FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"#Knocker two seven this is Stretch, orbital bombardment had ceased. Push given vector to sector seven three two nine and secure atmosphere.#" "Copy Stretch," Book said, the pilot and captain of our small interceptor. "Knocker flight two seven pushing vector to seven three two nine and kicking the furball off." I couldn't help but grin. Traffic control had just given us the go ahead to drop below the orbital bombers and ensure nothing would bother our troops from the sky. The primitive people below us had nothing more than kites with fans attached, but the advantage of being in the air was enough alone to be worth sending some teeth down to ensure they stayed on the ground. My fellow crew mates, Captain Roogh "Book", the pilot, Captain Thort "Oops", our weapons and targeting systems officer(WSO or 'Wizo'), and Lieutenant Kispund "Crunch", the electronic warfare officer(NEWO) were looking forward to an easy mission for once. As a corporal I was the only enlisted member of the crew, serving as flight engineer. I did inflight repairs, fueling, but more importantly I am the "hide" to Oops's "go seek". Hiding a hot spaceship against cold space ain't easy, but for this mission all of us but Book are spectators. An O-66 Knife against one of those toys down there is like using a microwave cannon against bug. Book was about to have a blast, and we were about to enjoy watching him have one. He snap rolled us so the planet was above us and pulled up before adding thrust, driving us at an angle against our orbiting trajectory and towards the surface until we were free falling straight down over our sector. Oops looked over her shoulder, kitty-corner across the cockpit to me. "Still awake back there, Pants?" It was a tease from a training mission three months ago, where I had nodded off about two minutes before contact. In my defense I had been up late trying to locate a leak. As for Pants, well, I'm still embarrassed by my callsign two years after earning it, but I think we all are. They're never "earned" for something good unless it's doing the impossible like skewering enemy personnel on the end of your 'craft. "Wide awake, ma'am." I said with a grin. "I wouldn't want to miss this slaughtering for the world." Crunch smirked in her seat to the right of me and behind Oops. In front of me Book chuckled. I couldn't see it, of course, but I heard his quiet, deep voice through the suit's intercom nonetheless.

Moments after that the aft two thirds of our craft blasted into chunks, though I didn't realize it until I stumbled on the wreckage days later. We felt an impact and alarms sounded. Training and drills kicked in, and I began trying to isolate critical systems and start a back-up reactor that wasn't there anymore as flecks on the ground bloomed cities, and then buildings. "Knocker two seven!" Called Book. "I'm hit! Ditching it over sector seven three two nine!" We waited for him to initiate the ejection sequence, but it didn't go. There was a grunt. "Damnit," he said. "It's fucked. All of you bail." Nobody moved. "I said-" "We're not leaving," said Crunch. I nodded to myself in agreement. "Yes are," said Oops, spinning as far as her seat restrains would let her. She smacked Crunch's egress over-ride before the NEWO could protect it and-

I was in the air. It took me a few seconds to realize that was the ground down there, that I was moving towards it, and after the panic subsided a little to realize that I was still strapped into my ejection seat. I racked my brain for a moment before I could recall the last moments in the cockpit. Book must have jettisoned me, I realized. I would have blacked out from the G forces, and now, fifteen seconds or so later, I was waking up again. The ground was about fifty feet below me, and I saw Crunch's chair brake before plunking onto the ground. I saw her struggle free of the restraints, spin around and pull the microwave cannon off the back of the chair and the survival kit out from under the seat. I did my best to steer and land some-what next to her. "That bitch," she said, looking down at me while I undid the seat's harness. "Yeah. That bastard jettisoned me right after Oops shot you out." Free from the restrains I spun and mimicked Crunch's act of grabbing the microwave cannon and survival kit. When I stood up she was looking around in the sky, her sun visor down. "Any sign of them, ma'am?" She shook her head. "None. I was hoping to see at least Oops, but it looks like whatever it was jammed both of the front seats." I sighed, then growled and kicked what used to be my seat. "I bet it was that damn push rod for the nose gear up-lock." I said. "It's a shit design! I kept trying to tell those assholes in safety that if there was an impact from the rear and an angle-" "I know, Pants, I know." She said. She sighed, lifting her sun visor and turning to me. "My quality sensor is toast. I must have hit it on the way out because I was sitting forward. What do you have for air?" The eye tracking system in my helmet allowed me to look at and wink through menus until I pulled up the external environment sensors on my suit. "All good ma'am. A little more nitrogen, but not much." "Thank god." She paused for a moment, undoing the internal, computerized lock with her eyes before reaching under her chin and pressing the release. There was a grunt as she pulled it up and began tugging. I know they are tight for a reason, but that doesn't make them any easier to put on or take off. With a final heave it popped free, revealing the head of one disheveled looking perthu. Her rounded ears flared outward from their perch on top of her head, matching the white and tannish-gray fur that stuck out all over the place from where the suit ended just below her jaw to where her short, broad muzzle met the rest of her face. She had the end of her tongue sticking out, giving her quite the comical look. I tried not to laugh as she rearranged her fur into the proper places, the tannish-gray spots reforming as her fur lay down into the stripes so common of my kind that ran from our noses down the length of our bodies. We were fairly similar in that regard, though my stripes were a good bit darker, my muzzle about an inch longer and I stood about a hand-width taller than her. When she was done she slung her weapon in front of her and it was my turn. I always hate how it folds your fur back the other way when you take it off. I can see why some people who do a lot of space work like we do shave their bodies just so they don't have to deal with it. I think being shaved would be worse though. Why would anyone want to be naked like that? And then you have to keep shaving or you get all prickly, which you'd have to suffer months of if you ever decided to regrow your coat. No thanks, I'll happily take a matted coat over that. I clipped my helmet to the life support on my back (the heavy damn thing is permanently attached to the suit), moved my microwave cannon from where it had been slung over my shoulder to being slung in front of me, and looked back at Crunch. She was running her tongue in thought over her "grabber" teeth; three rows of triangular shaped teeth angled into the mouth that were in front of our knife-like molars. "I'm ready, ma'am." I said. She started. "Oh! Oh, right. Well..." She shrugged. "I guess we can just find someplace to hide out until they locate the seat beacons and come pick us up." "Don't you think this was a little odd though?" "How so?" "I had no indications before that happened. If that rod jammed the forward seats that meant we had an impact from the rear, not a malfunction." "If you're implying that we were attacked then I would have gotten a lock tone, and I didn't. There's only one race out there that has anything that can evade the sensors on an O-66, and they're nowhere around here. Even if that were the case we would be seeing all hell break loose up there." She pointed to the sky, and out of reflex I looked up. The sky was a canopy of falling and flaming debris. Others had been hit. Many others. It had taken them time to decay out of orbit, but gravity was winning them over now, drawing them down to the surface. To their graves. Our linear free-fall had been the only reason Crunch and I had made it to the ground as we did. She followed my eyes up and I saw her ears sweep back against her skull. Few things were worse than death, and there was a species from Andromeda that specialized in just that if they could get ahold of you. Crunch's reaction might have been unbecoming of an officer, but it was well warranted: They were here.

But that had all been two... weeks? Months? How long was a day on this planet, again? What about the seasons? I shook my head. It didn't matter anymore. Now I was laying against the side of a ditch that held about a foot of water and god knows what in it. Above me two street cars served as funeral pyres for about a dozen people that had been caught in the path of a massive microwave cannon. I hoped and prayed that whoever shot that thing thought Crunch and I had perished in the cars and moved on. I couldn't hear over the crackling of the fires, and I couldn't smell anything but burning wood, flaming varnish, melting metal and cremating bodies. I looked over at Crunch. She was laying on her back with her eyes closed, her cannon on her chest. I couldn't tell if she was sleeping or dead, and for the moment I didn't even dare call out her name to find out. She had taken a projectile shot for me yesterday. Had she not it would have hit me in the head and I wouldn't be worried about getting caught by those... things. Even though the shot had been from a human weapon and hadn't penetrated her suit it had done some serious damage to her shoulder. She had trouble moving it, which hindered her ability to fight, and it was getting worse. She had started running a fever this morning. I gave her all the antibiotics we had in our survival kits, but it only helped a little. If this was a bacteria from Earth, vaccinated as we were, well, there wasn't much either of us could do. A dark figure skidded down the side of the ditch on their back and stopped just sort of the water. He had one of the long, wood and metal weapons the humans used with a shocking amount of effectiveness. He pulled himself a few inches further from the water and began to turn over when he saw me and froze. I didn't move. I figured at this point in time we had a common enemy, and no longer cared about fighting each other until the current crisis was over. Not everyone felt the same. A projectile snapped over head. It wasn't from a human. It didn't sound human. My hiding spot had been given away by the newcomer, which my rest was over. I popped up just high enough to get my eyes, ears, and barrel of my microwave cannon over the top of the ditch. Even through my fur I could feel the heat of the burning streetcars above me, and I hoped it wasn't singeing my coat. It was becoming more and more appealing to sacrifice being able to hear well for the safety of my helmet. Looking under the cars I could make out about five figures in front of a building about two hundred yards away. One was giving clear orders to the others, but I couldn't tell if they were human or- One of them began walking. Ah. That wasn't a human gait, and it wasn't perthu either. I clicked my microwave cannon off safe, past fire, and onto auto. I aimed at the one closest to cover and pulled the trigger. I missed the first three shots, but hit on the fourth, flash boiling and burning away a fist sized hole in him in an instant. There was another FOO FOO FOO to my left; Crunch joining in. We walked our shots in from either side. It wasn't until were almost done that I saw we had missed one. He had been sitting to the side, and I hadn't noticed him until jumped up and sprinted. I wasn't fast enough to walk my shots in on him before he could get out of sight, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to try. I had my cannon over him, clicked the safety off, and- An explosion went off beside me, deafening me as she shockwave passed through my body. In front of me the figure's head erupted in a fantastic blast of what I knew had to be bone, blood, and brain. He crumpled. I scanned the area but didn't notice anything, so I chanced a look to my left. Crunch was staring at the human between us. He looked male, young adult, with short dark hair and fair skin. It took me a while to realize that his skin was actually light colored instead of an intricate pattern of black and tan. He was filthy to say the least, but so were we. He looked up at me and nodded, which I mimicked, before turning back to his rifle. He grabbed a handle on the side, lifted it, and brought it back causing a small metal tube to jump out. Then he shoved the handle forward again, pushed it down, and settled behind the sights again. I didn't catch his eyes though, so I cautiously leaned in and stole a few sniffs. He was grease, sweat, smoke, blood, dirt and shit. He was also human, and only human. I looked up at Crunch and held a fist up, then opened it. She nodded and relaxed. I rolled onto my back to check behind us in case the noise drew attention. I couldn't smell shit from the behind the streetcar anyway, and the human had better vision for that area than I did. My eyes panned over the rail yard on the other side. There were few lights on in the city around us, a favorite being lanterns where there was one. I saw wires for electricity (or so I presumed), but I hadn't seen anything electrical used. It was probably knocked out by the bombardment, now that I thought about it. The low light at night didn't bother me, though, not like it did the humans. What I can't see in detail or distance I make up for with how little light I need. I watched someone scramble over the last few sets of tracks on the other side of the yard, look around, and push open the top of a dumpster. I had no doubts that it was a human. The... the former humans didn't have to worry about food. They weren't afraid of being caught, either. Not like that. A dark, rectangular object rolled to a silent stop on the road opposite of the yard, near the dumpster. The person, female I think, looked up in shock. Then I saw her posture tighten in horror as she turned to run away, and I recognized the box. It wasn't a human vehicle, despite the generic shape of one. That was a seed truck, and we were far, far worse than dead if those inside of it found us. "Shit," I hissed at Crunch. "Seed truck, six o'clock, five hundred yards." "God damnit." She flipped over and got up to a crouch. She pointed a finger. "In there." I followed her finger and saw where the ditch ended in a large culvert. It had collapsed about twenty paces in, which would be why the ditch had all the nasty water in it. To a human the vacancy probably looked black, which meant to those on the truck it would look black too along with anything in it. I reached over and grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up. He started to make loud noises as I half dragged him down the culvert and Crunch put her hand over his mouth. The woman across the yard wasn't going to get away by the looks of it, but she wasn't going to go without a fight and was making an awful lot of noise in the process. None of them seemed to have noticed his yelling. I thanked the poor woman under my breath and hoped she would die instead of them finishing what they were about to do. Our own human, I'll call him Boomer from that weapon of his, didn't fight Crunch's hand to my surprise. He looked angry and he smelt scared, but he didn't thrash as I pushed him into the muddy, wet culvert. Crunch shoved his weapon into his chest before grabbing her own muzzle, as if to hold it shut, then pointed to him as she let go of his mouth. He looked shocked, but didn't say anything and simply nodded. She pointed to where the culvert had collapsed and he obeyed, sloshing his way to the back as quietly as he could. Crunch and I backed deeper in until we were only a pace or two in front of Boomer and held our weapons at the ready. The sound of our breath was frustratingly loud inside the tunnel, and it was hard to keep from shifting my weight so I wouldn't splash. For some reason it's times like this that my brain comes up with things I think are funny, even if they aren't. I stifled a laugh under my breath. " 'the fuck is so funny?" Crunch whispered. "At least my feet aren't wet." It was her turn to laugh under her breath. I'm glad I'm not the only person who enjoys gallows humor. "I don't know if that payoff is worth this suit being so, uh, comfortable." She said. I stifled my laughter as I heard a rumble footsteps coming across the yard. There was the noise of boots on gravel, wooded railroad ties, and steel rail. There were a lot of them, too, far more than I could count by hearing. I heard them drop off the gravel and onto the grass before a crackle and thud boomed from the streetcars. We watched as the side of one of the cars came tilting into view before crashing down onto the exact place he had just been laying, pulling a few pieces of the seats, a bag or two, and couple of bodies with it. I watched an armrest and what might have been a head tumble into the ditch water and extinguish. My heart cheered! Now we didn't have to worry about them finding and following our footprints. The men, about fifteen or so, came to a stop at the edge of the water. They looked at the debris on the opposite bank, the burning cars, the city behind them, and then back at the bank. One man was motioning over to where the bodies of those we had just shot lay, then the burning streetcar side that covered our former position. He looked down the ditch where it followed the tracks in a curve out of sight, then he turned around and stared right at us along with two thirds of the others. He stood there, scrutinizing the dark, searching its depths for anything it might hold. We held our breath as seconds ticked by. He must have seen something. Seconds ticked by, until I felt like he had been there for a couple of minutes. He must be trying to confirm an "I thought I saw," or "I thought I heard," and so I crept my cannon off safe and onto fire. I was halfway to auto when he shook his head, turned around, and climbed back up the embankment, the others behind him. Mine wasn't the only sigh of relief I heard echo down the culvert. We waited another five minutes, ears straining, until we risked moving. Crunch sagged suddenly, catching herself on the wall. "Are you ok, ma'am?" I said. "Yeah." she said. "Just give me a second." Yeah my ass. She was trembling, her fur was bristled up like she was cold, and she had a sick smell since this morning. There was a hand in my face, and I jerked back out of reflex. Boomer stepped in front of us, and spoke in a low tone as he reached a hand up towards my face. It made me a little uneasy, but since he hadn't tried to hurt us yet I just stared at him. Round, clawless fingers sank into my fur, and then worked their way deeper to my skin. They paused there, and he kept them pressed against my skin while looking at me in thought for a moment before he took his hand away and turned to Crunch. He began talking to her in the same calm, low voice, as if he were trying to sooth her. Crunch had a crash course language training with the rest of the officers on one or two tongues before our deployment. Out of the thousand some odd languages spoken down here maybe there was a chance she had learned a little bit of this one. "Any idea what he's saying, ma'am?" She batted his hand away. "He's... he s-says he w-wants t-to take s-something." It wasn't hard for me to put things together. Also, was she shivering? Maybe Boomer had seen that. "He wants to feel how warm you are ma'am. He wants to touch you. He just did it to me, it's ok." She glared at me. "I'm fine." "Then give Boomer what he wants, ma'am. The alien's concerned about you." "Why the hell...?" I shrugged. Boomer was still standing there watching, with his hands up, showing her his palms. "We did save his life, ma'am." I said. "Maybe he feels like he owes us." She glared at me. Then she glared at him before turning her head to the side. He reached his hand out and sank his fingers gently into her coat. He didn't linger though, snatching his hand back, his eyes looking concerned. He turned back to me and touched me again before I could react. His tone changed now. It was still low, but it was faster. Almost worried. He said something to me and pointed at her. I stared at him back blankly, hoping I made it clear I didn't understand him. That didn't bother him though. He went back to Crunch and said something to her. She grumbled. "What did he say?" "I don't fucking know. Something about take and find and come. They didn't teach us much." The human reached out and grabbed her good wrist off the wall. She nearly fell, but he didn't let go. Instead he started coaxing her in the direction of the end of the culvert. She didn't budge. "What do you want Boomer? I'm not moving. I know you don't like the dark, but give me a minute and we'll get out." He stopped tugging, but didn't let go of her. Instead he turned to me. He said a few words while pointing at the spot on my neck where he touched me. Then he ran his fingers in the water, saying something else. Then he pointed at my irritated lieutenant where he had touched her, then out at the streetcar and panted. "He knows your sick, Crunch." I said. "He's trying to help, and both you and I know there's nothing left in the first aid kit for an infection. We know he doesn't want to get caught any more than we do, so what's the worse that happens? Humans shoot us and we die? It'll be faster than sepsis and better than getting caught and brought to a seed truck." She sighed and allowed herself to be pulled slowly forward. Once she began walking on her own he let go and began leading us through a maze of streets, buildings, and tunnels.

It was nearing daybreak by the time he lead us to a small, makeshift apartment in what might have been an office building at one time. Or hospital. Or school. Or anything, now that I think of it. All the other rooms in the building that I saw were trashed and I had no clue what to make of the debris from this culture. I didn't notice anything I would recognize as a bed. A large, older man answered the door, laid eyes on Crunch and me, and immediately launched into a heated argument with Boomer. Boomer began talking very animatedly, pointing to Crunch and myself over and over again until he finished several minutes later. By the time he had, however, the man's expression had changed. He sighed, said something to us, and motioned for us to enter. It was a hassle trying to get Crunch to take her suit off. She didn't feel right being undressed and unarmed around "the enemy". Boomer unbuttoned his shirt in front of us and flapped it, pointing at her. She got the picture alright, she just wasn't going to do it. I finally got fed up and took my suit off. It's not like it was too cold in there, not when you take care of yourself and your fur doesn't look like greasy seaweed. The suit didn't have many pockets, either, which is the only reason anyone wore clothes back home outside of pure fashion. I still think it's funny that these creatures feel they can't show certain parts of themselves. Then again, what they cover with cloth you can't see through our thick fur. Maybe it would be different if we didn't have... no. I already earned one callsign, and I don't even want to think about things that might earn me another. I sat down across from her with my cannon across my lap and stared at her. "Corporal, your suit is your armor-" "If you let them help you, ma'am, I'll put mine back on." "Last I check, I was the officer here, and that was three milliseconds ago." "If you die of disease it won't matter if you are or not. Please don't hang me out to dry because of your pride. People need help in life. It happens, and it's not weakness to accept it. I'm not going to loose respect if you admit you are wounded. You won't be any less of a leader. If you die because you lied to yourself though, I make no promises." She glared at me. "Put your armor back on and cover us, corporal." "Yes ma'am." I nodded and quickly pulled mine back on, picked up my cannon, took a position just inside the front door. Behind me I hear movement and the clunk of a life support pack as it was set on the ground. Thank god, you would think I was asking her to divulge her darkest secrets and then go roll in sewage. I shook my head. Officers. A few minutes later I heard them lead her deeper into the apartment and the creek of what was probably (and hopefully) a bed of some kind. "All good?" I called after her. "Yes!" I settled into my spot. Eventually Boomer came up and wanted something. He danced around waving and pantomiming for a few minutes until he snatched a hat off a table and hurled it at the ground, growling. I thought for a few moment and took a guess, opened the back hatch on Crunch's life support and pulled out what was left of her first aid kit. I handed him the kit and he turned it over in his hands, confused, so I opened it for him. He pawed through the case for a second before realizing what it was. His eyes grew wide and he let out a happy noise before darting into the back. I don't know what they did back there. She says they stabbed her with a bunch of very thick needles that had who knows what in them. They cut her on her shoulder and drained a bunch of puss out, and then cut her leg, too, on another spot above her knee that she had been hiding from me, with the same results. It turns out she had tried to hid that spot from them, too, but yelped when someone pushed on it on accident. Then the doctor did a lot of poking and prodding after he found out she hadn't been showing them her injuries to make sure those were the only places. I asked her how they treated her when they were done. She said "they're nothing but cruel, sadistic assholes," which coming from Lt. Kispund might as well mean "He was nothing but a gentleman. His professionalism is what a doctor's should be." I had fun comparing it to all the stuff she's said about our squadron's medical staff. I think Book used to send her to "have that checked out" just for the entertainment when she came back.

That was a week ago. She's feeling a lot better but still has a fever. Boomer brought us food, which was fantastic! It was hard for us to find anything to eat around the building, and a microwave cannon is not the best weapon to hunt rats and the like with. At first they tried to give us stuff from plants, but we don't have the teeth for that. Then they tried this weird spongy stuff, which smelt like egg, some kind of plant seed, and... milk? It was ok, but we found it hard to stomach. Eventually they came the right conclusion: humans can eat anything under the sun, but we are strictly carnivores. Boomer showed up the day after the spongy food with a small pail and a grim look. When he opened it I felt like dancing at the sight of nothing by meat. When he offered me a piece and I smelt it, though, I understood his grim look. Crunch and I have eaten a few humans since we landed. We found a sheep(I think it's called that) once, which was tasty, but otherwise there's been only once meat source here in the city that leaves something behind when you blast it with the 'ol N-5 cannon. I've gone with him since then. I know how hard it would be for me to bring home my own kind to feed something that for all I knew might have come to do just that, and I hoped to take some of that burden off of him. We would be safer in a team, and I could do the dirty work. I was also afraid he was killing off other humans, so I was relieved to find he wasn't. He was lopping the heads off the dead to make sure there were no, ah, extras, in the body proper before cutting them apart. The cooler air was welcome in this case: the bodies lasted longer and we were less reliant on carnage. After sunset they covered and sealed off all the windows in the apartment to keep any light from getting out before lighting a couple of lanterns. They were overjoyed when I brought out the lights from our survival gear that first night and hung them up in place of the lanterns. They cast more light and didn't leave a layer of soot on everything or emitted that nasty, pungent smell. Apparently some part of the building was still in use, because the steam heat still worked and kept the rooms from getting too cool. Crunch wrapped up in a blanket and leaned against the radiator when she wasn't in bed. It turns out there were only three of the strange, rectangular mattresses they used, and before we had arrived the three oldest had used them, leaving four women and two other men to sleep on the floor. I think Crunch felt guilty over using the bed after she saw the man who answered the door trying to get comfortable on a large cushioned bench (Boomer kept referring to it as a "thesofa") and others on the floor. She tried to stay on the floor but they insisted on her taking the bed. I tried not to laugh at her indignant expression when they carried her back there. Two nights ago the steam heaters stopped working. They came back on around midday, but that night got pretty cool for these people without fur. I woke up to Boomer and one of the women on either side of me, and covered in two blankets. It was so warm I nearly started panting, but they seemed to find it comfortable. The woman talked in her sleep that night. It was a little creepy. Crunch said she woke up to a shivering little girl being stuffed into her as she slept on her side, and then a blanket wrapped around them. I don't think these people would have done that to their little girl if they knew Crunch like I did, but when I walked in to check on her in the morning Crunch was sound asleep with both arms trapping the child in place. The kid looked nervous, but I patted her on the head and gestured with my hands in what I understood meant "it's/your/I'm fine" . She relaxed a bit after that, but I had to stop her parents from waking Crunch up. I don't know if she would ever make a good mother (I pity those kids) but I didn't know if she would jerk back and give the girl a series of deep cuts across her chest or lash out at whoever was closest in protection of her. We extend claws as reflex, so either way someone was going to get hurt. I gave them the same jester and ushered them out, with the little girl bouncing her way out about thirty minutes later. She's had a name for Crunch ever since then. It must be something humiliating like "Fluffy", because they all think it's funny. Crunch tolerates it, if only because the kit is so young. She's definitely far from maturity, but she doesn't smell like anyone's offspring. Did they take in the young of dead parents? I haven't said anything to Crunch about the incident. There are times when a subordinate can give a superior a hard time in jest, and others when he should withhold. Boomer hasn't laughed about it either. He's been mimicking me. At first I thought he was simply trying to figure out what I was doing, but I think it's more than that now. He's trying to learn from me, and I don't know why. Is it because he knows I'm in the military? Beats me. It seems harmless, so I let him. There is fighting still going on. Once Crunch started feeling better Boomer and I began going out at night again to fight. I'm amazed at this species, I really am. My government estimated our ground war would have been over in less than two days, but here they are: a primitive species that is still fighting an opponent even we fear over two months later. They have to be the toughest, ablest, and most unrelenting creature on this half of the galaxy, if not the whole thing its self. While this battle still looks hopeless to me after witnessing them continue to resist for this long without failing I'm less convinced of the human's doom than I was before. I've seen sacrifice, courage, impressive selflessness, and people that simply don't know when they're supposed to die. On top of that the speed these people learn, adapt, and improvise is phenomenal. For instance, last night Boomer took me into a basement where someone had a workshop. They wanted my cannon, which I refused to give them, but after some obvious and shameless begging I reluctantly took it apart and showed them how it worked. I figured I was just putting them in awe as they marveled at the complexity of it. I was dubious that they would understand anything by looking at it until I was shown a number of failed attempts to make crude versions of captured weapons. Now I'm not so sure. They still have the problem of that unique ammo, which is exactly why that weapon is used by those conquesting horrors and I don't doubt why they were so eager to look at mine. I'm still doubtful any of us will come out of this alive and uncaught, but I don't think victory will come for those nightmarish creatures without it being very bittersweet.