Outer Perimeter – Feron-4 Atmospheric Ring Defense Network
A storm of flame and metal screamed through the upper atmosphere as the second Jedi strike team made planetfall. Their dropships rode ionized corridors, guided by stealth beacons that pulsed only in the ultraviolet spectrum. Inside, twelve Jedi — Knights and Masters — sat in meditation. Calm, despite the hunt.
Leading them was Master Ithis Raan, a Mirialan Seer with battlefield experience against multiple Sith uprisings. His foresight was sharp, even against the echoes of the dark. But as they neared the planet, something gnawed at his sense.
Ithis Raan (opening his eyes): "Something has shifted. Our presence is expected."
Beside him, Knight Serrah Vos, a telepath, frowned.
Serrah Vos: "I can't feel the future here. It's... static."
Below, an obsidian-glass sea of atmosphere churned. Feron-4's upper stratosphere was no longer just sky — it was Kael's domain.
Obsidian Citadel – Command Nexus
Kael stood in his command core, eyes reflecting the data-cascade of incoming signals. His upgraded orbital grid was synchronized. Thirty satellites—silent, hidden—spun invisible nets of force-degrading distortion fields across the skies.
Kael: "They're here. Phase 2: Dead Sky Protocol. Activate the Ascendants."
Command drones relayed the signal across underground channels. Units from Ascendant Wave 3 deployed, dispersing in programmed tactical formations.
At the Echo Ridge Basin, the air shimmered — an illusion burst. Jedi dropships emerged from their cloaked descent, greeted not by terrain, but by silence.
The first dropship detonated in mid-air — no warning, just an implosion. Not from missiles.
From within.
Tactical AI: "Force-null kinetic compression mines activated. Target hull integrity: 0%."
The remaining ships crashed under the pull of artificial gravity spikes, carefully planted beneath the basin. As Jedi leapt from the falling wrecks mid-air, they were met by the unseen.
Blink-strikes.
The Ascendants—cloaked by refractor nodes—appeared in mid-air, blinked between falling debris, and cut. Not with lightsabers, but with vibroblades laced in cortosis filaments. Jedi screamed. The sky turned red.
Kael watched through holo-feeds. One Jedi was holding off three Ascendants — Master Raan.
Kael (to Overseer Veyda): "Send Black Echo. Let's test adaptive countermeasures."
Battlefield – Echo Ridge Basin
Master Raan spun through the air, his green lightsaber cleaving through a blink-initiated kill strike. He was fast — but not fast enough. Every swing was read, countered, twisted.
Black Echo, Kael's personal strike unit, descended in perfect synchrony — no noise, no light. Their armor shimmered between frames like liquid metal. Their vibroblades shimmered with magnetic harmonics.
Raan (gritting his teeth): "You're not Sith... what are you?"
One unit blinked behind him and severed his lightsaber at the hilt. Raan pivoted — but his movement had been predicted.
Tactical Analysis – Lv. 4Blink Strike – Lv. 6
Kael was not fighting.
But through his operatives, his system fought for him.
Raan fell.
Six Jedi dead in sixty-three seconds. The remaining ones were already in retreat.
Kael's voice echoed through Ascendant comms.
Kael: "No survivors. Disable their navicoms. Capture two. Kill the rest."
Kael's Laboratory – Sublevel V
Within a containment tank, the captured Padawan Rylos floated, breath shallow, mind fractured. Kael stood before him with a datapad, studying his brainwave variance under exposure to looped trauma illusions.
Kael: "This generation of Jedi is too gentle. Their minds are glass."
Injecting coded hallucination programs, Kael allowed the Padawan to believe he had escaped — multiple times. Each time, the illusion was shattered. Each time, his mind broke further.
Kael (to Interrogation AI): "Mark sequence #17 for truth thresholds. When he breaks, implant fear of the Council's betrayal. Then release him... with a homing signal."
STATS
Allocated:
Strength +2 → 32
Agility +2 → 35
Midichlorian +1 → 8,110
+1 Skill Point Gained → Allocated to Covert Operations Lv. 4