The Zenith Scholasticate, known officially as Station K-9, was established roughly 150 years ago, shortly after the Voss family consolidated its formidable power within the Red Sun Dominion. Orbiting the gas giant Axiom V at the outermost reaches of the Senos system, it was conceived as the premier conditioning facility and military academy for the Dominion's elite. Here, the scions of the Directorate and high-ranking Legion officers would be meticulously forged into perfect instruments of the State. The station's founding marked a new era in the Dominion's strategy for cultivating absolute loyalty and martial prowess.
From its inception, the Zenith's curriculum has been rigorously demanding, adhering strictly to "The Crimson Path." This intense regimen systematically strips away individuality, instilling instead an unyielding loyalty to the Supreme Chancellor. While publicly lauded as a beacon of intellectual and martial perfection, the station has always harbored deep, sinister secrets known only to the highest echelons of the Blood Watch. These clandestine operations have defined its true, hidden purpose throughout its history.
One of the Zenith's darkest secrets involves its maintenance servitors, the mute, masked laborers who diligently clean its halls and repair its bulkheads. These are not droids or paid workers; they are Academic Failures. Cadets who succumb to pressure or display incurable rebellious tendencies are subjected to lobotomies in the station's medical wing, then repurposed as biological automatons. They serve as a grim, silent reminder that in the Dominion, usefulness is mandatory and dissent has dire consequences.
Furthermore, the Zenith houses the Echo Chamber, a restricted communications spire cloaked as a deep space sensor array. This facility is actively broadcasting a psycho-acoustic Compliance Signal, directed at the unsuspecting populace of the nearby trade hub, Axiom III. This experimental subliminal frequency effectively suppresses aggression and critical thought, artificially maintaining an enforced peace in the system's most volatile sector. The Echo Chamber has continuously manipulated Axiom III for decades, a testament to the Dominion's subtle control.
Buried deep within the station's cryo-vaults lies Subject Zero, a pre-Sundering biological sample recovered from the doomed Fat System before its destruction. Zenith scientists are engaged in forbidden genetic splicing experiments, striving to create a Super Soldier caste. These highly illegal maltech endeavors defy the Dominion’s own public ban, operating under the direct and secret orders of Elara Voss herself. This clandestine project represents the ultimate ambition of the station's research.
The Zenith Scholasticate continues its operations today under a state of High Alert, with strictly regimented protocols governing every aspect of its existence. Its dual nature as both a revered academy and a repository of dark secrets remains a constant, unseen force shaping the destiny of the Red Sun Dominion. Its unknown future remains as shrouded as its true history.
