Duels on Geonosis
"This way," said Count Dooku to Mumm-Ra, as he led the Ever-Living into one of the many caves that made up the hives of Geonosis. A drone guard stood at attention as the two evil ones passed him. Pumyra waited outside by Mumm-Ra's command.
Inside, in the center of the room, within a rotating force field prison, was the noble Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and he didn't look too pleased to see Dooku.
"Traitor!" he accused the Count.
Dooku looked apologetic. "Oh no, my friend," he said, "This is a mistake, a terrible mistake. I shall soon arrange for your release at once."
Obi-Wan squinted at Mumm-Ra. "And who is this lovely new partner of yours?" he asked sarcastically, "A Geonosian mummy of some sort? Or just a fearsome bag of bones?"
Mumm-Ra leered back at him. "You are partly correct, young Jedi," he proclaimed, "I am Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living, rightful owner of the four Stones of Power, and rightful lord of the Animal races from Third Earth, as well. And I can't say that you are likely to live long enough to learn just what I mean by all of this." He chuckled.
Obi-Wan did his best to look sharply at Dooku. "I thought you were the leader here, Dooku," he demanded.
Dooku shrugged. "Mumm-Ra here, his beloved, and his Animal generals are new additions to the star systems that have come to me for aid in separating from the corrupt Republic. And frankly, Master Kenobi, I would think you'd be more perceptive of your surroundings, like a Jedi should be. Qui-Gon always spoke very highly of you." For a second or so, Dooku looked regretful. "I wish he were still alive. We could use his help right now."
Mumm-Ra turned to Dooku. "You didn't tell me there was another Jedi in close connection with this one, Count Dooku."
"I was getting to that, Mumm-Ra," said Dooku, "Qui-Gon Jinn was a very compassionate and noble man who served the Republic, the Jedi Order, and the Force with all his heart his entire life. It was I who taught him to always be mindful of the here and now. And he's certainly one of the few Jedi I've known who was wholly incorruptible."
"All the more reason why Qui-Gon Jinn would never join you or your Separatist movement," said Obi-Wan.
"Don't be so sure, Obi-Wan," said Dooku patiently. "Do not forget that he was once my apprentice, just as you were once his. He knew all about the corruption in the Senate, but he would never have gone along with it if he had known the truth like I do."
"And I, as well, now," said Mumm-Ra.
"The truth?" said Obi-Wan skeptically.
"The truth," repeated Dooku. He paced in silence for a few seconds, and then he let out a nice hint as to his secret.
"What if I told you that the Republic is now under control of a Dark Lord of the Sith?" Dooku said, which evidently surprised Kenobi.
"No, that's not possible!" the Jedi said, "The Jedi would be aware of it!"
"The dark side of the Force has clouded their vision, my friend," replied Dooku. "Hundreds of senators are now under the influence of a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious."
"I don't believe you," said Obi-Wan defiantly.
"I do," said Mumm-Ra, snickering. "The Well of Souls showed me this Dark Lord in plain sight."
"The what?" asked Obi-Wan.
"My magic cauldron," explained Mumm-Ra. "The Ancient Spirits of Evil show me things in my spaceship, the Black Pyramid."
"Aha!" said Kenobi, "I had a feeling you had to be evil, Mumm-Ra! You are too sinister to serve a good cause. And that means that Count Dooku here has definitely turned to darkness as well."
"Dark side or no, Obi-Wan," said Dooku, "I am still in a position to help people out, even separate from the sad Jedi Order. The Viceroy of the Trade Federation was once in league with this Darth Sidious. But he was betrayed, ten years ago, by the Dark Lord, and he came to me for help; he told me everything." Dooku looked at Kenobi almost conspiratorially and proclaimed, "You must join me, Obi-Wan, as Lord Mumm-Ra has, and together, we will destroy the Sith!"
Obi-Wan shook his head slowly. "I will never join you, Dooku!"
Dooku looked disappointed, but he just shrugged again and said, "It may be hard to arrange for your release." Then he left, followed by Mumm-Ra.
Pumyra said to them, "Was he willing?" as they came out.
"No," said Dooku, "It appears we will have to find something more permanent to do with him."
"Fine with me," she said, "As long as I get another chance to kill Lion-O in the process."
"Patience, beloved," said Mumm-Ra, "I believe that chance is soon to come."
Not too long afterwards, not to anybody's surprise, somebody came to attempt to save Kenobi, his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, and Senator Padmé Amidala, whom Skywalker was bidden to protect. Word was, they had fought against Geonosian drones armed with sonic blasters in one of the droid factories and narrowly escaped being flattened or melted down by the machines, only to be cornered by some more drones and a fully armored bounty hunter named Jango Fett.
The Jedi and the Senator reluctantly had a talk with Dooku and Mumm-Ra regarding the Confederacy, the commerce guilds, and the Republic, where Amidala insisted that the CIS wasn't government bought out by business, but business becoming government. This amused Mumm-Ra to no end. It was certainly interesting, how money, or more accurately, corruption brought about by money, can do much to further your cause. He had never been able to do that with his Animal slaves, relying instead on false promises of peace and prosperity, and revenge. It was definitely delicious to use money and corruption as his tools this time.
Dooku, in turn, had told Senator Amidala that the Republic could not be fixed, and it was time to start over. A show trial was performed for Amidala and Skywalker, presided over by Poggle the Lesser, Archduke of Geonosis. The Separatist Council observed the trial, as did Pumyra, Slithe, Addicus, Kaynar, and Vultaire. Poggle found them guilty of espionage, but Padmé argued with him over the nature of the trial and his business of building weapons.
Nute Gunray, however, was having no part of it. "Get on with it! On with the sentence! I want to see her suffer!" The other Separatist leaders agreed. The Animal generals jeered and growled and snarled from their seats. Addicus beat his chest and roared, while Kaynar laughed, and Vultaire stood and spread his massive wings arrogantly. Pumyra sneered at the two prisoners, but she was slightly surprised when Skywalker gave her and the others a rather feral glare of his own, as if a rabid beast was buried within his heart, too.
Nonetheless, she wasn't scared of him, and considered that he might make a good challenge in a fight if he survived this sentence.
Later on, however, as the Petranaki arena entertainment eventually dissolved into a defensive battle against the Jedi, the Cats, and the other Animals, Mumm-Ra, watching from a distance in a Separatist war room, could see that the Jedi were damn good fighters, and from the way they fought, not to mention the way most of them were dressed, it was obvious that fighting was not what the Jedi were supposed to be filling their time doing. Dooku had told him these were the supposed peacekeepers of the galaxy, acting as negotiators rather than soldiers. They brought about peaceful resolutions to problems. Mumm-Ra knew, as well as Dooku and Sidious did, that forcing them to fight, and then lead an army, might very well corrupt so many of them.
Until now, Mumm-Ra never knew that fighting a war when you're not supposed to fight a war could corrupt someone, especially since fighting his Lizard army did nothing to corrupt those self-righteous Elephants. But apparently, it was likely to happen with the Jedi, especially since they used the mysterious power source called the Force, which was basically as amoral as money and technology and could be used for good or evil.
Needless to say, even he was quite impressed by the Grand Army of the Republic as it made its grand entrance on the plains of Geonosis. It was well trained, had excellent military technology, and was both bold enough and brave enough to fight a vastly superior force in the Separatist Droid/Lizard Army. But he knew that it took a great puppet master to ensure that a sham war served its purpose to the letter, and he had no doubt that Darth Sidious was an expert at duplicity and deception.
As the Battle of Geonosis was underway, the Separatist leaders huddled together in the war room with Dooku and Mumm-Ra. Gunray was, of course, at a loss for words.
"The Jedi have enmassed a huge army!" he said with a flair for the obvious.
"That's impossible," said Dooku, "How could the Republic have gathered an army together so quickly?"
"Yesss," said Slithe, "And why is it that they all look so alike?"
"What I don't understand is why aren't we out there tearing some heads off ourselves?" said Addicus hungrily. "I'll bet that plastic armor makes those troops taste like candy."
"Ooohh!" said Kaynar, "I like candy! Especially Cat candy!" He chortled.
"I'm sure Dooku and Mumm-Ra have their reasons for keeping us out of the battle," said Vultaire, "Although I can't imagine what they are."
If only you knew, Mr. Refined, thought Pumyra. Mumm-Ra was having similar thoughts.
"We must send all available droids and ships into battle!" surmised Gunray.
"There are too many," disagreed Dooku.
"Our communications have been jammed," reported Poggle.
"Doesn't look that way to me, Count, with all due respect," said Vultaire. "I think Slithe's Lizards and Addicus' Monkians, in particular, can cut those soldiers to quivering shreds. They certainly have the strength, and the tech."
"I agree with the Count," said Mumm-Ra, "We may have more in numbers, but they have more in fighting spirit, as loathe as I am to admit it. We need to consolidate our forces more and get as many star systems' militias to support us as we can first."
Rune Haako said to Gunray, "We must get all the starships back into space," as they observed several Techno Union and Trade Federation vessels explode or go down.
"We have to order a retreat!' said Poggle nervously.
"My master will never allow the Republic to get away with this treachery," Dooku said, more to himself than to anyone else.
Slithe, whose eyes were wandering around the room, suddenly asked, "Count Dooku! What is that?"
He was looking at a large hologram of a near-perfectly spherical, ball-like structure, like a space station, which had a trench around the middle of its diameter, and an indentation in the form of a circle that looked highly technological.
"Ah, yes," said Dooku, "Slithe, Mumm-Ra, say hello to the ultimate battle station, a construction plan of epic proportions, designed not only to hold military hardware, troops, and government officers, but to use its superlaser, which has enough firepower to destroy an entire planet. My master and I are calling it the Death Star!"
The Animal generals looked at the hologram with great fascination. Mumm-Ra laughed.
"At last! Technology like even I have never dreamed of before! The ability to destroy entire worlds! I can imagine what we will use it for in the future!" Mumm-Ra rubbed his hands together. "Perhaps its power source can even amplify the Sword of Plun-Darr if I still cannot regain the War Stone from the ThunderCats!"
"Indeed," said Poggle, "But first, the Jedi cannot learn of the existence of the plans for our ultimate weapon. If they find out what we are planning to build, we're doomed." He took out a holographic disk from the computer and carried it over to Dooku.
"Mumm-Ra and I shall take the plans to Coruscant with us," said Dooku, checking a smaller hologram of the Death Star from the disk. "They will be much safer there with my master."
A short while later, the Separatist leaders and the Animal generals took off in a Sheathipede-class Neimoidian shuttle to safely evacuate the battle. Dooku and Mumm-Ra took separate routes to get to their own getaway hanger on Geonosian speeders, with Mumm-Ra arriving a few minutes sooner than Dooku. The pilot droid for Dooku's Solar Sailer scurried up the ramp of the ship, while a few Lizard pilots prepared the Storm Charger for takeoff. But before they could leave, two of the ThunderCats, none other than the royal brothers, Lion-O and Tygra, arrived to try to stop them. With the Cats came two familiar Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
"Lion-O," Obi-Wan quietly asked, "is that…?"
"Yes," replied Lion-O, "Mumm-Ra."
"I see my reputation already proceeds me, even in a place where I am a stranger," said Mumm-Ra. "Of course, you are a stranger here too, Lion-O."
"You're going to pay for all the Jedi and Animals that you killed today, Dooku, and you too, Mumm-Ra!" said Anakin.
"We'll take them together, slowly," said Obi-Wan, "I'll move in first with Lion-O, and then-"
"I'm taking them now!" said Anakin, charging Dooku and Mumm-Ra.
"No, Anakin! No! NO!" shouted Obi-Wan and Lion-O simultaneously.
"You don't know what you're up against!" shouted Tygra.
Mumm-Ra spread out his hands, while Dooku lifted one. A torrent of Force Lightning shot from Dooku's fingers as well as a wave of monstrous, destructive power from Mumm-Ra's. Anakin stopped, and writhed in pain as the Count and the Ever-Living lifted him into the air and flung him against a wall.
Clearly, Mumm-Ra's power and Force Lightning were two experiences of evil that Anakin would never forget.
Then, all too calmly, Dooku said to Obi-Wan, "As you can see, my Jedi powers are way beyond yours. Now, back down." He fired some lightning at Obi-Wan, but the Jedi absorbed it with his lightsaber blade.
"I don't think so," said Obi-Wan.
Mumm-Ra turned to Lion-O. "We have some unfinished business, Lord of the Cats. And so does someone else we both care about."
Suddenly, Pumyra stepped out of the Storm Charger. She stood by Mumm-Ra and looked at Lion-O very coldly.
"I still have three Power Stones to reclaim," said Mumm-Ra, drawing the Sword of Plun-Darr.
"And I have every intention of protecting the two I have, while getting back the Tech Stone and finding the Soul Stone before you do," said Lion-O.
"And I still intend to kill you for what you did to me back at the ruins of Thundera, 'my king!'" said Pumyra.
Lion-O drew the Sword of Omens and put on the Gauntlet of Omens. "Tygra, you have my back, but only I can defeat Mumm-Ra for good."
Tygra nodded. "Right, Lion-O."
Mumm-Ra laughed. Then, to the Jedis' astonishment, a dark storm of electricity and lightning briefly formed in the chamber as he shouted, "Ancient Spirits of Evil, transform this decayed form to Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living!" To their further astonishment, he tore his way out of his bandages and became a giant, muscular demon priest who now looked the right size and strength to wield the Sword of Plun-Darr. By now, he was also wearing the Gauntlet of Plun-Darr.
Finally, two mystic swords crossed paths once again, as did two lightsabers after Dooku ignited his curved-hilted lightsaber. Mumm-Ra hacked and slashed with his sword, determined to overwhelm Lion-O and get the War and Spirit Stones. Lion-O parried many attacks, one after another, and made some attacks of his own, trying on occasion to cut the Tech Stone free from the Gauntlet of Plun-Darr. Mumm-Ra, however, noticed this, and tried to do the same with the Gauntlet of Omens and the Spirit Stone.
"The Stones will be mine!" yelled Mumm-Ra.
"They never should've been yours in the first place!" defied Lion-O.
Tygra had turned invisible, and attempted to whip Mumm-Ra from behind, but the Ever-Living was too strong for him, and flung him over his head and onto the floor, rendering him visible again. He tried again to knock Mumm-Ra off his feet, but a glancing shot from Pumyra's wrist crossbow hit him on the head, knocking him out.
Pumyra soon had Lion-O from behind, choking him at the neck, her nails digging into his skin. Lion-O cried out in pain and turned away from Mumm-Ra to fend off Pumyra, but that was a mistake, because Mumm-Ra hammered Lion-O's head, knocking him to the ground.
All the while, Obi-Wan had been doing a pretty good job of dueling Dooku. The Count had been taunting him to do better, but Obi-Wan was pretty sure he already was. He even thought he had him as he pushed Dooku's lightsaber downward into an awkward position, but that was a feint on the Count's part, and suddenly he slashed Obi-Wan on his left arm and one of his legs, incapacitating him.
Pumyra and Dooku started to make their moves to kill Obi-Wan and the Lord of the ThunderCats, but by then, Anakin, who had finally recovered from his previous evil experience, used a powerful Force push to shove Pumyra and Mumm-Ra away from Lion-O, and a second later, his lightsaber parried Dooku's own killing strike.
"Brave of you, boy," said Dooku, "But I would have thought you had learned your lesson."
"I am a slow learner," said Anakin coldly.
"Then you should be easy to slay," said Mumm-Ra.
Pumyra snarled and moved to attack, but Mumm-Ra stopped her.
"Dooku and I will handle this one," he said.
"Anakin!" shouted Obi-Wan, using the Force to toss his lightsaber to his apprentice. Anakin caught it.
Pumyra would have finished off Lion-O then and there, but she was too awed by the fighting skills of the Chosen One. Skywalker briefly fought Dooku with two lightsaber blades, but soon enough, Dooku managed to cut Anakin's extra blade hilt in half, rendering the lightsaber useless. But Anakin recovered quickly, and slashed a power cable, making it slightly darker in the room, though electric sparks were flying, too.
Impressive, Pumyra thought to herself. I'd like to see how well this boy can fight against me if Dooku doesn't kill him.
In spite of fighting two foes with one lightsaber blade, Anakin still managed to hold his own for a while. Apparently, as it turned out, the Sword of Plun-Darr, despite being made of metal, was not broken or cut in two by the saber's plasma blade, a sign of its mighty magical properties. But in the end, Dooku suddenly made an undercut with his own blade, and cut off Anakin's lower right arm and hand, subsequently Force pushing him into Obi-Wan and the Cats.
It looked as if it was over, but then Dooku, Mumm-Ra, and Pumyra heard footsteps coming from the entrance, as well as the clack of one, make that two, canes. One set of footsteps was a heavy tread, while the other was a soft, pattering shuffle with a slight clicking, as it toenails or claws were scraping the floor.
They turned, and there were Anet the Elephant, and little Jedi Master Yoda himself. The Master and the shaman regarded their foes.
"Master Yoda," said Dooku.
"Count Dooku," replied Yoda.
"Mumm-Ra," said Anet.
"It is nice to see another Animal try to defeat me in vain," sneered Mumm-Ra.
"You have interfered in our affairs for the last time," said Dooku. And then, he proceeded to rip a few wall fixtures out of the wall with the Force, and he hurled them at Yoda. But Yoda dropped his cane and used his own mastery of the Force to catch them and hurl them aside.
Together, Mumm-Ra and Dooku tore some chunks of rock out of the ceiling, a risky move as it could've caused a cave-in, and hurled them at Yoda and his friend next. But Anet used a powerful punch from his fist to smash two of the rocks to pieces, while Yoda threw aside the rest with the Force.
"Powerful, you have become, Dooku. The dark side, I sense in you," said Yoda. "As well as in Mumm-Ra, say I."
"Of course, puny one," said Mumm-Ra, "I serve the Ancient Spirits of Evil. Why else would I be a dark lord?"
"I have become more powerful than any Jedi…" Dooku continued, "Even you." He fired Force Lightning at the two of them, while Mumm-Ra shot a devastating wave of lethal power at them at the same time.
Yoda actually caught the lightning with one bare hand, and deflected it back at Dooku, who had to deflect it into a wall, in turn. At the same time, Anet blocked the effects of Mumm-Ra's power with his hands, and deflected it into the same wall, too. Dooku and Mumm-Ra each fired another onslaught, but this time, Yoda and Anet absorbed the destructive power completely, showing the futility of this attack.
Lion-O, who was still conscious, was amazed. He never knew that Anet had such abilities, even though he did know that Anet and the other Elephants could fight.
"Much to learn, you still have," said Yoda to Dooku.
Dooku sounded resigned when he said, "It is obvious that this contest cannot be decided by our knowledge of the Force, but by our skills with the lightsaber." He raised his bloodshine blade in the Makashi salute, and make a rapid X in the air with it.
"And I would like to see how someone who doesn't wield the Sword of Omens will fare against the mighty Sword of Plun-Darr," said Mumm-Ra. Suddenly, he drew power from the Tech Stone in his Gauntlet, and the infamous Armor of Plun-Darr formed around his body from head to toe.
Anet nodded and used a spiritual spell on his long cane, turning it into a giant blade of massive strength, and held it at the ready. And Yoda reached under his robe and took out his little shoto lightsaber, igniting it. Then, the real action began.
Yoda actually leapt, cartwheeled and somersaulted all over the area where he and Dooku fought as they crossed blades! Evidently, the Force made it possible for the old, weary Master to be very acrobatic in battle! Anet, meanwhile, was employing amazing agility as his magic sword met every attack of the blade of Plun-Darr, blow for blow! He jumped, he spun around, he rolled under Mumm-Ra, and so on!
Pumyra tried to stop Anet from defeating Mumm-Ra, but the old Elephant saw her coming, possibly with his spiritual sight, and kicked her flat on her back, stunning her.
The two duels carried on for a while. Dooku used all of his mastery of Form II to defeat Yoda, but Yoda's own mastery of Form IV eventually proved to be too difficult to defeat. Mumm-Ra, in turn, couldn't understand why the Sword of Plun-Darr failed to overpower or overwhelm his plus-sized foe. Finally, both duels came to a standstill.
"Fought well, you have, my own Padawan learner!" said Yoda to Dooku.
By this time, Dooku sensed that he and Mumm-Ra weren't going to be able to defeat their foes in this battle, and of course, Republic reinforcements would soon arrive. They had to get out of this fight and escape.
"This is just the beginning!" Dooku said as a parting shot to Yoda. Then he distracted Yoda and Anet by using the Force to make a giant power column to fall towards the younger Jedi and the Cats. Anet ran for the column and caught it just before it could smash the four of them. Then Yoda used the Force to make the column move aside and land on the floor a little ways away from his friends. They were safe.
But Dooku and Mumm-Ra used this time to escape. They retreated into the Solar Sailer and the Storm Charger, with Mumm-Ra picking up Pumyra along the way, and their pilots took off. The first gunship carrying Republic reinforcements arrived just then, and Senator Amidala, several clone troopers and Ravens, and the other ThunderCats used their weapons against the ships, but it was too late. Dooku and Mumm-Ra both got away. While their enemies went to check on the people still inside the hangar, the Solar Sailer extended its solar sail before going into hyperspace, followed closely by the Storm Charger.
A while later, the two ships came out of hyperspace in the Core Worlds, and flew towards Coruscant. Along the way, Dooku had explained a little more about the Force, especially its dark side, to Mumm-Ra, and told him that Sidious knew enough about it to finish explaining it.
As the solar sail was pulled back into its ship, the Solar Sailer guided the Storm Charger into an isolated section of Coruscant, not far from the Senate district, ironically, an industrial zone called The Works. The pilots flew their respective ships into an abandoned executive building and landed. The place was quite spooky. Not a lot of natural light came in; there was smog everywhere, and filthy smoke, making what light there was an ugly shade of orange-brown. It was just like Mumm-Ra liked it.
As Dooku, Mumm-Ra and Pumyra came walking out of their ships, another figure, dressed in a long black robe and cowl, with his hood covering the whole upper half of his face, stepped out to greet them. Dooku was the first one to speak.
"The Force is with us, Master Sidious," he said.
"Welcome home, Lord Tyranus," said the Dark Lord, "You have done well."
"So," said Mumm-Ra, "You are a Sith after all. The Ancients do not lie to me."
"You must be Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living," said Sidious. "Nice to see we have another partner to help us topple the Republic and the Jedi."
Pumyra blinked. "How did you know?" she demanded, momentarily forgetting her place.
Sidious smiled evilly. "I have my ways, m' lady. But more importantly, I think you should learn to respect me, if you hope to have a part in the grand future of the Order of the Sith Lords."
"He's right, Pumyra," said Mumm-Ra, "Right now, we work together. But I would also advise you, Lord Sidious, not to mistreat or molest my beloved without very good reason, for she is precious to me."
The smile didn't leave Sidious' face. "That will not be a problem, Ever-Living."
As they started to walk together in one direction, Dooku said to his Master, "To return to the subject at hand, I have good news for you, my lord. The Clone Wars have begun."
"Excellent," said Sidious, satisfied. "Everything is going as planned."
"Indeed," said Mumm-Ra. "Indeed."
A/N: The story will continue in chapter 3 of "Thundera Joins the Republic and Jedi."