It's not the height...

"One other thing," Neidermeyer begins, but he's interrupted by a sound like the buzzing of a bee swarm coming from outside in the corridor. Into the conference room whooshes a trio of small craft that look for all the world like starship models of some kind. Bobbing and weaving past the surprised-looking thugs who try to intercept them, the ships and their tiny assortment of bristling weapons arc around toward the head of the conference table.

Nikolai opens his eyes wide at the appearance of the tiny ships, "Vhat is this!?"

Montgomery gulps, stunned into silence and immobility, for the present time.

Niesa pushes back from the table, easily slipping to her knees. Her smile, directed squarely at Neidermeyer, broadens just before her head slips below the table's mahogany surface.

Valentine is on her feet immediately, cold blue eyes taking a quick circuit from the ships, to Neidermeyer, to the ships again. She is still for one long moment, posture balanced for a long quick motion forward, as if awaiting something.

A tinny voice crackles from the speaker of the lead ship as it closes on Neidermeyer, who is getting to his feet and drawing his flechette pistol: "Halt! Colin Neidermeyer, for months you have hideously tortured Nemoni prisoners in your clutches. You will now answer for these atrocities."

From her low crouch, the Timonae moves further down the table's length and peekes her head out for a better view of the ship.

The other two Nemoni vessels arc around slowly, keeping their guns aimed at those assembled.

Montgomery stays seated, eyeing the other vessels warily, his hands still resting on the table. His face is almost bloodless in fear and surprise.

Neidermeyer scooches away from the head of the table, shoving Tony the Monobrow thug in front of him as he stands with his back to the Shadowheart cityscape. The Nemoni ships swing in unison to face Tony. Their weapon turrets begin to glow crimson. The lead vessel opens a set of bomb bay doors and from the bay descends a small guided missile launcher. At first, Tony is amused, a goofy grin on his face. Then comes the tinny voice again: "Mini-nuclear missile armed. Prepare to fire." Tony looks left. He looks right. He fixes his eyes on the missile. He grimaces and steps quickly to the left.

That seems to be what Valentine was waiting for, her own pistol going untouched. She crouches, one motion tensing her legs and then sending her in a long dive for the rear of the Nemoni vessel that has its missile trained on Neidermeyer, red hair flying. You only live once, right?

"Sonuvabitch!" Neidermeyer shouts, aiming his flechette pistol at Tony and squeezing the trigger. The Monobrow's head is shredded into exploding ribbons of flesh, hair, gray matter, blood and bone. His corpse thuds limply on the carpeted floor. Neidermeyer then swings the gun around toward the lead Nemoni vessel and growls, "Your turn, pipsqueak!"

Valentine is, inexplicably, frozen in mid-air.

Niesa ducks back under the table, pulling the pulse pistol from the back of her waistband.

The noise of violence prompts a reaction from Montgomery, as he chooses this time to try and slip from his chair and under the table.

Nikolai slides off his chair and dives under the table, "Madness!"

"No," replies the tinny voice through the loudspeaker in the lead Nemoni ship. "Yours." And the guided missile fires its thrusters and launches toward Neidermeyer, just as he's firing off a shot with the flechette pistol. The missile, already armed, explodes inches away from the honcho before he finishes squeezing the trigger, creating a shock wave and a radioactive fireball. The blast causes Neidermeyer's shot to go wild, just missing Niesa and shredding the paneling on the wall behind her and to the left. The fireball swooms outward with a FOOMP!, giving Valentine a nasty sunburn and setting Neidermeyer's expensive silk suit aflame and hurling him backward through one of the plate glass windows. Lit up like a bizarre tiki torch, still gripping his flechette pistol, Neidermeyer shatters the window and plummets into the blue-purple night, falling fourteen floors to the pavement.