Ignited Minds.

[Rodent]

"Your faith is not misplaced, General," Xavier said with mild amusement in his voice.

He listened to Lucie with feigned interest, while he considered other issues. The General only saw the visible segments of the war, and had no idea of how precariously balanced they actually were. But the General had seen enough, and Xavier felt comfortable enough to start bringing her into the fold of knowledge. At least partially.

"It's a bit more complex than that. My assessment is that we're fairly evenly matched right now," Xavier said, ignoring Lucie's expression of surprise. "We might be able to win the war as it stands currently, but we won't have much left to keep law and order...so it'll be lost very quickly."

Pressing a button on his desk, Xavier brought up a strategic map that he had been perusing. Royal Naval movements were marked in blue, while known enemy movements in red with unknown belligerents being marked in white. There was a thick stream of lines coming from Texas and other Liberty Navy systems into California, boosting the defense there.

There was less intel on Bretonian movements, but everything known marked them as hunkered down in New London, too incapacitated to carry on offensives. The Taus were the main concentration of unknown belligerent movements, from potential threats like the IMG and the Outcasts.

"The forces moving against us are very strong, and we need to avoid a total war escalation, at any cost. Take every advantage that is offered to us."