Chapter 13

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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Alex punched the comlink of his shuttle, opening a hailing frequency with the control tower at one of the dozen of spaceports on Dantooine's surface.

"This is the Aerith, requesting landing clearance."

"Copy that, Aerith. Transmit ship registration for authentication."

"Transmitting."

A near-anagram to earth, Alex had chosen to name his shuttle in remembrance of his homeworld. Normally he would have been more careful with drawing attention to his origins, but even if someone found a link to the name it wouldn't do them any good. The very existence and location of earth was safely stored inside his mind, if any clues existed they would be at the Empire's research facility, and the bounty hunter would soon take care of that.

There was a long pause on the other end of the comlink before the voice replied. "Aerith, you've been cleared for landing at landing-pad D7. Sending coordinates now."

"Understood," Alex said, observing the coordinates and plotting his new destination.

Canderous shifted in the seat to his right, preparing the shuttle for landing before securing his blasters.

"Why?" Alex asked.

"Why what?"

"Why are we here?"

"You know why, we're meeting Voren and Bastila." Canderous replied with annoyance.

"I'm aware." Alex began. "But why would they want to see us again? I got the feeling they didn't want anything to do with us again."

Canderous snickered. "Correction, they don't want anything to do with you."

"My point exactly, what changed their mind?"

Canderous shrugged, it was a well sounding question. Alex's antics on Taris didn't go so well with Voren and the Jedi, now he too had become a Jedi Knight. It would have to be something big and most likely dangerous if they decided to call up on his and Alex's services. Big and dangerous was just the thing they both wanted, Alex became more reckless and willing to take risks if he wasn't constantly moving. They were alike that way.

"Maybe they missed your charming personality?" He offered.

Alex nodded. "True, I do have charm coming out of my ass."

As he brought the ship around and in to land, Alex noticed two robed individuals standing by a speeder. He couldn't see their faces but he doubted they were part of the Dantooine Security Force, robes after all did not grant the wearer adequate protection. Alex supposed he had some respect for the Jedi, they freely chose to not wear armor in favor of more mobility. Granted, with their chosen weapon and style of combat it was a logical choice. But should someone manage to break through their defenses they would be completely vulnerable, and in his mind that made them all overconfident morons. The Jedi seemed to believe that defense is the best offense, they would be wrong. Offense is the best defense, if might and violence doesn't solve all your problems then your simply not using enough of it.

"It's good that you both came." One of the hooded figures said as Alex came down the walkway. He recognized the voice immediately; it belonged to the young Jedi Bastila.

"The message sounded urgent." Canderous pointed out.

"Yes, let's talk inside your shuttle."

Alex smiled. "Worried about someone listening?"

"Something like that."

As soon as the four of them sat down in the conference room Voren began explaining exactly why they were here.

"What we want is to use your shuttle to travel to these worlds and collect the information on these Star Maps. If we can acquire all four maps it'll give the Republic a heads-up on all the Empire's current and future plans for this part of the galaxy. It would give the Republic an advantage that could win us the war."

"You're lying." Alex stated plainly.

Voren chuckled. "How do you figure?"

"Tracking down these maps sounds like a plausible cause, but you can't honestly expect us to believe it would give the Republic some strategic advantage in the war. If the planets you mentioned have this information, you'll still need a cipher to crack the Empire's decryption and as far as I know they have a self-destruct mechanism that activates at the smallest sign of tampering. So what are you really after?"

Voren was taken aback by the explanation. "I forgot, you're actually smarter than you look."

"You shouldn't lie to people; I have the exclusive rights for that."

"Well now that it's out in the open we might as well tell them the truth." Bastila began. "The part about the maps was true, the reason why we want them wasn't. We believe the Empire have a Superweapon hidden somewhere, and that weapon is the reason the Empire seem to have an endless fleet of warships."

Alex nodded. "You believe these maps will reveal the location, and with my shuttle you can travel without raising suspicion. A smart plan."

"Yes, so you'll help us?"

"First we need to discuss payment."

"Payment?"

Alex tilted his head. "Did you think I would do this out of the kindness of my heart?"

Voren sighed. "Apparently not. What do you want?"

"We will most likely discover sensitive information and valuable equipment during this mission. I simply ask that you let me keep whatever I want."

Letting out a breath, Voren replied. "I thought you'd want something obscene at first. Fine, you can keep whatever you want as long as it doesn't affect the mission."

Alex smiled. "So what are we waiting for, let's get the show on the road."

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Au

I've been busy these last couple of weeks and the Christmas holidays have been packed with activity, so you only get a short update now instead of a full chapter. You'll probably here from me again in three to four weeks time.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!