Chapter Eight
While Hyperion was fighting an ethereal battle with Morgana's soul and Dantius mercenaries were overrunning Dathomir, Crassus had escaped to Korriban. He didn't know how long to expect Dathomir to last though he didn't anticipate it lasting much longer than the time it would take for him to return to Balmorra. So he had to make the meeting with Lord Scourge quick and painless if he wanted to have any hope that the Sith would be led by a competent, strong, and immortal warrior with experience in the way of ruling over lesser fools. Scourge had arrived before him, punctual as he had been reputed to be during his time as the Emperor's Wrath under Lord Vitiate. "Greetings Lord Scourge, I am the current Emperor of what remains of the Sith Empire and I am called Darth Imperius," Crassus said, lying about his true name for good reason.
"I sense the power in you. But if you expect me to bow before you, you are sorely mistaken. Get to the point," Scourge told him. Crassus flashed a wicked grin with his new set of wicked Pau'an teeth and did precisely that.
"As you would doubtless know better than anyone, Vitiate sustained himself by consuming planets of their life and Force energies, making him immortal and healing him from wounds. It is my intention to partake in the same ritual on the planet of Nogatan, having discovered ways of improving its speed and the quality of what I can expect from success enormously. Should I be successful, I would like the strongest and oldest surviving Sith there is to be at my side as the Emperor's Wrath, a title I believe you once held until you tried to stop Vitiate from consuming the entire galaxy. But if I fail, I would like to ensure that the Sith are ruled by the strongest there is and unfortunately neither the current Wrath nor his daughter qualify as I hoped they would be," Crassus told him.
"So you have asked me to take the title of your lieutenant if you succeed or rule in your absence if you do not. What would you offer me in return if I were to say yes?" Scourge replied.
"The one thing you have always wanted, an Imperial pardon for crimes committed against the Sith in the name of stopping Lord Vitiate. It is long since recognized that Vitiate's plans would've destroyed everything whether Jedi or Sith despite the circumstances that led you away. Though you will speak it, I will convince the Sith that because they didn't see the truth as you did, you were forced to rely on Jedi in order to take him down as you weren't strong enough yourself. Which brings me to the other benefit of having you as the Emperor: you would be the strongest in my absence but not so powerful that you couldn't be overthrown by anyone Sith who was worthy," Crassus said.
"Likewise, if you succeed, you know it would be possible for me to rally rivals among the members of the new Dark Council if I felt it was your time. Ensuring that no matter the outcome, the strongest shall rule the remainder of the Sith until they are ready to return in a more natural way for more righteous reasons than the ones that compelled Vitiate," Scourge said. Crassus nodded and handed him a datapad filled with the plans Crassus had for the Sith restoration once they were able to escape the blades of the Jedi. When Scourge looked up at him in inquiry, he then recognized that he had forgotten to say where this would take place.
"The coordinates are included in the tracker on that datapad. Transmit them to your comlink then destroy them when you have jumped into hyperspace that you may not be followed. That is, assuming you accept my offer and those plans are for you if you accept and I have not survived the ceremony," Crassus said. He snapped his fingers and a moment later, a letter with a seal and tassel to keep it folded manifested in his hands from a servant. "Your letter of pardon and your speech for being accepted as my heir if I should fall and, again, you have accepted my offer," he added.
"You seem in a hurry," Scourge taunted.
"The Jedi have attacked one of my last two worlds, led there by my Wrath who was operating as a double agent for them. His daughter is unknowingly complicit in his game to destroy the Empire but never you mind. Once I have returned, I will see to their destruction but first I must return which leaves me no time to hear your answer to my offer. If you accept, head for those coordinates at once and await the coming of the Sith fleet I will deploy there," Crassus told him. He bowed and Scourge did the same before Crassus turned around to board the shuttle whose pilot had kept its engines warm for a quick exit when Crassus had made his offer.
The Sith Emperor knew Scourge would at least consider the offer before rejecting it, if he did. He knew that Scourge had wanted only to save the Sith from the folly of fueling a madman's quest for eternal life, a quest that would've resulted in a galaxy devoid even of Sith life. By giving him Imperial pardon for his attempts on Vitiate's life and naming him his heir if no other is strong enough in the event of Crassus' death, he was giving him an incredibly sweet deal. He would be a fool to turn this down to return to a life on the run, an unrepentant fugitive in lands he did not know, hated by those who did not know the part he'd played in saving their lives.
Even winning the Republic's greatest honor in light of the Hero of Tython's first victory over Vitiate had not saved him from facing discrimination by fearful, insipid beings. Besides, the power of the Dark Side flowed within him and there would be no altering that anymore than there was no altering his disagreements with the ways of the Jedi, born meeting Revan. Even so, he did not have the fortitude to risk everything (including his life) the way Revan did to the cause of destroying Vitiate and had not done so whenever he could. More, Scourge had never known his true family even when he was a youth in the Sith Academy, much less care for them if he did.
If Crassus had understood his character right, he knew that Scourge would go for it in the hope of being respected and feared for a good reason rather than being feared by idiots. His conscience would wrestle with him and all he had done in the name of the Sith he allegedly cared about and the new life he had made for himself in the Republic, despite being a Sith Pureblood. Even so, Crassus knew he was still taking a massive gamble one that would see the doom of the Sith if it backfired especially if he failed to complete the ritual. But sometimes those who won the greatest gambles were the ones with the strongest will, the will to take them and prosper when they won the rewards of the gamble as he knew he'd done time and again in his youth.