Aegis Haven was a lighthouse of hope in a world's encroaching darkness. Its walls hung with green, its light an eternal, throbbing heart, had transcended the level of a hospital. It was a state of mind. To the thousands who worked and lived there, it was a show of what man could do. To Reuben, it was the fulcrum upon which the direction of his war now pivoted.
The pressure did not subside, however; it had concentrated. The Haven smallpox firefight burned on a dozen fronts, and Crane's shadow war had evolved. The direct, hammer-blow attack on the Haven had failed—the 'Guardian's Mark' and the open, obvious symbolism of the site made it too hard a target. So the attacks were subtle. Supply lines were interdicted with chilling precision. Data streams were compromised, leading to occasional d
