Fair warning this chapter mentions of slavery, suggestions of sexual actions and abuse. Nothing to descriptive in that category though just mentions mostly. Also unwilling genetic experimentation, Mercer is a creature with little moral value.

Within the depths of space a starship was hurtling across the galaxy, this ship looked very average in nature. The make and model were unidentifiable, suggesting it was some kind of custom model. Though its lack of paint or overwhelming firepower marked it as either very new or it had been stripped for parts. Though the outside of the ship seemed uninteresting the same could not be said for the interior.

Within the ship was covered in black and red tissue, reminiscent of vines. Yet these fleshy vine pulsed orange and red like veins, in the cockpit growing from the vines along the ceiling hung a massive eye modeled after an abyssins. Tendrils grew from the floor around the main control console, these tendrils split at the end. Creating ten smaller tendrils, they appeared to be pressing buttons at random.

In this strange ships cargo hold a young female Twi'lek was being held in an orange translucent cocoon. Besides her a massive creature with no face sat, grey skin covering its form, green growths coating its back. It appeared to be keeping watch over the girl.

Yet the strangest thing stood around the ships star map, all the fleshy vines seemed to converge into that room. They all met on one side of the star map the majority of the vines were connected to a set of legs. The feet were either buried beneath the vines or more likely the vines had once been feet.

The vines that did not connect to the legs were attached to the entities back. This entity was Alex Mercer, at that current moment random tentacles grew from his form. Mercers hands had been replaced, they were now a seiries of small tendrils, twenty growing from each wrist. He was standing before the star map, which at that moment seemed to have been converted into a makeshift workstation. Vials and beakers of various colors were held aloft by stands and shapes made of viral flesh.

On close inspection one would realize that the beakers were made of colored crystal, the same colored crystal found in lightsabers. Within these vials various liquids were boiling. Tendrils reached down picking them up bringing them to random eyes within the walls, the eyes seemed to decide whether or not the liquid was acceptable.

If not the liquid would be brought closer to the wall before a hole opened within it, pouring some other unknown liquid into the vial. Though at times the liquid was simply poured onto the floor as it was reabsorbed into the black fleshy mass.

Mercer pov

Mercer was a very talented multitasker, able to section off parts of his brain and focus on multiple task at once. That along with his ability to manipulate his body allowed him to do far more at once than any other creature could. He was currently hard at work designing a new strand of the redlight virus, the purpose of this strain? It was meant to improve all the natural attributes of a creature without turning them into an infected or an evolved.

Mercer knew that a day would come that he would be revealed to the universe, or he would want to turn an entire planet to his cause. When that day came he would need something to sway the general populace of whatever planet he was trying to convert. He could not allow them all to become evolved, to few would know what to do with there new gifts and most would be unworthy.

Alex figured perhaps a consolation prize for swearing fealty to him was in order. Thus he began his work on a strand of the virus that would meet his needs. The problem was keeping the virus from mutating to much within a subjects body. It also had to remove the midichlorians from the subjects bodies, he wanted to ensure he was the only one influencing his people. It also had to instill a sense of loyalty to himself without connecting them to the hive mind, he did not want the minds of fools annoying him constantly.

His current problem lay with his lack of test subjects, while he could theorize to near perfection but without test subjects the process of perfecting his new strain could take years instead of months. He also had to contend with variety in his creation the virus needed the capability to infect multiple different species to a similar extent. It would not do to have the virus mutate to some foreign DNA and create some new infected monster.

While he worked with multiple strains recombining and disassembling them. He was also flying the ship, and watching the engine for any signs of damage. By his calculations he had just enough fuel to reach the Arkanian homeworld, with these thoughts in mind Mercer was almost unsurprised when a blast ripped apart his engine room. He was tempted to sigh, of course with all such things that seemed to line up perfectly Murphy decided to throw a wrench in it.

It appeared as if his ship radar needed repairs, it had not detected the large cargo vessel that had snuck up on him. He growled as he eyed his now empty fuel stores he would need to stop on the nearest planet, if he was lucky it would only take a couple hours to refuel but it was far more likely the ships engine had been damaged.

The attackers had sent a holo-message, in it stood a human looking creature surrounded by Abyssin, Rodians, and Wookies. All of whom were wearing slave collars, except for the human and a few Rodians. "Prepare to dock and disable all non life support systems or we will have to blast your ship open and forcibly board." The human threatened with a smirk.

Mercer sighed at least one problem had been solved he now would have a plethora of test subjects for his experemints and a larger vessel. Even if his trip to the Arkanian homeworld had been delayed, some good would come of this. Alex began pulling back his tendrils as he disabled all but the life support systems. Then he began his work.

Line break Slaver pov

To say James Wilder (the newest recruit to the slaver crew) was annoyed would be an understatement. He had been sent down with a small group of slaves to investigate some tiny ship that they had captured. The crew was probably no more than four creatures, if they were lucky it would be mostly female.

James hoped there was a Twi'lek aboard, they had a small group of them on board but they were the captains personal entourage. He had his eye on a young Twi'lek that had been brought on board but she managed to escape and had been successfully evading sucurity. She had even managed to kill a few of the crew!

James watched with hopeful eyes as the ships entrance fell open, a man wearing a leather coat stood on the end of the stairway. The strange part James noted despite his disappointment was the man's smile. "All right come down and put the collar on, no need for you to die here!" He shouted at the man. The man responded by lifting his left hand and snapping his fingers, a loud growled responded.

James raised his gun, the slaves following suit as creatures began pouring from behind the man. They ranged from small humanoid creatures with gray skin, to massive grey monsters with no faces. They all shared one similar trait beyond the pale skin and black growths though, they all had green slime dripping from there mouths and claws.

The slaves opened fire even as he stood in shock. The large creatures seemed unbothered by the blaster fire, their wounds closing over the holes made by the blast. The smaller ones fell after about three shots, but when their corpses fell they were pulled into the bodies of one of there compatriots. Some men were killed and devoured while others only were bitten or scratched.

Those that were injured fell unconscious instantly, after that the smaller infected began spewing an orange slime onto them that seemed to cocoon them in place. All the while the man still stood observing as the monstrosities he brought aboard decimated James men. James was in the back of the group and the creatures were almost upon him.

He growled if he was going down at least he could take the smug bastard down with him. He charged his blaster to full power, the man stared him in the eye as he pulled the trigger. He fell to his knees despair fill him, the man would have plenty of time to dodge the blast. Yet he watched even as the mans creatures overwhelmed the last of the slavers that had rushed down to help.

The man didn't move, the blast struck true and as he hoped the creatures around him ceased moving. Yet he noticed the creatures attacking the rest of the crew had not ceased their attack and the body of the man did not fall. It instead grew a double pronged metal blade on its arm which had become wrapped in black. It threw its hand forward sticking James in the gut and pulling him back to the headless body. He watched in shock and horror as the head reformed. The monster grinned at him, its ethereal blue eyes laughing at him as black tendrils pierced his body.

line break Mercers pov

Alex's first guess had been correct, this ship was not a simple pirate or raider ship, it was a slave ship. Mercer sighed as he passed several rows of cages two hunters one either side, the creatures within cowering back in fear. It seemed the universe still held onto its idea of slavery, a pointless practice that broke the wills of lesser creatures. While Mercer wasn't against slavery itself he was against the destruction it wrought on good minds. It destroyed creatures ability to prove that they were worthy of being evolved.

Though to some extent Mercer was in luck these creatures would save him from having to start testing individuals were worthy for some time. He was planning to start testing people on the next planet he stopped at. Those who were unworthy would be taken and used as test subjects while the worthy would be evolved.

Thanks to these slavers though he had a plethroa of broken test subjects sitting in cages. Along with the slavers themselves he would be set for at least a month. Though if he came across someone who looked promising enough he could still test them and from what he garnered from the fool who had shot him, there was a particular Twi'lek of interest on this very ordered the infected to head back to his ship and to begin to search for any other members of the crew or rouge slaves.

As these thoughts flew through Mercers mind he approached the cockpit, which had been sealed with a thick steel double door. It was circular the two halves of the door met in the center, either held together by its own weight or a magnetic lock. He rolled his eyes as he punched the center of the door, and then proceeded to pull the doors apart.

The captain stood at the other end of the room hiding behind a makeshift barricade of chairs and consoles. Beside him stood a group of five Twi'lek women, scantily clad and bound together in chains. Around the room stood three Wookie slaves, two Abyssins and four other humans.

The slaves and other humans opened fire, and were shocked as Mercer blurred across the room slamming his fist into a Wookie absorbing it as he morphed his hand into an orb of pulsing green and orange. The other hand morphed into a set of razor sharp claws. He threw it across the room as he continued to move and slice the nearby Abyssin in half.

The orb crashed into the other side of the room, several of the crew rolling out of the way. Unfortunately for said crew the orb exploded coating several of them in green slime, those that were hit instantly fainted as they were paralyzed. Mercer smirked as he broke the last slaves neck, the captain panicked pointing his gun and firing wildly at the monster that had slaughtered his men.

Mercer ignored the shots that hit him as he calmly began walking towards the captain. The captain shoved the Twi'leks in front of him, they tripped over their own feet and collapsed before Mercer. He pointedly ignored them, the chain shattered under his foot as he came within a few feet of the captain.

"Wait...You kill me all the slaves die to, some have a chip in them that will release poison if I die. The collars explode if I die, I'm the only one who knows the code to turn them off." The captain practiacally yelled in his panic, a crazed grin forming on his face as he realized he had a way out. Most slaver captains had such things installed. It was an excellent insurance against being killed. Any good samaritan couldn't without killing the slaves and pirates would lose the most valuable cargo.

"This kill switch, it activates if your heart stops beating right?" Alex asked with a raised eyebrow. His voice betrayed no emotion.

"Yeah...Yeah thats right so guess what? You better watch your step or..." The captain was stopped mid rant by the fist that had pierced his chest. He watched with a mix of shock and morbid fascination as his still beating heart and the implant connected to it were ripped from his chest. He could feel the life pouring from the gaping wound in his chest as the creature formed tendrils absorbed his heart and the creature than pierced him with those same tendrils.

line break

Mercer had begun cleaning out the ship, those captured were currently being sorted into groups by species and gender. He had completely cleared out one of the four cargo holds for his test subjects, he had created a few devourers to clean out the cargo hold actually used for also had them devouring the cages that had been used to hold the prisoners, Mercer had no need for such crude imprisonment means. Instead his test subjects were hanging from the ceiling sealed in orange cocoons.

The quarters were at that very moment having their extra walls removed and turning the rooms into an armory for the weapons the crew had used. While the weapons were of no real use to Mercer he had plans for an upgraded form of the infected that could wield guns by wrapping there biomass around them.

He had removed the chips and collars before putting them into storage, the advantages of having multiple sharpened tentacles. All together the prisoners and slavers only took up one cargo hold, the other hold was being turned into a laboratory. The final cargo hold was being turned into a arena of sorts for Mercer to test his new creations.

Though he was slightly annoyed as he had been unable to find the escaped Twi'lek yet, his tendrils were combing the ventilation system so it was only a matter of...Ahh there she was, he smirked as the tendrils dragged her out. She was suspended in midair by a tendril holding her foot, and all together she was average.

She was somewhere between ten and twelve and rather short for her age, her hair tendrils were blue and green stripes. The only truely strange thing about her were her eyes, they were a striking green color. They had an edge that betrayed her killing instinct.

"I must say I'm impressed, somehow overcoming the slave chip. Escaping your cell, surviving in the vents for months and you managed to kill four slavers. It takes a lot to impress me." Mercer explained blank expression across his face. The girl growled and Mercer quickly realized the girl had no tongue.

"Hmmm...So you had little to no help if the state of your tongue is anything to go by. How would you like to never feel fear again, to feel invincible, to speak again." Mercer continued ignoring the girls growl. The girl went quiet at Mercers claims, before shaking her head.

"So you doubt my claims? Unsurprising one doesn't survive in such a hostile environment by not being paranoid but it is of no matter you will thank me when you wake up." Mercer stated as the girl began to yelp and growl. He stepped forward stabbing a single tendril into the center of her head. The tendril pulsed red as the girl went quiet. He than placed her within an orange cocoon within the arena.

He then moved to storage and ripped open one of the currently fifty cocoons, one of the captains Twi'lek slaves fell out gasping as she regained her senses. She was only conscious for a moment before she was devoured.

Line break Young Twi'lek pov

Her head hurt, these were the first thoughts to cross her mind, the second was why the world was orange. It suddenly came back to her the strange human thing and its monster. The tendrils dragging her from her makeshift home in the vents, the odd talk and tentacle piercing her head. She panicked flailing wildly before with a stroke of luck she broke the outer layer of the sack.

She realized to late she was at least fifteen feet from the ground, she prepared to feel the cracking of bones. Instead she landed face first with a thud, and no pain came. Her eyes widened as she checked her body for any injuries and found none. Her mind flashed back to the conversation, "...to feel invincible..."

He hadn't lied? If that was true than she should be able to speak. "I...I can talk? I can talk!" The Twi'lek squealed as she jumped to her feet.

"It appears so, now lets see if you were actually worth my time..." The strange man spoke as he jumped down from an observation deck embedded in the upper wall. He landed with a loud thunk smirk in place as he threw a ball of black stuff at her. She reacted without thought rolling out of the way. Her reactions saved her, as the ball struck the ground it exploded outward in a mass of tendrils.

The Twi'lek went silent this man wanted her dead and after all she had been through she would not die here. She rushed forward, moving faster than she had ever thought possible. She attempted to punch him and was shocked as he caught her fist, throwing her across the room with a smirk. She felt the wall indent as she struck it.

"You know your naked at this very moment don't you?" The man shouted smirk firmly in place. She panicked blushing as she looked down and found the same slave garb she had been wearing earlier. She growled at the mans lie and was about to shout at him when he spoke again.

"Come on girl focus, it's not that hard to figure out." He shouted his smirk becoming a bored expression. She was tempted to charge him again but instead decided to try and do as he asked. She was shocked to find that she could feel her clothes, that they weren't truly there at all. She focused and watched as black tendrils emerged from her body, the dress shifting into the purple dress her mother had made her wear to a fancy party.

Her clothes than shifted into a simple white shirt black pants and black and white sneakers. Satisfied with her choice in clothing she rushed the man again, and was met with a similar result as last time. He caught her fist and threw her across the room.

"Come on girl your still thinking like one of the lesser lifeforms that litter this galaxy, use your brain!" The man shouted with a frown and disappointed look in his eyes. For some reason that bothered her more than the frown she wanted, no needed his approval. She thought of the orb the man had thrown at her, she dug deep focusing and felt her hand shift. Black covered her from her arm to her hand. Her hand became long and metallic taking a cone shape, reminiscent of a lance.

She charged again and was yet again met with failure as the man moved even faster than her dodging her strike. She continued her seemingly worthless assault, before he punched her hard in the gut launching her towards the ceiling.

She wanted to grip the roof and was shocked as her hair tendrils responded. Her hair tendrils changed becoming black and red striped. Her left tendril grew two metal prongs while her right tendril splintered at the end into about ten smaller tendrils. The right one was currently holding her to the ceiling.

She threw her left tendril on instinct and watched it fly towards the man. He caught it and tore her from the ceiling, smashing her into the ground. She felt it, she was hungry and watched as a strange walking creature formed from the wall. She didn't hesitate, stabbing the creature and pulling it into her body. Her strength returned but instead of feeling disgust at the act she had just committed she felt only invigoration.

"You're thinking to offensively, the man who said a good defense is a great offense is a fool. If you want to win a fight you need a great offense and a great defense." The man explained the smirk had not returned to his face instead he wore a simple smile as he threw another orb at her. She focused forming her other hand into a large shield and blocked the orb as it exploded, the tendrils bounced off her shield. She rushed the man again shield in front of her, ready to skewer the man. He caught her lance and shattered her shield holding her in place.

"I think that's enough for today, so what do you think." The man smiled as he released her arm, it reformed into a regular hand.

"Its...It's amazing what did you do" The girl shouted as she jumped up and down. She didn't even feel tired from the fight.

"I am Alex J. Mercer and I evolved you to a higher state of being. You showed traits that are worth preserving and improving. You showed you were already a cut above the rest of the creatures on this ship. You are now stronger, faster, and better than all those lesser beings out their, death nearly impossible, old age? Nothing but a forgotten memory. Welcome to the top of the food chain." Alex spoke smile on his face as he formed a chair from the black mass on the floor.

The girls eyes widened as she opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted "I just need you to do one more thing for me, focus outwards..." Alex said a commanding tone vibrating through his voice. She did as he said focusing outward, at first there was nothing but suddenly she felt it as Alex began speaking again.

"The best part about being evolved is..." As Mercer spoke she could feel it, the hive mind and nests growing on Dostrore. Each individual infected working to expand the already massive hive beneath the surface. She could feel the slugs that were currently eating away from the poorly maintained ship, the Devourers that were hard at work redesigning. She even could feel the floor beneath her feet, the living black mass that covered it.

From the smallest infected to the largest hunter she felt them all, yet at the center she felt a stronger prescence than any others, it came from Alex. "...We are never alone." Mercer finished. The girl stared at him for a moment before running forward and wrapping her arms around his chest hugging him tightly.

"My name is Sarah..." The girl whispered into Mercers ear.

Also there will be no romance in this fic, Mercer is a mass of viral tissue loving anyone beyond a friendship or family way is beyond him.