Chapter 14: Terms in the Key of Green
"I suppose I deserved that," the Sith remarked, "although I have killed men for less."
"You arrogant, deceitful, underhanded, sonofabitch," Ky spat at the man towering over her. "You hijacked my ship, leaving my people stranded. That was low even for your kind."
The red, giant of a man quirked one brow spur. "You have insulted my parentage and my race, like to try for a third?"
"You probably have a tiny dick too, how's that?" Ky retorted feeling her anger dissipate from a rolling boil to a slow simmer. "Damn you, Scourge."
A deep chuckle escaped his lips, there and gone almost before the vibrations could stir the air. "It has been far too long since last we met, Ky. If you are quite done pummeling me, can we talk? Time is of the essence."
"Yes it is, and time is running out for my crew. What do you want?"
"We are safe here for a few hours, perhaps we should go inside." Scourge inclined his head toward her ship.
"After you," Ky said, stopping for a moment to survey the area.
The ghosts of this dead place walked through and around her and over her grave which hadn't been dug yet. Headstones and crypts rose from the gray soil, symbols of a violent past, reminders of the fragility of life and the permanence of death. A bitter wind whispered and moaned between the monuments erected to mourn the cost of war, and a sad sun shed bleak comfort on an auburn sky.
"You always did take me to the best places, Scourge," Ky said, falling in behind the two men.
"Is there something between you two I should know about?" Corso quipped.
"Do you even know the woman you travel with, boy?" the Sith snorted.
"Haven't been a boy for a while," Corso shot back.
"That remains to be seen." Scourge dismissed him with a glance.
"Ancient history and not worth discussing." Ky shrugged.
"I beg to differ. Love radiates from him like a sickness. Such fever deserves comment."
"Hey, I'm right here you know, and..."
"Can we table this for later?" Ky intervened. "There are more important issues at hand."
"As you wish," Scourge acquiesced.
The Sith Lord's presence filled the tiny galley, heady power seeping into every corner. He raised two fingers to his temple, pressing hard enough to dimple the skin, and closed his eyes.
"May I see it?" he asked.
"Terms first," insisted Ky.
"Of course. I forgot what you have become."
"No, you forgot who I've always been."
"Perhaps." His eyelids dawned over scarlet orbs that flashed in her direction. "It would be mutually beneficial for us to unite forces. You have no idea what you hold."
"I'm pretty quick on the uptake. Three attempts on my life send an awfully clear message." she scoffed. "Let me guess. The galaxy is in some cataclysmic danger, and I am honor bound to ride to its rescue. Pfft, where have I heard that before? As I recall, I've already saved the galaxy twice, no, three times and you should know. You were there for two of them."
"This is different."
"Is it?" She scrubbed her hand over her mouth and chin and shook her head in disbelief. "And what's in it for me? I've been shafted by Republic and Jedi alike, been hunted, maligned, and snubbed by those who owe me the most. Stars, I'm tired of dumpster diving my way across the galaxy."
"I sympathize..."
"Do you? Can you?"
Scourge scowled. "The intent is genuine. Please let me explain."
Corso felt very much out of his depth listening to the back and forth between the old acquaintances, friends, lovers? There was a discomfiting familiarity about their exchange that predated his time with her, and Scourge seemed almost deferential where Ky was concerned, an odd stance for a Sith. It irked him that someone knew things about her that she had never shared with him, but who was he to talk, he'd remained just as walled off. He turned his attention back to their conversation, perturbed that he felt left out, and more so that he had nothing to contribute.
"Oh yes, do regale me with dark tales of more Sith bullshit." She retrieved the bottle and a glass from the cupboard, plunking them down on the counter before taking a seat and pouring a goodly measure. "It is more Sith bullshit, right?"
Scourge locked his hands behind his back and sighed. "Yes, as you so colorfully phrased it. How much do you know of the Emperor's Children?"
"Wasn't your knight's sidekick, Kira, one of those?"
"You remember well. After the plot was uncovered, the Jedi hunted the Children for months and thought them all disposed of or neutralized. They were mistaken."
Ky screwed her face into a mocking visage. "This is purely wild speculation but, you're about to tell me that the box contains some ancient trinket of immense power, blah, blah, etcetera. You Sith never learn."
"Sarcasm sits sourly in your mouth, Ky. It will avail you nothing with this or with me." Scourge's eyes flared for a moment and returned quickly to the flat crimson of dried paint on a wall.
She raised one shoulder in an insouciant shrug and rotated her hand in a gesture for him to continue.
"What you have is a reliquary containing spiral bound sheets of metal that contain Vitiate's notes on many of his experiments and rituals. A workbook of sorts, written in a language that only the Emperor can understand."
Ky raised an eyebrow and cocked her head. "Why the hell would your Emperor need notes? Was he going senile in his old age?"
"Vitiate has lived over a millennium, and the item has been in his possession for as long as can be remembered. There are rituals dating back through the ages he never shared. However, I will concede that he was greatly distracted the last years of his rule as if his mind were elsewhere much of the time. I believe this distraction may have led to the demise of his Voice on Dromund Kaas, or perhaps it was all a ruse to facilitate his disappearance. We may never be certain."
"And you know the contents of this workbook how?"
"Few have been inside the Emperor's mind as intimately as me, Servant One of The Hand, a couple of his Children, and one other who is now dead."
"Revan," Ky ventured.
Scourge nodded. "It is a terrifying labyrinth of traps and pitfalls, memory and madness. False hallways that lead nowhere, stairs that crumble under the feet, quagmires, and ghosts of his victims, eternally screaming in a chorus of agony. But, I caught glimpses of things the emperor assumed well hidden; a planet bereft of all life, the location of a hidden laboratory and the key to the language of his writings."
She scooched forward on her seat, propping her elbows on the counter. "So, why now? I was there on Dromund Kaas when your knight struck him down."
"The reliquary was never far from Vitiate. He guarded it fiercely, but when Sayonar dealt the fatal blow, it vanished along with his essence. I suspect a servant of The Hand secreted it away to one of the many vaults he has scattered across the galaxy. Roughly six months ago, it resurfaced in the hands of a scavenger, and the bloody trail leads here. It calls in whispers that only those who have been in the emperor's mind can hear. Me and his children."
Ky's eyes widened with understanding. "Kira, your knight's padawan. That's why Balkar approached me on Denon. The Jedi know."
"Yes, and they will come, as well as the Sith. The Jedi make no move that escapes the Dark Council, spies reside in the most unlikely places, and the Council will hound the Jedi's steps directly to you, but they are not the bigger threat."
Scourge halted his recital long enough to drain a glass of water before continuing. "One of the Children, Cirris Tajno, masked himself and escaped detection. Ensconced in a position of wealth and power for years and well connected with resources to spare, he amassed his fortune. He constructed this alternate life, cultivated inroads to people of questionable ethics and seeks this knowledge."
Given the man he was, she couldn't believe she even had to ask the next question. "Hell, if you know who the bastard is, why not just smoke his ass and be done with it?"
"Because I don't know where he is. His presence in the Force is slick, oily, ungraspable. It is there and then gone, leaving no wake to follow. The only reason I know as much as I do is that I was very good at my job as the emperor's interrogator. And even then, those I tracked down died suddenly from heart failure, stroke, or embolism before I could get more than bits and pieces. He is a wisp in a whirlwind."
Ky tapped her nails against the side of the glass. "Then the solution is easy. I've got the box, and if you have the credits, it's all yours. I'm not in the hero business anymore. The pay is lousy, the hours suck and the retirement plan is shit. I've done my bit, it's somebody else's turn."
Scourge punctuated his next words as if speaking to an errant child. "Ky, let me be perfectly clear. This 'box' as you call it cannot be auctioned off like some common artifact. There is no highest bidder in this transaction, and you will not survive the sale."
"You could just take it, I suppose. It's not as if Corso or I could stop you."
"To what purpose? I could never harm you, nor would it help your situation. They know that it is in your possession and will come for you nonetheless. Neither the Jedi nor the Dark Council or even I can contain this. It is in your best interest to help."
She arched her brows as if he'd lost his mind. "And what the fuck do you expect me to do?"
"I need your piloting skills. You know of what I speak."
"What? Skin dancing and stone skipping? Surely you have Force-sensitive pilots who can do the same."
He took a step closer, focused on her face as if trying to break through a barrier. "I often thought you were Force-sensitive, but my scans proved otherwise. No, what you have is intuitive, instinctual, an inherent trait of your brain that allows you to calculate grid, position, spacial drift, and time flux almost instantaneously. In truth, I'd wondered if this were the reason for your survival in the arena."
Corso, whose head had been pivoting back and forth between them, snapped his attention back to her. She raised a finger in his direction staving off the questions about to pop out of his mouth.
"That was not yours to tell." She narrowed her eyes at Scourge.
The Sith's eyes eased their scrutiny and flitted between Corso and her. "Ah, I see. My apologies. The question still stands, will you join me?"
Ky swallowed the whiskey she'd been holding in her mouth. "You're hoping to find a cure."
If she didn't know the man better, she could have sworn he visibly squirmed at her assumption, rolling his shoulders inside his armor and shifting his weight.
"I do not deny the possibility hasn't crossed my mind," he admitted. "But the primary goal is to find this laboratory, uncover its secrets, and rid the galaxy of the reliquary once and for all."
Ky emptied her glass and poured another shot, wondering which pantheon of the galaxy she'd pissed off this time. "Maker's balls, what have I gotten us into?"
"You're not really considering this," said Corso, finding his voice at last.
"Yes, I am, on one condition." She pinned Scourge with her stare. "You get my people off of Nar Shaddaa, and I'll stone skip into The Maw itself."
"Here." Scourge removed a data crystal from his belt and tossed it to Corso. "This will remove the lockdown on your nav system and scrub all inhibiting programs from your other systems as well. I give you my word, it is perfectly safe, and we have already lingered here too long."
"My crew?" Ky reminded the Sith.
"I have people I can contact to try and retrieve them safely. However, I make no promises. My ship is not far away, and with your permission, I would like to direct my astromech to fly this vessel to Untuar IV, a base I procured some years ago. We should not delay our departure, and you should learn to handle The Segomo, she is a bit more temperamental than what you are accustomed to."
"You'll need the sub-frequency for my comlink that we use in emergencies. Akaavi won't respond any other way."
"Pack what you need, I will make arrangements before we depart."
"Just don't wreck my ship," she yelled at Scourge's retreating back.
Corso grumbled under his breath while they packed what little they had and practically threw the box at her when he'd retrieved it from the engine room. Going to the cockpit, he jammed the crystal into the port and initiated the download, verifying he could lock in at least three different destinations before he was satisfied.
He wasn't sure whether he was more angry with her for, once again, putting her life on the line or because he suspected that the deciding factor was to help her Sith could find his cure; whatever the hell that meant.
He shouldered the duffels and rifle and followed her down the ramp.
The tension between them was like a living thing on this barren moon, arcing back and forth like frayed wires in a conduit. Corso stared straight ahead, brows creased and lips pressed into a mirthless line.
Ky flinched when the repulsors engaged on the Soledad, but couldn't force herself to turn and watch the ship lift into the maroon sea of clouds. She'd lost too many homes in her life and lacked the heart to say goodbye to another.