Meanwhile inside the main base located in the Northern Hemisphere,
Keon, still in his Exoshell 3.0, watched the three massive, struggling airframes on the spherical display.
The visual feed from the high-altitude SW drones was pristine, showing the carriers fighting desperately to stay mere tens of meters above the sand, their thrusters glowing a punishing orange.
'Crude engine propulsion. Low-level structural reinforcement. They rely on sheer power and speed to overcome the gravity, which is highly fuel-inefficient,'
Keon calculated instantly.
'Their atmospheric flight systems are not designed for planetary gravitational variance, confirming the technology level is the same as that on earth, a proper Tier one technology.'
The moment the lead carrier began its strained, fuel-heavy turn back toward the portal, Keon did not react. He did not issue a fire command to the DOS satellites. The Alpha-3 Plasma Repeaters remained silent.
'Target neutralization is unnecessary. They have already self-analyzed the environmental threat.'
He observed the three retreating metal hulls as they vanished, one by one, back through the golden-red portal. They left behind a trail of burning fuel and a cloud of sand, a monument to their utter failure to adapt to the hostile physics of UHS1.
Keon zoomed the display back onto the now-silent, crackling portal, which now expanded to ten kilometers wide and extremely stable.
'They will not attack again before significant technological preparation, probably that's why there is a ten year time limit in this phase. Their next plan will be structural engineering, not direct engagement. They will either try to modify their weapons or attempt to attack with something that can deal with the UHS1 environment.'
He cross-referenced the retreating carriers with the information provided by Aria. A cold, calculated decision finalized in his core.
'The opportunity for reconnaissance is now. While they are blinded and terrified of the physics of UHS1, they will be entirely focused on defense and modification. Countercurrently, I will send the drone and explore their world of origin.'
Keon issued a new, immediate command, bypassing all defensive protocols.
[Command: Deploy Black Sun Reconnaissance Drone via Portal 546876.]
The Black Sun Reconnaissance Drone was not an ordinary SW drone. While the SW units were discreet and fast, optimized for silent, low-altitude deployment within UHS1's atmosphere, the Black Sun was a prototype top Tier 1 intelligence unit, designed for orbital travel and high altitude flights.
The SW Reconnaissance Drones were silver white, angular shapes designed to minimize radar signature and were constructed primarily of reinforced Polymer Glass and Unified Composite Alloy. They relied on local thermal and acoustic dampening.
The Black Sun drone, by contrast, was a deep, matte-black, shaped like a sleek, elongated raindrop shape. Its entire structure is made from Aether Composite Alloy, giving it an unparalleled tolerance for extreme heat and energy variance. It has advanced camouflage abilities, making it invisible to almost any kind of sensor.
Unlike the other drones, it contained four miniaturized plasma thrusters powered by a carbon fusion core that follows the Adaptive Synthesis protocols, allowing it to rapidly calculate and compensate for environmental changes like gravity, atmospheric composition, and even unknown physics constants.
Each Black Sun has miniaturized Alpha-1 cannons installed, along with stun emitters and polymer nets. Its main chip is specialized for advanced warfare and undetectable surveillance.
As Keon command passed through the Neural Nexus Network,
Inside the Southern Hemisphere Base, a specialized hangar bay, far beneath the main center, opened. The Black Sun drone, silent and suspended by the power of a yellow plasma thruster, floated toward the portal.
Keon observed the deployment on the main holographic display.
'Black Sun possesses adaptive functions. It can maintain structural integrity in different environments and quickly adjust to the foreign physics,' Keon analyzed. 'The priority is to acquire real-time atmospheric, gravitational, and geo-data. I need to understand the environment that created the Apocalypse.'
The drone accelerated, not at the Mach 2 speed of SW drones, but at a velocity that blurred its form entirely. It shot straight into the enormous, swirling golden-red vortex.
The transition through the portal was instantaneous and seamless for the drone's hardened structure, a mere flicker in the vast data stream flowing back to Keon.
For Keon, watching the live feed, the shock was palpable, though his face remained expressionless within the Exoshell.
The crystalline lens of the Black Sun drone registered a world of catastrophic decay.
The blinding orange sky of UHS1 was instantly replaced by a ceiling of sickly, purple-gray twilight, heavy and oppressive. The air was thick, visibly churning with what appeared to be a mixture of spores, black dust, and strange, corrosive chemical vapor… exactly as Aria had described.
Below, the terrain was an endless, horrifying landscape of broken civilization.
The drone was flying low over what had once been a massive city. Skyscrapers, half-melted and twisted, jutted from the corrosive air like skeletal fingers. Buildings were covered in layers of black, hardened fungal growth and what looked like crystallized, toxic residue.
The streets were choked not with sand, but with a bio-hazard sludge that steamed faintly, bubbling with an unnatural, slow life. Waterways, once rivers or canals, were vast trenches of black, oily liquid that did not flow but merely sat, dense and poisonous.
Keon processed the incoming data stream, his analytical capabilities spiking as the Black Sun rapidly mapped the environment. He compared the new data with his UHS1 to find the proper difference in both planets' atmospheres.
…
Planet UHS1 (Keon's World)
Gravity: 2.8 G (High)
Atmosphere: Nitrogen-Argon (Basic), Low Oxygen (Magic Plants), Sterile Mana (Magic Plants)
Ambient Energy: Low (Nitrous, Mana Particles)
Temperature: Arid (Low Humidity)
Dominant Flora/Fauna: Magic Plants (Non-organic)
…
Planet 546876 (Kai's World)
Gravity: 1.0 G (Standard)
Atmosphere: Nitrogen-Carbon Mix, High Toxin, Low Oxygen, High Corrosive Vapors
Ambient Energy: High (Corrupting, Bio-active Energy)
Temperature: Moderate, Fluctuating (Surface)
Dominant Flora/Fauna: Mutated Fungal Growth, Corrupted Bio-Mass
…
'The gravity is really standard Earth-level. The high Gravity environment of UHS1 was their primary and only defense against their world technology,'
Keon calculated. 'The atmosphere is the core problem. The fungal matter is actively corrosive and bio-active. No non-evolved organism can survive exposed here for long. Aria's oxygen mask was a necessary measure, not a precaution.'
The Black Sun drone, however, was impervious. The hull shrugged off the corrosive air, treating it as little more than a mild abrasive. The Black Sun navigated the ruin, its systems adjusting instantly to the 1.0 G environment.
As the drone moved silently over a shattered suspension bridge, Keon got his first look at the local life forms.
They were not zombies. They were colossal, chitinous insects, mutated beyond recognition, crawling masses of fused bone and black shell, seemingly feeding on the decaying structural steel of the bridge. Their size suggested power, easily equivalent to a Giant Zombie.
'Mutated insects, corruption had really affected all organic life on this planet.'
Keon observed thoughtfully, 'A self-sustaining system of decay and transformation. This is a true apocalypse through a controlled outbreak, instead of undead transformation that I was assuming.'
As the Black Sun drone continued its reconnaissance run, focusing on the coordinates of the energy signature drop-off from Vera's carrier brigade.
It found the base quickly: It is located in the middle of this broken city.
A massive subterranean military complex, partially hidden beneath a layer of reinforced concrete and corrupted earth. The structure itself was functional, built from salvaged, crude materials, but its defenses were focused inward.
'It seems they have noticed something passing through the portal.' Keon thought flickered as he observed the massive fortress of steel and mutated army of beasts.
Heavy artillery pieces… naval guns were aimed solely at the glowing vortex, ready to fire at the first sign of an incoming threat.
Dozens of human figures moved around the fortifications. These were the survivors, the evolved, equipped with military gear and tactical suits, looking tough and hardened by constant war. They moved with a tense, focused energy, their faces grim in the decisive light.
Keon zoomed in on a specific figure standing near the entrance of the bunker: a tall, young man with unsettlingly black eyes and a strange, almost unnatural aura of calm command.
'Looks like he is the candidate. Physical signature suggests extremely high-tier internal energy reserves. Also, the source of the 'enhancement' and the 'transformation' abilities,'
Keon immediately confirmed as his attention was attracted to the main figure. He felt a strange sense of familiarity, as if his soul signatures are recognizing the person in front of him.
He analyzed the Kai's posture and the frantic, defensive preparations around the portal. The withdrawal of the carriers had been interpreted not as a strategic pause, but as a precursor to an immediate, devastating counterattack.
…