The return to Dawnspire was triumphant but short-lived. The Echo-Net was buzzing with confused reports of the Canyons' collapse. But a new, more terrifying whisper followed soon after: sightings of the Eclipse moving into a new, ominously low orbit. Unprecedented energy spikes from its core.
Elara, monitoring from the sanctuary, confirmed their worst fear. "He's powering up the Planetary Cleansing Beam. It's a city-killer weapon. He's aiming it at us… at the whole region. He's going to burn the board."
All their plans, their resistance, their awakening—it would be for nothing. Malakor would rather destroy the game than lose by its rules.
Despair threatened to swallow Dawnspire. They couldn't fight that. No shield could withstand a direct hit from a capital ship's primary weapon.
Skodar stood in the Genesis Chamber, before the Living Stone. "Is this it? After everything? To be erased by a sore loser?"
Vaktari's form was dim. "The Stone is strong, but it is a pebble against that meteor."
It was Sukodar who spoke, his young voice clear in the gloom. "The Echo-Net… it's not just for listening, is it? It's for talking. You sent a call, and people answered. What if we sent… not a call for help, but the truth? What if we showed everyone what he's about to do? Not just the slaves. Everyone. The Varikdar merchants in Morvane. The neutral tribes in the north. The other alien species with outposts here. He's not just going to kill us. He's going to kill their investments, their territories, their lives."
A daring, desperate idea bloomed. A propaganda strike. They would hijack every comm frequency, every public screen, every broadcast band on the planet. They would show the Eclipse, highlight the weapon, project Malakor's own chilling order for Contingency Zero (which Elara had partially decrypted). They would scream to the whole world: THE MAN IN THE SKY IS GOING TO KILL US ALL.
It was a gamble that the empire's control was not absolute. That self-interest and fear could unite factions that had never cared about Vakhas slaves.
"Do it," Skodar said. "Use every scrap of power the Stone has. Don't ask them to fight for us. Ask them to fight for their own skins