Bells. That was the first thing Akanni heard. There were bells ringing. But why were there bells ringing in the middle of the afternoon? And why were there bells on the ship at all? It didn't make sense.

It took a moment for her to realize that the bells were actually alarms.

An engineer in the Republic fleet, Akanni was on board the Endar Spire, a small transport ship. In between shifts, she'd gone to her quarters to rest, and was now awoken by the blaring sirens.

Crawling out of the bed, she moved to the window, stumbling as the ship shook violently. Outside the window, she saw that three Sith ships were firing on the Spire.

As she stood there, the door to the room opened and Trask Ulgo, her bunkmate, strode in. The two were on opposite shifts, so they rarely saw one another, but Akanni recognized him instantly.

"We're under attack," he said, "We've been ambushed by a Sith battle fleet!"

"I can see that," Akanni growled, "Damn Sith - they must've found out Bastila was on board. Come on, Trask, we have to get to the bridge!"

"Right! Let's move."

Every member of the Endar Spire's crew had taken an oath to protect Bastila, a Jedi, before they ever set foot on the ship, so Akanni and Trask's natural instinct was to find her and get her off the ship.

It was ironic, really. Just a few short months ago, Akanni's natural instinct would have been to protect herself. It was the life she'd grown up in – she was used to looking after her own hide, because no one else would.

As Akanni and Trask left their quarters, a message played over the intercom.

"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!"

Carth was a fighter pilot for the Republic, and had likely seen more combat than the Spire's entire crew put together. His message proved to Akanni just how serious the situation really was.

When she and Trask reached the bridge, however, Carth and Bastila were nowhere to be found.

Bodies littered the floor; Republic or Sith, they were all either dead or dying. Nothing could be done for any of them. But Carth and Bastila were not among them.

"They must have made it to the escape pods." Trask said.

"Which is where we should be heading. No reason to stick around now."

They moved through several corridors on the way to the pod room, and still had several more to go when Akanni stopped before a door leading in the opposite direction.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Trask asked, "We have to get out of here, now!"

"There's something behind here..." Akanni told him, reaching for the door controls. The door whisked open as soon as she touched the panel. Almost before she'd touched it, really. Had it opened on its own?

Akanni shook her head. There was no time for silly thoughts like that, and really, a door opening with a mind of its own? Please. She had enough to worry about without adding her sanity to the list. Unfortunately, a new threat was revealed on the other side of the door - a man dressed in black robes and carrying a lightsaber.

"A dark Jedi…" Trask breathed, moving to step in front of Akanni, "I'll hold him off - you get to the escape pods!"

"Trask, wait! You can't -"

"Go!" Trask interrupted, pushing Akanni back and shutting the door.

"Trask, open the door! Don't do this!"

How could he sacrifice himself for her? He barely knew her! They were bunkmates; they'd met only after she arrived on the ship a couple weeks ago! How could he so freely throw himself into danger just to protect her?

She slammed her palm against the control panel, but it simply gave off a little buzz. The door remained closed - Trask had sealed it from his side.

"Dammit, Trask!" Akanni cried, slamming her fist against the door now, "Open this door!"

But it was clear he wasn't going to. May not have even be able to. And Akanni had to move on.

"I'm sorry, Trask..." She whispered, turning to run for the opposite door.

She hated herself for leaving him to die. But what could she do? The door was sealed and she couldn't override it. Not without a droid, anyway. And there wasn't exactly one of those handy. So she had no choice but to leave him. But that didn't mean she had to like it.

She tried to put it out of her mind, and as she ran down the corridor her communicator beeped.

"This is Carth Onasi. I'm tracking your position through the Endar Spire's life support system."

"Carth, this is Akanni Dain. Is Bastila safe?"

"Yes, her escape pod left a few minutes ago. You and I are the last of the crew."

"The last? What about Trask? Is he..."

But Akanni couldn't finish the question, couldn't bear the thought that Trask might be dead. That he died to protect her. It was too much.

There were a few moments of silence while Carth checked the scanners, and there was a small burst of static before his voice filtered back over the now-crackling comm-line.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I'm not picking up his life sign."

"Dammit..."

Akanni's shoulders sagged. How could he sacrifice himself for her, a relative stranger?

"Akanni, listen, you need to get moving, but you have to be careful - the room at the end of the next corridor is full of Sith soldiers. You have to find a way to thin their numbers. There's a security droid in there - you could reprogram him to help you. Or you could use the computer console to overload the power conduit in their room."

"Sure, now there's a droid…" Akanni thought, then to Carth she said, "I'll use the console. It's quicker."

"Alright. I'll watch the life support readout and let you know when the Sith are... no longer a threat."

It took Akanni only minutes to set the overload on the conduit, and within seconds a blast of electrical energy filled the room, killing the soldiers almost instantly.

That's for Trask, you bastards...

After getting the all-clear from Carth, she moved on.

"Alright, you're almost there. The pods are at the end of the next corridor. There are two Sith in the hall, though, so be careful."

The two Sith proved to be little match for her grenades, and she met up with Carth a few minutes later.

"Great, you made it. Let's grab a pod and get out of here."

Upon boarding the pod, they found that it had apparently been damaged in the attack, so Akanni attempted to repair it while Carth took the helm.

"I'll try to land somewhere remote," he said, "but the helm systems have been damaged too - it might be a rough landing. You might want to get into the harness now."

"Yeah, just a sec."

The panel she was working on was no longer responding, so she tried another. Nothing. The pod rocked sharply as it was hit by a Sith attack.

"Akanni, now!"

"I'm coming."

Akanni stumbled her way to the cockpit, strapping into the seat beside Carth.

"Should have known the Sith would fire on an escape pod."

"Tell me about it," Carth agreed, "Thirty seconds to impact - hold on."

Carth woke to searing pain tearing through his body in waves.

The impact had been even rougher than he'd expected, knocking both he and Akanni unconscious. They were still in their seats, their harnesses having held them securely, so he hoped that the pain was only due to superficial injuries.

Unfastening his harness and pushing himself out of his chair, he found he could stand and walk well enough, so he moved to check on Akanni. She only had minor injuries, mostly from the harness he suspected. So he lifted her up and pushed through the debris littering the pod to reach the back hatch, stepping out into the cool night air.

He hissed in pain as the air made his cuts sting, looking around quickly to find the nearest shelter. He was almost glad that Akanni was unconscious – at least she wasn't in any pain.

City lights flickered in the distance, seeming to beckon him forward with the promise of safe harbor. With another quick glance around, he set off in their direction. He reached the outskirts of the city nearly twenty minutes later, and followed the back alleys until he found a rundown apartment complex.

As he stumbled inside, he found that aside from an astro-mech droid and a janitor, the halls were empty. The janitor watched him curiously for a minute. Neither spoke. Suddenly the older man shrugged, nodding to a door to the left of where Carth currently stood.

"Thank you," Carth said, and without waiting for an answer he made his way to the vacant room. Inside were three beds, and he laid Akanni on one. His hands now empty, he went back and locked the door. Satisfied that they were as safe as they could be for the moment, he collapsed onto the second bed.

Thin sunlight was streaming in through the room's one dirty window when he woke again. Sitting up, he shook himself slightly to clear his mind. He'd been dreaming, and woke suddenly. His mind was still fuzzy. What was he dreaming about? He couldn't recall any details about the dream, but for some reason he felt as though it had been unpleasant.

But what had woke him?

In the other bed, Akanni was tossing and turning, crying out sometimes, whimpering at others. She must have been what woke him.

Standing up from his bed, Carth moved to her side and laid a hand on her forehead. It was cool to the touch. No fever, at least. That was good. Apparently she was only suffering from a nightmare.

Carth had a feeling she wasn't the only one.