FSE

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Fire blossomed against the dark veil of stars while the destroyer exchanged fire with another capital ship. Both unleashed volley after volley of projectiles at each other in a classic shootout, but the favor easily went to the destroyer. The other vessel took several hits, leaving gaping wounds of venting atmosphere. Gradually the missiles struck more until the ship broke apart in the onslaught.

On the bridge of the destroyer, the five wolves watched the battle unfold. Kaitlin Wolcott, among them, could only observe as the enemy ship's own weapons exploded in their capsules, tearing it to shreds.

"Velmarian ship, destroyed," said the AI impassively.

Kaitlin turned back to her own screen while she scanned the nearby system for any signs of the other ships. Nothing showed up at first but she was determined to find anything, even if it was just another graveyard.

While the program continued to search, she checked the data that they extracted from the battle site. From its records, when the bulk of the fleet was ordered to retreat they were given these rendezvous coordinates but there was no sign of the surviving ships, or even dead ships. Only a Velmarian ship, that was waiting to greet them with a salvo of missiles.

"Anything, Kaitlin?" Alex asked, still watching the ship break apart.

"Nothing yet," she answered. There was no signal, no signature of another ship, not even heat residue from their engines. "I don't think they came here, Alex. There's nothing out here other than that Velmarian ship."

"Or whatever is remaining of that ship now," remarked A.J. "There won't be much to salvage from that ship."

"We won't be salvaging anything from it," Alex said. He turned back to his team who sat around the bridge. "It's far too broken up. I am curious why the fleet isn't here, and instead a Velmarian ship. These are the right coordinates for their retreat rendezvous, correct?"

"That is correct," answered the AI. "These are the coordinates that your team retrieved from the ship graveyard. The fleet had back-up coordinates to fall back too so something must have caused them to abandoned their original orders of rendezvousing here. I suggest we look elsewhere."

"And where would we start looking?" asked Alex, rolling his eyes. "We have no leads, and no way to track them."

"If the Velmarians found this site then maybe we should trace them instead," suggested the AI. "Unless you want to go back to the battlefield and try again."

"We had enough of a struggle last time," muttered Alex. Lost in thought, the wolf stared off blankly for a moment. "Kaitlin, can you trace where this ship came from?"

"I'm already working on it," she answered, her paws typing away at the keyboard in front of her. With the ship still breaking up and burning, Kaitlin found it difficult to track the trace amounts of exhaust left from the fuel. A map of the nearby star systems lit up and a faint line started to trail through them.

"You know I already came up with those results," mentioned the AI. The wolves ignored her, while Kaitlin continued to trace the ship herself. The AI remained silent, even hen the path Kaitlin comes up with was different than her own.

"I got us a path," she said after finishing her calculations. She knew the AI's path was different from her own but the difference was very minor. Kaitlin was also confident that her calculation was correct and the AI was wrong. Some one had their mind copied to create it, and who ever that was still depended too much on the programs already built in to the warships.

"Thank you Kaitlin," said Alex. He walked to the commander's seat and sat down. "Set a course to follow her path, AI. Thank you team, you can have the rest of the cycle off. I'll alert you if there's anything urgent."

Stepping back from her console, Kaitlin turned to follow Yuri off the bridge. She noted that A.J. stayed behind to talk with Alex but the three other wolves went back to their room. She sat on her bed while the two younger ones headed back to the gym.

She checked her PawPad for new messages, even though it hasn't received a new message from anyone off the ship for over six months. There was a hope that someone else would answer her beacon who survived.

It was no surprise but still disappointing to see that there were no new messages or broadcasts picked up from off the ship. She placed her PadPad back in her pocket and followed her pack mates to the gym, where the civilians were still training.

A dozen of them were sparring with each other, directed and lead by Yuri and Mary but Kaitlin wandered over to the others and the aliens. She apologized for the interruption caused by the brief battle with the Velmarian ship before continuing her lessons of familiarizing them all with the ship's systems.

An hour went by before AJ returned from the bridge and also participated in training the civilians. Every time Kaitlin glanced over, she saw the civilians struggle with paw-to-paw combat but they were slowly getting better. The civilians she was training with the computer systems weren't any faster.

The aliens' style of combat however, continued to catch even her team off guard. It was very primitive and yet they were able to take down the AJ more than a few times, who is almost three times their size. Their progress with adapting to the computer systems was slow though, because of their anatomy.

Alex never joined them but the training lasted for several hours and only ended with all the civilians were collapsed on the ground exhausted. Kaitlin's eyes were strained from looking at the holographic screens so she was grateful to finally call it quits. With the civilians heading for the showers, and the aliens going to the lounge to rest, the team returned to the officers' quarters where they could relax undisturbed.

After the four trainers showered themselves, they sat with Alex in the lounge.

"Any updates?" Kaitlin asked. Alex was staring at his PawPad and tapping the screen every now and then with his claw but his ears were pointed in her direction.

"We're following the path you drew up for us," he answered. "But nothing new yet. We're going slow to make sure we don't miss anything along the way."

"The trail will disappear if it crosses the path of any large planetary body," mentioned Kaitlin. "I hope it isn't cleaned up by something before we get a chance to pass it."

"There are a few systems that the trail goes near but don't worry, we're we won't lose the trail," Alex reassured her. Sitting behind a desk, he looked like a hardworking civilian who couldn't just leave his job behind. His hesitation, however, didn't go unnoticed. "How are the civilians doing?"

"Their progress is slow but steady," answered Kaitlin. She took her seat on the other side of the desk of her pack leader and quickly reviewed the progress of the civilians and their work with specific ship wide systems. The entire time, Alex never once looked up.

Before she could even finish, she heard Alex mutter, "That's what I thought."

"Something wrong?" she asked, tilting her head slightly and one ear going limp.

"Team, can you come here for a moment?" Alex asked with his voice louder. He finally looked up from his PawPad. The wolves who were enjoying their meal wandered over, leaving their food behind. "About an hour ago, the AI found a strange signal and I've been tracing it since then. We're being followed."

"What are we being followed by?" asked A.J.

"A recon ship," answered Alex, glancing at all of them. "It looks like one of ours but we're not sure if it's just another ship stolen by the Velmarians."

"Have they sent any broadcast yet?" Kaitlin asked.

"Nothing yet. We don't know who they are or what they're doing but we're keeping our defenses up while we wait and watch them. They don't seem... wait, they're sending something now."

"Unidentified Vessel," a female voice said through Alex's PawPad. "You have attacked and destroyed our relay vessel. You are hereby under arrest by orders of Princess Theta. Follow the coordinates we are providing, or be met with our fleet and destroyed."

"Velmarians," muttered Alex, glancing to the side while he thought for a moment. "We do not take orders from Velmarians. Identify yourself."

There was a pause before the answer replied. "We're from the Survivors' Fleet, under the command of Admiral Zhang and Princess Theta. I am not a Velmarian, I am Lieutenant Forrest, of the Force of Wind. You identify yourself."

"Sergeant Wolcott, of the Wolcott Pack, sir" answered Alex. "Are you allied with the Velmarians?"

"Are you command Sergeant?" the voice questioned.

"Yes sir," Alex answered, he glanced up at his pack.

There was another pause before Alex was answered. "Please follow the coordinates to rendezvous with the fleet, Sergeant. The Admiral can answer any questions you may have. Is your ship damaged or infected in any way?"

"No damage and no infection," said Alex. "We have almost two dozen civilian survivors, including of alien allies from the planet Velon. Several are ill, but stable."

"Stay alert because Creeper infestations have been spotted at a few of the nearby systems," said Lieutenant Forrest. "Lieutenant Forrest out."

Alex placed his PawPad back in his pocket while the other four wolves watched him carefully. He slowly stood before glancing at them. "Let's hope it's not a trap. We might have just found the fleet. Get to the bridge."