Chapter Text
Four thousand years before the rise of the Galactic Empire, the Republic verges on collapse. Weakened by a devastating war with the Mandalorians, the Republic suffers another blow when Revan and Malak, Jedi heroes of the Mandalorian War, fall to the Dark Side and return as conquerors at the head of an invincible Sith Armada.
While the Jedi were able to destroy Darth Revan, Malak continues his war of conquest, crushing all resistance. The Republic fleet is decimated, and the Jedi are scattered - fallen in battle or pledging their service to the new Sith Master. In the skies above the Outer Rim world of Taris, a Republic transport has been ambushed by the Sith. Overwhelmed, the Endar Spire will not hold out long against the attackers.
It is here, however, that the story only begins...
Part One
The Endar Spire
"Move, move!" Carth herded the soldiers to their positions, tossing them blaster rifles or giving them a push on their backs to hurry them along. Lines of them passed by his eyes, a blur of red and yellow uniforms. The deck buckled beneath his feet and he struggled to keep his footing – only the long years of training and battle had given him those reflexes. The less-experienced crew settled for bracing themselves against walls or grabbing what they could to help them along.
The stench of fried electronics and blaster discharge was too familiar. Damn the Sith! Before they knew what hit them, the Spire's shield generators and guns were off-line. It was executed with such terrible grace that he knew right away who had orchestrated it. If could put his blaster to Saul's head right now...
He herded other survivors to the escape pods. Chances were those Sith fighters would use them for target practice, but he had to take the chance. No man left behind and every effort to save what could be saved—the unspoken honor code of a soldier. Too bad that honor was as much as lost cause as this ship.
"Commander Onasi! Commander!" A petty officer's shout cut through the noise and chaos. Carth snapped his head up to look over at him.
"Report!"
"Sith boarding parties on decks twelve, five, and three. They're heading for the bridge! Reports of blaster fire in crew quarters, too."
There wasn't time to do anything but retreat at this point. He waved the petty officer ahead. "All right, send the order to Bastila - tell that Jedi that she's getting into one of these pods and no arguments." He secured the terminal, turning around and giving it two quick shots from his blaster to destroy it. At least he could hope the enemy wouldn't get anything valuable from this raid aside from the destruction of yet another Republic ship. Pushing his way in the opposite direction from the throng headed for the escape pods or the bridge, Carth ducked down a side corridor.
Things weren't looking good. Dead Sith soldiers leaned up against the walls. An equal—if not greater—number of Republic uniforms were among the bodies on deck. Two utility droids that had been trying to repair the damage in this corridor were useless wrecks, circuits ionized, and parts scattered. The only light came from the emergency panels and small fires that the suppression systems were too damaged to put out.
He saw movement ahead and pulled up the blaster. Red light crossed with green meant a blaster fight. Carth dropped behind a cargo crate for cover before trying to see what was going on. One Sith soldier was dead on the deck, the silver helmet shot through at close range. Two others were trying to hit a Republic soldier who dodged the blasts and countered. Dropping behind a bulkhead, the soldier pulled a frag grenade from his belt and threw it with one hand, jamming the hatch override with the other. The door dropped just as the blast and screams hit.
That's when the man turned around. Ensign Trask Ulgo was barely out of cadet stripes, but he'd already see too many battles. “Commander? Thought you were headed for –"
Carth shook his head, cutting off Trask's question. "Trask, you're with me. We're going to make a quick sweep of the crew quarters and grab anyone who's still alive, got it?"
"Aye, sir."
Carth slammed the button to the main corridor and charged out with Trask at his heels. The grinding noise of sirens and the muffled sounds of explosions were making his insides ache. The halls were scarred with blaster scorching or vibroblade cuts. There were more corpses, more ruined droids, and no reason to stop.
Trask took point as Carth watched their backs. Screams from the fallen and the clash of combat added to the noise. The Sith forces were advancing. They worked their way through the quarters, finding only empty rooms or a soldier shot dead before he'd even had time to reach for his blaster. Carth was just about to give up and order Trask to turn around so they could reach the pods when he heard a shout.
"Found a survivor, sir! Says her name's Kairi. She's all right!"
He didn't recognize her. She was a dark haired and dark-eyed woman built like a bird, barely tall enough to come up to his shoulder. Carth knew all the soldiers on the Spire after these months. This woman must have been one of Bastila's assignments. Their Jedi "advisor" came aboard with quite the entourage—mostly other Jedi. She wasn't dressed in robes, and there wasn't a lightsaber on her belt, though.
"You one of the Jedi?" Carth asked.
She shook her head. Civilian? Well, better than nothing. Trask pried a blaster from a nearby corpse and tossed it her direction before passing her a utility belt from the same corpse. Carth just hoped she was more likely to shoot the enemy than them or herself.
A disconcerting thud followed a shout on the deck right outside the room. Trask made the explanation short. "I'm Trask Ulgo, an ensign with the Republic fleet, and Commander Onasi is behind me.' Trask explained. The Endar Spire is under attack! Hurry up—we don't have much time."
Carth elaborated as they started back through the corridors. "The ship's a loss. The Sith already boarded." The sizzle of damaged electronics and the shriek of a utility droid brought them back to the present danger outside the room. "We're walking right into hell.”
The maze of corridors and bulkheads was scarred and pitted, with only the sounds of the alarms as they made their way across the decks to the nearest escape pods. Trask moved recklessly, leaping over the piles of debris and wreckage in their path. Carth would have to lecture him on that later. Carth was in the middle with Kairi at the rear. At least she wasn't paralyzed with fear or hysterical. That would just make matters worse.
They were just about to the bridge, crossing one of the wide corridors when they heard. “Halt, Republic!”
Sith soldiers wore concealing armor that gave them the look of cold and impersonal killing machines in a polished exoskeleton. Three had blasters and a fourth, the officer, carried a vibroblade. Before they could shoot, the deck buckled beneath them, sending all parties sprawling to the deck, and the fight was on!
Carth managed to pick off the officer in two shots. Trask missed the first shot, but the second one wounded one of them in the leg. The attackers were so distracted that they didn't see the small sphere that landed at their feet with a cross of an explosion and shattered glass. A plasma grenade hit right in the center of the pack, blasting them with a wave of searing heat. The metal uniforms only intensified the effect and they collapsed, dead.
Carth looked behind him to see who threw it. The woman just nodded at him, gesturing to the belt pouch. “Not bad,” he commented as Trask set to work on the manual override of the bridge doors.
The bridge was in bad shape. The transparent plastisteel windows were starting to crack. It wouldn't be long before this area would vent to space. Bastila was not there, thankfully. For once, she must have listened to the advice of the Republic officers and got the hell of this crate.
The only ones still standing on the bridge were two Sith duelists with short swords. They were dressed in light fiber armor to add to their freedom of movement, and their faces had a half-mask, which concealed all but their eyes. Worse, there was a thin sheen surrounding them—energy shields. Trask tried to duck away but wasn't fast enough. The shields soaked up blaster shots, and they rushed him, knocking him to the deck and set upon him like a pack of kath hounds taking down prey. One of the duelists caught him in the ribs, yanking out the blade as foamy blood spurted from the wound. Carth kept firing to take out the shields, and one of the duelists, but it too late. Kairi's shots were less precise, but the second one was sent crumpling to the deck.
She pulled an equipment pack from the wall, running up to Trask. She had to know that those wounds were bad. Even if they got him out of here, he likely wasn't going to make it. Carth swallowed hard and let Kairi do what she could while he ran for the only functional panel left.
"There’s one escape pod left, and the Spire's going to fall apart in a couple minutes." He looked over at Trask and Kairi. "Let's get out of here."
Kairi pulled out a kolto bandage and clasped it to the one on his side, but Trask was gasping and bleeding in several places. She was trying to rummage through the kit with her other hand. Trask stopped her.
"No time for it," Trask said. "Get out of here. There's..."
Carth ran back. Kairi looked up at him, confused. Her silence was creepy, but this wasn’t the place to process it.
Leave no man behind. Carth pulled Trask to his feet, the wounded man leaning on his and Kairi's shoulders for support.
The door to the escape pods slid open, but someone was waiting for them. Everything about his appearance was designed to elicit terror. His head was shaved, and black dueling armor was perfectly tailored to his tall, well-muscled frame, covering from the neck down, but still light enough for full movement. Over his shoulders was a flowing cape. He made no move but blocked the way to the bridge's escape pod. Another chilling sign of what they were dealing with; two of Bastila's Jedi entourage lay dead at his feet. The dark-clad man pulled something from his belt, smiling as a double-bladed red lightsaber flared to life.
Their half-second of hesitation was an opening for Trask. Despite his wounds, he struggled from their grasp. "For the Republic!"
Kairi tried to rush after him, but the door slammed shut as soon as he stepped through. Carth grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. "He's dead already. I’m…sorry."
The two of them ran towards their last chance of escape. Carth started working the computer panel, gesturing to her to get into that last pod. "Bastila's already left. No reason to stick around and get shot."
The ship rocked and shuddered again. Carth pulled himself to his feet and tried to access the terminal, but Kairi plowed into him with a strength that he didn’t think someone that small should have, knocking him to the deck. He hadn’t even time to protest when he saw it – the conduit behind them had overloaded dangerously and it exploded. White fire surged from it and the terminal directly into her. She had shoved him just clear of the blast, taking the hit.
“No!”
He knelt by her, mostly as a formality. There was no way someone could live through that, but something in him had to check anyway. Carth gasped. She was breathing—still alive!
Leave no man behind.
He scooped her up in his arms and strapped her into the escape pod before climbing in himself. Quickly, he set the launch, and they barely rocketed out of the doomed ship before it silently detonated behind them.