Star Wars_ The Old Republic_ Revan - Drew Karpyshyn [104]
“It’s all here,” Sechel assured him. “But it’s encrypted. If anything happens to me, the data is useless. I’m the only one who can decode it.”
Scourge had no way to tell if Sechel was bluffing. But he was willing to take the risk.
“I’m sure I can find a slicer somewhere who’s up to the challenge,” he said, stepping in close behind him.
He brought his left arm up and under Sechel’s chin, the forearm pressing hard on his windpipe. At the same time his right hand reached around and gripped the top of Sechel’s head.
Sechel had become a liability. Scourge couldn’t leave him behind, and taking him with him was far more trouble than it was worth.
The smaller Sith struggled to break the hold as Scourge began to apply pressure to the vertebrae in his neck. There were literally hundreds of ways he could have killed Sechel, but given their history he wanted their final moments to be up close and personal.
Sechel tried to kick him, but Scourge had positioned himself so that the flailing foot of the other Sith only struck feebly against his thigh. He took a deep breath, braced his left arm, and yanked hard with his right hand. There was a surprisingly loud pop, and Sechel’s body spasmed once before going completely limp.
Releasing his grip to let the body slump to the floor, Scourge gathered up the data disks and left the apartment, the door automatically sliding shut behind him.
MEETRA SAT STILL and silent on the floor of the cave, her legs crossed and her hands held at chest height, palms facing each other. She had opened herself up to the Force, looking for guidance and wisdom, but here on Dromund Kaas, where the dark side prevailed, it was difficult to find the inner tranquillity necessary for enlightenment.
Having T3 running long, nervous circles around her certainly didn’t help, but she was afraid if she told him to stay still he might have a meltdown. And she understood the droid’s anxiety.
She still wasn’t sure what to make of Lord Scourge. She had sensed that his offer to work together was sincere, though she wondered how much of that was Revan’s doing. It was easy to understand how Scourge could be drawn to him; Revan’s command of the Force was greater than that of anyone else she had ever met. And she knew how charismatic he could be. Even though he was a prisoner it wasn’t hard to imagine him being in total control of the situation.
But if he had recruited Scourge as an ally, it had been out of necessity rather than choice. The Sith was wholly consumed by the dark side. He had no respect for life, no desire to serve any needs but his own. Even if what he said about wanting to stop the Emperor was true, his motivations were survival and self-preservation.
She didn’t trust him, but if he could prove that he and Revan were on the same side she would work with him. The risk of betrayal was one she was willing to take if it gave her a chance to rescue her friend.
The little droid was passing by her on one of his many, many laps when she heard the sound of a speeder approaching. T3 stopped and dimmed his light, casting the cave in shadow once more.
“I told you he’d come back,” Meetra said. “He’s alone,” she added before T3 could ask the obvious question.
She scrambled to her feet as Lord Scourge marched confidently into the cave, ready to respond at the first hint of aggression.
“I have what you need,” he said, holding up several data disks. “This will prove what I said about trying to stop the Emperor. You will see that we are on the same side.”
Scourge stepped forward and extended his hand, offering her the disks. She hesitated for only a moment before coming close enough to take them from his grasp. She returned to T3, carefully retracing her steps so as not to turn her back on the red-skinned Sith.
“We’ll need time to look these over,” she said.
“They might be encrypted,” Scourge told her.
“I’ve never come across a code my friend here couldn’t crack,” she said, and T3 beeped his agreement.
“I suspected as much. How long do you think it will take?”
“Why? Are you in a rush?”
“Events