Author's Notes: Be warned, people, I now have my galactic map handy! I can see where all my battles are taking place, and also how badly I cocked up on locations of these planets before hand, if I have indeed. I must confess that (and I think I've mentioned it before) I don't 'hold truck' with the Expanded SW Universe but, because I need more planets than the films give me to use in this story, I shall concede to those of the EU regardless. Call me a hypocrite if you will - I'm one of these people who will use the EU when it suits me, then discard it. Creative license. I'd rather I used already 'existing' SW locations than have to force you all to read the silly names of planets I made up. But please note that Oovo IX and Chandrilla - two places I've chosen to use - aren't on my map at all, so I've had to just use my imagination and guess whereabouts they are - and Sauria is a planet I definitely made up, and is the only one at that.

Don't think I hate all the EU, I'm just not overly fond of it, that's all. I love the films over everything else - no one can deny that they are the true "Star Wars", seeing as they come from its creator.

I must apologise in advance for the terrible, long and tedious introduction to this chapter, BTW. It's awful…

Eclipse

Part 38 - Grievous's War

And so the war continued. There was little or no change in the methods utilised by the Confederacy, so they were no more conspicuous without Count Dooku at their helm than they had been with him, but the factions that made up their numbers did wonder, in hushed breaths, what had become of the man. (Padmé, of course, was soon forgotten.) Gunray, a great gossip and always one to jump to conclusions, alleged that General Grievous had killed the Count and retained some of his body parts for himself - and so disliked and feared was Grievous, that even the more intelligent members of the Separatists didn't mind indulging in this myth. They mistrusted the Droid General greater than could be imagined, yet no one dared defy his authority. There was no reason to suspect him of any foul doings, anyway - it was only the prejudice of the Confederate lackeys that played against him. In fact - all apprehensions aside - Grievous had done as good a job as any in leading the Separatist forces and had kept the Republic army most fervently occupied in his master's absence.

Meanwhile, on the opposite front, General Kenobi championed the Republic cause, with Yoda in support; and though the diminutive Jedi Master rarely took to the field himself , his hand could still be felt in many of the Republic's plans of attack. The Jedi numbers were meanwhile all the time diminishing, and there was a growing tension in the Republic, a great aura of misgiving, where everyone knew that something was about to happen, some great change, yet no one could quite put their finger on what this would be - and no one was about to talk about it, either.

The aristocracy, however, were noticeably all 'sharpening their swords' in the meantime…

It would be impossible to chronicle every battle and encounter that happened over the ensuing months, so one will have to make do with using their imaginations to envision the scale and protracted length of this conflict.

Envisage the galactic map of the Republic: in the centre are the planets of the Deep Core, filled with the Core Worlds of Coruscant, Ruan, Khomm and others of the likes. As we move out, we reach the territory of the Inner Rim, the zones of the trading routes and the prosperous planets of Nubia, Alderaan and those clustered in the Corellian Sector, including Neimoidia, Cato Neimoidia and Carida. We then move into the Mid Rim, where the likes of Kashyyyk and Trandosha lay, then even further out into the Outer Rim, an area densely populated by hundreds of worlds. If one wishes to dare move beyond this 'final frontier', then the notorious reaches of 'Wild Space' are what one would be greeted with, territories which are untouched by the Republic's jurisdiction. What this adds up to is a picture of hundreds of planets residing in thousands of parsecs of space, and all this up for the taking in the Clone Wars.

As we have left it, we have General Grievous on Yavin with the Corporate Alliance, Shu Mai trounced at Chandrilla, the Trade Federation at Naboo, Jedi Knight Kit Fisto out at Mon Calamari, and others of the Order engaged at Rodia, Corellia and Muunilinst, to name but a few.

The Separatists soon had a firm camp at Yavin, from which Grievous extended the Confederacy's tentacles into the nearby planet Toprawa, then on through the unresisting Serenno, Bimmiel and Gravelex Med. Just beyond this chain was Dantooine, a planet the Droid General almost felt it beneath him to go out and conquer. He therefore left it to the Corporate Alliance to take charge of this operation, and he subsequently turned the attention of the armies of the Techno Union down into the nearby Merdian Sector. If the Union conquered this, Grievous would have control over a substantial amount of space, which verged on the Mid Rim. Wat Tambor therefore set his forces simultaneously upon the planets Phindar and Gala of this Merdian Sector, and hoped for the best.

Chandrilla had been saved by the Republic, which had pleased both Mon Mothma and the planet's thankful Prime Minister. Shu Mai wasn't one to be so easily frightened away, though - not when she had Grievous at her back - so she re-camped nearby upon Tarhassen, bordering on the so-called 'Expansion Regions' of the galaxy, close to Bothan Space. The Republic battalions at Chandrilla, therefore, upon Master Kenobi's orders - rather than follow him to Yavin, as per their earlier instructions - were to continue to chase the Gossam and her forces and to engage her at Tarhassen.

Satisfied with the face of things, Grievous looked to the Mon Calamari dispute. This battle looked likely to end in favour of the Republic - yet this was not a problem. Mon Calamari, for those not in the know, sits on the very fringe of the farthest reaches of the Outer Rim, and is very much an isolated world. In order to inhibit the Republic at this outpost, the Droid General sent Senator Tikkes, a Quarren native of this world, to the nearest planet of Munto Codru, a position from which he hoped, if Codru was taken, he could squeeze the Republic out of their remote base on Calamari. The Republic were not about to take this lying down, though, so Kit Fisto, with Mon Calamari secure, soon took up his forces again and approached the Separatists at Munto Codru.

Muunilinst had fallen into Separatist hands, unfortunately for the Republic fighting there, and because it was so near Dantooine - the only planet, we must not forget, that separated Muunilinst from Grievous's planetary chain of Gravelex Med through to Yavin - that the Republic opted to withdraw into the Core Worlds rather than take it upon themselves to liberate such a row of steadfast Confederate planets.

Meanwhile, in the thick of the Corellian sector, the Republic had had better fortunes than elsewhere. Corellia was firmly theirs, as was the nearby planetary cluster of Selonia, Froz and Duro. The Separatists here had backtracked to Cato Neimoidia, from whence they held their ground, this being a Trade Federation stronghold. And there the fighting continued, much to the dismay of the Neimoidians who lived there and felt that their lives had been barbarically intruded upon.

Down at Rodia, things had again gone surprisingly well for the Republic as forces led by Shaak Ti took the Rodian homeworld for themselves and drove the Separatists back into Falleen, a planet infamous as being a base for the criminal organisation 'Black Sun'. Enjoying a good conflict, Black Sun opted to defend the Separatists that had retreated there out of sheer spite, and gave themselves to Count Dooku's movement with little or no trouble. The fight here then fell to something of a stalemate, with the Republic trying to invade Falleen, and the Separatists trying to invade Rodia in turn, each never seeming to quite get one over the other.

As all this was happening over the months, General Grievous was all the time on the move; he was the pillar that supported the foundation of the Confederacy in the Count's absence, and, as he moved about the web of conflicts he had wrought, he brought fortune to whomever's presence he favoured, and it did not take long for the Republic - the Jedi Councils on Coruscant in particular, who met virtually every other day to discuss the matters of the war - to see a pattern emerging. Jedi were lost and battalions often felled wherever this General was reported to have been sighted. It would be wise, they thought, to destroy this General and to wipe this most deadly threat from the face of their enemies, but they could keep no tabs on the guy. He disappeared as quickly as he had come, adding always to his list of murdered Jedi as he went. He had to be stopped, but no one could hazard a guess as to how - no one had ever met anything like him before, so no one knew how to fight him…

Count Dooku all the time still remained unheard of, but the wars just ravaged on without him.

Later in the conflicts, Ki-Adi Mundi departed to defend his homeworld of Cerea from a new Separatist threat, and Oppo Rancisis left to ensure a suspicious presence of Commerce Guild craft were not about to enter Kamino, as they hovered around Gamorr, not far away. Aalya Secura won Eriadu to the Republic, despite its locality to Sullust, but lost Omwat, Xagobah and the nearby Clak'dor VII, despite all her efforts.

Adi Gallia took to the front at Bespin, but this fell swiftly to Grievous's armies. She then, at Ki-Adi's behest, aided his battle at Cerea and forced a Separatist retreat to Rattatak, which held its ground for the secessionists and gave them its full allegiance and protection, much to Gallia and Mundi's dismay.

Obi-Wan took Kiffex & Kiffu as well as Bassadro on the path know as the Rimma Trade Route, earning many plaudits for his clear and intelligent tactics, which left at least one branch of the Confederacy reeling further out into the Inner Rim, toward the Mid-. However, Grievous put his foot down and claimed Thyferra and Yag'dhul not much further down the Rimma, and thence cut off an important trade route for the Republic, much to Obi's chagrin. The Jedi General didn't let this phase him, though, and he moved across to the Corellian Trade Spine, another well-used route, and made the planet Devaron a Republic outpost. Grievous's conquering of Bestine, again not far down this route, cut this one off to the Core Worlds, too, though. All-in-all, the two Generals were playing some very tactful chess.

Thankfully, the Perlemian Trade Route, which stretched from Coruscant itself right out passed Taanab, to the Outer Rim, was not badly affected, so there was one road to the capital free from blockade, a blockade which everyone knew could starve it. The galaxy's most vast and lengthy trade route, the Hydian Way, was also fairly clear, bar the fact that it cut across the chain of Grievous's planets, between Serenno and Toprawa, which meant that at least one corner of the Outer Rim was cut off by the secessionists, leaving the planets from Telos right out to Bonadan, near the 'Tingel Arm', isolated.

Master Yoda boldly defended Ithor on the front lines, near Ord Mantell, and keeping this planet for the Republic, then returned to Coruscant, ready to plan the next move for the sprawling Republic forces.

So, as it now stood, Obi was still engaged in combat, this time on the Corellian Run, where he held the Separatists down at Tynna, and things were reported to be going his way. Kit Fisto had been called from Munto Codru to help with a sudden attack upon Raxus in the small Tion Cluster, and, in the meantime, Ki-Adi Mundi, with his homeworld secure, had returned to Coruscant, and sent Adi Gallia down to aid Riflor, which looked set to fold under Separatist pressures if an intervention wasn't soon made.

And after these many months, there was still no sign of Count Dooku.

The problem, the Sith Master resolved, was the Jedi. Everything was set, but the Jedi were still in the way. And then there was the problem of this General Grievous as well, a Droid General over which he had no control - a puppet of Dooku's own making. Sidious stroked his chin - yes, he would credit Dooku for his double-dealing - it was only natural of such a reckless former Jedi to continue to prove an irritant for whatever master took him under his wing. Once a rebel, always a rebel; the man was never going to change in that respect.

Another factor of the Count that had not been lost was his passion, his fervent emotion - this linked to his rebelliousness, no doubt, but this was a factor that could void the problem of the man's disobedience. It was his greatest flaw. Sidious could recall it in the past - the notorious Master Dooku, loyal to his Padawans above his Councils, and to his own code rather than that of the Jedi. And just now, when all trace of his passion had seemed to be lost, it appeared that it had found a new niche in the persona of young Padmé. She would soon prove his downfall - he could sense it.

Sidious nodded slowly to himself - he often found his plans filled with problems which manifested along the way. He also found that, rather than act on impulse, he should let these problems run their courses. Grievous and Count Dooku would sort their own fates - all he need do, as Sith Master, was prod them in the right direction every now and then; Serenn's fate was practically all but sealed, whilst Grievous's… well, Grievous was an anomaly, and anomalies always faded in the end.

"The Separatists are being… unproductive, my Master," suddenly said the other in the room.

Sidious turned from the window and looked to the figure, who was leant back against the wall and almost swallowed up by the shadows in the corner.

"I know," the Sith Master replied.

"And the Republic Army are stationed all over the galaxy… widely spread and weak because of it. Is this the way you want to win your war?"

Sidious smirked gently. "No, of course it isn't… My forces are only trying to prevent, sometimes even predict, the moves of the Confederacy's General. We cannot fight him until we know where he is, now, can we?"

"The Separatist's General is a haphazard warlord," the stranger growled, "His plans show no consistency and he strikes wherever he pleases. He has gained further outposts over the weeks, this is true, but what use are they to him? We thought the Separatists were trying to close a ring round us, but there is now no pattern in their conquests. They simply have blocked a few trade routes and have sprawling bases beyond the Core Worlds, which are of little use to anyone. I do not understand him, Master. What is his design?"

"I cannot read his mind, my friend. I can but gather that he has something planned."

"He's going to run his coffers dry if he's not careful."

Sidious disagreed. "He has plenty of good supply routes at his back, especially now he commands some of our trade routes. Besides, he can get everything he needs from the many Outer Rim planets that are loyal to him. He, at least, does not have the living troops to feed, like we do, which is of some advantage, and I am certain that he can keep this kind of fight up for a long time, if he so wishes."

"Then we may as well call it a stalemate. There is no progress to be had for either side!"

"I believe he is waiting for a breakthrough."

"A breakthrough?" the stranger scoffed, "He'll never get one, especially if Kenobi keeps up his act."

"We cannot be sure."

"Master, this is frustrating! What are we hanging around for?"

"A sign."

"What sign?"

Sidious snickered under his breath and made to leave the room. The figure watched the Sith Master pass and bowed his head at the man as he did so - Sidious's mind worked on a level that his did not, and he could only admire the man for it.

"I shall know when it comes, my boy," Sidious went on, "Everything is about balance and timing. You speak of the war as if you think I have no control over it - on the contrary, I have much control. I have lost my strings to the Separatists, I grant you, but that is of no concern." He chortled coolly to himself; "We must be patient… The Sith have waited two thousand years for this. I shall not disgrace my grandmasters by acting on your impulse now."

The rebuke felt, the other silenced and let the situation lie. There was no need to question the Sith Master further.

Sauria was one of those forgotten planets, one that had never troubled the outside world with its presence, and one that the outside world did not trouble in return. As an uncivilised planet, a hermit amongst its neighbours, it was not unsurprising that it wasn't a nice place for people, from the more civilised worlds, to stay. As a prison, though, it served its purpose, being a place full of danger, misery and - most important of all - inescapable incarceration.

It was now several weeks, perhaps even months, since Count Dooku and Padmé had been stranded there. The planet was covered with an endless, thick woodland, with an atmosphere hot and sultry by day, cold and harsh by night. Insects were often more poisonous than appearances would allow and dangerous animals roamed all over the place by day, and worse monstrosities populated the jungles at night. There was no relief - even the plants were, in general, unfriendly things. Even so, the pair had managed to survive - Serenn knew that they had not been left there to die, and, as much as he sometimes wished for an end, he knew he had yet duties to fulfil.

The first few days had been bearable, the first few weeks even, but now, as the long days ground slowly past, Padmé couldn't help but begin to feel panic. She was afraid that this was it - that there would be nothing more; she felt as though trapped in some kind of limbo, in a place where nothing moved forward, just side-to-side. With neither of them having any means by which to contact the outside universe, all seemed lost. She couldn't bear to think about it, but with so much time on her hands, her thoughts ultimately could only turn back to her predicament. She wasn't even sure whether or not she were thankful for Serenn's company - he was withdrawn and quiet, and everything she had deemed him not to be. Being alone might just drive her mad, however, and even if conversation between her and the Count had become awkward at the best of times, just knowing that he was there was some comfort.

Today was unsurprisingly like every other day, and they had been travelling through the thick forests for some time. Each day, they started their journey at dawn and finished it as the sun set. This journey always entailed looking for fresh water, for they had no supplies, and looking for some kind of food. For Padmé, that had mostly meant fruit and vegetation; Serenn tended to prefer some kind of meat in his diet, and often killed small, rabbit-like creatures to provide this, but Padmé soon found that she could not stomach eating something she had seen alive beforehand. Dooku didn't have any qualms, and he probably got the better meal out of it, but he allowed Padmé her principles.

One can only imagine the state these two were in now. With one set of clothes each, everything else having been lost with the Solar Sailor, they took on the appearance of a ragged, wandering and destitute couple of people. Their garments were torn and filthy, and their bodies equally so. The injuries they had sustained upon crashing in this forsaken land had barely healed, and were joined every other day by new companions, which were inflicted at the hands of the savage environment in one way or another. Reminding them even more of the passage of time was the length of their hair; though Padmé hadn't really taken much notice of her brown locks, the fact that the Count's now reached his shoulders must have been testament to the duration of their captivity.

Padmé kept as close to Serenn as she could as they continued with their trek, for the man seemed to have some notion of direction. The thought had never actually occurred to her of asking Serenn how he knew where he was going, or where it was he was exactly heading for, but those kind of thoughts only threatened to deepen her well of despair, so were best left unsaid.

After a long, sullen silence, excepting the rustling of the foliage and the snapping of twigs, the two suddenly heard a deep roar in the distance. A host of bats consequently tore through the trees overhead, fleeing from the sound. Then there was nothing.

From the quality of the light, Padmé gathered it was nearing twilight, but time wasn't exactly coherent anymore. She gave the dark woods a sceptical glare, before she finally broke the long silence and asked, "You do know where you're going, don't you?"

"No, not really," he replied, rather disconcertingly, in a way that suggested they had been in the middle of a lively conversation.

She stopped completely and gaped at him in horror; "Then where, for the Force's sake, have we been walking for these past few weeks…? These past few months?"

He turned to look at her; "To somewhere safer, I hope."

She choked up a harsh laugh; "'Safer'?"

"Yes. Everyone knows strange forests are never a good place in which to stay."

She blinked at him and could do nothing but shake her head in a numb disbelief. "I hate you sometimes, you know," she murmured.

"Only sometimes?" he said, "My, I am making progress."

After ten more minutes of slothful trekking, they halted for a break. Padmé didn't say anything, but she welcomed the rest, for her feet were killing her. To make matters worse, as well, the panic was taking hold again, that helpless fear: 'What if this is it?' she thought 'What if we're never going to get off here? What am I going to do? What's happening out there in the universe? What will my parents think? Where is Anakin?'

Whilst Padmé was oblivious, Serenn sat watching her for some time. The young Nubian was in deep thought, her eyes staring forward yet not seeing, and it wasn't long before she began to rock her body a little, forward and backward, occasionally raising a hand to her face to wipe a tear from her eye.

The Count chewed on his tongue and seated himself on a fallen tree trunk, staring up into the hazy mist of the woodland, the green fading to an inky black as the light shrank from the horizon and gave itself up to the folds of darkness. Padmé was afraid. He didn't need the Force to tell him that. But was he afraid? No… he was ashamed, he was frustrated, but he was not afraid. He wished Sidious would just get a move on and have it over with. The Sith Master was clearly waiting for something, but Serenn hadn't a clue what this exactly was. He just knew it couldn't possibly be him.

Obi-Wan ran a finger up-and-down his wrist, the one that had not so long ago been broken, and which was now recovered. Since Mace's death, Kenobi had found a new focus, a new drive to see these wars fought and won. He didn't know from whence this came or for what reason - perhaps it was because he was losing everything he had ever thought was worth fighting for, and now all that was left was simply to fight. Whether he lived or died might not really matter - what was there for him now? What future was there? If there was nothing for him, he at least could fight for others… and that was what he was doing.

He had been all over the galaxy, helping battles here, starting them there, but he had one main objective in mind, and that was to face this General Grievous again. Count Dooku had truly disappeared - no one knew where he had gone or what he was doing, which was all very suspicious - and this thing, part droid, part man, this 'Grievous', was the Count's replacement, and was a damn good one, too. This Droid General didn't have any oratory gifts, that was certain - that had been Dooku's department - but that was hardly important; the time for talking was long past. It was all about the war, and this General had the fighting down to a 'T'. Any Jedi who crossed this Thing - all except him, Obi hastened to recall - had lost their lives. This Grievous was a killing machine that had to be stopped.

"But how…?" Obi pondered, leaning his head against the transparasteel window in his quarters, aboard his flagship.

There were no other Jedi in Obi-Wan's convoy - there were no longer any to spare. Instead, he found himself armed with what the press had called the 'mortal militia' - men and women who were not Force-attuned. This didn't bother Obi-Wan - or it wouldn't have if these people hadn't made their contempt for the Jedi well known to him. Obi was all for tolerance, but these people were driving him mad. Palpatine had confessed that he had had no choice, but these people were slowly taking over the army, and Obi could tell that the day wasn't far off when they would run it altogether.

Something was afoot, but it was something too insidious and too inconspicuous to be able to be dealt with.

"What makes you think that these things don't live in trees?" Padmé grumbled as the Count hoisted himself up a redwood and tested the branches.

"They don't," he insisted, looking down at her for a moment before climbing further aloft and trying the higher boughs for their capacity to hold heavy loads.

It had become routine, at the Count's insistence, that they spent their nights in the treetops, for nowhere was it more dangerous to lie unawares than upon the floor. Or so he thought. Padmé despised the entire arrangement, but trusted the Count enough on the matter to make herself go through with it.

It was at this moment that the mysterious roar, the one they had earlier heard, decided to again echo eerily through the woods, sounding as if it were almost next to Padmé.

She turned around and stared after it, looking into the ever-thickening darkness of the foliage and trying to pick out some movement, some sign of this vocal but invisible creature. "What is that?" she murmured, "We've been hearing it for days…" She shook her head and drew her long, unruly hair out of her eyes before looking back up to Count.

"How big are these things?" she asked.

"I can't tell you until I see one, Padmé," Dooku said, lowering himself down from a high branch and dropping smoothly onto a lower one. Padmé shook her head at him - he only seemed to get younger every day, and she half envied him for such vigour. Turning her head, she consequently made one more pass of the woods, certain there was something out there, before she once again looked back to Dooku. And then she yelled, "SERENN!"

Obi-Wan was in ungrateful company as the top dogs of his Republic convoy congregated around a holo-map of their sector of space. They were on the verge of the Mid Rim, not far from the last battle site at Tynna, which they had unfortunately lost. The crew resolved that they should try to reclaim the planet, but Obi felt it was a waste of time - they had lost Tynna and had to concentrate on preventing the loss of any more planets. The crew had reluctantly agreed to this, and now sought to discover where it would be that the Separatists would next strike.

Obi-Wan felt incredibly uneasy, though. Something kept niggling at the back of his mind that wouldn't rest, yet he could not find out what it was or what it meant. He tried to keep this apprehension in check as he listened to the debate going on before him, as some of the galaxy's top aristocrats debated their next moves.

"They'll be hiding around here," said one, pointing to a host of planetary satellites on the edge of the Bothan sector of space, where Cularin and Lannik lay, "They would be hard to detect, and there is plenty of cover from the nearby Asteroid Fields..."

"Don't be absurd," another rallied, "They are a droid army - there is far too much cause for interference for them to be able to operate there… radioactive material and so-forth."

"What makes you think they are hiding?" a thin, stern man asked, "That we are the hunters, and not they?"

Obi looked up to this man - there was something in this one's demeanour, in his very voice, that oozed of a pride in his being 'mortal', of being void of the Force. There was something in him that spelt trouble and hatred for the Jedi, and Obi disliked him because of it. The problem with this man was that he was also extremely clever, and those were the worst kind of people to have as enemies.

"I have lived and worked in the Mid- and Outer Rims for a long time," the man went on, walking around the holographic map and watching it with his grey, dispassionate eyes, "Things do not work in black and white like they do in your Core worlds. Everyone is hunted by someone out here. Everyone is in danger at some time or other."

He paused for thought, rubbing his chin, before he pointed at a world on the very edge of the galaxy, at a planet called Rishi, just past Ryloth, on the very tip of the 'Corellian Run' Route. "If they want to fight, they'll draw us out here somewhere," he ascertained, "Then they can move into the vacuum we have left behind, and take our trade route in the process. They have done nothing but draw us out, further and further into battle, for no apparent gains, since the beginning. They will keep doing so until we are too far out of the way to be of any use to our more important systems."

Obi-Wan was highly perceptive and heard the unsaid words of this statement, so, in challenge, he slowly leant forward over the map and locked gazes with the governor, snarling sharply, "We cannot abandon outer planets to Separatist invasion simply to secure our central positions. People are dying."

"It's a lose-lose situation then, isn't it, Master Kenobi?" the man, Wilhuff Tarkin, replied, "It's a mess we cannot get out of without sacrifice."

'Here it comes' Obi sighed inwardly as Tarkin went on and said, "And we would never have gotten into this predicament if your Jedi corps hadn't failed in its duty in the first place."

Obi chewed on his tongue for a second and stepped back from the board. "Then I had better not interfere any further, Governor," he said, bowing curtly and leaving the room.

Tarkin was right, of course. Grievous was bargaining on the Republic playing the part of outright saviour - it hadn't a choice, really - but Grievous did have a choice, and he thought that if people died, they died. It was a sheer principal of life, and he couldn't care less about it.

"Engage the Republic at Cerea again … and their faction at Raxus, draw them out beyond the Tion Cluster and force them beyond Cholganna - there is nothing for them out there. Also, attack the highest populated areas of the Zhar system, and the mines at Kessel."

Grievous pointed to each of his holographic allies in turn as he fired out these commands, and each one faded as soon as he had laid upon them their next task. "And Poggle," the General growled, looking to the Geonosian Archduke, "ready your next shipment of droids and vessels. Send them to me in ten separate convoys so as to catch as little, if any, attention, as possible. They shall be my strike force against the capital. The atmosphere is just about right… "

And then the Archduke faded, so that only Nute Gunray remained. The Neimoidian looked upon the Droid General with his typical uneasiness.

"Viceroy," Grievous said indolently, appearing to inspect his fingers, "the Republic seem to have forgotten about Naboo."

"They do not seem too concerned, General," Nute conceded.

"Are the people well looked-after?"

"Well, yes, of course, we had no orders to-"

"You see, Viceroy," Grievous interrupted, looking at the absent fingernails on the other hand, "I need to create as much havoc away from the capital as I can."

"Y-yes, I understand -"

"Naboo has been conquered, yet nothing has changed."

"It is a basic principle of conquest to build on what went before, General."

The General's eyes flashed at the Neimoidian. "I do not wish to build on crumbling Republican foundations!" he snapped furiously.

"No, but -"

"I do not believe Count Dooku imparted to me his ultimate meaning for conquering Naboo. Perhaps there was none. It was certainly a blow at the time, but now it is obsolete."

"It may -"

"I do not remember asking you to speak, Viceroy."

"No, I mean -"

Grievous walked in a small circle around Gunray's hologram, his body dipping and his head bobbing as he paced with gigantic strides. "Starve them," he ordered.

Gunray's scaly brow furrowed. "I beg your pardon, General?"

"You had better beg well, for I do not easily give my pardon to anything!" the General snarled, then explained, "I want you to starve them. Tell the Naboo that the Republic has cut off their supply routes - it is a possibility. Tell them anything… Just see to it that we draw the Republic back there."

Gunray had frozen in fright and confusion, but he quickly came back to himself and bowed. "Yes, General," he said.

The Viceroy's hologram couldn't quite fade quick enough.

TBC…