Just quickly before I get into the next chapter, just going to address some comments outlined in reviews:
I have tweaked the canon for both universes a little just to make things easier from a narrative perspective so everyone can understand each other, their tech is just different. Tali can interface with a droids OS because she has studied the tech, that's why she analysed that destroyed droid arm from earlier.
The arrival of the Sleeper Fleet caused different things to happen, that's why Revan isn't with Carth on Taris. Revan is still going to be in this fanfiction he just won't be a big player till later on in the story, I'm focusing more on Tali as the main protagonist as opposed to Revan.
Anyway, another short one here. The shorter chapters work better for chapters involving just one or two major villians like Karath or Malak, I'm trying to mimic the same scenes from the game as they are only a few minutes long anyway.
Deep within the bowels of the Leviathan, horrifying experiments took place. Republic prisoners were subject to numerous weapon tests and medical tests. Captured Jedi were taken somewhere completely different to be corrupted and finally turned to the Dark side. However the labs did not hold Republic prisoners today, they held something that the Sith had never seen before, strange aliens dependant on artificial environments to stay alive. Over one hundred of these aliens had been captured and were being experimented on while a few were being personally 'interrogated' by the dark lord Malak himself.
Saul Karath walked these hallways examining the work before him. The Sith scientists had no mercy or moral obligations, they did not flinch when they forcefully removed the masks of Quarian children and subjected them to harmful gases in order to find their stress limits. Karath walked by bodies being dissected and experimented on. Quarians lay naked on platforms while Sith scientists prodded and poked them, their whimpering voices and pleas were ignored. The rest of the Quarians were being held on the ships detention level, unaware of the fate that awaited them, every now and then one would be taken forcefully while the parents or friends did their best to stop the faceless soldiers. Saul Karath watched all of this unfold with a smirk on his face, he was no longer human the Dark side had completely corrupted him.
Karath approached what must have been the head scientist, he turned around and saluted his superior. "Admiral! We are making progress in determining the origin of these aliens."
"What have you discovered?" Karath uttered, his smirk not faltering.
"These beings have extremely weak immune systems, they are forced to live confined within envirosuits for their whole lives. If they so much as crack their helmets they could die within hours." The scientist replied while pulling up a holographic chart and a datapad with necessary measurements. "Biologically, they are not that different to Humans, the main difference being that their legs and bone structure are constructed differently."
The admiral's smirk disappeared while he examined the corpse of a nearby Quarian. "Do you need any more of these... things?"
"No, we have all the specimens we need right here. What do you have in mind for the rest? Termination?" The scientist quickly asked.
"No." Something even more devious came across the corrupted admiral's mind. "Leave them with me, I'm sure that Lord Malak will have something special planned for them. Separate the children from the adults." The admiral cackled to himself silently as he left the lab.
"Yes sir." The scientist said as the admiral left, he quickly made the necessary announcements. All specimens would be archived for further use, while any subjects would be terminated. A team of soldiers entered the room and began rounding up any living subjects, they were lifted, pushed and dragged to a nearby wall covered in scorch marks. A squad of Sith soldiers stood in front of them and aimed their weapons, a torrent of flames hit the prisoners with fury, Karath smirked as the door closed behind him and their screams dissipated as the elevator ascended.