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She’d seen the Rhino in action before, of course, but to see it live always took her breath away The air surrounding the drone lit up in thousands of tiny bubbles of pris array of colors

As the drone charged through the plasma shield, it shut down instantaneously and coasted to a stop a hundred yards away, slightly charred from the exposure to the intense temperatures If it had been packed with explosives for an attack, the detonation would cause little or no dae to the ship from that distance

“Sylvia,” Murph called over the radio, “you rocked it The feedback we got from the drone before the electronics died was exactly ere expecting If anyone had been on board the drone, they would have felt cooked and turned around pronto”

Kelly pu

Sylvia thumbed the TALK button at the same time she broadcast on the Nae breakthrough I’m so proud of all the hard work you’ve done, and I thank you Now let’s bring the drone in and set up for the next run”

The Namaka turned and eased toward the drone to recover it

Kelly got a call on her radio and said, “Sylvia, we may have to wait for the next test”

“Why’s that?”

“We’ve got an unknown ship passing by”

“Out here?”

Kelly pointed north at a ship twoa passing freighter or cruise liner

Instead, it was an odd-looking vessel with three hulls A tri in their direction at a high rate of speed

“Who are they?”

“The captain says they won’t answer his hails,” Kelly said

The tri where it was