So here's my current situation: https://i.imgur.com/pq6xPrv.jpg

Playing on a spiral map, and I'm completely blocked in by a Fallen Empire. I haven't even made contact with any other empires yet. I'm using Warp FTL, so I can't warp to any of the other spiral arms, and the FE I'm blocked in by has closed borders to me. As long as I don't colonize a holy world, I'm okay. I'm not really sure what to do, though. I can't get through the FE, and I can't warp to the other arms. Do I just focus on colonizing everything in my current area, start getting sectors setup, and just focus on researching until I can take out the FE?

On that note, about to use sectors for the first time. Mostly winging it, not entirely sure how best to use em. Currently trying out Hivemind, if that changes anything.

EDIT: About an hour or so later, I got the upgraded warp drives. Immediately declared war on a neighbor and took three planets from them. They're all being purged due to me being Hivemind, and my energy income plummeted far into the negative, so I put them into a sector to get things under control. Am I on the right track?

Here's where I'm at now: https://i.imgur.com/xSM1qlC.jpg