Cloak And Dagger

The stone plains cracked beneath the onslaught of metal. Where one round cracked, a second penetrated, and a third sent splintering shards thick as a forearm in every conceivable direction. They rained down on the Aud as extra ordnance, though they carried little compounding results on the number that fell out of step with the rest of the charge.

Even with half of the sonics occupied with shooting at falling Aud, plenty were running the length of the walls to ensure every Aud tasted the smarting impacts and felt contusions forming beneath their roiling musculature.

The electrics worked well with the sonics. Any sonic munitions that passed through an energy beam melted and stuck to the fur of their targets on impact, continuing to burn and scald, assisting with cooking the enemy from within and without. The current transfer of force, and now combined with the new heat accompanying the slag, made for a gruesome combination.

The retorts of the cylinder launchers joined humanity's conventional weapon systems. The Aud were less than a few kilometers from the base of the walls, and closing fast; this left little doubt in the minds of officers whether they were still beyond the range of heavier ordnance options.

So, orbs and cylinders flew from the walls' ramparts, blotting out the ashy-cloud layer above with their rotund bodies. The streams of suppressive fire from the sonics and electrics disappeared from prominence as the servicemen waiting on the walls watched the most recent salvo arc up, then begin a long and terrible descent.

To save on extra seconds better saved for another time, most detonated their payloads before making contact with the stones. Midair, dozens of blasts and outward-pressing discharges sent the Aud ground forces into their latest bout of misery. The Prime Beacon knew they likely lacked the same predispositions humanity did, such as knowing when to be miserable in the first place, but…he could pretend otherwise.

Several screens providing surveillance coverage switched to that of the drones still descending the walls. They hadn't even covered a tenth of the distance from the base in the time they set out! Though their feeds were shaky and of lower quality, no one rose to speak a complaint.

The Aud closed the remaining distance again, now only a kilometer. Then half of it. As quick as a blink, the Aud leading their brethren leaned forward. With no pause, they loosed a collective rageful yowl that competed with the emplacements and hurled their front legs against the walls.

The hooves dented, but it was their complementary barbed features and clawing appendages that penetrated as if the surface layers were clay.

Four sucked in a breath and Two buried his hands beneath his vest. He rather looked like he wanted to give his head similar treatment. "They're climbing." A pause, then louder. "They're climbing!"

A dampening cloud rushed through Directory Control, smothering the previous energy from their already long list of small victories. The number of Aud soldiers felled lost its significance. The Prime Beacon maintained a stoic facade, even offering the seated officer an unbothered smile. "Do our behavioral analysts have anything to say?"

The seated officer offered him one in return, though it was little more than an imitation screaming falsehood so blatant, that even a child could see. "They…were hopeful the Aud lacked a strong enough communal or herd intellect to chose to circumvent the walls. The typical Aud response to seeing an 'obstacle' placed in their path is to bowl over or through it."

"Did they not account for the sacrificial displays with the body shields in their hopeful conjecture?" The seated officer winced, and the Prime Beacon removed himself from the other man's presence by a step. He had let too much heat slip into his words.

"Apologies sir, but I'm certain they didn't."

"Fine. What's done is done." He clasped Four's shoulder. "Is it time to activate the emplacements affixed to the outer face?"

His head general's face returned a bit of its color upon his inquiry. A busy mind couldn't reserve its capacity for considering the matter of its encroaching doom, he supposed. "There wouldn't be a better time. I'll send the order."

He looked down, but not a second passed before he jerked back up with unnoticed tenseness written across his features. "Sir, my correspondents on the walls are responding with a delay."

He was the first to notice the change, but with the amount of data and information flowing into and out of Directory Control, the next person, a tech, discovered it before long. She flagged down an officer and he came over.

They argued over her console for three seconds, then looked up as another such scene occurred two columns away. And another. And another, and another, and another. But neither was it left unattended. Two leaned over and smacked his colleague upside the back of his head.

"Drop that stupid face, else you'll panic the servicemen. They look to us for assurance; the last thing they need is us matching how they feel." He addressed his superior with more respect. "Sir, are we in a communication dead zone now?"

"I suspect so." The Prime Beacon stared at the overhead screens. They flickered, then turned blank as the data feeds between them and the surveillance systems on the walls became severed, or blocked, or whatever it was that was happening.

The failure lasted a couple of seconds, then the autonomous intelligences responsible for managing the connection performed their magic. The feeds returned, though there was noticeable lag.

For a few seconds, everything seemed fine. Though the communication dead zone was no doubt a formidable weapon the Aud could wield under the right circumstances with devastating results, this wasn't one of them.

He guessed the city's transmission towers had makes composed of sophisticated enough technology--the best of the best--to combat the bulk of the esoteric effect in a direct clash. The seated officer's compiled report cemented his thoughts a minute later. He muttered, "See? You don't know everyth--"

Then the screens blanked a second time. The autonomous intelligences worked their magic a second time. Four waited for his correspondence on the walls to fix their communications. And nothing changed.

Worse, the data lag strengthened until data and communication between Ardiseg Hall and the walls ceased. Moments of confused silence, panic, and enforced calm followed, though the last came fast enough to keep a strong yoke on the mass of techs who found themselves unable to form connections as well. He tried opening a communication with Pa-5. Nothing. Eighth Headman. Nothing. The Seventh Headman? Nothing.

"So the communication dead zone can strengthen." It was his second statement that aroused his head generals' interest, though only because they heard it. "How frightening."

"Hmm?" Two's unclarified prompting urged him to explain.

"The Aud didn't want to give up one of their tricks too early and give us time to adapt. So they waited, even at the cost of some of their lives, until they were on top of us. This has stressed us. What else can compound that? Try a sudden, inexplicable failure of one of our most tried and true branches of technology: communication and data transfer." He chuckled. "They know what psychological warfare is. This, and a lack of established command from Directory Control, will make conditions worse for the walls' defense crews. Or it would've."

He leaned over the seated officer's shoulder. "We can still contact others within Ardiseg Hall?"

"Let me see…" His subordinate sent a query and then initiated a small data transfer of disposable data. "Yes. The recipient sent acknowledgment."

"Good. Ah, I dislike when Ch-4 is right with her predictions."

"The Second Headman, sir? What do you mean?"

"Never mind that. Send an order to bring the spotlight network out of standby. Let's see if it'll do the trick."