After the death of Qui-Gon and Darth Maul, Dooku threw his consciousness deeply into contemplation of the darkness flowing through the Force on Coruscant. He sensed that these shadowy ripples in the Force often lapped against the senatorial delegation of the Trade Federation, which was instrumental in orchestrating the blockade of Naboo. Dooku used his political connections to gain access to the sniveling Neimoidians, drinking in the darkness that flowed over their simpering minds.
As he did, he felt his hatred for the complacency of the Jedi grow. It swelled within him, battering his already tattered loyalty to the Order, eroding that loyalty and washing it away into a sea of anger, resentment, and contempt. His mind became focused on his self-appointed task, to the detriment of all else. His negative emotions spilled onto his youngling learners, causing him to be removed from his instructional duties in the Jedi Temple. His growing apparent instability made him unfit for diplomatic missions. And his increasing propensities toward violence prevented him from settling offworld conflicts with aggressive negotiations.
It was for these reasons that the Jedi Council asked former Council member Sifo-Dyas to speak with Dooku. They had debated the wisdom of sending someone who shared Dooku's agitation against the nebulous dark energies gathering in the Force, who urged that something be done to quell them. However, Master Windu insisted that only someone who shared Dooku's sensibilities and whose training in the Force had been fortified by partaking in the advanced meditations of the Council would have any hope of reasoning with Dooku and bringing balance back to his mind. From his development of the Vaapad style of lightsaber combat, which skated on the razor's edge between light and dark Force use, Master Windu recognized the signs that Dooku was wallowing in the dark side of the Force – and knew that unless Dooku was pulled from it, he would become submerged in it.
Sifo-Dyas agreed readily. He saw his old friend's mental and spiritual deterioration progressing all too rapidly, and he wanted to do whatever was needed to bring Dooku back to his old (if arrogant) self. So Sifo-Dyas approached Dooku to reconnect with his friend after one of Dooku's myriad administrative meetings with the Neimoidian senator named Lott Dod. Dooku found himself relieved by Sifo-Dyas's presence – he calmed Dooku, gave Dooku a harbor from the tempestuous dark Force currents that wracked his psyche. Yet Dooku had grown to fear any kind of placidity, any respite from his increasingly frantic attempts to predict the flow of the dark currents.
Nevertheless, Dooku tolerated his anxiety as he fell back into easy, familiar patterns of conversation with his friend, ambling through the halls of the back rooms of the Senate. At last, he found a sympathetic ear who might listen to his concerns about the dark Force currents, rather than dismiss them or suppress them. As their conversation passed beyond pleasantries and nostalgia, Dooku began feverishly sharing how close his meditations had brought him to the source of the dark Force emanations.
He felt that he had narrowed their source to some member of the Supreme Chancellor's staff. Someone was manipulating the Galactic Senate through the Chancery, and Dooku was intent on riding the intensifying waves of darkness to cut through every staff member there to find their origin, even if they led through the Supreme Chancellor himself.
Sifo-Dyas listened intently to Dooku's frenetic musings. He opened his mind to them, using the Force to permit Dooku's understanding to guide his. The more he opened his mind to Dooku, the more the growing decadence in the Republic became sensible. And with that sensibility came a darkening of Sifo-Dyas's own sentiments toward the Jedi Council's unswerving loyalty to the dictates of the Senate, no matter how foolish or mired in imbecility those dictates may have become.
Dooku's words percolating through Sifo-Dyas's consciousness allowed him to comprehend how the Senate had come to be stymied through the greed of the Trade Federation...how that greed was contributing to the mounting frustrations of other systems with the corruption of the Galactic Senate...and how those frustrations would lead to an anger and hatred that would rend the Republic asunder.