FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Escape from the Red Planet

George Atmell

---

** ** Okay. I know me being dragged into space by a space wyvern (Vyrnian) was already weird enough. Now, I got to see yet another weird one: a space wyvern who happened to be an alien and wielding a glaive that's a trick weapon. That's a mouthful, I know, but that's what happened, given what Arcturus had told you.

Arcturus never told me that he was a weapon user. I mean, he did train me on how to perfect my swordsmanship, but I never knew he even used a specific weapon. I guess there's more to him that I did not know. I was glad to have known him and got the taste of adventure I craved, even if I did get more than I thought I needed.

But as the awe of Arcturus's weapon disappeared, we quickly reminded ourselves that we still needed to find a way out and regroup with the others. I checked my weapon's charge. While it was still enough for at least a hundred energy shots, it wasn't enough for sustaining the weapon's main function as a plasma blade. I quickly pointed this out to Arcturus and gladly gave me all the charge I needed, close to it being overcharged.

"How long do you need?" he asked.

"15-20 minutes of steady use," I said. The plasma blade was rather limited in efficiency and once turned on, it was better to keep it on for the duration of use due to the function's activation period, especially when we were being surrounded by the undead.

"I can help you recharge if you need it, but don't rely on it," said Arcturus. "The plasma blade used conventional rechargeable battery that will blow up if recharged too quickly."

"Conventional?"

"It's not cheap, I know. But even a good quality thing can break if used improperly."

"Like cutting through a Vyrnian?"

"No. That's what it's intended to do."

"Then, it's not going to be a problem. We need to move."

Arcturus nodded and flowed the charge in his body to the glaive. It was cackling with electric energy. I checked my gun-sword's function and turned the knob to a 'sword' symbol. It then let out a loud sound along with the bright glow coating my sword's blade. The glow was purple in color and had a visible flame-like aura. The loud humming noise and the brightness would render any stealth strategies useless, but stealth was never the option due to the urgency of the situation.

We walked to the second floor of the room where there was another door leading outside. It wasn't the floor to the exit. Judging from the map of the facility Arcturus downloaded earlier we still had at least three floors before we reached the ground level. We could not determine what we would expect until we opened the door, so we needed to be ready.

"Ready?" said Arcturus as he prepared his glaive.

"Are you?" I said, rather empathically. I knew Arcturus had already been shaken by his father's possible betrayal and the fact that his mission was all for naught. Some people would just break down after this, especially knowing that you were wrong all this time. But still, even if Arcturus was shaken or even in disbelief, he did not show it.

"We'll know soon enough," he said with a serious expression. I had no way of knowing his true feelings like Kilkaja or even read a Vyrnian's subtle expression like Zarya and other Vyrnians, but I could hear his voice. He tried his best to cling to the hope that his father was not part of it, and I completely understood why. It's a way to cope, and he was coping.

Arcturus opened the door. There were no Vyrnians in sight, but we could not sigh in relief just yet. We needed to get away from this place as fast as possible, possibly under 15 minutes when I could still help Arcturus. Knowing this, we ran as fast as possible, with me riding on Arcturus's back.

It felt strange not sitting on a proper saddle while riding Arcturus, especially since without the saddle, it would hurt my backside more. Also, without the saddle, I rode on his shoulder, which would impair his combat capabilities if the need arose. I was ready to jump down and help if we were being attacked.

We found the stairwell to the second basement level. Arcturus quickly climbed it as fast as possible while I ducked down to stop me from hitting the ceiling. Then, the true challenge started when we reached the second basement level. This place was swarming with the reanimated Vyrnians, which made me wonder how many were trapped in this place before it was sealed. I could see at least 30 of them moving about and more of those numbers lay on the floor dead. It was like a macabre show.

I was slightly shaken, and I knew Arcturus was, too. The dead should stay dead. Let them rest. The sight of the death being used like this brought out many emotions, one of which was anger.

However, one of us needed to stay calm and not get affected, in case the other was already emotionally compromised. I could hear Arcturus started growling as I noticed electric energy coursing through his body and towards the glaive weapon.

"Arc, calm down," I said. "I know you're angry but being reckless will kill us."

"You're telling me to calm down after witnessing this?" said Arcturus.

I knew reasoning with him would distract him, so all I gotta say was, "No, I won't."

Arcturus nodded and charged his glaive, which changed form into something that was made out of pure energy, much like my plasma blade. But that was not the only trick that it had.

The glaive could be separated into smaller sections that could extend the glaive's range, which was what he did when he attacked the first Vyrnian who attacked him. He swung the glaive and the release of its joints made it long and flexible, almost like a whip. It was also lethal, because as soon as the weapon spiraled around the Vyrnian's neck, it suddenly decapitated it. I could see the energy in the joints momentarily changed shape before returning back to its original state.

I was more surprised at Arcturus's brutality than the weapon's lethality. Clearly, he knew how to use the weapon, and clearly, he knew the weapon's capability. But there was no need for such gratuitous violence. I was going to confront him about this, but then I saw his eyes. His unnatural heterochromatic eyes showed a great rage within him that he needed to let out. At this point, I knew that even a good Vyrnian like Arcturus would be out for blood, and it was what he was doing.

I would not interfere, knowing the problems it would cause. I would only stop him if his actions hurt himself and his friends. He clearly knew what he was doing when I tried to help him and was almost overwhelmed by several Vyrnians, during which Arcturus stopped them from advancing towards me by a quick swing of his glaive. Afterwards, he said, "Stay with me!"

While it looked like we were going for the offensive, in truth we were in the defensive. The Trikelian-controlled Vyrnian corpses were around us and we had no idea which one was truly dead, and which one was trying to jump us, as evidenced by one of them grabbing Arcturus's leg as we walked past them. We managed to proceed slowly by staying close and attack when necessary, even if Arcturus's rage almost made him take unnecessary risks. He did quell his rage by killing the Trikelian creature that attacked us once their host body was no longer capable of motion. I dispatched one of them while Arcturus killed more than one.

We could see the stairs to the next floor. The next floor would be the ground level in which we would be able to escape. I hoped the others had already reached the place first and was waiting for us. I'd really hate it if they end up leaving us after concluding that we were dead. Of course, I knew that's survival, but that's betraying our trust, too. And besides, we would surely if they got away, especially since we found out that the relentless attacks from the reanimated corpses damaged our suit.

We were fortunate that we managed to reach the stairs as we went along, but we were out of luck. It took us more than 15 minutes to reach the stairs and we both used a lot of our energies. The charge in my plasma blade was out and Arcturus used up most of his energy reserves and we had no time to stop and recharge. Arcturus could only say that he was rather rusty.

"I forgot how energy-demanding the Draconis is," he said while we ran up the stairs. "This is going to be a problem."

"You can always recharge, right?"

"We don't have that kind of chance," he said. He then pointed up the stairs and said, "Look."

He was right. Right at the end of the stairwell were a bunch of Vyrnians reanimated by the Trikelians. Seriously, how many of them trapped in this facility? It could be hundreds of them. While I was curious of why they never considered using the nearby planet as a base, I was fortunate that they never considered that planet, especially after I found out what planet it was after much time had passed. The people there may had a chance, but ultimately, the Trikelians were overwhelming, along with knowing that a fight was never always done on the battlefront.

We started to do what we did previously: fight our way through while keeping ourselves safe. However, we used up the powers in our weapons and we really got ourselves in a pickle when we could not open the door to the next room. We were quickly surrounded.

Fortunately, before we even had time to give up, the door opened, and a voice came through.

"Both of you, get down!" said the voice.

We both did so, and a barrage of energy shots went through above us and rained hell on the Vyrnian corpses. The door kept opening and I turned around to see Kilkaja, Zarya, and Sel shooting through the door while Astha did his best to cover their backs using his own wrist guns.

"We don't have infinite charges! Come on, let's go!" said Sel as she changed the rifle' energy pack. Both me and Arcturus quickly get through the door. Zarya, who was near the control pad, then close the door. One of the Vyrnians almost got through and grabbed Arcturus's wing, but before the Vyrnian could pull him back, the door closed and crushed the wing-arm, severing it completely.

We had no time to rest, however. Once we got through, we quickly run towards the entrance. It quickly become apparent that the suit's damage would prevent us to get to the ship, even though the helmet was fine. We could reduce the risk of decompression just by covering ourselves with the helmet, but the damage of the suit prevented air recycling, so both of us were suffocating as we ran towards the ship. The thin atmosphere condition of the red planet did not prevent the Trikelians from following us to the ship and we ended up fighting our way back to the ship while damaging our suits in the process. By the time we reached the ship's doors, my vision started to get cloudy and I started to stumble, which was due to oxygen deprivation.

I was on the verge of blacking out when we reached the ship's airlock and closed the door, during which the place was quickly filled with fresh air. Due to the deprivation, I had a difficulty opening my helmet, but Kilkaja helped me. I took a big, long breath. It wasn't fresh, but with my condition, it was.

Zarya and Arcturus quickly got to the cockpit and initiate takeoff sequence. We were not entirely free from the undead, however, as the Vyrnians cling on the ship and started banging on the glass. The glass held on and we managed to break free with full thrusters, during which we quickly ascended into space and get away from Ijuri, feeling empty after surviving the frightening ordeal while failing our mission.

But no one was affected more than Arcturus, who quickly initiated the ship's warp drive, only to be prevented by Zarya. Like me and Kilkaja, she knew Arcturus was distraught after the revelation.

"Computer, get into warp, now!" he said as he tried to move the warp lever. "Get me back to Lekan!"

"Arcturus, calm down!" said Zarya. "You are not being rational!"

"I can't be rational without knowing the truth! Don't try and stop me, Zarya!"

I knew this could get back quickly, so I walked up to the cockpit and said, "Hey! She said calm down, so calm down!"

"I need to know the truth! Dad can't possibly be a part of this! He can't! I know him too well for that!" said Arcturus as he tried to force the lever to move. I could hear desperation in his voice.

"But confronting him without any basis will also harm us!" I said. "Yes, he may not be part of them, but others might and will concoct a plan that will sideline us! Arcturus, try and calm down for a moment! Think your actions carefully!"

"I know that! I just...I just need to see him and let him tell me the truth himself."

"Then stop and think your safety before you damn us all," I said. Arcturus started to calm down at this point, but he was still distraught. I would act like him, too, if someone I deeply trusted turned out to be the enemy. I was also surprised by the revelation. Andrates never showed any kind of malicious intent and even acted like a good father. This fact felt like it was trying to cause confusion and it certainly felt like it.

Arcturus looked at me, then at Zarya, before he said, "Shit. I...I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"I know the feeling well, Arc," said Zarya as she caressed him. "I'm fine."

"I know betrayal well, Arcturus," said Sel. "It is rather hard to accept that at first, but it is part of life. I must admit that being betrayed by a family member you trusted the most is very painful. I can tell from experience. You may not want to follow what I chose to do, but...you're not alone in this."

"We got ourselves in this mess because it's what we want to do," said Astha. "So, trust your comrades and don't burden yourself with it. It's a mistake we must correct together."

"So, let's make this right. Together," said Kilkaja.

"Guys...." Arcturus nodded. "You're right. I am not thinking straight. It's good to have your backs."

We all nodded back and smiled, knowing that Arcturus believed in us and we believed in him in return.

But then, our tender moment was interrupted by an urgent message coming through. Zarya looked at it and said, "It's from Arkari."

She opened the message on the screen. There was a general chaos apparent in the background as Vyrnians ran around in panic. The Vyrnian in focus, a brown-scaled one Zarya knew, was also agitated.

"Welfer? What happened back there?" said Zarya.

"It's your 'friends' from Lekan! They come here unannounced with some pirates and marauders with them and started shooting at us! Old Kenny was killed trying to protect his grandson and the healers were also attacked! Where are you?!"

"We got tricked," said Zarya. "We're currently somewhere in the frontier region."

"Shit, that's far!" he said. "Listen to me, Zarya. Find some help. We have notified the Kolinge colony and they're minutes from reaching us, but they cannot hold on long, especially with dangerous marauders attacking us. You have to contact a colony. Any colony. Send help to Arkari. Our communication depot is compromised!"

"I understand. Get to safety, Welfer!"

"I am in relative safety, but...shit! I gotta go. Get back with an army! I know you can."

Welfer cut his communication, leaving us to wonder if this was our fault for not suspecting anything from the start. Before anyone could start blaming themselves (and possibly each other), Arcturus said, "Come on. We have a job to do. I am setting the coordinates to Orlonel. It's our best bet."

"Then I'll open first priority communication with them and hope they understand what we're dealing with," said Zarya.

I guess this was partly our fault for not thinking that the Vyrnians on Lekan were not that trustworthy at all. Astha was trying to tell us about it, but we did not listen, thinking that Astha was only stirring up conspiracies, along with the fact that he was only a part of this team several hours ago. Even so, he helped plant the idea, and because of it, we were not questioning ourselves that much.

But we knew it wasn't enough. It was up to us to mend that mistake. We must save the Vyrnians of Arkari. It's the least we could do to atone for our mistakes.