FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

An Otherworldy Purpose

Like their attempt on infiltrating the Rendlok base, the group used the same tactic, provided by the intel from Rutha. The would go in from the side cliff, enter the area without triggering the alarm, and sabotage the whole operation, while at the same time killing the leaders of the Order. Rutha had confirmed that the Order of the Weavers had no Mother, meaning that their hive base was on their leaders.

The group was the same, except now with Rutha in tow. Tela and Dolor were also drafted due to their knowledge of stealth, while Let oversaw Amhyr, who was under supervised parole based on both colony's agreement. Rutha was in charge of their only defense on psychic attacks.

The group reached the outskirts of the base, which, unlike the main base, was carved out the side of a cliff, with the cave being a natural cave. There were many Order people under the cliff, and they had apparently not noticed the transport they were in. The cliff was a strategically sound base, since there was only one way out and one way in, at least at first glance.

The cave system, while it had a big entrance, also had other entrances that wasn't guarded, owing to the expansive area beneath the cliff. Rutha's recon team found a small opening, big enough for Let and Dolor, without the need of explosives or portable mining equipment. They went in from there and found an area above the main hall of the Order.

The place was littered with computers and stuffs, which did not look very high tech, but was apparently half organic. The Rendloks down below operated them while putting their appendage in and silently controlling it with their minds.

"Our computer, in its base form, worked like that," said Rutha inside their minds. "I can see how the Motherless that had contact with you adapted to the use of your type of computer, but that is how we typically use."

"Looks gross, and very low tech," said Amhyr in his mind. There is no video input at all."

"All you can access is within your mind," said Rutha while knocking his wasp head. "Now let's make haste. We must find the leaders before we get ourselves a problem. How long until your signal is received?"

"Ideally, it will be an instant transmission," said Let. "But I've delayed the transmission at least five minutes. I'll turn it on after we find the target. We don't want to risk legal problems when we return, right?"

"Isn't that why you're here?" asked Amhyr.

"My presence here is because of you, Amhyr. Even for an 'out-of-office' Kaf'rak like me, I am not immune to the law. Tela and Dolor can explain it for you later, as they also risked their own rights doing this."

"In short, everyone here is guilty of breaking protocol," said Tela. She then turned towards Rutha. "Any invasion?"

"So far, none. They haven't detected our brain waves. It is better if we make haste. They are many, and I am but one. I will lose the mental fight if we are caught, and we don't want that, do we? So, what's the plan?"

"We shut down their defense mechanism, kill their leaders, and get out. After we have confirmed the leaders, I'll turn on the transmission. In this mission, we need to stay together. It's very dangerous if you wander off your own. Rutha's our only protection from their attack. We'll move as planned. First, we find and tag the leaders. Then, isolate, and eliminate. The last part is to shut down the whole thing down. Everyone clear?"

The group all nodded.

"Good. Now, let's get down from this ledge and start the operation."

They all climbed down the ledge and quickly tried to find a place to hide. In no time at all, Rutha confirmed one of the leaders, a yellowjacket wasp-like Rendlok talking to his subordinates. They went into a room and found two other leaders, both were red ant-like Rendloks.

They all managed to find a place to hide, away from the group, to talk about the people they had found. Rutha had confirmed that there were only three leaders, all with strong enough mental barrier to detect intruders within their minds. The wasp Rendlok did not want to risk getting detected, so the next plan of attack was from Amhyr, who had knowledge of stealth.

"I can give you a way to 'see' their movement, so you can find a way to act when it is time," said Rutha. "Be sure to make it clean, okay?"

"I'll try. I don't want to get detected as much as you are."

"Also, one more thing. I don't know if they are revived Rendloks or not. From your information, solid ghosts and materialized ghosts are different. I tried to find that difference, but everyone here seemed to be flesh and blood."

"I understand. I only need to kill these people without alerting others. It's a hard job, but it's like my daily routine back in the day," said Amhyr while pulling out a silencer bullet gun. "I just hope I still got it."

"You got it when you kill those two guards."

"I know. And before I do anything, I'm sorry if this forces your hands."

"It's alright. I'll talk about it on behalf on you, but...don't expect getting an early release."

"You got it. And, Rutha?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

Rutha nodded while Amhyr looked around to see an opening, before walking out and disappearing by a rock, near his first target, the wasp Rendlok. Amhyr looked around to see if there wasn't anyone looking at him. The Rendlok seemed oblivious, given how Rutha masked his presence. Rendloks had a low level of sense in exchange for high psychic level, so their spatial awareness wasn't that big. Their compound eyes were a problem, however, as it gave them a big area of vision.

But in Amhyr's case, it was easy, given how his aim did not diminish after years of not shooting a live target. Amhyr liked to play shooters using gun controllers, which helped him with accuracy and prevented him from getting lax. His decision to use a low-tech silencer was another way for his stealth. It was strong enough to penetrate a Rendlok's carapace, and given how they relied on their exoskeleton, they would not expect a shot from the back of their head.

Amhyr took position and quickly shot the Rendlok's head. It made a clean shot, which caused the Rendlok to fall to the ground, dead. Amhyr's bet that their brains were in the same position was paid off, after all.

"Good job," said Rutha. "Now onto the next one. I'll be coming with you this time."

Amhyr then went into hiding while Rutha walked towards him, along with the Scyllas. They all nodded while discussing everything in their minds. They needed to move slower and precise if they wanted to get themselves some good advantage over the enemies.

So far, no one found out about their whereabouts, even after they reached the second leader. However, when Amhyr tried to kill one of them, he said, "Wait."

"Wait? He's in a perfect position for me to..."

"His mind is linked," said Rutha. "He and the other 'ant' are twins. You kill one, the other will find out."

"So, to avoid detection, kill both at the same time?"

"Yes, and that is their strategy," said Rutha. "One is on the far side of the room, while this one is in this area. We need to wait for them to converge together, then kill both at the same time. Or, do you prefer we kill one and take the other?"

"No, don't," said Amhyr. "We haven't take care of the defense mechanism yet. We'll take them both later. For now, we need to deactivate the defense first. Rutha, do you know where it is?"

"It's heavily guarded, but I can take care of that. You'll know soon enough. Oh, but before that. Let?"

"Yes?"

"I think it's time for you to transmit the signal. We have taken care of one leader. We have a better chance of taking them all out with more people. Does that signal alert both the Scyllas and the Rendloks?"

"It's in the central alert, so I guess both can hear it."

"Good. Do it now."

Let did so, and said, "Let's hope no one's caught the signal beforehand, or we'll need a lot of work to do. Five minutes of transmission, three minutes deployment, and ten minutes of travel. We got 18 minutes or so before the cavalry is here."

"Cavalry? I don't know you use Terran terms, Let."

"It sounds better than 'the soldier's here', right? Come on."

With Rutha's direction, they found the way to the defense system. As the Rendlok said, the whole place was swarming with Rendlok guards. It was as if they were anticipating them, but Rutha explained that in a Rendlok colony, the defense mechanism was the most heavily-guarded place, since in normal circumstances, it was in charge of the colony's barrier and the Mother's personal barrier, and without it, the whole colony would fall.

Amhyr could count at least five or so Rendloks patrolling the area, not including hidden cameras and such. He then looked around to find where the console to the barrier covering the outside entrance, and found one being guarded by a heavily-armored beetle Rendlok.

"How much time do we have left?"

"Ten minutes," said Let.

"Alright, then. Let's start."

Amhyr and Rutha nodded to each other, with Let, Tela, and Dolor flying down after the two managed to fly across the area. Amhyr quickly let himself fall down, with Rutha, using his stinger, subdued another Rendlok. Let, Tela, and Dolor each crushed the rest with their weight.

Rutha quickly ran towards the console and looked the door behind them, both on the second floor and the ground floor. He then put one of his insect appendages and said, "I'll need five or so minutes to reprogram the whole defense system. You need to cover me."

"Cover you? But I thought..."

"Just prepare yourselves. We may get in stealthily, but we don't know if they have any fail-safe from non-bioprogrammed organism accessing this terminal."

Suddenly, an alarm sounded. Rutha sighed mentally.

"Speak of the devil...," said Amhyr while pulling out his energy rifle. "Set a perimeter. That door won't hold against energy blasts."

"I've taken care of that. The door itself also have energy barriers, which can hold low-powered weapons, but be ready if they bring in the big guns."

"Big guns? They have one of those? Or maybe just bullet-based weapons will suffice?"

"They don't use bullet weapons. It's too primitive."

"Their loss, then." Amhyr then cocked his rifle. "Get on with the hacking. I just hope Let's backup gets it before we are screwed."

***

Back at the Scyllan colony, the alert came by at the precise time as Let predicted, with the fast respond soldiers standing by for dispatch. One of the dispatch, a Scylla named Alfataris, knew the signal type and shook her head.

"Damn that old warrior. He goes on without us," said Alfa. "I should've known a child of Mankoreta will try and break protocol, but to actually find one who is a Kaf'rak? Bless the Mother of War, he is risking himself!"

"Commander Alfa," said one of the Scylla. "We are ready for deployment."

"Good. I'll take command." Alfa then walked towards a console and opened a communication to the garage.

"Prepare the Buggy."

"Yes, ma'am."

She walked out of the comfort of her office, then readied herself with weapons near her. As a commander of dispatch who had been in an aware state for a while, she always came to her office fully suited for combat, including her weapon room. They had never been left locked for these past few days, especially after the joint council between the Rendloks and the Scyllas.

She personally admired the Rendloks, even if they had a fragile body. For a race that had been scattered across the galaxy for thousands of years, they had fought well. She actually had a Rendlok friend who was in Pineapple Express, the crew that went to the next galaxy and would reach that place after two hundred years or so, even with the use of maximum FTL. She wanted to be in that group, but alas, her family came first.

Alfa quickly walked towards the garage and found her personal Buggy, an off-road, all-terrain vehicle suited for that occasion. It was her personal craft during the early days of Adonis III, during times when she did not need to man security stations that often. It was, of course, before many Scyllas evacuating from Adonis I came, including one of the Kaf'raks, Renziletis Mankoreta the Third. Alfa did not believe the reason the Kaf'rak did, especially given how he was a from a rival domain. Of course, Alfa quickly knew the desperate situation, and was willing to help.

She found a good but unusual friendship from a child of Mankoreta. Her parents, also Kaf'rak, told her how to be cautious around other Kaf'raks, and their offspring, given how they could either be bad or good. Renziletis Mankoreta was, in many ways, a dignified leader, but also a humbled person, which surprised even Alfa, who knew how her father and her brothers and sisters acted, including herself. For a warrior race, the Scyllas carved for battle, and they would love to show their power, especially for a Kaf'rak. Of course, for Let, which she had known to call him, despite of not letting out the flair of being a fierce warrior, he had his own regal aura that also gave him the respect he needed, while being a humble person at the same time. For her, Let was more of a friend than a Kaf'rak, and she was okay with that.

Alfa's need for taking personal command was to make sure that her friend was safe, even if she knew the Scylla must answer a lot of questions for his act. Attacking an unknown base without consulting the council could lead to problems in the future, which Alfa knew was inevitable. She knew how both sides were cautious and generally not trusting one another. The Scyllas did not trust the Rendloks due to their ability to read minds, and the Rendloks, unlike the one that settled on a planet, were isolationist and did not like talking with strangers. By rights, they had a better standing given how they settled on Adonis III first, though they died before it all went off. Alfa hated complicated problems, and so she learned to trust and not to trust. The Rendloks may not like them, but she knew sooner or later, they would trust them, even if it was temporary until the crisis was over.

When their time came, the Scyllas, including her, would pay respect on their final resting place, and build a memorial for them, to remember what short time they had, and to give them a final farewell for them to let go in peace. Alfa wanted to be there when it happened, and she would respect them the way she respected her friends. Of course, that needed to happen, and for that to happen, she needed to go to Let's coordinate and sort out the things that started this whole mess.

Back in the Order's base, it had been almost ten minutes since they first started their skirmish. The whole base's defense system had been shut down, but it was a double-edged sword. Rutha could not get to the required clarification for an authorized shutdown, so he devised a plan to shut the whole complex, turning off the main reactor and shutting down all technology, be it essential or non-essential. As a result, the barriers were down, and so did the barrier that had been holding the Rendloks back. They did not have any way for protection, but so did the Rendloks. The 'big guns' were directly connected to a central battery, which could not be turned on, meaning that the Rendloks was not able to use it.

The whole affair worked towards their advantage due to Let taking EMP grenades as precautions and Amhyr using bullet-based weapons. The others, who used energy weapons, must expend a lot of battery power to discharge an amount of energy enough to break through the Rendlok's carapace without it bouncing off harmlessly.

They managed to hold on quite well, at least until Alfa reached the place. By then, the desperate Order of the Weavers started becoming suicidal and attacking without concern of their own safety, which injured Dolor and Amhyr who were standing at the front. Let's telekinetic abilities could only do as much before he was also overwhelmed, though by that point, the dispatch finally came and arrested those who were not killed.

Alfa personally walked to the group, who were treated and guarded by some of the dispatch squad. She relieved the guards and sat near Let, who managed to make out a smile before Alfa punched him, agitating Tela, though she stood down after Let said, "It's alright. It's just a friendly jab."

"You really have balls for taking on that much Rendloks, without dying," said Alfa. "What will happen to the colony if you die doing harsh things?"

"Won't you be happy to have your command returned?"

"You know I'm not the born-to-be-a-leader type. If I took control, everyone won't survive a month!"

"Don't get too pessimistic on that, Alfa. But then, who knows. If the Mother of War demanded that I survive, I will, for her, and for my son, and especially for my chiefdom."

Both laughed, but when Alfa took notice of Amhyr, she stopped and looked at the draconian longingly. Let though she harbored a resentment towards him, but she said, "You know, good job keeping him alive throughout your little skirmish. He's not even a Scylla, but I can see how he fights. He even got kids."

"He's been through a lot, and I got a say in that," said Let. "But, it depends on how he sees this. I saved him from a mob of Terrans accusing him of harboring Rose, while she was light-years away from Luna. I got threatened, too."

"You? Threatened?" said Alfa almost laughing. "Everyone bows to you in your chiefdom and some Terran lynch mob challenged you? Are they out of their minds?"

"Yeah, and I might caused even worse incident when I pushed one away. Of course, we depart while they gave us hollow threats, but eh, I'm more scared of Amhyr."

"The Terran? What did he do?"

Let smiled. "Let's just say everyone who threatened us are now criminals who will spend time in prison."

"Not just a prison. A maximum security prison!" exclaimed Amhyr, who overheard their conversation.

"See? He's a resourceful guy. Too resourceful, if I say," said Let. He then scratched his head. "But, eh...I guess it's the slammer for us, huh?'

"No, in fact, by my rights as the colony master, I pardon you and everyone who is involved in this affair. Of course, this does not extend to Rithola's parole."

Everyone became surprised. "What?! But we clearly broke protocol!" said Tela.

"Yes, but no one got killed and we end up getting our objective straight. Sometimes, breaking protocol is a thing, just don't break too much or you'll end up making your lives miserable. Still, I don't think the joint council would agree for our actions, and they might give you a verdict, though not incarceration. I will be in your defenses, and I will make sure Amhyr's sentence is not worse than it is."

"I will give him defense among my people's council," said Rutha. "If...you allow it?"

"I will. It is a joint council, after all, and we don't declare a verdict before a trial. So, want to go back? My people will help with the clean-up and info gathering. Your job here is done."

Everyone looked at each other and smiled, before nodding. Alfa similarly smiled and directed them to her personal shuttle.

Amhyr felt relieved that he had found purpose again, not to defend and care his kids, but to see the first Rendlok groups other than the 'ant' people. He wished these people would stay indefinitely, but he knew that, in time, they would disappear, as they were already dead. Only a miracle or an act of divine beings would keep them there and let them live their lives, basically resurrected.

But until that happened, however, he would never know. Until that happened, he would protect his children, and the colony , with Let, from danger.