Albion Lost and a fleet hidden in Wild Space

In Richard Fox's Albion Lost, pirate captain Iron Hand Jim returns to the ice world Sevastopol and finds communications silent, expected traffic absent, and a settlement destroyed. Those clues turn a routine visit into a reconnaissance problem before the enemy itself appears. Sensors then reveal ships larger than any warship the crew knows, followed by a massive vessel emerging almost on top of them and destroying their ship. Missing infrastructure and uncertain information precede the encounter with an overwhelmingly powerful enemy.