At that moment, three groups of missiles entered their launch windows in succession.
The Sky Eye system, fire-control supercomputer, and trajectory correction model took control of their flight paths simultaneously.
Cold data streamed into white waterfalls along the edges of the screens, leaving only rapid keyboard clatter in the Command Hall.
Boom!
In the central area of the Kona Satellite Landing Zone, thirty-six trails of flame tore through the gray sky one after another.
But only eleven missiles were actually being used to verify the tactical parameters.
The remaining twenty-five all entered midcourse standby, their onboard AI maintaining silent coasting flight, ready for target reassignment at any moment.
The first group of missiles launched first.
Under the Sky Eye system's guidance, three missiles split into upper, middle, and lower trajectories, approaching head-on toward the two Plasma Bugs that had just fired.
In orbit, those two enormous black-and-purple beasts were still slowly charging.
Their three fleshy sacs swelled and contracted, dark red electrical light flowing through the gaps in their carapaces, like three living Reactor Furnaces floating in space.
"Thirty kilometers to target."
"Twenty-five kilometers."
"Energy readings on the target's surface are rising!"
The next second, the translucent jet sacs on the Plasma Bugs' heads and flanks swelled again.
Dense blue-white beams swept out, completely sealing off the first group's frontal approach routes.
As the beams swept across the screen, the surveillance feed burned into a wash of snow-white static, as though someone had viciously scraped sandpaper across everyone's retinas.
Two beams struck the first missile simultaneously, melting through its casing in an instant and forcing its warhead to self-destruct before reaching optimal range.
The second missile performed three consecutive evasive maneuvers, but a fan-shaped web of fire still swept into it, blowing its body into a brief burst of white