Shadow of Chakona
By R. A. Adrian
Chakats and Chakona are the intellectual property and thus copyrighted to Bernard Doove

Time: 50 years after the exploits of "Forest Tails" and in a parallel universe

	"Heads up display operational" was the text scrolling across the tiny transparent eyepiece monitor.  "Constantly show the following data." The owner growled at the computer's microphone. "Ready to comply." The machine typed out.  "Show vital signs, pulse, respiratory rate, and hormone levels in the lower left hand corner." The display showed three charts on the corner, a red line graph showing the blips of a dual heart system, a yellow displaying the amount of breathable and toxic chemicals in a set of dual lungs, and a green chart showing a balance between testosterone and estrogen.  "Lower right hand corner, use the hard wire link to the gauss rifle and mounted dual plasma cannon and display ammunition count for both." Two numbers appeared on the lower area displaying 51/50 1mm needles in the rifle, fifty in the magazine, and one chambered, and a 100% power supply in the plasma generator.  "Last output... Name, rank, species, and serial number on the top left hand corner."  The HUD typed out, "Lt. Cmdr. Chakat Gildedtongue.  Chakat.  6730-829301-3451."  "No no, get rid of that chakat before my name, you stupid piece of silicon." The machine quickly corrected the name as shi sighed.  "Welcome to the army, Gildy..." the feline 'taur sighed, slumping onto the cold ground of the armoury floor.
	Chakat Gildedtongue child of Gladelong and Creekstripe got up to stretch.  With over 300 kilos of computerized weapons systems shi was quite appreciative of hir second set of legs.  Shi sighed again and started to disarm hirself as shi reminisced about how the hell shi got into this position.
	About 50 years ago the Humans First finally gained political, and thus official, control over the Federation.  Everyone knew that their goons had been controlling the commanding brass unofficially for much longer.  With this organization in control of the entire military, political, and economic entity, those of the furry kind had no choice but to leave what once protected them so dearly.  Two organizations formed due to the succession.  "The Children of the Gene War" or CGW, represented a look back into the reunification of humans and their furry counterparts, back to the ways of old.  Many defectors of the Federation's officers found their way to this group of rebels.  The others had no name to speak of, though their intent was easily seen, they believe that they are the next step up on the evolutionary ladder, and thus must exterminate the human race from existence.
	The CGW started on the chakat's home world of Chakona.  Partially because the chakats were the race to start the organization.  Secondly, the planet's government system was the most liberal, and the sparsest.  Though who needs a government to control a group of people whom the majority seem so intent to just help each other.  Weapons and war machines and their factories started to pop up on the planet for the first time in recorded history.  The Children want unification, though even they know that one must cut cancerous cells away from the healthy flesh.
	The irony of the peace loving chakats is that they were going to be the super weapon for the Gene War oh so many years ago.  They have never been field tested officially, but reports of chakat mothers defending their young leaves no doubt about their combat potential.
	When shi was fourteen, the minimum age to sign up to the military, Gildedtongue was one of the first hundred chakats to become a soldier in this war.  Most of the others were medics or strategists or scientists, pacifists to the end.  Gildy, as hir few friends call hir, was not one of those peace loving people.  Though shi said that shi was never wronged directly, shi felt like there was a score to settle.  Shi was an expert marksfur, and was unusually strong, even for chakat standards.  Shi also took many classes on field aid.  Shi was a jack-of-all-trades; shi was also a master of all.
	When the squadron leaders started to pick their troops, shi was in high demand, however, the high council has hir in mind for another task, a group that became the most effective, and thus the most famous group of soldiers that was apart of the CGW.  The project was codenamed "Chakat's Shadow."
	Gildedtongue remembered that first mission briefing like it was only an hour ago.  Truth to tell it was yesterday, but for a fur that usually forgets if shi had woken up in the morning, remembering something must indicate some importance.
	Shi was sitting in the back of a large auditorium; a holoprojector was in the center of the stage as with a stack of datapads, and two chairs.  Looking about shi counted those that shi figured will be the ones saving hir tail, but more often, visa versa.  There was a healthy representation of foxtaurs, five.  Four vixens and one tod.  An oddity, the foxtaur clans had forbidden males to be combat military personnel due to their scarcity.  A chuckle rumbled deep in hir throat as shi thought how it must be to be economically worth more than the entire credit account of the Federation.  A lone wolftaur female sat sprawled in the center of the auditorium, a posture and expression of boredom matched hir own as everyone was waiting for this meeting to start.  Shi looked around some more, two human men, hopefully not apart of their project, as shi noticed that they were sitting there staring at each set of breasts in the room, particularly at a badger morph that was sitting in the back opposite corner of Gildedtongue, and with good reason to the obviously sex crazed humans, the uniform showed the contours of three sets of good sized bosoms.  Shi shook hir head away from the sight and the thought, telling hirself that that kind of talk was just the drugs.  The military gave Gildy a high supplement of testosterone pills.  Enough steroids to be considered illegal to every species, shi took them to prevent hir female cycle to come into peak while shi was on duty, and thus able to concentrate wholly.  Shi also had an amount of estrogen for hir rut.  "A chemical tightrope act" the doctors called it.
	Just before the whole team was about to leave, two brass walked in, a human member of the council and a fox morph.  The fox sat in a chair as the human stepped in front of the projector.  In a near stereotypical general form that would make even Patton proud, the human spoke, "Welcome to project "Chakat's Shadow."  You will be the Children's elite commando, infiltration, and intelligence team.  You were all chosen for your unique abilities.  The council gives it's thanks to all of you." The man stepped down into the chair next to the fox.  The fur stood slowly up, age had obviously taken its toll on this poor fur.  He stood, leaning against the projector, a sense of pity filled the room.  Though, through all of this, the morph spoke in a powerful, commanding tone that left the last speaker in the dust.
	"Welcome all.  I am General Sardile and your C.O." he took a moment to cough, "You should have all introduced yourselves earlier, but since you didn't, we'll do it for you.
	"First, Seldrek, the wolftaur in the center of you all.  She is your demolitions expert.  Any explosive she can set, disarm, and dispose of.  Keep her happy, she might make sure you keep in one place.
	"Secondly, our two hackers down in front," The two humans turned their attentions from the females to the general, "Good to know I'm still important sometimes, Jake and Hank... These two jokers claim that they were the ones who, during an important Federation broadcast, exchanged the face of the president with that of Adolf Hitler... child's play really, but they also claim other deeds, if you have at least one set of breasts, they'll tell you everything... on another note, don't let these kids get captured...
	"Next, you had probably noticed we have one of the foxtaurs most treasured in our midst.  Thallon is our communications, and small arms expert.  Give him one pistol, and he thinks he's Superman, give him two, he thinks he's God..." more chuckles erupted from the audience as the famous movie quote from Hard Boiled was finished by everyone.  "Right," he continued, a slip in his tone perked up the ears of both Thallon and Gildy, obviously this fox isn't as ancient as he seems.
	"The four vixens you see are our pilots.  Naldrez and Falcika can pilot any mecha you come across, legged or wheeled.  And Halisk is your aerospace jock." The three smiled at their specialties being called.  Gildy was seeing all too clearly the advances they are making to Thallon, whom is obviously not enjoying it.
	"The fourth vixen in our little fiasco is Ranez.  She is our little trump card.  Our scientists have been working hard with nanomachines, and they believe they have unlocked a little beauty.  Ranez here is their prized experiment.  They believe they have created a psionic device, one to allow her to adjust the state of the molecules around her.  Slowing down their movement to chill, speeding them up to combust.  She cannot create objects, or destroy them entirely, but her current abilities shall show her to be more than useful.
	"Next, our hand-to-paw combat and mêlée expert, Saldura, that badger in the corner.  Oh and please don't smoke..." the badger looked astonished as shi was about to light a cigarette, shi shrugged and put it away.  "Shi will be helpful when the combat gets close."  Almost everyone noticed the distinct 'shay' sound when the fox used the pronoun, but dismissed it as a Freudian slip; the badger was butch for a girl.
	"Finally, our namesake," another slew of laughter from everyone as they noted that 'Chakat's Shadow' had one chakat, "Chakat Gildedtongue.  Shi will be your medic, your sniper, and your heavy weapons master. Shi is also next in line for command if I fall in battle, or get dismissed, or anything."  The fox gave a mischievous smile as he looked around.  He then proceeded to do a frontal flip into the audience, landing up right, one foot on a seat, and the other on the back of a chair.  Satisfying both Gildedtongue's and Thallon's assumption that there was more that met the eye about this fox.
	"Sleep well all, for tomorrow, you have your first mission," he smiled, passing out datapads to the newest ground squad of the Children of the Gene War.  Gildy took hir pad, going over it with much scrutiny; shi will not fail hir first time out.  Their fist mission would be to infiltrate a base here on Chakona, one believed to be apart of the nameless ones, nicknamed, "Nature's Way" by most members of the CGW.  Hir abilities as a heavy weapons expert would be used here.  She scrolled through the pad, layouts of the known base, number of resistance believed to be about, weapons expected to be used, a lot of illegals, but, then again, they can use any weapon they want, they are not under the same restrictions as the Federation.  Finally a checklist for hir own equipment for tomorrow.  Shi went through the hand ranged weapons.  Phasers, lasers, plasma, even some black power weapons were the mainstay of the list.  Shi checked off a sniper's gauss rifle, a small version of the infamous rail gun, using electromagnets to propel a metal shaft at high velocities.  Silent, deadly, and able to give the phrase "One shot, one kill" a distance of two miles if fully powered.  Next was the heavy weapon list, hundreds of hand used weapons, like grenade launchers and rocket launchers, and the such.  Scrolling past them shi came across the back mounted weapons, fitted for the 'taurs of the Gene War.  Shi perked up at a PPC, or Particle Projection Cannon, fitted for vehicles, retrofitted for 'taurs.  Shi imagined the possible weight and choose a dual plasma cannon.  Two barrels, one on each of hir flanks, delivering a mass of superheated matter that has gone past the state of gas.  This weapon has been known to disintegrate six feet of concrete with one blast of one cannon.  Finally shi came across mêlée weapons, shi thought of Saldura, wondering if possibly it wasn't a slip of the tongue.  Shi shook hir head again and chose a nice looking vibro-axe, perfect for slicing heads.  As shi hit 'send' on the datapad shi hoped that those two humans didn't choose their equipment, shi wouldn't trust them with a cork gun.  Not because they are human, they just look reckless.
	Shi decided to hit the gym for some exercise alone.  Some time to sweat and think about what is going to happen.  Unfortunately, the entire squad decided the same thing as the Lieutenant Commander.  Shi sighed and adjusted hir top, noting that the only two not working out were the two humans, watching the females work out.  Shi started to jog around the track, glad this was the one time shi decided to wear a brassiere.  This, of course, ruined the boy's fun, as they didn't pay too much attention.  On hir second lap shi noticed Thallon doing the rope climb, not to work out, but to get away from the three vixens staring googly eyed at the fleeing tod.  Shi shook hir head, hoping that they won't be doing that during the mission.  Ranez the fourth vixen was in the corner of the gym, making gestures in the air.  A bauble of light appeared over hir fingers, rolling across the black "gloves" she had, then disappearing into nothingness.  Upset, but not quitting, shi continued to create baubles and trying to move them to ignite a small piece of bark on the tile ground.  Shi waves to the psionic user just as she set fire to the bark, jumping in joy, then to the extinguisher before the fire spread from the tile to the wooden gym floor.  Seldrek, the wolftaur was on a set of extra high monkey bars, going across them with relative ease with just her hands, a feat for 'taurs with all that extra weight away from their arms.  Shi finally slowed down on hir sixth lap, approaching Saldura attacking a dummy viciously.  The dummy was that of a human male, and the 'skin' of it bent and collapsed with the same resistance of bone and muscle, then snapping back in to place.  The two humans stopped looking at the badger as a swift snap kick to the groin 'broke' the 'pelvis' of the dummy.  Shi smiled to the warrior as Saldura bowed to the dummy, then to the chakat.
	"Suppose the only thing those two know how to hack into are porn sites?" Gildy asked Saldura who picked up a water bottle and squeezed half the contents into her maw, and the other half over her sweaty head.
	"Yeah.  As long as they don't ruin the mission, I won't do to them what I did to that dummy..." she laughed, her voice in a thick Celtic accent, she was probably from Ireland.  She hurled the bottle across the gym, popping Hank in the forehead with the plastic projectile.
	"Nice shot.  But it's not them I'm too worried about, those vixens are totally in La la land with Thallon about..."
	"When you live in a race that has about ten vixen to every tod, four to one sounds like good odds."
	The feline nodded, ruffling hir red hair.  Shi smiled at the boys again, then asking Saldura, "Hey, Saldura, why don't we give the pervs a show and jog a bit in the buff?"  The badger shook her head profusely.
	"No, nononono.  Though, if they decide to go to the shower after their oh so hard workout, maybe... I'd imagine that they have gotten whiplash from watching those jumping vixens." The two furs in arms laughed, Saldura adding, "Call me Sallie, all my friends do."
The chakat nodded, hesitant to tell her hir nickname.  Shi may be as friendly as most chakats, but shi doesn't keep to many people close, and in hir line of work, it may save another's life.  But, Saldura, no, Sallie, was in hir line of work, so, they are in the same boat. "Thanks, Sallie.  Call me Gildy." The yellow-muzzled chakat said, offering hir hand.  The gray badger took it, shaking it.
A buzzer went off in the gym, denoting that this squad's time in the gym was up.  A ranger force of raccoons was going to train for a while.  Gildy thought about staying and watching from the bleachers, but decided to hit the showers.
Both the military and the world of Chakona had little use of a shower and loo for both males and females, besides, which one would chakats go to?  The community locker room was that like most highschools, small, confining, the smelt of years and years of sweat, desperately needing to be hosed, and gym socks that should go directly into the incinerator.  The two humans quickly went in and changed first.  Hackers aren't known for hygiene anyway.  They found a locker where they could look 'inconspicuous' and watch the furry females shower.  First was Seldrek.  She went in, lathered up, and rinsed rather unceremoniously and with a fashion that would even make the biggest sex hounds not enjoy themselves.  Next were the three pilots.  Their shared bath was one that could be sold as a 'Too Hot for the HoloNet: Military Propaganda" video.  Even Thallon was staring at the three obviously bisexual 'taurs.  They left, each blowing a kiss to Thallon, moisture dripping from under him that wasn't exactly sweat.  He went in and set the shower to the coldest setting, taking the metaphor to a necessary reality.
	Gildy decided to have hir fun with the humans and removed hir top.  Rather attractive for one who feels like the fates had given hir a bad hand in the physical department.  Hir powerful back muscles tensed and showed great strength as shi stepped into the open shower.  Shi lathered up with the seduction that would shame ever 20th century porn stars.  Shi squeezed the shampoo into hir paw and ruffled it through hir long red mane hair, then over hir dirty, earthly brown monochrome fur.  Paying particular attention to hir rump, working the soap into the taunt bum.  Shi turned around so hir tail end was facing the boys. 	An unseen smile crossed hir lips as shi flicked hir tail a bit, showing the humans probably what they were looking for, a glimpse at hir pink tail hole, and hir brown 'sacredness' as shi preferred to call it.  Hank and Jake's jaws were slack, staring in awe at hir.  Shi took hir tail into hir paw and started to bathe it.  That was the point in time shi decided to let hir plan finish.  Shi relaxed hir muscles above hir relatively well hidden sheath and a human like, ten inch, three inch wide, flaccid penis dropped.  The two males stared at it for a second, then, in a fit of heterosexual confusion and in utter shame of their own hidden members, decided to leave right then and there.  Gildy laughed wholeheartedly, only to be joined by the laugh of Saldura, whom stared to approach the shower, removing hir training uniform.
	"Humans" she said, "Can live with'm, couldn't exist without'm" the top flew off, revealing the three sets of breasts you knew just from looking at her.  The chakat rinsed off and sat down by hir new friend, nodding, slipping hir member back into hir sheath.
"Yeah... maybe they'll stop bugging us for awhile..." shi laughed as shi watched Sallie pull down her trousers, then her boxers.  Shi saw that she was gray all the way down, with hints of badger stripes down her back.  Shi looked over hir chest, guessing by the wear and tear, that the badger was in her thirties.  A tuft of earthy brown fur was growing above a sheath.  "Waitaminute!" the chakat's thoughts racked, "Only Chakats and Skunktaurs are herms... right?"
	The middle aged fur smiled at the feline, who was staring at hir masculinity, "Something wrong, hon?" she, errr, shi asked.  The general wasn't wrong at the meeting.  This was a full herm, an anthro herm!
	"Nothing, just didn't know that... well, I thought..."
The badger smiled, "That only your kind and skunktaurs had both, right?" the big cat 'taur nodded, looking rather embarrassed.  "Well, my ancestors were some of the first experimentations of the Gene Wars.  They used badgers for a bit for their ferocity.  We were quickly canned when the first few herm badgers came about.  My ancestors inter mated with the new models of badger morph that, for a while, made a few 'normal' badgers.  And the old kind of badger was gone, but not entirely, just somewhere deep in the genetic structure of our race.  Well, then my father and mother mated, and out popped me, mom wanted a boy, dad, a girl... guess they are both happy... I joined the resistance after they were slaughtered by the new Federation scum.  I thought about joining "Nature's Way" but... then I'd be just as bad as them.  No, I'm better, I'm fighting for reunification."
	The badger took hir shower and dried off, whistling a happy tune as shi went to hir quarters, leaving Gildy alone.  The badger of course turned off the light before shi left, so the locker room went black.  The 'taur sat there and thought about it.  Regulations state that every unit has at least two, or no chakats.  Saldura isn't a chakat, but shi'll do just fine... maybe better.  The officer stumbled through the black and found the door, heading into the hallway and into hir quarters as shi slept the rest of the night, dreamless.
	That brings us back to the present.  The two hackers were given holdout blasters for weapons; they don't have even enough kick to take out phaser proof armour like their larger versions of pistols.  Thallon took enough pistols to make John Woo movies jealous.  He took a pair of black powder mark 2 Barrettas, a pair of laser pistols, a pair of phase 2 phasers, a pair of plasma pistols, and a pair of heavy blaster pistols.  He slipped all of these into his own 'taur overcoat, a coat made for 'taurs that covered both torsos.  The three vixens took light laser pistols and the mecha pilot armed herself with a quad rail gun onto her flank.  The wolftaur took a saddlebag filled of various explosives and disarming devices.  Arming herself with a plasma pistol and a vibro-shiv she too left.  Gildy was in the corner watching everyone, checking their equipment too.  Finally Saldura came in, giving the smart bow the chakat came to know.  Shi drew out two vibro-blades the size of early medieval broadswords.  Giving both of them a spin in hir paws shi expertly sheathed them in one motion and motioned for hir to join hir.
	The chakat joined the close ranged combat expert, smiling at the irony of the fact that the sniper and the swordsfur are the best of friends.  Shi noticed the tri barreled automatic laser rifle wasn't taken yet.  General Sardile came in and picked it up, checking its power, nodding in approval.  The soldiers went and suited up in dark green jump suits, the fibers of the suits capable of blocking at least one blast of a plasma pistol before melting away.  These are also much less cumbersome than those phaser proof vests that were so mainstay years ago.  Sardile has a black X over his right shoulder, designating his rank, and Gildedtongue has a single stripe over hir shoulder.  The troops went from there to the dropship.  The two vixen pilots went to the cockpit, defeated, since the mecha pilot had Thallon all to herself.  Luckily, as soon as the ship rocked as the huge troop transporter started to move, the foxtaurs became silent and still, faces of stone crept over their faces.
	Hours passed as the normally fast ship moved slowly and stealthily to their destination on the opposite side of the planet.  During the time, Thallon plugged his datapad into an input device under the speaker systems, able to play music and audio files, but easily over run by an incoming wired page.  The system started to emit a beat that couldn't be mistaken.  Obviously the communications expert is a fan of the classics as the bass beat of "Another One Bites the Dust" by the 20th century rock group Queen, still popular these hundreds of years later, pulses through the personnel hold.  As the music, the thought to be shy tod started to sing and dance in the centre of the room.  The humans, wolftaur, and the vixens joined in after a while, leaving the badger, the fox and the chakat sitting and watching, talking amongst themselves.
	"Could've sworn Thal wasn't that comfortable with himself." Saldura commented.
Shrugging nonchalantly, Sardile said, "Maybe he's gay..."
	Gildy looked at the general, asking, "Either way, how did he join a combat unit?  Isn't that forbidden in all the clan statutes?"
	The eyepiece in the chakat's vision showed the General's statistics, forty-three years old, male, good pulse, 2% body fat to muscle weight ratio, excellent for a fox morph his age.  The monitored general responded, "It is.  When he joined this unit, he had to self-exile himself from his clan, never being able to go back to the planet of his birth.  It was honourable, with a price.  Though, I think he's happy, and he seems to want to defend his ideals, even at the expense of his own life."
Gildedtongue nodded hir head, looking to Saldura, checking hir stats.  Biped badger morph, hermaphrodite, thirty-two years of age, uratine cells indicate a previous pregnancy, full term, 14% body fat, a little pudgy, even for a herm, though, hir body seems to still be preparing hir for the long winter hibernation.  The chakat asked hir friend, "So, what do you think's gonna happen this mission?"
	The Irish swordsfur thought for a moment, "Well, I think that we will complete our objectives, blow the friggin place up, and leave with no casualties." The buzzer indicating a fifteen-minute ETA right in the middle of "Under Pressure." They killed the music and the lights.  The only illumination came from the emergency lights and the power outputs of the laser and plasma weapons.
	The dropship settled in the forests near the designated target.  The team scrambled out, leaving the three vixen pilots inside.  The fourth vixen, who never received a weapon, concentrated for a second as the molecules of her body started to loose their reflective nature, rendering her, you guessed it, invisible.  But only to the naked eye, and sort of image enhancement, even the chakat's low light vision on hir eyepiece could spot her.  Though she was the best scout for the moment and she and Thallon slipped into the night toward the bunker, ready to take recon.
	The mission is about to begin...