Chapter 4

Leaving the Council Chambers behind, Cestus made his way to his old rooms and packed the few things he had acquired in his travels. There was a knock at his door and he felt Tala's presence on the other side. The door opened and she walked in. Giving him a quick kiss she said: "I gather that it did not go well my love?" "It's about what I expected actually Tala. I've been cast out, even after the unlocking of my total power. I must leave now," said Cestus.

Tala sat down on his bed and said: "Let me get a bag and pack what I need so I can accompany you." "No Tala. You are safe. I have seen to it. You will not suffer any repercussion for our union. I can't let you be an outcast like me. You still have much good you can do for the Republic and the Jedi. I will go back to the Outer Rim somewhere. Some place where I can be passed up by events. I have no more to offer."

She looked him square in the eye and said: "I'll marry you then. I don't want to be a Jedi if I can't be with you as well. We complete each other. We need each other." Cestus gathered her in his arms, kissed her deeply and said: "Where I must go, you cannot follow just yet. Don't worry though. I will send word where to find me when the Force directs it. Farewell my love."

Before she could protest, he kissed her again and using the Force put her into a Rest Trance murmuring into her ear: "Live and grow stronger . . ."

Ten Years Later

Cestus Rau wasn't surprised when the courier droid using a manipulator arm, knocked on his door. A dark current through the Force had set his senses flaring and the one time Jedi-turned helper/healer and occasional deputy constable was even less surprised when the droid opened a compartment on its chassis, dropped a holo-cube into the palm of his hand then asked him to sign for it on the flat-screen it held before him.

Pressing his thumb to the screen the droid said "Thank you" and floated away to its next delivery. Going back into his small house/clinic/office, he set the cube down on his desk, sat down himself and touched the activation button. An image of Plo Koon appeared in the air and started speaking: "Greetings Cestus. You are a hard man to find. But for the Force, I wouldn't have known where to send this. I have sent this message to ask you for a favor. Not as a member of the Jedi Council nor as a former teacher, but as one Force User to another. A situation has arisen on the planet of Geonosis and we need all the help we can get so I'm asking you now if you'll help. You don't need to if you don't want to and I will understand if you choose not to assist us. I will be landing at the spaceport nearest you within one standard day of your receiving this. I can wait thirty minutes and then must be off again. If you are not there, then I will know your answer and leave you in peace."

The image faded from sight as Cestus sat back in his chair. He had long since left word at the spaceport that he be informed of any Republic traffic to come through. Even in his ten years of exile he had continued to refine his Force abilities. He could feel Master Koon's presence coming closer and estimated he would be landing in the early morning hours of the next day. He thought to himself: "So, the great darkness is coming after all. I should let them be fools and fall on their collective faces but regardless of any proclamation on the part of the Council, I am still a Jedi."

The next morning, a shuttle with Republic markings landed at the spaceport. The boarding ramp lowered to the ground with a long sigh of pneumatic gasses. At the foot of the ramp stood a figure in a long all-weather cloak with the hood up. Plo Koon walked down the ramp to greet the figure. "Cestus?" Lowering the hood to reveal a face only barely starting to show the signs of time, hair kept short but a little grayer since last they met, he faced his friend, and said: "I will help you. As a favor for a friend. I've already made the arrangements with the spaceport. Your shuttle is being serviced as we speak and will be ready to go in twenty minutes and what is that strange resonance I sense in the Force coming from your ship in orbit?"

Stepping aside so that Cestus could board, Koon said: "Much has transpired in your time away from Coruscant. It would seem that Master Kenobi has gotten into a spot of trouble and if he has, his Padawan can't be far behind." Cestus smiled and said: "I know old friend. I felt Anakin's potential in the Force when I first met him and I foresaw Kenobi's destiny. I also felt it in the Force when Master Qui Gon Jinn died; he was my Master too after all."

Thirty minutes later found them docked on the ship parked in orbit that had brought Plo Koon. As the two walked out across the drop bay, Cestus saw the source of the strange resonance in the Force he had felt from the planet surface. "Clones! It makes sense now. What else could possibly cause such a resonance in the Living Force but clones!" Cestus stated. Plo Koon allowed his friend to adjust to the Force resonance all around him before speaking again. It had taken him almost the entire trip from Kamino to here to adjust to them.

"I am also empowered to say that if you want to you are welcome back to the Order, all is forgiven." Cestus answered: "A gesture of peace for the error of my ways? Master Koon, I still believe I am right and that the Council is wrong in this but let us not talk of politics." Though I live on the Outer Rim now, I have not been completely ignorant of current events. I know about the growing Separatist movement and I also know that the probable leader of the Separatists is Count Dooku." Koon was shocked silent for a moment before he asked: "I know of your ability to see the future but how could you know this? We of the Council only recently learned of it ourselves."

"As soon as we're under way, I'll tell you, for now, how about a little spar." The smile was evident in Plo Koon's voice though his face wore its atmospheric breather as he said: "Very well. Wait here and I'll get your weapons." Cestus said: "With due respect Master; I took the liberty of building two more." Dropping his all-weather cloak to the deck revealed the shiny handles of two lightsabers hanging from his belt. Koon took up his saber as Cestus took up his, ignited one white blade in the high guard position and a black blade in the low guard position. Koon said: "You never cease to amaze me Cestus, engarde!"

Two hours later, the two friends sat down to a glass of water and a ration bar. Plo Koon hadn't pressed for details, knowing that Cestus would speak in his own time. After half a ration bar, Cestus drank some water and said with a grimace: "The legends are true, military rations are made from poodoo. As to how I know that it is Count Dooku leading the Separatists, simple. Five years ago, he tried to recruit me to his cause . . ."

Cestus walked down the street minding his own business when he felt a strong Force presence nearby. Following it to its source he saw on older gentleman about to knock on his door. The older man's clothes were comprised of a pair of pants, tunic, cape and black boots, obviously well-made. Custom made in fact, for his frame only. He wore the air of an aristocrat and the lightsaber of a Jedi. It's distinctively bent handle could only belong to one person.

"How can I assist you Count Dooku?" asked Cestus. The older man spun around and Cestus knew in that moment that his ability to hide his Force Signature was still strong. Dooku recovered quickly enough but the annoyance at how Cestus had come up on him without being sensed was plain to see. Opening his door with a mental command, Cestus escorted the Count into his office, offered refreshment that was politely turned down and sat down on one side of his desk while the Count remained standing.

Count Dooku's cultured voice said: "I have a proposition for you Master Cestus. Would you like to hear it?" Cestus considered for a moment and said: "I will listen though I promise nothing beyond that and for the record; I am no longer a Jedi Master. I haven't been for some time now."

Dooku proceeded to lay out his plans and his conclusions about the failings of the Republic and offered Cestus a voice in the new order if he would help Dooku to rally support and resources. When he was done Cestus mulled over the proposal and said: "Thanks but no thanks Count Dooku. I don't have regular contact with anyone in the Republic or on the Jedi Council for that matter. I must decline your offer, kind as it is."

"But think of the power and influence you can acquire and then lend to us. Surely your dismissal from the Jedi Order aggravates you? Don't you want to get some measure of revenge for the humiliation of being used and then thrown away?" Dooku said.

"Not really Count. It was actually a rather liberating experience to be cast out. No more politics, no more soothing of anyone's ego. It has enabled me to learn even more of the Force than I thought possible. I'm sorry you came all this way for nothing. I hope you have a pleasant journey back to your home."

Dooku feigned sadness as he said: "I'm sorry to hear that you still suffer from a sense of misplaced loyalty to the Council and the Republic. If you are not with me, then you must be against me and I can't let you get word back to the Council of my plans. I'm afraid you will have to die now." Cestus's voice dropped a note and his eyes took on an empty hardness that Dooku had not seen anywhere in a very long time as he said: "You don't want to fight me Dooku. I have embraced the whole Force, not just one half of it as the Jedi or your Sith brethren have.'

"So you have accepted the truth of the Sith's return? Excellent! Have at you then!"

With a motion of one hand, Cestus sent Dooku flying hard and fast through the front door and into the street. Standing up from his desk, Cestus turned around and lifting a shelf-top from its place on the wall, took out two lightsabers, and walked into the street.

Dooku was getting up off the ground after having the wind knocked out of him. Igniting his saber, he assumed his first position. Cestus came out through the door one saber in each hand. He saw traces of fear and a great deal of anger on the Count's face as he activated his own lightsabers and assumed his starting position and said: "I have accepted the truth that as a Sith, you have blinded yourself to one half of the total Force, just like your ancient enemy, the Jedi."

The fight was vicious but short and before too long, Cestus had Dooku pinned to a wall with his sabers in a scissor lock over his neck. The Count's finely tailored clothes were in tatters on his frame. He had been humiliated and said: "Finish me then if you have the guts . . . Jedi." Cestus shook his head and said: "I already told you once, I am no longer a Jedi and I have no need to kill you for I see through the Force that you only have about fifteen years or so left to you, and when you die, it will be a truly ignominious death, on your knees, wallowing in betrayal. Goodbye Count Dooku. I trust we won't have to repeat this conversation."

Knowing that he had lost all advantage, Dooku nodded his head in understanding. After Cestus took his blades away, Dooku gathered his shredded pride and wardrobe as best he could and before leaving said: "You will rue the day you let me live Cestus Rau. I swear it." But Cestus had already gone back into his house to arrange to have the door replaced and heard nothing of the implied threat.

Cestus finished his tale and Plo Koon could only shake his head in amazement before saying: "Why didn't you relay a message to us on the Council?" Cestus said: "Think back to what I said on the day of my exile. The Order has gone stagnant. The Council wouldn't have believed me and that's even assuming that they would have listened to any message I could give them." Koon could only sit there in silence across from his friend and wonder if maybe he was right or even if it had been a wise choice to go and get Cestus in the first place.