Hinansho System, Midway Debris Field
Kestral ( BH/L-001)
Captain Velka Vellais

“ Sensor contact bearing 104, 3,000 meters!” the radar officer said in a terrified tone. A red dot appeared on the holographic star chart, showing the Excalibur’s position in 3D. Velka had been in system no more then a minute and had already attracted the attention of a vessel much larger then theirs. * This is just my luck* she thought silently, running a hand through her straightened hair. Fighting was not an option, that vessel, what ever it was, outclassed them and probably already had a firing solution. They did not have the authority or the resources to fight anything, everything they had on their ship needed to last until they could get resupplied. Resupply was months away at top speed, not taking into account the time it took for the message to get there. For once in her life, Velka felt real fear, terrifying mind numbing fear. If they died out here no one would know about it, they would just cease to exist, nothing but matter floating in a very large vacuum. Suddenly, it all made sense. The classified orders, elite handpicked crew, JIIC spooks and operators, there was almost no “ vanilla” military personnel on board. This was affectionately known in the intelligence community as a “black” operation, or as the many JIIC personnel on board  liked to say “ Deep in the pit”. 
	“ Ten small craft heading our way, fighter sized, probably small assault craft.” the radar operation yelled again as smaller red dots appeared moving towards the Kestral. The point defense turrets automatically locked on to the incoming objects, tracking them as they moved through the debris field. The weapons officer tapped on the safety button, getting ready to disengage the safeties as the objects got closer. “ 1000 meters, 800 meter…..600 meters….magnify display…..600 meters….400 meters….wait!” the weapons officer yelled looking at symbols on the incoming mechs. “ Thats……thats Terran!” he said looking towards the radio officer. 

“ Run that through our system, see if you can confirm that” Velka barked cooly further examining the mechs as they came closer. “ Ouui Captain, its Terran…..what are they doing all the way out here?” the radar officer asked inquisitively as the mech landed on it on the Kestral. Velka was thinking the same thing, * why were the Terrans all the way out here?*. She chuckled as her mind immediately jumped to espionage, maybe the Terrans weren’t the allies she though they were. Regardless, she was overjoyed to run into allies way out in the vacuum.

[quote]“Well, you're about to have one hell of a day. Welcome to the Hinansho system,
 and welcome to no man's land. If you happen to enjoy life, you'll want 
to go to battlestations if you haven't already. The Romans will be here 
soon.”[/quote]

Velka raised an eyebrow at the message they just received * who are the romans?* she thought as she tapped a couple commands into the console, dropping the stealth measures. “ Set a 20 degree down angle, half burn and take us out of this debris field. Boot the translation software and send them a message”  Velka said as she eased into the captains chair. 

- Message to Excalibur- 
“ Greetings Terrans! We are delighted to find you out amongst the vacuum. We would love to rendezvous and compare information about where we are and who these ‘Romans’ you speak of are. “