Chapter 1

In the deep, dark cold reaches of space a giant gaping radiant black hole rested, bright webs of crackling electricity constantly surging from the active space oddity to which N.A.S.A. has kept a close eye on for the past several months. Morbid curiosity soon fueled bold determination to find out what lies on the other side of that wormhole, thus the The Valkyrie space shuttle and it's crew of trained astronauts was launched for it's very first maiden voyage plunging into the wormhole and into the great unknown.

The next day, a radio transmission had arrived to Mission Control as the leading scientist on the ship, Sonya Evans, reported the wormhole serving as a form of warp travel reaching all the way to a completely different galaxy entirely in less than a blink of an eye! Within this undiscovered galaxy a great number of strange new planets has been documented as well, with each day a full detailed report on a planet has been made and sent back to Earth for data analysis.

By then a full week had gone by before the crew was advised to bring the ship back home to Earth with little fuel and resources they had left for the voyage. Another whole day had gone by since the announcement of their journey back through the wormhole, all of N.A.S.A. personnel watching intently at their screens as the suspense grew heavy on their shoulders. Finally, the giant gaping blackhole spat back out the charred and beaten up spaceship…The Valkyrie. The head of Mission Control being the first to establish radio connection with the ship.

"Testing....Testing...This is Head of Mission Control, come in Valkyrie...." He spoke with a great sense of urgency in his voice, hoping and praying the crew has suffered no casualties traveling back through the wormhole.

Only ominous sounding static could be heard from the other side of the radio channel. Growing more desperate by the second the man called in again.

"Valkyrie are you there? Come in,"

A couple of seconds later, there was finally an answer.

"....V-Valkyrie Space Exploration Team Captain Isabelle, reporting our return...."

The woman's voice sounded tired, exhausted to the bone even, but all of Mission Control cheered aloud and rejoiced all the same before she could say another word on the matter. It wasn't until the head of Mission Control spoke into his microphone again.

"That's good to hear, now just bring the shuttle back to Earth and we can add this one to the history books."

"....I'm...I'm sorry sir. But...I can't in good conscious bring the ship back to Earth."

A great deal of hesitation was drenched in her words which made everyone cease the merriment almost immediately hearing the space captain sounding very concerned, downright scared half to death even.

"....And why not? What's wrong?"

"There's something (*static*) on the ship (*static*) with us; It's looks like one of us (*static*) isn't supposed to be here. It's been att-(*static*) highly infectious (*static*) only a few of us left remaining..."

"Captain please speak more clearly into your microphone, something must be interfering with your broadcast, must be the radio waves from the blackhole. You need to recalibrate the ship's communication system so we can hear you."

All the man got in response was a series of terrified screaming before the radio connection was cut off before any more information could be given. The head of Mission Control soon placed a hand to his chin before calling in for an emergency rescue team.

"I want that ship back on Earth, ASAP!"