Star Wolf Story

Chapter One

The room was dark and murky; the only light entering was from a tall window, with shaggy green curtains. A beaten table and plush but heavily used couch decorated the messy room. In the corner lay a female wolf on the floor near the window crying. What's wrong? I thought. I turned over on my back, for I was lying on the floor as well, and looked up at the progressing shadow. Fear instantly gripped me, and my eyes grew large as my breathing became labored. He was walking closer and closer to me; it didn't even look like his feet were touching the ground. Instead he was gliding in a haunting, evil way, and a large piece of wood was by his side. Still scared, I looked up into his face, but could only see row after row of teeth, because of the poor lighting. His teeth were showing because he was smiling—not because he was happy, but because of what he was about to do. The sobbing in the backround increased, but I barely noticed it, for my eyes were glued on the large two-by-four that he was holding. Couldn't even run if I could, he would easily catch me. No way out. He glided to a stop in front of me and raised the chunk of wood. I closed my eyes and prepared for the worst.

Bzzzzzztttt! The alarm beside my bed awoke me from my dream instantly. I sat up panting while sweat dripped down my back. I held my forehead with my palm, elbow resting on a knee, shaking my head slightly trying to forget the dream that had just occurred. Third dream this week, I thought. How much more pain could I take? Suddenly there was someone rapping on my door.

"Wolf, you up yet? I can still hear your alarm." Sure enough, the stupid alarm was still buzzing now reading 7:02.

"I'm fine Leon, be there in a minute," I called to the person outside my door, while shutting off the alarm.

"Nya…don't be long." I could then hear him walk away. I sighed and pushed myself up from the bed. I dressed quickly, not only because my friends were waiting for me, but today we had a small mission to do. Our pay wasn't that much, but it was enough to keep us alive, especially now that we became fugitives and have bounties on our heads. So why does this guy whom I'm about to meet doesn't seem to mind that small fact? It's because he knows what an ace pilot I am. I am, after all, Wolf O'Donnell, leader of the Star Wolf Team. But enough of this! How embarrassing to be the leader and wake up later than your teammates!

I swung open the door, and started my sprint down the fairly crowded hallway. Passing by an elevator because there were already too many people there, I raced downstairs skipping every third or fourth step while avoiding folks who were all too curious as to where I was going in such a hurry. When I reached the bottom, I slowed down to a power walk. Don't wanna seem like I woke up late then raced here, I thought. I reached the room we were supposed to meet at just as my other partner, Panther Caruso, came striding in, and behind him was Leon Powalski. I smirked slightly, fortunate that I wasn't last, but first. But then…where was this guy we were supposed to meet? I glanced at the messily scrawled note that was left for me yesterday. It said to bee here a little after seven. Bailing out on us, huh? I thought as I crossed my arms and twitched my tail impatiently. Finally a female lion entered.

"Sorry I'm late," she said. "You are team Star Wolf, correct?"

"Obviously," I said wondering if she really wrote the note. It was so messy I thought a guy had wrote it. "What do you need?"

"My boss had ordered me to retrieve a memory card from a base. He told me it didn't matter how I got it or who helped me. I would've gone myself, but last night I sprained my ankle, and I didn't want to risk going because the base is pretty dangerous." Glancing down quickly, I noted that she was indeed standing more to one side, foot slightly raised. Maybe that's why she was late.

"Mm-hm, sounds good enough to me, but how much money would you say we'd be paid?" The chameleon hissed slowly.

"Leon, money shouldn't matter when a pretty lady in distress needs our aid," Panther said smiling to the lioness. I rolled my eyes and sighed for the second time that day. Leave it to Panther to start wooing the ladies—and already so early in the morning! The lioness looked over at me and smiled slightly.

"Do not worry, I will not let you down if you don't let me down."

I nodded. "Deal then," I said while shaking her firm hand. "Just give us a bit more information on the location."

"Of course! By the way, my name's Sandra, and you'll be going to an old warehouse on the planet Plyght. It's a large brown one, not too far from here; I'll send you the location on your P.D.A. Is that alright?"

"Fine," I responded. I was already turning around.

"Ah, Sandra," Panther started in again. "Such pity that your ankle is hurt. How about if Panther helps you—"

"C'mon', lover boy," Leon said grabbing and pulling his arm. "Mission comes first." I found it amusing how he said "mission" as "misssssion."

"That's right!" I barked. "Move it!" Leon walked out first followed by Panther who shuffled along. "We'll be back," I said not bothering to turn around.

"Good luck!" Sandra called out after us. Like we'll need it, I thought. From what I just heard, it seems as this mission is going to be child's play.

Returning a few hours later, I yawned while tossing up and down the prized memory card.

"Not too hard of a mission, ay? I was hoping for something more," Leon said yawing, probably catching it from me.

"Does not matter to Panther due to fact we can see Sandra sooner."

"Correction," I said. "You can see Sandra sooner." I laughed slightly.

"Very true Wolf. Are the ladies all you ever think about?" Leon asked casting a glance in his direction.
"Oh, heavens no," he said shaking his head. "Panther also cares about his friends and surviving in this cruel world."

"Well I'm glad we matter to you, but—hey!" I stopped short looking around the room we had met in earlier. "Where is she?" No one was there.

"She fled! Whatta scardey cat! I m-mean, uh…" Leon stuttered looking at Panther again. He was after all, a cat of sorts.

"Does not matter. Let's just find her."

I nodded. "Let's take separate floors. Panther will stay on this floor, Leon, you'll go down and I'll go up. Meet back at my door in twenty." Leon and I then walked to the stairs and split as we went our separate ways.

Walking down the hallway, I couldn't help but notice what a dirty dump this base was. The floor and walls looked as if they hadn't been cleaned in years. Is this really what my team's come to? Did we really have no place better than this to stay in? Probably; people around here don't care who we are. Still…I paused causing some people to walk around me. Maybe tomorrow we'd leave. Telling myself this was a good idea, I walked on again and pushed against double doors leading into a dinning area. An unpleasant odor rapidly filled my nose. I wrinkled it, thinking it was either a blessing or curse that I had an amazing sense of smell because I'm a wolf.

I shoved aside some people and looked to my left. I blinked and instantly forgot about the smell, because for whom did I see? None other than Little Miss Sandra. She was walking to a table—walking just fine! And without a limp! And sat down with a bunch of guys. I snarled to myself thinking—What!? That dirty little—! She tricked us! What was she thinking, was she testing us!? I took a large breath to calm myself down—better not let her see me upset. I took a quick glimpse at the men seated around her. Looked nothing more to me than a bunch of stupid troublemaker punks. Still, I hesitated because of my disliking of crowds and groups. Unfortunately, a guy from the group looked up at me, then whispered something to Sandra. I took another quiet breath, and walked up as if nothing was all that much wrong. Keeping my eye fixed on Sandra's, I steered myself to the side, crossed my arms and stooped low.

"So," I said quietly. "How in the world did your ankle heal so fast? Seriously, tell me for I'd like to know in the future. Might come in handy, ya know?" Before she could answer, a thug sitting next to her slammed his palm on the table.

"Hey wolf boy! She doesn't have to tell you anything! Got that!?" Ugh. See that's a reason there why I hate crowds. Other people were always butting into your business. I stared at him expressionless, but didn't say anything.

"I'm assuming you have the card?" Sandra said, almost sweetly looking up at me.

"And I'm assuming you have the money? After all, it was you who said if I didn't let you down, you wouldn't let me down." Whispering was heard amongst the group to one another.

"Why yes, but may I see if you have it? She said in that awful syrupy voice.

"Wouldn't it make more sense in you giving me the money?"

"Hey gramps! Why don't you take it easy? No one's gonna hurt you." Another thug had spoken up.

Gramps! I snapped up straight and snarled slightly again. I couldn't help it. Who were they calling gramps? I wasn't even thirty! These punks were probably at most four years younger than me! What? Was it because my fur is grey and these idiots associate grey as being old!? Or did I merely look mature? While I was thinking this, a few of them looked sort of nervous. Good! I thought almost smirking.

All of a sudden, Sandra whacked the folks around her. "Nock it off guys. He's still young." She then turned and smiled at me. My stomach lurched a bit. Why does she keep looking at me like that? This was getting disgusting if you know what I mean. "Here," she said holding out a check. I almost took it, but then thought—what if it was another trap meaning it was fake? Nobody knew this but me, but I scanned the paper quickly by using my left eye. It was lost many years ago, and I recently upgraded it to what it is today. It can scan whatever I want to and even record and analyze things.

It turned out to be real so as I was taking it, I dropped the memory card in her already open hand. Before she could say or do anything in the flirting department, I quickly said, though somewhat stiffly, "Nice doing business with you." I turned and walked away in a hurry. Twitching my ears back, I could hear them laughing and talking in a most unpleasant way. I stormed out and found an exit leading outside. I needed air to cool my raging body.

I walked out on the almost deserted lot of sorts, and felt a little better. There was a cool breeze, because the sky was mostly overcast. The wind was relieving me of the heat my thick fur was trapping. A rattling noise came from somewhere nearby. I looked down at my hand to find it still gripping the check. I was so mad, I forgot I was holding it. I didn't even look at it to discuss the price with her. I couldn't believe I had let my rage get the better of me—usually I'm better at holding in my emotions. Oh, well, I thought. Once in a while is ok.

I held up the check and looked at the price. Hmm, not bad but not excellent. At least it will keep us alive for a while, and we can buy supplies. Thinking of this, I suddenly realized I was supposed to meet the others in twenty minutes! I'm sure it's been longer than that, I couldn't tell—none of us had watches, it was just another cost to us and they were actually pretty expensive. So we would estimate the time. I quickly ran back to the door, but found it locked. Great! Just great! Now I have to go all the way around. In frustration, I kicked the door. Suddenly I heard a rumbling noise as a large shipment truck pulled and two guys got out. I swiftly bolted around some boxes that were placed near the door and waited. Those guys sure were taking a long time loading up their carts and such for delivery. Finally they were ready, and fortunately were heading in my direction to the locked door.

"C'mon, c'mon!" I quietly urged them. They obviously didn't care too much for their job and were animatedly talking to each other. I usually wouldn't have cared as to what they were saying, but they were walking so slowly and talking with bright eyes full of adventure that I eavesdropped.

"…totally awesome! Whoever protects the planet and gets rid of the boss will automatically gain enrollment at Tavoka Air Force Academy! Don't you know the school's all brand new—just seven years—and already it's high ranking? It's up there with Corneria and Aquas, maybe even better!" The second man did a little dance while pushing the heavy cart.

"Eh, maybe I should give it a shot. I may not be the best flyer, but if I wind up saving Katina, then they gonna have to accept me! They'll train me n' I'll be the best with lotsa money to boot! Eh-heh! It'll get me out of this here job!" I shook my head—these guys were pathetic! But…

I subconsciously noticed the workers prop open the door and walk inside. My mind was racing as I gripped the boxes. I suddenly stood up knocking over the box I was holding. It was all perfect!

"Thanks a lot losers!" I called out into the empty lot and ran back inside. A few people glanced at me wondering why I was walking in from an "Exit" door, but I ignored them and walked back to my friends who were waiting for me.

"Ooo, look, Wolf's late for the first time! So where were ya?" Leon leered at me as he leaned over to look at giveaways on my face.

"I'll tell when I want to!"

"Did you find her? And the money…?" Panther asked anxiously.

"Right here!" I said pulling the check out high. Panther made a grab at it, obviously to see how much was on it, but I whisked it out of his range. "I'll hold on to it Panther, don't want you using it on any girls tonight." Leon suddenly burst out laughing when I said that. It wasn't all that pleasant, hearing Leon's laugh, but nonetheless was nice to hear because none of us laughed all that much.

"Yeah, nya, nya! Spend all our money on a rich gal, ay? Blow our money clear outta the water!" Then he started laughing again. I got the feeling Panther wasn't appreciating the laughs so I shut Leon up quick. In the nicest possible way of course. Just kidding.

"Hey!" I yelled so loud a few passerby looked over at me and bumped into each other. "C'mon, enough of that! People would think you're mad! If you keep up this horrific laughing you'll end up with a hernia! Let's go inside," I finished quietly turning them around and pushing their backs, leading them into my room. Once in the room I filled them in on what I had overheard.

"Ooo, sweet," Leon hissed again, rubbing his hands together in a greedy sort of way.

"But shouldn't we leave as soon as possible? Obviously others around space must know of this and are planning to take out the boss themselves. Is Panther not right?"

"Of course! That's why we leave tomorrow! So ready your gear and I expect to see you awake at five! And no grumbling this time about lost beauty sleep! Both of you! I'll go ready the ships." I turned and walked out. Before I could even reach the threshold, the two were talking so that I could hear.

"He's the one who got his beauty sleep today."

"Head that Leon!" I called over my shoulder. The two just snickered, but I didn't care.

"He gets so excited when there's a new mission, no?" I was already too far away to answer. I looked out a fogged and dirty window and quickened my pace. Those clouds I had seen earlier had grown dark. It didn't matter to me if it rained here; Katina usually only got dust storms and that didn't slow our ships down. I walked outside (using a correct door this time) and walked over the ship lot, where others had parked their ships. I located our three Wolfens and headed over to them. A large, cold raindrop suddenly fell on the end of my nose with a splat. Ahh, I thought. I didn't beat the rain! Dozens of raindrops fell from the sky sprinkling the cracked cement as people hurried from their ships to the safety of a dry building. I crawled under the wing of my ship and listened to the rain beating down on top of the wing, which now had turned steady and hard. But I remained dry and looked out at a few more people rushing towards the building, holding whatever they could over their heads to keep dry.

Suddenly a large hippopotamus came strolling along with an umbrella and was looking all important. He was security, checking over the ships and was coming my way. He usually just passed by each ship, but when he reached the Wolfens he stopped short and muttered to himself, while tapping the outside of the ship.

"Hmm, nice ships. Now I think I know who these belong to, let's see." He rubbed his chin with his free hand and looked thoughtful.

I crawled out and stood up saying, "They should look familiar! These ships belong to team Star Wolf! Know where I can get any good parts? " I added at the end. He gave a little yelp of surprise and fumbled with his umbrella, soaking me in the process by all the rain that had collected on top. I spluttered a bit, then shook most of the water off my fur, sending more water in more directions.

"Oh, oh my! So sorry Wolf! Didn't see you there! Ah, here! Take this umbrella! I have a spare, let's see, right here!" Mr. Fumbling Bumbling Security Guard clumsily handed me the one he was holding, and pulled one out that was clasped to his belt. "Ah, yes, much better! Huh? Parts? Why yes! Follow me!" He started at a fast trot, his shinny black boots splashing heartily along the puddles while I followed, my own boots shedding water, but not as heartily. We walked on for a while, but soon stopped at a tired looking brown building with peeling paint and cobwebs.

"Just take what you want off the shelves and pay at the counter of course!" No duh. I unfolded the umbrella and handed it back to him but he didn't take it from my hands. "Noooo, this is yours! Will keep your head dry while working on those good lookin' ships!" Without asking to, he grabbed my hand and shook it, quite hard and vigorously. Then he turned around and marched off, ready to do more "important" work. He looked like he was more interested in looking at the ships than protecting them. I shook my head and entered.

There sure were a lot of parts in the store, and I was surprised to see how much bigger it looked on the inside. For twenty minutes I looked around debating to myself which part I wanted and how much would I be willing to spend? Suddenly I felt that someone was behind me. I turned around slowly and saw a skinny white and brown dog with an unlit cigarette dangling out of his mouth.

"Find anything you like?" He asked grinning widely revealing a few missing fangs. "Special discount for you." He slithered closer and looked up at me. If any one else had looked at him this close, they would have been long since outta here. But I looked back at him.

"Ahh, no thanks—"

"Yessss, allow me!" He snatched a box from out of my hands and walked away a bit then said, "Bring the rest." I followed him with the boxes I was holding without comment and set them on the counter. He walked slowly around behind the counter and started ringing up the items I had. While doing so, I looked into the back and saw a female dog, obviously his wife, smoking while playing cards with someone. Not looking up he said, "Me wife and kids. Got any little ones of your own?" He suddenly looked into my eye.

"Uhh, no." Actually I've never even gone out on a date before, though many a times girls tried to win me, but I turned them away. If anything, I would hope to date another wolf, because wolves are slowly decreasing in numbers.

"Of course not, course not. Too busy saving worlds. But don't you have a bounty on your head?" He leaned over at me and it was all I could do to not pull away from his stench. But I didn't answer his question. After staring at me for a bit more he pulled away, and gave me my total that obviously had major discounts. I paid him and he grasped the money smiling that creepy grin again.

"Come again," he hissed. I grabbed the ten or so boxed and left the building still feeling his puny eyes bore holes in the back of my head. I pushed open the door with my waist and entered the rainy lot again, this time not bothering to put up my umbrella. I made my way back to the ships, and started working on them till I finished which was in a couple of hours. During that time I never stopped turning around once in a while, searching for that old dog. But I never did see him. I threw the boxes in an overflowing trash can, and made my way back to the base, slowly not caring about the rain pouring down my neck into my clothing. I shook myself off again, trying hard not to leave large puddles around for someone to tip on and blame me.

It was probably around 10:30 p.m. and I hadn't had anything to eat all day. I saw some guy bash at a vending machine, cursing because he lost his money to it because it didn't give him the item he wanted. He stormed away still, cursing as I made my way up to it, boots squishing on the floor. I saw the item he wanted, for it was half-dangling. I put some coins in, and chose the item he had and out popped his and mine snack. I couldn't help thinking Sucker! as I walked back up to my postage stamp size of a room. Still hungry after my pint sized snacks, I threw off my wet clothes and packed for tomorrow. That night, I had no dreams.