LordDarthYoda - Dooku always struck me as fairly pragmatic, which is hilarious as it turns out that he was, as you said, just another pawn for Sidious. As powerful as Dooku is, he can't even perceive the level of deception that Sidious is capable of. We'll see if any of the Jedi end up on Dooku's side...though their overall fate would probably end up the same as the Jedi's fate...

SpeechBubbleMe - I think the Jedi are about to try to put a stop to Dooku's plans...

A/N - And the wheels go in motion... Early post today because I'm off to a friend's wedding!

As always, Please enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 22: The Game Begins

Sascha Whitestar watched in amusement as Nara Nalto tried to teach her latest project, a young Togruta named Ahsoka Tano. The combination of the two hardheaded Togruta was quietly hilarious to watch, though Sascha tried not to laugh out loud. Much.

"The stance is like this!" said Nara demonstrating a slightly more advanced lightsaber stance than was traditionally taught to Initiates. This was Nara's 4th or 5th attempt to teach Ahsoka the opening stance. Why Nara was bothering to teach a young Initiate such as Ahsoka such a boring lesson was beyond him. But training Ahsoka was Nara's project and thus Nara's show to run. Sascha was just here to be a level head. He was here in the sparring room to make sure the two Togruta didn't kill each other.

"I'm doing the stance!" complained the young Togruta initiate. Her beige robe was probably a bit too large for her, but she would grow into it. The awkwardness of adolescence would soon be upon her...

Sascha sensed that Nara's patience had just about expired, so it was up to him to intercede. "Ahsoka, put your left foot a bit further forward. And turn your hips just a little."

"This way?" asked the little Togruta.

"No," he said gently, "Turn your hips inside."

Ahsoka complied and was now (more or less) in the stance that she was being taught. Nara nodded approvingly, "Good. Now show me kata number six."

Nara moved off to the side as Ahsoka went through the routine. "Thanks," she said to him.

"That's why I'm here," he said, stretching out to his fullest extent. "Are you sure you want her to be learning katas? They are useful, no debut, but I though you might want to try something more fun."

Nara shrugged, "You missed the fun lesson where I taught her some tricks for using the Force along with her Montrals. This was the 'payment' for that lesson."

"You are a cruel teacher," he observed.

"Cruel but fair," Nara countered with a smile.

Ahsoka bounced on her toes excitedly as soon as she was done the kata, "How did I do?"

"You did well, Ahsoka," Nara replied, walking back towards her charge. "But your are not committing to each movement in the kata. You need to complete each one before moving to the next, you are cheating to get through the sequence as quickly as possible. Think of each movement as throwing an attack, you should never attack halfheartedly."

"Break the kata into smaller chunks if you are having difficulty," suggested Sascha.

Ahsoka's large, childish eyes nodded, and she went back to work. Nara came back and observed Nara work from beside him.

"She's good," Sascha observed.

"I can't take much credit for it," Nara said, crossing her arms slightly as she watched. "But there is a lot of talent there."

"Someone's got to refine it," he said. "Might as well be you."

"A ringing endorsement of my teaching abilities, Sascha Whitestar."

Sascha winced, he hadn't meant it like that, "That's not what I meant."

"I know," said Nara, smiling easily, "It's fun to tease you though."

Sascha rolled his eyes. Nara's sassing of him got old sometimes. However, his witty reply was interrupted when his comlink rang. He answered it, stepping away from Nara for a moment, "Yes?"

Aurine's voice. "Padawan. We've been requested in the Council Chambers in twenty minutes. Get ready for another mission."

Sascha pumped his fist, "Yes, Master," he replied.

"Is Nara with you?" Aurine asked.

"Yep."

"Tell her the same thing. Twenty minutes. See you there, Sascha."

"Yes, Master Brynar."

Sascha put his comlink away, and turned to face his friend, "Nara, we gotta wrap this up. Council chambers in 15 minutes," he said, slicing off five minutes to ensure Nara was there early.

"Can I come too?" asked Ahsoka, her eyes lighting up.

Nara turned and knelt beside the younger Togruta, "No, little one. This means today's session is over. I'll let you know if I'm leaving the Temple. Otherwise I'll contact you and we can set up another time to train together."

"Will you tell me stories of your mission?" asked Ahsoka.

"Only if it isn't boring," replied Nara. "If it is, I'll just make something up."

Ahsoka laughed, "Okay, Nara. I'll see you when you are back."

The two Padawans waited until Ahsoka had left before whooping in joy, "Another mission together," said Nara, exuberantly.

"Someone on the Council must like how we work together."

"Our Masters too," Nara pointed out.

"We're a well oiled machine, aren't we?"

Nara smiled and he smiled back, "So good we don't even need to be oiled." Nara paused, "That sounded wrong."

"Yeah. Let's just forget about that one."

Nara and Sascha met up with their Masters just before the appointed time. Aurine and Tiplee had been back for a few weeks now, but both were getting to the point that they wanted to be back out on a mission, so the timing was proving to be fortunate. Nara had also fully recovered her vision a week or so ago, thus for all intents and purposes, everyone was at full strength.

"I can't seem to get rid of you, Master Tiplee," joked Aurine.

"I'm like a bad smell, or a fungus," replied Tiplee.

"Gross, Master," said Nara.

Tiplee frowned, "Was that not accurate? Several fungus do leave an unpleasant smell..."

"Stop, Master!" protested Nara. Sometimes it was hard to tell if Tiplee was just not understanding the standard social conventions or if she was just annoying her apprentice. Either way, it was amusing to Sascha.

Just before the four Jedi were scheduled to enter the Council Chambers, Sascha hear the sound of a pair of footsteps walking towards them. Then that pair rounded the corner of the hallway and Sascha smiled, "Hello Tyra, Master Nal'ma."

Tyra looked delighted for a moment before returning her expression to one that was more appropriate. "Greetings, Master Brynar, Master Tiplee," said Tyra.

Tiplee nodded towards the new arrivals, "Master Nal'ma, Padawan Harker. It seems like our Padawans have conspired to get us on the same mission."

"It would appear that way," said Master Nal'ma with a hint of a smile. For the tough, blue-skinned Twi'lek, that was about as friendly a gesture as one could expect. Sascha had an appreciation for Master Nal'ma's skills, but he wasn't as openly friendly as his Master, or even Tiplee. Teff Nal'ma was tough, well-muscled and had an intimidating glare, one which Sascha would be happy to avoid. Still, he seemed relatively happy to be here.

Finally, the Padawan that was on duty as the assistant to the Jedi Council for the day admitted them all to the Council Chambers. As Sascha walked in, right beside his Master, he was surprised to see that there were only two Masters in the circle of twelve chairs, just Mace Windu, and Yoda.

Aurine seem instantly off-put as well, glancing around the room as if to expect that more Jedi Masters would appear out of thin air.

Mace spoke first, "Padwan Joca. Please leave us. Thank you for your work today." The confused looking Zeltron Padawan bowed and then exited. Padawans on Council assistant duty usually did not get dismissed, at least in Sascha's experience.

He quickly caught the eye of Nara, who seemed as confused as he was. This was not how things went when brought before the Council. Whatever was happening, it seemed like it was outside of the normal parameters. That could be bad.

"I can put you all at ease," said Mace, folding his fingers together, "None of you are in any trouble."

"And yet I am uneasy," said Teff. Sascha knew that Teff still distrusted the Council somewhat after the whole incident with Tyra and her being assigned a dangerous undercover mission. So he expected him to take the Council, and specifically Mace Windu, to task when given the chance.

"A mission we have for you," prattled Yoda. "One that needed for you are."

"Where are we going?" inquired Tiplee politely.

"Not a place, your assignment is, but a person," said Yoda, his ears drooping slightly.

Six Jedi for one person? That must be a very important person, thought Sascha.

"I know you are all aware that Master Dooku has left the Jedi Order," said Master Windu, frowning. "Recently, we have received word that Dooku is trying to recruit Jedi to a new Jedi Order led by himself. We need to put stop to this. We need to know who he is recruiting and who is loyal to him instead of the Order. Moreover, we need to know what Dooku is doing. Is he going to remain in exile, or is he going to continue to poke and prod at us from afar? The simple question is this – Is Dooku our enemy? If he is and if so, what is he doing and what is his goal? It is your mission to find out."

"That was like at least three questions," observed Aurine. "And none of them are simple."

"Do you want us to thwart his plans or just observe them?" asked Tiplee.

Teff stepped towards the two Jedi Masters, "Hold on. I'm not sure we should be doing this at all. Dooku has left the Jedi Order. He is no longer a citizen of the Republic and thus none of our concern. Even if he was, it sounds like you are asking us, Master Windu, to potentially spy on our colleagues. That is almost immoral."

Mace glanced over at Yoda, who tapped his gimer stick softly on the floor, "Brightest and best of us was Dooku. A grave loss to our Order, he is. But determine his intentions, we must. A Sith, he may be."

"A Sith? The Sith?" exclaimed Aurine. "If we have good reason to suspect that, lets just take a hundred Jedi and arrest him."

"And what of the consequences?" asked Tiplee, rebuking his Master. "We are Jedi, we do not arrest people without sufficient knowledge."

Aurine rolled her eyes but said nothing. Sascha agreed with his Master. If they had enough reason to suspect that Dooku was a Sith, the Jedi could afford to throw out the rulebook for something that was so important.

Mace gestured with his hands, "You see why investigating Dooku is important. We need certainty. We do not have it at the moment."

"Why us?" asked Tyra. "Surely there are many more senior Jedi that could be entrusted with this mission."

Yoda sighed, a long and painful sounding sigh, "Manipulating us, Dooku is. Play his game, we will not. Do the unanticipated, we will."

Mace continued, "Dooku is a fencer. He's well known for his ability to keep his opponent off balance. It also means he is good at reading people. But Dooku has one weakness that he does not perceive."

"Arrogance," supplied Yoda.

Mace allowed himself a tiny smile, "Yes. Dooku has always been arrogant. And because he thinks that he knows us, he thinks that he can play us. He forgets that we are not puppets. What Dooku expects is that I will be placed in charge of the investigation. Instead we have chosen three senior Jedi, along with three Padawans to be our task force. I will draw Dooku's eye, leaving you six with the freedom to do what you need to understand what Dooku is doing."

"I'm still not sure we should be doing this in the first place," said Teff.

Yoda looked down, "Understand your concern, I do. Investigate other Jedi, we must. Trust your judgment, we do."

Mace shrugged, "A part of the reason we wanted you, Master Nal'ma, is that you have been critical of the Council at times. We need both loyalists and skeptics on this task force."

Teff nodded, and put a finger on his chin, ostensibly to think more about that conversation.

"What about the Padawans," asked Aurine. "Why them?"

"Underestimate them, Dooku will," said Yoda. "Barely remember his days as a Padawan, Dooku will. Forget how capable Padawans are, he has."

"Can I raise a question," asked Tiplee. "Why was this done in front of just you two? Why not inform the rest of the Council?"

Mace and Yoda shared a look, before Mace answered, "Because we are not sure who we can trust. Not even the Member of the Council"

"And yet you chose to trust us?" said Teff in exasperation. "I'm a well-known Council skeptic." He pointed to Aurine, "Her Master is basically in open defiance to the Council and has been for the past fifteen years. I fail to see the common thread that would make us such a great choice for this critical task."

"Are you declining?" asked Master Windu frostily.

"I'm looking for openness," replied the Twi'lek. Teff's lekku were twitching in annoyance, and it looked to Sascha like he was deeply upset by the premise of this mission in the first place.

This time, Yoda answered, "Had a vision about this, I did. The six of you, crucial to this outcome, you are. Trust in the Force, I will. Trust in you, I will."

The room was stunned into silence for a moment before Aurine spoke up, "Your faith is not misplaced, Master Yoda. Tell us what needs to be done, and we will do it."

"Our only requirement is secrecy." Mace held up a hand to forestall incoming comments. "I understand that this is uncomfortable, but with the potential of Dooku recruiting from within the Jedi Order, we need to keep this investigation to be tight and contained. No one is beyond suspicion. It is a painful thing to say. But no one would have suspected that Dooku would leave the Order completely." Mace looked past the assembled Jedi and out the window, pausing for dramatic effect, "This is a tumultuous time in the Republic, I don't have to remind you of that. If Dooku creates a public schism between himself and the Jedi, and a significant number of Jedi defect to him, public faith in the Jedi could be seriously damaged. This may not be what Dooku is doing. He may just be taunting us from afar. But we cannot leap at after feint and taunt from a fencer like Dooku. We must find out his intentions, and stop them."

"Stop them, how?" asked Aurine. "I don't even think the three of us could stand against Dooku in lightsaber combat. We don't even know where he is at the moment. We could suspect that he is on Serenno, but he's not exactly giving public speeches."

"We leave the details up to you," said Mace. As we said, your goal is to find Dooku's intentions and stop them. The six of you will have a direct line to both myself and Master Yoda. Any resources that you need will be yours. This is, without a doubt, the most important mission currently being undertaken by the Jedi Order. Act accordingly."

Sascha couldn't really believe this was happening. He, Nara, and Tyra were assigned one of the most important missions in the entire Order? It was insane. It was something he had always wanted, of course, but he hadn't expected it would come like this. Master Yoda said that he had a vision of them doing this mission? Successfully, he assumed. It really boggled the mind. Sascha didn't really like alcohol, but he suddenly felt the need to have a good, stiff, drink.

"Where do we even start?" asked Nara, respectfully.

"Guide you, we will not," said Yoda. "Your mission, this is."

"If I may offer one piece of advice," said Mace. "Split up into teams. I know this sounds paranoid in the extreme, but Dooku will have ways of finding information from within these walls. If you six are seen working together on a secretive mission, someone may put the pieces together. This deception only works if Dooku does not know what is happening, understood?"

"Yes, Masters," repeated the six Jedi.

"You will report to Master Yoda and myself. No one else. No one else is to know what you are doing. Come up with a convenient alibi."

"If we catch Dooku and we see that he is a Sith, what are our orders?" asked Tiplee.

"Capture Dooku, our goal is," said Yoda. "Engage him in a fight, you should not."

"And what about a traitorous Jedi," he asked. "Do we confront them? Arrest them?"

"That will be up to your judgment," said Mace. "I understand that some of you have dealt with...wayward Jedi before. Your judgment there was sound. We would hope for a peaceful result, or something similar."

Mace was referring to his own encounter with Weliss. It was not a mission that he liked to think back on too much. By Tyra's reaction, neither did she, as she cast a glance surreptitiously towards her artificial hand, a hand that she had lost at Weliss' blade. The two of them had succeeded in bringing Weliss to justice, but it had almost cost them their friendship.

"I have one question though," said Tiplee. "Where do we even start? Presumably all information about Dooku is somewhat classified, and probably restricted to members of the Council. Are you going to give us access too?"

"Full access, you will have," said Yoda. "Like Members of the Council, you will be."

"Temporarily," added Mace.

"Even us?" blurted Nara.

Mace folded his hands together and leaned forward, "Yes. But this is not a power to be used lightly. The members of the Jedi Council have full access to the complete, unredacted history of the Order. I would confine yourselves to inquiries about Dooku though. Doing inappropriate searches would reflect...poorly on your chances of becoming Jedi Knights."

"Ah, understood, Masters," said an obviously chastised Nara.

"I must ask now if you accept this mission," said Mace.

"And if I don't?" asked Teff

"You'll be sent on a long-term mission away from the Temple," said Mace, meeting Teff's glare. "Not as a punishment, just so you understand, but we cannot have this news travelling around the Temple."

"I'd say it sounds more like a threat," countered Teff.

"Enough," said Yoda. The Grand Master's voice was quiet enough, but the weight of the words seemed to silence the entire room. "Accept or not. Know, we must."

"I accept," said Aurine. Sascha smiled internally. His Master would always be one of the first into the fray, whatever it may be. No challenge daunted her.

"I accept, as well," said Tiplee. "Though the scope of the task daunts me."

All eyes turned to Teff Nal'ma. The Twi'lek appeared to be deep in thought, his eye not even focused on what was in front of him. Finally after a silence that stretched into awkwardness, he answered, "I will take on this mission, though I am not happy about it. However, I am a Jedi Knight. I accept the tasks that are put in front of me."

"Thank you, all," said Mace. The Korun Jedi Master looked at the three Padawans, "I assume that the apprentices have no objection to this mission?"

No one objected.

"Then all there is left to say is may the Force be with you," said Mace. "If you need anything from Master Yoda or myself, please do ask."

Sascha had never heard Mace say the word 'please' before today. This day was turning out to be a rather interesting one...

"We will do our best, Master Yoda, Master Windu" answered Tiplee. Being the only Jedi Master in the trio, the Rishati was the default leader of the group.

The six Jedi bowed to Mace and Yoda. "Remember," said Mace. "Trust no one besides yourselves. "

As the six Jedi walked out of the Council chambers, Aurine muttered, "He could have chosen some less auspicious words to leave us with, I think."

Mace Windu waited until the six Jedi were out of the room and far away before turning to his old friend, Master Yoda. "I don't like this. They are good, solid, Jedi, I won't deny that. But we have no idea what games Dooku is playing. I think we are putting them against someone that is far above their level."

"In terms of the Force, outmatched they are. In terms of intelligence and trickery, outmatched they are not," said Yoda.

"And you are sure you have not misinterpreted your vision?" asked Mace. Mace did not like questioning Yoda. He only did it because no one else seemed to want to do it.

Yoda sighed. "Always misread, a vision may be. Trust in the Force, we will. Trust in their training, we will."

"I don't trust Teff's Padawan. She spent a lot of time undercover and out of contact. Who is to say that she is not one of Dooku's moles?"

Yoda stayed silent, simply looking into the distance and bouncing his stick off the floor in a rhythmic fashion.

Jedi Master Mace Windu knew when not to press for an answer. This was one of those times.