They sensed the passing of the One they called Pharox the Master through the fibers of the multiverse. With the passing of the Master, they lost their direction, their guidance. Some amongst the Race wanted to withdraw to their homeworld and formulate a new strategy. Some, free of the influence of the Master, wanted to devote their energies exclusively to the development of knowledge, leaving war behind forever.
Still others saw the opportunity for conquest unfettered, to control peoples and worlds in the name of the Race rather than the Master. These unfortunately were in the minority...
The bridge of the Kibo, while cramped by most Earthly standards, would have been luxurious compared to most spacecraft of Earth even a decade before. Even so, Captain Hiroshi Katayama still found himself bumping into things.
"Damn!" he yelled after bumping his head into a LIDAR console just above his head. The console was an experimental piece of equipment that hadn't functioned properly since the Kibo left Earth six months before. Now the console had activated and was painting a contact. <Warning. Proximity alert. Object at 50 kilometers on inbound trajectory.>
The machine had given the same warning every time it was activated.
"Would someone turn this thing off!?" he ordered. A technician rushed to his side and began working with the LIDAR.
"I -- I can't seem to deactivate it!" she said.
"Captain, I'm picking up increased comm traffic! Signals are consistent with Eriarti craft!"
Now Katayama's attention was fully on the problem. "Contact Titan Base. Machiko, keep the LIDAR and the passive radar working. Try to get as much telemetry as possible!"
"Do you want weapons armed, sir?" a young weapons officer asked.
"We're no match for even one Eriarti craft alone. Observe and report -- that's the game plan."
<Warning. Proximity alert. Two objects within 30 kilometers on inbound trajectory>
"Kill the impulse drive. All hands secure for silent running!" Katayama ordered.
Outside the ship, two Eriarti craft began scanning this interloper in what had hitherto been their domain. The crew, most of them former submarine crew, stood dead still and silent out of instinct as the probing beams penetrated their ship.
Katayama was sweating bullets as he saw the data display on his main tactical screen. One of the Eriarti ships was showing a marked increase in ultraviolet emissions... its weapons were beginning to power up.
"Engineering -- full impulse now!!!!" Katayama ordered. Immediately the ship shot forward at nearly 1/10 lightspeed. Alarms sounded as the inertial dampeners were stressed to maximum load. Behind them, the Eriarti ship that was powering up discharged its weapons... and hit its partner!
"Full stop. Take us behind that large rock," the captain decided after looking at his tactical screen. "Let's wait them out..."
The remaining Eriarti ship continued on its way into the solar system.
"Sir, I have an incoming transmission from the Kibo. This doesn't look good," Rich Merk announced from his cubicle.