didn't have Valerius raised his digital binoculars, their lenses whirring as they zoomed. He saw another golden streak, a line of punished light connecting a distant, ruined spire to one of his tanks. The shield bloomed and died momentarily, the tank scurrying for safety like a burned insect. There was no muzzle flash, no signature. Just the deadly result.
"We're losing tanks?" Valerius growled, his knuckles becoming white on the binoculars.
"Not yet, sir. But they're paralyzed. And we can't get a lock on the source. It's like shooting at a ghost."
"That's no laser rifle," Valerius muttered while lowering the glasses. The afterimage of the beam was seared into his vision. "The density, the color… that's high-yield plasma. Military-grade. Someone up there has a toy our R&D department only dreams of." His mind worked, cold and fast.
