She then accessed the Icarus’ com array from her terminal and punched in a specific frequency, one that wasn’t normally used in Fleet com protocols. The expected data stream was there, so she applied the CIS decryption codes to it and the stream resolved into a continuous broadcast that her terminal couldn’t decipher.

“OPS, I’m routing a data stream to your station,” she said. “Run it through the grav-detection network’s subroutines and then pipe the results to the main display.”

“Aye, ma’am.” Accari sounded confused but went to work as soon as Celesta included his terminal in the subnetwork she’d created to isolate the highly classified broadcast.

Near the end of the Phage War the researchers at Tsuyo Corp had begun to crack open the vault and release some of the technology they’d been working on, one of which was a detection grid that used six satellites deployed from a starship to detect gravimetric waves and allow them to detect the presence of a Phage combat unit without having to paint it with an active radar signal. It cut the detection time at least by half since all they had to do was wait for the signal from the detection grid as opposed to transmitting a high power radar signal, waiting for the returns, and then waiting further as the computers processed it all.

The downside was that the grid, while accurate, had a relatively small range of detection due to the need for each satellite to be connected to the others via a laser. After the loss of Haven it was decided that the DeLonges System had to be protected at all costs and the system was implemented on a grand scale, hundreds of individual detection grids set up to cover all the spots that the tracking stations weren’t, basically anywhere there wasn’t a jump point. The data was all sent directly to a discreet new addition to the com drone platform where the information was processed and then rebroadcast as an encrypted data stream. With the former Warsaw Alliance and Asianic Union planets breaking off it was decided to keep the system’s existence classified for the time being.

“I had to make some adjustments, but the feed from the interferometer network you sent me is now live, ma’am,” Accari gestured to the main display where gravimetric anomalies were being displayed and cataloged. “We aren’t able to access the database they’re using to identify known signatures so everything will be coming up as an unknown … I’ll begin filling in what we know from the contacts we know from either passive sensors or nav beacons.”

“Good work, Ensign,” Celesta nodded. “Tactical! While OPS is busy filling in the blanks, I want you watching that feed for any newcomers, specifically someone that appears deep in the system and didn’t come from any known jump point. Alert me the instant you have anything.”