Chapter 57 - Cursed Lineage

"Greetings, Masters." Obi-Wan gave a polite bow.

Beside him, Qui-Gon performed a clipped version of the same.

Anakin and Alex waved at Kate and Freya, who were both standing near their Masters.

"Before we go on, Master Yoda wanted me to say that he told you so," Qui-Gon added with a light smirk.

Plo looked at them confused, but Mace hummed.

"What is this about?" Obi-Wan asked.

"I don't know exactly. He never specified, but I assumed you would know," said Qui-Gon.

Anakin gave the girls an inquiring eye.

"I think he's talking about the Grandmaster's predictions for your current mission," Freya shared.

"Padawan." Mace scolded.

"No, I think I'd like to hear this. What does the Grandmaster say about us?" Qui-Gon stirred.

Mace turned his scolding eye towards Qui-Gon, who smiled in a cheeky way. "Grandmaster Yoda was worried for you. He said that, if there was trouble to be found within a hundred yards, your teams would run straight through it."

He paused and the younglings all giggled.

Qui-Gon looked offended. Obi-Wan looked amused.

Mace took another breath. "I however, am unconvinced all is exactly as the Grandmaster fears. Let me see the evidence you've gathered so far, and we'll plan our next moves."

"Right here, Master." Obi-Wan pulled out a tablet with the bank records on it. Mace stepped closer to look at it. Plo and Qui-Gon gathered round.

While the adults were talking, Anakin looked at the other younglings. "So, you guys came here pretty quick. I mean Qui-Gon sent that message to the Council hours ago."

"Yeah, we were on our way to Ossus," Kate shared. "Master Plo was disappointed that we had to turn around, but we were a lot closer than any other teams."

Freya chuckled, "Yeah, bi-ig coincidence that."

"We just came from Niro. Anakin hacked the bank, then we used a Force Suggestion to get their employees to tell us what they knew. It was so cool," said Alex.

Anakin turned to stare off into the street outside of the Hangar. The others were following the Masters back into one of the ships. Anakin felt the hairs on his arms stand up straight. He reached out with the Force to try and sense what was around them. That's when he realized it was there. A blank spot in the back of his peripheral vision, masked almost perfectly with the existing city, but wrong on just a few levels. Like someone had used a computer to edit the image, but the edges were a touch off.

He heard about this trick. Someone was using a Force Illusion to hide. While a good illusion took a lot of skill to create, a less talented force user could make simple copies, and maintain them for some time. Master Poof often made illusions to show off to Younglings at the temple. It was because of this that Anakin knew the weakness of an illusion was not in the middle of it, but towards the edge. It was like a blanket being held up over a figure. If he pushed gently, he should be able to slip around it and pull it down.

Anakin didn't know what he expected to find, in this Hangar on Murkhana. But he figured, anyone who would go to such extreme measures to hide something, had to have a good reason to keep it hidden. And they were looking for a missing politician. For all Anakin knew, Senator Meck would be behind this curtain. He closed his eyes and reached for it with the Force. Then he gasped. He wasn't expecting to see him here. Remembering his Grandmaster saying he wanted to talk to the man, Anakin shouted. "Look, Master. It's Great Grandmaster Dooku."

That immediately had the attention of all the grownups. Dooku tried to pull his illusion back up as he fled, but it was too late. Mace reached for his lightsaber, and leapt after the man. There were two others who bolted along with Dooku.

Anakin didn't know why they were running, but he turned to follow everyone else.

Dooku and his two associates ran out of the Hangar and turned down an alley off the main street. Dooku kicked down some boxes to make room for the others, then stepped back and clutched his saber.

It lit up a deep blood red color. Qui-Gon had gone round to try and corner them. He was just on the other side of the boxes now. "Master…" His voice was, like a child's, filled with doubt and pain.

Dooku deactivated the Sithly saber. Seemingly unwilling to fight his former Padawan, he allowed Mace to usher him back into the alleyway.

The younger girl who was with Dooku spat and hissed at Plo. The master flinched. "A Darksider!"

Mace turned his saber towards the girl, ready to defend Plo.

"My Student!" Dooku threw his body between them.

"Master, why are you defending Darksiders?" Qui-Gon questioned. "And why do you carry one of their sabers?"

Dooku brushed off his coat and stood up to answer. "I have been undercover, as a shadow, working to track down an evil not seen for a thousand years. What do you expect me to carry?"

Mace looked up as he took in a deep breath. "I look forward to hearing about this."

"Three and a half years ago I was contacted by a Sith Lord," Dooku began. "He wanted to recruit me. The next time I contacted him, it was his apprentice who answered. Apparently the apprentice won, and he agreed to let me join as his own apprentice, but he wouldn't meet with me. I assume he's a younger Sith. I have been trying to track him down ever since. I left a message with my Padawan shortly after it all started."

Everyone looked up at Qui-Gon, who was looking around confused. "Message. I received no message."

"I left it the secret way, which I told your Padawan. Don't you do deep meditations anymore?" Dooku asked.

Obi-Wan pointed, "After you helped me with my experiment, seeing Anakin's dreams. I left you a note, Master."

Qui-Gon slapped himself in the head. "That's what I forgot."

Mace rolled his eyes. "That still doesn't explain why two darksiders are here following you now."

"It explains why you never commed." Dooku rolled his eyes. "It wasn't long after that I found Tol, and decided to throw away the holo-rulebook. Tol and Asajj, they had both fallen by the time I found them. What did you expect me to do?" Dooku spat. "I'm not a Jedi anymore. Besides, they were younglings. And I am starting to think that we've been doing it wrong, abandoning our young who fail us. If anyone needs mentorship, it's the fallen."

Anakin noticed both Mace and Qui-Gon's faces broke their cold hard stares at this. Mace looked at him, but Qui-Gon was especially filled with grief.

"And what about Senator Meck?" Obi-Wan asked, changing the subject. "We were trailing him when we found hints of you."

"Meck, he's been helping me." Dooku sighed. "The old Sith had a plan worked out. I wasn't able to gather all the details, but he intended to split the republic and tangle the Jedi into a war. I even was tricked into helping him make the Jedi an army for said war."

"The Clones," Mace filled in.

"And since I've joined him, I've been instructed to go around and start to get planets to join a secessionist movement. The Geonosians were the first to sign up. They even pulled their representatives from the Senate. Since then, I've had Meck tracking down the new Master Sith. Apparently, he's been visiting Sith Temples wherever he goes, and his latest one is here."

"The other Sith." Plo whispered. "The one they killed in Naboo must have been the Master."

Anakin could feel Mace's disagreement. His lips pressed tightly together as he held his tongue.

"Wait," Dooku lifted his hand. "You've seen the Sith."

"Seen him, we fought him." Qui-Gon bragged. "Obi-Wan killed him. It's how he earned his knighthood."

"Oh, now that makes sense. Why you gave him the boy." Dooku put together. "This means the one I'm hunting didn't slay his master. He might not be as dark as I assumed."

Mace shook his head and sighed. "No. Mau- the one Kenobi killed on Naboo was the apprentice. The Master too, is dead."

Plo rubbed his mask and leaked confusion into the force.

"The one I'm hunting wasn't even an apprentice, just an acolyte, or a spare. Why, he's just a youngling with no one..!" Dooku deduced.

Mace huffed, "Whatever this one is, you're not taking him in. No, you're staying right here. We will go after this Sith, whatever he is. Padawans…" He looked around while Freya and Kate looked up to him. "You four will stay with Dooku and his…" He trailed off.

"Acolytes." Dooku filled in.

"His Acolytes. And we will deal with them when we are finished. Come now. We will all go back to our ship." Mace used his deactivated saber to usher Dooku and his Acolytes along.

When they all got back to their ship, Anakin tried to stay by Obi-Wan's side. He knew that as a Padawan, Mace probably intended him to stay here, but Anakin was nervous for the masters. When he closed his eyes he could see them wearing slave collars like in his dream. A far off, distant look in their eyes. He just couldn't shake it.

Mace shook his head and mumbled to himself, "Cursed. Your lineage is cursed."

"Hmm?" Qui-Gon inquired.

"I never thought I'd see it. With Kenobi now a knight, this multiplies the curse of your lineage to three. Triple the disaster, Yoda was right."

"Quadruple," Plo whispered.

"Huh?" Mace looked at him.

"Just saying, of the five of us, I'm the one not of Yoda's lineage. And you were the first one to 'run into it'" He turned with a chuckle to walk away from Mace's scowl.

"Master." Anakin tugged at Obi-Wan's sleeve.

"Yeah. Look Anakin, I'm going to need you to stay here."

"But…" Tears welled up in Anakin's eyes. He didn't want to cry, he just couldn't help himself.

"This is dangerous. But so would leaving Dooku and these others unattended. I need you to guard them. Make sure they don't escape or cause anyone trouble." He paused and Anakin sighed. "Listen, I know you know Dooku, but for this mission, he's not your grandmaster. He's a suspect, and the council will need to hear his testimony before they decide what to do. Can you remain impartial?"

Anakin looked over at Qui-Gon who was shedding feelings of grief and disbelief. The Master bent over to get something while Dooku was standing right behind him. He and the others were no longer armed, but Anakin knew that did not make them helpless. "Yeah, I can do that." He stepped over to usher Dooku away from his Grandmaster's back. As he did so, he let a single message, a plea, flow across his bond, 'Stay Safe.'

Hello Everyone,

I think it took you by surprise, Dooku's confession. I at least saw no guesses to it. Not even after chapter 54, when the Sith Ghosts were watching the "Darkest presence in the galaxy," and were focused on Jar Jar Binks, of all beings.

Well, don't worry, there will be a big bad, and Anakin's not getting called out of the big fight. You'll have to wait and see what I have planned. Poor Plo doesn't know what Quadruple Trouble looks like yet.

4/22/2023: Hello all. I've made a few tiny edits to get things to flow better. Most notably, I pushed the part where Dooku claims Darth Jar Jar must not have been even a Sith apprentice down a few lines, after Mace reveals that to his knowledge, both Sith Master and Apprentice are dead. It doesn't make a big difference, but I hope it reads better.