In a Galaxy far far away — 18 BBY.
Even before an off world traveller was close enough to understand why, he or she could tell that Cermau was different from the other planets of the Outer Rim Territories. Somewhat reminiscent to a mythological double headed creature, Cermau was a world of two faces. Travellers were always amazed at how strange the planet looked from space when approaching from the side in which the planet's capital was situated on. Form there, the view cast not the softer blue and white shades of planets still verdant and unspoiled, but an odd silvery glow that suggested the reflection of sunlight off metal.
The impression was not misleading. The city covered one third of the planet's surface. Yet from space, the remaining two thirds could still be viewed in its natural state to travellers approaching the celestial body from a different direction, hence giving the false impression of a predominantly untouched world.
As far as most things went, the days in which Cermau could be viewed in any sort of natural state were dead and gone. The capital of the entire world had expanded over the centuries, building by building, until it wrapped over a third of the planet. Where the city lay, forests, mountains, bodies of water, and natural formations had been covered over. The atmosphere above the city was filtered through oxygen regulators and purified by scrubbers, and water was gathered and stored in massive artificial aquifers. Unless outside the city's confines, native animals, birds, plants, and fish could only be found in the museums or the climate controlled indoor preserves.
Cermau had become a planet of skyscrapers, their gleaming metal towers stretching skyward in a forest of spear points, an army of frozen giants blanketing the horizon in every direction. Everywhere within the vastness of the cityscape, busy moving sky traffic cruised through the maze of buildings, sliding along the many magnetic guidance lines that directed airborne vehicles. Landing docks that floated near clusters of huge buildings were also commonplace throughout the city.
Ixmucane, capital of Cermau, was a city that had over the centuries amalgamated all other cities on the planet's surface. Not withstanding that at the current exponential rate of its expansion, despite it still being several hundred years away, the planet itself was on the verge of evolving into one mega city or ecumenopolis.
Laying completely surrounded within the midst of the thousands upon thousands of gigantic man made structures of Ixmucane, stood the majestic grand palace of House Eclipse. The structure by far, wasn't one of the tallest buildings in the city. Cylindrically shaped around its edges, and dome shaped at its centre, the structure was relatively low, and did not soar up to the clouds, catching the afternoon sun as the other structures that surrounded it did in a brilliant display of shining amber.
And yet the magnificent structure was not dwarfed by those towering skyscrapers surrounding it. Centrally located in the complex, and with a design very different from the typical squared skyscraper, the bluish smooth dome provided a welcome relief to the eye of the beholder, a piece of art within a complex community of people. The palace's many pointed towers gave it the look of an eccentric crown. The yellowish walls glistened in the summer sun, and the roof sections separate to the dome were grey in colour.
The interior of the building was no less vast and impressive. Floors were marble, all stair rails were ornate mahogany, carved and polished so that it shined. Family portraits were painted in oils and hung in gold frames. Furniture was all handmade by master craftsmen. Nothing ever got dirty. The air was scented with fresh flowers every day of the year. Each of the many rooms were as big as a three bedroom apartment.
Around the palace many lush gardens surrounded it, amid the water of the fountains and the perfectly manicured hedges. The sculptures in front of the palace had been made long ago by masters of the craft. Statues of the great Saar'i of the House of Eclipse stood tall and proud, unmistakably representing a long lineage of authority, power, and a force to be reckoned with. The palace not only housed the family of the Eclipse bloodline, its servants and employees, but also their own academy and Temple of the Saar'i Order that presided in it. All this completely surrounded almost within the centre of the city's confines, encompassed by the realm of the glorious capital of the entire planet of Cermau.
And from out and afar, equal in prestige and status, long into the distance, stood another spectacular and magnificent structure. The palace of the House of Sha'rah. With a legacy as rich and strong as that of Eclipse, the two houses coexisted alongside one another in prosperous harmony for many centuries, an undisturbed peace with strong diplomatic relations. Vastly different in structure to that of House Eclipse, yet no less impressive, from a distance, the Palace of House Sha'rah looked to be made entirely of ice. It was a crystal palace, that seemed to grow right out of the ground like a glacier, reflecting light uniquely from the many skyscrapers that surrounded it, and shining like many shards of glass in the afternoon sun.
The constant thrum of the hover-train's movement was the only sound heard. Outside, to one side, the myriad towers of District Xilmatia stood, tall and shining, a common reminder to the testament of the achievements of mankind. On the other side of the train was an artificial lake, seemingly, vast, wide, and gave the illusion of a forever flowing ocean, an admonition of the importance of nature and it's never ceasing importance to humanity.
The afternoon was warm and the air was thrumming with the sounds of the city and it's inhabitants, the greasy scent of street foods lingering in the central plaza of District Xilmatia. Kay Eclipse, the only daughter of Karras Eclipse, head of House Eclipse stood at the base of a building, watching the bustle of the square passively.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could just make out the tops of her father's palace in between the tiny gaps of the many monolithic monads and smiled. She hadn't travelled far from the palace grounds, and although the general populace shared a perceivably warm approach toward her family, she never ventured out alone. From her peripherals, she saw a flash of red and white movement and cast a glance that way. Her two bodyguards were giving small waves to a wayward youngling at their feet. The little one had stopped in front of them, and stared up at them with curious eyes, fingers in his mouth. He stood in a state of shy awe for a few moments before tentatively raising the other small hand up in a reciprocating gesture, a grin forming on his little face. Growing bolder, he reached out to touch the interesting figures in front of him.
But then he was yanked away swiftly by an adult who scooped him up with a dark look at the two armed men, and kept walking without looking back again. One of the bodyguards raised his fingers to his visor in a sarcastic salute to the retreating man's form, and Kay could hear the other bodyguard chuckle over her small concealed comm behind her ear, before both men resumed watching the crowd as well as Kay.
Kay looked up toward the heavens in wonder and fascination. The skyline of Ixmucane was beautiful, dotted with passing speeders and other hovering vehicles. The incandescent walls of skyscrapers covered the skyline of the upper levels, giving Cermau's capital a ghastly appearance. Through Cermau's thinner upper atmosphere high above the skies of Ixmucane, House Eclipse's fleet, as well as the large capital ships of House Sha'rah, could be vaguely seen as small flecks of light against the backdrop of the city's clear blue sky. It was humbling.
Kay sighed as she leaned against a small metal railing. She at least felt alone, glancing outwards, watching the bustle of the city's busy life buzz pass, around her and above her. Yet like many others on the surface of Cermau, her naked eye obliviously told her a different story to the situation that was about to unfold high above.
With the gradual transition from late afternoon to early evening, Kay's eyes momentarily landed across to an intersection and the many passersby. The neon lights of the square cast everything in intermittent soft, fluttering electric blue and pink hues. The citizens were a bustling blur of swift moving speeders and clusters of figures with places to be, things to do, flitting between the shops. People and creatures of all shapes and sizes and appearances, dancing to the same tune they couldn't hear, but all seemed to fall in step to.
Kay then watched as the doors to the building directly across from where she stood slid open and another small crowd exited the building, dissipating into the bustle on the walkway. Her gaze fell upon and followed the figure of a woman lugging a large bag, the strap slung over her shoulder, fighting a bit against the flow of others as she tried to make head way down the walk. She was almost at the edge of the building when a man seemed to take notice of her and jogged to catch up. He fell in step with her swiftly and laid an arm around her waist, the other hand hefting the strap from her shoulders onto his own.
Kay cast her eyes to the crowd once more, her focus shifting to the whirring of the vehicles and the distant sound of a street musician seeping into her ears. She crossed her arms and let out a long sigh.
She had been enjoying her real world experience outside of the protective walls of her father's palace grounds. Feeling a strong desire, the lust to want to stay out longer burnt, but inevitably the time to return home had arrived. She envied that it had come so soon. If only she could stay out longer, a lonely voice in her head echoed as she contemplated the thought, slowly making her way back toward the hover-train station. Never taking their sharp trained eyes off of her, mingled within the busy crowd, and out in the distance, her protectors discreetly followed.
In orbit, was a fleet of ships. Amongst the many, seven new Megathron class Astro Research Industries Battlecruisers, six Obelisk Frigates, five Thorax class Corvettes, two large cargo ships and dozens of light battlecruisers. The commanding ship for the larger fleet of House Eclipse was a huge Super Destroyer, the Altari, over one kilometre long with a design similar to that of its smaller counterpart, the more common regular version of the ship that carried its namesake.
Onboard the bridge of the Super Destroyer, General Maximilian Oddo gazed out the view screen with Admiral Wes Maximus beside him.
They saw the first Zand'r Tech Industries Defiant class XS-5 Battleship exit hyperspace. It was soon followed by two others, then several more of the larger Destroyer ships began emerging from hyperspace. Although much smaller than the Destroyers built by Astro Research Industries, the lead ship nonetheless packed a lethal array of firepower. And then, unexpectedly, three Imperial Star Destroyers also emerged. As Maximilian and Wes watched, the few ships belonging to the armada of the House of Zand'r as well as the three Imperial ships slowly moved closer to the fleets of House Eclipse and Sha'rah.
Then within the space of a minute, the entire fleet of House Zand'r broke out of hyperspace with an awesome roar. Amid glistening streamers of light, battalion after battalion emerged in formation, to fire off toward the many ships of House Eclipse and Sha'rah respectively, hovering brightly in the close distance. Soon the entire navy was bearing down on its unsuspecting target, a Defiant class XS-5 Battleship, slightly different in appearance to the two that flanked it in the lead.
Given that they had not been notified by anyone from House Zand'r, the arrival of so many ships was completely unexpected and overwhelming. Not taking any chances, and having a gut feeling that something wasn't quite right, General Oddo immediately signalled for one of his lieutenants, who's subsequent actions would inevitably place their Planetary Defence Command on high alert.
Glancing out toward the sky while awaiting her hover-train home, Kay blinked, then blinked again before seeing something odd from the ground. A sudden movement caught her eye from high above.
Her expression became more tired as she saw a large ship exit hyperspace, and then another, and several more after that. And if she had held any doubts that her own mind might have been playing tricks on her regarding what she had seen, those thoughts were soon washed away when many others also stopped and stared upwards in bewilderment.
The Defiant Battleship Dark Shadow was not that large compared to others in the fleet, yet it made up for what it lacked in size with its agility, highly sophisticated technologies and punch in firepower. It had been forged and assembled in the distant orbital factories of the House of Zand'r, constructed in secret and uninfected by the virus that was Cermau. Its devoted and fanatical builders had designed it to be more powerful, and more technologically advanced than anything that had come before it. Certainly there was nothing in the possession of the rest of Cermau that could stand against the vessel, nor the many others in its arsenal that received minor upgrades which were of a proven design. Their functions were straightforward and simple, they had no need of the extensive redesign embraced by the lead ship, for they still performed their prescribed role with brute efficiency.
Valeska Eclipse, younger sister of Karras Eclipse and only a decade older than Kay. Unsuspecting, and traitorous, she secretly despised her older brother. And now the time of reckoning had come. Unknowingly to both House Eclipse and House Sha'rah, she had compromised all of Cermau's planetary defences, and allied herself with the ambitious treacherous leader of House Zand'r who not only sought to break away from the failure that was the government of Cermau, but also cede Cermau to Emperor Palpatine's Galactic Empire. Now she led the attack, to crush the weak minded fools who ruled Cermau in favour of a stronger, prosperous and more stable governance under Galactic Imperial rule— with Sariss Xur of House Zand'r as Cermau's new governor.
"Sir we have just received word from Planetary Defence Command. All planetary defences are offline or down. We have been locked out. All access codes have been overridden and denied. Someone or group has sabotaged all systems." The same lieutenant that General Oddo had originally summoned to contact the Planetary Defence Command called out frantically.
"We are receiving communication and are being hailed sir, by the lead ship." The ship's communications officer announced almost an instant later.
Wes looked at Maximilian, as if only just noticing he was there. He remained silent several seconds before finally responding. "Put them online."
Wes activated the ship's main holo-communicator and his jaw almost felt as if it would drop out of his mouth when he was greeted by a hologram of Valeska Eclipse, the last person he'd, or anyone else aboard the Altari would have ever expected to see. Wes had never so much as been in the same place as the woman, but he had seen enough clips on the holonet to know that this person was the younger sister of his leader. Her twisted facial expression was enough to give away her traitorous and treacherous intents. Sexy but yet devious, the slim brunette donned a black military style beret marked clearly with the insignia of Sariss Xur's respective House, as well as a symbol signifying a rank of high importance. Her skimpy short sleeved uniform was clearly that of the Zand'r military. Black with red vertical linings around the hems, collar and front button sections, her appearance gave a false sense of being a pushover, yet with the shadows that clung to her, it gave her an aura of menace so powerful, that Wes had to resist the urge to take a step back.
Valeska spoke. "Greetings Admiral, I take it I don't require any formal introductions, but I'll cut straight to the chase. I'm the one who is responsible for breaching your defences." Her voice was deeper, and harsher than he had remembered her from holovideos.
"You treacherous scum! Why?"
"It's quite obvious why Admiral. Your respective Houses along with the bureaucracy that has run this feeble world are nothing but corrupt weak minded fools. We humans need a stronger rule, and one that puts our people and our race above everything else. It's time to end it now, and allow the Imperials to take charge. Cermau will become a province of the Galactic Empire, with Sariss Xur of House Zand'r to take charge as governor."
"Valeska—"
"Lieutenant Governor! That is my title in which you will address me from this moment forward." Valeska corrected.
"Do you even realise what you're saying. We are your people, House Eclipse is your bloodline, your brother—"
"My brother Karras has failed me, as has his weak pitiful ways. In fact you all have. Weak minded idealistic fools. House Eclipse, House Sha'rah, the idiot bureaucrats, the whole disease you call democracy. Governor Xur's forces who now service Emperor Palpatine are here to take this world. The flotilla of Imperial ships present are here to bear witness to this historic moment. If you surrender now, and bow down to your new Emperor, we will—"
The image of Valeska Rajki abruptly vanished as the Admiral cut the connection and shut off the communication. There would be no negotiation, no surrender.
Admiral Maximus ignored the fact that Karras' younger sister had committed treason of the highest level imaginable as it no longer mattered, thus focusing his attention on the enemy ahead. The contingent of House Zand'r and Imperial ships were lined up a fair distance away by space battle standards.
Another minute passed, before both fleets were just inside firing distance. But surprisingly the ship's of House Zand'r along with their Imperial counterparts did nothing, as if they had a change of heart or suddenly were uncertain of what to make of the opposing fleet. He hoped it would be a costly mistake on their part.
"Sariss Xur's fleet intends to attack, they're positioning themselves in an attack formation. If they decimate our fleets, their next step will be an invasion of the planet." General Oddo said turning to face the Admiral.
"What? Why? Are you certain? They are well within firing range and are the aggressors. Why have they not fired. What are they waiting for?" The Admiral replied furrowing his brow, his expression mystified.
"If the words of that spiteful little bitch were not enough to confirm the fact, then the fact that the command codes to disable our defences and override our control over them coming from her is more than enough evidence. She wasn't bluffing, and most certainly sending the entire Zand'r fleet with three of Emperor Palpatine's ships here to witness it wasn't simply for a show of force. Whether we surrender or fight, they intend to attack us." The General quickly pointed out.
By then, even if the Admiral still had not understood that an attack was imminent, he most certainly did by the time the General had spoken his next words. "Their lead ship is pulling back sir. The others around it are moving in to line up an attack."
"All ships open fire." Admiral Wes Maximus commanded, and echoed his General. The ship's longer range cannon opened fire with a slightly muffled thud that shook the vessel. An almost solid wall of light was made on the front window of the Super Destroyer's bridge, as the volley of rounds were fired.
The Admiral's eyes recovered from the flash, as he saw that several enemy ships were damaged, but only one or two were destroyed by barrage.
The next order then came through. "Engage them." The General almost followed through, but it seemed that the orders were meant for the fighter squadrons because they jetted past the Altari.
The fighters continued onward towards the enemy capital ships, as well as the incoming fighters pertaining to the invading enemy, flying to meet them like a swarm of angry bees. The massive fleets met and tangled up into each other, leaving even the most advanced targeting systems unable to help either side.
Back to the battle however, smaller Corvettes from the House of Sha'rah launched in a well timed volley so they all tried to hit one of the more powerful Destroyers of House Zand'r at once. The Destroyer's own defence laser systems activated to deal with the threat however, and started shooting the torpedoes to shreds. However the heat created by the explosions interfered with their scanners, like a giant flash bang, and it missed its chance to counter. Massive cannon turrets from the Altari fired in rapid series at that same Destroyer, just as the few remaining Corvettes hit the enemy Destroyer's shields. They easily tore through its shields, impacting the hull. The first stream destroyed a handful of its turrets, the second left a molten gash across its forward hull, and the third penetrated the weakened hull and tore all the way through into the drive core of the massive construct.
The battle had started well for the fleets of Eclipse and Sha'rah scoring the upper hand on the first round of strikes. Yet the battle was only in its infancy, long and enduring it would be, and far from over it most certainly was.
What had once been a peaceful ocean of tranquility, had now been turned into a deadly inferno. The skies of Cermau blazed with war, unrelenting destruction, and the slow decimation of the two defending fleets. The artificial daylight spread by the capital's orbital mirrors was sliced by intersecting flames of ion drives and punctuated by starburst explosions, contrails of debris raining into the atmosphere becoming tangled ribbons of cloud. The nightside sky was an infinite lattice of shining hairlines that interlocked planetoids and tracked erratic spirals of glowing gnats. Ironically, beings watching from rooftops of Ixmucane's endless cityscape could have found it beautiful.
Yet from the inside, it was very different.
The gnats were drive glows of starfighters. The shining hairlines were light scatter from turbolaser bolts powerful enough to vaporise a small town. The planetoids were capital ships.
The battle from the inside was a storm of confusion and panic, of galvened particle beams flashing so close past starfighters, that their cockpits rung like broken annunciators, of the boot sole shock of concussion missiles that blasted into cruisers, killing many, friends, colleagues, and associates, people who had trained with one another, as well as eaten, played, laughed and bickered with each other. From the inside, the battle was desperation and terror, with nothing but the stomach churning certainty that the armies of darkness had arrived to kill all that stood in their path, reigning terror to all those who challenged their might.
Across other nearly planets— Bakura, Endor, Mokivj, stunned beings watched in horror as the battle unfolded, live on the Holonet. It was like a nightmare that no one could wake up from.
From the bridge, Governor Xur looked out across the surface of her large Battle-Platform, the Annihilator, to the space battle beyond, and to the bulk of the fleets of Eclipse and Sha'rah beyond that.
Down in the bowels of the mobile Battle-Platform, Commander Jerkov received the order directly from the governor. It was with mixed feelings that she issued the command, because it ultimately would spell the beginning of the final destruction of their weak minded opponents, which surely would mean a quick end to this battle, which Jerkov cherished above all things. But second to ongoing war itself, Jerkov, like Sariss and his soon to be Emperor loved total annihilation, so while tempered with regret, the order was not entirely without thrill.
At Jerkov's instruction, a controller pulled a switch, which ignited a blinking panel. Two hooded soldiers pushed a series of buttons. A thick beam of light slowly pulsed from a long, heavily blockaded shaft. On the outer surface of the massive space station sized Battle-Platform, a giant laser dish began to glow.
From the bridge, Governor Xur watched in triumph, as the unbelievably huge laser beam radiated out from the muzzle of her vessel. It touched for only an instant, one of House Eclipse's smaller Corvettes that was surging in the midst of the heaviest fighting. And in the next instant, the Corvette was vaporised. Blown to dust. Returned to its most elemental particles, in a single burst of light.
Admiral Wes Maximus stood on the bridge in stunned disbelief, looking out the observation window at the place where, a moment before, one of his Corvettes had just been engaged in a furious long range battle. Now, there was nothing. Only empty space, powdered with a fine dust that sparkled in the light of more distant explosions. Wes stared in silence.
And so it went.
The casualties mounted.
High above the skies of Ixmucane, a thousand deadly dogfights and cannon bombardments were erupting all over the skies, while Governor Xur's powerful laser beam weapon from her Battle-Platform methodically disintegrated the smaller ships of House Eclipse and Sha'rah.
He watched helplessly beyond the window of his bridge, his fleet being decimated in the soundless vacuum of space. It had to end now, or more would perish, yet before he could even begin to contemplate surrender, his whole bridge became a bright series of flashes, which lifted and spread an incandescent great gush of flames engulfing the entire bridge, and then he along with everyone else onboard his ship were gone.
The two space armadas, like their seabound counterparts of another time and galaxy, sat floating, ship to ship, continued to trade broadsides with each other in point blank confrontation.
Heroic, sometimes suicidal manoeuvres marked the day. A cruiser that belonged to House Sha'rah, its back was alive with fires and explosions, limped into direct contact with a Destroyer belonging to House Zand'r before exploding completely, taking the Destroyer with it. Cargo ships loaded with deadly charges were set on collision courses with fortress vessels, their crews abandoning ships to fates that were uncertain, at best.
Valeska stared wild eyed out the observation window. She was looking down onto the deck of House Eclipse's largest and most powerful Destroyer, the Altari only kilometres away. Fires burst over the entire stern, and the warship was listing badly to starboard.
The bridge was hit, with kaleidoscopic results. A rapid chain reaction got set off, from power station to power station along the middle third of the huge Destroyer, producing a dazzling rainbow of explosions that buckled the ship at right angles, and started it spinning like a pinwheel toward Cermau's monstrously huge central orbiting defence station.
The first bridge explosion took the leading starfighter belonging to House Zand'r with it. The subsequent uncontrolled joyride snagged ten more fighters, two cruisers, and an ordnance vessel. By the time the whole exothermic conglomerate finally crashed into the side of the defence station, the impact was momentous enough to actually jolt the station, setting off internal explosions and thunderings all through its network of reactors, munitions, and halls.
For the first time, Cermau's Defence Station rocked. The collision with the exploding Super-Destroyer was only the beginning, leading to various systems breakdowns, which led to reactor meltdowns, which led to personnel panic, abandonment of posts, further malfunctions, and general chaos.
Smoke was everywhere, substantial rumblings came from all directions at once, people were running and shouting. Electrical fires, steam explosions, cabin depressurisations, disruption of chain of command. Added to that, the continued bombardments by Governor Xur's warships. Smelling fear in the enemy, merely heightened the sense of hysteria that was already pervasive.
Moving in closer to Cermau's atmosphere and virtually unchallenged, Valeska stood on the bridge of the Dark Shadow, gazing out at the city filled planet hanging in space.
The Dark Shadow's gleaming black bridge was a model of efficiency, with controllers and monitors briskly exchanging information from the ship's targeting computers and sensor suites. Valeska smiled at the thought of herself as the centre of all that activity, a slim, dignified figure in black, uniform perfect, standing at parade rest.
"I believe it's time to test Governor Xur's new weapon Captain Sinek." Valeska signalled to her ship's captain as a new ship, a Dreadnought exited hyperspace close to the planet's atmosphere.
"This is Captain Talinix reporting in." The hologram of a broad figure of the newly arrived ship's captain materialised before Valeska.
"Perfect," said Valeska. "Unlike my false hearted piece of shit of a brother, my allegiance truly now lays with Governor Xur, and most importantly of all, Emperor Palpatine. I serve Xur, and above all others, we serve the Emperor. It's time for me to fully demonstrate that loyalty. This is where we end this feeble democracy once and for all and give birth to rule under the Galactic Empire, a stronger more stable and powerful Empire. Captain Talinix, prime your Dreadnought. Target Karras Eclipse's palace on the planet's surface and incinerate it. I want it totally obliterated!" She concluded her order snarling.
"Yes ma'am."
Captain Sinek gave a concerned look as his counterpart onboard the Dreadnought accepted the order, knowing that his superior's actions would annihilate hundreds of thousands of innocents in the palace's vicinity, but he dared not challenge the command from the Lieutenant Governor.
Aboard the bridge of the enormous Dreadnought, Captain Talinix prepared to carry out Valeska's orders. On his command, the two massive cannons slung beneath his ship's belly began to slowly swivel, reorienting themselves to fire on the coordinates of House Eclipse's Palace on the planet below.
Talinix's warrant officer, was gazing at the holographic screen and tracking the cannons' progress with something akin to ecstasy on his face. Talinix scowled. His crew was half his age, with scant experience outside of battle sims. That they were untested wasn't their fault. That they were arrogant and undisciplined was.
"Reorient the topside batteries to target the Palace of House Eclipse," Talinix ordered.
On the Dreadnought bridge, Talinix stood with his hands behind his back and his feet half a metre apart, watching the tiny figures of bombers and fighters pirouetting in the holo-tank, which was a device projecting a holographic image, giving Talinix the impression of being in the image. The three-dimensional visual projection area resembled a small amphitheater. As always, he found himself struck by the beauty of a battle reduced to a ballet of angles and vectors. At such it looked bloodless, an ever changing exercise in geometries and probabilities.
"Are the auto cannons primed?" he asked.
"Primed and ready, sir," his warrant officer answered.
"What are we waiting for? Fire on the palace."
The Dreadnought quivered beneath Talinix's feet as the enormous turbolasers roared. Those weapons dwarfed anything he'd had available to him on any other ship. Only Governor Xur's Battle-Platform's super laser could rival it. A single shot could obliterate planetary shields as if they were an afterthought, and turn a hundred cubic metres of crust into vapour and slag.
"Bring up the orbital imagers," Talinix ordered.
A controller routed the feed onto a viewscreen. A fiery cloud roiled and churned above the planet's surface, a miniature hurricane of destruction. Around the storm, parts of the city was in flames, with new conflagrations erupting in chains extending for kilometres away from the blast zone. The Palace of House Eclipse had been erased.
Simultaneously, the view from the bridge of the Dark Shadow where the order had originated from told the same story. Two massive red blasts were seen flying from the lower guns of the Dreadnought. Valeska's eyes had widened as she saw them fly down through the atmosphere, almost as if she had felt some regret towards her own actions. As the blasts hit their intended target, she, along with everyone else on her bridge, saw everything around it turn red, standing witness to an entire small area of the city erupt in fire.
Lieutenant Governor Eclipse stood frozen, staring at the screen in adoration.
Eclipse turned her face up toward the bright lights in the night's sky and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she beheld a bright streak across the evening dappled sky, it looked like a shooting star. It was not alone. Another joined it, and then another…
Fear closed around Eclipse's heart as the first burst of destructive energy, from a weapon unknown to her, but definitely not star matter slammed into the palace. It smashed the magnificent structure reducing it into many jagged pieces, sending fireballs of debris as well as dust and ashes in the air, as the continuous bombardment struck the palace, her home, with unrelenting force.
Cries of terror erupted and people began to flee, running madly in every which direction. Eclipse's heart sank in horror. Her father, her family, her friends, most if not all would have been inside of the palace. Eclipse stared up at the sky, which had once contained nothing but stars, moons and the fleets of her family and their allies, as bursts of lethal fire rained down mercilessly upon the palace and its surrounding districts.
She turned, helplessly, to find her two armed protectors by her side, their faces expressionless, speechless. All around her was the awful, never before heard cacophony of screaming.
"We need to go now Eclipse. If we stay here we will be killed." One of her protectors yelled out as he took her arm and began running in the opposite direction.
The orbital bombardment had ceased, but a gargantuan fireball was approaching with vicious speed. The wave was coming, an orange, hungry beast, ready to devour anything in its path. Ready to turn her to blackened bones and charred flesh, or worse.
The wave raced at staggering speed, whirling up from the beleaguered Palace of House Eclipse, sweeping up into the sky, soaring across the surrounding district skyline, a cruel yellow orange wave of incineration.
Tears poured down Eclipse's face, her expression full of terror. 'My family… my friends...' She felt the agony as the words entered her mind, as well as the dread of their presumable fates. Shaking, she ran flanked by her protectors and pressed on.
"Daddy!" She cried, brokenly." But Eclipse did not scream. She continued to run.
Several squadrons of House Zand'r's starfighters swarmed around a crippled Destroyer of House Sha'rah, forming a loose cordon, locking the vessel in place as a Destroyer of House Zand'r disengaged.
Then one of the Defiant class Battleships that originally had flanked the Dark Shadow of Valeska Eclipse at the beginning of the battle, picked up speed as it approached the fray, pulled by Cermau's gravity as it pushed with its engines toward the disabled Destroyer. A second Destroyer seemed to realise what was happening, but much too late. Caged by enemy fighters, it could go nowhere in time to escape its fate.
The Defiant Battleship descended like a spear into the mass of the disabled behemoth. Metal sheared and crumpled. The Destroyer absorbed the impact and began to tumble away, its frame marred but intact. The disabled Destroyer drifted toward its caged twin. As the starfighters of House Zand'r broke away, the two Destroyers collided. Both ships flared with destructive power, and both tumbled more swiftly as Cermau's gravity gripped them. Locked together by cataclysmic devastation, their entwined wreckage plummeted toward the planet, shimmering and radiating as they entered the atmosphere, soon after striking a section of the city's heavily populated urban jungle, dissipating like foam on the crest of a wave, no doubt adding thousands more to the already catastrophic death toll on the surface below.
Large districts of Ixmucane were burning. Duelling starfighters sent cannon fire and torn metal raining into the many skyscrapers below. The mountainous like structures bled smoke that shrouded whole swaths of the man made urban jungle.
Reinforcements delivered by transports of the House of Eclipse had replaced the fallen with new soldiers and Saar'i, and these were cut down in turn by newly arrived forces of Sariss Xur in black, men and women who moved with the sober calm of executioners, picking off their foes one by one.
A transport ship was toppling from the sky. It hit the ground ahead of a group of Saar'i from House Eclipse's forces, sending a shock wave along the ground and plowing a deep trench. Concrete and fire splashed as metal ruptured and wailed. As the Saar'i approached a salvo of blaster bolts tore through the wreckage and the flames. Through gaps in the burning metal, one of the Saar'i spotted more of the black dressed troops of the enemy closing in. He loosed a barrage of cannon fire that did little good, the troops crept low to the ground, eliminating their targets slowly and certainly, as the diminishing group of House Eclipse's Saar'i frantically began retreating back.
A twilight that was misty and seemed perpetual lay in silvery grey layers over the many urban artificial light of the night side of Ixmucane, as the House of Zand'r landing ships of Sariss Xur descended out of the black infinity of space to settle slowly planetward.
One set of three moved away from the others, dropping silently through clouds that hung still and endless across the world's citified surface.
Ghostlike as they passed through the haze, huge curved wings, they materialised one by one near a vast series of landing platforms, both floating and on the ground. As they gently landed next to the partially darkened buildings due to post battle loss of power or structural damage, the transports started offloading their troops of the invasion force onto the surface, and began forming up. Dozens of transports filled with armed men and women as well as tanks were moving into place in front of the landing craft.
Live via Holonet, beings watched the troops of House Zand'r's army flood the government district. The coverage was filled with images of overmatched troops and Saar'i of House Eclipse and Sha'rah being cut down remorselessly in the halls of the Governmental Senate building.
And so it went...
Governor Xur stood on the balcony flanked by her aide and an Imperial general, overlooking the deployment of her conquering army. Below them, tens of thousands of troopers marched about in tight formations, an orderly procession that brought them in files descending the landing ramps of the huge military assault ships. No longer an independent world, but rather another of the countless provinces now under the iron grip of Emperor Palpatine, the shroud of the dark side had fallen over Cermau. Democracy was no more, and in its place, a new rule of domination and absolute authority was born.
And this was only just the beginning...