Markov sat in his chair, wearing his full uniform but with his jacket collar uncharacteristically open at the neck. A thin sheen of sweat covered his pale white face. He had been sat that way in total silence for the last few minutes. They had all updated him. It would take time for him to process so much information, especially considering the current state of his health. Rachel thought it was best to leave him to his own thoughts for a while rather than pestering him with questions.
Kain turned in his chair at the front of the Operations Room, regarding Markov with a frown. 'Walkers are approaching the Grand Plaza, General.'
Drefnig stood on Markov's left, staring due south through the tall glass wall at the front of the Operations Room. Rachel stood to his right. She could see the Grand Plaza below, along with the beginnings of the Old Quarter and Cinnamon City beyond. The top of Tower Four was visible a hundred metres to the South-East, its roof just below the level of the Operations Room, and Tower Five stood the same distance to the South-West with half a dozen Wasp Drones perched on landing pads on its roof.
Beyond the towers, a line of Runner Droids stood along the raised edge of the Grand Plaza, several hundred metres to the South. The droids had silver Popper Bomb tubes mounted on their backs. They fired their small munitions in wide arcs that dropped beneath the raised edge of the Grand Plaza, falling towards the Walkers that had gathered below. The Walkers' shields rippled as orange patterns rolled across their surface, but they didn't seem troubled by the Runner Droids' attacks. When they returned fire, their missiles exploded against the towers' extended shields, leaving a deep blue afterglow painted across the sky.
Markov tapped his jacket collar, opening a comms link to Tower Four Control Room. 'Tower Four, this is General Markov.'
'General? I thought you were... sick.'
'I'm not dead as you can tell by my voice.'
The voice on the other end of the comms link sounded flustered. 'No, no... I didn't mean—'
'You see those Walker Droids due South?' Markov said.
'Yes, General.'
'Use your Tower guns on them.'
'My pleasure.'
Almost at once, a siren blared out through the operations room. Kain jumped in his seat and a red light started flashing rapidly on top of Tower Four. Turrets rotated on the side of the building, firing miniguns and proton cannons at the Kamari Walkers below. Bright red tracer lines painted the sky, targeting the nearest Walker. The tower guns fired again from a dozen different turrets, unleashing their anger until blinding red patches flickered across the Walker's shields.
'The Walker's shields are holding,' Kain said, with an element of surprise to his gravelly voice.
'I expected they would,' Markov said. 'But now the Kamari know they won't be walking onto the Grand Plaza without a fight.'
Kain nodded but added no comment.
Rachel watched more Walkers pushing forwards, as they made their way towards the tall white cliffs that now acted as a barricade between the Old Quarter and the raised Grand Plaza. The Runner Droids held their positions, launching wave after wave of Popper Bombs but their munitions had little effect.
'The Walkers won't be able to get through the tower shields,' Kain said. 'Why are the Kamari exposing themselves like this?'
'It's a test,' Markov said. 'They want to know how we'll react when attacked.'
Rachel nodded from the other side of Markov's chair. 'We shouldn't underestimate them.'
'So the games begin,' Drefnig said, folding his arms as he watched with interest. He seemed much more himself since Markov had returned.
They all watched Kain's virtual dashboard, eight views arranged across the bottom of the reinforced glass wall at the front of the Operations Room, glancing up occasionally to see what was really happening outside. Five Walkers now formed a line just outside the Grand Plaza. None of their weapons could penetrate the tower shields and the Runner Droids' Popper Bombs weren't bothering them much either. Tower Four continued with its barrage of proton cannons and miniguns, but despite the bright red flashes that roared across the Walkers' shields, they still didn't seem troubled at all.
Rachel watched as one of the Walkers broke away from the pack, striding closer to the Grand Plaza. She noticed Drefnig leaning forwards, whispering something into Markov's ear.
Markov gave him a sidelong glance and then nodded.
'Commander Kain,' Markov said, 'target the lead Walker with an Asus bomb.'
'A what?' Peters said, standing against the side wall. He had returned some time ago and had been fiddling with his console ever since.
'A little gift from Lord Hades,' Drefnig said.
Peters raised an eyebrow. 'Now, I'm curious.'
Rachel frowned, folding her arms. 'Why didn't he say anything to me about this?'
Drefnig shrugged. 'The ways of the lords are beyond me. As far as I know, he arranged this a long time ago, before he left.'
'I'm on it,' Kain said, twisting in his chair.
Markov sat up straight. 'Hit the Walker before it gets too close to the shields.'
'I'm configuring the Asus Bomb so it can pass through the tower shields on the way out,' Kain said. 'Okay, it should be ready now.'
A siren blared out through the Operations Room, making Rachel jump. Kain tilted his head to one side, his curly black hair more glossy than ever as he controlled the towers' weapons system through his neural implants. It wasn't long before a glowing blue sphere shot out from one of the tower guns several levels above the Operations Room. It arced down towards the Walker below like a falling star.
'Interesting...' Peters said.
Rachel held her breath as she watched the Asus Bomb falling. 'What is it?' she said.
The sparkling blue sphere glowed with a brilliant light as it fell towards its target. The lead Walker fired a series of rockets directly at the Asus Bomb, ripping the sky apart around it, but Rachel could still see the bomb following its original path.
'It's still there!' Kain said.
The Walker fired again just as the Asus bomb crashed into its shields, exploding in a brilliant white flash. The light expanded into a flat horizontal disk one hundred metres across, and the tower shields flexed inwards as warning indicators lit up all across Kain's virtual dashboard.
'What the hell was that?' Kain said, turning in his seat.
'Wow,' Peters said. 'Anti-matter.'
'Isn't anti-matter too dangerous to use so close to the towers?' Rachel said. She hadn't had any experience of using it before, but from what she had heard is was likely to cause wide scale destruction rather than localised damage.
'That all depends how much you use,' Parker said, staring down at floor. 'I'm guessing that Asus Bomb held less than a microgram in it.'
Peters glanced back and forth between Drefnig and the scene of destruction below. 'Lord Hades gave us that?'
Drefnig nodded.
'Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.'
'He was our most important ally,' Markov said. 'Whatever you think of Lord Hades, remember that without his help, we would already be in a lot worse shape than we are now.'
'It's gone,' Kain said, shaking his head.
They all turned to see what he was talking about.
'What's gone?' Rachel said.
The ground outside the Grand Plaza was torn apart, and a deep crater fifty metres wide had opened up, giving way to a series of fine cracks that continued spreading across a wide area. The Walker was nowhere to be seen.
'It's bloody gone,' Kain said again. 'The one that was next to it looks damaged too. It's leaning to one side.'
Drefnig rubbed his neck. 'I think you're right. I guess that's one for our side.'
'Parker is complaining that we took out eight Runner Droids with that last shot,' Kain said, turning in his chair to look over his shoulder.
Drefnig winced. 'Okay. Tell him to pull the Runner Droids back. They can't penetrate the Walkers' shields anyway. We should hold onto them until they can be better used for something else.'
Kain nodded. 'Relaying your orders now.'
'It looks like the other Walkers have decided to stay back,' Markov said. 'Maybe they have learned something here today after all.'