FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Spark arrived at the space port, working her way over to the landing where the shuttle would take her out to their docking pad. She walked up to the counter and held out the pad with her berth number on it, the pilot glancing at the pad a moment then nodding. “Sure, I can take you back out." He entered the shuttle, closing the door once Spark entered, beginning the short trip out to the docking pad. “Will you be staying a while or did you need a ride back?" “Spark motioned towards the rear of the shuttle. “Think a small sled will fit in here? I need to pick up some suits for maintenance." The pilot nodded. “Sure, that area is made to hold up to a medium hover sled so a small one shouldn't be an issue. Oh, I'm getting a call to pick up from another pad, can I drop you off and pick you back up again after I grab the other passengers? Shouldn't be more than 10 or so minutes." She nodded, climbing out and waving to the shuttle as it departed, then heading to the door of their ship.

The airlock door cycled open when Spark input the security code into the pad, Spark stepping into the small room as the ship cycled through its process of entry. Each pad had a landing area that was pressurized for safety but that area could only hold a shuttle and three or so large sleds. The rest of the docking area was hard vacuum, only a force screen holding the air inside. The door opened inward and Spark headed towards her cargo bay where the sled and suits were kept.

Along the way she thought about what had happened over the last few months. They had a ship, had made enough repairs to complete their first job and got paid enough to fix most of the other issues. Some of the rooms had been furnished, and they were getting a doctor on board. There were enough spare parts that anything that broke down could be repaired aside from a handful of critical systems and they all had backups. She had a pressure suit, had tested it out and was about to get it upgraded. Things were looking up, and Rick had been happy the last few weeks, whether he would admit to it or not. So too had she, something she was still coming to terms with herself, being truly happy working on this ship, HER ship, taking her lessons, exercising, even just enjoying a meal with Rick... though that would probably change now that there were going to be other people on board and she wouldn't have Rick all to herself anymore.

Reaching the cargo bay door Spark keyed it open and stepped through, stopping almost immediately at the sight of both pressure suits and the bulk of their reserve supplies piled onto the sled. She started to move towards the sled when something hit her from behind and everything went black in a sudden burst of pain. Axle looked over from the door that led into Spark's control room, the device in his hand scanning through permutations in an attempt to break the code locking them out of the room. “Well, what do we have here? Looks like our time is up, bring that along but be gentle with it. Can't imagine what sort of damage is already done but no sense adding to it, especially if it gets us what we need." Two others, a man and a woman each took one of Spark's arms and carried her to the sled where they loaded her up with the rest of their haul before following Axle out of the ship through the cargo bay door, which had been unlocked from outside using the same device which had failed on Spark's personal security program.

Back aboard the Limitless, the Bravo team's flagship, Axle directed the unloading of their haul. Spark was checked out by their medic then injected with a drug that would keep her unconscious for the journey. She was placed into one of the small storage rooms and locked inside, the rest of the loot was sorted and stowed as the ship moved out from its hiding spot on the far side of a nearby moon and headed out into deep space.

Spark woke up to find herself lying on the floor of a cage, cold metal floor and barred walls and ceiling allowed her to see that she was in a storage room, the smells told her she wasn't on any ship she was familiar with. She sat up, intending to examine the lock when a voice from a few feet away startled her. “Good, you are awake, the captain will want to examine his new pet." Her ears folded flat against her head as Spark turned to look at her captor, letting out a worried mewl. Her eyes widened as she recognized the uniform, so similar to that of her own back on the ship though this one had the emblem Bravo Eleven embossed upon it. Her captor stood up and stretched. “About time too, I was starting to think the medicine had outright killed you with how long you were asleep. Best hope your owner brings what he took from us, or else your situation will become much worse, very fast." The female, a human with well-toned muscles looked at her a moment then shook her head, heading towards the door. “Bah, why do I bother, I'm probably talking to myself here. I doubt you can understand or comprehend anything I just said. Either way, the captain will sort things out, one way or another."

The woman left, apparently headed to summon the captain as Spark took stock of her situation. She had been captured, taken from her ship to an unknown place. Judging by the smell, it was another ship, the recycler needed cleaning and the smell of chemicals was still strong, perhaps the previous contents of this room before they placed her here. The cage looked sturdy; an electronic key would be needed to open the door so she was stuck until her captors decided it was in their benefit to let her out. Another windfall, her captors apparently didn't know how much she understood of common, that information could work to her advantage. She had a program on her pad that acted as a talk box, meant to translate for her the difficult language of the Twills but it appeared that her captors had assumed it was meant to translate for her their language. The pad she usually carried had been removed, her tool belt had been on the ship as she hadn't seen a reason to bring it to the doctor's office. Spark checked her pockets, but as she had surmised, they had been emptied of anything useful.

The door opened again, this time revealing four figures. The woman from before entered first, taking a seat on a storage crate behind Spark's cage while two males with the numbers Seven and Fifteen on their uniforms took up positions on either side of her. The last, a tall male human stepped forward and spoke slowly in her direction, his voice followed quickly by a familiar mewling and barking to which each of the others seemed to react with minor annoyance, their ears not designed to identify Spark's native language. Spark immediately interrupted the speaker, apparently the commander as his uniform read Bravo Leader instead of a rank number. “That's mine, give it back." The man paused a moment, frowning then began again. “Do not interrupt me again, this is your last warning. Does your master have my ship and will he trade it to get you back? Answer carefully, your future depends on your response."

Spark stared at the man for a few seconds, then once she was confident that he was indeed waiting for her reply spoke in her native tongue again. “Ship? What ship? Master only has his ship and our ship, not your ship." She forced herself to say master instead of using Rick's name, both since the box wasn't set up to translate but also to perpetuate their idea that she was nothing more than a pet. That alone may end up saving her, and possibly Rick as well since they wouldn't know just how much leverage they had gained by her capture. The man frowned and sat thoughtful for a moment, then continued. “So, two ships then. You probably aren't aware that the ship he had before this current one was stolen from me, so not your fault. No, that is mine for not realizing that information may not have been passed along and posing the question poorly but I did learn what I wanted to know so it all worked out I guess."

He paused a moment then turned off the talk box receiver. “This is going to take some time if I am to extract any useful information from this simpleton. Go and check the fighters, last thing we need is someone launching again without any ammo on board. We should be outside Federation controlled space in two days, then only three more until we are planet side again at Castor Prime. Remember that Castor is a pirate haven, be wary, be armed. The shop keepers would rather sell you then sell to you, and they will if the opportunity presents itself. Teams of two minimum and make sure you only bring what you intend to spend, or are willing to lose." He turned back to Spark and keyed on the device again. “Now then, we are going to take a short trip. I apologize for the small quarters, but this ship is dangerous and we can't have you getting hurt. Your master wants you well taken care of, and we will do what we can to make that happen."

Able stood up then, the others having left as he talked to Spark. “I will be back in an hour to check up on you, don't try to escape, that cage was made to hold things larger and stronger than you are and you will only end up hurting yourself if you try. Be good and stay quiet, and you will see your master again soon, I promise." He turned and left the room, Spark lying down on her back and glancing about the room until she spotted the camera up on the back wall watching her. She made only one attempt to bite the bars, something she knew would have been expected of her in this situation though she also knew it was futile to do so. The thought that there were multiple smaller ships lent some hope of escape should she manage to get free and she knew that she had 5 days before they would reach their destination, a location she didn't want to reach if she could help it, at least not as a prisoner.

Spark used the next hour to come up with a plan, only to conclude quickly that for any plan to work she would first need to get out of the cage, something she could not do on her own. Not without tools, anyway. After what she assumed was an hour but could have been longer Able returned, dropping a collar through the bars onto the floor of the cage, her tablet again translating for him. “Put that on, we are going for a walk." Spark eyed the collar, it had a box attached to it, and the loose end looked like it was to be inserted into a hole in the box, probably to tighten it so that it couldn't be easily removed without a remote. She picked it up, the weight negligible but the metal bumps on the bottom confirmed her suspicions, this was a slavers pain collar. It would be capable of transmitting painful electrical jolts, possibly even lethal ones should the remote be set high enough. She held the collar up, then moved to the side of the cage so Able could interact with the collar as she held it against her own neck. “I can't work the clasp on my own, can't see it."

Able watched Spark examine the collar, then move to the side of the cage. He smiled to himself as she spoke, she had seen these before and knew they had to be put on by someone else, they couldn't be put on by the wearer. He reached through the bars and affixed the loose end of the collar to the box, the machinery tightening the band until it was flush with the Kintessian's fur. He gave a gentle tug at the collar to ensure it was tight enough, then unlocked the door using the keypad on the front. “I trust you won't try anything stupid, or do I need to demonstrate what will happen if you don't obey?" He already had the remote in hand, apparently, he had used it to tighten the collar to her neck but looking at his finger on the button Spark immediately shook her head and flattened her ears in submission. “I will obey."

Spark was led out of the room into a larger cargo bay packed with shelves of boxes and containers, smells of all kinds assailed her nose and she sneezed involuntarily. Able just chuckled and moved onward, leading them out into a hallway then through a maze of twists and turns obviously meant to confuse Spark as to where they were headed. Finally, they stopped before a door and Able keyed open the lock, the room beyond looked like a standard crew's quarters but with most of the amenities stripped out. There was a mattress of sorts with a folded blanket and pillow against one wall, a door looked like it would lead to a bathroom, probably with a sonic shower and wash unit as water units were a luxury. She entered and began exploring, sniffing around and poking at the bedding while she surveyed the room but she couldn't find any obvious monitoring equipment. “The door will remain locked while you are here, try to escape and we will put you back into the cage. Make a mess of this room and you will be cleaning it up, one way or another. Do you understand?" Spark turned and nodded immediately, again lowering herself in his direction to show submission.

Able let a smile cross his features, this one was well trained, and knew the punishment and how to avoid it. Perhaps he wouldn't space her once he had his ship and his revenge, she would be worth quite a sum to the traders on Castor and if they didn't meet his price there was always other slaver dens they frequented. Perhaps he might even keep her around for a while, see what Rick was willing to go so far to get back then use that as bargaining when he finally did sell her off. Able closed the door and locked it, then headed off leaving Spark alone in the room.

Spark first examined the food replicator, finding that it had been reprogramed to only dispense water from a tube, a small reservoir inside the unit holding the extra so there was no creation circuitry which a captive could manipulate. This worked to her advantage however, as the empty space behind the panel could be used to hide anything she was able to create to aid in her escape. Her next objective was the door lock, the wiring ran on the other side of a metal plate, the only thing she had access to was the keypad on this side. She would need some sort of computer to crack the door lock unless she wanted to spend hours or even days trying all the various possible combinations.

Looking around the room, Spark decided that there really wasn't much she could work with here. She entered the bathroom and her fears were confirmed, a sonic shower built for a human stood in the back corner, a toilet and wash station with sonic sprayers occupied the small alcove, leaving very little room to maneuver between the stations, just enough to not feel claustrophobic. Sonic showers of this design would undoubtedly project their waves directly at her ear height, and the headaches they would cause her as they assaulted her ears would be unbearable. She immediately began pulling apart the wall tiles until she found the computer core for the shower, extracting it and a few other bits and pieces from the machinery before closing up the panel again, the shower now completely inoperative.

Back in the main room Spark began by connecting the small computer to the interface of the replicator, followed by the control interface. It took her the better part of three hours to rig up the computer and she had just resealed the outer casing when the door suddenly slid open and the female from earlier walked in briskly, locating Spark and pointing towards the wall, Spark's pad at her hip translating her words. “Back against the wall, I brought you food." She waited for Spark to comply, which she did immediately, then placed the tray she carried onto the floor by the mattress and backed up to outside the door. “I will return to retrieve the tray in one hour, you will be fed twice a day. You will answer all our questions truthfully and immediately, is that understood?" Spark nodded acceptance, bowing herself towards the voice of authority though inwardly she hated being given orders like a lesser creature.

The door shut and locked, and Spark moved over to examine the tray. Beneath the cover was a pair of nutrient bars, their pasty color promising little in the way of taste but they would provide her with all the nutrients she needed to stay healthy. A container of water and what looked to be some sort of meal cracker completed the meal, the tough powdery cracker was quickly discarded as Spark dutifully forced down the nutrient bars, assisted by the water though she did have to refill the container once from the replicator. She replaced everything within the tray and closed the lid, stashing the cracker inside her hidey hole in case she needed emergency food stuffs.

Once the tray had been collected, Spark returned to her work at escape, accessing the computer through the interface and beginning the long process of rewriting the software to perform functions it was never intended to perform. She worked long into the night, finally closing down the program and blanking the screen before falling asleep in a ball beneath the folded blanket. When she awoke, there was another tray of food but no sign of anyone in the room. She ate again, nutrient bars, water, and another of those hard mineral crackers. She forced herself to suck on a shard of the mineral cracker and found that though it tasted foul, it did perform the function of keeping the saliva flowing and from the taste would also provide a small amount of nutrients and minerals not commonly found within nutrient bars alone. The rest of the cracker joined the first as she again bent to her task. Spark finished her work just after the next meal, connecting the newly programmed computer into the ship's main system using the replicator's own circuitry.

Spark dove into the computer system of the ship, pulling up a map and the cameras out in the hallway. She found the door control, writing an override to the lock that wouldn't be noticed by the monitoring system installed on the door and keyed it open, glancing out into the hallway a moment before keying it shut again. She then began the task of saving recordings from the cameras in the hallway and along the path leading from her room to both the hangar bay and the main engineering room. Once she had sufficient footage to loop the cameras so that anyone watching would only see empty corridors, she saved the program and closed down the windows. Her next task was to pull up as many cameras as she could on the small display and begin counting how many crew the ship carried. After an hour, she figured that there were at least 23 crew actively working aboard the Limitless. 2 technicians, the captain, 3 pilots, and 18 pirates. Most of the pirates tended to stay either in the mess or in quarters, though they did also spend time in the shuttle bay working on the 12 fighters housed there.

The hangar bay was the most populated room on the ship, it always had at least 6 to 10 people inside at any time doing maintenance, restocking provisions, or just running simulations from the cockpits of the fighters. The engineering bay seemed deserted, none of the technicians had yet to enter that room while she watched and seemed content to stay on the bridge and do most of the work remotely. Spark smiled to herself; such a lax attitude would cost them when the time came to do physical maintenance. She continued to watch the cameras, focusing on the bridge, the shuttle bay, the mess, and the hallway outside her room. She shut off the feeds as she saw someone approaching her room with a tray, backing up into a corner as soon as the door opened, facing the entrance.

Margret, or Mag as the others called her keyed open the door and entered the room, glancing over at the submissive creature huddled in the corner as she set the tray down at the foot of the mattress. She was one of the elites, a trusted member of Able's inner circle and yet here she was delivering food to a pet that looked so terrified of her it was pathetic. She had hoped that once the pattern had been established that the creature would attempt to escape, not that there was anywhere to escape to but to at least display some sign of self-preservation instead of the vacant acceptance that was apparent in the creature's every action. Then again, if the creature was compliant then she wouldn't have to use the remote to cause it pain and though she would do what she had to she also didn't want to have to resort to using the collar. When Able had first started his pirate gang under the noses of the federation, Able had used those same collars to instill obedience in his crew, and she knew first-hand how painful they could be. Mag left the room, making sure the door was locked before heading back down the hallway. Spark followed her using the cameras until she entered one of the crew quarters, none of the quarters had cameras though a few had listening devices implanted in them. She had already created a loop for the one she had found in her own room, one that included sounds of her moving about the room, sleeping, and entering and exiting the bathroom.

Spark returned to the tray, mentally checking off that this was the last meal of the second day, the timetable she had in her head reminding her that this was also her last chance to escape into a federation-controlled space, once they passed through the border then she would be unable to return without the proper paperwork, something she did not have. She ate quickly, then unlocked the door, adding in her own code that would allow her to open the door again from the other side without tripping the alert that the door had been opened. She stepped out into the hallway then quietly snuck towards engineering. Spark had checked the cameras, and the engineering room door had been open when she left, allowing her to slip inside easily upon arrival. Her first task was to locate a new pad, managing to find one inside an equipment locker. She slipped the device into the holder at her waist, the weight comforting to her as she then continued to explore.

Half an hour later Spark returned to her room, keying the door open and stashing her new pad inside the guts of the replicator along with a multitool she had found in another compartment. Mag returned, and once again Spark backed into a corner and made herself look as submissive as possible as the tray was removed and she was finally alone for the night. Spark spent most of the night setting up the pad to work with her cobbled computer, linking the cameras and her recordings so she could move around the ship without being seen, or heard. The pad had speakers, something the replicator screen lacked and she was able to listen in on conversations in some of the rooms as she worked, storing away information for when it would become useful.

Once again Spark stashed everything inside the replicator compartment, crawling under the folded blanket and falling asleep. Spark was startled awake by angry voices and the sound of boots stomping into her room. The blanket was ripped away and thrown against the far wall where it crumpled into a pile, three large pirates, all human males were searching her room, one of them ducking into the bathroom briefly while Mag stood in the doorway. Spark retreated to a corner of the room and huddled there, shaking in fear as the three picked up her mattress and flung it against the same wall as her blanket, muttering to themselves as they looked around in disgust. Mag finally stepped into the room and spoke. “I told you it wouldn't be in here, satisfied? The door was locked, and the creature can't get out so how in the hells was it supposed to run off with that tool? The captain will have you all doing double cleaning duty for losing it, that I can guarantee. Now if you are quite done, I think you have scared the damn thing half to death and it is my job to see it survives until we get to Castor."

Mag watched the three file out, then moved to the wall and picked up the mattress, placing it back in its original location and dropping the blanket at the foot of the mattress, if not folded then at least in a neat pile. She glanced at Spark a moment, still huddled in the corner then sighed and left, speaking to herself as she did so. “Why can't you at least try to defend yourself, you are so pathetic it makes me sick." Spark stayed in the corner until she was no longer shaking, moving over to the mattress and crawling back under the blanket to think. Someone had noticed the tool had disappeared, and they had searched the least likely of places, her room. She would have to be diligent in returning everything to her hidden stash every time, if they ever found her with anything then it wouldn't end well for her. Spark heard the door open, followed by the sound of a tray being placed on the floor close by. When the door didn't close, Spark peered out from under the blanket only to squeak and back away as Mag stared at her from a mere foot away, squatting down to observe her.

“You must have been tormented in the past, to fear humans so much. If you want to stay alive out here, especially amidst this crew, you are going to need to get much stronger." Mag sighed and stood up again, heading out the door. “What am I doing, you can't understand me anyway without that stupid device." The door closed and Spark peeked out again from under the blanket, then pulled the tray over and began to eat, thinking about what Mag had said to her in confidence. Once she had finished her meal and stashed the cracker with the others, using them to keep track of the days, Spark had decided that she liked Mag. Perhaps it was the food, or the tough act she put on when there were others around but Spark got the feeling that the woman was sympathetic to her cause. Not that she had any hopes of Mag helping her to escape, but at the very least she felt that if things went bad at least Mag might stand up for her, at least a little.

Later that day, there was a battle. Spark watched on her pad as four enemy ships dropped into view on the main screen on the bridge and opened fire, the Limitless shook as her shields absorbed the deadly energy, Spark letting out fearful howls at each strike while calmly adding camera views for the hangar bay and the hallway outside her room. On the bridge, Able sat in the center chair, one of the technicians manning the shield controls while one pilot handled maneuvering and another took over a sensor position. The third pilot seemed to be controlling the weapons as pirates rushed into the hangar bay and boarded fighters. 8 of the smaller ships launched to deal with the 4 attackers, and the fighting intensified. Spark had the volume off on the pad so she couldn't hear what was being said on the bridge, but from the readings she had it looked like the fight was won. One by one the attacking vessels were disabled, the defenders towing the attacker's ships into a empty cargo bay.

The pilots were pulled from their ships and forced to line up with their backs to the emptiness of space, Able himself walking over to talk to the captives. Whatever was said, Able left shortly afterward, the rest of the pirates securing the captured vessels with magnetic locks before they too left the cargo bay. Moments later the force screen vanished and the ship shook from the explosive decompression that sent the surprised attackers out and away from the ship, floating off into the void as their bodies succumbed to rapid decompression and a lack of breathable air. The doors closed, and pirates began stripping useful parts off the ships, salvaging what they could and discarding the rest into a pile. Spark almost missed the sight of someone approaching down her hallway, her mind was so focused on the scene that had just played out before her. She managed to stash the pad under the blanket, the glow from the screen hidden as the door slid open.

Mag opened the door to the pet room as the others had begun to call the makeshift prison, looking around until she spotted the creature cowering next to the bed mattress. As she entered, the creature moved to sulk in a corner, typical reaction from what she had witnessed, and given the recent events completely understandable. Mag sat down on the mattress and pulled out the pad with the speech translator. “Come here, you will not be harmed." Spark obeyed, moving over and sitting down on the blanket, attempting in the same motion to fold the hidden data pad into the crumpled blanket to better hide it. “What you just felt earlier was bad people trying to attack this ship. We fought them off, so we are safe, don't worry. It is dangerous out here where we are flying, and we may get attacked again before we reach where we are going. If that happens, I will come and check on you once everything is over."

Spark moved and before Mag could react had pressed up against her, nuzzling her face into Mag's chest and mewling in distress, begging the human for pets as she had seen cats and dogs do in videos when she had taken breaks from her studies. Mag seemed to tense up a moment then relax again, shaking her head and reaching out a hand to pet Spark between the ears. “You really are a fool, you know that? Here we are, taking you from your home and all you want is to be comforted and fed. I wish I could live life with so few worries every day." Spark responded by purring and bumping her head against Mag again, insisting on more petting as she had seen in the videos. Mag looked at the pad that had translated her words and sighed, scratching Spark's ears as she keyed off the translator. She stood up then, straightening her clothes and placing the pad into a clip at her belt. Spark sat atop the blanket as Mag left, diving for her pad once the door was closed and watching Mag walk down the hallway towards the cargo bay where pirates were finishing up their salvage operations. Today, and two more. That was the timeframe Spark had before her situation would become too chaotic and unknown to predict. Time to get to work.