A.N. ~ big thanks to Reulte for letting me borrow Chopper from 'Scars - Slick's Squad (Chopper's Story)'. If you haven't read it yet, you should. In this story, Chopper and the rest of the squad were all treated by Slick as they'd been in 'Scars', and Chopper has the same past as the one Reulte created for him (yet another reason to read Scars).
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN STAR WARS. IT BELONGS TO LUCASFILM, AND ULTIMATELY, GEORGE LUCAS.
CT-9523 walked down the alleyway, mind reeling and heart wrenching. He had been out with his squad, getting drinks. A pretty woman had been flirting with him throughout the evening, and—he tripped over something with a sharp curse.
For the first time, he noticed the laboured breathing echoing through the narrow, dark space. He knelt down, gloved fingers touching thick fur.
One of our Dire Wolves, he realized.
"Are you alright?" He asked, rough voice painfully loud in the night's stillness. His eyes made out the glint of blood on the dark fur a moment before his hands came into contact with the liquid.
"Most recent skirmish...was injured while chasing...chasing a commando droid." The wolf panted. CT-9523 realized he had no way of transporting the wolf. If he went on all fours, the Dire would be larger than him. There was no way he was transporting an animal weighing over 360 pounds barehanded. And this was a small wolf trooper, too, compared to the rest of her species. He knew she wasn't going to last long with such a bad injury.
"I'll be back with help. Hang in there." The clone said before standing and running back toward base.
Three quarter man, you aren't fast enough. She'll die, and it'll be your fault, Slick laughed in his head.
It only made him run faster. He barely slowed down enough for the automatic doors to open in time, nearly colliding with a few troopers as he ran to the medical unit.
§ § §
The black wolf, WT-5697, was recovering quickly, though grieved over the loss of her squad. She missed her chosen human counterpart and wished he wasn't gone; that he would come walking through the door and jokingly tease her about the missing patch of fur around the cut on her shoulder from the commando droid's vibrosword.
It was the day before her release from the medical bay when the clone who had found her came in. She recognized him by scent and sent a friendly yip in his direction. He barely nodded in return while sitting on a bed across from her.
His leg had taken a grazing shot, mostly damaged by heat and fast-moving debris. The black wolf didn't know what had caused the injury, only that she could smell the blood on him, but her ears twitched and angled toward a conversation between a couple of other clones behind her. The scent of two male Dire Wolves were with them.
"Oh look, the three quarter man." The voice was loud enough to be heard across the room, and the black she-wolf could see the man across from her had heard as well.
"Least I won't end up looking like him." The injured of the two said. A menacing growl erupted from WT-5697 as she stood, turning to face the startled men. Her hackles rose until she seemed a third her usual size. Even the larger Dire Wolves accompanying the two clones were cowed by the sudden ferocity she was displaying.
"Call him that one more time." She dared. They remained silent and she continued. "Apologize, or so help me, I'll lose my temper." They muttered 'sorries' to the clone who had just recently been at the receiving end of their scorn. As they moved to a different end of the room, the dark she-wolf settled down again.
"Thanks." The clone hesitantly said.
"Someone had to do it." WT-5697 rested her head on her paws. She was too depressed to exchange chitchat with this trooper, even if he had saved her life.
Little did either of the pair know that Captain Rex and Commander Cody, along with their wolves, Steadfast and Jerik, had been passing on their way to the Mess Hall when the initial growl had caught their attention, causing them to stay and listen to the entire confrontation.
"Wasn't that one of the pups fresh from Kamino?" Steadfast asked his friend as they walked beside the two high-ranking clones.
"And the only survivor of her squad. Barely." Like Cody, Jerik delivered deadpan humour, if any.
"All KIA?" Rex's companion was hesitant to poke a fresh bruise, but Jerik was only half listening and gave a slight nod to answer.
"Skirmishes are starting to become more than just skirmishes." The pale ginger wolf murmured.
"Any squads open to transfer her into?" Steadfast nudged his friend to draw back his attention.
"I'll ask Cody about it. Do you smell that?" They paused their conversation to inhale the scents of the air.
"Nothing seems out of the ordinary." Steadfast shrugged.
"Hmm, must've been a lingering scent. Come on, let's go eat something."
§ § §
WT-5697 didn't think she was ready for a new squad. Sure, she was healthy, but the wound of losing her first pack was far too raw to be forced shut.
As she slipped silently into the barracks of Sergeant Slick's squad, she forced her ears up and raised her head, knowing she couldn't afford to appear emotionally disrupt, no matter how much she actually was.
Her entrance was unnoticed for several seconds, then the massive pure white wolf lying at a sneering clone's feet lifted his head before standing to meet her. She bowed her head, recognizing the authority with which nearly all alphas had in their movements, in respect.
"I am Squad Alpha Snow Flash. Are you the new recruit we were told about?" The other wolves and humans had taken notice and watched intently.
"Yes, Alpha. WT-5697 reporting for duty." The she-wolf no longer bowed her head, but stood stock still with her ears forward and eyes gazing straight ahead, unseeing, yet aware of every movement Snow Flash made.
It was the stance of attention engineered specifically for the massive Dire Wolves the Kaminoans had bred. The Alpha gave WT-5697's flank a hard shove with his nose as he circled her. The young she-wolf swayed slightly, but didn't lose her balance.
"You're awfully small to be out fighting. Small enough, in fact, to not be done your training at all." Snow Flash's words were seductively taunting. The black she-wolf somehow managed to stiffen even more, seeming to be made of wood. If any other wolf had questioned her capability, she would have challenged him to a fight, or simply attacked right then and there.
WT-5697 forced the mane of thicker fur running down her spine to remain lying flat. This wasn't any other wolf. This was an alpha. She couldn't and wouldn't attack him. Then he attacked her.
She yelped in surprise as his teeth ripped the tender skin where her fur was growing back, right where she'd been cut. She whirled around to face him, if only to be sure he wouldn't do it again than to present a challenge to his dominance. She dodged the next attack, hackles rising without her noticing.
"Alpha?" She asked, confused at his aggression.
"Come on, pup. Prove you aren't going to be a burden." Snow Flash challenged. The next time the great white wolf lunged, his teeth were ducked under as WT-5697 grasped his foreleg between her teeth, biting down as hard as she could while moving the rest of her body out of her opponent's reach.
Sketch and Punch both stood, mimicked by their wolves while Gus and his Dire hung back, reluctantly submissive. Chopper watched from his bunk, feigning apathy while silently hoping for the small black she-wolf to survive.
The Alpha Wolf shook WT-5697 off like a bothersome fly and pinned her. She bit the area just above Snow Flash's claw, into the sensitive skin that was her only hope of escape.
She wriggled free and growled, low and warningly. The black she-wolf only wanted the fight to last as long as it had to. She ignored the claws that scored her ear as she tried jumping on Snow Flash's back.
He dodged while turning and slammed his paws down on her, one over her neck and the other on her ribs. After a short bout of struggling, Fifty Six relaxed, knowing she was beaten.
The Squad Alpha raked his claws over her skin, leaving long, bloody trails from the side of her neck just below her ear to near her throat with one paw and from a couple inches below her spine to near her soft underbelly with the other as he took his weight off her.
"Hey, that wasn't necessary!"
"She was already pinned!" Punch and Sketch's wolves barked, speaking one half of a whole protest each.
"No, it's fine. They're only pup scratches." The newest member of the squad grunted while getting to her feet.
"Well then, Chopper old boy, why don't you get to know your new pet better." Slick said while standing and leaving with his wolf, followed by Gus. Punch and Sketch also left, their Dires following, casting glances back at the she-wolf. Jester went to his bunk, obsessively scrubbing his gun. His wolf slipped in between the bed and wall, disappearing from sight.
Pet, Fifty Six spat in her mind. Is that what I am to him?
Chopper approached the she-wolf, intending to help clean the blood from her fur, but she snapped at his outstretched hand and limped to the other side of the room, licking her wounds and growling whenever Chopper got too close. He finally sat back down on his bunk with a frustrated sigh.
Eventually, the only cuts that hadn't been cleaned were the ones on the black she-wolf's ear, neck, and one that she hadn't even felt during the fight near her tail. She tried to get the last of the listed injuries, but it was out of her reach.
She finally just rested, head between paws. Chopper got a cloth and wet it in the refresher's sink before slowly walking to her. She huffed in irritation, but didn't chase him away as he knelt at her side.
The scarred trooper didn't make eye contact as she looked at him, just waited for her to give permission. Jester and his wolf left, making the deadlocked pair the only living beings in the room. Eventually, WT-5697 stood up and put her injured paw on Chopper's left shoulder and rested her head on his right.
"I'll protect you." She promised before lying down again. Chopper blinked, wondering how this half-beaten, small wolf could possibly say that to him. He blankly started cleaning her cuts, wiping away the blood.
A.N. ~ there's Chapter One. Chapter Two will be sometime in the next 48 hours. Honestly, I'm not going to set any exact deadlines because of Darth Real Life stalking me. Please review, positive and negatives.
