All of Xiao's ships had been refitted with the newest RDS pod from ESA's primary shipbuilding contractor so there were no visible plumes of superheated plasma belching from massive thrust engines to give their position away. The reactionless drive systems gently ghosted his force downhill towards the Fed logistics outpost, their power output so low even the enemy's advanced detection grids would likely miss the gravimetric ripple they were creating.

"Sensors aren't picking up the fleet that is supposed to be here, but we're still at the extreme edge of our detection range," the captain of the Kuài Jiàn said. "If they've arrived ahead of schedule—"

"Then their engines will already be cold and the powerplants throttled back." Xiao's voice was emotionless. "Thank you for the needless exposition, Captain. You may return to your post."

"At once, Admiral," Captain Lu said, nodding in what was not quite a bow, and retreating to where he normally stood near Operations.

Xiao had grave misgivings about his flagship's captain, his taskforce, and the looming war the Eastern Star Alliance and United Terran Federation seemed hellbent to start. In truth, the war had already started, and they were all just waiting for the paperwork to catch up. There had been five major engagements between the two sides, and yet, the politicians talked incessantly, seemingly unaware their endless blathering had no effect on outcomes in the border region.

The age of the ships in his command as well as the complete lack of experience by his crews was alarming when Xiao considered most Fed captains were all hardened by combat in two different wars. While the aging fleets of the former Asianic Union and Warsaw Alliance mostly sat on the sidelines during the Phage War, and didn't participate at all during what the Federation was calling the Expansion War, the Federation fleet had fought countless engagements against a superior enemy and kept finding ways to win. The ESA may have had a numerical advantage, but they were facing a Fed military used to fighting against long odds and coming out on top.

"Time to target?" Xiao asked.

"One hundred and thirteen hours, assuming no change in acceleration profile, Admiral."

"Very well," Xiao said. "Maintain passive posture. No emissions or power increases of any kind."

"Yes, Admiral."

Without a word, Xiao stood to leave the bridge. He pointed at the command chair to indicate to the captain he had the bridge, but he didn't even bother to make eye contact with the man as he strode off, his personal security falling in behind him. With over a week just to get within maximum weapons range, he had some time to himself before any real decisions needed to be made.

Space combat was an exercise in patience. Doubly so when you were trying to be stealthy about it. When ships transitioned into an area of operations, emotions were high and everybody was ready for instant action, but jump points were far out in the outer system. Most combat operations took place much further down the well where planets could be used strategically. That meant that once a ship arrived, it was days and days of transit time just to get in position, and likely even more days of hard flying to pursue any targets.