FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Dante, give me your guns before you go in there." Mira held out a bag, "I know how rash you can be."

Dante dropped his pistol in the bag, "Anima stays with me."

"I know you're attached but I can't risk-"

"Victoria, keep her distracted." Dante pushed Mira to the side and Victoria, now in basic Fallen Sky armor, stood between Mira and the door.

Mira was shocked, "Who are you?!"

Victoria drew her sword but did not directly threaten Mira, "I'm Dante's left hand."

Meanwhile, Dante marched up to Isa, but stopped short of kicking her out of her chair. She was hiding her face in her folded arms and sobbing, "I'm sorry..."

"Explain."

Isa's eyes were puffy and fur stained with tears, "I can't... I can't handle losing anyone... I can't handle the killing..."

Dante took a seat across the table and set Anima in plain view, "You're in the wrong business then. Revenge doesn't work for everyone, and you can't seem to handle things here."

"I know... I know... but I can't just stop!" Isa sobbed a little more, "Where's Mira?"

"Victoria is handling that. You can't just hand out babysitting contracts, that's how rebellions start and your head ends up on a stick." Dante checked around the room, making sure that nobody else was around, "Isa, you have to be stronger than your normal self, otherwise you aren't a leader."

Isa buried her face again, "What am I supposed to do then?"

"Give me a damn contract where I have to try. Mercenaries can't brag about stupid shit like escorting a rich prick to his favorite store. We need a challenge, something that makes us use every bit of training and experience we have. Stick to the paperwork, let Marie or someone else handle the contracts from now on." Dante picked up Anima and started to leave the room.

"Wait... I'll send a job to the Albatross... I can do that. I'm not... useless." She raised her head, "What's the point of it all?"

"Depends on who you ask."

"What do you think?"

Dante grabbed the door handle, "To either make a stand for what you believe or fall by the wayside. Also getting drunk a lot." Dante left, "Victoria, let's go."

She sheathed her blade and followed Dante, "So what was that about?"

"Isa losing her nerve, not sure how much more she can handle to be honest." Dante took back his pistol from a terrified Mira, "We've got a job, now what gun can you use?"

"Dante! I will not take this-"

He held up a hand to stop Mira, "We all know how this will end, so I'm going to walk away now. Take care of the idiot because she sure as hell can't take care of herself."

"I don't use guns- hey!" Dante grabbed her arm and slowly dragged her to their new gun supplier.

"I need her fitted for a gun. She's a newbie, so give her something easy to use."

The fox jumped at the demand, "Oh, it's you Commander... I got nervous. Right this way." They walked into the hidden basement entrance, "Now, what is your fighting style?"

Victoria looked around, "Up close and personal."

The fox looked her up and down, "A pistol of course... not quite a shotgun, I believe that sword could handle... perhaps..." He walked away and picked a gun from a case, "A submachine gun. An SMG for short, good for short to mid range, fast firing, low recoil... perfect."

"Wrap it up, we've gotta move. Put it on my account, and toss in that pistol over there." Dante picked up the weapons, "Hold these, they'll keep you alive longer. Practice in the shooting gallery on the Albatross."

Victoria was trying to figure out the best way to hold her new guns as they returned to the Albatross. Titus was half hanging out of the door, "Thank... the heavens... Jean... food... so bad..." That's when Dante noticed the pile of vomit on the metal dock.

"Your sister is becoming a big burden. Even Wendy knew how to cook when she was a kid."

Victoria nodded, "She means well, but Jean never really excelled at anything. Driven, but unskilled." The two walked over Titus and into the ship, "Was that alright?"

"He's tough, he'll live." Jill stumbled up to Dante, "So where to?"

"Pharmacy... drugs..."

Dante rolled his eyes, "This'll hurt." He delivered a quick punch to Jill's gut and she instantly vomitted onto a (thankfully) solid section of floor, "The job?"

Jill wiped her mouth, "I feel... a little better... ugh..." She tapped on her computer and sent it to Dante, who proceeded to read over everything in detail, "See you... soon..."

Dante and Victoria made their way to the lounge. From the tails peaking out from behind the bar, Dante knew who had hid from the food, "Stay back!"

"Ratchet, Chey, Sere... is the ship ready?"

They popped up all at once, "Yep! Angel is always ready to fly."

"Ratchet, take Victoria to the shooting range and teach her how to hit a target, reload, check the weapon, all that. Chey, take inventory and check if we need Rachel on board. Sere, make sure everyone's shields are in perfect order." Dante walked behind the bar and poured himself a neon green drink, "Damn pig-people..."

Before Ratchet took Victoria to the shooting range, she couldn't help but overhear Dante, "Pig-people? Oh Abuio... not them again."

Seeing Victoria's confusion, Dante shut his eyes and clarified, "A people more interested in making money than things like fighting, hunting, cooking, producing... well anything a civilization needs in order to thrive. Them import all of their food, rely on various vending machines for sustenance, they hire mercenaries and robots for self defense, and their population expands faster than a lot of foam in a little jar. They have a standing army, but as they aren't known for being trained..."

Ratchet lowered her head, "They tend to focus on weapons that don't require aim, like rockets and heavy machine guns."

"Oh. Who is Angel? Another member of the crew I haven't met?"

"I am Angel, you have met me." The voice coming through the speaker clearly put Victoria in a defensive mood, "I was formerly a member of Zero Unit, now I am in control of all functions on the Albatross."

Dante downed the drink and poured another one, "Hurry up and learn to shoot, I can't help anyone that can't help themselves." The women left and Jean entered the lounge.

She was wearing just as much food as she served, "Captain Dante... s-sorry about the f-food..." She was about Wendy's and Sere's age but something was off. Clumsy wasn't the right word, but it was close, "I promise I'll get better!"

"You won't, I can tell. You can't fight, you know just about as much first aid as anyone else, you cook like Titus... I need to know what you CAN do."

Jean seemed offended, but during the flight she matured a bit and didn't shout her thoughts, "Well... I... I mean..."

"Follow." Dante led her to the armory and handed her a basic, run-of-the-mill pistol. All Fallen Sky ships were ordered to hold a stock of standards weapons for emergencies, even if they did nothing but collect dust, "You're going to shoot. At least you can do that because I can promise you someone will try to hijack the Albatross."

Victoria was being yelled at by Ratchet for reloading too slow and being too inaccurate, but she was making progress. Jean, however, had never looked more terrified in the short time Dante knew her, "What am I supposed to do?!"

"See that wall with the red circles? Hit the damn circles." He set down a magazine on the waist-high wall, "Hurry it up."

She looked at the gun as though it was some fantastical mystery item, but eventually she found the opening for the magazine. Jean couldn't understand why it wouldn't fit though. Ratchet and Victoria watched Jean struggle, both women were hoping that Dante would step in, but he refused. Jean rotated the magazine and it latched in with a click.

Jean tried to take aim, presumably copying what she's already seen as she tried to hold the pistol like a rifle, which was uncomfortable and quite awkward in appearance. A minute passed before she held it in front of her as though it was about to explode. She pulled the trigger, but nothing happened, "But... I did it right!" Dante ignored her and tapped on his computer.

"If I don't see at least three bullet marks on the circles in the next five minutes you're off the ship."

Jean panicked and shivered as she mashed the trigger over and over with no result. Dante watched as, in her panicked state, she accidentally hit the safety and fired into the ceiling. Jean screamed and nearly dropped the pistol. He could tell that the young lady didn't wish to be left on the Fallen Sky homeworld all alone, and she took her awkward aim again and fired towards the correct wall. She hit the edges of the targets just as the five minute limit was up, "I... I did it..."

Sere appeared with a metal box full of pistol ammunition and set it down, "There you go Dante, and everyone is back on the ship is slightly better shape." She saluted and walked off, odd behavior but perhaps she was trying to look professional.

"Alright. You aren't allowed to eat until every single bit of red paint is shot off of the wall. Understand?"

"B-But!"

Dante looked at his computer, "Complaining uses up energy faster you know." With that he left the range and sat on his chair on the bridge, "Angel, get ready for take-off. You know how much I hate that colony."

"Understood. I will try to make the trip as short as possible, but be warned that there are also reports of more civil unrest than usual."

Dante let out a slow, disappointed sigh, "Well, at least we're not taking out their government. Again. Since they gave the usual 'we don't keep track of our weapons' intel, what can you dig up?"

"Simple. They number twenty total, no robotic soldiers. Twelve rocket launchers and eight heavy machine guns. In addition to knowing the general location, I've downloaded the schematics and video feeds to your computer. The behavior currently indicates that they are waiting to ambush, and they have the perfect location."

Dante took a few minutes to look, and Angel was right. While the storeroom was square, you were limited to a narrow hallway at the entrance and had to take some stairs to get into the center of the room, "They wouldn't even have to try." While the hall existed, it was really just a separator wall created by the contractors to squeeze out some extra money. The soldiers (and citizens) on the colony believed all of those walls to be impenetrable and load bearing, when in reality they were nothing more than drywall coated in red tin, "We could hit a couple through the walls, but we can't break through them easily."

Victoria and Ratchet entered the bridge, "A bit harsh on the new girl aren't you?"

"No, I'm actually being quite merciful. If I was being harsh, I would have put her through what I went through. Now are you interested or not?"

Victoria nodded, "What is 'red tin?' I know what tin is, but-"

"Red tin is visually the same as regular tin, save for the rusty red coloring, but it is more flexible than rubber. Explosives would only make a dent, and even a piercing round loses momentum before it breaks free."

Victoria nodded at Ratchet, "Then shouldn't armor be constructed from this material?"

Angel chimed in, "That was done approximately eight years ago, and the cost rose by 3000%. However, all test subjects were killed instantly upon being shot as the metal doesn't absorb any of the force of impact. The primary causes of death were force and metal protrusions piercing the wearer of armors. It is currently used in safety walls, other less mainstream uses have also been reported but are far from common."

Dante waved his hand in the air, "So you see, at most we could take out a few if they line up behind the wall, but anything more than that would leave us as sitting ducks."

Victoria furrowed her brow, "But if we killed them, would they not know our location?"

"Damn idiots believe red tin is indestructible, at most they'll panic and try to find us inside the store room.

Her curiosity continued, "Your special armor... would it not deflect the rockets? That would make for an easier assault and would shorten the time needed."

Miss Star stepped onto the bridge, "Not really. Learned that the hard way, this stuff is perfect against bullets and energy blasts! Butttt... things that explode close by are enough to disrupt the shield, leaving us completely vulnerable."

"Since you haven't earned your special armor, you're at higher risk. The strategy is the same though: don't get hit." Dante looked out into the stars, "And of course, I'll explain some cultural rules when we get there. Don't want to stand out too much."

"You have one eye."

"I also have a gun. Which one do you think makes me blend in more?"