The bridge of the EDFS Andromeda was filled with activity, senior officers calling in reports from their stations as the ship prepared to enter Warp and for the battle to come. Above it all, in the command post of Bridge 1, sat Vice Admiral Ryu Hijikata, presiding over the coordinated chaos, barking orders when needed, and otherwise letting his men do their work. They were all competent, well trained, and he knew he could trust them to do their jobs. After all, only the most distinguished or promising officers would have made it aboard the crew of the Flagship of the Earth Defense Forces.

At the moment, the Andromeda sat in the void of space between Earth and Mars, surrounded by the EDF main battle fleet, preparing to Warp to Saturn. They had received their orders from HQ, knew the risks involved. The forces of the Comet Empire were approaching Earth, and they would have to be stopped before they could reach the planet. So Admiral Hijikata sallied forth with the fleet under his command to engage them near the rings of Saturn, to face the enemy and strike him down.

Checklist complete, all stations reported manned and ready. Soon, they would be thrust into the biggest conflict they had ever been in since the height of the Earth-Gamilar War. Hijikata got on the internal ship comm "Now hear this. All hands, prepare for warp. We don't know how close the enemy will be when we emerge, so I expect you all to acquit yourselves as befitting of Earths best and brightest. We will not fail, not here, not today." He looked down from his command post to where Brandon Richards, British, sat at the helm. "Lieutenant, take us into Warp."

"Yes sir," Brandon replied, looking back at the Admiral before his attention returned to the dials and gauges in front of him, specifically the one that showed a sine wave, the Andromeda, and their destination. He had to line things up perfectly, even with shipboard automation to help him, or they risked being lost in the fourth dimension. It was a task that had his full concentration.

"Sir, I'm detecting a mass of unknown exotic particles headed directly for it," called Flynn Hart, Australian, from where she sat at the sensors section of the bridge.

That grabbed the Admiral's attention and he looked over at her. "Can we maneuver around it?"

Brandon looked back for a few brief moments to answer. "There's no time sir. If we do ,we risk missing the Warp, and then the Comet Empire fleet will have passed by when we arrive."

Hijikata frowned, growling under his breath. "Fine then. Continue." He hit the comm. "All hands, brace for impact. This may be a more bump ride than normal."

"Entering Warp in 3...2...1...Now!"

The Wave Motion Engine fired to full, a hole in space opening up as the Andromeda entered the fourth dimension, allowing them to travel great distances in a single bound. Colors shifted into multicolored rainbow as time seemed to stand still, which would be headache inducing if they could comprehend it. Then just as suddenly they were free and clear, another hole ripping open to disgorge the Andromeda, but far from their intended destination.

The ship rocked in space, shuddering from the stress it had been put under, subject to exotic particles as it went through Warp, and warning klaxons went off on the bridge to signal this distress. "Get me a damage report, now," roared Hijikata. He did not want to go into battle with a damaged ship.

The bridge scrambled to activity, searching for the damage, and preparing for combat just as they had been before.It wasn't long until they got something back. "Sir, I'm not picking up any friendly contacts," called Flynn.

"What, are you saying that we lost the fleet," Hijikata replied.

""Radar confirms. I'm picking up unknown vessels of types and configurations never seen before, but nothing of the main battle fleet."

Hijikata growled, resisting the urge to slam his fist onto his armrest. What the hell was going on here? How could they have lost the fleet? If these unknown ships were Comet Empire attack forces, then they were finished! "Come on people, I want some answers here." Frantic minutes passed by as they worked to understand what was going on, each minute lost another minute that the Comet Empire's forces had to near.

Youssef Toma, Egypt, perked up as he received a report. "Sir, I'm getting a report from the engine room. No significant damage, but the capacitor for the Wave Motion Guns was burned out by that unknown energy. We can't use them." That earned a muttered curse from Hijikata. The Wave Motion Guns were their most powerful weapons. Without them, they would practically be sitting ducks for the Comet Empire.

But he quickly took charge. "Launch all Cosmo Tiger squadrons and place them in a defensive formation around the ship. Prepare all weapons to fire on my command. We will not be taken unawares." Outside the ship, weapons perked up and moved, preparing to fire though there was no energy buildup yet. All they needed was a target.

"Sir, I can confirm, astrogation doesn't recognize any of the stars we can pick up."

Another matter that drew the Admiral's attention. "So, you're saying we're not in the solar system anymore?"

A shaken head. "No sir. In fact, I would say we're not even in any of the galaxies we've explored before. We're a long way from home."

"I see," Hijikata replied, bowing his head as he clasped his hands together. "Alright then, comms. I want you to broadcast on all general and emergency frequencies, rotating through every Earth language, as well as Gamilar and Iskandarian."

"Yes sir." And so the message went out, in a hundred different languages. This is the Earth Defense Forces Ship Andromeda to all unknown vessels. please identify yourselves immediately. We have no desire for conflict but will defend ourselves against aggression. Please respond. Dies ist der Earth Defense Forces Schiff Andromeda....

---

"Alright you slackers, let's go, let's go, get those birds in the air now." Vince Mortini, the CAG aboard the Andromeda, ran for his fighter as he strapped his helmet into place. The hangar bay was a bustle of activity as the flight crews worked to get out the Cosmo Tiger squadrons as rapidly as possible. He practically vaulted into the cockpit, looking over the readouts to make sure everything was in order. Fully loaded with fuel, ammunition, good. With the Andromeda having been about to go into battle, they were well off for supplies.

He had to wait his turn until the catapult was clear, maneuvering himself into place on the launch ramp. There was a countdown, and he hit the throttle, engines firing against the backstop to throw the ship forward, out of the bay, and into space, where he peeled off left and moved into formation. And already he could hear the chatter over the comms at the strange ships that seemed to be blinking into existence, though it was hard to tell form his viewpoint. "Okay, you guys know the drill. Defense formation, no one touches the Andromeda, got it? We're not facing the Comet Empire here, so don't get cocky. We don't know what the enemy's capable of."

He settled into a growing bubble formation, the Cosmo Tiger II fighter squadrons deployed protectively around the ship in a manner that would let them respond quickly to attacks. If there was gonna be a battle, they would be ready.

And still the message went out, waiting to be answered

Roger's OOB

Suddenly the Federation engines cut out and they drop out of warp....to arrive somewhere totally unknown. Unknown ships of all types flew around, in front, behind, and underneath them - it seemed that no one seemed to taking much, if any notice of them - at the moment at least. Something for which Captain Weston was forever thankful. With a sigh his crew watched with deep trepidation - he didn't need to be a mind reader, it was the subtle clues. The way Kate scratched behind her ear, how Alara clutched her hands together and in doing so trying to appear calm. Marcus at the helm tilted his head to one side, albeit slightly.

He loved playing poker with them, 'cos he always won, no one knew that they had an obvious tell. It made him smile, briefly. "So where in the hell are we?"
"I do not know" remarked the Vulcan. "I am trying to get on the stars right now?"
"I'm listening to the local signals and there are dozens of totally different languages."
"Well so much for speaking the same language."
"I've been scanning the nearby ships, they're mostly using standard fusion reactors from what I can see, we're getting return pings from some of the more militaristic vessels in orbit of the planet."
"Wonderful" he said ruefully. "Any,more good news?"
"I am afraid not Captain. From the stars I can only conclude we're in another galaxy - but not much else."
"My days just keeps getting better and better."
Flashing her beautiful green skinned Orion smile, Alara had a tendency to light the room up, "I would suggest Captain that we make a deliberate choice - we either approach the planet like we're meant to be here, or back off right now."
"Back off to where Commander?" Inquired L'Pel. "We have no guarantee it wouldn't be much worse where ever we end up."
"Well that kind of gives us, one choice. Take us towards the planet at impulse. We'll see what kind welcoming committee we get."

The first ship, had ceased all inbound traffic to the planet. While outbound was already heavily monitored to prevent the Jedi from escaping all inbound had continued as normal to try and lure more Jedi back to the planet. That was over now, despite one of the communications received from one of the vessels declaring itself friendly after all the recent affairs Admiral Loff who was currently in command off naval forces above Coruscant wasn't taking any chances. While the Emperors office had been out of contact for several minutes he had been assured that all was well and that he was just resting after the attack on his life. Until the Emperor was fit again this was his problem and he would solve it how he saw fit. "Quarantine those vessels immediately. Inform them that if they do not stand down we will be forced to take action. Prepare boarding parties if necessary and inform me the minute the Emperor is available to take my message.""Yes sir." He watched as one of the vessels began making its way towards the surface, trying to blend in with traffic. "Raise the planetary shield." It took a moment but a large golden mesh formed over the planet as the shield was raised, the first couple of ships crashed into it in an array of explosions. They would blame that down to Jedi insurgents or even down to the new vessels depending on how things went.

The bay below the bridge that housed the Venators fighters opened and several LAATs deployed with the boarding parties with escort. "Unidentified vessels. By the power given to me by the Supreme Emperor of the Galactic Empire I hereby order you to declare yourselves immediately and to stand down and enter formation with the nearest Cruiser. From there you will be boarded to ensure that you do not pose a threat to the peoples of Coruscant. Do you comply with these orders?"

By this point the Golan-II defense platforms had been powered up, Venators from all around the sector on patrol had jumped into range and all civilian traffic had come to a halt. It wasn't the most welcoming sight.

Then, a ship bigger than any of the other ones present appeared. A two and a half kilometre long ship that looked strangely organic appeared right beside the Federation vessel.

---

"Get me a status update now." He could feel the unease of the helmsmans mind. It gnawed at him and as such it gnawed at the ship. "We've shifted commander, hundreds of ships. One of them along side and we're beside a planet...""Which planet?""I do not know commander." Quicksilver turned to him and let his anger show through so that he would feel it in the telepathic link. "Then perhaps I should feed you to someone who can. Get me an comprehensive update now" The helmsman didn't even bother to respond to that. To do that would be to waste time and in the current situation that wouldn't help him one bit. What Quicksilver did see was that he had begun bringing up different screens, beginning with star charts and the search for any nearby stargates. He turned around to face Quicksilver.

"These stars are unfamiliar. We are no longer within our home Galaxy.""How is that possible, a Hive cannot perform such a Hyperspace jump? Especially without instruction." While he was awaiting response from the helmsman he himself stayed connected with the hive, he shut out the stream of information coming at him about the situation and tried to reach his own conclusion,t he ship was confused. It was upset that it could not give him the desired answers and he reassured it. This wasn't right. However, there appeared to be a silver lining. "Commander.""Do you have our position yet?""No but-" He let lose what could only be referred to as a hiss as he bared his teeth and clenched his fists. "Then why do you not continue your work?""I have scanned the planet, there are... billions of lifesigns down on the planet. It has to be Earth.""We've found it..."

The ship had only been out of control for a few minutes, but it had taken several hours for some sort of order to be restored on the ship. The command staff was gathered in the war room. "I have never seen Bloodletters like these." said Siegfried. "Black and white... The odd thing was that, when they were trapped and unable to get to us, they started killing each other." he said. "I knew that they were chaotic, but this is completely new behavior." He then saw Viqtor and Aminah staring at each other. "Why do I get the feeling that the Inquisition is withholding information in their usual fashion?" he muttered.

"BASTARDS!!!" yelled a voice. "I'LL RIP HIM APART WITH MY BARE FUCKING HANDS!!!" Lemanicus strode into the room. "THAT ENERGY BOLT!!! IT GOT KRAKATOA!!!" Kurn grabbed his shoulders.

"Calm down..." He said. "We know about the Warhound... You've been drinking... Turn your liver back on, we need you sober."

"I DON'T WANT TO BE SOBER!!! I'VE FAILED THE OMNISIAH!!!" Kurn then punched him to the floor, but he was back up quickly.

"Alright..." said Lemanicus. "Where are we?"

"About to re-enter normal space." said Kurn. "But first... Inquisitor." he said, turning to Viqtor. "Tell me everything you know about these bloodletters."

"That is need-to-know." replied Viqtor. Kurn slowly approached him, towering above the Inquisitor.

"I believe we need to know..." he said, slowly. Viqtor looked him up and down.

"Fine... That was Malal..." he said, Aminah tugged his sleeve as though to ask him to stop, but Viqtor brushed her off. "Malal is a Chaos God."

"I've never heard of him." said Lemanicus.

"Of course you haven't... He is one of the more powerful Chaos Gods... The embodiment of Anarchy. A being of such anarchistic intent that he started rebelling against the other Chaos Gods... Our information says that he employs black and white daemons. This would most certainly seem to be his attack. Although, why we didn't destroy us outright is... puzzling." said Viqtor. Suddenly the ship shook as it exited to normal space.

"Lord Wolfstalon, will you please report to the bridge." said the voice of Lafray over the Vox caster. Kurn looked around.

"Lemanicus, damage control, get us working at full power again." he said. "Inquisitor, if you and your men can sweep the ship for anything we might have missed... Your assassins survived, I trust."

"The Temple trains us well." said the voice of the Ophias as he appeared out of no-where. Kurn nodded before heading out.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
-The Bridge-

Kurn walked onto the bridge and looked around, it seemed to be mostly undamaged. "What's the status?"

"We've lost the Artillery Lance's and half of our weapon batteries." replied the Admiral. "But... That's not why I called you here." he said. The Galaxy map came up on the large monitor.

"So, where are we?" he asked. The Admiral looked around, looking rather frightened and confused.

"We... Aren't..." he said. "The Cartographers don't recognize any of these stars. The computer can't make heads nor tails of it." Kurn looked at the monitor, then at the large, glowing planet bellow.

"Wh..."

"Wherever we were thrown... It wasn't in our galaxy." said the Admiral. Kurn's heart seemed to sink... What the hell were they supposed to do now? If they weren't able to get to their galaxy... What the hell were they going to do? What if they had been thrown to the Tyranids galaxy? What if they were actually in the Eye of Terror? What if...

"Send a distress vox... Accept any and all assistance offered, even if it is Xenos... We need to figure out where the hell we are and how we can get home."

"My Lord, are you sure-"

"We accept assistance from the Eldar when it comes to the Necrons, the Tau when it comes to the Tyranids or Orks, and unless we can find a human ship here, we will have to accept Xenos assistance now." he said, looking out... There were strange triangular vessels moving towards them. "What in the name of Mother Fenris are those?" he asked.

"Karrion Birds circling the carcass." replied Lafrau, jumping into his seat. "Prepare for battlestations."
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"...Michiel, report."

"Reactor stability: ...Normal. 21% ionic displacement. Source: Unidentifiable. System damage: False. Artillery: Offline. Probable cause, sudden surge of ionic particulates."

Bradley breathed out a sigh, his hands spidering on the helm's controls. No damage from the short jump, good; Artillery was down, but no big deal, as long as they stayed away from Tier 4 shielding. "Okay. See if you can reconnect to the beacon, and reconfigure the jump to-"

"Negative. No beacons detected." The pilot recoiled slightly in his confusion, and the Engi took the silence as a gesture to continue. "Sector projection: inconclusive. Galactic core wavelengths distorted. Nearest Star Designation: ...Unknown. Not within Sagittarius Arm."

"Impossible," Bradley glared in frustration. "The reading on the galactic core wavelengths are continuous. It we're not getting them right, that means-"

A message from weapons. "Sir," the determined female voice of Samantha rung forth, "I'm getting reads on three- no, four other cruisers in the immediate space, and one indeterminable space station."

"Give me allegiances, Sam."

"They're using unfamiliar mainframe builds, sir, I can't scan them properly," the weapons specialist replies, mirroring Brad's apparent agitation. The pilot slammed a fist on the console's frame as he glanced at the sensor array's readouts on the other ships; barring the space station, they were all larger than the Osprey, and from the looks of it made themselves to be much more well armed. The fact that none of these other cruisers bore any structural nor allegiance-based resemblance to their local races made matters yet worse.

"This is the Earth Defense Forces Ship Andromeda to all unknown vessels. Please identify yourselves immediately. We have no desire for conflict but will defend ourselves against aggression. Please respond. Dies ist der Earth Defense Forces Schiff Andromeda...."

Cutting off the wide-broadcast transmission, Bradley called the ship's stations to a holo-conference. The faces of Sam and Michiel, followed by the Rockmen, Zhan and Sturm, and then the two Mantis troops, Klehhi and Thrikaah, all appeared in floating 2-D displays. "Crew, we're in a tight spot. As of this point, we are surrounded by unknown cruisers and lost in some unfamiliar galaxy," Bradley reported, noting the surge of mixed aggravation reactions flicker throughout the different holographs. "Obviously, this puts a critical strain to our mission, so we'll have to act fast if we want to find a way back to our battle and destroy the Rebel Flagshi-"

"Unidentified vessels. By the power given to me by the Supreme Emperor of the Galactic Empire, I hereby order you to declare yourselves immediately and to stand down and enter formation with the nearest Cruiser. From there, you will be boarded to ensure that you do not pose a threat to the peoples of Coruscant. Do you comply with these orders?"

"Hell no!" Klehhi blurted in rage, stabbing a 3-centimeter hole in the near wall. "Anyone who needs some accursed 'Supreme Emperor' to lead their brainwashed selves can go royally fuck off!"

"Considering the comparison of our ship to the others, right now," Zhan goaded the impulsive insect, "You would be hard-pressed to hear that we'd sooner-"

Thrikaah joined in, ready to defend the Mantis ideals, "The point stands, we're not turning ourselves in to a bunch of imperialist slagsacks! It's bad enough having to choose between some namby-pamby Feds and those xeno-"

"Advised action:" Michiel began, "Full base throttle. Current weapons loaded may name Osprey, 'threat to peoples'."

"This is Captain James Hindrey of the Culling of Prospero. Our Sub-Ether drive has been hit badly and we require assistance. we have wounded and are willing to pay for any medical supplies... Pirates be warned, our engines may be damaged, but our weapon systems are all fully operational."

Bradley was fuming in his pilot's seat; this was getting out of hand. "Sam..." he half-hissed, "Do we any any confirmation on opposing forces yet?" The female was now in the sensor station, flipping through the sophisticated console's options.

"None yet, I'm running a scan on the two saucer-type crafts. Shouldn't be hard to infer that the organic ship may not be too friendly," Sam sneered in in attempt at lighthearting the mood. "The Andromeda refers to Earth forces, and therefore humans, but their ship build is unacceptably different... I don't like the implications. In other news, I'm also picking up a globally-shielded planet as the source for the Galactic Empire's transmission..."

Mulling over his options, or lack thereof, Bradley cut off the alien arguing in the holo-conference and ordered, "Michiel, get the engines to full power. Sam, hail the Andromeda; I'm bringing us alongside. I can only hope we're dealing with actual humans here..." Closing ship comms, Brad took the helm directly and expertly brought the Osprey abroad, intending to bring their pointed cruiser in what Bradley hoped was a parallel formation. Regardless, he hoped to stay as good a distance as he could manage from the many smaller crafts pouring out of the Andromeda, as scans indicated that they were indeed all individually manned.

"Andromeda, this is the United Federation artillery craft Osprey. Be advised, we recognize your crew as human, but your ship as decidedly foreign; please confirm your operations and intentions."

If the bridge of the Andromeda had been busy before, now it was practically bustling as damage reports came in, and the comms practically went haywire. Fortunately, damage was minimal and injuries from the turbulent warp limited to nothing life threatening for the most part. The Cosmo Tiger squadrons launched successfully and took up defensive perimeter around the ship, and the shock cannons, pulsar guns, and missile launchers were ready to fire should they be attacked. Considering that the Wave Motion Gun was offline, they were in another galaxy far from home, and surrounded by potentially hostile vessels, they were as ready as they could be.

Hijikata presided over it all still, working to get some sense of order here and to figure out what had happened and how they would get back.

“Sir, I think you should see this,” Flynn called from her station, and Hijikata nodded a confirmation before the viewscreen above the main bridge windows changed to display a planet bustling with activity, bright lights and giving all the appearance of a bustling megapolis, much more than Earth had ever been. “Wow, that's impressive,” commented Brandon idly.

But that was not the only thing, as a glow enveloped the planet itself and large, triangle shaped ships rose to meet them, their presence apparently noted now as the people who dwelt here responded. And more vessels arrived, some saucer shaped ships, a large, purple, almost organic vessel, and more. Space was getting rather cluttered.

Dmitri Pavlovich, Ukraine, leaned back in his chair as the radio waves washed over him. “Admiral, I'm getting a lot of hails out there. They want us to identify ourselves, fall in with one of their cruisers, and prepare to be boarded. They're claiming themselves as some sort of 'Galactic Empire'.

Hijikata frowned as he leaned back in his captain's chair, fingers erched together as he thought. “Respond and tell them who we are, that we will comply with their directive, but will not allow ourselves to be boarded for the purposes of inspection. We request the rights given to sovereign nations, as we are representatives of Earth.”

Dmitri nodded before turning to the comm station. “This is the Earth Defense Forces Ship Andromeda. We hear your request and will comply, however we will not allow ourselves to be boarded for purposes of inspection, and request the same rights that you would give a sovereign nation, as representatives of the Earth Federation.”

Hijikata nodded to Brandon. “Lieutenant, lay in a course.” Brandon nodded and activated the maneuvering thrusters, beginning to bring the ship around into formation with the nearest of the wedge shaped cruisers, though the screen of fighters was careful to interpose itself between the Andromeda and their escort. For the moment, shock cannons were motionless.

Another message came in, this one directed at them from another of the unknown vessels that didn't seem to match any of the multiple numbers of ships out here. “Sir, we're being hailed by a ship called the Osprey, claiming to belong to the United Federation. They claim to recognize us as human, but don't recognize our ship, and want us to confirm our operations and intentions.

That earned a small chuckle from Hijikata. “I think I can agree with them on the 'us being human' part.” Just as the humor was there, so too was it gone.

“Sir, the Osprey appears to be moving onto a parallel course to ours,” Flynn called from sensors.

“Distance,” Hijikata replied with a question.

“Several klicks. Well away from our defensive screen.”

“I see.” Hijikata mulled in thought before speaking again. “Respond, confirm that we are human, and from Earth, that we were en route to fight the forces of the Comet Empire, we have no desire to fight.”

“Yes sir,” Dmitri replied, before relaying the message. “United Federation Ship Osprey, this is the Andromeda, we copy. We are indeed humans from the planet Earth. We were en route to Saturn with the EDF main fleet to engage the forces of the Comet Empire before our transition through Warp went awry and we found ourselves here. We have no desire for unnecessary conflict, and seek to return as rapidly as possible before the Comet Empire can reach Earth.”

And then the last message came in. A request for medical assistance, and that was easily answered. In true Earth tradition, both naval and space based, a request for help wouldn't be denied. “Culling of Prospero, this is the EDFS Andromeda. We are willing to provide medical assistance, though we must inquire as to your ability to receive small transport craft, as well as the number of wounded that need to be tended to.”

The ship floated along, engines at a smooth, constant burn, tachyon energy powering it like a fire, as they floated over a glittering world of light and steel.

"Captain, Awaken" The voice seemed to come from inside his own head be the loudest noise Captain Riley Caber had ever heard in his 48 years in existence. He tried to open his eyes but was meet with a wave of pain from his right side.

"Captain, AWAKEN" There were two voices now and his eyes shoot open when he realized it was the two shipboard AI's screaming at him through his Neural Implants, Something that was strictly against regulations and would only be done in an extreme emergency.

The bridge seemed to be a mess but Caber could tell from experience the damage was mostly superficial. Using the back of his chair for support he struggled to his feet, noticing several bridge officers and ensigns doing the some, others on all fours vomiting the remains of there breakfast. The two ONI Bodyguards seemed to still be rooted in the exact same spots they had been before...Whatever had happened, happened.

"Report" His voice was hoarse, the smoke drifting onto the bridge from somewhere did little to help. a courses of moans and grunts was all he received in reply the first time. Anger rising, maginified by the pain he felt in his head and side, he repeated his order.
"God dammit, someone Report, What hit us?" The effort of raising his voice forced him to slump into his command chair.

The bridge crew roused themself from the floor as quickly as they could manage and Operations Officer Garza was the first to respond.
"Main Power is down, we have no se-" He paused as his console flashed a series of red and yellow indicators at him "Backup generator is online sir, safety overrides manual restart, Vasilyev is at it again" Caber waved his hand in annoyance, not caring what got the power back just that it was back on. Major Raza dusted herself off as her bodyguards lifted her from the floor, seemingly none the worse for the fall Damned woman, would be the only one of us alive if this ship went down.

While Garza hurriedly scanned the internal systems of the ship Navigation officer Kim voiced her report from the other side of the hazy bridge. "Sir, we seem to be surrounded by contacts and are way closer to a planet that we should be, and not the planet we should be at. Also sir, I think my legs are broken, and if you don't mind, I'm going to pass out now, apolog-" her voice went quiet and Caber swore and hit the intercom on his chair.

"Medical team to the bridge" the hail went out over ship wide and a medical team would scramble, if they were able. Raza snapped and pointed at the injured Officer and her bodyguards moved toward her and gently lifted her out of the chair. One tended to the injuries while the other sat at the console, hands moving with practiced ease over the controls.

"Weapons, Communications, report"
Weapons officer Scott quickly ran through weapon readiness "Sir, MAC coming back online now, 4 minutes until full charge, Missiles pods report green, 9th Marines report being Locked in and ready to roll sir" Scott shook his head slightly, The ODST's probably enjoyed being flung around the ship like a sack of Potato's.

"Sir, I think you will want to hear this" Communucations officer Haley Gestured at the main screen and typed on her console. the main screen flicked and came to life, a host of transmissions playing over each other as she attempted to fliter the odd frequencies and network traffic. Most of it was giberish, only bits and peices of slightly understandable words got throught

"----Earth defen---andromeda---" the mention of the home system made Caber sit up.
"Wait, stop, scrub and play back that last message, Caden, Wendak, where the hell are you" The two AI's materialized over the holotank. Wendak spoke first.

"We took the liberty of doing a bit of exploring over the frequencies why all you ladies were sleeping sir, most of the systems were surprisingly easy to break and well sir, whats that old human saying? We arnt in Kansas anymore"

Caden was much less sensitive in his reasoning and laid the situation out to the entire bridge crew "We are no longer in the milky way galaxy, the ships and planet you see and detect are completely foreign entities, No allied UNSC Forces are withing hailing distance, based on my calculations. we are alone." Before anyone could speak the message Caber had ordered scrubbed played via the main monitor.

"This is the Earth Defense Forces Ship Andromeda to --- known vessels. Please identify yourse --- immediately. We have no --- ire for conflict but will defend ourselves against aggression. Please respond. Dies ist --- Earth Defe ------- Schiff Andromeda...."

"The Message Loops sir" Officer Haley stated "Should we replay?"

"Open a channel" Caber stood, unleashing a new wave of pain from his probably cracked ribs "Caden, slip back into the foreign systems and see if you can translate some of the other garbage we are getting, Wendak, Translate this hail into every language you can think of and broadcast it on whatever frequency this Andromeda is using" He waited for the AI to nod before beginning his speech.

"Unknown Vessel Andromeda, This is Captain Caber of the United Nations Space Command Cruiser Icarus responding to hail, We desire no conflict and would like to offer any assistance we can in return for the same favor. We have crews standing by to assist" He waved at Officer Garza to move crews into position now that the ship was fully responding to the damage the incident had caused. Caber cut the comm off.

"Operations, Weapons, give me something"

"MAC Charged, Priming pods A1-G1, Security teams ready" Scott replied.

Garza's head poped up over his command console, the open comm link to enginering faintly buzzing in the background. "I can get you 60% power right now, main reactors up in 6 minutes, Medical teams moving through the ship" on que a medical team arrived and rushed to Officer Kims side.

"You-" Caber jestured to the armored figure at the navigation console.

"Petty Officer Roland sir" he voice was clear and deep.

"Petty Officer, get us moving" With a sense of purpose Caber sat in his chair, the situation around his ship slowly coming into focus.

For better or for worse the Icuras would soon be at prime fighting condition and ready to take on whatever this new galaxy had to throw at them.

USS Aurora - Near Coruscant
The Captain of the Aurora was listening to the communications coming through, most of it gibberish until the language banks or Katie's genius could decipher any of it, her face was a mask of concentration - and it was not until they heard actual honest-to-god English that someone on the bridge "whooped," at least until a quick check found that there was no ship in the data banks with such a designation. The appearance of the two-and-a-half kilometre vessel next to them had made everyone rather nervous, so much so that Peter had almost balked and ordered the ship away.

So far he had refused to respond to the ship that was even speaking English, he wanted to get a lay of the land first, before jumping in where angels feared to tread. At this moment he was maintaining course, although he had ordered them to go to warp should things get hairy. As it stood they were moving fairly slowly, so much so that just about every vessel was overtaking them.

When the transmission from the military ships near the planet came through, he muttered, a little louder than he intended. "Yeah, like that's going to happen." In some ways he was not sure who it was for most, him, or his crew. Perhaps both?

"What are we going to do Captain?" inquired lieutenant Frank.

In fact he was hatching a plan as they spoke. And it was the Cheshire cat smile that unnerved them sometimes. "Well, we're going to let that big beastie pass us, and then us it as a shield between us and the military vessels near the planet, make an about turn and get the hell out of here. Any questions?"

"A sound strategy" confirmed Alara. She looked at the helmsman, "Under no circumstances raise shields or go weapons hot though. We do not want to appear....provocative."

"Understood Ma'am."

"Okay wait for it." Waiting for her cue from the Captain who lifted his index finger and dropped it. Then she nodded her head to the helmsman and the ship began a turn, and to move away from the planet. "Go." she said, "Get us out of here." The Constitution surged away from the planet at high impulse, and away from danger.

Harbringer - Coruscant Orbit

"Commander, this is not Earth.""What?""None of the ships are transmitting the signal that the Earth ship from Atlantis does. One of the vessels is declaring itself as from EArth though. It has complied with the locals orders to form up. We have been receiving the same order and they are declaring that they are going to board us." This could prove a valuable asset. If they were boarded that gave them a ship with local navigational data. It also gave them any necessary codes and an update on what was going on in this galaxy. For they knew well and truly that no planet within Pegasus had a population off this size, it would have been thought over for eons and the hive that had gained control would never have went into hibernation. Such a hive would be a deadly adversary and he was determined to become it, though of course new Hives would need to be grown to compensate and that required time to prepare the seed and find an adequate carrier. All this could take months and right now he didn't have months. "Begin preparing a hyperspace jump to another planetary system. At the extreme range of the Hives Jump capabilities. Once we have the information we seek we shall depart."

An alarm blared as one of the nearby vessels pulled behind them. "Commander. one of the smaller ships has pulled behind us, I believe in an attempt to merge with our sensor signature.""Prepare the darts." He let himself be pulled back to the Hives sensors, much like an out of body experience he was viewing everything at the range of the Hives sensors within the system, the movement of all the ships. The one declaring itself from Earth was pulling alongside one of the so called Empires vessels obviously in compliance, it had its own tail. One of the other vessels he could not determine what it was doing as the newest arrival and he himself had a tail following his vessel. IF the Queen learned off this she would be most displeased. Other High technological societies were a threat to her sovereignty and she would not take kindly too one of them following them around and using them as cover.

"We need to play along for now. Inform this Admiral that we will accept their delegation to board our vessel for inspection." He opened his mind to the ship, the weapons systems armed themselves if necessary. Hives weren't as nimble as the smaller ship likely was however it could turn about to bring its weapons to bear if need be.

---

Admiral Loff nodded as two of the ships were complying to a degree. There was a weapon surge from one of them but that was it. He would have to send another message in order to be clear. "I repeat to all vessels, stand down and prepare for inspection. It will be a brief scan aboard your ships to ensure that your vessels are not harboring war criminals of the Empire. This is non-negotiable and diplomatic solutions can be explored. We are willing to offer both technical and medical support. We are also willing to help you in order to discover the location of your respective homeworlds. However be warned that the Empires reach expands throughout the entire Galaxy. You do not wish to be our enemy,:

---

Palpatine stood before the fires that had inhabited the lower levels of the Senate. He bowed at it as he finished. He moved up to the senate stand and removed his hood. His skin had returned to its normal youthful state however they it was paler and had some odd markers. A staff was sitting to his side. "Greetings, delegates of my Empire. I bring great tidings. The days of the Force are over. Now begins the time of our true gods."

There were murmurings all throughout the hall. The doors sealed and the flames from below began to engulf all of the delegates, some of them burned and others changed. "Hallowed are the Ori."

USS Aurora - Near Coruscant
His science officer had drawn his attention to small ships that appeared to be following them. While they appeared to be no threat, he was not prepared to go weapons hot or warn them off - the military capacity here was a total unknown and quite sensibly he did not want to awaken the slumbering beast. Left with nothing else to do, bided his time until they were near the edge of the system - not that it mattered with warp drive but he'd rather be safe then sorry, especially with hundreds of crew aboard. Unnecessary risk was not a good thing.

"Captain do you want me to send a transmission to those small ships?"
"Maintain radio silence Kate, for the moment. We'll monitor what happens with the other ships and if need be come back into the system."
"You're volunteering for boarding?"
"Not on your life." He said matter-of-factly. But if we can establish peaceful relations, that would be better. For now there are a lot of ships around here, and the situation feels kinda volatile."
"See how it develops you mean?"
"Precisely."

For over half-an-hour they maintained course and speed. Not deviation and yet the small insect type ships continued to go their course. It wasn't until someone uttered the comment.

"Anyone got a fly swatter?"
Laughter erupted across the bridge, briefly.
Marcus then brought that to a close when he said....."Trouble is, we might get the same treatment from their ship."
A sombre atmosphere followed. "Thanks for bringing reality back with a thump."
"No problem Commander." A wry smile alighted the corner of his features.

It was all a waiting game now.......

As the ship exploded with activity, Moray would see one the Vox Officer turn around, advanced cybornetics covering most of his face. "Sir, we are receiving a vox... It's in the Emperors tongue." he said. "They claim to be from an "EDF" and are offering assistance... And sir... They're human... The scans confirm an entirely human crew aboard." Moray looked at the ship... It looked old... But it definitely had Human characteristics. His heart seemed to come down from the near heart-attack level of beating.

"Thank the Emperor..." he sighed. Kurn looked out at it.

"Perhaps we were not the only ones affected by this Chaos God." he said. "I will meet them personally in the hangar." he said, walking away towards their docking facility.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hangar

In the Hangar, ready and willingly welcoming any other true sons of The Emperor, Kurn stood, he had wiped as much blood off of his Terminator armour as he could. He was accompanied by Grumm, his Ogryn Bodyguard, standing 2 clear foot taller than the already giant Kurn... Several Cadian Guardsmen stood with them, several nursing open wounds, the Lord General simply scowled at them, Around them, the Techpriests swarmed, seeing to any of the machines that needed healing. "Stop being babies... You had a run in with a Chaos God, nothing that a good stiff upper lip shouldn't see you through." he said. "Do we know anything about these humans?"

"No, but there ship wasn't bearing any chaos icons, so we should take that as a good sign." replied Kurn.

"We... Smash good?" asked the Ogryn.

"Only if they turn out to be heretics." said Kurn. "Look, we don't know how long they have been trapped here, so the sign that the Emperors finest are here to help them should be comforting for them." The Lord General looked at Kurn.

"Indeed, milord." Kurn then noticed the outside of the Lord Generals trouser leg turning red as what appeared to be blood was running down it.

"Lord General, you're hurt." he said.

"It's nothing, milord, I'm not going to go crying to mummy dearest, just because some heretic got his claws in me... No, i'll see this meeting through, then pass out where the Father Beniiel can treat me." he said. Kurn couldn't help but have immense respect for the General. Most would be passing out at this point... He would make sure to always have a job for him, that way he knew that the General would never allow himself to die until every one of his duties were fulfilled.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Bridge

Admiral Moray eyed the encroaching triangular vessels. "Sir" said the Vox Officer. "They are telling us to stand down and prepare for inspection... They are also ready to assist... Also full of humans." he said.

"Curiouser and curiouser..." he mumbled. "Very well... Tell them to go to the starboard hatch."

"I will meet these people at the airlock." said a voice that made the Admiral almost jump out of his skin. he looked around to see the Inquisitor and his aid, the Witch Hunter. "I am more interested in the many, than the few... And anyone that thinks to order around a member of the Ordo Malleus should be prepared to face dire repercussions." he said as he walked towards door, followed by the hunter. As soon as he was out of earshot, Moray grumbled.

"Thinks he runs this vessel..." he grunted.

The Imperials would be met by the Inquisitor and his Death Cult around him, with a few Tempestus Scions at their flanks for good measure, a show of force was what was needed.

Caden cast himself away from the Venator-class Star Destroyer computer systems via its communication system and on to the next ship in the line, while at the same time examining the inner workings of a baker’s dozen other ships. Here, in the ocean of electromagnetic waves and computer systems, he was the shark and they were his prey. The vast majority of the contacts within scan range of the Icarus had primitive security counter measures, even on their most sensitive data. Enough to keep out a determined organic hacker, but he was far from organic. Ship and weapon schematics, crew rosters, system controls, this was his playground. Spending little time on each ship, often less than a second. Caden sifted through massive volumes of data, assessing and tagging the ships based on tonnage, estimated threat, cargo, and other various filters. Information streamed back to the Icarus systems via low band transmissions and other hard to detect forms of communication. It’s like they have no security at all Caden felt a sense of amusement as he brushed aside yet another poor excuse for a file wall.

Some of the contacts were not so easily penetrated, either by being alien in design or having very heavy security. These vessels were unlike anything else on scan and Caden place a high probability that they had been pulled to this galaxy from another one the same as the Icarus. A large, saucer like craft hogged the vast majority of his internal clock cycles in an attempt to break truly astonishing encryption methods, the only information he had managed to pull from the vessel was its name and class. USS Aurora, Constitution Class. The other ship, a large, seemingly organic star craft Caden studies with sensors only. He had made a brief; millisecond long connection with the ships systems before withdrawing the fragment of himself to the safety of the Icarus, something...else inhabited the living computers of that ship.

“Caden, Report” Caden heard the captains order via one of his numerous fragments, this one monitoring bridge systems and ceased his covert intrusion attempt of the saucer shaped class. Return the majority of himself to focus on the bridge of the Icarus his hooded avatar appeared to the bridge crew.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The bridge hummed with activity as reports streamed in from all over the ship, as Captain Caber had predicted, the damage to the ship was mostly superficial. Repair, replacement, or restart of damaged components progressing quickly as maintenance crews swarmed over the ship. The light damage to the outside of the ship would have to wait until the ship’s immediate vicinity was secured for EVA crews to do their work. The situation inside his vessel becoming clearer, it was time to see what lay beyond the titanium walls of the bridge.

“Caden, Report” The Artificial intelligence appeared, hooded and glowing, in the holotank in the forward bridge.

“Yes Captain” Caden waved his hand and a holographic representation appeared over him, a large planet surrounded but numerousness marked spheres, triangles, and a few squares.
“The Planet, which I have determined to be designated Coruscant or Imperial Center, has 274 individual space platforms of various sizes within active scan range of our sensors. The vast majority of these contacts seem to be civilian in nature and are unarmed, most of which seem to be fleeing as quickly as possible” above his head, the circles disappeared from the holo.

“The remainder of the contacts are military in nature with these 11” 11 of the triangles started flashing red “being the largest threat to this ship, they have been given the designation Venerator class star destroyers, which does not bod-“ The AI was interrupted by Weapons Officer Scott.

“Sir, I have no Idea what a turbo laser is but if Caden pulled the spec’s right these things could do some serious damage” The AI Seemed slightly annoyed at being interrupted but continued unperturbed.

“Quite” Caden nodded “The remaining contacts are unknowns and cross referencing information gleamed from foreign ship systems, I believe they are not of this galaxy, the same as we are. I will forward all information I have gained on these ships as well as the most relevant military threats and information to your terminal captain.

Caber nodded, then pointed at the largest ship currently on the viewport “This one, there doesn’t seem to be any information on it” Cadens avatar flickered in and out of focus for a split second, the AI equivalent of a shudder.

“I was not able to access the systems of that vessel, something “ He paused “wrong, lurks deep within that ship captain, I advise extreme caution” Caber took the advice to heart, seeing a seemingly all-knowing AI spooked got him a little spooked as well.

“Filter and forward all relevant data to where it would do the most good” He trusted the AI to do that much “now let’s talk about these imperials, what do you have on them”

Caden waved his hand again and the technical schematic of a Venerator class star destroyer appeared, rotating slowly over the Holo tank.

“While I have pulled numerous Astronavigation and star charts from the foreign systems, it will take time to adapt them to work with our mode of faster than light travel, which the peoples of this galaxy seem to have a different form of. Given the overwhelming odds against us, I suggest we comply with this empires current demands and devise and exit strategy at a later time” with a snap of his immaterial fingers, the holotank dimmed.

Caber sat in silence for a moment before deciding on a course of action. “Wendak” The AI appeared “Inform the imperial flagship we will comply with their search demand but state that their warships are to advance no further toward us and they send an unarmed shuttle to be escorted by two of our single seat fighter craft, any deviation from given course will be seen as an act of aggression” The AI nodded silently and both of them flickered out of existence, preparing the message.

Caber stood “Operations, arm the security detachments and put them on full alert, Have a company of ODST’s meet me in the aft docking bay, Lieutenant Kim, you have the bridge” He turned to walk off the bridge before stopping and turning back “Unpack a company of mantis walkers and have them moved to the aft docking bay as well, Major Raza, I have need of your…people skills” The Major smiled reminding him of a predator before they both walked of the bridge, accompanied by the majors two bodyguards.

“United Federation Ship Osprey, this is the Andromeda, we copy. We are indeed humans from the planet Earth. We were en route to Saturn with the EDF main fleet to engage the forces of the Comet Empire before our transition through Warp went awry and we found ourselves here. We have no desire for unnecessary conflict, and seek to return as rapidly as possible before the Comet Empire can reach Earth.”

Bradley had to suppress a couple of confused sneers when listening to the Andromeda's reply. The Comet Empire was not a significant militarist faction back in his own galaxy, or at least it wasn't one that the Federation knew of. Still, it was painfully obvious that whoever these people were, they could not possibly be hailing from the same Earth that the humanity of the Federation (and by extension, the Rebels) extended from. It only prompted yet more questions, and even brought forth a handful of somewhat disturbing theories: did all of the unfamiliar ships here end up warping not just through space, but through time, or even dimensions or universes?

The pilot was snapped from his musings by a high-priority comm from Michiel. "Sir, severe problem detected."

"What's going on?"

"Remote hacking attempt-. Successful; all extensive data of the Osprey and components exposed," Michiel blurted out, seeming to multitask on some unnoticeable procedure. Brad had never seen an Engi panic; as quasi-mechanical beings, they seemed to bear no capacity for emotion. But the ship's own Engi seemed to twitching and concentrating as if it were resisting some sort of seizure.

"Michiel, what are you doing? Calm yourself!"

"Too- strong. Attempting manual remote counter-measure-sure-sur-" The Engi flickered and staggered, apparently undergoing some intense amount of mental strain.

"Michiel!" Bradley shouted in increased anguish, "Michiel, respond!" No response; the Engi was on his own, in some sort of extreme out-of-body experience. In anger and panic, the pilot hailed the sensor station. "Sam, one of those cruisers out there has exposed all of our data, and I just lost Michiel trying to counter it. Trace the vessel that hacked us, now!"

"Shit-... I'm working on it, sir," Sam replied, furiously interfacing with the console to lock on the culprit, identified as the UNSC Icarus. "I've got a reading on our aggressor, but I can't get in any further. The security aboard is really sophisticated."

Taking in all of the havoc, Brad sent out a high-alert hail to the Andromeda: "EDF Andromeda, be advised. The Osprey's data and security systems have just been compromised by the ship labeled as the UNSC Icarus. Check your own security systems and be on your guard." From there, Bradley open a sensor camera window to the engineering room, where Michiel stood rattling and unresponsive...

"Sir, all weapons scratch the Artillery Beam are operational. Shall I prepare-"

"No," Bradley cut in. "I'm furious too, but we still need to act smart here. Do not engage our arms unless I give the order." The pilot pointed his vision forlornly out the main viewport, witnessing the Imperial vessels moving ever closer to scanning range among the comprehensive scattering of vessels. It seemed to be an inevitability that confict would lash out any time now...

The Andromeda lingered on in it's course parallel to that of the Galactic Empire ship, the Osprey in a formation nearby. Things were settling down, if a little, as the crew grew acclimated to where they where, and these interactions that were taking place. They had to represent Earth now, and all it meant, until they could get home, unaware as such of the tumultuous impact their words were having on the ship behind them.

Dmitri was certainly being worked harder than he had ever been since graduating from the Academy. "Sir, we're being hailed by a vessel claiming to belong to a 'United Nations Space Command'. They're offering their assistance."

That certainly piqued the Admiral's interest. "The United Nations you say," he commented with a surprised expression. "The United Nations was the main predecessor organization to the Earth Federation, but they never had a Space Command, at least as far as I'm aware. It took the advent of the Earth Federation to make that a reality." He looked over to Dmitri "Acknowledge, but politely decline."

Dmitri nodded. "Yes sir." He then turned to the comm. "Icarus this is the Andromeda. We acknowledge, but do not need assistance at this time."

More comms chatter came through, instructions from the Culling of Prospero as to landing instructions and the kinds of aid they would need.Still, with the 'Galactic Empire' looming, Hijikata couldn't do this mission himself. He looked down from his command post to the taciturn man nearby. "Commander Roche, I think you can handle this. Take a flight of Cosmo Seagulls across to the Prospero and give them medical assistance. Take a squadron of Marines with you just in case."

"Yes sir," Roche replied with a sharp salute, before turning on his heels and departing for the hangar bay.

---

Hangar

The hangar was less frantic now as a flight of Cosmo Seagulls was loaded with medical supplies to aid the stricken vessel. Bandages, painkillers, tourniquets, the works. And it was there that Roche arrived, finding a squad of Marines waiting for him, armed with Pulsar rifles and in full battle armor.

He returned their salute with a nod, and then faced the mechanics working on the craft. "Are we good to go?"

"Yes sir, we just finished loading the last supplies," the mechanic replied, and Roche smiled faintly. "Good." He moved for the Seagull then, stepping in with the Marines following. The side hatch closed, and the craft taxied onto the catapult, to be launched into space where they would meet up with an escort of Cosmo Tiger II's, who would take them across the void to the Prospero

Roche whistled as they neared it. "Now that is a ship," he commented, looking out the front of the craft to the vessel that loomed, a frank monstrosity of steel and metal. It was...really big, and if he missed his guess, even the Andromeda would have trouble with that, without her Wave Motion Guns.

Soon they were there though and the Cosmo Tiger II's hung off as the trio of Seagulls moved in for a landing in he monstrous cavern that was the hangar bay, rotating so the side hatch faced the honor guard waiting for them as they taxied to a halt. After a few brief moments, the roar of the engines dying down, the side hatch opened, revealing Roche with the squad of marines after him.

To say he was intimidated would be an understatement. Facing him down were tall, hulking figures with tough armor, which clearly showed the signs of battle. A quick estimate placed his chances in a shootout at very low, all of a sudden.

But he pushed down that fear beneath duty, stepping forward and snapping a salute. "Commander Philippe Roche, EDFS Andromeda requesting permission to come aboard," he said in as clear, confident tones as he could muster. This was going to be fun.

---

Bridge

There was no more time to contemplate the matter of the Prospero though, as the Imperial response came across, and Hijikata found himself with the dilemma. Let them board, or no? In the end, it was an easy decision to make, and Dmitri sent the message across. "Very well. We harbor no criminals of your 'Empire,' but will allow you to board for cursory inspections to make certain."

Suddenly, concurrent or perhaps even before the message from the Osprey came across, the Andromeda was hit by whatever had hit them before. The encryption protocols were decent, the Gamilons never having gone much for cyber warfare when they so hilariously outgunned humanity, but it was respectable by Earth standards.

Engineering burst into activity as the intrusion was detected. "Sir, we're reading multiple system breaches," called Youssef as he practically pounded on the keyboard in front of him. "Primary firewall...secondary...trinary....sir, they're ripping through our electronic defenses like they don't exist."

Hijikata growled. This was not good, to say the least. With the amount of the ship that relied on automated systems to function, an intruder in the system could cripple them. "Stop them," he yelled. "I don't care if you have to shut down the network and the ship, I don't want them seizing control."

And just as suddenly ,the assault ended. "Sir, whatever it was, it's gone. Systems are clean," Youssef replied, forehead beaded with nervous sweat.

Hijikata harrumphed as he leaned back. "Run a systems diagnostic, make sure they didn't leave any presents behind. Find out if they did anything,"

Dmitri perked up. "Sir, we're being hailed by the Osprey. They're saying that the Icarus was behind the attack."

Hijikata sighed and rose from his seat. "Lieutenant, contact the Icarus and indicate to them our extreme displeasure. Meanwhile, Richards, you have command. I'm going to greet our Imperial guests."

"Yes sir," Brandon replied as he rose and moved to the Captain's chair, the Admiral departing the bridge for the hangar. Meanwhile, Dmitri sent that message. "UNSC Icarus, this is the EDFS Andromeda. Our ship just suffered a crippling breach in security, and we have reason to believe that your vessel was responsible. Be aware that such actions could be taken as hostile on our part, and any such repeat events will result in the Andromeda firing on the Icarus in self defense. We have no desire for conflict, but an attack, be it either physical or electronic, will be responded to in kind. Do you copy?"

---

Hangar

Hijikata arrived in the hangar to find an honor guard of loaded out marines waiting, earning an approving nod as he took up a spot at the front of the delegation, arms clasped behind his back as he waited for the arrival of the Imperial delegation.

Outside, the defense bubble of fighters would open up to allow the Imperials entry, their craft escorted by a pair of Cosmo Tiger II fighters to the hangar bay, where they would be allowed to land. Time to get the fun started.

Brace yourself. Long post is long due to GM stuff occurring.

The fury of the flame burned in the senate chamber. Palpatine merely stood, while he initially had thought to corrupt the power and use it for himself that plan had soon fallen short when the Ori had changed him. The mind that once plotted the downfall of the Jedi now had strings attached as they orchestrated every move. While he still retained his personality and his thought patterns he knew that he would never be able to oppose them even when he had the power he sought. He looked around the senate chamber as the fires burned, several people screamed from the pain trying to run only to walk into the closed bulkheads or fall from their platforms onto the ones below. He could faintly see Mon Mothma burn, his long term political enemy he should relish at the image however only a small part of him did not. Others in the room changed, he could see it. As their skin too became pale in complexion and markings.

The last words he would ever utter without the control of the Ori escaped his lips. In a moment of clarity that he had not had in many many years since the Dark Side first touched him.

"What have I done?

Palpatine, the one who would have brought the Galaxy under one ruler for the first time since the Rakatan Empire of old. Whom possessed military might capable of destroying anyone who might oppose him. Ceased too be as the Ori altered his mind even more than it already was. He was now the Doci.

---

Shuttle Absolution - On approach to EDFS Andromeda

The wings of the shuttle folded up as the landing struts extended and the vessel touched down in the hanger. The two V-wings that had been escorting it veered off and returned back to the local Venator. The drives powered down and the ramp hissed and lowered down to the ground. Clone Troopers in white armour with grey markings on their shoulder pads came out shoulder to shoulder down the ramp taking formation at either side of the ramp. Numbering ten, an officer in an Imperial Uniform walked down the ramp. Several more troopers followed him down the ramp as did a protocol droid, so far they had been speaking English but there was no telling what else they might try to say in foreign tongues. It was always good to know what your foreign counterparts were saying.

He stood halfway down the lines of troopers, searching for the officer in charge and then looking at him. "As a representative of the Galactic Empire I am here to inspect your vessel for war criminals and offer aid as necessary. After this point a diplomatic missionary will be sent aboard to welcome you to the Empire."

---

Shuttle Exodus - Approaching Prospero

It was more or less the exact same routine, however this time it was not a mere Officer who moved down the ramp but the former Jedi turned Sith Apprentice Anakin Skywalker who descended the ramp, troopers of the 501st standing at either side and behind him. His black cape following him as he did so. He had not yet been turned, and his anger radiated out of him. He should have been on his way to Mustafar to kill the Separatist leaders by this point and instead he was dealing with these ships that had appeared out of nowhere.

Now he needed to act with the whole, pomp and ceremony thing. "In the name of the Emperor I would speak with your commander."

---

Shuttle Tempest - Approaching UNSC Icarus

Once more the shuttle approached, while they had been ordered not to approach Venators had established an orbit around it in order to get a good line of fire if necessary without actually having to move in close. Once again the shuttle approached, once more it landed and once more troops walked out. Again it was an Imperial Officer who walked forth flanked by troopers. He surveyed his surroundings and the soldiers who wore full body armour much like their own.

"In the name of the Emperor I have been tasked to search your ship for enemies of the state. We will render medical and technical aid if necessary and once the search is complete we will be willing to send over a diplomatic envoy to welcome you to the Empire."

---

Harbringer - Bridge

One of the Blades, Swift, entered the bridge. He had been tasked on keeping the Queen informed on what was going on. "Commander, the Queen is still afflicted from whatever means of travel brought us here. She has told you to act as you will however she expects us to kull in the next week.""Understood." He felt the irritation from the hive as another mind tried to merge with its, however before Quicksilver got a chance to react to it the Hive itself had kicked out the intruder. He sent a mental message to the hive Find him before bringing himself back to the bridge. "Recall the darts. Have Ember greet the diplomatic envoy, tell him to use stun sticks and to take them to holding cells." He mentally shuddered at the next thought though keeping it hidden from the telepathic link. The Hive however directly connected sent a brief thought, that if it had been a Wraith or human would have looked like a puzzled face.

There may be coming the time when they would have to associate themselves with non-wraith. One of these vessels would eventually contact them as they would have the same report he did on front of him that these ships had a strange unique radiation signature on their hull as did his. Until then they had other things to do, to get ready and find the source of the would be infiltrator.

The Hive prodded him towards the sensor screen and he accepted it, one of the ships highlighted and he pulled it up on one of the correlating screens on the bridge. "Open communications with this ship. We may have to associate ourselves with some of these beings until we have time to grow hives to destroy them. The Queen will not align with this Empire." He waited until he had conformation, whether they could see the bald wraith was not his concern. "I speak on behalf of my Queen and her Hive-" While he had cared for it since he had been moved from one of its cruisers and had been charged with awakening it it was still technically hers. "-I warn you the Hive will not tolerate intrusions into its mind and nor will I. We do not wish to fight-" He avoided saying peace. "-Our hull like yours is emitting a strange radiation indicating you are in the same position. However be warned, if you attempt to blend with this vessel again. I will personally crush its mind."

---

Harbringer - Hanger

Ember stood there, he didn't like not being in his battle gear however he was supposed to look diplomatic currently as the vessel landing in the middle of the walkway, obviously thinking it was in fact a berth. He waited until the soldiers walked down out of the ship, followed by a human who declared they would search the ship. He walked up, in the most non-threatening way a Wraith could manage and let two yellow poles slip out of his sleeves. He brought them up before him and joined them, a pulse wave moved out for several metres before collapsing. He sent a message over the link to the Drones behind the door, and they then came into the room. Disarming the men and dragging them away. He turned. "Make sure to remove their armour when you arrive at a cell."

Whatever armour they had was ineffective anyway, it obviously did not protect them against electrical currents which was most interesting.

Hangar with Kurn

The delegation watched as the medical team landed and the crew came aboard. Their outfits were like nothing they had ever seen... Jumpsuits with odd patterns on them, their leader saluted him and Kurn nodded his mutual respect "At ease, brother." Kurn replied. "I am Kurn Wolfstalon of the Emperors "Knights of Fenris" I thank you for answering our call for aid." he said.

"Lord General Siegfried Wallace" the General said "We came under attack after entering The Warp, one of the damn Chaos Gods decided to take exception to our presence, flooded the ship with his vile minions, then threw us here. Were you also attacked by Warpfiends?" he asked. "If so, were they Black and White? Or the regular kind?" If they could establish a pattern between their being brought here, then a method of returning to Imperium space might also reveal itself.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Airlock with the Inquisitor

The Inquisitor looked at the man that had just arrived. "I sense a dark presence from that one..." Aminah said into the Inquisitors ear as she looked Anakin in the eye. And those guardsmen that he had with him seemed to be different to any other Guardsmen that they had met. The Inquisitor knew that, whoever these people were, they were not an officially with the Imperium... But, then again, with all of his own personal projects, it wouldn't surprise him if these people were an unofficial experiment by another in the Inquisition. The twins slowly moved towards the Inquisitor as they prepared to protect him from a possible attack. He simply waved them off.

"If we are to learn the truth of this, then, for the moment, we will need to let events unfold... Keep your hands near your weapons." he whispered back to Aminah. He then tried to become his diplomatic self "It is a pleasure to find more servants of the Immortal God Emperor. I am Inquisitor Viqtor Remly, this vessel is under Inquisition command. I apologize for my attendants, they are acting only for my protection." he said. A Servo Skull buzzed around Anakin and his troopers. Inspecting them with its robotic eye.

With a flash that could rival a thousand suns, the USS Illustrious exploded into existence into an unknown universe, over the planet of Coruscant. The starship was badly battered in its transit through the energy distortion, and its bridge was in complete disarray. Life support on the bridge had failed momentarily, and the unfortunate Captain Pearson was gruesomely dashed against and stuck against the ceiling. Their science officer lay on the floor of the bridge, unconscious and barely breathing. The rest of bridge, while not as injured, barely had time to react to the fate of their captain when hulk of a familiar ship filled the view screen.

It was the USS Magicienne, or at least the saucer section of it. The main hull was at the corner of the screen, a little bit away missing a nacelle, but the saucer was much, much too close to the Illustrious for comfort.

Dazed, but wits still about her, Commander Noelle Tatham Poole pulled herself up, reacting quickly to their situation.

“Helm, evasive maneuvers. Reverse full impulse. Harper, now or never with the tractor beam. See if you can’t alter the course of the debris.”

The maneuver was executed wonderfully. With only about a hundred meters to spare, the USS Illustrious managed to clear the wreckage of the Sovereign class ship, coming to an all stop directly above it.

“Engineering, I want a situation report, immediately,” said the now acting-captain. “All decks, all systems, our location, status of the Magicienne. I want a full emergency beamout of the crew as soon as we can. And get a medical team to the bridge.”

Letting herself sink down into the captain’s chair, Noelle glanced at what remained of the bridge crew. Nephenee, who seemed to not be injured, had quickly taken over the console of their science officer, and was working on a sensor sweep and getting them an accurate location. Tactical was scanning the Magicienne.

A moment later, the turbolift door opened, revealing her colleague Yuri Khamitov, followed by a small three man medical team. His hair was a bit tossed up, and he already seemed overwhelmed.

“Captain, there’s casualties all over the ship. This better be good-“ the medical officer stopped in his tracks as he saw the body of the captain stuck on the ceiling.

“The captain is dead,” said Noelle, standing up from her seat. She shook her head. “Is that a good enough reason for you, Yuri? Get the late captain off of there and get lieutenant Forestall down to the medical bay, and come back. I need to coordinate a rescue of the Magicienne’s crew with you.”

Yuri could only nod, and turned to discuss the situation with his small team. The acting captain turned back to Nephenee, who had finished her scans. Still maintaining her usual cool demeanor, she gave her report.

“Comman… Captain. Our location is unknown. There are no identifiable star systems and the computer is throwing out errors. It’s unlikely the computer is malfunctioning,” she said. “Our sensor sweep indicates the body we are in orbit of is Class M, population one trillion. There are more than two dozen ships in orbit. I’m unfamiliar with any of their systems. However, we’ve detected a ship with a federation signature moving away from the planet at high impulse. I can’t tell who it is, some sensors are still offline.”

That was very overwhelming information to Noelle, but the presence of another Federation vessel in the vicinity was reassuring. But before she could make sense of the remaining data, tactical and engineering began to give their reports almost directly one after the other.

“Captain, there are 440 life signs aboard the Magicienne, fading quickly. That’s half of their normal crew complement, sir,” reported the officer manning the tactical station. His voice was visibly shaken.

“Engineering here,” said the chief engineering officer, over the combadge. “Situation is critical. Warp drive is offline, and so are weapons, shields, and transporters. I can get shields up within the hour, forty-five minutes, perhaps, but transporters may take over a week. If we want to mount a rescue, we’d have to go back to the ol’ fashioned way of a shuttlecraft rescue.”

Commander Poole grimaced. The situation was getting worse and worse. With no transporters, a lot of people would die before they could get ample medical treatment, but it seemed using the shuttlecraft would be the only way.

“Alright. Lee, I want you to coordinate a rescue effort with Lieutenant Yuri using the shuttlecraft.”

The captain turned to Nephenee, contemplating what to say. She wasn’t sure if any of the ships besides the one Federation vessel were friendly.

“I want you to send a subspace message to the unknown Federation ship you detected earlier. Say ‘This is the USS Illustrious, NCC-2558, to the unknown Federation vessel leaving orbit. We are disabled and attempting to conduct a rescue of the USS Magicienne, NCC-70451. Only half of her crew remain and are fading fast. We are requesting any and all medical assistance you can provide.”

USS Aurora – Edge of Coruscant System
“Punch it!” said Captain Weston.
“Hold.” Katie interrupted. “Sir, you’re going to want to hear this.”
“Hear what lieutenant?”
“Another Federation ship in the system.”
Peter’s head snapped round so fast, he almost fell off his seat. “Let’s hear it.”

Loud and clear they could hear a distress message.

‘This is the USS Illustrious, NCC-2558, to the unknown Federation vessel leaving orbit. We are disabled and attempting to conduct a rescue of the USS Magicienne, NCC-70451. Only half of her crew remain and are fading fast. We are requesting any and all medical assistance you can provide.”

He sighed, so much for getting out of this system, “Is there any record of that ship?”
“None sir,” she paused briefly, licking her lips. “I’ve just conducted a visual scan and they do not match known specifications.” With a button press the magnified image appeared on the screen.
“It is definitely Federation though, isn’t it? Probably like Captain Kirk experienced, a different reality of himself. Wonder if this could be the same?”
“Possibly” answered the Vulcan. “We should lend aid.”
“I agree. Set course for them, full impulse.” Having briefly turned to regard L’Pel, he turned back to Katie, “Send a response. This is the USS Aurora – request for aid heard and we are on our way.”
“I’ll order Jonah to send to staff to the transporter.”
“Good, good. Let’s go make a good first impression. Oh, and lieutenant please tell those small ships following us to back the hell off. If they continue to harass me I’ll not be a good mood.”

As they arrived nearer the huge amount of space traffic, they saw what a sorry state the Illustrious was in, and as to the remains of the other ship, well it was clearly almost a write-off to use an old Earth term. He hit ship wide communications. “Okay I know we have no idea where we are, but we have two Federation vessels in need of aid and little time before the death tolls mounts up. This is what we were trained for, we’re the best there is. Begin beaming medical crew aboard and taking in any injured – let’s get to work.”

USS Illustrious
Dozens of teams were beaming back and forth, stablising the wounded and then taking the most critical back to the Aurora. Those that were on the ship in multiple pieces were brought straight back across – and it was Alara’s job to speak the Captain and arrange bringing them back to the Ilustrious once things were a bit easier. Her green Orion skin and flashing smile usually got here what she needed – but it was the odd looks she kept getting, people frowning at her uniform as though something was terribly wrong.

“Can you tell me where the Captain of this ship is?” A crewman guided her towards the bridge, and one thing she could not help but notice was that this ship appeared far more technologically advanced then they were. What made it even worse, although fitness was a Starfleet prerequisite, some of the turbolifts were not working properly and she had to climb using the Jeffries tubes – it was annoying, but necessary. The last part took her to the part that worked, meaning the last few decks were easier, allowing her some time to compose herself before a superior officer, especially one she did not know.

USS Aurora - Medical
Jonah was running around rather frantically, and he could not help but wonder who some of these Starfleet crew were. Some seemed to be mumbling about being in the past, or even asking what year they were from. He frowned at that, and pressed the communications panel at the side of the wall.

“Captain, this is Jonah, but we may have a slight problem.”
Really, what kind Doctor?”
“At first it seemed like a one off, then many of my staff reported about getting odd looks when it came to our uniforms, then I got a report from a nurse about a crew member asking what time period we were from. At first I thought they were delirious - then we started to get more."
“What are saying Doctor.”
“I’m not sure exactly. Just an observation is all.”

+\ NSEA Protector II, command deck .
Five actors burst onto the command deck, Alexander bringing up the rear. Fred had already gone to his duty station in the engine room. The door closed behind Alexander with an annoyingly accurate click-hum-(pause)-click. Thermians littered the wings of the command deck, carrying clipboards, studying screens on the periphery, and walking about with no real destination. Alexander had to wonder if they were actually doing anything, or just imitating what the extras on set used to do. For a species that didn't understand the concept of acting, their imitation was remarkably precise.

As the actors climbed onto their stations, Jason asked, "All right, what have we got?" He was doing his "Commander" pose, sitting on the Commander's Chair with one hand on his knee and the other on his chin.
"20 ships near us, Ja- uh, Commander," Tommy reported.

"Dr. Lazarus." one of the Thermians said. Oh, God. It was Quellek. "I've retreived a fascinating sensor reading from the nearby ships. Perhaps you could examine it." Quellek handed Alexander a 10 inch diameter, bright orange plastic hexagon. "It's uploaded on this data hexagon."
"...Ah," Alexander said, taking the ludicrously oversized storage device. He glanced around briefly. Jason was still in his Commander pose, barking orders as if he knew what he was doing. Damn.

After fumbling for a few seconds, he managed to place the disk into its port. A tube extruded itself from the top of his console. He rolled his eyes. Quellek was still standing right next to him, waiting, blabbering on about prograde gamma spins giving off an unusual radiation signature dectectable on some of the ships. Alexander gave up and peered into the "Science Scope". It had an official name, of course, but he didn't care. This is what he saw. Honestly, he didn't know what he was expecting. Thankfully, the computer interrupted him.

"Begin transmission playback," it said.
"-fied vessels. By the power given to me by the Supreme Emperor of the Galactic Empire I hereby order you to declare yourselves immediately and to stand down and enter formation with the nearest Cruiser. From there you will be boarded to ensure that you do not pose a threat to the peoples of Coruscant. Do you comply with these orders?"
"Mathesar-" Jason started.
"Next transmission," the computer stated.
"I repeat to all vessels, stand down and prepare for inspection. It will be a brief scan aboard your ships to ensure that your vessels are not harboring war criminals of the Empire. This is non-negotiable and diplomatic solutions can be explored. We are willing to offer both technical and medical support. We are also willing to help you in order to discover the location of your respective homeworlds. However be warned that the Empires reach expands throughout the entire Galaxy. You do not wish to be our enemy."

Happy to have someone to distract the Thermians with, Alexander said, "What, did you forget where the 'accept call' button was?" Gwen only glared at him.

"Mathesar, who is this guy?" Jason asked.
"Mmm. I do not know," he said.
"Can we go home yet?" Guy asked.
"Do I look like I know where Earth is?" Tommy retorted.
"Well, maybe we should ask that guy," Gwen said.
"Did you guys listen to the transmission? 1: British accent. 2: Galactic Empire. 3: Supreme ruler!" Guy said. The cast stared at him, waiting.

After a moment, Jason spoke again. "Computer, can you plot- oh, right. Gwen, see if the computer can plot a course to Earth."
"Computer, can you calculate a course to Earth?"
"Yes. Approximate travel time: 4,328 years."

"Oh, that's just wonderful. You've stranded us," Alexander said to Jason.
"I don't- I didn't-." Jason stammered.

A chirping, high-pitched alarm sounded.

"Warning. Proximity alert. Pull up," The computer said.

A rather ruined saucer section loomed in front of the view screens.

"Tommy! Turn the ship!"
"I'm trying, man, I'm trying!"

Alexander held on to his console for dear life. A horrible scraping, screeching noise came from somewhere aft. "Do you just enjoy making us cringe, or do you like that sound?" he asked.

The Protector cleared the Magicienne's saucer section with minor damage and significant chipping of paint. The saucer section came out the other side with a noticeable spin and even more hull breaches.