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Counter Earth Chronicles - Fallen Empire *Chapter 31: The Further Adventures... *

Day 59 ** ** (The Great Forest)

"This place hasn't changed in the slightest." I said looking out of the window of the blue coupe as we flew overhead. "Well apart from the orange sky which means we are moving away from decimated territory."

The brown bear next to me was silent as she took in the view.

"So how does it feel to be out in the field again mistress?"

"Strange and weird pet. While I was quarantined, I was largely removed from what was happening and had happened in the outside world relying only on what Rhinox, Corey, Corbin, Shakara and you she told me." The bear warrior said falling silent again.

"Yeah it is kind of weird for me too. The last few times I was in this forest it was at night. I believe this is the first time I have been here during the day."

"So you and Shakara feel that I am well enough to return to duty?" Lady Ursa said looking at me.

(That was abrupt.)

"Yeah."

"So you feel that I am entirely free from the entity's control and influence?"

"Not completely mistress."

"So how can you be sure I won't betray you pet if we run into Others?"

"Your heart." I responded.

"Come again Alex?"

"Your love for me and our family would override the longing."

"And you know this how pet?"

"The last two months have been extremely rough for all of us, our friends and community. You were there- you experienced it. I believe you wouldn't want to see any of us annihilated just to be with ONE."

"Are you really confident about that theory pet?" She said raising an eyebrow.

"That, and you moaned this morning- really loudly."

My perfect person stared me down with those golden eyes of hers.

"It was during coitus and its conclusion. It wasn't a grunt, two grunts or three. But a prolonged joyous moan. As if to say that you were enjoying sex again."

"I was. Shakara was surprised as well. So that is what precipitated this?" Lady Ursa said as we found our landing point just outside the forest.

"Yes Shakara interpreted that you were exiting withdrawal and slowly returning to your old self. She wanted to test that theory some more tonight if you know what I mean."

"So that is why she was adamant we come back from Rhinox's mission in one piece."

"Yup."

"That lioness!" My she beast grumbled.

"Despite some quirks mistress, she has proven to be a capable healer."

My beloved looked at me as I complemented our devious person.

"Ok, a lot of moral and ethical quirks. But you do enjoy sharing our bed with her and groping her bottom at night and the way she responds when you do." I said eyeing my brown bear. "Or the way she kisses and licks you breasts and nipples while you sleep and...."

"Looks like we reached the landing site!" My warrior bear said abruptly changing the subject. She quickly put the prototype into a dive before landing softly right beside where Barran landed the transport vehicle during that mission she, Chemar, Coal, Springer and myself went on last fall.

As the prototype came to a stop, I pressed the right most toggle switch on the weapons console engaging the copilot monitor and keyboard. As they emerged from the glovebox I started typing.

*Surveillance probe engaged.*

"Checking the surrounding area."

"Anything?" My warrior bear asked.

"We are clear. No life signs, human or beastial within a mile."

"Overwatch keep, um watch. If we fail to return. Get help."

*As you wish Lady Ursa.*

With that we exited the blue coupe and started hiking into the wilderness on that winter day.

"Alex, is this the right direction?"

"Wow, this snow is rather deep. I guess winter was also bad here. Yes this is the direction of the rebel relay station."

"Walk underneath the trees. There is less snow there." She ordered me.

"That is a good idea. Just think mistress, if the commander's plan works we will have actual working communication."

"Limited communication pet. The hub is still down after all but that localized signal that affected hover vehicles last fall that is still working."

"That is genius. We can adapt it for our own use and at least have a way to communicate with each other using the cubes and the prototype."

We continued to climb for several miles over mounds and hills on our way toward the hidden relay station.

"It should be around here somewhere." I said looking at the mound of snow.

That was when we heard singing, beautiful singing.

"Right up ahead." I said pointing to the source.

It was a very familiar she fox. The one with the lovely large ears, beautiful slim form, small petite breasts, golden fur with brown highlights on her nipples and paws and a broad smile on her face. She was alone dancing in the forest, just like before.

"It is okay Feleen. We are not intruders." I said with my arms raised.

"The naked female fennec stopped her performance as she looked at me and Lady Ursa."

"Recognized." She said disappointed. "You are the first I have seen in some time; I have been quite lonely."

"Lonely?" I asked the holo projection.

"My operator is no longer among the living."

"So there was someone stationed here the day of the fall." My warrior bear said.

"I was only able to recognize you from our previous encounter." The fennec said. "I haven't been in contact with the knight core or its database for sometime either."

"That is because it down." Lady Ursa said studying the projection. "That is a very alluring sentinel program."

"She is. Feleen. Now would you be kind enough to show us in?" I asked.

The holographic she fox led us to a hidden entrance under some brush; stairway leading into the ground.

"I see the reports were true pet." My she beast said looking at inside of the facility.

"I heard it took the knight core some time to remove the bodies from here and to disable the traps that caused the high body count." I said as Lady Ursa walked down the darkened hallway looking through each door.

In the corner of the hallway was a junior knight who had been stationed here- deceased.

"He ran himself through with his sword. Why?"

(I didn't know turtles could do that to themselves.)

Feleen pointed to the turtle warrior's communicator.

I walked up to it trying to avoid the dried blood puddle. I pressed a button on it.

"Personal journal December 31st. Something weird happened today after my relief departed. At approximately 6:30 am I started experiencing communication failures. At first I thought it was nothing. But the problem cascaded starting in World Five, then moving onto Four and Three. At 11:41 am I lost communication with World One. I am going to keep trying to contact the core to see what is going on."

"Personal journal supplemental about an hour later I lost contact with World Two. I heard the knight I was talking to say something about bad weather coming their way before her comms went down. I will keep trying."

There was another entry on January 1st.

"All contact with not just the knight core, but the entire empire has been lost. What is going on? I hope I get someone soon because supplies are low and this place was supposed to be restocked two days ago."

My warrior bear joined me looking at the fallen warrior's communicator.

"This entry was from January 2nd." I said to her.

"Personal journal Junior Knight Walker recording. It appears that my fears have come true. From what I can determine something truly bad has happened. I am running out of provisions and am stranded here without any transportation and a storm is moving in. At least the __sentinel programs are keeping me company."

The next entry was from January 31st.

_"It has been over a month since I have spoken to anyone in the five cities, no relief, no resupplies nothing. The only conclusion I can foresee is that the empire has collapsed. _

"Play the last entry Alex." Lady Ursa ordered.

Some how I got a probe module to the east of the forest working today. What I saw shattered my very soul. It showed smoke and ash rising in the distance where World One should have been. How could this have happened? Was it the rebellion? I thought the master would have prevailed in the end against them! What happened? Did the same happen elsewhere?

_This will be my final entry. I can't envision a world without the stability the empire provided. If the human rebellion has succeeded it would be a living hell for the rest of us. Beastials as second or third class citizens that will be the day." _

"It looks like he took his own life rather then face our new reality." I said to my lady bear.

"Or starve in a isolated remote outpost." Lady Ursa said.

My fierce ursine warrior decided to remove the knight's communicator from his wrist, much to my surprise. She was going to use it to replace hers that was fried during the EMP.

"Say, Faleen where is Nathan?" I asked.

"His program went offline about a month ago." The female fennec said.

"It must have been lonely without him around to keep you company."

"It has been." She said to me.

"Alex." My she beast said to me.

"Right." I walked to the console at the end of the hall and started looking at the indicators. "Yeah the owl sentinel is offline."

"Anyway to get it back online?" Lady Ursa asked me.

"Mara or Sir Ram could. Me no." I said as Lady Ursa disappeared and then emerged from one of the rooms in the hallway.

"Look what I found."

"A service weapon. That is lucky."

"It was a spare that was kept here just in case." My she beast said proudly.

"And it wasn't affected by the EMP the day of the fall either. That is one thing to go right."

"I think I will give it to Rhinox he has felt somewhat inadequate after losing his sword and service weapon and that mace he was carrying was not helping him." Lady Ursa said to me. "Did you do it?"

"Yeah we have what we need."

"What do you need?" Feleen asked approaching us.

"To establish a communication link. You know, it is a shame we can't take her with us. Feleen and even Nathan would be a great addition to our defenses."

"Yes Alex, but there is no way to run her program from the lost city." My fierce ursine warrior said. "But we can repurpose this relay station."

"Like an auxiliary base of operations. Good idea mistress. Especially when we are in this area." I said to her.

"Well we better get back pet, we have a couple of hours travel back to the lost city. Feleen keep your program active, we will contact you later."

"Yes Lady Ursa."

That evening Commander Rhinox had everyone assemble at the eating place within the central building.

As Shakara and I entered we found Lady Ursa, professor Stern and the commander standing around one of the communication cubes we had brought back from The Madam's hideout.

Russell, Corey, Corbin and Rumble were watching the commander tweak and fiddle with the device.

"I think it is ready." The rhino warrior said.

"Ok let's try this." Dawn said.

"Point one to point two." My bear knight said into the cube.

There was silence as we waited a response.

"Point one to point two do you read me?" My she beast repeated.

*This is point two to point one. I read you loud and clear Lady Ursa.*

"Outstanding!" The little mongoose shouted.

"So has communication been restored?!" Corey shouted as Rumble looked on.

"Not exactly son, just limited." The commander said correcting the teen. We can talk back and forth between the prototype using the communication cubes.

"That is going to be really helpful when we are in the outside world." Russell exclaimed.

"We are not done yet." My warrior bear added. "Point one to point three do you read me?"

"Point three who is point three momma bear?" Corbin asked.

"This is Feleen here, *zzzyttt* I mean point three. I am receiving you.... barely."

"We also have contact with the sentinel program at the relay station in the Great Forest." My fierce ursine warrior said.

"It will need to be tweaked but it is serviceable. Great job." The rhino warrior said.

"Can someone explain what just happened?" Russell asked.

"In light of our near annihilation last month, we have made some improvements to increase our chances of survival." Dawn said to the little horse.

"The first was establishing limited communications." My perfect person said.

"The second was establishing a auxiliary site. We are repurposing a rebel relay station in the Great Forest as such." The commander said.

"Who is this Feleen character?" The black haired teen asked.

"A sentinel program that was intended to guard the site from intruders." I said. "She is still serving that purpose, but will also monitor that location as well from now on."

"I believe going forward we will have to repurpose technology that was not destroyed in the fall." The commander said.

"Exactly how many outposts did the knights have?" I asked.

"Many, but all of them were located within the five cites except for the relay station and the forgotten outpost." Lady Ursa said.

"I would like to forget that last one." I said.

"In the coming weeks, I would like to have some of the monitoring probes that are down up and running at that site. Feleen can use them to watch activity at some of the cities even if it is from a distance." The rhino warrior said.

"That is a great idea. A difficult one, but a great idea." Lady Ursa added.

"Keeping eyes on ONE but at a distance." The little mongoose boy added. "I like it."

"We have another item to discuss." Rhinox said walking over to Corbin, Shakara, and myself. "The events of the last month drove home this new world that we now find ourselves in."

"You mean the fact that we all came close to buying it sir?" The black haired teen said.

"Yes. As a result, I have revised and have made some changes regarding the security protocols around here."

"To what end commander?" Dawn asked.

"I want every member of the community to obtain and master a weapon, keep it on themselves at all times. Especially our non-beastials." The rhino warrior said placing his paws on mine and Shakara's shoulders.

"There will come a time when you may be forced to defend yourselves against enemies." Lady Ursa said. "Especially if you don't have fangs or claws."

"Dawn, Corbin, Shakara and Alex I want you four to select a weapon- it doesn't have to be anything extravagant, just something you can master."

"You mean like a portable fang Rhinox?" Professor Stern asked.

"Exactly." The rhino warrior said.

"...almost time..." The werewolf said poking his boy.

"Oh yes, Rumble and I have the night watch. We need to get ready."

"Oh before you do, Rumble I have some more tests I would like to run." The lion lady said as she grinned at the former lab creature.

"...tests...?" The were-creature grumbled.

"Yes tall brown and buff. Until I can figure out how you do what you do- there will be tests, tests, tests and more tests. Think of it as a way to help all of us survive." Shakara said to the frustrated were-creature.

"........."

"It's ok big guy it is just some tests." Corey said petting his wolf who stared at him uneasily. "Ok and she wants to touch your bum and privates... again."

"Okay meeting is adjourned." Dawn said dismissing everyone.

After the meeting the black haired teen approached the commander, Lady Ursa and the professor.

"I almost forgot, tomorrow I am going to need to visit the Grand Kingdom." Mr. Collins said to the bear, rhino and archeologist.

"What for Corey?" Lady Ursa asked giving her attention to the teen.

"Oh yes, keeping tabs on our enemies- commander, madam knight we have a contact at the compound." Dawn said.

Day 60 (The Grand Kingdom)

It was a blustery afternoon at the former rebel hideout turned refugee camp. The guards were more agitated then usual; pushing the compounds inhabitants around.

"Joy, I will not tell you again! Your husband is dead!" A masked thug said directing the despondent woman back to some human and beastial females who were tending to the laundry.

Another group of refugees were shoveling the walkway to the house under the watchful eye of the another guard.

"You three over there can take a break."

"What about us?" A cervine and buck protested.

"No." The masked man said.

"But that is not fair!" The cervine huffed.

"Nor was you fuzzies subjugating us for the last 34 years!" He said. "Now get back to work, or I just might convince the cook that we need to have venison tonight- not the four legged type but the two legged type!"

While this exchange was taking place, no one paid attention to a female fossa walking out of the front of the farmhouse into the side-yard to casually sit down at the base of a tree.

"Ida, thank you for coming any news?" Corey asked.

"Nice disguise- do you dress as a tree often?"

"When necessary." The teen responded.

"When are you going to get me out of here?"

"Soon. Now, what have you discovered?"

"I found out why Caden has been in a mood this past week." Ida said.

"I am listening." Corey said from within the prototype.

"Some of his forces made it to World Four."

"And?"

"They haven't been heard from since."

"So that explains why the guards have been agitated. Ida I heard the city was destroyed by Counter Earthquakes."

"Well the Intendant decided to send an expedition there for supplies anyway and now he is down five guards and three refugees. I almost joined that group."

"Be thankful that you didn't. The city is overrun with Others and even a few monsters. I think you won't hear from them again; they have probably been turned." The snarky teenager said to the beastial.

"I am inclined to agree." The fossa said quietly starring at the red sky.

"I should also warn you that, I have heard rumors of something big happening here." Corey said.

"Such as?" Ida said looking down at her paws.

"Mr. Thorn hinted at it the last time I was here. That is why he keeps his, toy chained up in his room."

"I don't have the foggiest. Perhaps it was your recent visit. The guards have been combing the forests looking for you."

"Keep your ears open Ida. I will check back in a little while." Corey said.

"Beastial!" A thug said singling out the fossa, break time is over!"

"Yes, sir." Ida said standing up from the disguised prototype.

"The guard followed her back into the farmhouse stopping to look at the tree she had been next to.

"I have never noticed that before." He said pushing her forward.

"What do you think?" I asked the snarky teen.

"Something is going on here. I just don't know."

"Yeah Joy and Mr. Thorn seemed to indicate as well during our last visit." I said.

*Mr. Winter, Mr. Collins I have an incoming communication.*

"Like old times." I smiled. "Put it through."

A familiar image of a bear appeared on the screen.

"Corey, Alex are you reading me?"

"Yes mistress." I responded.

"Did your spy have anything interesting to report?"

"Caden sent an expedition to World Four almost a week ago. They are long overdue."

"They have most likely been repurposed or slaughtered. Any other news?" The brown bear asked.

"Ida isn't aware of the rumors we heard on the recent raid." I said.

"But two individuals alluded to something big is going to happen here in the coming weeks." Mr. Collins added.

"Will it be a threat to us?" My warrior bear asked.

Corey and I looked at each other then the former knight of the empire.

"I guess time will tell." I said quietly.

Alex Winter March 2, YOE 34