"Ignition confirmed."
Captain Hayes yelled over the roaring plasma flame. The industrial torch sounded like a screaming jet engine in the freezing night air.
He leaned his weight forward. He braced his boots against the slick icy surface of the elevated airlock threshold. He thrust the blinding blue jet of superheated plasma directly against the titanium oxynitride armor plating of the Leviathan.
Hayes expected the metal to yield instantly. He expected the intense thermal output to slice a glowing molten line straight through the locking mechanisms. He anticipated the victorious screech of yielding steel.
The plasma torch touched the hull.
The roaring jet of blue fire did not cut the metal. It did not even scorch the matte gray paint.
The violent high voltage electrical loop generati
