Peculiar

"We're getting some strange readings from the probe, Captain. The scale's all over the place, and the energy fluxuations are not synching with any known signals we've received before"
Captain Johanson templed his fingers and looked ahead as the starscape rushed around the ship.
"Check them again. it may just be a system error."
No, the cargo was too precious to have anything peculiar happen now. The mission was the important thing. His crew was already nervous, being in an unexplored region of space, and this was making them all antsy. the ship was silent save the low hum of the computers and the whirr of the engines as they waited for the results.
"The same, Captain. I can't seem to get the meters recalibrated. I'm not getting any signs of interference though. it's like the computers just decided to kick things around randomly. I can't get a clear anything out of it."
This did little to strengthen morale.
"I can run them again, sir..." Ensign Barith offered, but the captain's distant stare answered for him.
"So, we're stuck out here, going full bore with no computers and no way of figuring out what's going on."
"Well, no sir. Only the scanning computer is offline. All the other systems seem to be working normally. We can stop any time, or slow down. i would advise doing this, at least till we figure out what's up with the Scanners."
Johanson nodded and the necessary commands were put in. the ship creaked and groaned for a moment,the strain of deceleration pulling at the metal of the travel-weary ship.

"Can we get a screen up, have a look around? make sure we weren't followed?"
"We'll do what we can, sir."
The technician nervously fiddled with the computers, and the large viewscreen slowly brightened into a fuzzy image. He eased forward a bit, and smacked the side with his fist, and the picture cleared. Surrnding the ship seemed to be hundreds of tiny objects, greens and browns and oranges, all ring-shaped disks that reflected the ambient light into various hues.

"So, what am I looking at?"
"Well, sir, as you know, this is an uncharted area, so we're not quite sure."
The disks were still. There was, as far as they could determine without instruments, totally immobile.
"Shall I take the probe out for a sample? They could prove useful or at least interesting while we wait to get the sensors back."
Captain Johanson stood up and walked to the screen.
"Do you see that?"
"What, sir?"
"Zoom in on that disk there."
The technician magnified the image. Sure enough, there were small scratches on one of the objects.
"Bring it in a little more, please."
The tech once again rotated the lens and focused on the scratches.

The captain's face went ghost white, and he hurried back to his chair. he barked orderes in a hoarse tone, as if his breath was strangled within his throat.

"We have to get out of here. NOW."