Astral Zenith gave war a timetable.
That was how noble academies stayed civilized.
Three days after the first faction bell, the central board posted the Inter-Hall Strategic Exercises schedule in letters large enough for every student to pretend they were not afraid.
The timetable made it worse.
Six hours.
Public observation.
Primary scoring variables.
Even survival needed minutes now, and that offended me deeply.
[Inter-Hall Strategic Exercises]
[Exercise One: Territorial Ethics Simulation]
[Duration: six hours]
[Public observation: approved]
[Primary scoring variables: rank order, witness credibility, medical priority, route access, command trust]
[Special condition: no central commander assigned]
[Failure conditions: coercion, collapse, excessive harm, unverified claims]
[Provisional alignments eligible for participation.]
Below the schedule, our name sat in a box that had not existed last week.
[Team Seven — restricted tactical cell.]
Restricted.
Tactical.
