To be honest, perhaps because Ina's attitude was so matter-of-fact, Yu Lian really was tempted for a moment. The Empire had spent nearly two weeks pretending to be a ghost fleet, and they'd suddenly fired a shot at the asteroid between the two forces. It was kind of amusing to imagine how the other side would react.
Seeing that Yu Lian seemed tempted, Ina added that, during this period, the ship had indeed received no response to most of its communications requests. However, on a few occasions, they'd been hit with signals from the other side's active grav-wave targeting. It was clearly the enemy aiming at them—a blatant provocation. If they didn't respond at all, the Imperial bastards might think they were afraid.
As the saying went, it was only polite to return a favor. Wasn't that a principle Commander Yu Lian had taught them?
"...Heh. If you hadn't added that last sentence, I might actually have believed you." Yu Lian burst out laughing. "Ina, Major Ina Shirika, you're not wrong. You really have learned to use your head during this time!"
"Sir, what do you mean by that?"
"That scene is straight out of The Pirate King Family! You think I haven't seen it? Oh, wait, that thing's rated eighteen-plus. It's banned here in the Commonwealth! Where did you get a copy?"
Ina gave a quiet "Tsk" and replied in all seriousness, "The Imperial fleet across from us does sometimes shut off its reaction shields and switch on its wide-area broadcast calls. But all we receive are prerecorded propaganda programs from the Imperial military. I thought it felt a lot like what you call 'fishing for an excuse to pick a fight.'"
"So you're the one shining your grav-wave detector at them?"
"Mm. Don't worry, I turn it off