Reyes called Marcus into a proper debrief the next morning, this time with two other senior officers present — a change from the informal conversations of the past week. The room felt different. Colder. More official."Walk us through the supply route engagement," one officer said, a woman named Farris, sharp-eyed and clearly unconvinced by whatever partial explanation Reyes had already given her. "Specifically the moment you engaged the Sovereign soldier."Marcus kept his posture relaxed, the way a man with nothing to hide would sit. "I saw him closing on Sable's blind side. Moved to intercept.""That's not what I asked," Farris said. "Voss's report describes the movement as inhuman. Faster than anything a Level 1 should manage, even under adrenaline. I want to know how."This was the part Marcus had been dreading since the moment Elena's report reached command. He'd had a full night to prepare an answer, and it still felt thin in his mouth."There's a Skill fragment," he said. "Pick

The northern Anchor Point cluster sat in a valley too valuable for anyone to leave alone, three pillars of System power spread across terrain that controlled access to half the region's remaining farmland. Kade wanted it. Reyes needed it. And neither of them, as it turned out, had accounted for the third faction that had been quietly watching both sides prepare for battle.Marcus stood at the ridge overlooking the valley alongside Elena, part of the response team Reyes had assembled the moment Sovereign's redeployment became clear through Coalition scouts. Below them, Sovereign Command's forces were already moving into position on the valley's northern edge, banners visible even at this distance."They're not being subtle about it this time," Elena said, studying the formation through a scope. "Full commitment. No misdirection."Marcus studied the same formation and felt something uneasy settle in his chest. "That's the problem. Kade doesn't need subtlety here. He's got the numbers to

Corran waited until the barracks had gone quiet before making his way to the records archive, a windowless room deep inside Sovereign Command's headquarters where old service files sat digitized on secured terminals, most of them untouched since before the Collapse.He told the night clerk he needed pre-Collapse training records for a report on veteran combat patterns — technically true, if carefully incomplete about which veteran he actually meant.The terminal hummed to life, and Corran typed a name he hadn't allowed himself to search in six months.ALDEN, RYKER — STRATEGOS, APEX RANKSTATUS: DECEASEDDATE OF RECORD: [COLLAPSE EVENT, DAY 1]The file opened, familiar and painful in equal measure. Service history, campaign records, training logs from the two years Corran had spent under Alden's direct command. He scrolled past sections he already knew by heart, searching for the one detail that had nagged at him since the moment their eyes met across that forest road.He found it in t

The patrol route curved closer to the ruins of Anchor Point Prime than any assignment had taken Marcus since the Collapse, and he felt the pull of it the moment Reyes handed out the day's objectives."Scouting run," Reyes said, tracing a path across the map that skirted the old Prime perimeter without entering it directly. "We need eyes on Sovereign troop movements along the eastern corridor. Should be low risk."Marcus volunteered before he'd fully decided to.Elena caught his hesitation afterward, the half-second delay before he'd raised his hand. "You alright?""Fine," Marcus said, and even he heard how thin the word sounded.They moved out at dawn, a four-person team cutting through terrain that grew increasingly familiar the closer they came to the old perimeter. Marcus recognized landmarks he hadn't expected to recognize — a ridge line he'd once used for a training exercise, a river crossing his forces had held during a minor skirmish two years before the Collapse, small pieces

Kade stood before the map wall again, three weeks of careful patience finally giving way to decisive action. Blue territory had grown steadily since the northern cluster battle, but the border with Free Coalition land remained stubbornly contested, a persistent irritation to a campaign that otherwise ran with near-perfect efficiency."First Sovereign." An aide's voice from the doorway, careful as always. "The council awaits your orders on the eastern offensive.""Send them in."Six senior officers filed into the chamber, Corran among them, taking positions around the map table with the practiced formality Kade had cultivated across every level of Sovereign Command's structure."The Coalition's border region has cost us more than it should have," Kade said, without preamble. "The northern cluster. The supply route ambush that wasn't quite an ambush. A pattern of unexpected resistance that I believe traces back to a single source." His eyes moved briefly to Corran before continuing. "It