He made the decision at the fourth hour.
Not a dramatic moment. He was at the table with the timber correspondence and the coastal watch report and the clay piece with the two lines he had written the night before. He read the two lines. He turned the clay over.
He went to find Ampelos.
________________________________________
Ampelos was at the eastern office. He looked up when Lysander came in.
Lysander sat.
"Yes," he said.
Ampelos set down the correspondence file.
"What does Rethon know that Agamemnon's network does not know yet," Lysander said.
"The fleet timeline revision. The timber situation. The buffer positions of the three coastlines."
"All accurate."
"Yes."
"What do we want Agamemnon to believe."
Ampelos was quiet for a moment.
"That the timber situation is worse than it is," he said. "That the construction timeline has been extended significantly. That the fleet will not reach operational capacity within any horizon relevant to his planning."
