First Contact

Chapter 141: (The War)

La'amo'o was a typical Lanaktallan. Not too curious, not too inattentive, not too eager to impress others, content to be one of the herd and live his life. He had an apartment on the eighth floor of the hab-tower, not too high not too low, he lived close enough to work he could walk and enjoy the mild weather of his home planet, and his job was comfortable and easy, not requiring too much effort but not so boring as to cause him anxiety. True, it was only watching the status boards of nearly fifty robots that constructed something or other, La'amo'o didn't really know what nor did he really care, but it brought in enough money that he could afford a decent apartment, flavored nutri-cud, and some luxuries, with enough to make slightly more than minimum payments on his debt from when he was moved to his home world. He was acceptable enough that he had been breeding paired twice, once resulting in two sons and three daughter, the other time, which ended only ten years prior in darkness and fog, only resulting in a daughter. He enjoyed attending functions, both mandatory and optional, and often went to the vast parks to converse and enjoy the company of other Lanaktallan.

His shift at the plant was only six hours into a ten hour shift, comfortably uneventful, when the unthinkable happened.

All of the lights went red and sirens started going off. One by one the robots shut down as the last item went by. He looked around, wondering what to do when his main monitor gave him a single message: REPORT TO SHELTERS.

Using his bare-bones implant he queried as to which shelter he could go to as he shut down everything as if he was going off shift. After a minute it returned that he did not have a shelter pass and he was to return home where he would shelter in place.

La'amo'o wondered for a few minutes as he left the plant what was going on, then figured it was a matter for more high ranking Lanaktallan than him. Many Lanaktallan higher ranking than him were running around in circles, making sounds of distress, their tendrils curled in fear and their crests inflated protectively on their necks and down their upper backs.

When La'amo'o got outside he looked up at the beautiful greenish-blue sky.

Huge space-ships, shaped like wedges, were in the sky. He paused for a moment and admired them. Sometimes he daydreamed about being a space-ship pilot, but he had been tested and found to be a factory worker, nothing more, nothing less. The ships had to be huge to be seen so clearly in orbit and he admired the geometry as well as the industriousness it would take to create such vast vessels.

He trotted down the sidewalk, watching as ground-cars all screeched around each other, all of them acting as if they could flee the massive ships in orbit.

La'amo'o thought that was silly. He could count six of them in orbit, two of them bisected by the horizon. He wondered for a moment how many of them were in orbit. He thought it would be kind of neat if there were enough to completely encircle the planet.

He was almost home when he heard it. A screaming roar of a noise that made him look up involuntarily. A group of small airships, hexagonal wings on either side of a ball-like cockpit, shrieked as they flew by in a tight formation only a little ways up.

The other Lanaktallan on the street screamed and reared up, many of them galloping away. A few Lanaktallan lost control of their ground cars, slamming into each other and into buildings.

La'amo'o was agile enough to clop out of the way of one.

Another flight went by and La'amo'o thought about how much fun it would be to fly one of the screaming shrieking vessels. They were in a tight wedge of six of them, close together, barely above the buildings.

La'amo'o sat down at a bench for a few minutes. It was a little anxiety inducing, watching those vessels scream across the sky. He saw a few hover-vehicles from the LawSec building only four blocks away lift off, but another wedge of those little craft came screaming in, firing green bolts from the front, and the LawSec craft exploded in mid-air.

La'amo'o thought that the new vehicles moved like a flock of birds.

He knew he should feel anxiety, but he really didn't. He was nobody, so they obviously weren't here for him. It made him feel a little anxious that he might be killed by accident, but there was nothing he could do about so he tried to put it out of his mind.

Another set of LawSec vehicles took off.

La'amo'o was slightly ashamed that he was looking forward to what he knew would happen.

He hoped that the LawSec patroller who came by every week to collect 20% of La'amo'o's paycheck for the Elderly LawSec Being's Fund was on one of the vessels. It more than the LawSec trooper's breath stank, but he was rude and sometimes threatened the elderly Lanaktallan that lived on the same level as La'amo'o.

Those ships came in, destroyed the LawSec hovercraft, then started making attack runs on the LawSec building itself.

La'amo'o counted how many passes it took for the LawSec building to collapse.

Twelve, although La'amo'o wasn't sure if the count was accurate since three more 'wedges' of those little craft joined in on the shrieking attacks.

After a bit La'amo'o got up and started walking again. He was halfway home and it looked like the show was over. He had to admit those little craft looked like a lot of fun. They were really agile and really fast.

And the noise was neat. Yes, it made him a little anxious, a little afraid, but at the same time, it meant he could watch one of those craft dart through the city streets. Which made the sound less scary and more neat.

While he was waiting for the light to change the traffic lights suddenly started blinking red. The sign across the street changed from "DO NOT WALK" to "WATCH OUT!" and La'amo'o looked both ways.

Short heavy hovercraft were approaching. Narrower than they were tall, the top rounded, they were almost thirty feet long. On the outside of the gray vehicle were biped, hanging onto a bar with one hand and holding a black rifle with the other. The bipeds were in white armor with black eyes.

They looked fascinating to La'amo'o.

He waved at them as they went by.

One on top of the craft, manning what looked like a really mean big gun, waved back.

Oh, we're being invaded, he thought to himself. He looked up at the ships, then around. Several buildings were burning, there was plumes of smoke in the distance. Probably a good thing I was never promoted then.

He counted thirty of the vehicles until the display across from him changed message to: "OK, YOU SHOULD BE GOOD" and La'amo'o trotted across the street.

He knew he should be feeling anxious, should be afraid, but he had to admit, he wasn't. It was a break from the normal routine and, well, he thought invasions involved more explosions and shooting.

La'amo'o went inside his hab and rode the elevator up to his apartment. When he went inside he turned on the Tri-Vid, seeing that all four channels were showing the same thing.

Bipeds in white armor defeating LawSec, ExecSec, and even the military forces. La'amo'o watched as he boiled some cud to soften it and added some flavor packs.

TERRAN ATTACK was one headline. It showed giant four legged armored war machines marching forward, firing energy weapons and missiles, destroying tanks. Smaller, two legged ones ran around on the flanks, again reminding La'amo'o of birds with the way they'd run at an enemy firing, then all turns as one to loop back around behind the big four legged robots. As La'amo'o watched, a tank shell hit one of the two legged ones, knocking it over, and La'amo'o watched it struggle back to its feet, run at the tank, and then jump on with both feet. La'amo'o was impressed by the tactic.

Plus, that looked like fun.

DARTH HARMONUS ATTACKS was another. That one showed a figure all in black, with a sword made of crackling red energy, striding out of a really interesting looking space-craft, surrounded by smoke. He was able to parry and deflect neural bolts and even laser bolts with the sword. As La'amo'o watched the figure made a fist and a dozen Lanaktallan troop's helmets crushed. La'amo'o had to admit the bipedal figure in black was quite impressive and obviously some kind of leader.

THE EMPIRE ATTACKS was a third. That one showed hundreds of white armored figures firing their rifles and moving from cover to cover, fighting against LawSec, CorpSec, ExecSec, and the military. To La'amo'o's eyes they moved as a single body driven by a single goal. He saw some of the white armored bipeds fall, hit by weapons, and other white armored bipeds drag the fallen back into cover while the Lanaktallan troops left the wounded where they fell.

DISASTER ON THE GOLDEN PLAINS the last channel reported. That channel showed the Lanaktallan forces attempting to flee while the white armored troops and their war machines chased them, firing at them. The announcer was talking about how terrible the Terrans were, that they had inflicted more than 15% casualties on the MilSec forces, yet still chased them.

Well, that made sense. Otherwise the MilSec forces would just join up with other units or wait until the panic subsided and then attack again. La'amo'o found himself nodding along with the Terran decision to keep fighting. Why bother with a break in the combat if you're winning?

That made La'amo'o question his implant, which returned the information that the Terrans were part of something called the Confederacy. He wondered if Terrans were alien enough that they might have more than one government for their people.

Curious, he wondered why Terrans would have different governments. Perhaps some believed in living one way and didn't want to be forced to live another so they had a different government? Maybe one group of Terrans had eyes that were one color and so lived in a different government system than Terrans with another eye color?

The idea of two different Terran governments fascinated him. The Lanaktallan's had been ruled by the same government for a hundred million years and La'amo'o wondered what it would be like to live under another government. He wondered if he would even really notice, since he was just a Robot Overseer Fifteenth Class.

That number made La'amo'o sit up. His daughter was fifteen and in the creche. He just knew she was probably terrified by all of this.

La'amo'o went into the room that his daughter sometimes stayed in during Approved Genetic Donator Visitation Days and got her favorite blanket from when she had visited only a month ago. He put it in the carryall that he usually wore when he went walking, added four bottles of water and some nutri-cud in case she was hungry.

It was starting to get dark and smoke was starting to haze the streets by the time La'amo'o reached the open air. Some of those ships screamed by and La'amo'o caught himself waving to them, suddenly glad he wasn't part of the security forces.

To be honest, he knew he would make a terrible security being. The idea of hitting someone in the face with a baton because they were angry that they had not been paid by the corporation that month made La'amo'o frown in distaste. He still felt a little resentment that he had been fined two months pay for waving a sign demanding he receive his compensation for his work as well as having to have medical care to replace three chewing teeth and close a badly bleeding wound on his face.

Which is why he wasn't concerned about the idea of the Terrans making the factory he worked in explode. If he was going to die in the invasion, that would be a good thing to see before he died.

He had gone a dozen blocks when he came to a sudden realization.

He had no idea where his daughter's creche was.

Sighing, he went over to a public terminal. He waited a second for it to recognize he was standing there, then tapped a few times on the screen. He was about to go and see if he could find a working one when the holo-emitter turned on.

A Terran face made of dots and static jumped out of the emitter and yelled "RAWR!"

La'amo'o squealed and sat down, covering his face with two hands.

"Oh, shit, hey, cow-dude, I'm sorry," a voice said. It wasn't the normal public assistance virtual intelligence voice. "It's OK, I won't hurt you."

La'amo'o lowered his hands and looked at the hologram. Close set predator eyes, small nose, large mouth for the head size, ears close to the head, insulating hair on top of the head. All made up of static and dots. It blinked a few times and then shook itself slowly right and left.

"OK, what do you need? Nearest shelter? Refugee camp? Register a complaint?" the hologram asked.

"Um, what happened to the public assistance virtual intelligence?" La'amo'o asked.

"Oh, he got in the way so I killed him and took his shit. It's not like he was using all that RAM anyway. Hm, didn't think that through. Now I gotta help you instead of joining in on the fight over at the hypercom. OK, cow-dude, what do you need?" the face said.

"My daughter is at Public Common Creche 482. Can you show me how to get there?" La'amo'o asked.

"Sure, gimme a second. Man, this place is a mess. This dude never collated or weighed any of this data. It's just one big data-stack that I've gotta check line by line," the face said. "Wow, if my workplace was this messy I'd get in big trouble. OK, found it."

There was a moment of silence. "Um, you don't have a retinal link, do you?"

"No," La'amo'o shook his head.

"All right. I'll just follow you and give you directions verbally through your link. You know, you don't seem to scared," the hologram said.

"I'm nobody important. There's no reason to kill me," La'amo'o said. "I'm just worried about my daughter."

"That makes me actually kind of like you, cow-dude," the hologram said. "OK, I loaded directions into your implant. Here, let me print this. Show this to them. It's a legal form releasing your daughter to your custody for right now."

A plas-sheet quick-printed and La'amo'o took it.

"Here's a pass to be out on the street. Show that to any Storm Troopers you run into," the hologram said. Another sheet quick-printed and La'amo'o took that one too, folding them both carefully and putting them in his pouch at his side.

"OK, I've got your bio-metrics, so I won't lose you," the hologram said. "Hey, be careful out there, all right? It's literally a war zone."

"I will. And thank you, public assistance intelligence," La'amo'o said.

He followed the directions, trotting down the street. The night was cool, and smelled of burning wood, plas, and plascrete. Every once in a while the neat looking craft screamed by. He passed a crowd of Lanaktallan all milling around a shelter entrance at the same time as some of those craft made a shrieking flyby pass. All of the other Lanaktallan screamed and went down on their knees, covering their heads in terror.

La'amo'o didn't see why. None of the cars were burning, the only dead he could see looked like they'd been trampled to death.

Another flight went by, low enough that for a moment La'amo'o was worried the bottom edge of the hexagonal plates might hit someone in the head. Again the crowd screamed and huddled down.

La'amo'o hurried by the crowd.

At one corner one of the vehicles came to a stop. Two of the bipeds in white armor, one with an orange plate on his shoulder, let go of the bar they were holding and jumped down, walking up to La'amo'o who held still.

"What are you doing out past curfew, Citizen?" one asked. La'amo'o wasn't sure which one.

"I am retrieving my daughter. I have a piece of paper that I was told to give you by a public assistance intelligence," La'amo'o said.

"Let's see it. Move slowly," the one in all white said.

La'amo'o carefully withdrew the paper, holding it out and waiting politely.

"I need a check. Red Prince 3321, Electronic Warfare Division," the one with the orange shoulders said. After a moment. "Roger."

The one holding the paper handed it back. "All right. You're clear. We've got you loaded in now, you shouldn't be bothered since standard visors will display that you're cleared. Move along," the one with orange shoulders said.

"Thank you, Terrans," La'amo'o said, trotting away.

La'amo'o stopped at one point as a Lanaktallan, obviously wealthy by his sash, flank cover, and ornate satchel-pouch, ran into the street squealing in terror. Three pale blue rings hit the wealthy Lanaktallan who immediately fell over, landing on his side, breathing heavily with his eyes closed. Several biped humans came up, putting cuffs on the fallen Lanaktallan. One passed a device over the unconscious Lanaktallan's rump, making the smell of fried meat and hair, leaving behind a series of bars and numbers.

"Move along, Citizen," one of the bipeds told La'amo'o. "He's just stunned."

La'amo'o just nodded, trotting away. Personally, La'amo'o didn't care if that one was stunned or dead. A being could out run a lot of things, but not guns. Running from armed beings was just stupid, you just ended up injured and tired.

After a while La'amo'o reached the creche. The first thing he noted was that the Terrans were already there. They had bags stacked up almost to La'amo'o's chin, heavy plates of black metal set up, guns and missile launchers, all set up. All of the military equipment made La'amo'o frown as he moved up to where two white armored Terrans were standing.

"Move along, Citizen, this is a restricted area," one said.

"I am her to collect my daughter. I have written permission," La'amo'o said. He moved slowly and carefully, getting out the two permissions. One of the Terrans took the paper and went through the door made of faint energy.

After a few moments the other one spoke. "You don't seem too frightened."

"I am nobody important. There is no reason to kill me," La'amo'o said, shrugging.

'Makes sense," the Terran replied.

After a moment the one who had left, or at least La'amo'o assumed it was the one that had left, returned with two others, one of which had the orange plates on the shoulders. One of the narrow vehicles pulled up behind La'amo'o and for a moment he was worried, reminded of how the SecMales would take people away in the night.

"Citizen La'amo'o 742452?" the one with orange plates asked.

"Yes?" La'amo'o asked.

"Come with us, please," the Terran said, walking past him and toward the vehicle.

"I have done nothing wrong," La'amo'o said. His knees started shaking slightly.

"No. You have not. We're taking you to your daughter. She's all right, she's fine, but she's at a medical and rescue center," the Terran said. "We're going to ride in the Eye-Tee-Tee since it's about five miles from here."

"Oh," La'amo'o said, feeling relief as his tendrils uncurled and his crests deflated. He turned and trotted after the two Terrans, starting to feel a little excited. He was going to be allowed to ride inside one of the gray vehicles.

The back opened up to show the troop compartment. The one with the orange shoulders sat down and pointed up at the straps hanging from the roof.

"You can hold onto those to keep your balance if you need to," the Terran said as the other one hit a button and the back slowly closed with the whine of hydraullics.

"Thank you, Terran," La'amo'o said. He felt excited as the vehicle went into motion. He could almost feel the weight of its armor and the power of its engine. "Why is my daughter not at the creche."

There was silence for a moment then the Terran with the orange shoulder plates spoke.

"Some of your leaders tied or chained children to your anti-air emplacements. That forced us to do an infantry assault on them with sniper backup," the Terran answered. "Your daughter was one of the ones that were 'chosen' to help 'defend' the emplacement."

"Were many children killed?" La'amo'o said, trembling in anxiety at the thought that his own people would chain colts to weapon emplacements.

"Three. Two were shot by the officers manning the weapons, one was blown up when the soldiers manning the weapon blew it up rather than let us take it," the Terran said.

"Oh," La'amo'o said. He dug in his pouch and pulled out a cloth to dab his eyes. He stood there, crying quietly for a few minutes, before the vehicle slowed down. He wiped his eyes and turned around, following the Terrans out.

The area was busy. There were Terrans running around shouting, Lanaktallan being carried on hover-cradles with terrible wounds, crying Lanaktallan, and tents with doctors working feverishly. There was a small corral where immature Lanaktallan were bunched up in the middle, with Terrans guarding the corral.

"Daddy!" his daughter, Alma'ana called out, galloping toward him, her limbs flailing. He rushed up, not noticing the sharp command from the Terran with the orange pauldrons stopping two of the Terrans from raising their weapons. One opened the gate in time for Alma'ana to rush out, colliding with her father and hugging La'amo'o with all four arms. "You came. You really came."

"Of course I did, little one," La'amo'o said, feeling relief fill him. "I am glad you are all right."

She sniffled and looked up. "Some CorpSec tied me to a big missile launcher, telling me I was helping defend our world because the Terrans wouldn't blow it up with missiles. Instead Terrans ran out of the buildings, yelling, and shot the CorpSec like the ones who took away Mommy. I've got a headache, but the Terran doctor who looked at me and gave me some shots told me it would go away."

La'amo'o let her talk, gently petting the hair on her back.

"It was really scary, but then the Terrans let me ride on a vehicle and more doctors looked at me. They said they'd try to find you, but there's fighting in the city," Alma'ana snuffled. "I was scared that CorpSec came for you."

"No, little one, daddy isn't that important. Do you want to go home?" La'amo'o asked.

Alma'ana nodded, wiping her eyes.

La'amo'o turned back to the two Terrans who had ridden in the vehicle with him. "May we return home? My daughter is distressed."

The one with the orange plates nodded, waving at La'amo'o. "Follow us. We'll give you a ride home in the Eye-Tee-Tee. It'll be safer."

His daughter was a little afraid of the vehicle, but once La'amo'o got in, she nervously clattered in, looking at everything. She seemed a little afraid of the Terrans, but by the time the vehicle stopped she was asleep standing up, swaying back and forth.

La'amo'o led his sleepy daughter back to the apartment. He nodded when the Terran told him to stay safe, holding two of his daughter's hands. Up in the apartment he tucked her into her sling and went back in to watch the Tri-Vid.

As soon as he turned it on the channel dissolved in static and the Terran face made of dots and static showed up again.

"Did you find her, La'amo'o?" the public assistance intelligence asked.

La'amo'o nodded. "Yes. Thank you for the plas-sheets."

"Whew. When I saw what happened I was a little worried. Is she all right?" the PAI asked.

"Yes. She is a little frightened. The Terrans killed the CorpSec in front of her, but the Terran doctors say she will all right and that her headache will go away," La'amo'o said.

"Hey, listen," the PAI said. "I hacked your food dispenser. You and everyone else here in this building. I just wanted to let you know that you have almost unlimited food and I unlocked all the flavors. Don't be stingy and make sure she gets plenty to eat, all right? It's not going to cost you anything."

The face seemed really concerned for a virtual intelligence.

"Thank you," La'amo'o said.

"Just stay home, all right? You'll be all right. Nobody wants to hurt you. The fight isn't with people like you and your daughter, all right?" the PAI said.

"It's with the Most Highs," La'amo'o guessed.

"Yeah. Listen, I'm sorry about your city, it seems nice. You guys are a manufacturing hub, so you're kind of a priority target. Grand Moff Chet Mann wants this world taken intact for the Empire," The PAI said.

"Displays are useful. They're on everything from food dispensers to tanks to spaceships," La'amo'o said, nodding his head. He understood why a military would attack the city.

"Yeah. Hey, are you sure you're all right? I can summon a medic for you if you need it," the PAI said.

"No, I'm all right."

"Is there anything I can do for you before I leave?" The PAI asked.

La'amo'o shook his head. "My daughter is here and we have food."

"All right. Take care. I'll check on you tomorrow," the PAI said.

La'amo'o waited until his daughter was definitely asleep, punched up a nutri-cud he'd always wanted to try, and went up to the roof.

There were five of those massive wedge-shaped ships in the sky and streaks of light across the darkness that La'amo'o knew where those little space-craft.

He stood on the roof, watching the night sky, for over an hour before he went downstairs. When the little craft screamed by he waved at them.

In his cradle, waiting to go to sleep, he allowed himself a short moment of anger at the Terrans.

Why couldn't you have done this before CorpSec vanished her.