“The Lone and Level Sands” is episode five of season three of Andromeda.
Dylan, Tyr, Rommie and Harper are heading back to the Andromeda in the Eureka Maru after arranging a non-aggression pact when they are attacked by Ogami fighters.
A ship approaches and destroys their attackers. It is the United Earth ship Bellerophon, an exploratory vessel sent out over 3,000 years ago, before Earth joined the Systems Commonwealth (which does show that the Commonwealth preceded Earth by a significant period of time – longer, in fact, than it survived having humans in it – given that the Nietzscheans who caused its collapse were originally human).
The Bellerophon lacks a slipstream drive. It may have faster than light travel – this is not made that clear, it may not – but it doesn’t use the slipstream. Either way, this means that it suffers from relativity problems when under way. 3,000 years may have passed in the outside universe, but not on the ship. Which means that Dylan is literally decades away from help.