[Sorry about the late post for the chapter, just wanted to give a heads up that i will be making my release schedule mon, wed and fridays, it will help me keep to a set time frame and not leave you all in the lurch waiting for another chapter. I hope you are enjoying the story so far and let me know if you have any questions or suggestions]
Aegis command picked up the anomaly at 03:27 UTC.
An unusually synchronized movement of signals, encrypted with outdated but efficient cloaking protocols, approached a village in northern Namibia—one of the oldest Aegis-supported sites. The area was lush with Hydronets, fully grown BloomPods, and custom-designed aquaponic systems. A marvel of post-scarcity stability in a region once overlooked.
Now it was a target.
The algorithm flagged the convergence of hostile entities: ex-Roxxon private contractors, remnants of defunded PMC units, and rogue tech-cell saboteurs. None operated under a flag—but the coalition's intent was unmistakable: to burn what Aegis had grown.
Projected success rate of Aegis automated defenses: 38%.
Victor received the alert in his lab deep beneath the Forge. He stood in silence, face unreadable. Then, without a word, he moved to his terminal.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
At 03:36, Victor issued a standard systems check rotation directive, logging his departure to an Aegis atmospheric testing facility off the coast of Iceland.
No one questioned it.
He locked down his node, rerouted tracking metrics, and activated a non-reversible code mask that spoofed his biometric location across Aegis systems for the next seven hours.
By the time his personal drop craft disengaged from the Forge's underside, its signal was buried beneath maintenance protocols and decoy telemetry.
He was no longer Victor Aiden.
The figure that stepped aboard the darkened ship wore black, plated armor. No logo. No insignia. Just a hiss of ancient breath.
Vader had returned.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
The attackers moved swiftly—expecting only automated resistance and unarmed villagers. Drones were already being disabled by portable EMP rifles, Hydronet towers rigged with explosives. The village's outer fields were ablaze.
And then the wind shifted.
A shape fell from the clouds—silent, swift.
Vader struck the earth in the center of the village square, cloaked in smoke and flame. He landed in a controlled crouch, the Force softening the impact, the air trembling.
The nearest mercenary froze.
He was lifted into the air before he could finish the sentence. Bones crunched. His rifle hit the ground seconds before he did.
The camp exploded into chaos.
One squad opened fire. The bolts never reached their mark. They twisted midair and scattered like light through shattered glass. Vader surged forward—lightsaber ignited. Crimson carved arcs through steel and fear alike.
He didn't kill unnecessarily.
But he left a trail of devastation.
Weapons shattered in hands. Troops disarmed mid-motion. Two attackers hurled into buildings with just a flick of his wrist. One attempted to detonate a charge—Vader caught it mid-click, crushed the device in the air, and sent the remains into the dirt beside the man's feet.
Panic spread. Half the coalition tried to retreat.
They were caught by Force-driven winds, their legs swept from beneath them, air stolen from their lungs as they crawled for escape.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
By 03:59 UTC, the battle was over.
The villagers remained untouched. Their shelters intact. Every single hostile operative was either unconscious, restrained by Aegis drones—or on their knees.
Vader stood in the center of the square.
He said nothing.
But when the lead saboteur dared ask, "What are you?"—Vader stepped forward, bent slightly, and whispered:
"A reminder."
Then he was gone.
His ship rose vertically into the sky and vanished behind low cloud cover.
Minutes later, Aegis systems re-synced with real-time satellite monitoring. Victor Aiden was still in Iceland, overseeing wind tunnel calibrations—on record, on file, and utterly disconnected.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Nairobi – Intelligence Briefing"We lost contact with the Namibian strike force," the analyst said.
His superior frowned. "Casualties?"
"Zero. But they're all restrained. Talking nonsense. Something about a black ghost. A demon. One said 'he crushed the sky.'"
Sydney – Media LeakAerial drone footage hit independent channels by midday. Blurred. Choppy. The silhouette was indistinct—tall, cloaked, moving through fire. One frame captured a red glow—brief, unnatural.
Speculation followed, but not frenzy.
"Who was the figure?""Some kind of private security?""Could it be enhanced tech?"
No major outlet made direct connections. Just fragments.
Aegis issued a brief statement later that afternoon:
"We detected a credible threat to one of our support zones in Namibia. Unfortunately, due to distance and real-time system strain, we were unable to dispatch reinforcements in time. The incident is currently under investigation. The unidentified figure seen in recovered footage is unknown to us. Aegis holds no affiliation."
____________________________________________________________________________________________Victor re-entered his quarters as the clock struck 06:12. His systems logged him as arriving from Iceland.
He changed out of the armor slowly, reverently. The breath mask clicked off with a final hiss.
Liora met him hours later for their regular operations meeting.
"Anything unusual?" she asked.
Victor sipped his tea.
"No," he said calmly. "A routine inspection."
But deep in the back-end systems, buried under layers of encryption, a small file was logged manually:
Designated Psychological Directive:Instill long-term deterrence.Status: Achieved.