FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Standing behind a large window, a pine marten could see his own reflection while he stared out of a large window. Outside there were several flurries of snow swirling around the top of the mountain. There was a meter of snow on the ground already but the storm was still relentless.

Among the flurries, Jun could see a shape in the snow. The white fur blended perfectly with the erratic snowstorm. Seeing the white fox standing in the snow, having him close and safe, was enough for Jun to feel at ease.

Here on this mountain, with the arctic fox that he's come to love, Jun was home with Yukiomaru. The snow was a byproduct of the artificial storms that were created to help fight the Creepers on the planet, but that was of minimal concern. At that moment, Yukiomaru and Jun were home and the war was no longer a concern.

Even with the arctic fox outside and mostly covered by the flying snow, Jun could see the golden eyes piercing through the snow and staring at him. Even though it was difficult to see, Jun could see that the fox had a small smile.

The wind carrying the snow grew stronger, keeping the white fox's fur flowing with the wind. The fox did not seem bothered by the extreme cold or the viscous wind, but his soft expression hardened as the visibility was severely reduced.

Soon even his eyes were difficult to see through the snow flurries. Jun was growing concerned, fearing the storm would be too much for the fox. Unwilling to take his eyes off the fox, for fear of losing him, Jun did not even consider going outside to bring the fox in.

Before Jun could react in any way, another flurry blew across the fox's eyes but this time the golden eyes did not reappear. The fox vanished with the snow.

The marten felt his heart sink. He had hoped that Yukiomaru would no longer disappear to go do something that wasn't his responsibility. Every time he did, it only worried Jun. They both had suffered enough through the war and he wished Yukiomaru would just stay here in the isolated side of this mountain.

The marten continued to watch the snow, hoping the fox would reappear but he never did. Worry continued to plague Jun. Even if he could go out and search for the fox, it'd be hopeless to find him. His fur camouflages him far too well.

The scene faded and the only thing that stuck was the feeling of being left behind by Yukioamru. Waking from the dream Jun thought on the feeling while he tried to regain consciousness. He was lying in a large bed with a disturbed sheet partial covering his body. The room was bare, with very few personal items. Even if it was the military ship Drach'n Fury, you'd think the commander's room would be a little more decorated.

Jun realized that he was the only one on the bed. The arctic fox that he shared the bed with was missing. Glancing around the room there was no white fox to be seen.

Slow to awake, the pine marten sat up and rubbed his eyes. He crawled off the bed and decided that he'd wake up before searching for where Yukiomaru had gone.

Drach'n Fury and the rest of the fleets were no longer engaging the Creeper forces. The arrival of the reinforcements near the unstable star had stalled the Creeper advancement but the scouts had reported that they're just pulling back and regrouping for another push.

Of course in space battles, they were heavily outnumbered so it was difficult to make a line but with each ship gaining large area of effect weapons, the fleets could cover across a lightyear. The fleets were on the defensive now so that also gave them the advantage to choose their battleground. For now, they are able to regroup and prepare for the next battle. Why the Creepers were acting differently by holding back and regroup could only be guessed that another strong form of them have arrived.

Yukiomaru knew that better than the rest of them. Jun knew that he must have known, and that gave him an idea where to look for Yukiomaru. Jun was now dressed and awake so he headed to the adjacent training room.

Opening the door, and entering the room Jun first noticed that he did not hear any sounds of Yukiomaru exercising. Looking into the room, there were no signs of the fox either. Searching around for the fox, Jun realized that the training room was truly empty.

"He's on the planet, training," Fury said.

"We requested that you not survey us, Fury," Jun said, slightly frustrated that Yukiomaru was nowhere to be found. "Why is he on a barren planet alone?"

"We're in orbit," Fury replied. "He's armored and is fine in the light atmosphere. Not to mention he can probably survive on more extreme temperatures than any non-infected soldier."

"Don't mention his infection to him," Jun warned. "Why did we stop for Yukiomaru to train?"

"We're covering our damaged ships," answered Fury. "They'll pass in a couple hours so Yukiomaru decided to train planetside."

Only about half of that sounded true to the pine marten. Whatever reason Fury was lying to him, was probably because Yukiomaru ordered it. Whatever reason he had, Jun knew he wouldn't learn it from the AI.

With Yukiomaru off the ship, he rearranged the sheets on Yukiomaru's bed and make the bed look nice. Jun also showered and dressed himself before going to the bridge. There he would be able to read several of the reports. There were thousands of reports, categorized by priority.

When Jun arrived on the bridge, Vice Admiral Cassander was there. She was watching the scans that were tracking the retreating damaged ships.

"Yukiomaru is on the planet?" Yelena questioned once the marten walked on the bridge.

"So I am told," answered Jun. "Are we tracking him?"

"No, we were requested to not track him," answered the meerkat while she glanced at Jun. "It is difficult through all the interference of the planet anyway. It's early development for a habitable planet so there are a lot of electrical storms down there."

If the planet was an early development planet, it would be barren but also would have a lot of electrical interference. Why would Yukiomaru choose this planet to train on? Why stop here? Why aren't they escorting the retreating ships instead?

Jun had no answers, but he knew that Yukiomaru had them; and since there was no way to contact Yukiomaru, he'd have to wait. Activating his PawPad, Jun started searching the battle reports.

Resources were running low. The massive amount of casualties that this war had brought to all the races has left few behind to continue producing the weapons needed to continue the war. Mining operations of were constantly being interrupted now by the advancement of the Creepers. Non-military casualties were also increasing.

Reading the reports were dismal. They were losing the war once again and this time there'll be no way they can recover from another invasion on Canidera. The Guardians are sacrificing large amounts of their fleets to help protect Canidera. The Stealths have very little military power left and are using most of it to guard their reclaimed world. The Beast alien numbers are down to the tens of thousands and they're not risking fighting on the front lines. Instead they're focusing weapons development. The half dozen other races have even fewer numbers and are the borderline for extinction.

No, if Canidera falls then the war is over and the Creepers will have won.

Even with resources dwindling, the battle reports have been recording success in the recent battles. Of course success meant that they were holding the line and no longer being pushed back. The Guardians have been using their largest weapons, that appear similar to the nuclear weapons that devastated Lutracha. These bombs were different however as they were more effective, creating a strong gravitational pull to the center of the bomb where an inferno rages. In a sense it was creating a tiny star that pulled in everything nearby and incinerated it. It was an affective weapon against the creepers.

Of course such a weapon was expensive to produce and the Guardians don't keep very many of these incredibly dangerous weapons.

"Fury, what are you doing?" Yelena asked frantically, interrupting Jun's reading of the reports. He turned to see her watching over the main console. On the console appeared the planet that they were in orbit, and with a slight shudder from the bridge, a projectile from the main cannon fired down to the planet's surface. "Fury, that was unauthorized! Don't fire on a developing planet!"

"Admiral Alexander is returning to the ship," Fury merely responded. "Prepare for departure. Any use of out of ship communication is henceforth prohibited. Admiral's orders."

"I have not received any such order," replied Yelena. "Where are you taking us?"

Yukiomaru was coming back onboard. Jun didn't stay to listen to the meerkat argue with the A.I. construct. He exited the bridge and directed himself straight to the hangar where Yukiomaru should be landing.

"Our fleets are the other way!" Jun could hear Yelena scream just as the doors slid shut behind him.

This was supposed to be the calm before the storm. Another key battle was about to be fought so what was going on now? There were a few possibilities that Jun suspected, but he figured he'll learn about it from Yukiomaru himself.

Entering the hangar, he saw that Yukiomaru was just arriving. The Immunity class ship came to a slow halt. A maintenance crew was standing nearby, waiting for their commander to exit the vehicle but the cockpit remained shut. Only a few seconds had to pass before Jun knew something was wrong.

"Open the hatch," Jun ordered to the maintenance crew. He wasn't their commander but they sensed that something wasn't right and obeyed.

Jun stood back while a civet and a raccoon worked to open the hatch. It unsealed itself and opened. Jun felt a stab of pain pierce through his heart.

Inside was Yukiomaru without a doubt, but he was barely conscious. His helmet was removed but was replaced by the ship's rebreather. His armor was shattered and beneath his body was heavily beaten. Fur and small bits of blood spilled over the cracks in the armor.

"Yuki," Jun could only mutter. The fox was struggling to breathe, but he managed to crack one gold eye open to see Jun's shocked and concerned expression.

Velsh'nark wrote a report on Yukiomaru, after he was discovered on the Stealth homeworld. The fox suffered serious injuries but recovered in an impossible time frame. It obviously had something to do with his infection helping mend his body. So what could have done this to Yukiomaru?

And why didn't Fury have a medic team standing by?

"Fury!" Jun growled. "Medic team, now!"

Yukiomaru closed his eye and breathed laboriously with the assistance of the machine. After a few more deep breaths, he removed the rebreather and struggled to open both of his eyes. Then he tried to stand up.

Jun could only sprint over to the ship before Yukiomaru collapsed. The marten caught him a moment before Yukiomaru would have crashed to the ground. The arctic fox pulled out from the ship and Jun hoisted him up on his shoulder. The fox was still conscious enough to open his eyes again and look at Jun.

"Thank you, Jun," he muttered.

"What happened?" Jun asked, using his body to support to the whole weight of the fox.

"Euno," muttered Yukiomaru.

What is Euno doing here?

Jun didn't pester the arctic fox. Despite the pain he was in, Yukiomaru had a light expression while allowed himself to rest and be supported by the pine marten. It didn't take long for the medical team to arrive, but once Yukiomaru was moved again his expression grimaced at the pain.

Jun followed the medics as they took Yukiomaru to the medical wing of the ship. There they removed his armor and started to treat the several cuts and bruises that were all over his body. They preformed a few tests but the examination quickly ended.

Yukiomaru had regained more of his consciousness and brushed off the medics. Maybe he really did have some sort of accelerated healing ability thanks to the Creeper infestation. The arctic fox walked out of the medical bay and joined Jun in the observation platform.

"Are you okay?" the pine marten asked.

"I want to go back to sleep," Yukiomaru answered, smiling slightly at Jun. "Can you help me to my room?"

"Of course," replied Jun. Yukiomaru put an arm around Jun's shoulders so that the marten could help support him and they away from the medical bay, against the advise of the doctor.

Yukiomaru seemed to regain some of his strength during the walk back to the Admiral's quarters but he still seemed exhausted. When they reached his room, Jun set the fox on the bed where the fox was quick to lie down. Jun lied down adjacent to the fox so that they were nose to nose.

Yukiomaru's eyes were closed but when he felt Jun lie down next to him, he smiled. "Good morning Jun."

Jun was glad to see that the arctic fox was in good spirits but he was too worried about him to ignore what had just happened.

"What did Euno want?" Jun asked. His voice was quieted down to a whisper.

Yukiomaru opened his eyes and gazed into the icy blue eyes of the marten. "We've only destroyed two of them. Kazamde and the Queen of the Insectoids. There are another few dozen of them."

"Are they all here on the front lines?" questioned Jun. Yukiomaru and Nishant were the only two that could stand up against the Perfected Infections. Fighting more than one would be disastrous.

"He only told me that three infected Guardians are here," replied Yukiomaru. "The first three that were infected like me. I'll destroy them and this war will be over."

"Why you fight with Euno then?"

"He still is trying to convince me that the Creepers are not in the wrong."

Jun was worried about the fox whose eyes he was staring into. The fox's eyes disappeared behind his eyelids again and the fox rested.

"Where is Fury taking us?" Jun asked.

"To end the fight," Yukiomaru answered. He didn't open his eyes when he answered. "Fury will stay hidden from the planet. I'll deal with it on my own."

"Yuki," Jun whispered. Hearing that the fox was trying once again to handle it all on his own sorely disappointed him. He brought a paw up and brushed back the fur on Yukiomaru's cheek.

Yukiomaru kept his eyes closed and remained silent. He was once again hiding his emotions. Jun knew there was no convincing him otherwise once Yukiomaru got defiant like that.

Jun stretched so that his eyes were looking over Yukiomarus ears before he put his arms around the arctic fox's torso and pulled him closer. The arctic fox's ears went back as he was pressed against Jun's chest. He knew he had disappointed Jun again but he did not want to risk his safety, or let him worry by watching the battle.

"Stubborn fox," muttered Jun. He did not let go of the fox he loved.