The general handled the weapon controls like a machine. Relief washed over Eric when he saw the old soldier coping with the incomplete equipment so adeptly. A silent but palpable throb ran through the cannon as the terawatt laser diodes came online. The instant they were charged, the general sent a powerful infrared blast to split the sky.
Eric watched the first shot through the ceiling monitors. Although the diodes were infrared, their intensity spilled over into the visible spectrum, giving the cannon fire a translucent red hue surrounded by a powerful aura of superheated nitrogen as the atmosphere ignited around it. A microsecond later and the shots were gone, but their image burned on in Eric's retinas. Just like the cold summer sky that had transfixed him earlier, the cannon fire had a powerful, horrid beauty about it that mesmerized the engineer - briefly relieving him of his soul-destroying fears.
He jumped back to reality as the general pounded the control panel.
"Damn! You're machine isn't working, Doctor! The targeting scanners aren't compensating for the fleet's lateral movements! It's not working, damn you!" Eric was suddenly grateful for the cramped cockpit. All the old soldier could do was sit there and boil, waiting for the fleet's return fire to free him from dishonor.
Swallowing his anxiety, Eric attempted to mimic Nishikado's previous confidence.
"Well then, you'll just have to target them manually." He felt the general flinch like struck flint, then - surprisingly - relax.
"Very well" he said, his stolid demeanor quickly restored. "You drive, I'll shoot."
A quivering half smile snuck across Eric's face as they moved back out into the open. The approaching fleet - now visible in the sky - began raining lasers on Tokyo.
The general immediately proved his expertise, as his first shot (which Eric felt sure had gone wide) split one of the large landing craft cleanly in two. Molten, organic material from the ship's alien hull rained down on the heat shields, then evaporated.
Eric felt as though he could barely keep up with the general, even though it was he who was leading the balletic assault from the driver's seat. Until a ball of flame appeared in the sky, Eric couldn't even be sure which ship, in which of the five rows of the fleet's dominating formation, Nishikado was even aiming at.
The enemy fire was taking its toll on the heat shields, but their number was rapidly dwindling. An unspoken communication began to form between the two men; Nishikado's shots hinting to Eric in which direction to move next, while the cannon's path attempted to match the fleet's lateral landing maneuvers and guide the defensive fire.
The general sent off one last shot before the cannon slid under the furthest heat shield. The cannon shook with fury as the discharge from the laser diodes suddenly quadrupled in intensity. The cockpit lost power, and the weapon dropped heavily onto the rails. The shot ripped through the entire alien fleet, and it was pure good fortune that the cannon had come to a lifeless halt under a crumbling shield.
After a few moments of stunned silence, the two men spoke at the same time.
