Planet Telex

The planet was on the verge of falling apart into panic, and for good reason. The emergency sirens, only previously heard during natural disasters, were now being triggered every few hours. They didn't help much, as the incursions were quick and surgical in nature -- a single ship, diving into the atmosphere, dropping its payload of bombs, infiltrators, or leaflets, and then running off before it could be pursued. This was how the Accord was preparing, and each time the sirens signaled an air raid, Ashana had to wonder if it was finally the one.
She was the odd one out in her workplace. Cheetahs tended to take the more physically demanding jobs or pursue some form of athletics, but Ashana was more than happy with the slower and more thoughtful engineering disciplines. Always in demand, especially now.
"Hey, spots." said one of her coworkers, poking his head into the metal frame that she was welding. "We've got that subassembly ready for you."
"Thanks." Ashana replied, flipping up her protective visor. "Not that anything else is ready."
Her coworker shrugged. "Hey, the Core give us two weeks to do something, but we all know we've only got one."
"We've only had one week left since the start of this damn war." she swore under her breath. She turned off the welder and slumped down against one of the finished metal supports. It was the beginnings of a point-defence turret, to be deployed in strategic locations around the city, but she knew it wouldn't look much different finished than it did now. Without enough time, nor materials, each one that came off the line looked worse than the last. She'd usually have more pride in her work, but there wasn't time for that. "Right, this'll hold. I'll get the crane, we can get the gun assembly mounted."
"Right, I'll uncrate it." replied the other. He headed to the other side of the room, where the crates of machine-guns were stacked wherever there was room.
Ashana climbed out through the web of metal bars, at least thankful that the lack of external plating meant she didn't have to climb out the top. She stretched out after having been hunched over inside the person-sized gun platform, and took a moment to breathe.
"Aw, fuck, is that the sirens again?" she heard, from the next room over.
"Maybe. Check the news, I guess?" replied another.
Ashana shrugged it off. There'd been two alarms so far today, and it was just some pamphlet drops...
"Oh gods." said the first voice. "They say it's happening."

Everyone congregated in the breakroom, where the vidscreen had been turned to project on to the wall. There was nothing but a static image of rainbow bars and harsh beeping, which only heightened the anxiety in the room. After what felt like an eternity, the test screen blinked to blackness, and then footage of a news-room. The disposition of the hosts only answered everyone's questions.
"I thought the military was supposed to buy us more time..." muttered one of the fabricators in disbelief.
"With what?" replied another. "The next ten years of defence spending's still half baked in the drydock."
The floor suddenly rumbled, as if a fault line had opened up next to them. There was no sound to match it, other than the noise of the earth groaning between them.
"What was that?" Ashana asked, almost instinctively moving towards the metal doorframe in case the ceiling collapsed.
"Orbital bombardment." growled the foreman. "You all know what you have to do. Leave them nothing. Just because we've spent the past month building turrets doesn't mean they won't find something to use against us."
The engineers all dispersed, each heading to their designated areas. Ashana and her welder were assigned to the server room, and in twenty minutes all the blueprints and research that was contained within were little more than a silvery puddle of melted chips.

Chaos had taken hold long before any Accord ship considered landfall. This wasn't the first planet invaded, three had already fallen and two more were in the final struggles of subjugation. Everyone knew what was coming, and the authorities had little ability to stop what amounted to mass panic. Everyone knew the Accord was growing bolder with their attacks, and that didn't help calm anyone down.
What Ashana couldn't figure out was what the Core exactly planned to do. Everything that they came up with as a counter bought them more time, but she couldn't figure out for what. It wasn't to evacuate to safer planets, as by the time anyone knew they were in danger, the spaceports were smoking holes in the ground. It wasn't to reinforce, no planet willing to throw their own regiments into the meat-grinder. Did they have a secret plan? Were they bargaining for peace? She had no idea. It felt like holding back the inevitable.
She walked home in a daze, not even bothering to see how full the maglev trains would be, nor what was transpiring on the main streets. She wasn't scared so much as numb, the past year of watching planet after planet fall having caused her to play everything out in her head so many times as to almost make it seem unreal. But, they were here now, and she had no power to do anything but watch.
She engaged the deadlock once she was home, as if the little bit of metal might stop the invaders from enroaching on her own space, and dropped down on her couch. She instinctively reached for the vidscreen remote and switched it on, and wasn't very impressed with what she found on the networks. She hoped that there'd at least be a good drama on during the end of her world, but every number on the remote brought her to the news. There was at least a choice of which anchor to watch, with each having a varying level of professionalism and impartiality as they read out the government's script.

"Stay inside, stay away from windows, stay safe.
Remember, you've prepared."

Ashana scoffed at the attempt of a morale-raising slogan while all parties involved could guess at the outcome. Still, she was prepared. Her emergency rations box sat on the bottom shelf of her pantry, good for a few weeks or more. She wasn't sure what she'd do after that.
That wasn't all she'd prepared, though. As the building shook from a far-off impact, Ashana decided that it'd be best to open it now before the chance was taken away from her. She rolled herself off the couch and pulled down the blinds -- her windows were already taped to stop them shattering -- and headed to her kitchen. Down the bottom of the pantry was the non-perishables -- the rations box, some various tins, and a bottle of whiskey. Taking the bottle and unscrewing the cap, the cheetah decided to forego the glass and instead just drink it straight.
It wasn't like she had a work to go back to tomorrow, so, who would care?

From the Accord's point of view, the invasion was proceeding smoothly. Losses were heavy, but since the majority of the ground troops were chipped and enslaved from the other Core planets, the Avians couldn't care any less. Morale was not high in the defenders when the hordes of invading forces advancing on their positions turned out to be their own species, and the Accord was quick to exploit this.
Another thing that the Accord was quick to exploit was the media. It was barely two days before the Universal Network links were all seized -- the defenders had been swift in destroying anything capable of communicating with any other planet, and burned every codebook they could find, but the hard-links used for high-bandwidth video were all intact. Every newscaster looked nervous from then on, surely as there was an Avian sitting behind the camera with a rifle on their lap.
"The Accord guarantees the safety of all Core citizens who do not engage in acts of violence against the liberation forces." said one such newsreader, calm demeanour obviously stressed by the content she was having to read. "Rewards are offered for verifiable information on remaining resistance elements."
Ashana shook her head. Rewards? Like what, getting bumped up the chipping queue?
"The Accord encourages the resumption of your normal activities."
She knew what the Accord wanted. It wasn't land or resources, at least not yet. It was the people. Every civilian injury was a material loss to them. They were brutal to those that fought, but the docile were kept like stock animals...
With a sigh, she looked at her fridge. It was empty, and she didn't want to break into the rations quite yet. This early in the invasion... maybe she could trust the damn birds.

The streets didn't have the same sound they did a week before. The chaos of the initial invasion had taken way to a more muted buzz of worry and denial with a layer of bird squawking on top. All meaningful resistance had ceased in the city, and the burnt out shells of Core Military vehicles and personnel carriers dotted the more important city streets along with the Avians that had presumably caused their destruction. The birds, despite being a rainbow of disparate colours, all wore the same grey uniforms and all carried the same boxy rifle, the occupation forces seemingly having no concerns about not blending in or being shot at. So much for "having a fighting chance", like the planetary government had said before.
"Don't say that too loudly!" said a canine to his friend as they walked past her.
"Why not? The featherbrains can't even understand us." the feline friend replied, laughing. "What are they going to do, chip me?"
Ashana grimaced as they walked outside of audible range. She could imagine that'd be the punishment for any infraction the Accord decided to pull them up on... but for now, she was hungry, and such worries took a backseat to that. The main square that she was approaching had a local foodmart, and a few takeout places, and she had to wonder how busy they'd be...
"Hey, are you open?" she asked, poking her head into the foodmart. It was a small shop, and things didn't seem very plentiful from the front.
"Just closing, actually." frowned the owner, who was in the process of switching off the lights. "Unless you want some gum or something, we're out. Haven't had a shipment come in since the invasion."
Ashana shook her head. "Are they trying to starve us all, or something?"
The owner laughed and flicked the last of the lights off before joining Ashana outside. "No, they've made sure the burger place has got what they need. If I didn't know better, I'd imagine they'd be fattening us up." She locked the door and gave it a checking tug, and shrugged. "Best bet for lunch."
"Sure, thanks." Ashana replied. "Take care."
"You, too." replied the store owner as she walked off. "Especially since you're a smart one. They usually want the ones like you first..."
Ashana wasn't quite sure what she meant by that, but shrugged and headed towards the other side of the mostly-deserted public square.

The statue that had formerly sat in the middle of the square lay in pieces in the leaking fountain, burn marks around the area suggesting that some sort of transport had landed here. It was the largest open space for blocks, which would have made it attractive for the Accord's pilots, even if it made it a less attractive place for the ones that lived around it.
Hopping around the debris of shattered planters and tiles, Ashana made her way to the local diner. The front window was shattered and had since been cleaned up, but nothing else appeared damaged. The patrons inside looked a bit forlorn, but they seemed to at least have food.
"Morning." said the dog behind the counter as Ashana approached. "What can I get you?"
"Hmm. I'm guessing the menu would be limited, with what's going on?" she replied, looking up at the signs.
"Not really. The birds made sure everything got through. In fact, we're not even charging for anything, just, uh..." the server gestured down to the black plastic device that sat between each of the sales systems. "The birds want people to scan their ID here, for some reason."
Ashana raised an eyebrow, but dug her photo identification card out of her pocket and looked over the machine. "Well, if that's what it takes to get a meal..."
"Just, uh, the slot on the front." replied the server as Ashana looked puzzled at the device. "The one that could speak Common said it was how things worked on the Avian worlds."
"How very egalitarian of them..." she replied, finding the slot and putting in her ID card. It beeped, and then spat it out. "Just a cheeseburger, chips, and a drink. The, uh, orange one. Might as well have it here, too."
"Sure." the server replied, tapping it into the computer in front of him. "Should be ready soon."
Ashana waited by the counter, looking out the shattered window on the other side of the restaurant. The debris was cleared from the table underneath it, but jagged glass still sat in the frame. Beyond it, she could see a tent pitched in the green strip beside the building, one Avian standing beside it at attention. The inside was mostly concealed by a flap, but she could see an Avian, dressed in a dark longcoat the grunts didn't wear, marking something up on a corkboard.
"Here." said the server, appearing from the back with a bag. "It's uh... probably best if you take this to go."
Ashana raised an eyebrow, but took the bag and drink. "Sure." she replied, taking the hint, but not knowing exactly what he meant. "Take care."
She didn't look behind her, but the Avian that was in the tent had now entered the restaurant, slowly walking around the booths, looking over the occupants, and soon becoming quite annoyed at the one she was looking for being missing.

Ashana had made it halfway home before one of the Avians squawked at her to stop. They'd come out from inside a shop, catching her by surprise, causing her to freeze with her hand in the paper bag fishing out the last of the fries.
"You! Stop." said the Avian soldier, holding up their hand and their rifle in case their broken Common failed to get the point across.
Ashana looked over the Avian as they approached, her mind kicking into overdrive as she feared the worst. The bird didn't look particularly strong or quick, nor was their stance at all braced -- with a punch and a kick she could have them on the ground without too much trouble. The unknown was the pistol, though, as she didn't know what it fired, how lethal it was, or how well the Avian could use it. She could try and grab it off them, but who knows if it required some sort of biometric authentication like some of the newer weapons the Core used...
"You?" the soldier asked with a tilted head, pulling out a computerised device and turning it towards her. The screen had an ID photograph, as well as a name and address -- all hers.
"I... uh..." she replied, not exactly sure what to say. "No." she said, shaking her head.
The Avian turned it back around, and looked between the photograph and Ashana with confusion, as if they had trouble telling members of the same species apart. They frowned, and put the datapad away, and then reached for what looked like a radio...
Thinking quickly, Ashana flipped the lid off her drink with her thumb, and splashed it over the Avian. They dropped their rifle in surprise, and she followed through with a shove to knock them to the ground. The bird squawked, but she didn't stay around to listen, sprinting for the alleyway a few doors down. The Avian had barely got off the ground before she turned the corner, jumping up onto and over the wire fence blocking traffic off from the alley. The bird followed but stopped at the fence, shouting things into their radio instead of following as Ashana ran around another corner and out of sight.

Nobody followed her, as much as she could tell. After a half hour crouching in the broken plate glass of a looted shop across from her apartment, with just her eyes sticking over the windowsill, she decided it was safe enough.
She quickly crossed the road and darted up the stairs to the second floor, staying low in the hallway until she reached her apartment. She slammed the deadbolt closed as soon as she entered, and dragged the bookcase in front of it shortly after to block it off further. Every one of the blackout blinds went down, blocking out the sun, and hopefully, any possible Avian observation.
"Is this it?" she thought, heart still pounding in her chest. "Just hiding here until they find me?"
She knew full well that anyone with authority in the Core could find where she lived with ease, just by asking one of the many computer systems she'd registered with, but she had to hope that the government had destroyed everything they could. They said they would, in an invasion, to protect the populace, but who knew if they could follow through?
After a moment of thought, Ashana's heart sunk as she realised how they knew who she was. She dug her photo ID card out of her pocket, looked it over, and then threw it across the room in anger, watching it bounce off the bookcase. She'd given all her details to them on a silver platter.

The formal surrender came a few days later, although Ashana barely noticed. It didn't change anything, after all -- the newsreaders were all speaking from the same script, the late-night entertainment channels were bereft of anything that might seem to make fun of the new rulers, and slowly but surely, the digital public square was censored and sanitised to the point where only collaborators dared post.
By now, she'd had to break into her emergency rations box. The supply of electricity meant that she could at least eat a lot of the meals warm, and the jar of instant coffee would last her for a while yet.
"This is what it's come to..." she muttered, pulling a silver package from the box in the pantry. It was one of the main meals, which she all thought tasted the same dull taste. After all, this was the Core -- save for one of the rare natural disasters, it wasn't like they were designed to be used. "Hrmph."
She poured the contents -- rice, and some sort of meaty vegetabley mush -- into the pan, and stirred it slowly. As she did, the reality of her situation drifted into her head again. It was clear she was stuck here with a rapidly decreasing food supply, barricaded into a one-bedroom apartment, not daring to even try and contact her friends or workmates, just in case some Avian horror answered. They'd come, eventually.
With a sigh, she spooned her dinner into a bowl, dropped a spoon in, and walked over to her sofa. The vidscreen wasn't showing her anything of interest, so she had fallen back on a more reliably uplifting media -- books.
The cheetah had barely eaten a spoonful of her meal before there was a knock on her door. She raised an eyebrow, and continued eating, but the knock came again. The pattern was sharp, practiced, formal. Like they'd done it lots of times before.
"Hello?" she yelled out, putting her bowl down. "Who is it?"
A few moments later, there was a flash of light as the lower hinge on her door was melted by a laser beam. Realising who it was, Ashana ducked behind the couch, and felt around on the floor for where she'd put the wooden bat, the only thing in her apartment that she felt could be used as a weapon. Mere moments after she located it, the other doorhinge was melted, and there was a kick on the door, blocked by the bookcase. Ashana winced at the sound of dozens of books falling to the floor as the Avians smashed through the door with a ram, but kept her head down.
She could hear them speaking, now. One was yelling in their strange language at the others, who in return squawked short, affirmative replies. She could also hear the crunch of wood as the bookcase fell over, and the further snapping of the pine as Accord soldiers stomped over it.
Ashana raised herself up, bat ready, and faced the Avians. They seemed a little surprised to see the cheetah wielding a weapon against them, but didn't fire. Instead, they stopped in place, laser rifles levelled at her, outside of her effective range.
"Drop it, citizen."
Ashana blinked in surprise as another Avian stepped through the shattered door, speaking fluent Common. "Make me."
The Avian, dressed in a black longcoat decorated with military award ribbons, stepped into line with the ones surrounding her. Ashana had seen one dressed like this before, back at the fast food place -- was it the same one? They smiled -- at least, that's what the cheetah thought they was doing -- and lifted their hand to gesture at one of the soldiers. The soldier nodded back, posture stiffening as their rifle was prepared for a cleaner shot.

Ashana closed her eyes and waited for them to fire, but the shot wasn't for her. Instead, her wooden bat fell clean in half, the directed laser beam rendering her weapon useless. "Wh-" she said in confusion as she opened her eyes, but was quickly overpowered by the advancing Avian soldiers.
"Search her. Get her ID card." said the one in the longcoat, standing over the rapidly subdued cheetah. "Command wants positive identification on this one."
"Wh- hey, let go!" Ashana yelled, struggling against her captors, trying to pull free, but easily outnumbered. "I don't have it!"
One of the soldiers, having patted down her pockets, looked up at the one in command and shrugged. "Nothing." they replied, in Avian.
"Cuff her, then search the apartment."
Ashana swore at the birds as they secured a plastic tie around her wrists, pulling it tight, keeping her hands behind her back. They then all moved away, but before she could move, the Avian in the longcoat had their boot on her back.
"Agents don't like it when their targets get away." they said, with a smile. "I know who you are, Ashana, and I'm none too happy I haven't got to talk with you sooner."
"You're looking for someone else." she spat back, uselessly pulling on the tie. "They don't live here."
"Ah, as fierce as the report said you were." replied the Agent, pulling back their longcoat enough to reach their sidearm holster. "You know, we had to reassign that grunt, after that. You could have come nicely, but no, you had to get an Avian chipped for incompetence."
Ashana remained silent, grinding her teeth together. If only she could reach the bird's throat...
"You worked on some interesting stuff, didn't you? Reentry shields, heat resistant materials, all very novel." said the Agent as they unholstered their sidearm. "We, the Accord, value scientists highly. We're even prepared to treat you nicely, if you come along peacefully." The Agent raised their eyeridge at the others searching the apartment, one or two spending a bit longer than needed investigating the fridge.
"I've done nothing interesting." Ashana replied. "You've got the wrong person."
"Right, well, if you're not Ashana, then I guess we have no use for you." The Agent lowered themselves down, knee on the cheetah's back, and placed the muzzle of the sidearm against the back of the captive's head. "We've got so many like you, that you're not even worth chipping."
Ashana closed her eyes and held her breath, waiting for the Agent to pull the trigger. "Go on." she said, trying to hold back the tears in her eyes. "I'd rather die free."
The cheetah's response frustrated the Avian, who pressed the sidearm a little harder. "Persistent. Silver, what have you found?"
"Nothing, ma'am." replied the soldier, in far less fluent Common. "There's a diary here, but it doesn't have a name on it."
Ashana chuckled to herself, which only infuriated the Agent further. "Just get it over with."
"I will, soon enough." The Agent looked around, frown on her face. "Red, check through those books, on the floor."
The soldier nodded, and started picking up the books, quickly flicking through them to make sure nothing was hidden inside. After they'd moved a dozen, they found a small blue card. "Agent, is uh... is this it?"
"Yes! Thank you, that's exactly what I need." The Agent stepped back up, keeping her boot on the cheetah's back. "What's it say?"
"It's her, ma'am." replied the soldier, who handed it over.
The Agent chuckled to herself, satisfied. "Good. Get her ready to move." The Agent watched as one of the soldiers descended upon the captive, wrapping silver tape around her muzzle and then pulling a black bag over her head, pulling the strings tight around her neck. "Up you get." they said, as she withdrew her foot and the Avian soldier dragged her up onto two legs. "You won't have to walk far."
Ashana tried to fight back, but once the sidearm was buried into the small of her back and the Agent had taken a good grip on her neck, she realised it was worthless. With a defeated sigh, she let herself be led out of her ransacked and ruined apartment for the last time.