[AUTHOR'S NOTE: When I originally wrote this story, I was ignorant on some things about the Star Wars universe. I didn't know a Standard month was 35 days, or that a week was five days. I didn't know that the Galactic Basic spoken language (synonymous with English) was written with a totally different alphabet (AureBesh). There were also some other minor things I didn't know, because of that, you will find errors and discrepancies on most things having to do with linguistics and the calendar. In some dialogue, particularly with droids and computers, I sought to reduce the redundancy found in the game, but aside from that, I've included many side-quests in this and to some extent, this could provide an unofficial game guide for those encountering problems with the game.]
Prologue
The sky was blue and sparsely decorated with wispy white clouds while the breeze caressed the meadow. Carth lounged on the picnic blanket, his head propped up by his elbow and fist, gazing down upon the woman he loved, the woman he had barely seen during the past two years. He smiled warmly and brushed her lightly curled, honeysuckle blonde hair aside to caress her dimples. "Hey Father, look at me!" Carth sat up, looking around to find the source of the voice when he found his twelve year-old son, who had been growing so quickly, sitting atop one of the higher branches of a tree in the meadow, close to their picnic location. The dark-haired boy smiled with pride at his achievement, thrilled to be able to share it with his father. His wife grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him down to the blanket with a radiant smile as he laughed and she captured his lips with her own. As he deepened the kiss, he was home. His wife's and son's presence was heaven; they had been his reason for surviving the wars.
"Attention to all on board the Endar Spire, we will be dropping out of hyperspace in orbit over Taris within the hour." a Lieutenant from the bridge announced over shipwide comlink. Carth groaned from his bunk in the darkened cabin on board the Hammerhead-class Republic vessel, the Endar Spire. Frustrated at having been torn away from his little piece of heaven, he rolled over pulling the sheet over his head and willing himself to go back to sleep, to the happy place he had just been dragged from. He had successfully dozed off when the chime on his personal comlink-chronometer sounded, yanking him conscious again. With a irritated sigh, he grabbed the comlink-chronometer from the bedside table and held it a few centimeters from his mouth before pressing the response button while he tried to wake-up.
"Onasi," Carth answered, his voice still thick with sleep.
"Commander, you requested to speak with me, didn't you?" the Jedi-commander reminded him.
Carth sat up immediately when he heard the familiar accent. "Yes, but I wanna do it in person."
"As you wish, how soon can you meet me in my quarters?" the Jedi asked. He rubbed the salty grit from his eyes while he grudgingly considered her question, realizing he wasn't going back to sleep.
"Within ten minutes," Carth responded, reaching over to the table to turn on the cabin lighting.
"Very well, we'll talk then. Bastila, out." The commander got out of bed, buckling the comlink-chronometer around his left wrist and promptly replacing his sleepwear with his light black, Republic-issued pants and his black, short-sleeved undershirt. Afterwards, he shrugged into his Telosian-tailored, orange star-pilot's jacket and donned his knee-height, black military boots. The commander's weapons belt was the last thing to go on as he holstered his blaster, grabbed his datapad, and left to meet Bastila.
Nine minutes later, Carth arrived outside of Bastila's quarters and paused, checking himself over before activating the Jedi's door chime. "Come in." the Jedi acknowledged him through the door, "It is unlocked." He sighed and pressed the button by the door, watching them retract into the wall to reveal the Jedi as she walked to a round table holding a cup before seating herself in one of the three chairs at the table. Bastila's medium-length, auburn hair was bound into two ponytails behind her head and she wore a pinkish beige bodysuit, unlike the brown Jedi robes those in her party wore. Commander Onasi entered Bastila's cabin, seating himself in one of the empty chairs at the table as the door closed behind him. "Would you care for a cup of Jeru tea?" the young woman offered as her blue eyes looked at him.
"No," he replied politely shaking his head, "but I would like to discuss some things with you."
"Such as?" Bastila asked, using her spoon to squeeze the teabag against the inside of her teacup.
"First off, I know this is a Jedi mission..." Carth said, hoping to keep this discussion diplomatic.
"But?" Bastila asked, resting the spoon on the saucer beside her teacup and looking up at Carth.
"We sought out the most experienced soldiers to crew the Endar Spire for this mission," he said, "and yet your party made an explicit request for an..." he checked his datapad, "...Ensign S. Isano to be transferred aboard," he paused, "I'd like to know why." The Jedi slowly sipped her tea before replying.
"The Jedi Council has determined that Ensign S. Isano possesses unique skills that should prove helpful on this mission. In case you haven't noticed," Bastila added, "many outer rim worlds don't have Galactic Basic as their official language." she reminded in a professorial manner as Carth narrowed his eyes. "Ensign Isano happens to understand several of the most difficult languages spoken on the rim."
"In case you've forgotten, Telos is an outer rim world, so I am not unfamiliar with the linguistic variety out here," Carth reminded her, annoyance evident in his voice. "And you're telling me that this ensign is just a translator? We've got translators with combat experience. Isano's service record doesn't show any beyond basic training. This recruit is 38 years old but has a service record of eight and a half months. Where was Isano during the Mandalorian wars? Heck, what has Isano been doing during this war with the Sith? This doesn't make any sense to me, Bastila. Explain to me how a recruit with some translation skills, with zero combat experience, is going to help on a mission this important?" he asked.
"Commander Onasi, Isano has combat experience that predates the service record." she replied. "I've answered more than I was required to, as a courtesy, but you must understand that though this is a Republic military vessel, and though Isano is an ensign, this is still a Jedi mission and the Council need not justify their recruitment decisions to you. Since Isano was transferred at the request of the Council and not an admiral, the ensign's chain of command runs through myself and the Jedi Council. I realize you're not used to that, but it must be this way." Carth leaned back in his seat, folding his arms across his chest as his jaw tensed. He scrutinized the Jedi while she pretended to be fascinated by her teacup. "You're dismissed, I have to prepare for our drop out of hyperspace," she said after a period of silence. Without another word Carth got up and left her cabin in a dark mood, making his way to the mess hall.
While walking through the hallways Carth studied his datapad, reviewing the service records of this mysterious new recruit. He noticed some information he had overlooked before and stopped in the hallway to activate his comlink, "Ensign Ulgo? This is Commander Onasi – where are you right now?"
"I'm in the mess hall right now and I just sat down to eat my breakfast. Is there a problem, Sir?" a friendly male voice asked. Carth grinned, hoping that his days of being left out of the loop were over.
"No, no problem. I'm on my way there right now; don't go anywhere, Onasi out," Carth replied, as he resumed walking to the mess hall. He stopped by the cafeteria and picked up a tray, populating it with a bowl of Barkmeal, a cup of fruit, and a cup of caf. Afterwards he scanned the tables until he saw his friend, Ensign Trask Ulgo, sitting at a table by himself. Carth smiled and walked to his table setting his tray on it and seating himself in the chair across from Trask. "Good morning, Trask." Carth greeted him informally, as was common practice for friends when they weren't communicating via the comlink. The light-blonde-haired man glanced up from eating his breakfast to acknowledge his friend's greeting.
"Hey Carth," the ensign greeted him. "Is everything alright?" The commander dumped the cup of fruit on top of his bowl of barkmeal, eating a spoonful of his breakfast before he responded to Trask.
"I guess." Carth replied. "I was taking a look at our latest recruit's service records, and I noticed that he's assigned as your bunk mate. I wanna learn a little more about him since Bastila's not talking."
He looked up from his tray, "He?" Trask echoed in reply with an incredibly amused expression.
"Yes, Ensign S. Isano," Carth answered incredulously, "you're telling me haven't you met him?"
"Um... we work opposite shifts, so my bunk mate is usually either sleeping or on duty whenever I'm there," Trask answered, appearing to be biting back a grin. Carth was puzzled by Trask's demeanor.
"What is so funny?" the commander inquired before he drank some of his caffeinated beverage.
"I'm guessing you finally talked to Bastila, right?" Trask asked, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
"Yeah. Well... I tried anyways." Carth snorted bitterly. "The conversation was a bit short and it left me with more questions than it answered." The commander ate another spoonful of his barkmeal.
"Isn't that the Jedi way?" Trask asked rhetorically, causing both soldiers to chuckle at the irony. "But seriously, no, I haven't really gotten the chance to talk with Isano yet. Although, I certainly would like to." Carth raised his eyebrows inquisitively and was about to press for details when the entire ship seemingly jumped, knocking their trays off the table. He shot a glance at Trask, activating his comlink.
"Onasi to the bridge, report?!" Carth demanded, standing as the Endar Spire was attacked again.
"Ambush, Sir! Looks like the Sith were waiting for us here!" a lieutenant's voice crackled over the channel. There was fear in his voice. "It looks like he might have brought the whole damned fleet! The Leviathan's here too!" Carth's eyes darkened when he heard the name as the ship was struck again.
"Raise shields! Fire at will, Lt.! On my way, Onasi out!" Carth exchanged a glance with Trask. "The Leviathan wouldn't be here unless they were after something important. Karath could have taken us out with one shot, but they haven't," he explained, "meaning Malak is probably going after Bastila." Carth left the mess hall and entered the bridge a few minutes later through the rear port side blast-door.
"Sir, they're toying with us!" the lieutenant exclaimed as he approached the front of the bridge. "They destroyed our long-range comm. array, our engines, and our weapons but they could have easily destroyed the ship!" Another blast struck the ship, knocking Carth and the subordinate off balance. The lieutenant glanced at one of the monitors on the bridge and delivered more bad news. "Sir, we've been knocked into a decaying orbit over Taris and we cannot stabilize, plus a Sith vessel is docking with us!"
Commander Onasi scowled and leaned down, activating the shipwide comlink on the console in front of him. "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!" He closed the channel and shut off the comlink. "Lieutenant, where the hell is Bastila?! Malak wants to capture her and if she falls, the Republic falls!"
"I don't know, Sir!" the lieutenant replied. "Our internal sensors are malfunctioning because the damage we're taking!" Carth activated the personal comlink on his wrist, hoping the channel was open.
"Bastila! If you can hear me, this ship is going down and the Sith are boarding it! They likely have Dark Jedi with them!" Carth told her. "You need to get to the escape pods! Acknowledge?!" He grew unnerved when he received no response, wondering if the Jedi could have already been captured.
"Sir," the lieutenant offered, "she may have deactivated her comlink completely, to avoid being tracked if the Sith have hacked our internal sensors and comms." Carth nodded, realizing he was right.
"Get to the Starboard section; start initializing the escape pods starting with Bastila's personal one." he ordered, before the lieutenant quickly went to carry out his duties. Carth looked grimly at the the bridge-crew realizing that with weapons and engines down, there was nothing they could do to save the Endar Spire. "I hope we all survive this but in case we don't... if you have datapad letters you want to record to your families, do it now and upload it to the Endar Spire's computer core. Even if the ship crashes, or is destroyed, it's possible that the computer core may remain intact so that the Republic and the Jedi will know what happened out here," he admonished them. One by one, the crew took out their personal datapads and Carth turned away from the sight, feeling as though he had failed his comrades.
Three Sith troopers clad in shiny black body armor barreled onto the bridge having overrode the lock-down controls on the port entrance. Carth and the other Republic soldiers there immediately drew their blasters and fired at their enemy. Blaster bolts ricocheted off the walls for a few minutes until Sith and Republic solders lay dead on the floor. Carth glanced at the few survivors on the bridge, activating his comlink to contact the lieutenant he had sent to the starboard section. "Lt. Ura, are you at the pods yet?! Has Bastila shown up yet?!" He muttered an expletive under his breath when he got no response, and left the bridge via the rear starboard side doors. Shortly afterward he entered the starboard section, walking down the hall and turning right, walking a little further and turning left. He reached a loading module to find a pile of dead Sith troopers and also dead Republic soldiers, one of them being Lt. Ura.
Carth quickly advanced to another cargo module before entering the escape pod launch bay. He checked the escape pods, breathing a sigh of relief to find that Bastila's was already gone, along with at least one other. There was only one escape pod left, so Carth activated the computer terminal, tying the ship's life-support system in with the comlink network with the hope of contacting more Republic crew. The screen showed three on the bridge and two advancing on the bridge. He couldn't identify who they all were since the tracking system listed active signals by serial number and not by name. Additionally, there were dozens of unidentified bio-signals, likely the Sith who had boarded the ship. Carth watched the two Republic signals enter the bridge and interact with, or fight with, the three unidentified signals. Another blast slammed into the ship and knocked him off balance. When he got it back, he checked the screen again to find the three signals that had been at the front of the bridge were gone. Two remaining Republic signals were on the way to the starboard section. Carth looked away from the tracking system to initialize the last escape pod, before looking back. Just one Republic signal remained, and it had just entered the starboard section. Angered by how many crew had been killed already, something snapped inside him. Whoever this remaining crew member was Carth was determined to save him and survive.
"This is Carth on your personal comlink." he said to the lone crew member. "I'm tracking your position through the Endar Spire's life support system. Bastila's escape pod is away and you're the last surviving crew member of the Endar Spire. Now, I can't wait for you much longer; you have to get to the escape pods!" He grew unnerved when the signal didn't respond until he noticed that the Republic signal was interacting with an enemy one in the hallway leading to the first cargo loading module in the starboard section. The enemy signal went dark and the Republic one continued on to the cargo module. Two enemy signals in there went dark and Carth checked the next module on the screen and warned the Republic crew member. "Be careful! There is a whole squad of Sith Troopers on the other side of that door! You need to find a way to thin their numbers." Carth paused to remember what had been in that room when he passed through it. "You could repair that assault droid to help you, if you've got enough repair parts. Or you could use the computer terminal in there to use the Spire's security systems against the Sith." He waited anxiously, wanting the crew member to respond but not wanting to distract them.
Minutes later, Carth watched as the enemy signals in the cargo module went dark one at a time, indicating that the crew member had chosen to repair the assault droid. With the Sith trooper signals all gone, he wondered what was taking them so long and why the crew member appeared to be circling the cargo module. Finally, the blast-door opened between the cargo module and the escape pod launch bay. And Carth suddenly found himself face-to-face with a female Republic officer whom he had never laid eyes on in his life. He was confused since he had met the entire crew and would not have forgotten one as attractive as her. She wore her presumably long, brown hair pinned up, and her dark brown eyes had an exotic shape. Carth thought, was this Bastila's recruit? He snapped himself out of it, "You made it just in time! There's only one active escape pod left. Come on, we can hide out on the planet below!"
She folded her arms across her combat suit equipped chest warily, "Who are you?" she inquired.
"I'm a soldier with the Republic, like you." Carth replied, "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 and get shot by the Sith. Now come on – there will be a time for questions later!" The woman sighed and nodded, walking to the escape pod and climbing in through the opened hatch. She took one of the seats and buckled herself in and Carth did likewise before he closed the hatch. The commander read out his datapad, "Launching in 3, 2, 1," he counted down. The escape pod shot out from the starboard side of the Endar Spire, and seconds later was slammed with a blast wave when the ship exploded. Carth saw the woman's eyes close mournfully. He could understand that because he wanted to mourn too, but his immediate concern was with surviving their impending crash on Taris. He was worried their trajectory might have been altered by the blast-wave that could cause a less controlled entry and kill both of them.
Aboard a dark, cold ship, she gazed out the window as the fleet under her command attacked a small group of Jedi vessels. Suddenly, she heard the bridge door open, and the lightsabers of the dark Jedi ignited. As she whirled around she saw four young Jedi knights advancing on herself and the dark Jedi. She stood back and observed, both amused and enraged as the battle ensued. A Republic soldier accompanying them came after her, and she acted by force-choking him and throwing him on the floor. Three Jedi remained, facing her with defiance and fear. Among them, in the middle, was a young Jedi Knight, a woman with auburn hair styled into two ponytails behind her neck. She could feel her as the young woman used a Force-power to invade her mind. Did she actually think she could persuade her? Or that they could capture her? It would be the last foolish mistake they ever made, she'd guarantee it.