Colonel Jaeger Sobek was locked in fierce inner turmoil. He glanced at Yu Lian, who was deep in thought, and figured that, given the man's usual nature, he would be more than willing to take the risk.
But if they really were attacked by a Marauder ambush or some other strange enemy, the man would certainly abandon me and run without a second thought.
He hesitated, then said, "Actually, I've been to this star system before."
Yu Lian and his adjutant both turned to look at him, so he continued, "I served in the Governorate Colonial Fleet for three years. I was assault team leader and gunnery chief aboard Sir Vika's Cruiser 141, and I once explored the routes in that direction with the fleet. But, just as the current star chart shows, we reached the end at Arborist A, followed by Frontier D912."
Frontier D912 was right at the end of the route Feifei had marked on the star chart. It took only two jumps to reach it from Arborist A.
"We went all the way to the end and searched the area as usual, but found nothing. On our way back, when we passed through Arborist A, we ran into a pirate fleet of considerable size."
"Pirates?" Feifei asked in surprise. "But the star chart shows only one route through here."
"Exactly. The underworld and underground intelligence networks always know routes that the authorities don't," Sobek said helplessly.
The authorities knew routes the public didn't, too. You just weren't high-ranking enough to know about them yet, Yu Lian thought.
"Are you saying the Marauder fleet might have retreated along a route known to the pirate groups?" Feifei asked. "If so, they could also use those unknown routes to set an ambush and cut off our retreat."
Colonel Jaeger