The massive bomber let out an unsustainable metallic roar. Its fuselage shook violently, its wings nearly tearing apart as it executed an almost ninety-degree, air-ripping extreme bank and dove madly toward a deeper rift valley below, trying to use the terrain to evade the incoming, unavoidable lightspeed strike!
At that very same millisecond, the ghostly blue-white beam representing absolute death tore through the sky once more!
It swept precisely and mercilessly across the position where Deep Hammer II had been a second earlier! The edge of the beam ruthlessly grazed the wake zone the bomber had not yet fully cleared after dropping the MOP!
BOOM—!!!
Even through the great distance and heavy electromagnetic interference, a muffled, terrifying explosion came through the Command Center's sound system!
The particle beam had not scored a direct hit. Rather, its horrific energy aftermath had detonated, at extremely close range, the thermal flares and chaff cloud Deep Hammer II had released for interference but which had yet to fully disperse!
More terrifying still, the destructive Energy Storm carried by the particle beam instantly swept across the bomber's tail!
On the main screen, Deep Hammer II's blip abruptly dimmed and flashed violently, then traced an uncontrolled plunging trajectory amid the pilot's agonized, chaotic cries. "Tail! Severe tail damage! All hydraulics lost! Controls are gone! We... we're falling! Eject! Eject!!!"
Blinding red warnings instantly flooded Unit-02's data stream! Only shrill alarms and one final dull impact remained on the communications channel before it fell utterly silent.
"No—!" Muted gasps and cries of grief erupted throughout the Command Center.
General Angelerra's body swayed. His fingers dug deeply into the hard composite material of the Command Console, his knuckles whitening as all color drained from his face.
A life, and an aircraft worth hundreds of millions of US dollars—a