"Advance to Boonta?" Lin Nanyi shot to his feet. "But... Boonta is close to Charos IV Planet, where the Galactic Empire is stationed, and it's far too distant from our logistics base. Didn't we withdraw from Boonta before precisely because resupplying it was too difficult?"
He sent back his own opinion as well.
However, General Grievous merely sent one more message: [Establish a forward base on Boonta and begin stockpiling supplies.] After that, he fell completely silent. No matter how many messages Lin Nanyi sent, they vanished without a trace.
Lin Nanyi put down the communicator and took a deep breath. "True, General Grievous has never mobilized our own fleet. This fleet is still under my command. But why does he want us to advance into Boonta?"
"Didn't he say he wanted us to build a forward base there?" Feng-Lis asked.
Lin Nanyi stared at Boonta's coordinates on the star map, his brow tightly furrowed. "If we gather too many warships at Boonta, the logistical burden will be enormous. There won't be any spare transport capacity left to support the construction of a forward base. But if we don't send enough ships, the Galactic Empire's main fleet could charge straight out and strike ours head-on."
Feng-Lis smiled faintly. "But then the Galactic Empire's fleet would come out, wouldn't it? Isn't that exactly what General Grievous wants?"
Lin Nanyi's expression darkened. "You mean he wants me to be bait?"
"That is only a guess." Feng-Lis said. "After all, General Grievous was once the Supreme Military Commander of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and he accomplished the feat of punching straight across the Milky Way Galaxy. So far, only he and General Sefrans-Tann have managed that. Naturally, we cannot fathom his thinking."
Lin Nanyi lowered his head and said nothing.
After a