First Contact

The System Most High of Stavo'oran-8462 had heard the hypercom messages from Semtara'a. A massive fleet had arrived, crushed the Lanaktallan military, occupied the planets, and taken them over. Frightened Overseers had managed to board their ships and escape, although the execution of the System Most High of Semtara'a had been broadcast on Tri-Vid.

Now Nu'uklak was hearing worrying reports. The small agile fighters were descending by the hundreds on the four settled planets of the system, attacking any warship that dared approach the armada heading straight for his planet. There were over a hundred of the massive wedge ships, all arranged around one that outmassed all the others by a huge factor.

All of them heading in system.

The invading fleet broadcast twice.: "Surrender. Now. In the name of the Empire, Harmony, and Melody."

Both times had been rebuffed.

The ships were moving into the system as if they owned it, much to Nu'uklak's rage. The huge wedge ships split into five different groups of twenty, one for each of the inhabited worlds, one set just swanning around through space as if they were on a leisure cruise.

System Most High Nu'uklak wasn't that worried. He had activated the millions of reserve troops, ordered the Corporate Security forces to full alert, and even ordered LawSec to break out their military gear. The neo-sapient servants were locked into their warrens and ghettos and barracks.

Nearly eighteen thousand ships were around each planet, waiting for the several hundred of the small fighters.

The design was different. Instead of the hexagonal wings, these ones had narrower wings with a notch in the front.

Still, Nu'uklak didn't care what the primates fielded, they were outnumbered eighteen to one.

Over a thousand capital ships moved out of orbit from behind the planet to engage the massive ships. They opened fire, hammering on the massive capital ships's shields as the twenty ship squadron manuevered around the planet, the largest one settling over the center of the protocontinent.

The massive ship's shields didn't even flicker or show signs of strain as the ships moved in closer to the planet. Heavy guns started firing on the massive ships, each shot blowing through the Lanaktallan shields and blowing away huge chunks of armor and interior spaces.

The little fighters stayed in strict formations, moving in synchronization, supporting one another as they engaged the Lanaktallan single-pilot torch-ships. They had high accelleration, tight turning arcs, and split-second reactions, armed with heavy lasers. It became obvious, quickly, that the little craft weren't shielded, but the problem for the Lanaktallan pilots was keeping up with the G-forces that got through their gravity control and inertial compensators as well as the speeds the dogfights were taking place at.

When the fighters had taken 10% casualties they tried to flee, back to the planet, but the little fighter craft, reinforced after their losses, followed the Lanaktallan fighters into the atmosphere, even going so far as to strafe the landing fields and bases where the ships were at.

In orbit the capital ships of the Lanaktallan military were faring even worse. They quickly took 10% losses and tried to escape into jumpspace, only to find a massive gravity shadow in jumpspace preventing them from entering.

The biggest one was generating it artificially somehow.

Unable to flee, trapped against the planet, the capital ships were pounded into scrap metal or floating slowly spreading debris. The smaller fighters were swept from the sky by the Terran fighters.

Silence descended on the planet.

The neo-sapients in their dingy rooms and apartments, huddled together, staring at the massive starships, visible to the naked eye in the sky, hung motionless over the whole world.

Dropships flooded down, hundreds of them. Some carried the white armored troops, others carried massive four or two legged war machines, others carried troops that immediately took off on hovercycles, and still others deployed ground troop transports. As soon as the dropships unloaded they headed back into atmosphere to gather more troops.

The white armored troops again took control of major intersections, factories, power plants, critical infrastructure points. Any time they encountered security forces or even Lanaktallan law enforcement they engaged in combat, moving smoothly and quickly, obviously experienced combatants that moved together as whole. Their weapon's fire was accurate and quick, their movements sharp. While the Lanaktallan were able to identify the officers or leaders with each team by their orange shoulder pauldron, it didn't help, since most of them were killed before they could relay the information.

The neo-sapients watched, unsure whether or not to be afraid, as white armored troops lined up the LawSec and CorpSec troops against the wall and opened fire. As the massive mechs stomped through the streets, as white armored soldiers ambushed CorpSec vehicles with rockets or heavy laser cannons.

They had never considered that LawSec or CorpSec could be defeated.

That's not to say not a single one of the white armored troops were killed. The neo-sapients watched as a fierce firefight resulted in half the white armored troops laying dead on the ground.

But all of the Executor Security Squad were dead, with one of the white armored troops with an orange shoulder pauldron walking through and putting a single shot into the head of each of the Executors.

The white armored troops took one group of Executor Security prisoner. The commander, a clone by the name of VHT-003183, was about to call back to find out what to do with his prisoners when he saw it.

Small little beings, fuzzy with tails and six limbs, they had canine like muzzles. His visor identified that there were nearly a hundred of them leaving the first run down building made of poor quality synthcrete. More were joining.

They all had knives and bricks.

VHT ordered his men to stand aside, to get out of the way. His neural engrams had been loaded with combat data from centuries of human conflicts.

He knew what he was seeing even if he was only a few days old. He had been born whole from the cloning tubes aboard the INV Vengeance as had his men.

The small beings, little neo-sapients who had been forcibly relocated from their planets only a generation before, moved between the tall white bipeds, taking their silence for permission.

With a scream a female missing an eye and an ear cocked back her arm and threw a rock.

A male missing his arm screamed and threw an empty bottle.

VHT ordered his men to form up and stand across the street.

When the Lanaktallan were dead and vengeance was spent, the little neo-sapients looked up to see the white armored bipeds standing silently.

"Return to your homes," the one with the orange shoulder ordered, stepping forward. "The streets are not safe."

The little creatures looked at one another, all of them spattered with blood, then at the white armored troops. The bipeds didn't lower their weapons or make any aggressive movements, they just stood there, silently.

An older one, white and silver fur streaking her pelt, made a motion.

VHT watched the little creatures return to their housing.

Across all four worlds the scene repeated itself over and over, the neo-sapient races different, but the rage all the same.

The shuttle landed on the System Most High's lawn. Smoke poured out from the under the vessel as the System Most High watched through the security monitors in his personal bunker. Shapes moved in the smoke but the leaders of his personal security didn't give the order to open fire yet. The humans had proven canny and tricky.

From the tallest of the shadows a red light extended out with a metallic whoosh.

Out walked the nightmare in black armor.

The System Most High's personal guard opened fire. The figure in black used that red energy sword to deflect the bolts, most of them returning to hit the one who fired them. A sweep of the figure's hand threw Lanaktallan away from the armored figure, the tractor/pressor beams hitting hard enough that more than a few Lanaktallan found themselves thrown through second story windows.

The figure in black clenched his empty hand into a fist and the lower back of a half dozen Lanaktallan snapped.

The guards in white spread out as the black armored figure moved through the estate. A wave of his hand ripped the concealing panels away from the passage entryway to the Most High's secret bunker.

The black armored figure let the tip of that energy sword trail against the wall, burning durachrome and melting it, as he walked down the hallway.

The System Most High snorted when the black armored figure stopped at the thick door to his personal shelter.

The black armored figure held out his empty hand at the shelter door, then suddenly clenched his fist. The door made a groaning noise and shuddered. The figure moved his fist back and the door slowly began to pull free of the frame.

Everyone on all four worlds was glued to their Tri-Vid as the black armored figure suddenly opened his hand and thrust it away from him.

The heavy vault door imploded into the room and at a sweeping gesture from the black armored figure, whipped to the side to crush the four Lanaktallan security guards who had hidden to try to ambush the figure, which stepped into the room and used that sword to slice apart all four of the right side ambushers in three economical movements.

The System Most High raised all four arms up.

"I surrender," the Lanaktallan said. "Surrender or Die. I surrender."

The figure stopped, staring.

"That's the deal, right? Surrender and live?" the Lanaktallan asked, smirking slightly. He'd wait for a bit and soon he'd take his planet back.

"You may leave this planet with your family, never to return," the black armored figure wheezed.

The System Most High frowned. "That wasn't part of the deal."

"I have altered the deal," the black armored figure said, turning away. As he walked into the smoke filled corridor he spoke again. "Pray I do not alter it further."