door but the wolf paused a moment, looking out of the opening sadly. For some reason Roger's shotgun and the box of shells for it were resting beside the door. When she heard him say, "You are a good human, Roger Keene," her eyes widened and she ran over to stop him but the door closed with a heavy sound.

Marrin stepped aside and she looked out the window. The gangway was pulling away from the airlock and Roger looked up at the window from a nearby control console. The man smiled at her and brought two fingers on his right hand to his temple before pulling them away.

<<Marrin, Why is Roger not on the ship? Open the door!>> She ordered quickly.

<<No, Captain,>> Marrin said sadly.

<<That was an order, Marrin!>>

<<One must stay behind, to open the hanger doors.>> Roger disappeared from sight as he walked away.

<<I will do it then!>>

<No, Captain, you are needed here.>>

<<This is mutiny, Marrin. I will have you thrown in the bring until we reach Wrulov!>>

Her first officer looked at her and she was taken aback by his pained expression, <<Do so if you must, Captain, but it is too late. Roger has made his choice.>>

<<The other humans will kill him when they find him still aboard and us gone!>>

<<He knows and has accepted this. He is not from this time and doesn't belong in it.>>

Her eyes widened, <<You told him he does not belong here!?>> She was definitely going to throw him in the brig if it was true.

<<His words, Captain.>>

The sound of the docking clamps releasing the Teshar echoed though the small freighter.

Fenthik came over and put a paw on Captain Rels' shoulder, <<It is time to leave this vile place.>>

====================================

Roger looked out of the hanger's control room at the opened doors and watched as the energy tether, no, tractor beam, the sci-fi name was cooler, pushed the Teshar out of the hanger.

"Goodbye, dear friends," he whispered. He pulled his handgun out of his pocket and looked at the thing while considering his options. He could end it quickly and not give the ENS Retribution's remaining crew the satisfaction of killing him themselves, or he could wait and hope that maybe, just maybe they wouldn't kill him. He didn't think he was going to get out of this alive.

It was then that he noticed an indicator on the control console before him and a smile filled his face. Of course! He was in a space ship, it made sense that it would have them. Why hadn't he considered it before? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Or not! Wait for me, Captain, I am coming!" and Roger ran out the door of the control room and down the long stairwell to the deck.

"Stop!" Came a command from behind but Roger ignored it and continued to run towards the outboard wall of the hanger. He heard the discharge of several plasma rifles and saw the shots whiz by, missing. Almost there, where were they? He ducked behind some equipment and looked up and down the wall. There! He bolted from his temporary hiding spot and ran for one of the series of circular doors lining the wall.

The hatch looked like something off of a submarine, complete with spoked wheel and he spun it rapidly. The door opened and he cried out, falling in as a plasma bolt hit him in the lower abdomen from behind. Pain roared though him and blocked out the smell of burnt flesh, but he pushed through the agony and slammed the door closed. He spun the inside wheel and slapped his palm against a large button. The small room he'd entered rocked violently as acceleration threw him back against the door.