"Look at them!" Vance's voice boomed, vibrating through the dust-heavy air of the summit hall. "The great Warlords of Earth, paralyzed by a few lines of sentimentality! You gave them a conscience, Doctor, and in doing so, you gave us the ultimate leash. They can't pull the trigger! They've been neutralized by their own 'souls'!"
Outside the titanium pillar, the carnage was absolute. The six pre-Fall mechs moved with a rhythmic, clanking brutality, their heavy hydraulic legs crushing the remains of the obsidian table into powder. Their rotary cannons were glowing red-hot, spitting out a continuous stream of armor-piercing rounds.
