FSE

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"You don't want to go anywhere near that planet now," Velsh'nark objected, once again on the bridge with Captain Redding and Commander Yelena. The alien's fur was cleaned and straightened out again; a much bigger improvement than how he looked after the struggle with the Stealth.

"We have our orders," Yelena stated yet again watching the monitors. "I'm not pleased with this mission but with the Admiral recovering, I'm in no position to object."

"You're the commander of this fleet," pointed out Velsh'nark. "It is ultimately your decision."

"That's mutiny Velshnark," remarked Yelena, turning from the view screen to look at the tall alien. "I can't cause a mutiny only to have the Admiral wake up with that problem on his paws, along with everything else."

"The parasite isn't stupid," Velsh'nark claimed, stepping closer to the view screen that showed the planet in the distance. Even from this distance, the damage done to it was plain to see. "They know that there's also survivors; food. The parasites hunt down stragglers the same way you intend to, so this mission could cost the lives of everyone onboard your ships if you make one mistake."

"I understand that the Creepers have more powerful resources than what we've seen so far, but we're not as helpless either. Our mission is to retrieve the keys to unlock the data core we have in our laboratory, and I intend to do just that."

"Very well," Velsh'nark stated, discontent that his advice is being ignored repeatedly. He walked off the bridge, leaving Yelena and Captain Redding alone.

"It seems the Intelligence isn't concerned about escalating a fragile situation," commented Yelena, still staring at the screen of the planet at the surrounding area. They were too far to see any details other than the debris, but Fury was scanning for the survivors. "We're not going to let this problem escalate out of control. I need you to retrieve these keys. Fury will get the information from Tang Fa and send it to your PawPad."

Confused, Redding squinted his eyes at the Commander. How was he supposed to retrieve the keys without it involving him taking them? He's not a diplomat.

"You do whatever necessary but I don't think the Stealth's will give you very much trouble," Yelena continued, turning to face Calvin. "I'm having Captain DeWitt, and his team, along with a few squads from Drach'n Breath infantry take care of the heavy fighting."

Growing impatient, Redding folded his arms across his chest while he waited for Yelena to answer his question of how this is considered not escalating the situation.

She smiled at him in return. "If Velsh'nark is right, and the Creepers will be arriving shortly to hunt down the survivors, then we'll be there to aid the Stealths in escaping. I assume most of the ships will be civilian since their local military defenses nearly annihilated, so the Creepers will most likely take one of the more damaged vessels. We'll have our teams board that ship and assist evacuating it against the Creeper advance, while you'll retrieve the keys. Let's just hope that civilians are very well disciplined in destroying their hard drives, and said keys, when abandoning a vessel."

Fury estimates that we'll be back at the planet in one hour, and with the Stealth fleet a few minutes after that. The boarding parties are preparing for the mission so I suggest you do the same Captain. Neshant will be flying you so meet him in the hangar, and I'll ensure Fury has the information for you regarding the keys before you launch from the ship. Keep me updated on the situation through a secure channel. I don't want anyone else to know what you're up to, especially the Stealths."

Redding's expression lightened, now that he understood Yelena's intentions. She turned back to the view screen, Fury slowly updating the three dimensional holographic image of the planet. The wolf turned and left the bridge to head toward the armory.

Arming himself didn't take long and before the hour was passed, Redding found himself sitting in the drop ship piloted by Neshant, waiting for take off. He was updated on the situation so he knew the fleet was found, and indeed under attack by a persistent fleet of Creepers. The details of the diplomacy weren't revealed but Redding could assume that the Stealth's accepted the aid since Neshant soon confirmed the all clear.

With Redding sitting next to Neshant in the copilot's seat, he was able to view the stars, and the battle, as they left the ship. All around him were squadrons of Immunities, flying to engage the Creepers who seemed to have infected everything, including single fighters. The Stealth fleet was mixed with visible, invisible and partially visible vessels, many of which were heavily damaged but they all fled from the advancing Creeper fleet.

The Immunities quickly engaged in battle, fighting off missiles and Creeper infected vessels. Larger blasts soon appeared deep among the Creeper fleet as Drach'n Breath itself fired upon the fleet, immediately slowing the advancement of them. Some of the Stealth military ships took the opportunity and attacked the Creepers as well.

However, the Creepers continued to advance, keeping the Immunities at a distance, and even damaging the Stealth vessels. By the time the drop ships were in range of the battle, the line was pushed back too far, back to the slower civilian ships. One of the larger vessels was targeted and suffered several blows by infected missiles, beginning the infection of the ship itself.

"We have our target," Neshant said over the intercom across the drop ship squadron. "The Stealth's are refusing our aid to assist in the evacuation but let's cut our way in and get them out alive. Get ready to secure their commander Captain."

Even Neshant was in the dark about this mission, but he must suspect something by only transporting him. Redding dismissed the thought, and focused on the task to come. Fully armored, he was still able to check his PawPad for the images that the scientist, Tang Fa, retrieved from the wolf squad of the suspected "keys".

They didn't look like anything special; one being a wire, and other looking like some sort of keyboard. These "keys" looked more like supplies to build a new computer out of scraps.

Vibrations shivered throughout the drop ship, as it fired several of its guns at nearby Creeper vessels or projectiles. The larger ship in front of them grew larger, but signs of battle were already visible through the hull. Gas leaked in several areas, and a blast would occasionally breach the hull and blow everything out into the empty space around the ship.

"Immunities, protect the ship from the infection outside," Neshant ordered, slowing down the drop ship. "All boarding parties prepare to land on and breach the outer hull. Pilots, prepare to bring on refugees."

A more violent vibration shuddered through the ship once it made contact with the outer hull of the Stealth's ship.

"That's your queue," Neshant mentioned, working with several of the controls. "Head into the cabin so I can depressurize it. I'll have a hole cut before it's finished depressurizing."

Unfastening his seat restraints, Redding floated to the back of the drop ship after closing the doorway to the cockpit. Securing himself by holding onto a support bar, the cabin depressurized. Over the radio, Neshant informed it was finished and allowed Redding to exit through a hatch. Once outside the ship, and pinned between it and the Stealth's, the wolf crawled along the belly of the drop ship toward the nose. Emerging from underneath the ship, Redding was able to see the battle around him much more clearly and it was too close for comfort.

A freshly cut hole was in front of Redding so without looking up at the battle again, he slipped into the civilian vessel. Inside, Redding could see two other holes being cut in strange locations of the corridor. They more or less came from the wall rather than from above.

With his rifle in paw, he searched around the ship. So far it didn't look like this part of the ship was touched by the infected, but the rough vibrations suggested that it wouldn't last. The other teams dropped in, and started to scatter to perform different tasks.

Redding went ahead of the teams, heading down the corridor toward the nose of the civilian vessel, where the command center was suspected to be. He listened closely to the battle reports of the other teams, and they've begun fighting the Creepers onboard but no Stealths, that t haven't been infected, were yet found.

Maybe they all abandoned ship already, thought Redding, breaching doorways and checking the empty rooms. After several minutes spent searching, he came across a room with several terminals and glass screens, the bridge. He linked with his PawPad and had his heads up display search show the images of the "keys" he needed to retrieve.

"Creepers are still advancing," one of the officers reported. "No civilians have been found. We need to abort the mission."

"Acknowledged," Yelena's voice responded, obviously agitated. "All teams fall back to the drop ships; hostile Stealth vessel inbound."

Hostile Stealth? Diplomacies weren't working, cutting Redding's time even shorter. Only the wire was retrieved, and the other devices were in other terminals but Redding saw them in the same one he already cut into. Short on time, the wolf decided to cut the entire computer terminal from the ship and carry it back.

Using a laser tool, he quickly cut around the perimeter of the computer but the ship jolted and nearly sabotaged the job. There was a vibration felt through the ship after the jolting, but it was soft and consistent.

Something is wrong.

"All squadrons fall back!" Yelena yelled over the speakers. "What the hell is that! Redding, get out of there, now!" Her voice was consumed by static.

The Captain grabbed the wire, and yanked out the keypad with an armored glove and sprinted back down the corridor he came from. His speakers only spewed static but some one was trying to talk to him.

Halfway back to the ship, the bulkhead beneath him bucked violently, throwing Redding to the ground. Scrambling back up, he continued to run with all his strength. In a matter of seconds, he reached the hole where his ship cut in and climbed out of it. Neshant already had the ship undocked from the hull, and engines roaring with the back hatch open. Redding jumped inside and without any confirmation signal being sent, the hatch closed and the ship rocketed away. Redding set the two "keys" aside in an overhead compartment and headed straight for the cockpit.

"Brace yourself," Neshant's voice hardly broke through the static. The ship roughly maneuvered, forcing Redding to take a seat. "Incoming!"

Redding's head was slammed back into the copilots seat hard enough to dent his armor and nearly cause him to blackout. Dazed, he turned to view the passenger's compartment to view the damage, but instead found himself facing down a heavily infected creature of some type.

Instinct took over his actions, as the wolf lunged into the passenger's bay and tackled the creature. The botanical vines wrapped around his armored body. With his sidearm drawn, Redding fired a full clip of a couple dozen rounds into the creature in less than a second but the vines didn't loosen around his body.

The stress on the armor was obviously due to the vines squeezing him. Slowly, he was being immobilized. With all his strength, Redding pinned the creature to a wall and slammed it against it several times gaining enough mobility to pull free his combat knife.

With a rough struggle, Redding managed to slice off several of the vines, enabling his escape from the Creeper's grip. Kicking the dead infected creature in the center, it slammed into the back hatch. Before the parasite could attack again, Redding punched the emergency hatch release that blew it off. With a rush of wind, the creature flew back out of the ship and into open space.

Stepping to the edge of the blasted hatch, Redding gazed out at the battle. Creepers were everywhere, like algae in a filthy fish tank. They clung to the Immunities escorting Redding's drop ship but the ships bursts into a ball of flame shortly after, killing the pilot and the parasite.

Redding's eyes went wide, unsure of what he was seeing. Beyond the Immunities, and the Stealth fleet, was a massive green creature. It was as large as a mountain, with four legs, a tail and a neck but its head was a colorful display of vines. Projectiles flew off its body and destroyed the Stealth vessels, with entire ships blossoming into fire. The military vessels didn't even get close to the creature, as it somehow saw them and destroyed them as well. Within a minute, the Stealth fleet was consumed.

The creature turned away from the Stealth fleet, and looked in Redding's direction. Like a switch, all the Creepers in the area turned direction toward Redding and the ships he was fleeing back to. It was coming after the Drach'n fleet.

Dozens of Immunities fell, and the first wave of Creepers were only a kilometer away from Redding. In the silence, Redding watched hundreds of missiles destroy thousands of Creepers but it did little to slow their advance. The counterattack halted for a second.

Another thousand Creepers froze instantly, ice crystals forming through their bodies and immobilizing them completely. The wave finally halted, and even in the great distance, Redding saw ice form on two of the legs of the mountain-sized Creeper. Immediately a very thin white streak blew pass the waves and impacted directly on the large Creeper, sinking in it's botanical flesh. A moment later, its leg exploded, igniting the ice and burning the creature. It reacted as if in pain, its colorful vines shivering in agony, or anger.

Without delay, another white streak impacted the creature on its hind leg, nearly destroying the entire appendage as well. The frozen Creepers caught fire, just by having the projectile fly pass them, prompting the others to flee.

The massive Creeper stopped reacting as if in pain once the fires burned out. It turned its strange head to stare straight past the drop ship and into the bridge of Drach'n Fury, at its commander. Yukiomaru greeted its gaze with a glare of his own.