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Chapter 5: Desperate measures

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Part 3

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Rhen Var

Tobali system

When Count Dooku made up his mind and betrayed Sidious, he had no intention of leaving anything to chance if he could help it. It would be months at best, if not longer before the Confederacy would be in shape to launch an all-out assault upon the Core. That might be just long enough for Sidious to consolidate enough of the Republic's members to survive and turn the conflict into one of attrition. At that point, the odds of Confederate victory would significantly decrease.

That was why, instead of making his way to the Confederacy's capital world, Dooku decided on a detour. Both as a Jedi, and later, as the leader of Serenno, Dooku enjoyed ancient mysteries. That was especially true if they could prove some advantage in the present. Even if it was merely a lesson about the past. This particular interest of Dooku's didn't change when he became Sith, but instead, his focus understandably shifted. Thanks to all the holocrons and ancient secrets he then had access to because of Sidious, the newly dubbed Tyranus had numerous new trails to pursue. One of these leads the reason why two years ago, Dooku made Raxus Prime into his primary fortress in the Outer Rim. Obviously, it wasn't because he enjoyed the view or the ambiance. In Geonosis' aftermath, one of Dooku's agents tracing leads on archeotech weapons finally succeeded. Cydon Prax, a mercenary of some renown, possessing curious connections, finally located the remains of a Force Harvester – the key component of a Sith Super Weapon built during the Old Sith Wars thousands of years ago.

Rewards for a job well done would have to wait for his arrival to Raxulon Prime. However, Dooku first needed more information on the Force Reaper. In particular, about how to safely restore and operate the archeotech weapon. Thus, even before he decided to betray Sidious, the Sith Lord dispatched overwhelming forces against Rhen Var – an Outer Rim Republic stronghold.

They landed at the occupied Republic base, escorted by a swarm of Vulture Droids. As soon as the shuttle's ramp opened, a wave of freezing wind blasted inside.

"I'm beginning to see that the description didn't do this place justice," Asajj grumbled before shielding herself from the cold with the Force.

"This frozen slice of hell has only one thing of value, Apprentice," Dooku said in a conversational tone.

While he was glad that Ventress was still loyal to him, keeping it that way would require a change in how they interacted. That was doubly true when shifting her mentality towards a different understanding of what it meant to be Sith was concerned. Perhaps a softer touch was required, one wrapped around a durasteel gauntlet? To be frank, the way a Sith Master was supposed to treat their Apprentice according to Sidious, had obvious drawbacks. There was little surprise that said Apprentice would gleefully turn on their Master in the fullness of time. That much was clear as a day when Dooku critically thought about what Sidious taught him. Further, while various Sith holocrons and other works he had access to didn't outright contradict Sidious, the people who created them had something in common. In the end, despite their great personal power, they lost. They were either overwhelmed by superior numbers or murdered by their Apprentices, weakening the Sith as a whole, until they were no longer a match for the Jedi of the era.

That was a particularly painful sticking point. The Jedi had to go – otherwise, the best Dooku had to look forward would be life-long imprisonment, and he was going to do his best to avoid such a fate, thank you very much. However, even if the trap worked, the war weakened the Jedi, and Order 66 made them an endangered species, the odds of a clean sweep were remote. There would still be a number of them left, who even if hunted down, would likely move against the remaining Sith to ensure no one won in the end. In such an eventuality, having trained Sith allies at your side would be invaluable. Having a proper new Sith Order would be even more valuable if the plan didn't work as advertised.

Dooku glanced at Ventress.

"You might want to outfit yourself with a proper lightweight armor if nothing else." Tyranus continued. "We are no longer playing at war and merely deceiving the Republic." He pointed out.

"What about you, Master? You aren't exactly wearing armor or even a military uniform for that matter."

"I'll consider it if I find myself anywhere near the front lines regularly. You'll be stuck there for much of the war, I foresee. Your talents will be wasted otherwise."

"Jedi hunting?" Asajj perked up.

"Among other missions, only a few could accomplish." Dooku smoothly stroked his Apprentice's ego. "There is only one thing of value in this frozen wasteland." He explained while they walked up the steps leading towards their goal. "This is the tomb of Ulic Qel-Droma. Thousands of years ago, he was a Jedi who saw the truth and walked the path of the Sith."

"Just like you." Ventress nodded.

"Yes. Qel-Droma saw the flaws within the Jedi Order of his time and searched for a better path, along with Exar Kun. The histories of both the Jedi and Sith agree on this point. Our target persists as a Force Ghost, guarded by some of his disciples even in death," Dooku smiled.

"Just like you did, Master." Ventress naturally noticed the similarities.

"There are some curious parallels, I'll admit. If we go by a strict reading of his Epics, Qel-Droma turned from the Dark Side to become a Jedi again. That is something our Order friends on Coruscant believe impossible."

At that, Ventress stopped staring at the tomb in front of them and looked at Dooku.

"Does it matter?" Asajj inquired.

"The Dark Side is our servant, a tool and a weapon. However, if we ever reach a point where it controls us, instead of us being in control? In that case, turning away to a position of sanity and control is merely the prudent thing to do," Dooku explained his current view on the matter. "In a sense, it is what we're doing after Sidious deceived us in order to keep us apart and weak, Apprentice. He turned Opress' brother into a dumb weapon, wasting all the potential that boy once had. We are striving to walk our own path, break our chains, and be free. And to do it in this galaxy of ours, we have several tasks to accomplish."

They walked past the entrance, where a whole Company of B2 Droids stood in a defensive formation, with weapons aimed at the door. As soon as Dooku took a step inside, he passed through an invisible barrier, keeping the tomb's Force signature contained.

The Force in this place sang, in a beautiful mix of the Light and Dark Side. Ventress halted in her tracks, and simply stared, observing the tomb's through the Force.

"This is a fascinating place," Dooku concluded aloud.

They walked deeper into the tomb, and with every step they took further, the Force resonated stronger around them.
Within a few minutes, they were within the tomb's proper, a huge cavern illuminated by glowing crystals. Ulic Qel-Droma's grave would be in the far end, into a smaller cave behind this one. Here laid many of his disciples, as legend had it, standing as eternal guardians.

The wreckage of a few dozen Droids greeted them, all cut to pieces by lightsabers. The Force shifted, its song becoming louder until it was a deafening crescendo.

"Behold, the true power of the Force, Apprentice. With enough power, skill, and knowledge, even death itself is merely an inconvenience." Dooku declared. That was one of the few truths Sidious taught him about, and one of the man's primary long-term goals.

A moment later, the song ceased, plunging surrounding Master and Apprentice in oppressive silence. Eight signatures burs to life, lighting up the cave with blue fire. A ghostly apparition now stood upon each stone tomb lining up the sides of the cave.

"Master?" Asajj wasted no time in moving behind Dooku, so they could stand back to back. There was no mistake in how uncharacteristically wary she sounded. Ventress's surprise and awe shone like a beacon through their bond.

"This is a test, Apprentice." Dooku pointed out the obvious. "We won't be found wanting."

The apparitions moved like one. They jumped down from their stone sarcophagi and ignited ghostly lightsabers in different colors – from the pure azure preferred by the Jedi Guardians of old to the blood crimson of the Sith, and everything in between.

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Part 4

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Ulic Qel-Droma's tomb

Rhen Var

Tobali system

The foundation of combat, no matter if you were a Jedi, Sith, or a member of one of the countless insignificant sect wasting their time across the galaxy, was the same. Let the Force flow through you, then guide it to enhance yourself. If you were powerful and experienced enough, it could be to the point you were orders of magnitude faster and stronger than before. Physical training and fitness helped, of course, they were in fact vital. The higher your baseline was, the better the enhancement results.

Dooku could sense Ventress drawing on the Force, using her always present anger and frustration to fuel it. He did the same, letting some of the control he had over his emotions slip. Fury roared within his heart at Sidious' betrayal and at himself, for being fooled. The apparitions came, and Tyranus met half of them with a concentrated wave of Sith lighting, focused to kill, not merely ravage and hurt. Two of them caught the assault on their lightsabers – a glowering Sith blade, and a pure azure Jedi one. The third was much less fortunate. He got hit full on the chest and flew back as if struck by cannon. The concentrated energy blast was enough to disrupt the apparition, leaving it twitching on the ground and slowly losing cohesion.

The other two kept coming, if much slower, resisting the assault. Perhaps if Dooku had more time, he could have overwhelmed them with brute force. However, it was a moot point. The other three fell upon Ventress, and she had to move or die.

Master and Apprentice moved in tandem, synchronizing their actions through their Force bond, which was now stronger than ever. Ventress whirled to her left, avoiding being boxed in. Dooku mirrored her actions and exploded in motion. As a barely an afterthought, he sent another wave of lighting at his original targets, keeping them at bay, and fell upon the closest apparition, while Ventress went for the other two.

Dooku's opponent had been a large man in life. He was still strong, and more than proficient in Djem-So. Unfortunately for him, he was also painfully slow compared to the Sith. Tyranus deflected a strong swipe, then sidestepped an overhead strike aimed at slicing him in two. This gave him a brief opening, and he struck, burying his lightsaber in the apparition's chest. Whatever those ghosts were, sufficient energy could disrupt them. The large apparition flickered quickly like a faulty light, then popped out of existence.

Almost at the same time, the one that took the brunt of Tyranus' initial attack finally lost cohesion, vanishing as well. Dooku glanced at Ventress, who could now hold her own against her two attackers, and turned to deal with the other two. It was just in time too, because they fell upon him in a curious display of cool calculation typical to the Jedi, and a furious onslaught worthy of a Sith.

The former Sith ignored defense and went all out against Dooku in a bastardized version of Makashi, while the Jedi used Soresu to defend his comrade and calmly waited for an opening. That was a good tactic. Dooku knew for a fact that there weren't that many trained Force users across the galaxy who could handle it. The sheer speed and power of the apparitions already put them ahead of many of the Force Adepts Dooku knew.

Despite that, those things were pale shadows from the men and women they were. Dooku could now sense muted emotions coming from them – elation, frustration, regret, determination, and an almost blinding sense of duty. He quickly fell back, and predictably, the former Sith followed, momentarily leaving his Jedi friend behind. Dooku increased the speed of his strikes even as he kept retreating until the gap between the apparitions was just large enough. At that point, Tyranus halted his retreat, and burst forward in a blur, meeting the former Sith blow for blow. He unleashed all his fury and frustration with every strike. Even as the Jedi jumped to rejoin the battle, Dooku cut through the ghostly arms of his opponent. Both hands and the crimson lightsaber flickered out of existence before they could touch the ground.

Tyranus used the brief moment of distraction from the muted pain and shock to grab the former Sith with the Force and slam him into the Jedi's ghost, sending them both tumbling through the air. Before they could strike the ground, he unleashed a concentrated wave of Sith Lighting at them, and kept it going, until their forms faded out.

Dooku looked around, examining the area both with his eyes and through the Force. No more apparitions came into existence, which left only Ventress with her two playmates. Well, one. She finally got the upper hand and managed to slip a lightsaber through the guard of a conservative Djem-So user. That left his Apprentice facing the last Jedi ghost. It took a step back and switched from Juyo to Soresu, and waited for Ventress to attack.

Fortunately for Asajj, she kept her Master's teachings to heart and didn't take the bait. Unless you knew you were the better duelist, or at worse, as good as your opponent, attacking a Soresu user head-on begged for a devastating counter-attack. Asajj extinguished one of her sabers and put it back on her belt. She pointed her free hand and the Jedi and squeezed her fist. The Apparition knew what was coming and did its best to shield itself from the telekinetic grasp.

For a few seconds, the two of them just stood frozen in place, while the Force pulsed between them in a contest of strength. Slowly but surely, Ventress prevailed, using her anger and frustration to grasp more power from the Dark Side. After a few long seconds, she had a firm hold on the Jedi apparition. Asajj squeezed until it lost hold of its lightsaber and focused entirely on countering the telekinetic attack. At that point, Ventress threw her lightsaber in a sharp arc, cutting through the ghost, which promptly vanished. Her lightsaber arched back into her waiting hand, and she switched it off after checking if there were any more enemies waiting for them.

"I expected more of a challenge," Ventress concluded.

"This was merely a test, Apprentice." Dooku waved her to follow.

They went deeper into the tomb and soon found the Qel-Droma's grave. It was a solitary stone sarcophagus, resting at the far end of a small natural tunnel leading deeper under the mountain. Glowing crystals illuminated the area, showing that there was nothing of value in the area beside the grave.

When they came close to the sarcophagus, the Force surged around them, gathering right above the grave. Bright light materialized on top of the sarcophagus, forming the ghostly visage of a hooded man.

"It has been a long time since I had such visitors." The figure tilted his head. "I'm Ulic Qel-Droma, as you're undoubtedly aware. The pain of betrayal clings to you, feeding your anger and frustration."

"Greetings, ancient Jedi. I am Count Dooku of Serenno. I come humbly asking for your advice and help. Neither the Jedi Order nor the Republic is what they once were. The Jedi had been stagnant for centuries. They abandoned their duties both to the galaxy as a whole and to the individual Jedi under their care. Now, their failure is complete – a Sith Lord, my former Master, has control of the Senate. The Republic itself is a bloated corrupted corpse rotting from within."

"You believe what you're telling me. Your young protege agrees." Qel-Droma chuckled lightly. "Yet, your conviction doesn't necessarily make you right, or wrong for that manner. What do you want, Count Dooku? I can sense both the touch of the Jedi and that of the Dark Side upon you."

"Not the Sith?" Dooku asked in momentarily confusion.

"I haven't been stuck here for the past few thousand years, you know. I've been able to keep an eye on the galaxy at large, though I'm far from all-knowing. To be a Sith means to pursue an idea, to be an adherent of a philosophy. To be a real Sith means that you strive to offer a viable alternative both to the Jedi and the Republic they attached themselves to so long ago. I've seen countless people calling themselves Sith stumble in the dark, using an ideology they misunderstood as an excuse for their temper tantrums. The results were predictable, as you should know."

"That's an interesting point of view." Dooku conceded. "What I know of the Sith has been distorted between all the time since they operated openly, and the deceptions of my Master meant to keep us as sacrificial tools."

"Yet, I sense that you aren't here to only discuss philosophy," The ancient Jedi pointed out.

"I'm leading an alliance of systems, the Confederacy of Independent Systems. As of a few weeks ago, we're in a war against the Republic, its Clone Army commissioned by the Sith, and the Jedi. To my shame, my Master has the shutdown codes for our Droid armies. Those armies are the primary reason we stand a chance against the Republic's larger population and industrial might. If it wasn't for those codes, we might have been able to cause enough damage to industrial centers to gain a quick victory. As things stand, I'm afraid that the best-case scenario is a protracted war, which will set the galaxy on fire."

"And if you lose, your Master wins anyway?" Qel-Droma asked in amusement.

"The corrupt Republic wins and won't reform. Win or lose, my Master has the knowledge to shatter the galactic order. His Clone Army just needs the order to turn on their Jedi Generals. For my newborn state to survive, we need an edge. A short time ago, one of my agents uncovered an ancient device, a Force Harvester."

"The core of the Dark Reaper," Qel-Droma spoke in a distant voice. "Do you have any idea what you're playing with, Count Dooku?"

"A very potent weapon against the Clone Armies of the Republic, and the Jedi of this era. A few weeks ago, I would have relished the idea of merely unleashing such archeotech relic upon the

galaxy. Today, I stand in front of you as the leader of a besieged nation, as someone who knows that such escalation would be counter-productive in the long run. My Confederacy needs to be a worthy alternative to the Republic. It must be a nation that would entice systems to eagerly flock to our banner, not merely an oppressive horror the galaxy would band together to destroy."

"You're telling the truth." Qel-Droma chuckled. "You actually believe in what you just said. If that is the case, I'm willing to aid you, Count Dooku of Serenno. Seek the holocrons of Darth Marr. In his teachings, you'll find a kindred spirit, I think. If you're careful and wise enough, you might succeed where so many ancient Sith faltered and fell. Humbling the Jedi, laying low the Republic? Those are merely means to an end, not an end in itself. Creating a nation and an Order to replace them, a nation and Order that would persist through the centuries and millennia to come? That is the real test of the Sith, and almost everyone before you has faltered when facing it."

"I understand, I think."

"See that you do, or everything you strive for would turn to ash in your hands. Now about the Dark Reaper and its Harvester…"

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