[color=#e2e2e2][b]GALACTIC CORE PERIPHERY - INTERSTELLAR SPACE[/b]

“Commander I’m getting sensor readings I don’t quite understand.”
“On the table please.”
Muriel looked at the data, trying to piece it together herself. If a well-trained sensors operator didn’t understand a reading, it was unlikely she would either. Still, she did discern something from it. “SICI, map the position of these readings relative an approximation of our unknown signal.”
They were all clustered to a distant planet. The commander hadn’t expected the planet – though it was not surprising – but the clustering was what she was hoping for. Whatever these signatures were, they were after it too ... whatever exactly “it” was.

“Navigation, can we spool for short-jump frameshift?”
“Drive is cooled down enough, affirmative. How close am I targeting this?”
“Keep us at least 100 AMMs* from everything. We’ll close in under main engine power.”
The [i]Destiny Ascendant[/i] spooled its frameshift drive quickly for this short jump. Before it lurched forth towards what could be friends or targets, Commander Dar’Tuura made a call for the sensors officer. “On arrival, ping our active sensors once. Helm, up power to one half impulse and get us some speed. Tactical, zero emissions immediately after sensors ping.”

An active sensor ping would light the ship up like a Christmas tree. Everything in the area that wasn’t deaf & blind in every sensor band imaginable would know where they were. The frameshift exit would also throw off enough of a quantum burst to achieve similar effect, and so nothing of value would be lost. Most commanders were still quite rightfully afraid of using active sensors without already being engaged in open combat. The commander’s plan was to take advantage of the one moment it couldn’t do that much damage and use the built-up momentum to cruise away swiftly. The other presences in the region would know where they were at sensor ping, but not their present location after a few seconds … provided they survived those critical seconds.

[hr]
[b]GALACTIC CORE - AURORA[/b]

[i]Destiny[/i] jolted out of frameshift into the gravity well of the unknown planet. For an instant, its primary sensor systems screamed out into the void, and then went silent as they listened for the echoes of detected targets. The ship’s signature dropped to nearly nothing in that silence. Active sensors could see through ships concealing their emissions and even identify the presence of vessels running active cloaking. “Sensors data processing now Commander. I’ve got a variety of craft moving around the planet itself and … some weird interference off to our right by about 150 AMMs*.”

“What kind of interference?” Muriel postulated.
“Unclear. The sensors are returning [i]something[/i] but it looks like just noise. The weird part is that other areas are returning nothing like I would expect.” The sensors officer was a smart man, and he being stumped meant that a problem was unlikely to see an answer.
“Could we be detecting a stealth vessel?” SICI entered the conversation through the bridge’s speakers.
“I wouldn’t think so SICI. Active sensors normally lights up stealth craft albeit at the cost of your own discretion,” he continued to report.
“[i]If[/i] there is something there, chances are it will make the first move seeing as it knows we’re in the area. I’d rather let them show their cards before we show ours,” Muriel asserted, “and so we wait.”

*[i] AMM: Astronomical Military Measurement - 1,000 kilometers/1 megameter/1,000,000 meters - Slang term created by Navy captains to refer to increments of one thousand kilometers: a common measurement when specifying distances to targets and engagement ranges.[/i][/color]