FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

CHAPTER 22 Supernova: Part 1

Above us we could see the clouds gaining distance as we descended towards our objective.

"Reduce speed. We are here." Fx informed.

We lowered our speed to a steady 60 kilometers per hour, as our altitude decreased. We circled around the assigned landing spot before coming to a complete stop.

"This is it, guys." Fx confirmed.

Something funny happened while we were traveling to the spot. I suddenly came to a realization. We were going to be the first of our species to set paw on a planet since our ancestors. That somehow made me feel better since I knew that my brother, my best friend and I were about to make history. Who would've thought of that?

Not yet... Certainly more of them are coming...

For almost a minute we hovered in mid air completely motionless, thinking of what was about to happen. As we were descending I again noticed how the clouds where as far above us as they where below us moments ago.

Twenty meters and descending... Fifteen... Ten... My heart beat rose at a fast pace... Five... Four... My paw pads felt cold, as the ground got closer and closer... Three... Two... I could see small pebbles in the dusty surface. A mild breeze carried dust around us; I closed my eyes... One... I felt a small vibration as the ship went to rest mode.

I opened my eyes then and noticed something that I've never witnessed before. I remembered the comet and suddenly I realized how different it was from this place. The difference was not only in the appearance of the place, but also in the fact that back in the comet we were protected by our environmental armor suits; in this place, our ships were the only thing that kept us from entering in full contact with the foreign atmosphere.

It was a frightening thought, but it was also a magical moment. Being able to look everywhere around and not being able to tell where everything ended... The sun reaching out from a hill... The mild breeze caressing our ships...

Our ship's magnetic field touched ground at 1305 hours, 15th day of the 5th month, Canis Major's time. We didn't know how time ran in that planet, but according to our studies, a day could last somewhere between twenty and thirty hours.

Our ship's sensors didn't detect any toxin, harmful elements or gases that could kill us. As K9 said, it was around 18% Oxygen, which was almost one part for every four parts of mostly Nitrogen and small amounts of Argon and other elements such as Carbon Dioxide, which were harmless at those minuscule levels. Other less friendly elements existed in such low quantities that didn't pose a threat to our lives or health. The atmosphere was almost identical to what we have in Canis Major. Humidity showed at 7%, temperature was at 78.3 Fahrenheit and climbing at 0.3 degrees per hour, according to our computer calculations. The sky looked clear, and the sun started to show itself over a hill with an unusual red and purplish tint to it. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful dawn; the first one our species would have the honor to witnesses...

"Permission to proceed, granted." K9's serious voice was heard.

Fx would be the first to step out of his ship. He deactivated Fox01's systems and followed with the opening procedure. I did the same.

Seconds after, the ships where completely depressurized. I could tell because the pressure around me felt different, and my ears clicked. I placed my hand-paws in my muzzle and closed my eyes, as I felt the hatch opening. As this happened, I started to perceive all sorts of sounds that invaded my cockpit; sounds I've never experienced before.

As the hatch fully opened, a thick and warm breeze caressed the fur in my face. Atmospheric pressure was safe, since I was still intact. But the time to put the atmosphere to a test had come. My body started to demand oxygen, since I wasn't even breathing. With my eyes still closed I reached for my emergency Oxygen capsule, just in case my body rejected that natural air.

I took away my hand-paw from my muzzle and slowly inhaled. I felt the thick air making its way through my airways. Soon, the craving for oxygen was gone... I was breathing in that planet. It was an amazing feeling to know that I was alive because that planet wanted me to be alive.

As I slowly opened my eyes, I noticed something disturbing as well confusing. As my eye sight settled to the strong light, a huge silhouette stood before me; staring at me... It was the scare of my life, but I noticed with much relief that it was my dear friend Andy.

"Andy! You scared me!" I yelled. My heart pounded heavily.

"I was wondering how much longer it would take you to get out. Come on, Husky!" He answered enthusiastically as he offered his hand-paw to help me climb out of the snugged cockpit.

Our voices sounded strangely muffled. The breeze and other noises overwhelmed us. It was a sensation of heaviness that I never felt in my life, since in our ships everything is incredibly silent and you learn to naturally speak softly.

The three of us now stood in solid natural ground. We felt so happy that we were experiencing such thing. We all spoke at the same time, stumbling between each others words due to the excitement. That will be a moment that I will never forget.

"D.E1, do you hear me?" Fx reported.

"I hear you clear, Fx." K9 responded. "I'm so glad that you guys mad it safe. You have an idea of what you're doing right now?"

"I don't know, Captain." Fx laughed. He knew what we were doing but emotions were too high at that moment to make out clear ideas.

"Fx, Anubis and Husky; you are the first Evocanis to ever step on natural ground without life support. You three will be remembered in Canis Major for the rest of our race's existence." K9 proudly said.

As excited as we were, we had a job to do in that planet. We could leave our thoughts for later when we returned to the D.E Cruiser.

"Stay in that spot. We will arrive in fifteen minutes." K9 ordered.

Fx, Andy and I stayed at the spot while waiting for our comrades. We examined our incredible surroundings in the meantime. Small stones, little plants and meaningless things like those were such an amusement for us at that moment, even though in Canis Major we have those things. What made it different was that this was a planet and not a massive artificial space colony.

Back in R105, they were aware of our arrival. They would also join us that day but much later. In the meantime, General Zonda and his brother Alpha were planning to get ahead of their group to serve us some company. They weren't convinced that this operation was the right thing to do and they would assure that everything went alright.

"Captain." Zonda directed to Silver. They were at R105's bridge at that moment. "My brother and I will head out for the planet right now."

"Do as you wish, General." Silver's response wasn't too enthusiastic. The idea of the General completely disregarding her command made her really angry. She had no control over his actions anymore and as strange as it might sound, she didn't have the strength to regain her command anymore. Zonda was on his own now; he wasn't under Silver's command anymore. But he had a reason to this.

"I know you are angry, Silver." He once again confronted her. "My intentions are not to bring more tribulations upon you. If I do this is because I care not only for you but for our friends the Evos."

"There is no need for you to talk to me in such a patronizing tone, Zonda. I know you still get to keep your General rank outside this ship unlike me, but while in space in R105, this is MY ship, and I AM in command. It doesn't matter who you are, the lack of a Captain's badge means that you will consult every single action to ME." She said, not facing him. She only sat in her Captain's chair surrounded by the usual darkness that the bridge had.

Zonda dissented. "Silver, you are my friend and I care for you. You, your brother and your friend Kassaar fought together with my squad, back in the Invasion War. I used to know you very well, Silver. Right now I'm seeing you, but to be honest, I don't know who you are." Zonda got close to her and in a friendly gesture he kneeled right by her side. It wasn't common to see Zonda acting this emotional.

"Once we are done with this nonsense, because it is..." Zonda continued. "...I will help you regain control of not only this ship but of yourself. The last thing I want is that they discharge from your position. I know why you fought so hard to become a Captain, and I want you to continue on doing so. Even though lately you've been acting erratic, you have no idea how good of a Captain you are. When Titan and you were working with the Council when assembling R105's crew, I was so happy when I found out that you were going to be in charge. Being part of your crew would be an honor for me, for Alpha and for our squad, not only because of your strength and determination, but because we are friends. That's the reason why we didn't hesitate for a second when accepting your invite." Zonda confessed. He said all this leaving behind his usual strong way of speaking. He was being as tender as his race usually is.

At that point, Silver was just staring at nothing. She slowly turned her gaze to Zonda, but didn't say anything. It was dark as always, but the faint glare of the instrument panels and the screen made it possible to see that her once powerful eyes were now drowned in tears. Zonda noticed but he decided not to do anything at that moment.

"I will order Tech so she takes care of the preparations of the defense squad. She will also be in charge of coordinating with the exploration team. If Titan needs anything, tell him to contact her." He said as he stood up. "I'm on my way now." Before walking away, Zonda placed his hand-paw on Silver's shoulder and just held it there for a few seconds. He then walked away.

Silver was a breaking point. Her closest crew members knew... It would be a matter of time to tell if she really was capable of following with her leadership.

A few minutes later, back at the D.E Cruiser, everything was almost ready for their departure. But outside the Cruiser, two or three kilometers away, a ship approached.

"That's the D.E Cruiser." The pilot said. It was Luke. He personally flew Hemi and Hasky to the ship that would be their home for the following months.

"I can't see it." Hemi replied. He sat next to the pilot's seat. He looked out the windshield of the ship, but couldn't see anything.

"In the radar." Luke Replied. "You won't be able to see it at this distance due to the reflective camouflage."

"It makes me feel so exited that we are here." The female Husky said. Hasky poked her head in between both front seats of the small transport ship. "Aren't you excited, Hemi? You'll get to see Kalem after all these months." She said. She petted Hemi's head in a friendly gesture. Hasky not only felt happy for his new friend, but also because after all, she will be reunited with us.

"Am I? I haven't been able to hug Kalem for months. I just want to be with him right now." Hemi happily replied.

"I'm so glad for you guys. Not only will you reunite with your family members, but you'll have the opportunity of your lives now that you'll be directly involved with the D.E Project." Luke added. The image of D.E1 was now not only bigger in the radar, but also a small distorted portion of space could be seen with the naked eye throughout the windshield. It was the D.E Cruiser reflecting the darkness of space and its stars.

"Access Code... Priority, Luke 0001DE1." The chestnut male Evo said. He had a personal code to gain access to any D.E ship. A green light gave him the indication that he had control over the D.E Cruiser opening controls.

"Identify, please." A voice echoed through the small ship's com system. The image of a young female Evocanis appeared.

"This is Luke. You must be Kala, right? Remember me?" He identified himself.

"Luke? Of course! You were in the first training. What are you doing here?"

"I have a special package for you guys." As he said this, Hasky and Hemi waved as they smiled at Kala.

Kala looked very excited that she would have two new partners. She immediately handed over the controls to Luke and they finally got in the Cruiser.

Both the female husky and the male mixed breed were extremely excited. Their emotions were off the charts at that moment.

"Man, I can't believe I'm here!" Hemi exclaimed. He was jumping and twitching in front of the transport ship's rear gate like if he had the urgency of going to the bathroom, but in reality it was the urgency of seeing his father. Luke and Hasky noticed that his voice broke a bit too.

"Calm down, Hemi. The hangar is still pressurizing." Luke informed him. The procedure that took around three minutes felt like three hours for them. Hasky didn't show any emotions other than a smile and intense glare on her blue eyes. She was used to keep her cool even though inside her a hurricane of emotions ran amok.

The blue lights that engulfed the hangar while they were on their way in now shifted to regular natural light. A beep informed Luke to check his panel and he confirmed that it was now safe to exit.

The door of the small transport ship opened and the three Evos exited.

"I must confess that this is the first time I place paw in another ship while outside Canis Major. I'm very impressed." Luke admitted. He took his time to look around. It was quite a paradoxical feeling to think that he knew everything about the D.E Cruiser, but never had he been in one.

Hemi and Hasky however were not very interested in the ship for now. They searched around the huge hangar to locate the access to the rest of the ship. Suddenly, activity up in a balcony at the far end of the hangar caught their attention. A thick elevator door opened and the first thing they saw was a golden furred Evocanis looking right at them as he ran down the stairs.

"Kalem?" Hemi softly uttered. His eyes now filled with crystalline tears.

As K9 got closer, it was evident that his eyes were also filled with tears. Face to face now, they both approached each other without saying a single word. They both held each other in the warmest hug... The feeling that K9 had at that moment was overwhelming. Around his arms he felt this soft and warm body that belonged not only to his best friend but to an Evo that was his own flesh and blood. He remembered for a second when he and his mate shared the most loving and beautiful moment together that eventually gave life to his adorable son. He remembered how he saw him grow up and how lucky he felt to still have him even after those horrible moments that took the lives of many. Being able to feel the scent of this Evocanis brought an extremely soothing and beautiful feeling to his heart. He didn't want this moment to end.

"Dad... I don't want us to separate again... Promise me." Hemi cried. His head rested in K9's chest. K9 pressed his son harder against him as he licked him affectionately; tears rolled down the golden furred Evo's face.

"We won't... I promise, baby..." K9 faintly uttered as he braced Hemi even harder. Hugging another Evo in such a loving way is probably the most beautiful thing that we can experience. Knowing that he or she is your blood, that you made him, or that he or she made you, that is one feeling that can't be explained with words...

After the extremely warm moment, everyone took time to meet each other. Hasky, however, found it strange that Fx and I were missing.

"So you're Hasky?" K9 asked her as they held both of their had-paws in the typical Evocanis way of greeting. Hemi played around with the Dingoes and proved that they would be getting a long just fine.

"Yes." Hasky replied to K9's question. "I imagine that Fx and Husky told you a lot about me."

"Yes they did." K9 admitted. Luke was next to him. Luke and K9 had already taken their time to greet each other. They were very happy to finally be face to face after all those years, even thought hey always stayed in contact.

"It's amazing... I never imagined that Husky and you were so alike." K9 confessed. Standing face to face with Hasky, he could barely notice any difference between us. "It's like you're twins."

Hasky chuckled a little bit after K9's comment. "I know. But we husky Evos are very alike. That's the reason." She admitted modestly.

"But it's even your gestures. Other than your voice, you even express yourself the same way."

Hasky just nodded. She still wondered about our absence. "Where are they, by the way?" Hasky asked.

"Oh, that..." K9 felt for a second a little bit of nervousness. Minutes ago he had sent Hasky's sons to that unknown planet. "You might know that we already made some flight tests into that planet, right?" He said. K9 was trying to find the right words not to make Hasky feel defensive over the situation that Fx and I were in at that moment.

"Yes?" Hasky responded unsure. She just lifted an eyebrow waiting for a good answer.

"You came at the right moment. We are heading for that planet right now. Husky, Fx and their partner Anubis are already there waiting for us."

Hasky didn't like the idea that we were sent into that planet, let alone that we were ordered to land and exit our ships. It didn't matter if we were her sons; the idea of any of us doing such thing didn't felt right for Hasky. But as calm as she always is, she accepted it and got ready to join our mission.

Hasky and Hemi had a very brief moment to get acquainted with the situation, as well as a last minute introduction to the armors that they would be wearing in just a few minutes.

Luke stayed for a while but soon left as he had many things to do back at Canis Major. He did enjoy his short stay, though.

Back at the planet, Fx, Andy and I still waited for the rest of the crew. Fx and I rested in the roofs of our ships, contemplating the seemingly endless sky above us.

"It's quite scary, don't you think?" Fx asked me as he gazed upon the blue sky.

"What, brother?"

"The sky, Husky. The feeling of being in the open. I've never felt this before other than in open space. It's strange."

"I know. It's quite intimidating." I admitted. We were used to be confined in our spaceship all of our lives, always having that sense of security. Especially after the Retcans helped us turn Canis Major into a virtually impenetrable fortress. Even at open space either in the D.E Cruiser or our Wolf500 fighters, we still had a sense of security.

"That blue color... it's so mesmerizing. It's not only the color, but the sense that it doesn't have an ending. I don't know if you understand." Fx asked. I turned to see him and his always cute yellow eyes were completely motionless; fixed onto the sky.

"Yes. It's strange that you can't see space from were we are. All this nitrogen and oxygen blocks it from view." I theorized.

Suddenly I noticed that Andy was quite in silence. I turned to were his ship was hoping to see him on top of it like we were, but I didn't.

"Wait, where's..." I mumbled. I sat up and scanned the area around us.

We were in an arid plain with only a few small trees and some spiky bushes filling some spots. We landed in between a patch of these short, almost leafless, but somewhat dense trees that let out a strange scent of cinnamon and morning mist, to hide ourselves a bit from sight. We knew that the possibilities of life at that place were impossible, but we did take our precautions.

"What's wrong Husky bro?" Fx instantly noticed my concern. He also stood up and looked around. "Where's Andy?"

"That's what I was going to ask!" I jumped off Siberia02 and kept on looking for our big guy.

"He was right over here with us! Where could've he gone to?" Fx was not very happy. We were on a very delicate mission and doing something reckless as separating form the group without authorization would make our Captain very disappointed.

"I'll call him..." I said. I took out my ComPod and selected Andy's frequency. It was disturbing that he didn't appear in the screen after a few seconds.

Listening closely, we noticed a faint beep that came from close to us. With horror we noticed Andy's ComPod on the ground near his ship.

"Gosh... Andy!" Fx said more worried than irritated. "We have to find him, Husky. K9 won't be pleased to know that we are irresponsibly disobeying procedures like this."

"Wait, I see him!"

Far, about a kilometer away we could see some movement near a small hill. We might not perceive colors with a considerable amount of intensity, but we do have a very sharp sight. It was without no doubt our friend Andy. But what was he doing there?

We needed to get him back before the crew arrived...