“Let’s get a confirmation as soon as we can, Ensign,” Celesta took her seat. It had been a boring, slow flight down into the system as the taskforce could detect nothing else of interest save for the continually chirping transponder that still insisted it was a Starwolf-class ship. Of the three such ships remaining Celesta knew that the Icarus was the only one anywhere near the Frontier, so it would be fascinating to see what it was that had been transmitting the distress call.

“This … can’t be right,” Accari muttered to himself.

“You have something, Ensign?” Barrett said loudly.

“Yes, sir … but—”

“Just put it on the main screen, Ensign,” Celesta said a bit impatiently. “Let’s all see it at once and then discuss what has you so out of sorts.” Accari wordlessly sent the images to the main screen and sat back expectantly.

Celesta stood and walked near the left side of the screen, intending to view the cleaned-up images in order. The first showed nothing of distinction, just a dark shape that might have been a ship. The next image made her stop and frown. It was certainly the right profile for a Starwolf-class ship. The third image left no doubt that whatever the object really was, it had been made to look just like the Terran destroyer it claimed to be. The next few images she skipped over as they just showed the same level of detail at slightly different angles. When she came to one of the final images, however, all the blood drained from her face. The angle was just right so that they could clearly see the dorsal surface of the prow section and the spot where a ship’s name and registry had been helpfully highlighted by the sensor backshop:

TCS ARES

DS-701B

“Captain, I suggest we go to general quarters,” Barrett said, breaking the stunned silence on the bridge.

“Sound general quarters,” Celesta said without turning away from the display. “And then you can explain why we’re getting ready for a fight.”

“Sound general quarters!” Barrett barked to Lieutenant Ellison. “Set condition 1SS! Prepare the Icarus for battle!” Celesta waited with strained patience until Barrett approached and pointed out something on one of the more clear images.

“Ma’am, I strongly suspect that this really is the Ares despite how unlikely that is,” he said. “See this area here … on the ventral surface? That’s damage from a kinetic weapon she sustained on the mission to kill the Phage core mind. The location of the Ares was classified and the data was imprecise due to our unfamiliarity with the area. If it’s a fake”—he trailed off for a moment, seeming to collect his thoughts—“to replicate the damage so perfectly, damage that wasn’t recorded or reported other than word of mouth, is just too much.” Celesta just looked at him for a moment.