Episode 6
Kael tumbled out of the maintenance vent, crashing onto a slope of loose scree.
The transition from the sterile, frigid atmosphere of the Cryo-Research Annex to the raw, open air of the Outer Rim was violent.
The Outer Rim was the desolate, broken edge of the starship's crash site—a vast landscape dominated by enormous, jagged spikes of fused hull metal and deep, shadow-choked canyons.
The air here was thin, dry, and carried a biting, metallic wind.
Kael lay still for a long moment, allowing the searing pain to recede into a manageable drone.
His arms and chest were a roadmap of self-inflicted wounds; the glowing cyan tissue was now visibly leaking fluid that instantly crystallized in the cold air.
The Stabilizer core was demanding energy, but Kael had none left to give. He was running on pure adrenaline and the cold, unyielding will of the Guardian Code.
He pushed himself up, finding he was perched on a high ledge overlooking a massive, tiered canyon known as the Grand Maw.
Miles of treacherous, rusted metal and deep chasms separated him from the faint glow of the Sprawl's lower zones. His body was a compromised system, and he was stranded in hostile territory.
He had the mission objective—the data chip containing the map to the Veil-Breaker Core—but he was critically resource-poor.
He needed immediate medical attention, better gear, and fast transport to the North Pole.
He activated his comms, hoping the high-altitude signal would punch through. "Lyra. Mission success.
I have the target coordinates. Status report."
Lyra's voice crackled back instantly, sharp and relieved. "Kael! We're clear of the Annex. The Conduit is trapped, but he'll thaw. We got the data. We're heading back to the rendezvous point for extraction."
"Extraction is compromised," Kael stated, scanning the hostile terrain. "The Syndicate knows the destination. They'll have eyes on every conventional exit."
"Then what is your move, Stabilizer?" Lyra challenged, her professional tone returning.
"I need to move through the Outer Rim.
Unconventional routes only. Secure me a rendezvous point at the Iron Rings—the northern edge of the Grand Maw. I need untraceable credits and a high-altitude transit solution.
Now."
Lyra hesitated only a beat. "Done. But you have less than four hours before the Syndicate blankets this zone."
The most direct route across the Grand Maw was blocked by a formation known as the Razorbacks—a field of colossal, jagged metal shards that stood taller than skyscrapers, fused together by the ancient impact.
They were sheer, treacherous, and constantly shifting under the seismic pulses of the underlying power grid.
Kael realized he couldn't use his Stabilizer power for large bursts of anti-gravity or speed; the exertion would cause his wounds to tear further, possibly triggering fatal internal bleeding.
He had to rely on the clean, perfect climbing techniques taught by the Order of the Sundered Dawn Academy—the non-powered methods of silent infiltration and movement.
He began the ascent. The alloy was slick with condensation and dusted with corrosive particles. Every movement was slow, deliberate, a terrifying meditation on inertia and balance.
He found himself forced to move across a sheer, vertical face. His body, weakened by the Neural Suppressor and injury, screamed in protest.
He felt a sudden, sharp jolt—the tremors of a seismic pulse running through the structure. A slab of metal plate sheared off ten feet above him, crashing into the abyss.
The danger triggered a powerful memory Echo:
He is in the Academy's holographic training room, scaling a shifting wall simulation.
Master Valerius (in his Guardian uniform, not the Syndicate suit) stands below, observing. "A Guardian's power is the last resort, Kael. Relying on Dust is weakness. Control your center of gravity. Move with the minimum necessary friction.
The Code is perfect, not the power." Kael hears a sharp crack, and the simulation wall collapses. Valerius: "Failure. Do it again. Perfect balance."
The Echo solidified his focus. Kael ignored the tremors.
He executed a perfect Spider Traverse—a technique designed to distribute his weight across eight non-linear points of contact—allowing him to move across the unstable face with almost zero friction. It was exhausting, but effective.
After nearly two hours of climbing, he reached the summit, a high plateau where the wind threatened to tear him free.
He looked down and saw his reward: a vast, illegal mining operation nestled in the canyon floor, a source of light and, potentially, danger.
The descent was more perilous than the climb. He had to navigate through a defunct waste processing system that emptied out near the mining operation.
He dropped into a narrow, dark pipe that reeked of metallic fumes and burning Star-Dust residue.
The pipe was unstable and rapidly heating up from the residual activity of the miners below.
As he slid downward, he was suddenly faced with a new threat: the pipe was clogged with Grubs—genetically modified insectile creatures that fed on waste energy.
They were large, armored, and aggressive.
He was trapped in a narrow space with no room to use the Stabilizer power. He drew his only tool: the crude, scavenged utility knife.
The first Grub lunged.
Kael's Guardian training took over, translating his martial arts skill into effective close-quarters killing. He didn't slash; he pierced, targeting the soft, segmented joints between the Grub's armor plates.
The movements were lightning-fast and brutal, learned not for survival, but for absolute neutralization.
He killed three Grubs in rapid succession, but the intense exertion made his chest wounds weep furiously.
He had to keep moving before the heat cooked him alive.
He burst out of the pipe, landing hard on the sandy floor near the edge of the mining operation.
The site was chaotic: loud hydraulic presses, the blinding light of cutting lasers, and a throng of heavily armed Smelters—scavengers dedicated to stripping the hull for valuable Star-Dust veins.
He was instantly spotted. A towering Smelter, armed with a pressurized mining drill, approached him.
"Hey! You're bleeding light! Get out of here, Runner!"
Kael knew he couldn't fight a full crew. He needed to be invisible. He spotted a massive, open Smelter Pit—a vat of molten, slagged alloy where the waste was processed.
The heat was unbearable, but the smoke was thick.
He bolted toward the pit, sprinting into the cover of the dense, toxic black smoke. The Smelter yelled and gave chase.
Kael used the smoke as a shield, but the raw heat was unbearable, making the air feel like fire.
He heard the drilling rig approach. He forced himself to the ground and rolled behind a column, just as the Smelter's drill tore a hole in the alloy wall, missing Kael by inches.
He pressed his comms: "Lyra, change of plan. I'm at the mining operation, near the main Smelter Pit. I need immediate extraction, or I'm dead."
Lyra's response was delayed and frantic: "Kael! The Conduit is out! He's heading towards your last confirmed location! We can't reach the Outer Rim conventionally! You need to get out now!"
Kael looked up at the sheer, vertical wall of the canyon.
He was trapped between an armed Smelter crew, a vat of molten metal, and the approaching Conduit. He had to risk the power, or fail the mission.
He took a deep, burning breath.
He channeled his last remnants of suppressed Stabilizer energy, preparing for the leap he knew would shred the rest of his body. He was going to use the Code to escape, one final time.
Kael is trapped between hostile miners and the fast-approaching Chaos Conduit. He must risk catastrophic physical damage to escape the Outer Rim.