『Dayn bal O'r』

Dooku remained standing outside the senate, not knowing how he was going to explain to Qui Gon Jin, his friend, how he had lost the boy. That was until he felt something strange, something subtle through the force. Turning his head, the feeling disappeared.

Scowling, he whipped around on his heel and within that second three people appeared. The Jedi Master's jaw nearly fell off its hinge.

His newly christened padawan has reappeared out of thin air! As if he had come through some sort of mysterious invisible portal of some kind! That and there was a third person...

"Whoa..." Vaylin's gaze stared off into the distance, taking in their surroundings. This was her first time seeing Coruscant, though it was nothing compared to her homeworld. Or at least what it once was before the dark times came that she was no longer present for.

Ento chuckled seeing the girl entertained by the simple cityscape, before looking to his Master and bowing his head slightly. "We're back so it seems, Master..." the padawan lifted his head.

Padmé on the other hand glanced over towards Ento as he said they were back. She looked at her hands, and then behind herself. They were definitely back where they belonged.

Her eyes then retraced their way back over towards Dooku's face as he was staring at Vaylin. She cocked a brow at the gaze the Jedi Master was giving the other teen girl present.

Vaylin's eyes flashed on over to the Jedi Master, toward the corner of her eye, noticing his attentions were focused on her. She had never met nor seen a Jedi before, let alone know how to address them.

Dooku could sense the torment she had gone through, the partial and incomplete mental conditioning. She had been scarred by the darkside of the force, shown in the color of her eyes.

He could feel the raw power coming from the girl, if trained properly, she could be just as powerful and skilled as Ento. The Jedi Order had every right to fear her should she be discovered, but Dooku saw that it was far more realistic to use her.

"This is my Jedi Master, Dooku." Ento gestured towards the venerable man.

Vaylin gave a tight lip smile, holding out a hand towards the man. "Hello, I'm Vaylin." For her, this was meeting another person, another real contact that wasn't an illusion created to give her despair and strip away her hope little by little.

Dooku blinked seeing her hold out her hand for his to shake, smiled, and took hand. "It is a pleasure to meet your Acquaintance, Miss Vaylin."

After she shook hands with the Jedi Master, Vaylin quickly retracted her hand.

"So where did... All of you come from?" His eyes trailed side to side, before narrowing his eyes on the Jedi Padawan in front of him. He was aware of the magics the Dathomiri Witches were capable of casting, but not teleporting Jedi. Then there was the powers of the Dark Woman, where she could literally pass through walls with a power called Phase which she taught to a couple of her students.

"We... Don't know," Ento replied before the two girls could respond. "It was some sort of dark plane with various white archways." He tilted his head to the side slightly, before looking to Padmé, noticing she was still missing her headdress.

Glancing behind him, he didn't sense an entryway into wherever he had just been. So it was unlikely he could go back to retrieve it. Pursing his lips, he turned his gaze towards Vaylin.

"So... This is Coruscant..." Her eyes glanced over the Senate Building they were standing beneath the dome of. From what she could remember from the chatter of the Knights of her homeworld, the Sith and Jedi had massive warships, yet she saw none.

Dooku was rather perplexed at the idea of them having been on another plane of existence, or of the force. It sounded very similar to an old myth, perhaps even legend, the World between Worlds. Yet how did they access it? His eyes moved to Ento, then to Vaylin, and over to the Padmé. He narrowed his eyes on Padmé, she was dressed as the Queen.

"You're missing a headdress," Dooku pointed out.

"That's not the problem... The Republic is going to be going through so much Chaos, is Chancellor Valorum, alright?" The Queen demanded to know.

Dooku sighed verbally, "I am sorry, Your Majesty. He is dead, and the Vice Chancellor has been taken by the Sith Lord." The Jedi Master crossed his arms over his chest. "It is likely they're going to handle an election for a new Supreme Chancellor."

Hearing this news, she knew that there was no way she was going be able to get the help she needed from the senate. They were currently unable to function as a body and had their own horrors to deal with.

"I have no choice but to return to Naboo. I will have my things retrieved from 500 Republica," Amidala proclaimed as she took hold of both Vaylin's hands and Ento's.

Vaylin's eyes lit up in surprise as she felt the hand grasping hers.

"H-hey! That's kinda hard!" She sounded aloud as the Queen was squeezing their hands. Vaylin wasn't typically used to using her hands or having anyone squeeze them so hard. She had the habit of using the force for menial tasks, much like Ento did, though instead of sowing she would whittle wood into sculptures.

Just then the Jedi Masters Mace Windu and Plo Koon exited the Senate Building in time to see Dooku following behind the three teens.

"Master Dooku!" Mace Windu called out to him, "We've found the Vice Chancellor, he's dead!"

"Orn Free Taa has also murdered in the same fashion as the Chancellor!" Plo Koon called out, which caused Dooku to turn his head towards the two Master Jedi.

That was when Mace Windu narrowed his eyes on the three forms behind Dooku. He knew of the Queen, he knew of Ento, but the third one seemed to escape his memory. "Who is that?"

Ento, having used the force, was able to hide her darkside scarrs. However her physical condition remained, so when she turned her head to look at Mace Windu, he took a light step back.

Seeing the Jedi Master's movements, she herself almost panicked.

Mace's hand was hovering over his lightsaber hilt at his belt for a brief moment before withdrawing it to his side, exhaling slowly in a evident sigh.

"This is Lady Vaylin, she comes from the Tapani Sector, from the Mecetti. She has been left in the Queen of Naboo's care." Dooku introduced her as an associated member of the Mecetti House, a noble house in the Tapani Sector that he had close ties with. The Mecetti were ambitious, corrupt and even once sponsored a Darkside Cult which were in reality a Sith inspired Order of Assassins four thousand years ago.

"Ah..." Mace Windu's gaze still traced over the young girl's eyes from a distance. He didn't expect the Jedi Master to lie to him, and didn't try to sense it either, Dooku was trusted.

These words came as Jedi Master Oppo Rancisis stepped outside, "Fellow Jedi Masters of the Council, the remaining Bodies of the Chancellor's Office and Senators are calling for the Jedi to take control of the Senate until the Election!"

The Senate and the Jedi Order's relationships have become strained, however they were still recognized as the Senate's ancient protectors. During the last War with the Sith, a member of the Jedi Order had taken the seat of Supreme Chancellor.

With the Sith revealed prematurely, many were destined to speculate what sort of machinations were being brewed in the shadows. Was there a fleet of warships in hiding? Were the Sith going to invade? The last words of the now considered admirable Supreme Chancellor Valorum echoed in many ears, how the Sith have been distablizing the Republic for years.

Had the Sith been trying to destroy them from within!?

Fear and anxiety plagued the senate, the militarists were beginning to become bothered.

Dooku bowed his head slightly towards his colleagues, "The Queen wishes to depart to the planet of Naboo to liberate her people from the Trade Federation."

It was unlikely the Trade Federation had begun to withdraw, they were probably still under the assumption Palpatine was still busy making their invasion 'legal.'

+ + +

A couple hours later, after using the late Chancellor Valorum's Eddicus-class planetary shuttle to return to Palpatine's Suite at 500 Republica to collect the Queen's belongings, they returned to the landing pad.

Leaving the shuttle, Dooku and the three other teens walked towards the Naboo Starship.

"Are you sure you wish to return to the Planet of Naboo?" Dooku inquired as his eyes shifted along the city skylines. He didn't know if his former friend, Palpatine, would attack of if he even had the means.

It was likely the Sith Lord was trying to recuperate. Perhaps get his wound fixed up, he was unaware of the beings current plan.

Ento came to a stop as the two girls continued towards the Chromium Starship with the rest of the Queens Detail waiting at the lowered boarding ramp.

"The Sith Lord, Sheev Palpatine, will no doubt try to plot his revenge." Dooku informed with a peevish tone as he walked up to his young padawan. "We need to know more about how to go to that other plane... I have my suspicions that the place is none other than the Vergence Scatter."

"..." Ento stared up at his master, "The what?" He didn't know what the Vergence Scatter was, even though he had entered it. It also went by another name, The World between Worlds.

However the World Between Worlds was referred to as a mere theory by most Jedi of this time called the Chain Worlds Theorem. It had a number of names, even a number of books pertaining to the subject, including an old illustrated one that had been lost to time.

"It has another name, The Chain Worlds Theorem. It is believed to be a mystical plane within the Force that connects all time and space together..." His eyes rested on the young girl who was accompanying the Naboo Monarch. "Wherever she had come from, it isn't from our time... She could have been from before or after ours."

Ento stared at Dooku for several seconds before turning his head to the side, watching as the Scimitar uncloaked and landed beside the Naboo Starship.

"Our droid has returned," Dooku's dark eyes looked to the Star Courier for a moment then towards Padmé and Vaylin who had stopped in the center of the landing pad.

"Bring the girl, Vaylin, on board the Scimitar... We must learn more about her," Dooku relayed his request to his Padawan as he made his way towards the craft. "We'll travel separately from the Monarch."

Ento blinked a few times hearing his master before shrugging and walking towards Vaylin and Padmé, his hands folded behind his back loosely.

"Ento?" Padmé turned her head towards Ento, with a brow raised.

"Dooku, Vaylin and I will travel separately. We cannot defend you from external threats without weapons, Your Majesty." Ento didn't use her name this time as she was in front of the rest of her people and currently in her royal attire.

Padmé's lips pursed hearing him say this before nodding with a frown, understanding that he couldn't be physically at her side during their return flight.

Vaylin's lips parted a bit hearing him before nodding slowly. She felt a strange connection to this boy, an unexplained urge to follow. Much like those before her, she could sense the nature of the force around him. How he just appeared as an outline, a magnet for the force itself.

Padmé then joined her Head of Security as she moved on to board the J-Type Starship, the pilots immediately getting ready for take off.

Vaylin followed Ento, entering the back of the Scimitar through its airlock that swiftly closed behind them. "Automated doors? Hmm..." She blinked as she looked over the first airlock they went through.

"The Astromech Droid that I was given by the Jedi Order closed the door for us." Ento replied.

With a light hiss, the second door to the airlock sprung open and the ship's engines began to hum. As they stepped out of the airlock and into the Ready Room of the Scimitar, they found Dooku standing in the center of the room.

"This way to the main cabin," Dooku gestured towards the turbolift at their right hand side.

Vaylin's eyes drifted over the four storage compartments on the left, and the two cramped sleeping compartments to the right on either side of the lift. She curled her lower lip inward as the sight of the cramped spaces.

She didn't want to be closed away again. Her eyes then met with the turbolift, its size made her slightly tense. Being locked away in that small room, tortured and stripped of her very being, she seemed to have gained a sense of claustrophobia from the ordeal.

Dooku could sense her fear, as could Ento.

"If you do not surpass your fears, you will never grow to stand on your own." Dooku spoke roughly as he gestured towards the lift once more.

Vaylin pitched her head down hearing those words. Remembering how frustrated she had been when she couldn't use the force effectively like her brothers. How she wanted the gaze they had gotten from their father, Immortal Emperor Valkorion, a legendary figure by her people. How she had been betrayed by her father who locked her away to be experimented upon. How she had been abandoned by her family, left by her mother and brothers.

Her sight, from the corner of her eye, rested on the white fabric of Ento's sleeve.

Her mind finally went to recent events, to the strange feeling through the force that had touched her, felt for her, from a place she could not see. How she had entered the World between Worlds and encountered him and Padmé, and they brought her here where she was free.

With her thumb, index and middle fingers, she grasped his sleeve tightly.

Raising a brow, Dooku could recognize the idea of accumulating strength through the support of others. He watched as she raised her head again, feigning confidence. A small smirk formed over his lips as he watched Ento lead her towards the Turbolift.

As they entered the lift, Vaylin almost immediately found it hard to breath as soon as the doors wished shut ahead of them. Holding her breath, she stared forward.

Feeling the intensity of her grasp on his sleeve as it tightened around his wrist, Ento lightly tugged and twisted his hand about and grasped her hand in his own. Almost immediately he felt her calm down just a little bit more.

Vaylin let out a sharp exhale, letting her shoulders relax.

Woosh, the doors had opened ahead of them.

Entering the main cabin from the turbolift, Ento walked in with her in tow.

"Welcome Organic Overlord! And company...?" The R2 Unit's head turned away from the navigational computer with a light whirring sound. "Where to?"

Ento glanced towards the turbolift doors as they closed, and the lift went down to pick up Dooku. "Naboo. Follow the Naboo Starship and match its trajectory."

"That's an astromech droid?" Vaylin stared at the compact cylinder shaped droid. From what she could remember, Astromech droids looked a lot different than this small thing. "Shiny..."

"Thank you for recognizing my Vibrant Brilliance, Organic!"

Their eyes moved towards the main viewport of the central domed cabin, resting on the Naboo Starship as it took off. Quickly they felt the Scimitar jolt beneath their feet before it quickly followed after it. The overall movement of the vessel seemed smooth as it moved at high speeds.

"This is Vaylin," Ento introduced the girl to the droid, which whirred in response.

"Girlfriend?" The droid would whistle teasingly.

"N-No!" Both of them responded in unison, Vaylin immediately letting go of Ento's hand.