[@Hokum]
Soun looked at the main viewscreen. It seemed that the cylindrical object had stopped moving. That was good, he thought, at least they would not ram the [i]Genghis[/i]. He could see on some of the smaller screens monitoring the rest of the fleet that were spread around the bridge that the other two cylinders had stopped as well. "Keep weapons, shields and thrusters ready in case any of these objects show hostility." Captain Soun ordered the crew in the bridge. They waited for some time. The captain had sent out a message on the frequencies that they had seen to be most used by other alien empires, and the bridge crew was eagerly awaiting a response. Very shortly after, their patience was rewarded. On the terminal of one of the communication's officers, the one that had originally been responsible for sending the message to the cylinders in the first place, a light lit up, indicating a message. The crew listened intently as the response was being broadcasted by the bridge's speakers.

"Unknown vessel. We are the Lanist Khaganate, and we come in peace."

The captain sat perplexed for a few seconds as he heard the exact same message that he sent to the cylinders. While he was thinking about what had just happened, the results of the initial scanning of the rest of the system started to come in, and the science officer responsible for scanning the system stood up. "Sir, the results of the scan you ordered have come in. There appear to be thousands more objects than we could initially see. We don't know if they are cloaked, but we were able to detect them using our EM-based scanning technology." The man paused a bit as results continued to come in on his screen. It took a few seconds due to the vast astronomical distances that the radio, light and other types of electromagnetic waves had to travel, but at last, the data was processed, showing that all of the objects in the system had vanished. "Um.. captain, all of the objects in the system have vanished," the science officer said. "Also, somehow the EM-scan that we sent out was unable to get the absorption spectrum that would indicate the material these cylinders are made out of. I'm not sure why, but the cylinders are either interfering with our sensors, or black bodies, physical bodies that perfectly absorb all types of radiation."

"Try to find the objects with our subspace and gravitic scanners. Use the tachyon sensors if you have to." The captain ordered. The crew stared at the viewscreens for a few minutes, unsure what these cylindrical objects would do. Then, there was a flash of light, but the time it was there was so short that some of the bridge crew didn't even register it. The mighty vessel was shaken, but there was no discernible source for the force. "What do we do, captain?" the Helmsman asked. "We stay, and we will try to find our way around these cylinders without resorting to violence. What is the status of our shields?"

"Shields fully operational, sir."

"Good. The previous orders of attempting to dodge the ships and departing if the cylinders show hostility are still in effect. We do not know who or what these are, and it seems that they have better technology than us."

Fifteen minutes passed as captain Soun was thinking how they could solve this situation. Then, the screeching began. Bridge crewmen covered their ears as a high-pitched screech was played by the speakers for a whole seven seconds for an unknown reason. Then, the people in the bridge were perplexed as the front cylinder released a giant stone ball.

"Alright, this screeching never happened before, so I will assume it's because of those ships. We are getting out of here right now. Navigator, please plot a course away from those cylinders, and start the wormhole drive charging sequence."
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The vice-admiral of the fleet, Jens Knaggs, had been waiting patiently for the shuttle that would bring him back to the fleet's flagship, the KSS [i]Genghis[/i]. He looked at his HPC (handheld personal computer), and he could see that he had been standing there for about 10 minutes. [i]Strange,[/i] Jens thought, [i]normally the inter-ship traffic would've started by now, but I can't even see anything flying between the other fleet ships.[/i] He looked at the HPC again, which was showing a diagram of the fleet and its surroundings. That was when he saw the cylinder. As he looked at the image of the fleet, he could see a giant cylinder tens of miles away from where he was at that moment, but right in front of the flagship. He also saw two other cylinders. They weren't moving, and the rest of the fleet had also stopped. A few more minutes passed while the vice-admiral waited for his transport. The bay doors at the side of the hangar bay he was on began to open slowly, so apparently a ship was on its way. For a very brief moment of time, he could see violet light, and for some strange reason the hangar's floor beneath him began to quake. He fearfully looked at the different spaceships and fighters in the hangar bay, but they had all been properly secured so he had nothing to fear.

Two seconds later, Jens was gone. It took some time for him to process what had just happened. One moment he was waiting for his transport in one of the [i]Atlas'[/i] hangar bays, the next he was seated at a dining table somewhere else. He looked around a bit. The vice-admiral could see he had appeared in a civilian vessel, most likely the canteen of a Ger-class, if he looked at the lay-out of the space he was in. Then he noticed a serial number on the wall that the table was next to. As vice-admiral, he knew the serial numbers of nearly every ship in the fleet, so he was able to determine that he was currently on the KSS [i]Yurt[/i], a Ger-class civilian vessel. He continued studying his enviroment, and that was when he noticed Fanny May. [i]My wife is going to kill me if she sees this[/i], Jens thought. He mostly ignored Fanny's words as he was trying to determine exactly where he was and why he was there.

"Um, yeah, sure." He replied. "The Lanist Khaganates goal was to expand, and that's the mission of this fleet: Expansion through both peaceful methods and conquest. We never imagined we would end up in a completely different universe. And I would smile for both the businessman and the street bum, for they are both human, and should all be treated equally.
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James, as well as the rest of the group standing around the pod, was too busy staring at general Katie as she took off her helmet to notice the other individual slowly descending from the capsule's ladder. Katie looked at them slightly amused because of the shocked expressions of the faces of the small crowd, and when they recovered from their confusion they saw that the other person had also taken off their helmet. Their shock became even greater when they saw General Arman Nurzham. "Not quite the Welcome Home party I had imagined, but a nice effort nonetheless. Now, since we've just arrived here, please take us to the Khan. I am sure he'll be very happy to see us," General Anderson said. James immediately snapped out of his shock. He raised his rifle and aimed it at General Anderson's head. How could they be so sure that these people that he was looking at were even real? They could be aliens that were imitating General Nurzham and Anderson. Furthermore, they had just come from an unknown planet where they had been stranded for a long time, so they could be carrying all kinds of nasty alien diseases with them.  They had to go to quarantine. "General Anderson, it's been quite some time since we've last met. Now please be so kind to follow the quarantine team standing over there." James replied as he pointed to the men and women dressed in white Hazmat suits protecting them from the possible microbial agents that the two new arrivals could have brought with them.

"What?!" General Anderson said, raising her voice. "I am a general and your superior. I demand to be taken to the Khan right away." 

"I am sorry, general, but it's protocol." James replied. "There is nothing we can do about it."

General Anderson seemed to be even more irritated and prepared to reply when the other general intervened, saying: "Katie, we should just comply with what they are saying. We can explain what happened to us and talk to the Khan later." General Anderson calmed down slightly. "All right, Arman," she said, "but only because you're asking me to. Take us to the quarantine facility." Both generals put their helmets back on because they were told by the quarantine team while they were walking to the ship's quarantine facilities. One of the people in white suits opened a door and the two generals walked inside. Katie looked around, and she could see a nearly completely empty white room made out of sterile materials. There was a bench near the door and both of them walked towards it and sat on it. And then they waited.