Nobody knew where the shimmering yellow-orange particles came from and how they managed to scramble their communications and sensors. Some of the geeky science officers posited that the particles consisted of a form of higher-dimensional energy that somehow spilled over into realspace.
While the particles blocked their sight and interrupted their transmissions, they didn't do any further damage. They actually looped around solid objects as if they followed some kind of astral wind.
One good consequence of holding all of those meetings to discuss all kinds of contingency plans was that they already formed a plan for this sort of eventuality.
