The freight elevator ascending to the roof of the Citadel was a metal box of rattling nerves and deafening silence.
Every few seconds, the elevator shaft shuddered violently as another blind anti-matter beam hammered against the Phase-Shield miles above us. Dust fell from the ceiling grating, dusting our shoulders in a fine layer of grey ash.
Dax stood beside me, his phased combat knife held loosely in his right hand, his SMG slung across his back. He didn't look at the floor numbers ticking upward on the digital display. He looked at me.
"Ghost," he said, his voice barely audible over the mechanical hum of the lift. "When the shield drops, the entire Armada is going to get a lock on this building. It won't be a blind bombardment anymore. It will be a localized deletion strike."
"I kno
