Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan (36 page)

“Impossible,” Scourge declared. “The Guard are bound to the Emperor’s will at the end of their training by a powerful ritual. They would never betray him!”

“True, but we didn’t know that at the time,” Revan explained. “We were being led into a trap; the Emperor wanted us to come to him. When we got to his throne room, he was ready and waiting.” His voice dropped low. “We underestimated his power. When we confronted him, he didn’t even have to fight us. Instead, he broke our wills. He dominated our minds, turning us into puppets to do his bidding. He sent us back to the Republic as the vanguard of his invasion, with instructions to report back when all resistance was crushed.

“But though we had underestimated the Emperor’s power, he underestimated us, as well. Our wills were stronger than he thought; our minds twisted and perverted his instructions until we thought we were acting of our own accord. Malak and I were turned to the dark side, but in doing so we found the strength to block out all memory of the Sith and the Emperor, partially freeing us from his control.”

“But you still called yourself Sith,” Meetra said, puzzled. “You still attacked the Republic and brought it to the verge of collapse before the Jedi captured you. And even after you stopped Malak, the Republic was still as vulnerable as it’s ever been. Why didn’t the Emperor just invade then?”

“He didn’t know what had happened,” Revan explained. “He was waiting for us to report back. When he heard nothing, he assumed we had failed. He returned to his original plans, slowly and carefully building up his strength so that when he finally did invade there would be no chance of defeat.”

Meetra glanced over at Scourge, and the Sith could guess what she was thinking. He’d originally allied with them because he feared invading the Republic would be a disaster. With Revan implying the Emperor could actually succeed, she feared he would turn on them.

Two days earlier she would have been right. However, everything had changed when Scourge met the Emperor in person.

“I won’t betray you,” he assured her. “When I spoke with the Emperor, I briefly touched his mind. What he did on Nathema only hints
at the horrors he is capable of unleashing on the galaxy. I truly understand what he has become, and I know that unchecked he will lead us to annihilation. It is inevitable.”

“A good speech,” Meetra said. “But why should we believe you?”

“It’s true,” Revan assured her. “When the Emperor broke my will, he looked into my mind, and I was able to see the reflection of his own evil. Invading the Republic is only the first step of his plan. He has become obsessed with power and immortality. The dark side is like a cancer inside him; it grows faster than he can feed it. He has consumed an entire world, but he still hungers. And with his hunger comes an all-consuming fear. He has lived a thousand years; he knows he could live many thousands more. He is terrified of death.”

“Everyone is scared of dying,” Meetra said.

“Not like this. For him death is not merely the end of his physical existence. The Emperor has spent a millennium gathering his strength; if he dies he will lose everything. The thought of near-infinite power slipping from his grasp has driven him mad. In his twisted mind, the only way to preserve what he has accomplished is to annihilate every potential threat in the galaxy.”

“Nathema was just the beginning,” Scourge agreed. “He will destroy world after world, his power and madness growing in concert until he alone is left, Emperor over an empty and lifeless galaxy.”

Meetra stared at the two in horror.

“You’ve been to Nathema,” Scourge said. “You felt the Void. You know what the Emperor is capable of.”

“She understands,” Revan said, reading her expression more accurately than Scourge. “That’s not it.”

“He’s quarantined Dromund Kaas,” Meetra said, trying to lead them to the same conclusion. “What if he’s preparing to do the same thing here that he did on Nathema?”

Scourge hadn’t considered that possibility, and it chilled him to his core.

“Is that possible?” he asked. “Nyriss told me the ritual on Nathema took days, if not weeks. And the Emperor had to trick hundreds of other powerful Sith into working with him so he could draw on their power.”

“He’s stronger now,” Revan said. “But even if it’s possible, I don’t
think he’ll go that far. At least not yet. He is too patient, too careful. Dromund Kaas is the heart of his Empire and the seat of his power. He has too many valuable resources here to throw it all away. But once he is ready, there will be nothing left to stop him from launching his invasion of the Republic.”

“What do you mean?” Meetra asked.

Scourge answered on Revan’s behalf. “The Emperor had to keep his plans secret because he knew the Dark Council would oppose him. Now they are wiped out. And whoever he picks to replace them will remember what happened to their predecessors, and be too terrified to speak out against him.”

“He can also use this to rally the will of the people,” Revan added. “He can claim the Dark Council was working with agents of the Republic, and that is why he destroyed them. He will claim the Sith Empire has been rediscovered by its old enemy. He will convince his subjects that the only hope of survival is to strike first.”

“He won’t make his proclamation until order is restored on Dromund Kaas,” Scourge noted.

“That doesn’t give us much time,” Meetra remarked, remembering how efficiently the Guard had overrun Nyriss’s stronghold.

“The Guard are patrolling the streets, enforcing the curfew,” Scourge said. “Only a handful remain stationed at the citadel. Now is our best chance to strike at the Emperor.”

“This time I know his tricks and tactics,” Revan assured them. “I can shield my mind from being dominated by his will, and I can show you how to do the same.”

“We should wait until dawn,” Scourge said. “There will be fewer people out in the light of day. And most of the Guard will be recovering at the barracks after patrolling the streets all night.”

“Good,” Revan said. “That gives us a few hours to try to get some rest.”

Both Meetra and Scourge nodded in agreement, though the Sith doubted any of them would get much sleep.

SCOURGE HOVERED ON THE EDGE OF SLEEP
.
His body was exhausted, but his mind was churning. Unable to still his thoughts and let sleep wash over him, he tossed and turned.

Unlike his Jedi companions, he had never learned to sit and meditate in order to draw sustenance from the Force. The dark side was about action and activity, not restful contemplation. But he knew that if he didn’t try something, he would have to endure a long and restless night.

He propped himself into a sitting position and closed his eyes, trying to open himself up to the Force. Taking slow, deep breaths, he focused on letting his mind open itself to the infinite possibilities swirling through time and space. After several minutes he managed to drift into a state of semiconsciousness.

Revan lay motionless on the floor of the Citadel’s throne room. Meetra and Scourge lay beside him, their bodies twisted and broken, clinging to the last moments of life
.

The Emperor approached the trio, regarding them with a cold and casual contempt as he loomed above his fallen adversaries. Scourge tried to stand and flee, but his crippled limbs wouldn’t support his weight. All he could do was crawl on his belly like a worm
.

His efforts drew the attention of the Emperor, who didn’t speak but came over and lowered himself to one knee. He grabbed Scourge by the shoulder and rolled him over so he was staring up into the twin voids of the Emperor’s eyes
.

As he reached out a hand and placed it on Scourge’s forehead, the Sith began to scream
.

Scourge’s eyes popped open as his mind snapped to a fully alert state of consciousness. His heart was pounding, and he could still hear the sound of his own scream ringing in his ears.

Glancing around the cave he realized the scream must have been confined to his mind; neither Meetra nor Revan had reacted in any way. She was sitting in the same cross-legged pose Revan had often assumed during his time in Nyriss’s prison. Revan was kneeling in front of T3-M4, hunched forward as he rewatched the holovid of his wife and son.

Scourge shook his head, trying to push away the remnants of his dream. But the memory stayed with him, and he began to realize that what he had seen was something more than a mere nightmare.

The experience lacked the hazy, surreal feel of a dream. It had been too vivid, the details too sharp and precise to be a figment manifested by his subconscious. There was only one possible explanation for what had happened: the Force had given Scourge a vision.

Scourge’s hands began to tremble slightly as he realized he had witnessed his own destruction at the Emperor’s hand. Even worse, the vision made it clear that both Meetra and Revan would suffer the same fate. He had opened himself up to the Force, and it had shown him that their coming mission would end in failure.

He glanced over at the Jedi, wondering if he should warn them. Even if he did, would they believe what he said? Could
he
believe it?

His training at the Academy had taught him little about the prophetic abilities of the Force. Was what he had seen inevitable, or was it a fate he could somehow avoid? Maybe his strong connection to the dark side would somehow color his visions, distorting them so they showed the worst of all possible futures.

The simplest course would be to tell Revan what he had seen and hear his opinion of it. But Scourge knew his allies’ trust in him was
already fragile. If he admitted he thought their mission was doomed, it could convince them he couldn’t be trusted. They might even decide it was his presence that caused their failure; after all, he was the one who had seen the vision.

Scourge continued to struggle with what he had seen, trying to understand what it meant and what he should do about it. But after several more minutes of silently talking himself in circles, he realized he simply wouldn’t find the answers on his own.

He pushed himself to his feet and went over to where Revan was sitting. T3 paused the playback of the holovid as he approached, but left the still image of Revan’s wife and son hovering in the air.

“May I speak with you?” Scourge asked, taking a seat beside the Jedi without waiting for a reply.

“You may,” Revan said, not bothering to tear his gaze away from the projection of his family.

“I want to know more about the Force,” Scourge said. “I want to understand it as you do.”

Revan turned to give him a quizzical look. “You want to know this now?”

“This might be our last chance,” Scourge said. “I’ve been thinking about something you said to me the last time we spoke in your cell.”

“What is that?”

“You knew Meetra was coming to rescue you because the Force had given you a vision.”

Revan smiled. “Actually, I was bluffing. I was trying to trick you. I was hoping you might dream of me escaping, and think the Force was guiding you to help me.”

“Is that how it happens?” Scourge asked, slightly miffed at Revan’s confession. “They come to you in your dreams?”

“No. A Force vision is more powerful than any dream. There is an intensity that jumps out at you, and the details do not fade. But I figured you wouldn’t know the difference.”

I do now
, Scourge thought.

“I won’t apologize for lying to you,” Revan said, mistaking the reason for his companion’s silence. “And if it makes you feel any better, I actually did have a vision of Meetra after we spoke.”

“That seems a highly unlikely coincidence,” Scourge noted.

“That is the way of the Force,” Revan said. “Cause and effect are not a simple linear relationship. The Force transcends space and time; it flows through us and around us; it influences our past, present, and future. Maybe I spoke to you of visions because I knew the Force was trying to reach out to me. Or maybe Meetra came to Dromund Kaas because I told you someone was coming to rescue me.”

“But she started looking for you long before we had our conversation,” Scourge protested.

“It’s complicated,” Revan answered with a cryptic smile. “Jedi scholars have devoted centuries to understanding the ways of the Force, and we have only scratched the surface.”

Scourge silently tried to digest what he was being told. At the same time, he tried to form the questions that would give him the answers he wanted without revealing what he had seen.

“Once you had the vision of Meetra, were you certain she was coming? Did you know for sure that she would help free you?”

Revan shook his head. “We can never be certain about anything. The future is always in motion, and a vision shows you only one of many possible outcomes.”

“Then what purpose do visions serve?”

“They guide us,” Revan explained. “They give us focus. They show us a goal to strive for, or something we can work to prevent.”

“So the visions are not absolute?”

“As I said, the future is always in motion.”

There was another long period of silence before Scourge asked another question. “Have you had any visions of what will happen when we face the Emperor?”

“No,” Revan said. “The dark side obscures my sight. We are walking into a time and place of shadows, and I cannot promise you that we will ever come out.”

“Doesn’t that terrify you?”

“Fear is only an emotion; a trick the mind plays on us. You must learn to set your fear aside.”

“We Sith are taught to embrace our fear,” Scourge told him. “We transform it into anger and use it to fuel the power of the dark side.”

“But then your actions will always be driven by that fear,” Revan said.

“And what are your actions driven by?” Scourge asked. “Logic? Reason?”

“No,” Revan admitted. “If I were reasonable, I would never have left my family behind to face the Emperor.”

“Then why did you do it?”

Revan nodded in the direction of the holoprojection. “For them. I want my son to live a long and healthy life. I want him to know peace, not war. I’ve come to stop the Emperor for him.”