The Screaming Void

A xenos empire of a dozen solar systems grew strong and proud at the farthest reaches of the galaxy's edge. Never knowing major rivals, they delved into scientific thought practically unrivaled in the cosmos.

The secret to their success was a defunct Necron Tomb world, damaged in some unknowable way aeons ago, and by re-engineering the technology, the younger xenos advanced themselves by leaps and bounds. With great power cane great recklessness, for they believed that the Tomb World held all the information that was worth knowing, and they applied its every detail and tidbit as often as they could, weaving Necron ideas into every facet of their culture.

At last, they unlocked the secrets to making a terrible weapon, the Aeonic Orb.

They took the central star of their empire, a mighty furnace of tremendous power, and after mining their entire home system to build the cage, they sealed the sun away.

But, a single line of code, scratched out by a random micrometeoroid, or perhaps a small earthquake and avalanche, rendered the device unstable. The star, compressed beyond reason by Necron science, collapsed too far, crushing itself so quickly that a pair-instability supernova occurred.

Its sheer energy forced antimatter into being in the core, and the entire star converted its mass to antimatter.

For light years in every direction, star systems ceased to exist, and the blast wave was stopped only by the Great Storm, which fed off the energies released to help drive its wrath.

Now, there is simply a colossal void in the Halo zone, and the faint outlines of a supernova remnant. Inside, ships augurs see ghost images, Geller Fields flicker as if disembodied creatures press in upon it, and faint screams, low and almost beyond conscious hearing, pervade every deck of every ship.

None will venture here, though the voices beckon travelers ever inward. What might lurk at the epicenter of the blast, none can say.