A/N: I'm cleaning up and revising a few of my earlier chapters of grammar/continuation mistakes. So, if you think something looks different, well, now you know why. I also got rid of the "W" marking between scenes and replaced them with lines (Since I feel like I can trust the websites formatting now).

Alright, enough of me, on to the story!

Prologue

"The Endar Spire?" I asked, mostly to myself, grinning. "Stupid name."

A quick shove behind me.

"Keep moving."

A dark haired Jedi gave me a fierce look as if I had been responsible for this trip. I gave her a small smile from my shoulder as I increased my walking pace. The loading dock was filled with other soldiers, some who actually wanted to be there in the first place and others who were shaken and afraid of the beyond. Some of them were giving the five Jedi and me curious and worried looks. I wanted to wave a salute at them but the cuffs around my wrists restrained the motion my wrists could go.

Instead, I kept moving while the Jedi bitch kept on shoving me forward like some dog.

"Force, I can walk, Jedi," I muttered low enough for only her to hear.

I was given a kick in the shins as response.

Well, she's unexpectedly an arrogant prick, I thought bitterly, forgetting the disgusting looks the real soldiers were giving me. I was the criminal being forced onto this job, after all. Of course, for me, this was only a minor victory.

A few pilots were taking off their red helmets and were heading into the same transportation ship I was going to be shuttled into. The other four Jedi, besides the brunette bitchy one, were surrounding me like the apparent dangerous criminal I was. A smuggler. Right, I'm so dangerous that I could cleave a man's head off with a vibroblade!

I huffed, loudly.

The inside of the transport smelled sterile, too clean. I was used to alcohol and smoke filtering through the air like in my old ship. Where I was the captain and in control. Where was I now? Captured like the rat I was.

I was shoved by the Jedi bitch again into a steel bench beside some poor young looking soul, maybe a newly recruited soldier like me.

One of the older Jedi in their pack came up to me and undid my bindings with a quick flick of his wrist. I only had to smile as my bare skin was able to breath again. A minor victory. I was free to serve the Republic. These filthy liars.

One of the Jedi turned and nodded to one of the pilots. "The commander will make her way here very soon," he said. "She is still getting her orders about the mission from the Council."

The pilot frown. "Well...she better hurry. We've been waiting for this last one a few hours now."

When he mentioned me, I decided to take the time to lean back, resting the back of my head against my crossed fingers. The new recruit beside me was giving me a nervous eye and the pilot was glaring at me from the shadow of the overhang. I smiled back at him with white teeth.

The Jedi bitch sighed, crossing her arms.

"We leave when Bastila Shan is ready to."

With a final humph, the pilot left the entrance to the transporter, shaking his head and muttering, "disrespectful Jedi." I shook my head along with him in empathy. I know how you feel, random Republic pilot. Though, I do wish you would let me off and into the Outer Rim again.

The shaking boy had created a space that was now a few centimeters away from me. The more experienced looking man in front of me gave me another unwanted glare.

"You the one added to the roster last minute?" the dark haired veteran asked.

I released my head from my hands and used my knees as support for my elbows. My grin was always plastered on my face.

"I'm not a part of your roster," I responded, challenging him to deny that fact with my eyes. He didn't look convinced and neither did his friend.

"You're Gale, right? Wesley Gale?"

I sneered.

"If you call me Wesley again, I swear I will throw you to that Jedi harassing bitch. I'm Wes, got it? Wes Gale."

The older one with dark hair wasn't too bothered by my threat and instead gave me an incredulous look.

"Then you're a part of this crew, Wes Gale."

He shoved his datapad in front of my eyes, rows of names with ranks listed beside them like little add-ons to weapons. My eyes squinted as I searched the dark tinted names with unimportant ranks until I found the one on the bottom. Wesley Gale, recruit. With my name were a few others with my rank, however, there weren't many of them.

I groaned. What was the Republic doing? I thought that they were sending me to the Endar Spire to clean the decks and repair parts or...other menial tasks. Not become one of them. The soldier's friend saw my unhappy look and smirked, taking the pad from the dark haired man.

"Was there a reason why you were sent here in cuffs by the Jedi?" he asked, flicking the screen and pressing a button.

I snorted and sat back again, giving the new recruit beside me a quiet yet threatening look. He slid down into his seat like the little coward he was.

"Why don't you guess, soldier?" I asked. This should be interesting.

The older one smiled at the challenge, crossing his arms.

"You piss off the Jedi or something?"

"That's rather obvious now, isn't it?" I responded, sighing. These soldiers...so uninspiring. I couldn't believe that the Republic would shove me onto a ship full of these morons. I only wished that they would have at least asked where I wanted to go instead of forcing me onto the Endar Spire. What sort of stupid commander named his ship that?

His friend raised his eyes from the datapad.

"You flirted with the Commander?" he asked. "Kissed? Attempted rape?"

I had to laugh at the dark haired soldier's younger friend.

"At least you're creative, soldier," I said. "But no. I wouldn't want to kiss a Jedi never mind invest in one. I don't know about you, but I like my life. Very much."

The younger soldier frowned and returned his attention to his datapad. They both looked like they had given up on me and I would have let them remain quiet if not for the pipsqueak who sat beside me, drawing ever farther away.

"Y-you're that smuggler the pilot has been talking about. The one the Jedi forced on us."

I frowned and gave the quivering one a curious eye. This new recruit looked scared out of his wits, yes, but he was probably the most observant of all of these numskulls. The two sitting in front of me widened their eyes and before any of them could say or do anything offensive, we spotted a train of Jedi and soldiers from the back of the hanger. A few soldiers were called and they straightened into a quick salute as a beautiful Jedi came marching towards us with important steps.

Many of the soldiers around me were muttering lowly among themselves. Bastila Shan this. The Jedi are mental that. However, overall, most were muttering praise to the new Jedi commander. How, without her, the war would have already been won. By the Sith.

I rolled my eyes.

The first to enter were the Jedi guarding the Battle Meditator and some of them gave me worried stares. I shook my head several times, mostly in order to avoid their gazes. I knew they hated me for barging into their little mission but I cared less if a Jedi was bothered.

I was sitting low in the bench in order to avoid most of the robed Jedi's eyes and when commander Bastila came most of the soldiers looked up at her with minor respect. I wasn't one of these soldiers, so instead I looked down onto the metal floor. I was so tired of the Republic's ceremonies and regulations. I would have joined the army otherwise...if these men and their leaders had been prudent enough.

She...might not have been paying very much attention for I felt something hard connect with my foot. I raised my eyes from the floor in slight surprise as the commander stumbled but didn't fall. The Jedi behind her stopped with concern along with those in front.

Meanwhile, I stared at her with mild amusement. This was the Battle Meditator, Bastila Shan? I...had expected her to be a bit more...agile. I guess that wasn't the case.

When the Jedi turned around, she gave me the fiercest look, puckering her lips like a kinrath pup. I only crossed my legs and gave her a smile in return. I was a "good" soldier. I might have been a smuggler but I wasn't about to piss off the Jedi commander. I had enough of Jedi bitch for one day, I think.

Then, almost as if a stray wind had kicked her from underneath instead of my foot, tripping her down into a bottomless pit, her face turned into paralyzed stone.

My smile froze on my face when her gray eyes froze (in fear?) when she stared into my own. Before I could ask if she hadn't sprained her ankle or...something extreme...she turned away from me and began to speak.

Okay...

"All of you on board are here today to fulfill the Council's mission," she started with her silky Talravin voice. "Hopefully, most of you will still be here when we finally do arrive. The Sith have been seen in the Outer Rim sectors. Commander Carth Onasi has been kind enough to lend me his ship."

She stopped walking when she came to the front of the transport, right before the cabin. She eyed each of us soldiers as if we were little bugs to be squashed. I knew that look well enough from most of the Jedi that had pushed me around before I came onto this ship. I was already tired of it.

The commander turned and eyed the pilot who nodded. Through the comm, he went through the standard procedures of securing oneself into the transport. The instructions were so bland I skipped most of the steps and pulled the latch that appeared above my head down onto my armpits. The new recruit beside me along with many others were still following the instructions slowly along with the voice of the pilot.

Idiots.

The commander found a seat on the far side of the transport and buckled up between her Jedi friends. I wondered why such an important figure was arriving in this unimportant soldier transport ship. I thought the Jedi were too pompous for this sort of thing...you know, communicating with us normal folk.

I forgot that line of thought when the transport lifted, familiar bugs filling my stomach.

We were in space before I could count up to ten and the feeling of the gravity wells hit me as we glided towards the Endar Spire that sat above Coruscant like a glorified taxi speeder.

The new recruit beside me was grinning in excitement while the dark haired man and his friend gave me hateful stares. I decided to gaze out the small glass window into space and towards the Republic fleet that encircled the important Inner Rim planet like ants to unwanted sweets.

And I was flying to a different sort of prison.

The man in front of me coughed. "So...you're a smuggler then?" he asked, though I could tell he didn't want to ask it.

I turned my attention away from the window and smiled. Mostly everyone on the transport were silent and our quiet voices were the only ones.

"Smuggler, trafficker, hutt spawn...yep that sounds about right."

"Why have you been recruited?" his friend asked. "I don't...think the Republic is that desperate for soldiers."

Heh, never have you been so wrong...I glanced over towards the commander and then back towards other Jedi who pushed me onto this metal bench. I looked back at the goody-two-shoes Republic soldiers.

"I've escaped prison before. I guess the Republic just seems to have a hard time keeping me down."

The two closed their mouths when I gave them that answer and I glanced back in the direction of the brown hair and stony eyes of Bastila Shan. The Jedi was staring straight ahead at the wall as if pondering the meaning of life and all of its evils. Dark side...light side...emotion...all of that crap.

I grinned. "So, what's with the Jedi?" I asked, pointing with a free hand. "What's our mission?"

The two in front of me weren't so keen to answer as they sat back

"We thought you would know. They were the ones who brought you here."

I frowned, looking away from the group of hooded and stark Jedi. I hadn't expected a Jedi welcoming party when I woke up either. The cell the Republic kept me in had been dark, an IV and kolto station situated beside my bed like ghosts haunting my nightmares. My torso was still sore from the wounds I sustained and I had random headaches if I tried to turn my head too sharply.

I stayed there for days...months even. They gave me food and water and I thought that the lightless prison was going to be my last stand. My last home.

That was, until, they came. The Jedi.

I sighed. "They told me it was by the Republic's orders that I was to be stationed on the Spire. I know languages and skills that these worthless people lack so...I don't know. I was just shoved here like predisposed waste."

The two left it at that and were silent once again to my relief. I leaned forward and held my chin with one hand, my eyes wandering. Suddenly, I felt as if I was being watched and flicked my eyes towards the two soldiers in front but they were both looking at the ground in disbelief. I turned to give the Jedi Battle Meditator a look again and when our eyes suddenly met, she turned to stare at the wall.

Okay...?

I mean, I know I'm handsome but this Jedi didn't have to make her desires obvious...

Commander Carth Onasi acted exactly as I expected of a Republic officer. His face reddened when he saw us pile out into the Endar Spire's main hanger and glanced at us with rapid discontent. He hadn't expected us at all.

When Bastila finally walked down the ramp with a dozen Jedi trailing behind her, the commander had a fit.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked. I could swear his frown fell to the metal floors below. "Bastila Shan-"

"Commander Bastila Shan, Carth Onasi. Admiral Dodonna has given me permission to use your ship for this mission."

The Jedi all walked past us normal soldiers like we were specks of machine dust and surrounded Bastila protectively. I rolled my eyes for the hundredth time. I was thirsty. I was starving. Could we just skip the pleasantries?

The ex-commander looked as if his ego had been shattered by a wild blaster bolt.

"M-my ship? What are you talking about? Why wasn't I informed? And what mission-?"

"We need to get going, Captain. We have a long journey ahead of us and I would like to get there before Malak finds out that I'm out of Coruscant."

Onasi's mouth flapped up and down like a Manaan fish out of water.

"Who are these people? Besides the Jedi you've decided to force onto me," he sneered, glaring at us who were looking at each other in confusion. After all, it had been the Jedi who had hijacked the transport shuttle like smugglers.

The silky voiced Jedi sighed. "Not now. I will tell you everything once you start putting in hyperspace coordinates."

"And where are we going, exactly?"

I was curious about this and apparently so were a few others, but the commander Jedi merely shook her head.

"Not now. In the bridge."

She started walking forward and was followed by the many bodies of robed Jedi leaving us non-force-sensitives behind. Carth, the ex-commander now, looked so hurt that I was actually beginning to feel sorry for the older man. I mean, none of us really asked for this. I sure didn't.

The ex-commander sighed before glancing up at us poor souls.

"Someone have the roster?"

The dark haired soldier I talked to before came up to the man and handed him a datapad. With a quick read through of it, he nodded his head at the ranks and began dividing us into shifts and places within the ship. I wasn't surprised when I was last to stand there, sweating slightly as the ex-commander read over what was probably a record of my past exploits...

Instead he raised his eyebrows. "Multiple languages?" he asked.

I smirked, happy that he hadn't come across something worse. "Born and raised in the Outer Rim. That sort of skill is required in Deralia."

The commander was shaking his head in bewilderment. "But it says here you know over hundreds of languages from Shyriiwook to Twi'leki-"

"As I said, Outer Rim."

I don't think this commander believed me because when his suspicious eyes left the datapad, they stayed there for longer than what was comfortable. Instead, he went over my other apparent "skills."

"You repair? What type of repairs?"

I really didn't want to go over everything I could do. We could be here for days. In fact, I might as well tell him my proficiency in pazaak. Useful skill...

I gave him an impatient look. "Droids. Most droids. I'm not much of a software machinist if that was what you were looking for."

Onasi nodded a few times though I could tell he was still angry over the Jedi deciding to take over his ship like some sort of, ironically, smugglers. He checked my record over until I noticed him narrow his eyes.

"...you were added yesterday."

I wasn't sure if that comment was just to himself for he looked up and gave me a datapad from a steel table being led by a T3 unit. Since I never really had the Republic issued datapads, I had to fiddle around with it before I left under orders by the ex-commander to go over my schedule and shifts.

I was not excited about this at all. In fact, I wanted to find a Jedi and force them to explain why they decided to bring me along with them. I mean...the Republic might need more people with language proficiency and repair specialization but were my past crimes so easily forgotten?

As I walked the sterile and too clean hallways, I began to wonder why I had been so easily forgiven. And...what happened to the crew that betrayed me? Were they still in prison where they belonged?

Something told me in the bottom of my dark heart that there was something else happening in the shadows.

Something even the Republic wasn't aware of.