-Chapter 1-

In a rather secluded solar system, a corporation is found investigating a newly formed wormhole within the system. However, the entire corporation isn't investigating as a whole, rather, there is only one ship orbiting the new entity. Harry looked at the controls and the displays that gave him valuable information about his ship and the wormhole that loomed over him. It wasn't his first time traveling through a wormhole but somehow this time made him seem a little nervous. That's the thing about wormholes, he thought, You never know whats on the other side... until its too late.

Their galaxy was full of these wormholes, and because of the uncertainty as to where they all may lead, all 4 empires of the New Eden galaxy have branded the wormholes as dangerous and should be avoided at all cost. However, a few corporations decided to take the risk and set up modulated stations within the wormholes. These corporations reaped the benefits of the wormholes and made millions in funds. But one system only accessible through wormholes is not entirely isolated. Almost every system, that is in whats called "wormhole space", is at some point connected to another system in wormhole space, and sometimes the wormholes lead back to systems within New Eden. This is a security risk for the corporations as it allows one corporation to invade another corporation's space, or allow pirates to enter the wormhole systems and plunder the corporations. And since the wormhole systems haven't been well developed like the high security systems in New Eden, those that invade can do as they please, including the destruction of a station. With this in mind, Harry's corporation has taken steps to reduce the danger of invasion by finding, and then investigating what was on the other side of a wormhole that connected to their system. If there was a threat that the corporation couldn't handle themselves, they would perform mass jumps, cramming their largest ship to the brim with material, and seal the wormhole. This was Harry's job, he was about to jump through a wormhole they had found, and reveal what was hidden on the other side.

Harry heard chatter over the communication systems. "Normandy SR9, you are clear to enter the wormhole; good luck out there."

Harry's ship is one of many that he owned. For this job, flying a scouting frigate would have been suffice. The frigate was smaller and more agile. It could get in and out of the other wormhole system very quickly and if events turn for the worst, the frigate was equipped with an advanced cloaking device to remain hidden for an indefinite amount of time and a probe launcher to safely find another way out of the wormhole system. The same can't be said about the Normandy, but Harry felt that she hasn't been flown as much as he'd like to and decided to take her out for a spin once again. Besides, the frigate isn't the only ship he owned that had a probe launcher. The Normandy is an Arbitrator class cruiser, put into mass production by the Amarr Empire. She was a long and slender V-shaped star-ship, with curves in all the right places. The Amarr people have always favored strong, highly resistant armor defenses that glimmer with colors of polished gold and tan, but with a lot of armor strapped to their warships they are known to have some of the slowest warships in the New Eden galaxy. But their weakness in mobility is covered by their offensive abilities of pulse and beam weaponry, which are effective at range and minimize the need to move quickly. The Normandy inherited the defensive trait of the Amarr people but not the offensive trait. She is unique in the fact that she can field a flight of 5 light or medium scout drones and use them very effectively. These drones are tiny ship-like robots that are equipped with their own engines, turrets, and defenses. They are not autonomous though, they merely do what the commanding vessel tells them to do. The Normandy's on-board computers give her pilot more control over these drones and improve the defensive and offensive subsystems. Her computers also increase the effectiveness of Tracking Disruptors, the Amarr Empires' form of electronic warfare. With Tracking Disruptors, the Normandy can inhibit the tracking speed and optimal range of any star-ship that utilizes turreted weaponry. Although she is slow and cumber-sum, she is very capable of neutralizing a threat, or can hold together long enough for her pilot to engineer a way to escape, and that's what Harry loved about the Normandy.

Harry heard more chatter over the communication systems, "Normandy SR9, did you receive our message?"

The entire time he was sitting in front of the wormhole he was waiting for his corporation to approve of his travel. While he was waiting he got lost in his thoughts... daydreaming if you will. Harry responded, "Thank you control, I should see you in about 5 minutes." The task was routine enough and he had done it several times over. He would go through the wormhole and scan the system for an established communications buoy. If one could not be found, he would launch probes and begin searching for a station. Sometimes he found remains of stations overrun by another corporation different from it's own. These remains gave a grim reminder of what might happen if he didn't do his job. If Harry found an active station, he would then jump back through the wormhole and present his findings, to which his corporation would begin to seal the wormhole shut should they deem the wormhole system to be a threat. Harry engaged his ship's thrusters, moving his ship forward toward the wormhole, and waited to be sucked in.

Slowly his ship picked up speed. He could only obtain 150 m/s, but considering how much armor he slapped onto the hull of his ship, going 150 m/s was a luxury. Then Harry noticed that the ship was now traveling at 200 m/s. He once was able to get his ship to go that fast, but that was before he put on the armor. Then the Normandy started to double her speed, going 400, 800, 1600 m/s. Harry knew something was wrong, but he could only hope that his ship would be able to hold together as he hurtled into the wormhole.

The ship rocked and pitched hard from side to side. Harry felt like he was riding a bull. The ship's motion dampener's on the bridge did their best to reduce the rocking, but the ship was swaying so violently that Harry had difficulty staying on his feet. Quickly, Harry strapped himself to the captain's chair. He didn't like strapping himself in, but he did so anyway. At least I'll be able to maintain control of the ship here, he thought. But even after he was strapped in, Harry was struggling to try to maintain control. Harry knew that if he didn't maintain control of his ship's flight trajectory, the ship could be thrown sideways and ripped to pieces, regardless of how much armor the ship had. He saw several flashes of white light. Lightning?... in a wormhole?, he thought, that's unusual. The ship's computers were displaying warning signs and damage reports from the ships capacitor. I'll have to look at that later; right now I need to keep this ship flying straight! From what he could see on the monitors, the lightning took out the ship's shields. He couldn't care less about the shields, for his ship's primary defense was it's armor, and the armor was very, very thick. He heard the hull rattle as it tried to withstand the forces applied to it. Come on baby... Hold together, Harry thought. Finally after what seemed to be an eternity, the ship began to decelerate, dropping back down to 150 m/s, as he shot out the other side of the wormhole. Well that was one hell of a ride, he thought as he regained his bearings. After unstrapping himself from the chair, Harry checked the systems on the ship. The majority of the systems on the ship were still functional, but the shields and the capacitor regeneration systems were off-line. This'll have to do, he thought, I'll run a full diagnostic check once I get back to HQ. As usual, Harry began searching for a communication buoy. After the results showed that there wasn't a com buoy to be found, Harry launched the probes in his ship's cargo-hold and began searching for a station.

He found one, and it was active.

Right... now to head back and report my findings, he thought. There was only one flaw with his plan. The wormhole that brought him here, was no longer there.