Captain Stiluun Arker of the Imperial battleship Krauser stood on the command deck, absently gazing out at the starfield before him, as various messages were droned out over the intercom of the mighty vessel. Lately, psykers and astropaths in this area were reporting very unusual warp activity in this space, in the vicinity of the Tau Empire; could this have something to do with the blue-skinned xeno technosorcers? Or even worse, some foul concoction of Chaos, or some harbinger of the arrival of the Tyranid fleet that was about this arm of the galaxy? Either way, it needed investigating.

"Sir, we are picking up increasing readings of most unusual nature." One of the bridge servitors reported. "The machine spirits are still processing their nature."

"Would they pose any risk to us?" demanded Arker. Damned if his career was going to end here, in some Emperor-forsaken patch of space, over some warp insanity.

"As far as I can tell, not yet. It appears to very localized, and as yet does not appear to have spread beyond Tau borders."

"What is causing it?"

"As I have said, we do not know. However, one theorization is that some undulation of warp matter is causing..."

"Alright, alright, I apologize that I ask."

Arker turned around to continue watching the expanse of space before him when a bright red swirly mass began to form among the stars ahead of him, like demented version of the Eye of Terror.

"What in the Emperor's name is that?!" he demanded as alarms set off around the ship.

"The warp anomaly has reached zero point! Brace yourselves!"

Arker held onto a nearby railing as the mass continued to increase in brightness until he had to shield his eyes. There was an intense but brief flash, and he lowered his arm, rubbing his face. He looked up, to see that the stars he had been looking upon a moment ago had vanished.

"What the hell?"

**

"Kira, what's going on?"

Benjamin Sisko stepped onto the command deck of Deep Space Nine, having just been woken out of bed, as alarms rang around the station. Personnel were scurrying around as Worf and O'Brian studied various readouts from the consoles there. He had heard mutterings about 'tachyon concentrations' or something, but he was too drowsy to think clearly.

"There appears to be a major subspace disturbance spanning at least a hundred light-years near our position." Announced Kira.

"Anything to do with the wormhole?"

"Negative." Announced Worf. "It appears to be consisting of a particle concentration that we cannot identify."

The entire station suddenly rumbled, prompting everyone to grab hold of something. Several readouts flickered, as did the lights.

"Any damage?" said Sikso.

"Some of our computer systems have been knocked slightly out of orientation, but other than that, nothing." Reported O'Brian.

"Captain..." Kira's voice trailed off. "These readouts just came in. All the stars in a circular area just next to us...have changed position."