Facing Brigadier General Schiller's complaints, Simon Vayali remained calm. After all, the man was an old fellow, and it was perfectly understandable that he liked to grumble.
Besides, he wasn't entirely wrong.
The fact was, right up until this operation began, the headquarters of the 38th Division hadn't received any orders from either the Expeditionary Fleet Command or Yang Xiyi at Unity Fortress. The so-called collusion with outsiders, the banquet, the poisoning, the shameless sneak attack—it had all been in the works for a week already.
It had started when an automated surveillance satellite in the DL127 star system, next to Yaochi, detected a massive cluster of dense mass readings in the early hours of July 30. The unmanned probe immediately lost contact, but not before sending the signal data to the Expeditionary Force Command, Unity Fortress, and nearby inhabited outposts.
It was hard to say whether the Ring of Miracles or Unity Fortress had received the data, but Marshal Li Yuangele on Yaochi received it that very day. After analyzing it, they determined that it was likely a fleet containing a large number of capital ships—and it was clearly headed toward the Ring of Miracles.
Vayali then sent another message each to the Ring of Miracles and Unity Fortress, and received replies sixteen hours and fifty hours later, respectively.
The first reply more or less said, "Headquarters was prepared well in advance. You need only remain at your posts and stay on alert." Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Tivington also sent another telegram in her personal capacity, tactfully expressing her gratitude for Yaochi's intelligence. At the same time, she diplomatically pointed out that their forces occupied the star ring, outnumbered the enemy several times over, and held the advantage. If Yaochi came under attack, all they had to do