The quiet doesn’t last.
It never does.
Three days after the Council compromise passes, the first real crack appears — not in the earth, not in the wards.
In the Covenant.
The message arrives through the same compromised breach channel Morgan quarantined.
No encryption.
No distortion.
Just a single line:
Ashcroft is moving without sanction.
Lilith didn’t sign it.
But she didn’t need to.
The phrasing is deliberate.
Without sanction.
Which means the Covenant has internal structure.
Which means Ashcroft doesn’t control it anymore.
We gather immediately.
Morgan projects the transmission onto the war room wall.
“It came from a known Covenant node,” she says. “But not one Ashcroft used directly. This is Lilith’s channel.”
Kade folds his arms.
“She’s distancing herself.”
“She’s
