KotOR I: Orin Dakall

Orin Dakall woke partially due to the sirens screaming around her and the turbulence of the ship, but mainly it was the person violently shaking her.

“Wake up, damn it!” the man shouted in her ear.

Her eyes opened to glaring slits.

“What?” she snapped.

“We’ve been ambushed by a Sith battle fleet! The Spire’s under attack!”

Grumbling, Orin threw off her blanket and stumbled to her footlocker, forcing herself awake and alert. “Who’re you?” she asked, pulling on her uniform.

“Trask Ulgo,” he said, quickly turning to give her privacy. “We’re, uh, bunkmates. But you’re on the nightshift, so we haven’t really met.”

“Fair enough,” Orin said, tying her boots.

Trask braved a look over his shoulder to see her holstering her blaster pistol and sliding a short sword into its loops on the back of her jacket. “We have to find Bastila and get her off the ship.”

Orin started for the door, trying to remember the lockdown override codes to make it open. “Forget it, we’re getting to the escape pods.”

Trask looked scandalized. “You swore an oath to protect her when you signed up with this mission, like everyone else, and it’s time to make good! It’s our duty!”

Orin tried picking the lock. No good. Never had to break out of a Republic ship before.

“I know she may not have official rank, but she’s in charge of this mission.” Trask pushed her aside and punched in the override codes. “I know you were a smuggler and the Republic only hired you since they couldn’t catch you, and I’ll admit, we’re in desperate need of your kind of skills. Enough to overlook your shady past.” The door whooshed open. “But now that you’ve signed on, you’re part of the fleet. And Bastila needs all troops at her side!”

“If it’ll shut you up,” Orin said, annoyedly hoisting her rucksack over her shoulder, “Let’s go get her.”

As they passed into the hall, their comms crackled to life, a harassed voice hissing through them.

“This is Carth Onasi -- the Sith are threatening to overrun our position! We can’t hold out long against their firepower! All hands to the bridge!”

Trask looked scared for the first time. As if he hadn’t considered that they would lose the fight. “He’s one of the Republic’s best pilots!” He whispered, looking stricken. “He’s seen more action than the rest of the Spire’s crew put together... If he says things are bad --”

Orin put a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s move out, soldier.”

Trask nodded. “We have to defend Bastila!”

“Yeah,” she said, moving forward and rolling her eyes, “Right.”

The hall door opened to another passageway, filled with Sith picking off a last few Republic soldiers.

“The advance boarding party,” Trask spat. “For the Republic!” he shouted, dashing out into the fray.

“Idiot,” Orin muttered, peering around the corner and quickly sniping the two Sith Trask hadn’t seen behind him. The other Sith fell, Trask getting a powered blast right in the gap below one’s helmet. Orin moved into the open, quickly stripping the corpses of their medpacs and grenades, grabbing another blaster and a long sword as well. Trask didn’t seem to mind until she moved to the Republic soldiers and did the same.

“Can’t you just leave them in peace?”

“I’m thinking,” she said, patting down a charred, blistered chest, “They won’t begrudge us if it keeps us alive to take down the Sith that killed them.”

She stood, dumping her swag into her rucksack, and moved on toward the bridge, hearing Trask hiss ‘scoundrel’ underneath his breath as she did. Her jaw tightened and she punched the next door open, revealing a battle between Jedi and dark Jedi.

“We better stay back,” Trask whispered to Orin. “All we’d do is get in the way.”

Orin watched the blurred lightsabers flash, brightening as they struck each other. The Jedi had better form, but was tiring. The ship shuddered as another blast hit it and the Jedi took her chance, seeing the Sith stumble. With one sweep, the Sith’s entrails erupted from his chest, and he fell to the floor. Covered in bile, the Jedi panted and switched off her saber, looking up to see Orin and Trask. Surprise registered briefly before the ship shuddered again, and a circuit shorted behind her, pumping electricity through her body. She dropped, lifeless.

“Damn,” Trask said quietly. “We could’ve used her help.”

Orin searched the bodies, and stashed her blaster, pulling out the two swords and turning on her stealth generator at the door to the bridge.

“Cover me,” she whispered. Trask nodded.

The Sith were too occupied with killing off those who’d made it to the bridge to notice as Orin crept up behind them. With a flurry of blades, and a spark from her belt as the stealth field faded, she sliced the throat of one while stabbing another through the neck. The others swung round as Trask opened fire, then flew forward as his shots hit a panel of buttons behind them, blowing it up like a mine.

“Nicely done,” Orin said with some admiration. She’d begun to think he had no battle knowledge other than ‘shoot the guy shooting at you’. He nodded to her, then looked round at the fallen.

“Bastila’s not here. They must’ve retreated to the escape pods.” He moved to a door next to the one where they entered. “Come on, we have to get there too. The Sith want Bastila alive, but once she’s off the ship, there’s nothing stopping them from blowing it into galactic dust!” At that, Orin dropped the body she was searching and quickly followed.

She turned at the door to the escape pods, but Trask paused, then walked to the next.
“There’s something behind here...”

The door opened, and another dark Jedi stopped short, seeing them. Then his lightsaber whirled out, glowing red. Orin was a millisecond too late. She grabbed at Trask, but he was just out of reach and closing the door behind him.

“I’ll try to hold him off; you get to the escape pods! Go!” he shouted. Orin banged the door, but it was sealed from the other side. Instinct taking over, she sealed it from her side as well, and shot the panel, melting anyway through short of, well, a lightsaber, and she dashed into the next passageway.