Kat's Kotor retell Part One aka somedays you should just stay in bed

She awoke to the sounds of battle.

Bolting upright in her bunk, she barely had time to grab onto the edge to keep from being thrown off by the violent blast that rocked the room. She leapt to her feet, stumbling slightly from a wave of dizziness that hit her, while turning in circles to locate the enemy. But the room was empty except for her. Something wasn't right..something was different. Every nerve and muscle in her lithe, petite body was tightly on edge, screaming for battle and that danger was here.

Wherever here was, the thought flashed into her mind as her eyes scanned the unfamiliar surroundings. Her brain ticked off places in the room that were well defensible, items that could be picked up and used as weapons, but the enemy she felt should have been there was nowhere to be found. Her heart pounded in her chest so loud she could hear it like a drumbeat in her ears. A knot formed in the pit of her stomach as she realized that she had no idea where she was, or how she had gotten there.

"Where the bloody hell am I?" she whispered to herself.

The sole door to the room suddenly swished open, and she spun towards the sound as her hand flew to her hip in search of a weapon she somehow thought should be there. That was when she first realized that she was almost completely undressed.

The man who had just rushed into the room must have just realized it as well, as he almost fell over skidding to a stop. His light grey eyes widened in suprise, a red blush rushing to his pale cheeks to match one of the colors of his garish uniform. His mouth opened, but no sound came out.

To her credit, and despite the fact she was clad in nothing more then black undergarments that showed off quite a bit of her womanly form, she drew herself up to her full (albeit rather unimpressive) height and stared him down pridefully.

"What's going on?" she demanded, a hint of command in her tone that was far above her rank." Come on then, don't stand there gaping! Out with it!"

"The Endar Spire is under attack!" the man responded, acquiescing to the command in her tone without realizing it."Come on!"

"The Endar Spire..?" she sounded confused, her eyes darting around the room questioningly. She turned her gaze back to him, and he was struck by the dark green color of her eyes." Who are you?"

"I'm Trask, Trask Ulgo. Ensign on this ship. I'm your bunk mate?" he supplied helpfully, looking every bit as confused by her questions as she felt about having to ask them."We..work opposite shifts, so we haven't actually met yet. But now isn't the time. We have to get to the bridge and help save Bastila!"

Bastila...

The strange named played across her mind like a taunting echo, comprehension staying just out of her reach as she struggled for it. She knew this name. Why then could she not remember who it belonged to? And why did she feel so strange when she heard it?

"Bastila.." she repeated to herself aloud, searching a frighteningly blank mind. A well of panic started to rise within her, but she willed it down to calm herself.

"Not to sound rude or anything, but did you hit your head or something, Miss Kasra?" Trask asked, looking geniunely concerned. "Bastila is the Jedi in charge of this mission. She's our superior officer."

Jedi...Bastila...Kasra..that was her name...Sarrin Kasra...but who was this Bastila?...Jedi were a kind of warrior..something about the Jedi..

"I...I don't know.." she replied, tugging at her lower lip with her teeth, trying to make sense of that feeling that echoed within her."Maybe..when I awoke..I'm a bit confused at the moment. No matter, let's..."

She was cut off mid sentance as klaxon alarms went on in the ship, sounding muster. The comm unit Trask wore on his left wrist crackled to life as he brought his arm up. A holo appeared, showing a dark haired man in a pilot's flight jacket against a back drop of total chaos, troops rushing about and sounds of fire striking the ship's shields.

"This is Commander Carth Onasi. The Sith forces are overrunning our position and attempting to board the ship!" the man declared, his deep voice calm and commanding despite the chaos of battle around him."We can't hold out long against their firepower. All hands to the bridge, and prepare for emergency evacuation!"

"That was Carth Onasi."Trask explained needlessly, since the man on the comm had just announced that. His voice took on a reverent tone."He's the most decorated hero of the Mandalorian Wars. He's seem more combat then the rest of the crew put together....if HE says it's bad..."

She pushed aside her worries about her lack of memory and focused on the immediate danger. "Then we better haul our butts to the bridge and help your Jedis and heroes before the enemy blows this ship to hell."

She started towards the door when Ensign Ulgo cleared his throat meaningfully. She gave an exasperated sigh and looked back at him over her shoulder.

"You...uh...might want to grab your gear first..." he suggested, indicating the footlocker that sat at the end of the bunk. "And maybe some clothing."

Her cheeks flushed hotly as the realization hit that she had almost waltzed out into an embattled starship in nothing but her skivvies. "Yes..of course." She tried to act as if there was nothing odd about her behavior, walking quickly over to the footlocker. "I was just going to do that."

"Are you sure you don't need a med pack or something?" Trask asked bluntly.

She glared daggers at him while she pulled on the black, form fitting pants she found inside. "Don't go there, Trask," she warned. "This is starting off to be a really really bad day."

He actually gave a chuckle at that.

A white shirt came next, along with a vest. Then she pulled on the boots, strapped on the gunbelt and holstered the blaster she found. Lastly she pulled out a short vibrosword, twirling it experimentally to test the weight. Where did I get this junk? she thought, annoyed for some reason she didn't understand. These were her things, after all...why did they seem so unfamiliar?

Seeing that she was dressed and equipped, Trask headed over and hit the door switch. " Let's go!"

She followed him out the door, absentmindedly taking her long, red-blonde hair and tying it back so it was out of her eyes. "Which way?'

He looked suprised for a second, then understanding. "That's right. I keep forgetting that you're a scout, not a soldier, so you're new to this ship. This way."

They headed towards another door, which had been sealed shut by the automatic emergency systems. Could this get any better? "Why the hellfire do they seal off the dorms during an emergency?" she snapped, her annoyance growing.

"We didn't." Trask looked grim. "The Sith must have gotten on board already and are trying to seal off the exits to take live prisoners if possible."

Sith....

That feeling again, only this time...colder. Like a chill wind had just blown across her senses. The word caused her to feel fear, but she didn't know why. Sith were their enemy..it made sense to be frightened by them. They were, after all, the ones who woke her so rudely by blowing the hell out of the ship she found herself sleeping on.

She went to work on the door controls, splicing the system to let her force them open. Then they ran off down the hallway on the other side.

The corridor wound around out of sight, but there were sounds of gunfire and fighting from up ahead.

"Firefight up ahead." Trask announced as if she couldnt hear it." I know you're just a scout and not a soldier, so stay behind me and just try to shoot as many as you can. I'll try to protect you."

"Very well." she replied uncertainly, not sure if that was supposed to make her feel safer or more concerned. He meant well, and she certainly didn't want to insult him, but something inside her flinched when she looked at him. As if some spectre of ...no. Don't even think that. It's just the fear and adrenaline talking. The screws you knocked loose when you hit your head or whatever had happened.

They hit the corner at a run, coming around just in time to see some soldiers dressed in shiny silver armor gun down two others who were dressed in the same uniforms as Trask.

Okay, silver armor is the Sith, she thought ruefully. Nice shiny armor, gleaming in the ships lighting. Easy to see in the smoke that was filling the hallways from the damaged ship. She dove to one side to take cover behind some refuse that had fallen from the ceiling before they spotted her and allowed herself a grim smile. They were making this too easy...

Trask, however, had other ideas. He raised his gun high and gave a heroic warcry of, "For the Republic!" before opening fire on the enemy soldiers, drawing their attention directly on their position.

She swore in a language she didn't recall how she knew and popped up from behind her refuge, laying down a covering fire.

"Get down Trask!" she shouted at him, firing as rapidly as she could manage. Her aim was terrible, the damn gun jumped so much in her hands it was hard to hit anything. Finally, one of the soldiers fell to the deck, a smoking hole burning in the chest plate of his armor. Gotcha, she thought with a moment of smug satisfaction.

Trask dove for cover across from her, barely evading a shot that whistled by his left ear, singing the edges of his military cut blonde hair.

"Damnit!" he swore. "They're mowing our forces down like wheat!"

"Yeah? Well, maybe you guys shouldn't run around dressed like walking bullseyes!" she snapped back, motioning towards his garish red and yellow uniform. "Whose the genius that designed those for combat situations anyway?!"

His mouth fell open to make some tart reply but he shut it, realizing she was right.

"This is getting us bloody nowhere..." she muttered to herself in frustration. "Hey Trask, do you have any grenades?"

"Just a concussion," he responded, raising up to fire some more to keep their attackers pinned down. Then he ducked down again as they returned fire. "I'm out of frags."

"Okay..on three, I want you to toss it down there, then cover me," she replied, pulling her short sword.

His face paled. "No. That's too dangerous, you're not even armored.."

"Listen to me Trask. We are dead if they get us pinned down here." she snapped, her voice falling back into that commanding tone again. "Any minute now, they are going to start tossing grenades down on us. We'll be blown to little smoking pieces. But they'll be at a disadvantage in close quarters combat so we have to take the fight to them if we're gonna get out of here! Now do as I say!"

"All right damnit!" he agreed reluctantly, looking aggravated. "I just.."

"One," she counted, switching the power cell on the vibroblade to the on position. It hummed to life in her hands, the jagged edges of the blades vibrating wickedly in the lighting.

He pulled the grenade from his belt, fumbling for the activation switch.

"Two." She rose to a crouch position. Her body was tingling with anticipation and dread for the upcoming fight, her feet shifting as she balanced her weight on her heels.

"Gods..just be careful!" Trask whispered hoarsely, looking over her small, unarmored form.

"Three!"

He whipped the grenade down the hallway, waiting until the blast went off to jump up and lay down a heavy stream of covering fire. The blast rocked the hallway, a concussive wave knocking the Sith to the ground. Curses were heard from the smokey hallway as they struggled to their feet to return fire.

As soon as the grenade went off, Sarrin was moving. She kept in a low crouch, racing down the hallway and trying to use the smoke and debris to camoflage her until she was right on top of the dazed troops. The smoke dissapated in front of her and she found herself directly in front of a Sith trooper who stumbled back in momentary suprise as she appeared out of the smoke. She whipped her blade upwards and to the side, bringing the vibrating edge slashing almost vertically across his throat. Blood sprayed onto her as his helmeted head fell back at an odd angle, dangling from the shoulders, now only barely attached.

She leapt past him to land just beside the second trooper, who was turning to bring his rifle to bear on her. She grabbed the barrel in her left hand, pushing it down towards the floor so the beam missed her, burning into the floor just beside her booted foot. Her right hand brought the vibroblade down on the arm he held the gun in, severing it off at the elbow. The man screamed in agony, then was silenced as she spun around in a backslash to lay his throat open as she had his partner, silencing him forever.

Both bodies hit the floor within seconds of each other, the sounds of gunfire ending abruptly. Her eyes darted around the hallway, heart racing as she searched for more enemies..the adrenaline running through her veins like liquid fire. But there were none.

Breathe, she chanted to herself, her chest heaving with her frantic breathing as she looked around in a daze. That feeling again, something was definitely wrong with her. Like dizziness, like watching events through the eyes of another, like... she wasn't real.

Her eyes alighted on the bodies on the floor, lying in pools of their own blood. Heads hanging at an unnatural angle, the severed arm still clutching the rifle... These were people she just killed...killed like they were nothing..

And she had enjoyed it.

The realization brought a feeling of horror, of nausea to her as she stumbled back, looking at the blood that dripped off her still humming blade onto her hand. She was splattered with their blood.She had a sudden vision of standing in a graveyard, surrounded by corpses who clawed at her legs, their collective blood dripping from the sky like rain to cover her. It made her retch, and she began wiping at the blood on her face and skin ferociously with her shirt sleeves, to get it off her, to feel clean again.

"That was amazing!" Trask crowed as he ran up to her, smiling brightly. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"I...I dont know..." she murmured. How can you celebrate, she thought...I just murdered those men? But that was irrational. They would have done the same to her and Trask if she hadn't. "I..don't remember."

"Oh yeah." He nodded as if remembering. He saw all the blood on her shirt and his brow creased in concern. "Are you alright? Were you hit?"

She shook her head, as much in reply as to try and snap herself out of the daze she was falling back into. They still had to get off this ship alive, time to think things out later. "No, I'm fine."

To avoid further questions she really didn't want to face, she knelt down and began the grisly task of looting the bodies, finding a few credits and a medpac. She handed the haul of loot to Trask.

"Here. We might need this stuff." she replied, more subdued then he had seen her earlier. " Let's go. We have to get to the bridge."

They headed off into the ship's belly, encountering a few more groups of Sith troops on their way. To his credit, Trask learned from the earlier experience and they managed to get through the battles with only a few minor injuries and finding sparse supplies to keep them going along the way by using hit and run tactics instead of full frontal assaults. They encountered no other living Republic troops, just the dead corpses that littered the hallways. It seemed that the Sith had boarded successfully and were now searching the ship to mop up any live prisoners they could find.

"They're searching for Bastila, no doubt." Trask had informed her when she questioned him. "Maybe Commander Onasi too, but there's no way they'll take him alive. He hates the Sith."

They came to another sealed doorway, blocking their path. A burned out utility droid sat next to it, his top blasted open with what appeared to have been a wide bore rifle.

What a waste, Sarrin thought as she examined the droid to see if she could repair it and use it on the doors that blocked their path. Why destroy a droid, there was no sense to it...like they just wanted to go through and destroy anything in their path...there was no logic behind it.

"Bridge is just ahead." Trask commented, trying the door to make sure it was still locked after she had just tried it. She kept her smart remark to herself, they were in danger and she shouldnt take her frustration out on him.

She used a couple of computer spikes she managed to salvage from the droid's programming core to splice the door controls. The door swished open and her eyes locked onto the scene that unfolded in front of them in wonder.

A man and a woman were locked in battle amidst corpses that littered the floor. His taller form was dressed in black, flowing robes that were akin to the lighter tan ones the woman wore, as if they were opposite sides of the same coin. But the swords they used were brightly colored beams of light, humming with power and flashing when they clashed together. Lightsabers, her mind supplied the word for them after just a moment's hesitation. But it was the way they fought that struck her with wonder.

Their movements were fluid and graceful, each swing blocked by the other's sword as if they were more dancing then fighting, as if the two were somehow in synch with each other. A feeling of power flowed from their bodies, one cold and cruel, the other warm and fierce, like opposites, different polarities pushing against one another in a struggle beyond that of their physical forms. Something about it was...beautiful...it called to her in a way she didn't understand, hungered for it like some forgotten dream.

She moved forward to join them, but Trask grabbed her arms and pulled her back, holding her as she tried to pull away.

"Are you crazy?!" he whispered hoarsely in her ear. "That's a dark Jedi she's fighting! He'd carve you to pieces without missing a stroke, and you'd only get in her way! Let the Jedi handle this one!"

"She needs our help!" she protested, a sick feeling of loss lurching inside her as she tried to pull away, to close with that power that called to her. But Trask held her back.

The Jedi woman finally defeated her opponent, coming up under his blade in a lightning fast strike that took him across the chest, laying him open with the smell of burning flesh. Her opponent stumbled for a moment, then tumbled to the ground. The feeling of power dissipated, fading away into nothingness, leaving an emptiness to the air that Sarrin hadnt noticed before.

The Jedi turned to see them standing in the doorway, her grey eyes widening slightly as they fell on the woman at Trask's side. A look of ...recognition? Then a mask of cool indifference fell over that stern face and she called out to them. "Are you two all right?"

"We're fine," Trask replied, stepping forward.

Sarrin held back a moment, strangely hesitant to approach the woman. Something about her, she didn't trust. She sensed....danger. But that was ridiculous, this woman was on their side, obviously.

Note to self, she thought, get brain checked for loose screws when we get out of here...I really must have cracked myself one...

"Where are the others?" Trask asked the woman.

"Commander Onasi..." the Jedi started to reply.

Just the Sarrin's eyes caught the glimmer of metal as the grenade rolled to a stop at the Jedi's boots.

"Look out!" she screamed in warning.

Trask dove to the side. The Jedi had just enough time to look down, her eyes widening in a look of fear before the grenade went off. Her body was blown to bits in the explosion, bits of debris splattering all over the corridor. The force of the blast knocked Sarrin to the deck, her arms going over her head instinctively to protect herself from the flying debris. Several pieces of shrapnel from flying bits of weapons and armor embedded themselves into her unarmored leg, and she cried out in pain.

Trask was at her side in an instant, raising his weapon to fire at the Sith trooper who had stood up from amongst the corpses on the floor and threw the grenade that killed the Jedi. The man still held his rifle in an injured arm and was swinging it in their direction. Trask's shot took him in the chest, knocking him back to the ground. He put two more shots into the Sith just to make sure he stayed down that time.

"Sneaky bastard." Sarrin grimaced, rolling onto her side to look down at the damage her leg had taken.

"That was one of the Jedi who accompanied Bastila." Trask explained as he knelt down beside her."Damn! We sure could've used her help about now."

She probably could have used ours, Sarrin thought resentfully but didn't voice it. Trask was a nice guy, maybe not the sharpest tool in the shed but a decent guy and she shouldn't take her frustrations out on him. He hadn't caused any of this to happen, and wasn't the cause of her memory loss. Some days you're better off staying in bed, she told herself.

She bit her lip as she began working the pieces of shrapnel out of her leg, her eyes tearing from the pain. "H-how many medpacks we got left?"

Trask searched his pockets. "Just one, damnit." He looked haggard. "Here take it, you need it."

"No." She winced as she pulled another piece free. "Save it...in case one of us gets hurt worse. This isn't life threatening...next one might be."

"But--" he started to argue, but stopped when she glared daggers at him. "How will you walk, then?"

"You may have to help me along, soldier..surely a big strong guy like you can handle that?" She smiled grimly. "One thing's for sure, no more swordplay for me 'til we find another med pack. Too bad I'm such a lousy shot with a blaster."

"Ill be sure and stay behind you," he offered, only half jokingly. "What are we gonna do about the bleeding?"

"We do this the old fashioned way," she commented, slipping off her vest and shrugging out of her white shirt. She slipped the vest back on and went about ripping the cloth of the shirt into strips for bandages. "Don't they teach you guys any field-med stuff in the academy these days? Can't always rely on techno, Trask. You gotta learn to think on your feet, think outside the box."

"Yeah...I guess you've probably had more actual experience at that then I have." he looked down at his hands. "We did med stuff, but I kinda... slept through some of my classes..."

She looked over at him, tying the bandages tightly around the wounds in her leg. She eyed him calculatingly, the pieces falling into place. "Well...that will teach you, wont it." she scolded lightly. "Lemme take a guess here. First assignment out of the academy?"

"Yes ma'am." He looked up at her, then blushed and looked down again, averting his eyes. She realized the source of his embarrassment and grinned.

"Oh c'mon Trask.. you've already seen me in my skivvies," she half sang, half taunted. "And I know how you young academy boys are. So you can lose the honorable, shy soldier bit, 'cause you're not fooling me."

He laughed shyly, letting his eyes roam up to gaze at her briefly before looking away again. "Yeah...that's true, but still..." He shrugged. "There's all these Sith around. I heard stories in the academy of what they do to female prisoners. They're animals, I dont want to see anything like that happen to you."

"There you go, thinking inside the box again." she chuckled. "You see, this might work to our advantage. Men are men, Traskie, regardless of which side they fight on. Sometimes you can get farther with a set of these then you can a blaster pointed at someone's head." She pointed at her chest with a wry smile.

He flushed a deeper red then his uniform."You are the strangest woman I've ever met!" He was trying hard not to smile back.

"Why..thank you!" She chuckled. Good kid, fun to tease, she thought, her earlier frustration at him diminishing now that she understood him better. "So, why'd you join up?" she asked, finishing up her bandages.

"My dad served in the Mandalorian Wars." Trask replied proudly. "He told me stories when he came home. I loved his stories, he got to fight near the end with Commander Onasi. Pop would tell me all about the Commander's exploits and I wanted to be a hero, like him."

"I see," she replied, eyeing him thoughtfully. Such innocence, such a naive outlook. Why did she feel so cynical just then? "This commander of yours must be one hell of a guy."

"He is, ma'am," Trask replied, nodding. "I was damn proud to be chosen to serve on his ship."

And here you are, probably going to die aboard this hero's ship, the thought hit her mind. She flinched at her own cynicism. "All done. Help me up, will you?"

He put her arm around his shoulders and helped her to her feet. She tested her weight on it, and found she could barely stand on her left leg well enough to move, let alone quickly.

"Okay, let's just take it easy," Trask said, putting his arm around her waist to help her stay on her feet. "C'mon..we'll get there."

They headed off down the hallway, luckily not meeting any more resistance along the way as they approached the bridge door. She spotted a computer terminal to the side of the door and motioned towards it. Trask helped her limp over to it.

"What do you have in mind?" he asked as she pulled open the command panel, splicing wires together as she worked.

"We're going to hack into the security cameras before we go charging in there." Sarrin replied,."I'm thinking its awfully quiet up here, and considering all hell was breaking loose when the commander commed us..not to mention we haven't heard from him since."

She left the thought unfinished, but saw Trask pale out of the corner of her eye as he realized what she was saying. A moment later, the screen flashed on to show the command bridge. Corpses littered the floor, men and women who had died fighting to defend the ship. The only moving bodies were two Sith soldiers standing guard and looting the bodies of the fallen.

"Damn..." Sarrin whispered, her voice sounding as tired as she felt. "We're too late."

Trask leaned over her shoulder, using the controls to move the camera around the bridge."Wait...I don't see either Bastila or Commander Onasi among the dead," he commented. "They must still be alive! I bet the Commander got Bastila to the escape pods already!"

"Oh..good for them," She replied dryly. Typical leaders, she thought. Running off to safety and leaving the peons behind to die. Some hero. "So, where are these escape pods anyways?"

Trask looked uneasy, motioning to the other side of the bridge. "Off the starboard section," he answered. "Other side of the bridge."

"And I take it we have to go through the bridge to get to them?" she asked with a sigh. He nodded.

She closed her eyes, trying to clear her thoughts and think for a minute. When she opened them, she looked over at Trask with a grim smile. Her eyes twinkled with a mischeivious light.

"Okay soldier, this is what we're gonna do..."