"Forget their superiority! Look at our numbers! Look at the strength beside you!" He stabbed a finger toward the horizon, where the Kaelzar formations moved with chilling synchrony.
"With this many enemies, you don't even need to aim! Close your eyes, fire, and you will hit something! But I tell you this! Keep them OPEN! See the enemy! And make every shot a promise of resistance!"
His words were less a tactical brief and more a psychic battering ram against despair. As he spoke, shield carriers heaved massive, rectangular barrier units forward. With a collective grunt of effort and a crackle of ozone, they activated. A wavering, bluish wall of energy snapped into existence, a fragile, shimmering dam against the coming tide.
Within the third rank of militia, Jax half-dragged, half-supported Vance into position. They had been scooped up by Valerius's advancing column, two more ghosts absorbed into the army.
