1956, Legion
"It's fine. Send the probe over," Shepard said. "If my judgment is correct, they shouldn't be able to detect it."
Jeff Moro was still unconvinced. He shook his head. "All right, but I'd better at least prepare to run."
Under Jeff Moro's remote control, the unmanned probe emerged from behind an asteroid and flew straight toward the planet without any attempt at concealment. Under such circumstances, as long as their capital ships were not blind, they should have easily detected its presence.
At the same time, the situation around the planet came fully into view.
Three Xirui-class battlecruisers and twenty small- and medium-sized warships comprised the entire fleet. Judging by its size, it was indeed one of the two missing fleets of the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium.
Yet what was astonishing was that even as the unmanned probe drew closer and closer, the fleet showed no reaction whatsoever, as if it had not seen it at all! What was more, the probe had not even received any radar signals. This meant that they had not activated their active sensors at all.
"What are they doing? On vacation?" Jeff Moro asked in utter confusion.
"They've already been infected by Mungal-Mungal," Shepard said flatly. "Based on what we know, infected people still retain some intelligence, but not much. Things like remaining alert at all times and immediately activating active radar upon spotting anything unusual are beyond these infected people."
"How do you know?" Ashley Williams was also deeply curious.
"Communications." Shepard tapped the communicator.
Ashley Williams suddenly understood. "I get it! I thought something had felt wrong earlier, but I never expected the problem to be this!"
"Ladies, I'd appreciate it if you spoke in Fourth Civilization Standard," Jeff Moro said, completely lost.
"Ever since we arrived at this planet, we haven't