FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A special thanks to Dasher Cheetah for helping me with this story. Your assistance was invaluable. This is what my previous chapter was supposed to be. I rewrote it and its now two chapters. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Into the Horizon: Waiting for Dawn

It had been four days since the battle ships crossed into Wolf space. They had not been approached by any Wolf controlled ships and as far as they could tell sensors read two wolf battle ships. They were still three days from the target destination. The former bridge crew had set themselves up in a cargo bay of the Fox ship. From there they could control every system. They could see what that ship saw. For all intensive purposes, it was the new bridge of the ship. Max sat on his makeshift bridge pondering over the events of the past two months. He had lost his ship, half of his crew, and found out why the Wolves were so deadly. He was filled with a mixture of feelings, thoughts swirling around. He decided he needed a nice long walk around the ship. The Fox Capitan had been kind enough to grant him full access to the ship. Things hadn't been easy, there were plenty of hard feelings to go around on both sides. Somehow thought everybody seemed to be able to put them aside. Granted they wouldn't be best friends anytime soon. However, it was something, and in a long war like this a little progress was better than no progress. His crew was performing well above and beyond what they had been trained to do. They had become one with the crew of the Fox ship. Things were not easy by any stretch of the imagination. The ship wasn't designed to handle as many as was currently occupying it, but this allowed for work to go much faster as there were more to work. This was a suicide mission; Bane and Mustapha were convinced it would work. He, however, was much less optimistic. They could take one, maybe two wolf cursers, however there was no intelligence on the location they were headed too. Bane seemed to think it would probably be a space station of some type. Max felt old and tired. He had betrayed his fellow man for a snowballs chance in hell of getting something that would help them end the war. His crew supported him completely in this decision. What they would never know was that he doubted the decision to do this since he made it. He knew they were alone in this, there was no backup, no help, it was just them.

Bane was struck by the plainness of the Fox ship. The native crew was extremely nervous of him. He was big and powerful. He could defeat most of them in hand to hand combat. That fear kept them at bay from him. It also put up barriers to them understanding that he had no hard feelings towards them. Since their transition, Ron had spent most of his time in Engineering trying to get everything possible from the ship. They knew that when the shooting started that they would need every ounce of help they could get. Max had been very distant since the transition, mostly because of what they were forced to do. He knew Max disliked the situation, and he could not blame him. He wasn't exactly fond of it himself. He would have to kill his fellow Wolves in the coming battle. He detested killing, after the war his kind began to adopt that ideal that all life was valuable. He was a product of this teaching, but for the good of the future, he needed to shove it aside. He must do whatever it took to fix this situation. History said that the war lasted for five years, but already this had stretched to twelve. Even if there was a way back, things had been changed to the point where they would no longer have a place. As he walked, he caught sight of Captain Max headed in his direction.

"Capitan, what brings you out today? You look troubled, care to ease your burdens?"

Bane, yes I guess you could say that I am deeply troubled. We are taking a great risk here, I just hope it pays off.

I understand Capitan, but the thing is regardless of our arrival here. The core would still be in the hands of the Wolves. The only difference is our presence here to correct the wrongs that have occurred.

They continued walking. Max thought that Bane knew something he wasn't saying. He never bought the explanation provided that they needed him for tech support.

"Bane, do you know what they want with Scott. They obviously don't need him for better ships, they have the best. They have better ships, better guns, and top tech all around."

Bane hesitated at this question. He knew Max never bought the explanation provided, but he didn't want to share his suspicions as he had hoped to be wrong.

"Sir," began Bane, "I feel that they are after the Omega bomb."

"Do I want to know what this is?"

"Probably not, but I'll tell you anyway. After the war a great amount of research was put into weapons development. Sub space bombs, particle cannons, better antimatter cannons, and the like. One group of scientist developed what they called the Omega bomb. It basically forms a black hole in space capable of destruction that I can't even begin to imagine. We never actually built one because of the possible ramifications of setting it off on all those who are near it."

"Dear God, are you sure."

"Unfortunately Capitan I'm fairly certain of it. Its the only thing that makes sense, as you pointed out they obviously don't need tech support."

"Those bastards, no offence Bane. They'll try to ransom an end to the war. They'll try to use that bomb to force us to surrender. Or they'll simply destroy us and not ask for a surrender."

After this comment, neither said a word. Both walking in silent contemplation. An Omega bomb would certainly be effective at eliminating the opposition. Max knew little of this technology, but it frightened him. They had to succeed, this had to end. To hell with the consequences, they couldn't be allowed to finish that bomb.

Ron had spent all of the time since the transition in engineering. He was working with the crew of the Fox ship to coax everything possible out of its systems. This process was affecting the crew of the ship in several ways. The first being general exhaustion at working so hard. However, the actual mission was also affecting them. Everybody had been informed of what the Capitan's had done. They were loyal to Mustapha to the end, they had never once doubted his judgment. It was a result of him bringing them though battle so many times. However, they thought themselves fighting a suicide mission. All of them were ready to follow Mustapha though hell and back if necessary. However, they were scared, although most were too proud to admit it. The signs came in the form of short tempers, fistfights, and rude comments. Ron himself was frightened; however, he had faith in Bane, Max, and Mustapha. He knew the extent of the damage that could be done with some of the secrets held in that core. Especially by a group of individuals who seemingly didn't care about collateral damage and had a thirst for blood.

______________( On the Wolf Ship )__________________

Scott had had plenty of time to think about his situation. He was fed well enough, although his small room offered little comforts and he wasn't allowed out of it. Escape attempts had all failed, the guards were just too strong. The last attempt had left him with a broken nose. Commander CJ had been down to speak with him several times. Scott assured the Wolf that there would be no assistance given. They hadn't asked him for anything yet, but he had overheard some of the guards talking. They wanted a bomb that would end the war once and for all. As Scott pondered this, he knew that it had to be the Omega bomb. It was the only thing more powerful than sub-space weapons. He actually knew a good bit about the weapon. His father had helped to develop it, and he had studied his father's notes extensively. They had never built one, and most of the designs were theory. Scott knew it was possible to build one though. He had to be strong; there was no way he could allow himself to do this.

Scott suddenly felt the ship shudder as they slowed out of warp. He began to feel sleepy and once again fell asleep. Upon awakening, he found himself in a different cell. This was considerably larger and appeared to be a lab of some type. As he moved though the large room he had been transferred into, he found a note with instructions to build an Omega bomb. Apparently they figured he had realized what they wanted and an explanation wasn't necessary. Then as he finished reading the note four rather large and lethal looking wolves walked through the front door of his room. The party contained one female wolf, and the other three looked to be foot soldiers. After their entry, the female began to address him.

"Hello Scott, my name is Admiral Ulra. I assume by now you have figured out what we want."

"Yeah," replied Scott, "you want a doomsday bomb. You do realize that setting it off will not only destroy the Humans and Fox, but yourself with them."

"Scott, let me let you in on a little secret. All that matters to us is winning this war. To do that we are going to have to ask you to build us that bomb. The rest is none of your concern."

"Oh but it is madam. You see I cannot allow you to do this. Do with me as you will."

With that Ulra, turned to two of her three men and asked them to show Scott the error of his ways. As they approached him, Scott knew it wouldn't end well for him. Waking up was not a pleasant feeling. He was laying on the floor in a puddle of his own blood. A doctor had mended all of his broken bones, but the pain was still there. Memories of the fight came flooding back into his head. They had beat him, and used his as a scratching post. Then, worst of all, they used him to fulfill certain pent up needs.

"Well," began Scott, "that went well."

With that Admiral Ulra's voice came into the room.

" Scott, are you willing to help us now?"

"Go to hell!"

With that the door to his room once again opened and the same soldiers once again entered.

"Scott, the beatings will continue until either you are dead or you help us."

Commander CJ sat in his office after the transfer of the prisoner. He knew that this could not be allowed to happen. However, preparations must be made before anything was to be done. He filed a request to be fully stocked with provisions for an extended mission. His stated mission was to find and eliminate all resistance in the outer quadrant of the Wolf territory. His personal mission was to find a way to end this. It had gone on for too long, to many were dead and it mustn't continue. He was surprised to find just how easy it was for him to make the decision to betray his fellow Wolves. Then a thought crossed his mind, he wasn't betraying them, no he was saving them. He was saving them from the blood that would forever stain their hands if he did nothing. His decision was finalized, somebody had to take a stand and it might as well be him.

As his ship prepared to leave the station, he was shocked to find that there were two ships moving toward the position at high warp. They appeared to be Wolf ships, but there were none supposed to be in the area besides himself and two others that he knew for a fact were not in the immediate area and were three to four days away at maximum warp. The computer screen light up in his office, it was High Command. They wanted the ships investigated, and he was happy to do it. Though not for the reasons they thought. If he was right, then he found a way out. He had a way to redeem himself.

As the ships approached the source of the core's signal, it became apparent that they were dealing with a heavily armed space station. The Siberia was maneuvered into position to begin attacking. Suddenly a wolf ship dropped out of warp in front of them. Both crews knew their cover was blown, but they did not receive the ass kicking they had expected. Instead of shooting, the ship requested a communication. The signal was split between the Capitan of the Fox ship and the Human Capitan and both appeared on the main viewer of the Wolf ship.

"Gentlemen, I assume you are here to rescue your fallen comrade and take back the core."

"Yeah," replied the Fox Captain, "that would be a fair assessment of the situation."

Both Capitan's and crew's knew that they couldn't withstand that battleship for long. However his intentions seemed unclear. He could have obviously shot first and asked questions later. The question that remained was, what was this Wolf upto?