Star Wolf: A Space Opera Fantasy (Songs of Star & Winter Book 1)

by L. A. Frederick

  The Winter Tiger’s eyes darted from youngster to elder. All the while his face remained rigid and yet his eyes burned with comprehension and fury. Encountering the legendary Tiger at such close proximity fascinated Star Wolf. His emotions swam, ranging from outright terror to curiosity.

  ‘We will start with Alces and see what the Moose’s have to say for themselves. It is the furthest away from here. From there we will stop at each neighbouring planet to those destroyed. Hopefully, from their reports, we can unearth the truth and set the galaxy right again. Before this I must return home and report to the Elders, I’ll meet you on Alces in one week, young Wolf.’ The Winter Tiger’s smooth words set Star Wolf to daydreaming again, and before he knew what was happening the White Tiger grasped his hand and shook it firmly, before letting go and turning to Sun Wolf. He paused for a long time to the point the Goat Master coughed, encouraging the conversation to come to an end. ‘Farewell,’ another lengthy delay, ‘it has been an honour, and a pleasure. I wish you all the best.’ Without waiting for a response the Tiger marched out of the room, leaving two bemused Wolves and a Goat to ponder the ramifications of the request.

  ‘Like it or not, young Wolf, you are now a guest of the Tiger’s, be careful, stay safe and report back to the Council as soon as you can. The fate of many may very well depend on it, now if you’ll please.’ The Goat Master turned his gaze back to his quill and ink.

  ‘Very well,’ said Sun Wolf, he turned to his son, ‘fetch your companions at once.’

  Though he never voiced his concerns Star Wolf knew his father didn’t completely approve of the company Star Wolf kept. River and Sky were honest, loyal and hardworking, all traits admired within Wolf ranks and yet their heritage came from mongrel strands well outside of royal lineage. Neither could hope to rise to an official rank within the House of Wolves, not with the current archaic system in place. That’ll change.

  ‘You know their value father, don’t pretend otherwise,’ replied Star Wolf, his patience had all but run out with matters of discretion and tact. Change was coming, his very being shivered just thinking about the unknown future. One he would soon face alone given the state of his haggard father.

  ‘Quite,’ said Sun Wolf, with a violent cough, and the most tired smile a Wolf ever mustered, ‘let us return home.’

  Star Wolf’s stomach rolled at the thought of telling River he would be accompanying the Tiger’s on an investigation. Sky would be fine, as always.

  ‘Good luck,’ said the Goat Master.

  Star Wolf shut the doors on the Goat’s chambers and departed for his father’s crowning glory, Lupenroad, the fastest ship in the galaxy.

  3. Lupus

  ‘You’re kidding me, You didn’t agree to head out with him on your own?’ River slammed a black paw against the inside of the hull of Lupenroad. The aggressive Wolf couldn’t mask his anger at the plan as they wandered through the spaceship, which was well on its way back to their homeworld. Rather than voice frustrations, River gritted his teeth so hard Star thought they’d crack any second.

  ‘I’m afraid so,’ said Star Wolf. He didn’t like the plan any better, but he had to follow the Winter Tiger, something about him unnerved Star Wolf. He’s a liar.

  ‘Well, you’re an idiot then,’ said River, with a big grin across his black muzzle. Star Wolf knew his protector and best friend would accompany him despite the request to go alone. River was hot-headed at times but knew better than to push the Tigers, or to disobey Sun Wolf. The Wolf leader could just as easily banish River from the employ of the House of Wolves, a fate often handed out via execution. And River’s connection was precarious at best.

  ‘As always you’re right.’ Star Wolf held back a laugh.

  River growled, baring sharp canines.

  Star Wolf gave in to laughter. ‘Cheer up, old friend, adventure awaits.’

  ‘Adventure will be the death of me,’ responded River.

  ‘Not while I’m around.’

  ‘Oh, that won’t be a problem.’ It was River’s turn to smile. ‘You’ll be long dead before me.’

  As the two young Wolves, both the tender age of twenty-five, bantered Star Wolf noted his father’s grim expression in the corner of the flight deck, a tired face.

  One of Sun Wolf’s personal guard wandered over from his control station, his grey leather tunic squeaked in protest as he addressed their leader in the most formal of manner, ‘ready to jump in two minutes, sir.’ The lighting shimmered a flash of white light across the House of Wolves sigil adorned on his chest, the Wolf head with its proud expression, teeth bared.

  ‘Very good, ready us for home.’ Sun Wolf sighed and stared out into the infinitive blackness of space. Star Wolf knew better than to question or even speak to his father, so he took his seat in the one flanking the right-hand side of the Captain’s chair his father opted to leave vacant.

  ‘We’re going home,’ said Sky, who’d snuck up deafly quiet, that shy smile she always sported for Star disappeared when she saw River chuckling from his seat behind Star Wolf. She promptly kicked him in his black, furry ankle; River refused to wear all of the formal House of Wolves uniform and thus always left his ankles vulnerable to Sky’s thumps.

  Everything about River and Sky ran opposite to the ceremonial traditions of the House of Wolves and Sun Wolf, the precise reason Star Wolf loved them and became friends with them as a Wolf pup. He liked to be reminded of the numerous backgrounds of the Wolves, he lived his father’s lessons of equality and fairness better than his father did; at least he thought he did.

  ‘Did you work that out all by yourself whilst pestering everyone on this ship?’ teased River.

  ‘Very droll, Trickle.’ Trickle was Sky’s pet nickname for River. The insinuation always went ignored by River and Star never asked if he chose to ignore the insult or simply missed it altogether. Either way their playful bickering helped take Star Wolf’s mind off the impending, pressing matters.

  The pit of his stomach rolled, thinking on the distinct possibility that he’d signed his death warrant back in the Goat Master’s chambers. If he did accompany the Winter Tiger, who would have a death squad in tow, with only the young duo of River and Sky to watch his back he was dead the minute they turned on him, which if they were guilty would be the inevitable outcome. The sickness washing over him intensified at the realisation his brash actions had condemned his two best friends to death as well. He sank in his chair. I need a backup plan.

  ‘Jump in three, two, one,’ said the crackly speakers before they shot across the void to pop back into normality twenty-odd miles out from Lupus. Her beautiful rich green forests spanned across the majority of the planet surface. The occasional chunk of vivid blue, almost rippling to Star’s biased eyes.

  Home.

  ‘HAVE A LIGHT SUPPER prepared for Star and I, we will eat in my personal quarters,’ the only words Star heard his father utter as they departed the ship. The ageing Wolf had missed the apologetic glance Sky had given Star Wolf, and the mocking grin that River exhibited. They both knew Star wouldn’t want to dine with his father.

  Whenever Star returned home his ritual was to roam the forests and streams and hunt for his dinner, that was one thing he did agree with his ancestors on — earning one’s meal. His father had grown weak, allowing himself to be served cooked meat all the time, neglecting the thrill of the chase or the sense of victory with that first mouthful of blood.

  The supply of mindless creatures out in the greenery was plentiful, ever since The Council of Worlds had been formed Lupus didn’t want for creatures not blessed by the Universal Beacon. To eat a creature with a mind was a heinous act, one outlawed with the finale of the Apex Wars. No the Deer, Rabbit, Chicken and many other game animals that Star Wolf, and a good proportion of his people, hunted were on planets who sat too far away from the path of the Universal Beacon. The life force that shot through galaxy, supposedly as far back as hundreds of millennia ago, gifting creatures with the abilities of thought, spee
ch and all the other things humans believed were exclusive to Earth.

  The food planets the Goat’s — a species wildly considered lucky to not be food — arranged and distributed equally throughout the galaxy ensured enough provisions for all carnivore races. With planet Earth, the galaxy’s dumping ground, now nothing but dust the act of stripping an animal of a conscious brain would be illegal too. The barbaric Mind Eraser machines had all been shut down on The Council of Worlds and put into storage.

  Prison planets were being reformed now that The Council of Worlds had the resources to animal the planets and supply them with, albeit meagre, food rations. Thoughts of food vanished from Star’s mind as he wandered the long, soulless stone corridors to his father’s private quarters within the House of Wolves fortress. The grandest of all the castles on Lupus, who took their inspiration, or so the legend went, from a visit to Earth a thousand years ago. The legendary Iron Wolf travelled all over the galaxy and was said to have returned and burnt down his wooden hut and in its place built the House of Wolves and thereafter created a royal bloodline. The Wolves had come on so much in that timeline, and yet they still cowered beneath the might of the Tiger and Lion, the latter less so now. No longer will we hide in the Tiger’s shadow.

  ‘Come in, Star, don’t linger in the shadows,’ his father said from the depths of his vast chambers, a cavernous room of stone with a roaring fire. Star and his father ran polar opposite. Star preferred the cold. Despite everything mounting up around Star’s father never lost that uncanny ability to know when his son approached. It was maddening given Star was revered as the best hunter in living memory. The exaggerated tales, often told by River in scorn, went that he could sneak up on a Rabbit wearing a set of bells.

  He knew otherwise, he’d tried on a few drunken evenings out in the forests.

  ‘I wasn’t hiding,’ you decrepit old fool, ‘Father.’

  ‘No, merely daydreaming no doubt. You’ve got to get your head out of the clouds pup,’ Star didn’t appreciate the aggressive tone his father took, a tone he used to reserve for Star’s mother. A tone that was all too familiar when they returned from difficult Council meetings. Five years ago, days after Star Wolf’s twentieth birthday, his mother had perished from heart failure, completely unexpected. It meant Star now bore the brunt of his father’s troublesome moods, on the rare occasions they surfaced.

  ‘I know exactly where my head is,’ said Star, a slight growl took over his words.

  A sideways glance from his father was accompanied by a knowing smile.

  ‘Indeed, I believe you do but make sure your head doesn’t lead you into the jaws of the Tiger,’ his father’s words took on a cunning tone, pitched low as if the very walls might be eavesdropping, ‘unless of course that is your plan?’ he chuckled.

  ‘Of course not, Father!’ Star Wolf grimaced at how he turned to childish defence. No matter how old he got his father could belittle him back to a young Wolf pup in seconds.

  ‘Look,’ his father stood from his sapphire-blue leather chair by the open fire and paced to his son, planting his hands on his shoulders, ‘I am not mocking you. I am not your enemy. I am merely trying to ascertain if you’re prepared for what comes next. If, and it’s a big if, you discover the Tigers are behind these attacks and not Space Krakens, what then? Have you thought that far ahead?

  No, I haven’t, damn.

  ‘Yes, I have. We take Winter Tiger and his death squad before The Council of Worlds and punish them.’

  Sun Wolf squeezed his son’s shoulders and growled, he was still a fearsome Wolf, a fraction taller than his son. He went to say something but instead settled on a heavy sigh, up close Star couldn’t help but note the stench of festering, hidden in the most part by the wafting smoke but there, nonetheless.

  ‘By Lunalupus, our sacred moon, I swear sometimes your mother left us only to reincarnate herself in you as a dual Wolf. Do you think General Winter and his Tigers will submit without a fight?’

  ‘Father our House Guard alone is over two hundred, we can handle five Tigers.’

  ‘What about three hundred?’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘You’ve heard of Darkchurch, yes?’

  ‘Of course, the Tiger’s greatest ever battleship from the Apex Wars but what has an old ship from a past war got to do with anything?’

  ‘What if I told you that ship was still operational and armed to the teeth with three hundred elite Tigers, everyone a war veteran from the Apex days.’

  ‘That’s impossible? All battleships were decommissioned and resigned to museums. I’ve seen Darkchurch in books housed in the Tiger museum section, like so many other ships.’

  ‘It’s a lie. The photos must be of a replica, a fake. Winter Tiger commands two ships, the Windrock for public displays and Council meetings. A toothless, lightning-fast spacecraft and then Darkchurch from the shadows.’

  ‘How do you know this?’ said Star Wolf, his head spinning. Three hundred fighting Tigers!

  ‘’Because of a human on a base on Earth’s moon.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘A while back we discovered the base and hacked into their cameras, for observational purposes you see,’ Sun Wolf almost sounded guilty, ‘as we knew the imminent destruction of Earth was coming and we wanted to bear witness to the event. Such an event shouldn’t be left to one race,’ the Tigers, ‘and so we watched them carry out the orders as per the instructions. Only they didn’t use that Atomic World Bomb provided by the Council on-board Windrock, as Winter Tiger had said he would.’

  Sun Wolf walked to the window bathed in moonlight, a crackle from the fire startled the old Wolf. ‘Instead, we witnessed a fully operational Darkchurch release the Atomic Wold Bomb.’

  ‘What does this mean?’ asked Star Wolf.

  ‘Well, for one we know the Winter Tiger is lying but what else he plans to do with Darkchurch we do not know. We never saw the ship again after Earth was destroyed.’

  ‘How do you know three hundred Tigers were aboard?’

  ‘Son,’ Sun Wolf whispered in Star’s ear, a little too close, as they gazed out at the luminous full moon, its light danced over the vast treeline, ‘a battleship like Darkchurch couldn’t be crewed by anything other than warriors. Ships of such a nature are almost a living entity, each workstation, deck demands expertise and respect only gathered through blood and war. A ship like that would reject a common Tiger,’ Star Wolf’s father turned around, the silver light extenuating this haggard features and greyish-white muzzle, ‘make no mistake the Winter Tiger has an ambush of Tigers three hundred strong.’

  ‘What am I going to do?’ Star Wolf staggered away from the window and slumped into the chair opposite where his father sat previously. ‘I’m going to be sick.’

  ‘You mustn’t anger General Winter, remain calm and gather evidence. Send reports daily and get out the moment you have something concrete. Otherwise he will kill you and any hope we have of discovering what he is up to.’

  His father returned to him to pull out of the chair and embraced him.

  ‘Do not fail me, son.’ said Sun Wolf, a single tear welled up and fell down his cheek.

  ‘I won’t, I promise, Father.’

  4. Alces

  For the most part, the Alces was like the Wolves’ homeworld, vast rivers and lakes weaving through thick, rich green forests. Star Wolf took small comfort in heading to the Mooses’ world before some of the other, more alien and less hospitable planets he would have to visit following the Winter Tiger and searching for the truth. He’d been aboard Lupenroad too much of late, so their imminent arrival and the prospect of fresh air thrilled him.

  Centuries of raiding and warring with the Mooses ceased a thousand years ago as the Wolf and Moose had united, in a fashion, to tackle the wider problems of roaming Lions and Tigers. Too many a planet suffered at the hands of the Apex Wars. Now, with the galaxy hanging onto a fragile peace twenty years in its infancy, Star Wolf couldn’t help but worr
y all of these feeble alliances might be put to the test and crushed if the Tigers opted to rule with a golden fist.

  ‘Cheer up.’ River slammed a paw into Star Wolf’s back. ‘We can hunt some Moose if there’s nothing else happening.’

  The accompanying gasp of shock came from Sky, and three of Star Wolf’s personal guard milling around the flight deck.

  ‘I’m kidding,’ enthused River, razor-sharp teeth bared in what Star knew was a false smile.

  ‘Will you shut up?’ Star Wolf responded with a firm punch of his own.

  ‘Ouch.’ River feigned pain.

  ‘Grow up,’ scolded Sky, ‘we’re here,’ Star watched in confusion as she tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows.

  ‘What’s up?’ asked Star.

  ‘That’s odd,’ Sky responded as she pointed out of the cockpit window to the landing area, which was empty apart from a trio of clunky, rusty-iron coloured Moose ships, ‘where are the Tigers? They did say to meet here, didn’t they?’

  ‘Yes,’ grated Star Wolf.

  ‘I’M AFRAID THE TIGERS aren’t here Star Wolf, sir.’ The awkward, borderline scared response from the skinny-face Moose who greeted Star Wolf as soon as he exited Lupenroad. The Moose’s gangly features shivered at every movement Star Wolf made, this one was fresh out of school and had obviously read too many history books.

  ‘Why not!’ barked River, which caused the Moose to flinch back and stumble over some discarded cargo boxes.

  Star Wolf offered a paw, helping the Moose back to his feet, the dagger eyes he shot at River sent the rowdy black Wolf back a few paces, faint bow included.

  One day.

  ‘Apologies, are you alright? Sorry, what is your name?’ said Star Wolf.

  ‘Uh, yes.’ The Moose’s eyes darted everywhere but at Star Wolf. ‘uh, I’m fine. Thank you. My name is Rotan, if it please your—’ the poor creature seemed unsure what title he should bestow upon Star, the son of the Wolf ruler.