[center][h2][color=92278f][b]Foreword[/b][/color][/h2][/center]

[indent][indent]The entity appeared at the edge of the Quatis Solar System during the 5th day of the 2nd month, in the year of Quatis, 4876. 

Images taken from the Quatis Astronomical foundation, revealed the entity to be violet in color, over a lightyear in length, and resembled a ribbon-like cloud. Initial hypothesis suggested that it may have been a nebula, though further analyses revealed that it was not gaseous in nature, but rather comprised of concentrated photonic energy. This entity was allocated Hany’s Ribbon, named after the scientist who discovered it.

Three days after its mysterious appearance, two outer planets of the Quatis System exploded upon contact with Hany’s Ribbon as it continued its path towards the Quatis world. News of the planetary destruction and the ensuing threat to Quatis, created worldwide panic while the leading scientists and engineers worked together on a way to save their 7.2 Billion inhabitants from pending doom. 

An estimated two months was all they had to devise a way to either stop Hany’s Ribbon or find a way to escape it. In those two months a new innovative era was born. No longer did the people of Quatis pay mind to economic limitations. In the face of imminent doom, all governing restrictions were lifted and the planets resources became accessible by whatever means necessary to achieve their primary objective, survival. This very short but largely productive era gave birth to all manner of new technologies from advanced weaponry to improved methods of travel. Yet, from so many advancements, a way to stop Hany’s Ribbon was not discovered. The destruction of Quatis, it would seem, was unavoidable…. But not all was lost. 

In the case that all else failed, a secondary measure was taken to ensure the preservation of the Quatis race: A fleet of eleven city-size space veering vessels were constructed, and with less than a day to spare before Hany’s Ribbon obliterated their world, a little over two million Quatis citizens boarded these vessels and launched themselves into space.  

…Seven billion were left behind to perish along with their planet and the Quatis Solar System….[/indent][/indent]

[hr]

[center][h3][color=92278f]Chapter 1[/color][/h3][/center]
[center][color=00a99d][h1]A Troubling Start[/h1][/color][/center]

	Two million people on board the eleven Quatis vessels of the Exodus Fleet, fell into morbid silence as they stood before their view screens and watched as Hany’s Ribbon decimated their planet, along with the remaining seven billion fellow citizens they had left behind. 

On the bridge of Quatis flagship Egress, the deathly silence soon ended when the shockwave of planetary dust shook the fleet and sent ships operations into turmoil. Admiral Dino Gavon, dressed in black boots, blue jeans and dark-grey tank top, gripped fast to his chair until the convulsions had subsided, all the while keeping his sober leer fixed on the monitor that displayed the cold, violet waves of Hany’s Ribbon as it headed towards the sun. 

“I recommend that we leave now, sir!!” Yelled the female voice of Lieutenant Bailic Shard, as she picked herself up off the deck and retook her seat at the helm. “We’ve got no time to stand on ceremony!” She was a pretty girl, youngest of Dino’s bridge crew, with short blond hair, fair complexion, blue eyes, and a dimple on her right cheek that showed up on the rare occasion that she actually smiled.  

Science officer Yol Madot, a chiselled young man with deep red hair and fading freckles, and who managed to maintain his seat during the impact, turned swiftly at his station to face Dino and confirm Bailic’s urgency on the matter. His voice was oddly composed, as if to spite the petrified look on his face: “She’s right, Admirable, Hany will be making contact with the sun in a matter of minutes. We won’t survive a blast like that. We need to jump. Now.”

The seven subordinate officers on deck, regaining their composure, turned with suspended trepidation at Dino Gavon as his nostrils flared, his eyelids grew heavy. He reached casually to the console on the right of his seat and typed out a short command. The view of Hany’s Ribbon then dropped from the wall-size view screen, the image now replaced with a live view of open space ahead. 

“I’m aware of our situation.” Admiral Dino stated, then shifts his eyes to Madot. “Don’t rush me.” Returning his attention to Shard, he drew a deep breath and almost whispered his command; “Choose your coordinates, Lieutenant. Apprise the rest of the fleet and synchronize. …Make the jump.” 

“Understood, sir!” Regardless of her lack of joy in life, Bailic was probably the most emotional of all officers on deck, her fingers trembling as she tapped out the coordinates and sent a synchronizing transmission to the other ten ships. She gasped, seemingly surprised when the helm display lit up to announce confirmation from the other ten ships. “We are go.” Her voice shook as her thumb flipped the switch to Jump.

As the click of the switch echoed through the bridge, the image of space ahead began to change. It was as though all the stars in the universe were suddenly drawn together, aligning themselves in a wall of white light that submerged the fleet, while at the same time everyone on board felt the curios sensation of falling and butterflies in their stomachs. An instant later, the wall of light broke away as the universe expanded to its rightful setting once again. In just a few moments they had arrived thousands of lightyears away from where they were, but instead of the view screen now displaying a star spangled image of space, a strange and massive circular distortion was obstructing their view in the void ahead.

Noticeably disturbed by what he was seeing, Dino kept his focus on the spatial distortion while his mouth dropped slowly open, pausing a moment to compose his thoughts before speaking;

“Status… Lieutenant?” 

“We’re out of range of the blast, sir….” Her reply trailed off, and in a reluctant effort to confirm the new readings displayed on her console, she lifted her eyes to the view screen. The sight of the massive circular formation in space causes her teeth to clatter several times until she finally found more to say. “But I… I have no idea what that is.” 

“It’s a Temporal Vortex.” Madot told her, his voice still unnaturally calm, and then turned in his chair to face Dino once more and repeat his analogy. “It’s a Temporal Vortex, Admiral.” 

Dino’s less than affected expression was compromised by the trace of a grin as he looked at Madot. “And how exactly did you arrive at that conclusion, Nerd?”  

“The anomaly is disrupting our systems, Admirable.” Madot replies as a matter of fact, “Practically every major ships system is off-line, yet our temporal systems are going haywire. Date, time, it’s all in state of flux. Whatever that thing is out there, it’s distorting time itself.”

“Can confirm!” Shard announced, almost creaming with concern as she punched at the controls of the helm. “Our propulsion systems are off-line. Coordinate systems as well. We’re dead in the water. But it’s even worse than that…” She stopped hammering at the controls to look at Dino with a dispairng tear in her eye. “It’s gravity is dragging us in, sir.” 
 
“Pull yourself together, woman.’ Dino demanded with a petulant curl of his lip, then turned his focus to Madot, asking, “It’s not a black hole then, Nerd?” 

“It’s not a black hole.” Madot replies with a casual, confirming nod. “I honestly don’t know what it is, but Temporal Vortex sounds pretty cool. And please stop calling me nerd.” 

“Well, as long as it sounds cool, that’s the main thing. But no, you’ll always be my nerd.” Dino moved his focus to the view screen, trying to make sense of what he was looking at. In a way the anomaly was nothing but a ring shaped mirage floating in space, several thousand miles in diameter. In fact, given its subtle space-displacing appearance, it might have been easy to miss unless someone happened to come face to face with it – and it struck Dino as curios, to say the least, that out of all the places in the universe, a warp Jump would land them in that exact location, staring down the hole of what was probably a rare, spatial anomaly. 

“Admiral!” Communications officer Rikod Cas, a short, dark-skinned man with bleach white curly hair, spoke up as a matter of growing urgency while prodding at his station controls.

“What is it, Cas?”  Dino enquired in a banal tone, as if to question what else could possibly go wrong at this point. 

“Reports are coming in from the rest of the Fleet,” Cas informed him; “They’re being pulled into the Vortex along with us and.. uhh, undergoing the same system failures as we are as well. They want answers.” He glances over his shoulder at the admirable, and added; “They’re panicking.”

“Well, duh….” Dino stared at the spatial anomaly drawing nearer on the view screen, while scratching his brow thoughtfully with his pinkie finger. ”Lieutenant Shard…” He cleared his throat, resting back easy in his chair; “any chance of getting propulsion systems back on-line?” 

Shard was desperately trying, but failing to hold back her tears; the death of seven billion of her fellow Quatis – as well as their own unknown current fate – was taking its toll on her. “Nothing’s responding, sir. I can’t even get thrusters to work.” She sobbed, now slapping helplessly at helm controls. "I'm so sorry, sir, there’s nothing I can do.” 

“Pull yourself together -” He told her again; “and that’s not a request. Sulking isn’t going to help us.”

“Yes sir…” She cried anyway, “but I don’t wanna die toda –“ 

“Admiral.” Madot spoke up again in his continuing unaffected tone. “Still no response from my system checks either. I’m afraid Lieutenant Cry Baby is correct, and no amount of punching the controls seems to help. Life support and a few other less important systems are all we have.”

As the spatial anomaly swelled towards them, just moments from swallowing the fleet, Admiral Dino turned his attention back to communications officer Cas, and said; “Send the fleet my response: Whether they like it or not, we’re all going in. So kick back, relax and… come what may.” 

Cas had barely enough time to relay the message to the other vessels before, without even a touch of turbulence, they entered the spatial anomaly. Everything went black. Not a sound was heard, not even Lieutenant Shards sobbing….