"What's wrong?" Lacus asked immediately, following Fred's voice.
"The monitors we deployed earlier have captured the silhouette of a ship. There's some delay, but it should be accurate."
According to Fred's plan, they had deployed small and medium-sized monitors along their route before proceeding to rendezvous.
Their function was simple: to send an alert if any ships passed by.
It was still a ship not listed in PLANT's database.
And now, the device they had pre-deployed had been triggered.
As they spoke, the large screen in front of the three displayed three Drake-class battleships.
Although the distance was considerable and the image somewhat blurry, the faint outlines were still discernible.
From their perspective, the three battleships had already locked onto them, and missiles silently streaked across the cosmic expanse toward their monitor.
Naturally, amidst the explosion's fiery glow, the signal was cut off.
Only the "signal lost" prompt on the now-dark screen served as proof of the monitor's brief existence.
"Discovered so quickly?" Lacus frowned, her delicate brows knitting together.
Judging from the footage, there wasn't much information to glean.
"Their radar might have been enhanced, and we have no way to conceal the data stream."
It wasn't inconceivable for Mobile Suits on covert missions to have stronger radar capabilities than mass-produced models.
Still within the plan, Fred wasn't overly alarmed.
After all, being discovered had been anticipated.
There was no avoiding it. For Fred, or for PLANT, current technology hadn't advanced enough to conceal data transmissions from the other side.
At most, they could encrypt communications so the source remained unknown.
Thus, if they wanted the device to connect to them in real-time, its existence would inevitably be exposed.
Fred himself wasn't so miraculous as to develop black technology capable of undetectable data transmission.
Future quantum communication might make it possible.
But it would only work over short distances.
Like the two birds of Kira and Lacus, and the DRAGOON system—both were capabilities brought about by quantum communication.
And right now, he couldn't create it.
As Fred pondered, his hands didn't stop moving, pulling up the footage from just before the monitor was destroyed.
He began processing the image data.
As the three Drake-class ships on the screen gradually became clearer, Fred spoke again.
"Alec, send these images along with the course and other information of these three Drake-class ships to Wolf. Tell them to maintain their original course and not act rashly."
Their communication had a delay; what they were seeing had happened five minutes ago.
Although the firepower of those three ships likely wouldn't be enough to annihilate Wolf and the others, it was hard to say if there were only those ships. They only had this one set of monitors.
The appearance of the monitor had undoubtedly alerted the enemy.
"Understood," Alec responded swiftly.
Fred then turned toward Lacus.
"We need to mobilize the transport ships inside the AT-2 space station. My apologies."
Fred apologized because once such a hidden space station was used and its concealment was compromised, it could only be abandoned.
"There's no other choice. Give me the coordinates."
Lacus did not refuse. Compared to that space station, the researchers were more important.
"But we only have three modified transport ships."
Probably three transport ships were still hidden there. If they only faced the three Drake-class ships from earlier, it would be sufficient.
But none of them knew if there would be further threats.
Fred had just ordered them to maintain their course precisely because he feared being surrounded if they took other routes.
Compared to encountering possible ambushes on routes to other locations, breaking through head-on at least meant knowing some basics about the opponents.
"They have dispersed forces. Even if there's an ambush, the numbers won't be large. The key is seizing the opportunity."
Listening to Fred's words, Lacus tilted her head in confusion.
If it were before, Lacus might have reminded him a couple of times, but now, seeing Fred intently staring at the screen, clearly planning something, she remained silent.
This young man should have already realized the problem.
She didn't need to say anything.
She just didn't know what his plan was.
Without asking further, Lacus watched the two who had already become busy and then took out her own terminal.
...
"Captain, we've probably been detected."
On the Blue Cosmos transport ship, the bridge was also tense after destroying the monitor.
"Can we counter-track?"
The Blue Cosmos youth named Captain asked.
His voice echoed in the bridge.
Unlike the impulsive Blue Cosmos captains of the past, this captain's voice and attitude were extremely calm.
"They used encrypted communication. It's difficult."
The Adjutant's face looked grim as he spoke.
"In that case, let's adapt to the situation."
The youth was clearly not the typical type who would rush into battle shouting for a pure Blue Cosmos universe.
After calmly speaking, a plan emerged in his mind.
"Contact Team Two and have them circle behind us."
Not knowing if there were more warning devices ahead, they temporarily became the forward fleet.
This could also ensure concealing the other side's presence, and moreover...
"Since they deployed monitors here, it means our information is likely correct."
"Also, send messages to the surrounding fleets to block other routes. Figure out exactly how many ships they have this time."
"Keep all those Coordinators here."
"We can't let them continue their research."
It wasn't a secret that Coordinators couldn't reproduce; everyone knew.
What they needed to do was also to delay, or even halt, research related to Coordinators entirely.
Even if the Coordinators knew they were coming and chose other channels, they could still seal them off.
As for encountering tough opponents—if the Coordinator fleet was too powerful—their Drake-class ships could still hold them off and wait for reinforcements.
However, he didn't believe the Coordinators would have a particularly strong fleet.
Especially during a covert evacuation.
Unless this was a deliberate diversion by them.
The chances of capturing those Coordinators were still quite high.
So far, everything was still within his plan.
Now it's up to see how the opposing commander will make their move.
The young man furrowed his brows tightly, deep in thought.
"Understood!"
In contrast to the composed young man, the others on the bridge revealed expressions of ferocity and bloodlust upon hearing his words.
Across the vast cosmos, though the two sides had yet to meet face-to-face, tensions were already high, with each making their final preparations.
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