When War Calls(42)

Once the machine was in place, Ethan directed his commanders into the part of the room behind glass, the observation room, while he returned to the machine.

Lights became active as he operated the many dials and buttons on the back, and the partly mirrored tube became bright with red light. As he finished, he turned to Alkon and awaited further authorisation to continue.

Alkon bowed and motioned with his hand in show of his permission, and Ethan put on safety glasses and stood as far back as possible from the machine.

Liet leaned closer to the glass, anxiously awaiting what he was about to see. It appeared the machine was a weapon of sort, as he had expected the Equai to produce, but it was like no other he had ever seen. Many of the advances made by the Equai in the field of weaponry were more powerful and faster-firing guns, or bombs that were up to three times more explosive than the ones previously used. This machine, however, was neither. It didn’t even seem to use projectiles of any sort.

His curiosity was roused further when a laser appeared on the sheet of metal, a single red dot targeting the centre. The machine’s coils then became alive with random discharges of electricity. Smoke began to fill the room as the overhanging lights were dimmed, and a second beam of red, almost as wide as the partly mirrored tube, was then positioned around the inner laser, seen only as the smoke reflected it. But unlike the targeting laser, it did not reach the metal. The two stands that faced one another had become active, creating a force field between them, seeming as a pond of orange light as the laser caused ripples to splash out from the centre.

With a blinding flash, a bolt of white and purple light then shot from the machine with a sound almost like thunder, as if a lightning strike had actually occurred. The force field seemed to deactivate as the bolt penetrated its surface and struck the sheet of metal behind it. The metal crackled as the intense heat melted through it, a large hole being burned into its centre.

Liet jumped back a little at the sight, his normally unshakable composure lost. Alkon grinned at seeing this, and everything in the test area began to quiet down as the ceiling lights became completely active once more. The demonstration had been a success. Having received the reaction he had hoped from Liet, Alkon turned to Ethan with a bow of gratitude before motioning for Liet to follow him out of the building, leaving Ethan and his team to their work.

As they exited, Liet’s shock remained. The machine’s activation had been as strange as its appearance. In truth, there was nothing else like it in their arsenal, if it was in fact a weapon at all. It had used a method of fire, and it seemed to inflict damage of a sort, but that was all he had understood of it. The achievements of the Equai never ceased to amaze him, and each new discovery left him even more confused than the last.

There were many unanswered questions about this machine, and it became apparent that Alkon would not give any explanation, smugly satisfied with all that had taken place. Liet would have to ask if he were to know anything more on the matter.

‘What was that?’ he asked brashly, his voice failing to hide his obvious bewilderment.

Alkon’s smile widened in amusement, ‘That, my friend, was the Equan Plasma Cannon.’

It was a weapon.

Liet ran through the possibilities of such a device; its uses in battle, what protection it could give, what it could be used against. But he knew these answers were irrelevant. There could only have been one purpose for such a weapon being created. However, this didn’t explain why Alkon had kept it hidden from the High Council, let alone had it researched to begin with.

‘It went straight through one of our shields,’ Liet thought aloud. ‘Our shields are not too different to the other shields we at times encounter.’

Alkon made no sign of wishing to reply, a contented smirk still set comfortably on his lips.

‘You believe the Daijuar to still be a threat?’ continued Liet.

Alkon’s reply did not come until they were in the heart of the seated Callibrai, as if he wished for them to hear every word of the conversation, even if they were only able to understand a single name.

‘Perhaps,’ he said.

‘They have not stood against us in years, why have you developed this technology?’

Alkon gave a low chuckle. ‘You cannot predict what may come in the future. It is better to be prepared for the worst than the best. It is old wisdom, friend.’

‘We saw the shield protecting this village during the attack. It was disposed of in less than a minute. Was that not Daijuarn?’

Alkon paused. ‘That remains to be seen,’ he said.

Liet nodded in agreement. He knew the shield had differed to those of the Daijuarn sentinels they had faced in the past. It was far larger, able to cover the entire valley with its power, and it had only lasted a matter of minutes, perhaps only one. The Daijuar were able to hold their shields in place for hours, but at only a fraction of the size. It could have meant a stray sentinel had made the shield, unleashing all of their power in a single burst for no reason other than to delay the inevitable, although even this seemed unlikely. The Daijuar knew when to flee and save their own lives. They would never have risked such exhaustion for so little reward. And yet the shield had come, and it had protected the village from one of the biggest air strikes that had been sent.