"That's how it's done!" Hauer shouted out, the scent of ozone and vaporized metal thick in his nostrils. "Pick your targets! Burn them down one by one! Don't you dare let up!"
One by one, the skittering shadows were painted and pierced by relentless lances of light. The air grew hot, hazed with the acrid smoke of melting circuitry and superheated rock. The battlefield's soundtrack shifted from the frantic spang of bullets to the vicious sear of lasers and the glassy, popping sounds of drones cooking off from within.
Finally, an eerie, ringing silence descended, broken only by the click-whirr of cooling rifles and the heavy panting of the soldiers. The last drone was a shapeless, glowing puddle, slowly solidifying in the grime.
