Kael fell like a dying star.
The Emerald Sun-Stone burned against his chest, its pulse syncing with his own racing heart. Below him, the emerald canopy of Viridian Prime rushed up to meet him, while above, the Vorthax Hive-Ship groaned, its obsidian hull cracking as secondary explosions ripped through its "digestion tracts."
"Kael! Adjust your pitch!" Elis screamed through his helmet. "You're coming in too hot! You're going to be a Starborn-flavored crater!"
"I've got... it..." Kael gritted his teeth, his Resonance Gauntlet glowing a violent shade of neon-violet.
At Tier 4.0, his control over gravity was no longer a struggle; it was a conversation. He didn't just push the air; he commanded it to become dense. He created a "cushion" of compressed gravity beneath him, slowing his terminal velocity until he drifted toward the open hangar of the Emerald Talon.
He slammed onto the mossy deck, sliding twenty feet before coming to a halt.
"Kael!" Lyra was there in an instant, her silver hair shimmering. She helped him up as he pulled the Sun-Stone from his suit.
"Get this to Sylva," Kael panted, handing the glowing gem to her. "The Hive-Ship is coming down. If it hits the jungle, it'll wipe out every tribe for a thousand miles."
Lyra didn't waste a second. She sprinted to the central pillar and slammed the Stone into the receptacle.
[SYSTEM RESTORED: EMERALD SUN-STONE DETECTED] [POWER LEVELS: 100%] [THE EMERALD TALON IS AWAKE]
The ship didn't just hum; it sang. A high-pitched, melodic frequency erupted from the crystalline hull, turning the air green. Sylva, the Bio-Pilot, merged deeper into the ship's interface, her emerald eyes flashing with newfound life.
"SISTERS," Sylva's voice echoed across the fleet channel. "THE FOREST PROTECTS HER OWN. FORMATION: TRINITY SHIELD."
"Copy that, Goldie!" Elis shouted. "Ignis, get into position!"
For the first time in five centuries, three Starborn ships moved in perfect unison.
The Celestial Vanguard (Ignis): Took the lead, its obsidian hull absorbing the kinetic impact of the falling debris.
The Aurelian Wing (Aurelia): Flanked the right, its golden scales reflecting the thermal heat of the atmospheric entry.
The Emerald Talon (Sylva): Anchored the base, its crystalline wings emitting a "Soft-Matter Field" that caught the falling Hive-Ship fragments like a giant, invisible net.
"Kael, we need a focal point!" Valerius shouted from the bridge of the Vanguard. "The Hive-Ship's core is about to go critical! If it blows while we're holding it, we all go with it!"
Kael stood on the bridge of the Talon, looking at the massive, burning wreck suspended in their combined energy field. He felt the resonance of all three ships flowing through him.
"Doc!" Kael yelled. "Can the Gauntlet handle a triple-sync?"
"It'll melt your arm off, kid!" Doc Gear-Grinder yelled back from the engine room. "But if you don't do it, we're all stardust!"
"I like those odds," Kael whispered.
He stepped into the center of the Trinity Shield's focal point. He reached out to Ignis, Aurelia, and Sylva. He wasn't just a scavenger anymore; he was the Conductor.
[SKILL ACTIVATION: TRINITY COLLAPSE]
Kael didn't push the Hive-Ship away. He used the combined gravity of the three ships to compress it. The massive, mile-long vessel began to shrink, its metal folding in on itself as Kael intensified the gravitational pressure.
The Hive-Ship became the size of a mountain... then a house... then a marble.
With a final, guttural roar, Kael threw his hand forward. The "marble"—containing the entire mass of the Hive-Ship—was launched into the upper atmosphere, where it detonated in a harmless, silent flash of light.
The sky cleared. The sun of Viridian Prime shone down on a jungle that was finally free.
[MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: THE HEART OF THE FOREST] [NEW ALLIANCE: THE VERDANT TRIBES SECURED] [FLEET STATUS: 3/7 SHIPS COLLECTED]
Kael fell to his knees, his gauntlet smoking and red-hot. Lyra caught him before he hit the moss.
"We did it," she whispered.
"Three down," Kael wheezed, looking up at the two other ships hovering protectively nearby. "Four to go."
Deep in the Void-Pocket, the Crystal Tree began to grow a new branch—one made of emerald glass.