D’nara was sitting in the common room of her Vexor with Asa, a good friend of hers. Asa Rein was a former Sisters of Eve scientist who helped D’nara acclimate to modern life after her ancient consciousness was restored to her cloned body. When D’nara decided to take the life of a nullsec bounty hunter, Asa resigned from her position to follow her.

“What do you think it is?”, D’nara asked, pointing to her telepad, which was showing video from her cargo bay.

“I’m not sure. How did you get this package again?”,; Asa asked.

D’nara put the telepad on the table. ”Some guy came up to me when we were in 1DQ, told me he was a representative for some organization called CCP, and asked if I would be interested in a device that would take us to some sort of unknown space. He told me the unknown was sure to be filled with something of value. When I asked him what it was exactly he told me he wanted a ‘yes or no’ answer.”

“I take it, as the genius you are, you accepted it with no other questions?” Asa said.

D’nara turned in her seat and put her legs up on the table folding her arms behind her head. ”Well of course, journeying into the unknown is kind of my thing. But after I told him ‘yes’, he just turned around and walked away. I never heard from him again so I thought he was just pulling my leg; until the cargo showed up at our docking bay along with this message.”

Asa grabbed the telepad and swiped to the message, then started reading it, ”I guess this is one of those filament devices I heard about on The Scope”.

“And activating it will take us to some unknown pocket of space”, D’nara added.

Asa put the telepad down. “And I take it being the adventurous daring spirit you are, you want to take all of us there”

D’nara looked around the room at the other crew in the room and replied, “I’m not sure yet; I don’t want to rush. I am well aware that I can afford to die, though can’t say the same about you or them. That’s why I want you to do some research and find some more information about it. Put that big brain of yours to work.”

“I’ll try”, Asa said. “But then again it could be nothing…could just be one of those pirates whose brother or friend you killed trying to sneak in a tracking device right under your nose.”

“Maybe”, D’nara replied. “But if that was the case, I don’t think we’d be all by our lonesome right now”.

Just as she said that, a voice came over the intercom. ”D’nara, Asa, I think you two should head up here. We might have company soon.”

D’nara and Asa both looked each other in the eye with Asa saying, ”Maybe you spoke too soon.”

They jumped out of their seats and rushed towards the lift that took them to the bridge. As the doors slid open, D’nara looked around at the crew until centering on Daryll her navigation crewman. “What’s the situation?”

“It seems a Blood Raider fleet has caught on to our trail”, Daryll said. “They are about a minute away from our position.”

“What’s their fleet composition”, asked D’nara as she sat in her seat.

“It looks like five battleships and a handful of cruisers and frigates”, Daryll replied.

D’nara paused briefly putting her hand on her chin. “Damn…set course for the stargate”.

But before the ship could align, a small Astero uncloaked off the ship’s bow, and started to disrupt the ships warp systems.

D’nara stood up from her seat. “I guess we have to do this the hard way”. She walked over to her command pod and opened the hatch. “Prepare to transfer all controls to me”, she said entering the pod. The hatch closed behind her and the neurobiological connections began to connect to the nodes implanted in her clone while the pod filled with fluid. In a matter of seconds D’nara was in complete control of the Vexor and began to lock up the Astero.

However, she was just too late as the Blood Raider fleet came out of warp right on top of her position and began to open fire on the small cruiser. The shields dropped rapidly, but once the Vexor hit armor the dual armor reps started to balance the incoming damage, though barely. D’nara knew she could not take on the whole fleet so she tried to pull range from the battleships by activating her microwarp drive. The Vexor began to pull away from the bulk of the fleet, but the Astero was able to stay on her tail, keeping the ship disrupted. It wasn’t long though until the capacitor of her ship ran out. The main fleet began to close again, with the cruisers opening fire and the long range guns of the battleships mauling the tiny Vexor.

The Vexor was losing armor fast; finally D’nara’s ship had done enough damage to the Astero that it had to disengage. D’nara tried to immediately warp away but while she was no longer warp disrupted a penetrating shot had damaged the ships warp drive. D’nara knew that if she didn’t do something drastic the ships would close and finish her ship off, kill her clone, and more importantly end the lives of her crew and friends.

There were no other options. She decided to use the device that was given her by the shady man in 1DQ. She put through the order to load it into the weapons bay and with barely any time to spare she activated the device, opening a portal which swallowed her ship. In an instant the Blood Fleet and known space faded away and the ship was thrown through a chasm in space-time until it landed in an unknown region of space.

D’nara began to feel tingling in her extremities as an electrical shock began to go through her body. She began to panic as the pain became more intense. On the other side of the pod Asa and Daryll realized something was going on with the pod and rushed over to it and engaged the manual override to open the hatch. The hatch opened; the fluid began to drain spilling all over the deck. The two reached inside and grabbed D’nara disconnecting and removing her from the pod. They placed her on the floor but she wasn’t responsive. “Shit, Asa. What the hell do we do now?”, Daryll asked.

Asa pushed him aside and leaned over to D’naras face and began to give her CPR. At first there was no reaction but after a moment she spit up liquid and began to breath. She stood up frantically looking around. When she finally came to her senses she asked, “What the hell just happened?” Asa supported D’nara by putting her arm around her and holding her up. “There was damage to the ships capacitor and power relay systems. It sent an overload to the pod. We are lucky to have gotten you out when we did. Pod’s fried though. Are you ok?”

D’nara looked at Asa and nodded while Daryll brought her clothes. “It looks like wherever we are we are going to have to get through it the old fashioned way”, he said as he handed her the garbs. D’nara stood up and got into the clothes Daryll had grabbed for her, then walked over to her seat. She sat for a minute before asking, “What’s the status. Where are we?”

Asa walked back to her post and began to take sensor and data readings on the surrounding space. “We are in some sort of isolated pocket of space-time. This is definitely what I saw on The Scope. They call this ‘Abyssal Space’. Sensors read two structures in the immediate vicinity. One looks like it is a gate of some sort…the other seems to be some kind of defense platform”.

“Anything else?” Dnara asked.

“Well…”, Asa began to say with hesitation.

“Well, what”?

“If these readings are correct, there is some sort of abnormal pressure in this space. By my calculations, we don’t have much time until the space collapses on us”, Asa finished.

D’nara looked over at her friend and asked, “How much time?”

“20 minutes tops”

“Shit, what else did you hear about this space on The Scope? Anything that could help us?”, D’nara asked again.

“Those gates on scan lead to other pockets… keep going through and we should end up right where we started” Asa responded.

D’nara dropped her head down and put her hand over her forehead. “So even if we do find a way out of here there, is nothing telling us whether or not we land right back into that Blood fleet”.

As she said that a computer console in front of Asa began to blink red. “Right now is not the time to think of that. The gate just activated. Fifteen frigate class ships just jumped through.”

“This day just keeps getting worse…”, D’nara said. She looked at the ship diagnostic on her seat and saw the ship was still badly damaged. They needed time to get repairs before they could think about taking on 15 ships by themselves. D’nara began to think but there was no time to think.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Daryll. “D’nara, they are closing fast. What do you want us to do?”

The Vexor was a sitting duck; sitting in unknown space severely damaged, outnumbered with hostiles approaching quickly. D’nara didn’t know what do do, but she had to do something and fast otherwise there would be no difference between being destroyed by Blood Raiders in New Eden or being destroyed in an unknown part of the galaxy by a faceless enemy.

While D’nara Atreides was roaming the streets of the Amarr capital, she came upon a crumpled note that piqued her interest. It read:

“In the beginning, all things were as one.

God parted them and breathed life into his creation

Divided the parts and gave each its place

And unto each, bestowed purpose”

-“The Scriptures, Book I 1:4”

Son, I once took these words to heart. With all of my soul, I believed that our divine empire led by its great Emperors and Empresses would fulfill that purpose. To take over those lesser races and dominate the galaxy bringing our enlightenment to all creation. But those were different times. And now I find my faith wavering. What purpose did the Drifters serve? To smite the faithful? To kill our Empress? To turn the galaxy which was destined for our glory into ash? If our purpose was ever to destroy those who oppose the divinity of our God, then certainly his will would be on our side against foes such as these…

I have to ask, where was His will when the Drifters invaded New Eden laying siege to systems from the Outer Ring all the way to our home in Domain? Was it God’s plan for our Empress Jamyl to be mercilessly slaughtered by these heretics? I was there when those brave Capsuleers—who so many look down upon in disdain—took up the mantle to defend civilization, while the great empires sat paralyzed. Powerful as the menace was it was the capsuleers, not the Empire who found the way to defeat the incursions into our home. The capsuleers devised a dangerous and risky plan to trick the Drifters into engaging them with a weak force. After they widdled away enough of the Drifter overshields, the capsuleers jumped in larger ships and sent the Drifter scum back into the abyss. I remember the day when your uncle came to me telling me he volunteered to fight beside the capsuleers. After hearing the plan, I too decided to join the cause as a medic on a Guardian in one of the fleets. I was there when thousands died sacrificing themselves in Coercers and Thrashers in order to drive off the Drifter hordes. I remember the horror of the medical bay that day; the sound of people crying out in anguish and pain; the sight of men and women who had just lost arms, legs, flesh burned from their skin. The scent of death; that bitter aroma still hangs in my nostrils and haunts me in my sleep. I also remember the day I received your uncle’s body with condolences from the Sub-Zero Fleet Command… Where was God’s divine will then?

Now I hear that a ship has appeared in Yulai. Piloted by CONCORD sure, but rumor has it that whoever built these ships may be responsible for the damaged and derelict Drifter ships being found around the galaxy. This mysterious species may even have the Drifters on the run. If I had to guess, I would say they will run here. We will be prepared and waiting for them this time, but what if their foes follow? Millions died only to stall the Drifter menace. I fear that was only the beginning. If these Triglavians or whatever they choose to call themselves are powerful enough to defeat the Drifters with such ease then I fear we stand little chance against such power. A powerful force like that could either be our savior or the harbinger of our doom.

We stand here at the edge of unknown darkness, and I will no longer trust the scripture to protect us. I no longer believe it is the Amarr who have been chosen by God. If the Drifters or whatever else lies beyond come in force, it won’t be the Amarr that save New Eden nor their God. When they come it will be the capsuleer who defends the breadth of humanity. Dark days lie ahead, my son, and I fear for your future. It is for this reason I have chosen to disregard our faith. I am sorry, I must do this. Just remember, I do it for you, your mother, and your sister. Tomorrow, I will have my consciousness transferred and my body cloned. For this action, I will be looked upon as a heretic and un-pure. I know your grandfather will use whatever means necessary to attempt to change my mind, and for that reason I have to leave for a long time. Know that I love you, and I hope I can have some part in securing your future. I know this will be hard for all three of you, but I hope you understand that we can no longer wish for hope. We must be that hope. We can no longer rely on God’s will or our Emperor for strength and safety. We must find it within ourselves. Take care of your mother and sister.

Love,

Your Father

D’nara looked up at the large house the letter probably came from, and saw it was abandoned. The fate of the family mentioned in the note is anyone’s guess.