The fleet crossed the Fracture threshold and everything went to hell at once.
Alarms screamed across every bridge. Hull integrity readings spiked into the red. The Oath network, the invisible web linking every ship, every crew member, and every resonance user, lit up like a live wire.
Massive crystalline tendrils erupted from the Fracture's walls—thick, shifting pillars of ancient matter that punched straight through shielding and latched onto hulls. They didn't damage the ships. They fed.
Aiden felt it hit him first. A wave of raw need slammed into his skull, visions of bodies writhing, ships cracking open under pleasure instead of pressure, entire crews collapsing into endless fucking while the structure failed.
The entity inside the Cradle was awake. And it was hungry.
**"FEED ME."**
The command wasn't sound. It was resonance, pure and overwhelming, flooding every mind connected to the Oath.
