Quarantine

Darby sat on the bridge of the corsair, secure in his position as the first mate.

No more killing had been necessary. He had managed to reach his current spot by simple competency. The remainder of the crew weren't really fighters. They had been the poor and unfortunate on numerous wild space worlds who joined up just to get food and shelter.

They had gathered a load of loot and slaves and were enroute to the pirate headquarters to exchange the loot. Any guilt Darby had felt for how he intended to treat the pirate captain and his crew had fallen by the wayside as he saw the vicious attacks and unnecessary violence.

It had been all the clone could do not to react and start killing his way through the scum, to be honest. He consoled himself with the knowledge that the second stage of the plan was almost complete.

When the corsair came out of hyperspace into the system the pirates had claimed Darby couldn't help but tense up. He saw where they were on the charts and it was on the route to Nethea.

All it would take was a ship traveling to or from the secret planet to be captured and they all would be in grave danger. He triggered his implanted comm immediately and sent an update. His attention had shifted, however, to the giant, insect like ship hovering in the darkness of space, arms encircling two more corsairs in production.

"Dank Ferrik!" He thought.

Tao's comm went off during the virtual meeting but he elected to wait and check it at the end. Alexis had, after all, just dropped a bit of a bombshell on them.

"So you are telling us you have modified the highly modified genetic work by an advanced, heretofore unknown race and want one of us to inject it in hopes that it will solve the problem of the editor lingering?" Sparrow wasn't being sarcastic, the idea was just that far out there.

"In short, yes. I have used all the genetic knowledge we have gained from the various sources and added those advantages, mainly healing and physical ability, strength and speed, to the base line eldrie DNA strand. I then replaced the core DNA within the editor with the modified eldrie DNA. If my theory is correct once the editor acts on a cell the modified DNA will trigger the formation of the cell wall which will prevent the editor from further modifying it and therefore the editor will become harmless and be processed out of the body."

"So it's sort of the same as the plan for the sith virus? We are going to starve it?" Miley asked curiously.

"Sort of. We are sure that the editor is staying in the bloodstream because it is constantly modifying at least a few cells, any damage, even simple age, and more editor cells are produced. I think once the thicker cell walls form it will be impossible for that to happen. Since the gene editor can no longer affect the cells in the host the editor should die off naturally in the system."

"What's the danger?" Sparrow asked.

"The most likely problem would be that the plan just doesn't work, following that would be something untoward happens." Alexis said.

"And worst case is we set off a plague of genetic modification that sweeps through the galaxy, possibly even further." Miley kicked in. "Although with proper precautions I think it unlikely."

"And we have this ready for testing?" Sparrow inquired.

"Yes, I finished the modifications before I brought it up, to make sure it was workable."

"Then we will test it on me." Sparrow said. "Miley and I are already isolated down here in pretty much the perfect location, and in the event something DOES go wrong she is much more likely to be useful in solving the problem."

There were some protests, of course, but no one really had a good reason to nominate themselves or anyone else, especially when Sparrow calmly pointed out he would be bonding an eldrie anyway and if this didn't work they could just create an eldrie clone body to place him in.

Thankfully Siscasse was still in REM sleep getting her language training and 4k year galactic history lesson so the testing began without Sparrow having to fight that particular battle.

Deux re-joined him and then he was given the new serum. He passed out almost immediately.

That meant Sparrow was unconscious and in mid-change when Siscasse woke up. She looked around and when she spotted him on the table she didn't recognize him. She was trying to figure out why a male eldrie had been awoken when Miley saw her awake and recognized her confusion.

"That is Sparrow." Miley said.

Siscasse was thrilled she now spoke the language and could talk to everyone, not just Sparrow.

"This is an eldrie, not like you and Sparrow."

"Didn't Sparrow explain what happened to us?" Miley asked.

"No, we hadn't discussed that yet."

"Well, have a seat and we will talk about it, the process is proceeding as we had hoped and he will not be awake any time soon."

While Sparrow slept and Siscasse was filled in Tao received the horrible news from Darby. It seemed their worst fears may be coming to pass because it would be much too easy for the pirates to follow a ship the rest of the way to them. He thought it through for a few minutes and then decided maybe a scientific approach would be best.

Before he went to see the engineers he did send a message out through the exo-galactic comm devices his team carried to get word to their allies what had happened and to try to ensure that no one tried to come to Nathea. He included the information on the viral outbreak and the proposed plan to deal with it.

Once the message had been sent he headed over to engineering.

Once there he got all the engineers together, as well as calling in the synths, and then briefed them on the pirate threat.

"What we need to do is figure out a way to close the path here." He said, "I know there are ways to render a hyperspace route temporarily, or, if necessary, permanently unusable. Can we set something like that up?"

"Possibly," mused Kai, "but are you sure stranding us out here is the only way to handle the situation?"

"Oh, we wouldn't be stranded, merely inconvenienced." Tao replied. "I have had my people out searching for different hyperspace routes as a matter of security. As you know by now a stable path like the one we took to get here is very rare here in wild space. Alternatives are available," a holo appeared, showing the local systems with several dotted lines crisscrossing them. "But as you can see they aren't as stable."

"I have become curious about hyperspace navigation." commented Reverb, "and I think there is a use for a technology from your galaxy. We could use beacons to ensure safe routes."

Echo kicked in, "And if we set them up using comm tech from there as well it would be unlikely anyone else would locate them, or, even if they did, be able to follow."

"That is an excellent idea gentlemen, we should get to work designing that system." With a nod the two moved off to start their project.

"Regarding the idea of making the direct route unusable, if we simply destroy this moon here," the projection altered to highlight the moon in question, "then the debris will block safe travel for months, at least." Kai told him.

"Isn't destroying a moon a bit much of an undertaking?"

"It normally would be, but that particular moon came to my attention when we were surveying for resources. It is riddled with pockets of garnomian gas. With some aid from our synth friends it would be relatively easy to determine the precise shot or shots from the particle beam cannon needed to detonate it for our optimum needs."

"I know Sparrow was very insistent he wanted to use that only to defend this system." Tao commented.

"In a real sense that is what we would be doing. By closing off this direct path we greatly reduce the chances that we need to have a battle in system here." Kai counter-proposed.

"A valid point." Tao conceded.

Meanwhile, on Yeneshan, Jith received word that there was a visitor for her at the entrance to the mandalorian compound. The visitor had used the code phrase she had set up with Sparrow so she had them shown to her office.

The visitor was a togruda female, and, judging from her age Jith had a pretty good guess she was a clone. Once the door was closed and the privacy screen activated so it would be much more difficult to eavesdrop the young woman said, "My name is Moena and I work directly for Tao."

The young woman then went ahead and gave a concise briefing on all that had happened. Once Jith had a few seconds to process it the woman reached into her shoulder bag and produced a small comm.

"This only looks like a standard comm. It turns out our neighbors used a completely different comm system so there is almost no chance this will be intercepted or jammed."

"Another agent will be delivering one to Rook and Chess as well. We are sorry we can't provide more of them yet but, as I'm sure you can guess, manpower is still quite an issue for us."

"Secure comms will really come in handy, I thank you. Is there any way we can help?"

"Not at present, as far as I know. Tao is now aware you have that comm, and will make the others on the council aware as well. If the situation changes I am sure they will notify you."

"Fair enough."

"I had better be going. I am in the process of setting up a store front here, once I do you should stop by. Eventually we hope to be selling some unique products."

"A legion store?"

"No, I expect to gain access to black market supplies of the same product though. Being a rare commodity I expect prices to reflect the rarity." The togruda said with an evil smile.

"My culvert will certainly do our purchasing through you." Jith grinned, "We can't allow that upstart legion to profit."

While Moena and Jith worked out their commercial ventures a small freighter appeared in the system where Rook and Chess had located their home ship.

Tensions were high due to the recent incursions but once all the proper codes and responses were exchanged the ship came in for a landing.

Shortly thereafter an unassuming looking human male was led into the office suite that Chess shared with his wife.

"My name is Garth," the man said as he approached with hand outstretched, "I work for Legion security."

Once again the briefing was done and the comm device delivered. Upon hearing of the difficulty the clone group had been having Garth frowned, but said he would be sure and report it to Tao. He also suggested that they contact Nethea and try and work out an alternate plan, since moving more people there before the virus was eradicated would be foolish.

Once the critical business was discussed they had a long conversation about how he and the clone group could benefit each other, and he even had a couple of good ideas for them regarding their future plans.

Back on Nathea Sparrow had gone through the change smoothly. Once again Deux shielded his

memories during the brain changes.

He woke up to a beautiful, yet somewhat scary sight.

The woman who he was, undoubtedly, going to marry, or bond, or both was staring at him from a chair placed beside his bed with an adorable frown on her face.

"You will cease these insane risks you like to take, immediately." She informed him.

"It was a calculated risk." He asserted, continuing to speak to her in her own language, despite her addressing him in basic.

"Calculated? It could have killed you!"

"Yes, there was a very small chance of that, a larger chance something else would go wrong, and yet a fairly decent chance that, as we see, it went perfectly."

"Ooh!" she huffed in frustration, stamping her foot on the floor.

He carefully controlled his urge to grin. He figured he would be devoting a fair portion of his time far into the future into attempting to put her in this exact state.

A droid approached and Omni spoke from within it. Sparrow immediately realized this must be serious because Omni rarely left the ship.