Chapter 18

I would like to thank my reviewers, those who added my story to their alerts and favorites, and to all anonymous readers.

This chapter was supposed to be released while Alex and Canderous were alone on Coruscant during Voren's training, but my hard drive broke down so I had to rewrite the whole thing. So I'm releasing it now as a flashback.

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

The heat on Tatooine was not something to be underestimated, the deserts claimed many unfortunate souls each year. All too many ventured out into the deserts without proper gear or maps, particularly unseasoned hunters who didn't fully understand how taxing this planet can be. However, heat of this level didn't affect Alex at all. Which seem to give cause to a lot of stares as beings of various sizes went in and out of the massive blast doors shielding Anchorhead. From his observations, only heavily geared hunters passed through the doors. No doubt to Czerka regulating all comings and goings.

He had been waiting there with HK-47 for almost twenty-minutes now, and still Voren and Bastila hadn't showed up. It was getting on his nerves; it shouldn't have taken this long.

"Query: You said you're part of a team, master. Are these meatbags useful?"

"Well, two of them are Jedi."

"Query: Have you ever faced a Jedi in battle before, master?"

Alex's gaze lingered towards the distance.

He felt excitement as he followed the Jedi deeper and deeper into the slums of Coruscant. He first caught sight of him chasing a criminal outside the Outlander Club; the chase finally came to a halt inside a large empty warehouse. The battle itself was over before anything really interesting could happen; the criminal had challenged the Jedi with only a blaster. The stupidity of today's criminals amused him to no end, who have ever managed to kill a Jedi with only one blaster?

This was a perfect opportunity to gain more insight into the Jedi religion, and not to mention the added bonus of commanding the force. Alex moved closer, careful not to make any sounds. The Jedi had his back turned to him, and observed the body lying before him. Alex was close now, he charged forward and threw a right punch.

His fist went passed the Jedi's head and with one swift move, he could no longer feel his arm. A bright blue rod flashed before his eyes and found itself edged through his stomach. The Jedi relaxed for a second, giving Alex enough time to hit him with a straight left. The Jedi flew backwards and landed on his back, still holding the now deactivated lightsaber.

Alex went over to his detached arm, bent down and reattached it to its socket.

"Impossible!" The Jedi said with shock. "I cut your spine, you should be dead."

"That's because I don't have a spine for you to cut."

Alex kept his distance; he had underestimated the power of a lightsaber and had paid the price for it.

He would not do so again.

They circled each other, both trying to find an opening to attack.

"Why are you trying to kill me?"

"Back on my homeworld, I alone stood at the top. When you have no one to challenge you, everything becomes meaningless and the only thing left is…boredom. That's when I decided to bring peace to everyone. After all, there is no one better qualified than me to decide what's best for the galaxy."

"You think killing a Jedi will bring peace?" The Jedi asked.

"I don't hate the Jedi anymore than I hate the Sith. Both sides are fundamentally wrong, bad code if you will. Both of you will need to be destroyed for everlasting peace to occur."

"You're insane! I have no choice but to stop you here."

Alex scoffed. "I was once buried alive for over a thousand years! If that didn't kill me… if being at the heart of a nuclear explosion couldn't kill me… then you will not kill me!"

He moved, a quick sidestep preceding a charge forward. One set of fingers transformed into impossibly sharp blades, and he attacked with a ferocious slash. Dark grey met bright blue, feeling no resistance as they clashed. A quick glance towards his cut off claws was all he had time for before being forced on the defensive, dodging and sidestepping the powerful blade trying to cut him down. His untransformed arm lashed out as a whip, snaking through the air, forcing his opponent to stop his advancement and block the deadly strike that would have cut him in two.

His opponent closed the gap with a surprisingly powerful burst of speed and landed a horizontal wound across his chest. A snarl began to form in his throat, and he pressed forward. Tendrils snaked around his whipfist and his deforming claws, hardening and reshaping it to his purposes. Muscles grew and joints snapped into place, a massive hardened fist now sprouted from his arms. He hurled himself into the air, raising both arms above his head as he descended towards his target.

The Jedi entered a defensive stance, summoning the force and lashing out with his free left hand with a powerful force wave.

Alex felt a force move against his body, invisible and unnatural but weak, it did however cause him to lose his balance momentarily. He descended towards the Jedi now facing sideways, forcing him to abandon his original attack and strike with a single arm.

Stunned by his failed attack, the Jedi had no time to dodge and barely managed to bring up his guard. Alex descended towards him with a powerful strike, the blade edged itself deep into his massive fist, the momentum caused them both to slam into the durasteel floor, causing a small crater under his massive weight. He looked around, preparing to strike. The dust clouds covering the area dissipated and revealed his opponent on his back a few meters away, breathing irregularly and bleeding through his mouth. Alex approached him slowly, willing his body to heal his chest as he knelt and placed a hand on the Jedi's chest, letting his feeder tendrils crawl over his enemy's broken body.

"Don't worry." Alex began. "I won't kill you. You'll live on inside me… forever. So I can gain your power over the force."

Alex felt light-headed as the familiar rush of new memories flowed through him. A lifetime of achievements, thoughts and beliefs, but most important of all was his new insight to the force. Turning sideways Alex observed a small crate up ahead; he stretched out his arm and willed it to float.

The crate remained on the ground.

He tried once again, this time with more force behind his command.

Yet, nothing happened.

"I know how to do it so why won't you move!"

Anger and surprise filled him. He knew something was wrong from the beginning; he should have had the ability to command the force from all the beings he's consumed. He figured the problem was a lack of knowledge, having the means but not the know-how. Now he had both the force and the knowledge of how to use it, but still he couldn't command the force to his will. There was only one conclusion and it made him worry, something was truly wrong with him. Something he couldn't figure out on his own, not without ample time and resources.

He also learned that his condition brought some positive effects too, he could not affect the force and at the same time the force could not affect him. The Jedi were famous for being able to predict the immediate future, particularly about incoming danger, but this Jedi had been unable to do so. Instead relying on honed reflexes to escape his attacks and counter them to the best of his ability. The strongest proof was the failed force wave the Jedi had released against him.

Alex picked up the metal cylinder lying by his feet and fiddled with it, feeling a familiar sense of belonging as the lightsaber passed between his fingers.

"Well, at least it wasn't a total letdown."

As he stood there reflecting on what to do next the comlink beeped, he already knew who it was. Canderous was the only one with this frequency.

"What!" Alex yelled.

"Is this a bad time? What are you doing?"

"I'm at you girlfriends apartment, ignore the moaning and squeaking."

"Uhu… Anyway, Voren contacted us. He wants our help with something so get your ass back to the ship; we are meeting him on Dantooine."

Alex blinked twice. "Indeed, I have fought a Jedi."

"Pleased Statement: How very good of you, master."

"Good?"

"Explanation: Well, seeing as your standing here I can only assume you killed the meatbag. This was good of you. One peace-loving Jedi less in the galaxy to worry about and it shows you're a worthy master of me."

Alex was about to answer when Voren and Bastila joined them at the entrance.

"Is this our translator?" Bastila asked.

"Yes, HK-47 is a friendly translator droid."

"Query: Permission to terminate the meatbags, master?"

Alex shrugged. "Maybe later."

"What kind of droid asks that?" Bastila blurted out.

"The naughty kind. Now let's go, I got directions to the Dune Sea."