Chapter One
“ Woohoo !”
Cam whooped with joy as he and his partner, Ren, skidded around the last corner to find the troop transport ready and waiting for them. Not a moment too soon. Cam’s whoop turned into a yelp as a hail of laser bolts turned the air around them into a lethal net of purple and red.
“Shitshitshitshit…”
The curse fell from his lips as he dug deep and sprinted for the transport, his inner dog whining and barking all the while to be freed—to give him the speed and power he needed to make the transport before their enemies cut him down. He ignored it, one hand on his throat to activate the subdermal comms patch.
“Alpha-dogs-four…” He gasped as a volley of purple bolts nipped at his heels. By his side Ren snarled and used a big, furry shoulder to shove Cam out of the way as another volley bit into the dirt where his feet had just been.
Fear bit deep, snatching the breath right out of his chest. Ren wasn’t just bigger and meaner than Cam in either human or shifted form; he also had twenty years more hard-battle experience. With another growl, he leapt over Cam’s head, rebounding off the nearest wall to hit the ground running at Cam’s side.
“We’re coming in hot, with hostiles on our tails…so would someone get some fucking fire support down for us, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble?”
No sooner had the words left Cam’s mouth than the laser turrets on top of the troop transport started to move. Slow at first, then with a slick slide and tilt as the gunner within brought the dual cannons to bear.
Pffish-pffish…pffish-pffish…pffish-pffish.
The distinctive sound of the guns echoed through the alleyway, followed shortly by explosions and the mercifully short screams of the dying. No one survived a direct hit from one of the fish-guns, and those unlucky enough to catch a glancing blow usually bled out from massive trauma within seconds. The things did not just remove limbs. Instead they simply evaporated whole chunks of the body.
“I got you, Alpha Four. Get your asses aboard, you’re late.” An unfamiliar female voice, cultured but no-nonsense, filled his ears as they neared the transport.
“Yes, ma’am. Anything for a lady. Just you keep doin’ what you’re doing, doll, and I’ll love you forever.”
Cam gave a jaunty salute as he and Ren ran under the twin volleys, this time in the reassuring bright blue of the Coalition, then his boots hit the boarding ramp, and they were in.
Not a moment too soon. Almost before Ren’s paws had cleared the ramp, the engines kicked in, knocking them to the floor and plastering them in place with g-force as the transport went for high orbit in less time than it took for a weredog mess hall to fill at chow time.
“Fuuuuuuuccckkk meeeee,” Ren howled, regaining his voice as he shifted right there on the deck. Bones popped and cracked with grisly sounds as the joints in his back legs changed direction. Fur flowed like liquid, pouring away under his body to reveal smooth skin as his shape shifted. The heavy muzzle with its vicious teeth retreated into his face. His ears became smaller and moved around his head as his form settled back into humanoid. The heavy paws were the last to change; talons absorbed back into his hands, and they clenched into fists. A Vesuvian dog, his shifted form, was big—way bigger than Cam’s wolfhound form, which was the reason Cam was on comms all the time when they went into battle—but his human form…
Oh hell, yeah. The guy was really nicely put together indeed.
Cam lay on the deck, watching the show as Ren’s body folded and contorted. The stomach-churning slide of dark, thick fur over skin and the popping and cracking of bone hadn’t bothered him in the slightest. They all looked like something out of a bad horror holovid when they changed.
Once you went dog, you got over any squeamishness real fast. You either dealt or…well, you dealt. Once you were bitten, the only way out
“ Woohoo !”
Cam whooped with joy as he and his partner, Ren, skidded around the last corner to find the troop transport ready and waiting for them. Not a moment too soon. Cam’s whoop turned into a yelp as a hail of laser bolts turned the air around them into a lethal net of purple and red.
“Shitshitshitshit…”
The curse fell from his lips as he dug deep and sprinted for the transport, his inner dog whining and barking all the while to be freed—to give him the speed and power he needed to make the transport before their enemies cut him down. He ignored it, one hand on his throat to activate the subdermal comms patch.
“Alpha-dogs-four…” He gasped as a volley of purple bolts nipped at his heels. By his side Ren snarled and used a big, furry shoulder to shove Cam out of the way as another volley bit into the dirt where his feet had just been.
Fear bit deep, snatching the breath right out of his chest. Ren wasn’t just bigger and meaner than Cam in either human or shifted form; he also had twenty years more hard-battle experience. With another growl, he leapt over Cam’s head, rebounding off the nearest wall to hit the ground running at Cam’s side.
“We’re coming in hot, with hostiles on our tails…so would someone get some fucking fire support down for us, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble?”
No sooner had the words left Cam’s mouth than the laser turrets on top of the troop transport started to move. Slow at first, then with a slick slide and tilt as the gunner within brought the dual cannons to bear.
Pffish-pffish…pffish-pffish…pffish-pffish.
The distinctive sound of the guns echoed through the alleyway, followed shortly by explosions and the mercifully short screams of the dying. No one survived a direct hit from one of the fish-guns, and those unlucky enough to catch a glancing blow usually bled out from massive trauma within seconds. The things did not just remove limbs. Instead they simply evaporated whole chunks of the body.
“I got you, Alpha Four. Get your asses aboard, you’re late.” An unfamiliar female voice, cultured but no-nonsense, filled his ears as they neared the transport.
“Yes, ma’am. Anything for a lady. Just you keep doin’ what you’re doing, doll, and I’ll love you forever.”
Cam gave a jaunty salute as he and Ren ran under the twin volleys, this time in the reassuring bright blue of the Coalition, then his boots hit the boarding ramp, and they were in.
Not a moment too soon. Almost before Ren’s paws had cleared the ramp, the engines kicked in, knocking them to the floor and plastering them in place with g-force as the transport went for high orbit in less time than it took for a weredog mess hall to fill at chow time.
“Fuuuuuuuccckkk meeeee,” Ren howled, regaining his voice as he shifted right there on the deck. Bones popped and cracked with grisly sounds as the joints in his back legs changed direction. Fur flowed like liquid, pouring away under his body to reveal smooth skin as his shape shifted. The heavy muzzle with its vicious teeth retreated into his face. His ears became smaller and moved around his head as his form settled back into humanoid. The heavy paws were the last to change; talons absorbed back into his hands, and they clenched into fists. A Vesuvian dog, his shifted form, was big—way bigger than Cam’s wolfhound form, which was the reason Cam was on comms all the time when they went into battle—but his human form…
Oh hell, yeah. The guy was really nicely put together indeed.
Cam lay on the deck, watching the show as Ren’s body folded and contorted. The stomach-churning slide of dark, thick fur over skin and the popping and cracking of bone hadn’t bothered him in the slightest. They all looked like something out of a bad horror holovid when they changed.
Once you went dog, you got over any squeamishness real fast. You either dealt or…well, you dealt. Once you were bitten, the only way out
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