Between a Rock and a Dark Place:

The Longshot was never supposed to go this far. Built for a two-year exploratory mission, the sleek scout vessel now floated aimlessly beyond the edge of known space, its engines cold, its crew silent. Only one remained awake—the janitor, sustained by the last flickers of backup power. Outside the viewport, stars twisted like slow smoke, warped by the gravity of a dark, ancient thing they’d passed too close to. Their ship had a catastrophic issue, that had yet to be identified, stranding them somewhere uncharted. The stars here didn’t match any map in the archive. Inside, silence reigned. Cryopods lined the cryo chamber like coffins, each holding a crewmate who trusted the ship to bring them home. The distress beacon blinked a steady red—still transmitting into the void. But no one answered. No one even knew where they were. Standing at the observation deck, a strange blue planet was turning slowly below. It hadn’t been there yesterday.