And then the fire came.
Jorghan's crimson flames followed the path the wind had carved, rushing into the compromised vessels like a living thing. The fire found fuel everywhere—in power cells, in ammunition stores, in the very atmosphere that had been compressed into the ships' life support systems.
The first dropship exploded.
Not a simple detonation, but a rolling cascade of secondary explosions as system after system failed catastrophically.
The fusion reactor lost containment, adding nuclear fire to the elemental flames. The munitions bay went up, creating a fireball that rose three hundred feet into the air.
The second dropship tried to lift off, its pilot making a desperate attempt to gain altitude before the fire reached critical systems.
The engines roared, anti-gravity generators screaming as they fought to raise the damaged vessel.
The fire caught it mid-ascent.
