The arithmetic of faith was uncompromising.
Zephyr stood in the center of the Eternal Forge, the massive tactical grid hovering above the obsidian table. A sprawling sector on the western edge of the projection, centered around the mining settlement of Oakhaven Ridge, had gone completely dark. It was not a physical darkness—the iron from the settlement had successfully arrived in Ashenveil that morning—it was an aetheric void.
Harsk Fenward's after-action report scrolled mechanically across the secondary display. Fifty-three insurgents neutralized. Riot suppressed. Six hundred tons of iron secured.
It was a flawless military operation. It was a catastrophic economic failure.
