The clash known as the Night of the Upside-Down Meteor unfolded on Kesh within the Takara Mountains during 3960 BBY. The location of this conflict was Jelph Marrian's farm, where the former Jedi Knight Jelph Marrian and the one-time Sith Saber Orielle Kitai stood against the Lost Tribe Grand Lord Lillia Venn and her company. This company consisted of the two Sith Lords brothers Sawj Luzo and Flen Luzo as well as four Sith Sabers. Lillia Venn had discovered the existence of Jelph's Aurek-class tactical strikefighter by way of Orielle's mother Candra Kitai.
Kitai had betrayed her own daughter in exchange for "better working conditions." Shortly after Orielle and Marrian's arrival, Venn and her most trusted allies made haste to Marrian's farm in order to secure the starfighter. While Marrian engaged the Sith intruders with blasters, Kitai confronted Venn and her followers. Venn attempted to take off in Marrian's vessel, but she activated a safety line that Marrian had connected to the fighter. This resulted in the detonation of proton torpedoes Marrian had hidden beneath the ground. The resulting explosion obliterated the farm and eliminated Venn along with her allies.
Jelph Marrian, formerly a Jedi Shadow, found himself marooned on Kesh in 3963 BBY when his Aurek-class tactical strikefighter was caught in a meteor storm. For three years, he secretly repaired the starfighter while working as a local horticulturalist. He eventually entered into a romantic relationship with Orielle Kitai, a local Sith Saber and daughter of High Lord Candra Kitai. By 3960 BBY, Kitai and her mother were falsely accused of attempting to assassinate the ruling Grand Lord Lillia Venn, resulting in their demotion to slaves.
Orielle later found out about Jelph's starfighter and informed her mother in the hopes of restoring their family's former status. Her mother suggested that she inform four other High Lords, using the architect Gadin Badolfa as a go-between. However, Candra secretly informed Lillia about the starship in exchange for improved working conditions. Unaware of her mother's betrayal, Kitai later reconciled with Marrian, and together they devised a plan to deceive the High Lords by claiming that she had discovered four blasters at Jelph Marrian's farm, a technology unknown to the Tribe.
While traveling back to Marrian's farm near the Marisota River on an uvak, Jelph and Orielle were chased by several uvaks, but they managed to escape. After landing, Jelph hid to avoid detection. Meanwhile, Orielle confronted the visitors, only to find Lillia and her followers. Lillia then revealed that Candra had betrayed them. Lillia's bodyguards then captured Orielle and entered the barn, where they found Jelph's starfighter. Lillia's entourage included the Luzo brothers, Flen and Sawj Luzo, who had been Orielle's rivals since her days as a Sith Tyro. Venn was initially overjoyed, believing she had found a way for the Tribe to reach the stars and create an interstellar empire.
Unbeknownst to the others, Marrian used the Force to levitate the sack of blasters towards him. Ori witnessed this and heard Jelph's telepathic call but kept it to herself. At the opportune moment, she fell to the ground, surprising her captors. This distraction gave Jelph enough time to emerge from the farmhouse and open fire on Venn's entourage. The Sith Sabers were unfamiliar with blaster technology, and several were struck down. The remaining Sith tried to deflect the blaster bolts with their lightsabers. Ori took advantage of the chaos to break free and steal a lightsaber from one of her captors. Meanwhile, Venn entered the Aurek starfighter's cockpit while the Luzo brothers guarded the barn's doorway.
Jelph quickly arrived and helped Ori out of the skirmish while firing upon the Luzo brothers and the other Sith guards. Without explaining his plans, Marrian grabbed Ori and pushed her into the Marisota River, then jumped in after her. Shortly after, the Aurek starfighter and the barn exploded, killing the Grand Lord, the Luzo brothers, and the remaining Sith Saber. Unbeknownst to Ori and the Sith visitors, Marrian had rigged the starfighter with explosives. After arriving on Kesh, Jelph had buried thousands of kilograms of volatile ammonium-nitrate explosives beneath the starfighter as a fail-safe in case it was discovered. The resulting explosion leveled the surrounding riverbank and erased all evidence of the farm and its occupants.
The events of that night became known in Keshiri history as the "Night of the Upside-Down Meteor" and initiated a power struggle called "the Time of the Rot," which lasted nearly a millennium. Lillia Venn's enemies, the Red and Gold Factions, attacked and killed her supporters. These factions then fought each other and splintered into twenty factions. With no survivors, few Sith knew the details of that infamous night. By 3000 BBY, much of Keshtah Minor was in ruins, and the Tribe had been reduced to a few thousand individuals, threatening their survival as a race. That year, the Caretaker Varner Hilts reunited the Tribe and instituted the Hilts Restoration.
Meanwhile, Ori and Jelph escaped by submerging underwater in the river. The explosion had caused the surrounding riverbank to collapse into the Marisota River, leaving little trace of Venn, her entourage, and Jelph's farm. After traveling deep into the jungle for eight weeks, Ori and Jelph established a remote homestead in the forest. Jelph also destroyed the last remaining evidence of his offworld origins: a transmitter. The Jedi had destroyed the machine after intercepting transmissions which revealed that the Jedi had collapsed into factions and were engaged in a civil war. Finally Jelph and Ori established a romantic relationship and eventually started a family in their new jungle home.
The climax of John Jackson Miller's EBook Lost Tribe of the Sith: Sentinel, released on February 21, 2011, was the Night of the Upside-Down Meteor. The story was told from the perspective of Orielle Kitai, one of the main characters. Miller's sequel, Lost Tribe of the Sith: Pantheon, told from Varner Hilts' perspective, later officially named it. The fifth issue of Miller's stand-alone comic story Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith—Spiral, which debuted on December 12, 2012, also mentioned the Night of the Upside-Down Meteor.