Chapter 10
I would like to thank my reviewers, those who added my story to their alerts and favorites, and to all anonymous readers.
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or Prototype.
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The news report on the holoscreen flickered with a constant stream of images capturing the death and destruction Malak's attack had wrought upon Taris. Bodies of civilians and republic soldiers were strewn haphazardly about the streets as the sky rained red. Entire sections of the Upper City had been reduced to scorched, twisted metal. Melted, blackened chunks of debris that had once been part of the ecumenopolis that was Taris fell through the sky.
Zeus watched it all with cool, clinical detachment. The screen flickered one last time and the stream cut off. It was the last transmission sent before the planet was reduced to a smoldering heap. The repercussions of the attack went far beyond the widespread physical damage. In the weeks since the devastating Sith assault, the various media outlets across the galaxy had been dominated with the graphic and unthinkable images.
The attack had shaken the Republic to its core, stripping away the last pockets of resistance against the war inside the senate. Some senators even went so far as to propose a bill outlawing the Sith as a forbidden religion. Yet where others saw disaster, he saw opportunity. He knew, perhaps better than anyone, that the Republic's sudden awareness of its own vulnerability could benefit his vision. That was why he was special; he was a being of vision, and capable of performing terrible deeds in the pursuit of a greater purpose.
Once Alex Mercer had been just like everybody else. He had marveled with the rest of Gentek when the Redlight virus was discovered in Hope, Idoha. He had watched in amazement as the virus took over its victim, turning and twisting after its own purpose. Back then he had been an average man, with an average life. He had friends and family.
All those things were gone now, stripped away by the necessity of his vision. He would become something more, abandoning and transcending his ordinary existence in pursuit of a greater goal. Humanity had walked the earth for countless millennia, and the only thing they had accomplished was engineering better ways to kill each other. The people of earth needed someone to guide them. They needed patriots and heroes willing to make the necessary sacrifices to elevate the human race into a better future, a future without war and suffering.
He would transform himself to guide humanity onto the right path. But before he could, he had been gunned down in Penn station. Alex Mercer had died, but his memories and wishes lived on in the being later known to the population as Zeus. It was his contingency plan; this being would be his instrument.
Zeus pressed repeat on the holoscreen. Once, he had been disturbed at the memories of his creation and the reason for his existence. Eventually after all the pain and betrayal, he had accepted it fully; back then it was up to him to save humanity. Just like it was up to him now to save the galaxy, from itself. He had given the galaxy a chance, to see if they were better than the people of earth. One look at galactic history taught him otherwise, war and suffering hadn't diminished, it had simply grown.
Right now there was no immediate concern, the war between the Sith and the Republic would have many more battles in the struggle for galactic dominance, and the destruction of Taris was just a small piece of the puzzle, and he would deal with them in their proper time.
His focus lay elsewhere. Project Genesis was about to take off, and it would begin on Coruscant.
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The rising sun peeked over the mountains on Dantooine, and the clouds looked to have caught fire. Trees groaned and the soughing wind bore the scent of wet grass. The blade of the lightsaber hissed through the air. Voren could not see its green gleam through his blindfold. He used the force to know precisely where it was, allowing him to duck when needed.
The heat of his opponent's lightsaber blade passed overhead, nearly burning him.
"Good." Master Zhar called from the sidelines. "Let your feelings guide you."
Voren listened intently for the sound of his opponent's lightsaber, for his breathing, for the scrape of boots against the ground. These sounds echoed quietly in the large, open area. Randomly placed holes on the ground added another element to take into consideration. He had to use the force to sense those too, with this much uneven ground, it was easy to lose your footing.
On the side, Zhar observed diligently. "Keep your guard up."
Voren raised his weapon and dived to his right as his opponent's lightsaber slammed into the ground beside him. He took a leap back, over one of the larger holes. Voren heard the hiss of the lightsaber increase as his opponent hastily executed a sequence, trying to get a hit in before irritation and fatigue took over.
Sweat trickled down underneath his blindfold, making his eyes sting. Voren blocked it out, along with the presence of his opponent and Master Zhar. He could imagine himself a full Jedi Knight, battling a creature… a humanoid with claws as long as Voren's underarm that could easily shred a human. In his mind, he saw the armored creature glare at him with glowing red eyes.
The vision energized him, and all of his fear and fatigue disappeared. Within a few moments, every muscle in his body was attuned to the force. It flowed through him, guiding his movements, and giving him speed and agility.
Voren raised his blade and blocked the next blow. The opponent's lightsaber whirled down. Voren leaped high, over his attacker's head, and thrust his blade horizontally where the creature's midsection would be.
"Aargh!" The other student howled in pain as Voren's blade struck his ribs. If they had used a Jedi lightsaber, it would have split him in two. But apprentices in the Enclave used training sabers set to low power. The blade burned on contact, a wound the healers might need to tend to.
"You were lucky!" The wounded apprentice shouted.
Until this moment, Voren hadn't known who he was fighting. He'd been led there blindfolded, now he recognized the voice. It belonged to Kaevee. Unlike Voren, she was one of the older apprentices in the Jedi Enclave. And like Voren, she also hoped to become a Jedi Knight.
"Kaevee," Zhar called calmly. "Don't remove your blindfold. A Jedi don't need his eyes to see."
But Voren still heard her blindfold fall to the ground. Kaevee's voice was filled with anger. "You'll pay for that!"
"You will calm yourself!" Zhar's voice rang across the area.
Every Jedi learner has his or her weakness. Like Voren, Kaevee also struggled to control her anger and fear. Training in the Enclave was not just about lightsaber techniques or the ability to use the Force; it was just as much about having the right character.
Kaevee struggled with her anger that could quickly turn into rage. In the short amount of time since he met her, he knew she usually kept it under control so that the Master's didn't witness it. Only on rare occasions did it bubble to the surface in their presence.
"No! Let's do it again." Kaevee said. "This time I'll show you what a training saber feels like."
"Kaevee, that's enough!" Zhar took a few steps forward. "Your anger is getting the better of you. A Jedi must learn to lose as well as win, go to your room and meditate on this."
Voren removed his blindfold and tried not to get sucked into the challenge. He would love to beat her again, to remove her high-and-mighty attitude. And it took all of his willpower not to respond as Kaevee stormed off.
"You did well, Voren." Zhar turned towards him. "You are progressing faster than I ever thought possible."
"Thank you, Master."
"But I could also feel your anger as I felt Keavee's. Why didn't you respond in kind?"
Voren shrugged. "I wanted to… I wanted to take her down a notch. But that wouldn't sate her anger or mine."
"Then you are learning. You can never fight anger with anger." Zhar smiled. "Always remember, you don't need to kill an enemy to defeat them. Extinguish the rage inside and he's no longer your enemy."
"I'll remember that."
Zhar nodded. "I think we're done for now, I'll see you later this afternoon to continue your training."
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Coruscant.
Home to over one trillion lifeforms. The bright center of the galaxy and seat of government for the numerous worlds belonging to the Republic. It was the epitome of higher-learning and culture, bringing in the collective wisdom of millions of different civilizations. One could only fully appreciate the enormous construction from orbit; the planet had long ago been turned into one giant multi-tiered metropolis that made Taris pale in comparison.
The Coruscanti skyscrapers even dwarfed all the original natural features, including mountains, as well as the ocean floors which ones covered large parts of the surface. These gigantic skyscrapers could be found along the equator and were a sight to behold, some even extending high enough to pierce the upper fringes of atmosphere. The shorter structures could be found everywhere on the globe.
Jonathan, Jon to his friends, sat patiently in silence beside his team in one such building. It was a newly acquired office-building, and housed the company's twice-weekly meetings in the two-hundredth floor boardroom. He observed quietly the various hand-movements the people opposite to him made over the various datapads lying on the table. The negotiations had proceeded slowly for months, but this time he was sure they would accept. The main contract included several sub-contracts, totaling in a one-billion credits deal.
The Gossam government wanted to renovate and expand one of the larger areas of their capital city Castell. Jon, through careful negotiations had been able to convince them of not only using their mineral-recourses, but also their workforce. It was the largest and most lucrative deal in the company's history, if they accepted.
Shu Miin, the female Gossam in charge of the negotiations, finally nodded to her aides and put her signature on the datapads before meeting Jon in a handshake.
"We'll expect work to begin in two months time."
Jon nodded. "I assure you, there will be no delays."
"Good, then our business here is concluded."
Jon's right hand-man practically bounced around the room as she and her entourage left and the doors closed.
"We have to celebrate this!" The man said as he engulfed Jon in a hug and lifted him up.
"I have some things to finish up first, how about I meet you at the Outlander Club in an hour?"
The man smiled. "And not a second later."
Jon quickly gathered up the datapads and left for his office, he still needed to make copies of the contract and let his father know of his success. He had done something none of his predecessors could, and he knew his father would be proud. Jon burst through the doors and entered his dark office, immediately going to the records room and filing the data.
"I've been waiting for you."
Jon jerked to his right, scanning the room for the source. Nothing was out of the ordinary in the office, until the lights above the desk flickered on with a low hum, revealing a hooded figure. He saw the figure observe him carefully for a few seconds, the stare felt strangely inhuman.
"Who are you?" His tone made sure it was a demand and not a question.
The figure pushed up out of the chair and walked in front of the desk. Jon still couldn't see the man's face under the hood, only the lower part was visible in the light.
"We have a mutual acquaintance, a good-looking blonde creature and… Barry."
Jon let out a breath. "So you know Tiri? Did she make it off Taris?"
"As far as I know, she was still on the planet when Malak opened fire."
Jon nodded. "So she really is dead."
"I'm afraid so. I thought I'd bring the bad news and talk to you about a great new idea I have for your corporation."
Jon narrowed his eyes. "Look, the only reason I haven't thrown you out yet is because you're a friend of Tiri. InterGalactic Ore has been in my family for generations, and nobody is going to tell me how to run my company."
"I apologize." The figure walked up to Jon and extended his arm. "No harm done?"
Jon hesitated for a moment, and then shook the man's hand. Upon contact, several appendages sprung forth from the man's arm and latched on to his arm. Jon cradled his arm in pain as he fell to the ground.
"What the hell did you do to me?"
"You are evolving. Transcending to a higher form of existence, you should be grateful."
There was no way he could explain what was happening as the pain slowly moved its way further up his arm and into his chest, causing his whole body to convulse. He no longer could feel his arm or control its actions; his body shook one last time before everything went dark.
He opened his eyes slowly, and he felt… great, better than he ever had actually. The pain that was slowly killing him was gone, replaced with strength he never thought possible. Standing up with easy never experienced, he observed the hooded figure in front of him.
"I feel powerful, like I could do almost anything."
"You have been chosen. We will do great things together."
Jon nodded. "Yes, I've been chosen. Chosen to serve you, lord?"
"I am Zeus." Zeus walked towards the empty chair. "Take a seat; let's discuss the future of InterGalactic Ore, and about Project Genesis."
It was close to midnight when he returned to the ship, Alex found his Mandalorian shipmate sitting in the conference room. Canderous put down the newly cleaned rifle on the table and nodded towards him.
"So what have you been up to?" Alex asked.
"Went through our munitions, checked the ship's systems and cleaned my rifle."
"Wow, you live such an exciting life. Can we switch?"
Canderous grunted. "It's not like you would do it. Anyway, where did you run off too?"
Alex shrugged. "Just broke in to a corporate facility and converted one of the workers into my way of thinking."
"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine."
Alex smiled. "That's what I like about you, Canderous. You can always tell when I lie."
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Au
I always thought it strange how almost all the Evolved in the game was former enemies of Mercer. So my take on the Evolved is that they all have their own individuality, but the infection makes them predisposed towards wanting to please Mercer. Also, Mercer has some very ambitious plans. But don't worry, he will still help with the star maps.