Zira Darkstar

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A/N: This is my first ever fanfic, I hope it's good. Please R&R so I know how I'm doing. Thanks ^^
~Beta'd by: Envy~
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The ship slammed violently to the side, causing Zira to be thrown to the floor. She had been groggy and having some kind of nightmare before she’d been so rudely interrupted, but the visions from her mind receded into the dark as the ships alarms chased them away. Someone was over her, talking about something but she’d missed the first half of what he’d said.

The man standing over her bed was a full head taller then Zira, his white blonde hair cut short in standard military fashion. The man had stopped speaking, looking her over now. She blinked away the sleep still clouding her mind and muttered out, “Who are you?”

“I’m Trask Ulgo, ensign with the Republic Fleet. I’m your bunk mate here on the Endar spire.” Zira rubbed the side of her head, the long dark hair lacing around her fingers while he spoke. “We work opposite shifts; I guess that’s why you haven’t seen me before. Now hurry up, we have to find Bastilla! We have to make sure she makes it off the ship alive!”

She must still be asleep. This “Bastila” person sounded important, though she couldn’t for the life of her, recall why. “Who’s Bastila?” She croaked, her throat must still have been dry from the fit she’d been having in her sleep.

“Bastila’s the commanding officer on the Endar Spire.” He began, as she fumbled across the shuttering ship. The most recent blast threw her against the refresher’s sink, to which she grabbed hold of to steady herself. “Well, not an officer, really. But she’s the one in charge of this mission. One of our primary duties is to guarantee her survival in the event of enemy attack! You swore an oath just like everyone else on this mission.”

Zira gulped down some water and then splashed some in her face to finish chasing away the fatigue. How long had she been sleeping and what was this guy rambling about now, she wondered absently to herself.

“Now it’s time to make good on that oath!” He droned on, probably trying to sound important. Zira was still trying to figure out why nothing seemed familiar. She couldn’t remember having ever slept so deeply before. “I know all about your reputation, how you used to smuggle spice and blasters along the Corellian Run. I guess the Republic figured since they couldn’t catch you, they might as well hire you. And I’ll admit, the Republic is in desperate need of someone with your kind of skills. Desperate enough to overlook your shady past. But now that you’ve signed on for this mission you’re part of the Republic fleet. And Bastila needs all troops at her side during this attack!”

The last part of his little speech struck a cord. Something in her mind lined up into what he was saying and seemed to make sense. That’s right… I was yanked off my freighter and shoved onto this Junk Class cruiser. I didn’t swear any oath, I made a deal to stay out of Corellian prison.

“Okay, let’s go help Bastila!” She snapped at him, none too thrilled to be in this position to begin with.

“So hurry up and grab your gear. You need to suit up so we can get out of here.”

She glanced down at herself and a bit of color rushed to her pale cheeks. Oh yeah… She’d been so disoriented by the abruptness of her awakening she hadn’t even realized she was still in her underwear. “Okay.” She offered sheepishly as she fumbled through her footlocker to grab her things. She didn’t particularly like being eyed in her underwear, though this Trask fellow didn’t seem to mind staring. Jerk must think I’m some kind of soldier and am used to changing in front of men. Typical.

She wasted no time in pulling on her jumpsuit and jacket. She quickly fastened her large belt under the bottom of the armored jacket and went to zip it up the front. She only fumbled with the coat for a moment before realizing that the zipper wasn’t there any more, must have been broken off when she’d taken the coat off.

She pulled a few more things from the locker. Including: her blaster pistol, which was nice of them to trust her with, and her long sword. She quickly clipped the holster to her belt and threw the strap to the Vibroblade’s sheath over her shoulder. The blade felt comforting on her back, resting with the hilt over her right shoulder and the tip protruding just past her left hip a bit.

She shoved the blaster home and turned to Trask. The clean shaven man had a strong, square chin and seemed a little impatient that she’d taken as long to dress as she had. Before he could say anything about it however the ship lurched again, forcing them both to struggle for balance.

“Okay, let’s move out,” he said stiffly. The training this soldier had received must have been good. He didn’t even seem to be panicked by the slamming or crashing of the ship as it took on enemy fire. “We should stick together; you’ll have more success with a party than on your own. Because of the attack this room is in lockdown, but don’t worry - I’ve got the override codes. “ He said and for the first time he was actually doing something other than standing there watching her dress. He had already begun to punch sequences into the door and managed to get it open.

The scene before her was a bit to take in. She’d known the ship had been being thrown about, but the left side of the corridor had been blasted so hard that part of the wall had been thrown clear across the passageway to the far side. A lone astromech droid was desperately trying to seal the corridor of leaks and keep what looked to be a power conduit running.

Zira rushed ahead, putting her hand on the grip of her blaster as she did so. To her, this was better. She was still a bit confused, but now she was moving, and that felt right. Something inside her told her that sitting still wasn’t who she was. But just as soon as she had started to delve deeper onto who she actually was, she was cut off by a sound coming from one of the pouches at her belt, which quickly resolved into a voice. The same voice was coming from a comlink that was attached to Trask’s shoulder, on his patterned orange and yellow Republic Uniform.

“This is Carth Onasi,” The little speaker said. “The Sith are threatening to overrun our position! We can’t hold out long against their firepower! All hands to the bridge!” Zira was a bit surprised. She’d never heard this man before, but he must have been a ranking officer to be the one giving orders over the com.

“That was Carth contacting us on our portable communicators.“ No duh, she thought to herself as she
listened to him. She was beginning to wonder if this man was part protocol droid by the way he rambled on. Clearly whatever he thought of her, he must think she wasn’t nearly as intelligent as he’d originally seemed to give her credit when talking about her file.

“He’s one o the Republic’s best pilots! He’s seen more combat than the rest of the Endar Spire’s crew put together. If he says things are bad, you better believe it. We have to get to the bridge to help defend Bastila.” She decided that telling Trask that this was going to be a long trek to the bridge if he kept repeating the commander’s orders as they went was pointless. “There’s a map of the Endar Spire and a copy of Carth’s message in your electronic journal, just in case we get separated. “

She rolled her eyes and let him continue on. She wasn’t sure if she’d even hooked her com up to her data pad or not, so how could he be sure that any of it would be recorded. She didn’t care right now however, she’d found that the door on the far end of the corridor was locked and had already begun to pull several things from her pouches, without really thinking about it.

She glanced at Trask, but he just muttered something about not being able to get this door open. My hero. She thought to herself sarcastically and began to fumble with the door’s security lock. After cracking the main panel and looking in, she was amazed at how quickly she seemed to remember it. She must have been someone who worked with this kind of thing a lot because the wires seemed to form lines in her head and she could easily see where they would have to go to disengage the lock.

As she snapped the last wire into place and was rewarded with the sound of the lock coming undone she grinned to herself. She had just started to turn to Trask to boast when suddenly the sounds of blaster fire drowned out even her own thoughts of self praise.

“These Sith must be the advance boarding party! For the Republic!” He yelled out and charged past her. As he was clearing the doorway she watched as a blaster bolt burned through the helmet of a Republic soldier, not ten feet from her. She froze. She seemed to watch the man fall to the bulkhead in slow motion.

Something inside her swelled up and before she even realized what she was doing, she’d drawn her blaster from it’s holster and sighted in a line at one of the two Sith who’d been the one to shoot the man down. Her breathing steadied itself and she felt a strange calming sensation rush over her. Just who exactly was she? She couldn’t understand. Hacking doors, being relaxed in a starship battle, and now this. She was shocked at herself when she realized that her shot landed clean, throwing the Sith’s head back as the blast nearly took it off.

Trask looked back at her, his blue eyes filled with a look of acceptance that she wasn’t sure was comforting. They seemed to just say, “Nice shot.” Even if his lips didn’t form the words. She looked away, confused. She’d must have hit her head when she was thrown from her bunk, because she couldn’t seem to remember anything about why this felt so familiar. So…. Right. She concluded in her mind.

The daze was continuing to affect her she’d noticed. She wasn’t even sure when she’d started, but she’d already policed the dead soldiers of usable gear. One of the Sith had some credits on him and the Republic Soldier had dropped a usable Frag grenade at his feet when he’d fallen.

She followed the corridor, moving towards the bridge. Trask had fallen into step behind her, moving smoothly backwards as he sweeped the area behind him and covered their flank. She was a bit unnerved by having him behind her, but decided it best not to say anything. She was going to have to trust him. They passed some carnage as they moved through the abandoned corridor. The only ones, other than them, that were in the halls were corpses. More Republic that Sith. For some reason she didn’t feel right about any of them being dead, another thought she kept to herself.

Soldier boy here would probably freak out if I didn’t seem to be a Sith hater. But these men are serving their forces, just as he is his. Her philosophy was cut short as she opened the next door. A blaster bolt burned its way into her abdomen. The searing pain threw her to the ground and she clutched at her side. Trask spun quickly and blasted both Sith before they could get a line on him and dropped to her side.

She looked down at her wound and slowly pulled a hand away from the charred hole that lay beneath her hand. The pain was excruciating and she couldn’t believe she’d been so careless. For a quick moment, her mind flashed over her mortality. The shot might have been fatal.

Trask however, reacted with a Soldier’s speed. The man had already pulled her coat open and quickly plunged a medpac’s kolto syringe into the wound and hammered down on the plunger. The healing liquid soaked into the wound and began to mend her insides. A strong sense of nausea hit her and she coughed, then violently turned the dull grey floor into a mosaic of what she could only guess had been her last meal.

She coughed again and wiped away the blood and bile from her lips. What a sight she must be. “You alright?” He asked, and for the first time she looked at him. Truly looked at him. This time she didn’t see the cold, hard stare that a soldier often kept on their unreadable faces. The look of concern that was in his eyes washed over her and comforted her a bit.

“Yeah.” She said quietly as he took her hand and pulled her to her feet. She nodded to him, as if to tell him that she could once again stand on her own and he released her hand. She moved across the room and steadied herself on a table in the center. The kolto may have made her nauseous, but she was already starting to feel he senses sharpen again as the wound worked it’s way to becoming another scar.

While she indisposed, Trask had already managed to move quickly through the room. He seemed to understand that in a battle, everything could be useful. He managed to find a few more provisions that would help them, including a couple of swords and a suit of armor.

Zira had barely managed to finish gaining her resolve when Trask thrust some of the lot into her stomach. “Here, put this on. Your gear doesn’t seem to offer much in the way of armor and I don’t want to see you take another hit like that.” The softness in his voice had faded and Zira knew she was talking to a soldier once more.

Rather than try to argue, she simply nodded and quickly dressed herself in the armor she’d been given. It settled nicely and luckily for her, whoever had used it last was about her size. It didn’t take much adjustment to be a perfect fit. She took the long sword and ran it through a ring on her belt so that it hung limply at her left hip. The armor a bit heavier then her jumpsuit, but it was comfortable enough. She looked over the long dark sleeves and down at the ugly brown armored vest.

She felt a bit of heat rush her cheeks again, this time because she realized that she must not make this armor look very attractive. She looked up at the back of Trask’s head as he’d moved to the door. She didn’t know why, but something inside her wanted to make him happy. She wanted him to see her as attractive. She couldn’t help but feel a bit stupid. Something inside her was chastising herself for being in her current situation and wanting nothing more then for her hand to be resting gently across that strong jaw of his. Must be cause he saved you. She thought ruefully as she tried to make sense of why she felt so akin to him after only knowing him a few moments.

Combat is said to have effects on you. She rationalized for herself. She could still feel the color rising in her cheeks as her mind worked in two completely different directions. Half of her was still ordering herself to get a grip. To be more in control of her emotions and the situation.

The other half of her, however, was racing through quickened fantasies of what Trask was like when he wasn’t serving. What he would be like, laid across her bunk and held tightly to her pale form. Her mind processed the thoughts so quickly that she couldn’t keep them in check. She was imagining him holding her tightly by the waist as she thrust her hips against his.

Trask barked an order, then turned to look at her. “What’s the matter soldier?” He snapped at her, as he eyed her up and down. She could feel the flush in her cheeks was deep now. She felt as though he was looking straight through her, as though he could see her thoughts. “Get this door open, it’s locked!” He ordered again and she was pulled, reeling, from her strange fantasy.

“Yeah, right.” She said, her voice a lot more sheepish than she’d intended, as she moved to the door. She wasted no time in opening the door, though to her amazement, it wasn’t locked. She thought to correct him, but she decided against it.

She quickly moved down the corridor following it, the sound of blaster fire in the air again. She felt a bit apprehensive as she moved down the corridor. The shot that had taken her in the side seemed to inspire something else she wasn’t used to feeling. Fear. She was almost afraid to round the corner, to see the Sith that must surely be there.

Trask had obviously noticed her reservation about moving ahead and moved to point. He stopped at the corner and peeked around to see the source of the battle and then motioned her forward. She’d followed and glanced around him, nervously. Without realizing it, she had laid her hand on his back to keep the distance measured. Before her mind could rush through another bizarre fantasy though, she was pulled back to reality, rather abruptly.

She watched as two groups of combatants were locked in mortal combat. The Republic soldiers were outnumbered and out gunned. There were 5 Sith troopers that she could see blasting away at the four scattered Republic soldiers. One of whom was using a canister for cover, until a Sith blaster bolt burned into the canister and caused whatever was in it to erupt in flame. The explosion killed the soldier immediately.

One Sith was in the middle of a bladed battle with a Republic soldier at the same time this was taking place. The Sith was holding onto a double ended Vibroblade and kept the Republic soldier mostly on the defensive as he was desperately trying to keep the humming blades away from himself and the two junior officers that had fallen in behind him.

She felt Trask make a move, and she saw his blaster in hand. Then something caused a feeling of panic to rush through her and she pulled him back. He glared down at her for a moment before a loud explosion rippled the air and filled the corridor with the scent of smoke and blood. They both looked around the corner again.

She was horrified by the sight, the Sith had thrown a grenade into the fray. The resulting explosion had taken out all three of the Republic soldiers, as well as their own man who’d been in range when they’d thrown the grenade.

Anger seethed through her and she let go of Trask, rounding the corner and pulling her blaster clean from it’s holster. She unleashed a volley of fire at the trio standing on the far side of the room. They must have dropped their guard, thinking the fight was over because two of them didn’t even notice the blast before it was too late. She lined up a shot on the third, anger still rushing through her as she repeatedly pulled the trigger.

The man took a shot in the chest that drilled clean through his armor and he dropped, hard, to the partition. Zira took a few labored breaths before looking back over her shoulder at Trask. His face was overflowing with shock. He started to say something, then stopped and moved past her to plunder what supplies he could from the fallen friends, and enemies.

Zira too was shocked, amazed at herself. She wasn’t sure what was wrong with her but something had to be. She’d gone through so many extreme emotions in a short time, and she wasn’t sure why. She wasn’t even sure what stemmed them, or why they all felt so new and harsh. She felt as though she was on auto-pilot as she moved across the crossroads. She was knelt over a Sith trooper, removing his spare ammo packs from his belt when two Sith rounded a corner, their rifles already shouldered.

Zira reacted with a speed she didn’t know she had. She dove to the ground and slapped something at her waist, activating her stealth field generator and disappearing from view. The two troopers unleashed a stream of blaster fire at Trask, who took a grazing shot across the shoulder as he dove sideways. The two didn’t even notice her as they charged around the corner the rest of the way and past her. They were now intent on finishing off Trask who leveled a blaster pistol and took one of the fool hearty troopers in the gut. The other had a bead on him, Zira could feel it. She drew her blaster from it’s holster, still in her prone position, and tightened her grip around the trigger. The muzzle flashed and kicked, but she knew even before it finished leveling back on the soldier, that a second shot wouldn’t be needed. The blast hit the trooper in the back of the neck and pitched him forward, landing him on the floor in a heap.

She quickly righted herself and needlessly brushed herself off. “Trask? You hit?” She was proud of how official she sounded.

“Just a scratch, I’m fine.” He returned standing up and shoving his blaster pistol home once more. He began to look at the damage to his armor and she turned to check the corridor the two gung-ho men had come barreling out of. She could tell from here that the door wouldn’t open, a droid trying frantically to get the door active.

She quickly pulled her data pad from her bag and looked it over, examining the map that Trask told her about. That door being destroyed meant there was only one other way to the bridge, and she began down it. This time when Trask fell into step behind her and began sweeping their back, she didn’t have a single thought of trust. She knew she could count on him.

She got to the door and began to undo it’s security system. She understood that the doors had to lock down to slow the stem of traffic from enemy boarding parties, but nevertheless, she was finding this locked door business, in an emergency, to be a bit of an annoyance.

Some new sounds began to ebb through the door, and she strained her ears to hear it. There was a constant hum of energy, but it wasn’t like a blaster. The sound felt comforting to her. It seemed to resume that level of calm that she’d had earlier. The door seemed to make sense again and she finished switching wires to her liking and watched with a bit of satisfaction as the door latch released itself and slid open.

Her eyes were put to the test quickly as she watch two, nearly blindingly fast, people fighting with light sabers. The bright blue of the one held by a slender woman who seemed to glow, and the brilliant crimson of a man in black clashed together.

“It’s a dark Jedi! This fight is too much for us. We better stay back. All we’d do is get in the way.” Trask quickly explained.

There was a whirl of motion as the Jedi seemed to effortlessly push aside a hard horizontal thrust aimed for her head. The man in black spun the blade back into a powerful stance, and leapt into the air taking it’s hilt in both hands. Zira watched in awe as he brought the light saber screaming down at the Jedi. She seemed so calm and collected as she sidestepped the vicious swing. Zira couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe as she watched this woman.

The Jedi rolled her saber, lazily it seemed, around and brought the blade of light through the Dark one’s hilt, extinguishing the crimson blade. She repositioned herself in the same motion and braced her legs. The Dark Jedi was bringing his hands up, which caused a strange sensation to ripple through Zira. She knew something bad was about to happen, but before she could even move, the Jedi brought her saber up quickly through the Man’s throat, separating his head from the rest of him.

Zira was just about to rush forward and express her enamor to the woman when another violent shudder from the ship nearly threw her from her feet. The blast had been close, so close in fact, that Zira saw the explosion and was thrown from her feet. The Jedi, unfortunately, was at the heart of the blast and was engulfed in it.

Zira scrambled to her feet and rushed quickly towards the fallen Jedi, hoping to get a med pack to her. Internally she was telling herself that she could make it, even though a nagging doubt told her it was already too late. She felt something close on the back of her neck and all her momentum was suddenly lost.

Trask had grabbed her by the back of the armor and yanked her back, nearly yanking her off the ground as he did. There were several blaster bolts that flashed through the spot she no doubt would have been just a moment later. She pulled her blaster free of it’s holster and dropped to one knee to steady herself. Trask had already drawn his blaster and leveled it as two Sith troopers came rushing at them, rifles at the ready.

Trask and Zira both unleashed a round of fire that hammered the two Sith. Grazing shots at the knees, shoulders and arms were all they scored though. The Sith reconsidered the idea of charge and quickly ducked for cover. Zira leveled her blaster again and waited. Trask said something quietly about watching for the barrel of their rifles, to which Zira simply nodded.

Sure enough, a moment later they both tried to pop out at the same time and surprise the two. Their rifles preceded them both and by the time they were fully free of their cover enough to aim, Trask and Zira both had already lined up shots and let loose. Trask’s shot had caught one of them in the chest, perfect kill shot, and Zira’s hit the second in the hollow of the throat. He choked something under his helmet and collapsed.

Trask and Zira rushed quickly over to the JedI, but even if they hadn’t been too late before, they certainly were now. “That was one of the JedI accompanying Bastila. Damn, we could have used her help!” Trask blurted out in frustration as he looked through her things. The light saber she carried was demolished by the blast, and completely unusable. The only thing they manged to find was a Vibration cell that would probably fit most Vibroblades and an adrenal stimulant.

Zira muttered softly, “May the Force be with you.” She stood up, unsure of even why it was she’d said what she had. She offered a very soft, sad smile and then looked over to see Trask finishing to remove the useful items from the two Sith troops they’d shot down. Whatever happened to the Dark JedI’s corpse, she couldn’t tell. It must have been destroyed in the blast. She concluded to herself and then moved to follow Trask.

They followed the corridor through another door, still making their way towards the bridge. The fighting had already gotten this far though, the hallway just before the bridge was littered with fallen soldiers and troopers alike. She noticed that the wounds on the some of the men from both sides bore marks she could only assume came from a light saber.

As Zira began to go through the steps to open the door to the bridge Trask said something to bring her up short. “The bridge is just beyond that door. You better equip a melee weapon. There isn’t much room on the bridge, and it’s suicide to use a blaster in close quarters. I should equip a melee weapon, too. Either that, or I’ll have to stay back and use my blaster.”

She thought about his strategy for a moment before looking up at him curiously. She was about to agree when she happened to notice one of the corpses near the door. “What if they have light sabers?”

Trask looked at the vibroblade hanging above her shoulder. “Your melee weapon is made using a cortosis weave. It’s strong enough to stand up against anything, even a lightsaber.”

Zira considered his suggestion for a moment before nodding and drawing her vibroblade free from it’s sheath. She switched it on and offered a small smile to Trask. “Cover me.”

He nodded, and returned the smile, if only a little bit. Something squirmed inside her. She couldn’t quite understand it, but something about the way he had smiled at her had stirred something, that made her happy. She was looking forward to getting to the bridge and ending this battle. She would have to know more about Trask when this was finished.

She took a deep breath and locked the last wire into place, and the bridge door hissed open. She was met by two Sith troopers immediately after opening the door and both of them were carrying vibroblades. She side stepped the first arch and caught the second blade with her own. She positioned herself under the blade and pushed up, hard, with both hands throwing the blade away from herself. As the trooper staggered back from the attack, she pulled the hilt down to her waist. The tip of the blade pointed squarely at his chin, and then she thrust forward. The blade went easily through the opening under the man’s helmet and sank into the soft flesh of his throat.

She pulled the blade back, causing some of the man’s blood to splatter the bulkhead below. She arched the blade to the side, the other trooper had just brought his own to bear again. As she arched the blade sideways, the micro vibrations proved their function and the blade sank into his armor. The ark carried the blade clear through his midsection and caused his guts to spill free.

The man let out a choked cough and Zira easily shoved him backwards. The trooper dropped backwards and clutched at his midsection. The bridge was practically empty. Zira had only a moment to muse at the fact they’d fought so hard to get to the bridge, but it had already been taken, before Trask caught her attention.

She moved past the large tactical holo panel and around the secondary console that was in the center of the room. She though to go check the main console, to check on the status of the ship and everyone on board. She moved towards the console and something surged, causing the whole thing explode in a shower of sparks and light.

She covered her eyes and looked back. Oh well. The bridge is abandoned, that pretty much states everything I need to know about the situation I suppose. She knew there couldn’t be much hope, after all, if the bridge was vacant, it could only mean that the crew was abandoning the ship.

“Bastila’s not here on the bridge,“ He stated sullenly. “They must have retreated to the escape pods! We better head that way too. The Sith want Bastila alive, but once she’s off the ship there’s nothing stopping them from blasting the Endar Spire into galactic dust!”

Zira nodded an affirmation and moved to the starboard exit on the bridge. She opened the door quickly and stepped in. She began to go through one of the large boxes just inside the door, and Trask moved to the other side of the room to do the same. A noise behind the door causes Trask to move over and investigate. “There’s something behind here.” Trask keyed the door open meeting with a man dressed in black. “Damn - another Dark Jedi!” The man ignited his crimson blade. “I’ll try to hold him off, you get to the escape pods! Go!” Trask barked quickly and drew his vibroblade, rushing the JedI.

Zira rushed the door, but several small explosions caused the door to slam shut. She could hear the sounds of battle through the door. Panic fell over her and she began to slam her fists into the door. “Trask! Trask don’t be stu-” She was cut short as another explosion from near the door threw her onto her back. She’d felt her head connect with the cold hard Durasteel and felt something warm bubbling up behind her.

She forced herself to sit up and gingerly put a hand to the back of her head, where she felt something damp. She knew it was her own blood. She staggered to her feet and moved to the corridor leading towards the escape pods. She felt numb.

She heard a crackle and pulled her comlink out from her belt. “This is Carth Onasi on your personal communicator. I’m tracking your position through the Endar Spire’s life support systems. Bastila’s escape pod is away - you’re the last surviving crew member of the Endar Spire!” She felt her heart sink. That meant that Trask wouldn’t be showing up at the escape pods, making her feel stupid for having worried. “I can’t wait for you much longer; you have to get to the escape pods!” The voice continued. “But be careful. There’s a Sith patrol just down the corridor. Use stealth to sneak past them.” He cautioned.

She’d barely known Trask, but she felt his loss deeply. Something she wasn’t expecting. Wasn’t she a master of keeping things impersonal? Did I just remember something about myself? The ship lurched, this time harder than any time before. She wouldn’t let him have died for nothing. She was going to survive this, she owed him that much.

Zira quickly rushed into the next corridor, where a lone Sith trooper was examining a corpse with his back to her. She still had her vibroblade in hand and suddenly felt as though it called for his blood. She dashed down the hallway, her steps controlled so that they made practically no sound as she did. The Sith didn’t even lift his head before she brought the blade down to bear on his neck. The blade cleaved into him and splattered both the bulkhead and her with his blood.

She knew he was dead, but she pulled the blade out and viciously stabbed it straight through his chest. Snarling a bit, she pulled the blade free and moved quickly through the hall. As she got to the door she quickly activated her stealth generator and keyed the door open.

There were two Sith in the room who leveled their blasters at the door, but obviously didn’t see her. “Must be a malfunction.” One stated and turned back towards the other door leaving the room. He’d just barely finished slinging his blaster over his shoulder when Zira reappeared, driving her blade through his midsection. The other alerted quickly and turned to level a shot at Zira. She pulled on the blade but the vibration must have caused the man’s innards to close around it sticking it in place.

Instinctively Zira stepped beside the near lifeless man attached to her blade and pulled it to the side. Turning him to broaden him up between her and the other man. She heard several blaster shots and the man in front of her began to smell of burnt armor and flesh. Zira lifted her foot and put it to the dying man’s back and shoved. He fell forward and collided with his partner. The dead weight of man forced the other too the ground.

As he struggled to free himself from his dead partner Zira loomed over him, leering down and giving him long enough to realize that he was going to die, before driving her blade through his visor. She took a moment to watch his last twitches before he stopped moving all together.

She spat to the side, feeling as though she could taste the man below her and then moved into the next room.

“Be careful!” Suddenly hissed across her comlink. “There’s a whole squad of Sith Troopers on the other side of that door! You need to find some way to thin their number. You could reprogram the damaged assault droid to help you, if you have enough repair parts. Or you could use computer spikes to slice into the terminal and use the Endar Spire’s security systems against the Sith.”

She looked about the room she was in now. There was a computer left of the far door and a broken droid on the right. As she moved across the room she came to a foot locker that was cracked open. She kicked it the rest of the way open and found some parts and computer spikes inside. Convenient. She dryly thought to herself.

She went to the droid and began to look it over. Several gears and gyros were missing, but it wasn’t hard to salvage from the parts she’d managed to find in the box. She got the droid operational then found it’s behavior core and switched it into “engage on active patrol” mode. She then moved over to the computer and checked the view screen. She wasn’t sure what to expect actually, but she did manage to find a camera looking into the next room.

That made her think a moment and she looked over her shoulder. Sure enough, there was a camera in the room. That was how the voice from her comlink had managed to give her advice. She looked back to the screen and then noticed a sparking power conduit in the room. It took several of the computer spikes she’d managed to scrounge up along her travels, but she did manage to find out why. The damage had caused it to be removed from the loop. It took several more of her spikes to get the stubborn computer to put it back into the loop and then send it double the energy.

She was rewarded by a blast of electricity that took the room. She watched over the view screen as several of the Sith were being electrocuted by the overcharged conduit. It was then the door opened and the droid she’d repaired stepped into the room and began to blast the soldiers while they were still being fried.

“Good, serves you right!” She blurted at the screen, then tuned and made her way to the door. The power conduit had burned itself completely out by the time she made her way through the room. She took a moment to search the bodies, she wasn’t sure what else she might encounter before the escape pods. She did manage to find some things, including a vibroblade type in which she’d never seen before.

She went through the door and was a bit shocked to see a Republic man standing over a computer. He had short dark hair combed back , a few strands of his bangs falling across his forehead. His strong, broad chin was covered in short stubble. He looked at her with dark brown eyes. His Republic clothing consisted of loose black pants, with knee high boots that are topped with armored knee pads. A red-brown jacket that has 4 metal clasps and was zipped up. It had two large front pockets that had covers and a belt with a blaster on either side.

She was stunned. By the way he’d talked, she had imagined the escape pods would be a lot further ahead. She was just about to say: “What the hell, you could have opened the door and shot them from the other side,” but she was cut short as started talking quickly.

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

“How do I know I can trust you?” She spat before even thinking the question through. Trask had earned her trust in a short time, but she wasn’t sure being alone in an escape pod with someone who wouldn’t even help her fight off the Sith a moment before was such a good idea.

“I’m a soldier with the Republic, like you. We’re the last two crew members left on the Endar Spire.” That took her back a bit. Thoughts rushed through her mind of being left on this ship to die. “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 - there’ll be time for questions later!”

Despite her distrust, she didn’t feel she had a choice. She crammed herself into the escape pod and Carth climbed in with her. The door slammed shut and then she was thrown back by the inertial change. She hit the metal hard and was short of breath. She looked back out the viewport and watched as the Endar Spire lit up the sky one final time. It became a plume of flame and smoke and debris. Several pieces of the debris hit the escape pod. Everything beyond her eyes became dark and she felt as though she was swimming.