Chapter 1

This is a crossover between the game Prototype and Knights of the Old Republic. I haven't seen a crossover between these two before and thought I'd give it a shot.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or Prototype.

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On board a Sith Herald-class shuttle.

Doctor Kurt Vul stared at the large holoscreen with excitement. Their current destination was in a previously unexplored part of the Outer Rim, a full month ago a team consisting of both explorers and scientists had been sent out in order to expand the Sith Empire by adding more Star Systems under its control. On one such planet, the team had found data concerning an unknown hyperspace route. The team had been tasked to investigate, and they had found something, that is why he was on his way there.

The data on the holoscreen flickered for a moment, but Kurt's eyes where fixed on it, apparently the team had found evidence of an extinct civilization on the planet. The most interesting discovery was a crystal which had certain interesting characteristics. And of course, as one of the Empire's greatest scientists he had to see this for himself. This could be the find of a lifetime, and there was no way he would let anyone else take charge of this operation.

Kurt was interrupted from his thoughts by the ships comsystem. "Attention all crew members, we will arrive at our destination in less than thirty minutes."

Good, he thought, sooner the better.

Kurt was lost in thought, which is why he was surprised when the same voice announced that they had reached their destination. He walked over to the transparisteel window and observed the planet, judging by its red color; he assumed it was a desert world similar to Tatooine. Kurt checked that his blaster pistol securely hang from his right hip before he made his way to the elevator. The elevator descended to the first floor and Kurt made his way all to the back to the cargo hold, his research team was already waiting for him there.

Besides himself, the team consisted of two humans in their mid forties, which both nodded to him as he approached. The trio had been working together for over ten years now, but they had all worked for the Sith a lot longer. Of course, none of them was important enough to have met the higher-ups; instead Kurt always dealt with different lieutenants when he made his reports.

The pilot's voice came over the com system. "We have entered the planet's atmosphere and have begun docking procedures. Stand-by"

Kurt and his team made their way through the cargo hold, which now was almost empty, but could support about 70 tons of cargo. The Herald was one of the mass produced models in the Sith Empire and anyone traveling through Sith space would definitely come across one. The ship rumbled as it touched down on the ground, not soon afterwards the cargo hold doors opened revealing nothing more than rock and sand. Finally outside, Kurt saw several other ships to his side and the research camp.

From the camp, a man wearing scientist garbs with graying-black hair walked towards them. He had an annoyed look on his face, and the small clinching of his eyes alerted Kurt to the fact that the man didn't want them here.

"Welcome Doctor Vul. I'm Dr John Lycan, the scientist in charge of the operation."

Krul gave the man an emotionless stare. "Not anymore, I now have that authority."

"Right, now please follow me." The man gestured towards the camp. "We'll be heading to the main research building; most of our findings are there." Without waiting for a response, John began walking back the same way he came with Krul and his team shortly behind.

Finally inside the building, John led them into one of the research rooms. Now there, Krul decided to take charge.

"Now tell me, what have you found so far?"

John raised a brow. "Didn't you get data already?"

"I did, but I'm sure you've discovered more since your last update."

"We've discovered several sets of bones in the nearby cave system, and from our initial tests we can confirm that they are human." He took a deep breath. "Our architectural finds suggests that this civilization didn't have advanced technology and most likely never acquired space travel."

"And what of the planet itself, how did they survive with nothing more than rock and sand?" One of Kurt's team members asked.

John smiled. "That is our biggest discovery so far. This planet is full of radioactive metal, lying deep down in the planet core. The interesting part is it's not a natural phenomenon."

Kurt stroked his chin. "You mean the people of this planet caused these themselves?"

"Yes, we've discovered that the radiation is stronger at certain points on the planet. And at every such point we've found different types of architecture. Which brought us to the conclusion that they must have destroyed themselves in nuclear war."

Kurt nodded. "Yes, all this was in your report. What about the crystal?"

"Let me show you." They walked inside another room with a large display of several rocks.

John continued. "It's actually a fusion of crystal and metal, our initial tests show that it has a strong resistance to laser weapons. If we can harness it, we could strengthen the hull of any starship."

The conversation was interrupted by the buildings com system buzzing. "Doctor Lycan, Team Alpha has reported in. You're needed in the med lab."

The doctor's eyes widened and he rushed out of the room, pausing only slightly to tell them to follow. Less than a minute later they arrived in the med lab where John began talking with the research team.

"What's happened?"

A broad shouldered man answered with excitement. "Doctor, we continued our excavations of the caves as ordered and came upon something unusual." He took a deep breath. "There's something in the crystal."

Lycan's eyes widened. "What do you mean something? You had scanning equipment with you, yes?"

"Yes sir, but I think the radiation is affecting the equipment somehow because according to the machine, there's a pocket full of biomass hiding behind the crystal."

Kurt pointed towards the broad shouldered man. "Take me there, and want to see this for myself."

Kurt estimated it took about fifteen minutes to get to the cave; the cave itself was like any other cave. There was nothing remarkable about it at all except for the large veins of pink crystals on the walls. They continued further down and entered a dim lit chamber. As he entered, Kurt observed various drilling equipment lying around on the ground.

The broad shouldered man walked through the chamber to the far wall and pointed to the wall in front of him. "Here it is."

The wall where he pointed had a particularly large vein and Kurt could easily see with his own eyes that a large dark lump lay behind the crystal.

Kurt grinned. "Amazing, absolutely amazing."

John walked over and picked up the scanner. "This one must be broken, there's no way that glob could be biomass." He scanned the wall again. "Even if the crystal somehow preserved whatever is inside, it should have dissolved a long time ago."

Kurt nodded. "I want samples right away."

The broad shouldered man answered. "I'll get right on it sir."

As the Kurt and John left he picked up one of the nearby hydraulic jacks and powered it on and began his work.

His arms ached as the hydraulic jack pounded on the wall; he had been hammering away for nearly one standard hour. As he stopped, the clouds of atomized dust began to dissipate, no longer obscuring his vision. At a closer inspection, he noticed how close he had come to the unknown matter. He took several steps back and put down the hydraulic jack, as if this action caused it, the entire cave began to rumble. Only his sharp reflexes saved him from being crushed by a large falling rock, with no other choice he clanged to the wall. The quake continued with several smaller shakes before it disappeared altogether.

Sighing in relief, he took a step forward, still uncertain if he could make it back to the surface if another quake hit. A cracking noise made him turn around; the cave wall began to crack and a black matter slowly oozed through. Chocked he moved closer, the material did not behave as liquid should. Instead of dripping down to the ground, it stopped midway and formed into a small clump. The man reached forward and gently touched the forming liquid with his fingertips; it felt sticky to his fingers. I have to report this immediately, he thought.

His sharp reflexes did not help him as the small clump on the wall expanded and covered his entire hand, small black tendrils formed and continued up his arm. He fell to the ground holding his arm and screamed out in pain, it felt as if his arm was being torn apart. As he struggled to get free, the entire clump pushed through the cracks.

And then he knew only darkness.

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AU

Please let me know what you think.