628

Prologue

Voyager Cluster

Captain Gantu of the Galactic Federation, recently re-enlisted, sat on the customized chair of the bridge of the newest battleship, the Big One, staring out in the black void of space. The ionized-gases, forming a "cloud" of beautiful scarlet and brown, formed a rather strange shape to the right of the view-window, with the Marlak Nebula off in the distance to the left.

Sitting up, he straightened his black battle-shirt, adjusted his belt and stood up at a staggering 20 ft., notably making his crew a little nervous.

"At ease, adjust our course to two-two-three, make a hyper-launch in three, let's head back to Turos" he ordered, his voice a rumbling-deep.

"Understood sir" the helmsman nodded, typing in the coordinates on his holographic panel. "You going to check up on the…'cargo'?"

"As always, don't want another mistake like the one with 626 three years ago…" he grumbled a bit.

"Hey, at least you were better that time then when you went to catch him blubber-butt!" an obnoxious-voice sounded off, making Gantu cringe a bit. It was his partner, 625; A.K.A. Reuben.

The crew cringed as well. They were never used to anyone disrespecting a superior officer, so they have yet to get accustomed to Reuben's daily ritual whenever Gantu reminisces of his past.

Gantu just gave a small growl in reply, and walked into a hallway, the walls a bit rounded above, with a chrome-finish all-round. Small, dark-blue, orb-shaped lamps were grafted into the ceiling, giving the hallway an odd color to it, with portholes evenly spaced to view outside the starship.

"Three years, and I don't see anything where you can poke fun at me Reuben…" Gantu scowled, his day already bad enough.

"Hey, I'm bored big-fish. Can't expect me to eat sandwiches all day and do just that, will ya?" he snickered, his uniform struggling to contained his round, chubby stomach. Gantu had a remark, but decided it was too easy.

Prisoner Holding Cell, Aft-section, Port-side

"Jeez, he's obviously seen better days…" Reuben cringed a little, seeing a black experiment held by his hands and feet in mid-air by hovering cuffs, DNA-tracking sentries already armed and aimed at him.

"Define, better days…" Gantu replied with an eye-roll. He crossed his arms and stared at the experiment, designated 628. Two years ago, Lilo discovered another experiment-pod locked away in Jumba's lab. That experiment was built before the infamous 'Leroy' experiment that began an assault in the Kokoua Town Stadium, which was defeated by a last-second army formed by Stitch and Lilo.

And now, after a diagnostic with Jumba's assistance, the experiment had been activated accidentally, and is now being transferred to a secure facility on Turos.

"So…what does this one do?" Reuben asked, taking a bite out of his ham sandwich.

"It is a counterpart of 626" Gantu began, sighing. "626, or, Stitch as some prefer, is designed to be a supersoldier with doomsday capabilities. This one is the opposite in terms of abilities. It is an operative, designed for espionage, subterfuge, assassinations, manipulation; simply put, this one is a 'brain'"

"A brain eh? Wonder if he can do my homework…" Reuben snickered, taking another bite.

"Unlike Stitch, he is built to create and oversee complex plans, some short-term such as an assassination, others long-term, such as a governmental change in a nation…" Gantu continued. "If this one escapes, well…we'd have a harder time with this one then 626…"

"So…in a way, if he wants us out of the picture, it'll happen no matter what?" Reuben clarified, speaking between chews.

"Exactly…" he nodded. "I am taking much more precautions then with 626…this one, is much more dangerous…the only thing that will save us, is if he reforms to good, like 626 did after some time when he met that human…"

"Jeez…well then, better keep him locked up then, eh?" Reuben grinned, shrugging as he took another bite. Immediately, he started coughing, a glob of sandwich going down the wrong path. Gantu rushed over and started to squeeze underneath his ribs in rhythms, the Heimlich-Maneuver. After one huge cough, a nasty glob of sandwich shot out and hit the keypad, short-circuiting it.

"You idiot!" Gantu snarled, drawing his pistol. The turrets disarmed themselves, retreating back into their holes as the cuffs began to open, one by one. Sharp jets of steam shot out as the cuffs opened, finally done as an emergency team of Federation-soldiers arrived and took aim.

The experiment didn't move, not an inch. All that moved was his chest, rising and falling as he breathed.

"Secure it…" Gantu ordered, his relief obvious through his immense shaking. Two soldiers nodded and walked in, holstering their rifles. As the rest, including Gantu, berating Rueben as they followed, left the section, the experiment woke up, and immediately retrieved the guard's weapon. The other yelped and took aim, but was shot square in the face. The alarm immediately sounded off, a harsh klaxon-beeping ringing through out the corridor, the light flashing a harsh red throughout as it revolved.

628 immediately grabbed a soldier and started to put on his uniform, his body now morphing and stretching…

The Bridge, Bow-section

Gantu almost jumped as the klaxon sounded off. The prisoner has escaped!

"Lockdown! Now!" he screamed, crashing in his chair and bringing up the ship schematic, activating the Bio-signature system. The blast doors crashed into each other, the hydraulics groaning as they twisted to lock themselves in place.

"All units, sound off!" the company commander exclaimed.

"Delta-squad, all men are accounted for!" a squad leader with a gruff voice replied.

"Alpha squad! The prisoner took out my whole squad, I'm all alone here!" a soldier screamed, panting.

"Delta, get over there and give as much aid as you can!" the commander ordered. The squad leader acknowledged and started to race down, his squad accompanying him. The blast doors opened for them, the Bio-signatures recognizing them. Soon, they arrived at the prisoner section. All of the soldiers were shot in the face, they didn't have a chance, save for one traumatized soldier, huddling in the corner.

"What happened here son?" the leader bent down and laid a hand on the soldier's shoulder.

"It…he…they couldn't…hit him…he just…" he panted, whining and sobbing.

"Don't worry…come on! Let's get him outta here!" the leader ordered. Afterwards, two soldiers came over and, after giving comforting words, helped him up and led him out. "We got to him sir, he looks bad…we're transferring him to the Med-bay for the time being…"

"Understood, keep looking, the bastard is around here somewhere…" the commander replied, obviously not pleased.

Medical-Bay, Middle section

Dr. Jerash Naju was busy organizing the antibiotics when the alarm sounded off, startling him. He soon heard the conversation between the Federation company commander and the squads, and knew the prisoner escaped.

And now, he was administering a sedative to calm a babbling soldier, who claimed the prisoner slaughtered his entire squad without difficulty. Suddenly, the soldier grabbed his arm in a vice grip and stared at him without emotion, getting up slowly.

"Nngh, l-let go!" he grunted, struggling. But he was silenced immediately as the soldier's face began twisting, reconstructing itself as it turned from a sandy-orange into a night-black. Soon, he was staring at the face of the prisoner himself, whom he saw being transported onto the ship a while back.

"Nnghaa…" he gasped, staring in horror. Soon, his neck seemed to burst into flames, and his vision starting to blacken…

Hanger Bay, Starboard Side, Bow-section

The company commander looked over the bay, his arms crossed as he stared out beyond the hanger doors, protected by a shield to keep the atmosphere pressurized and air from leaking. This was not his day at all. This was his last post before he could take leave and visit his family of four again, who currently reside on Turos, near the Embassy. Soon, the door opened, and when he turned around, he gasped as he saw the prisoner, holding Dr. Jerash in a chokehold.

"Ship…now…" the experiment ordered, holding a pistol to Jerash's head. The commander scrunched his face and said "not a chance in hell…"

628 scowled before he raised his pistol and shot him right in the face, his head hitting the panel before he crumpled to the floor. Jerash yelped and whined in horror before he was pushed forward, 628 beginning to get a ride.

"Gantu! The prisoner, he's in the Hanger bay! He killed the commander!" Jerash screamed into a communications panel. As quickly as it happened, 628 merely shot him right in the back, shouting and moaning in pain before he slid to the floor.

With Gantu shouting curses at him, 628 merely grinned as he walked over and picked the good doctor up onto his shoulder and walked down.

Soon, a harsh hissing sound erupted all over the hanger, the alarm blaring at an ear-splitting volume.

"Hope you can breathe in space, trog-scum!" Gantu laughed over the intercom. 628 scowled again, and picked up a detonator.

"Hope you can, my good sir!" he laughed back, pushing a button. Soon, the entire engine of the ship exploded in a fantastic display of colors, black smoke appearing briefly before it disappeared in the vacuum of space. Gantu began to scream in rage afterwards. He quickly ran towards a fighter, stuffed the doctor in the back and hopped in. Punching in a few pre-launch commands, the engines whirred to life and spat out a stream of neon-green light as it lifted off and began to move.

628 smiled again as he typed in some more commands in a datapad he stole from the Med-bay. The shield soon changed its frequency, allowing the ship to pass through. He took out the detonator again, twisted a knob, and hit the button again.

This time, the entire bow-section shot out as the ship was decapitated, the command-center flying and twisting into space. 628 leaned back, crossed his arms behind his head and grinned, snickering a little before he punched in some coordinates and made a hyper-launch…