FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

_ The Rider _

Foreword

This took far, far too long to write. Life has a habit of getting in the way of things, for years of time in my case sadly. That said, it is finally done and complete, my third story placed inside the wonderful universe setting which has come to be called the UTOverse by Hetzer. When I wrote Out There a long while back I never expected it to be as well received as it was, since it was in such stark contrast to the feel and tone of the original Integration novel as written by Hetzer. It was sci-fi horror, as compared to the heartwarming tale of a man struggling with PTSD in a sci-fi setting where he found succor in the presence of a towering alien friend. Even more shocking to me was that it became canon. That was humbling for sure. It also spurred me on to write Subjugation next because I was delighted to explore new ground that I knew Hetzer might not have wanted to touch on in his setting at the time. Plus, I have to admit to being a fanboy of the setting by then.

As I wrote Subjugation the ideas for the sequel to Out There congealed in my oatmeal mess of a brain. I wanted to explore more with the things found out on planet RT-4522 and what happened when the survivors got home. Of course since it was me writing it, it was going to be in stark contrast, again, to the original setting’s feeling and tone because I’m now known as the one to write terrible things happing in a mostly ‘Noblebright’ setting. I just wasn’t done telling the story of Kendra Forrest and Imacha Tachai. I thought about it, worked up all the ideas and was ready to go, and then life happened and everything stopped.

Now, too many years later and me thinking I might never do the story, a new friend of mine I made on Hetzer’s UTOpia Discord server spoke to me about NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month. Scytail was trying to work up the nerve to write his own story, which I heartily approved of him doing. He spoke to me about needing some encouragement (pronounced kick in the ass) to help keep him focused on doing the writing. He also spoke to me about my writing. Long story short, he convinced me to pick up the proverbial pen, dust off my old story, and just do it. We would write our stories together and we did. I may have finished first, but he’s still working at his and I am behind him and his work 100% of the way.

So, because of all this I hereby dedicate this story, an actual novel by word count standards, first to Hetzer. You made something that inspired me and I thank you deeply. Second, to all the people who read and liked my earlier works, I thank you for helping me realize I can still make people happy in ways other than drawing. Third and finally, to Scytail, without whom none of this would have ever happened. You made this a reality Scytail and I am forever grateful. Thank you my friend.

Wyldsyde

Prologue

The ship glided through space in utter silence, its aged and bulky hull covered with various scanners used to detect salvage floating in the void. The Pargaro and its crew had been anxious to find something for the past three days. They were out longer than they should have been, but luck had not been with them. They didn’t want to return empty handed. Like everyone else they had bills to pay and mouths to feed back­ home. Thus the ship continued its sweep of the mid-sector searching for any sign of something viable that they could lay claim to and sell. Usually they patrolled near rim space, but since the flight restrictions were put into place, they had to keep no further out than they currently were. It meant they were now competing for salvage with several other ships, where in the rim they used to be pretty much alone.

Yattik lazily reached up and tapped on a few more of the upper console controls, focusing the scanners to sweep yet another area of the vast swathe of space they flew through. He was a young asishi, but big and strong and quite a lot brighter than most took him to be. His eyes traced over the screens looking for anything that could be… there. He sat up quickly and leaned close to the screen. A smile spread across his face, the hyena-like alien let out a wheezing chuckle as he saw it. A ship was there. It had no power register but it was out there for sure, about zero point one six light years from their current position.

“So are you going to sit there laughing like an idiot or let me in on the joke?” asked the ship’s captain, Loka Herrkem. The older grey furred lupari sat in a slightly raised command chair behind the pilot’s seat and the navigator’s seat.

The asishi looked back at him, still smiling. “Got a hit sir! It’s a ship, a deep scout class, private sector grade from initial details. No power signatures and likely some damage to it, but it’s definitely out there. Shall I plot an intercept course sir?”

The captain scowled and growled at him, “What in the hells do you think? We’re out here to make credits aren’t we? I don’t do this for my health. Get us the hell over to it and we can see what we can take from it if we can’t claim the entire ship.”

Yattik laughed once more and began to alter the ship’s course immediately. “Yes sir!”

“You get us there and I’ll whip the rest of the crew into a ready state.” Loka got up out of his seat, groaning a little. He stretched, popped his back, and then shuffled off to make preparations for a full operation on a derelict vessel. It was good luck to come upon a ship like this. A find of a full scout ship just floating through the vastness of space was like discovering a golden needle in a haystack the size of a planet. He wasn’t about to question it. The captain tugged out a small flask of liquor from inside his vest pocket, held it before himself and announced, “Cheers old friend,” and took a deep drink.

Approximately ten hours later the Pargaro had come upon the derelict ship. It was barely a fifth the size of the salvage craft but that was to be expected. The Pargaro was mostly cargo space and engine, used to transport as much goods as possible back to dry-dock where it could be sold. The captain stared out at the smaller ship through the bridge’s wide window and rubbed at the underside of his muzzle slowly. It had significant damage. There were signs a fire had run through the ship but most troubling to him was the damage he saw at the ship’s engines. They were all but gone. Loka frowned as he brought up a close up view of that on his screen. The majority of both thruster pods were simply not there. It looked like they were shorn off, as if ship welding units were employed to slice most of them cleanly off the scout vessel. He had never seen anything like that before in his fifty-two cycles of salvage work. Something about it was troubling to him and gave him an uneasy feeling.

Loka decided to play it safe and slid the Pargaro no closer than two kilometers from the derelict vessel. They found no markings or insignias or anything to register what ship it was, who owned it, or even what species made it. It did bear signs of an older scout class design type though sold widely throughout the UTO systems, mostly to corporate buyers, just like Yattik predicted. No vital signs as expected too. Estimates from the ship’s computer was that it likely was floating out in the void for cycles, up to ten or so, before they happened upon it.

“Are we going to board her and prep her for recovery sir?” asked Yattik excitedly.

After a long pause the captain finally decided. “Yes. We came out here for salvage and pickings have been sparse to say the least. We need the credits this will bring us or we’re all out of a job. Mouths to feed Yattik. Mouths to feed. Round up the others and get over there and tell us what we need to do to hook her up. I’ll begin making preps here,” said Loka.

“Yes sir!” said the asishi, sounding excited. He got up from his seat quickly after removing his harness. He was a big brute of a young male, but much more jovial and kind than one might expect from his looks. Loka was happy for that. Yattik hurried off to do his job.

An hour passed and Loka sat alone on the bridge. He watched the retrieval shuttle deploy to the scout craft, Yattik and three others on it. The captain listened to the occasional reports coming over comm to his ship. They moored with the scout ship safely and were boarding it. A few minutes more and they were going through the craft. No sign of crew at all was found so far. Twenty more minutes passed. Comm silence ruled and the older lupari began to drum his fingers on the armrest of his chair. Thirty minutes of comm silence. He stabbed his finger at the send control on his comm unit, brow furrowed.

“Loka to retrieval team, status report. What’s going on over there? You’ve been silent for…”

He was cut off a moment later by Yattik. “Return to ship… for things.”

“Things? What are you talking about? What do you need that’s not on the retrieval shuttle? Are you all right, you sound… strange?” he asked in confusion. There was no reply.

“Yattik, respond please.” Still silence greeted the captain. The captain saw the shuttle detach from the scout craft and begin its short flight back to his ship.

“Yattik! Respond, this is an order!” he shouted into the comm. Still silence.

The captain felt an unusual feeling creep into him. His stomach felt queasy. His heart felt like it was being gripped slightly by something in his chest. Fear. He felt fear and he wasn’t sure why. Something was terribly off though, he knew that. Loka called down to the rest of his crew on ship wide open comm. “To all crew, the retrieval shuttle is returning. Prep for its arrival. As soon as it docks and the team boards escort Yattik up here to me immediately.” He paused for a moment then added, “Carry stun rods and use them if necessary. That’s an order. Loka out.”

The captain watched the shuttle dock back with his ship, heard the dull metallic echoes through the ship of the clamps holding the smaller craft in place. His fingers drummed on the armrest once more. More time passed. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Something was wrong. It didn’t take that long at all to get to the bridge from a simple shuttle docking. He jabbed the comm again, an open call to the crew.

“Loka here. What’s the delay? Where is Yattik? Someone respond; immediately,” he snapped. Again silence greeted the captain and this time it was deafening. Fear squeezed at his heart tighter.

“Would someone… anyone please respond,” he repeated. His voice began to waver. His ship had a small crew. Only eleven total. But still, that was enough to deal with any trouble, to cope with any crew problems before. He knew that much.

Every second that passed now hammered into him, made the feeling of dread increase more and more. The captain found himself doing something he had not had to do on his ship in all the cycles he had been out in space. He punched in his security code and a slot on the side of his armrest opened up. A small plasma pistol was in it. He fished out the weapon and clumsily held it in his hand. The weight was alien to him. He had kept it clean and in working order more by rote than by necessity. It was just there in case of a true emergency, like piracy. He spun his chair around to face the door into the bridge and waited.

More minutes passed. His throat was dry. Panic was making the older lupari jittery. The door to the bridge suddenly slid open with the usual hiss of the wall motors. Yattik stood there, the large asishi filling the doorframe. He didn’t have his EVA suit on, only his standard attire worn on ship. A bland, neutral expression was on the male’s face, but half of it was covered with blood, his entire muzzle stained with it. Blood ran down his chest, drenching his tank top. His hands and muscled arms were also slick and spattered with blood. He held a large cutter tool in his hand, used to help get through reinforced doors. It too dripped red liquid onto the floor at the asishi’s covered paws. Loka spotted tufts of fur and flesh stuck to the tool. He suddenly picked up a scent of overwhelming fear coming from Yattik, but the asishi held no expression of it at all.

“What have you done?” he whispered hoarsely to Yattik.

The asishi was swift as well as strong and he closed the distance to Loka in three lunging steps. Loka was so stunned by the conflicting scent and event that his aim was off and the blast from the pistol only burned Yattik across his shoulder, the asishi seemingly not even feeling the pain. The young male swung out with the weapon and smashed the gun from Loka’s hand as well as destroying two of his fingers. The older lupari gasped in pain and sank back into the chair. Yattik lowered the weapon so it pointed at Loka’s chest.

“Ekster… meenate… pests,” he said in halting basic. “Need to go… to Ana… tolee. Anatalee. Planet in… Yuu… Tee… Oohh space.”

Loka winced in pain and clutched his hand tight to his body, hiding his ruined fingers under his other hand. He tried to look up at Yattik through pain filled eye. “Wh-why are you doing this boy? Y-you were… this isn’t you Yattik,” he wheezed.

Yattik canted his head to the side, looking like a confused Earth dog. One ear flopped against his head. “What is… Yat… tik?”

Loka felt terror fill his pounding heart. “Y-you are,” he stammered.

Yattik continued to make no expression at all, unnerving the lupari more by the second though the asishi’s mouth opened to speak slowly, his teeth bared. Loka saw blood staining some of them and bits of meat and fur stuck between other teeth. “Not Yat-tik. Not you. Never you. You are… not us.” He stepped up to Loka and gripped the lupari’s face tightly in his free hand. “Need to go… to Anatalee. Looking for… Elder. You took him… there. Show me where.”

“Wh-what are you?”

“Rider,” it said and continued to stare at the lupari. “Rider.”

The Parago continued its silent flight through space, leaving behind the husk of the long dead scout ship far behind it.