STAR WARS

Hero, Savior, Conquer, Villain

Four Thousand Years before

the rise of the Galactic Empire

the Republic is on the verge of

Collapse, Darth Malak the

Apprentice of the Dark Lord

Revan, has continued his

Master's crusade, unleashing

His late Master's invincible

armada upon the Galaxy.

Crushing all resistance ,

the Sith crusade has left

the Jedi Order scattered

and vulnerable as countless

Knights fall in battle while

more swear alliance to their

new Sith Master.

In the space above the Outer

Rim world of Taris, a Jedi

Battle Fleet engages the Sith

Forces in a effort to halt the

Sith's Galactic Domination.

Prelude: The Endar Spire

The bodies of unfortunate Republic commandos, Jedi and Dark Jedi littered the bridge of the Sith Flagship. Their lifeless forms were hewn about, broken and charred by the power of the Dark side of the Force, lightsaber strikes and blaster bolts.

On the bridge of the Sith Flagship only three persons still stood standing. One was a lone Jedi padawan dressed in her Order's traditional brown robes. The second, a Dark Jedi hooded and cloaked, his crimson blade drawn. At the front of the bridge stood the last soul, the cloaked, masked and terrifying armored figure of the Dark Lord of the Sith, the absolute ruler of the Sith Order and their new Empire.

The Jedi and her fallen counterpart were locked in a vicious fight, sabers clashing in a shower of gold and red light filling the bridge with the tangy smell of ozone. The padawan was on the offensive, her strikes raining down on the Dark Jedi's failing defenses. With a quick lunge the padawan slipped inside the ex-Jedi's guard slicing his chest. As the Dark Jedi crumbled now dead the young Jedi padawan focused on the imposing form of the Sith's Supreme leader.

Rachel Skirta awoke startled as the ship she was on shook terribly. Shaking away her strange dream she franticly looked around before suddenly remembered where she was; the Republic Cruiser Endar Spire. The Republic Cruiser was a part of a joint Jedi/Republic task force countering attacking against the Sith occupied planet of Taris.

The Endar Spire shook again, from an anti-ship turbolaser blast she realized with as a burst of adrenaline flooded her system. Rolling out of her bunk she quickly tied her shoulder length blonde hair into a ponytail and began pulling out her footlocker before strapping on her armor. It was a cut down design similar to Mandalorian scout armor, though without a helmet and integrated HUD system. Just as she finished lacing up her boots the door slid open reveling a blonde man in a Republic uniform with an ensign's insignia on his collar holding a blaster pistol.

"Whoa hold on there," the ensign said as Rachel whirled around on him bringing her BastTech E-3c to bear. The carbine itself was a cut-down version of the E-3 blaster rifle that was the mainstay of the Sith Army. The E-3c model was favored by the Sith Marines Corps for its compact size, accuracy and collapsible stock.

Recognizing him as one of the Endar Spire's officers she finished gathering her gear, sliding a six-inch stiletto dagger made of pure Mandalorian Iron into a hidden sheath in her boot.

Clearing his throat the officer said, "I'm Tra- Ensign Trask Ulgo," he corrected straightening his back and attempting to sound like an officer, "Come on lets go."

The pair quickly moved out the room and down the hallway nearly falling over as the ship was rocked by another cannon shot, "The Endar Spire is under attack from a Sith-" though Trask trailed off as Rachel glared at him with a blank look that said, 'tell me something I don't know.'

"Ahh… Most of the crew already off the ship we don't know if Bastila made it off yet. We have to hurry cus in a few minutes this ship will be crawling with Sith. I've hooked up with a group of Marines and were going to try to make to the Bridge," Trask finished summing up the situation.

"Bastila," Rachel asked searching her memory, "The Jedi Battle Meditation Brat… that Bastila?"

"Yes that Bastila… her battle meditation is key to the whole Republic war effort." Trask finished hotly

"Alright then let's move before the Sith find us or worse blast the ship to space dust," Rachel said nonchalantly, hoisting her carbine.

Rounding the corner they came face to face with three young looking Republic Marines in bloodied red-gold fatigues, "Ensign were glad yo-," the Corporal started to say but was cut off as his head disappeared in a cloud of red mist as a blaster-bolt struck it dead center.

The Republic Marines were well trained dropping to their knees and shouldering their rifles to return fire. However it still wasn't enough to avoid similar fates as they were hit by a hail of ruby red blasters and crumbled like a sacks of charred meat.

Spinning to face the Marines' killers Rachel shouldered her blaster. Time seemed to slow down as she drew a bead on the silver armored marines and fired three short bursts catching three of the Sith Marines in the chest dropping them as Trask shot the fourth with his pistol.

"Wow nice shot er… shots," Trask exclaimed punching his hand in the air, "That'll teach those Sith."

Rolling her eyes at the ensign's antics she sighed, "Come on let's get moving," and if to emphasize her point the ship shook again. If anything the ensign's antics only showed his greenness and it was a part of the reason the Republic was losing… too many green officers and soldiers.

Arriving at the bridge Rachel armed a frag grenade she had looted from one of the dead Marines nodding to Trask she said, "Open it."

Typing his access code into the security pad the doors slid open and the grenade flew into the room. A few seconds ticked by before it exploded taking nearly a whole squad of Sith troopers with it. The few marines that the grenade hadn't killed, Rachel and Trask finished off with short bursts from their weapons.

"Ensign report, Ensign Ulgo are you there," a voice said from Trask's comlink.

"Aye sir," the ensign answered holding the comlink up to his lips, "we just made it to the bridge, Ms. Skirta is with me sir."

"Good man, things are getting ugly here, Bastila already made to the escape pod and left. The Sith are close to figuring it out so we don't have much time. I want you two to double time it to the escape pods, you're the only ones left, Onasi out."

Turning to explain, "That was Captain Carth Onasi he's a decorated hero of the Mandalorian War and has seen more combat than all the Endar's Spire's crew put together. If he says thing are bad then they're really bad."

Grimacing Rachel said, "So let's get the heck out here."

As they opened the starboard exit to the bridge they saw a Dark Jedi and Jedi Knight locked in a saber duel. The two Jedi danced around each other nearly too fast to see. Their saber flashed like burst of lightening as they struck.

Rachel grimaced again, Jedi were pretty low on her list of favorite people, but even she had to admit they could use a Jedi to escape. Nonetheless raising her carbine Rachel was about to try to shoot the Sith when Trask jerked the barrel out of the line.

Glaring at him, "Blasters won't do any good and were likely to just get in the way," he defended, but before she could respond the Dark Jedi threw the orthodox Jedi into the bulkhead with a power push of Force energy.

The Jedi glanced up and then over at Rachel and Trask. The woman smiled through bloodstained lips and an aura of peace settled over her face. Rachel realized half a second too late what the Jedi had planned as she slammed her saber into a main relay juncture. As the saber hit the junction the power relay detonated.

Swearing underneath her breath she ran up to the Jedi and checked the Knight's pulse, finding nothing she swore again. Even if she had found a pulse she would have doubted the woman would have lived long. The Jedi's flesh was charred and burnt and Rachel wasn't eave sure she would have wanted to live if she had survived.

"Frack, she could have been useful," Trask said regretfully.

Nodding she made her way around the corner and a blast door opened and there stood another Dark Jedi, with a lightsaber brandished. Pulling out a virbo-sword, a weapon made to resist a lightsaber, Trask yelled, "Get to the escape pod I'll hold him off."

With that the foolish Republic Officer rushed into the chamber and locked the blast door behind him, "Trask!" Rachel shouted more confused than anything else. Why would he do that? Why would he sacrifice himself for her? Together they would have had a better chance of overwhelming the Dark Jedi and escaping.

Then hearing a scream and seeing the blood red tip of a light saber plunge through the blast door she turned and ran to the ship's starboard section knowing that with only a blaster and a knife she didn't stand much of a chance against a Jedi turned to the Dark side of the Force.

"This is Carth Onasi on your personal communicator, what happened I lost Ensign Trask's bio-sign," the Captain's voice came over the comm.

"Trask's dead," she answered monotone her hands clenched at her sides, she hadn't even liked the man but she wouldn't have wanted him to die.

"Shavit, alright well one problem at a time there is a squad and a half of Sith of the other side of the door trying to make their way into the escape pod bay. You can't take them all on by yourself so you'll have to get clever. Here's the security codes for the door, Onasi out."

Groaning she looked around the room noticing a computer terminal and a battle droid the Sith had ionized and left to rust. Knowing her computer skills were terrible she decided to have a look at the droid. After all she was a fairly decent mechanic… she paused her brow furrowing. At least she thought she was.

Looking over the droid she removed the restraining bolt and initiated a cold reboot. Realizing its IFF systems were destroyed a cold idea formed in her head. She removed the power flow regulator from the repeating rifle so that when fired its weapon it wouldn't stop until the power cells died.

Setting the activation clock at five seconds she hit the power button, opened the door and leapt behind a box. This was gonna be messy.

The Battle Droid upon activation immediately sought out the nearest life forms to terminate. Lifting its heavy repeating blaster rifle it open up on the startled Sith marines, cutting them down in a hail of ruby red blaster bolts. The droid continued to pump energy into the bodies so when its gun finally fell silent the Sith Marines were quite literally all over the place.

Standing up Rachel shot the droid twice in the back of the head then a few more times for good measure. Feeling a bit queasy as she walked through the gore that had once been men she opened the door and found the Captain staring back at her wide eyed.

"Force, woman what did you do," he nearly screamed as he saw the bloody mess the droid had made, "never mind that," he said standing up. "We can't expect the Sith to be patient much longer. Get in the pod!"

When they were both inside and belted in Carth hit the launch key propelling them away from the ship and into the atmosphere of Taris.

XXX

Onboard the Sith Flagship Leviathan Darth Malak Dark Lord of the Sith stood staring at the Republic Cruiser that drifted dead in space before him. Turning to Admiral Karath he inquired ominously in his deep mechanical voice, "Well Admiral, has Bastila been captured yet?"

"N-n-no my lord," the Sith Admiral said nervously hands clasped behind his back to keep from shaking. "Our troops aboard the Endar Spire have ceased communication and are most likely dead, do you wish me to deploy more?"

The current Dark Lord of the Sith was a terrifying sight with his muscular physique, chalky white skin, piercing sulfur and blood shot eyes and strange tattoos that covered his bald head. Plus the fact that he could kill with a thought didn't make the Sith Lord any more pleasant to be around.

Stretching out with the Force Malak bombarded the ship with probes of Dark side energy. After several seconds Malak opened his eyes and growled, "No Admiral she is gone, taken an escape pod to the planet."

Stroking his large metal prosthesis that covered his jaw or rather where his jaw would have been had he not lost it to a Mandalorian's blade he said, "Have the Fleet quarantine Taris, nothing gets off the system and inform the garrison to deploy its troops to search for Bastila," then turning menacingly towards the Admiral and he threatened ominously, "and I want her alive Karath".

"Yes, my lord," the admiral bowed deeply then promptly curried off to carry out his orders.

Turning back the Dark Lord eyed the black venomously clenching his hand at the city below, "You can run from me any longer Bastila. I have you know"

XXX

Excerpt from Carvi Martian's book, "Twilight of the First Republic"

Battle of Taris and the Jedi Bastila

First of all the battle of Taris was more like the ambush of Taris. Republic Intel had greatly miscalculated in preparation for this assualt. The strike force had expected to come out of light speed with only a few small patrol frigates to oppose them and the Taris shipyards open for a neat hit-and-fade attack. Instead they found themselves in an ambush eerily similar to the trap the Republic laid for the Dark Lord Revan several months back.

Outnumbered nearly four-to-one, surrounded by superior ships and with no avenue of retreat the Republic force was cut to bloody ribbons. Fortunately for the Republic, Jedi Bastila managed to get to an escape pod and to the surface of Taris.

Many people ask and wonder, "If Bastila's battle mediation was so powerful why didn't she use it to save the fleet at Taris?" The answer is that battle meditation is a force multiplier not a trump card. What battle meditation did was alter the odds in your favor, enhance the natural feelings each soldier, sailor or marine has and improve their coordination.

For Bastila's allies this instilled greater morale in battle. Using the Force, one could coordinate entire fleets of ships allowing them to perform at maximum efficiency, acting as one to counter every enemy move quickly and effectively. For her enemies battle meditation drained their morale. It meant that every mistake they made was amplified every hesitation became a costly delay.

These effects made Battle Meditation a powerful tool but it also had drawbacks. First, was the Force user had to focus so much of their energy into the meditation it left them defenseless. Secondly, the Force user had to have time to prepare and couldn't be called upon at a moment's notice. Lastly the effects of battle meditation against her opponents became negligible when facing an extraordinarily powerful Force user like Revan or Malak.

Another comment is that while Bastila was hailed by the Republic's propaganda ministry as the Republic's secret weapon and the only thing standing between the Sith and the conquest of the galaxy; it wasn't quite true. Bastila was only one person and while her skills could help change the outcome of a single battle she couldn't be everywhere at once.

Her most useful role was in a fire brigade, a crack unit that was used to prop up sections of the front that were under risk of collapse. While it is true that Bastila's assistance helped delay the fall of the Republic, Republic Central Command had no delusions that she alone could win the war for them.