When the plan had first begun, no one had expected it to go so smoothly. They had thought that if they were discovered ahead of time, they would just cause some trouble for the Dark Aster and leave.
But luck seemed to be on the Earthlings' side. The third officer had been tricked into taking the wrong route, yet he did not dare say a word, much less mention his encounter with Korath. In fact, the third officer knew perfectly well that Korath had tricked even Ronan this time.
What he could not understand was how Korath, Ronan's most trusted subordinate, could possibly betray him.
Precisely because he could not make sense of it, the third officer did not hesitate to pin all the blame on the dead female secretary. Although Ronan's fury still subjected him to plenty of agonizing punishments, Ronan spared his life because he still needed him to recalibrate the route.
Thus, from beginning to end, Ronan never discovered that someone had infiltrated his Dark Aster and even planted a virus within it.
With things going so beautifully, the Earthlings' second-stage plan became even bolder.
Originally, they had intended to leave the robot-disguised soldiers aboard the Dark Aster to wreak havoc. But now, because of the navigational error, both motherships were trapped in the asteroid belt, unable to move an inch.
A massive mothership could not weave through an asteroid belt like a fighter jet, not even if Star-Lord were piloting it. They could only dispatch fighters to clear a path.
Under these circumstances, the Necrocraft disguised as robots took off again, then immediately turned around and launched an attack on the Chitauri.
The change came so suddenly that the Chitauri had no time to react before the Necrocraft pierced their shields and entered the mothership.
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