The air in the command bunker was thick with a terror so profound it was almost a physical force.
On the main display, the figure of Kharn, the Garog High Priest, had become a living star of malevolent energy.
A massive, swirling vortex of sickly black power, siphoned directly from the colossal stone warship behind him, was coalescing into a sphere of pure, annihilating force above his four raised hands.
The sheer power being gathered was enough to make the Oracle satellite's sensors scream with warnings.
"By the goddess..." Damien breathed. "He's not just attacking the shield. He's trying to crack the planet."
"Adrian!" Jeffery urged, his usual serene composure gone, replaced by a desperate urgency. "We must reinforce the shield! We have to divert more power!"
