The reconnaissance mission proceeds without interruption. As night falls over Tanshin II finally the space anomaly comes into view. 

It is a sphere - as geometrically perfect a shape as an advanced shipyard can construct. It is also heavily damaged. It looks like it has endured an extended barrage from kinetic weaponry or high speed asteroid impacts and there are massive rents in its structure. It is indeed Cruiser size, and it does indeed emanate an absurd amount of waste heat and light. Its reactor output is frankly ludicrous for a ship of its size, and no less so for the fact that it seems to be venting power externally to no effect. All of this would make sense if the ship had been critically damaged in battle, was venting plasma and was mid-way through a critical reactor meltdown, but hours go by with no fluctuation in the power output, let alone explosions.

But then the eye - or skullglow - is drawn to what at first seemed like the debris field around the sphere and it becomes apparent that it is not debris at all.

Around the Cruiser sphere orbits four smaller spheres, each around about the size of a Destroyer, in a strange miniature model of a solar system. One of these spheres demonstrates even more intense damage than the Cruiser, torn almost entirely in half by kinetic impacts, but the others are completely intact. Each sphere, large or small, is marked by a strange glowing band around its equator, a repeating symbol like '>>>' running in a full circuit around the orb and emanating a faint light blue energy glow. The smaller spheres are also almost electronically dead - they do not have reactors on board, and so presumably operate off battery power. Perhaps they refuel from the larger sphere, hence its disproportionate output?

None of the vessels compromise their spherical design, even for the purposes of weaponry or sensor arrays. Large sections are painted in midtone blue, and others reveal golden alloy metals of unknown composition. However, as observation continues, even smaller craft become visible - spheres again, but now fighter and heavy shuttle sized. In an organized but unhurried way they detach from the large craft and descend down onto the planet, and then hours later rise up. There's something uncanny about the way they move - these vessels do not have thrusters, do not leave engine trails, they just float with perfect silence and stillness. Even in atmosphere they are eerily quiet as they descend down to a distant point on the surface, unload, and depart again back to their carriers.

As unusual as these ships may be, the act itself is profoundly familiar. This is a bulk landing operation. A huge quantity of materiel is being shipped from orbit to the surface. The pace of operations suggests that this is a planned maneuver, but the visible damage to the ships suggests that it might be an evacuation. The site they have chosen as a base is nestled in a mountain range - an extremely defensible location. Even though there still has not been any signs of active scanning - not even radar pings - drawing much closer involves increasing risks of detection.