Asa hurried to the bridge, the doors opening and the bridge crew rising to "Captain on deck". One of the blue-skinned, red eyed Chiss stood stood at at attention, an indiscernible expression on his face. "Captain," he said in a clipped voice.

"As you were. What is it Felkas?" The Chiss stood hands behind his back, his blue skin at odds with his burning red eyes.

Felkas gestured to the large clear plasteel view screen. "That, sir." That indeed. There was a sort of...rip in in space. That was the best way Asa could explain it. It was large slit of deep blue, so large that it dwarfed the entire fleet. "It seems to have a large gravitational pull and has the entire fleet in its grip."

"Why was I not informed of this earlier?" He couldn't believe that something so large would have been unseeable until now.

"It appeared from nowhere , sir. One moment, the area was empty, the next this was there."

"What has the Admiral said about it?"

"Nothing so far so, although we have been moni-"

The ship shuddered and shook tossing Asa and the Chiss to the ground. The lights fluttered slightly, but quickly returned to normal.

"Sir, something hit us from the anomaly"!, shouted one of the ensigns who had managed to hold to his station. "Are we the only ones"? Asa collected himself and stood, helping Felkas to his feet. The Chiss seemed to disregard that what had happened.

"No sir, the fleet all seem to have been hit by the same thing. And sir, its pulling us deeper into the anomaly."

"Anything from the Admirals flagship?"

"Nothing sir." The view-screen was now completely enveloped in blue. They were now literally at the mouth of the rip. Asa swallowed.

"Palpatines black bones, what is this thing?"

"Captain, there is an immense amount of pressure on the hull. We're trying to pull away from the anomaly, but...-

Caught in the spiders web.

"There nothing to we can do then but push on. Alert the entire fleet. Were moving into the anomaly"

Felkas looked alarmed." Sir, is this wise?"

Not at all,but..." If we try to resist, we'll be torn to shreds. If we push on, maybe we'll emerge on the other side."

"That would subscribe to the completely unfounded theory of wormholes."

Asa looked Felkas dead in the eyes. "Do you have a better idea?"

A bright flash filled the view screen and once more the lights flickered. The floor shook and vibrated against Asa's feet and he was forced to hold onto an Ensigns chair to remain standing. "The entire has acknowledged you sir!

"Pressure is decreasing!"

"Captain!", Asa heard Felkas shout, his voice ringed in an unnerving amount of panic."Somethings happening-"

Everything stood still. He couldn't move, he couldn't speak. Everything was frozen in a blue haze. Frozen.

Then IT spoke. It could only be an IT. Or a The. It was a booming Voice ,a dominating sensation, like something had gripped his mindin a vise and was trying to bore into it.

WE ARE CURIOUS.

Hurt,hurt,hurt. It hurt, it hurt, those three words and Asa knew his mind was screaming. The Voice, it was huge, dominating, powerful...and agonized. Pained and almost sad.

WE HAVE WACTHED, LISTENED. WE TASTED OF YOU AND DECIDED.

More words, more pain.

WE HAVE BROUGHT YOU HERE. OUR SPIRIT GUIDED YOU , OPENING THE RIFT, TO AID OUR ENDLESS BATTLE. WE ARE ARE ETERNAL. E SPREAD EVERWHERE AND EVEN NOW, ONLY THE TINIEST FRACTION OF OUR ATTENTION BROUGHT YOU HERE, ONLY THE SMALLEST PART TO CHANGE AND TWIST THE PORTAL, TO BRING YOU HERE INSTEAD OF THE INSTANT DEATH FOR WHICH YOU WERE INTENED.

What is your intent ,Asa thought, like a womp-rat to a bull rancor.

EXISTENCE IS TORMENT. EXISTENCE IS PAIN. EXPEL ALL COMPASSION, ALLMERCY,. AND YES, ALL JOY. ALL HAPPINESS. HERE THERE IS ONLY WAR.

Asa felt his mind being released, felt time and space shifting yet again.

IF NOT, YOU WILL NOT BE READY.

Asa fell to the ground and felt sick. His vision blurred and his head throbbed.

Felkas dropped to his side. "Sir, are you ok?"

"Yes, Felkas...I...where are we?" He looked up as his vision cleared and saw that there was no longer a large blue hole. Instead, there was the blackness of space. "Where are we, he said again.

"I don't know sir. Felkas helped him stand. "Navigation, location?" A moment passed before an Ensign from the Navigation section of the bridge spoke up. "Sir, I have no idea. None of our astrographic charts match our sensor readings. " "Check the data the Ascendancy gave us."

"I am sir. Nothing matches sir. As far as our maps are concerned, this is utterly new space."

Asa was hit with realization. " We did it, he said wearily. "We made it to a new galaxy."