The first real crack between them did not happen during a drill.
It did not happen under oversight cameras or inside a controlled perimeter grid.
It happened during a scenario that was supposed to be routine.
The simulation block that afternoon wasn't even labeled advanced. Tier B Mixed Adaptive, mid-tier escalation. Aurek rotated in as primary command. Lucas took central stabilization. Dreyden remained offset, listed as analysis support rather than anchor.
From the outside, it looked ordinary.
Inside the formation, the timing was already off.
The first wave rolled predictably. Aurek pushed early, intercept arcs slicing outward before the hazard even fully manifested. It was clean, aggressive, textbook perimeter doctrine.
Lucas adjusted for the vacuum left behind by the forward pressure.
Then the grid glitched.
Not visibly.
Timing staggered by less than half a second.
Aurek committed again.
