Dooku almost felt sorry for the young Queen, being elected to office at such a young age and to face such a major crisis. Most likely Darth Sidious had something to do with her election, seeking to put a teenager in office who could easily be manipulated.
Well, two could play that game.
...
"Master Narec, it's my great privilege to introduce to you Queen Amidala of Naboo." Dooku said.
"I'm honored, Your Majesty." Narec bowed respectfully.
"The honor is ours." Queen Amidala replied. She briefly lowered her in acknowledgement, then looked back to her host. "It seems you were right, Count. The Jedi Council did not see Naboo's need for a Jedi protector. Obi-Wan has been recalled to Coruscant, leaving us without a guardian."
"I'm saddened to hear it, though hardly surprised. On a good day, the most the Jedi Council will have to offer you is their sympathies. Of course, the New Temple would be more than happy to offer you protection, if you were to merely ask for it. All we request is that you help contribute to the Temple's operating costs, and allow citizens of Naboo to be recruited to the New Temple, if they so choose."
"...Very well." Padme said.
"I didn't think the Mid Rim was in our jurisdiction?" Ky asked.
Dooku said, "The Jedi Council has cut us off from the main Temple, something we were always moving towards. As far as they're concerned, the New Temple will be no more than a splinter sect, like Corellia's Green Jedi or the Altisians. We need no longer worry about overlapping jurisdictions when we have no official jurisdiction, anyway."
Ky frowned, not liking the idea. "So Coruscant Jedi will feel free to barge into and take over our operations and investigations as they see fit."
"They did already. Prialla was all but shut out of Sifo's murder investigation completely."
Queen Amidala spoke up. "We speak not just for the planet of Naboo, but for our entire sector. The Mid Rim has become too dangerous to remain so lax in our security measures. We need not just Jedi, but for ships to patrol our Hyper Lanes, and soldiers to drive off invaders. Never again will one of our worlds be occupied and made to starve."
"This is no longer Jedi business." Narec said. "It's been an honor to meet you, your Majesty, but I believe this discussion is for the Count of Serenno." With a final bow, Ky slipped away, making his way over to join Asajj.
Dooku glanced at his retreating back, before looking to Queen Amidala. "I'm afraid, your Majesty, that my greatest concern right now is providing security to my own sector. I have made quite a powerful enemy."
Queen Amidala narrowed her eyes, like she didn't quite believe him. "Why would you start a war with the Trade Federation that you didn't intend to win?"
"I didn't declare war. I merely liberated an ally who was being occupied."
"Save your excuses for the courts, Count. What are we to do about the Trade Federation?"
Dooku wasn't sure at that moment if Amidala was speaking with the royal we, or as an ally of his that expected collective action. Externally, her feelings were well controlled and she was doing her best to remain composed, but internally her fear and anxiety were almost overpowering. No doubt the trauma of the siege was affecting her.
The handmaiden standing behind Padme seemed to be almost overwhelmed with hatred and fear at even the mention of the Trade Federation. Her memories kept circling around what Dooku came to realise was torture, with her teeth and nails being pulled out, among other flashes of violent horrors.
He grimaced, finding himself more sympathetic to the two then he was just a moment ago. "Queen Amidala, I don't think I can give your people the protection you desire. My own navy is just a single refurbished hammerhead right now."
"What about the Munificent Frigates?"
"They belong to the Trade Federation. I might be able to justify commandeering them before the courts, but keeping them would be blatant piracy. Besides which, many of the parts and components of those ships are patented by the Trade Federation, meaning I can't replace them when they inevitably break."
She looked at him almost like she didn't believe what he was saying. "We were under the impression that your goal was to create a new power in the Outer Rim, Count."
"Where did you hear that?"
"A common rumor. Is it not true?"
It was true in the past. The whole point of Sidious' plan was for Dooku to build a political union in the Outer Rim capable of a sustained war with the Republic, but now Dooku wasn't so sure he wanted that. Certainly he wanted Sidious dead, but now he thought he would much rather just do the deed himself, when his strength in the Force had grown enough.
Dooku took a sip of his wine, and considered his answer before replying. "We still fall short of that goal."
"What would you need to make it happen?" Amidala asked, insistently.
Dooku's eyebrow shot up, looking over at her. He considered her for a few moments, before answering, "Serenno is prevented from purchasing ships by Senate legislation that considers us a pirate haven. We have the raw materials necessary to start crafting our own ships, but lack the knowledge, infrastructure, and energy sector necessary to begin; the Galactic Mining Guild has done an excellent job making it impossible to tap into our own natural resources.
"The plan to get around this has been to draw together a number of disparate sectors," He indicated the Duchess of Mandalore and the Duke of Raxus, "that may be able to combine our differing resources into a much more potent force, but so far I lack the capital necessary to truly bind my allies together in a strong alliance. For the moment, they enjoy relations with me for the Jedi I can provide, but to convince anyone to truly commit to an alliance to pacify the Outer Rim would require me to offer them more than I possess."
"What if we were to provide you with that energy directly?" Padme frowned. "Trade along the Great Hyperlanes is tariffless, and our worlds sit directly on them. It would not be nearly as profitable as selling to Coruscant, but gas haulers could be subsidized by our government to make the long journey to Serenno through the Core.
"That would be a big step." Dooku conceded. "Though at a steep price to your own people. Surely you would be better off developing your own capacity for ship construction?"
Queen Amidala's mind was resolved in the force, and her face was set in a determined, imperious scowl. "Our world only has a population of one billion. The planet's flooded core makes large-scale mineral mining difficult, and dangerous. Our ability to refine and extract plasma is the sole source of our Galactic relevance. We cannot allow our people to be made to starve, and cower under the boots of a foreign occupation ever again. So we will begin now to create our people's security. If it's a work that takes decades, it merely means we should have started decades ago."
Dooku took his time in replying, considering what agreeing to her deal would really mean. Just because Dooku wasn't conspiring with Sidious anymore, that didn't mean he couldn't accidentally play the villain in the plan to reform the Republic into an Empire. If Dooku did succeed in creating a powerful alliance in the Outer Rim, there was no way of preventing the controlled news networks from painting him into a villain so evil as to rival Skere Kaan.
But then, if Dooku and Serenno remained as weak as they were, there was nothing at all to prevent his home and family from being crushed like an egg beneath the boot of a determined Senate. He'd already given them the excuse they needed, with his actions at Naboo. For the sake of his family, and his home, the only way out seemed to be through. To grow his own power and influence to the point where he could contend with the Republic itself, and put armies in the field and fleets in the hyperlanes that Sidious simply couldn't defeat.
Of course, the ideal solution would be to corner the Sith in a remote location, when Dooku had grown strong enough in the Dark Side to defeat him. That depended on Sidious leaving Coruscant, but right now he was protected by the Jedi Council.
There was no way the Jedi would protect Sidious if they learned what he was. If Dooku could just somehow reveal what Sidious really was, without revealing to the Jedi his own dabblings in the Dark Side, then they would cut down that Sith for him…
Dooku had three ways to win. The first was to reveal Sidious to the Jedi without implicating himself, the second was to grow an alliance in the Outer Rim that would defeat the Republic in war, and the third, if all else failed, was to go to Coruscant himself, and rip the beating black heart of the corrupt senate out in person, damn the consequences. Though Dooku himself would die, his family would be saved, and Tan'ya would reign at the head of her own personal empire.
It was a plan of multiple layers and contingencies, and it only meant continuing with what he'd already been doing: growing in power personally and politically.
If he had to sacrifice his own life for the sake of his wife and children, he was fully willing. Qui-Gon's death had been meaningless, a result of Dooku's indecision. The time to hem and haw and hesitate had passed long ago. No more would he concede to the plots and schemes of others. No longer would he wait and beg for others to solve the Galaxy's problems.
It was time to do the work himself.
"Your Majesty, I think you're right." He smiled at Amidala. "Many works that we need now should have been completed decades ago, and so there's no time to start like now. Let me introduce you to Duke Harrad and we can begin planning."
...
Apparently, chapters write themselves faster when Power Stones are involved. Who knew?
Feel free to test the theory go ahead, toss a few my way.
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