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StarWars: Knights of the Old Republic


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#1 Guest_kevtg_*

Posted 02 August 2003 - 06:57 PM

I started a story about a month ago but before I could post another part, the Army decided it would be a good idea to send me somewhere for a month. I meant to post again when I got back and well... I bought Knights of the Old Republic for my XBox and there went two more weeks. Gone.

All I can say about the game is that it's every bit as good as Baldur's Gate 2 and therefore about ten times better than the last two movies Lucas put out. It seems like the only way I can sate my obsession with the game is to write about it.

I've got two weeks before the Army sends me away again so I'm gonna see how many of these I can bang out before I leave.

***

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

STAR WARS

KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC

Four thousand years before the rise of the Galactic Empire, the Republic verges on collapse. DARTH MALAK, the last surviving apprentice of the Dark Lord REVAN has unleashed an invincible Sith armada on an unsuspecting galaxy.

Crushing all resistance, Malak’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 Malak in a desperate attempt to halt the Sith’s galactic domination...

***

The alarm jolted Keven from his sleep. What the hell? he thought, but training had already taken over. He jumped from his bed and reached for his clothes. Throwing them on, he pulled open his equipment locker and began grabbing things at random: his blaster, a light armored jacket, a small sword for fighting boarders with energy shields. As he did so he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He was tall, but not overly so. He was only a couple of centimeters above average and had the rangy musculature of someone who trains for endurance or quickness instead of brute strength. His brown hair had once been cut to a military standard, but that had been some time ago. Keven was a scout and the rules were somewhat relaxed for his unit.

This can’t be an attack, he thought as he fastened his gear to him. It had barely been a minute since he first leapt from bed. We’re still deep in Republic space and...

The deck suddenly lurched under feet. What the hell? he thought for the second time. Then an even bigger lurch tossed him from his feet. That’s it. This is definitely an attack.

The door to his cabin hissed open and Keven could see the clean cut form of his bunk-mate, Trask Ulgo, holding on to the edges of the hatch. “There you are!” Trask said. “We’ve got to get to the bridge! We’re under attack!”

“Tell me something I don’t know!” Keven shouted back as he struggled to his feet only to have another lurch drive him back to his knees. “What the hell happened?”

“Sith came out of hyperspace right on top of us!” Trask replied. “It’s like they knew we were here! Boarders are already on the way!”

“Boarders?” Keven asked as he stood once again.

“Yes!” Trask said. “That’s why we have to get to the bridge! They’re after Bastila!”

Keven nodded and followed Trask out the door. Bastila. She was the Jedi in charge of this mission, whatever the mission was. He had only seen her once since coming on board this ship, the Endar Spire, and that had only been glimpse. All he knew about her was that she was important to the Republic war effort. She had the rare gift of Battle Meditation, a power that could affect the fighting ability of entire armies.

The ship took another hit as Keven and Trask worked their down the corridor towards the bridge. Then there was an explosion and the sound of blaster fire from up ahead. “Hurry!” Trask said and began running down the corridor. Keven cursed softly under his breath, jerked his blaster from its holster and chased after him.

They rounded a corner and ran right into a firefight. A blast door leading to an outer airlock had been blown open and a squad of silver armored Sith troopers were fighting their way into the ship. A handful of Republic soldiers had taken cover behind some crates and loosened wall panels. Trask dashed across the corridor with blaster bolts clipping at his heels. Keven ducked behind the corner as a bolt tore loose a chunk of a wall next to his head.

“Grenade!” One of the soldiers called and Keven threw himself to the deck. The explosion hit him with all the force of a kick in the head and he felt a wave of heat wash over him. He was dimly aware of shrapnel bouncing off the bulkheads but he was enough out of the blast zone that none of it touched him. “Trask!” Keven shouted.

“Here!” Trask yelled back.

“Cover me!” Keven yelled and rolled out into the hall.

The Sith were rushing the Republic positions in the wake of the grenade blast. They had expected the surviving Republic soldiers to be stunned by the blast. They clearly weren’t expecting someone still alive and shooting.

Keven’s held his blaster before him in both hands. His first blast caught the leading Sith trooper right in the facemask and blew him backwards. He shot the second one in the chest as the trooper was raising his weapon. The third actually managed to get a shot off before he was hit but it was hurried and wide of the mark.

The remaining three were trying to get behind what little cover there was in the corridor as they returned fire. Keven crawled behind a storage container that had covered one of the Republic soldiers before the grenade blast while blaster bolts rained down around him. But Trask had managed to escape the grenades blast as well and he was up and firing, keeping the remaining Sith from focusing their attention on Keven. One of the Sith sagged to the deck under Trask’s barrage.

Trask opened his mouth. “Grena-!” Before he had a chance to even finish the word Keven had popped up onto his knees. Looking back, Keven was never quite sure what happened. He had the impression of a moment frozen in time while it whipped by impossibly fast at the same time. All he knew was that he caught a glance of a Sith trooper holding a grenade with his arm cocked back to throw. Keven did not shoot so much as will a blaster bolt to strike the man. Then sparks from the impact exploded out from the trooper’s armor and he fell.

“DOWN!” Keven screamed and a second grenade blast rocked the corridor.

It took a moment for the ringing in Keven’s ears to fade into something bearable. But other than that tinny sound reverberating around the back of his skull, the corridor was quiet. He stood slowly. The corridor was a mess. The deck plates had buckled under the force of the explosions and the bulkheads were scored by blaster fire. The Republic soldiers who had been defending here had been mangled by the first grenade. The second had finished the remaining Sith. “Trask?” Keven asked.

“I’m here,” Trask replied. He stood up behind a wall panel on rubbery legs.

“You all right?”

“I... yes,” Trask said at last. “That was... an amazing shot. Were did you learn to shoot like that?”

Keven shrugged absently. “I grew up out on the Rim. I was shooting before I could walk.”

“I believe it,” Trask said softly as he looked over the bodies of the Sith.

“Come on,” Keven said. “We’ve got to get moving.”

***

There was a body on the deck right before the door to the bridge, a woman in brown robes. Trask was kneeling over the body. “This isn’t good,” he said. “This one of the Jedi accompanying Bastila. I can’t tell what caused this wound, though. It doesn’t look like a blaster.”

“It’s a lightsaber,” Keven said evenly.

Trask looked up. “Are you sure?” he asked.

Keven nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure,” he said. But it’s funny, he thought. I’m not sure how I’m sure. I don’t remember ever seeing a lightsaber wound before.

“Then... there are Dark Jedi on the ship,” Trask said slowly and looked at the bridge door. “Maybe behind this door.”

Keven took a deep breath. Using blasters against Jedi would be next to hopeless. He still had the short boarding sword strapped to his hip. He knew its blade had been reinforced with a cortosis weave to allow it to stand up to lightsabers but he liked his chances of using against Jedi even less than his chances of using a blaster. “Oh well,” he said at last had reached for door controls. “Won’t know until we find out.”

“No, wait!” Trask said but Keven had already hit the button. The doors hissed open up on the darkened, cramped interior of the bridge. The compartment was a constellation of twinkling lights and control panel, though many looked like they had been blown out in some sort of firefight. The bright curve of Taris’ horizon shone through the front viewport and space outside was still being crisscrossed by streaks of red and green blaster fire in the ongoing battle. Three Sith troopers in silver and black armor were poking through the wreckage. The looked up as the doors opened.

Oh crap, Keven thought as a luminescent shimmer sprang up around each man. Energy shields. Those would protect the Sith against blaster fire.

But not from the sword Keven was carrying.

Trask was yelling something but Keven was already moving. He threw his blaster at the closest trooper, who was leveling a blaster of his own at Keven, and dropped his left hand to the grip of his sword. Drawing with a reverse grip, he whipped his sword across the closest troopers abdomen, folding the man up at the middle. The next trooper was stepping in with a sword of his own. Keven switched his blade to his right hand and parried trooper’s heavy downward cut. Then he lashed out with his heel and kicked the trooper hard in the knee. The momentary distraction was all Keven needed and he brought his blade down on the trooper’s helmeted head with both hands.

Instinct made him duck. The third trooper was across the bridge with a blaster. A bolt sizzled over Keven’s head and exploded a viewscreen behind him. Keven stood and twisted around as fast as he could. As his body went through a complete rotation, he let go of his sword and the blade flew across the room like an arrow. It struck the last trooper in the chest and the momentum behind the blade allowed it to punch right through the man’s armor.

Trask was standing in the doorway. He had his blaster out, but everything had happened so fast that he never had a chance to shoot.. “We’re did you learn that?” he asked.

Keven bent down to pick up his fallen blaster. “What can I say? I paid attention in sword class.”

“Sword class? Did we go to the same academy?” Trask asked.

“I-,” Keven started to reply but he was interrupted by the ship’s intercom crackling to life.

“This Carth Onasi to all surviving members of the Endar Spire’s crew,” the intercom said. “Abandon ship! Repeat, all hands abandon ship!”

“Carth is the Endar Spire’s pilot,” Trask said. “If he’s giving the order to abandon ship, that means Bastila must already be off.”

Keven felt the ship shudder under his feet. “And that mean’s the Sith have no reason to take this ship intact anymore.”

Realization dawned on Trask’s face. “Right,” he said. “The fastest way to the escape pods is this way.”

Keven followed him back out of the bridge and down an emergency hatch to the next deck. The ship shuddered as another blaster bolt tore into it and the lights flickered and failed. The emergency lights snapped on and lent a surreal orangish glow to the ships interior.

Trask stopped at a large pressure door and reached for the controls. “Just down this hall and to the left and we’ll be there,” he said. He pushed a button on the panel and the doors hissed open.

The lights in the next corridor were out but there was light of a sort. A man was standing in the darkened hallway. He had a shaved head and he was dressed in black robes that seemed to merge into the darkness around him. The lightsaber in his hand burned an angry red and lent his features a vaguely demonic cast.

A Dark Jedi.

Keven knew it was hopeless. He brought up his blaster and squeezed off a shot. The Jedi blocked it with an almost dismissive flick of his wrist and Keven had to throw himself to the ground to avoid being hit by his own blaster bolt.

Then Trask jumped into the corridor with the Dark Jedi. “GO!” he yelled. “Find Bastila! She needs YOU!” He fired a shot from his blaster. Not at the Jedi, but at the controls to the pressure door.

“No, Trask, don’t!” Keven screamed but the doors slammed shut, sealing Trask in with the Jedi. Keven jumped to his feet and began pounding on the unresponsive controls.

The pressure door was thick. It was meant to seal of this part of the ship in the event of decompression. However, Keven could still hear some sounds through it, the dim screech of blaster fire or the dull whirr of the lightsaber. It went on for several seconds. Then there was silence.

***

Keven was leaning against the door. He didn’t know how long he had been sitting there. It could seconds, minutes, even hours. He knew that he should he get up and move. The pressure door was thick, but it wouldn’t hold back a lightsaber for long. The ship itself could even come apart around him. Shudders were beginning to wrack the Endar Spire with increasing regularity.

He sacrificed himself for me, Keven thought. Why? Why am I so damn important?

“Hello?”A voice buzzed in his ear. “Are you still alive?”

It took Keven a second to realize the voice was coming from his personal communicator. “Hello?” he said.

“You are alive,” the voice said. “The Sith are firing on the ship with everything they’ve got and you don’t have much time.” As if to punctuate that statement a shudder ran down the ship followed by a groan that seemed to come from everywhere. “You and I are the last ones left on this ship and we’ve got to get off NOW.”

Keven pushed himself to his knees. “My way to the pods is blocked,” he said.

“I know,” the voice replied. “I’m tracking you through the ship’s life support system. There’s another way you can go but you have to do what I say.”

“All right, tell me what to do.”

“If you’re looking at the pressure door, turn to your left. You should see a small access hatch.”

Keven looked and saw the hatch. “Got it,” he said.

“Good, now the hatch seals with the pressure door, but fortunately the controls for the hatch are still intact.” There was a brief pause. “There, I just unlocked it. Open the hatch and climb in.”

Keven opened the hatch. There was just enough room for him to crawl in on his belly. In glow of the emergency lights he could see that the crawl way was lined with what looked like cable conduits or fluid pipes. Other than what light was spilling through the hatch, there was no light in the crawl way. “Which way am I going?” Keven asked.

“To your right,” the voice said.

“Okay, but I have to tell you, there is no light in here.”

“That’s fine. Just crawl until you feel an opening on your right. It should be about fifty meters.”

Keven grunted a response and crawled though the hatch. The crawl had been designed to give access to repair droids not to a full size human. He only had a few centimeters of space on either side of his body to move his arms and even on his belly, his back nearly brushed the top, limiting how much he could use his feet and knees to help him move. The pitch blackness obscured everything and every movement caused him to scrape some part of his body on an unseen protrusion. Suddenly those fifty meters seemed like fifty kilometers.

“You’re going to have to hurry,” the voice said in his ear as the ship shook under another hit.

Keven could feel a burn building up in his arms after the first few meters. “Whoever you are, shut up and let me crawl.”

“Sorry.”

Suddenly the ship shook hard enough to bang his head against and a flash lit the entire crawl way in strobosopic fury.

“You all right?” the voice asked.

Keven hadn’t realized he had said anything aloud. “What am I in here with?” he asked as he rubbed the knot on top of his head

“Uh... the power conduits for the starboard gun batteries.”
“Wonderful,” Keven groaned. There were gigavolts running through here with him.

“I thought you were better off not knowing.”

“I was,” Keven said and began crawling with renewed vigor.

His arms were numb with exhaustion when he felt his right arm hit empty space instead of smacking into the side of the crawl way. He wiped away the sweat coating his face. “I’m here,” He said.

“Okay,” the voice said. “You’re right underneath the pod launcher. Just crawl down the passage and...”

At that moment the Endar Spire took a hard lurch to one side. The shriek of tortured metal echoed down the crawl way. Brief lightning bursts illuminated the narrow passage like the bursts of exploded bombs and the air was filled with the stench of ozone. Air rolled down the crawl way with the force of a mag-lev train and began pulling Keven away from the opening. He tried to brace himself with his hands but his hands were slick with sweat and there was no strength in his arms. He managed to jam his knee against the side of the passage but the force of the wind rushing over him wrenched his ankle painfully underneath him.

“I’m slipping!” Keven screamed over the roar of the wind.

“Hold on!” the voice replied. Keven could barely hear it over the air rushing by. “There’s a hull breach!”

Keven slipped a few centimeters and pain exploded in his knee and ankle. “I’m losing it!” he yelled

“Hold on!” A square of light appeared before him, framing a man shaped shadow. It was close, less than ten meters away, but it might have been across the galaxy for all the ability Keven had of reaching it. There was another scream of metal tearing and the roar of the wind increased. He slipped a few more centimeters and a wave of pain sent spots floating across his vision.

Then something hit him in the face and it took Keven a moment to realize that it was the end of a thick cable. “Grab it!” yelled the shadow in the light.

Keven looped the cable around his wrist several times and then gripped it with both hands. “I’ve got it!” he yelled back without knowing if he could be heard. The shadow began pulling and the new shift in his position sent a new wave of agony roaring up his leg.

“You need to help me!” the shadow yelled. “Push with your legs!”

I can’t, Keven thought, but he shifted his other leg underneath him and pushed as hard as he could. The agony that hit almost made him black out and he thought he felt something pop in his ankle. Then he was free and moving up the passage. He felt hands loop themselves under his arms and pull him out of the crawl way. Keven saw well built man whose thick, dark hair was combed back from his forehead.

“We’ve got to get off this ship!” the man said.

“No... argument... here,” Keven groaned. He put his arm over the man’s shoulders and half stumbled was half carried into an escape pod.. He collapsed onto floor as the man shut the hatch behind them.

His rescuer then dropped into the control chair at the front of the pod. “Not a moment to soon,” he said. “Hold on.” Keven reached up and grabbed the edge of a seat as the acceleration of the pod’s launch tried to pull him to the back of the pod.
“I’m Carth Onasi,” the strange man said told him. “Who are you?”

“Keven,” he replied, and passed out.

#2 Guest_Dorotea_*

Posted 04 August 2003 - 09:56 PM

Wow! that was quite an interesting tale indeed. I have got the idea - and although I am not buying the X-box for this , I am going to get it when it comes out for PC ( well, maybe my son will finish it, if not I).

So, here is another young hero with supernatural abilities, right? I got a strange feeling that Sith were after Kevan not the Jedi lady ...

By the way - I just though of something. If energy shields are good for stopping blaster fire, but cannot protect against swords and sabers, what about your 'regular' bullet gun? Will it pass or be deflected? And jedi can actually deflect energy blasts away from themselves and back on the opponents? It sounds remarkable, can't remember if this was in the original trilogy. In any case I always wanted to learn more about Sith.

Cheers!

#3 Guest_kevtg_*

Posted 04 August 2003 - 10:35 PM

[quote]Wow! that was quite an interesting tale indeed. I have got the idea - and although I am not buying the X-box for this , I am going to get it when it comes out for PC ( well, maybe my son will finish it, if not I). [/quote]

It is definitely worth the purchase price. Especially if you loved the first trilogy.

[quote]
So, here is another young hero with supernatural abilities, right? I got a strange feeling that Sith were after Kevan not the Jedi lady ...
[/quote]

Not exacrly but the game has some interesting plot twists. Some right on up there with the "I am your father" revelation.

[quote]
By the way - I just though of something. If energy shields are good for stopping blaster fire, but cannot protect against swords and sabers, what about your 'regular' bullet gun? Will it pass or be deflected? And jedi can actually deflect energy blasts away from themselves and back on the opponents? It sounds remarkable, can't remember if this was in the original trilogy. In any case I always wanted to learn more about Sith.
[/quote]

Oh no! Logical questions! *alarms start ringing, George Lucas starts babbling incoherently* A bullet would probably pass though an energy shield but get incinerated by something as intense as a lightsaber blade. Personal energy shields don't figure in the movies. I think they're a device dreamed up by the game designers to encourage people to use swords at close ranges because the d20 rule set they're using says people using ranged weapons suffer a defensive penalty at melee ranges and that includes blasters. Never mind that repeating pistols are the best close in weapons ever devised...

Yes Jedi can reflect blaster bolts back at opponents. You see Luke do it a lot in Return of the Jedi. By the end of the game your Jedi character is practically impervious to blaster fire.

And if you want info on the Sith, the game features a visit to an archeological dig on the Sith homeworld...

[/quote]

#4 Guest_Dorotea_*

Posted 05 August 2003 - 12:02 AM

Oh no! Logical questions! *alarms start ringing, George Lucas starts babbling incoherently* A bullet would probably pass though an energy shield but get incinerated by something as intense as a lightsaber blade. Personal energy shields don't figure in the movies. I think they're a device dreamed up by the game designers to encourage people to use swords at close ranges because the d20 rule set they're using says people using ranged weapons suffer a defensive penalty at melee ranges and that includes blasters. Never mind that repeating pistols are the best close in weapons ever devised...


Heh, heh heh - I am evil like this, you know. In any case - it would be neat if you could use machine gun in Star Wars settings. Kind of makes Jedi power useless I think. And did I tell you how annoyed was with the whole 'strange amoebae in the blood' jedi powers theory?

Lucas ought to hire a scientific consultant - he can afford one. :roll:

Neat to see Sith archeological site, but it implies that even 4000 years ago they were old ... By the way - is not 4K is a bit odd a number? Comon - 3000 ago we barely had Egyptian civilization ... and nowdays the progress is moving in leaps and jumps.

#5 Guest_kevtg_*

Posted 05 August 2003 - 02:06 AM

Heh, heh heh - I am evil like this, you know. In any case - it would be neat if you could use machine gun in Star Wars settings. Kind of makes Jedi power useless I think. And did I tell you how annoyed was with the whole 'strange amoebae in the blood' jedi powers theory?

There are severla spots in the series where Jedi fend rapid fire blaster weapons, so they might be able to handle machineguns. Who knows what "the Force" can do? :roll:

I agree with you on the strange amoeba in the blood. I try to forget thelast two movies happened. It's sad the game is way better than the movies.

Neat to see Sith archeological site, but it implies that even 4000 years ago they were old ... By the way - is not 4K is a bit odd a number? Comon - 3000 ago we barely had Egyptian civilization ... and nowdays the progress is moving in leaps and jumps.


The game actually deals a lot with the history of the galaxy. The Republic is about 20,000 years old but there have been times of technological backsliding. Plus commo between systems is spotty at best, messengers still being most reliable way of transmitting information and that tends to slow development.

kev
-really feeling like a geek now :evil:

#6 Guest_Userunfriendly_*

Posted 05 August 2003 - 06:18 AM

Oh no! Logical questions! *alarms start ringing, George Lucas starts babbling incoherently* A bullet would probably pass though an energy shield but get incinerated by something as intense as a lightsaber blade. Personal energy shields don't figure in the movies. I think they're a device dreamed up by the game designers to encourage people to use swords at close ranges because the d20 rule set they're using says people using ranged weapons suffer a defensive penalty at melee ranges and that includes blasters. Never mind that repeating pistols are the best close in weapons ever devised...


Heh, heh heh - I am evil like this, you know. In any case - it would be neat if you could use machine gun in Star Wars settings. Kind of makes Jedi power useless I think. And did I tell you how annoyed was with the whole 'strange amoebae in the blood' jedi powers theory?


or a shot gun...

hahhahahahahahhahahh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gosh...that one bit really really ticked me off too...

Lucas ought to hire a scientific consultant - he can afford one. :)


Neat to see Sith archeological site, but it implies that even 4000 years ago they were old ... By the way - is not 4K is a bit odd a number? Comon - 3000 ago we barely had Egyptian civilization ... and nowdays the progress is moving in leaps and jumps.


"The game actually deals a lot with the history of the galaxy. The Republic is about 20,000 years old but there have been times of technological backsliding. Plus commo between systems is spotty at best, messengers still being most reliable way of transmitting information and that tends to slow development. "

interesting...

I do have a gaming question...my preferred speed for playing games, is turn based...if you do not have great reflexes, can you still play kotoe???

I am for sure planning to get the game around december when I get my new system...a monster of a machine, with a top of the line nvidia graphics card, over 4 gig of ram, and the fastest processor I can find...and a systems bus that is going to scream...upgrade my monitor too...

but my reflexes still suck...will someone who has bad reflexes still be able to enjoy the game?

This game is definately on my most wanted list...

#7 Guest_kevtg_*

Posted 05 August 2003 - 06:06 PM

[quote="Userunfriendly
I do have a gaming question...my preferred speed for playing games, is turn based...if you do not have great reflexes, can you still play kotoe???

I am for sure planning to get the game around december when I get my new system...a monster of a machine, with a top of the line nvidia graphics card, over 4 gig of ram, and the fastest processor I can find...and a systems bus that is going to scream...upgrade my monitor too...

but my reflexes still suck...will someone who has bad reflexes still be able to enjoy the game?

This game is definately on my most wanted list...[/quote]

It uses Biowares patented real-time-turn-based system, just like BG. You can pause the action at any time to issue commands, plus you can "stack"commands. You know, "do this, after that do this" and then just sit back and watch it run. THe animation is specatcular, just like watching a movie.

kev




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