FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The stench of blood was heavy in the stale air of the fleeing ship. Everyone could smell the overwhelming aroma of the blood, it originating from the pools of blood on the floor of the ship, and from the soaked fur of those left dead on the ground.

One wolf stood shocked in the hangar, his senses dulled by the stench. His eyes were wide, staring blankly over the carnage. His own blood added the stench, spilling from the remaining half of his left ear, the hole in his chest and the laceration across his muzzle and cheek.

Alex was screaming orders, his voice dulled but the fear and frustration made it high pitched enough for A.J. to hear just his yells. A fully-grown wolf's voice should not sound that high. Others were screaming, some dying screams, others pleas, and few of them orders.

He failed to respond though to any of them. The railing going through his dead pack mate's chest was all that filled his vision. All he could do was ask himself one thing: What happened?

Thirty hours before, the hangar was fully functional and no sign of death in it. A.J. was armored up with his pack, preparing for another mission.

"You all know the mission," barked Alex while they waiting to board their transport ship. "These winged aliens have been fighting on their planet for over twenty of their years. Only one ship of theirs has been rescued and now we know there are more fighting on the surface. Once we touch down, we link up with the aliens and get them out of there. This is the third alien race we found still fighting the Creepers out here, and even though there numbers are small, it is critical we save them."

The roar of a transport ship alerted the wolves that their ride had arrived.

"We save them then we have another ally," A.J. encouraged his pack after they had boarded and strapped into the ship. "The last two alien races were grateful enough to share their technology with us and we've only become more affective against the Creepers. Let's hope that these aliens will be grateful as well."

"There was less than a hundred survivors of the last alien race though," remarked Mary, who was now in the copilots seat. "They didn't have much technology to offer, and it'll take them decades to repopulate enough to join the front lines."

"Still, every alien we save is a victory over the Creepers," replied A.J. "At this rate we'll gain enough momentum that General Vale will allow most of us to go home for some time off like Admiral Alexander."

"Quit the idle chatting," Alex ordered. The ship started to rumble as the engines revved up, and soon enough it rocketed out of the carrier Drach'n Breath.

A.J. felt optimistic about the mission, it was the third new alien race discovered since the Guardian fleet had pushed beyond their original barricade line. While the survivors were few in number, their culture and race would live on and would ultimately join them in the fight. The first signs of trouble, no one thought any of it.

He glanced around at his pack, Yuri sitting across from him. Alex and Kaitlin sitting close to the cockpit while Mary and the pilot were in the cockpit. Another half dozen armored soldiers were in the ship with them, some A.J. knew by name and others he fought with before but did not remember their names.

"Sir, Drach'n Fury long range scanners are having some static issues," Mary had warned them. "Commander Ibori suggests we stay in communication range."

"Roger that," Alex responded. "Mission proceeds as directed."

Drach'n Breath, along with three Guardian ship escorts were beyond the front line in hopes of finding more alien races who survived this long, just like the one they were now heading to rescue. They were too far from the main fleets that to simply communicate with them, with their faster than light devices, would take at least a week. They sent the report of the first several dozen aliens they found but it'd be two weeks before they'd hear anything back from the fleets.

"Entering atmosphere in ten seconds."

Similar to every other trip, the ship started to vibrate while it fought the planet's atmosphere. A few minutes later, the ship had landed with a dozen others and the wolves were exiting the passenger's bay.

"City ruins five kilometers magnetic north of this position," Alex said to the team who had gathered in their ship. They had exited into a semi-lush forest, half of it had turned into ash but it looked like the forest was growing back, and fast. "The survivors are expected to be in the tallest standing building. Let's move support our ambassadors, and finish this mission quickly."

When the dozen ships unloaded their soldiers the wolves spotted the tall armored Guardians, who specialized in communicating with aliens. They would make first contact with the survivors, and it was the other teams job to support them.

The teams were still mobilizing to move when the second warning came. "All teams, inbound enemy wave. Estimate time until arrival, seven hours."

"We need to move now," the Guardian team member ordered. With that warning, all teams hurried forward. Some of the trees were shot to pieces when they were seen moving to attack in a signature move that could have only been the Creepers but otherwise there were no hostiles until they reached the charred city. It was obvious that the survivors tried to burn everything around the city several times.

Contact was made with the aliens and the wolf pack was ordered to set up a perimeter with the other teams while the Guardians communicated with the aliens. It had only been an hour since the last warning.

"All teams, abort mission," Commander Ibori himself yelled over their coms.

Stunned, the team hesitated from the order for no more than a second before they heard the dull roar of something else entering the atmosphere. A.J. looked up to see debris burning up. Confusion overtook all the teams while they tried to fall back but bring the aliens with them. The Guardians successfully persuaded them to come along but it was clear that some were being forced to go by gunpoint.

What was never expected to be larger than a small skirmish soon became a full-scale battle. Through the bright sky, the flashes of missiles exploding could be seen. Launched Immunities had entered the atmosphere and were fighting. Several pods crashed around the team, carrying Insectoids in them.

"Keep moving," the Guardian Captain ordered. They ran over the ashen ground, struggling to keep their footing from the ground shaking from the impacts.

Before they reached the tree line of the Creepers, an Insectoid landed in a shower of ash and dust near the wolves. Alex halted for a moment and aimed on the cloud of dust. A.J. and Kaitlin did the same while Yuri and Mary covered their flanks. It only took a second before the Insectoid could be seen standing up from the impact, and the three wolves fired at its limbs, blowing them off and severely crippling its mobility.

"Let's go," ordered Alex, sprinting toward the other teams.

They were half a kilometer from the ships when A.J. noticed something particular in the sky battle. Immunities engaged what looked like one of the serpents from the Stealth home world, but they failed to stop the creature. It dove right for the drop ships.

"All teams on their ships now," ordered the Captain, who also noticed the creature. "Guardians, defend the ships."

Without another word being spoken, the teams retreated to the ships while the Guardians turned their guns toward the sky and started to shoot at the flying serpent. Most shots missed at the distance and the creature kept coming until its wings opened up and it slowed to crash to the ground. The ground shook more violently than from the Insectoid impacts.

The wolves, who were still catching up, were cut off by the serpent that was larger than those they fought four years ago on the Stealth's planet. From its scales, millions of small bugs started to take off from it.

"It's a swarm of Creepers," yelled Kaitlin, realizing instantly what the bugs were.

While the swarms scattered, and the winged serpent fought the Guardian team, the wolves fired into the portion of the swarm that was coming after them. Their projectiles did nothing to slow the bugs, and they were defenseless to stop them.

A.J. fired a grenade into the swarm, flew through them and blew on the ground killing hundreds of the fly-sized bugs but still did not slow them.

Their shuttle pilot landed suddenly in front of the wolves just as the swarm got close, and opened the passenger bay for them. They hurried onto the ship where the rest of their team waited, and immediately took off, while only a few bugs made it inside.

"What happened to our seven hours?" Mary demanded while she climbed toward the copilots seat.

"I don't know," responded the pilot, focusing mainly on pushing the ship engines to full burn to get them back to Drach'n Breath.

The team braced themselves against the turbulence and shifting gravity forces, but A.J. managed to look back out the window to see the winged serpent still fighting the now-stranded Guardian team. With its wings, it moved unlike the other serpents could: Dodging attacks, and counterattacking every time the Guardians tried to score a critical hit. Soon the last Guardian fell, and the winged serpent didn't hesitate to spring up after them.

"Incoming," A.J. yelled watching the serpent fly at them with surprising speed. It crashed into the ship just as they were breaking atmosphere. A.J. was thrown across the passenger bay and into the wall. His armor cracked as something pointed stabbed through the hardened layer and threatened to pierce the wolf's flesh.

A.J. pushed himself up from the others he landed on top of, fighting to steady himself while the ship spun out of control. The pilot could be heard fighting with the controls, and slowly the ship got back on track.

The impact had left A.J. dazed, so when he heard the screams from one of his teammates, he failed to respond until someone yelled: "The bugs are infecting him."

The wolf turned to see a dozen bugs burrowing in the cracks of one of the wounded soldiers. The soldier continued to scream while the bugs burrowed into his flesh as well. Unlike the normal Combat Infections, the soldier stopped screaming suddenly and went limp for a few seconds before the body bolted up and tackled the nearest soldier. The sword of the infected soldier was already in his paw before they both hit the ground, and he sliced through the thin plates guarding the neck of the unfortunate soldier he had tackled.

Alex kicked the infected soldier, it rolling over toward A.J. who had stood back toward the hatch of the passenger bay. A couple of the soldiers on the other end snapped up their rifles and fired at the infect soldier, but one projectile hit A.J. as well, the bullet piercing is broken armor and going through his chest.

He screamed and reeled back from the shot. Before he hit the ground however, the ship lurched violently several times until it suddenly decelerated. A.J.'s head slammed into the bulkhead and he blacked out.

When the wolf awakened again, he saw that the ship was badly damaged. Slowly getting up despite the wounds he suffered, A.J. looked around to only see static. His visor was broken and cracked so he hastily removed it. That was the first time he smelled the blood. Standing up the wolf saw that several of his team members were on the ground, armors broken and blood leaking from them.

Our armors can withstand these impacts, why are they so fragile? He had thought. Gunshots drew his attention as he saw Alex exiting the transport vessel, firing around the corner as he did. Kaitlin was moving with their leader, and beyond them A.J. could see that the transport ship had just crashed landed into the hangar of Drach'n Breath.

The wolf recognized a small armored wolf next to him. Even fully grown Yuri was still smaller than the rest. He went over to the prone wolf.

"Yuri," A.J. coughed, trying to removed the small wolf's helmet to check if he was alive. Bent over the smaller wolf, A.J. only saw the flicker of movement before his instincts had him jump back. A blade caught his cheek and slide across his muzzle to his nose as he jumped back.

With a yelp, A.J. fell back and before he could even react, he felt something jump on him and bite down on his left ear. Teeth tore into his ear, and drawing blood.

More gunshots followed and A.J. felt the creature on top of him flinch until it fell off of him but it painfully ripped off half of his ear while it fell. Breathing heavily he looked up to see Kaitlin walking over him and firing more shots into the downed, infected soldier.

"No, Mary!" Kaitlin yelled, running out of his vision.

Still breathing heavily and his vision blurred by tears of pain, A.J. struggled to stand up again. When he saw Kaitlin near the copilots seat, he also saw Mary. She was hunched over in the seat, unmoving with blood draining from the railing that had pierced her heart.

This mission was an easy one. The Creepers never had these forces before. What happened?

"...A.J.!!" Alex's voice finally broke through. "She's gone. Get Yuri, and let's get out of this hangar."

The wolf finally snapped back and despite his wounds he went back to Yuri. He pulled off the smaller wolf's helmet, to gratefully find that Yuri was alive. Unconscious though, A.J. struggled to pick him up. He threw him over his shoulder and tried to crawl out of the crashed ship.

The hangar was a mess, the winged serpent having followed the small vessel into the ship. It had suffered enough wounds that it now lay dead, half in the ship, and half still floating through the barrier outside. Without warning, a bright light enveloped outside, brighter than a star.

A.J. yelled as he could was too late to turn his head and was blinded by the light. He tried to blink but his vision would not clear.

"Damn it," Alex yelled, grabbing A.J.'s armored paw and led him while A.J. could only try to keep up and keep a hold on Yuri. Gunfire and screams still filled his hearing though.

"When did we start producing nuclear bombs again?" he could hear Kaitlin yell. "Those weapons are illegal!"

Struggling to keep himself from falling, A.J. was pulled through some corridors and the fighting eventually dulled. Every now and then he heard it spike up again, assuming that the fight had made it deep in the ship but he could only follow while his vision still tried to recover. Soon, all the fighting had stopped and only alarms and yells of some other soldiers were heard. A.J. was stopped and was relieved of Yuri as someone took him.

"A.J. saw the blast and lost his vision," Alex could be heard telling someone. "We don't know how bad Yuri is hurt so check on him first."

"What of your other pack mate?" a familiar voice said. A.J. recognized it as one of the ship's doctors.

"She was killed in action," Alex said, biting back his anger. Without another word the doctor was heard rushing off. There was a lot of yelling, and A.J. knew it was because of the injured flooding into the medical bay.

"Ow!" A.J. yelped when he felt a sharp pain on his torn ear.

"Sorry," Alex's voice said quietly and close to him. "Hold still. Kaitlin, get me all the information you can on what the hell just happened."

"Yes sir," she said.

Alex painfully assisted A.J. by checking his wounds and doing his best to clean them. "You're lucky the bugs didn't go after you A.J." he said. "From the looks of it, it takes several of them to infect someone like they did back on that ship. It's not like their normal infection because that soldier looked fully functional but lost complete control of his body. What can you see A.J.?"

"A white wall," admitted the wolf, breathing heavily from the pain. He blinked several times but it did nothing to clear his vision. "Sometimes some spots."

"You'll regain your vision soon enough," reassured Alex. The leader removed several parts of A.J.'s chest plate to better care for the bullet wound. "Find anything out Kaitlin?"

She hesitated. "We just intercepted a message sent five days ago to us. It was a fallback order. Prepare for imminent counterattack."

"It's a little late on that!" barked Alex, stepping back from A.J. The blind wolf could only stay seated where he was. "Mary is dead now! Why didn't they send the order sooner?!"

"Major Redding," Kaitlin continued, despite the outburst from their leader. "He fought a Perfected Infection that told him that the Creepers weren't fighting a war yet. They were still coming. Now, they're here."