The humans and alien craft that got caught in the spell array found themselves in a very different space than before.
Somehow, the E energy radiation around them exhibited completely different behavior. Instead of flowing passively from Messier 87 to outward directions, it had instead begun to form into complicated loops that caused them to change the surrounding space and produce all kinds of unclear effects.
While the humans had been warned in advance of what they should expect, the aliens enjoyed no such luxury.
The pilots initially became confused by how they ended up in a space filled with mist. While the density of this strange and insubstantial fog was not as severe inside the spell array, it reduced the range and effectiveness of all of their sensors.
Of more concern was the total cutoff of communications with the alien units located outside of this strange area.