This was a starport located on the border of the Empire Zone, and the largest of all the border starports.
The Empire Admiral and the Royal Fleet were undergoing refitting. Those massive starships were held at the ends of the starport's long bridges by force-field beams, while countless firefly-like points of light streamed continuously between the ships and the port. They were engineering vessels and Autonomous Machines, tasked with adding various modifications and external equipment to the ships, then conducting final tests on those extra installations. Refitting and temporary modifications on such a scale were rare; even wartime seldom saw a scene like this. But these alterations were necessary—because we were about to face a place even more unpredictable than a battlefield.
The Royal Fleet would set out for the Void White Zone, and a region far beyond all exploration records, a Void White Zone no one had ever entered. A wave of destruction was surging there. The nature of this Destruction Wave was unknown, its power was unknown, its mechanism was unknown; even its speed and exact extent were unknown. We might plunge headfirst into the self-destruction of millions of universes, or crash straight into an Abyss Gate. We had to make every preparation in advance. The protection offered by Void Creatures was not omnipotent. The only thing that was truly omnipotent was an attitude of unrelenting caution.
Sandora, the others, and I stood on an upper platform of the starport, watching the bustling activity in space. Tawell's Mass Projection stood nearby and delivered her report. "...All modification components have been installed, and final testing is now underway. The primary changes have improved the ships' Void jump speed, as well as the radar sensitivity of various electronic warfare vessels. We aren't sure whether the Destruction Wave can threaten the