Chapter 145

Their furious dueling continued, the deadly dance interspersed with sharp commands and the hum of lightsabers. Elysia's attacks were swift and unrelenting, her strength in the Force aiding her in predicting Dooku's moves. Despite his formidable skill, the Sith Lord was hard-pressed to keep up, his own attacks proactive rather than reactive.

Meanwhile, the droids waged a mechanical battle against the Terran forces. The clatter of blasters echoed through the dense jungle, sparking fires in the underbrush. The forest seemed set ablaze with flashes of laser fire - red, green, and blue lit up the battlefield as both sides relentlessly pressed their assaults.

Yet despite their superior numbers, even Dooku could see that the droid army was faring poorly against the Terran forces. Their precision and speed were unmatched, their training evident in each swift move. The droids fell in scores under their onslaught, their metallic bodies creating macabre heaps on the forest floor.

Dookum tore his attention away from the chaotic battlefield and focused back on Elysia. He couldn't afford even a second of distraction against such a formidable opponent. Despite his age and waning strength, he deflected her attacks with all the skill he'd honed over decades of combat.

"Your efforts are futile," Elysia said tersely as their blades clashed again, a shower of sparks flying between them. "Surrender now."

"If I surrender now what would happened to me" Questioned Dooku as he would much rather preserve his life rather than die fighting battle in which he knew he couldn't win.

"Your fate will be decided by his Highness, but I can assure you that someone with your history, knowledge, and skills would not be killed" Stated Elysia.

Dooku paused for a moment, considering her words. His eyes never left hers, trying to discern any falsehood in them. He had deceived many in his time and could tell when he was being lied to. The sincerity in her eyes was surprising but not necessarily comforting.

"Very well," Count Dooku grunted, disengaging his lightsaber. His demeanor shifted from defiance to resignation and he held out his weapon for Elysia to take. His surrender was met with a tense silence as the battling armies slowly ceased fire.

Elysia's icy gaze softened by a fraction as she deactivated her own saber, reaching out to grab Dooku's extended hilt. "You made a wise decision, Count Dooku."

The Guardian Knight motioned for a pair of Terran soldiers who quickly approached and took Dooku into custody, binding his hands respectfully yet firmly before he could change his mind.

As they moved to escort him away, he turned his gaze back towards Elysia one last time. "We will see if it was indeed wise."

Elysia watched as the soldiers led him away into the dense jungle towards their command ship. She could feel the ominous weight of the Sith Lord's final words hanging in the air like a death knell. Nevertheless, she chose to believe that they signified nothing more than a defeated man's bitterness.

Turning her attention back to the battlefield, the droids seeing that Count Dooku had surrendered had in turn did the same. The Droids put down their weapons and surrendered under the Command of the Droid Commander.

With that Count Dooku was defeated and now the CIS forces would be without their leader. Although there was still the Supreme Commander of the Droid armies to deal with whom was elsewhere leading the Droid army in another part of the Galaxy.

Meanwhile, back on Coruscant Alexander was being read an interesting report from a Chiss emissary.

"A few days ago a small fleet appeared in Chiss space and started to attack one of our planets. Not to long after we had sent a response fleet which was larger than the Unknown fleet but even then we took heavy losses before we forced them to retreat" Reported the emissary as Alexander sat down across the desk in his new Imperial Office.

He read over the detailed report on the data pad in front of him and was interested in who this unknown fleet belonged to.

"At first some families wanted to blame you as the ships possess strange technology, but upon further investigation the ships were were actually biologically made and possessed no form of technology at all" Explained the emissary.

"And you don't have any idea whom these Aliens were" Asked Alexander.

"Although we don't know for sure but these could be the far outsiders whom we have encountered before" Stated the Emissary.

"Judging from the name I can assume that these outsiders are not from this Galaxy" Questioned Alexander. The Emissary nodded his head to that question.

From his past life Alexander didn't have much knowledge of the Star Wars verse, but he did read some of the books which took place after the death of Emperor Palpatine.

And one of the major events which occurred during that time was the invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong.

From what he remembers about the Yuuzhan Vong, they originated outside the known galaxy. A typical Yuuzhan Vong resembled a Human in form, though they were taller and heavier than the average Human and had less hair on their heads. The Yuuzhan Vong were religious zealots, who viewed mechanical technology as blasphemy.

Their technological innovations were genetically engineered and purely organic. Additionally, the Yuuzhan Vong deeply respected pain to the point of masochism, and strove to improve their physical capabilities through organ grafting. Such grafting was a status symbol within Yuuzhan Vong society.

They wondered the Universe in search of a new home as their former Galaxy was destroyed by infighting of various warlord clans.

This was about the extent of his knowledge on them as he didn't read the lore about the Yuuzhan Vong so their capabilities were hidden to him.

"This might a prelude to a much greater event" Said Alexander to the Emissary.

"Im Assuming that they kidnapped some people before they got away" Asked Alexander.

The Emissary's face darkened as he responded, "Your Highness, there are indeed thousands of missing and dead Chiss citizens on the planet."

"My Condolences Emissary, and if you would accept I could help the planet rebuild of your government would allow it" Asked Alexander.

"I will have to ask my Government first about it, but I'm sure that they would accept the help and most likely seek to deepen the relation between both our Governments" Said the Emissary.

"Well then I won't keep you here for long as I have things to do so please tell me as soon as possible when you government makes their decision" Said Alexander as the both of them shook hands before the Emissary left his office.

Once the Emissary was gone Alexander sat in his office lost in thought about the possible invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong.

The Problem was he didn't know when it would happen nor how strong they were.