The dagger of the Sith Infiltrator's hull sliced through the fog that passed for an atmosphere on Dagobah. Dooku's recollection guided the thrusters, the pitch and the yaw of the ship, its trajectory arcing toward an all too familiar dark side sink. A place where frightening visions visited all who traipsed through its murky depths. The last place that Sifo-Dyas was ever seen alive. Where Dooku had committed his last treachery against the Jedi for Darth Sidious.
Dooku's first treachery against the Jedi came shortly after Lott Dod arranged a meeting between Dooku and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Enough pleasantries and diplomatic fluffs were exchanged among them to make the meeting appear to the Neimoidian senator to be merely the meeting of like-minded political dignitaries. However, Palpatine's extension of an invitation to dine with Dooku alone in the Chancery left little doubt that the two men had much left to discuss.
Before they started the meal, Palpatine bade Dooku to join him for a stroll around the Chancellor's Office. He showed Dooku the artifacts he had gathered throughout his political career that now adorned the walls of the office, which included a bas-relief frieze recovered from Yavin 4 and the sinister-looking chalice that decorated a table on the far wall of the office. Dooku's lips drew up in a sneer as he recognized the depiction of the Jedi-Sith battle in the Great Hyperspace war, the Sith chalice with its dagger-like protrusions. Already, Dooku wondered if Palpatine foresaw what he intended to say during their dinner.
Throughout the meal, Dooku led his host through a brooding discussion about the state of the Jedi Order. Though the two men agreed that the Jedi had done much to preserve order in the galaxy, they also perceived that a certain inflexibility had crept into the order. Palpatine inquired whether Dooku had experienced any recent difficulties in his dealings with his fellow Jedi.
Dooku sensed his opening. He detailed the dark currents that had been flowing in the Force, how he had been tracing their source in ways that the Jedi Council did not approve. Palpatine's brow perked at the mention of the dark Force currents, noting that he thought the dark side had been defeated millennia ago. Dooku chuckled and said that such disingenuity was hardly becoming a Dark Lord of the Sith.
Dooku sat back with a smug, self-satisfied smile, waiting for Palpatine to respond. The seconds passed. Dooku's smugness fought for control over his face. Seconds stretched into a minute. Dooku shifted in his chair. Finally, Palpatine chuckled in return. His throaty cackles echoed throughout the Chancery, bringing the smile back to Dooku's lips momentarily.
Palpatine arose from the table and walked to one of the statues adorning his office. Dooku followed him slowly, at a distance. On the way to the statue, Palpatine gamely played along with Dooku, as if humoring a small child with a most outlandish theory. Dooku explained himself carefully, bearing Palpatine's patronizing tone gracefully.
As he reached behind the statue, Palpatine asked Dooku to whom he had told these suspicions. Dooku's eyebrow cocked, and his hand moved surreptitiously to the hilt of his lightsaber. However, the advantage that Dooku tried to gain in stealth was Palpatine's. Palpatine used the Force to pull his lightsaber from inside the statue, twist his hand away from and in front of the statue, and ignite the crimson blade before Dooku's fingers even reached his saber. Palpatine snarled that Dooku's secret would die with him that night.
Fortunately, Dooku's reflexes allowed him to grasp his own lightsaber's hilt and ignite its blue blade just in time to parry Palpatine's unexpected attack. The duelists clashed their lightsabers repeatedly, with Palpatine always pressing the attack and Dooku deftly defending himself with his precise Makashi lightsaber combat. Palpatine kept Dooku circling around the Chancellor's desk, darting left, then sliding right, then turning left again, using the desk and his Ataru acrobatics to prevent Dooku from slashing at his legs. In turn, Dooku used sharp, quick movements to deflect Palpatine's onslaught, hoping to wear Palpatine down through sheer exertion.
But Palpatine's aggressive thrusts were so demanding that Dooku did not recognize he was being lulled into stereotyped, patterned movements. Palpatine probed Dooku's defenses through vicious attack sequences as they jostled around the desk, allowing Palpatine to observe the very few weaknesses of Dooku's combat style. Palpatine honed in on Dooku's growing complacency as they moved in two dimensions. Dooku became so focused on continuing their deadly ballet along the surface of the floor that he forgot about the possibility of Palpatine launching an aerial attack against him.
Thus, when Palpatine abruptly jumped over the desk entirely, clearing the tip of Dooku's blade with a meter to spare, he glanced his blade in a shiim against the back of Dooku's left knee with impunity. Dooku staggered as he pivoted on his right foot in disbelief at Palpatine's surprisingly spry strike, giving Palpatine room to slice the back of his right knee, as well. Dooku fell to his knees before Palpatine in an apparent gesture of utter obeisance and fealty, his lightsaber clattering to the floor. Palpatine cackled again as he Force pulled Dooku's lightsaber into his hand, igniting it and crossing the blades of the two sabers in a scissors before Dooku's neck. The smell of ozone wafted up Dooku's nostrils as he blinked hard, awaiting his fate.
Palpatine asked Dooku why he should spare Dooku's life. Dooku reached into his pocket to produce the Sith Holocron he had taken from his last visit to the Jedi library, saying that he had brought an earnest gift for his new master. Palpatine's eyes flared in lust for the knowledge contained in the Holocron, his eyes crinkling in glee at Dooku's submission. After confirming that Dooku had used the word "master," Palpatine deactivated the lightsabers and reintroduced himself as Darth Sidious, the one who would complete Dooku's instruction in the totality of the Force. Instruction that would culminate in the eradication of the Jedi Order.