Rodriguez made the decision within minutes, understanding that whatever genuine strain the framework's capacity currently carried, abandoning the binding commitment Kharn's civilization had specifically required before genuinely trusting the alliance's promise would represent exactly the betrayal his own generations of hard-earned caution had feared most.
"We honor the commitment," he said, his voice carrying unmistakable, decisive weight. "Every available resource redirects toward supporting Thornwake's evacuation. Nakamura, I need immediate reallocation from our current four-point response."
What followed occurred with the specific, exhausted urgency genuine crisis demanded — Nakamura working frantically to redistribute already-strained resources, drawing on precisely the coordination methodology his years of documented service had cultivated, while Voss simultaneously worked to ensure this reallocation didn't leave the other three concern points catastrophically undefended.
