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differences in capabilities became more pronounced, due to the heavy losses sustained in terms of ships and equipment. First generation Crusader class ships were escorted by hastily re-commissioned ships from the Uprising, while state-of-the-art Confederate class ships dashed between planets at inconceivable speeds, filled with robotics warriors and Khreenk inspired energy weapons.
     
    Naval Cadet’s Handbook

    ANS Orion, Sector Sixteen, T’Karan
    The Alliance Liberty class missile destroyer fired its engines for the last time as it decelerated at the target vector. It was an ungainly looking ship, with its hull divided up into three distinct mission bays to allow it to fulfil a variety of roles. The basic hull was the same for all ships of the class, but by swapping out the bays, it could be configured with missiles, guns, marine transport containers, or supply units. Though nowhere near the most powerful ships in the fleet, they had become the workhorse for so many tasks, being both cheap to manufacture and operate.
    “So, the source of the signal is definitely the derelict,” said Captain Dutch.
    Images appeared on the large holographic projection and dotted lines, showing the angle, strength, and location of the signal. The signal had only begun when they were just two days from the target, and that could only mean it had come on either by accident, or someone or something had detected their presence. Ever suspicious, Captain Dutch suspected the latter.
    “Send an update to Command, and bring us in closer. Not too close, though.”
    He looked to his crew with a calm and relaxed expression.
    “You never know what you’ll find in deep space. If it’s definitely a derelict, then the entire crew will get a percentage of the prize money.”
    That seemed to have little impact on the crew, much to his surprise. Salvage rights to derelicts were a way for military and civilian crews to make a little extra money on their long trips. It was one of the primary incentives for investigating odd occurrences such as this.
    They were still undergoing the final stage of deceleration towards the target, but it gave him just enough time to look at the data received so far. He had little to go on, other than it was unlikely to be a natural body, and it was larger than any vessel used by the known races.
    What the hell is this thing?
    They’d been on a routine patrol when long-range sensors from the Admiral Jarvis Naval Station had detected the object. No star systems were even remotely close to the T’Karan System, so any unidentified object in that region was quickly flagged and orders sent to the nearest ship. ANS Orion had been just three days out when the order had arrived, and another sixteen days for it to get to the source of the signal. Only when it reached a distance of a thousand kilometres, and had matched speed, did it perform a full rotation so that its bow finally returned to face the target.
    “This is the Captain. All crew report to your stations. This is not a drill. I repeat; all crew to your stations.”
    His voice was calm, as one might expect in a peacetime operation deep inside Alliance space. The war was long over, and though there were still plenty of opportunities for combat and danger, he suspected this would be nothing more than a lost ship, or a satellite that had broken free of some long lost colony of the T’Kari.
    T’Karan was the unusual star system marking the last barrier between the old worlds of the human Alliance, and its new possessions in the Orion Nebula. It had been home to the T’Kari in the past, but their limited numbers were now scattered on multiple worlds, and their own colonies shared with humans, Helions, and many others. T’Karan was now more of a way station, a halfway point for those making the journey from the human colonies of what used to be the Confederacy, and the new worlds based around the transport nexus at Helios.
    “Take us in closer...and contact High Command. They