"Stop fucking standing around like idiots! Grab your gear! Move! Move!!!"
Doram's roar struck like a slap, shattering the few deadly seconds of stupor that had settled over the cathedral.
Then the shrill, eardrum-piercing general battle Alarm erupted from every hastily installed loudspeaker in the cathedral, joining the Alarms from countless positions outside in one desperate wail.
Like wound-up machines, the soldiers lunged for their equipment on reflex.
Leki practically rolled off his cot, reached beneath its cold frame, and yanked out his Lasgun.
The familiar chill of the weapon steadied him a little.
Fortunately, Lieutenant General Sturmerman had already issued strict orders: even while sleeping, everyone had to keep their personal weapons within Tentacles' reach and their armor components neatly stacked beside their beds.
Now they only needed to hastily pull on their breastplates, fasten their Helmets, and grab their weapons and Ammunition pouches to count as "fully armed."
The men rushed out of the cathedral in orderly ranks, preparing for battle.
Lieutenant General Sturmerman did not retreat into the underground shelter. He snatched the portable Auspex from his Adjutant and rushed to a shattered stained-glass window on the cathedral's second floor, aiming the device at the still-burning, churning starscape.
His voice reached every regiment's channel through the communicator hanging against his chest, filled with incredulous fury:
"The enemy is massing in orbit! In huge numbers! Where's our navy?! Are those navy bastards all sleepwalking?! How could a Fleet this big sneak right under their noses without them noticing?! Tell them to fire! Fire!!"
Several seconds later, a reply came through the channel amid heavy static and background explosions, shrill and desperate:
"General! The navy... the surviving naval vessels are under siege! There are too many enemies! They came from behind the debris belt... aah!!"
Another, more violent explosion