Chapter 25 - Kill the Messenger

Dooku glanced down at his new comlink and read 'no new messages.' Sighing, he put the device back on his belt. The number was new, and he had only shared it with one person. 'What could be taking him so long to decode a secret message? I knew I should have stayed to tell him in person.'

With that put aside, Dooku walked back into the base, where General Qymaen Jai Sheelal was supposed to be organizing their next military strategy. 'Hmm. It's a good thing our soldiers are droids. Otherwise, I'd have to suggest we give him a nickname.' Dooku laughed to himself.

When he got there he stepped back suddenly as a red blade was swung haphazardly around the room. Dooku took an anxious breath in, as he resisted the impulse to grab his own saber and fight back. It was clear Qymaen was not aiming at him, but rather poorly at the droid in front of them both, which happened to be armed with a stick.

"Ooh, I'm sorry Sir, uh Lord Dooku," Qymaen apologized.

"Count." Dooku corrected. "Count Dooku." Why couldn't this Kaleesh remember a simple title? Perhaps he should use the old nickname, perverted into a Sith moniker, instead.

"I was just practicing with this droid here. What can I do for you?" Qymaen explained.

"Wherever in Sith hells did you get a Lightsaber?" Dooku questioned.

"Oh um, the boss sold it to me. I just thought I could use it to improve my fearsome demeanor," Qymaen answered.

'Darth Jar Jar. Hmm, I didn't know Sith had them for sale,' Dooku thought. At times he suspected his new Master was rather new to the Sith game. But then even a little training in the dark side was dangerous.

"Of course it's not blue like yours, but any Jedi weapon is bound to make men quiver," Qymaen went on.

Dooku stroked his saber by his side. When he left the Order, letting him keep the saber was seen as a gift. Really a Jedi Master on the loose was a dangerous thing, with or without a saber. What would be the point in taking away the blade which was bonded to him alone? "I'll tell you what. I'll trade you." He pulled the saber off his belt. "If you let me train you."

Qymaen looked up, like a youngling who was offered cake for dinner. "Really, you would do that?"

"Sure. I am a Master swordsman who can make any weapon dangerous. And I can't let you lop off your limbs trying to learn on your own, can I." Of course, Dooku had another reason to ask for the Sith's saber. As a Sith himself, now he would be expected to carry a bled crystal. He knew the ritual he'd have to perform, his studies in ancient Sith ways were most enlightening, still, he had a reluctance to do so to his own crystal.

Dooku picked up the bled saber and activated it to get a feel for it. 'Hmm, it has good balance and is light enough to get a good swing. Ha, if Master Yoda could see me now. "Leif Yan Dooku," he'd say.' The whole name, yikes! '"Your life, your saber is. Give it away, do not!" We'll see how that works for you Master. It's time for me to do my own thing.'

Dooku flung his hand. The droid and its lousy stick were tossed aside. He moved his body into the ready stance and turned to his new student. "Alright. Show me what you can do."

Qymaen picked up Dooku's old saber and approximated his own beginning posture.

"No. No." Dooku dropped the saber and waved his hand between them. "That is not a ready posture. Not in any form. Try again."

"Good. Good. Again," Dooku ordered. The experience of teaching was bringing him back to his days in the Temple. Of course, Qymaen was not as quick as his other students were, and he'd never be as capable as a Force-Sensitive Padawan.

A droid walked in and waited to be acknowledged. "P3-947," Qymaen greeted it.

His ability to recognize one bucket of bolts from another amazed Dooku. 'Sifo-Dyas would have joked that he must have been a droid in a past life.' Dooku quickly pushed that aside. Thoughts of his old friend only brought up bad memories. 'He's dead now. Best to forget about him.'

The part of his mind that always protested, brought up a memory of the man's last audible breaths as life left him. And the words "Dooooo… No Doook," as he pleaded in vain. It was from a recording the old Sith Sidious sent him shortly before his death, and it revealed his part in the Jedi's end. A fact Dooku was blissfully ignorant of. It was a visceral manipulation to get him to fall. 'Quite effective.' Dooku had been waiting for the apprentice to bring it up in their interactions. So far he had been left waiting. He reminded himself of his goal: to kill Darth Jar Jar and to find and destroy that recording when he did it. 'Quite effective, indeed.'

Dooku turned back to the droid, who was relaying the news to Qymaen. "An incoming pilot requests permission to land. He self-identifies as a former Jedi, currently a freelancer. He claims to have a message from Darth Jar Jar."

"I see. Permit him to land and I will meet him myself," Dooku ordered.

"Hangar bay two hundred seventy-seven, protocol E-nineteen," Qymaen added. The droid seemed to nod and ran off to fulfill the orders.

Dooku waited in one of the offices he found especially intimidating in design, with its tall chair and wide desk dwarfing the tiny visitor's chair. Hearing rhythmic stomping, he looked up, expecting to see the messenger being led in by a droid escort. Instead, he saw only one droid.

"Where is he?" Dooku asked.

"The Prisoner refuses to get off his ship. He surrendered this recorded message from Lord Jar Jar." The droid held up a stick.

"Very well, you are dismissed," Dooku said, after taking the recording from it.

He leaned back and placed the stick in a device on the desk. He pressed a button, and a Holo form took shape.

Darth Jar Jar appeared sitting on what looked like a throne. Dooku blinked in surprise. The Sith's head was covered, as usual, in a long cape. It left only what looked like long ears poking out below. Only this time the black cape had gold stitching around its border and was tied around the neck with a strip of leather and beads.

"Ya-hoo!" The sith seemed to wave. "Me've been meeten wit da Geonosis bosses, and me have a new planen per yousa. Da Geonosians berry veesa to joinen us. Daysa needen sometten to do or daysa will gos to war fighten each other. Daysa be tup-graden our mackaneek armies. Um, daysa just needen sometten first. Wesa needen a loan from da banken clan. Yousa're goen to Mygeeto next. Find da chairman boss dood and getsa him to give yous da mula. What a bombad planen! Now, me needen yousa to destroyen disa message aftah yousa watchen it. Destroyen it completely. Leave notten left! If da enemy learns of our plans, wesa lose everytten!"

Dooku paused the recording to rewind it. He didn't know what accent his new Master spoke in, but he was slightly relieved that, at least until now, he has not had to listen to it live. 'Droid upgrades.' He shrugged, 'It can't hurt. The Geonosians are very good with mechanics. And a loan. Am I supposed to use whatever means necessary to get us the credits? I suppose that is implied here.' His new Master left a lot of things to be implied in his messages and Dooku had to do a lot of careful listening to interpret them.

Dooku looked down at the datastick still in the machine. 'Destroy the message. He didn't mention the messenger, but does he want me to kill him as well? "Destroy it completely," I guess he does.' Dooku took several deep breaths. He supposed from the start that his current path might take him here, but now that he was looking at it he could feel the muscles in his chest tighten. 'A former Jedi too. I suppose this is why he didn't come out of his ship.'

Dooku stretched his senses out towards the ship as he walked down to the Hangar. The presence he felt was too muddied to be recognizable. It was a male human. He was emotional and drenched in darkness, but it wasn't all his own. 'A fallen Jedi. He must have had an experience with a powerful darksider recently, too,' Dooku suspected. 'Master Jar Jar. Is the Sith really that powerful?'

Dooku put that subject on hold for now and focused again on the messenger. He was angry and sorrowful. Out of control like an initiate, but Dooku could sense a budding maturity. 'Fifteen maybe, gosh he's a Padawan!' He studied the floor as he thought about the Master waiting hopelessly for his Apprentice's return.

Dooku swallowed and lifted his head with purpose. There was nothing left to be done. The Padawan had fallen. He fingered his new saber as he threw open the last doors to the Hangar and walked inside.

Qymaen was kneeling by the ship's ramp, trying to talk to the one inside. "Come on Lad. No one is going to hurt you. Come on out, or we're going in after yah."

"No!" The boy wailed, and Dooku sensed the Force tremble. He then sensed embarrassment. Understandable, since such outbursts are only a problem for Younglings.

"Padawan Skorr?" Dooku leaned over to guess.

"M-master Dooku?" Skorr asked.

Dooku's turmoil was not resolved by recognizing the voice. In fact, it was made stronger. Padawan Tol Skorr was one of the last students Dooku had taught in the Temple. He remembered the look of triumph on the gifted young man's face as Skorr ran up to his Master one day. He had just succeeded in performing the difficult maneuvers Dooku was teaching. The former Master also remembered feeling pride in his chest watching his student overcome his struggles. This was not going to be easy.

"Yes, it is I," Dooku confirmed. He then whispered to Qymaen, "Go. Let me do this alone."

Qymaen turned to issue orders to the nearest droids, and within five minutes the hangar was empty.

"A-are they gone?" A tiny voice asked. Dooku didn't have to answer, because Skorr lifted the ship's door and stepped out.

Suddenly, a tool flew off the Mechanic's bench and Dooku sidestepped to avoid it. Skorr looked down, embarrassed at his lack of control.

"Focus, one emotion at a time," Dooku lectured, as he stepped away. His hand was still fingering the lightsaber near his hip as he looked up and away from his target.

Dooku planned his move. A quick slice to the head, the young man wouldn't see it coming. He gripped his saber. Then he turned his gaze to the boy. A shocked look formed on his face. The Force evened out, the tools around the room became still, and he wondered.

Then he made a decision. "Come, let's get your things. You're staying here. If anyone asks, you are my apprentice. My… Acolyte." Dooku stepped into the ship and started throwing what looked like belongings into a bag.

Skorr reached out to stop him. "I won't go back to the temple. My Master is d-dead, and it's the Jedi's fault."

Dooku looked down and nodded seriously. "We won't be going back to the Temple again, and after this, we aren't Jedi anymore either. I am going to kill the last Sith, then I will be the Master. I can't promise anything, but if I can persuade the Master of your usefulness, he may let you live," said Dooku.

Skorr looked up to him in awe. Then he grabbed a bag and helped pack.

'It's not that. And I know I watered the plants. What else could there be?' Qui-Gon wondered. For the past several days he had been plagued by a feeling. It was like he was forgetting something important.

The worst part, try as he might, he couldn't figure out what he was forgetting. No one he asked could recall asking him for any favors. However, Master Yoda did think of something new to ask him to do, which is what brought him to his former Padawan's door.

Qui-Gon knocked and sensed the usual commotion inside as young Anakin came to answer the door. "Hello, Ani. I didn't see either of you in the Refectory this morning and thought I'd come looking for you."

"Oh, Obi-Wan overslept, but Siri's making pancakes," Anakin explained. He then rushed back to the snack bar where he was watching her progress.

Qui-Gon hesitated for a second on the doorstep. He and his Padawan had formed a tentative peace since the latest news reveal. He suspected it was more due to their connection to Anakin than to any restoration in trust, but Obi-Wan was willing, at least, to leave the wounded bond where it was. That gave the old man hope.

Then he saw Obi-Wan walk out of the bedroom and into the main room of the apartment. He wore his sleep robe and his hair was askew, but he nodded to Qui-Gon, permitting him to enter.

Qui-Gon walked in and pulled out a seat behind Anakin. Obi-Wan walked in quietly and sat down on the other side of Anakin after sharing just a curt nod with Siri. Qui-Gon worried that the man was shying away from greeting her because of his presence, so he said to Ani, "Isn't it nice of Siri, to come over here so early to make you breakfast."

"Oh, It isn't a big deal. I'm just amazed they have what I need. I know Obi's no cook," Siri said.

"You're amazed. I didn't even know we had this stuff," Obi-Wan added.

"It was Master Zao. He grabbed the supplies from the quartermaster when you were gone," Anakin shared.

"Master Zao, now that makes sense. You have three different kinds of flour in there!" Siri exclaimed.

Qui-Gon laughed. "I'll share your thanks with him next time I see him."

Anakin reached out to snag one of the chocolate chips Siri was putting in the pancakes. "Yup, thank him very, very much." Obi-Wan reached out to stop him from getting more.

"Oh, yeah. Before I forget, Master Yoda asked me to deliver a message to you. Anakin's next holo-call with his mother will be at noon today, in the main Council Chambers. I can bring him if you want. I know you're taking Master Don's youngling-handling class at that time.

Obi-Wan nodded and said, "Yes, thank you. That will be a great help."

Anakin looked up to Siri and explained, "My mother is still on Tatooine. She just moved onto a new farm. Their old one was impressive, but the Tuskens wanted it too. Anyway, now that the Tuskens have a place to live, they agreed to be counted. And when Master Piell finishes counting them, Tatooine will join the Republic and the slaves will be free!" He ended with a sing-song voice.

Siri smiled wistfully, "If only everyone could have such hope. I hope it comes to pass. There is too much slavery in the universe."

Siri's mind went to a dark place and the force trembled slightly. Obi-Wan quickly stood up and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "It's alright," he whispered. "You're out of there, and you're safe." The force stilled to a peaceful quiet again.

Qui-Gon looked over to the boy, who hadn't protested the display of affection. He sat there munching on more stolen chocolate chips, as he looked on like the pair hugging was the most normal thing in the world. 'Maybe it is,' he thought. 'Maybe it is.'

Hello,

Well, this chapter surprised even me. I started writing Dooku, intending it to be only half the chapter, but the man was a bit of a showoff and grew to the three quarter split it is now. It's probably for the best. I like how it turned out. Qymaen is the un-cyborged Grievous.

Anyways, Dooku: Like I said in earlier chapters, most of his backstory is a fusion between the canon and Legend's Wikis on his character, with a few artist's interpretations here and there. I am playing with the factors of when he fell. Qui-Gon's death was, as I see it, a big factor there. Also, there was the fact that Palpatine was a friend of Dooku and a trusted confidant. I figure Palpatine started playing with Dooku long before he fell and was christened Sith apprentice. One main difference in my interpretation is that I hold to the "Rule of Two." In my interpretation, Darth Plagueis was dead long before Maul, and thus Maul was dead before Dooku was "recruited." This creates a few questions regarding Sifo-Dyas and the creation of the clone army.

Sifo-Dyas's death, okay I forget which it is now, Legends or Canon, but in one of them, Dooku killed Sifo-Dyas. I am interpreting a bit here, storyteller magic. Palpatine, in his manipulations, pulled strings that caused Dooku to act in such a way that Sifo-Dyas died, and Dooku didn't know it then, but he was to blame. Later on, in an attempt to manipulate him further, Palpatine showed him the evidence. This guilt helped push the former Jedi farther over the ledge. Now, here Qui-Gon is not dead, and I will not tell you the effect that had on his story yet.

Also, in the movie, Jango Fett said it was Tyranus who recruited him. He didn't shy away from saying this, and he didn't use any titles like Darth or Master in there. In my interpretation, the name Tyranus could have been a nickname or a shadow name used by the Jedi when he wanted to keep his Jedi status secret. It might have been suggested by Palpatine or was manipulated by him and turned into his Sith name when he was christened. Remember, in my interpretation, Dooku was never supposed to be "Thee apprentice". He was a fill-in and an experiment to test ways to "use" Anakin later on.

Tol Skorr is the same character from Chapter Seventeen. He watched Yoda kill his Master, and then he fell. In Legends, he became a knight, then his ship was shot down, and he was saved by Dooku. Because of that he fell and became a loyal dark side aficionado. I added a bit of a backstory for them to explain why he spared the character's life.

Our last little scene was mainly filled with cute fluff. I hope you liked it. Please comment or leave a review to tell me what you think, I enjoy reading all of your thoughts. Next week we'll probably either see more about what's been happening on Tatooine, or see Obi-Wan getting very flustered and flabbergasted by the council, but I haven't written it yet, so who knows.