Chapter 21 · The Six-City Split

The guns turned before the council finished voting.

Across the black glass of the chamber’s observation wall, the Northern Compact Fleet moved in perfect silence. Cruisers slid through the storm clouds above Seventh City, their hulls glowing with the cold blue light of armed reactors. One by one, their cannon ports opened.

Brom Hark stared at the sky and tasted blood where he had bitten through his lip.

“They’re not bluffing,” he said.

“No,” Sable answered. Her voice came thin through the emergency speakers. “They’re aligning on the residential cores.”

The council chamber erupted.

Six city emblems burned above the central table: Seventh City in red, the others flickering through static as their delegates fought to establish a secure connection. The chamber had been built to make compromise look inevitable—six curved platforms, six flags, six seats raised around a single circle of polished metal.

Now the circle had become a trap.

“Seal the lower decks!” shouted Chancellor Orren of Helix Ward. “If the fleet fires, we cannot allow panic to reach the core shelters.”

A delegate from Cinderport slammed both hands against her console. “There are three hundred thousand people below the industrial line.”

“Then keep them below it.