KotOR I: Orin Dakall

A voice crackled in her ear. Carth Onasi.



“Bastila’s escape pod is away. I’m tracking your position through the life support systems. We’re the last crew members onboard, but I can’t wait for you much longer; you have to get to the escape pods!”



“Really?” Orin hissed back, “But I’m just getting to the good part on this holodisk!”



“Be careful,” Carth said, ignoring her. “There’s a Sith patrol just down the corridor.”



“’Kay.” She stealthed, creeping around the corner. It was one Sith. “Are you kidding?” she scoffed. His head turned. She pulled the pin on a frag grenade and rolled it right between his feet.



“Bullseye,” she said smugly, switching off her stealth field and opening the next door. Two Sith fired, one grazing her ribs, the other burning through the flesh of her thigh.



“Fuck,” she spat, dodging and hitting one in the knee. “Bloody fucking shit in hell.” They fired again and she rolled out of the way, fumbling in her pack. She lobbed a grenade between the two, shooting it as it reached level with their heads. They fell. So did she.



She panted, feeling blood ooze in a spreading patch down the side of her shirt. She grasped for a medpac, injecting half the kolto solution into her side, the other into her leg, the skin a shiny red, soon to fill with pus. She grunted in half-acknowledged pain as she clambered to her feet and moved on.



“Be careful!” the comm said in a voice Orin was becoming quite annoyed with. “There’s a whole squadron of Sith Troopers on the other side of that door! You need to find some way to thin their numbers.”



“You could open the door from the other side and fire,” she suggested snidely.



“Try reprogramming the damaged assault droid to help you.”



“Repairing is not my forte.”



“You could slice into the terminal and activate the security systems against them.”



“I like my idea better.”



“Well, it’s taking everything I have to keep them from getting in here,” he snapped. “You at least have the element of surprise. I’d be shot a dozen times before the door was fully open.”



Orin sighed. So it was down to her crappy repair skills, or her equally crappy slice skills. For a moment she considered just blasting her way through. But an entire squad, with her already injured?



“Well, I guess I have less chance of electrocution with a computer,” she muttered. She felt a surge of annoyance as she forked over all the spikes she’d scavenged into the computer. But she was mollified when the computer showed her the Sith squad being electrocuted and falling into a heap. Oh, the potential of the pockets she was about to rifle through! But the gear was all burnt past usefulness, save one tattered combat suit. She also found some new type of vibroblade with a keen edge, but before she could search further, a man in an orange vest was pulling her into the next room.



“You made it just in time!” Carth said, “There’s only one active escape pod left. Come on, we can hide out on the planet below!”



Orin pulled away from him, hand on her pistol. “How do I know I can trust you?”



Carth looked surprised. “I’m a soldier with the Republic, like you.”



Show’s how much you know, Orin thought.



“We’re the last two crew members left on the Endar Spire,” he said, pleading and looking out the window every few seconds, “Bastila’s escape pod’s already gone, so there’s no reason for us to stick around here and get shot by the Sith. Now come on, they’ll be time for questions later!” He reached out to force her into the pod, but she danced back.



“You just keep your hands to yourself,” she said, gesturing for him to enter first. He did so, keeping his hands visible to her. She followed slowly, sealing the door and hitting the eject button.



They flew to the floor as the pod burst from the ship. Each stared in opposite directions as they picked themselves up and found a seat and strapped in. Carth gasped, and the inside of the pod glowed briefly orange as the Endar Spire exploded. Orin saw only the flying debris as the nothingness of space quickly smothered the flames.



“Good thing I grabbed you when I did,” Carth said. “Hopefully they’ll think this is just another piece of the ship.”



“They’ll be following the other pods down anyway,” Orin said lamely, thinking of the dark Jedi who killed Trask. At least he got his.



The pod shook as they entered the planet’s atmosphere.



“Which planet is this anyway?” she asked.



“Taris,” Carth said. “Sith occupied.”



Orin didn’t much care who occupied it, other than one person. “Davik,” she said with an ugly smile. “Maybe we’ll finally meet.”



Carth looked at her questioningly, but before she could tell him to piss off, a city loomed large beneath them. They looked at each other, then ducked, throwing their arms over their heads.



She felt the crash, but everything was black before sound could reach her ears.