3 ships missing, 1 I'm aboard is frozen

[suunaabas]

Just had 3 ships vanish overnight. There were no final logs from the captains, no alerts of any kind; they just vanished from the game for all intents and purposes. I am currently aboard 1 of them, which is frozen in space. It *was* in warp when it went ghost. I've logged out and back in a few times and it just sits stationary in space. I can see star system names I've colonized (while on the bridge), and all the jump connections, and even show up on the Star Map interface just outside the system I was leaving. The officer even acknowledges my commands locally. But nothing else interacts with the game from it. I can't raise it, or the other two large ships from Fleet channel. No comms channel to any of the 3 get a reply (including the one I'm aboard). The other two ships were just set to hold in orbit over a city, cycling a buy hydrogen / wait / report, so they weren't even moving. I can raise 2 manned stations and a smaller ship on Fleet Channel. Checking mail, no new officer ready emails have shown up, so I'm guessing they're frozen too, not somehow destroyed. 

I really don't want to recall out and investigate the other two in case this thing starts moving again. But apparently I can't create a new alt account either, to try that route. The login screen accepts all the info I used on the website, but then never finishes loading / connecting after the DNA screen. 

Dunno what to do from here, as I can log in fine with my main account.

EDIT: I've tried clearing the orders and re-issuing them, which is how I get the officer acknowledgement. But none of the crew are even moving, they just sit like frozen statues.
EDIT TWO: Donut RLELW  is my avatar