Escape the Endar Spire
Four thousand years before
the rise of the Galactic
Empire, the Republic verges
on collapse. Darth Ammit,
last surviving companion of
the Dark Lord Spector, has
unleashed an invincible
Sith armada upon an
unsuspecting galaxy.
Crushing all resistance,
Ammit's war of conquest
has left the Jedi Order
scattered and vulnerable
as countless Knights fall in
battle, and many more
swear allegiance to the new
Sith Master.
In the skies above the Outer
Rim world of Taris, a Jedi
battle fleet engages the
forces of Darth Ammit in a
desperate effort to halt the
Sith's galactic domination....
Still bodies, scattered across the bridge of a starship… The smell of burned flesh… Overwhelming fear mixed with guilt, so crushing he thinks he might faint. He doesn’t want to see this, but closing his eyes doesn’t block out the scene, all those dead eyes looking at them. How could they let this happen? It was never supposed to go so far-
I’m sorry!
I did this.
All our fault.
All my fault.
They wouldn’t have-
Wait, he’s still ali-
We’re not safe yet!
***
The explosion shakes his sleeping self to the core, the agitated voices cutting off all at once as he jerks awake, falling off his cot onto the hard floor of the ship. He lays face down for a few moments, the imagined sounds of battle still ringing in his ears. That was more vivid than it’s ever been before. He still has no idea how he comes up with this stuff.
Steven had only just been recruited by the republic a couple months ago. He’d never seen battle, but each rare time he managed to fall into a deep sleep these days, he’s been plagued by dreams of a starship exploding. Shouldn’t have watched all those news holos during the Mandalorian wars, like mum said-
The door to his shared compartment opens and a soldier rushes in, the sounds of violence and destruction suddenly too clear to be leftovers from Steven’s dream.
“What are you doing?! Get up! Hurry!” The man yells, digging in the box at the foot of another cot and pulling out a spare blaster.“We’ve been ambushed by a Sith battle fleet! The Endar Spire is under attack!”
“Wh-what?” He’s still trying to shake off the nightmare. The explosion in his dream, the voices yelling. “Who-”
“I’m your bunkmate, Trask.” The soldier answers him shortly. “We work opposite shifts. That’s why you’ve never seen me- but we gotta go right now! We have to find Konshu and make sure he gets off the ship alive.”
Steven feels a wave of panic building in his mind, his stomach twisting and his fingers growing cold. A Sith fleet? And the way Trask is talking, the ship is lost, if they needed to get this Konshu person off it now.
Shoes! Blaster! Now!
The thought is so clear and, well, verbal, it was almost like a voice had shouted it in his ear. Steven scrambles for his boots and the small blaster he can barely use. He manages to put his boots on the wrong feet the first time around, but fortunately Trask is too busy looking worriedly at the door to notice.
“Who’s Konshu?” He asks, right before another blast from an enemy ship makes the floor jump alarmingly.
Trask gives him a look and Steven realizes this must be one of the many bits of common knowledge that seemed to go in one ear and out the other with him. The other Republic soldiers tease him about it, when they remember he’s there. Lose my own head if it wasn’t- Focus! That clear thought snaps him back to the moment in time to hear the response from Trask.
“Konshu’s the commanding officer on the Endar Spire. Well, not an officer, really, but he’s the one in charge of the mission.” Funny, Steven can’t quite remember the mission at the moment. He must not be important enough to be working directly on that, then. Hopefully. “One of our primary duties is to guarantee his survival in the event of an enemy attack.” Trask continues. “You swore an oath just like everyone on this mission. Now it’s time to make good on that oath!”
Steven pauses. How should he say he’s not sure he’ll be much use if- when it comes to protecting someone, even though he wanted to? It wouldn’t feel right to lie, but he doesn’t want to let the Republic- or the man in front of him- down.
As if he knows what Steven is thinking, Trask says: “I know you’re a technician, not a soldier, but Konshu needs all troops at his side during this attack.” He tries to smile at Steven, though the strained expression doesn’t fit the situation or his face.
“R-right. Let’s go find Konshu.” He knows it’s the right choice, and it’s what he agreed to when he joined the Republic forces, but in the back of his mind he thinks We should head for the escape pods instead. Konshu can look after himself. Shaking off the impulse to tell Trask they should just escape, Steven follows the soldier towards the door his com crackles to life at the same time as Trask’s. A clear, female voice fills the room.
“This is Layla El’Faouly! The Sith are threatening to overrun our position. We can’t hold out against their firepower. All hands to the bridge!”
Trask nods, mostly to himself. He seems a bit relieved to have a more specific instruction than ‘get Konshu off the ship alive.’ “Layla’s one of the Republic’s best pilots. She’s seen more combat than the rest of the Endar Spire’s crew put together!”
Steven thinks that’s unlikely, considering how many people must work on a ship this big. Then again, if the Republic was hiring people like him for important missions, maybe everyone else besides this Layla El’Faouly is as under qualified as he- Why are you like this?
“If she says it’s bad, you’d better believe her! We’ve got to get to the bridge to help defend Konshu.” With that, he’s off down the hallway, headed towards blaster fire and Steven follows, trying not to trip over his own feet or let the shaking in his hands get any worse. He can’t afford to panic too much. When this is all over, when he’s safe- if - when - then he can break down. Just not yet.
They round a corner, just in time to see a Republic soldier fall with a groan of pain. Two Sith soldiers, their dark armor reflecting the harsh light of the corridor, turn on Steven and Trask. The Republic soldier doesn’t hesitate to shout a battle cry and start shooting. Steven manages a couple shots, but it’s Trask who finishes off both enemies. Steven is glad no one will be angry about the scorch marks he just put on the wall by missing.
They keep going, dodging bodies and falling chunks of the ship. Steven catches glimpses of other Republic soldiers and Sith fighting to the death all around. He wants to stop, to try and help them, but Trask keeps going, intent on getting to the bridge, following the only order left to him. Someone catches Steven's ankle, a dying Republic soldier, gasping something unintelligible around the blaster hole in his throat as tears cut clean tracks on his soot streaked face. Steven drops to one knee, even knowing it’s way too late for a medkit, even knowing that Trask hasn’t stopped and is getting further away. He can’t just leave this man to die alone he-
He’s running down the hallway, faster than before, already caught up to Trask. For a moment, Steven’s legs don’t feel like his own, and then they are and he face plants onto the floor, barely missing the soldier, who had just stopped to open the next door. Scrambling to his feet, Steven looks back. There’s no dying republic soldier in this hallway.
He doesn’t have time to consider the implications of that as an unfamiliar- no, not unfamiliar - hum and crackle reaches his ears.
“It’s a Dark Jedi! Stay back; we’ll just be in her way!” Trask barks.
A Jedi? Steven’s read all about them! He can’t help but feel a little giddy to see one of the legendary warriors in action. The woman with the blue lightsaber gives no ground against the Dark Jedi, even as the ship lurches beneath her feet. She is more nimble than her opponent, his armor, only good against a blaster, widens the gap in skill. With a quick slash across the chest, she slays her opponent. Before Trask or Steven can step forward and get her attention, the wall next to her bursts inwards. The explosion makes Steven’s ears ring. He starts forward, looking for the fallen woman- She’s already dead- says that pessimistic part of him. Steven wants to ignore that thought, but is not able to after tripping over the Jedi’s body. Or half of it anyway. There’s a wave of nausea and tears pricking his eyes as Trask curses behind him.
“That was one of the Jedi accompanying Konshu! Damn! We could’ve used her help-”
Two Sith soldiers appeared even as he says it, but this time Trask doesn’t have time to raise his weapon. Two shots cut the air and both Sith fall within half a second of each other. Steven’s hand spasms, as if trying to pull the trigger a third time. He’s never killed anyone before. It feels awful, even knowing it was unavoidable, what he was supposed to be doing anyway.
“... Good reflexes.” Trask says after a shocked moment of silence.
“Y-yeah. Reflexes. Right.” Steven can’t ever remember hitting a target dead center before, but both shots had struck the enemy soldiers right where their armor was weakest, just between helmet and gorget. As he and Trask hurry on, he feels a tingling in his mind, almost like satisfaction, but that wasn’t how he should- Don’t think about it right now. Of course, they had places to be.
The bridge is crawling with Sith soldiers, but thankfully no more Dark Jedi. Steven feels strangely detached from his own body as he and Trask open fire, each one of his shots dropping an enemy. He snaps back to himself when a soldier goes for him with a vibro-blade. He steps in, too close for the man to use the weapon properly and frantically slams his blaster down on his opponent’s wrist, where the arm brace meets the glove. The other drops the blade with a yelp of pain and Trask puts a laser blast though his head.
The smell of singed flesh, the knowledge that behind these blank helmets are dead, staring eyes, has Steven doubling over, finally losing last night’s rations. He’s soaked in cold sweat and the unsteadiness which comes after being sick adds to anxious tremors that have been wracking his body since he woke up less than 20 minutes ago. Trask checks around the bridge, politely not commenting on the mess Steven made.
“They’re not here! Must’ve gone for the escape pods.”
Knew we didn’t have to walk all the way over here.
“We’d better go that way too. The Sith want Konshu and once he’s off the ship there’s nothing stopping them from turning the Endar Spire into galactic dust!” Trask grabs him by the elbow, steering him out of the corpse filled bridge. The door into the next hall opens before Trask can push the button and a bald man in the same armor as the Dark Jedi steps through. The two Republic soldiers are frozen for a moment as the man produces a lightsaber and activates it. The hilt is longer, Steven realizes and has a moment to wonder why his brain picks up such little details before a second, deep red blade blade springs from the opposite end of the hilt.
No chance against that. For once, that clear, verbal thought feels like his own.
“Another Dark Jedi! I’ll try to hold him off- you go for the escape pods!” Trask puts himself between the shocked Steven and the advancing Dark Jedi.
“I-I can’t- You’re more-”
“Go!” Trask snaps.
Steven is about to argue, limited time be damned. He won’t run and leave Trask to certain death! If anyone should be buying time, it’s him. He’s useless for anything else. If Konshu needs troops, then he needs Trask and-
A voice that doesn’t sound like his own says “Thank you.” and his body leaps back as the doors slam shut in his face. The last thing he sees is the Republic soldier running at the Sith with a virbro-blade.
“No!” It’s his voice again, his choice to run to the control panel and try to get them open again, not caring that there’s certain death on the other side. He’s trying to punch in the code with a violently trembling hand when some sixth sense makes him lurch away as the whole ship shakes again. A large section of ceiling gives way, blocking him from the door, almost squishing him. He’d thrown himself back so violently that he’s now laying on his back, staring up at the ceiling in shock.
My fault .
His choice.
My -
“Layla El’Faouly here! You’re the only com still working. Konshu’s escape pod is safe away and we’re the last surviving crew members on the Endar Spire. I can’t wait for you much longer! Hurry.” The woman’s voice from his com device stops the spiral of guilt before it can really get going.
We go or he died for nothing.
His brain’s use of ‘we’ is strange, Steven thinks distantly. It was ‘we’ when Trask was here and now it’s just me… But no, that sacrifice, however ill advised, will not be in vain. Steven scrambles to his feet and sprints down the next corridor. The shaking and explosions are getting worse by the second and what if he doesn’t know where he’s going because all these halls look the same and what if she waits too long and they both die- He sees the right door and slams the button to open it harder than he needed to, jarring his wrist.
“You made it just in time! There’s only one active escape pod left. We can hide on the planet below.” He’s face to face with Layla El’Faouly for the first time and, for an instant, he forgets danger, guilt and confusion. She’s like a star, battered and soot smeared as she is. Not only is she the most beautiful person he’s ever seen, she’s bright, shining with an inner radiance that sheds no real light. It’s like he can actually feel the life radiating off her after dashing through halls filled with the dead and dying.
Bright, dark eyes lock with his own for an instant and then she’s grabbing him by the front of his jacket and shoving him through the door of an escape pod with an impressive amount of upper body strength. He’s pretty sure his feet left the floor for a second there. The Endar Spire gives a groan of strained metal that Steven can feel in his bones. There’s something worryingly final about that sound and the violent lurch that comes with it.
The escape pod hatch slams shut and, before Steven has time to buckle in, they’re jetted out into space. Steven is thrown hard against the back window, gasping in shocked pain as his face meets a too-solid surface for the second time that day. Whatever Layla is yelling behind him doesn’t register as he watches the Republic cruiser explode, the light so bright his eyes tear up again. There’s no sound, not with the vacuum of space between their pod and the ship, but Steven can imagine it so clearly-
Seat belt!
“SEAT BELT!” The yell in his ear brings his attention back to the pod. Layla has managed to get into one of the seats, buckling herself in. Right! They’ll be entering the atmosphere any minute and he really needs to be sitting down for that. He makes it to the seat across from her, eyes still fixed on the debris left by the Endar Spire and, of course, all the Sith ships surrounding it.
“Get ready for a really rough landing!” She tells him, clenching her jaw and closing her eyes. “Do *not* bite your tongue.”
The last thing Steven thinks before darkness fills his mind is I’ll stay awake for the crash. Clearly, he does not.