Chapter Thirty-One – Interrogation.
Sabé had managed to walk countless circuits around her tiny cell before anyone came back to see her. She was eventually fetched by one of the Geonosian guards, who gestured violently with an electro-pole to make her follow him down the corridor. The Geonosians were strange insect-like creatures who communicated in a language of multiple clicking noises. Needless to say, she didn't understand a word of what the guard was gabbling to her as they went.
"Yes, I was just thinking that myself," she muttered sarcastically. "Really? Yes, I quite agree, Dooku is a large pile of Bantha poo-doo."
She was escorted to a conference room, where the Count and Nute Gunray sat waiting for her. "Ah." Dooku rose. "Miss Sabé Naberrie, I presume."
"You presume correctly," she said haughtily, adopting a mannerism of Padmé's that had been nicknamed her 'politics voice'. There was no point in denying her identity or even pretending to be Padmé. Dooku would sense her deception or Obi-Wan would unwillingly give it away.
"Who is this?" Gunray demanded. "This is wasting time, Dooku."
"Patience, Viceroy. All will become clear. Now then, Miss Naberrie, I have it on good authority that you are none other than the assistant of Senator Amidala."
"Whose good authority?" she asked at once.
"A Sith's."
She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, trying to appear aloof. "Impossible. I'm afraid I don't know any Sith."
"Believe me, you do."
"Get to the point, Dooku."
"Wait a minute," Gunray said suddenly. "I've seen you before. You tricked me!"
She smiled bitterly. "Yes, and it worked wonderfully, didn't it?"
Dooku glanced at the Viceroy, clearly expecting a swift explanation. Gunray gave it. "She was a decoy for Amidala."
"A very successful one too, it would seem," Sabé put in, purposely slipping an element of smugness into her tone.
"Yes, but it's doing nothing to help you this time, is it?" the Viceroy said.
"How do you know it isn't? How do you know I'm the real Sabé? Perhaps the decoy has a decoy. Or perhaps I'm actually Amidala and have been all along."
Nute looked confused and Dooku snapped, "Enough. You are Sabé Naberrie."
Sabé smiled mysteriously, struggling to convey more confidence than she felt. She sat down on a nearby chair and rested her booted feet on the table. The more she irritated Gunray the better. 'So much for formal court training,' she thought.
Dooku bristled but said nothing. "Could you tell us the whereabouts of Senator Amidala?" he asked at last.
"Well I could," she replied sweetly, pretending to think, "only I don't really want to."
She felt something wash over her, probing her mind. It was like when Obi-Wan contacted her through the Force, only it felt cold and uncomfortable. She felt herself giving in against her will, but then remembered something he had told her. Firmly, she repeated, 'I am not weak-minded,' over and over in her head, finally fighting off the probing touch.
The briefest flicker of a frown passed over Dooku's face, but it was gone almost the second she noticed it.
"In all honesty, Count, if that is your real name, I don't know where she is," Sabé lied smoothly, resisting a smirk.
"Is that so?"
"It is. Here's the truth as I believe it to be. Amidala was sent away from Coruscant with a bodyguard for her own protection against the assassination attempts from the good Viceroy here. They went to Naboo of course."
Gunray stood up hurriedly and began to fumble for a comlink.
"Slow down, Viceroy, they're not there now." She sighed. "Which, might I add, is a problem Master Kenobi and I faced when trying to contact them. Which is what we were trying to do when your droids rolled up." Not exactly a lie. In fact everything she had said had been true, she'd just done some nifty editing of key facts.
Dooku stood up and walked around the circular conference table towards her. She didn't move a muscle, merely followed his movements with her eyes. When he stopped in front of her she resisted flinching. He was a very imposing man, tall and thin with piercing eyes. He glared down at her feet on the table.
"Is this standard Nabooian etiquette, Miss Naberrie?"
"No, Corellian heritage on my father's side."
"I see. Well would you kindly not bring it in here?"
"Listen, Dooku. You're discussing matters with me, not the Senator. This is how I conduct business with unwanted interrogators. If I want to act like Amidala, I think I know how to." She rose to her feet. "Now if you would kindly show me back to my cell, or better still, the door."
"I'm not finished with you yet," he snapped.
"Oh yes you are. You won't get any more information from me, Dooku, so you'd better just let me go."
"Very well. Just answer me this. Do you believe Senator Amidala will rally to my cause with a little persuasion?"
"Of course she won't, don't be ridiculous."
The Count smiled. "I look forward to hearing you eat your words at a later date when I have Naboo's name on the treaty. Take her away." As she was led away, Dooku looked over at the Viceroy. "Don't worry. If Amidala won't join us, she will die."
"What about her assistant?"
"She signed her own death warrant when she infiltrated here. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to talk to the Jedi." The Count swept from the room and made his way to a small circular chamber, guarded at the door by two Geonosians. They saluted his arrival and stood back to let him pass.
Inside the room, Obi-Wan was held in a stasis field that both hindered his use of the Force and kept him from stirring too much. He moved his head to look as Dooku walked in slowly.
"Traitor," he spat at once.
"Oh no, my friend, this is a mistake, a terrible mistake. They've gone too far. This is madness," Dooku said in a smooth and steady stream of unconvincing statements.
"I thought you were the leader here, Dooku."
"This had nothing to do with me, I assure you," the Count told him, walking around to face the slowly revolving Jedi. "I will petition immediately to have you set free."
"Well I hope it doesn't take too long," Obi-Wan said firmly, "I have work to do." He considered asking about Sabé, but promptly decided that it would work more in her favour if he kept quiet for the time being. He could always rescue her later if he did manage to get out.
"May I ask why a Jedi Knight is all the way out here on Geonosis?"
'You can ask,' Obi-Wan was tempted to say. Instead, he decided to provoke a reaction. "I've been tracking a bounty hunter named Jango Fett, do you know him?"
"There are no bounty hunters here that I am aware of, the Geonosians don't trust them."
"Well who can blame them, but he is here, I can assure you." Obi-Wan questioned the truth in the Count's words. There was something about his smooth and noble exterior that the Jedi found very untrustworthy.
"It's a great pity our paths have never crossed before, Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon always spoke very highly of you. I wish he were still alive. I could use his help right now."
"Qui-Gon Jinn would never join you," he said with certainty.
"Don't be so sure my young Jedi," Dooku said confidently. "You forget that he was once my apprentice as you were once his."
Obi-Wan couldn't argue with that, but it put an interesting perspective on things that he hadn't considered before.
"He knew all about the corruption in the Senate," the Count continued, "but he would never have gone along with the status quo, with that corruption, if he had learned the truth as I have."
"The truth?"
"The truth." He paused a little to let the impact of the words sink in. "What if I told you that the Republic was now under the control of the Dark Lords of the Sith?"
"No, that's not possible," Obi-Wan said at once. "The Jedi would be aware of it."
"The Dark Side of the Force has clouded their vision, my friend. Hundreds of senators are now under the influence of a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious."
Were they empty threats? Or was there truth behind Dooku's words? Obi-Wan wasn't sure, but the result of a Sith in control of the Senate would have a catastrophic effect. If this Darth Sidious did exist, then he was somehow managing to successfully manipulate Chancellor Palpatine.
Unsure of what to say, he decided to opt for a simple, "I don't believe you," in reply, hoping that the Count would shed more light on the situation.
"The Viceroy of the Trade Federation was once in league with this Darth Sidious," Dooku told him, "but he was betrayed ten years ago by the Dark Lord. He came to me for help. He told me everything."
Obi-Wan thought back. If Gunray and Sidious had been in league ten years ago, at the time of the Battle of Naboo, then that would mean that the Sith he had destroyed in the power station in Theed had only been an apprentice. The implications of that were not pleasant. He wondered why Dooku was telling him all this. Was he trying to imply that the entire Separatist movement was for the purpose of rebelling against Sidious and the Senate? Obi-Wan couldn't believe that that would be the case.
"You must join with me, Obi-Wan," the Count interrupted his thoughts, "and together we will destroy the Sith."
"I will never join you, Dooku," he said coldly. The man was about as trustworthy as a Dathomirian water viper.
Dooku shrugged, not seeming at all surprised at Obi-Wan's refusal, and turned to leave. "It may be difficult to secure a release," he said casually.
'Why am I not surprised?' the Jedi thought ironically. Out loud he called, "What about Miss Naberrie?" stopping the Count in his tracks.
"What about Miss Naberrie?"
"You have no charges against her. She conducted acts of espionage under my order, because I told her to."
"And if you told her to jump off the roof of the Jedi Temple would she do it? Miss Naberrie is of her own mind and will therefore face the same charges as you," Dooku said with determination. "And her conduct during interrogation will also add to her record."
Obi-Wan frowned. "What conduct?"
"Corellian heritage on her father's side, or so she claimed. Miss Naberrie is a very talented actress. She seems to manage to get what she wants."
"Which was what?" he asked in spite of himself.
"In this case it would seem to be a chance to insult the Viceroy and head back to her cell as quickly as possible."
Obi-Wan hid a smile. Clearly Sabé had not being using any of the political techniques that Padmé had taught her. "Did she tell you anything?"
Dooku sighed, looking up at him with aversion. "Of course she didn't. She was very economical with the truth. Lied her way around the situation. Just like her friend."
"I don't believe Senator Amidala lies."
"If that is the case I'm surprised she's lasted as long as she has in the Senate. You might tell me, actually, why Miss Naberrie is accompanying you."
That was a question he could answer truthfully. "She wants to find out who is trying to assassinate her friend, and can you blame her?"
"No, but I sense a hidden agenda." The Count met Obi-Wan's gaze and the Jedi felt his mind being probed. He put up barriers at once. "She is very strong-willed. I could extract very little information before she fought of my mind probe."
Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes. "What exactly?"
"Honestly, Master Kenobi, if the Jedi Council only knew about you two…" He left his sentence hanging, letting Obi-Wan finish it himself.
"What if I told you," he said slowly, "that we were working under the order of Master Yoda?"
"I would not believe you," Dooku stated bluntly.
"Well then, we appear to be even."
"What do you mean?"
"You don't believe me about Yoda, I don't believe you about Sidious."
"We will continue this conversation at another time, when it will not result in pointless circles of argument," Dooku snapped, swiftly ending the discussion and leaving the room with a swirl of his cape.
Obi-Wan sighed. He had won this round, but what effect would the consequences have on his fate? And Sabé's?
A/N: Next chapter battley things start to happen.