FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The locker room was quiet. Unusually so with how many pilots were packed in the space. The only sound came from the opening and closing of locker doors and the occasional, hushed whispers of other pilots. Some wandered aimlessly or laid themselves out across the floor trying to sleep. Though many just stared blankly ahead. Alex himself was as silent as the room, both internally and externally as he sat on the floor with his back to the wall, nestled between two rows of lockers. He tried not to think. To keep his mind blank. Thinking was too painful these days. Thoughts full of white hot hatred or profound, soul crushing sorrow. Hatred toward those in Earthforce whose arrogance brought about this terrible war. And hatred toward the Minbari for the death and destruction they've wrought upon both humanity and the collective anthro species of Earth.

The hatred he could at least live with. It at least gave him a drive to get out and kill. Kill the Minbari before they could kill him or his friends. The sorrow however tended to paralyze him whenever it weighed him down. Sorrow for the hundreds of thousands humans and anthros who had been ruthlessly hunted down and slaughtered by the Minbari. Sorrow for the looming fate of Earth and its many sentient species. Though most of all sorrow for his beloved twin brother. The image of his twin flashed in his mind briefly as his hand went to his chest, resting on the necklace his brother had given him before his deployment. A broken promise that he would one day return.

He couldn't blame Connor for breaking his promise. He didn't have a choice. The Minbari didn't give him one. They mercilessly killed him. Murdered him. Murdered like so many others. That hatred began to build in him and he tried to tamp it down. The hatred helped in the cockpit but did no good here on the ground. He shifted to the side, his flightsuit gently rustling as he leaned against one of the lockers. Thinking of nothing wasn't helping.

Instead he tried to redirect his thoughts toward better days. To the days before the war. Before he and so many others were thrust into this untenable position. He thought back to home. To his family and his life beforehand. Thought of his beloved brother and their time in college. So young and happy, so full of energy. Not the tired, bitter husk that was sitting here now. Back then the universe and his future stretched out to infinity before him. Yet thoughts of college life brought him back to those fateful early days...

=======

"You see the news?" A familiar voice called out to Alex as he sat in the university library, a textbook laid out in front of him. Rather than turn around Alex leaned back fully in his chair, turning his upper body almost horizontal to see the source of the voice. An old friend of his was approaching, a black and cream furred ferret dressed in a long sleeve shirt and pair of jeans. "No I haven't been on the net or seen ISN today. What's up, James?"

Alex began to turn himself upright again and adjusted his large, round glasses as the ferret moved around to take a seat at the table with him. "Dude, we beat the shit out of some aliens." That perked Alex up a bit with a quirk of his brow. He hadn't heard anything of alien hostilities lately. Hell, ever since the Dilgar conflict many alien powers were downright friendly if not at least tolerant of both Earth and of her collective species. "No shit? Who'd we beat up? The Narns trying to muscle in on our borders again?" He asked, prompting James to shake his head.

"Naw, check out the news. Shit's wild. We had some ships trying to make first contact and they almost got wiped out by the Minibars or something."

Alex shook his head in astonishment as he grabbed his phone off the table, the sleek black screen coming to life as his contact activated the device. "No shit... I gotta check that out." He murmured as he pulled up the net. With some tapping of his thumbs he brought up ISN and sure enough dominating the front page was a bold headline speaking of "Hostile Contact with Minbari!" He whistled to himself as he started scrolling through the article while his free hand grabbed one of his earbuds off the table, slipping it up under one of his ears to hear the anchor speak of the report. "-pproached by unknown vessels believed to belong to the reclusive race known as the Minbari. The hostile fleet refused all communication attempts from the Prometheus's task force. Instead of establishing a dialogue the Minbari chose to approach the fleet with what could only have been hostile intent. Jump drives shut down by an intense jamming system and enemy gunports opening, Captain Michael Jankowski of the Prometheus made the decision to open fire-" Alex scrolled back up as the anchor spoke, the feed of the talking head replaced with several Earth ships firing blue pulses of plasma and lasers into the sleek, blue, vaguely fish-like hulls of the mysterious race.

Alex paused the video and pulled his earbud back out, dropping it and the device on the table with a shake of his head. "Goddamn that's wild. I guess that's what they get though; trying to pick a fight with Earth." He said with a small laugh and a shrug of his shoulders. He didn't pay the story much thought after that.

Like with the skirmishes with the Narn and the war with the Dilgar, it was yet another display of Earth's military prowess. No doubt this would go just like the Narn problem. A few months or years of off and on fighting and a non-aggression pact before going about their merry ways. He made a mental note to check the forums and image boards later. No doubt there'd be some interesting dialogue happening.

Indeed later that night while he was in his dorm he was scrolling through one such image board devoted to weaponry, the board filled with threads of people boasting about Earth's military might, many of them opening with random stills grabbed from the battle. One thread he was scrolling through had some particularly enjoyable images that got a laugh out of him. There were naysayers of course. The occasional alien or Terran in the board who were offering their dissenting opinions. There was one in particular that caught his eye. Posted with a flair denoting them posting from Centauri space, the comment simply reading "You messed up. As you Earthers say you have stuck your genitals in a stinging hive."

The thread from there devolved into Earth posters piling on him with insults and mockery between boasts that Earth could take whatever the Minbari dished out. Alex went to bed that night comforted by that thought. That Earth could hold its own no matter what.

He didn't consider the Minbari for a couple days after that. With the closing days of the semester, he was hammered by finals and spent what free time he had grinding away. Eventually though his last test was completed and with that he was free. Free from the toil and drudgery of the semester's workload, and free to goof off and do as he pleased until the spring classes started.

He, James, and Connor all decided to go out to celebrate the conclusion of their final exam and they made their way down the sun kissed streets of Phoenix, the once oppressive summer heat long since given way to a more balmy and comfortable temperature that was only slightly undercut by a pleasing, cool autumn wind. He drew in a breath as the wind rustled past him, bringing with it the smell of desert air rather than some upwind industry for a change. Bathed in the glow of the sun as it hung high in the sky, they dipped into an arcade bar they liked to frequent.

Table found and drinks ordered, they settled in and enjoyed each other's company as they spoke of everything except classes for a change. It was all so perfect. So serene and carefree. None of them- not a single person in the bar had any clue this would be the last time any of them would enjoy such feelings. Unaware that this was the last normal day any would experience. That everything was about to change.

Alex happened to be glancing up at one of the televisions behind the bar when he saw it, the footage of some game competition being interrupted by the ISN breaking news logo, prompting a chorus of groans and jeers as the image held on the screen. He watched as the bartender changed the channel, only to be greeted with the same image. And on the next channel, and the next, the next... He felt a pit in his stomach. Something happened. Something big if ISN was on every channel. By now Connor and James had caught on too, and soon they were all shifting out of their seats and making their way to the bar with the growing crowd. The mix of human and anthro patrons began to whisper to one another. A soft, tense murmuring beneath the sound of now idle arcade cabinets replaced what was once an atmosphere of loud and jovial conversation as all watched and waited.

The murmuring came to a stop as a voice came from the television. "This is ISN breaking news." A man's voice said as a brief synthesizer sting of the ISN theme played. The image then changed to a human woman in the ISN studios. She was trying and almost succeeding at presenting an air of calmness. Though he could see the fear in her eyes as she began to speak.

"We interrupt your programming to bring you this late breaking story. ISN has received reports of an ongoing battle happening now on the fringes of the Jericho system between the Earth Alliance and forces believed to belong to the Minbari-" She began to say. She was still trying to hold it together but he could hear the undertones of worry in her voice. "This report comes with footage broadcast direct from the conflict. And this footage, just broadcast to ISN has been confirmed as genuine. We repeat; this footage is genuine... and highly disturbing. ISN urges viewer discretion."

The screen suddenly cut to the camera view from an Earth warship. The image showed what seemed to be dozens of the imposing blue, fish like forms of Minbari warships quickly advancing on a flotilla of six cruisers and four dreadnoughts with their supporting escorts, a mix of frigates and corvettes while the ship filming hung behind. The Earth ships were letting loose with a torrent of plasma fire and missiles as they lumbered ahead, passing several shattered Alliance ships, their hulls faintly glowing as fires burned in the dark and drifting wrecks. Many of the shots went wide, sailing off into space and dissipating with a scant few hitting their marks and leaving glowing impacts on the Minbari vessels. In contrast to the seemingly wild and inaccurate firing of the Earth fleet the Minbari weapons were having no issue.

Bright green beams lanced out, effortlessly carving into the Earth ships. The advancing flotilla was ripped to pieces in seconds, much to the horror of the assembled crowd. One shot especially stuck with Alex. One dreadnought in particular, its nameplate too far to read, was bisected by a thick green beam, it carving clean through the hull like a knife through warm butter. Two more beams shot out from another pair of alien cruisers, beginning to further dissect the ship from two halves into four pieces before the reactor went hot, destroying what remained in a flash of white light. He couldn't believe what he had just seen. His mind refused to accept it. A Nova class. The toughest ship in Earth's fleet. The pride of the navy ripped apart like wet paper. The rest of the ships met the same fate, being effortlessly cut to shreds like their armor wasn't even there.

All around them ships burst into brief flashes of light as many smaller bursts of light surrounded them. He at first thought they were fighters being knocked out until he realized there was no return fire. He saw the occasional fighter firing back before being snuffed out by a burst of green beams, but it began to dawn on him they weren't attacking the fighter escorts. They were taking out lifepods. Wiping out anybody who had somehow managed to escape the destruction of their ships.

Alex felt like he was going to throw up. This had to be a nightmare. It had to be. This was too sudden. Too visceral to be real. And that visceral sense only grew as he realized a voice was coming from the television. "This is the Euripides, we surrender-!" The voice called out, presumably the captain of the ship. It was loud. Panicked and unhinged as it dripped with desperation. The speaker gripped with true, primal terror as he outright begged to their attackers. "We say again- We surrender! For the love of GOD WE SURREND-!" As he spoke another sickly green beam fired out from one of the Minbari ships, sweeping into view before cutting out the feed and silencing the voice of the ship's captain as they were condemned to a violent death in the vacuum of space. There was a moment of static from the feed before it cut back to the visibly shaken anchor, her hands trembling as she held onto a small stack of papers.

"Again we repeat; A war fleet believed to belong to the enigmatic Minbari have struck a core Earth base in the Jericho system, destroying every vessel they-" She did a double take toward someone off screen. What little color left in her face drained away as she simply mouthed the word 'no'. It took her a few seconds to regain her composure. As she did Alex found his shaking hand blindly groping forward until it found its mark, taking hold of his twin brother's hand and clinging to it for dear life.

"Ladies and gentlemen... ...we have... w-we are going live to Jericho 3. A station, a colony with 900 residents. It is... It... It is presently under attack by the Minbari.... We repeat; we go live..."

The feed cut again to the view from another ship, showing the iconic ring shaped Orion class station that was ubiquitous over Earth colonies. Heavily armed and armored, the station was meant to be a bulwark. A line in the sand able to stand up to a hostile force and hold its own with its weapons and fighter wings.

However what the feed showed was the station surrounded on all sides by Minbari cruisers as fighters strafed the station, knocking out turrets and subsystems. Its running lights were out and its rotation slowing as flames poured out from various impact sites and gouges across its hull. A beam from one of the approaching ships shot out and hacked away part of the circular hull clean from the rest of the orbiting structure, causing it to drift from the dying station as the battle raged on. What few batteries remained were firing impotently toward the Minbari, the shots going wide and hitting nothing until one final beam from their enemy hit the station's fusion reactor, shattering the ring station in a flash of white light. Many more ships in the background were mopping up the remaining defenders, tearing into what few warships remained as they tried to stem the tide of death heading for the vibrant green world below.

The bar remained in near silence as the scene played out. Some patrons chose to leave, stumbling outside or toward the bathrooms. Alex could see one human barely holding his lunch as he staggered out the door to upend his stomach contents across the sidewalk outside. In minutes their world changed. Nothing would be the same anymore...

=======

Alex was roused from his memories by a voice. He couldn't tell if he had fallen asleep or not. Sleep came infrequently these days and when it did he didn't sleep very deep. Or for very long. If a scramble order didn't wake him the nightmares inevitably did...

He saw a pair of humans a short way down the locker room beginning to converse. "We're going to win this thing, Mitchell." Came the level and stoic voice of one of the squadron commanders as he spoke with genuine confidence to his wingman standing above him. He recognized the voice instantly. The commander of Alpha squadron who all this time had been sitting in quiet contemplation. The pilot named Mitchell just looked at him. "You really believe that?" He heard him ask Sincliar, who just nodded. "Yes, I do. And you'd better believe it too." He replied, raising his voice enough so everyone within earshot could hear. Heads turned toward him as the few anthro pilots perked up their ears to listen.

"No battle was ever won by people who believed that their cause was hopeless." The human commander said as he started to look over the crowd of beaten pilots, his voice beginning to plant a seed of determination in the minds and hearts of all those assembled. "Do you have any idea of the wars that have been embarked upon where it seemed clear who the winner was going to be? Any idea how many bodies of surprised non-winners have littered battlefields?"

For a moment some pilots could feel the beginnings of a semblance of hope start to well up within them. Even Alex could feel the commander's speech starting to tug at him. Before Sinclair could seize on that initiative to reignite the fire within the assembled pilots fate saw fit to kick sand onto the faint embers of hope, snuffing them out.

There was a brief, soft burst of static from the speakers overhead before a hushed, feminine voice could be heard. "Are we on?" She quietly asked, and after a moment for conformation she began to speak more loudly and clearly.

"This is-..." Her voice caught in her throat and there was a brief pause before she found her it again and continued. "This is the president... I've just been informed that our mid-range military bases at Beta-Durani and Proxima 3... have fallen to the Minbari advance... ...We have lost contact with Io and must conclude that they too have fallen to an advance force..."

Alex looked around. The glimmer of hope Sinclair had tried to inspire was well and truly dashed. Faces and shoulders fell as the assembled pilots listened to the president speak. While others were surrendering themselves to despair he saw Sinclair set his jaw as he looked up at the speakers. Looking like he wanted to scream. Not in despair but in fury that the hope he was trying to foster was so quickly and callously tossed aside.

Still the president continued. "Our military intelligence believes the Minbari intend to bypass Mars and hit Earth directly. And the attack may come at any time... ... ...We have continued to broadcast our surrender, and a plea for mercy... and they have not responded... We therefor can only conclude that we stand at the twilight of our collective races..." There was a brief pause as the president steadied her voice. Some pilots were already leaving the room. They saw the writing on the wall. There was no sense staying to listen. Alex though was rooted in his spot as he listened to what would surely be the last speech the president, or indeed any Earth Alliance president would ever give.

"In order to buy more time for our evacuation transports to leave Earth, we ask for the support of every ship capable of fighting to take part in a last defense of our home world... we will not lie to you. We do not believe survival is a possibility. We believe anyone who joins this battle... will never come home..."

There was another pause as she took a moment to collect her thoughts before she continued, her voice growing a bit firmer as she went on. "But for every ten minutes we can delay the military advance, several hundred more civilians may have the chance to escape to neutral territory... Though Earth may fall, our collective races must have a chance to continue elsewhere..."

"No greater sacrifice has ever been asked of a people-" She went on to say, her voice hardening and growing more determined as she tried to keep her emotions in check. "But I ask you now. To step forward one last time... One last battle... to hold the line against the night... ... ...may God... go with you all..." With that the speech ended before the anthem of the Earth Alliance began to play, filling the empty halls of the locker room. Alex watched as Sinclair stood and left, the only pilot who had a look of determination rather than defeat and acceptance of death. Alex wished he could find that kind of determination within him but all he could find was despair and hopelessness.

He drew in a breath as he sat all alone in the locker room while the anthem played, then slowly let it out as he eventually stood and started for his locker. Dialing in the combination, he opened it up and pulled a photo off of the door before he looked it over. It was a photo of his family from a few years ago. His mother, father, big sister and his twin. Long before this horrible war. Long before their family was torn apart. Before hundreds of thousands of families were torn apart... He looked at the smiling, happy faces of his family. Of himself and his twin, both clueless as to what grim future awaited them. He reached out and ran his fingers over the photo, longing to be there again. There in that moment of familial joy. Barring that he longed to be there now. There with his parents and siblings as the world came to an end.

He felt his eyes well as he looked up at the locker again, grabbing another picture of his newborn brother, brought into the world just as the war began. He felt a lump in his throat and tears run through his fur as he looked at the little collie puppy sleeping soundly in his crib. Blissfully unaware of what was to come. It wasn't fair... none of this was fair... None of them deserved to die. Least of all little Briar. But he was going to die. Die like every other human and anthro once the Minbari came and burned away all life on Earth.

He hoped his family would make it out. Make it to one of the evacuation transports. But he knew that wouldn't happen. The odds were low even one of them would escape. Barring a chance for them to live he found himself wishing their passing would be quick. He hated himself for having such a grim thought. But he hated the Minbari more for even putting such a thought in his head. He looked at the innocent little pup again before tucking the photo along with the one of his family into the breast pocket of his flightsuit, pressing them against his heart as he zipped the pocket closed.

He could feel that hatred boiling inside him again. Hatred for the Minbari and every vile thing they stood for. The senseless slaughter of innocents and the helpless. The cold contempt and total lack of mercy. A hate filled race who saw genocide as the only logical solution to their problem. As the anthem came to an end he grabbed the locker door and slammed it with enough force to cause the rest to shudder and shake before he stormed off out of the locker room and to the assembly area where the rest of the squadrons were waiting for a shuttle to orbit.

He told himself it would be over soon. That before long this nightmare would end. He hoped and prayed that he would find eternal peace once all was said and done. And, with luck, that he would be reunited with his family in whatever afterlife awaited them all on the other side.

But above all else he hoped he'd be able to send more than a few Minbari bastards to hell before they killed him first...