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Skylab’s sec room was located at the heart of the facility. Kage was now close enough to access the force field controls via his neural node.
He stood on the orbital landing pad and patched his signal to the sec room from the exterior, where he could keep an eye on the daisy-chained missiles. Then, activating his helmet, he quickly scrolled to the controls on his heads-up display. He studied the dome in relation to the missiles hovering over it to ensure the exact locations where he needed to reinforce the transparent shielding.
The current Skylab dome was a photo-chromatic plasma sphere of electromagnetic fields strong enough to vaporise most incoming ballistics. However, high-grade missiles could still punch through.
The controls he was accessing linked to a superconductor that, when turned on, added an even higher magnetic current that would power a combination of lasers, electricity and microwaves to create an even stronger layer to the shields that would deflect or absorb the energy from any incoming shockwave.
Nonetheless, the superconductor would take a few minutes to charge up to full power.
He was sending commands via his node, his eyes flicking to and fro the scrolling screen, when he heard a proximity alert from Mirage.
Something’s just flown through a weak section of the dome.
Kage immediately looked up and around him.Can you see what it is?
Nada. Wait, it’s coming your way.
Mirage intercepted his visual feed and augmented it to show a silhouette lurching towards Kage in a shimmer suit flickering in and out of invisibility.
He instantly recognised the figure.Damn it! Didn’t we get rid of this kinai?
He keeps coming back like a bad rash!Mirage snarked.
‘Look who it is,’ he called out when the newcomer was in range. ‘My favourite clone, or shall we say clown of the year!’
The figure jerked to a stop, clumsily landing a few feet from him. Then the shimmer suit gave up its poor cloaking attempt. Its head-covering retracted with a jerk, and Faron stood there, scowling at Kage.
‘Missed me already?’ Kage taunted.
Faron gave a dry laugh. ‘Don’t flatter yourself, man. I simply wanted to be closer to my babies up there. So I can activate them and wipe all Sable tech off the face of the earth. Unless, of course, you’ve decided to hand it over to me.’
‘Scorched earth much? If you can’t have it, nobody can.’
‘Are you going to play nice, Edenite?’
Kage assessed the man swaying in front of him.
He needed to hold him off for a minute longer when the superconductor would be at full charge.
So he did what he knew best. He charged for the man, tackling him to the ground. He hooked Faron’s arms by grapevining a thick thigh around one arm and his arms around the other.
Faron was slow to react, and before he knew it, Kage lay horizontally across his back, forcing the clone’s arms to fan out like a crucifixion.
The Edenite stared down at his captive.I’ve got a hold of the kinai!
Mirage was quick to respond.Good work, Kage. Creative, too, I may add.
Kage huffed as the man underneath him writhed.Sitrep?
The superconductor is at 89% charge, and I’ve managed to disable nine of the twelve missiles. I’m working on the last three.
Kage had taken his eye off Faron as he listened in to Mirage.
Suddenly, Faron twisted his head, his shimmer suit activated, slithering over his head. Still pinned down by Kage’s body, he laughed as the Rider heard the whistle of missiles heading their way.
He threw himself away from Faron and braced, conjuring up his helmet and tightening up the latticework of noids across his suit and under his skin as explosions rocked the spaceport and Skylab. The terminal disappeared behind a burst of flames and smoke.
The shockwave hit him squarely, flung him over the edge of the orbital landing pad, and wheeled him out into space.
