The Fall of House Alcaeus - Ch. 1

((This work is in progress. The end of the writing here is not the end of the story. It's just a lot of writing to do at once, so I'm separating it out into chunks.. Patience, young one!))

On the planet below, a battle raged as the Eternal Fleet bombarded the planet with heavy cannons and turbolasers. Across the battlefield, Lord Alcaeus' ship was in pieces, after being ordered to ram into one of the Eternal Fleet's capital ships. The impact destroyed both vessels entirely, with no on-board survivors on the Imperium's side, and no escape pods launched. Rey'a watched from the bridge of the Midnight Talon, holding a 4-year-old Carliyah in her arms. The woman rushed to the console, as if she could get a better view from being five feet closer.

"No... It can't be..." The white-haired woman clasped a hand over her mouth as the horror dawned upon her. Her link with her husband had gone. Where before, she had felt him in the back of her mind, a warmth, a second consciousness, now she felt.. nothing. Her eyes tracked the flames and debris floating off into the void, searching for escape pods that may have launched. The brightness of the explosions blinded her, even from across the length of the battle. The light from the fires glinted in those silver eyes of hers.

Behind her, the bridge crew of the Gage-class transport hurried to respond to the losses on the Imperium's side, but many of the men knew it was a losing battle. And with the last reactor detonation from the dreadnought across the vacuum, hope had all but been snuffed out. Their mission was to deliver their cargo of Imperium troops from off-world, to help secure the city of Voss-ka in the battle, but everyone on board now understood that this plan was futile.

"Incoming!" A shout echoed from one of the scanner pods towards the back of the bridge, an officer standing, facing the Darth at the head as he cried his warning. A moment later, a barrage of turbolaser rounds hammered against the body of the ship, rocking the nose of the small vessel downwards toward the planet. The force of the heavy gunfire was enough to displace the entire ship, and a console nearby Rey'a flashed with red all over, displaying damages and failures in almost all decks and systems. Looking out over the ship from the bridge, she could see the flames sprouting like weeds across the hull.

As the Sith watched the flames, one of the thousands of Eternal Fleet ships came thundering out of hyperspace directly parallel to the smaller Imperium ship, engulfing it in the shadow it cast. A second of silence passed, and cannon-fire erupted between the two vessels, though the transport's guns were hardly a match for the weapons and armour presented by the Eternal Fleet.

"Lord Commander!" A voice called to Rey'a, snapping her from her delirium. The voice came from Lieutenant Marsher, one of the bridge's officers. A young man with short, well-kept brown hair beneath his officer's cap and a round face, he was newly appointed to the Midnight Talon, after showing distinction in his last assignment. "What are your orders, ma'am?"

"I need you to take a squad of men and get Carliyah to my hangar. There's a shuttle there. When I give you the signal, get her off of this ship." She knew beyond hope that any and all escape pods launched would be blown from the sky to join the debris in this ship graveyard. But her personal shuttle had a rudimentary cloak. Nothing that would hide them long, but it would keep them hidden until they got to hyperspace. She pressed a kiss to the small girl's cheek, looking away from the officer as her eyes stung with tears. "I'm sorry, Carli.." She whispered, handing the girl to the Lieutenant and wiping her eyes. "Take a team and go. If the evacuation order is called before I give the signal, you take off, and you don't look back." She looked the man dead in the eye. "Keep my daughter safe, Lieutenant."

With a nod, the man took the now kicking and screaming child from Rey'a's arms. Doing his best to calm the infant at the same time as issue commands, he gestured for four of the bridge guards to follow him. As they moved to exit the command deck, Rey'a turned back to face the window. The flames and explosions from Vicros' ship still stung her eyes. Her soul sank at that moment, and she placed her hand over her heart to try and steady the shaking. She could feel it beating, but it was out of time. As if it didn't have the will to carry on pumping. "I'll keep her safe, my love." She shut her eyes for a moment and let her head hang. Among the explosions and shouting, her world went silent. Her cries stuck in her throat like the painful inhale after having your breath taken. Her soul screamed out to join the choir of the grieving that the day had formed, but her body wouldn't make a sound. A second lasted an eternity in her grief, only for her to be awoken once more by the feeling of tears trickling down her face and along to the tip of her nose. A single drop fell from her face, her focus forming on it as it fell, watching it tumble to the ground. Her world was silent as the moment passed, until the droplet hit the metal, splashing like rain against a roof. The moment of surreal serenity brought her soul to focus once more, seemingly in perfect time, as in the vacuum outside, a squadron of Skytrooper boarding pods barreled their way to their target.. The Midnight Talon's bridge.

The next few minutes were nothing but a blur to her. Blaster-fire erupted around the bridge, and one by one, the officers at her side fell to the Eternal Throne's mindless drones. At some point, Rey'a must have ignited her lightsaber, because as she regained focus, she was back-flipping over a metal man with one hand on its head, her fingers under its chin to leverage the skull from its shoulders. In her free hand, the twin blood-orange blades of her saberstaff span in slow-motion, one of them deflecting a stray bolt of hot, blue plasma. Her gaze turned to the door. It had shut behind the Lieutenant and her daughter, but she had the sinking feeling that those pods had targeted more than just the bridge. Time seemingly resuming its speed to her eyes, she tore the droid's head from its shoulders, letting it fly loose to lodge itself into a control panel.

Deflecting more bolts, she charged a group of the troopers, her blades and body spinning all as one, cutting them all down with swift, agile strikes. A kick to the cranium disabled the last of the Skytroopers on the bridge, but as she looked around, she saw it was for naught. Amidst the smoke and blood, Rey'a was the last one standing, be it organic or robotic.

Her saberstaff's blades shrank back into either end of the hilt with a final thrum, and the woman ran after Lieutenant Marsher, cutting her way through the door that had sealed behind them. "Carliyah!" She called out, hoping beyond hope that they hadn't gotten out of earshot. Cursing under her breath as two more pods punched through the hull in front of her, she wasted no time in reducing the troopers inside to scrap, in a blur of orange and white.