FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Sam slowly opened his eyes and stretched luxuriously; he really, really needed this holiday. He rolled over and slowly opened his eyes, expecting to see the wooden walls of his cottage, but finding only steel-grey bulkheads. He blinked a few times as his memory slowly returned to him, before sitting up with a groan, “I'm glad this wasn't just a dream…" he mumbled to himself, slowly making his way to the bathroom and casting off his clothes as he went.

After cleaning himself and his clothes as best as he could in the sonic shower, he once again got dressed and decided to head down to the mess hall; he was so hungry right now, he was willing to palate any kind of alien food they had.

The habitation deck was quiet as he made his way down, there didn't seem to be many people around. There were a few people sitting around couches next to the mess talking animatedly; Sam could only hear a few snippets of the conversation as he walked though, “And then, and then, over the hill comes the Captain! Wearing absolutely nothing but her fur and carrying, of all things, a Terran on her shoulders!"

Sam wasn't sure he wanted to hear more of the story so he hurried past, before spotting Riani leaning on a bench, chatting with a yellow-skinned lizard. As Sam approached them, the lizard smiled widely at him, “Ah, so you're the new Terran I've been hearing so much about!" he exclaimed eagerly, “From what I heard, you singlehandedly saved the Captain a dozen times over!".

Sam rolled his eyes, “It was twice, really… And she more than made up for it, believe me!" he replied, stifling a laugh.

The lizard lunged out and grabbed Sam's arm, before starting to shake it vigorously in what he could only assume was his interpretation of a handshake, “I'm Entio! They say I'm the 'Chief Mess Officer', but really, I'm just a glorified cook," he said rapidly, still shaking Sam's arm, “Am I doing this right? I've been doing a lot of research into your Terran customs and meals, I wanted to make sure to do it all right, you know?"

Sam chuckled softly and gently pulled his arm away, “It's really only the hand you need to shake," he said reassuringly, “And I'm Sam, by the way. I guess I'm along for the ride now, huh?"

Entio nodded and smiled warmly at him, “Indeed! But do not worry! We'll take good care of you! Now, what can I do for you?"

“I was actually wondering if I could get something to eat?" Sam asked, “I haven't really eaten since, well, almost a full day now, I guess,"

Entio gasped, “Oh dear! That's not good at all! I have a pot of Jolvian stew on, but I'm afraid it won't be ready for a few hours! Let me grab you something. I'm afraid I can't make you a -err, what were they called- sandwich, but we do have these nutra-bars!"

He held out the bar to him, which Sam took gratefully. It looked, for all intents and purposes, exactly like a pre-wrapped granola bar. As he removed the wrapping and took a sniff, it only seemed to reinforce the likeness. Sam took a tentative bite out of the corner of the bar and chewed a little; he couldn't quite place the taste, and it was honestly annoying him. It definitely wasn't unpleasant, but it had a weird, sweet-ish taste to it.

In any case, he took another bite out of it, this time a bit bigger, then looked at Riani, “So, has anything happened since I went to bed?" he asked between mouthfuls.

Riani looked at Entio, then back to Sam, “We managed to get long-range sensors back up and running, and we've detected a Sabre cruiser in orbit… It's likely they've got their weapons trained on us, and are awaiting confirmation to fire. Raalic is working like a maniac trying to get our shield grid back online, and half the crew are helping him, but everyone is worried they're not gunna make it in time. Milian has assembled a squad and is running patrols, though I think it's more to do with feeling like they're doing something, than actual security. Other than that, there's not really much else that can be done…"

Riani sighed and massaged at one of her ears, while Sam just sat there quietly, before eventually piping up, “Have any of you seen Feo?" he asked, “I wanted to talk with her, but to be honest, I really don't wanna be searching the ship for her. Besides, I barely know my way around,"

She shrugged in response, “Not sure. She's either in her quarters or on the bridge, usually, try there."

Sam nodded and said his goodbyes, before setting off to search for her.

Two hours later, he slumped into the bridge, annoyed at himself more than anything. He had gotten lost three times while searching the ship for Feo, and no-one he asked seemed to know where the vixen was. She wasn't in her quarters, nor in Engineering, the shuttle bay, and definitely not on the bridge. He sighed defeatedly and wandered over to where the bulkheads were broken open, revealing the snowy forest outside. The sun was shining overhead and there wasn't a cloud in the sky that he could see from inside. He stood there for a moment, admiring the scenery, before he glanced along the hull of the Gladius, and wouldn't you know it, there was Feo sitting by one of the turrets.

Sam rolled his eyes and jumped through the hole, landing a little unsteadily on the smooth surface. Feo glanced over as she heard him jump, a bemused expression on her face, “You alright?" she asked, going back to watching over the forest around them.

Sam sighed good-naturedly and strode over to her, “You could have left a note saying you were out here, you know? You know how long it took me to find you?"

Feo shrugged, “I like being alone, sometimes…" she replied, as Sam sat down next to her, “When you're like me, the constant barrage of information eventually gets wearying."

Sam looked at her, “So you isolate yourself?" he asked, concernedly, “Even for an android, I can't imagine that's healthy… I don't know about your species, but us humans, we're very social animals. In fact, it's one of our worse punishments to isolate someone from everyone around them…"

Feo chuckled softly, “Yet you live alone in the woods?"

Sam shook his head, “Nah, it's a timeshare… But I see your point,"

Feo smirked as she leaned against the turret beside her and was quiet for a moment, before looking at Sam again, “I admit, I was curious, so I kinda looked you up on your Internet," she confessed, “I can't really explain it, but there's this niggling feeling of familiarity I get whenever you're around, so I wanted to try to find out why…"

Sam raised an eyebrow, but didn't interrupt her.

“You've always been quiet, even in school. Not many friends, but you were quite honestly fine with that. Introverted, many would call you. You never felt right in your own skin, either, and it was the precipitating cause of one of your relationships breaking down… After that, you hid it deep down, hoping that if you ignored it, it would go away. But it didn't, did it?"

Sam sighed and hung his head, “It's not exactly accepted by the majority of people here… And it's always dangerous to confide something like that to someone, just on the off chance that something happens…"

Feo's ears drooped as she hugged Sam tightly, turning him into her chest, “You poor thing… Of all the bad luck to be born on a planet where something so minor is so hated…"

Sam didn't really know how to respond to this, so he just hugged Feo a little tighter, before she let him go and started speaking again, “I think I figured it out… You remind me of someone I used to know, way back, before any of this happened… We were close friends, and I honestly see quite a bit of her in you."

Her breath caught in her throat and she quickly glanced away. But a second later, whatever was wrong had passed, and she turned back to face him, “Sorry about that, anyway, we should probably head back inside, Raalic is likely beside himself with worry about us," she said with a soft chuckle.

Commander Dana paced back and forth upon his bridge, every so often glancing nervously down at the planet. Like practically every galactic civilisation, he heard the tales of the great Aeteri, before their downfall at the hands of the Sarek'pa. He heard stories of lone Aeterian infiltrators weaving their way through entire platoons of adversaries, to hack into their objectives, then stealing away without so much as a hair being raised on the back of anyone's neck. He knew of their prowess, and of the ruthlessness that their pet AIs displayed when they turned on them.

He didn't know what worried him more; that it was an Aeteri, back from the dead, or that a rogue AI managed to find something that was supposed to have been long since destroyed. He spun around as he heard the hissing of the bridge doors opening, as the rest of his officers filed in, still bleary eyed from being woken up hours ahead of their assigned duty shift. A few glared at their commander, obviously annoyed at being woken up so early, but they knew better than to question direct orders.

“Sir, we're getting a subspace transmission from Command," his comm officer said suddenly, “Patching it onscreen,"

Commandant Eloash's face appeared again, looking exactly as pissed off as he always did. But as he began to speak, those that had dealt with him for long enough could hear the barest hint of glee in his voice, “The council has given us permission to fire upon the planet. I believe Councillor Arloesh put it as 'do whatever you must to bring the situation under control'. You have your orders, Commander. Fire upon the ship at your discretion, then send a salvage crew. I want confirmation of the synth's destruction!"

Dana saluted, “Yes sir, I'll see to it personally,"

Eloash growled a little, “See that you do…" he replied menacingly, as he ended the transmission.

Dana turned immediately back to his officers and began giving orders, “Charge up the main mass accelerator! Orient our ship to the retrieved coordinates and prepare a firing solution. How long until we are in range?"

“Ten minutes, sir! The mountain range they crashed near is blocking a clear shot," came the immediate reply.

Dana nodded, “Good. Have salvage crews standby. I want two ships down there. We need to work fast to avoid letting advanced technology fall into the hands of these Terrans," he added with a growl.

Feo stood nervously in Engineering, watching Raalic and his team frantically rushing around, trying desperately to get their shields back online. Beside her, Sam sat at one of the terminals, his head bowed.

“Feo!" Ela cried out as she popped into view, “Lt Ashter needs to speak with you, he said it was urgent!"

Feo nodded and tapped the display of the terminal next to her, bringing up the face of the worried Ilfemyoo.

“Captain, we've detected an energy build-up in the ship in orbit," he said worriedly, “They're likely getting ready to fire upon us!"

Feo blanched and looked nervously at Raalic, still busily working away, “How long?" she asked.

“Five minutes, tops."

Sam and Feo glanced at another, before the Aeteri called out, “Raalic! We need those shields back up in the next five minutes, or we don't stand a chance."

Sam looked up at Feo, “How likely is it that, even if we get the shields online, that they'll be able to deflect whatever it is they shoot down at us?" he asked softly.

Feo sighed quietly, “Given that it's a Sabre cruiser? Its main gun will tear through them like it was paper. Half the problem is we're stationary. We could easily out-manoeuvre them in space, but down here, we've got no chance…"

“Commander, we've got line of sight on the target coordinates. We're ready to fire," said the grey Eoburus manning the tactical station.

Dana nodded, “Begin firing sequence. Lock onto the strongest power source you can find, I want that thing obliterated!"

“Targeting main power core. Coordinates locked. Slug loaded. Coils at capacity."

Dana turned to face the viewscreen, displaying an aerial view of the landscape below, with the crashed ship highlighted, and several graphs and values beside it, “Get ready to fire on my mark!"

“Sir, I'm getting some anomalous readings over here. Not from the planet, but up here!" said another bridge officer, the sensors operator.

Dana spun around, “What! Identify!"

“One moment…. No, that can't be right…"

Dana growled, “Ensign, what the hell is going on over there!"

“Sir… A wormhole is opening off our port bow, five hundred units away. Telemetry scans are inconclusive, we can't tell where it's coming from!"

“What!?" Dana yelled, “How is that possible?"

“I don't know, sir. Wait. I'm detecting a flux from the wormhole, something is coming through!"

Dana paled under his fur, “Reorient us so we're facing it, charge all weapon banks and prep all hands for combat stations!"

“Sir, three ships have emerged from the wormhole. IFF is negative. LADAR scans are unable to match their silhouettes.

Dana cursed, “Hail them, standard military warning,"

“Nothing sir…"

Dana growled again, “Open a damn channel then!"

At his comm officer's nod, he rounded on the viewscreen again, having pivoted away from the planet and now displaying the three ships in front of him. One was massive, easily a carrier class, but didn't look too heavily armed. The ships flanking it, on the other hand, looked like they were absolutely bristling with turrets, and likely had main guns to match.

“Unidentified ships, this is Commander Dana of the Sabre cruiser Kinjo. This is a military operation, and I advise you to withdraw immediately. Noncompliance will result in action taken upon you!"

Silence filled the bridge, before his comm officer spoke up, “Sir, they're responding, audio only."

As he opened the channel and they began to speak, Dana felt his blood run cold, “Attention Sabre forces, if you do not retreat, we will fire upon you. You have one minute to comply,"

Dana growled indignantly, “Now see here, you! This is a Council sanctioned mission to eliminate a dangerous AI! Any interference will result in-"

“Thirty seconds," interrupted whoever was on the other end of the line.

“Sir, they're charging weapons," the sensors operator advised, “I don't think that we can survive a head-to-head firefight."

Dana paused for a moment, before sighing, “Gods above, Eloash is gunna kill me... Power down main weapons, set our trajectory out of the system, full impulse. Charge up the drive core and prepare to jump to the Elalni system…"

He slumped back into his chair, eyes closed. He had no idea how he was gunna explain this to the Commandant, but he had better make it good…