Disclaimer: I own a name, perhaps a personality. What I do not own is Star Wars, KoTOR, or any number of great things. I wouldn't mind having a lightsaber, though.

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Chapter 1: Burning in the sky

An impenetrable wall of gray fog surrounded her, as it usually did in these dreams, always seeming to keep at a set distance, no matter how quickly she moved. She knew he/she/it was there, watching as it always did. Something was different this time though. This time, it spoke.

"Who are you?"

The sudden voice from the side, drew her attention to a indistinct figure standing in the fog. The voice sounded as like multiple voices overlapping, familiar voices, but at the same time not. The figure, was more a void in the fog in the shape of a figure then anything solid, anything that could be seen.

"I might ask you the same, been having these dreams for a long while now."

"And yet, all I know from watching is that you might be worth speaking to. Who are you?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"One's identity is all that a person truely owns, truely is... Until it is taken."

"Alright, I can see you won't be answering the question. New question then, what do you want?"

"I already asked. Who are you?"

"Why the hell are you so insistent? Can't learn someone's name before entering their dreams?"

"I... did not ask your name-"

As it said that, the entire scene shook, as though the shapeless world was in the middle of an earthquake.

"It seems our time is up, for now. Please do not die before our next meeting, Brianne Ericson."

The shaking then became even greater, as the world began to fall away...

"So many left to kill..."

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Trask Ulgo was not having a nice day. He had only been halfway through his shift, and he had been ready to shoot his coworker. Thankfully, he soon got plenty of more legal targets to shoot at, assuming there were any left by the time he finished picking up his bunkmate. Security checks had delayed her receiving a set of the ships emergency codes, and as such it was his job to make sure she at least got out of the room before the Sith found her.

Bursting through the door, Trask was happy to see his bunkmate awake, dressed even. He was somewhat less thrilled with the blaster rifle leveled at him.

Lowering the blaster slighty, Brianne asked him, "Who're you?"

"Trask Ulgo, your bunkmate. I work opposite shift, so we haven't had the chance to meet yet."

"Ulgo, yes, I remember that name from when I was assigned here. Why the entrance? and why did the door open for you, but not me?"

Looking behind him, Trask noted several blaster burns on and around the door lock. "You haven't been issued emegency codes yet, so I had to come get you, otherwise you'd be stuck behind an automatic lockdown." Lowering the blaster further, Brianne replied, "Well, that explains why I wasn't having any luck with the door. I was about to pull out the grenades."

The ship chose that moment to shake violently and lurch to the side, making them struggle to stay on their feet. "Ericson, right? I'm sure the Sith'll be happy to help you blow up bits of the ship. This way!"

"This is Commander Onasi to all hands, Sith boarding craft have latched onto the hull. All available hands assist in defending the bridge!"

As the message ended, Trask turned to say something as they ran, only to stop and leap back around the corner he had started to turn, Brianne quickly doing much the same. "Well, I think we found a boarding party." Brianne looked at Trask and asked, "Why are they even bothering with boarding parties, wouldn't it be easier to just blast a lone ship like this out of the sky?"

"They're here to capture those Jedi. I'm sure that Bastila Shan is also too big a prize to simply let go." Trask replied, without looking back.

"Ah yes, her... guess that's part of why Onasi wants everyone up there. Where were the escape pods again?" Sneaking a glance of her own at the Sith.

"Don't even think it, we have to go through the bridge to get to them anyway."

Brianne let out a small sigh, and then smiled slightly. "Just as well, I suppose. All hands to the bridge then, there's killing to be done."

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Having fought through or evaded several boarding parties, Brianne and Trask were finally nearing the bridge. They were also approaching the sounds of a lightsaber dual. Glancing around the corner, they could see a Jedi and a dark Jedi fighting, with several Sith troops watching from the other side.

"One of the Jedi that was accompanying Bastila. Best hang back, we'll only get killed in there." Trask said, taking in the scene.

"Sadly, you're right. Can't go against a dark Jedi with these weapons... if I only had my..."

Noticing the way Brianne trailed off, Trask was about to ask when a scream cut him off.

Looking back to the battle, Trask saw that the Sith was dead, and the Jedi was advancing on the enemy squad, who were firing on her in desperation. The battle came to an abrupt end when a nearby power terminal overloaded and electrocuted the Jedi and two of the Sith soldiers.

Rushing in, Brianne started finishing off the Sith, while Trask checked to see if the Jedi was still alive. "No good, she's dead." He said, standing up.

"Watch the corridor a second." Brianne replied, moving to the Jedi's corpse.

"What, you only stopped to pick up a few grenades before, and now you're interested in looting bodies? Neither of us can use lightsabers you know!"

"You don't have to be a Jedi to know how to use a lightsaber, they're just better at it." Brianne replied, checking the two sabers she had picked up.

"Jedi's saber was damaged from the terminal overloading, the Sith's saber looks like it still works though. Wrong balance for my style though..."

"Wait, you're kidding, you know how to use a lightsaber?" Trask asked her, in mild disbelief.

"Questions later. Let's get moving, we're done here." Brianne replied, slinging her blaster and clipping the Jedi's saber to her belt.

Cautiously advancing on the door of the bridge, Trask holstered his blaster, and pulled his shortsword. "Going to be close-quarters on the bridge, good thing you picked up a melee weapon, even if it's a lightsaber. Try not to hit any controls, please?"

"I'm not that bad with it... but don't expect me to parry blaster-fire."

"Fair enough, get ready, tell me when to open the door."

Positioning herself opposite Trask, Brianne activated the red lightsaber before saying, "Go."

Less then a minute later, they were checking the bodies on the bridge, making sure Bastila wasn't one of them. "Not here, she must've gone for an escape pod after they pulled out of the bridge." Brianne commented to Trask. "Well then, looks like you get your wish, this way." Trask said, leading them out the other door of the bridge. As they neared the blastdoor to the other side of the ship, a nearby door opened to reveal a robed figure with a double-bladed lightsaber. "Damn, another dark Jedi! I'll try and hold him off, you get to the-"

WHAM

Turning to look behind him, Trask saw the Brianne had already gone through, and sealed the blastdoor behind her. "Well, that's so typical..." Trask had time to complain, before the dark Jedi ran him through.

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"This is Commander Onasi, I'm holding the last lifepod for you, but I can't wait long. There's a whole mess of Sith in the next room, trying to get into the pod bay. I've got the door sealed good, but you'll need to get through them to get here."

Easier said then done. Brianne thought as she looked at the security camera feed of the next room. She had been running through the corridors, cutting down the occasional Sith soldier, until this room. Closing the camera feed, Brianne proceeded to check through what she could do to clear the room. She didn't have the time to overload a terminal, but...

The door next to her went CLICK as it sealed shut, then the computer in front of her spoke up.

"Evacuating atmosphere. Complete evacuation in twenty seconds."

Watching the Sith suffocate, Brianne waited until they all stopped moving before shutting off the ventilation vacuum. The door opened with a great woosh as air rushed into the room again. Quickly moving to the other door, Brianne stopped, readying her lightsaber when it opened.

"Creative solution. Come on, let's get out of here before the Sith finish off the ship." Carth said, taking in the soldier before him, the lightsaber not escaping his notice.

"Commander Onasi, I presume?" Brianne replied, clipping the saber to her belt.

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A sonic boom split the Tarisian sky, as one of many Republic escape pods came crashing down to impact the planet. Far in the distance, the burning husk of the Endar Spire also fell to Taris, smashing several buildings as it dropped deep into the Lower City.

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Author's notes: Well, this got delayed a few days due to a problem with a trojan/malware combo. That ended with a reformat and reinstall of windows.

It's better now.

I'll be reinstalling KoTOR today, and then I'll get back to work.