I would like to respond to a guest reviewer going by the name I like cheese. I thought I made it clear that mercer had no intention of making a single hive minded race, look closer at what my alex plans and I think you'll understand he is far smarter than he once was. On another note a guest reviewer called this story disgusting, I'm interested to hear why?
Yoda's pov
Yoda had many regrets, for one he had never fully mastered the galactic basic language. While he understood all the words within the language the lining up and nuances of the speech had alluded him. Instead he had chosen to use his connection to the force to make up for his confusion on the languages strange expression, choosing instead to skim the surface of his students minds to understand their true emotions and thoughts.
There was some irony to that thought, that he Yoda considered one of the most powerful icons of the force had failed to master a language considered so widely understood. Perhaps part of the reason was quite simply to make him seem more approachable to the young Jedi seeking advice or perhaps it was part of some grand balance, a payment for his mastery of the force.
What had brought about these strange thoughts? It had been a very peaceful day, it had been the first day in many years Yoda had smiled. He had felt something that gave him hope these dark days of the empires rule were numbered, two small flickers of light in the darkening universe. Those forces of light had a familiar feeling to them, they were the children of Anakin Skywalker. He had only felt them for a few seconds but he had taken it as a sign the force would soon return power to the light side.
He would have spent the whole day smiling, peacefully staring out onto the swamp he called home if not for one thing. He had felt a great disturbance within the force, one that was unaffiliated with either light or dark. With it came a vision...
Flashback
Yoda smiled out onto his swamp when suddenly he felt a pull in the force, a great change. He focused outward and was horrified to find the ever flowing dark and light force that populated the universe had changed. Instead of the black white and grey colors that usually painted the universe, i the entire force had gained a light shade of red, orange and black streaks seemingly scattered randomly.
The red tint felt hungry, grasping at the force as a starving man gripping for a loaf of bread. The force itself was screaming in pain, sending out pulses of black and white trying to push back the horrible starving red. It was as if...The force had become ill and it was now trying to repel some great disease or infection.
Yoda followed the redness back to a distant arm of the galaxy and was shocked to see the red tinge became nearly all encompassing, the streaks of black and orange became larger and more common the nearer his senses got to the source. Finally he spread his senses out into the great red mist. He finally saw the center, a great monolith of red and black pulsating tendrils reaching out releasing the red of it's power out as it gripped the force.
Yoda could feel the force winning, pushing back the red. The monolith suddenly shifted, condensing down into a human shape. As the red was almost fully pushed back a figure became clear, the human shape had a leather jacket, blue pants, and overall looked mostly average. The only truly remarkable thing about the man were his eyes glowing an ethereal blue color holding the same hunger as the red mist he had created.
The man started to burn away in black and white fire, as the force began rejecting him. Yet he did not scream in pain as he was forcibly ripped from the force, in fact the last thing the man did was smile.
End flashback
At first Yoda had tried to tell himself the force had destroyed that strange creature, yet the second that comforting thought could enter his mind the midichlorians within his body screeched in protest. The force itself rejected such an idea, whatever had infected the force would return.
Thus with a heavy heart Yoda sent his senses back out unto the universe and for once felt a small amount of relief at the sight of two massive pillars of darkness and hate. Whatever was coming would be a threat to the force as a whole, both light and dark would be needed to fight the coming disease. His relief was tempered however at the sight of small flecks of fear rolling from the darkness.
Vader pov
That strange presence in the force had not been something Vader was prepared for, what he had been planning for the murder of his emperor since the day he had been betrayed. Not in some grand act for the light side of the force which had abandoned him to his fate, but instead in a final act of vengeance against the galaxy as a whole. In these terbulent times losing the emperor would strike a massive blow against the stability of all galactic civilization. Political leaders would scramble for power as his followers did the same and by the end of the fighting, the galatic empire would be in shambles.
Yet these plans had been made before he had felt the force itself being twisted and enslaved, his master had failed to realize the true implications of what the man in the mist had been doing. Palpitine had belevied that the man was attempting to poison and destroy the force. It was easy to forget that even with his masters far greater experience in the matters of the force he was not as connected as he was.
His master saw parts of the force dying and had assumed that was the creatures intent but Vader had seen the truth. The creature had been ripping the force apart by enslaving it, twisting it to match it's own twisted desire. The worst part, the thing that made Vader feel fear for the first time since he had walked in the light? The fact that if the creature had a bit more time it would have succeeded.
Yet he also realized that if the creature should succeed it would not be to far off his own plans of destabilizing the galactic empire. The only problem was it would be a hollow vengeance, he should be the one who struck the blow against the galaxy not some creature from across the galaxy. He was no fool though, it was clear the force itself was influencing his choice not to kill his master anyway, to wait till the creature was dealt with before striking Palpatine down.
The force was afraid and to protect itself it would influence those who listened into holding off on slaying one another, it could not stop them altogether but it would do all it could to keep it's force users alive to fight the coming storm. He felt hate swell even as the force gripped to the few shards of Anakin still buried deep within his soul. He would face the great beast and only than would he claim his vengeance.
All these thoughts raced through Vaders mind as he electrocuted and abused several of the empires best recruits. He ignored several screams for him to stop as he knew any who died deserved their fate for being weak. This was the closest thing he had found to the meditating he had once done so freely as a jedi. He could no longer find inner peace but that was one of many prices one must pay to embrace the darkside of the force.
Palpatine pov
Palpatine had been rather pleased, he had discovered one of his oldest students was hiding out on some backwater planet on the edge of the galaxy. His student had experienced a moment of weakness and thus he had been able to sense his presence along with the presence of some other great dark entity. Palpatine had planned to send Vader to either collect his old apprentice if he was willing or destroy him if he refused. Than Vader would move on to face the other dark entity and attempt to bring it to their side.
Unfortunately, his scheming had been interrupted by one of the worst experiences Palpatine had felt in centuries. He had felt death, that was a sobering thought. His student hadn't felt it, the weakness crawling into his body as the red mist spread. Vaders body was hugely mechanical and while his body used the force to help it survive he was not completely reliant on it. He had no such protection, his body was almost completely sustained by the force. The red mist weakening of the force within his body had almost ended his life.
He was no fool, he was well aware physically he had become frail but he had always believed that through the force he could overcome any challenge. Yet the creature had turned that belief on it's head, the red mist had weakened his connection to the force only slightly yet it had profound effects on his body. He had come out of his trance panting for breath.
He felt it, the temptation to panic and send all of his forces to comb half the galaxy in search of the creature. He would not though, the odds of finding the creature were far too unlikely and the resources far too expensive. Plus should he fail the beast would know it had scared him, he would continue his plans instead. He would also prepare though, for he would find the creature and see it killed. He refused to die in his bed grasping for the force as an old man gasping for one more breath. He refused to die fighting an enemy he couldn't even see!
Mercer pov
Mercer was pleased with Sarah's progress, she had learned much in there time together. From the intricacies of her own genetic manipulation abilities, to her main objective of infiltrating the water world company her mother worked for and replacing the C.E.O so they could gain a steady supply of resources and would ensure no one would question shipments of rare metals.
Plus they could speed up the mining trumendously with the use of specialized hydra, it would also allow for them to gain a foothold of influence among the galaxy. Though one of the main purposes was to search for planets with rare and plentiful enough resources to plant hive minds and nest. Sarah was currently preoccupied in the chamber where she had devoured her aunt. She was currently fighting a group of three hunters without using her hair, it was some kind of personal challenge she had come up with to pass the time before they landed.
Sarah's pov
Sarah was excited. She was finally going to get a chance to contribute to the hive, to help advance Alex's goals. Had she not been so indoctorined to Alex Mercer she would have realized just how much her goals had changed, she had gone from wanting to kill the monsters who'd kidnapped her, to serving Alex and his plans.
Alex had already wandered off to explore the rest of the planet while she began infiltrating the companies headquarters. Though infiltration was a bit of a strong word for what she was currently doing, which consisted of walking in the front office and crying for her mother.
Not the most creative plan in the world really, but Alex had refused to help her plan ahead. Claiming some nonsense about learning from experience as for how she knew it was nonsense? Alex hadn't even bothered trying to convince her otherwise and she had made sure he could hear her thoughts through the hive mind.
Something told her that he was only making her do it by herself for his own amusement, this only seemed more likely as she felt a distant chuckle reverberate through the hive mind.
She sighed as she stepped through the front door of the office building, at least today would be interesting if nothing else.
I apoligize for the length of time since the last update but I've run into some writers block recently if this chapter seems to short thats why. I felt I should get this chapter out now rather than wait even longer for my writers block to fade.
