The digital display dissolved into a sea of dark static before resolving into a crisp high resolution image. The screen did not show a military command center or a laboratory. It displayed a dark featureless room where three human silhouettes sat behind a long polished table.
Heavy shadows obscured their faces and their clothing. They existed only as dark voids against a dim gray background. They were the architects of the new world and they called themselves The State.
"General Varga," the center silhouette spoke. The voice was heavily modulated to conceal any identifying pitch or tone. It sounded like grinding metal and crushing stone. "We are monitoring the localized radio traffic across your assigned territory. We hear your infantry screaming in the streets."
Varga gripped the edge
