FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

After four long years, the stars on the maps started to show the familiar constellations that surrounded their home star. The relief of arriving home was mixed with feelings of anxiety of seeing the state their planets were in.

For Yukiomaru, both of those feelings were dwarfed by his excitement to see his best friend again. He had always missed Jun's company, but for the past year since the fox had been growing through another spurt, he had started to desire to be in the marten's company more and more until he could not stop thinking about him.

The last couple of hours of the trip were the longest, as Yukiomaru could do nothing but wait as Drach'n Fury slowed down to enter the system and continue to slow down until they stopped and docked in one of the new orbiting shipyards around one of the planets. Fury was given free control over the ship to monitor the docking, with Cassander's supervision.

The adolescent fox was too distracted to personally monitor the approach. He waited watching on the bridge, shifting weight from paw to paw, for the moment the crew would be allowed to exit the ship safely. He had already arranged to meet Jun, and Tang, on one of the space stations over Canidera so now he just had to wait.

He allowed his excitement to cloud his mind. After all, he did go out and fight the Creepers for four years, conquered dozens of planets and eliminated hundreds of significant threats to the fleets; he was allowed a few days to himself.

"We've rounded the gas giant," Fury said. The dark side of the large planet gave way to the bright star that they were headed toward. "Canidera is in visual range."

The screens that showed the surrounding stars all turned into one of the stars and zoomed in on it. The image showed a white sphere, with the clouds swirling around the entire planet like it was a milky snow globe. Not piece of land was seen through the clouds that reflected all the sun's light and warmth.

"It doesn't look like Canidera," muttered Yukiomaru, staring at the white planet.

"The storms are still raging across the planet," Yelena Cassander said. "This is what we expected."

"What are you going to do now that the cities are a frozen wasteland?" asked Yukiomaru glancing at her. He was still shorter than her but now it was only by half a dozen centimeters, rather that a couple dozen.

"Tang Fa has granted us room in the Sanctuary so I intend to explore the biodome now that my favorite places are gone," answered Yelena.

"Think the rest of the planet will ever recover from this?" Yukiomaru asked, gesturing toward the white planet.

"The landscape won't look the same, being the oceans will have a lot less water in them now that all that water is the ice that'll cover the whole planet," remarked Yelena. "But in time the planet will warm up again, and even with the changed landscape, it'll be back to the way it was. Just not in our lifetime."

"We're reaching the shipyard around Fellorian that I've been ordered to dock with," mentioned Fury with his fluid and organic voice. The A.I. wasn't nervous about returning home this time because he had evolved as well, and could prevent himself from being turned off by the mechanics by traveling to another core anywhere in the system. "The crewmembers are being ordered to report to their shuttles."

Yukiomaru was still the admiral of the fleet, and being the commander it'd be best if he waited to be the last one off of his ship. The crew always had to obey the orders of the commander while he was on the ship, and it helped them to obey those orders when they knew that whenever they were on the ship, so was the commander.

He hated it. Yukiomaru did not want to wait for while the others left, those crewmembers who had lived with him on the ship for the past four years, and some of them even being veterans to the ship since it was first launched, just like him.

Another hour passed before Yukiomaru communicated with Shipyard Master Halls, who he was glad to discover had survived all this time. The ship finally docked in a new shipyard and the first shuttles left Drach'n Fury. The other ships in the fleet docked as well, except for the few that belonged to the Guardians. Those ships had already returned to their space station, the moon-sized fortress that the Guardians had called home for tens of thousands of years.

The waiting was excruciating long, even more so when the fox looked up information on the space station that he was waiting to go to in order to meet Jun. He knew that Jun would be waiting there now for him.

Yukiomaru worked on the bridge's command consoles to confirm all necessary systems were shut down. Thankfully Fury and Yelena helped the process go much faster, but Yukiomaru still needed to confirm each system himself. All this prep work for the maintenance crews to look at the ship, repair, rearm and refit whatever the Shipyard Master deemed necessary.

Lastly, the A.I. core was turned off and the ship went dark. Yukiomaru knew that Fury had already transferred his "consciousness" off the ship so he was still monitoring something somewhere. But now, Yukiomaru and Yelena could finally head down to their shuttle and leave the ship.

Yukiomaru set a fast pace walking to the hangar, going as fast as he could without starting to run. The meerkat did her best to keep up but she nearly had to run herself.

"Welcome aboard Admiral," said the pilot once the two officers climbed into the passenger bay of the shuttle. "I'm Pilot Juliet Lani. Please strap in and we'll be off. Lord Fa has requested that we hurry back to the station."

"Let's get going then," urged Yukiomaru.

"Yes sir," said the pilot. The ship's engines started to warm up and it quickly took off out of the hangar of Drach'n Fury.

"You're really excited to see Jun again," mentioned Yelena sitting across from the Admiral. She wore a mischievous smile but the fox ignored that.

"I am," admitted Yukiomaru glancing at Yelena. His gaze remained through the cockpit and out of the windshield while he watched Canidera grow larger in view. "My whole life I've been training and fighting for the military. I'm not afraid of admitting that I really want to see Jun again now."

"Ever since you've started going through another growth spurt, you've been eager to get back and to see Jun," said the meerkat.

"Yes, I've already said that," said the impatient fox. He didn't even notice that Yelena was still smiling at him, at the naivety of him for being ignorant to the nature of his own emotions. Her smile widened when Yukiomaru started to run his paws through his fur, and straightening out his uniform. He was concerned with how he looked.

After ten minutes of the fox fidgeting, the shuttle slowed down and docked into the space station. Yukiomaru could hardly contain his excitement and he was growing more and more anxious as the seconds ticked by. His tail flicked from side to side once he stood up and waited for the passenger door to open.

The doors slid apart with the light from the station flooding into the shuttle. His eyes adjusted to the brightness instantly, and standing about three meters away in the station were two martens, a female and male.

Tang looked the same but Yukiomaru hesitated for a brief second when he saw her brother. He was staring at Yukiomaru looking a bit shocked, just like the fox. The male marten was older, and taller than the fox remembered last seeing him. The smile, the eyes, the fur was all the same though, he was still Jun.

Realizing this, Yukiomaru's next action was not expected by anyone. He took a slow step at first before nearly sprinting toward the marten. Practically pouncing at the marten, he threw his arms around the marten's neck and squeezed tight to him.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Jun, catching Yukiomaru in his arms. He had to take a step back to keep from falling over but once he regained his stance, he tightened his arms around the furry fox. With a smile he closed his eyes and embraced the fox, whose tail was waving back and forth frantically.

Feeling Jun's arms embrace him tight around his small frame filled Yukiomaru with a new sensation: a mixture of relief and happiness. The feeling swelled like a balloon in the fox from the close contact with Jun, and he didn't want to let it go. Burying himself in the marten's fur on his neck, Yukiomaru did not see, hear or smell anything other than the marten.

He didn't know how long they stayed in each other's embrace but he did know that it came to an end sooner than he liked.

"Welcome home Yukiomaru," muttered Jun, patting the fox on his head. Yukiomaru opened his eyes again and looked up at Jun, whose eyes were glossed over despite the large grin he had. The fox was ignorant to the fact that his own eyes were glossed as well. The fox could feel his cheeks getting sore from smiling so widely. He rarely smiled normally.

The world started to return to him though, and he realized that Tang and Yelena were still there. Embarrassed, he felt his ears and cheeks burn a bit so he took a step back, out of Jun's embrace, and tried to regain his composure.

"Thank you Jun," he said, wiping his eyes once he discovered there were tears in them. He glanced back at Yelena and Tang who were just staring at the two of them. "Thank you Lady Fa for meeting us here today. I'm sure you have a busy schedule but it truly is appreciated."

"I can see that," said Tang. Her lips curled into a smile. "There are some matters that we need to update you on but I've agreed to allow Jun to take you to Sanctuary. There is a lot of catching up to do between you two I'm sure."

Yukiomaru smiled but couldn't hold Tang's gaze as he still felt embarrassed from his out of character reaction to seeing Jun again.

"We've prepared to eat some lunch here before we go down to Canidera," Jun mentioned, also regaining his composure. "Lead the way, Tang."

"Right," said Tang. Her crooked smile was more predominant. She and Yelena took the lead and started to walk away from the shuttle that was docked in an airlock.

Yukiomaru and Jun walked side by side to each other while they followed the other two.

"You've grown," Jun mentioned quietly to Yukiomaru.

"So have you," said the arctic fox.

"Remember when I took your PawPad at the cabin?" asked Jun, glancing at the fox. Yukiomaru was taller now but still slightly shorter than him. "The only reason why I was able to keep you from find it was because I was bigger. Now I won't have such an easy time."

"I doubt you'll be very successful," laughed the arctic fox. "I've gone beyond the reach of our sun's light to fight the Creepers. I'm quite skilled in combat now."

"How many worlds have you seen?" asked Jun, quite interested to hear the tales of the arctic fox's battles.

While the fox told the battle over a twin star system, they all arrived at a diner in the station. It was nothing fancy like the restaurants that existed on the planet, but it was an improvement over the fleet food that the two military officers have been eating for years. It was a welcome relief to eat familiar food again.

"By that time you'd think I'd get use to Fury bombing their nests when I'm just a few kilometers away but it's always somewhat exciting to see the mission being accomplished," finished Yukiomaru. He now sat in a booth next to Jun, with Tang and Yelena across from them. "So how is the fight here?"

Jun hesitated at the question. Seeing Yukiomaru had made him forget about their perils, and the state their planet was in, but being reminded of it threatened his happiness.

"We've cleared most landmass," answered Tang. "The equator still rains sometimes so the Creepers have thrived there the longest but we'll have them eradicated soon. We've started to move into the oceans last year. The ice blocks the sunlight for the northern regions and is killing off the Creepers there, but we're still unsure of the aquatic plant life they possess so it's an ongoing battle."

"That is great progress to hear then," said Yukiomaru. "Maybe we can turn off the generators in a few years and allow the planet to start to recover."

"The Sanctuary will be a great asset in its recovery," Tang mentioned. She looked across the table at the fox and was still shocked that the young fox that she advised for all those years ago was now as tall as her. "Jun wants to take you out into the biodome to see it. It's restricted from tourism because of the fragile ecosystem we're growing there but we do have to monitor it frequently to ensure no diseases develop in the populations."

"We will be going tomorrow," said Jun, again smiling after being reminded of the grim progress they've been making. "You must be tired though. Traveling faster than light all this time and then slowing down can have some unpredicted affects on the body."

"I think I'm used it by now but resting sounds like a good idea," Yukiomaru replied. He glanced at Yelena. "You have rooms for us on the base?"

"Yes," answered Tang. All of their plates were just about empty from food now. "It is a bit crowded so I can't give you much but Jun has offered to room with you Yukiomaru. Admiral Cassander has her option to stay in a room with me, or go room with Command Mills."

"Thank you, Tang Fa," said Yelena.

After they had finished eating, they returned to the shuttle piloted by Jun's personal pilot and headed down toward the cloudy planet. The ride was rough through the storm but nothing that Yukiomaru was unfamiliar with.

Through the snow flurries, a dim light had started to emerge through the snow. The light started to brighten until through the snow appeared a large facility. Jun had seen it many times but the green that had shown through was all that he's seen for years. Yukiomaru was more used to seeing green of alien worlds but seeing the green among the ice had something inspirational to the sight.

The walls loomed in front of them as they drew closer to the Sanctuary. Their shuttle was dwarfed compared to the facility and soon they were entering the wall into a docking bay. Exiting the shuttle, Yukiomaru followed closely to Jun since the facility was filled with thousands of refugees and workers.

Entering the corridors, they were well lit with large windows looking into all sorts of different facilities, like the hangars or mere cafeterias. Near these large windows were different plants salvaged from all over the planet. Considering Sanctuary was the last refuge on the planet, it was built impressively to feel open and not so much like a prison.

Through a few smaller corridors, they entered through a few smaller corridors with less crowds. Through a corridor that could hardly fit more than two of them across, Jun led Yukiomaru through a door that entered into a small room.

"Have a good rest," Yelena said before they disappeared behind the shut door.

The room was simple, square with two beds in both corners and a table near the door. Off to the side of the room was a small bathroom.

"There's a shower in the bathroom if you want to freshen up," said Jun. He sat down on the edge of one of the beds and watched Yukiomaru examine the room. "How've you been sleeping?"

This time it was Yukiomaru that hesitated. After Yukiomaru killed Kazamde, he had been plagued with nightmares, and Jun had witnessed more than a few. "Better."

"I remember you had trouble sleeping after Kazamde was killed," Jun said hesitantly.

"I'm going to take a shower," stated Yukiomaru. "We can talk after. I'll just be a few minutes." The arctic fox turned toward the shower but before he did, he took out his PawPad and gave it to Jun. "So I won't be distracted this time." He smiled at the marten.

He received a smile back, and with that he turned back toward the shower and stripped off his uniform.

Yukiomaru was surprised to find that the shower looked as sophisticated as any normal one even under the planet's condition. There was even a full body drier, but that was understandable because to make towels required crops that could no longer be grown on the planet.

Testing the water, it was consistently warm so the fox stepped under it. Rinsing the water through his fur, he sighed and allowed himself to relax. But he knew Jun wanted to talk about some things that the fox hadn't thought of in years. He didn't want to chat about them but if Jun was that concerned, he'd allow it.

Rushing his shower, Yukiomaru finished cleaning his fur quickly and stepped into the full body drier. The total time of the shower and drying wasn't anymore than fifteen minutes before the naked fox walked back into the bedroom.

Jun was now lying on the bed, fiddling with his PawPad, but he had made himself comfortable and was lying in his bare fur. He looked up when Yukiomaru walked out. The fox pulled off a blanket from the other bed, wrapped it around him and sat crossed legged on the bed.

"One thing we have a lot of at this facility is electricity that we harvest from the storm," mentioned Jun, sitting up slightly against the headboard of the bed. "And even though it has great recycling facilities, we have plenty of water from the storms too."

"The facility is impressive," admitted Yukiomaru smiling at the marten. "Everyone on the front lines would love to rest here for a week. There are no other sanctuaries we've left behind, only smoldering rocks."

"Lutracha and Fellorian are relatively untouched from this war, and the Velmarians have built their own sanctuary on Lutracha for themselves," mentioned Jun.

"Well, then the Huli system is the only system in thousands of lightyears that has habitable planets anymore," Yukiomaru said. "I'm glad that we were able to save them."

"The reason why these planets have a chance of surviving are because of you Yuki," stated Jun. "Without you, Aggressor would have killed us all and the planets would have been added to their territory by now."

"Kazamde was a bigger threat," Yukiomaru said. The encouraging words from the marten did make him feel better though.

"He's not a concern anymore either though," said Jun. He paused and broke eye contact before asking his next question. "Do you still regret killing him?"

"I have never regretted that," Yukiomaru answered. "He threatened our very existence, and took me and... infected me."

"I'm sorry Yuki," said Jun. They avoided looking at each other for a moment until Jun glanced up at Yukiomaru. He stood and walked over to the fox and sat down next to him, placing an arm around the fox.

Yukiomaru smiled and looked up at Jun before leaning against him. The marten lied down, and dragged the fox down with him. Jun rested on his back and pulled the fox down so that he would be lying on top of him.

The fox pushed himself up with both paws on either side of Jun's head, so that they were face to face. They both smiled at each other.

"I'm glad that you are back," admitted Jun staring up at the fox. "I've really missed you."

"I have missed you too, Jun," Yukiomaru admitted. The fox lied down, resting his head on Jun's chest and closed his eyes. The marten in kind lightly wrapped his arms around Yukiomaru's ribs. Lying together in close contact made Yukiomaru feel content, in a way that he had never felt before. There was nowhere else he wanted to be at that moment than there.

"You don't still have nightmares, do you?" whispered Jun, running his claws softly through the white fur of the fox.

"Sometimes," admitted Yukiomaru, pressing his ear to the marten's chest.

"You never did tell me about them," urged the marten, gazing down at the fox resting on his chest. The fox's ears bent back a little bit. "Okay, I won't ask. I'm just glad to have you back. You're our greatest warrior, savior of our planets, but to me, you mean so much more."

Jun could feel that the fox's tail started to twitch back and forth slightly from hearing those words. His ears perked up again. Yukiomaru no longer felt the burden of the war or the burden of his own infection at that moment. Yukiomaru was happy.