Chapter 4

I wrote this during my travels, so the quality might not be that good. But here is an earlier update than what I previously said.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or Prototype.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"So this is your ship."

The military veteran stated more than asked. The trip to the spaceport had been a boring one for Alex; he had tried to gleam some more information from the man several times and only got one word responses along with several grunts. Talking was obviously not one of Canderous strong points, spending several decades in the Mandalorian military at least taught you not to pass on any unnecessary information.

"Yea it previously belonged to a scientist." Alex explained as they walked up the walkway. "I got it off him quite cheap."

Wasting no time, the pair went for the bridge in the center of the ship and took their seats. The bridge had room for three chairs; the commanding seat overlooked the other two. Alex punched several buttons on the computer and then activated the navi-computer.

Canderous raised a brow. "Did your voice just change?"

"Yeah I can do that." Alex smiled. "One of the perks of being me."

Canderous just nodded in his seat and began checking the ships systems for any complications.

"You know, I thought you would be more curious about me."

"Figured you'd tell when you're ready."

"How considerate of you. I'm quite impressed." Alex activated the propulsion system which lifted the ship off the ground. "Normally when someone sees one of my transformations they run in terror in the opposite direction."

The veteran shrugged. "I've seen many things in my time."

"What kind of things?" Alex wondered.

"Strange things."

The ship hummed as the sublight drive activated and drove them away from the city. Alex guessed he wouldn't get any more information about the subject, but he was determined not to give up. With his unique ability, knowledge had become a little of a drug for him.

"So where you're from?"

"Ordo"

Alex raised a brow."You're named after your planet, that's strange."

Canderous grunted.

"So tell me about Ordo."

"Mostly barren desert."

"You know, your level of response makes me all…" Alex put a hand on his chest. "Warm and fuzzy inside."

Alex received no reaction. "Yeah, good talk."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The sound of bartering, sellers hawking wares and people calling out to each other where constantly pressed against his auditory senses. The market place on Taris Middle City was in the high rush of the day. Engines whined as many swoops and air speeders traversed through the air-traffic ways above. Alex felt greatly annoyed as he tried to push his way through the enormous crowed with Canderous in tow, this place followed the survival of the fittest philosophy. The only thing these people cared about were to make a quick buck, and they didn't care who they had to step on to get it. Alex could relate to that, but now it felt like every being did their out most to block his way.

The dozen or so Republic troops patrolling the area had no means to handle a major incident; from the looks of things, they had neither the means nor the will to intervene. They were mostly there for symbolic reasons, to show people that the law was still being upheld. Alex had discovered in the Upper City that was true, but down here and further down the only law was just that of the survival of the fittest. After what felt like an eternity, the pair exited the market place and continued down to the east of the four exiting pathways.

"Do you even know where you're going?"

Alex nodded under his hood. "Our friendly Chiss told me everything we need to know."

"Yeah tell me about that again."

"Not much to tell. They're holding him down in the Lower City forcing him to work on a secret weapon." Alex gazed backwards. "Oh and they're in league with The Black Vulkars"

"The Black Vulkars! Now that's a worthy challenge." Seeing Alex's questioning look, he continued. "The Black Vulkars don't recognize the underworlds hierarchy and openly defy the Exchange."

"The Exchange who's dealing in spice smuggling, extortion, weapon trafficking, slave trading and bounty hunting?"

Canderous nodded. "Yeah that Exchange."

Alex chuckled. "This could be fun after all."

The rest of the way was spent in silence as the pair moved closer to their destination. The only way down to the Lower City was by elevator but not many people would willingly go down there, that level belonged to the underworld organizations. As they reached the elevator they were greeted by two stationed republic soldiers wearing the traditional red and yellow armor.

The soldier to the right greeted them. "Halt sir. I'd advice you not to go any further; we have no presence down there."

"We're going down anyway." Alex said.

The solider nodded. "Just be careful down there. Those gangs will take a shot at anybody. Even our patrols came under fire."

A low hiss escaped as the blast doors opened and the pair went inside. On the way down, Canderous checked all his equipment for any faults. He found none. Despite looking really old and worn down, the armor were made out of high quality materials who could take a beating. The elevator shook as it stopped at the right floor and the doors opened. So far it looked okay, no one had ganged up on the door trying to rob them, and in fact it was a little too empty for the things he's heard about the place. As the coast was clear, Alex took a step out of the elevator. Then pain and emptiness filled his consciousness.

Awareness returned slowly. He was on the ground, staring at the ceiling as the world pulled itself back together.

Alex pulled himself back up, and he was fuming.

"Did someone just shoot me in the fucking face!"

He jerked his head to the right and saw three heavily armed thugs with shotguns. The brutality of what happened next shocked even Canderous, he was proud of his ability to always stay calm in the face of danger. Proud over his ability to follow orders no matter what happened around him, and then he saw Alex's head grow back and how the man literally ripped apart his attackers like a savage beast feasting on its prey. Canderous did what any normal human being would, he froze in place.

Alex turned around and Canderous saw eyes he'd never forget. The man's eyes were like the lit end of a cigarette, burning into him. On some primal level it made him realize that this was not a human who used violence, this was violence in human form. His stance radiated an aura of overwhelming power, threatening to swallow him whole. He blinked, and then it was gone. Still, he didn't move.

Alex clenched and unclenched his fists, and after a few seconds stopped the process. Looking at Canderous's frozen form he realized it couldn't have looked pretty.

He chuckled. "Note to self, don't become enraged when head gets blown off."

Alex took a step towards his partner and raised his hands. "It's okay, I'm calm now."

Canderous nodded and swallowed hard, then walked over to the massacre.

"Shotguns? I didn't think anyone used projectile weapons anymore."

"Guess they use what they can find." Alex nodded to the right. "Come on. It's this way."

"Just so you know when this is over, you and I am going to have a serious conversation about what just happened." Canderous said.

Their current path took longer than expected; none of them were keen on getting shot at again. Eventually they came upon a heavily armed patrol guarding the entrance to the Black Vulkars base. Several grey autoturrets were placed towards the sides aimed they're way with two guards behind them.

"How do you want to do this, the easy way or the slightly harder way?" Alex asked.

"What's the easy way?"

"We go up, tell them the code and they let us in."

Canderous nodded. "And the slightly harder way?"

"We kill them."

The seriousness in his tone caught Canderous off guard. "You call that slightly harder, you do realize they have auto turrets."

Alex grinned. "Like I said, slightly harder."

Canderous shook his head. "Seeing as I can't regenerate having my head blown off, I choose the easy way."

"Fine, spoils sport."

Several tendrils sprung forth from his body and a second later he had the form of the Chiss gang member, a few seconds later they were walking towards the enormous blast doors. Just before they arrived, Alex told Canderous to follow his lead.

"Halt, who goes there?"

"I'm Balarek of the Kura gang." He pointed towards Canderous. "This is my associate; I need to see the boss."

"You think I'm just gonna let you in?"

Alex smiled. "I am the wave of the future."

The guard nodded. "Go on in."

When the doors closed behind them Canderous asked. "Wave of the future? That's their password."

Alex shrugged. "Yeah, anyways Monraux is being held a level below us in their science lab."

Canderous stopped. "Wait a minute, how can you know all this? You were practically in the room with the guy for fifteen seconds back on Thule."

"Let's save that conversation for later." Alex answered. "So what's our objective, save Monraux or take out the Kura gang?"

"I'm contracted to take out the gang, Monraux is of no importance."

"Then let's split up, I take care of Monraux and you deal with the gang."

Canderous nodded. "And where are they?"

Alex grinned. "No idea."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Au

What I said in the previous chapter still remains; next update will probably be in about 2-3 weeks time. Like always, read and review.