“I need eyes, dammit!”  Adam pounded a hand against a console.  “Get me visuals on what’s going on up there.”

They’d lost power in his command center briefly and that had severed the connection between him and the fighter that had been feeding them visuals of the war that had suddenly erupted on the surface.  The generators had kicked in, now, but communications was having an issue reestablishing the connection.

“Sir?”

“What?” he snapped at Tomasi, glaring at the young woman, who cringed under his stare.

“Sir—sir, we lost Commander Cho’s signal, too,” she said, her voice remarkably steady.  Brendan had taken her under his wing while she’d still been in training.  Adam knew she was fond of him.

Damn.  “Reestablish it.”

“I’ve been trying, sir.  It’s not broadcasting.”

That meant one of two things.  Either Brendan had turned the thing off—not likely—or it was too damaged to transmit—a worse thing.

The marshal took a short, quick breath and hoped against hope that it was just the link that was damaged, not its owner.

Linny-pie will skin me alive if something’s happened to him.

“I need eyes,” he growled again.

“Ground scanners are coming back online, sir.”

Thank goodness for small favors.  That’s something, at least.  “Give me a topographical of the city next to the viewer here.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Still working on audio and visuals from the squadrons.”

Adam shook his head grimly.  The sooner he could get that back, the more comfortable he’d feel—not that there was anything comfortable about their current tactical situation.

Hell, at this point I don’t even know what our tactical situation actually is.  That’s not a good thing.  He took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly.  Be okay, Rachel.  Be okay.

The holographic projector buzzed to life and the lights in operations dimmed slightly for the effort.  Adam grimaced.  The generators weren’t fully warmed up yet and it had been a bloody long time since they’d tested them.

Now would be the exact wrong time for them to fail.  Which means we’ve got a 75% chance of that happening.

            Hellfire.

He stared at the holographic image that slowly came to life, a miniaturized model of the city in light, hovering in midair.

Areas around several of the shelters had been bombed fairly heavily.  One of the wind farms had been obliterated.  The main power transfer station was gone.  When this was over, most of the city would be dark for days, maybe weeks.

“Damn,” he murmured.  “It’s like they knew exactly where to hit us.”  He took a deep breath and stared at Gabriel and Kara Forester’s vineyard.  “What the hell is that?”

“Looks like a bomber went down on the north slope,” one of the techs said.  “I’d know that hill anywhere.  We used to sled on it when I was a kid.”

Adam felt his heartrate increase.  “Tomasi, what was Commander Cho’s last known position?”

She winced.  “He—sir, he was on that hill.

“He was on that hill.”