Chapter 8

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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Incompetence.

Darth Malak, Dark Lord of the Sith, was surrounded by it as he watched the ecumenopolis that was Taris through the front viewport. His flagship, The Leviathan, had been orbiting the planet for days now waiting for results. He had lost count how many times the incompetence of his subordinates had cost him an objective. The search for Jedi Knight Bastila Shan should have been over long ago, he should have gotten her onboard The Endar Spire.

Incompetence.

He had even put his own apprentice on the task, but his chosen hand failed to contain the Jedi. He never chose his apprentice because he had great potential and strength. He chose him for his natural hatred for everything living, just a tool to enforce his will until a more suitable candidate could be acquired. Jedi Bastila was that candidate, with her battle meditation at his side, he would be invincible. Although the conquest of the Republic did not count on her, she would merely smooth the transition.

"Lord Malak, you summoned me?" Darth Bandon knelt before his master.

"The search for Bastila is taking too long." Malak crossed his arms. "Order the evacuation of all key personnel."

"My lord? How will we find the Jedi without our troops?"

Incompetence. "You would do well apprentice, to not question my orders after your failure onboard the Endar Spire."

"Of course my Lord. It will be done immediately."

The bald apprentice stood and left the bridge, while Malak kept staring at Taris. If he couldn't have her then neither can the Jedi Order. It would be preferable if she perished on this disgusting world.

Soon all of Taris would know pain and despair; it would be a fitting message to all who would stand against him.

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The building came into view, a dome of transparisteel with a tower atop its center aimed like a knife at the sky. Most of the few windows visible were dark. Voren saw no Imperial guards stationed at the massive blast door guarding the Tarisian military base. He could hear heavy footsteps on his right; the way the Mandalorian held himself gave a feeling of alertness. However, the sound from his left was fundamentally different. It was the subtlety and elegance of a Jedi. Interestingly enough, it was hard to get a sense of Carth.

The Twi'lek clerk in the droid shop had not been keen on giving them the droid they required, namely T3-M4. Voren figured it would have taken him several months of work to even reach half off what she was asking. But as soon as she saw the graying black hair and the steel-gray eyes of a heavily armed Mandalorian, the droid was theirs with an 80% discount. Canderous's infamous reputation on Taris would come in handy if they got in more trouble, and for some reason Voren knew they would.

The T3-series was originally designed for repair and general maintenance duties onboard starships. It possessed four-wheeled legs, where the two in front were attached to the droid's blocky chassis by rotating joints. It was outfitted with one large photoreceptor on its toroidal head along with two secondary ones, a broadcast antenna and a vocabulator which allowed the droid to communicate in droidspeak.

"Beep-beep-boop-beep"

"Yes, I'm glad you got out of that shop too."

Strange, he answered the droid without thinking. Voren thought back and couldn't find a memory where he actually learned droidspeak.

I must have hit my head harder than I thought in the crash.

Voren checked his equipment, first the blaster than the vibroblade, and found no faults. He and Canderous would lay down cover fire and try to take down their enemies from afar, while Bastila's main advantage were close-combat due to her double-bladed lightsaber. He was confident they could pull this off. A Jedi, a Mandalorian and a Republic soldier made a hell of a strong team. A few seconds later, the team stood in front of the large blast doors shielding the military base.

"Are you sure T3-M4 can get us in?"

Canderous grunted. "Of course."

Voren looked at the droid. "Well little buddy, work your magic."

He wasn't disappointed; the doors opened to reveal an elevator.

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Boredom.

It usually was the source of all of Alex's mishaps. The source that forced him to do things others would consider stupid or insane. He had followed the little blue child for a while now and he imagined how it began to crawl up his spine, trying to reach his brain and force him into action. He really needed a distraction, the kind were you get interrupted by a ravaging monster and forcing you to fight for your life kind of distraction.

So far all he had seen was mud and metal pipes, he found neither interesting. The only reason why he hadn't simply begun to destroy things so the creatures would come to him was because of Mission's constant chatter. If this continued for another half-hour, she would have told him her life story by then. While he found it mildly amusing to hear about Zaalbar ripping the arm off some guy, and how she survived in this dump, it could only distract him for so long.

Out of the corner of his eye, Alex spotted something shining. Walking over, he saw the source. A dead Sith trooper. He crouched down and inspected the man's wounds, it was a fresh kill. Reaching into the man's pockets, Alex pulled out two cylinder-formed vials containing a green bubbling liquid.

"Did you find anything?" Mission asked.

Standing up, Alex held one of the vials between his thump and his index finger.

Alex smiled. "I found a vial."

Mission grinned and walked towards him. Finally she had a vial containing the Rakghoul serum, with this they could mass-produce the serum and treat everyone in the city. It was impossible to save someone who had already turned, but if you were infected this serum could cure you completely. Looking at the 'creepy dude' she felt something was wrong. His smile had disappeared completely and he was sprinting towards her.

Turning around slowly, she felt her heart stop. A Rakghoul was just a few meters away, charging straight for her. Mission tried to reach for her blaster. She pulled it upwards frantically but it didn't move, still secure in its holster.

Damn it! She unfastened the holster but it was too late. The Rakghoul was upon her, realizing this was the end she closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds passed.

She felt no pain course through her body. She felt nothing as the creature sent her body flying into the ground and begun to feed. Had the creature killed her so fast she didn't feel anything?

Mission opened her eyes slowly. Instead of looking down on her mutilated body as she expected, she saw Alex standing on top of the creature in a crouched position and she was still standing in the same spot. Letting out a breath, Mission fell to her knees. Before she couldn't feel her own heartbeat but now it was literally pounding in her chest, blocking out all other sound.

Taking a firm grip on the creature's throat, Alex lifted it up slightly above eye level. The creature screeched and dug its claws deep into his arm, trying with all of its might to feed.

How can one of the Infected be here?

On closer inspection, the creature was similar to a Hunter but lacked size and strength. If it were one of the Infected, he should have been able to sense the creature. Alex performed one last test to be sure, shifting the cells in his eyes; he observed the creature through what he called 'Infected Vision'. There was nothing of 'him' inside the creature.

"Don't let it bite you!"

Alex nodded; he'd heard the bite was the cause of the spread. But he could feel it coursing through him, trying with all of its might to change him; Alex found it interesting, the claws themselves also passed along the disease. One scratch was all it took to become a mindless beast. His body was already analyzing and combating the disease, he calculated it would only take a few minutes to rid himself of the foreign infection. Alex felt the urge to study the creature more, but the experiments he had in mind were not suited with an audience.

Alex twisted his wrist, and the Rakghoul's body hit the ground with a thud.

Mission stood up on shaky legs. "Thank you!"

"You owe me now for saving your life." Alex said and threw her the vial he had shown her earlier.

Mission nodded. "I don't know how I could be this careless. I've never let a Rakghoul sneak up on me before."

"They are crafty little insects."

"I really don't want to be on this planet anymore."

Alex shrugged. "It's not so bad just needs a little pest control. Could smell a bit better though."

"We should probably get back to the others."

Alex nodded and began to retrace their steps back to the Outcast's camp. He had set out to observe the Rakghouls with excitement, the possibility that an offshoot of him existed in the galaxy piqued his interest. If it were true then a lot of questions needed to be answered. Questions like: How did someone get a portion of him and how did they move it to another planet without his knowing? Sadly he would never get answers to those questions; the Rakghouls don't even have a single cell linked to the Blackwatch strain.

In a way it was a good thing, he really didn't need another Manhattan Incident on his hands, yet anyway.

Click.

Alex looked down and back up again. "Oh crap."

The explosion shook the ground; making piles of mud fly in every direction and filled the area with grey smoke. The blast wave forced Mission to the ground and she stood up on shaky legs.

She felt a sensation of dizziness as she yelled. "Creepy guy!"

"He's not alive anymore." The sound of the monotone voice originated above from her right side.

A figure wearing a blue coat over black armorweave, and black pants jumped down and landed a few meters away from her. The lenses of the man's goggles shifted and the man reached for two heavy blasters. Mission knew right away who he was; he was probably the most famous bounty hunter in this part of the galaxy. It was said that no target ever got away from him and that he was willing to take on any job for the right price.

Mission narrowed her eyes. "Calo Nord."

"It seems my reputation precedes me."

He neared her with loose movements and raised his blaster. "I wasn't paid to kill you but I never leave any witnesses."

Years of bounty hunting had given him sharp reflexes and a firm mind, and it was the only thing that saved him from losing an arm. A large whip-like appendage crashed into where he had just stood, forming a large straight hole on the ground.

Several loud claps originated from inside the smoke. "Very good, I didn't think you would dodge that."

As the smoke died down, the form of Alex became visible. Grinning he took several steps forward and was now standing between Mission and their assailant.

"How did you survive? That blast was powerful enough to cripple a small rancor."

Alex grinned. "That was your first mistake, comparing me to a mere beast."

He glanced at Mission. "Stand back, I'll handle this."

"But I can fight!"

"I don't think the others would appreciate it if I got you killed. Besides, you owe me and I plan to collect one day."

Mission shook her head. "Fine, I'll find cover."

Alex was careful enough to stand directly in the way until she ducked under a safe place, he wouldn't put it past the bounty hunter to try and get a cheap shot in. Now with just the two of them, they began to circle each other.

"I was wondering you're what… 1.4 or 1.5 meters long. Are you a dwarf?"

The only thing that betrayed Calo's emotions were a slight twitch of his right cheek.

"I am not a dwarf!"

Alex grinned. "No? A midget then, I suppose mommy didn't give you enough milk and cookies as a child."

Calo's jaw clenched. "Killing you will be so enjoyable."

Several red beams sprung forth from the two custom-made Mandalorian heavy blasters, Alex shifted to the right and dodged. The most common weapons in the galaxy were guns firing particle beam energy, and while it was more powerful than a gun from back on earth, its fire-rate and travel-speed was slower. Even without his super everything he could dodge the incoming blaster fire. Alex kept on the defensive and continued to dodge the incoming bolts.

Dodging to the side ones more, Alex picked up several rocks in one motion and began to attack. He knew the rocks wouldn't be able to breach Calo's armorweave, but it would still hurt. This continued for a minute or so before Alex stopped in his tracks.

Calo sneered. "Is dodging all you can do?"

"Not at all. Figured you had more of those mines buried. I just wasn't too keen on getting blown up again." Alex took several steps forward. "But from observing you I now know where they are."

One small twitch of his left leg was all he needed launch himself through the air towards Calo, he brushed away the small pain he felt from getting hit a couple of times on his upper-body and struck at Calo with a straight punch. But instead of hitting him in the jaw as he wanted, the punch connected with Calo's left hand. The force of the impact shattered the blaster along with the larger part of Calo's hand.

Ignoring the pain, Calo realized he wouldn't be quick enough to get off a shot in this position with his remaining blaster without it getting blocked. Instead he changed his stance slightly, raised his knee until it was parallel to the ground and then snapped it forward. A perfectly executed frontal kick connected with Alex's lower abdomen, but instead of creating more space between them and giving Calo a greater advantage. He found himself rooted in place.

The shock caused him to hesitate with his follow-up attack and he felt a powerful grip on his extended leg, the pressure was unlike anything he had ever experienced. The armorweave reinforced leggings he wore did little to help with the applied force.

Calo grunted, if the pressure continued his leg would snap.

Alex chuckled. "Did you really think that would work? I weigh over a ton; your midget legs couldn't even force me to move an inch."

He pulled his right arm back and ones more performed a straight punch, connecting with Calo's chest. The force of the blow forced Calo's body backwards through the air and he landed several meters back.

He did not move.

A few seconds passed before Mission came out of her hiding place. "Is he dead?"

"Well he isn't moving. That's usually a sign." Alex sighed. "And another thing I'm Alex. So stop calling me creepy guy."

Mission nodded. "But you are kind of creepy; anyway we really should meet up with the others."

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The doors to the apartment snapped open with a hiss, Mission rushed through the entrance with a mildly bored Alex in tow. She was full of eager to tell Big Z about what happened down in the Under City. Alex observed the room, everything seemed ordinary. Two beds to the right, a table in the middle, a little droid beside it, a giant carpet in one of the chairs, and two beds to the left.

Oh great, he thought. Stuck with a walking carpet I can't understand, a droid that looks like it would explode if I even touched it, and a child.

Mission activated her comlink. "Uh guys, where are you?"

A few seconds of static went by. "We're… base… rende… ship…"

"That sounded like Canderous." Alex pointed out.

Mission nodded. "It seems they're blocking our signal and something about a ship."

"Probably wants us to rendezvous at my ship." Alex made a follow-me motion. "Come on, it's in the Middle City."

The Tarisian spaceport, usually full of movement and sound, was dead as night. When the Sith quarantine came into effect they had every spaceport employee removed, and they didn't bother to replace them. Alex appreciated their sacrifice; they did after all save him a lot of time. The lightning system was off so he led the team through the main area along with T3-M4, the droids photoreceptors scanned for any sign of movement. He doubted they would meet anyone but it didn't hurt to be careful.

He guided them down a passage and around the corner. There it was still in one piece, his retrofitted ship. With a press on the activation console hanging from his belt, the ship hummed. Alex felt relief; the device had suffered some damage when that mine went off but it still functioned enough to activate the walkway. Alex slumped down into the captain's seat and ran a quick diagnostic before activating all systems, now all they could do was wait for the codes.

The ship shook, gently at first, and then it increased in intensity. Through the frontal viewport Alex could see how large cracks began to form on the durasteel building. He knew exactly what happened as a large chunk of the roof fell down in front of the ship.

"Mission! Tell them to hurry up, Malak is bombing the planet!"

He'd never believed in luck, if such a concept existed then he was of the mind that you created your own. But his belief in that philosophy was shaken as more and more chunks of the building continued to fall without hitting the ship. Only minor debris hit the hull of the ship, causing minimal or nonexistent damage. If there were some supernatural force controlling luck, then he must have been a good virus lately.

"Ten seconds. I'll give them ten seconds then I leave."

He knew it was betrayal, but he didn't care. Alex had already experienced being buried alive for god knows how many thousand years, and he refused to experience it again when he just had begun to explore this marvelous galaxy.

Three.

It wasn't really his fault that they couldn't get here in time, so they couldn't blame him for wanting to live.

Two.

It was their own fault; their own incompetence led them to this.

One.

His index finger was two inches from closing the walkway when the screen to the left picked up four life forms entering the hangar bay. Alex didn't breathe, but if he did he would have let out a huge breath. Now he didn't have to explain to the rest of the team why he almost let half of the team die in the bombardment. The screen blinked, indicating the life forms had entered the ship, and Alex closed the walkway and engaged the engines.

Voren came running and handed him a small datachip. "That's the codes."

Alex inserted the chip into the main computer and steered the ship out of the hangar doors. He pushed the sublight engines to the max while dodging the incoming fire from the three Sith Interdictor cruisers. A heavily breathing Canderous stood behind them, leaning against the wall.

Alex glanced back. "Your sweating like you got mace in your face. Maybe you should lay off the whiskey and go for a jog once in a while."

"Ah screw you asshole!" Canderous tried to control his breathing.

Voren shook his head. "Just focus on getting us out of here alive would you!"

Alex nodded and observed the incoming fire. The Sith were firing all over the city destroying building after building. Alex figured they didn't want someone to leave the planet, but by the spread they obviously didn't know where said person was. The ships sensors alerted him to a new presence, another vessel was trying to leave the planet. The ship had no ID-signature, which meant it was a covert vessel or affiliated with criminals. Alex opted for the latter, it was unlikely the republic had managed to land a ship without the Sith knowing.

Canderous observed the new vessel through the viewport. "That's the Ebon Hawk. Davik Kang's private vessel."

"So the boss of a vast criminal organization manages to escape? Figures." Alex observed all members on the bridge. "So where are we going?"

"We need to go to Datooine." Bastila announced. "There's a Jedi Enclave there where we can find refuge."

The atmosphere felt by all members on the ship was of relief as the ship entered hyperspace.

Alex observed the main computer. "It will take several hours before we arrive."

Bastila furrowed her brow and nodded, then quickly left the bridge. Noticing her expression, Voren followed her into the holocom area.

"What's wrong?"

"There's something very wrong with that man."

"You mean the pilot?"

"I didn't notice at first, probably because of wearing that neural disruptor for too long." Bastila crossed her arms. "But even though I can see him with my own two eyes, through the force there's simply nothing there. Almost like a… void, completely bereft of the force."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know. I've never experienced something like this before." Bastila tilted her head to the side. "I need to consult the Jedi Council."

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Au

Never thought it would take eight chapters to get here. I didn't write out the Taris Military Base infiltration simply because it happens exactly as in the game.