The "Pioneer Knight of the Ante Empire" and the "Rangers of the Gemini Civilization" formally declared war on each other, raising the curtain on a preliminary clash between two civilizations...
Their first confrontation came sooner than expected, and it was... reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance!
"Activate Light-Deflection Stealth and execute Counter-Reconnaissance Tactical Maneuver No. 3!" The captains of the two Rangers were the first to react.
With the Gemini Civilization's probes in the Solar System destroyed, they had lost their eyes inside it, while their tractor beams had exposed their own positions. Aware of this, they chose to make small positional shifts and activate stealth to avoid being targeted by enemy weapons.
They knew nothing about the reconnaissance range or weapons systems of the "Ante Empire" warship, but a little caution never hurt. Their agreement had said nothing about forbidding surprise attacks.
Just as Nie Yun had guessed earlier, their optical stealth systems perfectly concealed even their thrusters' exhaust flames. For the moment, he lost track of them.
"Playing hide-and-seek? Too bad you don't have another route!" Nie Yun merely glanced at the surveillance feed before turning his attention elsewhere.
Indeed, Nie Yun had never expected to establish another precise long-range lock on them. He left only a few Hawkeye Scouts aimed along the Rangers' course, then ordered all the Mechanical Insects in his reconnaissance network across the Solar System to forage and replicate.
On a long interstellar voyage, the slightest error could put a ship thousands of miles off course. As long as their destination was the Solar System, they could not make any significant course changes!
The shortest distance between two points was a straight line. Any major change in direction would not only dramatically increase fuel consumption, but also send them off course and greatly extend the time required