[LAB Phase 1]: Of Marvel and Mystery

All across the galaxy, Underspace apertures have unexpectedly begun to appear out of nowhere. Whether it’s strange sensor readings or encountering an unexpected alien power or being pulled into an aperture, or something else altogether, crews all across the quadrant find themselves grappling with a scientific mystery of epic proportions. Yours is among them.

The theme of this writing competition is “the marvel and mystery of discovery”. From the point of view of your command, describe the experience of your crew in those initial moments when they first find themselves face-to-face with the Underspace. What do they see and how do they react? This competition is not about the action, but about the experience. Your entry will be assessed for descriptive prose, more so than dialogue, and extra credit will be awarded for well-integrated technobabble that helps describe the scene.

Criteria

• Your story must be between 1,500 and 3,000 words in length. It must be your independent creative work, and it must have been written and posted during the duration of this competition.
• Your story must be posted to your individual command as part of a mission that is attached to the Labyrinth fleet-wide mission. Stories from fleet-wide sandboxes and role-playing games are not eligible for this competition.
• Your submission should be a link to the story posted to your command. While you are encouraged to choose a story from the ongoing fleet action, only the single submitted story will be graded and judged.
• Your submission will be graded in accordance with the Bravo Fleet Fiction Rubric, which marks on the following criteria: Language, Style, & Mechanics; Adherence to Canon; Perspective; Characterization; Originality; Use of the Prompt.