Vasa lost the north clinic display before the message finished loading. Its blue ward light went out, the surgical table alarm changed pitch, and three healers turned toward the backup batteries without waiting for instructions.
The same failure appeared across her maps. Barrier towers dimmed, emergency pumps fell below operating pressure, and the Feselian pavilion's root markers shrank into the pavement as six anchors drew mana toward Rook's control grid.
"He is not suppressing the Citadel alone," Vasa said, spreading the city map over the command table. "He is turning every dependent system into a hostage."
Kendra leaned over the map with soot still on her coat. "Can we destroy the towers before the civilians notice?" she asked.
"Not all of them," Vasa answered, moving a marker from the medical district to the canal. "The hospital grid gets twenty-eight percent of its usable flow from the medical anchor. The western barrier gets another twelve from the combustion anchor."
