"What use are ideals if we cannot fit them to the universe as we find it?" Qui-Gon had once asked him. "If our beliefs tell us one thing, and the needs of real people tell us another, can there be any question of which we should listen to?" This all sounded very lofty when Qui-Gon said it, but in actuality it meant things like, It's okay to "borrow" a spaceship from criminals if you really need it, or If I can win this tribe's independence in a game of chance, then it's worth selling my Padawan's best robe for chips to get into the game.

― Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, Claudia Gray, Master and Apprentice

Chapter 19 - Weapons of the Empire

Luke Skywalker didn't know a lot about history, and certainly didn't know much about the Clone Wars and the Jedi that had all but been erased by the Empire's censor.

But Luke Skywalker had fought four years in war against the Galactic Republic with a force small enough to be laughable. If one had to characterize those of the original Rebel Alliance, one could say they were as stubborn as they were untrustworthy.

Double agents, triple agents, thieves, orphans, imperials, senators, a mosh pit of the galaxies finest and foulest.

And true, Luke earned his fame by being the last piece in a long chain of events in their desperate pursuit to destroy the emperor's weapon, and blessed enough to survive it, being Force sensitive no small part in that. But the years on the run and fighting, scraping by and losing friend after friend... he had earned the position of General. Earned it, more so even than his becoming a Jedi.

And Luke had always wanted to join the Rebellion. He had only wanted to be a Jedi to have one last connection to his father.

The irony of his current situation wasn't lost on him.

But this was all to say that while his knowledge of the years he now found himself a part of was sparse, to put it mildly, however, he did know secrets that likely the Emperor didn't even know yet.

Luke had done his best to meet and memorize every single man in the 501st and 212th, one because they were his men and when someone gave you the type of loyalty that would compel them to fly to their death at your moldest command, meeting them and knowing their name was a small thing, but also…

Luke had gotten a medal once.

One he had been very proud to receive at the time.

He had been so young then, and he hadn't really understood that cermony's significance until Leia explained. The ceremony had been more than to give medal earners honour, or even to recognize those who had died, it had meant to welcome in the New Republic. The people who watched him strut down that hall with his friends were meant to rule the galaxy, or die trying.

Being a hotshot pilot had been his dream, but understanding the politics… When Luke began to ask around about the people who had died getting the Death Star plans (that Leia had given to R2 to be given to Obi-Wan that had led Imperials to kill Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru that had become Luke's final push to the Rebellion), he had wanted to know the stories that came before him.

Wanted to know the people who had died, imperial and scoundrel alike who had died to get those schematics to the Rebellion.

So in this one thing, Luke was five steps ahead of Darth Sidious.

Luke knew names of people who were traitors to the Empire before the Empire had even been born. He knew the cards and the pieces that had to fall into place for the Death Star to be built and destroyed.

Luke had wanted Obi-Wan and Ahsoka to meet up with him on Zygerria, to stop him from going down this path. To find another way.

But Luke didn't see one. And when Obi-Wan hadn't been there to stop him… he saw his opportunity, one that would pass if he waited.

He had given Rex and Appo instructions to follow, giving them a message, Leia-Fashion, to be delivered to a future Rebel. Luke wasn't really sure how it would go, considering Jedi and non-Jedi alike were wary of 'visions from the future.' But he figured the logic would hold up and reasoning would be sound enough for a supposed genius to believe it.

He doubted, hence why he hadn't told his men and run from Obi-Wan, that anyone would understand part B and part C of his plan.

But after the power Luke had found within himself on Zygerria, he knew there was so much about the Force he still had to learn. Particularly about the Dark Side of the Force.

Ben and Oldest Yoda had told him it was impossible for a Sith to come back to the Light. But Luke had 'fallen' on Zygerria, he had drunk deep of the Dark Side and managed to pull himself back.

Perhaps it had been a foolish experiment, but after seeing the slaves they had saved, not a single one having been used as leverage against them, Luke would have made the same choice if he had to have done it again.

And it was that lack of regret that made him bold now.

Besides, he was going in armed this time, and not simply surrendering himself to the two Sith Lords and their Empire.

Sneaking into the Palace of Serreno wasn't as difficult as he thought it would be.

"Everything you can R2," Luke instructed the steadfast droid, sparing a thought for if Darth Vader ever recognized either R2 and C-3pO and what he had thought of them.

"Geonosis?" Luke asked in response to R2 beeping.

The Battle of Geonosis, the start of this Civil War, even Luke knew that one. He was sure Obi-Wan would be delighted to know how close he had come to uncovering the weapon that would terrorize the galaxy in the next generations.

After all, a lot of people in the Empire stopped believing the Jedi even ever existed, especially in the Outer Rims. Even fewer people believed in the Sith.

Even within the Rebellion. People weren't scared of Emperor Palpatine because he was a Sith Lord, they were afraid of him because he owned the galaxy, had the biggest army, and scariest weapons.

Space magic was so much harder to grasp as a concept than the reality of a planet being blown out of existence. Especially Alderaan.

The home to the Rebel Alliance, a core world, a world that had always upheld peace and honour, a world that did not tolerate corruption.

In many ways, it was that act that had turned the tide against the Empire. The number of recruits Luke had under his command who had been ex-imperials had sky-rocketed. It was why he had believed Vader could have been turned.

Everyone did horrible things in war, and after walking in Anakin's shoes, he understood how things could have become twisted.

Especially considering Palpatine had gotten his hooks into him at such an early age and the Jedi Order had been harsh on his father. The culture differences alone, from what Luke had observed, hadn't been adjusted for.

A ripple in the Force was the first hint he got to no longer being alone..

"How much do you have, R2?"

The answering beep was positive.

"Alright, take everything you have and give it to Senator Bail Organa and Padme, and tell them to share with Wolffe, Obi-Wan, Cody, and Rex. The more people who know the better. But you can't tell them where we got it or where I am. They have other missions that cannot be risked."

Because if Luke had his way, the thing was never going to be operational to begin with, but that was in Rex, Cody, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan's hands now.

Luke smiled to himself even as he told R2 to hurry, "Don't wait for me. R2 your mission is more important than my life now."

And though Luke was not a fatalist, in saying those words he felt like himself again, and he knew that even if Leia was never born, this would still be her legacy.

Even if no one ever knew her name, the galaxy would still be shaped by her bravery, her belief that the galaxy could be better than it was.

R2 was safely gone down the way they had snuck in before Luke heard the dual ignition of two lightsabers.

R2 would take the only reliable way off this space rock, though he supposed stealing a ship wouldn't be too hard.

But he hadn't told R2 he hadn't come here planning on leaving.

Luke turned the corner, without igniting his own blade though he held it in his good hand. His new lightsaber was nowhere near as rudimentary as his previous one had been, but it was still based off of Obi-Wan's blade, though Luke had fashioned the grip more off of Qui-Gon's. He had the switch less obtrusive and used parts liberated from the Padawan store rooms.

A Zabrak female stood with a red lightsaber in either hand, and snarled, "Anakin Skywalker."

So much hostility in so few words, it made Luke smile, "Hello, and I'll take that greeting as an indication we've met before."

She bared her teeth in what was either a snarl or a sneer, "I'm the one who scared your face."

Luke blinked, "Really?"

So Dooku took his arm, this female scared his face, and Palpatine took his soul.

His father had a really bad score against the Sith.

"Yes, 'really'," she mocked.

"Did you take Wolffe's eye too?" Luke asked, knowing that it had been a lightsaber wound but not who had done it.

She smiled, "Yes, the Clone General survived me."

Luke grinned, absurdly pleased that he had that connection with Wolffe, even if it wasn't technically Luke's face.

"How hard did you hit your head, Skywalker?"

He smiled at her, "Hard enough that I would appreciate a proper introduction."

She narrowed her eyes, before smiling herself, only with a lot more teeth, "I am Asajj Ventress, the female who is going to kill you."

"We don't have to be enemies, Asajj," he said in the voice that his sister said was the should-have-been-raised-as-a-politician-voice.

Luke had disagreed, arguing that he neither liked politics nor did he think he would be good at it. He tended to be honest to fault.

Leia had smiled at him warmly, That's how Papa was in the start of his career, it's why people loved him. Why people love you. You don't seek power, Luke, you step up where you are needed, and the galaxy needs leaders like you.

For Luke, there was no higher compliment than those words spoken by Leia.

Asajj looked as if she had just swallowed a bug.

Luke sighed, "Honestly, why does everyone react like that? I was just trying to be polite."

She seemed to shake herself, crouching in a lethal stance. her blades held back like Ahsoka did.

Luke missed Ahsoka too. He wondered what she made of his leaving her behind. He felt less bad about leaving Obi-Wan behind on account that his last act was to become a martyr. And Luke didn't care which Yoda it was, old or older, but Luke much preferred Obi-Wan as a Master. And the more he had gotten to know him in the past, the more he resented the time they might have had if Vader hadn't been quite so homicidal.

"You sound like Kenobi," Asajj said, "only without the sarcasm."

"Thank you," he said, taking the compliment, "though I appreciate Obi-Wan's humour, even I find his sarcasm a bit grating sometimes."

Like when he was telling Luke, 'you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.'

Not that Obi-Wan had been wrong, exactly, but the way he had said it had been so cynical, defeated.

Luke was done giving up on people.

Asajj sneered at him, "What are you doing here, Skywalker?"

He shrugged, "I was in the area."

She stared at him.

He was amused to see her hostility draining, even ever so slightly. Luke had noticed that it was harder for people to stay mad at you if you didn't offer insult and stayed calm. And he had a lot of practice with it too, he had often played reasonable General to Leia's warlord.

"Why are you here?" she pressed.

Luke didn't move, maybe, if he played this right, he could just talk his way out of a fight.

It hadn't worked with Jabba, but Asajj wasn't a Hutt.

She was maybe a Sith, but not a Hutt. Sort of a toss up which was worse, but Luke wasn't going to judge this female based on which side of the Force she found herself on.

After all, all he really knew about her was that she worked for Dooku and apparently liked going for people's eyes.

"I mean, I noticed your security was kind of flimsy. Staffing problems?" he asked. He had seen the news feeds before coming here.

Palpatine's plans had fallen apart so wonderfully. There was a lesson in that, never depend on your foes' ignorance.

Of course, Luke was counting on Asajj and Dooku not knowing that he was a time traveller trapped in his father's body, thus knowing information that might be used to further their goals, but that was neither here nor there.

Amnesia made a lot more sense than whatever the Force had done to him.

Asajj roared, launching at him, his saber was lit in an instant.

"Talk about hair triggers," he muttered, blocking with a clash of sound.

She growled at him.

He met her strikes with parries, letting himself be pushed back through the halls, trying to get a sense for her fighting technique.

She was good, very good, and reminded him almost painfully of Ahsoka.

He talked as he kept pace with her, "I wanted to speak with Count Dooku, in truth."

Luke wasn't a Master in Soresu, but he could keep pace, and opening himself up to the Force, defence was easy, he knew where she was going to step before she could change direction. And unlike Darth Vader, despite the viciousness of her swipes, she wasn't anywhere near that strong.

Asajj snarled, "Then I will take you to him."

As he stepped back into a new room, an open hall of grand pillars, he realized his mistake in letting her direct where he was going as a second lightsaber buzzed to life.

Luke positioned himself so he had both Master and apprentice, "Hello, Count Dooku, my deepest apologies for not calling first."

There was an amused glint in Dooku's dark eyes, "Ever Kenobi's Padawan."

Luke smirked back, "What can I say, he's a great role model."

"Yet here you are," Dooku said, twisting his wrist ever so slightly. "Far from your Master's sight."

Luke took notice of that movement, of the curved hilts. Dooku was supposedly the Master in Form II, the duelling form used against others using lightsabers.

It meant that Dooku probably out matched Luke by a long shot, he had less than two years of training with a lightsaber.

But on the plus side, Luke didn't have so much sparing experience that the angle shift of their blades was going to make much difference to him. Luke knew his own strength in a lightsaber duel was his ability to adapt, and in this body, even if his opponents were aided by the Force he was probably stronger.

Dooku went on grandstanding as Luke mentally prepared himself for a duel that could so easily end with him dead at the smallest mistake.

Luke had seen the scars on Obi-Wan's arms, and knew there were more on his legs because Obi-Wan had told him.

Dooku wouldn't aim to hack off limbs unless Luke was very rash, as apparently his father had been in the days of his apprenticeship, but Dooku would slash with small cuts, and likely Asajj would too.

Which was bad when their weapon of choice was superheated beams that could slice through nearly any material, skin and bone not posing a problem at all.

"Strange," Dooku said, "here I thought brain damage would make you slower, Skywalker, but I think you've figured out that you're outmatched."

Luke raised his brows, and repeated in a light tone, "Outmatched?"

"Come, Skywalker, without Kenobi you're in over your head. The tables have turned, it is now you who are alone and faces the Master and the apprentice."

"I'm really not here for the light show," Luke said, knowing he would have to warm them up to his idea or they were just going to declare him an insurgent.

Which he sort of was the end goal… but-

Asajj lunged at him, and Luke was left unable to think as both Dark Siders came at him. Giving himself over to the Force, he let himself be passive, let the Force guard him. The two dark energies came at him, but they weren't Darth Vader.

Luke didn't hate them, he hadn't even known they existed before arriving in the past.

They weren't the monster that had destroyed his father.

They weren't his father who had become the monster.

They were simply two more fallen Jedi that Darth Sidious had twisted to his own means.

Could they be led back to the Light?

Dooku attacked low and Asajj leapt at him from above.

Luke threw out a hand, sending Asajj spinning back through the air like a bird caught in a strong gust as he blocked Dooku's attack.

Dooku's darkness called to a piece of Luke that he was just starting to understand.

Would this path lead Luke to the Dark?

Was this really a risk worth taking?

Obi-Wan was going to be murderous when he heard of this, Luke could only hope Obi-Wan and Ahsoka didn't see it as a betrayal.

But Yoda, Obi-Wan, and the entire Jedi Order hadn't been able to defeat Sidious. The only person who might have a clue to his weaknesses and capabilities was Darth Tyrannus.

Luke started getting inventive with obstacles. Yanking hard on Dooku's cloak, the 'finest duellist in the Order' gagged as he fell, or rather, was pulled back to the floor.

Asajj came at him from the side, but Luke was ready for her, using the Force to leap over her head, to avoid her bodily, something he had perfected on Dagobah.

She sneered, "Have you been stretching, Skywalker?"

Dooku came up off the floor with a cold fury, feeling like the darkness one might find in the depths of the frozen seas of Hoth.

"It seems you finally learned more than manners from Kenobi," Dooku said, slashing viciously at him.

Asajj got behind Luke, and if he had ever thought of defending himself from one blade was hard, two made the challenge that much more nerve racking. He had to rely almost completely on the Force to understand what was happening, letting his eyes unfocus as he switched back to defence, the clash of blades keeping him centred in the moment.

"Does your Master know you're here?"

"No," Luke said, finally getting annoyed, and sending both stumbling backward as he pushed them with the Force, "No, Obi-Wan doesn't know I'm here. No one does. I came alone."

Dooku's gaze narrowed, "Then you've come to meet your death."

Asajj came at Luke from behind, and with the Force, he snatched both her lightsabers from her hands. She wasn't able to stop her momentum as she came right at him.

"No!" Dooku bellowed.

But Luke didn't meet Asajj with his blade, using the Force to enhance his speed, he kicked her in the solar plexus.

She went soaring back, tumbling and rolling back on the marble floors. He felt that she was still alive, and likely bruised, but not permanently hurt.

But she didn't get up. He had well and truly winded her. Attaching her sabers to his belt, he turned his full focus on Dooku.

"Calm down," Luke said as the Sith's blows picked up in speed. "Honestly, she's fine."

Dooku couldn't see, couldn't think.

He would not lose another Padawan.

He would not.

In Ventress, he saw so much of Komari.

But Komari had been broken.

Ventress wasn't broken, lost sometimes, but never broken.

Skywalker could have killed her in that last breath.

Killed her when Dooku was there.

Somehow, over the long years, he had convinced himself that if he had been there, he could have saved Qui-Gon.

Skywalker had just shattered that notion. Shattered his conceived ideas that Qui-Gon's death might have been Obi-Wan's fault.

No, Qui-Gon's death rested solidly on Dooku's shoulders, his own failings as a teacher that his Padawans couldn't keep themselves safe.

Dooku brought down his blade, he would make Skywalker pay for doing what no one had managed in decades.

He had made Dooku feel weak.

Ventress dropping and not getting back up would haunt him for the rest of his life.

But no matter how hard he pressed, Skywalker's were impenetrable.

Usually, when one's opponent didn't want to use lethal force, it made the one out for the kill more powerful.

But Skywalker's Soresu was… well, it was actually sloppy, but it was effective. He was relying more on the Force than form, quite novel, for someone trained in the Order.

Actually, as the duel wore on, Dooku realized that was what this was, someone who hadn't been raised with a lightsaber. He had seen Force users who had wielded lightsabers for the first time, with the Force guiding their hands.

He finally registered that the boy was speaking.

"Master Dooku, can you hear me? You're losing focus. Remember where you are. Asajj is alright, I promise."

Dooku was caught but the respect, and true concern in Skywalker's voice. "We are enemies!" he roared at the supposed Chosen One, "There's no one to save you this time!"

Some spark, so flare of answering Darkness flashed in those eyes.

But it wasn't the wildfire that he remembered from their previous duels.

This was something different, something that ran deeper.

Yet around him, Anakin Skywalker shone in the Light, like Qui-Gon had, like Obi-Wan did.

But Skywalker had more raw power than either, and Dooku braced himself against the Force blow that hit him.

Wary of his shields after having been dragged to the ground by his own cloak, he raised his shields.

They parted, and Dooku called lightning to his hand, which Skywalker reflected with his lightsaber with startling ease.

"I don't need to be saved," Skywalker said as they circled each other. "But I do need your help."

Dooku smiled, "You may have my help."

To your grave, he thought as he launched forward.

Skywalker looked as if he sighed, and then- time around him seemed to slow and continuously speed around Skywalker.

Dooku grunted, finding his wrist caught in the unyielding grip, his saber was being Forcibly turned off, and his arm was twisted behind his back.

At this moment, Dooku had the very humbling realization of just how old he was becoming.

He had to replay the last moments in his mind to understand what had happened.

Skywalker had used the Force, overpowering both Dooku's natural and enforced shields, to slow the descent of his saber, and instead of backing off, or coming forward with his saber. He sheathed his weapon and grappled Dooku, and while in his younger years, Dooku would have bucked at this tactic, Skywalker was a twenty-something youth with Force far advancing his strength.

In a straight duel, Dooku would have won, but Skywalker, unsurprisingly, didn't seem to care about a 'pure duel'.

Dooku respected that.

But he did struggle, which earned him a sharp yank on his arm and his dropping to his knees. An action that broke his concentration and holds on the Force. The Darkness that had been vying for him to pursue revenge, pulled back like a veil.

He was going to die.

He was going to die on his knees, destroyed by the youth he had mocked, by the boy Qui-Gon would have taken as his next apprentice.

It was fitting.

Had Dooku stayed in the Order, Anakin Skywalker should have been his apprentice, not Obi-Wan's.

Then where would the galaxy have ended up.

For some reason, Dooku felt that it might still have ended like this.

He opened his eyes to find Ventress staring at him, a hand pressed to her chest, her eyes full of emotion, of sorrow.

She had lost her family because they had given her up to hostiles, then she had lost the man she had seen as her father despite his owning her as a slave, and then she had lost her Jedi Master.

What would it do to her, Dooku wondered sadly, to lose me as well?

This is why he had never taught her how to be a true Sith, why he had truly trusted that the Rule of Two would never abide between them.

She was his successor, the one meant to carry on after him. Dooku, unlike Darth Sidious, had never believed that immortality had been possible.

No, Dooku hadn't become a Sith to become a god, he had become a Sith to institute change, real change, even if it meant tearing the galaxy apart first.

He had never told Ventress how proud he was of her, nor had he told Qui-Gon.

They all should have had more time, but death waited on no one.

"Please, Skywalker," she said, her voice oddly soft, thin as if she was still fighting for breath.

Dooku worried that she might have a broken rib, or maybe several.

"Don't kill him," she pleaded.

Skywalker made a disgusted sound and intoned under his breath, "By all the sand in the Dune Sea…" before abruptly letting go of Dooku.

Dooku turned, pushing himself backward, and Skywalker gave him an exasperated look, "Would you both please stop? I told you, I came here to talk, not kill you."

Dooku got to his feet, "So you broke into my home, my private office?"

Skywalker looked too innocent as he asked, "Not a bad place to start looking for you, don't you think?"

Dooku narrowed his gaze.

This was a trap, it had to be.

But then, Skywalker had Dooku's and Ventress's lightsabers, he had won both duels, and despite a sore wrist and maybe some broken ribs, they were all safe and in one piece.

It was… not how Dooku had imagined his night would go. "Why are you here?" he repeated.

"To learn from you."

"What?"

"I wish to kill your Master, Darth Sidious, unwittingly known to the galaxy as Chancellor Palpatine, and I don't know that I am strong enough." He tossed them back their sabers before bowing to them both, "Please, I need your help."

Dooku was completely baffled, forget head trauma, this wasn't Anakin Skywalker. "Why would you seek help from me?"

Considering you just won a duel against both my apprentice and me without apparent strain.

"Because I am beginning to believe it would take a Sith to destroy another Dark Lord," Skywalker said, "The Jedi- Yoda either doesn't know as much as he thinks he does or he's keeping it to himself. I've come to the conclusion that Jedi don't understand the Sith well enough to truly defeat them."

Dooku just stared at him, the turn of events unbelievable.

Skywalker went on, "In all the sources I could find, the end of the Sith happened because the Sith turned on each other and that's how they lost against the Jedi, not the Jedi themselves. Even in the Rule of Two, the Sith Master is killed by the apprentice, effectively, the Sith killing Sith. That's how it works, right?"

"So you wish to become a Sith?" Dooku asked slowly.

Ventress was gaping at the Hero With No Fear.

"No," Skywalker said, "I don't want to become a Sith, I wish to be trained in the Sith Arts."

Ventress laughed, though she coughed, and wrapped one arm around herself, "You think you can train as a Sith and not become one?"

Skywalker met her gaze with serious blue eyes, "You are skilled in the Jedi Arts, yet you are a Sith and not a Jedi, correct?"

Dooku smiled at the boy's arrogance, "And why should we trust you?"

"Because you want Sidious dead too," he stated boldly.

He's not wrong.

Ventress snarled, "That doesn't mean we can trust you."

Skywalker raised a brow, "Okay, honestly, how much trust do Sith Masters and Sith apprentices really have in each other?"

That made Dooku laugh, he couldn't help it. This whole scenario was so bazaar and to hear this Jedi Knight of all people, say such a thing without malice?

Even Ventress, though she didn't smile, her amusement could be felt like flickering light beside him.

"Alright, Skywalker, if you wish to be taught the true power of the Force, we will teach you."

Skywalker smiled back at them before he bowed his head, "Thank you, Master Dooku."

Ventress gave Dooku a pointed look; Sith apprentices were supposed to drop to their knees, but Dooku wasn't about to alienate the young Jedi. This was too perfect, too wonderful an opportunity to squander.

So what if he had lost an entire army? He hadn't officially lost the war yet, and Dooku had just been handed Sidious's dearest weapon.

The Chosen One would be the end of Darth Sidious, Dooku would ensure it, and Anakin Skywalker would fall to the Darkness for the benefit of all.

AN: Thoughts, reactions, Dagobah swamp monsters, or feedback? Pretty please?