FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Tracking any modern warship was next to impossible, but tracking the flagship Drach'n Fury is beyond that. Programs that were as advanced as the mapping systems on capital ships failed to find any trace of the flagship.

Nishant watched the several screens scan for several thousand lightyears around but nothing ever came up. Hours of watching the programs fail to detect anything were exhausting, physically and mentally for the springhare.

He stood and glanced out at the stars outside through the windshield. Their formations were familiar to the rodent since he wasn't far from his home system, but he turned his back to them and headed back into the modified drop ship where he had his cot prepared next to some of the equipment intended for tracking Drach'n Fury.

Tired, Nishant allowed himself to collapse on the cot. He stared up at the metallic ceiling of the vessel for a few moments before closing his eyes. Tomorrow, if he didn't find any new lead, he'd be returning to Commander Cassander with his paws empty.

Shortly after lying down, the springhare's eyes grew heavy and the world grew fuzzy. Within a few moments, Nishant was asleep.

His ears twitched at the sound of a persistent beeping, until the springhare woke. Nishant rolled over and blinked his eyes a few times before slowly sitting up on the cot. The sound didn't cease, demanding the springhare's attention regardless of his sleep deprivation. Without a choice, Nishant headed for the source of the sound in the cockpit.

The stars through the windshield looked different, making him realize that hours must have passed even though it felt like no time had passed at all. One of the screens was flashing, signaling that a ship has been found.

Drach'n Fury?

More awake now, Nishant sat behind the screen and confirmed the finding of another ship. He's found vacant ships and infected ships but this one was reading an active engine and had no signs of infestation at this distance.

Nishant turned his ship toward the signal while the other ships continued to scan around it. The named star systems started to scroll across the screen. One of the first systems to come up was the one that contained the planet Velmaria.

"A civilian vessel," muttered Nishant, once the information was displayed on the screen. A exploration vessel of some kind was traveling toward the planet. "Velmarians?"

Curious, the springhare continued to scan for more information while he directed the ship toward the system. The ship was too far to communicate with but the name and identification number were revealed. It was owned by Stark Company, was on the planet during the invasion and has been missing since.

How'd the Velmarians steal this vessel? Thought Nishant, confused by the reports of the vessel. Does it have something to do with the raiding party I found on the shipyard? He continued to read the reports while he pushed his ship to full speed in an attempt to catch up. No reports on the ship appeared at a later date than the invasion.

Distracting the springhare was the computer reporting explosive fire around the vessel once it was closer to the planet, Velmaria. Within a few minutes, the signatures of dozens of Creeper vessels appeared on the screen as well.

"Whatever this is, it isn't my fight," muttered Nishant, preparing to turn the ship around. Reluctant to start heading back home, Nishant watched the battle a little longer to ensure that he wasn't missing anything vital. Anything to prevent him from going home with his paws empty would be worth the risk.

Watching through the zoomed in video of the battle, Nishant's eyes traced back to the source of the explosions. They missiles almost seemed to come out of nowhere causing him to suspect a stealth vessel.

The suspected vessel moved close to the planet, presenting its silhouette. One that looked familiar to the springhare even at the great distance.

"Drach'n Fury!"

Having found the ship, Nishant instinctively reached for his PawPad. The device had a program uploaded to it to take the artificial intelligence offline. Delivering the kill switch would be a difficult task even if the ship weren't in battle.

"Audio source retrieved," alerted the mechanical voice from the ship.

Nishant glanced at an adjacent screen where the information of the detected civilian vessel was located. The screen had been scrolling with more data the closer they drew toward the planet.

What the computer originally detected was an audio recording, a distress call.

"This is an automated distress call," a voice came through, hindered by persistent static. "Sergeant Gale Bracken and Captain Calvin Redding are taking refuge on the planet Velmaria. Our ship has been compromised by an infestation from the alien Creeper. Drach'n Fury is nearby at the timestamp of this message. Message will repeat."

The audio of the hare's voice started to repeat the message but Nishant turned it off. He glanced once more at the zoomed in screen of the small image of Drach'n Fury destroying infected vessels. It resulted in a fiery storm of burning debris entering the planet's atmosphere. Even with hundreds of infested ships destroyed, they continued to swarm around the flagship in a persistent assault.

Beyond the fiery trails left by the destroyed ships, Nishant noticed a mass of clouds swirling in the planet's atmosphere. Velmaria has no oceans, no lakes and no rivers; such a storm wasn't possible on the planet.

The unfamiliar sight prompted the springhare to redirect his scanning equipment toward the planet. At this distance it was impossible to pierce through the clouds, but further down on the surface there was another anomaly. Green forests covered large areas of the surface where sand and dust once covered.

"Is this Velmaria?" Nishant questioned quietly to himself. He checked the star maps and the distress call recording again, looking for any reason why this planet might have been confused with the pirates' home world of Velmaria. There was no mistake.

The truth was difficult to comprehend and it took Nishant nearly a minute to understand that the entire planet had been compromised. Hundreds of thousands must have been infected, including their ships and weapons. New invasion armies being built close enough to attack Canidera at any time.

Canidera hardly survived the first invasion where only three ships crashed landed on the surface. The creature Aggressor landed too but did not serious damage since Admiral Alexander killed it only a few minutes after it landed. One of the ships were destroyed as well but two ships has left the planet fighting for their very survival since that day. That fight had yet to end and the small victories had come at a great cost.

Before Nishant could decide to risk fulfilling his mission, or abort it, another alert from his ship sounded. The infected vessels have noticed Nishant's ship and had already turned to attack.

Nishant immediately turned the ship around manually and pushed the engines to full power. While the ship changed its momentum, it shuddered once violently and nearly knocked the springhare out of his seat. Regaining his posture, Nishant glanced back into the passenger bay where his makeshift living area was but saw no damage other than things being shaken from their original position.

No depressurizing alarm sounded, relieving his fear of being boarded. He pushed the engines to their limit while watching the Creepers give chase behind him.

The small drop ship he occupied might not have the capability to outrun the Creepers, and the springhare realized that. He had only been scanning the planet for a couple minutes but it took that much time for the Creepers to find him and move in to attack. Now Nishant wasn't sure if he'd be able to escape them.

He flipped a few switches before activating the ship's communications. "This is Pilot Nishant Gerbo of the UDAS. The planet of Velmaria has been infested on a plante-wide scale. I speculate that the Creeper alien is gathering their forces at the planet. I am being pursued by the infestation, but the flagship Drach'n Fury and two Special Operation officers are stranded on the planet. Captain Calvin Redding and Sergeant Gale Bracken. Recommendation: approach only in force. Pilot Gerbo out."

Nishant hoped that the distress call would be heard by someone so they wouldn't fall into the mess he had. Overwhelming despair started to seep into the springhare's short fur. He knew that the survivors didn't have enough forces to defend themselves, let alone launch an offensive campaign against the Creeper's new stronghold.

Another invasion wave would attack, but this time they won't be able to hold them off. No one would survive.