Star Wars : Chapter 65: Nemesis IV

A hundred thousand lightyears away, Darth Sidious received all of it, pausing mid sentence. His holographic image stared up at Dooku's face, and he sneered. "So be it."

Then he hung up.

...

Dooku collapsed back into his chair, energy spent. He released the burning cold of the Dark Side, feeling relief as it dissipated. Despite everything, he laughed.

"That's right. So be it." Dooku growled, before reaching for his holocom. He considered his options and what he was about to do, before deciding there was no real other choice.

To save Qui-Gon he needed a navy, and his first Hammerhead wasn't going to come out of production for months. The Trade Federation was already a puppet of his mortal enemy, and so to rely on it for protection was beyond foolish. He may as well break that connection cleanly, on his own terms.

With a feeling of reluctance, he called his own daughter's holocom.

"Yes, Father?" Tan'ya answered.

"Tan'ya, I need you to take the House Guard, and use it to commandeer our Trade Federation defense picket. Use any means or subterfuge necessary, but we need command of those ships."

Tan'ya blinked, gaping. She sat up, having been laying in bed reading what was probably old senate bills. "Father, are you sure that's wise?"

"Tan'ya, you must act now. I do not have time to explain." Dooku answered her. "The Trade Federation are now our absolute enemies. Seize the ships, do it now."

His seven year old daughter stared at him for a long moment, before her face hardened. "Yes, Father. I'll begin right away."

Dooku nodded and ended the call.

To send his daughter to do such a thing would normally be unthinkable, but she had direct command over the House Guard, and Dooku realized that she was the only one on Serenno he trusted to do such a thing.

He stood up, and strode down the ramp of his ship and back to the New Temple to marshal his resources.

The Count of Serenno was going to war.

...

With repeated motions, Asajj Ventress worked through her lightsaber forms alone. Usually only two or three hours were seen as enough for practice for most Jedi, but already she knew that wasn't enough for her. Her teacher was Dooku, and he had informed her that a professional athlete would usually train for six hours a day, even without stims to aid in cell regeneration, just a diet of protein and electrolytes. When he was a Padwan, he'd trained vigorously to master the lightsaber and earn his reputation as the Galaxy's greatest duelist. So that's what Asajj did as well.

Her dream wasn't only to be a Jedi Knight one day, or even just a Jedi Master. It had taken a while for her to realize, but Asajj slowly came to think that Dooku hadn't realized he was training her as his replacement. She was traveling with him constantly, shaking hands at all the same diplomatic parties that he did. The Duke of Raxus knew her personally, as did the Duchess of Mandalore, the Duke of Axxila, several Senators, a few CEOs of megacorps operating in the Outer Rim, and many, many more.

Most politics was done via trust and personal relationships, and these contacts were an important tool for the Grand Master of the New Temple to leverage. In addition to the personalized lightsaber training for Asajj, Dooku had been careful to teach her about how to stand, walk, talk and act around power.

There was almost a ritual to how things were done when two sentients that could command planets met, maybe better described as a common culture. Not even that, it was a disposition. Power required an appearance, an external facade. True power didn't need to make threats, the threats were implicit. Asajj didn't know quite how to describe it, but she had seen it many times now.

Perhaps the best way to think of it was certainty, or maybe confidence that toed the line to arrogance.

All Asajj needed was a chance. She wanted to command, to lead others. Only a Padwan, yet, but when the time came, if she really was to replace Dooku as the Grandmaster, she needed a flawless reputation as one who thrived under pressure and handled command well. Someone like Master Narec.

She smiled at the thought, as her lightsabers flashed in front of her. Those were the two that had trained her, Dooku and Narec, and she felt that if she could combine their traits she would be almost perfect. Personable, tireless and focussed like Narec, with the ability to inspire trust in others, while being grand, commanding and composed like Dooku. Of course she would keep an eye out for other great leaders she could learn from but-

All of a sudden, every hair on the back of her neck rose up with a spine tingling shiver. For a moment on Indinor, something rapidly burned through the force, like a cold fire. For less than a second, Asajj felt a terrible fear that she couldn't describe as everything went dim. It wasn't her own fear, but someone else's honed to a razor edge.

Then it disappeared like it had never been there. The heatless fire was gone, leaving Asajj chilled at the memory of it. The lightside which had been glowing throughout the room as she practiced and drew more in towards her, now seemed dim and scattered.

Quickly toweling the sweat off herself, Asajj stepped out of the New Temple's practice hall to see she wasn't the only one that had been disturbed by what happened.

Narec was out in the hall, looking just as surprised as Asajj felt. He hadn't drawn his lightsaber yet, but his hand was on the hilt.

"Master, what was that?" Asajj asked. "For a moment it was almost like something was burning away the Force itself!"

"...That was the Dark Side, and a lot of it." Narec answered, frowning at her. "A very powerful Dark Side presence just moved through the Force here on Indinor."

That only left Asajj feeling more confused. "I thought only someone who had used the Dark Side could feel it. To a Jedi it just seems like a brief shadow in the Force."

He nodded. "It's likely you touched the Dark Side when you were a newborn on Dathomir, before you were sold into slavery. When you were young you used the Dark Side a few times before I taught you otherwise." He considered what to do before frowning. "I need to go find Dooku, and see if he knows what's happening."

Narec turned and walked down the hall, and Asajj frowned at his retreating back. A worm of worry worked its way into her gut as a thought occurred to her.

Her former Master hadn't explained why he knew what the Dark Side felt like…

...

Don't forget to throw some power stones ;)

...

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