Chapter I
I awoke from a dream, more like a memory. It was of a woman fighting a Dark Jedi. Her face was familiar to me but I didn’t know her. She stood with a few Jedi at her back facing the Dark Jedi as he brandished his red lightsaber at her. Suddenly there was an explosion and everything went dark. That’s when I woke up. Only to find myself surrounded by very real and very near explosions. Shaking off my restless sleep I quickly stood from my bunk and turned towards the bulkhead doors when I saw a man rush through them.
“We've been ambushed by a Sith battle fleet! The Endar Spire is under attack! Hurry up – we don't have much time,” he shouted as he slammed the bulkhead doors shut. “Why are you still laying in bed, private?” Recognising him as an Ensign, I saluted. “What’s going on; who are you?”
“Did you fall out of your bunk and hit your head? I'm Trask Ulgo, ensign with the Republic Fleet. I'm your bunk mate here on the Endar Spire. We work opposite shifts; I guess that's why you haven't seen me before. Now hurry up, we have to find Bastila! We have to make sure she makes it off the ship alive!” I went to my foot locker and opened it. “Bastila? Who is she and why is it so important that we keep her safe,” I asked.
“Bastila's the commanding officer on the Endar Spire. Well, not an officer, really. But she's the one in charge of this mission. One of our primary duties is to guarantee her survival in the event of enemy attack! You swore an oath just like everyone else on this mission. Now it's time to make good on that oath!”
Of course. Bastila. The oath. Our mission to the Outer Rim. It all came flooding back in an instant. I had been assigned last minute to the Endar Spire, some kind of special request. I hadn’t had a chance to ask anyone why I was requested. I had tried to gain an audience with this Bastila but she refused to see me. Jedi were high and mighty like that sometimes; too good to talk to a lowly private.
“Why are you just standing there?! We need your help! I heard what everyone's saying about you: you've explored the farthest reaches of the galaxy, you've visited planets I've never even heard of. People with your skills and abilities are hard to find; it's no wonder the Republic recruited you for this mission. But now's the time to prove yourself! I know you're a scout and not a soldier, but Bastila needs all troops at her side during this attack! So hurry up and grab your gear. You need to suit up so we can get out of here.”
“Of course.” I reached into my footlocker and pulled out my uniform. I had it on and was armed and ready to go in less than a minute. “I’ll follow you.”
“Okay, let's move out.”
Trask opened the bulkhead doors once more and stepped into the hallway. As I stepped forward to follow him my communicator beeped, alerting me to an incoming message. I stopped to listen.
“This is Carth Onasi – the Sith are threatening to overrun our position! We can't hold out long against their firepower! All hands to the bridge!”
Trask had heard the message too. “That was Carth contacting us on our portable communicators. He's one of the Republic's best pilots! He's seen more combat than the rest of the Endar Spire's crew put together. If he says things are bad, you better believe it. We have to get to the bridge to help defend Bastila!”
“Let’s get going then.” I gestured down the hall with my rifle.
Trask turned and ran toward the next set of bulkhead doors. He pressed the keypad on the wall… Nothing happened. He pressed it again. Again, nothing.
“Blast! The kriffing door won’t open. It must be on lockdown due to the attack.” Trask started entering more codes. “None of my codes are working.”
“Let me give it a shot.” I reached into my utility pack and pulled out a security spike. “That’s not standard issue.” Trask raised his eyebrow. I inserted the spike into the keypad as I replied. “You pick up a few tricks here and there when you’re a ‘scout’ for the Republic.” A few clicks and beeps and the door unlocked. “Scout. Right.” Trask continued to eye me with suspicion as I opened the door. It opened to reveal a Republic soldier in a firefight with two Sith soldiers. “These Sith must be the advance boarding party! For the Republic!” Trask shouted and ran through the door firing his blaster as he went. I followed though admittedly with a little more discipline. Between the 3 of us we quickly took down the Sith and the hall was quiet once more.
“Arg!” The Republic solder grunted as he grasped his side. He had taken a blaster bolt to the ribs. Trask quickly ran to him and helped him sit on the floor against the wall. “Move your hand, soldier; let me see the wound.” Trask examined the man. “I've got a feeling that won't be our last battle with the Sith.” he said, looking to me. “Good thing I’ve got a couple medpacs here we can use to heal any wounds we sustain. Now hold your breath,” he said, looking back to the wounded soldier “this might hurt a bit.” He pulled a can from a small pouch attached to his waist and pressed the nozzle against the soldier’s wound. “Son of a bantha! That’s not pleasant,” the soldier grunted. “I haven’t even started.” Trask pressed down on the nozzle.
“Dark side take you, Trask!” The soldier flinched as Trask laughed. “I just saved your life, boy. Show some appreciation. “Yeah right; it wasn’t that bad.” The man grimaced once more as Trask removed the nozzle and tossed the can away. “We should get going,” I say, helping the man to his feet. “Let’s stick together; you’ll have more success with us than on your own.” The soldier nodded and lifted his blaster rifle once more.
We continued down the hall and into a storage area where we met two more Sith soldiers. This time our Republic friend wasn’t so lucky and caught a blaster bolt square in the chest. He went down hard. Trask didn’t bother trying to revive him. We finished off the Sith and moved on without him. Just one more casualty in a war I had no control over.
We stepped out of the storage area and continued down the hall. We once again heard blaster fire and rounded the corner into another small firefight. This time there was a team of five Sith soldiers and three of ours. Two of them were blasting away at the soldiers across an intersection while the third was locked in a vibrosword battle. Trask and I quickly stepped in to help. After a few minutes of exchanging blaster fire we emerged victorious. All but the vibrosword wielder. He had fallen in his battle and his killer was now slowly stalking towards us. He held his double-bladed sword out towards Trask. “Republic scu…” I blasted him in the chest before he could finish his insult. We didn’t have time to waste listening to Sith trash. Trask stepped over the body but picked up the vibrosword. He handed it to me, saying “You might need this.” I accepted it gratefully.
When I approached the next bulkhead I heard a strange clashing sound beyond. I cautiously opened the door, prepared to face whatever it was that was making the noise. What I saw was a large man and a petite woman. Both wore robes though his were much darker and he also had some armor. They were facing each other wielding melee weapons. But not vibroswords like the soldiers behind us. THey had lightsabers. They were Jedi! I was about to fight with a real live Jedi! Against a true Dark Jedi! I have to admit I was excited. But before I stepped through the door, Trask pulled me back. “Hold on. That’s a Dark Jedi! This fight is too much for us - we’d better stay back. All we’ll do is get in the way.” He pressed his hand against the door’s keypad and closed it. I was disappointed, but Trask had a point. I wasn’t ready to face a Dark Jedi, no matter how badly I wanted to… And I really wanted to.
“That was one of the Jedi accompanying Bastila. Damn, we could use her help! Let’s try another way around.” I followed him through several more hallways and through a few more bulkheads. Luckily we didn’t run into any more Sith, or Dark Jedi. Finally we reached a door and Trask stopped. “The bridge is just beyond that door. You’d better put your blaster away and pull out that sword I gave you earlier. There isn’t much room on the bridge, and it’s suicide to use a blaster in close quarters. I’ll have to use my standard issue vibrosword.”
“What if they have lightsabers?” I asked. I wasn’t ready to face one Dark Jedi let alone a room full of them. “Hmm, let me see that blade… Yep, as I suspected. It was made using a cortosis weave. It’s strong enough to stand up against anything, even a lightsaber,” explained Trask. Somehow that didn’t make me feel better. I didn’t get a chance to argue though because Trask was already keying in the code to open the door. I stood ready, holding the blade with two hands, trying to remember the little training I’d had at the academy in double bladed weapons.The door slid open and I charged in…
There was no one there. No Sith, no Republic soldiers either. Not a soul. “Bastila and Carth aren’t on the bridge!” I shouted back to Trask. He followed me in, lowering his blade. “They must have retreated to the escape pods,” he exclaimed. “We should head that way too, The Sith want Bastila alive, but once she’s off this ship there’s nothing stopping them from blasting the Endar Spire into galactic dust!” Trask moved toward the door on the opposite side of the bridge. I followed him through and down another few hallways.
I was just about to step through yet another bulkhead door when Trask stopped me. “Wait… There’s something behind here.” He pushed in front of me and opened the door himself. Standing there as though waiting for us was a man. He was wearing similar robes and armor as the Dark Jedi we had seen fighting the Jedi in the hall. He extended his hands and ignited his weapon. He smiled in the heat and glow of the lightsaber.
“Damn! Another Dark Jedi! I’ll try to hold him off, you get to the escape pods! Go! He dashed through the door. Before I could pull him back or join him or do anything he slammed his hand against the keypad on the other side and the door slammed closed in my face.
I was angry. Trask had just killed himself so that I could escape! Why would he do that? He didn’t even know me. I tried keying in a code to the keypad but the door was locked tight. I would have tried a security spike, but Trask was likely already dead. I didn’t want his sacrifice to be for nothing. He had bought me time to escape and I wasn’t going to waste it. I had to make my way to the starboard section of the ship, to the escape pods.
I turned away from the door when I heard my communicator beep. I answered the transmission. “This is Carth Onasi.. I'm tracking your position through the Endar Spire's life support systems. Bastila's escape pod is away – you're the last surviving crew member of the Endar Spire! I can't wait for you much longer; you have to get to the escape pods!” That confirmed my suspicions about Trask. I wouldn’t forget him, but now was not the time to mourn. That Jedi could break through the door at any second. I started to run back down the hall I had come, and turned at an intersection. “Be careful. There's a Sith patrol just down that corridor!” Carth was still in my ear. I slowed but not for long. I pressed a button on my stealth field generator on my belt (not exactly standard issue to most Republic soldiers) and continued forward.
I slipped past the soldier unnoticed and continued onwards. I felt as though I had been running for hours and that this damned ship never ended. But Carth assured me I was almost there. Just one more room. And one more problem. “There's a whole squad of Sith Troopers on the other side of that door! You need to find some way to thin their numbers.” Carth sounded almost as nervous as I felt. I looked around the room I was currently in for ideas. There was a computer console and a broken down patrol droid. Inspiration struck. I could repair the droid but that could take hours and I wasn’t sure I had the parts or could find them anyway. The computer console. I ran over to it. I keyed through the commands. Opening up a video feed of the room beyond, I had my answer. There was a bare power line that was clearly in the middle of repair when the attack had started. All I had to do was enter a command to send a power surge to that particular room and… CRACK! Electricity crackled out from the wall and zapped the soldiers that were standing guard waiting for last minute escapees. I had only meant to injure or slow the soldiers but I guess I sent a little too much power because they all dropped dead. Oh well, less cleanup for me. I shut down the power again and proceeded through the room, past the bodies, and out the opposite door.
“You made it just in time!” This must be Carth, I thought. “We’re the last two crew members left on the Endar Spire. Bastila's escape pod's already gone, so there's no reason for us to stick around here and get shot by the Sith. There's only one active escape pod left. Come on, we can hide out on the planet below!”
I gestured towards the escape pod door. “After you.”
