LordDarthYoda - Oh, I think all of those people probably attended in their day. "Dooku is the only winner in the end." Well...that might be what happens :P. Dooku's got everyone playing to the beat of his own drum.

SpeechBubbleme - 'the Jedi plan and prepare and all hell breaks loose.' The motto of this story :p. Nara and Sascha were basically fated to fall for each other, and now was a really inconvenient time to discover that.

Nuada Silverhand- Yep, we are getting into the thick of things now! Dooku is basically running rings around all of them :p. "If they do sneak anything past him, it's gonna be because of his arrogance." Hmm...thats a rather good guess, I think.

KY96- Yeah no one is invincible in this story and no one is OP...they are just...Jedi. Thanks for commenting (and for reading a whole bunch of stories!)

A/N - There was supposed to be another part to this chapter, but I've been sick this weekend so..I didn't get around to it, unfortunately. Stupid work and life getting in the way of writing :p.

As always, Please enjoy the next chapter.


Chapter 28: Too Much of Heaven

The next day Sascha Whitestar was still feeling rather confused. He had taken a long walk last night after having that weird playfighting/grappling session with Nara. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to sort through his emotions.

Was he falling for Nara? It was possible, he had to admit to himself. But it seemed convenient for his feelings to manifest themselves now, just after Dooku had mentioned their connection. Maybe Dooku was playing some sort of mind game with him? Whatever had happened, he and Nara were now extremely awkward around each other. Even being in the same room with her felt awkward. Fortunately, their accommodations were spacious enough that they were able to keep to themselves. And with the wilderness retreat being today, they'd be able to remain apart from each other today. Tomorrow...who knew.

Sascha knocked on Nara's door, "I'm going to go check in with Tyra, okay? We have half and hour to be at the meeting area, okay?"

"I'll be there," promised Nara, through the door.

Sascha let that be the end of the conversation. He took the short walk to the place where he and Nara had agreed to check in with Tyra every day. As usual, Tyra was waiting for him, dressed not as a Jedi, but as a someone her age might wear in a casual setting, beige blouse and pants. She looked strange to him, not being in her Jedi robe. A Jedi's robe was almost like a second set of skin.

"Hey Tyra," he said. He shot her a self-deprecating smile, "I'm still alive."

Tyra waved him closer. When he was nearby to her, she frowned, "Where's Nara?" she asked in a quiet voice.

Sascha was instantly put on edge, "She's not going to come. We are meeting up later."

Tyra snorted in amusement, "You two are usually attached at the hip."

Sascha rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah...I don't know if you'll see much of that anymore."

Tyra frowned in confusion and blew the small strands of hair that had fallen into in her eyes away, "Did you have a fight or something?"

"Uh, kind of the opposite."

Tyra frowned and then seemed to make the appropriate conclusion. "Oh. Oh!"

"Yeah..."

Tyra punched his shoulder in a friendly manner, "You didn't kiss her, did you?"

That was not the reaction he had been expecting from Tyra. He'd been expecting a lecture, or worse. "Uh...no. I, uh...wanted to, though." He sighed, "I really screwed up. I think I'll have to ask to not be assigned to the same mission as Nara for a while." The thought of being separated from Nara made him sad. He didn't want to lose her friendship, not when it had become such an integral part of his life.

"You are an idiot, Sascha Whitestar."

"What?"

Tyra smiled, "You and Nara might be the last two people to realize the truth."

Sascha was beginning to lose his patience with his longtime friend, "Just say it, Tyra!"

"It's obvious that the two of you love each other."

Sascha physically stumbled backwards and comically, almost fell over.

Tyra almost laughed at him. "Sorry for stating the obvious."

"Obvious?"

Tyra got a little bit more serious, "Come on, Sascha. I was in love with you, back in the day. Do you think I can't see the same signs? The way you look at each other? The way that you laugh with each other? The way you are both just a little happier when you are together?" She shrugged, "It's love. Always has been. Probably from the first day you met. It also explains why I was so jealous of Nara."

Sascha didn't know how to respond. Was Tyra right? Was he in love with Nara? He certainly had strong feelings for her. She was one of his closest friends, someone who he always felt comfortable around. But had his feelings gone that far?

"There's an amazing look on your face right now, Sascha. I wish I could show it to you."

He cracked a smile, "Can you like stop mocking me for half a second."

"No."

He rolled his eyes. "What do I do, Tyra?" he asked.

Tyra smiled and rolled her eyes in a mocking fashion, "Just don't do what we did." The mirth in Tyra's expression faded, "Look, Sascha. You know how it is. There is no such thing as having a girlfriend in the Jedi Order. You have to be a Jedi first, and there are no exceptions. That's why we don't have attachments. But...you and Nara work as a pair...as a couple. I'm not the only person that has seen the way you two act together...if people were worried, they'd split you up. But they keep you together. It must be for a reason."

"Maybe they don't see what you see," he replied.

"Sascha. Trust me," said Tyra. "Look. I talked with Nara a while ago. She admitted that she loved you. Maybe not romantically, but she knew her feelings for you then then. And to be honest...it shouldn't take much for some physical attraction to form either. I've seen her sneaking glances at you...and I've seen you sneaking glances at her. I'm pretty sure the attraction is mutual. This is all a bit," Tyra made a hand gesture, "predictable."

Sascha was a bit rocked by this whole conversation. "But what do I do?"

Tyra's mouth twitched into a smile, "Listen, Sascha. I'm not going to tell you how to live your life. But, speaking for me, I do think that you and Nara could be 'together' and not have any trouble with it. But, ultimately, it will be decided will be between you, Nara and your Masters. As long as you remember that you are a Jedi first...and you rarely have...I don't see the big deal."

"And you are okay with this? Me and Nara?"

Tyra placed her hands lightly on his shoulders and looked into his eyes, "Yes. Nara and I had our spat, but now we are friends. And I can see that she's great for you...and you are great for her. I consider myself to be totally for this pairing...though maybe its best left to discuss after this mission."

Sascha rubbed his head as Tyra removed her hands "I agree with that last part a least."

Tyra laughed, "Be honest with your emotions. You know how you feel about Nara."

Sascha, grudgingly, had to admit that Tyra was right, as usual. "Okay, Tyra, I got to go, okay?"

"Oh, before I forget," said Tyra, "We think something strange might go down at the wilderness retreat today. Stay on guard, okay?"

"You give me the best news, Tyra," he joked.

Tyra shrugged, "It's not like what I get to do is any fun either." Tyra punched his arm, "Stay safe, doofus."

"You too, best friend," he replied.

Tyra shot him a smile before heading away from him.


It hadn't been too difficult for Delx Greevenson to identify the family that would consider themselves to be the most anti- Dooku family on Serenno. What was harder was actually getting a meeting with this family. They couldn't just say 'We are two Jedi, we'd like to meet with you.' Subtlety was required. And a bit of deception. Those were not the domains of Aurine Brynar. Fortunately her partner was much more adept in those areas.

The Adenventar family had been a prominent family in the politics of Serenno for a millennia. Dabbling in starship building, technology and weapons, the Adeventar's had been one of the families that had influenced most major events on planet and on several planets in Serenno's influence. With Dooku now back in the fold though, the Adeventar's had mysteriously found their grip on Serenno weakening. First, a mysterious fire had destroyed a major manufacturing plant owned by the Adeventar's, then the families' holding on Gelart V had a downturn in production and suddenly the wealthy and powerful family wasn't quite as rich and powerful as before. Of course, there was no evidence to implicate Dooku in any of this. But Delx's intrepid reporting had discovered that Dooku had leant the Adeventar's a huge amount of credits to keep their businesses afloat during this rocky time. It seemed to most that Dooku had created the opportunity and then taken advantage of it.

If only there was actual proof.

However, the situation in the Adeventar family had created an opening for her and Tiplee meet with them. All they had to do was pose as wealthy investors looking to invest in the factories owned by the Adeventar's. The family was credit poor, and they needed to find outside investment.

Which meant that Aurine and Tiplee had to pretend to be rich. Which was something that they were not exactly adept at. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

Yet, by some amazing fluke, she and Tiplee had managed to convince Hadrian Adenventar, one of the younger members of the Adenventar family of their credentials as rich investors. They now had a meeting with Hadrian at the company's main offices on the planet.

On the speeder ride to that meeting, Aurine pulled at her clothing. She was wearing a richly embroidered emerald dress along with emerald earrings. Tiplee was similarly dressed to impressed, wearing a professional looking blazer and long pants. The outfit looked good on the Rishati. "You should wear that more often," she joked.

"I feel like an imposter," she complained.

"How do you think I feel?"

"Like an imposter in a pretty dress," Tiplee replied drolly.

Aurine rolled her eyes. "We are almost here, at least. Remember, we pretend to be scouting the the factory as a potential investment and then when we get Hadrian alone, we reveal the truth."

"You don't need to repeat my plan back to me you know," said Tiplee.

"Someone is in a bad mood," she observed.

The Rishati winced, "It's this mission. It's putting me on edge. So many things can go wrong. It's amazing that nothing catastrophically bad has happened yet. And yet I fear that it will."

"We have the easy part of this mission, but lets make sure we do it right, okay?"

Tiplee smiled, "I don't need a pep talk, Aurine. Though it is appreciated, my friend."

"Good, because we are here."

The two Jedi got out of their speeder at the headquarters for Adenventar Manufacturing, a nondescript building in one of the downtown sections of Veht city. Once inside they were greeted by a protocol droid and led straight to a rather impressive conference room. The only thing Aurine noticed was that they didn't have a whole lot of privacy, as their conference room had glass walls which could be seen through. There wasn't a lot of foot traffic, but still, it made her uncomfortable.

The two of them took their seats and waited for Hadrian Adenventar to appear. Hadrian, who was in his forties, was considered to be a strong businessman, who had the ear of the leadership of the head of his family, his father Guentis Adenventar.

"He's making us wait," said Tiplee, tapping her nails against the beautiful wooden table that they had been placed at. "It's a power move, to impress on us that he is busy enough to ignore even wealthy investors."

"I'm not impressed," she replied.

"Neither am I."

Five minutes later, Hadrian Adeventar finally made his entrance. As he entered the room, he was still dictating notes to a protocol droid. Finally, when he was done, he made eye contact with the two of them.

Hadrian was about forty years old and looked it. He dressed in nice clothes but he wore them with enough contempt that he did not look good in them. Neither was Hadrian a particularly attractive man. With a beard that suggested that it came about more due to laziness than to any particular affection for the style, Hadrian looked like a nicely dressed homeless person. Not quite the impressive person Aurine had been expecting.

Regardless of that thought, she was going to be professional. She stood and walked over to Hadrian and offered him her hand, "Mister Adeventar, a pleasure to meet you."

Hadrian took her hand in a firm handshake, "Aurine, nice to meet you." A glint appeared in Hadrian's eye, "What can I do for the Jedi Order."

Aurine froze, and for a moment she contemplated going for her lightsaber. She overcame that impulse, but continued to grip Hadrian's hand firmly. What should they do now?

"We need your help," said Tiplee.

Aurine gave Hadrian a last warning glare before releasing his hand. "Are we free to talk here?"

Hadrian nodded, "This is one of the few places in the building where we can talk freely. Everyone on my staff believes I'm talking to potential investors. We will not be disturbed."

Aurine gestured to the glass windows where she could see a couple people walking past, "Isn't there anywhere more private where we can talk?"

"There is," allowed Hadrian. "But then my staff will wonder why I'm breaking protocol for these two investors. That would invite...unwanted questions, I would think. Your cover story was...not good. It came apart under medium scrutiny."

Aurine glanced helplessly over at Tiplee. The Rishati shrugged imperceptibly as if to say, 'what choice do we have.'

"Come, sit, and we shall talk," said Hadrian. "I think we have much to discuss."

Warily, Aurine and Tiplee retook their seats. Hadrian sat across from them.

"How did you know we were Jedi?" she asked.

"I asked Delx," Hadrian said. "For the right price, he provided the information." Hadrian smiled slightly, "He protected your identity quite well, but every man has his price."

Aurine made a mental note to not trust so easily.

"So, you know our identities," said Tiplee. "Yet you agreed to meet us. Why?"

"There's only one reason that four Jedi could have suddenly taken interest in Serenno, which I may add, remains outside of the Republic. The one, the only, Count Dooku."

Aurine shared another quick glance with Tiplee. How honest did they want to be with Hadrian here?

Tiplee chose to respond, "We are interested in knowing what Dooku is doing. Not interfering with what he is doing, but knowing."

Hadrian looked away, "And yet you should be interfering."

"We cannot," said Tiplee, folding her hands in front of her. "We have no jurisdiction here."

"And don't you think Dooku knows that?" retorted Hadrian. "He's untouchable here. He has powers that few of us can comprehend and none of us can stop. Did anyone at the Jedi Order realize that they were unleashing a menace on us?"

"A menace?" asked Aurine.

Hadrian openly gaped at the two Jedi. "Do you not understand what is going on?"

"We have some idea," Aurine allowed. She wanted Hadrian to reveal all that he knew. If that meant playing ignorant...so be it.

"I understand now why Dooku was banished from the Jedi Order. This is a man set on domination. Of subjugating those that do not see the galaxy the way he does." Hadrian leaned back. "We have tried to resist him, but the wiser move is to submit to what he wants and play the long game. Dooku is old. He has no heirs. The families of Serenno will play the long game, like we always have. I just don't know what Dooku will do the galaxy in the meantime."

That was...a scary if somewhat hyperbolic statement from Hadrian.

"Can you explain to us what Dooku is doing?" asked Tiplee calmly. "We've seen rumours, heard reports, but there is nothing substantiated, nothing we could report on."

Hadrian smiled ruefully, "I don't have substantial evidence. All I have is rumour, innuendo and suspicion. Dooku is too good to get caught."

"Can we get a few specifics," she asked. It was all good for Hadrian to wax poetic about Dooku, but she needed some actual details.

"Sorry. Yes." Hadrian ran his hand through his disheveled hair. "We have a factory on Gelart V. It's nothing too fancy, but its been a profitable factory for years. We sell the products to three main companies, I won't bore you with the details. Then a shadow company bought out the three main companies that we work with, one after another. We thought 'no big deal' just a business deal. Then they stopped buying from us. Within three months we were hemorrhaging credits. There was just no other company that wanted our products in the quantities we were making. We started looking around at selling our company. No buyers, even though we were offering at a cut rate price. Three more months go by. Finally, Dooku saunters over to us and makes us an offer. It's below the even low price we were offering...but we needed to accept. So we did. The next day, the other three companies that had been bought out started dealing with Dooku and his new factory. It seems obvious to anyone with a brain that Dooku orchestrated the whole thing."

"So in one fell swoop, he strengthens himself and weakens you," observed Tiplee.

Hadrian pointed at the Rishati, "Exactly. Now, there's nothing to link Dooku to the three companies that got bought out. In fact, its impossible to trace who owns them. But logic dictates that it must have been him."

Aurine had to grudgingly admit that the series of events made sense. And it jived with what she had learned from Delx. She leaned forward, "So what's Dooku's endgame?"

Hadrian vacillated for a moment before answering, "I think he's building a movement. A political movement. A Jedi like Dooku..."

"Former Jedi," she corrected.

"...former Jedi like Dooku has no interest in worldly possessions. He maintains the one residence owned by his family for generations, and yet sells off the others. So why acquire wealth?" Hadrian shrugged, "To buy influence. That's why he is making speeches, and attending the Youth Summit, even though he is most certainly not a youth. He's setting out a framework for a new organization."

"What kind of organization?"

"There's a great deal of discontent in the outer rim with the Republic. Things are falling apart out here. Planets call for the Judicials or the Jedi and they never come. What Dooku has promised is a new sort of order a new sort of democracy. It's a movement in its infancy, but I believe it's there. The Outer Rim is not the core. There's never been a lot of love for the Republic. Right now, there is even less."

Tiplee looked increasingly concerned, and was tapping her foot rhythmically in irritation, "How do you know this?"

Hadrian gave the Jedi a wounded look, "The Adeventar family knows how to hedge its bets. We saw what happened when we voiced our displeasure with Dooku. Now we assist him when he asks."

"You're helping him?" said Aurine. "After what he did?"

Hadrian shrugged, "It was not my decision. But we are not happy with allying with Dooku, hence why this meeting will be secret."

"You'd sell yourselves to the highest bidder," Aurine said, disgusted.

Hadrian met her steely gaze, "It is simply the long-term view. The Adeventar family always plays the long-term game."

Aurine leaned back in her chair and tried to get the tension in her body to disperse. "What's Dooku's total goal?"

"If I had to guess...he wants to destroy the Republic and the Jedi. Or that might be what he says he wants." Hadrian smiled, "Maybe he's just like every other man, and he just wants power. Dooku plays his cards very close to his chest. He has very few allies. Though we've seen a young woman who appears to be from Dathomir that keeps appearing by his side. We think she may be some sort of enforcer."

"Dooku doesn't need an enforcer," Tiplee said bluntly. "She might run errands for him, I suppose. Might be someone worth trying to track down."

To Aurine, the idea of Dooku taking up with someone from Dathomir, screamed 'Dathomiri witch.' Why Dooku would be cavorting with a Dathomirian witch was beyond Aurine's knowledge.

"Anything else you have for us?"

Hadrian considered for a moment, "I think that about covers it. He's a dangerous man, Dooku." Hadrian folded his hands together, "But do not look to us for help. This was the limit of our opposition to Dooku."

Wonderful.

The two Jedi stood and bowed slightly to Hadrian, "We thank you for your time and for the information. Should your opinion change..."

"We will use Delx as an intermediary," said Hadrian who rose to lead them to the door. "Good luck, Jedi. We wish you the best of luck."

Aurine and Tiplee walked through the door, "For a family worth as much as they are, you'd figure they might give us more than luck," she grumbled quietly.

However, now, more than ever, it was important that Tyra got some sort of definitive proof of Dooku's actions. It seemed like the only way they could decode what Dooku was doing.