Chapter 33
Serreno – The Mullinsi Mountains Ranges
While the castle of House Serenno was comfortable – set on the cliffs overlooking the planet he ruled – Dooku had to admit the family's winter residence in the mountains was far more suitable the training his Master had given him. Located high in the Mullinsi Ranges, it gripped the side of a sheer cliff. To an outside observer, one might think it had been carved from the stone itself. A massive structure built entirely from octagonally cut stone, it was built in a five-sided configuration that started and ended at a bridge that spanned the gap between it and the next mountain over. Not many people used the bridge anymore, instead using airspeeders to travel to and from the castle.
The walls held a large array of weapons and droids to help defend the castle, but they were hidden within the architecture. To an outside observer, the walls appeared sheer and slick. They were unaware of how easily sections of the stone slid back to reveal a turret or a port for defence droids. That had been his father's work. Since taking over, Dooku had added a ray shield that could surround the entire building in case of orbital attack.
Only a few of the most trusted staff members maintained the many corridors of the labyrinthine mansion. They swept and cleaned constantly, and their families lived within the walls with them. That was only fair. These mountains were famous for their tremendous snowfalls. Even now, at the end of the snow season, the outside walls were thick with white powder.
Inside the five-walls perimeter sat the mansion, a simple, three-storey square building with a central courtyard. A storm had passed by overnight, covering the normally pristine stone garden. Thick clouds still lingered overhead, threatening another encore. In the centre of the courtyard stood Dooku. His feet had sunk to ankle depth in the snow. His curved lightsabre hilt blazed with it's crimson blade, which he held down and to the side, ready for the next attack to begin. The few lingering snowflakes that hadn't fallen the night before were shaken free from their holds and drifting down onto the burning blade, melting into steam before they made contact.
He stood patiently with eyes closed and waited for the three duelling droids that surrounded him to attack. The snow dampened their footfalls, making their movements discernible by only the light squeak of each step. The sound was further hidden by the constantly crackling electropikes they gripped tightly in their mechanic limbs. Two spherical training droids also circled him carefully, slowly, waiting for him to drop his guard so they could attack. The hardest part of this challenge was that each droid was linked. They could communicate strategies without any signal that Dooku would be able to read.
One of the spheres blasted at him, and he deflected the bolt away. The training droids surged in as he was distracted, one of them attacking with a thrusting lunge, the crackling energy slipping into the older man's ribs. He grunted in pain, but buried it down. He could use the pain and turn it into anger. Anger was a powerful weapon when used correctly. Reversing the grip of his blade, he slashed into the droid's metallic carcase. Then he utilised the Force and pushed the droid's severed torso away from him. The other droid's swarmed him, and he slashed at their weapons, driving them back as he deflected their electrified pikes. Leaping up and spinning in the air, he deflected another bolt directly into the shutoff button of the sphere that had shot at him.
Nearby, his personal protocol droid – the tall, cylindrical headed 3D-X4 droid, stood tall, watching carefully. The droid was designated R4PO, or Rappo, as many of the staff members children called him. A bolt zipped past him and bounced around the polished suramont-plated walls of the courtyard, the energy finding nowhere to dispel. Dooku effortlessly deflected the bolt before it struck him in the back.
"Count Dooku, my lord.", Rappo spoke up suddenly, the antenna on his head elongating, "I am terribly sorry to interrupt, but you seem to be getting a priority message from Coruscant."
"Pause training session.", Dooku ordered as he used the Force to push his opponents away. The training spheres clattered to the floor and the duelling droids becoming still as they deactivated. "Let us see this message, droid."
The protocol droid held out his palm, which had a holodisk fitted within the palm. A second later, a massive hologram of his Master's face appeared, towering over them. Immediately, the Count of Serenno fell to the floor, kneeling before the man called Sidious. He could feel the weight of his Master's power on his shoulders, and tried not to sink further into the stones under the pressure. "What is thy bidding, my Master."
His Master frowned at him, his mouth twisting into a fierce sneer. When he spoke, his voice was as rough as gravel, "Lord Tyrannus. I have need of the assets you have been gathering for our plans. Are they ready?"
"They are at your service, Lord Sidious.", Dooku bowed lower, feeling the weight of his master's words even more than just his mere presence. Those assets had been gathered over the past ten years, some even for twenty, as they planned the downfall of the Republic and the Jedi, "Which assets will you require?"
"I shall place my trust in your abilities to decide. But be warned that your actions are in my name. Make me proud."
So, it was to be a test, Dooku thought wryly. Perhaps one final test before the plan could finally begin.
Sidious paused as he sensed the thoughts of his apprentice, but then continued as though they were insignificant, "There is a particular Senator that you must not allow to reach Coruscant. Although his message may well be beneficial to my plans, the time for our war is almost upon us. I believe that his death may well send a far better message. If even the Jedi cannot protect them, the Senator's will vote in favour of an army."
"The Kaminoan's Army?", Dooku asked.
The man nodded in reply, steepling his fingers. "I do hope that you have given those cloners my complete instructions."
Dooku didn't even bother giving the man a reply. Of course he had given them the orders that he himself had received. To do less would be a betrayal. A betrayal that would lead to his death. He instead brought the conversation back to his Master's request. "You believe that a Senator's death will benefit us more than his allegiance?"
"There is already another in the system who can get us what we need.", Sidious' smiled widened slightly, "Rellus has been most insistent about his deal. You will order whomever you need to, and eliminate Senator Trav-iss Torn of Pantora. After all, we have both seen the future that their leader will create for us."
Indeed they did. Dooku silently shuddered as he remembered their glimpse into the future. World's burned and Jedi screaming as they raced away from the monster he and his master would create.
"Where would I find this… Senator?", Dooku asked, "Our ally in the Information Guild assures me that he has already left for Coruscant."
Their ally, slippery as he was, had been as reliable as they could hope. He had directed their forces to Mon Calamari through a secret hyperspace lane and their ally's had absconded a fortune's worth of fuel pods. He had showed them where to attack the Togo Shipyards to cripple production. No more of the dreaded Dixin-class frigates would be launching for quite a while. But Dooku still didn't completely trust the man.
"The Raven reports that they shall soon arrive at the refuelling station above Shili. Make sure that your allies are ready and prepared.", Sideous answered, lowering the hood. "If you do not have allies in that sector, I believe it may be time for you to step in personally."
Dooku frowned, grabbing a datapad from his droid and scrolling through it, "Although I would be honoured to deal with this personally, my Master, I do have assets around Shili. But I must protest. These assets are stealing the fuel from the nearest gas giant. That gas would be useful for our fleet. I can send other assets."
"No.", his master snapped, "Ensure that there are no survivors of this accident. Send the reinforcing assets you need, but if these fuel pirates are the closest, then make them be your first wave. Force this ship to ground and hunt them, destroy their ship in orbit, capture the vessel and torture the Jedi. I do not care how it is accomplished. Do what you find necessary, but do not fail me."
Dooku went to object further, but thought better of it, "Of course, my Master."
"Very well, Darth Tyrannus.", Sidious' hologram straightened and began to flicker out, "I have sent you the details I have on the transport. Do what must be done."
Dooku watched as the hologram fizzled, replaced by that of a smaller wire-frame of a luxury/military Tasha-class transport. He recalled the list he had just scrolled through. The Mining Guild would be able to take on a single transport. But then he looked at the passenger manifest. Two of them could be trouble. He looked up at his droid, "Send an encrypted transmission to Cantoni of Tibrin. I require her assistance in a serious matter."
Cantoni Paltuk, the Ishi Tib leader of the Obakic Gang, stood proudly aboard the Black Revenge's bridge, the crew's massive flagship. The unique cruiser she stood in was her pride and joy, designed and made by her own hands with parts from ships she had caught in the Krenvavore system. The main skeleton was from a long Vorpede-class destroyer, but the bridge was that of a Prisius. The engines had once belonged to a Commerce Guild Recusant, and the armoured nose to a Hutt cruiser. More, smaller parts – from a mixture of Republic cruisers, freighters and corporation ships – made up the patchwork hull. It appeared to any ship that came across them would assume it was an under equipped pirate vessel. But that was all part of the facade.
Inside the bridge were state-of-the-art instrument panels and control units. Even the droids who cleaned the windows of the old Prisius-class cruiser's bridge were exceptionally well-maintained. She didn't stand here to marvel at the glass though. She was busy looking through it, at the unlucky freighter snagged by her cables.
Her Type-II Loadlifter's were currently tearing into the hull of an unlucky VCX-100 light freighter that had happened to have stumbled into their trap. The pirates -her pirates – had spread an intricate net of EMP generators and powerful tractor beams through this area of space, allowing them to trap the unsuspecting ships who ventured along the hyperspace lanes of the Krenvavore system. The captain smiled at her men on another of the screens as they neared the airlock.
"Get the droids to focus on the cockpit.", she ordered, "Once that cracks, the crew will be helpless without spacesuits."
Immediately, her technicians entered the commands, and the three loadlifters crawled up the hull with magnetic feet, scrabbling towards the thick canopy on top of the ship where the cockpit was. Her men, those skilled enough to use their spacesuit's effectively, started using laser-cutter's on the doors, trying to cut their way in before the crew noticed them. A blinking button interrupted the woman's thoughts, and she looked down to see her private comm alert insistently blinking from her waist. She turned to her second in command, a squat Chadra-Fan with three wooden spike-earrings stabbed through his left ear.
"I need to take this comm call. Take over for me, Nukus.", she hurried over to the private holotable, clicking in the sequence of codes to both answer the comm and shut the main doors to ensure her privacy. "Lord Tyrannus. How may my men be of service to your crusade?"
The shadowy, hooded form studied her carefully, his face covered by an old, olive green mask that looked like it had been both burned or melted. "How is your own mission progressing, Cantoni of Tibrin?"
"Like you requested, my lord, we are hitting as many ships as possible, and sending the metal and weapons to the coordinates you sent us. I trust that you are retrieving it at your leisure.", Cantoni rubbed her beak. She was rather proud of their work. In fact, the other two ships of her tiny fleet, both Sullestan Cargo freighters, were taking their latest haul to the Krenvavore base as they spoke.
"You do good work, captain.", the man's disguised voice was hard to read, but he almost sounded like he was smiling. She hoped he was smiling. "However, a rare opportunity has presented itself. A Senator close to the Chancellor is travelling towards Shili. Taking him out could damage the Senate's credibility and ruin the Jedi's reputation. This task is vital to the revolution."
"Let me stop you there, boss.", the Ishi Tib could barely contain her excitement, "If you are telling me that my crew could be doing something more than just junkin' out here, I'm all for it. Tell me what to do. Where do you want us?"
Tyrannus nodded at her enthusiasm, but remained calm himself, "I need you to move your trap. My other allies that are already in the system will attempt to destroy the Senator's personally, but they are miners. Even if they succeed, your people are experts at making ships disappear. We cannot allow the Republic to find them."
"You normally give us more than that, boss.", she told him pointedly, "Any plan you have?"
The mask nodded slowly, "When you and your men arrive, I need you to trap them inside the system's asteroid field, and destroy them. If the Senator survives, our cause will take years to build more momentum.
Cantoni's smile threatened to break her beak. "For the cause, my lord. For the cause."
Rappo shook his hand, the holoprojector fizzing off. He moved to resume standing near the doorway. Dooku nodded at the droid in thanks. He reignited his blade, ready to restart the duel, when another thought caught his attention.
"Rappo.", he called to the droid, "Contact General Amedda. Tell her to get the fleet moving. I want her ready to jump to our foundries on Wexton, load up as many droids as possible, then jump to our rally points. Tell her to send a detachment of those droidekas to Geonosis as well. I am conducting a meeting there next week and require more security."
"Understood, my Lord.", the droid answered. He turned and began making his way towards the main communications room.
Dooku returned his attention to the training droids. "Resume training."
As one, the droids reactivated, their weapons crackling. The count brought his crimson blade up to his eyes before sweeping it delicately to the side, prepared to continue his training.