"Tell me… what have you found, my apprentice?"

Asajj knelt before him, head lowered but not as much as would have been proper. Her shoulders were too high and her posture screamed defiance. Anyone else in his presence, knowing the power he held, would have pressed their forehead to the ground and groveled for mercy even before they said a word. Even if they knew he was pleased and he was about to reward them. But Ventress? Ventress never showed such weakness.

'Good,' Dooku thought to himself, rather pleased. 'It is a weak apprentice who fears their master.'

"Kenobi, Skywalker, and the rest disappeared on the planet."

"I know this," he said coolly.

"Patience, my master," she replied, glancing up at him with bemused eyes. "Isn't that what you taught me?"

He had and it was interesting to see his own lessons being flung back at him. Still, even if she was right there was an order that needed to be maintained. "I also taught you not to waste time, Ventress. Every moment matters." He allowed the Dark Side to thrum within him. "You never know how few you actually have."

"Of course," Ventress said, dipping her head in submission. He wasn't fooled by that though… Ventress was like a Kozaki Black Wolf. Oh, they would come to one they had bonded with and would follow their commands… but they would forever be looking for a sign of weakness. And the moment there was one? They would sink their jaws into the soft flesh of the one who thought they could truly control them. Which is how a Sith Apprentice should be. Able to show deference to their master but also always looking for weakness so they might strike. It allowed the Master to remain strong and aware of all that was happening, prepared at all time to fight back.

It was so easy to become lax as a Sith Lord. The Dark Side… it encouraged a glut in all things, including sloth. The ancient Sith texts that he had read before his fall, when he'd been obsessed with the coming Darkness, had spoken of Sith Lords who fell not because of the Jedi and the lightsabers but their inability to control themselves and their urges. An apprentice forced one to remain shape.

'What a sad existence,' a voice in his head that sounded far too much like his long lost padawan said with a sigh.

Dooku didn't allow himself to scowl at that thought. There was no room to doubt… not when he had Ventress kneeling before him, ready to attack if he gave her an opening.

"For what I have gathered the Chancellor has been seeking out in private any information concerning unusual anomalies concerning the disappearance of Skywalker."

It had been a dangerous thing, letting Asajj know that the Chancellor was the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. The most closely guarded secret in all of the galaxy… something to be held on tight to, that knowledge. But Dooku had already decided that his time with his Master was coming to an end and as such some daring was needed.

"Only Skywalker?" Dooku asked, wanting to make sure that Ventress wasn't hiding anything.

"He never mentioned Kenobi or Amidala's names."

"Interesting…" Dooku murmured. Of course he knew the plan was to turn Skywalker to the Dark Side so he might be the new Field Commander of an army of Jedi who embraced the Dark Side of the Force, willing to do what needed to be done in order to protect the galaxy. But there were plenty of other Jedi who would have done, had he truly been killed. While Skywalker had shown himself powerful in the Force and ripe for Falling there were plenty of others that Dooku could see taking his place. As the War went on more and more Jedi would forsake their vows and without even realizing it turn away from the light. Not Fall… but disgrace and betray the Light Side. It was the entire plan, after all… to turn them into a true fighting force that could remove the corruption of the Galaxy, with a Sith Lord leading them all.

The Sith, after all, had started out as Jedi…

For his Master to be so obsessed with Skywalker when he had shown time and again how willing he was to abandon a failed project at the drop of a hat… that was concerning.

"What else have you learned?" he asked, knowing that Ventress wouldn't have come to see him personally if that was all she had obtained.

"A few things," she said, a slight purr in her voice. "Three to be precise."

"Go on," Dooku said, not willing to play any games.

But Ventress seemed to be in a feisty mode. "Kenobi's closest friend, some Jedi Healer named Bunt-"

"Bant," Dooku said, cutting her off. "Jedi Healer Bant." He remembered her well; while he had kept his distance from Qui Gon when he'd trained Obi Wan, knowing that his Padawan was still dealing with the failures of Xanatos and didn't need Dooku there to throw it in his face that the boy had been trouble (he had seen his own faults in the boy and knew that he would Fall… ironic, now that he thought about it) he had kept a close eye on Kenobi. The boy seemed to drag misery towards him and yet was so deep in the Force that, depressingly, he would never turn. 'Oh… what I could have done with him.'

'Yes… if only you had remained in the Light,' Qui Gon's voice replied solemnly.

"Bant," Ventress continued, "has disappeared from the Jedi Temple. And Quinlan Vos has as well."

Two of the people closest to Kenobi within the order. His brother and sister in all but blood. That was intriguing.

"And… Clone Force 99 has gone awol."

Doku raised an eyebrow at that. "They aren't known for following orders."

"But they've never disappeared like this. NOTHING can be done to find them… and your master is concerned." She paused. "Because the last known location of them was in the same system as where Skywalker and Kenobi disappeared to."

Now that… was interesting.

Very interesting.

"You have done well."

"I have," Ventress confirmed with cheek. "And… I'm not done, my master."

He stared at her hard. Both knew what she said next might very well change things forever between them.

"Rathbin II… did you select it?"

He frowned. "No…" he said slowly. "My master did. We needed a planet where it would be difficult for the Republic to get to if they wished to investigate the attack while also close enough to draw Skywalker and Kenobi in." The plan had been to blow up the building, most likely have the meddlesome Senator killed, and Kenobi and Skywalker attacked by their droid army that was waiting for them. They would be captured and Skywalker tortured until he Fell. But the explosion had been too large and the entire group had died-"

"I thought so. Rathbin II is an innocent little planet… when one doesn't look into how it gained its name."

"And by that you mean…"

"It was once Rathbin III."

"The Rathbin system only has 2 planets."

Ventress raised her head up. "The Sith made it that way."

"… a destroyed planet," he murmured to himself, thinking of the asteroid belt that separated Rathbin I from Rathbin II. "And… Rathbin III?"

"Legend states it held a Sith Stronghold… dedicated to the movement of matter… and life. They sought to be able to send their warriors across the galaxy in seconds, appearing behind enemy lines and beyond defensive walls."

"And… perhaps they succeeded," Dooku murmured. He strode towards Asajj… motioned with his hand for her to look upon him. "You have done well… you have served me loyally and you have worked beyond your abilities. Long have you sought this… and now… I give it to you."

Dooku paused.

There would be no coming back from this now. With this act he committed himself fully. His Geonosis.

" Henceforth you shall be known as Darth… Fatale."

Asajj stared at him in shock… for a second. And then a smile formed on her lips and the dark side roared in triumph.

"Yes… my master."

Dooku looked down at her and… he wasn't quite sure how he felt. He had expected the moment to feel grander. A clear sense of leaving one age and entering another. He had been able to mark so many points in his life by the relationship of Master with Apprentice. Yoda selecting him to be his Padawan and how that had been the time to put away childish things and become a true student of the Gorce. Yaddle unofficially seeking him out during his times as a knight and being the first not to shame him for refusing to take on a Padawan. She had understood that he simply wasn't ready and that he needed to explore the galaxy and understand HIMSELF and his place in the Force before he could help another. She had understood.

('Did she understand why you decided to pierce her heart with your lightsaber?' Qui Gon asked.)

His taking on of Rael which had only proven that he was too young to have an apprentice, for he had been unable to help the boy fully understand the ways of the Jedi. Qui Gon, who in Dooku's eyes was as the Jedi SHOULD have been: not servants of a code but servants of the Force itself. Komari Vosa, who remained even after his fall a reminder of the dangers of committing too much to one's emotions and allowing them to control someone…

('She loved you. And you used that as a weapon against her. Once to destroy her life, the second to end it. Will you do that again with this one? She craves a master… she would give herself fully to you, if you but asked…' Qui Gon murmured)

Dooku's face fell into a scowl.

"Leave us. Consider our next steps. Consider this a test to see if you truly are worthy of the title I have given you, Lady Fatele."

"Yes, my master," Asajj… Fatele… said softly. Far too softly than he'd ever heard her before. Too much respect, too much thanks.

It burned him worse than a lightsaber.

Once she was done Dooku left for his quarters, activating all the security devices before he… lit his lightsaber.

"So," he purred at the darkness, "how is this being done? A trick of the Force to play with my hearing? Disguising some machine to make me hear alone that voice? Ventress didn't hear it… she is a good actress but not that good."

"Ventress, is it now?" the voice of his former pupil said, teasing but not in the overly playful way so many of the younger jedi adopted in their attempt to find some emotion that they might cling too. No… Qui Gon had always, even at a young age, had the temperament of an old man when it came to jokes. "I thought she was Fatele? Of course I could see preferring her true name… Fatele, my master? No some of your best work."

Now he could hear the voice all the clearer and crisper and that made Dooku grow more confident. If whoever was trying to unsettle him believed that this had been a fine decision they had made a grave mistake.

"You are here, aren't you?" he said, refusing to reply to the voice's comments.

"I have always been with you," the voice that sounded so much like Qui Gon said. "Through the darkness and the light. Though sadly there has been more darkness than I would have ever preferred… but more light than you'd care to admit."

"The voice is too clear. Too crisp. So it isn't mechanical. The Force then. Let me guess… another Fallen Jedi my Master took on? I have come to see thanks to his obsession with Skywalker that he is willing to toss me aside." That had been a bitter pill to swallow but Dooku was used to disappointment, especially when it came to Masters.

"Why would I side with the man that killed me?" the voice asked even as Dooku prepared to draw back his lightsaber. "Of course… I wonder why you did."

There was movement to his left and Dooku spun around, plunging his blade forward.

His delight in finally finding the mysterious speaker died when he stared into the eyes of his beloved Padawan.

"Just a few inches down and you'd have struck me where your master's mad dog had," Qui Gon Jinn stated, looking down at where Dooku's saber had stabbed him.

"No…" Dooku whispered, turning off the blade. "No… I didn't…" he waited for Qui Gon to fall, to collapse in pain, to moan as his life ended only now it was all Dooku's doing.

But Qui Gon merely stood there, serene and peaceful like a true Jedi. Confident and bemused as no Jedi could be.

"How… how can this be?" Dooku said, all his confidence leaving him as he stared at his Padawan. Because he knew in an instant that this was no trick. He could FEEL Qui Gon in the Force. He might have an odd shimmer to his form, the world just behind him visible even with him blocking it, but it was him. One could use the Force to do many things but they couldn't fake the connection between Master and Apprentice as he felt in that moment.

Qui Gon let out a sigh, one he was familiar with. It was the sound so many Masters made when their Padawans said something so foolish and the answer was so obvious that one couldn't help but wonder what exactly was being taught in the crèche. A Master LONGED to hear their Padawan make that sound when complaining about their own Padawan, as it meant they finally understood what they'd put their teachers through.

"Come now, my Master. What is the goal of all Sith?" He folded his hands into the sleeves of his robes. "Not the lies you tell yourself about power or control or the death of all Jedi or ruling the Galaxy. What is the true goal of the Sith?"

Dooku couldn't stop himself from answering, "To conqueror death." He stared at Qui Gon and knew at once while that was the answer… it wasn't what he had done.

"Such a thing is impossible," Qui Gon confirmed. "No one can live forever. All things end."

"The Sith have managed to continue on after death," Dooku argued. When he'd first begun to worry about the growing threat to the galaxy his first fear (and he could admit now it was a fear… as much has he looked at his master's ways with scorn he could admit that fear had been his first step towards the dark side) he had assumed that the threat would come from an Ancient Sith. One that had found away to freeze themselves, perhaps with ice or some lost method that allowed them to slow their aging to that of a sun or star. Perhaps one that had imprinted their mind upon a cybernetic brain; there were references to some Sith that had sought to become 'more machine than man' without losing the ability to tap into the Force. And in his studies he had learned of Sith Spirits, who were little more than ghosts that continued on long after death.

"A pale imitation that even the wraiths would admit do not come close to what they desired," Qui Gon said, slowly walking past Dooku towards the small table he kept in his room where he might enjoy a cup of caf in the morning and truly be himself before he had to put on the persona of 'Count Dooku, Separatist Leader'. "Trapped forever to a single location or to a single object. Unable to move, to explore, and until called upon they know only the endless quiet." He paused before he settled down in a chair. "I am far beyond that."

Dooku found himself sitting down across Qui Gon.

"I have learned the secret to maintaining my sense of self while in the Force. And as such… I have become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."

He wanted to argue against what Qui Gon was saying… but the fact that his dead Padawan was pouring him a cup of tea was proof of what he said!

"Can anyone learn this power?" Dooku found himself asking.

"Not from a Sith," Qui Gon told him with a soft smile.

"So it is hopeless then," Dooku replied, at once feeling his anger begin to churn. "You've come to taunt me because of what happened with your Padawan and Skywalker?"

"I've come to you because I love you, my Master," Qui Gon said. Dooku had only heard one other Jedi speak that way to him and her words had been filled with lust and delusion. "And I want to save you. Do you remember what I warned you about? What fate awaits you?"

He did. His nightmares had been filled with Mandalore.

"And it is far worse for one who draws others into the same darkness. Asajj Ventress… she was a good person once. I believe she can be again."

"She is Sith."

"She has no idea what a Sith is," Qui Gon argued. "She is a lost child."

"Ventress has lived decades, Qui Gon, and in that time-"

"She has not even reached 30."

THAT made Dooku blink in surprise.

"You truly didn't know. I'm not surprised. I doubt she even realizes it. She was ripped from her home, sold into slavery, found bya nearly mad Jedi and taught piecemeal bits of the Force before he died and she blamed the Order for betraying a man that did all he could to cover his tracks and make it look like he died. And now she has come to you, someone who is strong and powerful but also can offer her a home…"

"I am no one's father, Qui Gon," Dooku replied. His padawan merely smiled softly at him and Dooku narrowed his eyes. "I have made my choice."

"Nothing is eternal save the Force. Even choices."

Qui Gon paused.

"You'll never find them."

"Who?"

"Obi Wan and Anakin. Nor Captain Rex, Padme, or Ahsoka. They are forever out of your grasp. The same as your master. The Force saw to that."

"Then they are dead?" Dooku asked, knowing that would upset his master greatly.

But Qui Gon shook his head. "They live. They thrive. Anakin no longer must hide his marriage and he and Padme are allowed to let the flame that is their love grow without fear of it being snuffed out or exploding. Ahsoka will become a hero. Rex has moved beyond his brothers and will have what they could only dream of: a life. And Obi Wan…" Qui Gon smirked. "I must congratulate you, my Master… you are a Great Great Grandmaster yet again."

"Kenobi has another apprentice?" Dooku asked, surprised.

"He does. His daughter. Eri Kenobi."

Dooku frowned. "You would only tell me this if there truly was no hope of ever reaching them." Because he knew that claiming this 'Eri Kenobi' would help him break Kenobi.

Qui Gon, as if sensing his thoughts, shook his head sadly. "As I said you and your master will NEVER reach them. They are no longer part of the game you are playing." And before Dooku's eyes Qui Gon began to fade away. "We will speak again, my Master."

But just as he began to disappear, leaving only the tea and the pulled out chair as proof of his existence there, Dooku heard him say one final thing.

"And you will have enough problems…with what the Force has brought HERE."

~MC~MC~MC~

Kalifa ran.

Or she tried to.

It was hard when her leg was screaming in pain. The shot the Trandoshan had fired hadn't been clean at all, ripping through her calf and leaving every step she took a test in pained endurance. One she was losing. Every step made her slower, weaker. She had to find some place to hide, to heal… but that was the rub. In order to find a place to hide she had to keep moving… and moving was what was slowing her down, allowing her pursuers to catch up to her-

A blast struck her in the shoulder and Kalifa screamed as she went down hard, face slamming into the dirt and overgrowth. She tried to yank herself free only for the heavy foot of the lead Trandoshan to kick her, forcing her to roll over and face the hunting party.

"Good," the leader said; Kalifa vaguely remembered hearing one of the other hunters call him Dar. "I so enjoy watching your eyes when your kind dies." He took his gun and pressed it to her temple.

"Hold on," another of the hunters said. "Maybe she'd be willing to trade." He looked down at her, face twisting into what was most assuredly for him a cruel leer. "How about it, little one? We let you go if you tell us where the rest of the prey is?"

"I'm… I'm dead either way," she spat. She wouldn't betray Jinx or O-Mer. She could do that for them at least.

"Well… when you're right," Dar said and Kalifa shut her eyes only for him to jab the barrel of his gun into her wounded shoulder. "What did I tell you?" he snapped. "I want to see your eyes when I kill you." Kalifa gasped in pain as he prodded the wound again. "So keep those eyes open… or I will make this last-"

And then Dar was ripped away, flying through the air, and Kalifa forced herself up.

A Jedi.

It had to be a Jedi.

One had finally-

It wasn't a Jedi.

Or at least the figure before her wasn't dressed like any Jedi she'd seen before. Black pants and overshirt with a white undershirt. Very plain. Very non-descript. Nothing like the Jedi robes she would have expected. And they didn't fit the new arrival at all, being too short and showcasing much of their skin. Skin, Kalifa realized with growing horror, that was horribly scarred. The hands, the legs, even the mouth. Only the top of the figure's head looked somewhat healthy but that was punctured with strange bits of metal, as if the figure was trying to hold his head together.

He caught Dar with one hand and frowned, the move pulling on his burnt skin.

"I don't know where the hell I am or who the hell you are… but I do know that the way you are tormenting that kid reminds me a lot of my father."

And then the man held up his hand and unleashed a glut of blue flames that left the Trandoshan hunters screaming in terror and agony.

Several tried to escape, fleeing from the flames, but there was sudden movement from the green and a blonde human girl wearing a strange white and blue outfit burst out of the forest, metal blades flashing as she gleefully cut into the hunters before they could take a step.

"I hate my father," the burned man said before igniting the hand that was holding Dar, causing the Trandoshan to let out a strangle cry. He lasted only half a minute before he was little more than bones and ashes, the former crumbling as the burned man dropped him. "Fucking hell, even out of the city people are shit."

"Aw, don't be so glum!" the girl declared. "Look, we made a friend!" She turned and Kalifa swallowed as the blonde lifted up one of her bloody blades and licked it clean before flashing a sharp smile. "You do want to be friends… riiiight?"

Kalifa swallowed before nodding. "If you can get me and my friends out of the place I'll be your friend for life."

"Hmmm… someone with fucking sense," the burned man said even as the blond clapped her hands in delight.

"Leave her be, both of you," a third voice said. "She's hurt and been through a lot. This is the kind of person Stain told us needs to be protected."

Kalifa turned and stared at the final new arrival. They were tall, with weird blue pants, boots, a white undershirt, and a Corillian Salmon colored overshirt. The figure was tall and muscular but had large painted lips and wore a pair of glasses over their eyes that were tinted.

"Don't worry, kid… Big Sis Magne is here."

She paused.

"Wherever here is."