"Send troops to Kotaris? Why?" Lieutenant General Henderson still did not understand the severity of the situation. "The only navigable hyperspace route from Faida Planet passes through Kotaris Planet, then Agamar Planet, before reaching Parin-Minor, the capital planet of the Ninth Army. As long as we keep the Geth fleet pinned down on Faida Planet, they cannot pose any threat to our rear."
Gillard-Perine said gravely, "As I just said, the Geth may possess a faster-than-light travel method we know nothing about! When facing such an enemy, the first lesson we must learn is that their operational range is no longer bound by hyperspace routes! They can depart from anywhere and appear anywhere!"
"What did you say?" Henderson was shocked.
It was not entirely his fault. No one in the Milky Way Galaxy would immediately grasp such a roundabout concept. It was like how mentioning a car made people think of roads, and mentioning a train made them think of tracks. But if someone suddenly claimed that trains no longer needed tracks and could travel cross-country, then our first reaction would also be an inability to understand how such trains could move or where they might appear.
"From this moment on, every one of our planets is a battlefield, every one is the front line! We have no rear in the absolute sense! Not until we are capable of determining the principles and operational range of Geth faster-than-light travel!" Gillard-Perine said.
"In other words, even our supply transports must be escorted by heavy forces," Admiral Wullf Yularen said solemnly. Turning to Henderson, he said, "There is no time to lose. We must immediately contact those transport ships and send them somewhere safe!... No, nowhere is safe. Our fleet is the final harbor."
He then opened a channel and issued several