Starfang: Rise of the Clan

By Joyce Chng

Is a clan captain going to sacrifice everything for her clan? Tasked to kill Yeung Leung by her parents, powerful rival clan leader of the Amber Eyes, Captain Francesca Min Yue sets out across the galaxy to hunt her prey, only to be thrown into a web of political intrigue spreading across the stars. Is Yeung Leung collaborating with the reptilian shishini and playing a bigger game with the galaxy as a price? Is Francesca’s clan at stake? Welcome to Starfang: Rise of the Clan, where merchants and starship captains are also wolves.

“Wolves should not be in space, but here we were, a clan of wolves and merchants. Instead of the preserved forests of New Earth and Noah’s Ark, we were in ships of steel and armor, reading data scans and commanding officers on the bridge. Wolves within the uniform of merchants and mercenaries, human seeming, claws and teeth sheathed.”

– Captain Francesca Ming Yue, of the warship Starfang.

Welcome to Starfang, a space opera with werewolves, politics and intrigue.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Publishing
• Release date: Oct 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094420776

Joyce Chng

Born in Singapore, but a global citizen, Joyce Chng writes mainly science fiction and YA. She likes steampunk and tales of transfiguration/transformation. Her fiction has appeared in The Apex Book of World SF II, We See A Different Frontier, Cranky Ladies of History, and Accessing The Future. Her YA includes a trilogy about a desert planet and a fantasy duology in Qing China. Joyce has also co-edited a Southeast Asian steampunk anthology titled THE SEA IS OURS: Tales of Steampunk Southeast Asia with Jaymee Goh. Her Jan Xu Adventures series, an urban/contemporary fantasy set in Singapore, is written under the pseud. J. Damask which she will tell you it's a play on her Chinese name.Joyce's bibliography, updates, rants and (occasional) photography can be found at A Wolf’s Tale (http://awolfstale.wordpress.com) and Twitter (@jolantru). If you are interested, she has also a Patreon for her medical fees: https://www.patreon.com/jolantru?ty=h. Samples of her work are posted on her Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/jolantru.

Book preview

Prologue

Wolves should not be in space, but here we were, a clan of wolves and merchants. Instead of the preserved forests of New Earth and Noah’s Ark, we were in ships of steel and armour, reading data scans and commanding officers on the bridge. Wolves within the uniform of merchants and mercenaries, human seeming, claws and teeth sheathed.

Our genes kept us apart from the homo sapiens race. Some merchant clans tried to spread the rumour that we were the product of genetic engineering, a pact made between the secretive flesh engineers and our clan progenitors, in exchange for sacred information we didn’t know and care about. Some rumours were more far-fetched, bordering on the mythical and mystical and the alien, alleging raptor-like shishini or grey-tinged jukka involvement.

They were partly right.

They were also partly wrong.

We were homo sapiens lupus.

We were a breed apart.

And we were set to rule space.

Chapter One

Docking was a simple task, a routine procedure involving the machine navigator out and basic station instructions. I watched the data scans as the jets eased Starfang into her assigned lot. But my mind was already somewhere else. After the tour of duty, I was eager for a run in the forests of Noah’s Ark with my pack-crew. My body ached to move.

However, there was one thing I needed to do when I disembarked. I had to return to the clan home mansion to pay Aunt Gertrude a visit.

I waved my ID tag at the immigration officer who allowed me to pass. He recognized my uniform and my eyes. All homo sapiens lupus had what normal humans called ‘wolf eyes’. It was another thing that marked us as different.

The family car was already waiting for me at the arrival hall. I passed the trip gazing out of the tinted window. The green trees rushed past. The green called to me. It was a visceral song to my body, my cells.

They kept Aunt Gertrude – or ‘Cloud’ if she wanted to be called by her hanzi name – in a separate enclosure. It was a walled enclosure, no more than a prison box, with only a slit for a window. There was a reason for this. Aunt Gertrude had the defective ‘R’ gene that misfired and caused her to switch forms more frequently than the rest of the clan. For most of us, we could control the urges.

I loved Aunt Gertrude. She was actually my grandaunt, second sister to my grandfather, the Great Wolf. I had seen the pictures where she was a hotshot pilot for our clan fighter corps. She used to hug me when I was younger and I loved her scent: earthy, like the forest. Comforting, like plush soft fur.

Yet, at the age of forty, Aunt Gertrude couldn’t control the urges anymore and was confined to the prison box where she had lived for thirty years now. The family still provided food and water, as it did for the elderly and the injured. She had foregone the higher-functioning desire to bathe. She told me, before I left for New Earth, that bathing was over-rated.

‘Aunt,’ I said, modulating my voice for wolf ears were sensitive. No problem: she could already smell me. ‘Aunt, it’s me. Francesca. Ming Yue. Have you eaten?’

I could smell the odour of something animal, something wolf. Pungent. Urine. Faeces. And interlaced with it was the forest. My aunt was still in there. I just wasn’t sure if she was wolf or human at this stage. Her control of the misfiring gene had disappeared long ago.

‘Ming Yue,’ her voice – low, like growling – came through the slit in the door. ‘You are back.’

‘Just today. We managed to quell the uprising at Olympus Mons.’ I said. I heard the soft chuff-chuff-chuff of someone sniffing and I knew it was a wolf doing that.

‘Aunt?’

The chuffing stopped and I heard a human cough. ‘I am glad you are here. It has been so lonely here.’ Quavering voice, an old woman’s voice. Tired, panting.

‘I am sorry. You know Clan rules.’

Another cough. ‘They tried giving me a vid. I can’t use it… You know…’

I hated pregnant silences. I looked down at the piles of dishes beside the door. The door was locked from outside.

‘They gave me a beef haunch today,’ Aunt Gertrude’s tone was amused, laughing. ‘How delightful.’

‘What did Dr Yang say?’ I asked brusquely.

‘You mean the pills? They have not worked and they do not work. At my age… pffff. Dr Yang should know better.’

‘He’s our best physician trained in homo sapiens lupus physiology.’

‘I know he is,’ another cough and another chuffing sound. ‘You have your father’s malaise. We are lang. Not some silly scientific term.’

‘Aunt.’

‘I only wish for open skies and trees,’ Aunt Gertrude sighed and the sigh ended in a low snarl.

‘Aunt?’

The snarling grew louder, turned into a whine --- and then Aunt’s voice going: ‘Leave me be, Ming Yue. Enjoy your shore leave. Do not worry about me.’

‘Aunt?’

The whine came back and then a snarl, a low angry wolf snarl, full of bared teeth and barely-suppressed rage. My back prickled. The pungent odour was heavier than ever, sour and richer than a woman’s menstrual cycle. I forced myself to walk away, back to the main mansion. Behind me, she howled, a mournful song reverberating in the air and chilling my skin.

The family hall was done in the traditional style, all rosewood furniture and clan banners on the wall. Paintings of ancestors lined the hall way, men and women. My ancestors: graceful, haughty, grim-looking in their official court wear, always with a black wolf sprawled beside them as they sat on their rosewood sedan chairs. My boots echoed as I made my way to the main hall. I suddenly felt filthy, in need of a good long soak in the hot springs and a change of clothing.

Mother sat on her crimson settee. She was wearing her sky-blue qi pao. She did not seem to age. Her hair was still black, jet-like, tied in a severe bun with a blue shell hair piece. In her youth, she had captained the Starfang. She was now alpha female, co clan leader of the House. Starfang was mine now.

As I bowed politely in front of her, Mother stood up. Her slim frame belied her strength. She was lead hunter during the Clan Games.

‘Welcome home, daughter,’ she said.

‘Mother,’ I bowed lower. ‘Have you eaten?’

‘The hunt has been fruitful this year,’ her reply was routine, another tradition too.

‘I visited Grand Aunt,’ I said, still standing. ‘She is also well.’

The smooth planes of Mother’s face creased a little. Her eyes glowed a lighter amber. She inclined her head to acknowledge my words. She was one of those who protested Aunt Gertrude’s isolation.

‘Come, daughter,’ she smiled as if she wanted to dispel the sadness. ‘I cooked your favourite, pig trotters with ginger and vinegar. Tell me more about Starfang while we eat.’

I knew it was important when she, not Cook, cooked my favourite food. Mother seldom did things without a reason.

Mother had set the dining hall in clan colours – gold and crimson, with the black claw symbol on every banner. The main dining table was mahogany, made of one of the ancient trees from Noah’s Ark. As servants hurried about, laying out the chopsticks (all mahogany) and porcelain spoons, we chatted casually about Starfang. She had experienced the same coolant problem in the same sector of the engine. The targeting system needed to be re-fitted and refined. Since my ascendancy as captain, I had installed more gun batteries, as the area I was tasked for my tour of duty was rife with piracy. But then, Starfang moved in her Pack Fleet, and the rest of the ships were armed to the teeth.

For a moment, Mother’s eyes glowed with pleasure and pride.

‘Sit, sit,’ she gestured gracefully. I waited until she settled down. Protocols were still important, even though I was the eldest in the Clan, and daughter to