FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Ace stood watching over the field before him. It was stripped bare by ongoing artillery - burnt and scarred of life. Just three days earlier two hundred Furs had charged and died trying to cross that bloodied place. His ears twitched as he held his sniping rifle. He was well out of range of anything, even other snipers, way back here. There was a good mile, maybe more, between the front line he stood on and the one he stood against.

Ace, as he was known, was a member of an elite team within his battalion, the 117th Mobile regiment. His squad comprised of four other members and their Companies Captain, all trained to the highest standards and given the best equipment possible. Ace was the units crack shot, and tasked with sniping duty. His best friend within the unit, whom he had been com padre to since their basic training together, Lillian, more commonly known as Lill, was the anti-tank specialist. Barron was the engineer, and Stephen the heavy weapon specialist. The squad's commander and Captain of the Company, Ellie, had 'taken' into her possession two pistols, her proffered weapon in this confused battle field.

Ace looked around him through his spare scope. He always carried around several at once - it was imperative that he be well equipped at all times. He was only ever issued one, though. He had

taken the rest. He saw nothing. Just craters in the mud, bodies and blood. Broken trees next to battered machines, scars across the landscape and, in the distance, the far, far distance it seemed, he could make out the outlines of bunkers and buildings, themselves wracked by artillery strikes and bombing runs. He moved the scope from his eye emotionless. Such scenes of death were familiar to him now, this war had dragged on for generations. It had become known as the Forever War, although to be exact it was the fourth 'Forever War' - the fourth war fought between the alliance of nations controlled by the Furs against the single supernation their reptilian counterparts had forged, whilst the Humans sat idly by, happy that the invaders to their world were happily killing each other in their droves.

With a wave of his thick tail he pounced backwards into the cold, concrete floor of the entrenchment and into the Fox Hole his squad was, it seemed, currently living in. The only members present were the Captain of the Company, Ellie, and Lill. Lill, much like Ace, was a Black Fox. Unlike Ace she was a pure-breed, whilst Ace was part skunk. Black Foxes, a native to the southern most edge of the Supercontinent and its southern snowlands. To cope with such freezing conditions, had thick, black fur all over - with the acception of the grayish white of their muzzles, inner ears and down their torso. Occasionally they would have white down their limbs and tails, Lill did not. Ace, however, had a white patch across his left eye, and his hands and paws were white, his arms too were white along the inside, and his legs along the back, and the underside of his thick, bushy tail which dragged along the floor had the same color to it, and two white parallel stripes ran along the top, reminiscent of his skunkish backgrounds.

Captian Ellie was a dog, a crossbreed who could not attain a higher rank, despite her adequate command capabilities due to her breed. She was part Akita and part Husky, and had a slight golden brown, almost blond shade to her coat which, unlike the jet black of Ace and Lill, didn't naturally look after itself and looked extremely tired and dull through the fighting. Her tail curled up behind her, and was scruffily clogged with dirt.

All three of the warriors present wore near identical uniforms. They had armored fabric, based upon the redundant human Kevlar, across their chests and upper back, and on their shoulders and the knuckles of their gloves. Their basic camouflage schemed clothing was relatively baggy, but kept tight to the bodies of it wearer with several buckles and straps, particularly around the stomach and waist, around which were different objects dependent on the wearer, but commonly at least a single pistol, combat knife, ammunition and a few grenades of various patterns could be found. They wore uncomfortable black combat footwear - more like sneakers or running shoes than boots - they were designed for speed. The last item, black gloves. The armored knuckles were intended for close-quarter use against whatever foe they may find, just another serrated edge to the blade of the Furs in their Forever War.

Ace and Lill, to cope with the freezing conditions of their homelands still had their thick sub-arctic proof coats of fur and wore as little above this as possible. For lill, this was her armor, her trousers help up by her thick utility belt and her bra beneath her chest Kevlar. For ace it was the same - without the bra, of course.

Ace knelt down, and placed his long barreled sniping rifle against the door in front of the entrance, before silently taking off his helmet, which had his goggles strapped to the top of them and sat down against the wall next to his rifle, breathing heavily with his head tilted back. The three Furs sat, in silence. They knew that another attack was to occur, and that they would be bearing the brunt of it. Their orders had already come through.

Barron ran through - he was a goat, and his coat was blackened and dirtied more so than anyone else's. There was no running water out here to clean with. He held his standard issue rifle as if he were engaged in combat as he approached his Captain.

"Captain!" He cried, in his unusual high pitched goatish voice,"High-Captain Falgrim is on his way, sir!"

With this sudden news, Ellis perked her ears slightly and looked to Ace, who looked back through his piercing emerald eyes with his usual lack of emotion.

"Then look to, soldier" Replied the cross-breed, as Ace calmly took his rifle, and pulled an oiled and bloodied rag from one of his many pockets, and began to be sure of his weapon. The approach of an officer such as Falgrim into the platoons waiting area could only mean one thing.

"Where's Steve?" Asked Lill as she grabbed her canonjagger, a compact, portable anti-tank weapon and took on a process of examining its inner functions, opening its breaches to see inside.

"I hope to the Gods he turns up soon" Replied Barron as the door to the cramped living quarters opened.

"High-Captain Falgrim" Said Ellie as she rose in salute to her superior, as Ace did the same, shouldering his rifle, knowing the other two present members of his squad would be doing similarly.

"Squad Lion-Hunts" Replied Falgrim, tapping towards his heart with a clenched fist in a return salute. "Where are the rest of your number" He asked, more stating than inquiring.

"Non present, Sir" Barked Ellie as Falgrim gave a sour look.

"Why not, Captain" He said, menacingly. Falgrim didn't like such lax behavior, he was in this war to win it, not to fight it.

"They were allowed some R-and-R before the charge sir, shall I retrieve them?" Said Ellie, her messy tail waving uneasily before her commander.

Falgrim gave a disgusted look at Ellie's lack of control over her tail. Such behavior could not be expected of a Captain, even if she was half-breed and canine. Falgrim only considered a pure breed hawk like himself a figure of authority, and expected the soldiers to look up to him.

"Indeed" He replied, turning his beaked head towards Ace, who stood at full height, almost seven feet from the ground.

The Black Foxes of the far south, it was said, were made for war by the Humans, and their unerringly advanced technology.

"McKing, go and find Private Falion" Ordered Fulgrim, referring to the soldiers by their last name.

Ace nodded in reply and shouted a bold "Yes sir!" at the dwarfed hawk as he sped silently from the room, trailing his huge tail behind him.

Ace knew not where to find his squad mate Stephan, or 'Private Falion' as Falgrim knew him. He still had his rifle shouldered as he made his way to the most likely place, the bunker of the 15th Platoon from the same regiment as Ace and his 'Lion-Hunts' squad mates. The 15th Platoon was a rank-and-file soldier platoon, who were less trained and equipped than Ace and his squad, but they often intermingled regardless. They were in this war together, so they made the most of it mutually. Ace ran past other basic soldiers he recognised, each time saying only, and emotionlessely, "Falgrim's down the way, prepare for war". He often held a mystery about himself to almost everyone. Partially because he was an elite at his game, the other snipers, even the rank-and-file ones were given an almost elite status by their soldier brethren, but to be so highly trained as Ace, and to be from such a minor and unknown race as the Black Foxes only added to this.

He bounced with sudden agility into the large underground shallow-bunker that the fifty or so Furs all shared temporarily and trained his keen sniper eye for Steve, whom he found with little difficulty.

"Ace, dude!" Said Stephan. He was a rather small cat. "Whats goin' on?" He asked in his strong accent.

"Flalgrim's in the hole. Best head back" Replied a Ace, emotionless as usual.

"Dude!" Shouted the cat, "We best get going"

"No fracking crap"

The pair rushed back down the winding trenches, darting between the furs in the path with surprising agility. Stephan ran inside the bunker first, followed shortly by Ace.

"Ahh Private Falion. Nice of you to join us" Sarcastically said Falgrim. He had been joined by even more of his command staff now.

"Sorry sir, I wasn't informed of your visit" Was Falion's rather sad reply.

"You should never leave your unit for too long, private. You never know when we'll be attacked" Said the falcon. He turned swiftly and sharply to face Captain Ellie.

"Captain" He started. "How go your preparations?"

"My platoon is informed of the attack, they're all on R and R as we speak sir" She replied. The High Captain gave a sour expression.

"If you feel it shall do the troopers good before the charge then I shall accept it. For now" He said at length. "Be sure they're all resting in time to be awake for the attack. Remember well, Captain, zero-four-hundred. Be at the assembly point" He added as he turned round and headed out the fox-hole, followed by the half-dozen high dressed furs of his command staff.

Ace was still stood by the door as he left, fisting at his heart in salute. Falgrim offered a nod in reply, and many of his staff saluted back, well aware of who everyone in the hand-selected squad of Platoon Captain Ellie Kerlas was capable of.

"What was that about?" Asked the goat, Barron. "Its not like him to come through here and just talk to lower ranking officers"

"The attack tomorrow" Said Ellie, almost bitterly. "He knows what we're up against. He wants us to perform our best, and he knows breathing down our necks will make us do that"

"That isn't much fair" Said Falion, the worry he had been hiding from Falgrim now shining through.

"I mean- Whats it- why? Why us?"

"Because we are the only remaining volunteer squad on this front line" Said Ace in his deep, imposing voice. "Without any professional support the conscripts tomorrow will fill in as special support. Its suicide. They're probably being trained right now in the use of charges, explosives and proper weapons. They don't want to know how to do that stuff" He finished, seeing Ellie wanting to carry on.

"They aren't going to listen" Said the half-breed, "They aren't bothered by this war. They're all young kids, picked at random to spend a couple years fighting for almost pittance when they'd rather be at home, unable to desert because they'll be tracked down and hunted, and put into cannon-fodder squads"

"They'll die either way. Staying conscripted is the better option. Because that way they might live" Finished Ace. He took back to his rifle and sat on one of the four beds and began to check the alignment of the scope as the other members of the squad continued through the night.

They talked about survivability, fighting without proper support. About war. Everything, always about the war. Ace wanted it to be over as much as anyone, he thought, as he stared up into the night sky thinking.

He had wondered off as the others fell asleep and left them to their dreams, pacing up and down the cold, dark, stinking trenches breathing heavily through the death-scented air. There were other conscripts out on night duty, clad scantly in their lighter amour. They lacked ankle and wrist plates, had thinner armored pads and had no shoulder sections, and the helmets were paper-thin. Their weapons were crude and downgraded compared to the impressive longshot rifle Ace held against his back.

That night was a clear night. A cloudless night. A sleepless night. That night was a long night.