(Three Weeks Later, Yu Clan Expeditionary Fleet, Yu Rulo's POV)
Three weeks later, the Yu Clan fleets finally departed Planet Yu Prime under Yu Rulo's command, as countless warships rose from orbital staging zones in layered formations and began moving toward Satoru in what was easily the largest military mobilization the Clan had mounted in generations.
Though to outside observers the departure projected confidence and order, Yu Rulo knew too well how fragile that confidence had actually been during the weeks leading to this moment, because securing the participation of branch leaders and frontier Commanders had proven far harder than issuing summons alone.
For the first time in his memory, visible hesitation had greeted a Patriarch's war call, as several Commanders delayed compliance under various excuses while others requested time, logistics, or revised commitments, all revealing a reluctance that would have been unthinkable in earlier decades.
