FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Swarm War

Chapter 11

"Fuck"

He found the obelisk.

It was at the rear portion of the hanger bay. A huge distance away from him. That wasn't the problem. The problem was the EIGHTY or so monsters in between him and his objective.

"This...is gonna suck" Varrus said voice monotone. Taking advantage of the fact they had not noticed him yet he came up with an idea. Shuffling around in his pouches he managed to find a large supply of grenades of both types. Using a strip of det-cord he wrapped them up in a huge bundle of explosive potential. To top it all of he squeezed in a special little device. It was a B-Series High Explosive Area Denial Charge. (Its function was to completely scorch a large portion of land eliminating everything in range from infantry to armored vehicles.) Happy that he did all he could he measured the distance to his target. The hoard of monsters were a fair distance away approximately 300 meters from his current position.

As he armed the device he couldn't help but feel that this was a very bad idea. Ignoring the sense of foreboding he prepared for a titanic toss and lobbed the makeshift explosive all the way into the heart of the swarm. The shambling group of monsters watched it roll around among them almost curiously. Ignorant of the threat among them they continued looking at it as it came to rest at the foot of a particularly unlucky specimen. It looked quizzically down at the strange object and tried to casually brush it away. The object detonated.

The surrounding fifty meters lit up in a awe inspiring display of pyrotechnics. The smoke cleared to reveal that a full thirty of the abomination had been vaporized and another fifteen disabled with a huge crater at the epicenter. The surviving creatures turned to look at him. They stared at each other until finally the nearest one bellowed its challenge and charged. Staring at a stampede of forty five intact monsters suddenly he was enlightened as to why it was a bad plan.

"Oh....yeah they might be a little upset." He said voice wavering almost imperceptibly.

Realizing he needed to act fast he in a feat of strength he one handed his rifle and pulled out one of the pistols. Unloading both weapons at the enraged mob he did his best to immobilize as many as possible. By the time they got close enough for his blade he crippled another dozen. Still leaving thirty three disgruntled corpses.

In desperation he slung his rifle and pulled out his nemesis blade it glowed a vibrant red as he activated its power field for the first time since arriving here. With blade and pistol drawn he moved to engage. In a whirlwind of devastation he collided into the mass of inhuman beasts with a resounding THUD. The entire first row of beasts were shredded into bits as his masterful blade skills quickly cut them down. Pressing his advantage he plowed deeper in the hoard using his other hand holding the blaster to point blank any that got uncomfortably close. The big group reeled as he systematically decimated them. Strangle there numbers didn't seem to be slowing down. Worried he tried to find an explanation. His answer made his blood run cold.

The damn things were pouring in like a sieve from the door he entered from. Most likely drawn to all the noise coming from the hanger. Quickly coming to the conclusion they would soon overwhelm him he realized he needed to separate from the ones currently attacking him. He put away his weapons and with a Herculean effort he managed to use one of his armors special abilities. Gathering his strength and using his armor to amplifying his already immense power he gathered his gauntlets together making a massive fist and brought them hurtling down to the floor. They smashed into the floor sending out a shockwave denting the metal floor and blasting away the group encircling him

Capitalizing on his new advantage he ran to the obelisk. As he drew near he felt a sharp pain in his thigh. Another one of those barbs had pierced him. Now stumbling towards his target he fell down as he reached it. The force of his fall removing the object embedded in his leg as it was pushed out when he hit the ground with a grunt of pain. Panicking he clawed at the floor trying to gain ground desperately so that they didn't catch up and tear him apart. He scrabbled to the obelisk and put his back to it ready for a last stand.

Yet for some reason all the monsters just stared at him from about twenty yards away just growling at him. There must have a few hundred eyeing him up. Confused as to why he wasn't dead yet he got up and looked around. Trying to find out what was keeping them away. Finally he inspected the artifact. The runes on it glowed a malevolent dark red it must have stood twenty feet tall and probably weighed a good four tons. "I think this repels them" he said to himself.

Using this respite he patched his wound that had become one of many since the start of this disastrous operation. Figuring that he still needed to finish his mission wether he lived or not he collected all the explosives he carried and jury rigged a high explosive IED. In a even greater stroke of pyromanic genius he strapped it to the artifact using all the det-cord he had on him. Satisfied with his overkill he primed it to go off in twenty minutes after installing a dead mans switch. Then he sat down and waited for the end.

He pondered as he sat there waiting for his imminent demise as to wether or not they would send anyone else to find out what happens here. Luckily for them if they did all these goddamn monsters would be gone. Thanks to the upcoming destruction of the thing that kept them going.

As the timer counted down to his death his melancholy musing was interrupted by an angelic noise. His comm system was buzzing erratically and a familiar voice came in.

"Varrus respond where the hell are you!"

"Hey.....Lupa" he groaned tiredly "I've been trying to get a hold of you for the longest time."

"Varrus....are you alright?"

"No not really but boy do I have a story for you." He said while looking at the timer that was still steadily ticking. "But I'm afraid I won't be able to tell you."

"Why?" She said worriedly

"Well...to make a long story short I planted a bomb.

"WHAT!"

"There were these monsters and everyone is dead and now I'm stuck surrounded by said monsters and the bomb I planted is right next to me." He rambled.

"And finally I have about seventeen minutes before it goes off."

She ignored all the stuff about monsters and focused on trying to save his life. "Okay where are you?"

"Uh hanger bay C why?"

"Great I'll get the pilot to pick you up !"

"Well...." He said turning his attention to the gathering of monsters "I don't think that's going to work."

"Why the hell not!"

"You see" he said " those monsters I was taking about well it seems like they are all here."

"Ok how many?"

"I don't know I'd say around four hundred." He said looking at the massive group of angry looking corpses.

"Oh"

"So yeah I don't think the pilot could even land and if he did we both would die unpleasantly. He looked at the timer "...and now I have fifteen minutes."

"I sent the pilot anyways he will be there in seven minutes. So hold on."

"Lupa I just said there was nowhere for him to land so why would you send him!" He shouted angrily.

"Because he doesn't have to land dumbass he can just pick you up with the winch." She retorted.

"Oh yeah...well my dramatic death will have to wait for another day I guess. You just have to ruin everything don't you?" He muttered sullenly.

"I can always call him back." She replied evilly

"Whoa can't you take a joke...please don't call him back."

"I'm just messing with you" she said.

"Alright coulda fooled me"

There conversation was interrupted when one of the creatures took a step closer to him.

"Shit" he groaned

"What, what's going on?" Lupa wondered.

"You might wanna tell the pilot to hurry up." He whispered drawing his rifle. "I think that whatever is holding them back is fading."

"That could be problematic."

"Oh you think" he hissed

"Okay the pilot said he was one minute out."

"Okay got it."

Lucky for Varrus the button to open the hanger bay door was next to the artifact on the wall. He pressed it and the ceiling doors opened letting in the glorious daylight. After the hours of brutal and terrifying darkness the light was like a gift from god. As if the heavens themselves opened to bask him in its warmth.

Then a claw almost decapitated him. "FUCK!" He exclaimed dodging the lethal swipe one of the creatures has managed to push through whatever kept it away. He viciously retaliated by obliterating it in a seething storm of gunfire. The others had not pushed through for whatever reason and as long as it stayed that way he didn't care why.

As he watched them carefully making sure there was no more funny business he could hear a wonderful sound. The screeching of a gunships turbines. Then the light from the sun was blocked by the blocky shadow of a Terran gunship. It slowly descended to about forty feet in the air.

"What the hell are those!" Exclaimed the familiar voice of his pilot.

"No time to explain now drop the damn winch!" Varrus shouted while shooting any thing that got to close to him and the timer continued to count down .

"Right sorry there's a bomb." The pilot said as he swiftly lowered the winch. It rapidly fell until it landed next to the pretorian. He quickly attached it and tugged. The pilot reactivated the winch and Varrus flew up to the gunship not before there was one last ditched attempt to kill him as one of the creatures leaped at him. It was brutally shot down as Varrus drained his clip into its rotted face. It hurtled back down to the ground.

Finally getting on the ship Varrus quickly shouted "let's get the hell out of here!" As he climes up the ramp and made his way into the hold.

"Couldn't agree more sir!" the pilot responded enthusiastically and with a burst of speed and roaring engines they escaped.

"Thanks for the save Lupa" Varrus said gratefully.

"All always watch out for you Varrus." She said warmly

"Still...thanks" he then took a minute to rest until he had to get up.

Tiredly making his way to the cockpit he spoke to the pilot. "Get me High Comm priority channel authorization code IN LIBRO FORTUDO COGNOMENTUM"

"Yes sir!" The pilot replied.

As he prepared the link Varrus walked back down into the troop bay. He turned his gaze to the holo table he used less then a day before. "Feels like a year ago" he said to himself.

Suddenly the general appeared before him. "God man you look terrible what happened!"

Looking down he saw his armor and it was gouged,scratched,dented,patched,his visor was cracked, and dried and fresh blood coated him. "Sir we have a problem. The base is unrecoverable I request that you blast it from orbit with several kilotons of ordinance immediately."

"Why"

"Please sir don't waist time we have to do it now!" Varrus exclaimed.

"Alright son don't worry I'll order the bombardment now."

Sighing in relief Varrus slid to the floor. "Good we can't let them get out." He said almost to himself.

"Them?" The general questioned.

"Boy do I have got one hell of a story for you."