LOTF: Dark Matter/Chapter 6

Aboard their ship, a custom built freighter made to resemble a XS Freighter from generations ago, Ranulph, Cade, and Hans stood around the body Ranulph had identified as Kev Marnath, previously a Brotherhood spy.

"You have some explaining to do," Cade said angrily. Hans sighed and turned away, looking downwards.

"I was born Hans Cerrano. My father, Berloc Cerrano, is on the Senate. He represents this weapons corporation, Cenvatech. Some puppet company for the Brotherhood. One night my mother found out the truth of what he was doing, so he killed her. At the time, I was just getting into the Coruscant Security Force, so I started investigating. When I finally figured out who it was, another ally of his betrayed me- Taran Ragnan. Ragnan set me up to take the fall for the whole thing, and before I knew it I was just another criminal. A few mishaps in the Underworld later, I wound up with you guys. Any questions?"

Hans turned to face Cade and Ranulph, who were silent.

"I thought so."

...

Back on the Exarch, Taran and Cyana watched as a group of surgical droids began to surround an unconscious Praxon. Praxon was bound to the table by his arms and legs, and his eye patch removed. "Are you sure this is going to work?" Taran asked. "What if the device fails? What if he gains control over the droid?"

"He won't. His will is not strong enough."

Cyana signaled the droids and they moved in closer.

...

Twenty minutes later, Praxon opened his eyes.

His eyes. The view from his left eye revealed little about his situation. He was facing up towards a light, with Cyana and Taran's faces looking down upon him expectantly from the right. From the left was one final surgical droid which had apparently stayed to see the results as well. The view from his right eye, however, was much different. He saw the world through a red filter, and the results did not sync up with the left. He saw the droid, standing over his bed, looking down at him. Praxon look at his own self, seeing that his empty eye socket had been filled by a black eye with a red circle resembling an iris.

A 21-B, a voice in his mind stated. "What?" he whispered. He pulled at his restraints, and in doing so discovered he was privy to a full new set of feelings--an entirely different body. He reached out and in his right eye saw a metallic hand reach out over him. At last, some form of understanding of the situation reached Praxon: He could control DX-245. Wrong, the droid stated in his mind, ''your brain is linked to my core processor. We function as one.''

Suddenly forming a plan, he turned DX to face Taran and Cyana. He registered Cyana holding a switch with a single button, which she pressed. Electricity ran through DX's chest, and Praxon shared the pain that slowly faded as the restraining bolt stopped. The droid feels pain, he realized.

"Neutralize him." Cyana ordered.

DX-245 now reversed the control onto Praxon with an impossibly powerful mental torrent, rendering him unable to move, to speak, and through all the pain, Praxon could barely think.

"I think it'll work quite nicely," Cyana commented to Taran.

...

Back on the ship (which Cade noted had yet to be properly named), Ranulph began to set his plan into motion. On the holoterminal in the center of the ship, a blue hologram of a young Zabrak girl sitting in a small chair popped into existence. Her eyes widened as she began quickly pressing buttons on whatever computer she was operating out of sight. "What the-"

"Quiet!" Hans ordered. "We need your help, and you need ours, so let's work something out here. I'm Hans."

"Asura," she replied.

"Asura, we're going to disable those neural implants. When we do, I need you to do a few things for me..."

...

CT-740954, "Thunder", and CT-740955, "Lightning", had finally figured it out. They had been suspicious of the motives of the superiors, having never seen them, found any proof of their existence, or being given any order other than to stay on the ship. Finally, after slicing their way into the security feed, they had seen all the proof they needed. Admiral Taran Ragnan, plotting to kill a Nebula Corporation executive? It was high treason, and if the rest of the crew was in on it, then they were also traitors.

Now, having gotten their armor and weapons from the armory, the two war-hardened soldiers made their way through the ship, intending to go to the bridge, shoot first, and ask questions later. As they passed by one of the hangars, Thunder made note of a ship landing, definitely not of Republic (really Imperial now) origin. It was a green freighter, likely belonging to whatever faction the Admiral had sold himself out too. Thunder looked at his companion, who returned the glance, and they both entered the hangar with their weapons drawn.

As Hans walked down the ramp out of his ship, he was greeted by the ends of two blaster rifles held by two clone troopers in stainless white armor, apparently armed to the teeth. "Oh, blast," he muttered, putting his hands to the back his head before he was even told to. "Who are you?" one of them asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Relax," Hans replied, "I'm working for the Admiral. Ask him; I'm sure he'd want to see me right away." Suddenly, a red blaster bolt trailed out of the ship, hitting the clone on the left. The other clone, caught off guard, lowered his weapon to help his companion out of instinct. "Thunder!"

Taking advantage of the momentary chaos, Hans shoved the clone still standing. When he landed, another shot went straight into his helmet. "Who were they?" Cade asked as he walked off the ship, armed to the teeth.

"No idea," Hans told him. "How did you see those guys from inside the ship?"

"I didn't."

"Huh. Let's move."

Standing back on the bridge of the ship, Asura turned around as the doors opened for Praxon and DX-245, escorted by Cyana. Taran was waiting for them again, presumably to debrief them or to give them another assignment.

"Kev Marnarth was killed," Taran started, "By a criminal known as Hans Novastar."

As Taran opened his mouth, the ship began to shake and rumble.

"They're here," Cyana informed him flatly

"Activate their implants, kill Novastar, set the ship to self-destruct, and ready the escape pods." Taran ordered her.

The escape pods?

Though she tried to resist it, Asura felt again utter powerlessness as the nerve controls once again took over her actions, leading her to take a pistol offered by Cyana and immediately run for the door. She continued onward through the hallways, being met by a squad of clone troopers who decided to dig in where they were and wait for the enemies to come. "Asura, this is Hans. We know where you are. We're about to disable the nerve implants. When we do, take cover."

She heard blaster shots and screams further down the hallway, but wasn't in control of herself to react to them. The clones had taken a few tables and set them up down the hallway to use as makeshift cover, and she planted herself next to a clone behind one of them, her blaster trained further down the hallway. The area ahead was now being illuminated with blue and red beams of light as shots rang out between Hans and the clones. Finally, they stopped, and Asura heard a quiet thud.

"Going down in 3...2..."

A grenade flew around the corner.

"1...Now!"

Asura ducked as the grenade went off, emitting a bright light paired with a deafening ringing. She had been lucky enough to not look directly at the grenade, and took advantage of this fact to quickly dispatch the clone next to her. Ears still ringing, she then stood up, shooting a few more clones as a red laser streaked just past the left side of her face. She turned around, and saw a clone behind her drop. Turning back, she saw Hans in the flesh- tall, pale, blonde, armed to the teeth. Immediately after, Cade also turned the corner. Hans opened his mouth to say something, but Asura still couldn't hear.

As he and Cade walked closer, her hearing finally came back.

"You could've told her to plug her ears, you know." Cade chided Hans.

"Oh, shut up." Hans turned to Asura. "You good?"

"Um.. yeah." She responded, not really knowing what to say. "Alright, let's get out of here." He and Cade quickly took off back the way they came.

"WAIT!" She yelled. Hans stopped and turned around, grimacing.

"What is it?" Hans sighed, as though he was expecting something like this to happen. As if in response to the question, the door behind Asura exploded. Out of the smoke, DX-245 and Praxon walked together and raised their weapons. DX was controlling Praxon.

Time seemed to slow down for Asura as she quickly calculated her options. Praxon could be incapacitated, but stopping DX would likely require his restraining bolt, located on the back of his "head", and getting there wouldn't be so easy. Time sped up.

Asura quickly fired a shot at Praxon's leg. It connected and he quickly fell to the floor. Next, she took off running towards DX-245, who raised his left arm and fired a single shot. Asura immediately went into a slide, feeling the heat of the shot as it flew over her head. Hans and Cade began firing at the droid from behind her, catching its attention but not doing any noticeable damage. Taking advantage of this short-lived opportunity, Asura quickly ran behind DX, grabbing hold of the restraining bolt. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement--Praxon. As she tugged at the unmoving bolt, he raised his weapon towards her.

"I WON'T DO IT!" He yelled out in agony, his hands shaking violently as he resisted the droid's mental dominance. She saw his finger squeeze on the trigger, and as she shot hit her in the chest, felt the restraining bolt detach from DX-245, falling with her to a ground she never reached.

... Asura woke up on a soft bed. Opening her eyes, she saw that she was now on Hans' ship, and he was walking over to her.

"Welcome back," he said. "It's been a while. Few months, actually."

"What happened?"

"Praxon and DX got you out of there. Taran and Cyana got away. But there's something more important than all of that, Asura."

"What?" She couldn't fathom a situation more important than two Brotherhood spies still on the loose in the Empire.

"I want to offer you a job."

Antimatter Squadron. The real Antimatter Squadron. She couldn't believe it.

"I..."

"HANS!" Ranulph interjected. "THE HOLO!"

He turned around and, seeing the holoprojector flash to life, quickly went towards it.

"Praxon will fill you in," he finished quickly.

On the holo stood a Jedi. Asura had never seen him before, but everything about him seemed to scream it. He was dressed in robes with some armor under them, and stood tall with a lightsaber on his belt.

"This is Ganner," he said, "do you read me?"

"Loud and clear," Ranulph hesitantly responded.

"Good. Time is short and I have a lot I need to take care of. Come to these coordinates on Dantooine as soon as possible. I'll be waiting. Ganner out."

The holo faded, leaving Hans staring at empty space. "No apology?" Cade asked.

"Nope." Hans replied. "Let's get going."