The stage was a cacophony of sound and light that seemed to tear at the very fabric of the arena. Thousands of eyes were fixed upon them, yet Zeta felt as though they were moving through a vacuum, an island of absolute stillness amidst a sea of chaos. Around the perimeter, the enforcement squad had finally recovered from their initial shock. Their weapons were raised, the barrels whining with the high-frequency charge of lethal energy, their target locks cycling through thousands of iterations a second.
"They are going to fire," Mara whispered, her voice barely carrying over the electric hum that saturated the air.
Zeta did not turn to look at her. His gaze remained locked on the lead commander, whose finger was hovering over the firing mechanism. He could see the micro-movements of t
