Meanwhile, in the command center, Lisha was leaning over a radar screen, humming a tune to keep her nerves steady, when the monitors suddenly went black.
"Uh, guys? My screen just died," a technician yelled.
"Me too." Another shouted.
And then, the emergency phones started ringing, loud and continuously.
"It's not just you," Lisha said, her fingers flying over her keyboard. "The wall shields are dropping. The internal turrets are... they're powering down? What is happening?"
She looked over at Spire, the woman in charge of the primary defense grid. Spire was standing perfectly still. Her hands were hovering over the buttons of the console.
"Spire? What is happening on your end," Lisha said, her voice dropping to a desperate cry.
