I have never written a story like this before. This is the first time I have ever posted something online for anyone else to read.

Please if you have the time, give me a review. I need feedback so I can improve my work in the future.

Thanks for reading.

I do not own Star Wars and make no claim to the intellectual property rights of Disney.

Prologue

The hum and hiss of lightsabers flashed back and forth, the scent of ozone filled the air from the force lightning singeing blackened burnt patches in the bulkheads and deck plating. Also thick in the air was the smell of burnt flesh from those less powerful in the force, unable to stand against the onslaught of the black robed figure flying across the room at incredible speed.

He was a nothing but a blur of motion. Moving so fast that the Purple saber he wielded seemed to be a solid sheet of light as he flashed past cutting through the slower and weaker members of the boarding party. All over the deck plaiting their lay crumpled bodies, some in the silver armor of the Sith troopers others in the brown and tan robes of the Jedi knights and Padawans that came in the desperate hope of stopping the Sith lord.

Suddenly he seemed to materialize in front of a beautiful brown haired young woman no more than 18. Despite her age however she raised her Double Saber and flashed forward without hesitation. She flew at him with a burst of speed, the blades of her saber flowing into a single two meter wide disk of deadly golden light.

If the Sith lord was startled by her sudden attack he made no sign of it, simply taking a step back and whipping his own blade up with startling speed to neatly parry the blow. She continued undaunted steadily pushing the Dark Lord back with the power and speed of her assault.

After another few moments of fierce fighting 3 more Jedi rushed onto the bridge of the Massive Dreadnought. Pausing only a moment to take in the utter carnage of the bridge deck before rushing to the aid of the beautiful young woman who was still managing to push back the imposing black robed figure toward the transparasteel of the bridges main viewing port.

The new Jedi were all older than the young woman. Two male and one female they all wore the brown and tan robes of the Jedi. The two males were both human one dark skinned black as ebony in the dim light of the bridge with a bald head in his mid 50's or so. The other was much younger and Fair skinned with blond hair and bright green eyes flashing with repressed rage as he charged head long at the black demon of destruction before him. The female was a deep violet skinned Twi'lek with matching violet eyes in her mid 30's or there about. Of the 3 she was by far the most dangerous, carrying two silver bladed Shotos marked her as a Weapons Master the most skilled combat experts the Jedi had to offer. In fact in order to become an official member of the Weapon Masters one had to master all seven forms of lightsaber combat, they were by far and away the most dangerous members of the Jedi Order.

Apparently the Dark Lord recognizing the danger. He disengaged the young woman by slamming her in the chest with a force push powerful enough to send her flipping end over end several meters back, straight into the oncoming Jedi. The older man deactivated his saber at once and leaped into the air, letting her slam into him and send them both sprawling across the deck, stunned.

The younger man distracted for the merest moment, was bought sharply back to attention by the sudden arc of terrible force lightning that caught him square in the chest. The blast hit him with such force that he went flying back across the bridge to slam into the bulkhead 15 meters away with a sickening crunch. The beautiful young woman with the golden saber looked up just in time to see his lifeless body fall to the deck dead, his neck twisted at an unnatural angle.

All at once I was in the body of the dark lord looking out through his eyes at the oncoming Weapons Master, cold determination in her eyes. I could feel the burning rage churning inside filling him with him power and purpose.

No not 'Him'. Me, I was the dark lord in that moment I could feel the unbridled power burning through every atom of my body. The rage and the hate was overwhelming, the sense of power intoxicating. I stood completely still, deep purple lightsaber humming softly at my side. I waited patiently for the weapons master to reach me, the fierce joy of the hunt and the kill bubbling up through my veins. This woman posed no threat to me, not with the power of the Dark side so utterly under my command. She was as a bug buzzing around my head, a mere annoyance and nothing more. Whats more she knew it, I could feel the resignation grow inside her as she fell upon me. I easily avoided her attack batting aside her most powerful blows one handed without budging and inch from my place. The force flowed through me in a torrent of power making time seem to slow. To an outside observer she would probably seem to move with such speed as to be nothing but a blur of limbs and saber flashes, but to me each of her strikes seemed to take forever, it felt like I waited minutes for each attack to find my own blade.

I could have finished her in the first 5 moves of the engagement. Or for that matter, I could have snapped her neck with the force before she ever got near me. But I waited, toying with her. Feeding off her feeling of hopeless resignation and frustration. Not realizing the situation for what it was the young woman and the older man were up and rushing forward to help moving with pitiful slowness each step seeming to take many seconds at least. Although they were probably running at 50 kph or more.

Abruptly I was out of the Dark lord looking down on the battle once more. The sudden change in perspective and perception of time feel quite jarring. All the sudden the two Jedi were flying forward with incredible speed covering the remaining distance in just under a second, their Sabers flashing with blinding speed. The fight dissolved into discs of light and blurring motion.

Suddenly my eye was drawn out toward the bridges huge view port. A fierce space battle was underway outside, strange that I had not noticed it before. The Capital Class Dreadnought out the view port, swiveled it's turbo laser batteries directly at me. The Massive barrels seeming to gape open like a black hole, infinite destruction hidden in their depths.

Then the whole world exploded as dozens of red streaks slammed into the hull all along the ships side, several of them smashing directly into the bridges view port. The explosion launched the Dark lord and the Jedi across the bridge to slam into the opposite bulkhead. Atmosphere instantly flew out the huge hole left by the barrage of laser fire but was cut off almost at once by an emergency force field snapping up to seal the gaping hole.

I could see the young brown haired Jedi slowly get to her feat, fumbling her lightsaber onto her belt as she staggered about looking for survivors.

Another Huge explosion rocked the ship and I felt like I was being shaken about in a bottle. But the young Jedi didn't seem to notice as she went over to check her two comrades for life signs. Apparently finding none her shoulders shook in a single silent sob as she got back to her feet; and walked to the dark lord. He lay there, seemingly lifeless on the deck completely still. A good sized piece of metal stuck out of his back a good 20 centimeters. Long and jagged, blood soaking into the cloth around the wound.

As she leaned down to check his pulse another massive shudder went through the ship, the last thing I saw were her eyes popping open wide, with either astonishment or alarm I couldn't tell.

The next thing I felt was deck plaiting slam hard into my left side. My eyes sprang wide at the shock and pain. I was laying on my side on the cold deck of my bunk room. For a moment I was completely confused with no idea where I was or what was happening. Then another loud boom of metallic thunder rung through the ship and everything came flooding back all at once. Leaving me reeling for another moment. I was on the Endar Spire, a Hammerhead Class battle cruiser for the Republic. We were heading to Taris, an Ecumenopolis Planet just off the Hydian Way. We were taking a Jedi, what was her name… Bastila Shan that was it, a special Jedi that had the ability to effect entire battle fields through the 'Force' or some such thing. Our mission was to rendezvous with a small Republic fleet and brake the Sith blockade of the planet.

Something must have gone wrong, no way Trask wouldn't come get me if we had met up with the fleet while I was still sleeping. I was on board specifically to advise Bastila during the battle. Not something a Special Operations Marine Corps Sergeant was usually ordered to do. I was quite adapt with battle strategy it was true, but I doubted I would have much to contribute. Still the order came down and I was shipped off to Dantooine, where I waited for a few pleasant days until the Endar Spire arrived to collect the Jedi and myself.

Just then another 'Boom' sounded somewhere farther aft and the deck shook beneath me. I rolled to me feet and went to my equipment locker by my bunk and started getting my gear and battle armor on. I was half in and half out of my armor when the hatch behind my made a loud 'chunking' noise. I spun blaster in hand, balancing on one foot. Half my body was covered in Battle Armor, the other half including one buttock hung free in the open air, as the hatch slid back into the wall. Trask Ulgo stood in the open hatch, despite the strain lining his face, a small smile twitched at the corner of his mouth seeing me balancing there on one leg half naked.

"Don't say it." I snapped glaring at him.

A tall thin man in his late 40's Trask had gone almost completely grey making him look much older than he really was. Despite that he was still a handsome man with high broad cheek bones, a straight nose and square jaw. A classic soldier, Trask had been in the republic navy since he was 19 years old. So for him to have that almost panicked look on his face, it must be very bad.

"What's happened?!" I asked putting the blaster down and getting my battle armor on the rest of the way.

"The Sith ambushed us! We are dead in the space, they interdicted us just above Taris. We've also been boarded, Sith troopers are flooding the ship." He replied turning and hitting the pad next to the hatchway.

"What about Bastila?" I asked, pulling on holsters for blaster pistols and slinging my twin Vibroblades across my back.

"Bastila and the officers are already off the ship." Trask said leaning against the wall to catch his breath.

"So we don't have any chance of escaping with the Spire?" I asked, finally getting my Helmet locked into place. As I booted up my wrist comp and my visor HUD, the possibilities ran through my mind.

We were going down, that much was obvious. Once I was on the ground, what would I need more than anything else in a hostile but civilized environment? I pulled on the last of my gear and grabbed a couple of large equipment bags out from under my bunk.

"No we have been ordered to the escape pods with all haste" He said straightening up, confirming my own conclusions.

"Ok then take this" I said tossing him a bag. "Take any weapons and equipment you can grab on the way."

"What! Why? We don't have time for this we need to get to the escape pods now!" he said looking at me like I had lost my mind.
"Look we are going to be on a Sith controlled world with no backup from the republic and no possibility of rescue. We are going to be fending for ourselves." I said pushing past him and smacking the door release. "We are going to need weapons and credits if we want to find a way off of the planet. I don't know about you but the Republic doesn't pay me very well."

I stepped out into the hall, heavily modified blaster carbine at my shoulder; scanning down the passage way for Sith. "A single thermal detonator will be worth a couple thousand credits on the black market down there Trask. So unless you want to spend the next few years on Taris just do as I ask please" I said in a low whisper as I edged my way down the corridor.

The Spires lay out was a pretty simple arrangement, a large Hammerhead class ship it had 3 main decks and a few smaller secondary decks for storage and backup systems. It was crewed by around 40-120 personnel with enough room to take a decent amount of troops, equipment, cargo, ect. Fortunately for us the senior crew quarters, where we were right now. Was on the same deck as the bridge, unfortunately we would have to make our way down the whole length of the ship to get to the bridge. The only way to the escape pods was through the starboard auxiliary exit... on the bridge. Something of a design flaw in my opinion.

I could feel Trask's disapproval behind me but he didn't argue as we approached the hatch at the end of the hall leading to a connecting corridor that would take us to the primary, central corridor that ran the whole length of the ship.

I smacked the hatch release and took a step back going down on one knee, blaster at the ready. The hatch released and slid back with a loud metallic 'chunking' sound. Just beyond the door were two Sith heavy troopers blood red armor gleaming in the bright over head lamps, heavy repeating blasters pointing straight down the hall.

They saw us crouched to the side almost at once, but it was just a little to slow to save them. The moment they came into view I opened up on them with my specialized blaster carbine. It's modified focusing lens and overcharged emitter, shooting out short bursts of laser fire strong enough to cut through 15 centimeters of Durasteel. The thin armor of the heavy troopers did almost nothing to protect them. In less than 2 seconds I had put half a dozen bursts into them, each hit burning a 2 and a half centimeter hole completely through them leaving small bright spots of light in their torso's. They folded up and crumpled to the floor like puppets with their strings cut.

I waited another 15 seconds to see if they had any back up near by to come help, nothing but silence interrupted by the rumbling shudders of the ship reached my ears, through the sound enhancing sensors of my helmet. After all my blaster carbine was an infiltration model, it made almost no noise when fired.

Deciding that nothing was coming I moved forward as quietly as I could stooping down to take their weapons and gear storing it in my duffle before continuing on toward the bridge.

We came into contact with another 4 squads of Sith before reaching the bridge, between Trask and I we took them down quickly and efficiently gathering their weapons and gear as we went. When we came to the bridge Trask and I dropped our bags now heavy with equipment and numerous weapons.

Silently I set my blaster rifle down on top of the gear bag next to the hatch and pulled my Vibroblades from the scabbards at my back. Trask followed suit by activating a Sith personal shield he pulled off a corpse and drawing his own Cortosis long sword. I looked at him questioning as I listened to the fighting just beyond the bulkhead. He nodded to me, nervous tension lining his face, outlined by the faint glow of the energy field around him. Even so I could feel his determination despite the fear coursing through him.

I waited another 3 heart beats to steady myself and slammed my hand down on the hatch release. It smoothly and quickly slide back 'chunking' all the way, revealing pandemonium. The bridge was quite large, about 18 meters across at the stern, slowly tapering to about 8 meters at the forward viewport. The transparasteel view port at the bow large and looming black with a sliver of the systems star in the corner shining bright across the bridge, throwing the carnage of battle into sharp relief. The walls were lined with smaller view ports, and duty stations. Swivel chairs were bolted to the deck every few feet, large bright display screens flashing crimson behind them. Alarms were blaring with startling volume making it difficult to hear anything over the klaxon shrieks.

At the far end of the bridge, a Jedi and a Sith were dueling furiously, outlined in the blackness of space beyond them. Sparks flew from their blades as they battered each other back and forth across the deck. Around them Sith and Republic troopers were locked in savage close quarters battle. Vibroblades and Cortosis daggers flashing back and forth in a desperate bid to acquaint each others vital organs with the deck plates. While at the same time trying just as hard to keep said vital organs right where they were.

The sound of battle and sirens were so loud that only a couple of Sith facing the hatch noticed it open. They immediately disengaged with the few Republic soldiers they were fighting and charged us blades held high hoping to catch us off guard and end the fight before it began. One of the Republic soldiers turned, saw us and then ran after the two Sith obviously intending to take one of them from behind and help us with the other.

I was already running. The moment the hatch opened I charged in, taking in the scene of carnage and chaos on the run. I met the two Sith at a sprint, they slowed down quickly, readying themselves for my attack. They weren't ready. I didn't slow instead I slammed into the closer of the two at a full sprint my not inconsiderable weight bowling him to the floor. I continued with my momentum rolling off of him to the side, right into the legs of his companion before either of them could recover. The other Sith taken off guard tripped over me and fell face first right on top of his comrade. I was already moving again rolling back toward them dropping my right blade. I took the left in both hands reared up onto my knees and brought the Vibroblade down with all my strength driving it down through both men the tip of the blade sticking into the deck plates.

They writhed on the ground for a moment as blood slowly pooled out around them. They made no sound at all, their helmets holding in their dying cries. I twisted the blade hard to the left exacerbating the wound before pulling it free. I left them where they lie grabbed up my other blade and stood, to find the Republic soldier who had come to help, looking down at the two dead Sith with wide eyed astonishment.

Leaving the man to deal with his own shock I glanced around to find Trask in a fierce battle with two Sith of his own. He was obviously a skilled duelist but so were the Sith and they were pushing him back steadily toward the bulkhead. I could see him slowing under their combined onslaught, already flagging with fatigue. Without thinking I flung the sword in my right hand as hard as I could at the Sith closer to me.

I ran after it legs pumping hard and adrenaline singing in my blood. I switched my remaining blade to my right hand, readying myself to strike the moment I was in range. I watched as the other Vibroblade hit its target, the flat of the blade slammed into the Sith's left arm hard enough to knock him off balance, making him swerve into his partner. Surprise and confusion froze the two Sith for a moment, just long enough for Trask to break past the guard of the other Sith and drive his long sword into the man's stomach, the shriek of metal piercing metal barely audible above the sounds of battle. Then I was on the second Sith, I spun a full circle whipping my arm around as fast as I could. I felt a little resistance then the sword slipped free of it's target and I jerked it to a stop. The Sith stood stock still for a moment one hand up raised towards me palm out, as if asking me to stop. Then his helmet toppled off his shoulders to thunk down solidly against the deck, the now headless body fell twitching to the ground small gout's of blood spurting across the floor.

I bent to retrieve my discarded sword as Trask yanked his own free of the other Sith and let him slide down to the deck. He was panting with exertion. After taking a couple shaky steps forward, he stopped and leaned on his sword, the point stuck into the deck.

Before us the bridge battle was waning, only the very best and the luckiest combatants still standing. All around them bodies littered the decking. Crimson pools of spreading blood covering most of the floor. Severed limbs and weapons scattered everywhere.

Holodramas like to make out battles as long, drawn out, elegant things. Where the hero valiantly faces the villain in honorable combat and when one of them falls there is no blood and the body's of the dead look almost asleep, eyes closed and peaceful.

That is not reality. Fights to the death only lasted a few seconds in my experience. In a normal fight if you made a mistake you got hurt, but usually kept going. In a fight to the death however, your fist mistake was your last. Neither was battle a graceful thing, even skilled fighters often looked like nothing more than drunken brawlers. Smashing into each other tripping over objects and corpses, then rolling around on the ground trying desperately to gain any advantage over the other person. This left every corpse not only with wide staring eyes, but also with strange wounds as well like bite marks, scratches and missing pieces; like and eye or an ear. The full helmets of the Sith troops didn't help. In my minds eye I could still see their eyes, wide and staring behind the visors. The scent of blood and excrement filled the air. Not something usually mentioned in the Holo's. The dead always shit themselves.

We watched the last few men fight over near the starboard exit off the bridge. One of the Republic soldiers slipped in the blood at his feet and fell forward right onto the Vibroblade of the Sith in front of him. The Sith jerked with surprise and backpedaled trying to get away from the corpse falling toward him. He tripped over the corpse of a republic soldier and fell backward. He landed hard the back of his neck hitting a kick plate at the base of a console. I could hear the sickening crunch of bone clearly as his neck broke, I wondered idly if the man would have been pleased that he took one more Sith with him to the grave after he died? The Sith lay dead, his victims face in his groin a disturbing parody of lovers.

War and battle are many things but one thing they most certainly are not, is elegant.

With the crunch of the Sith's neck I realized that I could hear clearly. The sirens had stopped I had no idea if that was good or bad, but I thought all the same it would be best to get off the ship quickly. I ran back to the port side bridge hatch, flicking blood off my Vibroblades as I ran. Sliding to a stop at the gear bags I sheathed my swords, shoved my blaster rifle into one of the bags. Slung them up over my shoulders, tightened the straps and ran back to Trask. Grabbing his arm I pulled him stumbling after me, trying to sheath his own sword.

I headed for the starboard bridge hatch. By this time only two men were left standing. Both Republic soldiers, they were leaning against consoles panting open mouthed watching the Jedi Knight and the Sith warrior, still battling with seemingly endless energy. Sabers flashing through the air so fast that they appeared to be nothing but discs of light zipping back and forth with incredible speed meeting with such force that sparks went spraying off over the floor on most hits.

Just as we made it to the port hatchway I felt a cold of fear run down my spine. With out thinking I wrapped one arm around Trask's chest and dove to the floor. Trask made a startled 'squeak' of surprise as we hit the floor next to one of the console swivel chairs. I wrapped my free arm around it's base. Feeling the cold line of dread run down my spine once more, I looked back to the Jedi and Sith by the main view port. They suddenly jumped apart and ran for the exits, as if by some unspoken signal. They only made it two steps before the world exploded.

A blinding flash of light like a miniature sun appeared outside the main view port. An explosion so loud I though the hole ship must surely be blown apart rocked the bridge. Then wind was rushing by me like a hurricane threatening to yank me free of the chair I was clutching for all my life. Some how I had also kept a hold on Trask as well, I wasn't sure but I thought I could hear him screaming.

The two Republic men had been sucked out into space at once. Smashing into consoles and screens on the way. But the Jedi and the Sith were standing in the middle of the bridge bent over in a sprinters stance. I watched in slack jawed amazement as they started to walk forward, their robes whipping back and forth wildly, in the hurricane force of the atmosphere being sucked past them into space. Incredibly they made slow progress forward. Looking for all the world to be in some kind of fantastical time dilation effect. Bent forward with the exaggerated movement of slow motion sprinting yet with their robes whipping around them crazily as if moving at incredible speed. The effect was one of unreality brought into stark relief against the life and death stakes of the situation. But then a secondary explosion erupted next to the Sith. This was apparently to much and he was yanked off of his feet flying back, flipping end over vainly grabbing at everything he past, before smashing into a number of consoles that seemed to stun him for just an instant. As he went past the edge of the view port however he regained his senses and spun to face the Jedi still moving toward us slowly one step at a time.

Everything seemed to slow, events moving at only a fraction of normal. In that moment I could see everything. The Sith's face, twisted with rage and fear, dotted with perspiration. A very handsome, black haired man with startling bright hazel eyes that seemed almost to glow with malevolence. Olive skin gleaming against the glare from the tiny sliver of the sun shining in the corner of the view port. He reached out a hand to the Jedi with exquisite slowness before making a fist and yanking it back with a triumphant gleam in those hate filled eyes.

The Jedi was startlingly beautiful, pale skinned with high cheekbones and a long straight nose. Waist length honey blond hair whipping back and forth in the wind. Light blue almost silvery eyes, looking straight back into mine. The look on her face went from one of intense concentration, to surprise followed quickly by a small peaceful smile as her eyes closed.

Then she was falling backward towards the gaping black maw of endless space. Unlike the Sith who had grabbed for everything he passed in a vein effort to save himself, she held her arms tight at her sides, Lightsaber hilt glinting silver in her hand as she flew back. She reminded me of a missile, heading for a target with single minded grace and purpose. What a waste! No wonder the Sith are winning, if the Jedi all meet death with such easy acceptance. I thought to myself feeling a wave of deep sadness at the injustice of it.

Just as she past the rim of the view port, the ships emergency life support panels activated slamming down over the gaping hole into space and catching the Jedi just behind the shoulder blades. The wind stopped rushing abruptly leaving only a high pitched whistling noise in its wake.

Slowly I unwrapped my arm from around the chair base then let go of Trask, ears ringing terribly in the sudden silence. Getting to my feet slowly, feeling shaky, my arms burning terribly from the strain of holding Trask's and my own weight against the gale. Trask slowly sat up gasping and shaking from shock and terror.

On wobbly legs I walked slowly to the body of the Jedi. She was quite dead, the emergency panels had cut cleanly through her torso. Everything below her breasts, laying on the deck at my feat oozing blood. Her severed right hand still held her intricately designed silver and gold Saber hilt. I bent down on reflex and picked up her light saber. Gently pulling it free of her still disturbingly warm yet lifeless fingers. It was made of a silvery metal with golden filigree wrapping around the hilt in an intricate and delicate pattern of vines and leaves. I you had just the smallest will to live… Half a second and you would have survived! The thought filled me with a burning frustrated, anger at the injustice of it. But more than that it was her weak willed acceptance that truly burned in my gut. Making me feel almost light headed for a moment with it's intensity. On an impulse I slipped the Saber hilt into a pocket on my thigh and with a last look at what was left of her, I turned and walked back to Trask.

"What were you doing?" he asked still shaky.

"Paying my respects." I said flatly my voice sounding strange to my own ears, the effect being made worse by the slight distortion of my helmet speakers. Grabbing his forearm I pulled him along after me, out the starboard hatch and down the corridor to the first junction.

Turning left I hit the hatch release on the wall and waited. A loud chunking sound mocked me from within the inner workings of the bulkhead, but otherwise nothing happened. I sighed the feeling of frustrated anger blooming up in my chest again, hotter than before. This really just is not my day. I pulled the interface cable from my wrist comp and plugged it into the socket just below the hatch release. I then spent a few tense seconds looking for the override command, my blood pounding in my ears and a feeling of increasing urgency building up inside me.

By the time I found the command I was so wound up that I slammed my finger down on it and almost cracked the screen of my wrist comp. Another loud chunking noise followed by an unnerving grinding noise and the hatch cycled, sliding slowly open.

At the same time a hatch to our right slid open to reveal a tall bald man in full black battle armor, with a grey pallor to his skin and tattoos on his scalp. He smiled exposing sharpened K-9 teeth. The saber staff in his hand activated the duel blood red blades sliding out as he spun it lazily around himself advancing on us.

I grabbed Trask and yanked on his arm trying to pull him after me through the hatchway. But Trask resisted with surprising strength. He jerked his arm free and drew his sword with a grim smile.

"Trask don't be stupid we can't fight that guy we need to go!" I said my voice booming out of my helmet speakers loud and tinny in the corridor.

"I know" he said simply smile broadening "Get to the escape pods. Live to fight another day." With that he pivoted slightly and straight kicked me in the chest hard enough to send me stumbling back several feet. Before I could run forward though he drew his heavy blaster and shot the door controls. The last thing I saw of Trask Ulgo was his wide smile as the hatch slammed shut with a loud grinding 'Bang!'

"Damn it Trask we could have made it you cowered! I didn't ask you to do that!" I growled the fury and unexpected feeling of loss almost choking me for a moment. With a vicious curse I slammed my fist into the bulkhead, then turned and ran down the corridor heading to the escape pods.

The corridor curved at a 90 degree angle, as I rounded the bend I ran smack into 4 Sith troopers standing about weapons at rest, against their shoulders or barrel against the floor and used as a hand rest of sorts. I didn't slow, drawing a blaster with one hand and a Vibroblade with the other, I bellowed a wordless war cry of rage and loss, the sound echoing down the the corridor with tremendous volume. I fell on them blind fury driving me to destroy these monsters, utterly and completely. The first two were so startled by my appearance and the volume of my helmet speakers that they froze solid. I cut them down barely breaking stride. The 4th man yelped in fear and turned to run. He went down with a couple quick shots to the back slamming into the deck blaster rifle spinning away, as he slid down the corridor carried by his momentum. The 3rd pulled a blade and swung hard for my neck. I blocked the strike with my own blade then put two quick shots into his left knee. As he fell clutching at the wound and screeching in agony, I whipped my Vibroblade forward and sunk it deep through his neck the point gleaming a bright, vibrant, red as it exited out through his spinal column.

As I yanked my blade free of the last man's throat my wrist comp buzzed loudly. The icon for an incoming communication flashing on the small screen. I whipped my sword down quickly, most of the blood sliding off and spattering to the deck at my feet, slipped it back into its scabbard and punched the icon. A small face appeared on the screen. A brown haired, brown eyed man in his late 20's or early 30's looked out at me with a look of surprised relief plain on his face.

"Soldier are you a member of the Endar Spire's crew?" the little man asked his voice coming through loud and clear in my helmet speakers.

"Sergeant Rorick Jager Republic special forces, are you Carth?" I responded as I started moving down the corridor again.

"Yes Lieutenant Carth Onasi Republic Navy, how close are you to the escape pods?"

"In the corridor just outside the Evac station." said coming up on the hatch to the Evac station as I spoke.

"There are two Sith heavy's in the station and 6 in escape pod block Alpha" he said typing into the station console he was using.

"I'll be there shortly." I said and smacked the hatch release both blasters drawn and ready.

The hatch slid back with the customary 'chunking' noise and I stepped in firing quickly putting 4 shots into both men before they had even raised their weapons.

"Hey wait there is an easier way." Carth's voice was loud in my ears as I approached the second hatch.

"Whats that?" I asked looking down at the wrist comp.

"If you have any skill with computers you should be able to over load the power coupling in the next room that will fry the Imps for sure." he said grim satisfaction in his voice.

With out responding I quickly plugged my wrist comp into the terminal next to the hatch and looked for the coupling in the ships diagnostic directory. Once I found it I uploaded a simple program I bought from a Slicer friend. The program transferred all the power with in this section of the ship and ran it all through that small coupling. In less than a second it overloaded and blew. Arcs of electricity flying out of the wall and slamming into the troopers instantly, leaving huge blackened scorch marks everywhere they touched.

I watched this happen through the security cam feed, as their bodies jerked about and writhed in agonizing death. A dull feeling of satisfaction slowly bloomed in my gut, despite the anger and loss I felt at losing Trask.

Once the electricity abated I opened the hatch with a command from my wrist comp and quickly moved through the room passing the empty escape pod berths, to the far bulkhead and hatchway that opened up to Beta Escape Pod Block. Just as I reached the hatch the slid open to reveal Carth standing blaster in hand watching me warily.

He looked me up and down taking in my high quality gear, before focusing in on the large duffles slung over each shoulder his eyebrows rose but when he opened his mouth he didn't mention them.

"We need to go. More Sith are on the way and I have the main computer set to scuttle the ship as soon as we launch everyone else is gone already we are the last ones." he said heading back down the line of pod berths to the last one in line.

I didn't say anything I just nodded, clambered into the tiny pod bumping into every surface and catching my bags on something, I yanked lose and sat down in the first chair I came to. It also happened to be closest to the rear hatch of the 4 passenger seats. I strapped myself in the bags still on my back. Waiting patiently for Carth to get up front into the pilots chair.

He climbed in after me with considerably more grace and slid past quickly making his way to the front of the pod. He slipped into the pilots chair and started flicking switches and pressing buttons with one hand, while getting himself strapped in with other. His movements were quick, sure and confident. He obviously knew what he was doing, so I settled into my seat and relaxed waiting.

I leaned back and closed my eyes, feeling the little pod come to life around me. Small vibrations shivered through me as its engine powered up. Then suddenly a terrific force slammed me back into my seat like a Ronto had just sat on my chest. Black spots swam before my eyes and the last thing I saw was the vast blue and grey disc of Taris sliding across the main view port. Then with a feeling like relief I fell gratefully into the blackness...