FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

(Author's Note)

"Speech"

-Computer Writing/ On Screen Text-

{Luna Talking}

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* * * = Scene Change

// // = Major Scene/Time Change

Mysteries of the Past:

"This way damn you!" An Ekifir shouted, diving down another corridor through a stone doorway. Several bolts of green flew by my head as he said that, forcing me to quickly hunch over, still dashing after the lizard.

"Oh, shit!" I shouted, abruptly changing directions and diving in after him. "Drosh! Wait for me! Oh, damn it all," I muttered several curses under my breath, sprinting past the hieroglyphic covered walls after the lizard. "Bloody lizard!" I screamed, stopping to spin around and go to my knee.

Raising my rifle up to my shoulder, I fired several shots back down where I had come from, seeing them leave deep gouges in the wall, and forcing the soldiers that were following us to dive for cover again. A grim smile was all I could manage before spinning back around.

Bracing myself and leaning forward, I sprinted for all I was worth. The images on the wall became a dull brown blur as I went down the softly curving corridor. Each step of my metal alloy boots resound with dull thuds through the hall, and I gave thanks that the Dominion forces behind me had no clear shot.

Suddenly the close walls around me morphed into a massive cavern, the walls so high that the flashlight on my rifle couldn't illuminate the ceiling. I did not even pause to marvel at the sight, my arms working my rifle side to side as I ran straight across the cavernous room.

All to soon, the far wall came up to me, forcing me to stop cold in my tracks. Shouting a curse, I spun on my heel, looking for a doorway and finding none. Hearing the shouts of Edjharra warriors, their weapons and armor clanking and echoing as they followed me, I tried to figure a way out.

A dark realization dawned on me. I would have to stand and fight. Setting my teeth in a snarl to mask my fear, I went to my knee as I aimed towards my foe. Raising the rifle to my shoulder again, I brought the red dot over one of the Edjharra's heads, and fired. The report echoed throughout the cavern again, illuminating the area around me for less than a heartbeat.

I did not even have time to take in the sight of his falling body, swinging my weapon to another warrior and firing again, killing him as well. But when I brought my sight to a third and pulled the trigger, a horrific, soft, click sounded when I pulled the trigger. Trying again quickly, my eyes flirted over to the HUD screen, only to see that I was completely out of ammunition.

Dropping my rifle, my paw went to the pistol at my side, unclipping it and pulling it out. Thanks to the design of the holster, it chambered a round for me as I pulled it out, so all I had to do was aim.

Still on one knee, I aimed the pistol at the same Edjharra I was going to shoot with my rifle, and fired twice, already swinging over to another target.

It seemed that there were so many of them.

That's when I saw an Edjharra not more than a dozen paces away, his duel-bladed, staff-like, weapon raised over his head and twirling in an elegant dance that would soon sing my death. So, with a small shout, I brought my pistol about, ready to fire, when my world literally fell out from beneath my feet.

// //

Three hours earlier

Crawling through thick underbrush has never been high on my list of things I wanted to do. But, if I had a mental bucket list, that could now be crossed off, I suppose.

Sighing deeply, I considered the alternative. Death by a hundred plasma bolts. Not a fun proposition in the least. Glancing to my right, I saw the red Tilki, Eclipse, right next to me, his long sniper rifle by his side. I saw his grin as he looked at me, which only made me sigh again.

We'd been commando crawling through this brush for ten minutes, high up on a cliffside. Now it was paying off. Seven hundred meters away, on the floor of the depression, sat our target. A massive artillery piece, undoubtedly of alien origin, surrounded by dozens of Balina and Edjharra soldiers, all of them scrambling around in the organized chaos of getting the cannon ready to fire again.

I had not thought to bring a sniper rifle with me, so I was delegated to spotter for Eclipse. Not that I minded though. That fox was, hands down, the best sniper that I had ever heard of or seen. He'd have dropped ten enemies before I had even sighted in one.

Instead, I had a pair of binoculars that I would use to help mark targets. We wouldn't be part of the main assault on this position. What we did serve was a destroyer of key opponents. Officers, Elites, and targets of opportunity. Those were the ones we were after.

"Eclipse, come in," came the soft voice of Po, who was down there, just outside of the perimeter. "We're in position. Karen and Drougar have already set the charges on the second target. Give us a sitrep."

With a glance of my eyes, I saw the fox reach up and click the earpiece so he could answer. "Looks like two dozen Balina soldiers, some engineers, aaaannnnd," he gazed down his scope, and I followed suit with my binoculars. "Looks like three Elite Edjharra."

We could both hear the soft muttering of Po as he talked with Jaeger, undoubtedly coming up with a plan of attack. Suddenly his voice came in clear, if still softly. "Alright, we're gonna try and do this quietly. Set the charges and get out. Give us overwatch, and make sure to mark targets in our path."

"You got it Po," Eclipse said happily, still looking down his scope. "I didn't feel like having to shoot now anyways."

"Whatever," came the mumbled response from the jaguar Neko, making both me and Eclipse smirk. We just loved getting under the cat's skin. And he made it so easy at times.

When a string of grass tickled my nose though, I sneezed softly, and brought my gaze back down to the military installation below us. Gazing through my binoculars, I watched as the brown Susuv and the jaguar Neko picked their way to the fence. I gave a soft huff when they simply cut through the fence, making a hole just large enough for them to get their bodies through.

There were no more words spoken between Jaeger and Po for the next few minutes. I followed their progress with my binoculars while Eclipse scanned the area ahead of them with his rifle. Both he and I could mark targets for the two on the ground, which would show up via their HUDs.

I was the first to mark a target, a Balina soldier armed with a plasma rifle. Sighting the crosshairs on my binoculars over him, I clicked a button on the top, and watched as the Balina got highlighted. Then it was all up to Po and Jaeger.

My breath involuntarily held as I watched them, crouching, move up to the unfortunate warrior. The Susuv tossed a small rock, distracting the Balina just enough that Po could pounce. With an expert twist of his hands, the Neko snapped the orca's neck in one smooth motion, catching the body and dragging him into the brush by one of the buildings.

After that, it was smooth sailing. The two of the broke up, so they could plant the charges all around the base. There was one moment when I saw Jaeger clamber onto a building when one of the Elite dragons came by his position, a hissed warning by Eclipse the only reason he escaped. The dragon's armor glistened in the artificial light, his exotic sword lightly bouncing by his hip, it's two pronged blade wicked looking, undoubtedly made for killing, as much as intimidation.

We all could only wait as the dragon paused, a hand resting on the hilt of his sword as he swung his scaled head side to side, almost as if he sensed something was out of place. My binoculars were so powerful, I could see as the small horn on the tip of his snout wavered as he inhaled deeply. I know both Eclipse and I gave deep breaths of relief when the Edjharra finally shrugged his shoulders and carried on down the dirt path, towards who-knows-where.

When, at last, Po and Jaeger finished their tasks, planting explosives on the enemy emplacements, they bugged out of there. Quickly and quietly, they made their way to the far side of the encampment, until they were once again in the woods.

"Eclipse, get over here. Both of you," came the soft, hissed, order from Po.

"Roger that," Eclipse answered, flicking the safety on his rifle back on, and looking my way. "Well, let's get a-moving," the fox said with a grin.

I gave the Tilki a grin in response, following him as he crawled through the brush again. Some of it caught on my exposed face-fur, and I gave thanks every time that happened, that I had on a full military suit. Fully articulated gloves that fit my hand helped me with the annoying, but necessary task of getting the branches out of the way so I could crawl through, and not be blinded.

The two of us worked over the top of the ridge, in the bush line, for a good fifteen minutes, slow and dirty work. When we did get to a small cliff, that extended down to the floor at a sharp grade, we saw Karen waving to us at the base.

Glancing over at Eclipse again, I smiled. "Want me to go first?"

Without missing a hitch, he bowed and held his hand out, "no no, ladies always go first."

Giving the smallest of laughs, I playfully hit the fox's shoulder, and sat down on the edge, getting ready to slide down. Taking a deep breath, I laid my body flat against the ground and pushed off, leaving a trail of swishing dust in my wake. Even through the military clothing, I could the rocks and bumps jarring me.

Thankfully, it was only a few seconds, and when I reached the bottom, I summersaulted into a stand. Clearing my throat, I dusted myself off as I looked around me. "What?" I asked innocently.

Right at that moment, Eclipse came up behind me, barreling right into my knees and taking them out from under. I shouted out, my arms flailing in a circular motion to keep my balance; a futile effort.

I came down right on top of the fox hard, forcing both of us to grunt out in surprise and some annoyance. We'd become a tangled mess of fur and limbs, and all the while Karen and Jaeger laughed. Even Drougar was softly laughing, his eyes closed and shoulders jumping a little.

Only Po wasn't laughing. The jaguar just sighed, and lowered his head, pinching the bridge of his nose tightly. After a few moments, he looked up at me and Eclipse, to see us having at last untangled ourselves. We were patting the dust off our uniforms, when he commented tersely "are you done now?"

"Yes sir," we both answered in unison, giving small salutes.

"Good," he said, turning on his heel. "Let's get moving then. Still a good twenty minutes to the temple," he said, walking off into the woods without waiting.

The four of us all glanced at each other, and setting our weapons, we followed suit. It was now that my gaze went to Drougar. I hadn't really had a chance to look at him before, but now I did.

The dragon stood out in some ways, but there was no doubt he was a member of the Federation. His battle armor was in the traditional Edjharra scaled style, dark as the night. I had to keep blinking, otherwise he would have simply blended into the forest background. Luckily for us, he had the seal of the Federation emblazoned on his left shoulder, identifying him in a unique way.

In his hands was a Federation battle rifle, much like mine. His was different in a few respects though. One such was that his had an interchangeable scope. A red dot sight like mine, then flip over a cover and it became an enhanced zoom scope. Very useful for multiple ranges like we'd encounter here in the woods.

As my eyes flicked down his back, until just above where his tail was attached to his body, I saw first his pistol, again of Federation origins, lightly bouncing by his side with each step. What really drew my gaze though was his knife. A curved blade, around twelve centimeters or so, slid securely into a sheath at the small of his back.

I'd seen it once, back at the base I'd woken up in. Drougar had taken it out, and was sharpening, honing the blade. I remember clearly how each soft ring of the stone from his home world, the only thing strong enough to hone the blade, tinged through our room. He had spent nearly an hour perfecting the edge of the dark metal blade.

I still remember what he said to me as he finished. "Now that my blade is sharp, I must hone my hand to be worthy of it," and then cut the palm of his hand in one smooth motion. With an expert twist of his hand, he covered the blade in his dark blood, me watching in fascination, as he picked up the stone one more time. With one last motion, he finessed the edge, and sheathed his blade without wiping off the blood.

When I softly bumped into Drougar, I was brought out of my musing. He was looking at me, amusement and frustration reading in his eyes. "Be careful. We are near the entrance of the temple now," and with that, his eyes went forward, and the dragon went to one knee, rifle resting across his other knee.

Quickly realizing what he was doing, I followed suit, my rifle resting on my knee as I looked through the brush at the sight before us.

A once-Federation camp stood there, in the thick of an ancient ruin, having been taken over by Dominion forces. Equipment bearing the mark of the Federation stood, unused, as a camp of Dominion forces surrounded them. It was a strange mix, seeing Federation, Dominion, and a long lost civilization being so blended together.

And over it all, a massive pyramid rose into the sky, past the tops of the ancient trees that stood watch. It's steep looking sides were covered in roots and vines, but even these things could not hide what had once been a splendid building.

My gawking was cut short though, when a massive explosion ripped through the area, a dark cloud rising into the sky from where it had detonated. Right at the base of the temple, several Balina soldiers surged forward, only for a unison groan to rise from the camp.

"They must have been trying ever since the distress call went out," Jaeger said softly. I turned my head just in time to see that Po and Karen both nodded in agreement.

Only Drougar remained looking at the area before us, his eyes glancing around as if trying to remember a distant memory.

We didn't have long to ponder though, as Po spoke quietly again. "Eclipse, numbers?"

"Let's see," the fox muttered, bringing his rifle up and gazing through the scope. "I'd guess twenty plus foot soldiers, and at least two, that I can see, Edjharra Elite." The Tilki sighed deeply, lowering his rifle again as he looked at Po. "I don't see a way in, except through the front door."

"Damn it," the Neko muttered, looking down and to the side. "Well, any ideas?" He asked, looking around, looking for suggestions.

"Well, Karen and I can get in close, maybe to that tower there," Jaeger started, pointing at a vine covered building right in the middle of the camp. "Eclipse can climb this tree here," he continued, tapping a large tree right next to him, "and then you, you, and Scales can start the attack," he finished, pointing at me, Po, and Drougar respectively.

I turned my gaze back to Po, wondering what he'd decide. I saw the cat simply nodding in agreement, closing his eyes as he thought it over. Not that I blamed him: it was a good plan, considering that Jaeger had made it in just a few seconds.

"I like it," Po finally said, looking over at Karen. "One small change, Karen and Scales will go to the tower, and get ready for the surprise attack." Swinging his gaze to me, he stared at me for a moment, making me swallow slightly. "You, get to the west side," turning his head again, he looked at Jaeger, "you get to the east. Eclipse," he muttered, turning around to see the fox standing right there, making him jump a little, "first, stop doing that, second, climb this tree," he growled.

"Yessir," the fox said with a smile, giving a salute before slinging his rifle over his back. Walking up to the tree, I watched as he knocked on it softly with his knuckles, before hopping into the air and grabbing the lowest limb. With an impressive show of upper body strength, he heaved himself up, and vanished into the leaves and limbs, despite his red coloration.

Suddenly the cat looked around, softly clapping his paws together, "alright, let's move!" He whispered fiercely, and we all scattered, not a word being spoken.

A few seconds later, I was stealthily moving through the underbrush, hardly disturbing the bushes at all. My eyes were always moving, my ears swiveling at every sound, my nose flaring wide as I took in scents, my body's more feral instincts kicking in.

So, despite the suddenness of her appearance, Luna did not startle me at all when she softly said {I have a map of the area downloaded, if you want me to bring it up for you.}

Ever so slightly I nodded, my eyes still dancing around as I watched for enemy patrols. It wasn't until the map was brought up that i paused, watching it as it oriented to my current direction. {I have my senses extended as far as I can, but it'll still be up to you for anything further than two or three meters.} Luna said softly, letting the map float to the corner of my vision.

Nodding again, my rifle never having left my shoulder, I started moving again. When I reached a massive stone wall, covered in reliefs and vines, I sighed softly. Looking up, there were plenty of places for me to grab ahold and climb up; only problem was that I didn't know if there were any watches on the top.

{Never know till we try,} Luna said, shrugging her shoulders slightly. Muffling a soft whine that threatened to come out, I threw my rifle over my back, letting it hang by its strap. As it dangled, almost annoyingly, I reached up and took ahold of a rock just at the edge of my reach, and tested it.

Realizing that it would hold, I glanced for a foothold, and finding one quickly I jammed my foot into it, making sure it wouldn't give out on me. Without a sound, save the rustle of my cloth-like battle armor, I started to make my way up. I will say, this stuff is nice, flexible, but can still stop a plasma bolt dead.

But that thought quickly left me as I swung up with my left arm, resting all of my weight on my foot, and grasped a protruding rock. Gripping it firmly, almost making a fist around it, I heaved up and grabbed an inlet with my right paw, planting my left foot against the wall.

Looking up, I searched for another handhold, before quickly plotting out a path, thankful that the sun hadn't set yet. The next few minutes I spent repeating this. Planting my foot, searching for an area to grab ahold, and swinging my weight to grab it: that was how it was spent.

Reaching the top at last, I planted my feet on the top footholds, and peeked over the top. Looking, searching with my eyes and ears, I saw not a single soul. Breathing a muttered thanks, I gently rolled myself over the top, and fell the six meters back down to the soft floor, reveling in the rush of air past my face. When I landed, my knees buckled, and I planted my hands against the ground to brace myself.

Quickly going to my knees, I whipped my rifle around and stared through the sights around me. Ensuring that there was no one that had seen me yet, I took a moment to look at the area I was in.

On the one side, behind me, there was the massive wall I had just climbed over; but, three other walls stood tall and imposing, casting the entire former-room in shadow. Soon, my gaze was brought to a single doorway that led out, green vines covering the entrance, although it was clear that someone had recently cut them back.

Swallowing softly, I rose to my feet, still aiming down my rifle as I carefully stepped forward. With nigh-silent steps, I braced against the wall, holding my rifle carefully. Licking my lips, wetting them, I exhaled and suddenly moved into the wall, spinning around as I looked in all three directions.

All of the halls were opened-roofed, no ceiling at all. Either from time, or by design though, I honestly couldn't tell. But, I had no time to study that, as I quickly headed down the left hall, bringing my rifle around to look in front of me. Stepping forward as quickly as I could and still be silent, I actually started to make good time.

It was a strange, if fairly straightforward design. The walls were highly angular, unique in the pre-civilization planets. Still, I didn't like it; fifty meters of straight hall, with break offs on alternating left and right, rooms much like the one I had fallen into. Then, at both ends, and right in the middle, corridors that led off to other parts of the ruin.

One thing that I kept an eye out for were traps, mines especially. The Edjharra were to honorable of a race to use such things, but I knew for a fact that the Balina were quite fond of such things. Didn't blame them either, as they made excellent area-denial weapons.

That's when I saw a tripwire, glinting in the last sliver of the sunlight. "Not bad," I muttered to myself, before stepping carefully over it. Once on the other side, I was again leveled my rifle, and started moving down the corridor, turning the corner carefully.

Seeing no one there, I started forward again, not pausing as I moved. When I reached the end of this second hall, stepping over another tripwire, I paused.

Unlike the other corner, this one broke off into a 'T,' forcing me to choose a path. Sighing, I once again chose the left path, stepping quickly. That's when, suddenly, an alarm started to scream, gunshots and shouting coming from the far side of the camp.

"Well.... that's not good," I muttered sarcastically to myself, sighing as I swung my rifle onto my back again. Bouncing on my heels, I charged the wall, my boots biting into the ground as I leaped into the air. Scrambling the first two steps up, I grabbed at a vine, thankful that it held my weight.

Once holding firm, I grunted softly as I scampered up the wall, rolling over the top when I finally got there. But, this time I didn't fall down, as this area had a roof.

A roof, that left me horribly exposed.

Cursing under my breath, I stayed prone, bringing my rifle to bear on the area in front of me. Suddenly, the sound of gunshots rang out from the direction I was looking, and I could see the shadows of people moving in the artificial light.

About fifteen meters in front of me, a Balina sniper laid prone, his gaze forward as he looked through his scope. Holding my breath, I carefully stood up, drawing my combat knife as I moved forward.

When I was almost atop of him, he snapped his rifle to the side, having gotten a target. With his gaze so distracted, I pounced, knife facing down as I landed on him. The soldier didn't have the chance to utter a sound, the blade sinking into his neck with deadly precision.

Looking up, I caught his rifle just before it fell over the edge, rolling over onto my stomach next to the deceased orca. Taking a moment, I slipped my knife back into its sheath, clicking it in before I looked through the alien sniper scope.

The bottom dial, that held a distance gauge, was written in a language I didn't understand. Thankfully, they used numerals, just like the Federation, and I knew for a fact that they used metric scales.

Those thoughts were only fleeting in my mind though, as I laid the crosshairs over an Edjharra warrior, dressed in full battle armor and wielding an exotic curved blade, similar to the cavalier blades that the old European calvary from Earth used during the 1700's. Least, that's the closest that I could think of.

Before I could pull the trigger though, a loud report, no doubt from Eclipse, sounded out and the warrior fell dead in a spurt of blood. "Yo wolf, how ya doing over there?" Came the sudden, strangely jovial, voice of the fox as he opened up coms to me.

"Good, I suppose," I said, furrowing my brows. "You know where the rest are?" I asked, still looking through the scope of the weapon, searching for the rest of my team.

"Yeah," the fox said, before another shot sounded out, "Karen and Drougar are in that tower in the middle of the camp. I'm gonna lase it for ya," Eclipse said suddenly. A moment later, an arrow appeared on my HUD, and I brought my gaze over until the tower, which had a strange whitish highlight over it, came into my view.

The highlight vanished as soon as it was center of my vision, but now that I had it in my sights, I looked through the scope of my rifle. And, indeed, there were Karen and Drougar, sitting at the top of the tower, waiting. "I see them," I answered to Eclipse.

"Good, because Po and Jaeger are," again, the arrow appeared on my HUD, and I followed it, "right there." Eclipse finished, sighing deeply. "Oh damn it all," he cursed, before firing again. "They're getting hammered pretty hard."

"I see that," I said, my eyes flickering over the scope as I assessed the situation. "Damn it," I muttered, before flicking the coms in my ear on, "Po, you alright?"

"We're doing just fine!" The cat yelled over the radio, "except for the dozen or so Dominion soldiers trying to kill us! Jaeger, rear door!" Po shouted suddenly, as more and more gunshots echoed out. "Karen, you and Drougar flank them if possible, break this hold they have on us!"

Bringing the scope back to the tower, I saw Karen reach up to her ear, turning on communication. "Understood Po. Drougar and I are moving down and hit them from the west."

"Hurry up!" I heard Po shout, as I swung the rifle back over to the building they were trapped in. Just as I had done that, I saw several bolts of plasma hit the outside, scoring it deeply.

"Wolfie, take out as many as you with that rifle," Eclipse ordered me, even as he fired again.

"Right," I muttered, fixing the crosshairs over a Balina, and firing. A thin bolt of high-powered, intensely hot, energy blasted out from the weapon. I could feel as the recoil slammed it into my shoulder, and I watched as it raced forth.

A moment later, I saw the Balina I'd been targeting got hit square in the back, the superheated blast burning straight through his thin armor and going right through him. The bolt then buried into the ground, sending a clod of dust into the air.

I could see the look of confusion on the Dominion soldiers as they looked around, quickly seeking cover from me. But, when a Balina tried to sprint across the gap into an adjacent building, Eclipse took him out, the shot leveling the soldier to the ground.

Then, I brought my rifle to bear on the roadway, only to look up and curse loudly. Throwing the rifle away, I tucked into a ball and rolled off the edge, just as the hovertank that I'd seen readied its cannon at me, and fired.

The concussive force blasted me while I was in midair, arching my back as the wave slammed into me. That, combined with gravity, hammered me into the ground so hard, that I saw stars before slowly passing out.

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Ahh, things are building up in this series, aren't they? Well, trust me when I say that things only get better from here on *chuckles* until next time.

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