Recon Launch - Terran Mandate by Martechi on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

A battle between starships begins at the first sign of contact. Long before the first shots fired, the two adversaries are on the hunt. Uneven movement in planetary rubble, disturbance in the light of stars, strange signatures among the trading fleets on their trajectories – space upon the Marred Frontier is alive with innumerable phenomena, of which many could be telltale signs of hostiles inbound, but very few are.
Where the surveillance web has been struck, scouts are sent to investigate, and their own reports direct the movement of rapid response forces. On the edge of Terran Space, the Mandate's fleets stand ever vigilant, and they will move out in force quickly rather than leaving any encounter up to chance.

On its way to the suspected enemy, every starship launches a drone fleet for reconnaissance of its own. They rely on external eyes and ears at every stage of the battle, as the foes seek to distract and blind each other, obscuring signals, movement, and position. The accurate detection, identification, and tracking of hostiles and their fire are the priority of every defense. Without information, no mighty ship could prevail.

The scout probes swiftly disappear, becoming just a few more specs among a thousand others on the firmament. As the web of sensor nodes around the starship expands, the next wave of drones and craft is readied to prepare its own defense.

Terran Mandate - original project by Martechi