Location: Miasma - Ti'Xal Ruins, Just north of the fighting
Objective: Discover more of this planet, Then maybe fight a few insurgents.
"So why are we not fighting against the people who threatened to kill the Emperor?"
"Because others have that covered for now. We are on call as a last resort for now. If more forces show up than they anticipate, we are brought in to shut them down."
"Okay, but why are we here instead of closer to the fighting?"
"Research Thalia. Research about the planet, and was that the Empire could learn from the past. Or even find powerful relics."
Having a group of twenty men with me, including the four other Iron Legates and Iron Centurions that followed me. Even then, I still sometimes referred to them as Iron Lords and Knights. Technicalities with names were stupid. I believe I was the only "Iron Lord" left who didn't want to change their title. Why? Changing names with the same structure was like calling the Je'daii, Jedi. Their name changed, yet their teachings of controlling themselves did not.
Kneeling down in the dirt covered ruins of the place, I brushed my hand across the brick that lay on the ground. Aged yet could still support my weight. I smiled lightly behind the mask. Everyone here was wearing one due to the toxic atmosphere. It was difficult to breath without any kind of filtration system, or oxygen system. Even when fighting, the men there wore masks as well. If you didn't you will die a slow and painful death because you simply inhaled.
Looking up at the men around me, all in their various armors for different reasons, the only two who stood out, were myself and Thalia. I dressed in my own Military standards, and she was dressed in a mix-mash of robes, and armor as though she grafted armor onto Jedi garb. Honestly, it looked good with the darkened black metal and the brown cloths. Holding the helmet in her hands, she knelt down next to me, and smiled lightly.
"You trying to be a kid again by playing in the dirt?"
"No. Trying to determine how long this brick formation has been here. How was it destroyed. See the scorch marks?
"Yes?"
Tossing the brick into my left hand, I then crushed it with ease. The metal upon my arm was not even damaged, and even had the red dust slide off. Showing it to her, the outside of the brick was darkened black. As though an explosion or ash hit the exposed surfaces. Yet the inside was red. Thalia then looked at me with a question.
"Something caused the brick to become black. Likely an explosion of some kind. Its like cooking meat. You slowly cook it to make sure you don't have a bloody center. Whatever caused it wasn't a simple fire. An explosion, or even a flash large enough to imprint upon the brick caused it."
She started to realize what was going on. All the bricks were like this as she picked a second one up. Only one side was darkened while the rest were red. The red came from mud or dirt that was baked into the sun, or even the solution of sludge that created this was red. The black came from a sudden impact with an exothermic reaction.
"So Thalia, tell me, what could wipe out an entire civilization with one blast, over an entire planet?"
"Solar flare?"
"Not quite. That would incinerate everything. It would act like Napalm. Instant fire, but last a while. No. What is instant, and is gone before you can blink?"
"A star going nova?"
"Yes, she can be taught."
