- T+15 years to hostilities -

In a callback to the seafaring submarines of antiquity, the command center of the SNS Xiangli XII was perpetually dark and quiet. Illumination only came from the dim blue lamps and holoscreens, and the on-duty staff never raised their voices above a whisper. These were natural side effects of their job on an Anubis E-II-class surveillance ship deep in enemy territory. High-res sensors and the cloaking device took priority over non-essentials like gravity and lighting, and frankly Petty Officer Mikhali Perser-VI preferred it that way. In their line of work, change typically signified something had gone wrong, followed by days of cat and mouse games that tended to end in the stealth ship exploding.

The ongoing conversation wasn't so dramatic, but it was incredibly nerve-wracking to be the subject of Captain Petraeus-II's infamous stare, who could make even a concept-based entity sweat bullets. Fortunately the man hadn't decided on a thought-accelerated interrogation, but his two-meter figure absolutely towered over everyone else in their crash couches.

"So what did you see, Mikhali?" asked the balding skipper. "Something about a star flashing?"

"Yes sir. Well, Commander Xiangli and I think so," and Perser turned back to his holodisplay, as Petraeus-II watched attentively. A series of images pulled onscreen showed blurry images of a tiny but unmistakable flash of light amidst a sea of stars and debris. The timestamps showed that it barely lasted a minute, and the petty officer could see the cogs turn in his CO's head as he continued, "our scopes weren't focused on the region since it's mostly dust, but they provided enough data to confirm the nova's location and anomalous nature."

"And you're going to ask me for permission to use active sensors inside Interlink territory?" the Captain asked apprehensively. "It could just be an old reactor blowing out, and if it isn't the risk of detection increases substantially. Whatever we're looking at, I don't fancy our odds against a hunting party."

"Sir, I agree that a scan would be dangerous, but the situation may deserve closer examination," Perser argued, and he sent a pleading glance to his fellow sensor operator, Ensign Ulysses-III. "We've seen an influx of transports and construction equipment through this galaxy, and the starburst could be leakage from a megastructure project of some sort. If that's the case, we won't need to break cover for long to confirm it."

His commanding officer stood silently, but the twitch of his eyes suggested wireless communications with the others.

You've made a good case for our examination, Commander Xiangli messaged Perser. I'll take it from here. The shipboard AI could be a little eccentric, but the reassurances were a relief regardless.

"Very well. You and the rest of the bridge crew will be receiving a plan of action shortly," the man said, and then he announced a change of plans to the rest of the bridge. Perser barely registered the raised alert status, occupied as he was with his console.

Everything that followed was a well-practiced procedure. First, the Xiangli VII would partially drop its cloaking field. The stealth ship would rely more on the vastness of deep space to stay hidden, which freed up electrical power and minimized interference with the more sensitive instruments. Then came the actual scanning.

The passive suite got first dibs on the suspected megastructure, with the venerable electromagnetic receivers of closer probes able to narrow down target locations through a combination of visual-infrared emissions and unusual radio traffic. With their ansibles, the probes ignored the worst of the lightspeed delays with little risk, especially compared to what the crew were about to do next.

"Powering up gravitic lens," Perser stated. The device would detect any masses and their distortions of the spacetime continuum in the suspected system. Something as large as a megastructure would be impossible to mask, especially when there was only supposed to be a cloud of dead star gas in the area, but an active gravitic lens was easily detected by other gravitic lenses.

"Major mass shadow detected, Captain," Ensign Ulyss-III added, the new occupant of a seat next to Perser, "with a displacement in the ballpark of eight hundred trillion metric tons."

"Resolving details," Perser continued, "merging image with probe tachyon beams." The lens seemed to show some sort of ring structure around a star, but with a diameter of only 2,000 kilometers, both its size and mass were far too low for a ringworld. Perser and Ulyss looked at each other, their confusion evident, only to be abruptly be pulled into accelerated augmented reality.

Stop all operations. This is more than enough confirmation. Good work Ulyss, Perser, their Captain said, looking quite shaken. Our mission is to get this data to the Committee quickly and safely.

Agreed. Active sensor suites deactivated, full cloak reengaged. Calculating probability of detection by the enemy... Commander Xiangli continued. They do not appear alerted to our presence.

The two sensor suite operators were still somewhat disoriented, but Perser spat out the burning question on their minds. Sir, I have a question. What exactly did we see there?

That, son, is the first Interlink superheavy warship in construction. If it ever achieves operational status, this entire supercluster is done for, the Captain answered. Warp drive status?

A simple flash of neon green from the ship's engineer seemed to suffice. Excellent, now how about getting word out about the superheavy?

Our ansible is locked onto SNS Sybil II and transmitting all data, sir, their pale and reclusive cyberwarfare specialist announced, now receiving orders from command.

Unfortunately, low-levels like Perser and Ulyss weren't privy to such messages, so they were forced to wait and watch as their CO's expression visibly changed from relieved satisfaction to shock and finally, to bitter resignation. Ending mind augmentation session, the ship cheerfully announced.

Back in the real world, Captain Petraeus steeled his expression and read out a new set of orders.

"From the Joint Commandant himself. Evade detection. Hold your position if possible. Prepare to assist Federation forces with targeting data in an impending offensive action. That is all."

When Perser-VI had been first assigned to a stealth ship to keep watch over the aftermath of an old strategic weapons exchange, AKA bumfuck nowhere, he had been relieved. "I'm safe now, safer than before," Perser remembered messaging his community, which was vague and probably not really reassuring. But his feelings were genuine, genuine enough to receive a reminder from the censors about information security alongside grateful replies from his extended family and friends.

That sentiment was looking to be a bit hasty right about now. As he and his crewmates pulled out snacks and drinks and settled in for the long haul, Perser wondered what else the Federation's civil war would demand of them.