A/N: Occasional snippets of dialogue throughout the story have been borrowed from the game, thanks to the writers at Bioware.
Chapter 1
Lord Scourge paced the inner sanctum of the Emperor's private space station. He could feel the intruders approaching, but they were scattered instead of traveling together. That would be only the first mistake in their undoing.
The Emperor waited on the throne at Scourge's back, silent and unmoving, looking like nothing more than a stone statue. His presence was an immeasurable weight, filled with a dark power so potent that it would crush the mind any common mortal. As the Emperor's most trusted servant, Scourge was immune, yet he still recalled all too well the mind-blowing agony the Emperor had once inflicted on him with a mere touch to his mind.
A Jedi was at the entrance now, pausing on the other side of the door, just out of view. She had someone else with her, a Force-blind, and Scourge wondered what foolish man would be stupid enough to throw his life away on behalf of this Jedi. Were the lot of them really this misguided?
The door opened, and the Jedi and her companion entered. The Jedi surveyed the round sanctum, looking to the singular bridge that led across the central chasm. There on the dais in the center, Scourge and the Emperor waited. It didn't matter to Scourge who this Jedi was. He took in her measure with disinterest, noting her youth and the two head-tails that swayed across her back, designating her as a Twi'lek. More interesting to him was the feel of power that shifted around her, restless and volatile, and bright as a star. Was the Jedi Order truly so desperate that they would send this youngster, whose talent was obviously raw and unrefined, to take on the Emperor alone? She must be a diversion, he decided, sacrificed to distract him while other opponents approached for the real fight.
The Emperor seethed behind him, both insulted and amused at what he perceived as a mere slave attempting to confront him. Scourge knew better by now than to judge a Jedi by these outer trappings, however. He had faced many of the Republic's finest, and knew that one should not underestimate the power of the galaxy's lesser races. Scourge soaked up the Emperor's rage just the same, letting it fill him. Ever since being transformed by the Emperor's dark alchemy, Scourge could no longer access his own pool of feelings. Instead he drew from the Emperor's endless well of dark power, and had become adept in seeking out the emotions of his opponents to feast on instead.
Scourge's impairment was the result of a curse. The Emperor had extended the limits of Scourge's body, giving him increased strength and endurance, and had granted him the most power gift of all - that of immortality. But as with all things associated with the dark side, there was a price to pay. Over time, Scourge had grown numb, both physically and mentally. He had learned to compensate for these hindrances.
Scourge reached out then to sample the Jedi's emotions, like a swimmer might dip a toe into untested waters. He found her to be nervous, determined, driven by conviction and the righteousness of her cause. The Jedi Order espoused mindfulness over unchecked passions, yet Scourge knew from experience that it was a rare Jedi indeed who didn't harbor some inner reserve of unacknowledged emotion. No matter how well guarded, Scourge could almost always find the cracks in their resolve and exploit them. He didn't have to work very hard, however, to touch this Jedi's thoughts. They flowed from her readily, almost as if she possessed little protective barrier against his prying at all. She was confident, even a bit prideful, but she was not the Jedi who would someday defeat the Emperor, as Scourge had long ago foreseen. This one would be easy pickings. He looked forward to feasting on her fear.
Scourge drew his lightsaber and held it out before him.
"You violate the Emperor's sanctum. There is only one punishment. You will face it alone since your friends are already dead." That was untrue, but it would behoove him to get this Jedi out of the way before her compatriots arrived.
"Hey!" the puny human at her side piped up, "I'm right here, you know! She's not alone."
Scourge ignored him. The Jedi was crossing the bridge, getting closer, displaying no hesitation. Fear bled from her, just as he expected, faint but steady, and it tingled across Scourge's consciousness like a spark ready to combust. He reached out and seized upon it, siphoning strength from her weakness and using it to bolster his own power. It built to a crest inside him, tense and primed for release.
She paused at the edge of the dais and looked up at him. The set of her eyes, the high cheekbones, the tight mouth and delicate chin; Scourge knew this face. No, he decided, it was merely a coincidence. There was no way this Jedi could be the one from his vision.
She took her own weapon from her belt and set it alight.
"You will surrender or die," she said.
Such brave words. He admired her courage at least.
"We will see about that."
She sprang at him, eager to claim the first strike.
Only then did he understand.
A veil dropped over him, intangible and unseen, yet no less real. The emotions he had easy touched upon moments before - the Jedi's apprehension, fear and doubt - vanished, slicing off the reserve from which Scourge had been drawing. He was momentarily blinded, startled as he was, but he instantly adjusted his expectations. He extended his reach, striking out towards her mind, but he found nothing there to latch onto. She was like a cloaked ship. Scourge knew what had been there, but now he felt no emotion at all. Her mind was empty and focused and filled with the light of the Force. It was her shield, her armor, the honed edge of the finest weapon, and she controlled it with ease, like it was a part of her being.
She flew through the air like an acrobat, propelled by what appeared to be an effortless connection to the Force, and landed steady on her feet, sending a hail of blows at him like some relentless battle droid. She knew tactics, he discovered, and exhibited a natural grace and agility that was more than just a result of training. Her combat skill took him by surprise. She was clearly gifted in the arts of war.
Scourge had fought Jedi masters before, ones who exhibited remarkable control over the Force and over themselves, but never had he expected to find such expertise in one so young. What kind of strange prodigy was this? She was one with her thoughts and with her every move. She was the Force. How could anyone exhibit such a broad disparity in skill from one moment to the next? Had it been a trick?
She had taken him off guard, and that had cost Scourge dearly. He switched tactics, pulling power now from the Emperor's vast darkness instead. The dark side infused this place and radiated from the Emperor himself like waves of heat, and Scourge found strength there, enough to push her back and to deal a few solid blows. He swung and clipped the edge of her left wrist, leaving behind a smoking hole in the metal of her wrist guard. He felt her acknowledgement of the pain, but it was fleeting, and then she was back again in full force, striking at him like a speedy little cyclone, pushing forward in a relentless barrage of hits.
Scourge spun, throwing out an elbow aimed for her throat. It missed its exact target, but landed solidly against her collarbone, sending a shock up his arm. She cried out and was flung backwards to the ground. For a moment, she looked dazed and Scourge advanced upon her, certain now that he could deal a killing blow. She glared at him, the fire in her eyes unquenched even by pain, and next thing Scourge knew, she rebounded to her feet and met his strike. The light of his lightsaber washed across her countenance, and for a fleeting second, her features were burned into Scourge's mind.
That face. He recognized it. So like the face in his vision.
He blinked and she was on him, slamming him in the chest with a surprise strike from the hilt of her lightsaber, followed by a very unexpected kick to the groin. Now where had she learned to fight like that? It took the wind out of him, but he felt no pain from it, and he flashed her a grim smile that he hoped would unnerve her. She gritted her teeth and emitted a very unJedi-like snarl, but if her outburst had been accompanied by any surge of emotion, she hid it well. She retained her calm demeanor while increasing the ferocity of her attacks. Scourge was vaguely aware that her companion was sending sprays of kolto at her, and he switched his attention temporarily in the man's direction. Scourge reached through the Force and grabbed the man by the throat, then threw him backwards into the room's far wall. The man hit the wall with a echoing clang, slumped to the floor and fell still.
The Jedi didn't flinch or even look in the man's direction, but Scourge felt a flicker of concern from her. It wasn't much, but it was the first sign of weakness that Scourge had seen. He surged into the split-second opening and dealt a stinging blow to her ribs, then caught her in another back-handed slice to her upper arm. The first cut broke through her armor, and the second startled her. She spun away from him, her pale robe swirling about her legs as she came to a stop just out of reach.
Scourge stalked around her in a slow circle.
"Are you ready to give up, Jedi?"
She lifted her chin. "We've only just begun."
Scourge studied her carefully. He did indeed recognize this Jedi. He had met her on Quesh and had been startled then by her resemblance to the Jedi of his vision. During their brief exchange, he had decided to let her leave with her life, purposefully choosing passivity over action, something which he normally would never condone. But he had seen first hand the power of Force-guided visions and had felt the need, no the urgency, to let this future play out how it would with little interference. He had still been unsure then, and had wanted time to contemplate and watch.
This Jedi's face, that same face - how could it be a coincidence? - was impossible to ignore. It wasn't only that his recollection of the vision was so precise, even after all these years, or even because the vision had been so unmistakably vivid. It was because the face he had seen looked so much like this moment - that fierce expression, the determined set of her eyebrows - he had seen it before. The face in his vision had had pale green skin, but the effects of the Emperor's immortality ritual had long ago washed out all semblance of color from his eyesight, so on this account he couldn't be sure.
What did it mean? Scourge had fully expected to wait years for this moment to arrive, but never had he guessed that it would take more than three lifetimes before it came to pass. He had clung to hope, even after war was declared between the Empire and the Republic, that somehow the total destruction that the Emperor planned could be stopped. If this Jedi were here now, in this throne room and mere meters away from the Emperor, did that mean that the moment Scourge had foreseen was about to pass? Would today be the day that the mad Emperor was at last defeated?
The gravity of what he was about to possibly witness struck him then, and Scourge realized that he stood poised at a juncture in time where everything could be decided. Long ago, Revan had told him that visions only showed possibilities for the future, and were not assured. What was the outcome of this battle supposed to be? Was he meant to be defeated? The irony in that was not lost on him. His fateful choice that day so long past, when he had chosen to live in order to see this vision fulfilled, even if that meant betraying his comrades, had been based on his belief that he too was meant to play a role in the Emperor's demise. But what if it was all in vain? Three hundred years spent enacting a mindless devotion to an Emperor he despised, only to discover that he was meant to be a witness and nothing more? That perhaps it all would have happened regardless, even without his sacrifice?
The Jedi saw his concentration falter and took advantage of this momentary handicap. She leapt at him, and then feinted unexpectedly, following up with a more powerful lunge that threw him off balance. Before he could recover, she kicked one of his feet out from under him, and used the Force to throw him backwards, toppling him over. He had to toss out a hand to catch his fall, but he parried another strike as the world tilted sideways. The Jedi wouldn't be able to kill him, he knew, but she could still maim him beyond the ability to fight, and he would be forced to retreat in order to heal himself. He got to one knee as her lightsaber descended toward his face and thrust his own out to meet it. Instead, her lightsaber grazed in a line across his wrist, a deep cut which sliced through the tendons there, rendering his right hand useless. He watched helplessly as his own blade slipped out of his hand and fell to the ground. He looked up to see the Jedi standing over him with the tip of her lightsaber poised beneath his chin.
The doors behind them blew open and three more Jedi burst in, lightsabers drawn. From the elevated throne on the dais, the Emperor rose, taking his time, not out of weakness or infirmity, but as a gesture that showed he still did not consider these intruders a threat worth reacting to.
Scourge waited for the gathered Jedi to strike at the Emperor. Do it! his mind screamed. Do it now! He could feel the Emperor gathering power around him, drawing immense quantities of dark side energy into himself as if he were an endless void yearning to be filled. He was saying something, taunting the newcomers, and they stood by offering useless platitudes of mercy and redemption. Were they truly that blind? The air charged and hissed and the Emperor threw out his hands.
The lightning storm that followed engulfed them all, and Scourge had to scurry away to avoid being caught in it. The group of Jedi tried valiantly to block the Emperor's strike, but they didn't hold up long. Scourge watched from the shadows as one by one, all the Jedi, including the one from his vision, spasmed under the Emperor's rain of destruction and fell to the ground.
What was going on? This wasn't supposed to happen! He stared at the Twi'lek Jedi, willing her to get up, to surprise them all with some unexpected trick, but nothing happened. Scourge's hopes fell. Was it not yet the right time afterall, or had the pivotal moment come and gone? Surely it was not meant to be over just like that. He knew what he had seen, and he had seen a Jedi, that Twi'lek Jedi that lay on the ground now, striking down the Emperor. It would happen. And it would happen soon. Scourge decided then that he would do whatever it took to see this Jedi's fate realized.