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More from JayzenZorex
This is a very long awaited trade I did with a good friend of mine. He wanted a very specific scenario and I decided to take the story and add it to my 3rd book that I have been working on. These are some very time advanced chapters so it wil not make entire sense until I finish the entire book. Enjoy the read :3
Art done by and trade story for
ArtsenRavenBrave
Jay and characters in story are all mine :3
Chapter 17: Dark Side of the Magma
Mira gave Jay a big hug and nuzzled the side of his face. She gave a cute little lick to the side of his face and said, “Be careful out there.” She then turned to Treye and said, “Please bring him back safely.”
Treye smiled and wagged his tail. With his blind eyes, he looked up at her and said in return, “Heh, I'll do my best.”
With one last hug, Jay gave a quick smooch to Mira's cheek. “I know you're still recovering from your wounds, but Jaike needs your help,” he said and gently rubbed the bandage wrap on her belly and side. “He'll be in good hands for his transplant with you. That way we can get our gunship pilot back.”
Treye shivered to this comment as he remembered Adam's rough flying since he took over. “He keeps trying to fly it like a fighter when the Fox's Teeth is not,” he said.
Mira nodded and started to release from Jay's embrace. “Jaike's got a long recovery road ahead of him. The operation is just the first step. The recovery and use of the cybernetics is the hard part. Frustration and anger are very common for this surgery.”
Jayzen folded his ears as the news sat in. He gave a smirk and tried to keep an optimistic attitude about the situation. “He's a tough roo and he'll be in the best care with you by his side.”
With a slight worried smile, Mira let go of Jayzen's hand and said, “Good luck ice fox.”
Jayzen wagged his tail as he watched Mira walk away. He couldn't help but feel relieved that Mira was in no danger for a chance.
Treye, still being much shorter than Jay on account of being a fennec fox, wanted to reach up and put a reassuring hand on Jay's shoulder. Instead, he opted to place it on Jay's elbow. With a blind stare, he looked up at Jay and gave a reassuring smile. “She'll be ok. Her and Jaike will come out on top.”
With folded ears, Jay looked down at Treye and caught those blank eyes. “It's not them I'm worried about,” He said in a worried tone.
Treye cocked his head and wasn't quite sure if he meant them. “You worried about us?” he asked to get clarification.
Jayzen nodded as he looked back towards Mira before she disappeared behind the giant medical door. “Yeah. This whole operation just seems a bit to coincidental. We just escaped and all of a sudden we get information on a facility on Janus where a certain serum might be derived for this elemental outbreak? It just screams a trap.”
Treye followed Jay's stare as he pondered those thoughts. “You changing your mind on going? Or taking me?” he asked.
Jay's ears perked up and he shook his head, “No, not at all. I just fear what might be waiting for us there. How much of the dark side have you explored on Janus?” he asked.
Treye's large ears perked up but then flattened as he scratched the back of his head. “Heh, funny thing about that...I've only scouted the caverns where we escaped from. Plus, I've been blind for nearly most of my life, I've got no concept as to what part I truly have explored.”
Jayzen sighed and chuckled to himself. “Heh, great. Looks like we're both going in blind,” he said and folded his arms.
Treye chuckled and decided to keep that positivity up. “Heh, well one of us already has that covered. You going to wear a blind fold?” he asked in a joking tone.
“*Tch*....no,” Jayzen said and gave Treye a small shoulder punch for the joke. He then motioned with his head and said, “Heh, go get your gear and meet me by my ship.”
Treye saluted and quickly darted to his room to get ready to go.
“I hope I'm not making a bad call on this,” Jayzen thought to himself as he watched Treye enter the lift. He clenched a fist and caused his eyes to glow his icy green mist. “I hope I'm strong enough.”
It didn't take long for Jay to grab his gear. With his energy magazines loaded onto his coat, he rubbed his fingers along the green strips of his duster coat. With his rifle on his back, he then ran his fingers over the new pair of Nova blasters he grabbed. He quickly drew them from their holsters and gave them each a nice spin. He winced as he feared that he'd absorb them again like before. Luckily for him, they remained solid to the touch. He heaved a huge sigh of relief and holstered them again as he felt calm to hold them again.
Soon after that, the door to the hangar opened before Jayzen. He looked ahead and saw that Treye was already siting in the passenger seat of his ship.
Treye's ears perked up as he heard the door open up. He caught a whiff of Jay's scent as he motioned towards himself. “Come on slow poke. Light is fading,” he said with a smirk.
Jayzen chuckled as he quickly climbed up the ladder. “Heh, got news for you already....it's dark already,” he said with a tease back as he sat down in the pilot's seat of the Vak. He closed the canopy and started the engines as he got himself comfortable in his seat.
“Huh, imagine that,” Treye said sticking his tongue out cutely at Jay.
Jayzen chuckled as he gripped the flight stick. He pushed the throttle up and pulled back on the stick and caused the Vak to take off. “Hold on tight,” he said as he turned back to Treye.
Treye nodded and sat back in his seat. “How long will it take us to get there?” he asked as he tapped his toe rings on the floor.
Jayzen's ears flicked as he responded, “It will only take a few hours.”
Treye stretched his toes out and gave a yawn as he placed his hands behind his head. He closed his eyes and relaxed and said, “Heh, well then, wake me up when we get there.”
Jayzen chuckled as he inputted the coordinates into the nav computer. With the coordinates set, he splayed his toes as he crossed his ankles and said, “Heh, the computer will wake both of us up.” The Vak then darted off into hyperspace.
A few hours later, the nav computer beeped and signaled that they have arrived at Janus. Jay and Treye's ears both perked up to this and Jayzen reached over to turn off the alarm. Jayzen then rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and gripped the control stick.
“We're here,” Jayzen said as he looked over at the bright side of Janus. “Can only imagine what lurks on the dark side of Janus.”
Treye nodded as he plastered his face against the cockpit shield. “Can't wait to see it,” he said.
Jayzen chuckled and shook his head as he heard the joke that Treye made.
With the Vak at full speed, Jay brought them around the planet. Ahead of them, the bright forest canopy began to disappear as the dark side began to filter in. In the distance, a large dark mountain range began to take form as Jayzen quickly dodged tot eh side to avoid it.
“Whoa!” Jay exclaimed as he quickly turned the lights on. “If that lava river hadn't been there, I don't want to know what might have happened to us,” he said as a bright lava river lit up the side of the mountain.
Treye gripped his seat as he looked over at Jay. “Yeah. Please don't get us killed before we even land.”
Jayzen nodded as he expertly traveled around all the tall mountains and made sure to bank wide. “No lie there. This planet is definitely like night on day for each side. Lush green forests litter the bright side but then dark magma coated mountains protrude from the dark side,” he said as he inputted the coordinates he siphoned from the message they received earlier. With the coordinates set, he saw that they were super close to them. “Hmm, it seems we are almost there. Just over the next mountain,” he said as he slowed the Vak down. “Let's take a look at what we're up against.”
As the lights shined around the mountain, the source of the message began to take form. In the distance, Jay saw what looked like a large alien ship that had crashed landed into the side of a large rocky mountain. The mountain itself looked like it was eating the remains as slow moving lava streams carved its way through what was left of the ship.
Jay flew the Vak closer as he tried to get a closer look at the derelict ship. Upon further inspection, he concluded that the ship had been there for quite some time because of the amount of erosion it had sustained. Along what looked like the left side of the ship, sat a large airlock. “There is no way that this ship crashed recently. The damage it has sustained is the result of many years of lava flow,” he said as he continued to survey the area as he slowly flew by in search of a landing spot.
“Could they be taking refuge inside of the ship?” Treye asked.
Jayzen shrugged his shoulders in response. “If they did, then where is the fresh crashed ship? All my computer and me see near here in a 20 mile radius is this ship. Outside of that is literally hundreds of the same rocky type mountains,” he said as he began to double check the coordinates they had.
“What do we do then?” Treye asked as he looked down at his bare toes as they stick out of his barepawed boots. “I don't fancy spelunking near a lava river with only these pawboots on.”
Jayzen nodded as he clenched his own bare toes to the idea. “Yeah....me either,” he said as the fur on his neck began to stand on end. He then began to feel super uneasy as he tightened the grip on the controls.
Jayzen was about to abort when he heard a voice appear on the comms. “Oh thank god! We were wondering if anyone had gotten our distress call,” the voice said.
Jayzen lifted a brow as he adjusted his mic and said, “Identify yourself.”
“This is Major Felson. Our ship crashed landed in a large lava river a few miles from here. A few of my crew managed to survive before the ship disintegrated. We took refuge in this derelict ship which we found out, still had power. Please get us out of here,” the static voice said before it got completely cut off.
Jayzen tried to hail back but got no response. “Huh, why does that not surprise me that I can't hail them back,” he said as he folded his ears.
Treye's large fennec ears flicked as he cocked his head to the side. “He sounded legit to me.”
“The static voice I can give them. What bothers me is that he never asked who we were,” Jayzen said as he brought the Vak to a halt and let it hover there. “We could be bandits for all they know. The other issue I have is that there are far too many lava rivers for a group of people to survive trying to get around. They couldn't have made it here alive if what they said is true.”
Before Treye could respond, the large mountain ahead of them began to split and open up, which showed the large hangar that was housed inside. Even though Treye could not see it, the large moving door made quite a racket as he pressed his large ears to the cockpit shield. “If the voice is false, then who opened the hangar for us?”
With a lifted brow, Jayzen gritted his teeth as he responded back, “I don't know, but it looks like we're going to find out.” He then slowly pulled his ship inside the massive hangar.
As soon as he pulled inside, the large mountain began to close up and lock them inside of it. Inside, the large spotlights lit them up as they slowly descended. The Vak touched down and Jayzen began to shut down the engines. He opened the cockpit up and slowly hopped out. The ground beneath his paw pads was warm to the touch as he surveyed the area while he waited for Treye to get out. He sniffed the air as he tried to ascertain the smell.
“I can't put my finger on it. I smell sulfur and something else,” Jay said as he gripped his blaster grips.
Before Treye touched down on the ground, he sniffed the air and said in a worried tone,” Smells like death to me.”
“Let's be on our toes. I don't trust this place one bit,” Jay said as he slowly walked to the door.
When Jay got to the door, he drew his rifle and planted his back against the wall. He gritted his teeth and motioned towards Treye to follow him.
Treye nodded and drew his scatter pistol as he waited on the other side of the door. He press one of his large ears against the door and listened in hopes to hear anything.
“Hmmm....I hear nothing at all. No footsteps....no heavy breathing....all I hear is normal electricity hums,” Treye said as he tapped his toe rings to send out some vibrations for him to see.
Jayzen nodded and opened the door via the nearby control panel. When the door opened up, he panned around the entry way and made sure to keep his rifle trained for any nonsense. He felt a bit uneasy as he gave the clear sign. “Clear,” he said as he slowly walked in.
The entry hall was dimly lit as the power was set for emergency lighting. Interlaced between the metallic bits of the wall sat dozens of scorch marks which presumably came from all the lava activity nearby.
“These burns marks must have been created when they were trying to dig this airlock,” Jayzen said as he ran his hand over some of the damaged areas. Even though the damage had been caused a long time ago, the marks were still hot to the touch. “Wow, and still very hot to the touch. Be careful,” he said as he gave his hand a shake.
Jayzen lead the way as he slowly walked down the hall. The hard metal ground beneath his paw pads felt very warm even though he knew there was insulation underneath it. The entire hallway echoed with loud clacking sounds as he heard Treye tapping his toe rings away.
The hall itself was not very long as they quickly reached the end of it. With the same tactic as before, Jayzen opened the door and peered inside with his rifle trained.
“What the...?” Jayzen asked as he lifted his brow.
As Treye heard this, he quickly peered inside and sent out vibrations. He saw what looked like rows of computer terminals and other kinds of science type flasks and equipment. “Was this some kind of science vessel of sorts?” he asked.
Jayzen lowered his rifle and walked over to the nearest terminal. He felt the computer and felt that it was still warm, like it had been recently shut off. “This computer had recently been turned off,” he said as he tried to power it back on. “Hmm, someone cut the power to it. There must be a way to restore power to this somewhere. I want to know what went on in this place.”
Treye nodded and began to look around for a possible switch. With no switch in sight, he looked around and noticed a nearby door. He decided to check it out and with scatter blaster in his hand, slowly opened it to peer inside. He secured the room and once he felt it was clear, lowered his gun. As he looked around, he tapped the floor to send out vibrations for him to see. Something felt strange to him as normally he could sculpt the image in his mind with the vibes he felt and heard through his large ears. But in this room, large hazy objects began to take shape as something was absorbing his vibrations. One spot in particular was located on the wall on what looked like a possible breaker box. Treye was curious and walked over to the breaker and made sure to step over the hazy spots he kind of saw on the floor as he feared what could be there for his bare toes to step in.
“It's so gooey,” Treye said as he reached out to flip the breaker switch. With goop all over his fingers, he flipped the switch and brought the computer room to life.
Jay's ears perked up as he saw all the computer screens light up. “Uh...what did I touch?” he asked as he lifted his hands up. With wide eyes he slowly sat down and waited for the operating system to load up.
Treye came back to Jayzen and held the goop in his hands to show him. “Hey Jay. I found the breaker switch and it was covered in this,” he said as he showed what was on his fingers to Jay.
Jayzen tilted his head as he put his wrist communicator link back in it's holster. He studied Treye's hand as he brought it close to his muzzle. “Hmm, a strange dark purple viscous goop,” he said as he rubbed it between his thumb and index finger. “It's very slippery yet also rather sticky. You said this was on the breaker switch?” Jay asked as he lifted a brow.
Treye nodded and pointed to the door he came from. “Mhm, right in there. It was on the floor too,” he said as he lowered his ears. “It a....it also seems to absorb vibrations that I use to see. This means...” he started to say before Jay responded back.
“Means if more litters the walls and floor...you'll be completely blind in that area,” Jay said as he looked over at Treye's hung face.
“Yeah...only vibrations that come directly at me can I sense,” Treye said as he wiped the goop on his vest.
“I wonder what creature produces that kind of substance?” Jayzen asked as he pondered and rubbed the scruff on his chin.
“I don't know. But whatever it is....it's designed to be my weakness,” Treye said with a bit of fear in his voice.
Jayzen connected his wrist communicator to the computer and inputted a few commands and began to download all of the data that was housed within it. As the data downloaded, he stood up and placed his hand on Treye's shoulder. “He could be a lot of people's weakness,” he said as he tried to be reassuring. Unfortunately, he too had no idea what powers this creature could hold.
“Data downloaded,” said Jay's robotic voice from his watch.
Jayzen smirked and said, “Check the records for any special projects that went on in here. Also check all of the high level clearance ones and use the decrypter to view them.”
Jayzen folded his arms as he tapped his bare toes on the warm ground. It only took mere minutes as the robotic voice came back. “Done Captain Zorex,” it said as Jayzen pulled up his watch to his muzzle. “Showing results now,” it said as one result appeared on screen.
“Hmm, project Mora?” Jay asked as he clicked on it with his finger. The entry appeared but only showed a blank screen with a few sentences written. “Project Mora, a study program about the effects of an extraterrestrial being. The subject is of a squid like race that crash landed here.” Jayzen said as he tilted his head in confusion.
“And?” Treye asked as he flicked his ears. “What more does it say?”
“That's it,” Jayzen said as he tried to input a few more commands on his watch.
A few seconds later, the voice came back and responded, “I already did that Captain. This is all the data that is available.”
“Huh, seems like someone is trying to hide something,” Jay said as he grabbed his rifle from the desk. “I fail to believe that this is all the data. I bet someone has deleted most of it on purpose. We best tread carefully. If this Mora is still here, maybe he/she can shed some light on things here.”
Treye nodded and motioned to the breaker room with his head. “There was another door back there that we can try,” he said. “Just try not to get the goop between your toes.”
Jayzen chuckled as he made his way to the breaker room. Since he wasn't the one to discover the group first, he now had an opportunity to study it first hand. “Wow, this is a lot of goop. There are so many concentrated areas of this stuff. Whoever or whatever secrets this stuff must have a large supply of it,” he said as he poked it with a toe claw.
“I don't like it. If it gets between my toes, it will stop the vibes from going out from my rings. I'll be totally blind and useless,” Treye said as he stepped over the globs and opened up the next door. “Shall we?” he asked Jay. “Lead the way.”
Jayzen nodded and took point as he stepped into the next room. The room adjacent to the breaker room resembled a large opps type room. In the center of the large circular sat a large communication station with a large holo table in the middle of it for video calls. With no enemies in sight, Jayzen carefully stepped around as he made his way tot he comms console.
“Ugh....gross....this keyboard is covered in this junk,” Jay said as he bent down to inspect the goop. “And it is still dripping,” he said as he caught the strand with his index finger.
Treye's fur shivered as a large portion of the room, he couldn't see. This made him feel very uneasy. “This place is freaking me out. I...I don't like this type of vision hindrance.”
Jayzen saw Treye's fidgeting and stood up to check the sent messages. As soon as he checked the logs, the same exact message played that they heard back on board the Vak. “Welp, that further fortifies that this place is where the message was sent from,” he said as he followed a set of glob steps on the floor. “We are getting closer as the foot prints go that way,” he said as he pointed to a nearby side door.
“Good! Let's end this fast,” Treye said as he quickly hopped to the door.
Jayzen grabbed his rifle and followed Treye and made sure not to step in any goop. He opened the door and saw a large dark hallway as he peered around inside. “Hmm, well this hallway is still dark,” he said as his ears swiveled around a little. “Let's see what is at the end of this.”
Treye whimpered a bit as almost all of this hallway prohibited any vibrations from bouncing off the walls. For him, all he saw was a small foot step path that they could walk on. “Watch where you step, Jayzen,” he said with a warning.
Jay's ears perked up as he activated the light on his rifle. He smiled and gave Treye a thumbs up signal. “Thanks for the heads up on that. Light steps ahead,” he said as his tail swished behind him but with enough lift to keep it off the messy floor.
At first, their main concern was to avoid all of the goop that laid about on the floor and walls. Since they were practically barepawed furies with only their pawboots on, they feared how difficult it could prove to release their bare toes from the sticky substance's viscous bond. Plus it would feel very awkward between their toes.
“Man, this stuff is like...everywhere,” Jayzen said as he shined his light on the floors and the walls. It wasn't apparent to them at first, but they soon started to smell a very distinct aroma. “Ugh, and that smell. It kinda smells like...like the ocean.”
Treye whimpered and shivered as he walked carefully with almost no vision at all. “Like from an underwater sea creature?” he asked with a studder in his voice as he regained his footing from an almost fall. Frustrated, he grabbed hold of Jay's fluffy tail and held onto it tight.
Jayzen nodded and then meeped as he turned around to the sudden grab to his tail. He chuckled and asked, “Feeling better now? Almost feel didn't ya?”
“I will once we get out of here,” Treye responded with a nod.
The hallway soon ended as they were greeted by a large airlock door. “Hmm...lab area,” Jayzen said as he read off the sign that was posted on the door. “Hopefully there are answers on the other side of this,” he said as he took his watch and began a hacking program to unlock the door with it.
click beep went the panel as it gave the open command. Jayzen grinned and clicked his fingers and said, “Pup's play.”
They both squinted as the door began to open. With the door open, it showed how much brighter it was inside as Jayzen trained his rifle to check for enemies.
“Clear!” Jay yelled as his eyes surveyed the rest of the room. The floor of the lab was devoid of any of the purple goop they had discovered. Unfortunately, the walls were caked with the stuff. One thing did catch Jay's eye and that was a large cylindrical tube in the center of the room.
Treye felt relieved as his vibration vision had returned to him except for the wall areas. His large ears perked up as he thought that he had heard something emanate from one of the nearby walls and let go of Jay's tail.
With his tail free, Jayzen walked over to the tube to investigate it. The floor felt a bit strange to him as his paw pads made contact with it. He splayed his toes out and felt an odd combination of metal and rock under his paws as he walked. As he drew near to the other side of the cylinder, he saw what they could not see from the door.
“Project Mora...” Jay said as he read the LED panel. As he looked up, he saw that the large glass tube had a huge hole in it. Jay investigated further and noticed that the glass was littered all over the nearby console and the floor ahead of it. “Well that is certain. Whoever this Mora is, they broke out as opposed to someone breaking into it.”
“Jay!” Treye yelled in a slightly terrified voice. “Come here quick.”
Jay's ears perked straight up and he rushed over to where Treye was. “What is it?” he asked.
“These walls were once...alive,” Treye said as he took his blade and cut off a large portion of the goop off and revealed what lurked behind it.
Jayzen's eyes lit up as the sight unfolded before him. Against the wall, a skeletal figure of an anthro, decked out in some kind of security armor, lay plastered against the hidden rocky wall. The skeleton was picked clean and signaled that the poor victim was sucked dry of any fluids or mass before they died. Further inspection showed the open maw and the distinct shape of the goop that resided inside of it.
“That kinda resembles... a tentacle,” Jayzen said as he carefully pried the skeletal jaw open. His eyes then looked low as they caught the name tag of the individual. “Felson,” he said with a worried tone. “I think we just found Major Felson.”
“I don't believe he sent the message,” Treye said as he cleaned his blade of the goop he cut off. He then began to panic as he panned around.
“What gave you that notion?” a mysterious voice said from behind them.
Jay's ears perked straight up and he spun around fast on his paws. He gritted his teeth as he kept his rifle aimed in front of him. He perceived the accent that the voice used and decided to respond back accordingly even though he saw no one there, “Because dead men tell no tales.”
Both Jay and Treye's ears aimed towards the center of the large room as they waited for the voice to show itself. Even though the voice emanated from the center, the creature began to take form across the room. The viscous goop began to take on a humanoid type form as he nearly walked right out from the wall like a door. At first, he had a basic shape with no defining features. But as time went on, his face began to resemble a squid and his clothes took the form of an old pirate captain. His beard was scraggly and interlaced with a few tentacles as it completely hid his mouth. He stepped a few feet forward and motioned with his hands as he stared the pair down.
“Let's be keepin' that up, savvy?” Mora said. “Captain Mora shall sail again,” he said before he lunged forward with his tentacled hands outstretched in front of him.
Art done by and trade story for
ArtsenRavenBraveJay and characters in story are all mine :3
Chapter 17: Dark Side of the Magma
Mira gave Jay a big hug and nuzzled the side of his face. She gave a cute little lick to the side of his face and said, “Be careful out there.” She then turned to Treye and said, “Please bring him back safely.”
Treye smiled and wagged his tail. With his blind eyes, he looked up at her and said in return, “Heh, I'll do my best.”
With one last hug, Jay gave a quick smooch to Mira's cheek. “I know you're still recovering from your wounds, but Jaike needs your help,” he said and gently rubbed the bandage wrap on her belly and side. “He'll be in good hands for his transplant with you. That way we can get our gunship pilot back.”
Treye shivered to this comment as he remembered Adam's rough flying since he took over. “He keeps trying to fly it like a fighter when the Fox's Teeth is not,” he said.
Mira nodded and started to release from Jay's embrace. “Jaike's got a long recovery road ahead of him. The operation is just the first step. The recovery and use of the cybernetics is the hard part. Frustration and anger are very common for this surgery.”
Jayzen folded his ears as the news sat in. He gave a smirk and tried to keep an optimistic attitude about the situation. “He's a tough roo and he'll be in the best care with you by his side.”
With a slight worried smile, Mira let go of Jayzen's hand and said, “Good luck ice fox.”
Jayzen wagged his tail as he watched Mira walk away. He couldn't help but feel relieved that Mira was in no danger for a chance.
Treye, still being much shorter than Jay on account of being a fennec fox, wanted to reach up and put a reassuring hand on Jay's shoulder. Instead, he opted to place it on Jay's elbow. With a blind stare, he looked up at Jay and gave a reassuring smile. “She'll be ok. Her and Jaike will come out on top.”
With folded ears, Jay looked down at Treye and caught those blank eyes. “It's not them I'm worried about,” He said in a worried tone.
Treye cocked his head and wasn't quite sure if he meant them. “You worried about us?” he asked to get clarification.
Jayzen nodded as he looked back towards Mira before she disappeared behind the giant medical door. “Yeah. This whole operation just seems a bit to coincidental. We just escaped and all of a sudden we get information on a facility on Janus where a certain serum might be derived for this elemental outbreak? It just screams a trap.”
Treye followed Jay's stare as he pondered those thoughts. “You changing your mind on going? Or taking me?” he asked.
Jay's ears perked up and he shook his head, “No, not at all. I just fear what might be waiting for us there. How much of the dark side have you explored on Janus?” he asked.
Treye's large ears perked up but then flattened as he scratched the back of his head. “Heh, funny thing about that...I've only scouted the caverns where we escaped from. Plus, I've been blind for nearly most of my life, I've got no concept as to what part I truly have explored.”
Jayzen sighed and chuckled to himself. “Heh, great. Looks like we're both going in blind,” he said and folded his arms.
Treye chuckled and decided to keep that positivity up. “Heh, well one of us already has that covered. You going to wear a blind fold?” he asked in a joking tone.
“*Tch*....no,” Jayzen said and gave Treye a small shoulder punch for the joke. He then motioned with his head and said, “Heh, go get your gear and meet me by my ship.”
Treye saluted and quickly darted to his room to get ready to go.
“I hope I'm not making a bad call on this,” Jayzen thought to himself as he watched Treye enter the lift. He clenched a fist and caused his eyes to glow his icy green mist. “I hope I'm strong enough.”
It didn't take long for Jay to grab his gear. With his energy magazines loaded onto his coat, he rubbed his fingers along the green strips of his duster coat. With his rifle on his back, he then ran his fingers over the new pair of Nova blasters he grabbed. He quickly drew them from their holsters and gave them each a nice spin. He winced as he feared that he'd absorb them again like before. Luckily for him, they remained solid to the touch. He heaved a huge sigh of relief and holstered them again as he felt calm to hold them again.
Soon after that, the door to the hangar opened before Jayzen. He looked ahead and saw that Treye was already siting in the passenger seat of his ship.
Treye's ears perked up as he heard the door open up. He caught a whiff of Jay's scent as he motioned towards himself. “Come on slow poke. Light is fading,” he said with a smirk.
Jayzen chuckled as he quickly climbed up the ladder. “Heh, got news for you already....it's dark already,” he said with a tease back as he sat down in the pilot's seat of the Vak. He closed the canopy and started the engines as he got himself comfortable in his seat.
“Huh, imagine that,” Treye said sticking his tongue out cutely at Jay.
Jayzen chuckled as he gripped the flight stick. He pushed the throttle up and pulled back on the stick and caused the Vak to take off. “Hold on tight,” he said as he turned back to Treye.
Treye nodded and sat back in his seat. “How long will it take us to get there?” he asked as he tapped his toe rings on the floor.
Jayzen's ears flicked as he responded, “It will only take a few hours.”
Treye stretched his toes out and gave a yawn as he placed his hands behind his head. He closed his eyes and relaxed and said, “Heh, well then, wake me up when we get there.”
Jayzen chuckled as he inputted the coordinates into the nav computer. With the coordinates set, he splayed his toes as he crossed his ankles and said, “Heh, the computer will wake both of us up.” The Vak then darted off into hyperspace.
A few hours later, the nav computer beeped and signaled that they have arrived at Janus. Jay and Treye's ears both perked up to this and Jayzen reached over to turn off the alarm. Jayzen then rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and gripped the control stick.
“We're here,” Jayzen said as he looked over at the bright side of Janus. “Can only imagine what lurks on the dark side of Janus.”
Treye nodded as he plastered his face against the cockpit shield. “Can't wait to see it,” he said.
Jayzen chuckled and shook his head as he heard the joke that Treye made.
With the Vak at full speed, Jay brought them around the planet. Ahead of them, the bright forest canopy began to disappear as the dark side began to filter in. In the distance, a large dark mountain range began to take form as Jayzen quickly dodged tot eh side to avoid it.
“Whoa!” Jay exclaimed as he quickly turned the lights on. “If that lava river hadn't been there, I don't want to know what might have happened to us,” he said as a bright lava river lit up the side of the mountain.
Treye gripped his seat as he looked over at Jay. “Yeah. Please don't get us killed before we even land.”
Jayzen nodded as he expertly traveled around all the tall mountains and made sure to bank wide. “No lie there. This planet is definitely like night on day for each side. Lush green forests litter the bright side but then dark magma coated mountains protrude from the dark side,” he said as he inputted the coordinates he siphoned from the message they received earlier. With the coordinates set, he saw that they were super close to them. “Hmm, it seems we are almost there. Just over the next mountain,” he said as he slowed the Vak down. “Let's take a look at what we're up against.”
As the lights shined around the mountain, the source of the message began to take form. In the distance, Jay saw what looked like a large alien ship that had crashed landed into the side of a large rocky mountain. The mountain itself looked like it was eating the remains as slow moving lava streams carved its way through what was left of the ship.
Jay flew the Vak closer as he tried to get a closer look at the derelict ship. Upon further inspection, he concluded that the ship had been there for quite some time because of the amount of erosion it had sustained. Along what looked like the left side of the ship, sat a large airlock. “There is no way that this ship crashed recently. The damage it has sustained is the result of many years of lava flow,” he said as he continued to survey the area as he slowly flew by in search of a landing spot.
“Could they be taking refuge inside of the ship?” Treye asked.
Jayzen shrugged his shoulders in response. “If they did, then where is the fresh crashed ship? All my computer and me see near here in a 20 mile radius is this ship. Outside of that is literally hundreds of the same rocky type mountains,” he said as he began to double check the coordinates they had.
“What do we do then?” Treye asked as he looked down at his bare toes as they stick out of his barepawed boots. “I don't fancy spelunking near a lava river with only these pawboots on.”
Jayzen nodded as he clenched his own bare toes to the idea. “Yeah....me either,” he said as the fur on his neck began to stand on end. He then began to feel super uneasy as he tightened the grip on the controls.
Jayzen was about to abort when he heard a voice appear on the comms. “Oh thank god! We were wondering if anyone had gotten our distress call,” the voice said.
Jayzen lifted a brow as he adjusted his mic and said, “Identify yourself.”
“This is Major Felson. Our ship crashed landed in a large lava river a few miles from here. A few of my crew managed to survive before the ship disintegrated. We took refuge in this derelict ship which we found out, still had power. Please get us out of here,” the static voice said before it got completely cut off.
Jayzen tried to hail back but got no response. “Huh, why does that not surprise me that I can't hail them back,” he said as he folded his ears.
Treye's large fennec ears flicked as he cocked his head to the side. “He sounded legit to me.”
“The static voice I can give them. What bothers me is that he never asked who we were,” Jayzen said as he brought the Vak to a halt and let it hover there. “We could be bandits for all they know. The other issue I have is that there are far too many lava rivers for a group of people to survive trying to get around. They couldn't have made it here alive if what they said is true.”
Before Treye could respond, the large mountain ahead of them began to split and open up, which showed the large hangar that was housed inside. Even though Treye could not see it, the large moving door made quite a racket as he pressed his large ears to the cockpit shield. “If the voice is false, then who opened the hangar for us?”
With a lifted brow, Jayzen gritted his teeth as he responded back, “I don't know, but it looks like we're going to find out.” He then slowly pulled his ship inside the massive hangar.
As soon as he pulled inside, the large mountain began to close up and lock them inside of it. Inside, the large spotlights lit them up as they slowly descended. The Vak touched down and Jayzen began to shut down the engines. He opened the cockpit up and slowly hopped out. The ground beneath his paw pads was warm to the touch as he surveyed the area while he waited for Treye to get out. He sniffed the air as he tried to ascertain the smell.
“I can't put my finger on it. I smell sulfur and something else,” Jay said as he gripped his blaster grips.
Before Treye touched down on the ground, he sniffed the air and said in a worried tone,” Smells like death to me.”
“Let's be on our toes. I don't trust this place one bit,” Jay said as he slowly walked to the door.
When Jay got to the door, he drew his rifle and planted his back against the wall. He gritted his teeth and motioned towards Treye to follow him.
Treye nodded and drew his scatter pistol as he waited on the other side of the door. He press one of his large ears against the door and listened in hopes to hear anything.
“Hmmm....I hear nothing at all. No footsteps....no heavy breathing....all I hear is normal electricity hums,” Treye said as he tapped his toe rings to send out some vibrations for him to see.
Jayzen nodded and opened the door via the nearby control panel. When the door opened up, he panned around the entry way and made sure to keep his rifle trained for any nonsense. He felt a bit uneasy as he gave the clear sign. “Clear,” he said as he slowly walked in.
The entry hall was dimly lit as the power was set for emergency lighting. Interlaced between the metallic bits of the wall sat dozens of scorch marks which presumably came from all the lava activity nearby.
“These burns marks must have been created when they were trying to dig this airlock,” Jayzen said as he ran his hand over some of the damaged areas. Even though the damage had been caused a long time ago, the marks were still hot to the touch. “Wow, and still very hot to the touch. Be careful,” he said as he gave his hand a shake.
Jayzen lead the way as he slowly walked down the hall. The hard metal ground beneath his paw pads felt very warm even though he knew there was insulation underneath it. The entire hallway echoed with loud clacking sounds as he heard Treye tapping his toe rings away.
The hall itself was not very long as they quickly reached the end of it. With the same tactic as before, Jayzen opened the door and peered inside with his rifle trained.
“What the...?” Jayzen asked as he lifted his brow.
As Treye heard this, he quickly peered inside and sent out vibrations. He saw what looked like rows of computer terminals and other kinds of science type flasks and equipment. “Was this some kind of science vessel of sorts?” he asked.
Jayzen lowered his rifle and walked over to the nearest terminal. He felt the computer and felt that it was still warm, like it had been recently shut off. “This computer had recently been turned off,” he said as he tried to power it back on. “Hmm, someone cut the power to it. There must be a way to restore power to this somewhere. I want to know what went on in this place.”
Treye nodded and began to look around for a possible switch. With no switch in sight, he looked around and noticed a nearby door. He decided to check it out and with scatter blaster in his hand, slowly opened it to peer inside. He secured the room and once he felt it was clear, lowered his gun. As he looked around, he tapped the floor to send out vibrations for him to see. Something felt strange to him as normally he could sculpt the image in his mind with the vibes he felt and heard through his large ears. But in this room, large hazy objects began to take shape as something was absorbing his vibrations. One spot in particular was located on the wall on what looked like a possible breaker box. Treye was curious and walked over to the breaker and made sure to step over the hazy spots he kind of saw on the floor as he feared what could be there for his bare toes to step in.
“It's so gooey,” Treye said as he reached out to flip the breaker switch. With goop all over his fingers, he flipped the switch and brought the computer room to life.
Jay's ears perked up as he saw all the computer screens light up. “Uh...what did I touch?” he asked as he lifted his hands up. With wide eyes he slowly sat down and waited for the operating system to load up.
Treye came back to Jayzen and held the goop in his hands to show him. “Hey Jay. I found the breaker switch and it was covered in this,” he said as he showed what was on his fingers to Jay.
Jayzen tilted his head as he put his wrist communicator link back in it's holster. He studied Treye's hand as he brought it close to his muzzle. “Hmm, a strange dark purple viscous goop,” he said as he rubbed it between his thumb and index finger. “It's very slippery yet also rather sticky. You said this was on the breaker switch?” Jay asked as he lifted a brow.
Treye nodded and pointed to the door he came from. “Mhm, right in there. It was on the floor too,” he said as he lowered his ears. “It a....it also seems to absorb vibrations that I use to see. This means...” he started to say before Jay responded back.
“Means if more litters the walls and floor...you'll be completely blind in that area,” Jay said as he looked over at Treye's hung face.
“Yeah...only vibrations that come directly at me can I sense,” Treye said as he wiped the goop on his vest.
“I wonder what creature produces that kind of substance?” Jayzen asked as he pondered and rubbed the scruff on his chin.
“I don't know. But whatever it is....it's designed to be my weakness,” Treye said with a bit of fear in his voice.
Jayzen connected his wrist communicator to the computer and inputted a few commands and began to download all of the data that was housed within it. As the data downloaded, he stood up and placed his hand on Treye's shoulder. “He could be a lot of people's weakness,” he said as he tried to be reassuring. Unfortunately, he too had no idea what powers this creature could hold.
“Data downloaded,” said Jay's robotic voice from his watch.
Jayzen smirked and said, “Check the records for any special projects that went on in here. Also check all of the high level clearance ones and use the decrypter to view them.”
Jayzen folded his arms as he tapped his bare toes on the warm ground. It only took mere minutes as the robotic voice came back. “Done Captain Zorex,” it said as Jayzen pulled up his watch to his muzzle. “Showing results now,” it said as one result appeared on screen.
“Hmm, project Mora?” Jay asked as he clicked on it with his finger. The entry appeared but only showed a blank screen with a few sentences written. “Project Mora, a study program about the effects of an extraterrestrial being. The subject is of a squid like race that crash landed here.” Jayzen said as he tilted his head in confusion.
“And?” Treye asked as he flicked his ears. “What more does it say?”
“That's it,” Jayzen said as he tried to input a few more commands on his watch.
A few seconds later, the voice came back and responded, “I already did that Captain. This is all the data that is available.”
“Huh, seems like someone is trying to hide something,” Jay said as he grabbed his rifle from the desk. “I fail to believe that this is all the data. I bet someone has deleted most of it on purpose. We best tread carefully. If this Mora is still here, maybe he/she can shed some light on things here.”
Treye nodded and motioned to the breaker room with his head. “There was another door back there that we can try,” he said. “Just try not to get the goop between your toes.”
Jayzen chuckled as he made his way to the breaker room. Since he wasn't the one to discover the group first, he now had an opportunity to study it first hand. “Wow, this is a lot of goop. There are so many concentrated areas of this stuff. Whoever or whatever secrets this stuff must have a large supply of it,” he said as he poked it with a toe claw.
“I don't like it. If it gets between my toes, it will stop the vibes from going out from my rings. I'll be totally blind and useless,” Treye said as he stepped over the globs and opened up the next door. “Shall we?” he asked Jay. “Lead the way.”
Jayzen nodded and took point as he stepped into the next room. The room adjacent to the breaker room resembled a large opps type room. In the center of the large circular sat a large communication station with a large holo table in the middle of it for video calls. With no enemies in sight, Jayzen carefully stepped around as he made his way tot he comms console.
“Ugh....gross....this keyboard is covered in this junk,” Jay said as he bent down to inspect the goop. “And it is still dripping,” he said as he caught the strand with his index finger.
Treye's fur shivered as a large portion of the room, he couldn't see. This made him feel very uneasy. “This place is freaking me out. I...I don't like this type of vision hindrance.”
Jayzen saw Treye's fidgeting and stood up to check the sent messages. As soon as he checked the logs, the same exact message played that they heard back on board the Vak. “Welp, that further fortifies that this place is where the message was sent from,” he said as he followed a set of glob steps on the floor. “We are getting closer as the foot prints go that way,” he said as he pointed to a nearby side door.
“Good! Let's end this fast,” Treye said as he quickly hopped to the door.
Jayzen grabbed his rifle and followed Treye and made sure not to step in any goop. He opened the door and saw a large dark hallway as he peered around inside. “Hmm, well this hallway is still dark,” he said as his ears swiveled around a little. “Let's see what is at the end of this.”
Treye whimpered a bit as almost all of this hallway prohibited any vibrations from bouncing off the walls. For him, all he saw was a small foot step path that they could walk on. “Watch where you step, Jayzen,” he said with a warning.
Jay's ears perked up as he activated the light on his rifle. He smiled and gave Treye a thumbs up signal. “Thanks for the heads up on that. Light steps ahead,” he said as his tail swished behind him but with enough lift to keep it off the messy floor.
At first, their main concern was to avoid all of the goop that laid about on the floor and walls. Since they were practically barepawed furies with only their pawboots on, they feared how difficult it could prove to release their bare toes from the sticky substance's viscous bond. Plus it would feel very awkward between their toes.
“Man, this stuff is like...everywhere,” Jayzen said as he shined his light on the floors and the walls. It wasn't apparent to them at first, but they soon started to smell a very distinct aroma. “Ugh, and that smell. It kinda smells like...like the ocean.”
Treye whimpered and shivered as he walked carefully with almost no vision at all. “Like from an underwater sea creature?” he asked with a studder in his voice as he regained his footing from an almost fall. Frustrated, he grabbed hold of Jay's fluffy tail and held onto it tight.
Jayzen nodded and then meeped as he turned around to the sudden grab to his tail. He chuckled and asked, “Feeling better now? Almost feel didn't ya?”
“I will once we get out of here,” Treye responded with a nod.
The hallway soon ended as they were greeted by a large airlock door. “Hmm...lab area,” Jayzen said as he read off the sign that was posted on the door. “Hopefully there are answers on the other side of this,” he said as he took his watch and began a hacking program to unlock the door with it.
click beep went the panel as it gave the open command. Jayzen grinned and clicked his fingers and said, “Pup's play.”
They both squinted as the door began to open. With the door open, it showed how much brighter it was inside as Jayzen trained his rifle to check for enemies.
“Clear!” Jay yelled as his eyes surveyed the rest of the room. The floor of the lab was devoid of any of the purple goop they had discovered. Unfortunately, the walls were caked with the stuff. One thing did catch Jay's eye and that was a large cylindrical tube in the center of the room.
Treye felt relieved as his vibration vision had returned to him except for the wall areas. His large ears perked up as he thought that he had heard something emanate from one of the nearby walls and let go of Jay's tail.
With his tail free, Jayzen walked over to the tube to investigate it. The floor felt a bit strange to him as his paw pads made contact with it. He splayed his toes out and felt an odd combination of metal and rock under his paws as he walked. As he drew near to the other side of the cylinder, he saw what they could not see from the door.
“Project Mora...” Jay said as he read the LED panel. As he looked up, he saw that the large glass tube had a huge hole in it. Jay investigated further and noticed that the glass was littered all over the nearby console and the floor ahead of it. “Well that is certain. Whoever this Mora is, they broke out as opposed to someone breaking into it.”
“Jay!” Treye yelled in a slightly terrified voice. “Come here quick.”
Jay's ears perked straight up and he rushed over to where Treye was. “What is it?” he asked.
“These walls were once...alive,” Treye said as he took his blade and cut off a large portion of the goop off and revealed what lurked behind it.
Jayzen's eyes lit up as the sight unfolded before him. Against the wall, a skeletal figure of an anthro, decked out in some kind of security armor, lay plastered against the hidden rocky wall. The skeleton was picked clean and signaled that the poor victim was sucked dry of any fluids or mass before they died. Further inspection showed the open maw and the distinct shape of the goop that resided inside of it.
“That kinda resembles... a tentacle,” Jayzen said as he carefully pried the skeletal jaw open. His eyes then looked low as they caught the name tag of the individual. “Felson,” he said with a worried tone. “I think we just found Major Felson.”
“I don't believe he sent the message,” Treye said as he cleaned his blade of the goop he cut off. He then began to panic as he panned around.
“What gave you that notion?” a mysterious voice said from behind them.
Jay's ears perked straight up and he spun around fast on his paws. He gritted his teeth as he kept his rifle aimed in front of him. He perceived the accent that the voice used and decided to respond back accordingly even though he saw no one there, “Because dead men tell no tales.”
Both Jay and Treye's ears aimed towards the center of the large room as they waited for the voice to show itself. Even though the voice emanated from the center, the creature began to take form across the room. The viscous goop began to take on a humanoid type form as he nearly walked right out from the wall like a door. At first, he had a basic shape with no defining features. But as time went on, his face began to resemble a squid and his clothes took the form of an old pirate captain. His beard was scraggly and interlaced with a few tentacles as it completely hid his mouth. He stepped a few feet forward and motioned with his hands as he stared the pair down.
“Let's be keepin' that up, savvy?” Mora said. “Captain Mora shall sail again,” he said before he lunged forward with his tentacled hands outstretched in front of him.
Category All / Paw
Species Fox (Other)
Size 1275 x 1280px
File Size 162.2 kB
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