He took one last look at the light spot representing the meteoroid on the screen, slowly cutting into the starry expanse of Savannah along its predicted trajectory.
A harmless, passing rock.
He turned off the special alert marker, classifying it as a routine natural celestial transit—no threat.
Report sent.
Procedure completed.
Responsibility absolved.
Time passed in absolute silence and tense anticipation.
The massive GC-7712 meteoroid, trailing its invisible shadow, slowly arced along the outer edge of the Savannah Star System, delving deeper toward the border with the Bushman Star System.
In the lower right corner of the system interface Qin Bei Wang had opened on the bridge of the flagship Kunlun Mountain - Modified, a string of small text was displayed:
[Zero-latency passive detection network effective radius: 980 million kilometers]
A full 200 million kilometers more than the previous 780 million kilometers.
This distance meant he could see a broader range and receive more abundant, timely passive information from those dormant buoys.
A warning depth of 980 million kilometers was enough for him to detect and react to most conventional threats before they approached.
However, as the detection range expanded and data continuously poured in, a strange phenomenon gradually emerged.
The light spots representing Imperial starships—whether small patrol boats, medium-sized transport ships, or occasionally appearing escort formations—all showed a clear tendency to retreat near the preset course the meteoroid was about to traverse.
They weren't gathering or laying an ambush; instead, they seemed to be deliberately avoiding this corridor.
Some ships originally traveling along similar routes adjusted their course in time just before merging into the trajectory, taking a wide detour.
Others stopped at even greater distances, seemingly waiting for the meteoroid to pass before proceeding.
At first, Qin Bei Wang's heart tightened slightly.
Exposed?
Could the Empire's detection technology be so advanced as to see through their disguise?
Were these ships retreating to make space for an encirclement or ambush?
Yet the energy readings of these ships were normal, their weapon systems showed no abnormal preheating, and no signs of concealed large-scale fleet assembly were detected in the surrounding airspace.
As the meteoroid and they continued deeper, this phenomenon only intensified.
Almost all Imperial starships avoided this path "marked" by the meteoroid as if evading a plague.
Qin Bei Wang looked out the viewport at the meteoroid.
An absurd yet perfectly logical thought surfaced.
The corner of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
"Perhaps we haven't been exposed," Qin Bei Wang's voice broke the silence, carrying a hint of realization and faint mockery.
"They're not avoiding us."
Qin Bei Wang gazed at the colossal rock outside the viewport, occupying most of his field of vision.
The unusual evasive maneuvers of the Imperial starships were likely related to this massive object.
They were avoiding it!
An ice-rock mixture over eighty kilometers in diameter, moving at high speed along an irregular trajectory.
For any vessel navigating within a star system, this was a massive, unpredictable threat.
Collision risks, gravitational disturbances, and potentially ejected debris...
The safest course of action was to destroy it or deflect it.
Not simply let it drift away.
After all, the mass of this object was considerable. If exploited by an adversary...
An over eighty-kilometer diameter meteoroid was no different from a large-scale kinetic weapon.
Though it was unclear what the Empire's forces were thinking, their disregard for it...
Ironically cleared many obstacles for their covert infiltration!
Those patrol teams and transport ships were likely cursing this "obstructive rock" while dutifully detouring around it, completely unaware that a deadly "big fish" was hiding behind it.
"Maintain silence and synchronization."
Qin Beiwang ordered.
"Focus on collecting data on all evading vessel types, numbers, and courses. This will help us assess the Empire's force distribution and shipping patterns in Savannah."
Seventeen hours passed in absolute silence and tense nerves.
The massive GC-7712 meteoroid, like a precisely calculated marble, under the final gentle nudge of the Savannah Star System's gravity near the L3 Lagrange Point, abruptly changed its course.
The stronger, closer gravitational pull from the main star of the Bushman Star System, like an invisible giant net, firmly captured it, beginning to draw it toward that star domain under the Empire's tight control.
The Pluto Fleet, this cosmic dark patch clinging to the meteoroid's shadow, adjusted synchronously.
Still perfectly concealed behind the cover of the natural celestial body, it slipped into the outer fringes of the Bushman Star System.
The moment the fleet, following the meteoroid, cut into the Bushman Star System's gravitational sphere—
"Order: Tiankui Star sub-fleet, Tiangang Star sub-fleet, direct sub-fleet affiliates—all Shadow-class Reconnaissance Ships, launch immediately!"
Qin Beiwang's voice rang out in the core command channel, calm and decisive.
The Shadow-class Reconnaissance Ships, which had been on standby for a long time, detached from the main fleet body like falcons hearing the command!
They were numerous, far more compact than capital ships, with streamlined hulls to the extreme, entirely coated in a special material that absorbed all wavelengths.
More crucially, an almost invisible quantum cloaking field instantly enveloped each hull.
This was not traditional optical or electromagnetic camouflage, but a distortion of the local space's microscopic properties around the vessel.
Causing it to appear nearly non-existent to most detection methods, it was the pinnacle of the Federation's stealth technology.
Yet, even so, everyone's hearts were in their throats.
This was no longer Savannah, no longer a border with defensive gaps or bureaucratic oversights.
This was the Bushman Star System—the rear heart of the Empire's blitzkrieg, the location of the portable strategic stargate!
Its defense level and the density of its detection network were undoubtedly far beyond the ordinary.
Each reconnaissance ship's launch was like thrusting an ultra-fine probe into a beast's lair bristling with high-voltage grids and sensitive tendrils.
Being detected almost certainly meant being instantly shredded by the swarming defensive firepower of the Empire.
"Mission Objective: With maximum concealment, deploy all carried micro passive detection buoys to the designated airspace of the Bushman Star System according to the predetermined grid coordinates!"
"Key Areas: Surrounding the estimated Stargate coordinates, major navigation route nodes, common Imperial Fleet rally points, and gravity anomaly zones!"
"I need a complete, real-time situation map of the Bushman Star System!
Precise Stargate coordinates, composition and patrol patterns of the defense fleet, energy flow, communication nodes—everything!"
Qin Bei Wang's voice transmitted through the encrypted channel to every Commander of the dispatched Reconnaissance Ships.