The actions of the Black Forest Tribes had been utterly impossible for us to predict. It had probably been nearly half a month since the Empire ships first came to this world—the time Harlan's remnants had fled here—yet they had never made a move, remaining so quiet that it was as if they knew nothing at all. But now, less than two days after the Empire Army had set up camp, the Black Forest Tribes had assembled an astonishingly vast fleet and swarmed toward us—without any warning, without any negotiation. They had not even sent out a single scout, instead directly mobilizing thousands of small, swarm-like fleets and advancing this way in a mighty tide!
"What's going on? What are our early-warning departments doing? Why did no one report a military mobilization of this scale in advance?"
"I'm afraid there's only one explanation: all the ships of this native civilization require no mobilization," Siweisi said. She was equally puzzled that such a massive deployment had escaped detection, but she had her own theory. "Such civilizations are rare, but they do exist. If they experienced a long period of exile and still retain habits from that era, it would be possible. Every one of their ships is both a warship and a home, permanently on standby, with no need for temporary deployment or resupply. They are like a warrior tribe that treats armor and weapons as everyday clothing and decorations. When needed, they become an army in a second. That can be the only explanation."
"So half their people live in colonies, while the other half live directly aboard ships?" Older Sister smacked her lips in amazement. "There really are races that 'never land'?"
"Another reason we failed to issue a warning is that these fleets never went through an assembly