It was a slow day at Hangar Bay 25, so to combat the boredom that often arose from patrol duty, two troopers—GN-803 and WK-624—were conversing casually.
“If it was already operational by the Battle of Yavin, why bother finishing it?" GN-803 asked, tapping a foot against the metal floor to indicate the battle station.
“Guess they just wanted a circular shape?" WK-624 said. “It's a hell of a thing, though. You seen it from the outside?"
“Nah, last time I was off station was years ago, back when the Rebellion wasn't running scared," the first trooper responded.
“Weren't they always, though?" the other laughed.
“You know, some say the Rebellion might've won the Battle of Yavin if not for the… new guys."
“Just rumors," WK-624 said. “Don't get me wrong, the extra muscle of owning another entire galaxy is great, and these guys might have better hearing, better eyesight, better whatever… but the Empire will always be majority humans."
“Most stormtroopers like us, anyway," GN-803 grumbled.
“So is Vader and the Emperor himself," WK-624 said. “We've got all the important posts. Humans are hired for their loyalty."
There was a scoff. It was at this point another chose to join the conversation. He was a canid, one of the aforementioned newer species. His fur was a mix of black and dark gray across the belly and under the chin, pointed ears like knives, which, unbeknownst to the troopers, had caught the whole conversation. He wore the neat dark uniform of an imperial captain, his red eyes regarding them with disdain as he smirked, his short muzzle lifting to reveal a single fang.
“Loyalty?" he laughed. “The Empire hires humans because you're expendable. If you want loyalty, you hire a Lupine."
“Apologies, Captain, um…" WK-624 stammered, trailing off.
“Corex," he said. “Captain Niera Corex. Don't worry, you don't have to remember it long, I'll get out of your hair soon."
With that, he walked away. He had a bad habit of abusing his rank to make troopers like that shit themselves, but it wasn't as if other captains didn't do the same. He still had a ways yet to go. He straightened as a human woman rounded the corner, wearing the uniform and pins of a major. He saluted and she gave a brief nod. The next few higher ranking officers weren't so polite.
“Wookie," one of them snorted as he passed.
Niera was faster, stronger, four times better than any human on this station, but he'd learned to put up with the Empire's blatant racism by now. He'd started as a bottom rank cadet, but now found himself caught in the middle, respected by some and disregarded by others.
There was a blip from his comlink and he reached for it.
“Captain, General Veers is ready for you in the briefing room."
“Understood," he said.
Finally…
The Death Star was a maze of polished gray corridors and stark white lights, but he found his way around easily enough. The door to the briefing room slid open with a hiss and he stepped inside, taking a seat at the long table. General Maximilian Veers was another human male, sat on the opposite side of the table, his short brown hair graying, pale skin marked by plenty of scars.
“Captain Corex," the man said.
“Am I… early?" the wolf asked.
“No," the man said. “You're a last minute addition to this assignment. You should know, I considered taking someone else."
Niera's ears flicked back, but he said nothing, trying to remain unshaken.
“However…"
His ears perked forward again.
“I saw you in action during the Second Siege on Endor. You handled yourself well. Despite your rather average service record, you show a determination many soldiers lack. I also saw that you were offered a commendation, but turned it down because you felt you didn't deserve it. Not something most would do in such a position."
“Thank you, sir."
The man gave an emotionless smile and pulled up a hologram, an image of a planet.
“Your mission is to travel to Carida—a mountain world, quite similar to your home planet, if I recall."
“Yes, sir."
“This will be a test of focus, then. But you'll be on familiar terrain, at least. The target is a rebel base, the center of suspicious activity, where we believe a number of subversives are hiding out. You'll accompany a team, all experienced captains, like yourself; hand-picked for this mission."
He tapped the controls and the hologram changed to an image of four faces: a bothan, two humans, and—another wolf? One of his own kind, with the same dark fur. A female.
Niera's eyes lingered on the last image and the general noticed.
“This mission will be a challenge for more than one reason, then," the man said. “Between the planet itself and the inclusion of one of your own… Show me you can remain as focused as a true soldier."
Niera straightened in his seat.
“Yes, sir."
***
The crew were already gathered in the hangar by the time he got back, standing by an imperial shuttle; two humans, the bothan, and the lupine woman. She had neat, dark fur, her features predatory but proper, her posture straight. Her eyes were bright orange, fiery, but her gaze was cold, until she turned it on him. They shared a glance for only a second, but it was everything.
And then it broke and she straightened, hands behind her back, and he snapped back to focus as well. The mission, that was what mattered.
“Now that we're all here," the bothan said, his voice a low grumble. “For those unaware, I am the commanding officer of this mission. We all share the same rank, but today we form an elite squadron. When this mission is complete, we may go our separate ways, or we may not. Understood?"
“We're packing light," he said. “Expect ten to twenty hostiles, maybe less."
An elite hand-picked team to take out ten or twenty rebels? Niera couldn't help feeling like they weren't telling him something, but he shook this feeling off. There must have been a reason.
***
Niera wasn't one to study up, but he checked the personnel file of the other lupine on the flight over. She was a good shot, good with hand-to-hand, good with a variety of weapons, and she was smart. She had a penchant for reading informational logs while others took to the shooting range, preferring being prepared for every eventuality.
Captain Ravaran Lethra, that was her name. That intelligence was always in her eyes, assessing her allies. No doubt she'd already read up on his personnel file, Niera thought, as well as the others.
He still couldn't shake the feeling something was up, a feeling that only grew as they pulled out of hyperspace and the planet came into view.
“Something wrong, Captain Corex?" she asked.
“Nothing," he said. “Just a bad feeling."
“We'll be fine," she said, smiling. The sight was reassuring.
The ship moved down toward the planet, pushing through the atmosphere, rattling as it passed through the clouds and swooped down toward the side of a tall, rugged mountainscape. The terrain was a dull blue in color, and it did remind him of home: barren, sparse resources, few places to hide. But this time he was the predator.
He stepped onto the flat, hard ground and was again struck by an uneasyfeeling; not the feeling like they were going into this mission without all the intel, this was a familiar feeling from farther back, the feeling that there was something out there. He gripped his gun and followed the bothan up the winding path. At the top of the cliff face there was a solid steel door with a frame that formed a tall trapezoid shape.
“Keep your eyes open for motion scanners, trip mines, even a protocol droid," the Commander said.
“There's nothing," Niera said. The bothan looked back at him.
“What, you got a special scanner?"
Niera shook his head and pointed at his ears—if there were any of those things in the area, he'd have picked up the low whine of a power source, or the scent of explosives. The Commander nodded, turned, and carried on.
“Command, we've arrived at the location, no sign of resistance, over," he said into his comlink.
“Acknowledged," the stern-sounding voice replied. “Proceed inside the facility."
“Understood," the Commander said.
They advanced and found the interior was a chamber of about 30 cubic feet, a makeshift temple of some sort, with three thick pillars of stone on either side. Even in a galaxy as chaotic as the one Niera had come from, they had organized religion. Yet the altar in the back was unlike anything he'd ever seen. It was less of an altar and more of an elaborate forge, controls designed to adjust the heat.
“This definitely feels like a trap," Captain Lethra said, looking around, her concern pulling Niera's attention from the forge. “No security measures, no traps?"
“Could be the rebels just didn't have time or resources to trap the place," one of the humans suggested.
“What is this place?" the Commander murmured.
“It's a forge of some kind," Niera mused, looking at it.
Whatever this forge was being used for, the individual pieces of the thing seemed to be fully manufactured, each one held in place by a tiny mechanical hand.
“But for what?" the Commander said, glancing over the pieces.
“It's a weapon," Niera said, almost without meaning to, as if he'd answered on instinct. The others looked at him.
“How can you tell?" the Commander asked.
“He's right, look," Captain Lethra said. “There's an emitter, energy focusing ring, and in the center here must be the housing for the power core, but it's empty."
“Not very big, whatever it is," one of the humans said. “And it's not a gun, there's no trigger. Maybe some kind of detonator?"
Niera felt… well, the best way he could describe it was some sort of pull, some impulse that told him to walk forward, toward the altar. He did, cautious, but also curious, and then it opened, folding inward, revealing a compartment within. A green glow emanated from inside and a platform slid up through, revealing a luminous green crystal.
“Is that a…" he trailed off in awe.
“A kyber crystal," Lethra said. “The same thing that powers the Death Star."
“And the Jedis' lightsabers," one of the humans pointed out.
“Captain Corex, are you alright?" Captain Lethra asked, and Niera realized he was still staring at the crystal.
Niera was about to respond when he got that feeling again, stronger than ever. He wheeled around, grabbing his blaster.
“Ambush!" Lethra shouted, a second before the rebel squad burst through the door.
There was a second of panic before Niera quashed it with a surge of determination as his training kicked in. The two human imperial officers fell to the rebels' shots, but Niera returned one of his own and dropped one of theirs—a human as well—before he ducked behind a pillar. He got off a few shots, all close, but not close enough to hit their targets. The rebels had taken shelter behind their own pillars, as had Captain Lethra off to his right across the room. She was crouched beside the CO, who was slumped over with a sizzling hole in the chest of his uniform. He could smell the burnt flesh and thought the bothan was dead, but even over the din of the fight, Niera could focus enough to hear his weak heartbeat. Not dead, just wounded and unconscious.
Niera caught another scent, and shared a look with Captain Lethra. One of the rebels was a wolf, like them. He could tell from their scent, even before they stepped through the door, less than a klick away.
He could hear the hearts of the two human rebels increase as they coordinated, preparing to push forward. He nodded to Lethra and they peered out from behind their cover together, each firing off a single shot and killing the rebels where they stood.
But the wolf was drawing closer, quickly. This one wasn't like the others. Where the human rebels had fought with panic and fear, smelling of sweat, this one had a steady heartbeat, and if they could smell him, he could smell them. They checked the CO briefly, then shared a look of wordless determination and pointed their blasters to the door, ready to fire the moment they saw this other wolf enter.
A figure appeared in the doorway, tall, with deep brown robes fitting loosely over their gray fur. Niera fired, or tried to, but the wolf held up a hand and his blaster flew from his grasp, as did Captain Lethra's, clattering across the floor. The wolf looked between them with eyes as brown as his robes, a soft smile coming across his muzzle as he regarded them as a parent might a child who had done something bad. He pulled back the hood and revealed a pair of black ears.
“Are you a jedi?" Lethra asked, her voice equal measures awe and caution.
One of the wolf's ears flicked and he smiled. He seemed about to reply, but his eyes looked between them, to the crystal on the altar.
“How did you…?" he said, looking from her to Niera, and staying on him. Niera felt something… resonating within the wolf, beneath his fur, beneath his skin. He knew what it was. His people called it cosmic flux, their ancestors had called it the breath of the universe. In this galaxy, it was known as the Force.
“This wasn't meant for you," the jedi said, gesturing toward the pieces on the forge, “but we'd be happy to get you one of your own, should you join us."
Niera growled and turned to the forge, grabbing one of the dials and cranking it as far as it would go. The flames flared and roared to life, the heat blasting them. The intricate pieces of metal glowed orange, beginning to melt.
“You'll have to do better than offering me a shiny new weapon if you want me to leave the Empire," he said.
The jedi held up a hand again and for a moment Niera thought he or Captain Lethra were about to be thrown into the wall or slammed together by the jedi's power—he'd heard stories about the brutality of the jedi from imperial troopers during the early days of his training. But instead, he heard tiny clinks and clicks of metal as the pieces floated up above the forge, fitting together around the little crystal.
Niera turned back toward the wolf, the jedi, and his veins filled with rage. He would not let this jedi become a greater threat to the Empire than he already was. He couldn't. That hatred welled up, boiled inside of him, and he ran forward with a scream.
Suddenly, the lightsaber was in his hand and his finger found the button to activate it. The blade ignited, but it wasn't green like the crystal had been. It was red. The beam of solid light, humming and flickering as if it felt the hate inside him, passed through the jedi's chest like it wasn't there, stopping only when the hilt met his flesh. The lupine jedi's eyes widened with shock, half a breath escaping his lungs before Niera saw the light in his eyes go out.
Star Wars Chapter 1
I'm bad at titles, but at least you know what you're getting into. It's a Star Wars fanfic. Star Wars with furries!
To be clear, this is not a crossover with my currently running sci-fi series.
To be clear, this is not a crossover with my currently running sci-fi series.
2 years ago
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Estimated reading time
28 Minutes
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