Gregory Parrott
The strike was supposed to be short and intense. It is neither short enough nor contained enough. Federation forces hit the Strait Republic’s military sites - and, as Hale feared, the infrastructure around them. The Republic answers the way it promised: it hits energy terminals and airports across the Ember Coast, and its drones, already proven against Federation bases, strike hundreds of buildings in a single night. Cole’s base, built to run ninety days unsupported, is now the test of that promise. Power flickers. Comms go dark in sectors. Food and medical supplies are counted in days, not weeks. Flights stop. The internet thins to rumour and static. Nadia Kesh, caught between her home and her engineering skill, becomes the only person who can explain how the Republic’s drone swarm actually works - and what it would take to stop the next wave. This is not the war anyone briefed. This is the war of miscalculation, fought in warehouses, hospitals, and server rooms as much as on islands.
