Chapter 11

Scourge was growing weary of the distrustful looks cast his way while riding Coronet City's tramway. Corellia had been initially occupied by the Empire but was finally freed by Republic forces, and the people of the planet held no love for their former conquerors. At first Scourge had met these stares eye to eye, but after drawing the attention of a CorSec officer, he had started ignoring them instead. The officer, a member of Corellia's elite security force, was still following him when he got off the stop at the government district.

The officer was like a stubborn, ugly weed. Just when Scourge thought he'd lost him, the man cropped up again, this time appearing from around a corner ahead of Scourge, essentially cutting him off. The man had a huge hand cannon nearly as long as he was tall strapped to his back and a smaller blaster attached to his hip. He crossed his arms as Scourge approached him.

Scourge spoke first. "Is it a crime to walk the streets of Coronet City?"

"Do you make it a habit to stroll around enemy territories during wartime?"

Scourge felt his annoyance growing, but he was also wise enough to understand the danger he was in. It was unlikely that this man would confront him him alone, which meant that he had comrades nearby probably watching, and possibly even snipers who had him already in their scopes. Scourge's hand itched for the feel of his lightsaber, but he didn't want to cause trouble for Tali.

"I have a diplomatic pass."

"Let me see it."

Scourge handed it over and watched the man's face while he inspected it and ran it through his datapad.

"What is your destination?"

"The Jedi Enclave."

The man looked up, confusion crossing his face "Are you a Jedi?"

"No," Scourge said. "But I have business with the Jedi."

"Are you here representing the Sith?"

"I am a defector." Scourge cringed inwardly at his own words, but they were true. He still considered himself Imperial, deeply so, but he knew there was no way his own people would claim him as their own now.

"I see."

"They know I am coming. Comm them," Scourge added.

"That won't be necessary," the officer replied. "But I'm sure you won't mind if I escort you the rest of the way. For your own safety of course."

Scourge scoffed. "Follow me if you like." He stepped past the man and continued on his way.

At the entrance to the Enclave, Scourge was stopped again and forced to go through the same tedious process. The CorSec officer left him once Scourge was admitted. After passing through several checkpoints, Scourge reached the building's interior, where yet another Jedi asked him for the third time who he was here to see.

"I am with Master Tal'ilavi. She is staying at the Enclave while in Coronet City."

"What is your business here on Corellia?"

Scourge had had enough. "You will have to discuss those details with Master Tal'ilavi. I am under no obligation to reveal them to you."

The Jedi stared at him from under stern brows. "I must ask that you leave your lightsaber with me then."

Scourge had reached the end of his patience, and he felt his indignation bubbling over into anger. Of course he would not comply with such a request.

"I've had enough of your interrogations." Scourge stared down the Jedi. "Are you going to let me pass or not?"

Scourge could feel the shifting tide of emotions barely suppressed beneath the Jedi's calm facade.

"Sith are not allowed within these walls. I will have to get Master Khopse." The Jedi turned to grab a comm unit on the shelf behind him, his shoulders lifting in an inaudible sigh.

Scourge could hear the Jedi's quiet muttering. "I thought we'd finally gotten rid of your kind here on Core-"

Scourge had Jedi's windpipe caught in a Force grip before the words had even finished leaving his mouth. Enough was enough. He leaned close to snarl in the man's ear. "You Jedi are such hypocrites. You talk about peace, but in the end, hate drives you just as it does the Sith."

His use of dark side power had not gone unnoticed. Instinct alerted Scourge to the incoming threat, and he turned to see a blur hurtling towards him. Scourge dropped the man and drew his lightsaber. A second Jedi was flying through the air like a tiny acrobat. She landed on the counter before him, her swing already halfway in route to taking off his head. Scourge blocked her blade and vaulted onto the counter beside her, removing her height advantage. She drew back for another strike, but Scourge was faster. He threw her across the room with a burst of Force energy, watching as she flew over the edge of a stairway railing and tumbled out of sight.

Green Jedi were converging all around him, but Scourge was a vortex of power. He felt stronger than he had in ages, his senses alive like they had never been before. Some part of him was thrilled to be facing worthy opponents at last, but he quickly found himself disappointed. He couldn't kill these bewildered Jedi, even though his instincts screamed for blood. Their insolence at insulting him could not go unaddressed, however. Scourge needed to make sure of that.

To Scourge's eyes, the Jedi around him - some running, a few already in mid-leap - seemed to caught in slow-motion. Yes, he thought, come face the Emperor's Wrath and see what his dark alchemy has wrought. Scourge gathered the dark side around him like a suit of armor, feeling it bolster him with power, and leapt off the counter. He thrust the energy away from him as soon as he hit the ground, driving it like a hammer into the floor, and it forked away from him in streams of lurid purple. The ground cracked under his feet and the Jedi around him faltered, some losing their balance on the unstable ground, others stunned by the sudden surge of power. One Jedi, a Cathar brute by the looks of him, managed to keep upright. He was too far away to reach Scourge, but he hurled his lightsaber in the air and it spun towards Scourge in a whirling blue circle.

Scourge plucked the blade out of the air with his empty hand. There was a brief moment of calm where Scourge became aware of the growing dismay of the Jedi around him. Their indignation only further fueled his resentment, and he drank in their shock and outrage, a derisive laugh escaping him.

Hurried footsteps pounded towards him from behind. Scourge spun, both lightsabers ready in his hands.

"Stop this! What's going on here?"

Tali came racing into the room, sounding breathless and alarmed.

Scourge lowered his weapons. "Your Green Jedi friends aren't very welcoming."

The Cathar spoke up, strutting towards them. "He attacked us unprovoked. What is he doing here, anyway?"

Scourge pointed a finger towards the Cathar's puffed-out chest. "Pointless hindrances and insults. You call that unprovoked?"

Tali stepped between the two of them and held out her hands. "This is...it's all a misunderstanding, I'm sure." She nodded to the Cathar. "Lord Scourge is here with the approval of the Jedi Council. He is aiding us."

"The dark side clings to this Sith like a stench. He is not welcome here."

"Please. Can we call a temporary truce? We will conduct our business and leave. We'll be gone by tomorrow."

"You can stay until your business is concluded," the Cathar said, lifting his chin at Tali. "But not him."

Tali started to protest, but Scourge cut her off. "Don't bother. I'm going back to the ship."

"Wait, we can-"

"I've had enough of this place."

Scourge pushed forward, heading for the door, and the gathered Jedi parted to let him pass. He dropped the Cathar's lightsaber at his feet as he walked by.

He could feel Tali's confusion and exasperation even through the muddle of emotions pouring off the other Jedi. Her feelings shone brighter to his senses than all the rest, perhaps because he was more in tune with her after having travelled together for so many months. He shoved aside his concern - or was it guilt? - and only began to breathe easier when he stepped out into the growing dusk.

00o00

Tali and Kira got back to the ship late in the evening the following day. Finding the Seed had been relatively easy this time. The mutant growths had taken over a very public and urban section of the Coronet Zoo, but extracting the Seed took longer than anticipated. The Zoo was in shambles, and animal handlers were still in the process of trying to find suitable living quarters for all the displaced creatures. Yet another mutant monster had taken up residence in proximity to the Seed, a pattern which Tali now suspected to find at every Seed they encountered. Tali and Kira were forced to wait for the animal to be eliminated before they could enter the enclosure. Tali had offered her and Kira's help, but the Green Jedi had gotten there first, and she found herself quickly shut out of the operation. The diplomatic thing to do had been to bow out and wait for clearance. Since the altercation with the Green Jedi, Tali was eager to put Corellia behind her.

The ship was quiet when they entered, and Tali assumed the rest of the crew was asleep. After she said goodnight to Kira and passed into the ship's common area, however, she found Scourge slouched on a couch. He looked morose and had a bottle of Corellian Red dangling from his hand. He spotted her and immediately sat up straighter, then carefully set the bottle on the table before him. Tali noticed there was no glass nearby.

"You're up late, Scourge."

"Nothing better to do," he mumbled.

Tali approached cautiously and picked up the bottle. It was almost empty.

"Don't worry." His speech was slow and halting. "Drink doesn't affect me."

Maybe it didn't used to, but it does now, she thought. The whites of Scourge's eyes were bloodshot.

"If it doesn't affect you, then why drink so much?"

Scourge shrugged. "Because…" He appeared to be giving the question more thought than it deserved. "...It tastes good?"

"Uh huh." Tali set the bottle down and went into the adjoining room. She locked the Seed away with the others in the safe. When she returned, Scourge was gazing at the bottle on the table, his shoulders turned inward. Tali wanted to ask him exactly what had happened at the Jedi Enclave, but she wasn't sure if now was the best time. Relations between the Green Jedi and the Council were often strained, and the Green Jedi were known to be a private and insular group. That said, it wasn't like Scourge to lose his cool either. Well, not the old Scourge at least. Who knew what was normal for this new, post-ritual Scourge? Tali was glad no one had been hurt in the incident.

"I don't belong here." Scourge was staring glassy-eyed into space, his face bland and empty.

"Scourge, the Corellians have reasons to be distrustful of Sith. You have to try and understand."

Scourge shook his head. "That's not what I mean. I don't belong..." he gestured to encompass the room, "...here." He paused. "Or anywhere."

Tali imagined life from Scourge's point of view. Whatever family he had once had were long since dead, he no longer had the prestige of being the Emperor's Wrath, and now, he couldn't even count on his body and emotions to obey as they once did. Where, then, did he belong?

"You do belong somewhere," Tali said. "You belong on my crew."

Scourge looked up, his eyes meeting hers. "Do I?"

Tali wasn't sure what to say. It was true that Scourge wasn't exactly friends with the rest of her crewmates and spent most of his time keeping to himself. But being social had never been a requirement for service.

"Of course you do," Tali said.

If it were possible for Scourge to slump deeper into the couch, he did so. "I have outlived my time. I expected to die when the Emperor was vanquished. I no longer have a purpose."

"We still have work to do. We-"

"Rubbish." Scourge's voice took on a stronger note. "I have reached a dead end in my search for the Hands. The Emperor no longer speaks to them, and even the new Wrath is just a figurehead. There is no point in pursuing it further."

"What about the Dread Masters, then? They look to be just as grave a threat as the Emperor was."

"I have not been helpful with that so far. I think...perhaps, that you were supposed to kill me. But something went wrong." He frowned and studied the empty air in front of him.

"Of course I wasn't supposed to kill you! You helped prepare me to face the Emperor. You couldn't have done that if you were dead, now could you?"

For the first time Tali began to wonder if she had, in fact, made a mistake in curing Scourge. Yes, he had gotten back his five senses and his ability to feel. But what had that left him with? Now, Scourge was drowning in the weight of his own self-reflection.

"You say you want me on your ship, but you don't want me." He glanced up at her, true puzzlement written across his face.

Tali's eyes dropped to the ground. "Scourge…" Did he think that was all he had left to offer?

"I know." He waved his hand. "Forget I said anything."

"You gave up your life and your allegiance to help us. I won't abandon you."

"So you pity me."

"That's not what I said."

"You said enough."

An uncomfortable silence fell between them.

"I can never live unmolested here in your Republic," Scourge said at last. "I am Sith. I am the enemy."

"Many of these people have been through war. They are afraid of the Sith for good reason."

"As well they should be. Fear, I understand. But I cannot tolerate their contempt."

"The Empire conquers worlds, destroying cities and bringing war. In your Empire I would be seen as nothing more than a slave." Why am I having this conversation with a drunken Scourge? Tali wondered.

"That could change," Scourge said. "Darth Malgus understood. He would have taken the Empire on a different course. Under other circumstances I might have even joined him."

"Malgus is dead."

"Dead. Yes." Scourge leaned forward and snatched the bottle off the table. He threw his head back and downed the last few swallows. Then he pointed a finger at Tali.

"It is not enough that the Empire may be defeated. The Jedi will chase us across the galaxy like they did before, not content to rest until every last Sith is dead. What you call peace, I call annihilation."

He hung his hand over the edge of the couch and dropped the bottle onto the floor. It thunked to the ground and rocked but it did not fall over. "And I fear I may live to see that day come to pass."

"I believe in peace," Tali said.

"Do you?" Scourge's eyes found hers. "Are you truly willing to allow peace to happen? Could you shake hands with the Sith and walk away?"

"Could your Sith do the same?"

Scourge grunted in a half-chuckle. He slouched back onto the couch and his foot hit the bottle, tipping it over. The hollow clunking sounded loud in the quiet room. Scourge muttered an unusually colorful swear. He must have seen Tali wince because a slow smile teased the corners of his lips.

"Did I offend your delicate ears, Jedi?"

Tali didn't like that sly look. It reminded her too much of another late night that they had spent together.

"We are at an impasse, once again," Scourge continued. "Like everything else between us."

Tali stood there awkwardly, wondering if this was the end of the conversation. Did Scourge really fear the extinction of the Sith and of his race? Assimilation was more likely, but perhaps to the Scourge that was the same thing.

"Not all Jedi hate the Sith. But we do want to stop their incursion."

"The Jedi want to see the dark side destroyed. That would destroy the Sith as well."

"The dark side is unnatural. It goes against life."

Scourge came alert, straightening his spine and shooting her a withering look. "Is that what they teach the Jedi these days?"

Tali felt her discomfort growing. She hadn't been taught that, she realized, not explicitly. She knew there were places throughout the galaxy, even ones empty of all civilization, where the dark side was strong. She had always assumed that some in some ancient time, dark side users had once gone there and left their mark. But what if the dark side had always been there? The implication of Scourge's words bothered her.

"Too much of the dark side is unnatural then. It glorifies pain and hatred. Why would anyone want to nurture these things?"

"And your emotional denial encourages apathy and indifference. Isn't that bad too?"

"No," Tali said, feeling annoyed but reminding herself to stay calm. "You can have emotional control without losing your compassion and concern for others."

Scourge's eyes dropped to the bottle on the floor. He bent over and picked it up, then glared at it like he was disappointed that it was still empty.

"You are cutting yourself off from a great well of power," he said. "A power that is already present within you. That is wasteful." He set the bottle back on the table again.

"I don't need to tap into the dark side to accomplish what I want."

Scourge stood up, wobbling slightly. His voice dropped low. "But you are curious." There was a gleam in his eyes when he looked at her. "Aren't you?"

Tali opened her mouth for a reply, but Scourge gave her a disarming smile which cut into her train of thought.

"Just as you are curious about me," he said.

Peace, Tali thought. I can handle this.

"You wonder what you might be missing, what it would be like if you gave in, don't you?"

Tali was no longer sure if he was talking about succumbing to the dark side or about trying to get her in bed. Maybe it was both. She said nothing, concentrating instead on clearing her mind and letting the Force enter her like a warm light.

"You are getting better at blocking your thoughts and feelings from me," Scourge said. "I have trouble reading you now sometimes."

Moments ago, Scourge had picked up on her sympathy for his plight and had called it pity. Tali had been slightly chagrined because he had been right. She had walked in on a man who was lost and fumbling for purpose, and due to her part in his cure, she felt partly responsible. She couldn't imagine throwing Scourge out, although she was disappointed in his behavior back at the Enclave. She looked at him now, his eyes hazy and unfocused, and realized that her attraction to him was no longer at the forefront of her mind. It was still there, but it felt contained and distant. Maybe she was truly conquering this weakness after all.

"I think we've reached the end of this conversation," Tali said.

Scourge watched her a moment longer, his balance wavering, and then looked away. "Good night then."

Tali turned and headed back to her quarters. Her senses were on high alert, and she sent out feelers to see if Scourge was following her.

He wasn't.