SLotH4's Note: Not everything is as it appears in the galaxy…

This one's written by me, and takes place in 4 BBY / 21 AFE (the timeline is shifted slightly from canon, which places 4 BBY at 15 AFE, though I doubt you noticed that little detail).

Special thanks to Sikor_Seraph for helping with the orbital mechanics bit at the beginning.

SotP Addenda - Fellan Imperium, the Legacy of an Empire

Imperial Installation 678-O5 – Maw Cluster

Personal Datapad of Doctor Bosha Crowkin, Site Director

21:02:22

The Maw… it is a strange place; I could feel it even from the transport shuttle. Now that I'm here and looking at the actual readings from our equipment, I'm even more ill-at-ease. The numbers make no sense, we were all convinced the sensor suites were malfunctioning, but every time they were recalibrated or replaced outright, the results remained incomprehensible.

A dozen black holes orbit a central point in mathematically perfect circles with zero eccentricity – didn't look that way at first, but it does once you correct for the gravitational lensing from remote observations. The gravity of each singularity plays off the others, correcting their trajectory and maintaining a perfect balance. Of the singularities of the Maw, four orbit the barycenter with semimajor axes of 1.618 parsecs, while the other eight are a further 2.618 parsecs. This same ratio is seen between the orbital elements of each of the black holes as well – each black hole's inclination and longitude of the ascending node is offset from the previous by exactly 1.618. The uniformity is eerie.

Each of these factors alone could be explained with exotic physics or a cataclysmic event. But each occurring so precisely as to not disturb the other? The likelihood that this is a natural phenomenon is, quite literally, astronomical. At the same time, the idea that it is artificial is… well, how else would you describe such technology, other than 'divine'?

I see now why the Emperor is so interested in this place.

…

21:03:02

The dimensional constraints of this place are strained to near breaking, reality becomes fatigued. To learn the secrets of the Maw and those who created it is… a daunting prospect, one that I suspect will take decades to even scratch the surface of.

I doubt any of us will be alive to see this through to the end.

…

21:07:15

The anomaly appears to be a mathematically perfect pentagonal dodecahedron with a theoretical surface area of 4,046.5628 meters squared – based on a theoretical circumsphere radius of 19.6176 meters.

A Viper-class probe droid was launched into the anomaly and appeared to slow down to near-stillness as it entered the area of anomalous effect. The light from the probe shifted to red after several minutes, before reverting to its original color (over the equivalent timespan) as it passed through the center and continued on until it exited the area of effect – at which point the probe began to move again at its original speed (total time elapsed: 3 hours 8 minutes 24 seconds).

We suspect that the anomaly contains a far greater space than it appears to occupy. Calculations suggest the space within the anomaly is approximately 16 kilometers along the 39.2352-meter anomalous depth.

Further experiments using different speeds and angles of flight are pending.

ADDENDUM: Regardless of the angle or the speed, it takes the exact same amount of time to pass through the anomaly. There is nothing to account for this uniformity, and no way of knowing the dimensions within the area of anomalous effect.

…

21:07:18

Audio/visual scans (only a third of the information was recoverable; this ratio of overall data integrity was uniform amongst each of the probes) from within the area of effect show no anomalous locations, instead it shows everything that is expected: stars, stellar gases, the research installation, etc. However, the light produced/reflected from these objects shift from red to blue and back to red, suggesting some kind of gravitational lensing that affects the speed of light within the anomaly.

Based on the shifting patterns, it was suggested that the space within the anomaly may be a dodecaplex (a fourth-dimensional dodecahedron). The center of the anomaly is surrounded by shifting walls of space-time that appear like a layered labyrinth.

Research into its purpose is ongoing.

…

21:12:30

The purpose of the anomaly continues to elude us. One of the guards suggested it might be a prison, even though it seems to be empty. Nonsense, plain and simple. I really need to stop interacting with those people; they're nothing but a distraction from my work.

…

22:03:28

The composition of the probes sent through the anomaly have shifted on the molecular-level. It was subtle, we only just discovered the changes during a routine maintenance cycle (one that was more than 6 months overdue, the incompetence of these people is staggering sometimes).

Further testing has been approved as well as the construction of a testing facility to contain the anomaly.

…

22:05:02

A chamber has been constructed around the anomaly and is currently being pressurized and oxygenated for the purpose of live-subject testing. The amount of oxygen required to make the facility breathable appears to be far in excess of expected calculations. It seems the space within the anomaly must be oxygenated as well. We've sent a request to Imperial Requisitions for another shipment of oxygen.

…

22:05:05

The anomaly appears to have weakened the quantum bonds of the air particles inside the chamber, reducing the molecules into charged particles. The results are promising, and a series of experiments have been approved.

Danger from the charged particles should be minimal, new safety guidelines have been implemented amongst the staff, with much of the activity within the chamber relegated to droids.

Samples are to be launched through the anomaly (by way of a pneumatic springboard) and into a padded landing area on the opposite side. The testing chamber is without any active artificial gravity during testing – gravity is reengaged for retrieval of the subject by a pair of KX-series security droids.

Test Log [22:05:09-22:05:23]:

Test-023: mineral

Sample – 0.5kg granite slab

Result – Sample appears unchanged, however, weight and density have fallen by 10%; analysis showed the presence of nanoscale pores containing a colony of previously undiscovered lithotrophic microbes; theories as to their presence range from being native to the anomaly itself, to being bacteria on the surface of the sample that underwent accelerated evolution within the area of effect; further research is pending.

…

…

Test-027: metal

Sample – 0.5kg durasteel ingot

Result – Sample rendered extremely brittle; analysis shows microscopic crystal formation around carbon deposits, precipitating microfractures in the metal.

…

Test-028: metal

Sample – 0.5kg Mandalorian iron (beskar) ingot

Result – Sample density increased by 40%; low-level radiation detected; analysis suggests carbon atoms have phase-shifted into a higher dimension, with the resulting quantum bonds strengthening the metal.

…

…

Test-041: plant material

Sample – glass container; Murakami orchid (flower petals)

Result – Sample degenerated into a black powder within the glass container; testing revealed the sample to be exceedingly toxic (designated I71); potential use as an industrial poison.

…

Test-042: plant material

Sample – glass container; Murakami orchid (sapling)

Result – Accelerated growth (which shattered the glass container) followed by cell mutation; sample undulated as if alive, before plant-based cancers overwhelmed the trunk and caused the sample to die; sample degenerated into a black powder; testing revealed it to be identical to I71.

ADDENDUM: Assistant Researcher Ifuga was accidentally exposed to a sample from Test-42 (her cleanroom suit had an undiscovered breach near the left wrist; breach was 50 nanometers in length); Ifuga expired and her body was taken for autopsy; Ifuga reanimated in-transit and attacked Doctor Ero, biting him in the shoulder; Ifuga was then killed by the KX-series security droids that were transporting her body; Doctor Ero expired and reanimated as well, prompting his liquidation by the droids; suspicion of unknown viral agent; bodies and samples re-designated I71A and sent to the Imperial Biological Weapons Division for further analysis.

…

…

Test-067: organic tissue (animal – reptile)

Sample – gizka (dead)

Result – Chemical bonds degenerated until the subject was reduced to a pile of component elements (carbon, calcium, phosphorus, etc.); remains were weighed and roughly correspond to the weight of the subject prior to experimentation (gaseous elements such as oxygen and hydrogen were lost during the process).

…

Test-068: organic tissue (animal – reptile)

Sample – gizka (live)

Result – Subject began to seizure until it split in two, longitudinally, with each half 'healing' into a separate subject; the division continued to manifest amongst the subjects with each 'generation' showing progressively greater deviation from the original (genetic degradation and mutation is suspected); after ten 'generations,' subjects' bodies were little more than animate collections of tumors and quickly expired during the next duplication attempt; the bodies underwent rapid dissociation into a black slurry; analysis shows only rudimentary similarities to baseline gizka DNA in subjects' remains; the 'slurry' appears to be inert.

…

…

Test-140: organic tissue (animal – mammal)

Sample – twi'lek (slave; dead)

Result – Tissue has carbonized into a single, solid mass stretched taut against the subject's skeletal structure; request by staff to put the 'fossil' on display in the station's common area was denied.

…

Test-141: organic tissue (animal – mammal)

Sample – twi'lek (slave; live)

Result – [REDACTED]

ADDENDUM: Request for theta-level amnestics submitted.

…

…

Test-165: organic tissue (animal – mammal)

Sample – twi'lek (slave; live; Tier 6 Force-sensitive)

Result – Containment breach; subject phased through facility walls and attempted to escape; Security Captain Osera attempted to suppress the subject, but failed and was subsequently crushed until all that remained was a sphere with a diameter of 2.54 centimeters; subject began to phase-shift into a parallel reality or a higher dimension (physicists have yet to come to an agreement on this, the sensor readings can support either hypothesis) before expiring and returning to solidity; autopsy revealed the cause of death to be dimensional oscillations that caused the heart to phase out of the body and remain 'elsewhere' (it is unknown at this time whether the organ was teleported to another region of our reality, or if it remained behind in a different reality/higher dimension); remaining organs showed proto-cancer cells of varying stages; additionally, the subject's Force-sensitive nerve bundles were found to have quintupled in size and density.

ADDENDUM: Further testing of Force-sensitive subjects has been authorized by Emperor Palpatine.

…

…

Test-173: crystal

Sample – kaiburr

Result – [DATA EXPUNGED PER IMPERIAL MANDATE]

ADDENDUM: Sample-173BW has been relocated to [REDACTED] by the order of Emperor Palpatine. No further study is authorized. No access is authorized. No attempts to destroy Sample-173BW will be authorized – non-zero probability that destruction will lead to [REDACTED].

ALERT: Imperial Installation 678-O5 has been decommissioned and all personnel liquidated. All records and information regarding the experiments performed aboard 678-O5 have been classified as TOP SECRET on the orders of Lord Darth Vader. Any attempt to publish or share classified information is considered a capital offense pursuant to Imperial Criminal Code 75684-D.