<P>The pilot, a young woman with a head so covered with metal augmentations that Tannhauser had nicknamed her Tinman, depressed a white button that lay prominently on her command interface. A pair of metal jacks descended from the Demaratus's low ceiling, locking into her temples with a sound that reminded the Captain of breaking pencils. As Tinman linked into the ship's weapon systems, Captain Tannhauser could see her start to wave her hands about in front of her as she remotely moved the ship's forward cannons into position. With a final, brusque motion, Tinman fired the salvo.
<P>
<P>There was a brief, yellow flash and suddenly a white-hot gout of fire bloomed on the distant surface of Omega. In the vacuum of space, the explosion was accompanied only by the sound of silence. The small burp of fire quickly disappeared from view. Glints of debris and thin wisps of vapor as gas and wreckage were sucked into space were the only indications that they had scored a direct hit. From this distance it almost looked like a scene out of a video game.