Planet Telex

Liora`Esvael-Torrin stole a glance through the glass of her capsule as flames began to lick at the edges, and held on.
The explosive impact compensation would have destroyed whatever it landed on, but she guessed that it was barely a scratch to the building compared to what the Avians had likely done to it. Ferran-02 was one of the last to fall, and the dedicated resistance had been calling for help over open channels for weeks. The calls had been dwindling, probably as then numbers of them did, but with the battleships leaving orbit, this was her chance to use what was left in her mission.
After a few moments wondering if she was still alive after the deceleration, Liora pulled the red lever above her head, triggering the explosive bolts on the door that flung it against the nearby wall. She gathered her equipment from storage -- a pistol, her datapad, a backpack with a few days supplies, and a radio -- and left the capsule. She had landed in a warehouse, what looked like a civilian supply depot from the look of the crates. Everything was taken, as if it was looted by the Avians or scavenged by desperate citizens escaping the fighting. There wasn't anything there to help her, so she decided the best thing to do was to get as far away as possible.
In five minutes the thermite inside would trigger and burn all evidence that she was ever here.

The civilian positioning satellites had been destroyed mere minutes after the battleships arrived, causing the agent to have to rely on static maps pulled from her ship's local databanks. She knew that the capsule was expected to land within three kilometers of the target, giving her a rough idea of her location. She'd just have to head west, towards the city, and hope that nobody investigating met her on the way.
Liora had never imagined what the city skyline would have looked like after the invasion. A number of iconic towers of the capital city were either smoldering or just plain gone, and lights only shone from the northern half. She could only guess the Accord's goals for the planet, but figured infrastructure repair was a low priority for the moment, while there was still potentially fighting in the streets.
Sticking to the shadows and off main roads, she avoided seeing another soul, either one belonging to the Accord or her own Core. Due to the lack of traffic down what should have been a busy hyperway, she could only guess that the city outskirts were abandoned.

It took a few hours of trekking through factories and supply depots before Liora came across the maglev tracks, the main arteries connecting the city to the surrounds. The fence preventing people from wandering onto the tracks was simple wire, and her multitool made short work of it, letting her slip through.
Under each maglev rail was a tunnel, covered from the overhead by a thick iron grate There was a gap between each side of the mesh and the rail that allowed maintenance, but for all Liora knew, it was still powered. As a kid, she'd slid through the gap and into the tunnel underneath, narrowly avoiding a deadly shock. She was too big for that now, but she was strong enough to lift one of the grates and pull it aside.
She felt the rush of facing danger as she jumped down, just like she had as a child. However, this danger was different. Rather than a potentially electrified rail and city maintenance workers shooing her off, she ran the risk of finding a patrolling group of heavily armed Avians who wouldn't hesitate to open fire.
All she could do is take a deep breath and move on. They had no reason to be in the tunnels, she hoped.

With only moonlight to guide her steps in the maintenance tunnels, progress was slow. Chipped concrete from the decades old floor made her trip occasionally and force her to slow her pace. Supply boxes sat around like a minefield of tripping hazards -- not a problem if you had light, but a torch was too much of a risk.
Eventually, the single rail joined with others, the added infrastructure meaning she was close to the city itself. The silence was worrying her, though, as usually she'd expect a train every minute here, and the background din of vehicles on the roads, but even the city felt like it was deserted.
The central station up ahead felt like an unsafe place to be, so Liora decided to exit onto the streets. In urban areas the tunnels were much more accessible, with stairs allowing access to and from them every couple hundred meters. The access ways were each helpfully labelled with the streets they were on, and even the nearest station, allowing her to figure out where she was on the map. With one final check, she opened the door, ran up the steps, and slipped into the dark night.

"Miss Goshawk? It's er, important..." asked the Assistant, poking her head inside the Agent's office.
Goshawk raised her head, frowning at the interruption. "Yes, what is it?" she replied, audibly annoyed.
"It's just, um..." said the Assistant as she resisted the urge to hide back behind the door. "One of the safehouses had a catch."
The Agent's disposition lightened almost immediately. "Oh! That is important, yes." she said, getting up from her chair and grabbing her jacket. "Let's go."
"Um, yes, Miss Goshawk." the Assistant replied, opening the door fully. "I have the capture's file right here."
Goshawk took the cream paper file with a grin, opening it up to read immediately. "Very helpful, aren't you?"
"I try, ma'am." replied the Assistant, calling the lift for the Agent.
"Such a very helpful traitor to your former empire..." Goshawk mumbled, flicking through the documents as the lift took them down.
"Yes, ma'am." the wolf Assistant replied, shifting with unease.

The OTC Agent laughed in the face of the Avian attempting to intimidate her. Her clothes were scuffed and torn from the earlier fight, and she ended up with a black eye, but she was still not inclined to talk. Being tied to a chair and threatened with whatever horrors the Accord had at their disposal was usually be enough to get some information out of them, but Liora made sure they knew it wasn't enough.
"I've got implants, you featherbrain." she said with a grin. "There's nothing you can do that'll make them let me talk, even if I wanted to."
The Avian scowled and stepped back to their workbench, picking out an electrified prod with what Liora could best describe as a 'muttered squawk'. "Even Assistants talk when there's enough power." they said in pidgin Common, switching the prod on with a loud crack of electricity.
"No, they don't." Goshawk said as she pushed open the cell door, speaking a much more fluent version of Common. "At least, they don't talk real information. A23, get her out of that chair."
The wolf Assistant blinked as she saw one of her own species sitting in the chair, but quickly followed orders, slipping behind the captive and tugging on the thick ropes. While doing so, she couldn't help but notice the other's darker mottled fur coat... much like her own. "Miss Goshawk, this can't be the one that came in the pod. She's from this planet." A23 said, finally getting a clipped claw in the rope's knot and pulling it open.
"Oh, no, it's her. We were tracking her all the way since landing. Being an Agent of the OTC, one would think you'd be smart enough to not carry an active datapad on a hostile planet..." Goshawk replied, shooing away the other Avian, who turned off their prod and grumbled to themselves. "Up you get, Liora."
Liora pulled her wrists free once the ropes were undone, and rubbed at them gently. "Off to take me to my execution, then?" she replied, eyes fixed on the Agent. "Seems to be what you do to most of us."
"No execution, for today, anyway. We're just going for a walk. Just a little Agent to Agent discussion."
"Fine." Liora said, standing from the chair. "Guess I don't have much of a choice, do I?"
"Not really." Goshawk replied, stepping out of the cell. "This way."
A23 stepped aside, allowing the OTC Agent to pass, before following them both out.

"I'm quite surprised you didn't expect all the safehouses to be compromised." Goshawk said, hands in her coat pockets to protect them from the cold winter air. "What were you expecting to find?"
"Credits. Information caches. The usual." Liora replied, kicking a stone down the footpath, hands also shielded from the cold in a jacket that the other Agent had provided. "I'm sure that you've extensively inventoried what was in there, by now."
"Of course. It wasn't long before we had surrenders plenty happy to inform in exchange for... well." Goshawk gestured towards A23, who with only their dress to shield them from the cold, had their arms crossed to try and preserve some body heat. "More favourable treatment."
Liora shot the Assistant a glance, who let out a surrendering whine. "What did you tell them?" she asked, eyes narrowing at the fellow wolf.
"Uhm, everything... especially after the chip..." A23 mumbled, trying to hide herself on the other side of Goshawk. "I didn't have a choice! They were going to chip me anyway!"
Goshawk smiled at the Assistant. "Betrayal or otherwise, the unit's demise was inevitable, so I don't really blame you."
Liora looked the Assistant over, gathering that being secretaries for their new Avian rulers was 'favourable treatment' for betrayal of their own. "So you got your own unit killed?" she asked, voice as cold as the winter air.
"No, no! They... they're all still alive..." A23 replied, with a louder whine. "I think..."
"In fact, she probably saved lives with the betrayal. Possibly not lives they want to live, but, still." Goshawk said, gesturing to cross the road. "I've something I want to show you, down here."
Liora looked both ways across the road. There was no vehicles on the road or people on the footpath, but the hints of movement in the distance made her think that they were being trailed.

"Recognise anything?" Goshawk asked as the trio approached a community square.
It was difficult for Liora to recognise it. The black and white tiling that once covered the ground was shattered by explosions and the tracks of an armoured transport, the vehicle itself burnt out on the other side of the square. The fountain and statue sitting in the center were all but destroyed, and every flowerbox and park bench around it was riddled with laser burns and cracks. The stores around the square were deserted and had visible signs of looting, with barely an intact window in sight.
"Yes." Liora replied, voice quiet. "I think so." Despite not setting foot here since joining the OTC, she still had the memories. "I grew up here."
"Ah, so your personnel file was correct." Goshawk said, walking over to one of the less burnt benches and sitting down at it, gesturing for Liora to follow. A23 stood beside it, having not been told to sit. "This was the final stand of the 21st Ferran Militia. Mostly a ragtag group, made of those willing to handle a gun, and those too attached to their homes to retreat."
Liora sat and looked around the square, unsure whether the Avian was telling the truth. The air still smelled like laser burns and death.
"There's a reason why I spared you from the interrogation, Liora." Goshawk gestured out to the destroyed Core Military armoured carrier. "There's no point to getting information, when we have already won."
"You have not!" shouted Liora, lingering sadness turning into a fury. "We'll take it back. We'll take all this back."
"Take what back?" Goshawk said, with a smile. "There's nothing left. Just ask A23."
"What does she mean?" Liora said, turning to the Assistant, who shrunk back in the hopes of not getting yelled at. "How could there be nothing left, when we're sitting in it?"
"I... I'm sorry, Miss Esvael-Torrin, but Miss Goshawk means that the tactical and strategic advantage of holding this area is minimal." A23 tugged on their dress a little out of nervousness as Goshawk gave them a smile, as if to continue. "This area was fully processed two weeks ago, with all residents accounted for as either captured or killed in action."
"All unclassified residents." Goshawk interjected. "There was one we didn't have, up until now."
"What, me?" Liora asked, confused. "I've been on spaceships and other planets for twenty years."
"The system still counted you as a resident. Which means, that when the time came, your skills would have meant you would have been drafted as the leader of this unit."
The wolf looked over to the burned out armoured carrier. "What are you implying? I was on assignment."
"It's unfortunate you weren't here." Goshawk continued. "They might have had a chance of surviving, had you been here. Instead, they all perished."
Liora stood up suddenly, fists clenched, causing A23 to jump a little.
"Miss Esvael-Torrin, I wouldn't recommen-"
"If she wants to have a look around, go with her." Goshawk said, waving her hand. "She knows there's nowhere to go, here."

Liora walked through the ruins of the square, trying to get as far away from the Agent as she thought possible without getting shot. She gave a fragment of tile on the ground a kick, causing it to break on the side of the destroyed armoured vehicle. "You. What's your name?" she asked, turning to the Assistant.
"Miss Esvael-Torrin, I... uhm... don't have one. Core names are the first thing the chip takes."
The Agent laughed darkly, kicking another fragment of tile. "So, the propaganda wasn't lying about that. You sound a lot less braindead than the reports of Assistants that we got over the 'net, though."
"Like Miss Goshawk said, I was offered preferential treatment if I coordinated with the Avians. Of course, that didn't mean I escaped the chip like everyone else. It just means I get days off, sometimes."
"Days off? To do what?" Liora exclaimed, leaning back on the ruined shell of the APC. "Everything I've seen since I landed back on this planet is destroyed buildings, empty streets, and looted stores."
"Well, uh, the Accord have begun reconstruction in the north of the city. Removing the old buildings, replacing them with ones of their own design. There's now some cafes, and such... Their food is strange, but better than the sludge I usually get." A23 idly crushed a bit of shattered tile under her shoe, uncomfortable admitting that she was getting used to her new life. "The curfew is likely why everything's deserted. Anyone that hasn't been chipped or deemed of use is confined to their living quarters."
"And everyone here has been chipped, right? That's what processing means?"
"Yes, Miss Esvael-Torrin." A23 replied, a little forlornly. "You're the first free-thinking Core citizen here for two weeks."
The OTC Agent scowled and stomped down on the broken flooring. She tried not to think about who she might have known from here that had been 'processed'. "What does the Avian mean, in that there's no use to me? Why hasn't she just shot me where I stand?"
"Well, uh... between seizure of billions of people and chipping of officers... like me... there's little new information you could give. Plus, she knows that the implant in you means chipping you is an impossibility." A23 looked down at her feet, and shuffled them about uncomfortably. "She hasn't shot you, because she intends on letting you go."
"What?" Liora said, shaking her head in disbelief. "Surely you're joking."
"No, Miss Esvael-Torrin. The chip doesn't allow me."
"We know getting anything out of you except a cadaver is unlikely." Goshawk said, walking up to the pair. "A23 is right. You can leave. Your neighbours from here will do just fine in your place."
"Leave?" Liora said, gesturing towards the empty buildings around her. "Leave to where?"
"What remains of the Core fleets are retreating away to the frontier, leaving these systems for good. We will send you in a warp escape pod to their last known position. We know they're snooping on our comms, so, they'll be able to pick up your pod."
Liora looked a little shocked. "But... why?"
Goshawk grinned. "So you can tell them that, definitively, there is nothing worth fighting for here."