FSE

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"Nest located," said a male voice. "Moving in position for orbital strike."

"Fire when ready," replied a very similar voice. Fully armored, an arctic fox stood on the edge of a clearing that contained the ruins of an ancient city.

Rocks clattered on the ground moments before something burst from beneath the ruins and dove right at the fox. The armored fox jumped back as the creature crashed into the spot he just stood at, throwing up dust and rocks that enshrouded its image.

Ten meters back, the fox stood calmly while he watched the dust settle and the creature emerge. It was easily larger than any transport vehicle, with a long exoskeleton body supported by six thin limbs. Six eyes, large pincers and a bladed tail added to the impressive creature's lethality.

"Insectoids," someone shouted over the communication channels. The battle between the creatures and the veteran warriors made it obvious that they knew how to combat the giant insects.

The fox's foe lunged at him again, shaking the ground while it attacked but it was unable to land a hit. The fox flipped head of tail, landing several meters away from the creature each time it attacked. It spat an acidic web on the ground, but the fox masterfully avoided stepping onto those spots while he continued to dodge.

Avoiding another attack by rolling out of the way, the fox didn't have time to dodge the follow-up attack. In the blink of an eye, he was coming to a halt next to the creature, it missing two of its limbs and having its exoskeleton ripped open.

The Insectoid struggled to stand, missing two of its limbs. It fell to the ground with a heavy thud, its entrails spilling from the large gash. The fox stared out over the city, not giving the dying creature a second glance.

Small pockets on the horizon showed signs of the battle, the fox's forces holding back to the enemy ground forces so that they wouldn't interfere or escape the coming bombardment. A burst of gunshots nearby attracted the fox's attention.

Over the now dead Insectoid stood an armored meerkat, her sidearm in her paw and aimed at the head of the creature.

"You've fought these things on a dozen worlds, Yukiomaru," she said, glancing at the fox. "You should know not to leave them alive. The Creeper infection enhances their healing abilities too."

The fox didn't get a chance to reply, as they heard the thunderous sound of shells falling from the sky. Slashes in the sky moved faster than any asteroid or meteor ever could, and disappeared beyond the horizon. The ground shook, followed by an incredibly loud shockwave but it didn't affect the armored soldiers. Plumes of dust rose over the horizon while several more impacts followed.

"Final nest destroyed," informed the male voice that spoke with the fluid sounds of an organic person.

"Good work, Fury," Yukiomaru said, staring over ruins that now had small rocks showering over it. "All teams prepare to evacuate. Mission accomplished. The burner fleet will be here in three hours so be certain that no one is left behind."

The sounds of the high-velocity impacts ceased but the ground continued to shake from the shockwaves that rippled through the rocks. Roaring caused by a dozen ships entering the atmosphere accompanied the shaking a few minutes later.

With artillery shells launched from the descending ships, the remaining firefights with surviving Insectoids ended and the battle was won.

One of the ships landed near the arctic fox, allowing him and Admiral Cassander to board. After a few other armored soldiers had boarded the ship, the ship closed and headed back for the sky.

"Pilot Cooper," Yukiomaru said, taking a seat in the copilot's chair. "Warn the fleet to expect possible heavy resistance."

"What do you mean?" questioned the pilot. "The mission was a success."

"Just warn them, Cooper," the fox said sternly.

Watching from several kilometers away where few ruins had survived was a silver and blue aquatic creature. Its large black eyes reflected the ships that were now leaving the planet, while they fled from their own fire to come.

"He is infected," mumbled the finned creature. He climbed onto the ruins that were far fresher than those from the Guardian's home world. I have finally found you, and you appear to be just like the rest of us. Why won't you fight for us?

"What now Euno?" asked a winged creature, standing next to the silver aquatic creature. "Are you going to pretend you're a refugee?"

This infected alien was once part of a small civilization that couldn't even break away from their planet's gravity field. The avian nature of them left little reason to dream of accomplishing that goal. Regardless, one of them were chosen to be Blessed.

"No, he's was aware of our presence the moment he landed," answered Euno. "He would know that I was on one of his ships. I wonder how he detected our presence so easily. We should find one that looks like him to study their anatomy."

"Do you think there are others like him?" asked the avian. "They all belong to the same species but each one looked so different."

"We'll find one that's closest like him then," replied Euno. "We need to know how sensitive his senses are if we are going to continue to follow him."

The silvery creature turned away from the ruins, and glanced at the smoking ruins of the nest where they were breeding their warriors.

"We should get going, the fire fleet will be here soon," mentioned the avian.

"Yes, we should."

"Purification fleet reports that the planet has been purged," Fury informed the fox, who rested in his room on Drach'n Fury.

"Send the report to my PawPad, please Fury," requested the fox. He was no longer wearing his armor while he leaned back on his bed.

Tapping on his PawPad, he had brought up the report and read how nothing remained of the planet. Even the atmosphere would suffer greatly from the burning and the planet would hardly be salvageable.

"The galaxy will be barren at this rate," Yukiomaru muttered.

"The Creeper's territory does not expand the entire galaxy," Fury answered. "We won't burn any planet that can be purified without burning the entire planet."

"I know Fury," responded the fox. "Sometimes I wonder if the extreme methods of the Creepers did have some meaning though."

"The ends do not justify the means, if it's slaughtering every advanced civilization across the stars," Fury said. "Did you manage to read the report?"

"Yes," answered Yukiomaru, setting down the PawPad. "No resistance was found despite my warning."

"Why'd you give it then?"

Yukiomaru sighed and rested his head back before closing his eyes. "Wherever the Creepers found these insects, they must have chosen them for their ability to reproduce so quickly, and their adaptive abilities on every planet. They can be a threat in large numbers but that nest was the only one on that planet."

"They were never a very big threat to begin with," said Fury, his voice expressing his uncertainty in where Yukiomaru was going with the conversation.

"Those serpents I fought on the Stealth home world, before I killed Kazamde were a larger threat," continued the arctic fox. "Maybe we were lucky and killed them before they could be harvested like this insect race. Or maybe there are harvested species that we haven't come across yet. There was something else on that planet. A threatening presence that I haven't felt since Kazamde."

"You think there was someone like him there?"

"Possibly," Yukiomaru said. "And I was lucky when I killed Kazamde. I also have a feeling that he was one of the weaker of his type, a newborn. If there are others like him, then I don't know what they are capable of."

The fox thought for a moment before standing from his bed and heading toward the shower. Under the hot stream of water, Yukiomaru was able to relax his mind and allow it to wander.

"Is there any news from home?" Yukiomaru asked. Standing under the stream of water with his eyes closed, Yukiomaru's fur was quickly soaked.

"No updates have been reported that I've heard of," answered Fury, speaking over the spray of the shower. "There are still no signs of infection but Tang has always insisted that they go through with the original plan."

"Does she still refer to it to like the planet having a flu?" Yukiomaru asked with a slight smirk. "Just because we don't feel the symptoms, doesn't mean we're cured."

"She does," Fury said.

"What about Jun?" Yukiomaru asked, his voice lowering to a more serious tone. He leaned slightly back to get his head and ears out of the water. "I haven't heard from him in weeks."

"All messages from Jun are directed to your PawPad so I'm no more updated than you are," replied Fury.

"His last message didn't say it but it seemed like he was struggling with everything that had happened," the fox said, leaning against the shower wall. "Freezing our planet doesn't seem to be helping him feel any better either. I know it takes a few days for our messages to reach each other but he still never replied to my last message."

"It's been four years since you last saw him," said the AI. "Do you think he'd be worse off now than before?"

"Maybe, I don't know," admitted Yukiomaru. He turned off the shower and stood there for a moment while his fur continued to drip water. "I'll send him another message with my report on this planet. Maybe the news that we're still making progress out here will cheer him up."

"I have already sent the report back home," Fury said, his tone betraying his slight confusion.

"I want to send one to Jun myself," Yukiomaru insisted. He was reminded of how much Fury and he has changed since five years ago when Fury was installed. Back then it was like talking to himself, but now it was like talking with any one of his officers. I've gone through so much since then; I would find it odd if we didn't think differently now.

"You miss him, don't you?" asked Fury, hesitantly.

"After you all rescued me off of Velmaria, he came and talked to me even when I didn't want him to," Yukiomaru said, combing the excess water from his fur. "He was only one that knew how much I needed to talk with someone. Not just anyone though."

And yes, I do miss him, Yukiomaru thought. Standing in another small cubicle, he let the hot air blow over him to complete drying his fur.

"What is the report of the fleets progress?" Yukiomaru asked before allowing Fury to respond.

"All of them?"

"Yes, all of them," answered Yukiomaru shortly.

"I'll load all the updated data, update our map and send all the information to the bridge," Fury informed. "Any specific details that you want now?"

"Any significant casualties or setbacks?" asked Yukiomaru, finally dry enough to get dressed again.

"Fleet six hundred, eighty-nine lost two ships taking down a Klienestov," answered Fury. "Two hundred and sixty two causalities from those two ships, but the mission was a success and the Klienestov is dead. One ship in fleet two hundred and one was destroyed during a bombing run by the Creepers."

"Our progress?" Yukiomaru was now leaving his room and heading toward the bridge. Many of the scars that the corridors suffered in battles with the Klienestov that he pushed into the Huli star were long gone. They weren't repaired, but the material that the ship was built from mended those wounds itself after several years.

"Advancing at a cautious pace," said Fury. "We haven't suffered any significant setback since the first wave of the Insectoids were launched against us. The Guardians believe that the Creepers might be breeding another wave that they'll use against us but no one knows when that'll be."

Reaching the bridge, Yukiomaru found the alien, Velsh'nark, there, dressed in strange silky linens that did little to cover his fur.

"Good work, Yukiomaru," said the alien, his voice heavy with an accent but he was now fluent enough to speak quite well with the fox and his crew. "The more nest we hit, the smaller the next wave of these infected creatures will be."

"Thank you Velsh'nark but it was only a small nest," Yukiomaru said, sitting in the commander's seat near the hologram that was loading the galaxy map. Nearly half the map was highlighted green, the Creeper's known territory. "We'll need to start hitting these systems that are more heavily infected soon if we are to have enough resources to continue this war."

A small red highlighted area in a portion of the map appeared, showing the territory controlled by the thousands of ships that were now fighting back.

"It may not look like much in comparison but this is the first time in our history that we've taken so much Creeper territory," Velsh'nark said, watching the map load.

"It doesn't look like we've done much despite the dozens of planets we've taken," mentioned Yukiomaru, staring at the map. "But it is a significant improvement from when Aggressor attacked our planet."

"It is the first planet that he attacked that was saved," Velsh'nark said, sitting in a chair next to Yukiomaru. "We've been investigating into possible reasons why it attacked your planet in an almost reckless way but we're still unable to find a reason."

"The Creepers are an old race, I doubt we'll ever really understand them," muttered Yukiomaru, still cautious around any member of the Guardian race. They never found out that he was infected, but they had little reason to suspect it either considering they never seen someone be infected like him or Kazamde before.

"Yes, you may be right," Velsh'nark said. "Some of the soldiers across the fleets have been saying that the Creepers are giving us this territory; that the real fight is still yet to come."

"Knowing how many stars are infected, I'm sure that they still have a few tricks left," Yukiomaru said, reading some of the reports that had already loaded to his command console.

For several hours, the arctic fox read over the reports and discussed them with Velsh'nark. For the time he talked with the alien, he never mentioned why he was reviewing as many of the reports he could. Yukiomaru had hoped to find that the fleets were handling themselves well enough to allow him and his crew to return home for a few months. Then, he'd be able to see Jun again.