"Huh? How do you dope that out?" Haynes demanded.
"Logic. We're getting up now to where these zwilniks can really think. You have already assumed that they know that we can trace their beam, and we know that they know about our detector nullifiers. Go further. Assume that they have deduced, from things we have already done, that we have ships—one or two, at least—that are inherently indetectable and almost perfectly absorptive. Where does that land you?"
"Hm-m-m. I see. Since they can't change the nature of the beam, they would run it through a series of relays, with each leg trapped with everything they could think of, and at the first sign of interference with any one of them they would switch to another, maybe halfway across the Galaxy. Also, they might very well move it around once in a while, anyway, just on general principles."
"Check. That's why you had better take the Fleet back home, leaving Nadreck and me to work the rest of this line with our speedsters."
"Don't be silly, son—I thought you could think"—and Haynes gazed quizzically at the younger man.
"What else? Where am I overlooking a bet?" Kinnison demanded.
"It is elementary tactics, young man," the admiral instructed, "to cover up any small, quiet operation with a large and noisy one. Thus, if I want to make an exploratory sortie in one sector I should always attack in force in another."
"But what would it get us?" Kinnison expostulated. "What's the advantage to be gained, to make up for the unavoidable losses?"
"Don't be dumb. Advantage? Listen!" Haynes' bushy gray hair fairly bristled in eagerness. "We've been on the defensive long enough. They must be weak, after their losses at Tellus; and now, before they can rebuild, is the time to strike. It's good tactics, as I said, to make a diversion to cover you up, but I want to do more than that. I think that we had better start an actual, serious invasion, right now. When you can swing it, the best possible defense—even in general—is a powerful offense, and we're all set to go. We will begin it with this fleet, and then, as soon as we are sure that they haven't got enough power to counter-invade, we will bring up everything we have except for some purely defensive stuff, such as sunbeams and so on, around Tellus and the other most important bases. We'll hit them so hard that they won't be able to worry about such a little thing as a communicator line."
"Hm-m-m. Never thought of it from that angle, but it'd be nice. We are coming over here sometime, anyway—why not now? I suppose that you'll start on the edge, or in a spiral arm, just as though you were going ahead with the conquest of the whole Galaxy?"