I'll try to hold him off

"Marjo!" Relief washes over me, Marjo is still asleep. I make my way across the room and kneel beside the bed. Marjo looks so confused and half asleep, naked and so vulnerable I want to wrap my arms… no, this isn't the time for that. "Come on, baby, wake up. We need to hurry, there isn't much time."

Blinking slowly, Marjo combs fingers through cropped hair, torso extending sensually with a stretch and yawn. "Mmm, Trask, come back to bed." Marjo is purring and it does things to me that we just can't get into right now.

Oh the temptation. The hull shudders as the ship is wracked by laser cannon fire. "Can't now, baby. We have to hurry."

"What's going on?" Marjo still has the confused half asleep look but is sitting up now watching me grab boots, uniform and toss them on the bed.

"We've been ambushed. The Endar Spire is under attack." Hearing the urgency in my voice, Marjo's eyes spring open, now fully awake.

"Wait, who is attacking?" Throwing clothes on while speaking Marjo is all business at long last and I breathe a sigh of relief.

"I'm not sure, it has to be the Sith." I grab my vibroblade with distaste and grab Marjo's weapons. "We have to find Padawan Bastilla and make sure she makes it off the ship alive."

"Who?" Marjo slips a boot on and glances up at me expectantly. "Who's Bastilla?"

"You're kidding…" When Marjo gives me the most delicious flustered look I once again feel a pang in my gut. This isn't good. How can Marjo not know Padawan Bastilla if the Jedi-

"Trask, focus." Marjo breaks through my musings. "Who's Bastilla?"

"The commanding officer of…" I frown. She's not the commanding officer of anything really. "She's in charge of this mission, not of the Endar Spire. She's the one who fought against Revan and has that battle meditation… thing." With no idea what that entails I'm relieved when Marjo doesn't ask too many questions. I hand Marjo the vibroblade and we move towards the door. "She's some big wig Jedi, the Republic is real big on how she is the key to winning. I just know our orders are to protect her at all cost. Ready?"

I pull my pistol and Marjo winks at me. "Right, let's go. You and me, babe, we'll make it."

Marjo notes my hesitation and caresses my cheek. I want to believe but I can't. "I got a bad feeling..." Lips clash into mine refusing to allow me to be filled with doubt and I cling to this hope and resign myself to it. "Right, we'll make it."

Rubbing a thumb across my bottom lip Marjo grins at me. "Come on, let's go have some fun."

Our barracks door opens and we both stop in our tracks as personal communicators crackle across the entire ship, "Sith are threatening to overrun our position. We can't hold out long against their firepower. All hands to the bridge!"

Once again dread weaves its way down my spine. Damn, "That was Lieutenant Carth Onasi, one of the Republic's best pilots." Our eyes meet and a stirring of hope settles in my soul fighting against the fear in my chest. "If he says it's bad…" Marjo grabs my hand tugging me forward. Right, with Marjo beside me, we can do anything. "Let's get to the bridge."

Marjo grins at me, "Right beside you, big guy."

The Sith are everywhere, in every hallway and around every turn. Both sides are dying, both sides are killing and still Marjo and I are moving forward, determined to get to the bridge. We see a Dark Jedi fighting one of our Jedi and Marjo stops for a moment to watch. "What's wrong?"

Marjo just watches for a while before responding, "Their style of fighting just seems… familiar."

"Whose?" I watch in fascination as Marjo grips the vibroblade in both hands easily mimicking moves from both. One word floats to mind, amazing. "Have you had to fight Dark Jedi before?"

Marjo stops and grins up at me. "It would seem so." With a shrug of a shoulder we're off down the hall, skirting around the flashing lightsabers. We get to another intersection and Marjo stops and smirks up at me. "Why are you following me? I have no idea where the bridge is."

I can't help but laugh and point ahead of us. "That closed door ahead, that's the bridge. For not knowing the way you managed to get us here." There's a smudge of blood and I swipe it from Marjo's cheek with the pad of my thumb. "You're a born leader."

Laughing Marjo disagrees, "Nah, I got lucky." Still my steps slow forcing Marjo to stop or leave me behind. "What?"

"You really have no idea." I'm getting one of Marjo's patented 'you're being a right jackass' look. "Hear me out. I'm not the only one who thinks you're amazing and that you're special. The Jedi asked for you specifically. You're here because they asked for you by name, Marjo. Not 'just' any elite soldier, you."

"I told you how-"

"That may have happened, but that isn't why you're here." I cup Marjo's face in my hand. "You need to survive this, just like Padawan Bastilla does, just like Lieutenant Onasi does. I don't know why but it's important."

Marjo scoffs, "Another one of your gut feelings?"

I kiss Marjo then, hard, desperate, I need to feel something other than this dread crawling along in my belly. Marjo pulls me closer, hand at my nape and my heart races but not in fear, not any more. Marjo truly is a leader of men and if… no, I won't let it happen. Nothing will harm us. We will survive this… somehow. We break off the kiss and Marjo smirks at me. "Better?"

"Stay close. I don't want to get separated." I nod at the door looming before us. "You take the lead, I'll be right behind you. I have no idea what we'll find but it's where we need to go." I pull my datapad and flip to the maps. I show where we are, where the escape pods are. "Take this, just in case." I can see the objection coming and I halt it. "Humor me."

Another of Marjo's smirks and the datapad is slipped into a pouch. I can breathe easier knowing if something does happen and we're split up, Marjo won't be left wandering lost in the hallways. "Do I need to kiss you again or can we go to the bridge now? There is a battle for our lives, yanno."

"Battle now, kiss later," Marjo throws me a knowing glance and I can't help but laugh, "and anything more you want."

With a triumphant grin, Marjo is off through the bridge door. More Sith. Blast it all. Marjo leaps into the fighting and I swear the forms those jedis were using are now adapted in Marjo's fighting. I must have fired only a dozen shots, maybe, probably less and Marjo has cut down five out of six of the Sith, the last one falls with a blaster shot to the head.

Leaning against a wall, I watch in fascination as Marjo quickly grabs a pack off the ground and rifles through the contents. Discarding unusable items and putting in the medpacs we found on the way. I grin as Marjo bends over and my dirty mind takes over. We need to get to safety and fast. "Okay, so Padawan Bastilla isn't on the bridge. Lieutenant Onasi did say things were getting rough, so they must have retreated to the escape pods. When you're done we'll head that way. I put it on my datapad, remember?"

Marjo grins and saunters over to me. "Yes, but we aren't separated, so that point is moot." Cocky, self assured, man I would love to just kiss that look right off-

The ship rocks and my mind is brought back to the present. "Sith want Padawan Bastilla alive, if they realize she's off the ship, there's nothing to stop them from destroying us and blasting the Spire into galactic dust."

There may have been a touch of panic in my voice that I didn't do a good job of hiding. Marjo is wrapped around me, kissing my neck. "We're almost there, big guy. Just hold on a little longer for me."

One more week with Marjo may have just turned into longer. That isn't all bad news. "Right, let's get to those escape pods."

We make it across the bridge when that damn niggling feeling is back, only stronger, much stronger and I can see it in Marjo's eyes that I'm not imagining it this time. "There's someone behind that door."

Silently Marjo nods and I nod, too. "Remember what I said, please. You must survive, Padawan Bastilla must survive and Lieutenant Onasi must-"

"Survive, right, got it, but you're forgetting one very important person on that short list of yours. Trask Ulgo needs to survive to keep Marjo Stolar from going insane killing everyone while grieving." I press my forehead against Marjo's and we both grow still.

Death is no joke and I don't have the stomach for it. Not now, not with what is behind that door. I can feel the horror and ominous reek of death growing stronger. "Head towards the escape pods. Live Marjo, live for me." I brush my lips across Marjo's and I can feel the fear grip my heart. I smile and back towards the door. "Go…" The door behind me opens and I see him. His lightsaber flicks on with a flash of red light. The man looks even stronger than the last one we saw. "Damn another Dark Jedi. I'll try to hold him off, you get to the escape pods! Go!"

Marjo steps towards me and I grab my vibroblade. "No, Marjo, I need you to live." I back into the other room and as the door slides closed I let it slip. Why not, it will be the last time I have a chance. "I love you."

The door closes in my face and I ram the vibroblade into the controls. "Was that… it can't be." The man behind me speaks quietly, not sure if he said more I'm not listening to him. All I can hear is Marjo banging on the door and I close my eyes willing Marjo to head to safety. The hum of the man's lightsaber grows closer. "Foolish, boy, do you really think you can face a Sith with that little vibroblade? I'm Darth Bandon, your executioner."

The banging slows until it stops. "I am Trask Ulgo, noble son of House Ulgo." I feel my shoulders square and I turn to face my executioner, my death. "I am no one's boy."

I'm going to die. I know it. It's okay. The fear is gone and replaced with the knowledge that Marjo is safe and heading to the escape pods. Padawan Bastilla has made it off the ship and presumably Lieutenant Onasi has, too. I level my vibroblade towards him. I've had many fencing lessons, still I prefer a blaster. I can hold my own just not sure how well that translate against a Dark Jedi.

Darth Bandon approaches assuredly and I refuse to back down taking a few steps forward, meeting him halfway. His red lightsaber flashes before me, humming ominously and I meet it with my vibroblade. The hissing as his blade is stopped spikes my adrenaline. Darth Bandon sneers at me, amusement dying on his lips. He slashes sweeping upwards and I block him yet again. The power he uses behind these attacks has my arms shaking but I refuse to let him see me grow weary.

There is a light sheen of sweat along my skin and I can feel an isolated trickle threatening to drip down the center of my back. "You show great loyalty to that traitor but it will do neither of you any good."

Mind games? What traitor? I shake my head ignoring him. I must remain focused, I must-

Lightning arcs across the room and I hear screaming followed by a clank of metal. It dawns on me that I'm the one screaming and the metal noise was the vibroblade falling from my grip. I've never felt so much pain in my entire life. Nothing has prepared me for this. More lightning is coursing through me and I fight back the only way I know how. I clear my mind and focus on Marjo. Marjo's smile, Marjo's kiss, Marjo's touch-

"Time to die before Revan can get too far. My master will be most interested in learning his old master still lives." Darth Bandon cackles and I'm shaking my head in confusion.

"What? Revan? No, Revan was killed by-"

The lightning is back ten fold. "Fool, that was Revan you just sent away!"

Darth Bandon used the force to throw me against the wall and I'm winded, can't breathe. My insides are writhing in pain and my lungs are so damaged each breath feels as if I'm inhaling glass. I try shorter breaths only now I feel as if I'm hyperventilating, or this dizzy feeling is from Darth Bandon's words. Trickery, has to be. Revan is dead, everyone knows that.

He stands before me, his hand at my throat and I can't breathe. I'm not sure what hurts more, the glass breaths or none at all. The hilt of his blade is pressed to my chest and he's smirking again. A sudden hiss fills my ears surrounding me and the pain in my gut is excruciating. Marjo is not, cannot be… Revan