FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A little forward before getting this started. I've been working on this sci-fi space exploration story, and wanted to try to write it to a short list of specifications to aim for.

First, I wanted to create a series of short stories that do follow each other, but each being an indidual short that ideally can be enjoyed without having to read anything prior. It's similar to how I remember Star Trek episodes being, as well as sort of source of inspiration for the whole thing. (No, I did not use any direct fiction from the series. Just the theme of episodic space adventure. All of the people, races, backstories, etc I have made up on my own for this.)

Second, I was hoping to shift the perspective from main charator to main charactor between most stories. I want to see how that works out for me, and hope it allows more backstory to be told a little easier than just though one main charactor all the time.

Third, to try and write between 5,000 and 10,000 words per story. It sounds like a good goal to aim for. Unfortunatly, this first one comes short at about 4560. I'll need to work at this a little.

Well, here it is then. Read and let me know what you think. I'm looking mostly for critique and what that can be done to improve my writing.

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Stellar Wayfarer: One

Captain Merrolth Vhyrad's star log: Coalition date 173.4.26. It's been nearly three months now since the Aurora Zephyr had been put back into commission, and although I wish the circumstances behind my promotion would have been more pleasant, the ship is doing well and the crew is really starting to put their faith in me. I just hope these boots aren't too big for me to fill after all. Our last run out to N'Mano III to trade alloyed perium for ultranite crystals was rather uneventful. I know I shouldn't complain about success like this, but I want some excitement. My father was a stellar wayfarer, and it's always been my dream to discover new places and people like him and all the others before us.

"So captain, where are we going to next? Is it somewhere warm with beautiful beaches and tasty food?" The young brown and white fox morph says as he turns his chair from his console panel, interrupting my daydreaming. "I know N'Mano is only a little trading post, but finding something on that strip mine of a planet for us to sightsee wouldn't kill them would it? I bet you've been wanting to expand your horizons too."

Bringing one hand up to my chin to ponder an answer for a moment, I finally look up and speak. "I know how you feel Sevin. Gilnei says we can get a good price for these crystals over on Anat IV, and it's not too far from home. Maybe we can all arrange a little home time on Firnulf soon."

"Back home so soon?" The fox says, crossing his arms and looking like he's pouting in his chair. "I didn't sign up with you guys so that I could spend all my time hanging out in my backyard. I'd almost rather check out the refining station on Anat than go back there."

"Signed up with us?" I reply with a laugh. "From what I remember you snuck aboard. And had we not been in open space when you were caught, Bhyrt and Gilnei would've tossed you right back out. But you've got that same fire in your soul no Firnulf can ignore. One way or another you'd get out here. And now I've got myself a hard working helmsman."

Sevin turns himself back around and resumes monitoring his station, slowly swaying his tail behind the chair like the pendulum of a clock. "Just wish we'd get to do something other than hauling cargo." Sevin mumbles to himself while staring mindlessly into unchanging ship systems displays.

I turn my head and perk up one ear in response to the helmsman's complaint. "You have an issue with hauling cargo? It's good practice for the both of us to do these easy things first. Plus, feeding and fueling a starship, even as small as the Aurora, costs a boat load."

"I know... But don't we have enough Coalition Credits yet to make some kind of trip? I hear there's all kinds of cool stuff out in the Disian cluster. Like ancient ruins, and awesome looking gas giants."

Leaning back in my chair and staring upward at the dull metallic ceiling above, I run the numbers and shake my head. "Not yet. We're still at least another 30k short of a six month trip out to there. The nebula that blankets most of Disian is a pain to navigate though, and I don't want to get caught with my pants down, so to speak."

"But then what about..."

"No." I interrupt, "maybe next month. Look, I don't want to sound like a complete dick about it, but there is just simply nothing else that can be done right now. But do keep your ears open to good leads. Keeping our options open is a good thing."

It's going to be at least another six days until the Aurora gets to the Anat system. Nobody ever tells you about this part of space exploration. The travel time. Even with warp drives traveling many times the speed of light there is still so much sitting around and waiting. Although I really shouldn't complain too much, since in the older days of space travel this same trip would've taken months.

Maybe it's time for me to pick up a new secondary hobby like Bhyrt and his plants or Doctor Ria and her uh... sociable bedroom life. You know, on second thought, I might not want to be that much like her. It's a little more weird for the captain to be doing what she does. But I have find something to do. Sitting around and sleeping in this chair is hell on my back. And I really don't like having to clean my own paw prints off the console.

We finally get to the processing station orbiting Anat IV at the expected time and drop off the ultranite. There isn't enough processed metal availble to bother buying up to take to some manufacturing plant, so the hold stays empty after this delivery. Hopefully some fat lead pops up soon. I'd rather not go back out to the fringes empty handed.

Before I can finalize any shore leave though, Admiral Trale of the United FMAR (fah-mar) Coalition sends us a communication message to stop by main headquarters on Firnulf to pick something up. I don't know what he wants or has, but I know I'm not going to like it. Sevin thinks we've been drafted. If that boy is right, he better watch his tail or it might end up dumped out of his chair and onto the floor. By me. Manually.

A day and a half later the Aurora is orbiting Firnulf II. I take the ship's shuttle down to Coalition headquarters. It's basically a big flat teardrop with seating for four. I don't know why they're made in that shape like that, but at least these things can do atmospheric entry.

The view of the city coming in is always refreshing to see. The headquarters is a huge Y shaped building whose north side is set right on the water and circled by forests and sloping hills on the other two. At the intersection points of the Y are large circular towers which are supposed to represent the four systems of the Coalition, and their relative positions to each other in space. Firnulf is in the middle, and is the largest tower being the biggest member. Smaller buildings surround the primary HQ on its south and east sides.

I land on the south side of the city in the primary shuttle bay and take the grav-train into town. A model of efficiency, over nine tenths the people in the city use some form of public transportation in place of personal vehicles. The next highest rate on this planet comes in at a mere sixty percent use, in the old capital city. It was rebuilt to accommodate higher train use after a minor orbital bombardment in the Firnulf-Maedallan war almost 250 years ago.

The admiral's office is on the forty first floor of the Firnulf tower, and his secretary sends me on in when I get there. "Ah, Merrolth, good to see you again!" The rather tall and well decorated red and white fox greets me as I walk in the door to his office. "Have a seat and make yourself comfortable. How's your father's old ship holding up? I know she took a quite the hit last year, and the brass would've rather she been decommissioned, but I called in a few favors for your late father, my good friend, and got her brought back up to speed."

Sitting down, I reply after declining the admirals offer of a drink. He still pours one for himself though. I don't know how he gets the stuff, but that Resalvan whiskey is just too much for me. "Doing great. I really appreciate your help fixing the Aurora, but I have a feeling reminiscing old times wasn't the reason you called me out here."

"You'd be right about that one, my boy." He answers, setting his glass down. "I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you. The Zephyr and her crew have been commissioned by the United FMAR Coalition as a privateer vessel. Your new first officer has already been given her orders and will meet you at your shuttle later."

My face sinks at the news and I sigh before affirming the admiral's order. "You may not like the situation, but with the way the Linbadellian conflict is going the Coalition needs all the help it can get." Trale responds, noticing my disdain. "You're not being deployed as a full time fighting craft. We just need some jobs done from time to time. Other than that, you're free to do as you please. Even if you won't do this for yourself and your people, at least do it for Zarrolth. I know he would've dropped everything and come back for any of us if we needed the help."

"I didn't know my father was some big hero like that?" I reply, my interest suddenly piqued.

"No, he wasn't a big name wayfarer or anything." The admiral answers back. "Zarr was just a good fox and a close friend of many people here. He wanted to go out and discover like the rest of us, but knew what was really important at heart. I remember it took Nimir and his boys a week to fix the engines when he rushed back home after your mother passed away. But listen to me now, going on like that. I don't want to keep you here, bringing up these old stories. It's your turn to go and write some of your own."

Tarle raises another glass to the Aurora and old times, and I head back to the shuttle thinking about what he said. I remember that day. I rushed out of the academy classroom when the news hit me too. The professor wasn't too pleased, but when he got the whole story later his attitude changed right around.

A white and black mouse morph in a green Coalition uniform with white shoulder pads, boots and hand guards greets me at my destination. She salutes me before speaking. "Are you Captain Merrolth Vhyrad? I am Commander Cassa Meryn and have orders to report to your ship to oversee your commission."

"Yes, that's me." I answer, saluting her back. "So what mission have we been given then? The admiral had told me it shouldn't involve much combat."

"While there shouldn't be any combat, those lizards always seem to show up when you least want them to." Cassa responds, crossing her arms and looking off to one side. "This is just a standard resupply and re-equip run out to the border. Nothing highly valuable, mostly food and construction equipment. And one more thing, the academy is sending someone to join us. The paperwork says they're 'sending hir out for field work', but it's really because that Avittan is too eccentric, even for avian standards, and they don't want to deal with hir anymore."

Brining my paw up to my forehead covering my shameful look, I speak up. "And just how strange is this scientist then? And why me? I thought just getting drafted like this would've been enough for the Coalition."

"I don't know all the details." The mouse says. "You just got lucky it seems. Hopefully it won't take long for hir to get here. The sooner we get going the better."

Cassa and I sit around in the shuttle and she goes into detail about her assignment and the situation with the Linbadellians. They've been getting more and more aggressive over the last couple years in their skirmishes. The Coalition doesn't know where the lizard morph's keep coming from, and don't have the resources to mount a full scale war right now. It's been primarily defending the boarder and taking out the occasional space station. After an hour or two of waiting however, a voice comes on over the comm telling us that our last passenger is arriving. We step back outside and I watch as a blue and green feathered Avittan with a white mantle and large skirt approaches on the tram.

"Why do the avians always dress so strangely?" I ask out loud. "I only ever see our chef wearing an apron and a hat around the ship."

Cassa looks over at me with a look of puzzled disgust. "You think they dress strange? Have you checked yourself lately? Nobody wears those ancient uniforms anymore. They went out of style nearly two centuries ago."

I stare down at my attire as I hold my arms outward. I have on a white laconian front and back upper breastplate and shoulder pads, which is made from a hard plastic feeling metal that is flexible. Although several centimeters thick, the material is fairly light and is the standard issue for any kind of Coalition body armor. A knee length white cape hangs from under domed shoulder pieces, and three tassets made from the same material are attached to my belt in the front and on both left right sides. Light blue pants run down to my digitigrade knees, covered with laconian poleyns. Boots are too uncomfortable for me most of the time, and normally don't bother with a shirt either. I enjoy showing off my red and white fur when I can.

"What's wrong with the way I'm dressed?" I exclaim, not realizing the volume of my voice. "All the great old wayfarers wore uniforms like this in the holo-vids I used to watch as a kid. Plus the current Coalition uniform evolved from this anyway."

"Oh there isn't anything wrong with your clothes, little foxy." An avian voice calls out from behind us. "Catio thinks you both look cute." Turning around to meet our guest, Cassa shakes her head at me and I suddenly feel like I just embarrassed myself making a bad first impression. "Catio Cooke's the name, from the FMAR academy of astral sciences, and was told to meet my new field studies captain here at shuttle bay one. It's strange however. All of Catio's colleagues there seemed so well behaved when Catio got this opportunity, when usually they fight for the chance to go out themselves."

The mouse behind me clears her throat briefly before talking. "In any event, now that we're all here let's get up to the ship. These supplies won't deliver themselves." Cassa, Catio, and I load up and take off from the city. The food and machinery has already been delivered by the time I bring the shuttle back into the cargo bay, and the mouse and I make our way up to the bridge. Bhyrt, our security officer, leads our other guest off to show hir the ship and quarters.

Sevin is sitting at his station resting his legs up on the console reading something on his wrist mounted personal computer when we walk in. Cassa takes immediate issue with this, and begins to scream at him.

"On your feet ensign!" She shouts, and the helmsman jumps to his feet in shock having not seen or heard us come in. "What kind of undisciplined behavior is this? I should have you written up and de-ionizing the warp manifold for your disrespect of this ship, it's crew, and Coalition standards."

I can see the fear in the boy's eyes as he stands straight up staring ahead at the wall as the mouse walks around him. I'm almost scared to speak up myself, but feel I'm going to have to defend him, and more importantly myself. "Commander, this isn't a military ship or crew. We're just civilians being commissioned into service to supplement the Coalition. Nothing is that strict around here."

"I..." She begins saying, then turning to face me and loosening up the tension in her mouse tail. "I apologize for my previous action. I should not have overreacted like that. While I will respect that this is a civilian vessel, and try to tolerate a level of... Civilian discipline... Do remember that you are working for the Coalition, and if your people cannot handle the responsibility that entails, I will be forced to take appropriate action."

Having seemed to 'cool off' a bit, Cassa orders Sevin back to the helm and gives him the coordinates for the base. He affirms her orders with a newfound fearful respect. It's a 13 day trip to the Winai system, and I hope the next week isn't going to be as bad as this.

The commander leaves the bridge, and as she passes me I overhear her saying to herself that she knew this early promotion was too good to be true. When the door closes, Sevin waits a moment to make sure the mouse is really gone before speaking. "Captain, how long is that woman going to be on board? And what did she mean by appropriate action? I'm not in trouble right now am I?"

"No, you're not." I answer, looking over my shoulder towards the door. "And as far as I know she's here for good. You might want to straighten up a little when you're around her I guess. But I don't want the Aurora turned into some by the books Coalition ship either. Somehow a compromise will have to be made that works out for everyone."

The young fox lets out a nervous sigh of relief and returns to his reading. "She better not enforce a Coalition dress code. I like the way things are now being able to dress like you. Except with a shorter mantle cloak. I don't know how you don't get yours caught up in the doors and stuff."

An embarrassing grin covers my face at Sevin's remark. He was right. At least partially. I have had this thing get caught in some automated doors before. And let me tell you there were some experiences back in school that I could not live down no matter how hard I tried. I did get better about keeping the thing closer to me in those situations.

The Aurora Zephyr isn't a particularly large class of ships, crewing 65, having four levels of deck and a small cargo hold that doubles as a hanger taking up the lower two. Both upper decks are basically the same. Two main hallways running the length of the primary center ship section, with rooms laid out in a grid lining both port and starboard sides, and in sets of four or six in the center between the two corridors. The upper deck holds the bridge up front, and lower holds the mess hall. The medical and science labs are up top, while engineering and the warp drive is in the back on both decks. The wings, shaped like a pair of long narrow letter 'D's, attach to the upper two decks and also house the warp nacelles. The cargo hold on the bottom two levels doesn't run the full length of the ship either. It only goes about two thirds the way starting from the back.

She's armed with a pair of old style electromagnetic linear acceleration cannons. They went out of service not long after the Horizon class ship went into service. These have been retrofitted with a little something extra though. My old fox attached a set of micro warp drives to them, and they fire their rounds at faster than light speeds. As impressive as it might sound, they're not much more effective against the energy based shields everyone uses. But they'll tear up ship plating like it's nothing at all.

It doesn't take long for everybody to get acquainted with the new people. I think Cassa may have spent some time studying the ship and its crew before coming aboard, but meeting Catio was a unique experience for every person for reasons beyond hir being avian. Other than the cook, there are only three other Avittans on board.

I'm not sure exactly why, but they usually don't sign up for much that doesn't involve science and learning. Which is strange considering that's exactly what most wayfarers are out here doing. I think it might have something to do with the fact that their people are true hermaphrodites, and they're not exactly equipped to engage anyone outside their race. Their cloacae aren't really compatible with us Firnulfians, Maedallans like Cassa, or Resalvans like the doctor.

Everything is going smoothly, and with an estimated two days remain I find myself back in my chair on the bridge almost asleep when our new mouse officer wakes Sevin and I both up with her loud voice and a snap on her tail hitting the floor. "Captain, ship's scanners are showing an unidentified vessel on an intercept course. They're not responding to hails, and if I didn't know any better I'd say they're Linbadellians. Recommend full tactical alert."

"Sevin, raise shields and continue to hail them." I reply, holding back a yawn.

"Yes sir." The fox answers, and proceeds to enter commands on the console. Forty minutes of failed communication attempts later, the other ship drops out of warp 100,000 kilometers from us. Cassa identifies it as a light Linbadellian scout ship. We're only slightly better armed than them. "Captain Merr, they're charging weapons!" Sevin yells out as the ship begins to close the gap.

"Arm cannons and be ready to return fire!" I respond, pointing one arm outward at the monitor.

"Captain Merrolth, we need to fire as soon as they're within range." The commander replies with a tone hinting she disagrees with my wording. "These lizards have had no honor and only respond to diplomacy if it'll get their claws into you faster. We need to fire before they get a chance to hit us."

I turn my head over to the mouse and look almost puzzled by her lack of compassion. "But isn't it dishonorable to cast the first stone like that?"

"Captain, save your kindness for someone who'll respect it. We have to take whatever advantage we can get right now to ensure that the mission gets done and those people out there get their supplies."

Cutting off the end of Cassa's speech, Sevin shouts out "Seventeen thousand kilometers! They're in firing range!" Before I can say anything however, the ship is rocked by fire from the enemy vessel. I nearly fall out of my chair not expecting that. "Shields down to seventy seven percent!" He yells out as I regain my balance.

"Firing cannons!" Responds the commander. On the monitor, a report shows that the volley had missed completely by aiming too far ahead of the enemy ship. "That should've been a dead hit! I know how to lead these old electromagnetic cannons. What happened?" She adds, looking over her display.

"Micro warp drive added to the guns." I respond, as the ship is shaken by another shot. "You hardly need to lead your shot at all."

Cassa pauses to think for a moment, then begins to enter new commands as she talks angrily. "Why wasn't I informed of this modification before coming aboard? Something like that could be the difference between victory and defeat." Our second counterattack hits the combatant, and the primary display shows the hexagonal shield grid light up in response to a 100 kilogram slug impacting it at faster than the speed of light.

Sevin looks on with a grim face. "Did that even phase them?" He says, checking his console. We land another shot with similar results. "Our shields down to twenty nine percent!" The fox continues, losing his seating for a moment as the entire ship quakes.

One of the displays on my control console lights up as head engineer Nimir appears and speaks up. "Cap'n, we can't take much more of whatever's going on out there! Me and my boys can only keep her going so long."

Commander Cassa hits the lizard ship with the fifth shot, and it almost looks like their defenses are starting to buckle. The shield grid intensity isn't nearly as great as before. The joy was cut short by yet another directed plasma burst hitting us unfortunately. "Primary shield deflectors have failed! We're defenseless!" Ensign Sevin yells out as I just stare at screen frozen in panic.

"Direct hit to their hull!" Cassa responds. "And right out the other side?! One more will take them out for good!" Before we can ready our next barrage, I notice the Linbadellian ship begin to catch fire around where the slug exited on the far side. As their weapons begin to gather power for the final shot, they build up an ominous green light. A small explosion occurs near the stern of their vessel as another projectile pierces though it. Seconds later it leads to a chain reaction as the entire ship is engulfed and destroyed.

Sevin turns to watch the display and begins to speak with surprised joy at our narrow victory. "We... We did it?! We actually won? And we're not dead?"

"Status report Mr. Duvael." The mouse responds, paying little attention to anything but the situation at hand. "Do we still have warp to get out of here? Where there is one lizard, two more are sitting in wait."

Nimir's voice is heard though the intercom as he turns to answer. "No, get that leak under control first! Commander! The old girls hurt bad. Several relays are fried, and it's going to be at least an hour or two before we patch it up enough to get underway again. I had to send one crewman up to Ria for plasma burns a few minutes ago."

"Transfer whatever necessary personnel and materials you need to get us going again." Ressa replies. "Take from the shipment if you have to. It's going to do us no good if we can't deliver any of it." Closing the comm link with the engineer, she turns to talk to me. "Captain, the Linbadellian scout ship has been destroyed, but more could be on their way. What are your orders?"

Looking down at my console for a moment, then back over to the commander, I finally start speaking hesitantly. "My... My orders? Get us going again and get to Winai. Send a message to them that we were attacked."

The mouse resumes her work at the control panel, but I know what she is thinking. That I hesitated and then lost control and nearly cost us everything. Without her we wouldn't be here right now. Things had only been going so good for me before because they were all easy. Nothing to test the true grit of a leader. I may not get another chance. I can't screw up like this again.

Nimir was right though. About two hours of drifting though space later, he and his team get the fusion reactor up and going again. This whole fiasco added about eleven hours onto the journey, but we did make it and deliver the goods. Unfortunately, parts and repairs aren't so easy or cheap all the way out here. The two weeks spent waiting and fixing in the station nearly wipes out the ship's bank account. Not only do I have to deal with being green, I have to do so while broke.

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I hope the beginning was enjoyable. I've got the first ten episodes' plots written down, and the second is almost half way done being typed. Most of backstory for everything is also written down, so it can be referenced and I can try to get as much in as possible. There's still room for flexibility however.

I'm honestly less interested in getting ratings and favorates, and more about hearing what you have to say about my writing.

Does something need improvement? Is the writing too dry? Do I need to include more detail about what's around and happening? Are there parts that just seem to drag on without really saying much? I know it's a fairly short piece to be worrying about all these little things, but still. Every little bit can help.

Some detail and backstory was written in knowing full well that the story will keep going, and hopefully I can still write episodes that aren't hindered by the plan of trying to get every one an individual short that can be picked up on it's own.

Also, I would be open to more sci-fi ideas and plots to try if anyone would want to get collaboration credit later on. Maybe something to think about. It may be a while till I get far enough to do things outside what I have setup.