Tirass Prime – Outer Rim, Deep Night Sector
A wasteland.
Wind-carved canyons stretched for miles. Ash-gray sand danced along cracked duracrete slabs, remnants of a forgotten Republic listening post abandoned over a century ago.
Kael's drop-ship landed without sound.
The structure's bones still existed—buried beneath layers of debris. His engineering constructs began excavation before the mainframe even fully booted.
Within 18 hours, the Empire's Tirass Node was established.
A cold, black spire pierced the sky, feeding on geothermal energy, defended by low-orbit sensor cloaks and cloaking arrays. But it wasn't just another expansion.
This site was something else.
Discovery: Jedi Cryptic Terminal
During excavation, one of Kael's tech overseers uncovered a sealed vault protected by ancient Jedi encryption.
Buried deeper than the rest of the station. Forgotten.
Kael ordered the Echo Mind to begin decryption.
The vault opened with a hiss of stale air and flickering blue light. Inside, a single terminal remained functional.
No guards. No traps.
Just a message.
Etched into the wall in old High Galactic:
"When the Choir sings, all shall see. When the Eraser comes, none shall dream."
Kael's eyes narrowed.
He played the recorded holomessage.
An old Jedi archivist appeared, trembling.
"This message… is for the one not born of the Force.
If you are reading this, you were never meant to exist in this cycle."
"But you are here anyway."
"You are the Eraser.
Not a chosen one. Not a balance.
But a silence that even the Force cannot explain."
The message cut out.
Kael remained quiet for a long time.
Then he muttered, "So that's what I am to them."
System Notification: Unique Title Unlocked
[The Eraser]
You do not exist within the will of the Force.
Your presence distorts long-term Force visions.
+25% resistance to all precognitive abilities.
+20% to all deception and manipulation against Force users.
Permanent suppression field around you: Minor interference with Force-sensitive abilities.
Kael did not smile.
But he finally understood why the Jedi and Sith had never sensed him.
Feron-4 Orbit – The General Arrives
Space peeled open in silence.
The Invisible Hand, flanked by two Separatist frigates, arrived in-system under cloak.
Onboard, General Grievous hunched over a tactical display.
His metal talons flexed.
"What are we hunting, Count?"
Dooku's holo-image flickered before him.
"Not what. Who."
"A presence that doesn't exist.
A world without shadow.
A whisper in the Force that the Jedi cannot trace."
Grievous sneered.
"Then we burn the planet to ash."
Dooku raised one hand.
"Not yet. Observe. Confirm. And if hostile…"
"Wipe it clean."
Grievous boarded his personal drop-pod immediately.
The hunt had begun.
Kael's Response
Kael watched the arrival from his Feron-4 command core. The Phantom Arrays didn't detect it — but the System did.
He didn't blink.
He activated Protocol Hexframe — the full awakening of the Feron-4 surface defenses. Artillery. Signal jammers. Electromagnetic storm induction towers.
But his real weapon wasn't defense.
It was deception.
He ordered the "village" to be destroyed — an orchestrated internal disaster, as if a native reactor had imploded.
Casualties were faked. Droids melted. Records erased.
And just like that, every trace of life on Feron-4 disappeared again.
Inside the Command Vault
Iralith sat slumped in her chamber.
Kael entered alone.
She looked up at him, quiet now.
"You saw it, didn't you?" she asked.
He nodded.
"The prophecy."
She leaned her head back, exhausted. "You're not part of the Force, Kael. That's why the Engine didn't break you."
Kael's voice was cold.
"Good. Because I'm not here to fulfill anyone's prophecy. Jedi. Sith. Choir. I don't care."
"I'm here to build."
Iralith watched him walk away.
And in her heart, for the first time since the war…She was afraid.
Not of Kael.
But of what he was becoming.