Location:Seven Peaks — Command Center; Imperial City — Various; Jade Spire
Date/Time:TC1853.12.03 (Two Hours Earlier — Twelfth Bell onward)
Two hours before the Emperor's broadcast was interrupted, Coop activated the evidence network.
He was in the command center with Marcus and Thorne, watching the Neural Net intercepts scroll across the monitoring formation. The Federation's accusation had been live for six hours. The Emperor's first address — the condemnation, the warm appeal, the invitation to come home — had been broadcasting for two. Noble houses were already piling on. Ascendant families were already positioning. Commoners in the outer Rings were already repeating the word terrorist as though they'd come up with it themselves.
"First-narrative advantage," Coop said. His cybernetic eyes flickered — the processing tell he'd never been able to train out of Federation hardware. "Every hour we wait is an hour they write the history."
