Knights of the Old Republic Pt. I
The Endar Spire pt. I
High above the skies of the outer-rim world of Taris a battle was raging. The Republic Hammerhead-class cruiser the Endar Spire hung wounded and billowing acrid black smoke as a wave of Sith fighters bombarded it's hull with cannon fire as it tried desperately to fight off the onslaught. Deep within the Endar Spire's crew quarters lay a smuggler hired by the Republic Army, Cade Marek, still asleep in his bunk despite the deafening blasts of Sith cannon fire, until one particularly strong blast launched him from his bunk and onto the durasteel deck.
"Ah blast it!"Marek shouted as he awoke, rubbing the newly formed bump on his shaved head as he looked around the dark room wondering what caused the quake that woke him. Just as his vision was starting to adjust to the darkness the automatic lights came on and the blast door opened with a loud hiss. Instinctively Cade jumped behind his bunk on the way grabbing his blaster pistol on the night-stand and took cover. He heard the heavy thud of boots on the deck coming closer, when he felt them stop about 5 paces away he jumped up from his cover and prepared to fire but as soon as he brought the weapon in line he recognized the intruder.
"Trask! Damn is that you?" Cade said with a small smile of relief spreading across his face.
"Cade?" Trask said showing a smile of his own lowered his weapon. Trask Ulgo was a Captain with the Republic Navy and Cade's bunkmate on the Endar Spire. "I thought you were dead! "What have you been doing in here?" Trask asked, looking genuinely surprised at Cade being here.
"Um…sleeping?" Cade said with shrug. He yawned loudly and stretched, loudly popping the joints in his shoulders "What's going on anyway? Another training drill? I'm getting sick of these blasted things, I can never get any sleep on this bucket." Trask just shook his head in exasperation but he still managed to keep his voice calm and professional.
"Listen smartass, we've been ambushed by a Sith fleet, they must have been waiting for us at the edge of the system." as if to prove this a huge explosion reverberated through the ship, knocking out any traces of drowsiness from Cade's mind. "Hurry and grab your gear we don't have much time!" Trask ordered. Cade nodded and hurried to the foot-locker near his bed and quickly put on trousers, boots, combat vest, and equipment belt just as he had in the several dozen much hated training drills he'd had to endure since he ended up on the Endar Spire a standard month ago.
"So I assume you have a plan Trask?" Cade asked while checking and holstering his side-arm. Trask thought for a moment,
"Well while you were taking a nap,-" "Hey! Not my fault, that Terisian and loman ale mix you made last night could've knocked out a rancor!" Cade said pointing an accusing finger at Trask, although the Captain still continued with his briefing despite Cade's interuption. "the Sith have sent a boarding party and are currently overrunning the ship."
Cade winced at that. "Meaning we'll have to fight our way to the escape pods I assume?" Trask waved his hand at Cade,
"If only it were that simple, no we won't be going there right away. We have to go to the bridge first, there's something there we need." Trask said and continued on as if that detail was only a minor one. "The Sith have already swept this part of the ship so-" Cade immediately froze and started toward Trask.
"WHAT!" he said, looking up from his preparations "Are you crazy! the bridge will be crawling with troops by now. What in the bridge is so damn important!" Trask didn't even flinch from Cade's outburst and gave Cade a cold stare that could crumble the resolve of even the most hardened troops
"The Sith are targeting Bastila, the Jedi commander of the ship. It's our duty as her troops to get her out safely" Cade just shook his head
"If she's a Jedi she can probably look after herself, I say we just head for the escape pods and get the hell out of here."
"Sorry Cade," Trask said, "Bastila is too important to the Republic war effort. If we lose her we could lose the war." With a grumble Cade sheathed his short sword.
"All right you win." Cade said reluctantly. "Let's get going then before I change my mind."
"Good." Trask said smiling "We better hurry." With that they were off. Hurrying down the corridor until Trask suddenly came to a halt at one of the corners and motioned for Cade to do the same. "Sith patrol." Trask whispered slowly raising his pistol, Cade peeked around the corner and saw three Sith soldiers armed with a mix of swords and rifles, each wearing the customary gleaming white armor of the Sith. Cade retreated back to the wall, took a few breaths to calm himself, then dove into a roll firing as he went. The first Sith died before he could react, the second before he could fire a shot, the third one armed with a sword charged at Cade and tackled him to the ground. but before he could raise his blade he was dropped by Trask's blaster shot.
"Thanks for that." Cade said looking down at the corpse.
"You would do the same for me." Trask said with a shrug, helping Cade up. they continued on, avoiding any fights when they could. eventually they reached a sealed door. "Ok." Trask said beginning to punch in a passcode into the doors computer. Cade was barely paying attention to Trask. Beyond the door he heard a strange but oddly familiar noise. Not the clang of swords or the ping of blasterfire, it was an odd thrumming sound he couldn't place. He found his answer when the doors opened. Circling each other in the corridor were a pair of robed figures, each armed with lightsabers. "Jedi." Trask said "We better stay out of this. All we'll do is get in the way." Cade just nodded numbly, his eyes transfixed on the battle in front of him. Suddenly the two figures sprang forward furiously slashing at each other. They moved so fast Cade couldn't track their movements with his eyes. Just as quickly as the fight began it ended. The large lightsaber armed Sith slumped to the deck with a smoking hole where his heart would've been. The young Jedi extinguished her blade and looked over to Cade and Trask.
"Are you guys all right?" she asked. "You better get out of here, Bastila has already escaped." Cade turned to glare at Trask,
"You said she was still here!" Cade said accusingly. Trask gave Cade a glare of his own.
"At least I wasn't asleep during an attack you moron!" Trask shouted back. The Jedi laughed lightly at the two of them.
"Come on the escape pods are this way, we better hurry before the Si-." Her sentence was cut off by a nearby explosion that sent shrapnel flying in all directions. "Get back!" The Jedi shouted and with a gesture of her hands Cade and Trask both were thrown back into the corridor they came from, narrowly escaping the deadly shrapnel. When they finally regained their footing and went back to the corridor they found the Jedi impaled on the wall by a large piece of shrapnel. Trask sadly shook his head.
"Come on, like she said the only way to the pods is though the bridge." Somberly they made their way to the next sealed door as Trask put in the key-code he said, "better get a melee weapon of some kind. It's too dangerous to use blasters on the bridge." Trask finished putting in the code and drew a short combat knife from a shoulder sheath, at the same time Cade drew the sword from his belt. "OK." Trask said. "On my mark, 3...2...1...NOW!" He hit the door release and charged in bowling over two very surprised Sith troops. Cade entered the room and barely managed to block the attack of a soldier wielding an axe. Cade counterattacked and his sword found a gap in the Sith's armor. two more troopers rushed Cade but were dropped by two lightning fast hammer blows. He then quickly finished off three more when Trask finally got off the two Sith he had been fighting. Trask looked about the room ready to engage more fighters but finding Cade standing over dead and dying soldiers looked at him in astonishment. "You took down all these guys on your own!"
"Yeah." Cade said shaking the blood off his sword and sheathing it. "Why don't you pick your jaw off the floor so we can get going." Cade said with a smirk and led the way out and into the next room. When they got there Trask stopped. "What's wrong?" Cade asked stopping too.
"There's something here..." Trask said, moving to one of airlocks.
"Forget about it let's just get out of here." Cade said pointing down the hall that led to the escape pods. Just then the airlock door opened revealing a large man in glossy black armor and robes wielding a blood red lightsaber. Cade began to draw his sword but Trask stopped him.
"Cade neither of us can handle him. You go on, I'll hold him off as long as I can."
"What!" Cade said, shocked Trask was even thinking of doing this. "What are you thinking? You'll be slaughtered! I'm a better swordsman, I can hold him while you go."
"That's exactly my point. You are better than me." Trask said. "The Republic needs someone like you right now. You won't do anyone any good if you die here needlessly, now go!" Trask pushed Cade out the door and immediately shut and locked it. Cade could hear the clang of metal against metal and the thrum of the intruder's light saber inside the room he just left. He started toward the pods at a run, but wasn't fast enough to escape hearing Trask's dying screams.