They sat in silence for a long moment, Narec considering his words. "Is Asajj in danger?"
Dooku nodded.
Narec frowned, gazing down into his drink. "Does she know?"
"Not yet."
...
Narec looked up at Dooku. "...The Dark Side offers power, Dooku, but it comes at a terrible cost. Maybe you won't be able to defeat him alone, but together we can do this. If we tell Yoda-"
Dooku sneered. "Yes, we shall tell Yoda so he'll have all the time he needs to rush to the man's defense."
"If he knew there's no way he would defend a Sith Lord!"
"No, but he will defend an elected Senator from the paranoid threats of a disgraced former Jedi. Until we have proof he cannot possibly ignore, we can only watch, wait, and try to spread our influence to counter his."
"Is the Sith really that influential?" Ky asked, incredulous.
"I was referring to Yoda."
Ky gave a huff of frustration. "Well I meant the Sith. How influential is he?"
"He's the Supreme Chancellor."
Ky blinked in shock, then gaped. "That's impossible."
"Not at all. A Sith Lord has become the democratically elected head of the Republic."
"...B-but, how?" He stuttered. "How- Why?"
"How? He simply won the election. The sham of democracy has never been anything but a competition to see who's most skilled at manipulating the masses and making deals behind closed doors. Nothing about being a Sith is in opposition to that. As for the latter, do you mean to ask why he would pursue the most powerful office in the Galaxy? You know the answer already."
Ky Narec sat still, staring at Dooku without any response. He closed his mouth, leaning back in his chair, obviously struggling to come to terms with the truth.
Dooku could sympathize with him. He had once been in a similar position, his entire world view and personal foundation crumbling beneath him. Though Sidious had found Dooku in that vulnerable state and twisted him for his own purposes, he had at least imparted one irrefutable truth.
"Narec, you must understand, the Republic itself is our enemy, and it always has been. The Sith Lord claiming power is merely its latest failure, and most of its worst crimes can't even be laid at his feet."
"But look, I agree the Republic is flawed, but what alternative are you proposing?"
Dooku paused, hesitating. He'd had this conversation many times before, but always with Sidious, and always concluding that the Galaxy needed an Imperial form of governance, an autocratic ruler that would make things right. Now Dooku didn't believe in that either.
"We live in a Galaxy of great diversity, and even among the same species there can be incredible divergence. The Iridonian zabrak and the Dathomirian zabrak have almost nothing in common, let alone the incredible range of human systems of governance.
What can a human of the Deep Core understand of the needs of the Mandalorians, or the spirited patriots of Corellia? What value in compromising between these disparate parties as they wrestle for control of a distant and alien body? If they were separate from each other in governance there would be no need to sacrifice their own interests at all."
A look of comprehension came over Ky Narec's features. "...You want to break up the Republic, and that's all you want. You have no plan for what comes after at all."
Dooku's jaw clenched. "It is not for me to plan a future for trillions of sentients scattered across tens of thousands of worlds. I can only rise to fight the evil in my sight."
"But Dooku, you're talking about anarchy." Narec replied. "Without the Republic, there's nothing to stop the Galaxy from going to war."
"Other than the fear and pain of war itself? There are countless reasons for people to go to war, and countless reasons for them not to. It will be up to them to decide which carries the greater weight. For my part, I would rather give the people of Serenno the chance to struggle for their own future under their own power. Better that than begging on their knees for a Senate committee to find the time to fit them in the next election cycle!"
Dooku rose to his feet, swallowing the entire glass of wine in a single gulp, before putting the cork back on the bottle and putting it away.
"Now it seems to me you have a choice, Master Narec." Dooku turned to face him. "You can tell Yoda about my use of the Dark Side, hope he's not so distracted by that as to forget the Sith he meets with regularly, and explain to him how it is you came to use the Dark Side yourself.
You will lose your status as Jedi Master, the New Temple will be torn apart by the Temple on Coruscant as both its founding Masters are tainted with the Dark Side, and Asajj will live forever as an exile, never at home anywhere. Or you can simply not." He paused, adding in a softer voice. "I know what I will do for my own children's future."
"..." Narec stared into the bottom of his cup. "And we won't teach them to use the Dark Side. We won't teach any of them."
"We will not." Dooku agreed firmly.
Narec stood up at last, pocketing his holocom as he turned to leave, but hesitated with his hand over the door control. "...You didn't ask how I came to know the Dark Side."
Dooku said in a kindly tone.. "Because I know you're a good man, Narec. And I know you regret it, deeply."
Without another word, Ky left the office, and Dooku left as well soon after. Under the cover of darkness Count Dooku approached his parked ship, and entered it without any witnesses. The only faces he saw on the bridge were the holographically projected images of his family on the ship's mainconsole that he'd set as his screensaver.
His wife and all four of his children looked out at him, and he hesitated. In particular his gaze lingered on Athemeene, knowing that he'd promised her. After a few seconds, he pushed the button to bring up the main menu and dialed in a number.
He knew he wasn't wrong. To defeat Sidious he would need more power, and for that he would need an instructor. His family could never be safe until that man was dead.
Fett's face appeared on the projector, peering up at Dooku wordlessly.
"Jango, I have a job for you. I need you to get in contact with Mother Talzin. Not to kill or capture her, just to speak with me. I have a proposition for her."
...
Schmoozing was unpleasant work, and well beneath him. Plagueis returned to his ship, ready to leave the muddy pit of Indinoor behind and relieved to be gone.
Not for the first time, a great Sith had walked in and amongst the halls of the Jedi, and none of them had known at all. Such unearned arrogance. The Jedi of the New Temple were as pathetic and wasteful as the ones on Coruscant, with the difference being that they were buoyed by the false confidence of youth instead of the obstinacy of age.
When the Galaxy was finally ordered as it should be, the entire useless, primitive edifice of the Jedi could be cast away once and for all. The Sith, far mightier, would bring the Galaxy to peace and stability. Force Sensitives would find work as artists, scientists, explorers, and many other things besides mere Knights of a worthless system that had held all in a stagnant cycle for millennia.
Though he had found his trip enlightening. Without even realizing she'd done it, the Heiress to the House of Serenno had delivered to Plagueis a dire warning, a future he had nearly brought to pass with his own lack of caution.
He had never thought himself a fool, and yet somehow he had actually allowed himself to trust a Sith!
A chuckle oozed its way out past his teeth, and he grimaced in pain, taking a hacking gasp through his mask to calm his burning lungs.
Hego Damask's own personal Yacht hadn't even made the leap to Hyperspace when his holocom started ringing. A Galaxy away on Coruscant, Darth Sidious had sensed Plagueis leaving Indinoor with his hated enemy still alive.
"Congratulations are in order, my friend." Plageuis answered his device, speaking warmly to the projected image of his apprentice. "To become the Supreme Chancellor is no small feat."
"Thank you, old friend. Thank you." Darth Sidious replied. "And of course, this is something that should be celebrated! When you return to Coruscant, we'll have to take the time to meet in person for a drink and a chat about old times."
"I think we won't have time for that." Plaguies replied. "The damage you've done to our plan has not been repaired yet, and I will have to be much more involved then I used to."
Sidious' lip twitched downward, before he caught it and kept his face carefully neutral. "I see. So we're not going to kill Dooku, then?"
"No need to." Plagueis answered. "He's going to lead a Separatist faction in the Outer Rim, just as we wanted."
"But not under our control." Sidious hissed. "He's going to wage a real war against us!"
"Worried that he might win?" Plagueis replied. "Please, Sidious. You underestimate yourself. Besides, he may not be under your control, but he will be under mine."
Sidious stared at his master for a long time. "...So be it." Then he hung up.
Leaning back in his chair, Plagueis allowed himself a genuine smile. Yes, the Grand Plan was still coming together, but instead of Sidious controlling all the pieces, it would be him. He cast his mind back to his own teacher, Darth Tenebrous, and the secret student he had raised to replace Plagueis should he ever become complacent.
"Ironic, that only now have I finally learned all that you had to teach me." He whispered to himself.
...
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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