Star Wars_ The Old Republic_ Revan - Drew Karpyshyn [60]
“Was Darth Xedrix part of this alliance?”
“He was.”
“Yet you betrayed him.”
“He became a necessary sacrifice for the cause.”
“If he was your ally, why did he have to die?”
“If the Emperor suspected the members of the Dark Council of allying against him, he would kill us all. We had to take steps to protect ourselves. To throw off suspicion, we had to distance ourselves from the separatists who openly oppose the Emperor.”
“That’s why you staged the fake assassinations against yourself,” Scourge said. “If the separatists were targeting you, the Emperor would be less likely to suspect you were working with them.”
Nyriss nodded.
“The plan was to have my own people ‘investigate’ the attempts on my life and place the blame accordingly. But then the Emperor sent you, and the plan had to change. Your arrival meant the Emperor suspected this was bigger than a simple separatist uprising. It wouldn’t be enough to implicate a radical fringe group of terrorists.”
“So you framed Xedrix.”
“You can’t frame someone who is guilty,” Nyriss corrected. “I just exposed him. Xedrix really was working with the separatists. Every piece of evidence you uncovered on your missions was real. It had to be. I could not afford to be caught in a lie if you or the Emperor looked deeper into the matter. Allowing Xedrix to take the blame will confirm the Emperor’s suspicion that the separatists were working with someone on the Dark Council. His death will keep my involvement—and that of my co-conspirators—secret.”
“And you get to eliminate a longtime rival,” Scourge added.
“A fortuitous bonus,” Nyriss agreed, her face breaking into one of her hideous grins. “Xedrix will not be missed,” she added. “He was a weak link in our chain. He was human, and his power was fading. If one of us had to be sacrificed, he was the most logical choice.”
“Why tell all this to me?” Scourge asked.
“You already suspected something was wrong,” Nyriss told him. “Why else would you have tried to interrogate Sechel? If I simply kill you, though, it might raise the Emperor’s suspicions even farther. He sent you to investigate the assassinations; it would be better if you were the one to tell him Darth Xedrix was responsible.”
She paused for a long moment before continuing. “During your service you have proven your worth to me. You are strong in the Force. Intelligent. Perceptive. You have incredible potential. My hope is that by revealing the truth I can convince you to join our cause. I would hate to discard such a valuable tool without good reason.”
Scourge narrowed his eyes. This was too easy. Even if he swore allegiance to Nyriss, she couldn’t just let him walk out of the room. The risk that he might report her to the Emperor was too great. She had to have some other way to protect herself, some angle he hadn’t considered.
He realized he was in over his depth. Ever since he had come to work for Nyriss, she had been playing him. She’d twisted and manipulated him for her own purposes, and he had danced for her like a puppet on a string.
“What’s the catch?” he finally asked. “How do you know I won’t betray your confidence?”
“Very good,” she said, smiling fiendishly in approval. “I would have been disappointed if you had simply accepted my offer. Short of killing you, there is no way I can completely eliminate the risk that you will try to expose me. But what proof do you have? Accuse me, and I will simply claim that you are the real traitor, trying to frame me after you killed Darth Xedrix.
“Remember: whatever actual evidence exists will implicate you, not me. He died by your blade. Are you certain you left no evidence behind that could implicate you in his murder? No drops of blood? No flecks of skin? No witnesses who can place you at the spaceport on Bosthirda the day Xedrix died?”
Scourge nodded in appreciation. He couldn’t help but admire how thoroughly Nyriss had entangled him in her web. “Let me