The attack came at night, exactly the kind of scenario Voss had warned about weeks earlier, though considerably more organized than a simple internal disagreement might have suggested.
Victor woke to the sound of the perimeter alarm, considerably more urgent than the Bloomborn alerts he'd grown accustomed to responding to over the past several weeks. By the time he reached the facility's main corridor, Samuel and Ashworth were already coordinating a defensive response, tension radiating through every hurried command.
"Foundry personnel," Ashworth said, relaying information from her communication device as it arrived. "Confirmed identification, considerably more heavily armed than a diplomatic visit would require."
"Voss's reckless faction," Victor said, the pieces falling into place with unwelcome clarity.
