Chapter 9
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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"Run, sir!"
And run he did.
His guard's dying words whipped him into action. The image of his gruesome murder still burning in his mind, military officer Grayson reeled and charged through the windowed door. Ignoring the cuts scraping his face and covered his overall, he blindly forced himself into the first passage.
Powerful hands grabbed him from behind. Grunting with effort, Grayson shoved back, struggling to get free. He felt the pressure diminish for a second, but not enough to get escape. The hands attempted to haul him back into the parking lot; Grayson jerked forward and violently shoved back again, his elbow connected with something hard… something that gave away with a wet crunching sound and his attacker let out a grunt of anger and pain.
The hands loosened, and he glanced back as his body leaped forward. His attacker straightened and let out a howl, several more human figures stumbled through the broken door, their dark silhouettes blocked what little light had slipped through the small passage. Grayson gasped, launching himself into the darkness beyond. The building had sustained heavy damage early in the war, making it difficult to navigate.
He had no idea where he was going, only that he had to get away. He stumbled over some debris, cutting himself as he tried to cushion the fall, leaving a blood trial as he stepped over the dusty and hard concrete. Grayson squeezed through a narrow opening and he could hear the creatures closing in by their grunting and moaning getting louder. He reached down and opened a side-pocket; feeling two packs of C4. He pressed the rectangular-shaped compound in the opening and inserted the blasting caps, before continuing to a safe distance, taking cover. The few seconds of waiting felt as an eternity, when the creatures finally reached the passage, he pressed the button.
The explosion shook the building and filled the area with smoke. Coughing, Grayson glanced back trying to see through the cloud of dust and smoke.
He let out a sigh of relief.
The passageway was blocked and he was safe, for now.
Grayson continued further inside the building and found a secluded room with only two openings, the entrance and a window. Grayson slid down against the wall and began cleaning his wound. Images kept whirling through his mind. An hour ago, he had been perfectly safe with a full military escort, fully convinced he would deliver the codes in the data disk without incident. They had taken every precaution, only four people in the entire country had known about their traveling route and their cargo, and still the enemy knew about it. That was the greatest concern of the higher-ups; the enemy always seemed to know what their next course of action would be. At first, only minor patrols had been compromised, then gradually expanding effectively inserting the seed of doubt. How can their soldiers fight at their best when theirs doubt hovering over every general in the military?
From far off came a muffled cry of his pursuers. Grayson sat there in the darkness, holding his wounded hand. He jerked his head towards the window as glass blasted inside the room. Two infected citizens, the bulk of Mercer's army, had found him. The window was high enough to buy him some time before they could get in. He snapped his neck back and forth as he heard a loud cry outside the door, the infected pounced and tried to claw their way in.
He felt beads of sweat trickling down his face and his heart racing, near-exploding the noise stopped. No sound escaped from behind the door opposite to him and the infected by the window had disappeared. Did they give up? No, he knew the intelligence of the infected was extremely limited, incapable of forming tactics and would pursue their victims while ignoring everything else.
A low thud was all the warning he got as the door flew off its hinges, nearly crushing him. His eyes found the open space, greeted by a silhouette of grey and black. He stared at the creature's face, where the glow of its eyes is visible even in the darkness. The being stepped into the room with inhuman movements, not letting its gaze fall as it stopped, silently observing the mixture of feelings on its prey's face.
Grayson stood up against the wall. "Mercer."
The being in front of him tilted its head slightly behind its hood. The small act revealed parts of its face, completely devoid of human emotion.
"Give it to me."
The virus spoke with a monotone voice, causing a chill to go down Grayson's spine. The creature extended its arm and kept it level with stillness impossible for a human to achieve. Grayson reached inside his jacket, pulling out a small device from his inner pocket.
A single thought passed through his mind and he dropped it down on the floor, picking up a piece of concrete and smashing the device with all of his might.
He let out a breath.
"There, you've failed." He let the chunk of concrete drop from his hands. "You might as well kill me now."
Mercer walked towards him as a predator ready to launch itself against its prey.
"You've stopped nothing. I will find another way."
He could hear the man's breath bursting in and out as he extended his hand, several tendrils sprung forth as he did.
"Don't worry, you'll live… in me."
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Alex fiddled with the container, inspecting the green bubbling liquid inside. With the destruction of Taris, this was one of the two only surviving vials of the serum. He gave the other to Mission when there was still a chance to rid Taris of the small abominations called Rakghoul, with the Sith bombardment he doubted any of the creatures survived. His interest in the Rakghoul's is purely scientific, to learn how and why the virus behaves as it does, and how the cure counters the infection. Alex felt annoyed he didn't consume the creature when he had the chance. Sure, the little blue Twi'lek might have thrown a fit and told the others. He doubted they would have taken it as well as his Mandalorian… friend, but in hindsight it would have been a small price to pay to settle his curiosity.
His mood took a turn for the worse; they were on their way to Dantooine. The planet itself was covered by forests of spiky blab trees, which were short and thorny, and two moons floated above the savannahs of lavender and yellow grasses. The planet was also home to the native Dantari population, they were a muscular and well-built people who lived a simple life, wandering about the coastline in tribes. Alex had no visual memories of the Dantari, but he pictured them as cavemen.
Alex tilted his head to the side; it was too quite. He couldn't hear the constant hum of the engines nor any commotion on the vessel. Standing up, he walked across the room and put the vial down. The ship had larger rooms and naturally he would have taken the largest, but this one had other benefits such as a secret compartment. Closing the outer shell, Alex proceeded into the hallway. One quick look with enhanced vision, and he knew where he had to go. Coming through the entrance to the conference room, he spotted Canderous inspecting a datapad in one of the chairs.
"Where is everyone?"
Canderous didn't bother looking up. "Bastila and Voren ran overly quick to have a chat with the Jedi council."
"So we're here already, must have lost track of time." Alex slumped down in one of the empty chairs. "And why would Voren have to speak with them?"
"Heard Bastila say something about him being force-sensitive, she probably want the council to train him."
"Great, it's not like the galaxy needs another arrogant brat running around."
Canderous raised a brow. "You don't like Bastila very much, do you?"
"What gave it away?"
"I think it was when you plainly stated 'I hate her already' back on Taris." Canderous put the datapad down. "Probably was a good thing only I heard it."
Alex smiled. "I don't think so, might have been amusing to see me pummel her into the ground."
Canderous shook his head. "And you think she's arrogant."
"I can be arrogant because I've survived things no one else has. She was probably lucky to survive puberty."
"Ha!"
Alex smiled. "I'm going out."
The sight before him was not what he expected, a wide open space with three exits and barely any guards. It was no wonder why the Jedi were losing this war if security was this loose in all their strongholds. A familiar face came running up from across the area.
"What's the hurry?" Alex asked.
"Need my stuff, I've been chosen to be trained as a Jedi." Voren grinned. "It will probably take a few months but it's worth it."
"Right, good luck with that." Alex began to walk the same way he came.
"Where are you going?"
"Oh I'm sorry, did you think I would sit around here for a few months doing nothing?"
"I guess not."
"Right, so get your gear and go do Jedi stuff." Alex flashed a grin. "This ship takes off in three minutes. Give me a call if you ever need your ass saved again."
Alex walked through the hallway and stopped at the entrance to the conference room.
"Big news. I'm leaving, you in or out?"
Canderous frowned. "I don't know."
"Look, you can come with me, have some fun and kill a few things. Or you can stay here and hold Voren's hand while staring at the walls."
"Well, when you put it like that, I'm in."
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Au
Mercer's past is slowly unfolding, hope you liked it. So Canderous and Alex is alone for a while, what could those two possibly conjure up in a few months together? Wait and see. I couldn't find a source for how much time Revan actually spent training on Dantooine, so I went with a couple of months.