Wolvine

An excerpt from book 5 Wheel of Giants

Illustrations by Dark Natasha

The question was answered five minutes later when another hover truck arrived and started a search pattern. This truck had a turret-mounted energy weapon. The wolves had escaped detection by hiding under an overhang in a dry gulch two km away. The truck searched for half an hour before landing next to the outpost. Two thickset workers of a species not seen before hopped out of the truck cab and entered the outpost. Periodically, they carried out boxes and electronic racks to throw on the back of the truck. It took them an hour to strip the outpost. They left the shell and turned in the direction of the facility.

“The question is, how long will they leave this sector unmonitored?” Eriksson said more to himself. “Booger, get one of those spare drones loaded with a hologram projector. Let’s see if the wolves can talk… Hey Gabriela…”

“What’s up, handsome?” she replied.

“Looks like we might have some sentient natives down here. A hologram will be dropped next to a group of them in about ten minutes. Can you work some magic?”

“I am looking at the video feed now. Canines like a Chupacabra. My grandmother would punch me and say ‘SEE’,” Gabriela laughed.

One of the wolves stood up.

“Shit! That’s a werewolf,” one of the squaddies almost shouted.

“Yeah, but there is no full moon. Relax, these are just smart vicious beings able to tear off an airlock door. This must be a tough planet to survive on,” Booger said to his trooper.

The werewolf pulled off his gloves and picked up a Shaitan rifle. The drone operator backed way off, and the wolf held his fire. The drone with the hologram arrived soon enough. It dodged a couple of shots and dropped the projector nearby. Gabriela appeared in front of them with a sword in her hand and the image of a Shaitan beside her. With a karate scream, she lopped off its head.

“Hi, do you speak Galactic?” she asked cheerily. They stopped trying to shoot the projector and the pack sat back on their haunches watching attentively.

Next, she queued up Marco’s wrestling with the Shaitan on Largos. When Marco broke its back with a crunch, crunch, crunch, they all howled. This was better doggie TV than a chicken rotisserie. She then started trying to communicate by saying words and pantomiming. The wolves enjoyed the show but made no sound. An hour later one came loping in under the overhang with a backpack. The one who originally was shooting reached in and pulled out a translator. The Marines watching fell over laughing.

The alpha made some noises and out came, “Good show… You don’t like the Shaitan either. What are you doing on our planet?” in Galactic.

“We intend to attack their facility. It is building weapons to be used against our friends. We are scouting the approaches. Are you agreeable to our mission?” Gabriela answered.

“Nice of you to ask although I believe you will do what you want. Can you make all of them go away?” the alpha asked.

“If we are successful, yes. Can you use the machinery inside? Would you like to help us?” she replied.

“The council makes those decisions, but I expect they will want the facility intact. Many of our people are forced to work inside and can operate the equipment. Your species are also inside along with three others. Not all are slaves.”

“Do you know how many Shaitan fighters are there? And how many workers? We know nothing except what we can see from orbit and the fighting ships they build leaving,” Gabriela asked.

“All the Shaitan fight. We counted around eight hundred. There are three thousand human slaves and seven thousand of our people. A mixture of two hundred other species that are not slaves. Weak species.”

“All slaves wear discipline collars?”

“Yes, or my people would have eaten them long ago!” the alpha replied with anger.

“Can those inside, help?” Gabriela asked.

“No, any move of aggression and the collar will kill. We are hungry. Do you have any meat?”

“No pure meat. Just prepared food. There is meat on our ship. Can your representative come to meet with us?”

The alpha dug in the backpack again and pulled out a communicator and had a short conversation. He said to the hologram, “You know where we are. Come pick us up. I am a Third Alpha of my people and will be the representative. We are known as the Wolvine.”