Chapter 1

Revan and Alek were standing in a shallow pond, their eyes and hands locked together. She liked whenever they had this chance. Both of them were busy with their training but Revan always made room for him when she had the chance. His towering figure was casting a shadow almost twice as large as hers in Dantooine's lush grass. It's not that Revan was that short, she stood at 4 feet and a half but Alek was just huge. At full height he stood at almost 7 feet and yet, he never made Revan feel small. A smile started to spread across his face and he sat down on the grass. They were now almost eye to eye, Revan only slightly higher. She softly kissed him and felt as her lips were encased in his for what had to be the most beautiful seconds of her life. Reluctantly she parted away from him and smiled, her eyes shining with happiness, as were his. She sat on his lap and hugged him tightly and they both watched as the sun slowly descended into the plains.

"I wish this moment lasted forever" she whispered.

"Me too, love" he whispered back to her, hugging her even tighter.

Had it been anybody else holding her like that she would have felt awkward and possibly uncomfortable, but it was Alek, sweet, beautiful, gentle Alek and there was no place she felt safer than in his embrace. No place at all.

00

Aspyre Venar watched as a flurry of activity happened in front of her. Dozens of republic officers and soldiers boarded the Endar Spire since in only a few hours it would be taking off. She wondered how she would ever find her room in what had to be the biggest ship she had ever seen. Even her father's ship wasn't that big and it could fit her whole house. This one however must had been big enough to fit ten, no fifteen of her houses. She started sweating a little and quickly started to take a few calming breaths, she would find her way, she always did. She slightly, only slightly shakily made her way to the entrance and handed her datapad to the man in the entrance. He simply took it, connected it to his terminal and after it bleeped handed it back to her. She started to open her mouth to ask him where her room was but a few other soldiers where behind her, waiting for her to move so she just kept walking into the ship.

"Hey watch your step!" said a very rude man who bumped into her and almost knocked her down. It wasn't her fault, he had been carrying a big box and wasn't looking, why was she to blame? "Jeez, they get sloppier and sloppier" she heard him mutter under his breath as he walked away. She simply looked down at the floor and went straight to the oldest man she saw and very politely asked him for direction to her room. He smiled at her and she immediately felt better. He gave her very easy instructions and she thanked him and left. After a few minutes she was in front of her room. Bunker number 75, the last one, she noticed with a grimace. She didn't like being last; it felt like they almost didn't want her there, like she was added at the last minute.

She quickly shook those ugly thoughts away and opened the door to her room. There were two beds, each on one side of the room. She wondered who her roommate was and saw that whoever it was he or she was already set up, a picture of a very pretty woman was next to the bed and a very big bag was on the floor. She opened her bag and placed all of her clothing in the cubicle next to her bed. She took out her republic issue blaster and placed it next her bed as well. She grabbed her vibroblade and placed it under her bed. After only a few minutes she was completely set, her clothes were folded, her weapons were ready and her necklace was neatly packed away on its safe little box. She smiled, satisfied at herself and her handy work. She saw her watch and realized it was almost lunch time. She quickly turned around and started to head towards the lunch room, which to her surprised was completely packed.

She reluctantly went towards the serving row and grumbled under her breath, now she was never going to get a seat. She got her food and started walking around the room, looking for a place to sit down. She found it after two full minutes of looking around and sat down next to a man wearing a very, very bright orange jacket, who didn't even glanced at her. She started eating in silence when the man got up and left. She turned to look who was sitting in front of her and smiled at the nice man who had just sat down, his plate she noticed, had almost only meat on it. He smiled back at her and they started chatting about each other. She told him about her home planet Deralia and the nice life she had there until her father's and mother's death in the accident aboard his ship. She told him about her sudden change of career into a mechanic and how she had learned to fight after she was robbed one night near her house. She told him how she had heard the Republic needed people and she had signed up right away and very soon after signing up she was transferred to this ship. The man raised an eyebrow at that but said nothing.

She finished her meal and said goodbye to Kissinger. She went back to her room and decided that she might as well try to sleep, she was a little sleepy and quickly took off her clothes and laid down on the bed pulling the sheets all the way up to her chin, she snuggled as tight as she could and very quickly she felt sleep crawling up on her.

00

Aspyre woke up with a sudden shock, she felt the entire ship rocking and fell off the bed. She turned around looking for what was causing all the moving but didn't find anything, so she got up and grabbed her clothes and started to put them on when she heard the door unlocking behind her.

Trask had of course, seen women half naked before, but he was still shocked when he found his roommate wearing nothing but a shirt over her underwear. He had assumed everybody slept on their Republic uniform. After his initial surprise, he simply shook his head and answered the distraught girl's unasked question.

"We're under attack, the Sith set a trap for us. We have to get out of here and find Bastila!" he said with a very noticeable urgent tone as she finished putting her pants on. He saw her grab her blaster and then bend over the bed looking for something. He saw her sheathing a vibroblade and then starting to walk his way when she suddenly stopped and returned and grabbed a box and put it in her pocket.

"Who's Bastila?" she asked as he was opening the locked door.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked her with an incredulous look on his face, she shook her head and he explained "Bastila's a Jedi, and she's very important to the Republic, we need to make sure she gets off this ship safely." She nodded quickly and, Trask noticed, shakily. Why, he wondered from so many soldiers did he have to get stuck with a green one? He rolled his eyes and went over to the girl and grabbed her shoulders. "Don't worry; just remember your training and we're going to be fine, ok?"

She briskly nodded and started to follow him. He went straight to the hallway and peered around the corner, blaster drawn. Aspyre mimicked him and pulled out her own blaster. She saw two Sith soldiers in shining white armor shooting at a single republic soldier, who fell quickly. Aspyre felt a cry escape her lips as she watched the soldier fall and saw how Trask left the corner and aimed at the Sith. She did the same and started firing at them. Both were taken by surprise and didn't react to the first shots but by the time they fired, the second wave of shots reached them and they both fell to the ground.

"Good shot rookie" Trask said with a smirk.

But Aspyre had trouble hearing him, all she heard were the cries of The Sith soldiers as they died and fell to the ground. She stared at the bodies and saw how Trask went over and started to check the bodies. He turned to her and said something but again, she didn't hear him. She started shaking uncontrollably and almost fell to the ground with the image of the three dead soldiers in front of her, but Trask grabbed her by her shoulders again and forced her to return to reality.

"-attention!" he yelled at her.

"…What?" she replied with a very soft and confused voice.

"What's wrong with you? C'mon we have to get to the ship and protect Bastila before more of the Sith scum can get to her." He handed her one of the rifles he picked up and gestured her to follow. She swallowed hard and nodded and started to walk with him, doing her best not to cry. They didn't encounter any more soldiers and soon they were on the bridge. Aspyre prayed that she wouldn't have to kill another soldier and waited for Trask to open the door. To her dismay, four sith were at the bridge and she had no choice but to open fire as they turned to face them. She let a volley of rounds lose and the three sith that were close together fell down to the ground, both them and Aspyre wincing as they did. Trask quickly picked the last of them with a perfect shot to the head and they proceeded, quickly checking corners and turning dead bodies over.

"Damn, she's not here!" he yelled

"Where else could she be?" she asked with a shaky voice.

"The escape pods. If she already left the ship, then there's nothing from stopping those Sith from blowing up this ship into space dust, we have to get there fast!"

Her eyes widened at the thought of getting blown up. She quickly took the lead and started running towards the pods. She kept running, Trask right behind her. They arrived at a cross section and she went immediately for the door right in front of her.

"Wait it's this way!" she heard Trask say, but it was already too late, she had already opened the door. She started to turn around when got a red glow reached her eyes. Her eyes widened and she involuntarily took a step back when she saw what was on the other side of the door, waiting for them like a predator waiting for his prey to walk into his trap.

A tall bald man, wearing a long black robe with black boots and black gloves and wielding a red lightsaber stood still on the other side. He had no facial hair whatsoever, and only the eerie yellow glow from his eyes made him stand out. He looked at her with a venomous gaze and she fell to the ground, terrified. He smiled at her cowering figure and slowly started to walk her way, he felt an intense pleasure seeing her face become even more pale and her whole body start to shake that he almost, almost did not see the other man next to her until he yelled at her.

"Damn, get to the escape pods, I'll hold him off!"

She looked at him, only half comprehending what her ears and eyes told her. The man was moving towards the Jedi, brandishing a vibroblade. She tried to stop him, she really tried, but as much as she tried her lips just wouldn't work. He slashed at the controls and the door closed shut. She managed to get up and started to bang on the door.

"Trask! Trask!" she yelled, she couldn't leave him behind, she couldn't let him fight the dark Jedi alone. Oh, how she hated her cowardice, if only she had not fallen to the ground petrified with fear, maybe she could have helped him fight. She kept banging at the door for about half a minute when she saw a red glow next to her and her mind slowly figured that the Jedi was cutting through the door. And that meant…

She turned around and started running the way Trask told her to. She ran and ran until she was out of breath, and then she ran some more. She ran until she felt a beep on her communicator. She turned it on and saw it was the man in the orange jacket, what was his name, Trask had said it. Carth! She quickly remembered. Drying tears from her cheeks she answered him.

"Bastila is already out of the ship, hurry to the escape pods, you're the last survivor left, I can wait but not for long" he told her with a grim look on her face.

"No, please don't leave me here!" she pleaded with a horrified face; the idea of being left here to die was too much for her to bear. "Please give me a few more minutes, I'm almost there!" she lied, she had of course no idea how long it would take but she was determined to get out of the ship. Trask had died to give her one chance to live and she was not going to waste it. She saw Carth tense, slightly taken aback by her response.

"O-okay. Just hurry, we don't have much time" he said firmly.

Aspyre nodded and stood up and began running again, ignoring the excruciating pain in her chest, the tears running down her face and the terror threatening to overwhelm her. She passed a few more corridors when she saw it, more beautiful than she could possibly imagine. A red sign stood with an arrow pointing to the door next to it. "Escape Pods" it said, but to Aspyre it could have said "Heaven". She opened the door and saw Carth on the other side. She almost fell down on the floor of exhaustion but he grabbed her and led her to the last escape pod.

"C'mon, this ship's going to blow any second!"

He hastily pushed her inside and quickly strapped himself in. He pressed the red button next to him and the pod took off at incredibly speed. He saw the young woman in front of him, an expression of pure fright in her face, tears running down her face like a river, teeth clenched so hard he thought they were going to break and a grip so strong on the straps her knuckles were white.

Aspyre kept that position for the entire length of the flight, or more precisely crash, and all of a sudden she felt a sharp pain in the left side of her head. She tried opening her eyes but it did not help as all she saw was black before she stooped feeling anything.

"Hey! Hey! Don't die on me!" she managed to hear before she was too tired to comprehend anything else.