The morning did not arrive cleanly.
It came fragmented, alerts firing out of sequence, systems lagging just enough to be noticed, messages queued without urgency but heavy with implication.
Dante was already awake when the first confirmation reached the operations hub.
"They're not collapsing," he said, voice low. "They're reorganizing."
Victor leaned over the console, scanning the data streams. "Cassian's inner circle has gone dark."
Aria stood apart from them, watching a live civic forum unfolding in one of the federated zones. Citizens weren't chanting. They weren't demanding.
They were asking questions.
"How are budget priorities decided?"
"Who audits the auditors?"
"What happens if leadership fails?"
No one shut them down.
No one redirected the conversation.
"That's the danger," Victor said. "They expect answers."
Aria nodded. "Good."
Victor turned sharply. "That wasn't agreement."
"It doesn't need to be," she replied. "Expectation is the point."
