Chapter Text
The reception hall glowed in gold and cream, a place designed to reassure powerful people that the galaxy remained orderly. Ciel stood among them. The event had been organized by a coalition of trade families and planetary delegates who controlled key votes within the Senate. Convincing them to support his bill required patience, charm, and a good appearance. That meant attending their gatherings, listening to their concerns, and letting them believe they were shaping Imperial policy. It also meant enduring hours of conversation.
Crystal chandeliers illuminated clusters of wealthy guests. Musicians played elegantly near the balcony. Waitstaff circulated with drinks and small plated dishes. Ciel spoke with a transport minister from Corellia when the sensation brushed across his awareness.
A faint disturbance that felt like a ripple spreading across still water. His gaze shifted slightly toward the far corridor. Baldroy noticed immediately. The former soldier stood near one of the side entrances, posture relaxed but attention sharp. His eyes flicked toward Ciel for the briefest moment. Mey-Rin was stationed on the upper mezzanine, disguised as part of the building’s security detail. Her blaster remained concealed within a decorative case leaning against the railing. Finnian lingered near the refreshment tables pretending to be another guest’s aide. They were Ciel’s personal security.
Ciel began to excuse himself from the conversation when the lights went out. Every chandelier in the hall died simultaneously. Music cut off mid-note. The room plunged into darkness. Several guests gasped, and the whispering started. Some laughed nervously, assuming it was a power malfunction. Ciel knew better.
His chest tightened. His asthma often worsened when adrenaline surged, but panic never helped. So he reached for the one skill Sebastian had forced him to develop and understand, the Force. It didn't feel dark for long. Shapes emerged within his awareness not through sight but through presence. Three figures, all armed approaching him.
The first shot rang out before anyone else realized what was happening. Blaster fire illuminated the hall for half a second in violent red. Screams erupted, and the guests scattered blindly. Ciel moved. His uncle Alexis had trained him for situations where hesitation meant death. That training surfaced instantly. He dropped behind a marble column as another blaster bolt struck the wall where his chest had been seconds earlier.
Across the room, Baldroy was already returning fire with his blaster. The muzzle flash from his weapon lit the chaos in brief bursts. Finnian didn't bother with subtlety. The moment the attack began, he grabbed one of the assassins and hurled him across a table hard enough to shatter the durasteel frame beneath it. Mey-Rin fired from the balcony. Her blaster cracked sharply through the darkness. The shot struck the first attacker in the shoulder, forcing him backward. But the other two had already identified their real target, Ciel.
One of them fired again. The bolt grazed the side of his face. Pain exploded across his right eye. Heat and light swallowed half his vision. For a moment, he saw nothing but white, but then instinct took over. Ciel forced the pain aside and reached outward again for the force. He could feel the nearest assassin rushing through the dark toward him.
Ciel stepped forward instead of retreating. The attacker raised his weapon; Too slow. Ciel seized the man’s wrist and twisted hard, forcing the blaster downward. The weapon discharged onto the floor. The assassin tried to strike him with his free hand. Ciel stepped inside the motion and drove his elbow into the man’s throat. The man choked and staggered.
Ciel followed with a sharp strike to the ribs, forcing the attacker to drop the weapon. The blaster clattered across the marble. Ciel grabbed the man’s collar and slammed him into the column behind them. Then he fired once; The bolt struck the assassin in the chest. The man collapsed.
Across the hall, another figure advanced. The second assassin fired blindly through the darkness. Ciel sensed the shot before it happened. He moved just enough for the bolt to pass his shoulder. Blood continued running down the side of his face, warm and thick. The attacker charged him. They collided hard.
The assassin tried to drive a knife into Ciel’s side. Ciel caught the man’s wrist with both hands and twisted, redirecting the blade away from his body. Alexis had drilled that movement into him repeatedly during childhood. Never fight strength with strength. It's best to redirect it.
The knife fell from the attacker’s grip. Ciel kicked it across the floor. The man attempted to tackle him. Ciel stepped aside and used the attacker’s momentum against him, sending him crashing into a table. Crystal shattered. The assassin scrambled up— And froze.
The blaster that had flown across the room now hovered for a fraction of a second before slamming into the wall. From the perspective of anyone else, it looked like the weapon had simply bounced violently across the floor during the struggle. Only a trained Force user would have recognized what actually happened.
The man stared in confusion, but Ciel did not hesitate. He retrieved the dropped weapon from the first body and fired. The second assassin fell. Two down. The third remained.
Finnian had already reached him. The assassin lay on the ground with one arm bent at an angle that suggested it would never function again. Finnian looked almost apologetic about it.
“Sorry, sir,” he said cheerfully in the darkness. “He struggled.”
Baldroy stepped forward and aimed his blaster at the wounded attacker.
“Alive?” he asked.
Ciel forced himself to focus through the pain. The man was conscious and clearly terrified. Most importantly, He had not seen what Ciel had done in the dark.
“Alive,” Ciel said quietly.
“Security can question him.”
Sirens echoed somewhere deeper in the building as planetary guards rushed toward the hall. Mey-Rin descended from the balcony, her blaster still trained on the surviving attacker.
The emergency lighting finally flickered on. Soft red illumination filled the wrecked reception room. Guests cowered behind overturned tables. Two bodies lay on the marble floor. And Ciel stood in the center of the destruction with blood running from his right eye.
Baldroy stepped closer, concern immediately visible.
“My lord—”
Ciel finally exhaled. His security team had the situation contained. The surviving assassin was restrained. Weapons were secured. Only then did the pain fully register. His vision fractured again. The room tilted.
“Senator—”
Baldroy’s voice sounded distant. Ciel’s knees buckled. Finnian caught him before he struck the floor. The last thing Ciel registered before consciousness disappeared was Mey-Rin’s furious voice echoing through the hall.
“No one touches him!”
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
The attack spread across the holonet within hours. Security cameras had captured nearly everything. The recordings showed the reception hall descending into chaos when the lights failed. They showed Senator Phantomhive fighting an assassin hand-to-hand. They showed him twisting the attacker’s weapon away and firing. They showed the second confrontation beside the shattered table. They showed a young senator, barely taller than some of the guests around him, throwing a grown attacker across the floor.
No one noticed the subtle use of the force. The galaxy focused on something simpler. The senator, whom many believed was delicate, had killed two assassins and survived. The holonet replayed the footage again and again. Each time, reinforcing the same realization. Ciel Phantomhive was not weak. He had not been protected by wealth or privilege that night. He had survived because he fought and won.