“Follow me closely, let's move!” The soldier commanded, before swimming up the sheer face of the reef. Flagging a bit from her wounds, 595 followed beside Vreta as they stuck close to the side; one of her beady eyes fixed on the Hegemon at all times.

The cephalopod warships were launching everything they had at the massive inverted pyramid. But the salvoes of time-delay missiles all bloomed harmlessly on crackling shields before getting close enough to deal damage. That deep, thumping laugh issued across the seabed again, making the Agent shiver.

The Hegemon ignored the vessels. A large red eye-like opening appeared in one of its faces, which then lazily turned to the reef closest to their own. A quartet of bright lasers expanded from the eye into a precise grid across the entire monolith. With barely a moment’s delay, the entire grid lit up in a blinding flash of white light.

595 stopped swimming and pushed the Senator and herself again reef as a supersonic bang exploded across the empty space. “Come on!” She saw the soldier shout, whacking them all with her tentacles. “Don’t look at it! We’re nearly there!” 

595 looked anyway, and struggled to comprehend what was happening. The entire billion tonne monolith was beginning to fall apart, shrouded in superheated steam. Coral dust filled the water, and a second wave battered them against the rocks.

They reached a large rectangular aperture and rushed inside. Large civilian and military transports were mixed up together, hurriedly being packed with people to evacuate. It was a living hell of desperate people, driven by fear and loathing. They had to stop by the cave’s mouth to avoid being pulverised by a leisure cruiser coming in to land.

The soldier barged through the swirling crowds, one tentacle firmly holding onto the Senator. “There they are!” He signed, waving wildly at a sleek military jet that was taxiing to launch. The pilots must have seen them swimming into their path, because it stopped and one of the side doors opened. A mess of government officials and senior military officers spilled out and approached them.

“President Pro tempore! The President, Vice President and Lower Chamber are all gone. That makes you the commander in chief now, sir! We need to get you to safety right away!” One of the advisors signed hurriedly, gesturing for the Senator to come with them to the jet. A bulky general floated in close. “What are your orders? We’re being torn apart!”

595 looked nervously back at the Hegemon as they began swimming; it was still clearly visible through the hangar entrance. It was now picking off warships with dozens of precise energy beams, like a child might pull wings off an insect. Another grinding wail blasted her senses. “If we’re going to go, we need to go right now!” She urged.