Chapter Two: The Long Game
Dec. 3rd, 2012 10:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianDisclaimer: I own nothing.
From outside, the space battle raged on. Now and then, an explosion caused the ground underneath Count Dooku to shake; it was only through much poise as well as practice that allowed him to at least somewhat keep his composure. Not that he minded. For Dooku, at the very least, the explosions of ships outside, the faint fading of life in the Force, every tremor in the Force -- to him, it was almost like art itself. No, not just art. It was pure brilliance.
It was almost a pity that Masters Mace Windu and Yoda weren't here. Not for the matter of the battle, but the matter of his vision. The sheer beauty of it. For years in the Clone Wars, he had been playing a sort of long game, playing a game of pawns and apprentices and whatnot, even putting up with the insufferable King Rash for Force knows how long.
Dooku had been more than grateful when he had, at least in a sense, been able to execute King Rash once the imbecilic false king had outlived his usefulness. The man would contribute nothing to the new Empire that Dooku would create in the future. The man would contribute worse than nothing. The man would do nothing but cripple the Empire before it so much had even begun. It would, truly, not be an immediate collapse, but a slow one. A game of falling sabaac cards -- a house of sabaac cards. One card pulled out, the rest would crumple far too easily.
Perhaps not in those terms. But Rash was not what Onderon needed. Dendup was. Perhaps he was counterproductive to Dooku's aims, but at the same time, at least he seemed to care about Onderon and its people, unlike Rash.
Sidious would disagree with him on that matter. After all, in Sidious' eyes, what good was power if one could not exploit it? Dooku knew that it wasn't the truth. Not by any stretch of the imagination. The Republic had already had enough of corruption; the galaxy had had enough of corruption. It would not happen again.
Not when his new Empire was put in place.
The Jedi would never truly understand what he sought to do, the sacrifices which he was forced to make if only for the greater good. The Jedi would never truly understand how corrupt the Republic truly was. The Jedi understood nothing of anything, and that would be their downfall.
There was a burst of static over the communications system, and to Dooku's chagrin (which was one benefit of comm systems; one could not see the utter contempt the other had for them), Grievous' voice came over it. "My lord wishes to see the progress of the Jedi?"
Dooku, to say the least, did not like Grievous. The beast was nothing but that -- an unrefined beast, a brute that sought to destroy everything in his path. Dooku supposed he could pity Grievous if only slightly, as he was as much a victim of the Republic's corruption as anyone else, but it did nothing to change anything. Still, he tried, if only slightly, to hide his contempt, and said, "Patch it in."
Grievous did.
Dooku could only watch as the two Jedi engaged in elevator shenanigans that would make a comedian acting out one of those so-called "comedic" skits in places such as, say, a Coruscanti nightclub filled with bored patrons with nothing better to do, quite embarrassed. He sighed, blearily rubbing his forehead. Kenobi was quite accomplished, and the Naberrie girl...he supposed he should admire what she had accomplished, but at the same time, there was something about her that irritated Dooku. Her blind belief in the Republic and the Chancellor was one thing. Her general idealism in all things...Dooku supposed he should admire her if only for that, and yet...
And here they were, blundering into a trap under the mistaken impression that it was only an average rescue mission. Dooku didn't know whether to be pleased or feel sorry for them for being this mindbogglingly stupid.
"It would be," Dooku said to the silhouetted figure in the chair, "An embarrassment to be captured by the likes of them."
"I would not be so quick to jump to such conclusions, Lord Tyrannus. After all, they are the best Jedi of their age, are they not?"
"So it has been told." Heroes of the Clone Wars... Dooku sighed. "I will admit I slightly miss Padawan Tano, Master. She was far smarter than the both of them."
"I would not go that far. She was intelligent, yes, but I would not go as far as to say that Naberrie and Kenobi are completely useless."
Dooku could only suppose that Sidious was correct. After all, Naberrie was the Chosen One, the Daughter of the Suns, destined to bring balance to the Force, and Kenobi was quite a skilled Jedi Master. He supposed that he missed Tano if only because of the remnants of that which had once been a Jedi Master. In another time, another galaxy...perhaps he would have been friends with them. Padme and Obi-Wan, getting to know the people his late apprentice cared about and had such faith in. And Ahsoka Tano, the young Togruta that was almost like a daughter to the both of them.
“Do you think that Knight Naberrie is the Chosen One, Master?”
“I have no doubt about it.” Sidious’ voice was quiet. “After all, she is more talented than most Jedi her age.”
“There are plenty more powerful,” Dooku said. “Master Yoda, for example.”
“But none with the amount of Force power and potential that she wields. It’s quite miraculous.”
Perhaps that was true. And yet at the same time... “The prophecy could have been misread, Master. It happens, at least at times.”
“She is the Chosen One.” Sidious’ voice seemed to rise in volume, almost equally so in menace. “There is no doubt about it. She will destroy the Jedi and bring balance to the galaxy as she was meant to.”
“Perhaps. But she would not turn to our side so easily. She’s too drenched in idealism and Jedi dogma.”
“She is young and idealistic. That idealism could be turned to suit our purposes.”
Even thinking about it was enough to make Dooku, at least for a moment, almost pity her. For all she may have done during the Clone Wars, Padmè Naberrie didn’t deserve the fate she did. Falling to the Dark Side, forcibly turning to their side. She deserved far better than that. Even in his mind, Dooku could already see it. Her, falling to the Dark Side and becoming Sidious’ slave. Unable to laugh, unable to cry, eventually – a creature in a hell of her own making.
For all her crimes during the Clone Wars, she deserved far better than this.
“Let me train her then, Master.”
“We will both train her,” Sidious said. “Play your part well, my apprentice, and the galaxy will be ours.”
Dooku could already see it. The Empire built in place of the Republic – the masses cheering for their new liberation from the corruption and decadence of the Republic. The Republic and the Jedi Order had once been great, but they had fallen into decay. They had become that which they opposed – decadent, cruel, ruthless, and rotten to the core. Even the Order...even the Order wasn’t entirely flawless, Dooku thought. They had committed multiple counts of genocide, for one thing, violated someone else’s mind to turn them against their own followers, attempted to strip the Force from those they deemed “unnatural” and “wrong”...and then there was the matter of the Clone Wars. Dooku supposed he should have seen it coming when he had commissioned Jango Fett to lend his DNA to assist the clone army, but that hadn’t really made it any easier in terms of watching the Republic sacrifice the clones so needlessly.
And the Jedi...the Jedi were no better in that regard. He could still remember his conversation with Master Yoda, so long ago. “Tell me, Master Yoda – are these clones, these men you so willingly sacrifice in the line of fire...are they going to thank you for teaching them that war is glorious?”
Yoda seemed thoughtful, if only for a moment. Even sad, and so very alone, as if remembering everyone who had died in the name of the Order, in the name of preserving the Republic’s tyranny. And then he spoke. “Forget you do, Dooku, that fight for peace and justice we do.”
“Peace through tyranny? Is that your new doctrine? Those who attempt to secede from the Republic for personal reasons or otherwise deserve to be punished?”
“Far from it. But prevent further loss of life, we must do.” Yoda looked up at Dooku now, and for a moment, in those large eyes, Dooku thought he could see the weight of years in the Grand Master. “Listen to me you must, Dooku. Though monstrous some of our acts are, done they must be, for the galaxy.”
If only Yoda knew how thoroughly they were being played. If only Yoda knew how far the Order and the Republic both had truly fallen. If only Yoda knew something of just about anything.
Dooku could suddenly feel very familiar Force presences. Presences that he had felt before. He turned to Sidious. “Master?”
“Withdraw,” Sidious said, “They are here.”
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no subject
Date: 2012-12-03 11:04 pm (UTC)It's also making me go "WHAT ABOUT AHSOKA?!" ^^
no subject
Date: 2012-12-03 11:40 pm (UTC)As for Ahsoka...well, it's not exactly very happy, to say the least. (God, I really want to write some fluff with her as Padme's Padawan or something. Hell, I should write fluff with all of them just to make amends. *Hugs them*)
no subject
Date: 2012-12-04 03:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-04 11:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-04 08:15 am (UTC)If Dooku spoke to Yoda after the start of the Clone Wars, should I take it that he wasn't revealed to be a traitor until later on in this continuity?
no subject
Date: 2012-12-04 11:27 am (UTC)But yeah, I doubt Dooku's way would be any better. Not by a long shot. I think it might begin with good intentions before sliding down the slope of...well, you know.
Well, pretty much, yeah. :)
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Date: 2013-02-22 03:46 am (UTC)