The hull creaked, snapped, crunched. Tossed from side to side from the battery of gunfire, the fleeting ship, the Kalaki, "Holy" in the Ankoran tongue, was left drifting through space, orbiting the ruined world of Kaer. Men and women, Ankoran, Teyan, and Mithadorn, lined up by the primary airlock, raising rifles as they steadied themselves... The hull creaked again, the sound of heavy footsteps echoing overhead. The airlock buzzed... Tick, tick, tick...
It was chaos, as the door was blown open, a hail of laser fire blasting through the pale grey corridors, leaving dark burn marks in the walls. “For the Empress! For the Empire! In her name we serve! In her empire, we thrive!” Imperial Stormtroopers began to pour through the smoking hole, their power armour clanking and cluttering as they raised their rifles to shoot down the fleeing soldiers of the Kalaki.
"Inform Key'Tara!" one voice yelled. "They've boarded! They've boarded!" There was a scream, bodies fell... Teyan Imperium soldiers littered the floor with their Ankoran comrades, as they Mithadorn fell behind them. Falling back, they watched in horror as the Grand Teyan Empire's boarding forces marched down the corridor, executing each one they passed by...
With a thud, the armoured frame of Kulvarla entered the hallway, the tip of her gun scraping softly against the floor. "Find that mutt... I'll have her for what she did to our efforts on Kaer. Nobody leaves this ship!"
"How many?"
"Forty at least."
"We can handle it..."
"Don't kid yourself, Key'Tara. She's with them. We need to go," Vey'Kunla snapped, his aging body resting against a holograph as he reached for his shotgun, slipping a new clip of batteries into his weapon. "They'll shoot down pods... But we'll find a way ou-"
"No," Key'Tara snapped, interrupting her fellow captain in anger. "They'll burn. You saw what they did to Kaer... To the homeworld. Get your weapons ready. I'm taking Kulvarla's head!"
Stunned silence fell across the barricaded survivors of the boarded ship, an Ankoran gunman watching the door the only one not looking on at the High General in shock. Then they erupted in cheers, grabbing weapons and armour to fight to the end. "For the Remnants!" a voice cried, echoed by the others. "For the homeworld!" another cried, echoed again. And then they charged to take back the ship, despite the innumerable enemies outside. It was a textbook suicide mission. Outnumbered, and outgunned - But what other options was there?
The corridors were left eerily silent as they split up and fanned out. Key'Tara and Vey'Kunla stood side by side, one with her flamethrower, the other his shotgun. The lights had gone out, leaving them blanketed in a blinding black fog, pierced only by the glow of their flashlights. The occasional sounds of gunfire rushed through the halls, followed by the sounds of dropping bodies.
As the seconds stretched to minutes, and minutes to hours, the population of survivors slowly dwindled. Yet the Red Devil and Black Angel continued to move on, unseen as they tread through the central engine bays. Standing on the catwalks, they could only here the soft hum and crackling pops of the broken machines, sparks flying out as dying flames ate at the metal chambers. Turning around, the two froze, raising their guns as the sound of an opening door broke the otherwise near-silence. "Hey, there's some!" a voice cried, before a sharp thud sounded as he was thrown back by the razors of shattered shotgun shells. A second came charging in, only to be felled as well.
Then a third. 'Click click' The shotgun jammed. And so instead a volley of flame shot forth across the catwalk, searing the floor, yet not the Teyan standing with his own gun raised.
"Run," Vey'Kunla barked, throwing his shotgun at the Teyan in hopes of stunning him, before he was floored as Key'Tara launched the rear-end of her flamethrower at his face. In turn, the two fled, using the momentary distraction to make as much space between themselves and the stormtooper as possible.
Blind. Alone. Unarmed. And on a ship full of people trying to kill them.