Kat's Kotor retell Part 3 aka Destiny can hit you like a ton of bricks

Rewind....

Carth Onasi waited inside the lifepod bay, scanning the corridors for any other signs of life as he waited to hear the all clear from the crewmember he was guiding to his position that she had made it past the guard. He bit back the urge to ask her if everything was okay after several long moments had gone by, knowing it would be disastrous for her if he broke radio silence. The knowledge that he sat in here, relatively safe and sound while some green recruit who wasn't even a soldier took such risks gnawed at his pride. And on top of that, it was a woman, out there alone with those Sith animals and at least one dark jedi. Probably Bandon, he grimaced, feeling that familiar hatred rise up inside of him.

He hated himself just then, stuck there guarding their escape route while these monsters looted his ship, torturing and murdering his crew. He cursed the day he took this mission, agreeing to baby-sit some upstart Jedi so proud of her own abilities and unwilling to listen to anyone but the jedi council that she had run them right into an ambush by the Sith.

No, that's not fair, he scolded himself. Bastila didn't know this would happen, and she was young. Despite all her power, she was young, and inexperienced in war. Like Trask, the kid who he had tried to talk out of coming on this mission. Fresh out of the academy and eager to fight the big, bad Sith. Not a clue to his name about the realities of war. And now he was dead. Dead like all the others. Another young, eager cadet whose family would never see him again. Family Carth would end up contacting, to bring them the news. If he survived this.

No, if he had to blame anyone, he would blame himself. He should've seen the ambush coming. He knew Sith tactics, and he knew how important it would be for them to capture Bastila. That's why the admiralty had put him onboard as commander/advisor to this vessel, even though it was actually Bastila who was officially in charge. Even though they knew how important it was to him to find Saul. He had been closing in on him now, so close he could taste the man's death in the air, spending the last few years working his way up through the ranks one death at a time. But he was a soldier, and he did his duty when asked. He followed his orders, and boarded the Endar Spire at Coruscant as requested.

Now here he was, sitting like a stump in some lifepod bay, helpless to act just yet while some frightened woman who wasn't even a combat troop fought her way to his position. Not to mention a whole slew of Sith were sitting just on the other side of the door, guarding the only escape route from the ship. Just waiting to be gunned down. His fingers slid along the barrel of the assault rifle he had picked up in the battle to get Bastila to the escape pods and away, almost caressing the deadly cold metal that sung to him of his own impatience for action, for blood....Sith blood.

Bastila had argued with him, of course. She always argued with him. But she was exhausted from trying to use her Battle Meditation, and in no shape to try and take on anyone. He had shoved her, protesting the whole way, into the escape pod, telling her he would meet her down on Taris if all went well, and hit the controls to shoot the pod off into space. Right in the middle of her arguing with him about the wisdom of his staying behind to check for survivors. Demanding that he leave with her, and see her mission through first.

He had never left anyone behind for the Sith to take alive, and he wasn't about to start now. Not on his watch. Ever.

"Okay. I'm clear." that soft feminine voice came back over the comm in a whisper. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding, feeling a strange rush of joy at hearing her voice again. Must just be his nerves. "I'm in a room at the end of the hall."

He slipped back into his confident demeanor he used for troop morale without thinking about it anymore. "You did good." he praised her, knowing how ragged she must be feeling after this ordeal. He was trying to think of the way to let her know that worse danger lay ahead without terrifying her completely. "What happened back there anyway? Your heart rate spiked like crazy"

She murmured something about seeing the dead body of a woman, probably mutilated by the Sith. He had seen the results of their handiwork with prisoners all too often. "I must seem like a real coward, don't I?' her soft voice asked, sounding embarrassed.

Coward? he thought, shaking his head. Sweetheart, you've shown more bravery then alot of men I know.

"No, not at all miss." he responded, his heart going out to the woman attached to just a voice over a comm and some words scrolled on his datapad of service records. There wasn't even a holo of her loaded, she had been signed on as a last minute demand by Bastila and her Jedi. It must have been overlooked in the rush to get the mission underway. "Seeing death is never easy, even after you've seen lots of it. And Sith aren't known for being gentle with their prisoners."

Bastards, his mind snarled. I'll kill five of you for everyone of my crew you hurt and slaughtered.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." he added as an afterthought, pushing his rage back down inside of himself to the place where he kept it all, locked down until he needed it. Ferreted away inside his frozen soul, a dim cold fire burning somewhere in the depths of his mind. He looked down at the rifle in his lap, smiling grimly to himself.

"Why are you still here Commander?' her voice interrupted his dark thoughts. She had a beautiful voice, lyrical and soft with just a hint of husky warmth. It was pleasant to listen to. "You could have just left with Bastila. Why?"

He was a bit taken aback by her question. "It's my job to see to the safety of my crew, miss."

"You don't have to call me miss, you know." he could hear the smile, warm and inviting in her voice. Gods, what a voice. Enough to make a lonely soldier...."I have a name, you know."

She was flirting with him, he realized as a slow smile crept over his features. Foolish as it was in the middle of such danger, he found it irresistible to do anything but play along. "So do I." he responded, deciding to give her a bad time about her nickname for him. "And it isn't commander or 'boss'"

He could hear her searching quietly through the crates in the room. Smart, he was surprised at how resourceful she seemed. "What should I call you, then?' she replied, going along with the game. At least it seemed to be taking her mind off the danger, keeping her calm. What the hell?

"Call me Carth." he decided, strangely curious to hear how his name would sound coming from that voice with it's ever so slight accent he couldn't quite place. "Pleased to meet you, Sarrin."

"Pleasure's all mine " she responded coyly. " boss."

Why you little tease, he thought. "Hey! That's not fair." he groused quietly, smiling. Time to get back to business though. "We'll settle this planetside. You ready for some action?"

A moment's pause as she was obviously trying to figure out what he meant. He hadn't exactly thought his choice of words through first, he realized.

"Well, the depends." that voice took on a definitely seductive purr that sent a tingle up his spine. "What did you have in mind?"

Okay now we're getting into dangerous territory, his mind cautioned, mentally slapping down his body's response to the invite in those words. His body was ignoring him at the moment but he had to focus on business, promising himself a nice cold shower if they got out of this alive.

He explained to her about the squad of troops that stood in the one room remaining between them and they discussed ways to thin the numbers down and take them by surprise with a double pronged attack. He was pleasantly surprised at her grasp of tactics, and even more so when he learned she could hack the computer herself without him having to give her step by step instructions. He realized why Bastila had insisted on recruiting this Sarrin Kasra for this mission, and told her so. It never hurt to boost morale right before a battle, after all.

After giving him a humorous warning about her lack of skill with a blaster they set a countdown for when to launch their attack. He got to his feet silently, edging up to the door switch to wait until he heard the explosion go off from the power conduit she was overloading. He hefted the assault rifle, checking his ammo. He would only have about three shots from this baby, but he vowed to make them count. Then the real action would begin. He smiled grimly, welcoming the familiar rush of adrenaline through his battle trained muscles like an old friend.

He only hoped his new found friend on the other side made it through safely. She had to...he would see to it or make those Sith pay, every last stinking one of them.

Today was as good a day to die as any, as long as he went down taking some Sith with him.

He heard the explosion go off, and gunfire erupt. His hand hit the door switch, but the damn thing didn't move. Cursing, he struck it again, much harder. A dent showed in the switch but this time the door slid open. Precious seconds had slipped by, and he prayed they weren't seconds too late.

The door slid open and he saw three remaining Sith in the room. One was falling back with a hole burned in his arm and chest. Then he saw a bolt hit the blaster held in the hand of the woman on the deck, sending it flying. She rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a shot that zipped past her, singing the ends of her tousled hair as she came up on her knees. She pulled a short vibrosword defiantly, but appeared to be having trouble getting to her feet. His eyes took in her leg, the material all the way from hip to calf shredded by what appeared to be shrapnel from an explosion and covered in blood soaked bandages. She didn't stand a chance trying to fight with a sword in her condition.

He raised the rifle and locked on to the head of the nearest Sith still aiming at the woman, pulling the trigger. He smiled in satisfaction as the wide bore blast took the man in the head, knocking him back and down. He yanked back on the slide, loading a second round as his senses sharpened, sending everything into that strange, slow motion feeling he got during a battle.

"Get down!" he ordered the woman firmly, seeing a group of reinforcements heading their way from the hallway beyond. To his relief, she listened to him and hit the deck, covering her golden tressed head with two slender, blood splattered arms.

The other troop took a shot at him, and he moved his head to one side, dodging the bolt as he locked onto the man's chest, blowing him back into the console. His arms moved back to the doorway, sighting instantly on the oncoming troops. One shot, time to make it count.

He pulled the trigger, blasting the lead troop in the head. The body fell back in the doorway, causing a sudden log jam with the troops trying to rush through the narrow opening. That cost the Sith troops precious seconds. Those seconds were all Carth Onasi needed.

He tossed the now empty rifle aside, stepping forward to close range and pulling his twin blasters. His favorite weapons, they had been with him all during the Mandalorian wars and he had upgraded them especially for dealing with Sith armor and shields. Perfectly balanced and extended to hold extra rounds, barrels bored out for more power and the trigger mechanisms filed down to facilitate rapid fire. He leveled them and opened fire, barely taking time to dodge the return fire as he watched Sith after Sith fall with gaping holes burned through their bodies. A cold empty joy filling him at the sight.

He blinked twice, noticing that there were no more Sith standing. He almost felt disappointed that it was over so quickly. But he had other things to worry about, so he pushed that need for vengeance back down inside him to focus on the task at hand. There would be another time.

He holstered his blasters without conscious thought, turning back to the woman who still crouched on the deck behind him. She was obviously still stunned, staring up at him through tresses of that gold and copper hair that had fallen over her eyes in a look of shock. Her eyes darted around the room, taking in the piles of dead Sith that littered the doorway as he reached down to grasp her arms, lifting her delicate looking form to her feet.

"You didn't tell me you were injured." he scolded, wincing at the sight of her mangled leg as she tried to get her feet under her, at the blood that was splattered about her body. His eyes widened as he took in the sight. She looked like she'd been through hell...an unfitting place for such an angel.

She wasn't very tall, her head barely came to the level of his chin. She had a slender build, muscular with the lithe grace of a dancer or acrobat. He could certainly tell, from the amount of it that was exposed. Aside from her mangled pants, all she wore were boots, a vest and her undergarments. He tried not to stare at her chest, a tantalizing view of cleavage that moved with her panting breath, sweaty and blood stained golden skin under black silk. He forced his attention to her face, and was lost in that moment.

She had the face of an angel, delicate cheekbones, full lips, and the biggest, most beautiful dark green eyes he had ever seen. He found he couldn't breathe, and he didn't even care. For that brief moment, he forgot about everything else except how beautiful she looked to him.

"I forgot to mention it." she replied after a moment. She was apparently still breathless from the battle. He seemed to read her true intention in those eyes of hers, she was playing coy again. Combined with that voice, it was a deadly combination. He also noticed that they still held on to one another, his hand steadying her on her feet, hers laying along his forearm. His mind told him to pull away, this was a dangerous feeling, but his body wouldn't listen. It felt ..nice. Besides, she was having trouble standing. He was only being helpful.

"No. You knew if you'd told me, I'd have left the pods to come and help you." he corrected, trying to show her he wasn't someone she could play with those charms of hers. Even if she probably could, and part of him hoped she would try. "That was a very brave thing you did."

Her cheeks flushed a very becoming shade of pink, and she lowered those killer eyes in a charmingly demure fashion. "It was nothing."

Something seemed to catch her attention, and he heard her draw in a gasp of breath even as his eyes caught movement out of his peripheral vision. Silver armor, rising to its feet.

"Look out!" she called out in warning, throwing her weight against him to try and push him out of the way of the shot.

His arm encircled her waist, lifting her small injured body off the ground and depositing her behind him protectively. His hand snatched the still humming short vibrosword from hers, and he half spun, throwing it towards the Sith with all his strength.

The sword buried itself in the soldier's chest, the vibrating blades gnawing away at the flesh relentlessly. A strangled scream reached his ears as he watched the man fall. He thought he heard her murmur something and turned back, seeing her staring at the dead man in a look of shock. He realized he must have frightened her by being so brutal, so he tried to think of something to say.

"Right. Sorry about your sword." he came up with, flinching inwardly at how lame that must sound. "Ready to go?"

She nodded, wide eyed and stunned. He really needed to get her to safety, she looked like she might faint at any moment. So he reached over and scooped her up in his arms, carrying her to the lifepod bay.

She made a slight protest, but her arms went around his shoulders when he reassured her it wasn't any trouble and that she needed to stay off her leg. He ducked down as they entered the last escape pod, and he deposited her gently into on the of seats. He reminded her to strap in, not sure if she was too shaken to remember as he hit the controls to launch them.

He took his seat, strapping in as the pod jettisoned into space. His eyes moved between the instrumentation, wondering how long it would take before the Sith realized another pod had been launched. He hoped it was long enough to be too late to do them any good. Just a few minutes, and they would be on the ground on Taris.

"Aren't we going a little fast?" his companion asked nervously. He glanced over to see her staring wide eyed out the viewport, her body stiff as a board.

You've obviously never been in an escape pod, he thought. And with the Sith above you, fast is good. But she looked too unnerved for him to mention that fact to her.

"No, this is about normal." he replied calmly. He watched the sensor screen turn bright red, the shields flaring on automatically as they picked up the targeting systems from the Sith guns locking onto the pod's erratic descent.

Uh oh, Carth thought, keeping his face expressionless. This is gonna get rough.

A blast exploded just off to the starboard side of the viewport, lighting the pod's interior with a sudden bright flash. They were both jostled in their seats.

"What was that?!" she yelped, looking around wildly.

"Sith are firing on us." he replied without thinking. His attention was locked on the power meter for the shields that had just dropped down halfway. Then his mind registered the panic in her voice and he kicked himself mentally. Smooth Onasi, real smooth. "Don't worry, we're moving too fast for them to get a good shot. "he reassured her. "We'll be through the atmosphere before they can lock onto us."

It was a barefaced lie, but there was no reason for her to be any more frightened then she already was. Besides, if he was proved wrong, neither of them would be around long enough to argue the point. He glanced over at her, the smile fading as he saw her looking right into his eyes with a knowing look, as if she had just read his mind. Her chin set itself in a look of defiant, but extremely cute, anger.

"You're a lousy damn liar boss," she accused in a low growl. He almost laughed, despite the danger.

Another blast rocked the pod, proving her right. He swore his favorite Telosian curseword and glared hellfire in the direction of the Sith vessel, promising himself all kinds of revenge if they survived this. Only Sith would fire on an escape pod, not even the mandalorians were so dirty.

"Can't we do anything?" her voice, ragged with fear, interrupted his dark thoughts. Behind them, the shield sensors began beeping frantically, indicating the shields were overloading and would soon fail completely.

He struggled with some way to tell her that there was nothing they could do, nothing except hold on and pray to whatever gods there may be in the universe to see them through this. He looked over at her, trying to smile bravely but seeing the fear in her eyes tore his heart, knowing there was nothing he could do to protect her from this. Nothing but try to comfort her, and be there for her if it was all going to end here and now.

He took her hand in his, squeezing it reassuringly. "Don't be afraid." his voice almost cracked with the power of the emotions that he felt, surprising even himself. "It's gonna be okay."

Her eyes locked onto his, he could see tears shimmering in their luminous depths. "Promise?" she asked him, her small hand gripping his tightly with a surprising strength. "Cause if we don't make it, I'll never get around to buying you that dinner I promised you."

"I promise," he replied, grinning at her spunk. Even now, when he would least expect it from her. "You're not getting out of our deal that easily lady."

The pod lurched suddenly, hitting the atmosphere at a rather rough angle. He knew what that meant, this was gonna be a rough landing.

She gave a whimper of fear, closing her eyes tightly. He let his fingers stroke her hand, trying to offer her reassurance.

"We just hit the atmosphere," he explained. "We'll be on the ground in just a moment. Hold on."

She nodded but kept her eyes shut. It was probably for the best. The pinkish purple atmosphere of Taris streaked past the viewscreen at a frightening speed. He could dimly make out the shape of her huge spires shining in the dying rays of the evening sun miles below. Night was falling on the great city of Taris.

Another blast hit the pod, and the starboard stabilizers blew. He heard her scream just before the panel behind her collapsed inward, striking her head with a violence that snapped her restraints.

"Sarrin!" he caught her just as her body slammed forward into his, blood running from the wound on her skull. She was unconscious.

Maybe that was for the better, they were heading straight for the city at a higher velocity then they should be. At least she wouldn't have to see the end coming, and it would spare her the fright.

He wrapped his arms around her, holding her as tightly as possible as he braced for the crash.