FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The dragoness lay down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. CDs were scattered all over the room. A CD player in her hand was playing Beastie Boys, her favorite artists. Her mind was focus on her past life choices. She had made a lot of bad choices in her life and she regretted each and every one of them.

"So it has come down to this," she said softly. "I started off being the most popular girl in high school and I ended up being nobody."

She had indeed been popular in high school. She kept a 4.0 grade point average every year along with a very active social life. Most of her peers looked up to her and often asked her for advice. She was never bullied or ruffed up by anyone. People called her Chevele. Her real name was Charlene. She was a happy girl back then. To her, the world was a beautiful place.

Her mind changed when she graduated. Her friends had moved away or found jobs and got married. They didn't call her anymore. Not that she had the time to call them. She buried herself deep in her college work. She would go for days without sleeping and if she did sleep it would only be for twenty minutes. The only place she ever went out to was the public library and the supermarket. Her mind became nothing more than a than a filing cabinet full of information that she would probably never use again for the rest of her life. She got good grades but it never seemed to be enough for her. She wanted to be a top student.

She did become an ace student but she paid the price for it. She had no time for friends and never made any. When her parents divorced, she had no one to talk to. Her parents were too busy taking care of the divorce to talk to her. She pushed her feelings into the back of her mind and continued to focus on her studies. Her anger and sadness grew even though she tried to repress it. It was only a matter of time until she snapped.

She snapped in the middle of her final exam. She ripped her test up, threw a chair at her teacher and ran out of the room. She ended up on the streets, looking for a place to stay. She went from shelter to shelter, street to street, alley to alley. She worked a few jobs but never kept it longer for two months. Everything that she had worked for had been ruined. She had made four attempts to kill herself. She tried to hang herself twice, cut her wrists once and overdosed on pain killers. When suicide failed, she started doing drugs. She started off with one joint and ended up injecting a mix of cocaine and meth two times a day. She was a physical and mental mess.

But the life of a street living drug addict was not to last forever. In a bar on some lowly street she met up with Jareen Sharkovy, a friend that Charlene made in high school. He too had been down on his luck. After high school, Jareen moved away and got married. He caught his wife cheating on him and left her. He became depressed and started drinking heavily. He was caught drinking on the job and was fired. He eventually found his way into a gang of drug smugglers and made a ton of money running weed, angel dust, cocaine and hash. He was making money hand over fist, more money than he had ever made doing any legal job.

"How do I get in on the money?" She asked him.

"You really want to do what I am doing?" He asked her. "This isn't something for someone like you to be in."

"So I can't do it because I am a woman?"

"No. It isn't like that. I mean...look at you. You are still pretty. You can find some work as a secretary or in the movies."

She grabbed the dragon by the neck and growled at him.

"So you expect me to become some pretty face in an office that takes crap from some fat bastard that will try and use his position to get sex out of me?"

Jareen cringed as he felt her grip tightening around his neck. He had never expected her to do something like this.

"Look here," she continued, "I am not going to lower myself to any man. Not you. Not anyone I work with. Not even God. In fact, I would love to meet God and personally kill him!"

The entire bar went silent. All eyes were focused on both of them. The two men next to Charlene moved away from her out of fear. For that moment, she was in complete control. She could have told anyone to do anything and they would have done it. It was very clear that she was serious about everything that she had said.

The silence was broken when a white rabbit came over to her. He wore a white shirt and swim trunks. Sunglasses and sandals completed the beach ready look. He took off his sunglasses and showed off his brown eyes.

"What are you doing here boss?" Jareen asked the rabbit. He sounded very scared.

Charlene looked at the rabbit. She couldn't believe that this guy was Jareen's boss. He looked nothing like a leader of a drug smuggling ring. He looked like he was a tourist. At best, Charlene could believe that the rabbit was a drug buyer or even a drug mule.

"I go where I want to go," the rabbit replied. "If I remember right, I am allowed to do that." He smirked. "Now why don't you introduce me to the woman that is about to kick your ass."

"This is Charlene," the dragon said. "She was a friend of mine in high school. By the way, she isn't about to kick my ass. She just...a little mad at the moment."

"Cause you said something stupid to cause her to be mad. Where are your manners? Didn't your mother ever teach you any?"

"I think you for your concern but I can handle him myself," Charlene said. "If I wanted to kick his ass in I would have done it."

"I like that," the rabbit said as he rubbed his chin. "You know, I think I might have something that would interest you. You wouldn't happen to be looking for a job would you?"

Charlene let Jareen go. Jareen rubbed his neck then ran over to the bathroom. He felt humiliated. He had just been made a fool of by his friend in front of his own boss. It had taken him years to show his boss that he was tough enough to do his job and it took Charlene only minutes to make him look weak. He wasn't mad at Charlene. It wasn't her fault. He put himself in that position. He had only himself to blame.

Meanwhile, Charlene and the rabbit were sitting down in the corner of the room. The rabbit introduced himself as Farlen White, the leader of the drug smuggling group that Jareen was in. He said that he knew what Charlene was going through. Charlene never asked how he knew what she was going trough. She didn't need to. The bar they were in was a well known spot for those who were down on their luck.

Farlen had been a law major in a high profile college. He dreamed of becoming a lawyer like his father was. He had studied hard but in the end couldn't take the long hours of studying and all the information that he had to remember. He quit law school and became a police officer. After two years, Farlen was accepted into the ranks of the Galaxy Police. While he was a Darminian police officer, he had heard that being part of the Galaxy Police would be the best thing to happen to anyone. It was true but not in the way that Farlen thought.

The Galaxy Police was corrupt to the core. On the outside, they gave off the image that officers were well trained and ready to serve the common good. On the inside, it was another story. There were constant complaints of assault, rape and even murder committed by officers. Very few complaints were ever looked at. Officers often started their shifts late or not at all. Bribery was rampant. At one point, ninety percent of all officers were receiving bribes which varied from hundreds to millions. There were even rumors that the Galaxy Police had assassinated leaders of several planets on the behalf of powerful rebel leaders.

Farlen quickly realized that this was not what he signed up for. He felt tricked and disillusioned. He could not believe that the most powerful police force would act this way. It made no sense to him at all.

"So what did you do?" Charlene asked.

"I quit," Farlen said quietly. "I couldn't live like that. I mean, if it was a country club I could understand but this wasn't a country club. It was an agency of justice."

"Justice is a joke. It works for some and not for others."

"I'm living proof of that," Farlen said sadly. "After I left I became a drug dealer. Small time drug dealer. I made good money but it wasn't enough. I started talking to a few people and ended up in a gang."

"A gang that sold drugs?"

"Yes but they weren't very good at it. They knew how to shoot people but not how to sell drugs." Farlen shook his head. "Do you know how much it pisses me off when someone can't do a simple job right?"

"I know the feeling," the dragoness replied.

"But you really can't blame all of the drones for their stupidity when their leader is incompetent."

"So you left them and started your own drug ring?"

"Hell no. I enacted a hostile take over. The underlings I could fix but not the leadership."

Charlene looked at him with a shocked look on her face.

"Charlene," Farlen said, "I know I do not look like much but I am not afraid to get my hands dirty. If I learned anything while being in the Galaxy Police, I learned that if you want to get something done you have to do it yourself. Even if you have to blow someone's brain out onto the pavement." He blinks. "You know, forget I said that last part."

Jareen came out of the bathroom and gave a sigh. He looked around and spotted Charlene and Farlen. He went over to them and sat down next to Farlen.

"Wow. Does it take that long to masturbate?" Farlen asked Jareen.

Jareen blushed. He hadn't been masturbating but he had thought about doing it.

"I wasn't masturbating," Jareen responded. "I was just thinking about things."

"You better be thinking about your work. You have two shipments to Tarricco in two days. I heard that they raised security and there is a rumor that guards are now going to shoot first and ask questions later."

"Guards?" Charlene asked.

"Tarricco is a prison colony," the rabbit replied.

"A prison colony? How the hell do you get drugs into a prison colony?"

Farlen laughed loudly.

"We don't actually go into the prison. That would be suicide. What we do is give the drugs to a guard and he will bring it in. The money gets wired to us later."

"But, where do they get the money from?"

"I don't know and I don't care. As long as we get the money there is no need to ask any questions."

"Whose idea was it to wire the money?"

"It was their idea. I don't see anything wrong with it."

"Would the money happen to come from an account with three nines as the last three digits?"

"Yes...why do you ask?"

"You are probably being monitored as we speak. That account is used by law enforcement to wire money to criminals as part of an undercover investigation. My dealer is now serving eight to twelve years because of it."

Farlen looked at Charlene in disbelief. He couldn't believe that he could be stupid enough to fall for a ploy that was so simplistic. He quickly excused himself and ran over to a pay phone, coming back two minutes later with a frown.

"I feel so stupid," he said angrily. "They just got busted. They found our hiding spot." He put his head on the table. "I'm ruined."

"No, you just need the right people," Charlene said. "By what you said before, it sounds like you run everything. You need people just as competent people to help you."

"I don't know any competent people that can do what I can do."

Charlene and Jareen looked at him like he was stupid.

"Oh right. I have you two. So...how would you two like to be my right hand men?"

"You mean right hand people," Charlene said. "And I would love to be a part of that."

"Same here," Jareen said with enthusiasm. "But what about the others? Aren't you worried that they will tell on you?"

"That is the least of my worries," Farlen said with a smirk.

Farlen was right. His men were loyal to the core. Even after being told that they would get lighter sentences if they told on Farlen, they kept their mouths shut. They were more afraid of Farlen than any police department. In the end, however, it didn't matter. By the time they got out of jail Farlen had forgotten about them. They couldn't even find him.

Jareen and Charlene didn't have to worry about that. In only two months they and Farlen had found new workers and a new base of operation. There was also a new power structure. Farlen kept his place on top of the hierarchy but his job was simplified. He was responsible for finding big buyers that would buy the drugs. With his calm attitude, good looks and smooth talking he could convince anyone to buy from him. Charlene was second in command. Her job was to make sure everything ran smoothly. She assigned who would take what shipment where ever it needed to go, took attendance and took care of problems. She did have assistants but she didn't rely on them much. Jareen was third in charge. He was the accountant. He made sure that all inventory was accounted and all payments were made. Below Jareen was everyone else.

Charlene loved her job and she excelled at it. She made efficiency her number one goal. She rewarded workers that did good jobs and punished those who messed up. Her punishments ranged from words of encouragement to do better for minor problems to shooting those who caused major problems. She was feared and respected by the workers. Well, mostly feared. That is what she wanted. Even though she was second in command she felt like she was first in command. It was a feeling that she always wanted. She was finally truly happy.

It was a shame that her happiness was not meant to last.