A/N: In my most humble of opinions, having a ship that can break another one out of hyperspace is stupid, especially since I subscribe to the theory that "hyperspace" is the ship merely moving space around it instead of the other way around. Because physics says so, you cannot go faster than the speed of light in a conventional way, so blah blah blah I use Dune logic. Because of this, I made Taris a flyover, for all of you canon-consistency junkies out there. The gravity well generators of the Leviathan will stop a ship from jumping to hyperspace and perhaps bring one out of it early, but will not be able to interrupt it if the ship is just passing through.

I also wanted to highlight the severity of "Gerik's" condition in this chapter, as a high-risk situation carries with it massive amounts of stress/uncertainty. Obviously, a completely new personality won't take, kind of like how organs will not take if one is of a different blood type.

In times of stress, as you can read, the blocks set up by the Jedi Council start to erode. This causes Revan's actual personality to start taking over, making "Gerik" much more assertive and dominating than usual, and sometimes downright cruel or sadistic.

Bridge of the Endar Spire – Orbit around Taris.– 3,956 BBY – 16:00 Coruscant

"ETA to orbit around Taris in 10 minutes, sir."

Carth's face darkened, preparing himself mentally for the Sith onslaught. "Set condition one throughout the ship, lieutenant."

"Aye, sir."

The harsh white fluorescence of the lighting turned to a shade of red that just screamed "caution". Carth gripped the arms of his chair, anxious for the moment that they made the leap back into physical space again. It seemed like the entire ship was collectively holding its breath during those 10 minutes, no one wanting to break the silence. Then came the familiar feeling of deceleration, a lurching, sliding, kind of feel that came over the crew. A feeling of subdued panic spread throughout the ship, they were falling out of hyperspace far sooner than anticipated.

What? This is way too early. Either our navigation computers screwed it up, or we're caught in a…

The stars slowly turned from streaks to pinpricks, and the viewport was obscured by some kind of grey haze. As they slowly phased back into physical space, the haze manifested itself as a gargantuan Sith cruiser, its silvery bulk not a mile away from trading paint with the Endar Spire's hull.

gravity well.

"Evasive action! Get that damn planet between us and them!"

Carth's nails dug into the false leather armrests of the Captain's chair, he'd know that starship anywhere. The Leviathan, no doubt under the command of his old mentor, had enough firepower to blow the Spire and Taris off of the galactic map. Carth pried one hand loose from his chair to run it over his face, there was no way that they could just jump away without the authorization codes, or the Spire would just be caught in the massive gravity wells the Leviathan was producing. The only advantage that the Endar Spire had was speed. Interdictor-class cruisers were notoriously slow, but they made up for it in sheer toughness and firepower.

There was only one thing to do in this situation. Run away. He hoped by using the planet's gravity, they would be able to slingshot around and just by impulse power, get past the gravity well long enough to jump away. It probably would have worked, too. That is, if anyone else was commanding the Leviathan. Interceptor fighters streamed from the bowels of the Leviathan, peppering the bulk of the Spire with blaster fire.

"Divert power from main engines to laser batteries and shields, lieutenant!" Carth shook his head.

There's always a way out.

It wasn't long before the Leviathan's many quad- and turbo-laser batteries started spraying the Endar Spire with a storm of energy. The bridge itself was rocking, the Spire firing back with what it could, but its firepower wasn't a match for the larger, better equipped ship, barely scorching the hull in places. The lights in the bridge flickered once, twice, and then the bombardment stopped.

"Damage report!" Carth stood out of his chair, craning his neck through the blackened viewscreen, trying to catch a glimpse at what his mentor was playing at.

"Engine power at 40%, deflector shields holding, turbolaser batteries are out of commission, sir." The lieutenant gulped and his hands flew over the holographic keyboard in front of him. "If we continue on our current course, we won't have the engine power to escape the planet's gravity."

Damn.

"Sir, they're also launching troop transports."

This didn't really take Carth by surprise, if they had the Leviathan stationed here, the Sith obviously wanted Bastila. He lurched around towards the door.

"You two, from this point on, your only directive is to get Bastila safely off of this ship!" The two security officers snapped to attention, giving the Captain brief salutes before rushing out of the bridge towards the Jedi's quarters.

"Trask, put me on speaker, and find your bunkmate and get him the hell to the escape pods."

Whatever in the damn galaxy Bastila and the Jedi want with that man, they'll get him.

Carth sat back in his chair, listening to the Spire's hull creak and groan under the pressure of boarding vessels docking and slicing through the ship's walls.

"Attention crew! Condition one has been set throughout the ship, prepare to repel boarders, I want batteries and blocks stationed at all major corridors."

He sighed and turned to the flight operations officer. "Sha'Ta, launch all available fighters, tell them to target boarding ships before anything else."

The Twi'lek nodded in assent, relaying the orders to the launch bays of the Spire. Republic-manned fighters streamed out of the launch ports of the ship, but they were completely dwarfed in size by the endless supply of interceptors that the Leviathan was putting onto the field. The fighters slowed down the progress of the boarding plan somewhat, but not near enough to make a difference.

A shaking and screeching sound caught the Captain's attention from the walkway leading into the bridge. Sparks flew from the walls, forcing the security personnel stationed outside to rush into the command unit.

"I want all blast doors locked and sealed! No one gets in here without breaking the doors down, are we clear!"

A chorus of "ayes" was heard and the blast doors leading into the bridge were slammed shut and sealed against entry. Carth slammed his fist on the side of his chair, a pair of matching blaster pistols popping out of the armrests. He caught them deftly, powered them up and took a covering position behind his chair, the rest of the bridge doing much the same thing.

"We're to hold out here until the Jedi and her coterie get off-ship, get me? Keep in cover, shoot at whatever crosses those doors, and give up no ground until they get the hell out of here!" The doors to the bridge started to smoke and shake.

They were breaking through.

-End of Line-

A calm wind pushed through the hammock, gently rocking him to sleep. Gerik enjoyed his day on the beaches of Selena IV, a popular vacation spot for tourists of all kinds. Calm oceans and sunny beaches, what could be better? However, a storm on the horizon caused the wind to pick up, making his hammock rock uncomfortably beneath him. The wind didn't stop picking up, until his hammock was pitching and tossing every which direction. Thunder was heard in the distance, almost shaking the very ground he was staked to.

Gerik's eyes flew open, scanning around his room. The viewports were blackened and soot-covered because of blaster fire, but from what he could see, there was a raging battle going on outside.

And it feels like we're losing. Another huge explosion rocked the core of the Endar Spire, nearly pitching Gerik over the side of his bed. Shit, and I'm still in my shorts, no way to meet an attack.

At that moment, his erstwhile bunkmate, Trask Ulgo, came dashing into the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Good, you're up. Listen, we've been ambushed by a Sith battle fleet! The Endar Spire is under attack! Hurry up – We don't have much time!"

Gerik rolled to his feet, the guy looked serious, and judging by the way the battle was going; he needed a way off of the ship fast. Still clad in only his shorts, he kicked his footlocker open, rummaging through it, tossing his uniform behind him.

Trask's eyebrows shot up in indignation. "You're going to need that, you know." He picked up the jacket, boots, and pants and handed them back to the larger man.

"Listen up, Trask. I'm not wearing that thing in a firefight. It's restrictive and I might as well paint a fucking target on my chest, now where we-aah! Here we go!" Gerik held up a pair of weather-beaten black leather boots, serviceable shirt and pants, and an often-patched and acid-stained leather vest. He grunted as he pulled the boots on. "In that locker, there should be a vibroblade and a pistol, grab 'em for me, will you?"

The blonde man laid the weapons on the bunk where Gerik was sitting. Now fully dressed, Gerik outfitted himself in the offered weaponry.

"Now hurry up! We need to get you to the escape pods where Bastila is waiting!"

Gerik snorted at this. "Jedi Jailb-Eer. Jedi Bastila? What in hell would she want from me?"

Especially to send someone to make sure I got out of here alive, something smells fishy…

Trask tossed him an agitated look. "Listen, I know you aren't a soldier, but you've been to some of the most dangerous places in the galaxy! You might have seen something that you didn't recognize that she needs! What matters now is that we need to get you to her, and safely, she's already waiting at the escape pods!"

"Alright, what are we waiting for, then, lead the way!" Gerik motioned Trask towards the room doors, which he unlocked with the lockdown security codes he obtained from Carth. The only "living" thing in the crew quarters was a droid working on repairing a fluorescent panel smashed along the side of a wall, giving off intermittent bursts of light. Right as they passed the droid, Trask's communicator went off, the beeps echoing in the forlorn room.

"This is Captain Onasi – The Sith are threatening to overrun our position! We can't hold out long against this firepower, all hands to the bridge!"

Trask gaped at his communicator open-mouthed. "That was Carth Onasi, he's seen more act-" Gerik cut him off.

"I've been on this damn ship almost a month and you think I have no clue who the Captain is? Did you hit your head or something?"

The next door opened as easily as the first, the lockdown protocol easily giving way to Trask's obtained security codes. The door opened into a curved hallway, beyond which they could hear the sounds of blaster fire and grenade blasts. Turning the corner, the soldier and explorer duo saw two Republic soldiers fighting a similar number of Sith boarders. The Republic soldiers went down in minutes, leaving Gerik and Trask alone to deal with them.

"Those Sith must be with the advance boarding party! For the Republic!" Trask charged out and came face-to-face with the mirror-faced intruders.

Is the guy trying to get himself killed?

Trask dove for cover, peppering the oncoming Sith with short bursts from his rifle. Gerik stood behind the door, out of sight, waiting for the troopers to surround his comrade.

And surround him they did.

Gerik rolled out of the doorway, swinging his vibroblade in a low two-handed arc, lopping off the closest soldier's leg below the knee. The Sith trooper screamed as the blood fountained out of his leg and lost his balance. Trask took advantage of the confusion and delivered a full salvo of blaster fire to the second soldier's chestplate, fusing the metal to flesh, killing both in a matter of seconds. Breathing heavily, Trask made as if to stop the bleeding for the Sith trooper.

"Leave him." Gerik gestured with his vibroblade, blood caking the blade and splattering the durasteel floor beneath him, face still flushed in the afterglow of battle.

Trask was alarmed, "Republic code states that we should take prisoners alive if possible, and this one will blee-"

The larger man turned on a boot heel, smearing the blood in a gruesome arc across the floor and made his way towards the next door.

"Let him bleed."

The duo made their way through the flickering corridors, stepping over bodies of both Republic and Sith soldiers alike. After a short time, they came to another crossroads in the ship, where even more blaster fire was rocketing around. Gerik motioned for Trask to stay put and crept to the end of the hallway, back to the wall. He peered around the corner, poking his head out and just then a grenade went off amidst a group of Republic and Sith soldiers engaged in melee combat. Gerik pulled away from the frag grenade's explosion as small bits of shrapnel, both organic and non-, pelted his face. He sidled his way back to Trask.

"Three metalheads, all with rifles, if we go in there it'll be a turkey shoot for 'em." He scratched at his beard, and his eyes flashed to the other man. "Hand over your grenades."

Trask seemed surprised, but handed over his ordinance to Gerik, the man seemed to know what he was doing, after all.

Gerik took the grenades to the hallway intersection, pulled the pins, and tossed them. Two ear-shattering explosions were heard and the three troopers lay face down on the floor, limbs and human entrails littering the walls and floor of the corridor. Stepping over the bodies, Gerik motioned for Trask to follow him.

"Follow. We're only rooms away from the bridge."

Trask ran to the fallen Republic soldiers, one of them was still alive. "Listen here, Gerik. I'll leave Sith to die bleeding on the floor, but not one of ours!" He administered a medpack to the fallen man's neck, essentially stopping the bleeding. Gerik walked away as if in a trance, vibroblade leaving a bloody furrow in the deck, walking towards the trademark sounds of a lightsaber duel, the crashing and crackling of two tamed lightning storms unleashing their rage at one another. Trask shook his head, there was definitely something off about his fellow survivor, the longer the fight went on, the weirder he got. He shook his head and patted the fallen soldier on the shoulder.

"We'll get a medic over here as soon as we can, just hold tight, sound good?" After hearing the door hiss open and seeing Gerik walk through into a battle between Jedi and Sith Knights, Trask ran after him. "You can't interfere! We'll all just get killed!"

Gerik walked towards the fight, still in a trancelike state, seeing the red and blue flashes of the graceful weapons broke him out of whatever he was in. Slowly he came to his senses, watching the outcome of the fight in front of him. Trask ran up, screaming something about getting killed.

No shit, if the Jedi loses, we're both probably dead.

Both of them stared openmouthed at the combat before them. Gerik swore that he had never seen such a graceful display of human motion before, the fight was more an art form than anything else. The Sith Lord found an opening and thrust, but found only empty air as the Jedi Knight twisted in a way Gerik didn't think was humanly possible. She continued the spinning motion, robes flowing behind her, lightsaber twirling around her hand to land directly across the Sith Lord's neck, decapitating him. Trask ran up to the woman.

No doubt seeing if she's alright.

"That was incredible! You're not hurt, are you?"

The woman smiled weakly at the questioning man. "I'm quite alright, ju-"

Light from the panel in back of the Jedi engulfed her form, her silhouette burned into the two soldiers' eyes. She fell slowly, almost gracefully. Gerik could have sworn that she just fell asleep if it weren't for the hundreds of small metal shards embedded in her back and along her sides.

"Damn, we could have really used her help."

Gerik shook his head, pausing only to take the few medpacks the Jedi had on her body and moving forward, before long he held up his arm, stopping Trask in his tracks and pointed at the door to the bridge.

"Door's open, I don't hear anything, though. Could be a trap."

He snuck around to the door and took a peek. Three Sith troopers, all with melee weapons, he turned to Trask.

"You have anything other than that blaster?"

Trask shook his head.

"Damn. Just stay back, if you accidentally blow out a panel, we'll all get vented to fucking who knows where."

Gerik readied himself and charged into the room, rushing the first trooper before he could get his weapon up in time to defend. The vibroblade flashed once and was embedded in the soldier's faceplate, a river of scarlet running down his reflective uniform. The other two troopers approached him cautiously, circling from side to side. Gerik's eyes flitted from soldier to soldier, waiting for one of them to strike.

The rightmost one did first, the point of his blade seeking Gerik's heart. With a roar, Gerik parried the blade upwards with his own, punching the trooper's throat simultaneously, stowing the gorget in and essentially making his neck useless. The trooper collapsed to the floor in a heaving pile of choking flesh, blood dripping on his facemask from Gerik's lacerated and bruised knuckles.

The final Sith trooper lunged at Gerik, a wide overhead sweep that was meant to take his head off. Gerik fell to one knee and pivoted, sloshing blood over the floor, drove his blade through the small of the man's back. As the soldier's lifeblood left him, Gerik took his neck in between forearm and bicep, twisted, and snapped it.

A wave of rage swept over him as he felt the life rush out of the third Sith trooper, and he let out another bestial roar at the dead bodies. However, Trask brought him back into focus with a shake on his shoulder.

"You back? You're awfully…handy with that thing." He pointed at the bloodstained vibroblade, Trask looked visibly shaken by what he had seen.

This guy, he fights like a cornered animal, it's disgusting.

"Hey! The Spire's about to come apart, we gotta get the hell out of here!"

At this revelation, the red mist obscuring Gerik's vision left him and the world lurched into focus. Painfully. He doubled up on the ground, hands around his head. In but moments, though, he straightened up and threw Trask a look.

"I haven't a clue what's past that door, I've only been in the crew quarters and the bridge, you better lead."

Trask nodded in the affirmative, opening the door out of the command center.

The telltale fizz of a lightsaber being activated and the room was illuminated in a ruby glow. A well-built man, head shaven except for a black goatee blocked their way across. He flourished his lightsaber as if taunting the two survivors, giving them a predatory grin. Sweat popped across Gerik's brow, mingling with the blood from the Sith troopers, sliding down his face. Trask was trembling next to him, and then grew still. He looked at Gerik, his voice calm but eyes wide in fear.

"Listen, Gerik. I don't know why, but the Captain needs you safe at the escape pods. Hurry up and get out of here. Go! I'll hold him off!"

Trask ran towards the Sith Lord, surprising him, and palmed the keycode into the door, slamming it shut behind him. Gerik was stunned into shock.

He just…why for me? His head spun in confusion. Why am I so damn special? Requested by the Jedi, conscripted into an officer position, and now this? The Captain said that I needed to be safe?

Too many damn questions, and not the proper time to be asking any of them. The beeping of his communicator ripped him out of his own head for a time.

"Ensign, this is the Captain, all escape pods are away but one, and Bastila has escaped, get here quick as you can. I repeat, as quick as you can!" The message cut out, blaster fire filling the miniature holoscreen.

Gerik ran to the starboard side of the ship, the door opening with a hiss. He dispatched three more soldiers with ease when his comlink beeped again.

"I have you on screen, Gerik. There's a full contingent of Sith up ahead, engaging them head on would be suicide, try to find another way through."

Gerik looked around, there was an inactivate droid and a computer terminal. He was always balls-bad with computers, so he took a look at the combat droid. A few minutes of tinkering with the combat actuator and target locator had the droid ready and operational.

"Command: Kill all Sith in the room over."

*Command acknowledged*

The droid clanked its way through the door, its quad-laser batteries making short work of the Sith inside. There was an explosion, however, and the droid's head rolled through the open door, Gerik glanced at the monitor. One Sith was left standing, clad in blood-red armor from head to toe, vibroblade at the ready. Gerik grinned savagely and charged into the room with a wordless howl.

The Sith lieutenant, taken by surprise, barely fended off Gerik's first wild thrust at the neck, parrying it away from him and taking a few steps back to inspect his foe. Covered in blood and scrapes, the bearded man lashed out again with his blade, attempting to tear across the lieutenant's chest, metal barely a blur. This time, the Sith was ready for it, backstepped away from the blow, and drove the point of his weapon through the meat of Gerik's thigh.

Gerik screamed more in rage than pain and grasped his wound with one hand, keeping the vibroblade stuck in his leg. The trooper tried to free his blade, but couldn't the pressure from Gerik's hand keeping the metal lodged in the wound. The large man spun around and swung his sword in a downward arc. In a flash of metal and red, the Sith's arm was on the ground, having let go of the vibroblade stuck in Gerik's leg.

Keeping the momentum of the spin going, Gerik smashed his elbow into the Sith's faceplate, obliterating the bones in his face and slashing his arm in the process. The red-armored man crumpled to the ground, but not before gashing Gerik across the forehead with an arm-mounted vibrodagger. Barely alive, trying to breathe through a ruined face, the trooper groaned and looked vacantly at the room. Gerik turned around, calming himself after the battle. Though it barely took seconds, it felt like hours had passed since he had reprogrammed the droid. He took a shaky breath and rushed down the next corridor.

What just happened? I don't remember ever fighting like that. More goddamn questions…

He found the Captain felling two last Sith troopers with his trademark double blaster pistols.

"Hurry! Get over here!"

Gerik ran to, or more accurately, limped to the man. The adrenaline rush from constant battle wearing off, he realized that his leg damn hurt bad. He then saw the size of the escape pod.

"You expect both of us to fit in there?" He glanced at Carth, they were both rather large people, personal space would be nonexistent in the escape pod.

"It's either that or you stay behind, Ensign! What is it?"

Gerik glared at the Captain, but gave in, he didn't want to go down with the ship very much, and he needed answers.

Both men squeezed into the tiny space, and Gerik felt the weight of Carth's body against his back, the warm heat of his breath on his neck, the scratch of stubble against skin.

"No goddamn room in these things…" At that, Carth moved his arms around Gerik's midsection, trying to keep them from getting crushed, ostensibly. The pod launched, arcing its way into Taris' atmosphere, the intense heat trying to shake the pod to pieces. This wasn't fun.

This wasn't an enemy Gerik could fight, he couldn't make the atmosphere bleed, he couldn't trick his way out of it. For the first time, Gerik felt completely helpless.

He gripped Carth's hand as tight as possible, felt tendons creak under the pressure he was exerting, giving in to the fear was terrifying in of itself, but he had someone around him, to protect him, he felt as if Carth were guarding him from harm.

And, to tell the truth, he kinda liked it.