It was common sense in space to never travel in straight lines.
This was especially the case in times of war and conflict.
Any human fleet that traversed through alien-occupied space would always be vigilant about getting ambushed en route.
If the aliens collected enough information about the coordinates and the direction of travel of a human fleet, then it was possible to prepare an ambush along the way.
The best way to prevent this from happening was to vary the direction of travel from time to time.
By deviating from the most mathematically optimal route and taking a few short detours, the chances of slamming into ambushes dropped dramatically!
This was a habit that had already been ingrained into many well-run human fleets.
The same applied for the aliens.