What are werewolves? They have been with us since man started telling each other stories, the idea that some of us can transform into a wolf, or half man half wolf. They even made an appearance in Greek theatre, but their finest moments were found in the Nordic tales of vikings and the norsemen.
In the middle ages there were notorious child killers who stated they were werewolves, and the only way to kill them was to burn them at the stake, something the French did regularly.
Many legends state that you only have to be scratched or bitten by a werewolf and you too would transform into one.
The legends move through history and across all planets. Writers and film-makers added to the tapestry of stories with silver bullets and magical potions adding to the folk-lore.
It was all due to the power of the moon. In every culture across the galaxies there were anomalies with certain people at the time of the full moon.
Dal-kel had been raised on a farming planet, he only realised later why his family wanted to be remote. The planet had one moon and it was only visible 4 times in their year. Gradually he became aware of the changes to his body at these times and then eventually he knew there was something about the moon that changed him physically, if only temporarily.
He grew up not thinking this was strange, his parents would transform under the moon and they would travel through the forests hunting any prey they could find. But they could always think. In their werewolf state they could still think as terrans but could not communicate in the same way. Despite this thinking they would still be taken over by the desire to have blood.
This caused the agony, knowing that when the moon came you had no control over the rage that took over you. In time it was easier to handle, as long as every now and then you did allow to take full control - as this was usually when you were being hunted.
One night Dal-kel's family ripped through a flock of yafs that were grazing a long way from their farm. The blood-stained corpses of the animals were a sign to the other farmers that there were werewolves on their planet and a special team was sent for. They survived a s a family for a long time, the third moon when their homestead was surrounded.
Dal-kel watched as his family were taken. Can werewolves live alongside terrans? Terrans certainly cannot live alongside werewolves. They are scared of anything that is stronger or larger than them. Each new planet that was settled was only done so after the slaughter of animals at the top of the food chain.
Rin-kon sat watching the controls. There had been an air of depression since their two colleagues had been taken. They had discussed plans to follow and attempt to take them back, but they all knew they could take on the transporter ship. Even if they got close to the planet where they docked there was sure to be a moon, and that would be their downfall.
They had some choices to make. Find a planet with constant moons and live as predators, find a planet with no moons and live as terrans finding normal work, always looking over their shoulders in case they had been traced.
The final choice was to try something new and different. What if they tracked down the small-time trackers, the bounty hunters who would pick up stories of werewolves and hunt them down for a price? What if they could create fear and terror among those trackers and give their fellow kind a fighting chance?
If they were careful they could do this in their ship, they could work in their terran form and be able to glide almost unseen throughout the galaxy.
"We take from those who take from us?" said Del-ros. "One day though we will get found out, and then what?"
"We do what we have had to do for our whole lives - fight to survive."
"And we have the greatest weapon that any of our species has ever had!"
"But what is the endgame? When does it end, where do we finish up?"
"We finish when our species is protected and we have a peaceful home that will be peaceful."
"So now we are revolutionary fighters?"
"Let us start small, but what is life if it has no purpose?"
The last statement from Dal-kel made them all sit in silence and look at each other.
Werewolves never had plans, they were always on the run, always looking over their shoulders.
"I also think there is still research being performed on our kind, I would like to pursue that as well," said Del-ros to the approval of the other two.
"We have a mission - freedom for our kind. We shall use our powers and all that has been given to us to fight until we have to fight no more," stated Dal-kel.
With that they looked at all the clusters of planets that were available to them and worked out where would be best for them to go. It was difficult working out how the moons would affect them. They needed to listen out for reportings of their species, to watch for the bounty hunters and then start the chase themselves. Finding a planet that had no moon and being able to act as traders with their ship would be a priority. They needed to live in plain sight of terrans, to build contacts.
They had to be ready to go to war.