Disclaimer: I don't own the Star Wars universe or Star Wars KOTOR, George
Lucas and Lucas Arts do. They also own all the Characters and Worlds
contained therein. The characters created by me for this story are all
that I own.
Aboard the Endar Spire
We had a few free weeks after that mission, and then I got unwelcome news. I was getting a TDA (Temporary Duty Assignment) for the next few months attached to Jedi Bastila Shan's command aboard the Endar Spire. My teammates were being sent to various training opportunities during the same time period and we would be assigned our next mission after all of our TDA's had been completed.
I was told that I had been picked due to my language and combat skills. I was to be a translator and if the need arose I was to employ my special training to protect her. I was reminded to not mention the details of any of my assignments. "The records that are being sent to the Endar Spire will contain only the necessary information Lt." my Commander said, "keep that in mind during this mission."
Jedi Shan had some special Jedi skill called Battle Meditation that allowed her to affect the outcome of entire engagements. I wasn't enthused about the honor but I nodded to my Commander and said "I will endeavor to fulfill both duties to the best of my abilities, Sir." He dismissed me saying that I was expected to report into the Endar Spire in the next 48 hours so I needed to get moving.
I packed, hugged all my squad mates and promised them I would be back as soon as I got through the mission I had just been assigned.
I reported to the duty officer of the Endar Spire the next day and was assigned a bunk in the junior officer's quarters. The ship would be underway this evening and I was not expected to formally report until later in the week.
I decided to check out the essential parts of the ship, the mess, the recreational area and the exercise facilities. The mess was acceptable, the recreational area was comfortable looking and had a few people sitting and chatting, and I smiled to a few and continued my exploration of the ship. I finally found the exercise facilities and looked around pleasantly surprised. I could tell that I would be able to keep my fitness level up. I noticed an older woman in a brown robe looking at me from across the room; I glanced at her trying to figure out why she was staring at me. I was puzzled by the non-military clothing until I realized she must be one of the Jedi. I nodded to her respectfully and decided to head back to my room for to change into some workout clothing.
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Jedi Knight Maria had known of course that she might see Cait McDonald before any formal meeting still it startled her to see the woman in the exercise room. Master Zhar had been right to worry, she noticed looking closely Cait, she was showing signs of force sensitivity and it wasn't slight as he had said, it was very noticeable. Cait noticed her, but there was no recognition in her eyes. She just nodded to the Jedi Knight and left, her surface thoughts indicated that she intended to come back to work out.
Jedi Knight Maria went to the Jedi quarters and found the others there, "well I just saw Cait, if I understood Master Zhar correctly when he described her level of force sensitivity then we definitely have a potential problem. She's clearly force sensitive now which means she's growing in force powers at a rapid rate" she said to them.
Padawan Bastila said "then it's good that we were able to get her assigned to us, did you sense anything from her about her nature?"
Jedi Knight Maria replied "I sensed no taint of the dark side at all. She's very different though, I understand now what Master Zhar was saying when he said that she is now Cait McDonald. She looks different, and she doesn't feel at all the same, she has a calm self-assuredness, it's not at all like what I expected." She paused then said "She is her own unique self."
****************************************************************************
The bed jolted, and I started awake, huh I thought. Then I realized the entire ship was jolting and the alarm klaxons began to wail. I jumped out of bed and was grabbing my gear when Ensign Trask came in.
He filled me in on the situation, we were being attacked by a Sith battle fleet which had ambushed us as we came out of hyperspace above Taris. I was putting on my gear as he did so and cursing to myself about having no armor. Oh well perhaps there would be the opportunity to grab some.
He said something about Bastila and I said "Bastila?" He babbled on for a minute about my training and how I had swore to defend her then finally said something coherent about going to find Bastila to protect her.
I wondered exactly what had been sent about my training to have him going on about a promising recruit; I hadn't been a recruit for over a year. At least the elite combat training was correct. Obviously someone had interpreted the 'delete classified training' literally and had deleted almost all of my training and then sent what was left, which would be my basic and officer training. No wonder he had the idea I was a fresh recruit. Now wasn't the time to correct him though, so I merely nodded and went over to the doors.
He said they were locked down but he had the codes, impatient I motioned him toward the door so he could unlock it. The young ensign was obviously nervous which would account for his volubility. We fought our way up toward the bridge and I managed to grab a set of basic combat armor on the way as well as a few med paks. The stims I divided between us, hiding the fact that I retained only a few. He might get curious as to why I would give them all to him. They were only basic stims, not at all of the strength or duration that I was used to being under.
He seemed to finally have noticed that I outranked him and let me take the lead. Though honestly I wasn't sure if I wanted to be in front of the young man, he seemed a bit jumpy, I kept expecting him to shoot me by mistake but he settled down and his fire was reasonably accurate.
I opened one of the doors to see one of the Jedi and what I guessed was a Sith Jedi fighting, the Jedi was more than holding her own and quickly dispatched him. As she turned toward us the power conduit behind her blew and she fell forward. I had been running to assist when the conduit blew and my reflex's took over and I dived to the avoiding the sharp shards of metal. She however, had been standing directly in front of the conduit, and when I got to her was already dead. Damn, I thought and closed the staring eyes. What was that the Jedi believed, they became one with the force? I hoped it was true for her and I realized she was the woman I had meet and nodded to in the exercise room. I got up and gave her body a respectful salute with my sword and we continued on toward the bridge.
We stormed the bridge taking out the few Sith troopers that were there, it was in disarray, with electrical fires everywhere. Two Republic fighters had been on the bridge when we entered but when I looked again I saw that both they and their attackers had perished while Trask and I fought.
Trask said "Bastila's not here on the bridge they must have retreated to the escape pods! We better head that way too. The Sith want Bastila alive but once she's off the ship there's nothing stopping them from blasting the Endar Spire into galactic dust!"
The man had such a way with words but his supposition that Bastila had already used an escape pod was probably accurate and I didn't want to be galactic dust any more than he did.
We entered the passage leading to the bridge escape pods and I paused, Trask had already used a few of the med paks I had scavenged on the way to the bridge. He apparently hadn't noticed that I hadn't required any yet.
I was opening a bin of medical supplies and had leaned in to grab more med paks, when he rushed to the next door and said "There's something behind here," before I could order him to stop he opened the door. There was one of the dark Jedi there and the Ensign Trask rushed him saying "Damn dark Jedi, Ill try and hold him off, you get to the escape pod! Go!" I was almost to the door when explosions shook the room he had ran into and the door closed and jammed.
Stupid foolish brave man I thought and shook my head, if he had only waited the two of us might have been able to taken the dark Jedi down. Maybe we could or maybe not, but certainly a better chance than him alone. He had sacrificed himself, and I decided that I would not squander his choice away. I decided to make for the starboard escape pods.
A voice crackled over my personal communicator "This is Carth Onasi on your personal communicator. I'm tracking your position through the Endar Spires 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."
What was with this crew, they had a wonderful ability to state the obvious, as if I had been strolling about the ship, not trying to get to the escape pods. I was almost to the escape pods when I changed my mind about the unknown Carth Onasi.
"Be careful!" he said and I froze halting my motion to open the door in front of me. "There's a whole squad of Sith Troopers on the other side of that door!" I looked around me for inspiration and saw the security console, now if I could only find some security spikes I thought. Carth said over my communicator "Maybe you can use the computer spikes in the footlocker to slice the terminal or use repair parts to fix that droid." Ah, useful information I thought and went over to the footlocker in the room and grabbed the security spikes out.
Carth started to helpfully step me through how to slice the terminal but then faltered as it became clear that I was already in the terminal. I was definitely going to have to speak with the clerks back at command about what they had done to my records I thought, as I viewed the room through the security camera and saw a small Sith squad in the room. Carth was right that would have been and iffy situation to step into. I wasn't going to say I couldn't have managed to take all of them out, but without my battle armor I wasn't feeling like being suicidal.
I saw the power conduit he had mentioned and set the overload to building. It wasn't the fairest way to fight, but four against one wasn't good odds either. I switched out of camera mode as soon as it blew and I saw the power lightening snake across the room. I had no desire to watch the deaths I had just set in motion. I grimaced to myself and waited the few moments until it would be safe to enter the room. They were all dead of course; I paused by the one in red armor and noticed the vibro blade that had fallen from his hand. It looked well constructed, there was something different about it so I decided to pick it up and take it with me.
A man in a republic uniform, Carth Onasi I presumed, was in the escape pod section. He said "You made it just in time! There's one active escape pod left. Come on we can hide on the planet below."
We entered the escape pod and strapped ourselves in. Carth pulled the release and we dropped suddenly weightless, the pod jounced and vibrated as we entered the atmosphere then there was a violent jolt and I blacked out.
Aboard the Endar Spire
We had a few free weeks after that mission, and then I got unwelcome news. I was getting a TDA (Temporary Duty Assignment) for the next few months attached to Jedi Bastila Shan's command aboard the Endar Spire. My teammates were being sent to various training opportunities during the same time period and we would be assigned our next mission after all of our TDA's had been completed.
I was told that I had been picked due to my language and combat skills. I was to be a translator and if the need arose I was to employ my special training to protect her. I was reminded to not mention the details of any of my assignments. "The records that are being sent to the Endar Spire will contain only the necessary information Lt." my Commander said, "keep that in mind during this mission."
Jedi Shan had some special Jedi skill called Battle Meditation that allowed her to affect the outcome of entire engagements. I wasn't enthused about the honor but I nodded to my Commander and said "I will endeavor to fulfill both duties to the best of my abilities, Sir." He dismissed me saying that I was expected to report into the Endar Spire in the next 48 hours so I needed to get moving.
I packed, hugged all my squad mates and promised them I would be back as soon as I got through the mission I had just been assigned.
I reported to the duty officer of the Endar Spire the next day and was assigned a bunk in the junior officer's quarters. The ship would be underway this evening and I was not expected to formally report until later in the week.
I decided to check out the essential parts of the ship, the mess, the recreational area and the exercise facilities. The mess was acceptable, the recreational area was comfortable looking and had a few people sitting and chatting, and I smiled to a few and continued my exploration of the ship. I finally found the exercise facilities and looked around pleasantly surprised. I could tell that I would be able to keep my fitness level up. I noticed an older woman in a brown robe looking at me from across the room; I glanced at her trying to figure out why she was staring at me. I was puzzled by the non-military clothing until I realized she must be one of the Jedi. I nodded to her respectfully and decided to head back to my room for to change into some workout clothing.
****************************************************************************
Jedi Knight Maria had known of course that she might see Cait McDonald before any formal meeting still it startled her to see the woman in the exercise room. Master Zhar had been right to worry, she noticed looking closely Cait, she was showing signs of force sensitivity and it wasn't slight as he had said, it was very noticeable. Cait noticed her, but there was no recognition in her eyes. She just nodded to the Jedi Knight and left, her surface thoughts indicated that she intended to come back to work out.
Jedi Knight Maria went to the Jedi quarters and found the others there, "well I just saw Cait, if I understood Master Zhar correctly when he described her level of force sensitivity then we definitely have a potential problem. She's clearly force sensitive now which means she's growing in force powers at a rapid rate" she said to them.
Padawan Bastila said "then it's good that we were able to get her assigned to us, did you sense anything from her about her nature?"
Jedi Knight Maria replied "I sensed no taint of the dark side at all. She's very different though, I understand now what Master Zhar was saying when he said that she is now Cait McDonald. She looks different, and she doesn't feel at all the same, she has a calm self-assuredness, it's not at all like what I expected." She paused then said "She is her own unique self."
****************************************************************************
The bed jolted, and I started awake, huh I thought. Then I realized the entire ship was jolting and the alarm klaxons began to wail. I jumped out of bed and was grabbing my gear when Ensign Trask came in.
He filled me in on the situation, we were being attacked by a Sith battle fleet which had ambushed us as we came out of hyperspace above Taris. I was putting on my gear as he did so and cursing to myself about having no armor. Oh well perhaps there would be the opportunity to grab some.
He said something about Bastila and I said "Bastila?" He babbled on for a minute about my training and how I had swore to defend her then finally said something coherent about going to find Bastila to protect her.
I wondered exactly what had been sent about my training to have him going on about a promising recruit; I hadn't been a recruit for over a year. At least the elite combat training was correct. Obviously someone had interpreted the 'delete classified training' literally and had deleted almost all of my training and then sent what was left, which would be my basic and officer training. No wonder he had the idea I was a fresh recruit. Now wasn't the time to correct him though, so I merely nodded and went over to the doors.
He said they were locked down but he had the codes, impatient I motioned him toward the door so he could unlock it. The young ensign was obviously nervous which would account for his volubility. We fought our way up toward the bridge and I managed to grab a set of basic combat armor on the way as well as a few med paks. The stims I divided between us, hiding the fact that I retained only a few. He might get curious as to why I would give them all to him. They were only basic stims, not at all of the strength or duration that I was used to being under.
He seemed to finally have noticed that I outranked him and let me take the lead. Though honestly I wasn't sure if I wanted to be in front of the young man, he seemed a bit jumpy, I kept expecting him to shoot me by mistake but he settled down and his fire was reasonably accurate.
I opened one of the doors to see one of the Jedi and what I guessed was a Sith Jedi fighting, the Jedi was more than holding her own and quickly dispatched him. As she turned toward us the power conduit behind her blew and she fell forward. I had been running to assist when the conduit blew and my reflex's took over and I dived to the avoiding the sharp shards of metal. She however, had been standing directly in front of the conduit, and when I got to her was already dead. Damn, I thought and closed the staring eyes. What was that the Jedi believed, they became one with the force? I hoped it was true for her and I realized she was the woman I had meet and nodded to in the exercise room. I got up and gave her body a respectful salute with my sword and we continued on toward the bridge.
We stormed the bridge taking out the few Sith troopers that were there, it was in disarray, with electrical fires everywhere. Two Republic fighters had been on the bridge when we entered but when I looked again I saw that both they and their attackers had perished while Trask and I fought.
Trask said "Bastila's not here on the bridge they must have retreated to the escape pods! We better head that way too. The Sith want Bastila alive but once she's off the ship there's nothing stopping them from blasting the Endar Spire into galactic dust!"
The man had such a way with words but his supposition that Bastila had already used an escape pod was probably accurate and I didn't want to be galactic dust any more than he did.
We entered the passage leading to the bridge escape pods and I paused, Trask had already used a few of the med paks I had scavenged on the way to the bridge. He apparently hadn't noticed that I hadn't required any yet.
I was opening a bin of medical supplies and had leaned in to grab more med paks, when he rushed to the next door and said "There's something behind here," before I could order him to stop he opened the door. There was one of the dark Jedi there and the Ensign Trask rushed him saying "Damn dark Jedi, Ill try and hold him off, you get to the escape pod! Go!" I was almost to the door when explosions shook the room he had ran into and the door closed and jammed.
Stupid foolish brave man I thought and shook my head, if he had only waited the two of us might have been able to taken the dark Jedi down. Maybe we could or maybe not, but certainly a better chance than him alone. He had sacrificed himself, and I decided that I would not squander his choice away. I decided to make for the starboard escape pods.
A voice crackled over my personal communicator "This is Carth Onasi on your personal communicator. I'm tracking your position through the Endar Spires 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."
What was with this crew, they had a wonderful ability to state the obvious, as if I had been strolling about the ship, not trying to get to the escape pods. I was almost to the escape pods when I changed my mind about the unknown Carth Onasi.
"Be careful!" he said and I froze halting my motion to open the door in front of me. "There's a whole squad of Sith Troopers on the other side of that door!" I looked around me for inspiration and saw the security console, now if I could only find some security spikes I thought. Carth said over my communicator "Maybe you can use the computer spikes in the footlocker to slice the terminal or use repair parts to fix that droid." Ah, useful information I thought and went over to the footlocker in the room and grabbed the security spikes out.
Carth started to helpfully step me through how to slice the terminal but then faltered as it became clear that I was already in the terminal. I was definitely going to have to speak with the clerks back at command about what they had done to my records I thought, as I viewed the room through the security camera and saw a small Sith squad in the room. Carth was right that would have been and iffy situation to step into. I wasn't going to say I couldn't have managed to take all of them out, but without my battle armor I wasn't feeling like being suicidal.
I saw the power conduit he had mentioned and set the overload to building. It wasn't the fairest way to fight, but four against one wasn't good odds either. I switched out of camera mode as soon as it blew and I saw the power lightening snake across the room. I had no desire to watch the deaths I had just set in motion. I grimaced to myself and waited the few moments until it would be safe to enter the room. They were all dead of course; I paused by the one in red armor and noticed the vibro blade that had fallen from his hand. It looked well constructed, there was something different about it so I decided to pick it up and take it with me.
A man in a republic uniform, Carth Onasi I presumed, was in the escape pod section. He said "You made it just in time! There's one active escape pod left. Come on we can hide on the planet below."
We entered the escape pod and strapped ourselves in. Carth pulled the release and we dropped suddenly weightless, the pod jounced and vibrated as we entered the atmosphere then there was a violent jolt and I blacked out.