"...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, [i]four[/i] 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 [i]Osprey[/i], 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.

[i]"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...."[/i] 

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-"

[i]"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?"[/i]

"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 [i]fuck off![/i]"

"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 [i]Osprey[/i], 'threat to peoples'."

[i]"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."[/i]

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 [i]Andromeda[/i] 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 [i]Andromeda[/i]; 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 [i]Andromeda[/i], as scans indicated that they were indeed all individually manned.

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