The assembled captains looked astonished, and Confed's voice, when it eventually was working again, said "The Solar system?"
"Yes, sir" Kelly replied "As in the system with Earth in. The Solar system. The cradle of humanity"
"Okay, okay, I think I got the picture" Confed sighed "But how?"
Kelly hesitated "Well, I don't know. But there did seem to be an increase in local gravity by about .01, sir. We've just been running the computer logs"
"What do you think?" Confed asked of the rest of the captains
"I think I may know what happened" an Abbai captain replied "But first I think we need to make scans of the surrounding area"
Confed nodded "Yes, that seems wise. I think, first off, we must notify EarthForce HQ--"
The com beeped again. Confed tapped it, and Kelly's voice could be heard, but inaudible to the rest of the captains. Then Confed turned back, with an ashen face
"There is no EarthForce HQ" he said "No jump point at Io, no orbital defence grid, nothing"
The chatter in the room rose, until Confed managed to get everyone calmed down--but the news that the homesystem of one of the major ISA partners had suddenly become as quiet as the proverbial dormouse wasn't the sort of news that calm could really be recovered from.
"It seems like as if we're going to have to do something a little more comphrehensive than take scans" Confed said
One week later
A hyperspace portal opened up, in the vast darkness of space between Neptune and Pluto. Out of it emerged eight vessels--a Lakara, an Irokai Kam, a Tachila Kor, a Skiatha and four Tethys Kappas. As the hyperspace portal closed, the vessels went to half power on engines, to rendezvous with the main fleet, orbiting silently around Triton, Neptunes largest moon
They had worrying news
"Are you sure" Confed asked the Hyach in charge of the expeditionary fleet that had left the Solar system"
"Yes, absolutely sure" the Hyach said. He was the de facto second in command of the Hyach fleet, being the second eldest, and he commanded one of the Irokai Kams "There are no human vessels or colonies in Sirius, Proxima or Wolf"
"That is worrying news" Confed said, but the Elder held up a hand, for he wasn't finished yet
"But not as worrying as the other news we have" he said, and a tight feeling gripped Mort Confed's stomach as the Elder went on
"We took some scans of the systems, and couldn't find a match for systems in 2275" he said, and his eyes narrowed "but all four systems we have scouted correspond exactly to the time period 2076"
"What exactly does that mean?" Confed said, knowing the answer even as he asked the question, and the Elder nodded
"It means that we have travelled back in time almost two hundred years"