FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Wolf looked smugly out of his fighter's canopy. Beyond pinwheeling debris from the pitiful defense drones, the cargo ship drifted helplessly among the spinny ballet of outer space. A long and fragile metal dragonfly with the bulk of its mass in the cargo pods attached to the skeletal scaffolding. Ripe fruit for the plucking. During the battle, some of the cargo pods had become detached from stray lasers. They marched in a loose line toward the gravity of the nearby planet, some already blazing fiery trails into the atmosphere.

A comm channel flickered on from the ship's bridge. Panther gave a casual two-finger salute.

"All is accounted for here," the smooth voice reported.

Wolf's toothy grin was suddenly lit red from his scanner screen. Reinforcements jumping into the system, not more than team Starwolf could handle but it was a work day and time wasted was plunder wasted.

"Alright you chucklefucks. Cavalry coming in quick. Get the loot back to base and step on it,"

A chorus of aye-ayes and then the other wolfens blinked into hyperspace. The cargo ship with Panther's fighter docked took a little longer to spool up its hyperdrive as Wolf hung back to cover it. When he was alone, he set his own course and the status bar began filling in.

!ERROR!

Glaring red letters interrupted the process. He had taken a hit during the fight. Must have screwed something up. One good smack usually worked with his subordinates and it did on the ship as well. The hyperdrive resumed charging. Once it completed though, the wolfen lurched hard suddenly as if it had collided with something. Wolf snarled as he was jerked roughly in his seat, to the tune of ripping metal.

Before him, the hyperdrive module shot out ahead. A round device trailing wires and metal debris like a squid rocketing through space. It disappeared into hyperspace in a flash, leaving Wolf's craft behind. Now the computer was spewing red and orange errors and codes, trying to keep up with the cascade of other damaged engine components this had caused.

The faint ghost of a lupine face in the canopy was one none of his fellow space pirates would recognize. It wasn't the ocean up here. No "ship" even really deserved its title, so expansive was the universe. Less than a splinter adrift in a starry sea. Would those bozos really come back for him? Was there ever honor among their kind?

Blue light dawned on his face, pulling him out of darker thoughts. The planet was striking- clouds scudding over emerald green jungles and gigantic mountain ranges. Oceans. Oxygen. Wolf limped his craft toward the planet, angling himself down until there was nothing but blue sky.

Trees surrounded the clearing plowed through the foliage by the wolfen. All the flora was huge and tropical, looming over as if curious about the metal and glass object. From the open cockpit Wolf could smell and hear nothing but untamed nature. He reached between the pilot seat to retrieve a short gunmetal gray weapon sporting two square shaped barrels oriented vertically. Old reliable, a sawn off scatter blaster. This he holstered at his hip, then slipped a combat knife in his boot. Hopping out, he landed heavily on grassy terrain.

Wolf's exploration of the planet started out as calm as any nature hike. But by the time the sun was setting he found himself running for his life through the jungle. A pack of native wildlife was on his tail.

His nostrils flared and he braked, boots sliding on the grass as he drew his scattergun. Both barrels were given to the bushes just steps ahead of him. A peppering of embers burned away the foliage as a raptor flopped down dead from its hiding spot.

Snapping the gun in half, he slammed in two more laser bulbs and took aim into the darkening jungle. Leaves crunched somewhere ahead of him, but it was the bushes behind him that parted as another raptor pounced. Wolf fell into a backwards dive, roasting its guts as it sailed over. Wolf rushed over and braced himself with a boot on the dead raptor's side, as a living one peeked out of the bushes. Face to face with the barrels and shiny laser lenses, then its brain was flash roasted inside a flaming skull an instant later.

Again he reloaded, exchanging the darkened glass shells for a fresh pair. The weapon had just clicked closed when another raptor exploded out of the bushes. Its jaws closed around his arm and the two went thrashing madly down a hill, slamming into roots or rocks along the way. However, the remaining raptors didn't like the sounds coming from the scuffle shrouded by underbrush. They turned and fled in search of an easier meal.

Clutching his bloodied knife, Wolf hobbled up the hill having shed his shredded jacket. More blood traced out dark lines on his muscled torso, his own seeping from his arm. Atop the hill he passed between two trees, stopping dead in his tracks.

The moon was rising, a gigantic silver disc outshining the rest of the cosmos. It charged Wolf's muscles and he could swear he was feeling it rise somehow, welling up in his chest.

The big A's. The ancestors...cheering me on..

He threw his head back and answered them soon after.

In the following months, rumors had begun to spread among many Sharpclaw villages. There was a monster loose in the jungles. It was said to stand twice as tall as the recently departed General Scales, a blood-red raptor with sickle claws and zigzagging charred black stripes like veins of magma crossing its cursed hide. It had laid waste to some smaller villages and devoured the residents to the last. Yet still roaring with hunger where it stood over the decimation. The great red doom of the volcano lands had stalked out of the burned smoky wastes to bring its wrath to greener pastures.

A hunting party was dispatched to find and kill the beast. The dozen Sharpclaw tracked it to a cave, where the earth itself seemed to conspire with the monster to funnel the spearlizards toward their doom. But it's lair flickered with fire. The beast was indeed lurking in the shadows but would not be a threat any longer. Its heart was cut out and roasted over the campfire, being devoured by a gigantic wild-eyed gray wolf clad in hides and teeth, with the skull of a dome headed dinosaur serving as a codpiece.

His gaze didn't fall on them, rather it went straight through them and the Sharpclaw felt compelled to bow down. The big, feral, hairy animal was a Sharpclaw in all but appearance.

Perched over the lagoon was a small slice of paradise. An arching villa formed of organically flowing wooden walls and curtained by vines, in keeping with the lush theme of the world.

Dreams wouldn't have to take any liberties with the blue vixen. Her eyes shined among the stars while her tail blushed with the fiery sunset spilling across the lagoon and over the deck. Fox couldn't help but gawk at the lovely, petite body contained in a black bikini. Soft white fur on her chest, swelling into perfect perky buds and the hips swaying between her silent steps as she padded over to him. Soft lips pressed against his for a long moment, then parted with a smack.

"You made it home at the perfect time. It's a lovely evening,"

"Sure is," He agreed, with a nod to her soft face nestled against his shoulder.

He rested a hand on her waist. Chilly wind was blowing in from the ocean. She turned away from it and Fox faced it stoically, if only to invite her to press closer.

"Think you'll be able to stay long?" She asked.

Fox hugged her and rested his chin on her head.

"Well...long enough. To try that stuff we talked about. You know? Having some kits, getting gray in the fur together. It's about time for it,"

She leapt up into his arms, bombarding him with kisses.