Meanwhile, in a galaxy far far away...
It was high-noon local time on Ryloth. The Republic friendly planet was on the front lines of the galactic civil war and was continuously engulfed in fighting as the CIS attempted to seize the resource-rich world. While fighting raged on the ground, ships battled in space. Two Republic cruisers were engaging with three Separatist frigates, while a third cruiser burned and fell from orbit. This was a minor battle compared to what the Confederation had previously thrown at the Republic forces.
Admiral Yularen stood on the bridge of the Resolute. He looked out the bridges large observation windows as fighters flew past and laser fire erupted around them. This battle was not going well. He was on his own, as General Skywalker was busy fighting a Seppy invasion force on the surface. Still, the Admiral stood calm as ever while clones managed their stations all around the bridge.
"Increase forward deflector shields! Focus all fire on the lead ship." Yularen commanded. Clones stationed in the small centers on either side of the bridge swiftly carried out his orders.
The Admiral braced slightly as a vulture droid erupted in flames and careened past the window, two torrent fighters hot on its tail. One of the bridge officers called up to him.
"Sir, we're getting...strange readings. It's like there's another ship coming out of hyperspace, but at the same time there isn't." The confused clone awaited a response.
Yularen could tell the clone was a newer member of the crew. He was slightly annoyed that the soldier would come to him with an insignificant problem at a time like this. "It's likely that you're instruments have been damaged, lieutenant. Now is not the time for-" The Admiral was suddenly cut off as a large black orb exploded into existence between the Republic and Confederate ships. It caught the attention of every soldier on the bridges of both the Republic and Confederate ships. Lights and monitors flickered as the spacial anomaly continued. Blue streaks of light emanated from the portal.
Bits of fiery debris began to spill out, followed by two ships. One appeared to be heavily damaged. Large fires could be seen spouting from holes in the ship, along with venting oxygen. The second appeared to be normal. Except, that it didn't match anything in the Grand Armies ship database.
Onboard the Mustang, Captain Martin picked himself up off the bulkhead. Many other members of the crew did the same. Sparks fizzled from damaged electronics. He clambered to his command console. "What in Gods name just happened, Sherwood? Did we just get attacked? Damage assessment, now!" Sherwoods hologram appeared on the table. His expression showed he was in control, but slightly confused.
"I don't believe so, sir. The Horizon appears to have experienced a slipspace malfunction. We are structurally fine, but the Shaw-Fujikawa drive is offline...Uh, sir, Look." Sherwood pointed out the ships observation window. Floating directly infront of them was the wreck of the Horizon. The ship looked like someone put it in a meat grinder. Further behind it loomed a desert planet that in no way resembled planet XB555172. There was so much to take in that the Captain did not notice the five other ships that they had just appeared in the middle of.
"Fucking hell." Martin stared on in awe. "Begin rescue of the Horizons crew. Find out where we are. See if you can get FLEETCOM on the line. In that order."
Sherwood replied with haste. "All tasks impossible, Captain. The Horizon is drifting towards that planet. In 1.3 hours she will begin entering the atmosphere. And I do not know where we are. These stars do not resemble any of my star maps. It is possible that we are in an unknown section of the Milky Way. For the same reason, I cannot raise FLEETCOM. There are no communications bouys within...anywhere." Sherwood paused for a second. "And we may have other problems, sir." Several ships appeared on the holo-table. Two triangle ships that were several kilometers to port, and to starboard there were three other uniquely shaped vessels.
"These ships do not exist in the UNSCs database. And judging by appearances, they are heavily armed."
It took a second for Capt. Martin process all this before responding. "Label all contacts R1 through 5. Identify a lead ship and hail them." The communications officer pressed a few buttons on his console and turned to the Captain. "Uh, sir. We're the ones being hailed. It's coming from contact R1. "
Sherwood chimed in aswell. "Contacts R3, R4 and R5 are breaking off. I think our arrival startled them."
The three CIS frigates and their droid commanders were confused by the new arrivals. Spacial anomalies were not covered in their programming. They disengaged and began retreating to report this to General Grievous. Onboard the Resolute Admiral Yularen had hailed the ships. He recognized that they were military in nature, but they definitely didn't belong to the republic. He ordered that the shields remain at full power. He also ordered that the fighters pull back but remain at the ready.
Martin wasn't sure of these new contacts. Recent scans indicated they were larger than any civilian vessel. If this was a first-contact scenario then FLEETCOM would have him court-marshaled for not following protocol. But alas, they were unreachable, and he thought it best not to piss off the beings that might aswell own the Horizon right now. Capt. martin straightened himself. "Ensign, accept their hail. Put it on the main monitor."