Prologue - The Endar Spire
"Well, this will certainly satiate my taste buds," muttered Dido. The brown slop the Republic called food was deposited into her tray by the meal synthesizer.
The tall blond man beside her nudged her. Shit. She was staring too long at the slop. Moving aside, she made her way to an empty seat in the mess hall. Resting her chin on her hand, she played with her slop with a spoon and shifted her eyes around.
All sorts of people from all sorts of places, Dido noted. Trained soldiers, their posture told. But they all have one thing in common. They know the slop. They understand the slop. They would lick the slop off the floor if that would gain them any favour with the slop.
"Republicans," Dido muttered a second time.
Her surveying was suddenly blocked by an up close shock of the typical red and yellow jumpsuit of a Republic soldier. Keeping her position, Dido tracked the soldier with only her eyes as he plopped onto the seat in front of her with a toothy grin. It was the blond man from before. His smile reminded Dido of one of those enthusiastic swoop bike vendors you'd find in a bustling bazaar on a backwater planet. Reminded of one that she knew (and conned), Dido let out a short laugh.
"What're you laughing at, newbie?" the blond man asked. His animated face was reduced to a raised eyebrow.
"Nothing," replied Dido. Shifting her posture, she put down her spoon and peered into the man. "And who are you calling newbie, blondie?"
"Ha, right on. The name's Trask, Trask Ulgo. And by the way you're shambling all confused around here, that tells me you're a newbie."
"So?"
"Well," said Trask, "I looked up the list of new recruits, and looks like we're actually bunk mates, so I figured we should become acquaintances. I mean, since we'll be seeing each other and all."
Dido cracked a little smile, crossing her arms and leaning her chest over the table. "Is that what you hope, Trask?"
"I, uh, well…" Trask stammered, suddenly interested in his own slop.
"Just pulling your leg, blondie," said Dido, slapping Trask's arm across the table. She leaned back and picked up her spoon, scooping a big chunk of her slop and turning it over, letting bits of it fall to her plate. "So what the hell is this? They feeding us bantha fodder?"
Trask let out a laugh. "Yeah, I know. But it's got all the protein and nutrients and minerals we need to survive as a soldier. Plus, once you get used to eating it every day, it doesn't taste so bad."
"I guess I should give it a whirl, then." Dido scooped out some slop and, giving it one last look of distaste, put it in her mouth.
"Ugh!" Dido moaned, but she forced herself to swallow it. "It tastes like an unwashed Bothan." Wiping her mouth on her sleeve, she saw Trask chuckling to himself. "Oh, go sod yourself."
"Hey, watch it," said Trask, putting up his hands placatingly. "This is the life of an ensign. You'll get your chance to eat fancy food soon enough, topsider."
"Topsider?" Dido raised an eyebrow. "That's a funny thing to call a smuggler."
"What's a smuggler doing with the Republic?"
"Former smuggler. I ran around with the Corellian Run, smuggling spices and blasters. I guess the Republic figured that if they couldn't catch me, they might as well hire me. It's a much more stable income of credits, too. And the Sith aren't too kind to people like me."
"That's interesting," said Trask, spooning a bit of slop into his mouth. "How do you like the Republic so far?"
Dido looked at Trask's slop. How much does he love it? Would he lay his life down for it?
"The Republic's fine," Dido shrugged, playing with her slop again. "Anything's better than the Sith."
Three loud beeps overtook the chatty atmosphere of the mess, and a voice blared, "The meal time for Block 2-14-D has ended. All ensigns report to duty."
"That's us," said Trask. He picked up his plate and stood. "I'll see you around, er… I never caught your name."
"Dido," she said, standing up and shaking Trask's outstretched hand. "Dido Rae'eh." She winked and gave a click of her tongue, walking away. She dumped her slop in the designated trash bin.
She walked her way back to her block, humming some old tune. She never remembered how she knew it, or where it came from, but she didn't care. Finally reaching her bunk, she laid down and activated her datapad. She didn't know much about the Republic formally, so she might as well use her free time to learn their history. Still trying to tongue the rest of the slop dislodged in the crevices of her teeth, her mind wandered.
I didn't eat all my slop, she thought. But everyone else did.
She was barely asleep when a savage jolt rocked the room.
Immediately reaching for the blaster under her pillow, with her other hand Dido snatched her clothes from under the bunk. In only a few moments she realized that upon dressing herself that she was not wearing her Republic ensign jumpsuit but her old smuggler clothes. Grinning to herself, she turned and bumped into a tall figure.
"What the - Trask!"
"Dido! You alright?"
"Yes, but what the hell is going on?"
Trask opened his mouth to explain, but the room rocked violently again, almost knocking the two people down. Some of the lights began to flicker, and looking around Dido noticed that several portions of the ceiling had burst open, revealing durasteel mesh and ducts poking through.
Stabilizing himself, Trask spoke. "Long story short, we've been attacked by the Sith."
Dido rolled her eyes and threw up her hands. "Well, big kriffing surprise!"
"We need to get out of here and go defend Bastila!" Trask turned and ran to the door of the quarters, opening a panel and fidgeting with a few wires. "The room's in lockdown because of the attack, but don't worry, I can override it… and there we go." The door quickly shuttered open. "Alright, let's go!"
Dido and Trask burst through the door and down the hallway. Every few seconds the place around them shook, and minor explosions above in the ceiling threatened to crash on top of them. They weaved their way through the hallways, avoiding explosions on the way.
"By the way, who's Bastila?" asked Dido. Trask stopped in his tracks and looked at his bunkmate with wide eyes.
"Who's Bastila? She's the commanding officer of this whole ship, of the Endar Spire! She's a Jedi!"
"Well, excuse me for not caring enough to know every damn person on this ship!" Dido started to run, and Trask followed.
"But all of us ensigns swore an oath to protect Bastila when we became part of the crew! We have to go find her and defend her!"
"I don't even remember swearing a damn oath," muttered Dido as she ran. All she was thinking about at the time was the rather hefty amount of credits she was going to have deposited into her account regularly. And that handsome flyboy who was overseeing our ceremony.
Upon reaching the next blast door a vibration shook in Dido's jacket. Reaching in, she took out her comlink. She saw that Trask had done it as well.
"This is Carth Onasi," a voice spoke from the comlink. "The Sith are threatening to overrun our position! We can't hold out long against their firepower! All hands to the bridge!"
"Carth Onasi?"
"I'll keep it short," said Trask. "Republic war hero, expert pilot."
"Got it."
They reached another door. Trask quickly opened a panel and moment later, the door opened. The first thing they saw was a Republic soldier on one knee behind a plasteel cylinder, using the surface to steady his blaster aim against an unknown foe, hidden behind the corner of the hallway perpendicular to Dido and Trask. The soldier in front of them gave several shots from his blaster before yelling as he vaulted over the cylinder, firing more shots. His yelling was cut short when he was thrown back by a shot to the chest. He slumped to the floor, dead.
Around the corner the invisible foe appeared: two Sith soldiers, clad in an armor that gleamed like gold. On instinct Dido pushed Trask into the corner behind the door. Dido hid herself on the opposite end.
"The Sith advance party," whispered Trask. He made a few motions with his hands. Dido nodded. Standard Galactic sign language. At least she remembered that from her training here.
Readying her blaster, she counted down with her fingers, raising them up for Trask to see. The Sith were coming closer.
3… 2… 1.
Dido shot out of her corner and lunged forward towards the Sith soldiers, dropping to her knees and letting herself slide between the duo while firing a shot up at the one on her left. Her momentum coming to a halt, she turned around rapidly on one knee and fired another shot at the second Sith.
Both the Sith had fallen, taken completely unawares. Getting up, Dido nudged one of the corpses, and noticed that it was gripping a vibrosword.
"Sweet," said Dido, picking it up. "You're mine now." Holstering the sword into her belt, she kept a grip on her blaster and ran again.
"Nice going," said Trask, running alongside her. Dido nodded in thanks.
They blasted their way through more Sith soldiers in the rooms that followed on the way to the bridge. They reached another door and opened it, but Trask halted Dido before she could rush through.
Rapid flashes of red and blue light illuminated the room, and a strange thrumming, almost like a steady musical rhythm, accompanied the light display. Through the lights Dido saw a woman in a brown robe was wielding a blue lightsaber. A man clad in black stood opposite of the woman, his hands gripping the same weapon, but glowing red.
"It's a Jedi duel," said Trask, his eyes fixed on the battle. "We can't get in the way."
Right after Trask uttered those words, the female Jedi performed a maneuver that caused the man in black to cry out in pain. He fell, a sizzling and smoking orange gash ruining the uniform blackness of his attire. Yet the Jedi's victory was rendered useless: an explosion surprised her from behind and she collapsed, her back pierced with shrapnel and seeping with smoke and blood.
"Damn," said Trask, walking past the corpses. "We really could have used her help. She was one of the Jedi accompanying Bastila."
After running through hallways and rooms for a few minutes, they reached the door to the bridge. The sounds of blaster shots echoed through the door, and Dido holstered her blaster, taking out her vibrosword in turn.
"Ready?" said Trask.
"Yeah," replied Dido. "You stay back and shoot. I'll go close up with the vibrosword."
Trask opened the door, and Dido charged in, slicing through surprised Sith.
"Looks like Bastila's not on the bridge," said Dido, after the fight was over.
"Escape pods," said Trask, walking to the door across the bridge. "If she's gone that way, we need to hurry. The Sith will blow up the Endar Spire into galactic dust without her on the ship.
"Hold on," said Trask, lifting a hand to stop Dido. There was a door in the following hallway. Trask approached it. "There's something behind here."
The door opened, and a man in black stood. A deep thrum permeated the air, and Dido saw the red flash of a double-bladed lightsaber being ignited.
"Go," said Trask, slowly walking towards the man. "I'll hold him off."
"What?!"
"Go!" Trask pointed at the access panel besides the door and fired a shot. The door closed, and Trask was gone.
"Shit," said Dido. She ran to the next door, but before she could open it, her comlink beeped again.
"This is Carth Onasi on your personal communicator. I'm tracking your position through the Endar Spire's life support systems. Bastila's escape pod is away – you're the last surviving crew member of the Endar Spire! I can't wait for you much longer; you have to get to the escape pods!"
"On my way," Dido said into the comlink. She ran.
It was only a few minutes later, after blasting and slicing through more Sith (and consequently suffering a shoulder wound from a grazing blaster shot) that when she opened another door she knew she found her destination.
"You made it, just in time!" said the man in front of her. "Come on, there's only one escape pod left. Get in!" He ushered Dido towards a smaller door, and she found herself cramped and hurdling wildly towards a planet she did not know the name of with the handsome flyboy.