Nie Yun stretched, having dealt with his greatest concern.
"Whew! Done! Looks like it really was a passive detector. Its stealth capabilities were incredible, but it didn't have a single offensive or defensive weapon. A little disappointing!"
That was perfectly normal, though. For espionage and reconnaissance, the more discreet, the better. Adding weapons would only have been gilding the lily.
"But... my alien friends, underestimating your opponent isn't a good idea! Now then, it's picnic time!"
Having completed their mission, the two enormous nets rapidly retracted and reassembled into two miniature Silver Shuttles. They then began decelerating for the return trip to collect their spoils. By his estimates, they would reach the Lagrange points in twenty hours.
Fortunately, both locations were gravitationally stable points, so the probes' wreckage wouldn't be scattered by gravitational forces. That made Nie Yun's salvage work much easier.
He had originally considered quietly taking over the two probes using the "stealing vegetables" approach. That would have yielded greater benefits, but putting it into practice posed some difficulties.
There were no celestial bodies around the Lagrange points on which to use his "hard-landing deceleration technique." And with a full seven light-minutes between the Sea Wolf and the destination, even setting aside the considerable time required to slow down until the projectiles were stationary relative to the probes, the thermal radiation emitted by their thrusters during that change in velocity would make them look highly anomalous, increasing the risk of exposure.
Using an atomic-blade-like attack, however, would minimize structural damage to the probes. Such tiny incisions wouldn't affect Nie Yun's analysis at all.
More importantly, the unknown was the most terrifying enemy. Only by destroying the probes as quickly as possible could he deny them any chance to employ their capabilities. That was why Nie Yun had chosen