The object the Resolute’s crew calls the Splinter is carried on the institutional record as TVA-S/2192 — a tracking designation, opened at the Junction 44-K engagement. It is not a recognised polity. It is not at war with the human fleet in any sense the war colleges would accept. It shoots, and it withdraws, and it has never once given chase.
This summary collects what the Threat Section could stand behind by the close of the second deployment. It is short, and most of it is hedged, because the subject is.
Detection History
| When | Where | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Day 35 · 2192 | Junction 44-K margin | First signal pulse logged; vector ran into the deep margin, not at the Resolute |
| Day 38 · 2192 | 44-K deep margin | Second asset detected — consistent with the Day 35 pulse vector |
| Day 40 · 2192 | Junction 44-K | First direct engagement; six seconds of usable sensor return (see Sensor Reconstruction) |
| 2195–96 | Junction Cluster 17-D | Arrival predicted ahead of contact — the section had by now learned to read the pulse, and the pulse precedes the ship |
The pattern across these is consistent: the Splinter is found at Architect-network junctions, it announces nothing, and a coordinating signal precedes the arrival of a second vessel by a predictable interval.
Signals Doctrine
The faction’s vessel-to-vessel signal is the single thing the section understands well, because it took the trouble to.
- Band: lower reach of the harmonic-stack spectrum — the same band as standard Tarvan-lineage coil noise. The section assesses this as deliberate: the signal hides in a noise floor most vessels never tune to.
- Form: directed, beamed at the receiving asset. Not broadcast.
- Speed: light-speed at vessel ranges. The Splinter has no faster-than-light communication. Its coordination is bounded by the same physics as a radio call.
- Tempo: sparse. Hours between pulses at minimum. It speaks only when it must.
That the coordination travels at light-speed is the most useful fact the section holds: it means a pulse detected here is a decision made there, some time ago, and an arrival can be timed.
Hardware Lineage — ASSESSED, UNCONFIRMED
Elements of the Splinter’s rounds and signals sit close to Tarvan-design-lineage hardware on file from the Drift-era contact records. The section’s assessment — explicitly flagged unconfirmed — is that the faction fields diverted Tarvan-lineage equipment, obtained outside any sanctioned channel.
A sealed back-channel acknowledgement, held at command level and not distributed: the Tarvan diplomatic body does not recognise the Splinter, cannot prevent its operations without admitting the diversion, and is not at war with it. The note recommends the Resolute take the faction’s protocol-refusal at face value. ████████████████████
Assessed Intent — UNCONFIRMED
The section cannot give command a motive it would defend. The pattern it can defend is negative: the Splinter does not pursue, does not raid, does not press an advantage once a vessel withdraws. It engages where ISCA hulls approach Architect-residual sites, and nowhere else on the record.
The working assessment — and it is only that — is that the faction is guarding something, not hunting. The institutional reading will take years to close. Until it does:
Recommendation: Do not pursue. Do not escalate. Treat protocol-refusal as the message it appears to be. The thing to fear here is not a predator. It is a sentry whose post we do not yet understand.