FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Almost half the Alliance Orbis Stations were now under the Legionnaires' red and white banner, their conquest across the stars relentless. Only a few of the ring shaped stations were outright destroyed, but Orbis XIII was one of the "lucky ones" requisitioned by diplomatic negotiations. Lylia Forcythe grumbled in her garage, repairing a starfighter's hyperdrive for a cocky Legionary pilot. The busty raccoon no longer wore her leather coat, but a dark flight jacket, tight on her amble curves. The officers thought it'd be amusing to change her uniform, Lylia wasn't pleased. Her mind wandered a lot since the Legionnaires moved in rather abruptly. It was quite a rude awakening, she wasn't looking forward to being under their banner after running from it when it first was raised.

Sparks of light, clashes of steel, a crimson moon in a midnight sky, a dark cloaked swordsman. Lylia shook her head to dismiss her thoughts a bit, continuing her work. She glanced around the garage, a quiet lull in the area. Most the mechanics were on a break, she was such a workaholic, at least she thought so. It gave her an excuse to avoid people. But it gave her time for her thoughts to drift while her body did its tasks.

Hot metal, the cold table, the incessant whirring and drilling. Echoes of groaning and screaming, the rough leather straps against dark fur. The raccoon shuddered and dropped her wrench onto the garage floor, clattering loudly. Lylia shook her head once more, and stepped away from the spacecraft. The short raccoon took a deep breath and sighed heavily, taking off her goggles and revealing emerald green eyes, her irises enhanced and augmented with cybernetics. She hasn't had flashbacks since she left the Alliance with Yuuki. That damn reptile... He showed up and jumped ship just as the Dreadnought reared its ugly face towards Orbis XIII, and it's been a few months since she's heard from him. Typical.

She decided to take a break and head to her quarters to relax. Lylia passed by Legionary after Legionary, pilots, soldiers, and mechanics on the way there, her gaze transfixed to the floor. She slid her identification card through the slot to her door, the faint click of the lock releasing. Lylia entered her room with a sigh of relief, sinking into her bed and enveloped in her sanctuary. She needed off this station, but deserters were not treated well around here with the Legionnaires running things. Soon her silent wish would be answered, but not in the way she'd expect.

Lylia's communications device rang and chirped out near the edge of the bed, she huffed, shifting on her bed to press the button to accept the call. "Hello?" She groaned out, a lethargic rumble in her throat.

"Lylia Forcythe?" a small voice inquired, female. She sounded foreign, possibly outer rim in origin.

"Depends on who's asking..." Lylia quipped, sitting up on her bed.

"I'm a friend of Yuuki's. Or, business partner... I work with him."

"So, he's got a secretary making calls for him when he's out doing whatever the fuck he wants now?" The raccoon chuckled softly, shaking her head in disbelief.

"N...no, I'm not his secretary. I'm an electronics freak and he mentioned having a friend with cybernetic enhancements and I'm extremely curious and interested." The voice explained. "If it's a bad time, I can call back later..."

"Where's Yuuki? I got a job for him." Lylia interjected abruptly.

"A job? What kind of job?" The female inquired, her voice filled with an eccentric, almost avid tone. "Stealing, bounty hunting, information gathering, blackmail?"

"Kidnapping." The raccoon replied plainly.

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"So, let me get this straight..." Yuuki grumbled in bewilderment, not even wanting to look at his partner. "You want us to go back to the shit show to pluck Lylia from the station and do what? Get blasted by every Legionnaire on the way out?"

"No, I'm going to hack the security systems so no one sees us...and by us, I mean you and Lylia. She can meet you in the hanger bay. And besides, isn't she your best friend?" Rysk tilted her head inquisitively, a spotted grey ear folding over.

Yuuki shook his head, a short chuckle escaped him. "Far from my best friend, but sure. But I actually have a better idea... Don't wanna go in understaffed."

"Wait, what?" Rysk looked up from her computer nestled in her lap, her glasses slightly crooked.

Soon the Ouroboros was zooming off, the reptile made a quick detour before heading towards Orbis XIII.

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"Brilliant plan, guy. Simply genius." Rysk groaned sardonically.

"Yeah, thanks." Yuuki nodded with equal snark. "I knew you'd agree."

"That wasn't exactly a compliment." The bespectacled hyena quipped back. "This is a problem."

"Not our problem. Just dropping off a little present for the Legionnaires before we pick up Lylia." The crocodile casually shrugged.

Tailing behind the Ouroboros, a fleet of freighters, fighters and star explorers belonging to a group of nefarious pirates, probably not too thrilled with the damages that the Ouroboros just caused to their ships earlier.

"Your plan was to piss off some pirates and have them follow us to the space station?" Rysk glared, her ears twitching incessantly.

"Yep, that's the distraction. While the Legionnaires open their little gift, we'll snag Lylia and warp out of here. By the way, have her meet us in the hanger bay. Hope she packed a bag." Yuuki retorted, guiding his ship towards Orbis XIII with the fleet closing in. As the Ouroboros approached the station, its doors opened and various starfighters and bombers poured out to engage the incoming threat.

"Yuuki, she's not picking up... We may have a little problem." Rysk stated, her eyes glued to her screen while she tapped into the space station's cameras.

Docking his freighter into an empty hanger bay, Yuuki growled in frustration. "She can never sit still... Guard the ship, I'll be back." Once he turned off the engine, he grabbed his vibrosword and stepped off the ship while the hyena sat in the cockpit with her computer, diligently working the security systems' defenses.

Yuuki briskly strode through the chaos as pilots and mechanics rushed around him as he made his way through the station. With all the sounds of boots upon the metallic surface echoed across the halls along with shouts to man battle stations, and the roar of spacecraft engines, the Legionnaires will be busy for a little while. "Talk to me, Rysk. You got the better eyes here."

"I'm doing the best I can with what we got. Ah, I got her. She's...oh no. Yuuki?" the hyena's voice trembled slightly. "We might have an issue..."

"Where's the issue?" Yuuki gripped his vibrosword sheathed on his belt.

"West wing dormitory, be careful." Rysk replied.

Yuuki was off, dashing through the station until he reached the west wing. Walking through the hall, he saw a door just barely cracked open. That's when he heard someone, but not a voice the reptile was familiar with.

"It's alright, come in. Your friend is unharmed. No need for the theatrics."

He sounded professional, like this was just another business meeting. Despite the current situation, the voice was serene, yet stern. Yuuki stepped into the room, and saw the bastard. A large silver furred wolf stood behind Lylia, a hand on her shoulder almost casually as she sat in her chair, obviously uncomfortable with the touch. He wore an officer's uniform, standard red banner with a white sword crest emblazoned his left shoulder, the insignia of the Legionnaires. His small nametag on his chest read X. Nova. His golden eyes glinted only briefly as he sized up Yuuki. He smiled slightly, as if satisfied. The reptile noticed a small blaster in his hand, pressed against the back of Lylia's neck.

"Shame...I'm usually a fan of the theatrics, gotta make good first impressions. I assume you think you're someone in charge, since there's no goons here to distract me." Yuuki stares back at the wolf.

"You're quite the observant one." The wolf rolled his eyes, his blaster hand unwavering.

"Nah, I'm just the big dumb distraction." Yuuki grinned, knowing full well a little hyena would be working her magic on her computer.

Before the wolf could react, the lights in the Lylia's room were cut off, a rough grunt and a solid hard punch was heard. Then as his vision adjusted to the darkness, Yuuki could see a pair of glowing emerald green eyes staring at him. Then a metal hand grabbed a hold of his wrist, pulling him out of the room.

"I'd thank you, but you just stood there like a jackass." Lylia grumbled as the two bolted for the hanger.

"I was just buying time. Thank my partner for the power malfunction." Yuuki retorted back.

Yuuki and Lylia ran towards Ouroboros, but Lylia stopped and turned towards another ship, a yellow starfighter, its large wings folded up. "That's my ride, I'll follow you." She hopped into the starfighter, igniting the engine.

Yuuki shook his head as he stepped onto his own spacecraft and into the cockpit, taking his seat quickly.

"Where's Lylia?" Rysk asked, looking up from her computer.

"Behind us." The reptile ignited the engine and prepared for a speedy takeoff and getaway. He turned on his communications and immediately was pinged by Lylia.

"Alright, guys. Thanks for the distraction, just put it on my tab." Her ship was already preparing to takeoff.

"Slow your role, cowgirl. You're no longer an employee with me, you don't have a tab. You're this week's client." Yuuki chided, shaking his head as he began to takeoff as well, his eye on the yellow starship.

"How about we talk about this after we get away from these assholes?" the raccoon barked back, clearly not in the best of moods.

Soon the two starships caught the attention of a small group of pirates, their agile fighters breaking off from their ranks to pursue them. Yuuki glanced at his radar, three starfighters were attempting to surround Lylia. "Hey, we've got company." He warned her, taking careful aim at the enemy pilots. "Rysk, whatever you're doing is gonna have to wait. I need you on the artillery."

The lanky hyena closed her laptop and set it inside her bag, then rushing down to the artillery seat, she took the controls and put on the headset. "Great, I was just about to hop online..." she grumbled sourly as her video gaming was interrupted.

The pirates began to fire upon both Lylia's ship and the Ouroboros, the bright lasers grazing past both vessels. Yuuki gripped and tilted the yoke, angling his ship away from the assault. Lylia's starfighter swiftly glided through laser fire and maneuvered herself out of the pirates' view.

Rysk caught an enemy fighter break away to pursue Lylia, she aimed carefully and fired, sending two beams of energy into a pirate starfighter, blasting the wings straight off the body. One down, two to go. The tomboyish hyena grinned with a satisfied chuckle. "Gotcha, ya bastard."

The two other starfighters continued their onslaught, firing aggressively at the light freighter. Yuuki briskly turned the yoke to the side, sending Ouroboros in a slight barrel roll away from the volley while Lylia's spacecraft deftly filled the space where Ouroboros left, firing her lasers at the pirates before slipping away again in her agile fighter.

Soon the pirates decided to get bold, they decided to split and each pursued a separate target, lasers firing wildly. The bright yellow starfighter danced around, turning and spinning as the enemy followed close behind. "A little help, maybe?" She barked into her headset.

"Kinda dealing with a problem of our own right now!" Yuuki snapped back, steadying his ship to line up the powerful cannons.

Rysk aimed the cannons around, her purple eyes squinting behind her glasses as she fired another volley of lasers towards the enemy starfighter, crippled the engines and sent it spiraling through space in a disarray of destruction.

The last pirate continued its assault on Lylia, its lasers grazing her starfighter. The raccoon maneuvered her ship to evade the incoming barrage, she circled around and began to fly back towards Yuuki and Rysk. The lanky hyena, anticipating their movements, swiveled the cannons around and sent another bombardment of laser fire into the pirate's starfighter.

"Nice shooting, Rysk! That's what I'm talking about!" Yuuki exclaimed through her headset, the lithe hyena grinned to herself, feeling a bit proud of her accomplishments.

Both ships slipped managed to slip through the onslaught of Legionnaires that were responding to the invading pirates, then as the yellow starfighter began to get some distance away from the station, the raccoon's voice filled Ouroboros' cockpit once again. "Think we can rendezvous at Mycia? I know a few people there that can take me in for a bit. And you'll get your damn money too, jerk."

"Not even a 'thank you.'" The reptile growled sardonically, plotting a course to Mycia.

"She seems nice." Rysk mused, the raccoon's snark eliciting a small laugh. "She must've been a handful."

"You don't even want to know the half of it..." Yuuki shook his head, as if to dismiss the memories.

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Mycia was highly acclaimed for its sprawling forests and rich minerals, most of the environment remains untouched. The first settlers who terraformed the planet decided to build intricate structures within the dense woods to keep the planet lush and green without sacrificing their needs and wants, eventually turning it into a vacation planet. As the Ouroboros entered the atmosphere, Yuuki took a moment to appreciate the scenery, letting out a long whistle of astonishment.

"No wonder Lylia chose to meet up here, she would hang her hat in a tourist trap." The crocodile landed his spacecraft in a nearby clearing, pinging the raccoon on his communications system. "Having trouble finding a parking spot?" Yuuki teased as he turned off his engine. He stood up from his seat, stretching his muscles.

"Are we going to take the hovercraft out to see her new place? Can I drive this time?" Rysk inquired, an ear folding as she tilted her head up towards the reptile.

"No and hell no. She's meeting us here and you're not going anywhere near the hovercraft after your last stunt." Yuuki squints at the hyena.

Rysk was not amused. "We got the job done, didn't we?" she grumbled, stretching her slender lithe arms above her head.

"You ran down two food stands and the bounty, lucky you didn't kill him... Maybe I'm just a bad influence on your impressionable mind." The reptile countered, making his way to the hatch.

The yellow starfighter landed slowly in the clearing next to Ouroboros, its wings folding up against its slender steel body. Soon the cockpit hatch opened and out hopped Lylia, looking rather disgruntled. She definitely needed a drink after that ordeal, running a hand through her dark fluffy mohawk as she approached Yuuki.

"I know you might still have a thing for grand entrances, but that was just ridiculous! Bringing pirates to the space station?" Lylia glowered as she stepped up the ramp into Ouroboros' belly.

Yuuki simply shook his head and chuckles gently. "You overestimate me if you expect me to sneak around a Legionnaire base without a distraction. I'm not that good."

Lylia walked straight to lounge in the aft end of the ship, opened the fridge behind the counter and grabbed the nearest can of beet. Taking a seat on the curved "L" shaped couch, the raccoon cracked open the can and took a generous swig setting it down on the table, just as Rysk walked in with her computer bag in hand.

"Oh...you must be Ms. Forcythe. I've heard quite a bit about you. I'm Rysk, I work with Yuuki." She smiled almost sheepishly.

"Yeah, you look like his secretary, all nerdy and bookish looking..." Lylia quipped, taking another sip from her beer.

"I'm not his secretary. I do a lot of hacking and I'm actually his sniper." The short tomboyish hyena retorted, with a slight prideful tilt to her tone.

Lylia let out a little snicker, then rolled her eyes. "Sniper? For real? With those glasses, I'm amazed you can hit anything."

"She saved your ass, so you should thank her." Yuuki interjected as he walked in the lounge behind Rysk, shaking his head at Lylia with a slight look of disappointment. "She was on the artillery cannons."

The raccoon faltered over her words and then she simply took another generous sip of her beer. "Okay, so you can shoot."

"And hack." Rysk set her computer on the bar counter and sat in her usual barstool, her tail swaying behind her aimlessly.

Lylia rolled her cybernetic eyes in frustration. "Okay, fine. Thank you for the...uh, kidnapping and rescuing thing, Rysk. Here." She reached in her jacket pocket and pulled out a stack of Units and tossed it onto the lounge table in front of her. Yuuki swiftly snatched the wad and began counting it.

"20,000 Units, Lylia? This is low level bounty money here."

"Hey go fuck yourself, that's all I had saved up back at Orbis XIII!" the raccoon exclaimed.

"You're the one that needed rescuing, quit crying." He separated the Units and dropped half of the stack next to Rysk's laptop. "So who was that asshole who held you at gunpoint?"

Lylia immediately took another swig from her beer, as if trying to forget the whole situation. "His name is Xander Nova. He's a High Officer who took command of Orbis XIII, he's arrogant and chauvinistic and..."

"He's got a crush on you, doesn't he? Funny way of showing affection." Yuuki shook his head. "You sure know how to pick 'em..."

"Wait, is that why you wanted us to kidnap you? So you can avoid a potential suitor?" Rysk squints behind her glasses, her head tilting slightly to the side.

"Well fuck, sorry for being hot. Besides, it's not like I could've just upped and left. Legionnaires territory is getting fierce nowadays...this beer tastes like crap." Lylia downed the rest of the can and set it down on the table with a sigh, standing up and stretching slowly. "Thanks again for the rescue, I appreciate it. Oh and if this rust bucket needs any repairs, hit me up."

The raccoon gave her farewells to both Yuuki and Rysk, then stepped off the ship and hopped into the cockpit of her yellow starfighter, Sunburst. She ignited her engines and soon Sunburst lifted off the ground and zoomed off in the distance, leaving Ouroboros resting quietly in the grassy clearing.

Yuuki took a seat on the couch and leaned back, cigarette between his lips. "Figured you would've been firing off questions about her cybernetics, ya little nerd."

"Don't call me that!" Rysk snapped, turning her head and glaring at the reptile. "I just...I just didn't feel like bothering her with stupid questions after getting practically belittled." She turned back to her computer, furiously typing and clicking away. "She's just so...abrasive. Worse than you, even."

The reptile laughed, "Yeah, she can be a pain in the ass." He blew smoke from his lips, flicking his cigarette into the ashtray on the table.

"How did you work with her for as long as you did?"

"At first it was out of necessity, we both left the Alliance and needed the funds. After a while, I just got used to her bullshit, just as I've grown accustomed to yours."

"Wait, I'm not that bad...am I?" Rysk actually began to ponder on her past behavior.

Yuuki chuckled and left her to her thoughts while he sat back and relaxed, smoking his cigarette idly.

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Lylia plopped down onto her bed in her new safehouse, her fellow tenants had already given her a warm welcome. Her room wasn't as spacious as her dormitory on Orbis XIII, but it was adequate for her needs and hobbies. At least she could continue her work as a mechanic, as long as the rent gets paid. She opened up her duffle bag and began to unpack, folding her clothes and putting away other sentimental objects she kept over the years. She picked up a music box from her mother, opened it and listened to the tinny melodic chime before setting it down on her night stand. She reached inside her duffle bag and pulled out her heftier keepsakes. Her old pictures were kept in a large leather bound photo album, she couldn't help but to take a good picture whenever her eyes locked onto something that sparked her interest. Ancient ruins, soaring starships, even the occasional cityscape filled the pages. She stopped on a particular photograph, her emerald green eyes staring down at the page.

It was from her academy days, before she decided to go for the mohawk. She still had that spunky look in her eyes and in the obscene gesture she gave to the photographer. A few more pictures of her and her small group of friends in the academy, Yuuki included. Carefree, blissfully unaware, just dumb and arrogant, prideful youth. "Look at me now, Ma... Running away from my problems yet again..." Lylia mused to herself, turning a page. She then saw a picture of her old platoon back in the Alliance, all of them in perfectly pressed green and blue uniforms, the wings etched onto their banner. She saw both her and Yuuki standing at attention with their comrades, even that bastard Ulysses. It all made her feel extremely ill. Most of their squad either defected or were killed, the schism destroyed any sense of duty she once had.

She tossed the photo album onto the floor, not trying to stroll down memory lane any more than she already had. The raccoon heaved a sigh of exhaustion and frustration as she closed her eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep, letting the simple music box play its sweet melody throughout the night.