Darth Tyrannus sat slumped at his desk on Serenno. Dim natural light filtered through the yellow glass behind him. There was no other source of light in the cavernous room aside for the many holograms flickering before him. Tyrannus could not remember the last time he'd been this tired.
There was too much that needed to be done simultaneously. Messages poured in from the CIS Senate, demanding his attention. There was something going on with the banks, though he had yet to pay it much attention. His largest problem right now was an insufferable Dathomiri witch by the name of Talzin. She seemed to be the source of a good percentage of his problems, and by problems he meant apprentices.
There had been a time when he'd had two Dathomiri Sith to do his bidding. Now, he questioned if he even had one. Ventress claimed her loyalty still lay with him, but she had been the one to bring the traitor Savage Opress to his door. Now that monstrosity and his brother were wreaking havoc across the already tattered galaxy, out for revenge against a laundry list of adversaries. Tyrannus wished he could just ignore them, but since the pair had taken control of Mandalore and several major criminal organizations, that was no longer a luxury he had. Tyrannus even entertained the idea of calling for a ceasefire with Sidious so they could both deal with the growing problem. Of course, in reality, that move would almost certainly get him killed.
He was jerked out of his brooding by the sound of his comlink. It was his private channel, the one reserved for his dealings—not as a politician or general—but as a Sith. The problem was, he did not recognize the frequency. It appeared that his list of problems was about to get one longer.
"How did you get this frequency," he snarled, as the blue light took the form of a face.
At first Tyrannus couldn't believe his eyes. This was a face he had not seen in many years. Then anger surged through him, hot and purifying. The dark side of the force burned off his anxiety and focused his mind.
"Hello, Master," Obi-Wan said, voice heavy with sarcasm. "Did you miss me?"
Tyrannus wanted to yell, he wanted to crush the comlink to pieces, but he had not gotten this far by letting the dark side control him. Instead, he controlled it. Intelligence was one of his greatest weapons, and there had been a part of him that had been expecting this.
"Argenteus," he greeted, showing nothing but his ordinary façade of confident indifference. "I can't guess as to why you're calling me..."
His sarcasm matched Obi-Wan's.
"In these difficult times we can all use allies," said Obi-Wan.
He chose every word with care. He did not underestimate Darth Tyrannus. The man had taught him all that he knew about the dark side of the force, after all. The truth was, Obi-Wan was in trouble. If he didn't play this exactly right his chances of survival plummeted. Despite not getting involved, Obi-Wan had been watching intently these last few years. His understanding of the political complexities of the war was second only to Tyrannus and Sidious themselves. And while it was true Obi-Wan was in trouble, so was Tyrannus.
"Ungrateful scum," Tyrannus snapped, "you turn against me, meddle in my affairs for years, and now that Maul is back and out for your head you come crawling back like the vermin you are."
"Meddle? I haven't seen you in years, Dooku." He paused, pretending to remember for dramatic effect. "Oh, you must be talking about my various encounters with your new apprentices. I assure you Ventress and Grievous almost, without exception, where the ones to start it."
"Maybe I should reach out to Maul," Tyrannus said, "maybe I've been too judgmental. If he wants to kill you he can't be that stupid."
Obi-Wan laughed. "I was foolish in my youth. When I cut him in half I should have aimed for the neck."
Tyrannus refused to allow Obi-Wan's charisma to lull him into a false sense of security. That was how he won. Tyrannus wasn't an idiot. He knew this alliance would benefit the both of the just as well as Obi-Wan did. However he did not wish to give the younger man the idea that he had the upper hand.
"You've been replaced, Argenteus," he said, "I'm sorry. I already have another apprentice."
"Which is why what I'm proposing is an alliance; old friends with common enemies, nothing more."
"That is not the way of the Sith. It goes against everything I taught you, everything I'm fighting for. There can only be two."
Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. "Looking at the state of the galaxy I can't believe you can say that with any conviction. Let's make this as simple as possible, free from the beliefs of old religions. This is about practicality. We can put our past behind us out of necessity. It's time I picked a side in this war, and I choose yours. You're running out of people you can trust, and you know I have no reason to betray you. As a gesture of good faith, I've actually brought you a gift."
"Oh?" Tyrannus asked, curiosity piqued.
"While you've been busy with your various apprentices Sidious has almost stolen the banks out from under you. He aims to remove the neutrality of the Banking Clan, and put all the galaxy's money under his direct control."
This was very bad, and Tyrannus could not fully conceal his emotions. It was very possible that Obi-Wan had just saved the entire Separatist cause.
"What do you have?" he asked, direct and to the point.
From somewhere outside the scope of the hologram Obi-Wan produced what appeared to be a computer drive.
"Trust me, you're going to want to see this. The banking clan has been embezzling billions of credits, and my intuition tells me they're somehow finding their way to Sidious's pocket. Their vaults are empty, the payments on your loans getting lost somewhere in translation, while they lend the Republic credits they don't have."
Obi-Wan had him cornered. He should have known he would come with more than just an offer of friendship.
"What do you want?" Tyrannus asked, grudgingly.
"I already told you. To be friends again. I'm joining the Separatist cause. Give me some droids, a job. Maul has an army now so if I'm going to survive I need one too."
About a standard day later and on the other side of the galaxy, Darth Vader waited outside the senate. It was, without contest, Vader's least favourite building on Coruscant. He stood near one of the many entrances to the large chamber. This was where Padme's hovering platform would be docked if she wasn't currently giving a speech. Surprisingly enough, he was actually here by choice.
He was tense, and sitting around back at his quarters would only have made it worse. He was tense because Sidious was. His master, who was almost always calm and in control, was in a very bad mood. He could see him in the center of the massive room, tiny at this distance, but Vader could feel his rage. The force contorted around him like space-time around a black hole.
Vader didn't usually keep up with politics, but he knew this meeting was about Clovis. Much to his distain, the man was being handed more power than he deserved. Due to his connection to both the Separatists and the Republic, he had been deemed a good impartial party to take over control of the banks from the corrupt Muun council.
This had always been Sidious's plan. Clovis was weak-willed and stupid, but ambitious. Tyrannus had manipulated him before, and Sidious had been sure he would try again. That combined with the evidence from the drives, and a staged assassination attempt would have been enough of an excuse for him to bring the war to Scipio. That is, if Tyrannus hadn't known it was coming. Sidious's plans were down the drain thanks to a particular silver-tonged Sith.
Now it appeared the Chancellor would have to resort to real diplomacy. The banks would remain neutral and they would have accomplished nothing at all. All things considered, despite Obi-Wan's talk about making no new enemies, he'd certainly found one in Sidious. Maybe he would get to see how the other man was in a fight after all, Vader thought excitedly.
A great cheer echoed around the cavernous room, and Vader snapped out of his reveries. Sidious's voice rang out, announcing that both the Separatist and Republic senates had voted Clovis into power; too bad. If he killed him now a lot of people would certainly be upset with him.
As Padme's platform docked, and she and Clovis dismounted, Vader said, "good speech," despite the fact he hadn't been listening. "Hers, I mean," he decided to specify.
"Thanks, General." Padme gave him a look. "Any particular reason you're here?"
He shrugged. "Can't a military man take an interest in politics?"
She laughed, then caught herself, covering her mouth with her hand. He wished she hadn't. He liked it when she laughed. She knew him too well.
Suddenly his comlink began to beep.
"Yes?" he answered, an undertone of annoyance in his voice.
The undertone was nothing compared to the bubbling rage in his master's voice. "Report to my office immediately. I have a mission for you; a chance to redeem yourself after your failure on Scipio."
"I'll be right there."
Padme looked at him sympathetically. "Good luck."
He nodded at her as he turned to leave. Despite the distance she was forcing between them he knew she still worried for him. There was no need. He wasn't afraid of Sidious, not anymore.
All in all, the meeting was not particularly out of the ordinary: some thinly veiled threats, a longwinded speech about how he was the heir to the only true Sith lineage and that he should take it seriously, and finally his orders. Sidious had been doing a lot of pacing and gesturing out to window, but he finally settled down behind his desk. Vader took that as a cue to sink down onto the familiar red couch which faced it.
"What is your bidding, my master?" Vader asked.
"You will be overseeing a bank transfer of massive size. My contacts inside the Separatist senate who had been refusing to pay the loans have been found and executed. Since the Muuns have been pretending to receive money they haven't their vaults are empty. This will be, to my knowledge, the largest single movement of credits in galactic history. Due to the extreme need for neutrality there will be no Separatist forces on the transport ship."
"Sounds like the perfect heist."
"Ah, my thoughts exactly. The only problem is we don't want these credits stolen. The Banking Clan refuses to allow Republic troops either, however I have managed to secure you entry."
"A one man protection duty sounds like an interesting challenge, but strategically it does not seem wise. Maybe I could take a small squad of my best clones and-"
Sidious cut him off. "They claim to have hired a substantial security force of their own, but I do not trust those I do not know. The ship will make one stop at one of our asteroid bases, and you will board carrying one of our ordinary payments. The pretense for your presence is to check the validity of the credit transfer. I'm sure it will be there. Tyrannus doesn't want to give us a reason."
"But I can still sense your concern… Why, master?"
"If this transfer does not go through as planned the consequences will be disastrous for both sides of this war. I have meditated on it and the force has given me… a bad feeling about this. However it has shown me nothing more. The longer this war continues the harder it is for even me to see through the tendrils of the dark side. Maybe Tyrannus is desperate enough to attack the ship. An economic crash will cause discontent throughout all systems. Maybe he hopes it will drive them to his cause, although the repercussions will hit the Separatists equally hard."
"Sounds like too risky a move, even for him."
"I agree, and that is what has me worried. I fear the disturbance I sense is something else, something unexpected."
Getting to his feet, Vader bowed deeply. "Whatever it is, when it comes I will be waiting for it. I will not fail you, my master."
A/N: Did you like it? Please tell me if you did, I feed off positive reinforcement.
Say guys, do you want to know what the heck the Jedi are up to in this weird alternate universe? Well stay tuned next chapter for some answers, and also the appearance of my third favourite character after Obi-Wan and Anakin.