The planetary defences of Raan engage the orbital assault ships bombarding the planet's surface. Tower Theta 55 Mike is recycling, the agonising twelve-minute wait before they can fire again feeling more like twelve lifetimes. As the enemy ships are detectable for only a very brief time before they discharge their weapons upon the planet, the gunners dare not miss...they won't get a second chance if the enemy are on target. The searchlights play over the towers, mostly for the benefit of civilian morale, but also searching for the tell-tale signs of coolant leakage. Below lies the city, grown up to house the hundreds of thousands needed to man and maintain the towers. Not just the towers, but also the giant golden heatsinks sunk deep into the earth, tapping the core heat of the planet for the vast energy required to supply the weapons. '55 November, in the distance, is firing at this moment, despite the fires raging from a hit on the island. The distinctive halo, caused by the shockwave unleashed as the tower releases its enormous energy load, surges outward. The great height of the tower minimises the effect of the shockwave. The comms lasers keep the towers linked, and are considered secure from enemy evesdropping. Even so, two speedships are approaching, probably carrying orders considered too sensitive to risk to the even the comms links..... Or something. The picture came first, it is whatever you want. This is in fact quite an old image of mine, my first ever Bryce image in fact. It was a 'Metacreations image of the day' back in October 98. Done entirely with Bryce3D, originally. All modelling with Bryce 3D too - in fact, the only thing I did outside of bryce was to add the title and sig. Re-rendered in Bryce 5 (no difference, in case you are wondering, just faster). Regards, Steve