CHAPTER TWO: ATTACK ON THE ENDAR SPIRE (Part 2 of 3)
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Carth Onasi was on the bridge when the Sith attack had first begun. He had seen enough in his time in the fleet to know that under the given circumstances this was a losing battle for the
Endar Spire. His goal was to make sure as much of the crew could get to safety as possible. Already the Sith were boarding. It was obvious that they must have known Bastila was on board, otherwise there was no reason they would lay such a trap for a ship passing through the sector in hyperspace.
Carth patched his comm link through to the ship’s crew. “This is Carth Onasi,” he said, “The Sith are threatening to overrun our position! We can’t hold out long against their firepower! All hands to the bridge or nearest escape pods! Repeat, all hands to the bridge or nearest escape pods! Evacuate ship!” He flipped his comm to close the outgoing signal and then turned his attention to the escape pods there. There weren’t nearly enough pods for the full crew of three hundred, especially if everybody was panicking and trying to take individual pods. The rest of the fleet pilots were making their way to the hanger to the Aurek-class tactical strike-fighters in an attempt to hold off the Sith bombardment for as long as they could, knowing full well that it wasn’t a flight they would be returning from given their current circumstance. Carth saluted them, and as much as he wished otherwise, he realized he would probably never see them again. Right now, his mission differed from theirs. Right now his mission was to ensure the safety of the Jedi Bastila Shan and of as much of the crew as he could.
Carth rushed to the emergency control center just beyond the bridge, and began checking the status of the crew and of the
Endar Spire. They had been boarded since the time the attack had started. It looked like there were two separate boarding vessels with mostly Sith Soldiers, but there were a few dark Jedi among their ranks also, their red sabers gleaming in the feed. There was no longer any doubt in Carth’s mind that it was Bastila the Sith were after.
It was not long before crew members began arriving at the bridge. The
Endar Spire was a rather large ship, and its crew was accordingly large. That being said, the number of crew members whom Carth witnessed arrive on the bridge and the number of escape pods he could see from the computer had jettisoned from other levels were alarmingly low, and given the fact that Taris, the nearest planet, was under Sith occupation, it was unlikely many of those who were even lucky enough to make it to the escape pods would survive. Carth did what he could, helping to organize crew members into escape pods, and waiting for his Jedi charge to arrive on the bridge. The Jedi had requested, amongst many other things, that Bastila Shan have her own escape pod reserved in the event of an emergency. The request was justified, given her importance in the Republic war effort, but it meant someone had to be there to make sure the request would be able to be filled.
When Bastila arrived, however, she was not accompanied by the other Jedi who had been with her, as Carth had initially anticipated would have been the case. It had seemed they were busy holding off the Dark Jedi whom had boarded so that the Padawan might make it to the bridge without interference.
“Is the pod ready?” Bastila asked upon entering the bridge, deactivating the yellow blades of her saber as she did so.
“Ready,” Carth said, gesturing her toward the pod. “Strap in tight. It’s likely to be a rough landing.”
“I am a Jedi,” she replied plainly. “I can handle myself just fine.”
“Just trying to do my job,” he said as she entered. While she had no official rank among the fleet, Bastila Shan was technically his commanding officer in the situation, since she had been placed as the Jedi in charge of leading the mission. Even if she was acting a bit like a Jedi princess, it was still his duty to follow commands.
The escape pod jettisoned soon after Bastila entered and the door was secured. Carth hoped that she was able to make it to the planet’s surface safely. For the sake of the Republic war effort, they would all need to hope that was the case. Malak’s armies were growing stronger with every passing day, and their chances of defeating him seemed to be rapidly diminishing.
Carth returned to the consul to check up on the crew status. There weren’t many left, but escape pods were becoming more and more scarce. He was determined that anyone left alive who could make it to the bridge would be able to get to an escape pod.
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Gwen and Trask had received the message from Veteran Commander Onasi to head to the bridge. It had already been the plan, but given Onasi’s experience in the wars, the situation was understood to be more dire now that his assessment of it had been made known to them. If
he thought things were bad, then it was all the more important that they get out of there fast.
Blaster fire and explosions from battle damage could be heard ringing throughout the corridors of the ship. The two stopped short at the first turn upon seeing one of their own fire off a few shots before being hit in the chest and collapsing dead to the ground, the scent of burnt fabric and flesh lingering in the air.
“There must be Sith advance boarding crew members just ahead,” Trask murmured.
“Really? I wonder what gave that away?” Gwen said, rolling her eyes sarcastically. “Sith or no Sith, we’re going to need to head to the bridge.”
“Right,” the man said before swallowing hard and drawing his blaster rifle. “Bastila is counting on us.”
“Again with the Jedi stuff!? Look, I told you—”
She didn’t have time, however, to complete her sentence before her crewmate leapt out behind from the security of the wall and began firing. “For the Republic!” he shouted.
Gwen sighed frustratedly before peering around the side of the wall just enough to get sight of one of the soldiers before she aimed and fired on him, pulling back behind the wall for cover between shots. She wasn’t particularly in the mood for dying like this Trask fellow seemed to be.
After a couple minutes of fire exchange, the confrontation ended. Trask groaned, clutching his left shoulder. “I’m hit, but not bad,” he said before pulling open a medpack from his own supplies and applying a kolto patch to the burn wound. “We should press on. I have a feeling though that this won’t be our last battle with the Sith.”
“Yeah, I doubt it will be,” Gwen said, coming out from her cover location and looking over the corpses of the Republic and Sith soldiers.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking for valuables or anything that might be of use later,” she said, pocketing a few credits off of the remains of one of their own.
“I should have guessed your type would—” He didn’t get to finish his sentence before she threw one soldier’s helmet at him, hitting his shin. “Ouch! What the hell was that for!?”
“I’ve about had it with your comments. You don’t spend your life on the run without learning to take what you can get when you can get it. Besides, somehow I doubt he’ll be needing to spend that any time soon… And if you keep burning through medpacks at the current rate, we’re going to need all of the extra supplies we can get.”
“We need to get going.”
“It won’t take long,” she replied, quickly checking the bodies of two Sith corpses further down the hall, her eyes lighting up a little at the finding of some sort of grenade on one of them, which she quickly stashed in her supplies pack before standing. “See? I told you so! All finished.’ And with that, she turned on her heel before continuing down the next corridor.
They pressed onward. It was becoming more and more apparent the further that they moved as to just how bad array the ship was currently in. Astromech droids were attempting to make repairs, but short circuiting in minor explosions as power conduits they were working on would overload. Sparks sizzled as they flew from jammed doors throughout the ship. Corpses from both sides littered the halls, but there was still no shortage of live soldiers from the Sith boarding crew, and they were forced into several more fire fights as they moved.
Despite Trasks urging otherwise, Gwen continued her collecting. There wasn’t much of use from the state in which they found most of the corpses, but they were able to salvage a few spare med packs, grenades, an entra blaster pistol… even a spare combat suit vest from an open locker, which Gwen quickly slipped on over her jacket, despite the ill fit.
The rumbling of the hits from the ongoing space battle were growing more frequent by the second as it became less and less certain just how much longer the Endar Spire would hold up to the attack. One particularly loud and close seeming explosion caused both of them to stop and duck for cover.
“That one didn’t sound like it came from outside,” Gwen said, pressing her back to the wall.
“Grenadiers,” Trask replied in a low voice. “It sounds like they’re further down the next passage… If we try to move forward and they spot us, then we’re dead.”
“Well if we don’t find a way to get off of this ship before it’s blown to pieces, then we’ll both be dead anyway, and then how are you going to protect that Jedi chick?...” Gwen bit her lip thinking, her hand moving toward the supplies pack on her belt before the idea hit her. “Hang on,” she said, taking one of the grenades she picked up and breathing deeply. “I think I have an idea….”
She pressed a finger to her lips, signaling for him to remain quiet as she took a grenade from her pack and flipped the switch of her stealth generator before creeping around the corner. She could see the grenadier, along with three additional Sith soldiers further down the passageway. It looked as if they had hit one of their own in that last blast that they had felt. It seemed the Sith weren’t worried about losing their own soldiers for the sake of finding this Bastila Jedi…
She inhaled deeply, calculating her throw and her escape route. After she tossed the grenade, she would need to run for cover immediately, since it would give away her position. There was only one shot at this… She kissed the cold metal of the grenade shell for luck before pulling the pin and tossing it toward the small Sith cluster.
It took mere moments before she was spotted. The three soldiers began to fire and the grenadier threw his own grenade in her direction, returning the gesture. She quickly turned and started running back down the hall she had come from, grabbing Trask’s arm on the way and bolting a bit further before diving down and covering her head with her hands. Blasts were heard… and then the blasterfire stopped.
Slowly, Gwen got up from the ground and switched her stealth generator back before peering around the corner where the Sith had been. Finding nothing there but some blown limbs and scored marked, she breathed a sigh of relief and switched her generator back to off. “All clear,” she said. “Good thing I picked up those grenades… Unfortunately I don’t think that there’s much of these three left to scrap though…. How much further do we have?”
She hadn’t been aboard very long, after all, and it was a big ship. Sharp as her memory generally was, she had still been getting used to the layout before the attack had happened.
“We’re getting close,” Trask replied. “The Bridge is just up ahead.”
“Right. Let’s get moving then. After all, the ship had begun creaking eerily. It would be mere minutes more before they were all blown to spacedust. They worked their way through a few more turns before they stopped after one of the doors and Trask pulled Gwen back a little. Red and blue rods of light dazzled in rapid clashes before them, orchestrated by a pair of robed combatants.
“It’s a Dark Jedi,” he said. “We had better stay back. All we would do is get in the way if we tried to help in this battle.”
It was an impressive display. Both were clearly very skilled fighters. The Jedi with the blue saber seemed aware of their presence, as she appeared to be attempting to guide the fight further away from them to give them a safe opening to run. She dodged under one of the Dark Jedi’s kicks before delivering an uppercut which caused him to collapse motionless to the ground.
The Jedi then deactivated her own saber and turned to Gwen and Trask, locking eyes for a moment with Gwen before she opened her mouth to speak to them, only in time for a lighting panel next to her to erupt into a burst of sparks. The Jedi woman let out a shrill cry in pain as the blue sparks coursed over her body and before she too fell motionless to the ground.
“Damn,” Trask said through gritted teeth. “We could have used her help… That was one of the Jedi Masters accompanying Bastila…”
Gwen meant to comment on this. The Jedi seemed to want to say something to them… But there was no time. The Jedi’s screams had attracted a couple more Sith Soldiers, who began firing on Gwen and Trask upon finding the pair. They had no time to dodge for cover in this fight and began firing off bolts as fast as they could, ducking every so often in an attempt to dodge enemy fire. After all, it was far more difficulty to hit a moving target.
Gwen winced, stumbling a little upon feeling a sharp pain in her right thigh after being grazed by a blaster bolt. Gritting her teeth in an attempt to ignore the pain, she returned fire, hitting the soldier squarely in the chest and killing him. She opened a medpack now that the fire had ceased and applied a kolto patch to her injury. She was going to head to the Jedi and Dark Jedi to snag their lightsabers off of them when Trask stopped her.
“We really don’t have time for this. We need to get of the ship
now!”
“Of course
now you’re interested in escape pods!”
“We won’t do anyone any good if we’re dead.”
“Yeah, well you don’t have to tell me twice,” Gwen retorted, doing her best not to limp and they continued onward. Sure enough, it wasn’t long at all before they reached another sealed door.
“The bridge is just beyond that door,” Trask said. “It’s pretty tight quarters in there though. Using a blaster would be suicide…” He pulled his vibroblade from his belt.
Gwen hesitantly holstered her blaster and took up her own vibroblade from its sheath on her utility belt. “What if they have lightsabers?” she said, the nervousness evident in her voice. Dealing with Jedi on their side was enough already without Dark Jedi after them now too.
“Republic military grade vibroblades come in a standard cortosis weave,” he said, seemingly trying to reassure her. “They can withstand even a lightsaber for a fair amount of time.”
Gwen laughed nervously. “Sure they can. And I’m the Queen of Onderon.”
“Just trust me on this,” he said, choosing to ignore her sarcasm. “It’s not like we have another option. If you want to get to those escape pods so badly, then we’re going to have to pass through the bridge. There’s no time to get to the pods on any of the other levels… Now let’s go!”
Trask opened the door. Sure enough, the bridge had been completely overrun with Sith Soldiers. There were at least eight of them there.
“I’ll take right,” Trask said. “You take left.”
The two worked through the tight space between control panels, blade to blade with the Sith soldiers. They were lucky. With the ship as close to a finish as it was, several of the control panels on the far side exploded, killing the surrounding soldiers before they even had a chance to work their way that far onto the bridge.
“Bastila’s not here on the bridge,” Trask commented, glancing around once they had cleared the enemies present. “She must have retreated to the escape pods already… I guess it’s time we do that too.”
“You think?”
“The Sith want Bastila alive,” he continued. “Once she’s off this ship, there’s nothing left preventing them from simply blowing the
Endar Spire into galactic dust!”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Gwen said, sheathing her vibroblade again and drawing her blaster pistol, refamiliarizing her hand with its familiar grip.
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The pair continued onward toward to escape pods, but just as they were leaving the bridge, they were met by an ominous tall bald figure dressed in a combination of dark robes and fibremesh armor, wielding a double-bladed red lightsaber.
“Damn! Another Dark Jedi,” Task commented, brandishing his vibroblade. “I’ll try to hold him off. You get to the escape pods! Go!”
“You’re suicidal!” she protested.
He laughed ironically. “You said it yourself—I’m the soldier. You’re just a cipher. No sense in both of us dying here… Now go!” And with that, he pushed her through the doorway to their left, sealing it behind her before turning to face the dark figure.
“You’re brave,” the Dark Jedi commented. “And some would say stupid… but either way, your friend was right. You’re clearly suicidal.” And with this, the Dark Jedi charged him, spinning his saber staff into a strike to the Republic soldier’s right, which he quickly blocked with his vibroblade into a lock. The energy of the lightsaber’s blade sizzled against the metal of the vibroblade’s cortosis weave.
“You Sith will never defeat all that the Republic stands for,” Trask said. “Not while there are people willing to fight to protect the galaxy from evil like you!”
The Dark Jedi laughed, clearly toying with the soldier as he allowed the blade of his lightsaber to continue pushing against that of the vibroblade. “You see, that is where you are wrong. Once my Master has located the Jedi Bastila and either destroyed her or converted her to our cause, your puny Republic doesn’t stand a chance. Now tell me where she is and I’ll make certain your death is quick and painless.”
“I’ll never betray the Republic!”
“Is that so?” the Dark Jedi said, deactivating his saber.
The sudden shift in balance from having nothing resisting his own blade threw Trask off for a moment. He thought perhaps this was his own opportunity to strike and charged forward ready to slash when the Dark Jedi raised his hand toward him. Suddenly, Trask felt as though his throat were being grasped and found himself being lifted up off of the ground. He dropped his vibroblade and his hands struggled trying to tear away whatever invisible force had him within its grasp.
“Don’t say that I never warned you,” the Dark Jedi chortled. “Now you’ll die, just like the others who resist the Dark Lord Malak’s rule. And the last thing you will know is that your miserable mind wasn’t strong enough to hide your information on the Jedi Bastila from Darth Bandon…”
There was a loud crack as Trask Ulgo’s neck snapped and, with a flick of Darth Bandon’s wrist, the Republic Ensign was tossed to the side, hitting the wall before collapsing motionless to the ground.
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