The Titan Jewel, (a.k.a. Kerkes) cruised on a heading for the Orion shipping lanes at three-quarters speed as to appear like a typical cargo ship conserving fuel on a long trip. It was a calculated gamble. The Sa'larie timeline was very uncertain, but with the Alliance enforcing a no-fly zone around New Terra with a heavily armed starbase, eight squadrons of fighters on 24 hour standby and the first fleet within a few hours of an alert call it was a safe bet that they wouldn't attack until they could quietly move in a large enough force to take the entire system in one swift attack. Such an attack would be heard by every news media across the galaxy in moments so Juan was confident it had not already happened and such a build-up would still be in the works for some time. So instead of
