FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Swarm War

Chapter 8

While Varrus was planning the defense of New Arcadia Fox and his team were in the mess about to watch the classified video, Varrus's mission tape. During the time that Lupa was setting up the video the group took the time to see what Varrus had prepared for them. Once Fox took a bite he exclaimed "whoa this is amazing!" Seeing his reaction the rest of them dug in with gusto giving similar responses to his outburst. They all agreed to compliment his cooking skills next they saw him.

"The recording is ready to play." Lupa muttered sullenly. "I will only give one final warning what you see can not be unseen,shown or explained to anyone outside this room ." She said seriously.

"Alright Lupa we won't tell anyone." Fox said placatingly. Satisfied with his response she began the recording.

It started inside what could only be a gunships infantry hold. You could tell it was a big ship for it even had a holo table built into the floor. The viewpoint was from inside Varrus's helmet as you could faintly see the edges of his visor. What they found odd was that he was the only one in the room. When suddenly the table sprang to life reveling another smaller armored figure with a more ornate rank design on his chest. His armor was smaller and it appeared to be not as advanced. Varrus put his fist on his cuirass saluting the man who was apparently his commander. "General"

"At ease Varrus you are approaching your insertion point as you know we have lost contact with the base on Aquincium we have reason to believe that their most recent discovery is to blame. They found this" the commanders image dissolved and was replaced by what seemed to be a huge pillar which spiraled at the tip. With a closer look you could see runes engraved all around it.

"Within hours of discovering the obelisk we lost contact with the facility but not before we received a message in text." The text appeared in the screen and made the starfox teams blood run cold.

'They are hungry...they are coming...they are hungry...they are coming.'

"The message repeats for exactly 2,500 pages. We don't know what it means we speculate it might be referring to the parasite but we aren't sure. Since this may be a critical danger to our planes for Aquincium we need you to find out what the hell is going on. The emperor personally requested that this be your op." The General said reverently "this means you cannot fail"

"His wish is my command" Varrus replied. That being said the general saluted "good luck Varrus" and disappeared in a flash of light.

The pilot cut in "sir drop in 30"

"Varrus thanked the pilot and moved towards the ramp to disembark. Thirty seconds later the ships engines slowly cycled down and shut off the gunship had landed. The ramp lowered to reveal a empty hanger the power was off and he could only see with his NV visor mode (night-vision).

"Do you want me to wait sir" the pilot mumbled nervously unnerved by the desolate hanger.

"No take off something's not right here and I don't want to lose my ride." Varrus replied as he surveyed the eerie hanger.

"Thanks sir!" The pilot exclaimed gratefully. As soon as he finished talking the engines spun back to life and the gunship soared out of the hanger. Then the hanger does closed leaving it bathed in darkness. Varrus took one last look at his surroundings unslung his rifle and walked towards the hangers exit. Starfox could not help but feel a sense of foreboding as they watched him maneuver to the exit.

"That place is creepy" Fox said to his team.

"You got that right fox." Falco replies equally creeped out. Krystal watching Varrus could not help but feel worried for him even though she knew that this was all in the past. She was curios as to how long ago it was.

"When did this take place?" She wondered.

"This recording was from last month." Lupa answered.

"that's not too long ago!" Slippy exclaimed.

At this time Varrus had just reached the hangers exiting bulkhead when the team heard a skittering noise from behind him. The cam whirled around and he was looking down his gunsight scouring the area with his eyes to try and discover what made that noise.

"What the hell was that!" Falco exclaimed.

"I don't know man" fox said eye still glued to the screen.

There was nothing there so he wearily turned back around and opened the bulkhead with a six digit combination. "Must be hearing things" Varrus muttered. He took one last look before turning into the newly opened room. He glanced into the room before him and saw it was barren of any sign of life so he cautiously entered checking every where with his rifle. Seeing as the room was clear he took another look it was a large room that seemed to be for monitoring the traffic that flowed in and out of the hanger bay. The room was standard fair for the empire metal paneled with an industrial feel to it. He went to see if the computer on one of the many desks had any information on the flight manifest and to maybe find out what happened to this once boisterous base. Unfortunately it seemed that the whole base was on emergency power. "Of course it's never that easy." Varrus growled. With a sigh he turned back around to leave the room when he saw a strange sight out of the corner of his eye something moved and jumped into one of the many vents with a small ping on his motion tracker on the bottom left of his HUD.

"What the fuck!" He shouted bringing his rifle to bear but whatever he saw was long gone. His sentiment was echoed by Starfox.

"Holy shit what was that!" Everyone was surprised to see that Slippy was the one to say that. They looked towards him. "Sorry it was just surprising" he said ashamed that he would say something like that.

"It's alright slip" Fox said reassuringly it surprised all of us.

Back on the video Varrus seemed to be nervous as he glanced around his surroundings once more to make sure he was truly alone. "Lupa can you here me" he whispered. All he got was static it seemed that he could not contact her back on the ship they used to get here. "High comm can you read me over." The room was much more menacing when he realized he could not contact the outside. "Well fuck" he groaned "whatever that was its gone now. I need to find out what happened here." He muttered to himself. It seems that Varrus has a habit of talking to himself or maybe he was just doing it to calm his nerves.

He opened the next room to reveal a huge entrance hall he took one look and gasped. The room was a utter disaster it looked as if a hurricane was released into the room scattering furniture and cases every which way the most disturbing thing was all the blood. It coated everything the walls,floors,and all the objects in the room. "This is starting to look like the start of a horror movie." Varrus mumbled under his breath loud enough for them to hear.

"I agree with you buddy" Falco said.

Varrus hesitantly walked down the hall to the next door when he heard another noise behind him he twirled around once again looking for a target once again seeing nothing. "This shits getting old!" He roared into the empty room where there was no answer. He mutters sullenly to himself and opened the door the next door to proceed. When it opened a body fell on him much to his surprise "ahh shit!" He shouted jumping backwards it was the corpse of what appeared to be a guard it was clad in a white close fitting suit of armor but the visor was cracked and blood was leaking from a massive rent in the frontal section of his chest plate. "Poor bastard" Varrus said catching it before it could tumble to the ground and eased it onto the floor. He read the identification on the top right of his cuirass it read,

MANIUS LUCENTIS

CORPORAL 1ST CLASS

ID:5821677

"What happened to you I wonder?" He spoke aloud.

Surprisingly he got an answer when the "corpse" shot out a hand and grabbed on to Varrus's bracer "Get...out...you need to...get...out" he gurgled clearly one of his lungs had collapsed.

"What happens here soldier" Varrus said quickly trying to find out before the soldier passed away.

"The...obelisk...should never have...found......it" he gasped for the final time arm going limp releasing his hold on Varrus who sighed and gently laid him down on the floor and ripped of the soldiers ID and put it into a pouch on his armor.

"Rest in peace brother" he whispered. He looked back to the ominous doorway it was so dark it was almost as if there was a black wall concealing the inside of the hallway. "I really don't want to go in there but an orders an order I MUST find out what happened here." He gathered his courage and stepped into the darkness.

Meanwhile as Starfox was watching this most of them were stunned as even though they were mercenaries they had never seen someone die up close. It usually being from the comfort of their cockpit where they couldn't see the other pilot just a small explosion and a little debris. Krystal in particular was effected the most as she was still a little innocent as to the ways of the world. "well that puts life in perspective" Fox said although no one was listening to him as they were watching Varrus step into the darkness.

"From this point on it's going to get worse." Lupa said making sure they completely understood.

"It's ok Lupa we aren't kids you know." Falco scoffed "we can take it."

"The review officer told me something similar before he watched this, now he's in therapy." She said ominously.

Back on screen Varrus stepped into a long hallway and turned on his helmet lamp illuminating it. Only to see 3 eyes at the end of the hallway staring intently at him. "What...the...actual... Fuck" Varrus stuttered the eyes then seemed to fly at a rapid pace down the hallway towards him so he panicked and sent a burst of lead down the hallway basking it in an orange light for a brief amount of time where he could vaguely see a humanoid shape that just wasn't quite human. It squealed and disappeared as quickly as it was seen back down the hallway. "JESUS WHAT THE SHIT!" Varrus shouted backpedalling out of the hallway and back into the previous room. He tripped over the corpse of the soldier and landed on his ass and scrambled backwards away from the door keeping his gun trained on it. He was hyperventilating as he quickly leaped up and smashed the button and closed the door. Once he was sure the door was closed he stumbled towards one of the tables in front of the door in the room and sat down on one of the chairs placing his rifle on the table. It creaked in protest from his significant weight but he paid in no mind as he was preoccupied with trying to figure out what the hell that thing was.

Similarly Starfox was also flipping out. "Damn what was that!" Fox said climbing up from the floor where he fell down in surprise. The other members of his team had also had too retake there hastily vacated seats.

"Shit that was scary" Falco said pointing out the obvious as he sat back down.

Peppy was fixing his glasses as they had become loose in his haste to back away from the screen. "Well I'll say I've never seen something like that before." He stated trying to project an air of calm.

Slippy seemed to have fainted and Falco woke him up unkindly by dumping a cup of water on his head. He spluttered "what was that for Falco!"

"You fainted you toadstool"

"Oh" Slippy mumbled.

Krystal was clutching her tail which was wrapped around herself as of trying to feebly ward off an unseen threat. Her fur was bristled as if she was hit by a jolt of electricity and was breathing heavily.

Fox noticed her and was worried "Hey Krys are you ok?"

"Yes of course I was just startled that's all" she said to the worried fox.

Assured that she was okay he turned to Lupa her being the only who hadn't freaked out. "What was that?"

She looked at him "the answers you seek will be explained just watch."

Unsatisfied with her response but seeing as she was not going explain they reluctantly turned there gaze back to the video.

Varrus was still sitting at the table and seemed to be a little bit calmer. "Lupa come in anyone can you read me over." He waited for a response even though he probably knew that no one will hear him. "Please can anyone here me I need back up something is wrong here please come in." He whispered when no one responded he sighed in resignation. He brought his hands to the seal on his helmet and with a hiss of released air pulled it of his head and laid it on the table. It was facing him so they could see his head it looks nothing like the last time they saw it his normally kind eyes were bloodshot and he was sweating profusely. He was rubbing his hair with his hands and trying to relax. They all felt sorry for him as they saw his disheveled state. He leaned back in his chair with a another sigh and put his hands over his eyes.

What he didn't know was that the door behind him opened. A shadow creeped its way towards him but he seemed unaware. By this time Fox and his friends were panicking as they could see the shadow make its way toward the unaware human. Even though he couldn't hear them they felt like shouting to warn him.

When suddenly Varrus's helmet started beeping his hands left his eyes which shot open and he vaulted over the table away from the door leaving his helmet behind he knocked it over and it rolled of the table facing his new position. As he did a combat roll he drew his blaster pointed it at the shadowy figure and started to send lasers down range. The figure let out a inhuman roar and rushed towards the surprised Pretorian smashing into him and flinging him towards the wall. He smashed into the wall with a bang denting it as he slid down it almost unconscious from the power the bash had contained. Barely coherent he pulled his second blaster and fired both at the monstrous thing. It bellowed at him a second time before sprinting back into the door it had emerged from. He got up woozily and tried to make his way towards his rifle and helmet before collapsing with a "fuck" where he fell into unconsciousness.

This left the viewers speechless as they tried to process the battle that only lasted a minute. The camera had a mission timer and it read as only have being an hour and forty five minutes since he landed. "He was out for a long time" Lupa said. She fast forwarded for ten minutes when he started to regain consciousness.

"He's not going to get a break is he?" Slippy wondered out loud.

"I'm afraid not" Lupa replied. They turned there attention to him when he started to speak again.

"Did anyone catch the license plate of the truck that hit me" he groaned as he sat up. "Oh right I'm all alone." He said sadly. "Damn" he looked around before laying eyes on his helmet.

They saw a trickle of blood coming down from his forehead where they could see a deep gash from his visit with the wall. "That looks painful" Fox said holding a paw to his own forehead.

"Well it appears whatever they are they can open unlocked doors" he grumbled to himself and then laughed a little to crazily unsettling the group watching. He reached for his helmet and put it back on with a hiss as it sealed. "Note to self never take off helmet" he muttered. He grabbed his rifle and turned to the door the thing came from. "I really don't want to go in there" he said as he reluctantly made his way through the door and cautiously walked down the hallway rifle raised and looking for threats.

He got to the end of the hallway without a problem and opened the door. Making sure the coast was clear he went to the directions on the wall found out where the communications room was and made his way to it. He walked for a solid 15 minutes and was deeply disturbed. "Where are the bodies? There should be more then one." He finally arrived at the comm room and tried to establish contact with the outside world. "Hello this is pretor Varrus calling in from the firebase on Aquincium. Lupa do you read over?" All he got was static so in a fit of rage he brought his fist up and punched a hole through the thick metal wall as he let out a roar " SON OF A BITCH!" With a sigh he exited the room and went in search of another wall map.

By this time Starfox was completely absorbed into his plight having forgot they were even eating. They watched and waited to see what he would so now.

"Ok the combat operations center is here so I need to take this hallway that way and then go down that elevator and make a left alright." He muttered to himself he turned away from the map and into the correct hallway. He made it to the COC without incident and walked into the room. Having learned from his previous mistake he closed and locked all the doors then made his way to the center console. "Alright first of I need to turn on the power." He flipped a switch and all the consoles started to boot up. "finally!" He exclaimed "things are going my way!" Once the system was full restored he looked over to a system labeled "base life sign detector. "Let's see who's left" he said turning it on. The screen displayed some mind shattering news.

ONE LIFE SIGN DETECTED

LOCATION COC

"What?"