Inside, fifty New Earth Police officers rushed into position as a red laser beam penetrated the closed door. Moving in single file, the military police officers, a mix of men and women, grabbed the weapons that hung on the blue wall. The veterans created the front line and clanked five-foot-tall energy shields against the ground in a domino wave. The others hurried into place behind them as the commander, Sable, stood on a dais, shouting orders.

The officers wore black and brown military gear while Sable wore a black and gold uniform decorated with medals. Unlike the officers, he boldly left his face unprotected without a helmet, revealing a balding head with strands of brown and white hair, a goatee, brown eyes, and scars across his face.

"Remain behind shields. Prepare to block incoming fire!" he barked, his voice echoing across the half-circle of the open-floored training room. "When I give the command, and only when I give the command, you will fire! Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!" fifty voices acknowledged. The last officers hurried to the wall and took position. The rhythmic clanking of the shields stopped; all was still and silent. The laser beam disappeared, and at once a loud screeching echoed from the walls, an overbearing metallic sound like claws digging through a slate board.

As the cutout grinded from the door, sweat from police officers' foreheads rolled down their faces, but they didn't dare remove their helmets. At last, the three-inch-thick oval tipped over and crashed. Smoke fumed from the entrance as a figure in a red powersuit casually ducked through the entrance and paced toward the military police.

"Steady!" Sable ordered.

Botland stopped in front of the two rows of policemen and peered over them at the commander.

"Surrender, or we'll open fire!" Sable warned.

Botland didn't respond. He tilted his head and raised his arm, pointing at the commander as if inviting an attack.

"Open fire!" Sable yelled.

The veterans in the front line, with their rifles in position against their shields, unleashed the first wave of gunfire even before the commander had finished speaking. The bullets impacted the intruder, and the room was quickly engulfed in smoke.

"Cease-fire!" the commander ordered.