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Scylla

The Scylla is a mysterious and unexplained gravitic anomaly. Named after the mythical huge, many-headed monster that grasped hapless sailors off the decks of their ship, it is one of the most mysterious phenomena in all of explored space.

It is located in the Oort cloud (beyond the reaches of Pluto), where comets originate before falling inward to the Sol System.

Although being a compressed field of gravity as strong as the largest star, Scylla does not behave like one, or else it would be a second, dark sun, turning Sol system into a binary star system. In actuality, Scylla has negligible effect on surrounding space (although Pluto's irregular orbit might be a result of this). Scylla sucks anything as close as 30,000k down into the singularity at its core; however beyond that threshold there is no effect, and Scylla is detectable only by extremely specialized equipment, even as close as 100,000k. This makes Scylla a dangerous hazard.

Scylla also generates one jump point which is a portal to the longest jump line, leading directly to the Vega Sector.

Explanation[]

Terran Confederation scientists speculate that Scylla is a singularity emitting massive quantities of both gravitons (particles which create gravity, generated by any object with mass) and antigravitons (rare particles generated by specific matter/antimatter reactions or exotic stellar phenomena) in equilibrium, which according to the Unified Field Theory oppose each other. The antigravitons naturally expand to the "surface" creating a field (possibly 1,000k thick) which negates the dangerous pull of the gravitons limiting it to a 30,000k-radius around the singularity, and concealing it from the exterior.

Its origin however is another mystery, and a possible explanation is an anomalous black hole which emits particles instead of absorbing them. Other theories say that Scylla must be a creation of some ancient civilization; it is believed that those aliens created Scylla in order to connect Sol with Vega. Scientists agree that the particles emitted from Scylla must originate in another universe and is the subject of hot debate.

Scylla in Terran history[]

Pilgrim explorers were the first to chart Scylla and are said to have performed dangerous tricks by interfacing between the graviton mass and the antigraviton field of Scylla. They did high-speed slingshot maneuvers towards the Sol planets. The Terran Confederation marked Scylla off-limits with the Beacon 147 as too dangerous; approaching it too fast would suck a ship; missing the entry vector would destroy it.

Diligent near scylla

The Diligent entering Scylla

Captain James Taggart of the Diligent attempted to jump Scylla in order to reach the TCS Tiger's Claw in time, something that became possible with Christopher Blair's Pilgrim talents.

Snakeir in scylla

While in Sol Sector, Blair was pursued by the Snakeir-class KIS Grist'Ar'Roc. He set course for the Scylla, and the Kilrathi detected the Beacon's signal, believing to be the location of the Terran fleet. However Blair pulled away in time, letting the Snakeir to be pulled by the anomaly.

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