The converted factory's command center hummed with an intensity Rook hadn't felt since the old guard's coordinated assault months ago. Monitors flickered with satellite imagery, encrypted communications streamed through secure channels, and operatives moved with the quiet efficiency of people who understood that everything they'd built was about to be tested.
Rook stood at the central command station, his eyes fixed on the map of the Baltic region, the weight of the next step pressing down on him like something that had been waiting for this exact moment. The old guard's final stand. The last battle in a war that had been raging for six years.
Irina moved up beside him, her voice low and careful. "We've got confirmation on the facility's location. It's a former military installation on t
