"Three days, if we move the fleet now. The ships are ready. The crews are standing by." Magus hesitated. "But if we move before the treaty expires, we give them the justification they want."
Uriel stopped walking. "I am not moving before the treaty expires. I am planning for after."
Magus stopped beside him. "And if they move first?"
Uriel looked out the window at the training grounds below. Soldiers in neat formations, officers calling orders, the endless preparation for a war no one wanted but everyone expected. Fourteen million active duty, another twenty-two million waiting to be called.
The largest military in the system.
"Then we move faster. We have the numbers. We have the weapons. We have the will." He turned back to Magus. "Keep the inventory updated. I want new numbers every day. And I want to know everything there is to know about the Zephorian leadership. Their weaknesses. Their divisions. The things they want more than they want war."
