The shuttle thundered towards the frigate. As the door closed, the Jedi and Dooku found themselves in sudden silence.

Obi-Wan sat down. "Given what Anakin has told me, I've decided to allow you to keep a lightsaber."

Dooku scoffed. "Most kind of you, Master Kenobi, though it would have been entertaining to see you try to take it from me." He brandished the saber he had recovered from Ventress.

"Indeed? Perhaps you would be interested in a trade. Anakin?"

Anakin held up Dooku's own lightsaber that had been confiscated above Coruscant. "We're sure you're more comfortable with it."

Dooku eyed the lightsaber hungrily. He spoke with as much detachment as he could muster. "That would be agreeable." He held out Ventress's blade, pommel first to Anakin, and floated his own into his other hand. His eyes shot up. "Thank you, Jedi."

"Of course."

The shuttle swayed as it decelerated, nearing the hangar entrance. "That leaves Mygeeto, Alderaan, and Serenno." Obi-Wan said.

"The cache on Alderaan is likely destroyed by now." Dooku said. It was well-hidden to the Republic and the Jedi, but if my master is employing other acolytes it would be no trouble to find."

"So that leaves Mygeeto and Serenno." Anakin said. "Is one cache more useful than the other?" This elicited a noncommittal shrug from Dooku.

Obi-Wan pushed through a twitch of annoyance. "It is likely that Serenno is the safer place for you to hide information. As its count, you have unlimited access and control. Mygeeto is an active battlefield. In the chaos there, Palpatine has a greater chance of finding it."

"Well reasoned." Dooku said. "If the Republic secures Mygeeto, Palpatine's agents in the government will be able to find it and destroy it."

"And Mygeeto is vital to victory." Anakin said. "We can't afford to disrupt operations there."

"Rather devious." Obi-Wan said.

As the ship landed, Dooku stood to disembark. "I did my best."

Mygeeto was a cold world. When its invasion began, many argued its strategic value was not worth the cost, but now the cost was too high to leave. The Republic had managed to take some of the crystal mines which powered much of its blizzard-shrouded cities.

Cold comfort.

Dooku directed the ship down. "I understand Master Ki Adi Mundi is on this world."

Anakin smiled. "He'll be meeting us."

"Excellent."

The planet filled up the view-screens. "What happened between you two?"

A flicker of annoyance passed over Dooku's face. "Nothing, particularly. Master Mundi preferred a narrow view of the Jedi Code. Even before I… Any question I asked earned an incisive comment from him. He is a fool."

"Master Obi-Wan says he is wise."

"He is intelligent at being a Jedi, nothing more."

"That's hardly nothing." As Anakin spoke, the distant flashes of laserfire grew more distinct.

"It's barely anything. Without the rules of Jedi society to govern him, Ki Adi would be nothing. That is not wisdom. That is being a cudgel for whomever had the foresight to raise him. He is not Yoda."

"I think perhaps you fear him." Anakin said.

"Fear him?" Dooku glanced at Anakin darkly. He laughed: a deep, sonorous sound, entirely unrestrained. "I don't think so, boy. He is inflexible— a Jedi only. Take away the order from Yoda, for instance, and he is still a master of many things. That's what makes someone wise."

"Perhaps it makes them powerful. Not wise."

"They are the same thing. I have some power. As I recall, I made a promising Jedi and a threatening Sith. I am a commander and a count. I've won half the galaxy through conquest."

"And yet here you are, a prisoner of the Jedi."

"Nominally." Dooku watched the ship's descent to land outside a city. "I've heard you have some talent as a starfighter and a duelist. Not ignorant in philosophy or sports. And—" He smelled the air. "Naboo's domestic affairs, it would seem."

"I— do not—"

Dooku walked away. "You would have made an excellent Sith."

Ki Adi Mundi did not mind the cold. He didn't mind it because he had decided he did not mind it. As the ramp before him descended, he considered the world. Though his right eye was gone, he still sensed the dust settling on the rubble around him.

"CB-023. Treat asset Dooku as hostile asset."

"Invalid command." The clone commander replied. "Contradicts standing order 54.5093, issued by Jedi Grandmaster Yoda."

Mundi growled an acknowledgement as the Jedi and Dooku appeared at the top of the ramp.

"Master Mundi."

Dooku smiled thinly. "So excellent to see you again."

"You gave him a lightsaber? Have you lost your sense?"

"Do not worry, Master Mundi. We have him well in hand."

"Most doubtful. With all due respect Master Kenobi, you did not know the Dooku I know."

Anakin stepped between them. "Master Yoda trusts us with him. Why don't you?"

Mundi paced side to side, as though a wall separated them. "Fine. You read the reports I transmitted? Then you know the tactical situation. I can lead you through to wherever this cache is."