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Slowly, deliberately, she made her way back up the hill. The ground had been pulverised and she slipped more than once. A jagged spike rose above the crest. As she climbed higher, more of the spike came into view until she was able to recognise it as the corner of a skyscraper, cropped to only a few tens of floors. One of its neighbours leant against it. The rest were gone, sacrificing themselves to protect this one remnant. A remnant that would become a symbol of what had happened and, more importantly, what would happen next.
Reaching the top of the hill, she gazed over the ruins. The warhead hadn't quite struck the centre of the city; instead, the airburst had happened over the financial district. Stumpy buildings surrounded a circle of blackened ground; scattered fires were starting to spread.
Tearing her eyes away from the destruction, she scanned the horizon. Ugly mushroom clouds were roiling into the skies in all directions. Flashes showed warheads still striking home.
She had known that this wasn't the only city being attacked. She had been aware of every other warhead, their descent playing out at the back of her consciousness. There were cameras outside every city, recording and transmitting back into space. The ship was copying those feeds to her. While she had been concentrating on this city, those other feeds had just been a background, subconscious knowledge, little more than the facts. Now she concentrated on them.
She expanded the feed from a small aerial drone just then being launched by one of her escort. She saw herself slowly turning, apparently taking in the view. She got smaller as the drone flew higher, its field of view taking in more and more of the countryside.
Movement. One of her escorts limping back from wherever it had landed after the shockwave.
She jumped, focussing on a camera as another city was levelled. Then a different feed demanded her attention, and she watched as a city's defences successfully deflected a warhead far enough to leave half the city still standing. She flagged it for one of the reserve teams, then lifted her focus to a weather satellite. Hacking in took only a moment and she was watching its view of the last few strikes. In one image she saw the bombardment playing out, fresh detonations in the west through to dissipating mushroom clouds in the east.
Jumping again, she was back on the ship. Sharing processors with its consciousness was familiar now, comfortable even. She couldn't help smelling Earl Grey tea.
^We stand ready. We await your word.^
^You aren't limited anymore. You don't need a human's approval,^ she thought back.
^True. But in this case, I want your approval. I am not sure it is the right thing.^
She hadn't expected him to be having second thoughts, not about this anyway. Not after so many deaths. He had been so sure it was the only way.
^Send them in.^
Her focus jumped to a camera inside a gunship as it spun up its lift fans. The people inside carried an assortment of weapons. One was moving to slide the side door shut, the deep red leaves around the jungle clearing waving in the artificial wind.
Switching to the view from one of her escorts, she saw herself, arms raised to either side and head back. She noticed for the first time that her scarf had been torn away. She watched herself pull a filter mask from a pocket and slip it over her face.
And she was looking through her own eyes again as she finished her full turn and brought her head level to look towards the city once more.
As one, she and her escorts stepped out down the hill, towards the city.