FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Introductions

"Korrella what the hell was that?" The Panther screamed surprised at the new sound "That seemed a bit stronger than anything that has hit us before"

"You can say that again. It drained 30% of my shields and even burst through and hit the port armor plating. All I can tell you is that it isn't the standard artillery rounds, as you should know those bounce off my shields... for the most part" Korrella replied hurriedly

"Return fire on them. I was hoping we could slip through before they managed to lock us. Make sure you track them. What type of ship are they?" The panther seeming a little less worried and starting pushing holographic buttons on one of the holo-screens that belonged to the ship sensors.

"Assault Cruisers, Elite Class. Closing at 980 meter per second. I will have the ability to track them until they close to 6000 meters. I have also analyzed their weapons, some sort of blaster cannons that fire radioactive liquefied material. Their current distance is 16KM; I'm charging the firing arrays. All 12 turrets are online and charged. Firing in 3...2...1...

Right as Korrella finished counting down, she flipped the view screen to a camera facing the approaching ships, somewhere near the end of this ship. Eight blue-green beams of focused light approached the singled closest ship with pulsing intensity and lasted 5 seconds then stopped. I watched for a few seconds, maybe 5 before the ship exploded in a harmless 2000 meter wide ploom.

"What the..." I was at a loss of words for what just happened. I had no idea what can of weapon this ship had, and have never seen any movies or books about it. However my half-asked question was left unanswered.

"Battery Array at 84% and charging. Shields at 72% and charging. Weapon Grid at normal temperature, no crystals or focusing lenses broken." Korrella announced seeming much colder and more tactical than normal, which I guess was something normal. "Ships approaching at 1157MPS, increasing speed to 1475 and orbiting on center ship"

As she finished announcing her report, multiple flashes of blue-white light flashed on all the ship and before the camera could refocus the ship was pelted by multiple rounds of the same weapons as before. I couldn't count how many flashed, but it had to be a few dozen.

"Shields at... 15% percent?" Korrella ended in a question rather than a statement making it aware that she had no idea why they were doing so much damage. However it did not seem to be a worrisome tone, just confused.

"No matter, overload the weapon systems and fire at all vessels." The panther stated monotonously..

As I watched the screen and the ships following us, 12 super bright beams of blue-green light flashed in space with such intense pulses it was nearly blinding. The ship itself seemed to rise in temperature as the beams pulsed from ship to ship for 20 seconds, then with a sudden buzz from the intercom stopped and all the beams seemed to disappear into nothingness.

I rubbed my eyes absent mindedly as I tried to focus on the closing ship only to find their number reduced to half, and some of the remaining ones badly damaged. Whatever these light weapons were, they seemed to be able to obliterate stuff without much of a care. However I just could not wrap it around my mind to ask how focused light could be so devastating.

"4 of the 12 turrets are overheated and are cooling, 1 has a shattered focusing lens, 2 have depleted ammunition crystals. 6 ships have been destroyed, 3 heavily damaged and cannot keep up. The only two ships that remain are not a threat. Should I calculate a warp jump now?" Korrella asked in a cheerful tone as if what it just did was impressive, which in all actuality it was considering I had no idea what had just really happened.

"Go ahead Korrella but don't jump until I say." The panther replied turning to look at me with an innocent smile on his face. "I don't believe I have quite introduced myself yet, I'm Baleem and this is my ship.

"Should I introduce myself as well?" Korrella interrupted. "I think I may be scaring the kid to death"

"Yes that's a good idea Korrella. Also catch him up on what's going on too."

With that the holo-screen changed from the view behind the ship, to a majestic lioness that wore simple cloth strips around her wrists and ankles that were just a simple white color and a loose white dress. Her fur was the shade of well ripened peach with the exception of white around her chest and belly as well as below her knees and elbows. Her hair spread down to her hips and was a wondrous golden red color and perfectly straight.

"You're a female? Why do you sound so mechanical" I couldn't help but ask aloud

"Protocol dictates I am not suppose to reveal myself or anything about myself unless allowed permission, and that means I have to be as bland and mechanical as possible when dealing with non-military personnel." Korrella explained in a calm tone that could simulate rain. "Oh and I'm Korrella but I'm assuming you must already know that, I did not catch your name though."

"Well I think you are very majestic looking and you name fits very well. I am Serail and it's very nice to meet you in person." I replied kindly to her. I was one not to introduce myself to strangers but I was too fascinated and confused with everything that my mind was being distracted.

"Thank you for the compliment/" Korrella replied while bowing to show her appreciation. "It's very nice to meet you Serail, please forgive me for my past coldness. Baleem I have those condiments set and I'm ready to jump."

"Alright Korrella, kid you might want to hold on to something. Although you won't feel the direct effects of warp, it can be disorienting" Baleem directed towards me.

I sat down against the now becoming familiar wall of the room and leaned my head back. As the ship slipped into warp velocity, I experienced a weird feeling of being compressed, hurled forwards, and stopped all at the same time. It was a very strange and confusing feeling, but I didn't feel disoriented. Korrella, whether it was a joke or not, flipped the input to the screen to show the view in front of the ship which was an interesting view. Other then stars and particles zooming past the ship in white blurry lines, there wasn't anything over spectacular about it.

I put a paw to my forehead thinking about everything that had just happened, and about my losses. I'm not sure whether I am alone, or with friends, or whether I was safe or not. My mother was crushed by a 36,000 ton spaceship effectively destroying my only home, Alki was unconscious, and apparently this planet was doomed. Where we were going I had no idea, and I didn't feel like asking. I knew there were other colonized worlds and I knew what they were like or at least the textbook version anyway. I knew however that there were no other such planets in this solar system, but that wasn't so much of an issue since we developed Jump Gate Technology. I've always wanted to know how they worked but I decided to skip that week of school.

"Serail?" Korrella called out to me but I was too lost in my thoughts to pay much attention, but I nodded my head to show I was listening so she continued. "We are going to a system far away from this one, about 13 jumps out to the Anar System. It will take us about 2 hours to get there; I wanted to know if there is anything I can do to make you more comfortable. I can't offer a hotel room with a comfortable bed with a large window looking into space, but I do have a washroom a floor below this one if you want to clean up or have some time alone.

I couldn't help but slump more against the wall when she said "time alone". It was really the last thing I wanted but the first thing I needed. Korrella obviously saw my motion and let out a sympathetic sigh. Now even the A.I. feels bad for me, how sad of a person can I be when I have a computer program sighing at me.

I lifted my head up to an empty room. I had no idea that Baleem had even left, or where he went. Korrella was still plotting data on what I could assume was a space map or sorts, and I knew she was only giving me a visual just so I could have company. If she wanted she could just disappear back into the background and not even try to communicate with me. Hell she probably thought that was a better option than talking to someone who can't carry on a 10 word sentence.

"At any rate Mr. Serail, take this with you. It will help you keep in touch with us better, and much more efficient than me having to monitor the COM" A compartment opened up to my left next to some sort of control panel and in it were a few strange looking devices. They were silver in color and seemed to wrap around one's head. There also appeared to be an ear bud and slits on the side for a built in mic.

"It's pretty simple to put on really. Imagine it as a halo, it wraps around you head and the ear bud goes into your ear and the semi-rectangle part in front of your left eye. The adjustments are on the ring portion of it."

As I put the device on easily like someone who knew what they were doing, I adjusted all the pieces so that they fit my head more comfortably. It seemed to have just enough padding were it was neither bulky nor painful to wear, and I could see myself wearing it for hours on it without any problems. It was relatively slim and compact yet functional.

"Good. Now behind your left ear on the halo portion of it is a small button. Please press it for me and hold it down for 3 seconds."

I pushed the button and held it as directed and a screen emerged from the small semi-rectangle part in front of my left eye. It displayed text which was so small in the scale of things yet so clear and vivid. It said "SUSA" in big bold white letters and "Inspiring Perfection" under it in smaller yet still bold letters. After that the screen went blank for a quick seconds then displayed schematics of the ship with name for important places. Some areas however were unmarked or blacked out for what I could guess was that I didn't need to go to those areas.

"There. Now I can trust you to be able to find the washroom. It is also voice command enabled so you can speak where you want to go and it will direct you. If you need me just call my name, I'll hear you since it is tied into my data centers. Oh and please don't go and try to explore those blacked off areas please." Korrella said in a cheerful tone that had some "something he can do himself, Thank God" under it.

I turned my head back towards the door to leave to find Alki approaching me and his usual calm and moderate pace. As he came to stand over me, he put both of his hands under my shoulders and lifted me up to be face to face with him. Than with a sudden impulse, he kissed me right on the lips followed by the longest hug I have ever experience. I could feel him rest his muzzle on top of my head and his ears flatten against his skull. From my peripheral vision I could see Baleem staring from the doorway behind him but he didn't look all that surprised. Korrella could seem to have cared less about the emotional show, and continued plotting data on some sort of map as well as making records of sorts.