Every few seconds, each platform would be enveloped in brilliant blue fire from a huge ignition as the massive triangular railgun would launch another round and explosions would blossom silently in the doomed city.

For six torturous minutes, the barrage continued and the narrator allowed the record to speak for itself. The target was identified as the city of old San Diego, with a heavily populated residential district and commercial sea port. Preliminary reports indicated that the entire seaport and most of the city proper had been reduced to rubble or consumed by the multiple fires that continued to burn out of control.

The record slowly darkened to be replaced by the view of a complex control center ringed by multiple tactical displays and staffed by dozens of technicians. In the background, the authoritative voice of a woman called out the phonetic characters of an authorization code and then a deep male voice repeated the code back to her in verification.

The narrator cut in to explain that as a result of the Strax attack, North American Tactical had synched with Orbital to facilitate a counter-strike as of 1137 hours and unit specific and region specific orders would follow shortly.

The camera panned back to the female officer dressed in a TVS dress white uniform standing rigidly before the central control console. She was delivering a stream of rapid-fire orders punctuated with animated gestures to a circle of junior officers that would salute smartly and take their leave.

Lizzy gasped as the camera zoomed in and the screen filled with the calm, confident face of TVS Colonel Temple in her natural element, the senior ranking officer in charge of immense power in a tense and developing situation.

Lizzy choked out, “Oh my God, Mom,” in disbelief.

As the record ended and the screen darkened, a single line of text, “Please stand by,” scrolled ominously across the display.