The wormhole wasn't supposed to exist.
Commander Sarah Chen stared at the swirling vortex of space-time through the Starship Odyssey's forward viewport, her knuckles white against the helm controls. The navigational systems screamed warnings – gravitational forces beyond anything their shields were designed to handle. The ship's AI frantically calculated escape vectors, each one more impossible than the last.
"Engineering, give me everything you've got to the forward thrusters!" she shouted into the comm. Static answered. The wormhole's electromagnetic interference had already severed internal communications.
The Odyssey shuddered violently. Warning lights bathed the bridge in crimson. Sarah had done countless simulations of emergency scenarios during her decade with the Interstellar Exploration Corps, but nothing had prepared her for this. The routine survey mission to Proxima Centauri had gone perfectly until ten minutes ago when space itself had torn open before them.
A deafening crack echoed through the hull as the structural integrity field began to fail. Sarah's training kicked in. If they couldn't escape the gravitational pull, their only chance was to ride it out. She diverted all remaining power to the inertial dampeners and structural integrity.
"Computer, initiate emergency protocol Alpha-Seven. Send out distress beacon with all sensor data." Her voice was steady despite the chaos around her. The computer chirped acknowledgment just as the viewscreen filled with blinding white light.
The last thing Sarah remembered was the sensation of being stretched like a rubber band, her consciousness scattered across what felt like infinite space and time.