They piled into the jet together. It was cramped and overcrowded; 595 squashed into the corner by the forward doors while the Senator was bustled to the hot seat. Dozens of civilians noticed they were preparing to launch and spilled past overstretched security onto the runway. “Stay your course.” She saw an advisor order the pilots through the open cockpit doors.

The jet thundered out of the hangar at breakneck speed, heading upwards and off to port, away from the Hegemon. 595 pushed her eye against one of the portholes, mesmerised by the asymmetrical slaughter unfolding before them.

The Hegemon appeared to have grown bored of the warships flitting around it now, and was lazily turning towards their own reef. The Agent watched on in horror as the quartet of lasers pored over her home, forming a perfect grid…

Suddenly a blinding blue beam, a hundred metres in diameter, connected the top of the Hegemon with somewhere above the waves of the sea. The machine’s horrific alien shriek disturbed the heavens. A pulsing shield flared across its entire surface area, and it wobbled precariously in the water, as if struggling below the weight of this beam

595 pivoted to look upwards, straining to catch a glimpse of what might be unleashing such fury on their aggressor. Flashes of confusion and awe rippled through the jet’s occupants.

In the blink of an eye, Hegemon shot towards the surface, breaking through and disappearing in an instant. The blue beam followed it, sporadically hitting the seabed before disappearing too.

In its wake, the Hegemon had left an enormous bubble of energy that was expanding in all directions. A solid wall of vaporising water rushed forward to encompass the reefs on both sides.

“Punch it!” The advisor gestured strenuously to the pilots. The engine noise rose to a crescendo and 595 instinctively grabbed hold of the door’s handle as alarm noises began sounding in the confined space. “EMP!” The co-pilot flailed, a few seconds before the wall of water hit them.