StarDestroyer.Net BBS

TO BETRAY A TRAITOR

Disclaimer: This is a fanfiction story, written by a fan for other fans. It is not intended as an attack against the legitimate copyright holders. Star Wars and all related characters and concepts are property of George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd.

Foreword: It might contradict information from Revenge of the Sith and the novels Dark Rendezvous and Labyrinth of Evil (among others). At the very least, Dooku's personality has been substantially changed as a result of plot device overdose.

I- Loss of Trust.

"What troubles you, lord Tyrannus?," asked a voice in a tone that demanded an answer. "I feel much doubt in your mind."

Slowly, almost grudgingly, an elderly man that had been watching the drama unfolding outside turned to face the man who had questioned him. His interlocutor was sitting upon a large metallic throne with his arms shackled to his seat. In such a position, few would have been able to control the conversation, but Palpatine of Naboo was one of that exclusive group. In a way that was hard to describe, he was majestic and impressive even now, despite his chains... That ability had been most useful during the long years he had needed to become what he was now. Supreme Chancellor of a Galactic Republic, supreme ruler of trillions upon trillons of destinies.

Dooku of Serenno, political leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, had the sophisticated demeanor he had gained from his aristocratic origins, but he lacked Palpatine's almost tangible aura. An aura that the Chancellor created with very little effort. Hiding his emotions with a carefully studied expression and meticulous movements, Dooku knelt in front of his master and lowered his head, attempting to avoid the piercing gaze that so often had extracted his darkest secrets from the deepest pits of his soul. For a moment he tried to fabricate an explanation that would satisfy his lord, but once again he felt those eyes drilling through his skull. Against his will, he gave the truth and nothing but the truth.

"I am tired, master. I am no youngling. I have not been one for many, many years. Death will claim me soon and she is an enemy not even the Dark Side can fend off. For many years I have felt her approach and I do not fear her anymore. But I fear oblivion. Memory is the one kind of inmortality I can aspire to. And sometimes I fear that I will be forgotten," confessed the former Jedi Master with a weak voice.

"From your words, it is clear that a part of you still clings to the Jedi Code. You disappoint me, lord Tyrannus. After all you have done, after all you have seen, after learning the weakness of the Jedi their mysticism still taints you," sneered the Sith master with clear disdain. Inside, lord Sidious felt scorn and anger. Tyrannus had grown soft in the time they had been apart. He had been an useful servant, yes, whose life would soon come to an end, but Darth Plagueis' heir was enraged by the open acknowledgement of such a weakness by one who had taken the title and mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith.

"It is not my Jedi past what makes me fear oblivion, master. History is unfair, cruel even, with those willing to do what must be done. Ours is a great and noble cause, an Empire of Man, free of the beastly corruption that throttles the Republic, but the sacrifices have been great. Trillions have perished in this war. Worlds have burned. Unthinkable nightmares have been unleshed. Sometimes...

"Be silent, lord Tyrannus. This war is about to end. Soon, we will receive our due. Have you forgotten everything I taught you? Have you forgotten Darth Bane's words a thousand years ago? There is no peace, there is fury. There is no fear, there is power. There is no death, there is immortality. There is no weakness, there is the Dark Side. Our code. The essential truths of this universe. Your weakness enrages me. Forget the lies your old master instilled into you. Feel the Force. Listen to its glorious music. Let it strengthen your resolve. Let its fire purify you."

"Your will be done, milord," droned Dooku. And in a kneeling posture, he followed Palpatine's instructions. Using his fears and hates as fuel for the fires of the Dark Side, he emptied his mind and let the Force flood him.

Sometimes Palpatine had hinted that the Force was not divided in two sides of a same coin. That the use one made of the power was the individual's choice, although few had the force of will needed to dominate it. Tyrannus had the secret and never voiced opinion that at least in that, his master was wrong. He remembered perfectly the way the Force had felt in the Jedi Temple, although he had been unable to sense it in the same way since the day he had begun to learn the lost Sith lore.

The soft and gentle force he remembered was not the toxic torrent that was the Dark Side. Using fear and other intense emotions to reach the Force you gained greater power than those resulting from a lifetime of meditation and tireless training, but there was a price to pay. An iron will was needed to resist, to avoid becoming a puppet ruled by the most base instincts. To explore the Dark Side was a risky endeavour, indeed.

At the moment, the Dark Side around Coruscant was in turmoil. It was small wonder, in fact. The battle around the galactic capital had started many hours ago and the Republican and Confederated fleets still fought. Despair, fear, hate. The deepest, most genuine emotions of all forms of life were firewood.

And from the millions crewing the warships and the trillions hiding in the planet below, hiding in deep shelters, they came in great abundance. It was likely, Dooku thought, that the oppressive darkness had blinded even the most powerful and experienced Jedi Masters

It was somewhat ironic that most of that darkness came from the Republican forces, the so called "forces of the Light". The Separatist vessels had small living crews, unlike their foes. Instead, they used powerful computers and droids. No matter how perfect their parody of life, the machines were no living beings and they weren't part of the Force. The Republic was weakening its own champions more than any scheme devised by lord Sidious.

Meanwhile, through Tyrannus' mind flashed images, tiny pieces of the titanic struggle. Only a few were clear or lasted more than a heartbeat. He saw the ships, moving in their slow orbits through space, exchanging weapons fire with the power to level whole continents. A Neimoidian captain ordering defiantly a collision course for his damaged starship. A group of Mandalorian troopers leading a droid force in the assault of a great Republican destroyer. A young human, his forehead gleaming with sweat, in some enemy battery. In some of the images he saw the fleeting glow of a lightsaber. Finally, the confusing whirlwind stopped and the image of two starfighters moving through the battle appeared in the count's mind.

Without approaching his mind's eye, Tyrannus knew instantly who piloted both fighters. Even from a distance of thousands of kilometers, their presence in the Force was unmistakable. The culmination, the true reason behind the Separatist attack against Coruscant was approaching. The Sith withdrew from the Force and returned to his own body, in the Confederated flagship.

"The Jedi approach"

"Yes, they do, apprentice. It seems that at least your skills are still well honed. You will need them," commented Palpatine in a careless tone. It was clear that otherwise Tyrannus deserved a very grim fate. "Leave now and ensure that all is ready for their arrival. This is a risky gamble and we cannot afford mistakes."

After bowing, Dooku obeyed and left Palpatine alone in the Invisible Hand's viewroom. His quarters were close by and there he would have the opportunity to follow comfortably Skywalker and Kenobi's advance through the ship. Hopefully both his enemies would tire, while he rested and prepared. He had boasted before Sidious about his ability to beat both of them, but truth was that both were young and he was over eighty years old.

Skywalker was no great threat. The youngster was powerful, with an impressive potential, but as he had proven when their swords clashed in Geonosis, he had little control. Kenobi was the most dangerous. An exceptional example of Jedi. Skilled. Courageous. And with enough power to defeat Darth Maul even before his knighting. Although the previous Sith apprentice had been a beast lacking in subtlety, it had been a strong and well trained beast. A beast that had earned the title of Sith Lord.

It was clear that Maul had made the serious mistake of underestimating his enemy. Dooku had no intention of making the same mistake, particularly because he only expected the best from Qui-Gon's old padawan. In a sense, Dooku regretted the impending demise of the young Kenobi. It was a pity he had to die, particularly if his unworthy companion was to live. But those were Sidious orders: kill Kenobi, show Skywalker the true power of the Force and feign defeat. Three tasks, all of them extremely unpleasant.

Once in his room, sorrounded by the best art from a hundred worlds, Dooku turned off the lights with a gesture and knelt in the center of a rare Karalsian carpet. Each Sith Lord had his own style of combat and each Sith Lord followed his own ritual before battle whenever possible. Dooku's had intense Jedi influences, as pointed by Sidious sometimes. All doubts were vanished from his mind, allowing the count to become one with the Force and making his lightsaber an extension of his body.

With the weapon in his lap, Tyrannus closed his eyes. He caressed the refined lines of his lightsaber with a lover's kindness, stopping in the tiny irregularities created by many years of use... Slowly and with very unSithlike gentleness, he inmersed in the Force and became one with the weapon. He was the crimson scythe of death now.

However, this time there was a resistance. He couldn't reach the Void that protected him from his own emotions in the fray. His imminent treason of the Confederacy refused to leave his mind. What was happening? He despised the scum he had been working with in the last years and hated the mechanical and biomechanical abominations they created. Like Grievous. Moreover, treachery was the way of the Sith.

His thoughts stopped there. An intense unease had appeared. He probed deeper, making questions that he hadn't made since his training. He had always supposed that Palpatine shared his hatred of aliens. That the Sith master also considered them tools to be used, little better than animals and worse in many ways. If that was true, why had he taken Maul as his first apprentice? The Jedi Order didn't reach every world in the galaxy and it wouldn't have been impossible to find a human child with potential. In the worst case, Palpatine could have located a former member of the order, just as he had done with Dooku. But he had not done it.

A truth he hadn't seen appeared in his mind. What had prevented him from seeing through such a clear lie? The deception he had suffered angered him more than anything he had ever felt and that very fury powered the Dark Side. And then, in a blaze of rage turned power, Dooku extracted from the Force a vision of his future.

The revelation put out the fires of his anger. He knew with absolute certainty that all he had seen -his own execution, the destruction of the whole Jedi Order, a mad Palpatine devouring all life in the galaxy- would become reality. Unless he prevented it. A tremor coming from the hangar announced Skywalker and Kenobi's arrival. He had very little time.

He left his quarters and almost run the distance to the viewroom. He rested for a moment before crossing the door between his target and himself. It was essential to avoid Palpatine's suspicion until it was too late. He opened the door and knelt in front of the great spinner.

The Chancellor, engrossed in his own plans, detected inmediately a change in the flow of the Force around his apprentice, but was unable to interpret it. Whatever it was, the sudden change was an ill omen in such an important moment and might well be a problem in the conversion of young Skywalker. Palpatine raised his eyebrow and opened his mouth, intending to find out the truth.

He had no chance to ask anything. Tyrannus made his move. The lightsaber flew to the aristocrat's hand and activated with a red flash. Palpatine's widening eyes filled Dooku with satisfaction in the last moments before the lethal blow...

Comments? Be gentle, please, unless you think that my idea and writing sucks and can tell me how to improve.

Huh... You actually have a pretty decent idea going. Little nits about the grammar aspect of it. But other than that not to bad. I at least am interested in seeing a few more chapters.

I'd like to see more. So get writing.

Oh, I direct your attention to: "Sometimes Palpatine had hinted that the Force was not divided in two sides of a money." That probably ought to be 'two sides of a coin', or 'two sides of the same coin'. Nitpick over. You may now return to writing the next chapter.

Interesting.

Although i had expected for Dooku to reveal Sidious identity in front of Kenobi.

Excellent work.

I've always liked Dooku, so I'm looking forward to the continuation of this.

Having first ensured that I'm not thread necroing...

Other than the "money" bit (I noticed it too), I approve! While I find it interesting that Palpatine's own willingness to use an alien (in Maul) instead of despising them as Dooku still seems to (?) played into what seemed to be the train of thought that led to Dooku's revelation... that makes for a complicated protagonist!

You've got my interest, that's for sure.

Do you intend to focus on Dooku, or on Anakin when he arrives aboard the Invisible Hand and finds Palpatine's corpse still bound to the chair? Will Dooku decide to make peace with the Republic and keep what he already has-- territory under CIS control, now his empire?

Mandalorians???
Otherwise its not too bad a fic, keep it up.

Whoa. I didn't expect so many replies. Thanks to all those who have replied. Now, to answer particular things. Let's see:

Prozac the Robert That was a stupid mistake and many thanks for telling me.

FTeik: Dooku is not in his clearest frame of mind at this point. He has just realized that he has been played. Spectacularly. There is more of revenge in his attack than of noble redeeming act. In fact, I think that Dooku would rather do it himself than ask for help even if he had considered it. The count of Serenno is an extremely prideful man.

Sidewinder: Dooku will play the central role in this story, but Anakin is going to be the co-star or at least a regular. To keep spoilers at a minimum, I will only tell you that the Force is still out of balance. Now even more seriously so. As for peace with the Republic... wait and see. Let's just say that Grievous is going to up the stakes shortly after the battle of Coruscant.

Stuart Mackey: I'm not drunk. Apparently there were plans to include Mandalorians in the Clone Wars cartoon and they do appear in one of Stravo's fics. Let's just say that in this little AU Fett was not the last one. They will not play an important role, but might appear again.

II- Turns of Fate

The lethal blow never connected. Dooku's satisfaction vanished and growing worry replaced it. Instead of completing its swing, the luminous blade had been stopped, blocked by an unexpected resistance.

The count increased pressure, but the resistance grew faster. Slowly, very slowly, the lightsaber moved away from Palpatine's throat. Tyrannus' worry was transformed. It became fear, terror, vast and intense panic. A fear he didn't control, a fear that did not fan the flames of his power, but weakened his efforts. Almost desperately, Tyrannus poured his vast reserves of power, attempting to overcome the barrier, attempting to sever his master's existence.

That supreme effort was enough. Something gave way and the weapon advanced again, just as slowly as it had previously backed away. The nobleman recovered his confidence and his gaze shifted again from the deadly blade to his victim's face. That was a mistake. Palpatine had disappeared, because there was nothing of the distinguished galactic ruler in the grotesque visage he saw. The former Jedi master beheld dumbfounded the fury of Sidious, Master of the Sith Order, and when a pair of yellow eyes invaded his mind, his heart and soul were gripped by unfathomable terror.

Balance had been broken. The master took advantage of the opportunity and launched a powerful blow. The apprentice landed in graceless fashion several meters away and his refined lightsaber fell halfway between the throne and his own sprawled form.

A metallic groan announced that Palpatine had broken his shackles. Dooku, still stunned by the attacks against his mind and body, attempted to rise. A tremendous weight made him fall on all fours.

"Do you want to die so much that you cannot wait to be defeated by Skywalker, lord Tyrannus?," hissed Sidious with a voice that was barely human. "Your betrayal is unexpected and untimely. Now I will have to destroy him personally and Kenobi too. I will never find another with such a potential again. Do you understand what you have done, scum?"

The last part was almost a shriek. The Sith Lord was close to giving in to his rage. Dooku stole a glance, still under the spell of false panic. He saw against the light a shadowy silhouette. The face was Palpatine's again, but pulsing veins were still evident and in the eyes traces of a yellowish hue were to be seen. A reddened mark in the throat indicated the point were the lightsaber had scorched skin. Once again, the monster was safely hidden behind a fair appearance.

A slight movement with the hand launched the Confederacy's head of state against the viewroom's metal walls. Another movement. Pain, pain as he had never known or even dreamed with, made Tyrannus writhe. After an eternity that lasted only a few seconds, the pain vanished, although violent spasms still coursed through the old warrior's body.

"Fear not, my unruly apprentice," said Palpatine in a more controlled tone, although Dooku barely understood the words in his agony. "I will not end you. Not here, not now. Your treachery deserves a very special and protracted reward. I will have to be careful, of course. I would hate to grant you release by breaking your mind. Perhaps you will find enlightening that in his search of inmortality, Plagueis researched for a very long time to find the limits between life and death. I have that knowledge, as well as the journals of one Darth Sion whose name and reputation you already know."

The Chancellor made another gesture and the very sword that had almost ended his life floated from the ground to his open palm. He eyed it for a moment and then approached his fallen enemy wielding Dooku's own saber. Dooku tried, futilely, to escape crawling.

"Resist. Resist with all your might, old fool. And when you realize that all was for naught, you will know the true meaning of despair," he said activating the blade and launching an attack in a single movement, so swift and fluid that the count would have been hard pressed to avoid in his best moment.

Red light cut through fabric, flesh and bone without slowing down. Dooku cried in renewed pain, while he used his left hand to hold his right arm. An arm that now ended at the wrist. Palpatine stared at the pathetic image with an evil smile, crushing Tyrannus' severed hand with his boots. A symbol of his victory, a very pleasant symbol.

"I am tempted to cut your other arm. And the legs too, my friend. However, I think that I will not... for the moment. I seem to remember that you scorned young Skywalker for his mechanical hand. You said that a true knight would have learned to wield the sword with his other hand or something similar. Have you changed your mind?

But his mutilation had been enough to break Dooku out of the terrified stupor of the last moments. And the vengeful Palpatine, busy with his gloating of an enemy apparently defeated, hadn't detected the change. Not yet.

Weakened, unarmed and in great pain, Tyrannus knew that he was not up to it, yet at the same time he knew that it didn't matter. Better to die fighting and with a semblance of dignity that to be destroyed by Sidious' perversion. With snake-like speed, the lord of Serenno moved his injured arm and attacked with the full force of his power.

Palpatine's taunts, frustration and pain were all used to increase his diminished energy. From his still smouldering wrist, Dooku launched a veritable storm of blue lightning. For the second time in a day, Darth Sidious felt the effects of an unexpected attack. It was his turn now to fly through the air and crash against the walls and fly and crash he did. It was a short flight and the impact dented metal.

But in spite of this and the smell of smoke coming from his robes, Palpatine had suffered no true damage. However, he was worried. His foresight had always been one of his best honed abilities and the prediction of threats was almost second nature for him. Yet he had been unable to predict clear and present dangers twice in a row. Once he would have been willing to ignore. Sometimes it happened, like Padme Amidala's return to Naboo. But twice? It was unthinkable.

There was something afoot. Something that was Tyrannus' doing. Somehow he had found a way of masking himself from Sidious' gaze and had decided to rise to the position of Sith master with a single strike. But Palpatine of Naboo was no easy prey. As he rose, he saw that his enemy had done the same thing in the opposite side of the room, recovered his lightsaber with his left hand and now awaited, full of caution. Palpatine tried to probe Dooku's mind but found a wall that stopped him. His apprentice had raised his mental defenses. Pity. The Mask of Nightmare was a useful ability, but he wouldn't have the opportunity to use it again now. The only way to break those walls would be by storm, but such a thing would take too much time and effort.

And Palpatine had been forced to waste much of his own vast reserves to stop the blade that had almost killed him. With so little time and without a direct line of vision, his only weapon against the count's finesse had been raw power. A lot of raw power. And even that would have failed without the Mask of Nightmare that had given him the upper hand. Now he had to defeat his apprentice without using too much energy. After all, two powerful Jedi were approaching and he needed to be ready for them too. At least, it was clear that Tyrannus' newfound ability hadn't increased his power or made him more skilled, so he was still outmatched. Particularly now that he had a single hand. Sidious produced one of his own lightsabers from a hidden pocket inside his robes and extended its blade, cackling with glee when he saw surprise in his apprentice's face.

The short staring contest had been a hard test for Dooku's nerves. He had no way of knowing Sidious' thoughts, nor the strategy he was preparing, although he had felt his touch in the fortified edges of his mind. But the count had finally understood that time was his ally, that Kenobi and Skywalker were coming. In short, the longer the duel, the worse things were for the Sith Lord. And when Palpatine's lightsaber appeared, he realized that he had surprises of his own. This ship had been his residence and stronghold for several years of war. The crew even called his quarters the Wizard's Tower. He had resources to call upon.

Dooku’s movement to press some device in his belt was all the warning Sidious got, until the doors opened and four superbattledroids entered, as commanded by their owner. Their program detected the count and only other presence in the room. A lightsaber-wielding threat. And they had very clear instructions about the proper way of dealing with such threats. They formed a line and opened fire with their inbuilt blaster guns. Ultra-rapid bursts with up to ten shots a second, weaker than normal shots, but still more than enough to kill any human.

A little known detail of Jedi (and Sith) history was that lightsabers had been first developed to counter the first blasters, so deadly that sometimes even lowly criminals scored a Jedi kill. Over the centuries, the defence against such weapons had grown to be a form of art among the Knights of the Republic. And while the Sith Order had always favoured aggression and offensive fighting styles, Darth Sidious was a very gifted swordsman, one of the best the galaxy had ever known. So when the robotic minions unleashed their furious rain of blaster death, he moved with inhuman speed and accuracy, creating a scarlet whirlwind that blocked, deflected or returned almost every single shot.

The mechanic soldiers never had a chance. Two of them fell victim to their own fire, another was literally crushed when Palpatine waved his hand and the last one was cut in half by the blade of the lightsaber that had been such an effective protection. But Dooku hadn't summoned the battledroids in hopes of a quick victory. They had been a distraction, nothing else. A distraction that had worked, because after his last strike, Palpatine's guard was open. An amazing burst of speed took Tyrannus across the room. The Chancellor was barely able to parry a beheading slash and his precarious position allowed his enemy to force the duel into a hail of movements, movements precalculated by a consumate fencer. In the sixth movement of the series, Palpatine failed to detect a feint.

He understood his mistake when he felt a burning sensation in his right wrist. His amputated hand fell to the floor, still gripping his lightsaber, and only a Force enhanced leap saved him from a direct stab to the heart. A wall of solidified air, hastily erected during his jump, divided the room, protecting him from the now grinning count of Serenno.

"Now we are even, master!," taunted Dooku, pressing his stump against the Force wall.

Ignoring the pain and the humiliation, Palpatine drew even more power from the Dark Side and made yet another note in his mental list of reasons to destroy his overproud foe in body, mind and soul. He approached the barrier, until only the construct and a few centimeters of air separated his face from Dooku's.

"Do you really believe that we are even? This injury is nothing for one who commands the Dark Side. You, on the other hand, are a failure and a ruin. Fallen Jedi, fallen Sith. Just a handless old fool who will beg for mercy very soon."

"If that is the best you can do..."

"No, it is not."

Air movement behind his back and a last minute warning from the Force saved Dooku's life. He turned just in time to parry the strike Sidious' lightsaber, guided by the will of its owner. Despite himself, the count was amazed by Palpatine's prowess. Telekinetic control of a lightsaber was not something particularly unusual. Enough skill to make the lightsaber as one wielded by a master of Djem So, while holding a Force wall and after a serious injury was something unheard of. And while he battled the flying blade, he saw something that left him awed. Somehow Palpatine had recovered his severed hand and was pressing it against his own stump. And it was healing. Bones were mended, sinews were repaired and new muscle grew to repair the cauterized flesh. In a matter of seconds all damage was undone. The wall collapsed, the lightsaber interrupted its attack against Dooku and flew to the outstretched hand that had just been miraculously healed.

"Only now, at the end, do you understand. I am the Sith Master, I command the Dark Side. Pain, fear and destruction are my tools, they make me thrive. These are the powers that shall undo you. Prepare for the end, lord Tyrannus!"

"That is the name you chose for me, Sidious. I am the Count Dooku, lord of the world of Serenno, former Jedi Master. And I shall be your death!," countered Dooku, with all the conviction he was able to muster.

The blades of the lightsabers clashed again. The duel continued.

Notes: I update so soon as a result of the many favourable comments, but I won't be able to repeat this often. This is the expanded second version of the first half of the original chapter 2 and I am fairly proud of it. Please, point any and all mistakes I've made to disabuse me of the notion.

"If that is the better you can do..."

You probably meant, "if that is the best you can do..."

Good read, though.

Only two chapters in and already this is turning into a must read for me.

I update so soon as a result of the many favourable comments, but I won't be able to repeat this often.

No excuses, we expect you to give up your job/love life/social life/anything else so that we may be entertained by this.



Good Job

Great fight sequence between the Lord of the Sith and fallen Jedi master. Do continue soon please.

Palpatine had disappeared, because there was nothing of the distinguished galactic ruler in the grotesque visage he saw

???

i think he's referring to "Wrinkly" Palpatine, Stuart. Also, this is most, most awesome. You win, Murazor.

Stuart Mackey wrote:

Palpatine had disappeared, because there was nothing of the distinguished galactic ruler in the grotesque visage he saw

???

These are the effects of something I invented: The Mask of Nightmare, a Dark Side Force power created by Darth Plagueis. It was intended for use in interrogations or for intimidation and not in actual combat, but Dooku was so focused in overcoming Palpatine's telekinetic resistance that his mental defenses slipped, leaving him vulnerable to this attack.

In a purely biological level, the Mask of Nightmare works through direct stimulation of the fear centers in the victim's brain. The terror it creates greatly diminishes the target's ability to wield the Force in any focused fashion (although emotional outbursts like that of Darth Vader at the end of ROTS are still possible).

Also, this kind of fear actually distorts perceptions: Palpatine didn't become some kind of monster (although his eyes turned Sith-yellow and there were other minor changes as a result of the amount of Dark Side energy he was using at the moment), but Tyrannus saw a monster nonetheless.

Does this solve your doubts?

Murazor wrote:
Does this solve your doubts?

Yes, indeed. I questioned it lest you were falling into the old 'true face of Palpatine' argument .

[quote="Murazor"In a purely biological level, the Mask of Nightmare works through direct stimulation of the fear centers in the victim's brain. The terror it creates greatly diminishes the target's ability to wield the Force in any focused fashion (although emotional outbursts like that of Darth Vader at the end of ROTS are still possible).[/quote]HOTNESS... XD

Oh cool! I wonder what happens when Kenobi and Skywalker emerge upon this scene.

My only criticism. I don't see why Palpatine would have to kill Anakin, a master of deception and scheming such as Sidious would at least attempt to salvage the situation. Kenobi I understand but there was too much invested in Anakin for Sidious to feel as if he was expendable.

Darth Fanboy wrote:My only criticism. I don't see why Palpatine would have to kill Anakin, a master of deception and scheming such as Sidious would at least attempt to salvage the situation. Kenobi I understand but there was too much invested in Anakin for Sidious to feel as if he was expendable.

You think Palpatine would both be able to reveal himself as a sith, kill Kenobi in front of Skywalker and convince Skywalker not to kill him?

Or does he just kill Dooku lock himself back up in his seat and say "oh he was like that when I got here" to the Jedi when they ask about the Corpse?

III- The Will of the Force

If someone had been there to witness the duel, he would have seen two figures blurred by a combination of speed, a veritable cloud of floating objects that moved around one of them and a swift series of white flashes every time two lines of red lights held by both figures touched. The Force allowed both contendants to move so fast that seconds stretched into minutes, distorting their perception of time, but with his long experience Dooku estimated that his confrontation with Darth Sidious was moving into its fourth minute now. And in that time, he had launched two hundred and twenty fruitless attacks and parried or dodged over twice as many.

Despite himself, the Count had been forced to fight on the defensive, because Palpatine was younger and more powerful and, therefore, faster. He had even included Soresu movements in his Makashi, trading grace for enhanced defense, but he had realized that his old lessons in the Jedi Temple were more useful here than his Sith powers. The Sith Lords were aware of their individual advantage over the Lightsiders, the very idea of a single stronger opponent was anathema for the Sith, and that certainty of superiority was at the core of Sith dogma. The training of a Sith Lord focused in combat against many weaker enemies.

And, as Sidious was finding out with an exercise in frustration, against a strong enemy such a training was next to worthless. The Count was just too strong to crush him easily. Possible? Certainly, but only with a great deal of effort, particularly with his damnable Jedi knowledge. And if the effort was too big, then the outcome of a fight with Kenobi and Skywalker might become uncertain. And that was entirely too big a risk.

In the other hand, Dooku had allowed himself to harbour some faint hopes. He felt the growing frustration of Palpatine and he had seen the sweat that covered his enemy's face. Despite his proud words, the Sith Master had only a limited supply of power and it was clear that regenerating his hand had come with a very steep prize. Of course, the question was whether the prize had been steep enough. At the moment, the answer was no, by all appearances. Sidious' strikes still had the force of ten men, his wasn't slowing down and the ring of flying obstacles he had created with pieces of the destroyed battledroids still moved, reducing the windows Dooku used to attack, yet allowing the Chancellor to move without hindrance.

It was clear that the power expenditure of the former Jedi was a lot smaller and the trademark precision of Makashi prevented any form of waste, but even so he felt his energies dwindling too rapidly for his liking. In training or mock battle, he had never outlasted his master, so he didn't know the true extent of his enemy's power, just that it was vastly greater than his.

A warning of danger made him move his head to the right, allowing him to narrowly avoid being hit by a droid leg that had been launched from Palpatine's halo. The projectile crashed against one of the great windows, where a worrisome crack appeared. Dooku muttered from behind gritted teeth things that promised the Neimoidian builders a painful and short future. That glass was supposed to resist the direct impact of a meteorite, but apparently they had decided to cut expenses and hadn't installed the force-fields that would protect from impacts from inside.

The momentary distraction could have costed him dearly, for his former master jumped at the chance to renew his attack with increased speed in a series of powerful blows that almost demolished his defences. The Count needed every bit of his considerable skill to halt the onslaught. Even then he was forced to give more and more ground, until his back found one of the walls. Then, using as much power as he was able to channel, he increased his speed to match and even exceed his enemy's who was forced to retreat a couple of steps. Then, with a strong kick, Dooku finally found some breathing room.

Palpatine landed cleanly, after a complete somersault in the air, with the lightsaber ready to continue the fight. However, his renegade apprentice was in no condition to continue. The amazing speeds he had shown had left him panting and with his old heart beating too fast. Knowing that victory was now at hand, the Chancellor decided to savour the moment. He deactivated his blade and looked at his disciple with crossed arms, although ready for possible surprises.

"Impressive, most impressive. Particularly for an old coot that once was a Jedi. I marvel at my ability to turn you into something similar to a true Sith warrior and I wonder what would have been possible to do with young Skywalker. I fear that this question will haunt me for eternity, as your actions have robbed me of the chance of learning the answer," explained Sidious with a note of regret in his voice, until a very smug smile appeared in his face. "You are beaten and you know it. Do you yield? I might be clement."

"Never," cried Dooku, moving his stump towards his communicator. He had no choice but to press the general alarm button, that would summon several hundred droids and... More or less at this point, the Count's train of thought derailed when he discovered something extremely unpleasant. His belt and all its contents, communicator included, weren't there, probably severed in one of the strikes he had blocked only in the very last instant.

"Are you looking for this, my friend?" asked Palpatine, pointing at one of the many things in the field that even now protected him. A thing that Dooku recognized as his belt. "Surely you did not intend to use the same trick twice against me, did you? Really, you should know better with me. After all, I have been your master for many years now.

The Count didn't reply, but saw with a lump in his throat how the belt and the vital device vanished in a flash of blue light.

"And now that we have removed the distractions, it is time for the main course. You will beg for mercy, I assure you," promised Sidious, turning his left hand towars his exhausted enemy.

The intensity surprised the Count, but he was able to block the tendrils of light with his red sword. Barely. He could feel the murderous thirst that powered them and the evil will that guided them, both attempting to find a hole in his walls to strike and feed from his very soul. One step, another. And another one. Dooku advanced, fighting against the stream of dark power. If he continued advancing, he would be able to strike down Palpatine with his weapon and... Palpatine had put his own lightsaber in a pocket and raised his right hand to double the power behind his attack. The nobleman's resistance crumbled as a sandcastle touched by the rising tide.

However, Palpatine stopped almost inmediately. The duel was truly over and the loser was at his mercy, but he didn't want to kill him. Not yet. He was enjoying his victory after a disturbing number of setbacks. And he reserved a very special form of death for the traitor. The Jedi were approaching, yes, but he still had enough time to punish Tyrannus' insolence in a truly exemplary fashion.

"Your stubborn resistance has robbed me of many years of sport, Tyrannus. Now, I will reward you in another way. As Lord of the Sith, I declare you guilty of treason against our Order, vilest of all crimes, and I sentence you to die, fate of weaklings and traitors. Moreover, I deem you unworthy of being my apprentice and heir of the Sith tradition. I hereby strip you of all rank and right within the Order," announced Darth Sidious, using a rarely used formula that predated the Order created by Darth Bane. "Finally, considering the seriousness of your crimes against our beliefs and myself, I doom you to oblivion."

Dooku, weakened and in pain, hadn't paid attention to Palpatine's words at first, busy as he was attempting to stand without the wall as support. However, the last threat made him react. A cruel joy appeared in Palpatine's face when he saw the panic in Dooku's face.

"You will be forgotten. This galaxy will be mine and I will do my best to erase the memory of your very existence from it. The rule of the Sith will be eternal and from this galaxy it will reach the last reaches of the universe, but you will be only a forgotten ghost from a dead past. A nameless spirit that will disappear in darkness. And now I would like to explain you the way I intend to execute you...

The explosion of animal fury came with savage howling from the Count of Serenno that almost disguised the groaning of metal. However, Palpatine knew without turning that the throne-like chair he had used minutes before approached from behind with his head as target. It had been a mighty, but clumsy, effort. No subtlety, no delicacy. Stopping it with the lightest touch of his mind was child's play. After a few seconds it fell several meters away, with a great thud.

At the same time, Dooku sagged. The eruption had consumed the remainder of his strength and he was utterly spent. His well was dry now and he had no way to resist Palpatine's efforts now. Invisible hands lifted him, while others pressed against his throat, making him choke. Palpatine approached and looked his former student in the eye.

"As I was explaining, before I was so rudely interrupted, you are going to suffer a unusual death. Another one of Plagueis' many discoveries. He called it the Touch of Entropy, not a very good name, but back then the old man had a penchant for the melodramatic. Esentially, I will be a vessel for destructive energies and once I touch you, they will attack every single cell in your body, tearing down cellular tissue. Once they are finished, a pool of muddy water will be the only thing left of you. I am told that it is a rather fast death, as you will be consumed in ten to twenty seconds, however Plagueis wrote that the nerves are the last thing to disappear and that there is a feeling of exquisite pain associated with the destruction. He also stated that a connection with the Force increases the pain, although I do not think that he had the opportunity to test it with a traitor... I am curious. Farewell, Dooku of Serenno!"

And just when Sidious' hand was about to touch Dooku's It happened.

Every single Force sensitive in Coruscant and nearby worlds felt something moving in the Force itself and realized that something momentous was happening. In the end, It was rather disappointing in its smallness. Lexin Terrail, a young Corellian technician in the fire control center of a heavy turbolaser battery in the RSS Shield of Tralus, a Venator-class Star Destroyer distant roughly thirty thousand kilometers from the Invisible Hand, pressed the wrong button. The direct consequence of this mistake was that the powerful weapon fired too soon to hit the chosen target, a TradeFed battleship. Terrail had no chance to regret his mistake, as the Shield of Tralus was destroyed by a full power blast from the main turbolaser cannons of a nearby Munificent-class frigate, killing Terrail and everyone else onboard the starship.

However, the almost invisible beam, harbinger of energies worthy of a small star, had already left. It crossed vacuum at speeds approaching those of light itself. And roughly one tenth of a second after being fired the beam impacted against the starboard side of the Confederate flagship. The shields, already weakened by hours of fighting, collapsed after absorbing most of the energy. But only most of it. The remainder was enough to violently shake the warship and trigger a number of explosions that destroyed some extremely important systems. Like primary impulse and the control of artificial gravity.

The giant ship fell plummeted towards the planet below and that had rather significative effects in all sections. In the bridge, the droid technicians fell on their command consoles, while General Grievous barked orders to correct the situation. In what was left of the hangar, something covered by a mountain of scrap started to beep in annoyance. In a turbolift, a couple of Jedi in a rescue mission were forced to make acrobatics when the ground became the walls.

In the viewroom, the two duelists had no time to prepare. Palpatine tried to keep his footing, his victim forgotten, but Dooku was powerless to stop his fall towards the windows. His dead weight dragged Sidious along and it was the would-be-executioner who took the brunt of the impact and was knocked unconscious. The victim-to-be realized that he had been given a last chance beyond all hope, seized Sidious' own lightsaber, activated it and with what little strength he had left drove it through the Chancellor's heart. Palpatine died instantly.

Palpatine's body... exploded. There was no other way to explain the burst of cold blue flames that bathed every surface in the room for an instant of blinding brilliance. When the flames disappeared, only a shrivelled husk was left. The empty shell of the mightiest Sith Lord to ever darken the galaxy. Dooku collapsed, utterly exhausted and in the verge of unconsciousness himself. He heard a weak voice inside his head, but before he was able to understand what it said, the darkness swallowed him whole.

At the same time, General Grievous regained control of his ship and all surfaces returned to their usual positions. In the viewroom, two inert bodies landed in the ground together and a blast shield extended to seal the window that had been pierced in the strike that had claimed Palpatine's life. And in a matter of moments, every Jedi in the galaxy felt that the blinding darkness retreated. The Dark Side was still strong, but the ruling will that had created the Shroud was no more. Just a handful of seconds later, two well known Jedi whose military exploits had appeared all over the holonet entered ready for battle. What they found left them rather surprised.

Notes: The other revised and (greatly) expanded half of the original second chapter. I fear that some of the descriptions are slightly beyond my skill to translate properly, so if you spot glaring mistakes tell me. And lots of thanks for all those who have commented. I am surprised and very pleased. Thank you all!

There he goes. At least he didn't slip in the shower. Awesome fight-scenes.

Awesome. This is great stuff.
I love how just a small screw-up can change the course of major events.

Great work Murazor.

IV- Elementary, dear Skywalker.

From the walkway that overlooked the rear of the viewroom, Obi-Wan and Anakin had a superb panoramic of virtually everything in the room. Including the two motionless forms in the opposite end, under the transparisteel windows. Although the natural urge was to rush ahead, both warriors had experienced too much to make such a reckless move, and they stayed next to the only way out while they inspected every corner with the Force and open eyes.

"I don't like this at all, master. This screams 'trap'," muttered Anakin tensely after completing a second revision that didn't reveal hidden enemies, neither mechanical, nor living.

Kenobi nodded, but said nothing. All his instincts were telling him that they were being lured into something, but that particular piece of advice had been repeating for minutes now. Sadly, it was undeniable that being aboard the Invisible Hand had put him on edge. It was, after all, the flagship of an infamous Jedi-slayer who had sworn to include both their lightsabers to his already large collection. Nonetheless and despite his misgivings, he had been unable to locate close enemy forces, even using his powerful connection with the Force to its full extent, now that the Shroud of the Dark Side had vanished so mysteriously.

But even if no enemies were present now, they had been in the viewroom. Very recently. Darkness tainted everything in the room. What had been faint echoes barely heard as they approached had turned into a deafening roar here, where someone had unleashed the evil powers of the Dark Side. Finally, he made his mind up.
"All right. But be careful."

Both Jedi descended and advanced alongside each other, cautiously, insuring to check every possible hideout that might have been hidden from their initial inspection. Nothing. No assassins lurking in the shadows. Not even the ripples in the air that would give away the presence of cloaked chamaleon droids. They moved unimpeded, closing the gap between the doors and the prone bodies.

When they were just a few steps away, Kenobi stopped and ordered his student to do the same thing. They were close enough now to see clearly both bodies. The flesh of one appeared burned, although the clothes seemed undamaged save for a scorched hole in the back. Using the Force to roll them over, Kenobi was mildly surprised to find no resistance and very surprised -and more than a little startled- when he recognized them.

Count Dooku's was a face that he was unlikely to forget for as long as he lived, but it took him a few moments to identify the second character. Whatever had burnt the Chancellor, had disfigured him and left an expression of unfathomable pain etched on his face. An unexpected flow of violent emotions assaulted Kenobi's mind, interrupting his examen. Skywalker had finally understood that his admired friend was dead. Someone had tortured him, wrecking his body with wanton cruelty, and eventually killed him, wedging a lightsaber in his chest.

They were late, that much was clear, although there were many things that Kenobi found himself unable to understand. The Jedi Master produced from his belt a long range sensor, programmed to detect a very particular signal. The device gave him the confirmation he had feared: the corpse was no clone or a surgically modified imposter, but the late Chancellor Palpatine. The emitter implanted in his spine after his election was conclusive evidence.
"I am sorry, Anakin. It is him."

The knight took the words as permission to move and did so. Obi-Wan saw with disapproval how the lightsaber was dropped when Anakin knelt next to his dead friend, in a vain, irrational and desperate attempt to save an already severed life, but Kenobi wisely decided to withhold critics. Distress was plain in his old Padawan's face. Kenobi himself had felt no great love for Palpatine, but the Chancellor had been a wise friend and the closest thing to a father figure the young native of Tatooine had ever had. The loss was tearing his heart apart. The last thing he needed now was someone reminding him basic rules of behaviour. It was not the moment. Particularly considering that they were in enemy territory, alone and with an unconscious Sith Lord.

"By the Force, what has happened here?," he said to himself, while he tried to make some sense of the situation. He knelt to inspect the still form of the Count. Dooku was alive, so he was the best of the pair, but not by much. In addition to his severed arm, his connection with the Force was so weak that it was easy to miss if one didn't know what to look for and the beating of his heart was alarmingly irregular. Even more puzzling was that whoever had left the Sith Lord in such a sorry state hadn't bothered to finish him.

Who had the ability or the power to defeat a Sith so soundly? Grievous? Unlikely. Had the cyborg monster betrayed his master, Tyrannus wouldn't be alive. And that was supposing that the General had the skill to defeat the Count, something that Kenobi didn't believe for a second. Jedi? Impossible. Although two Jedi had previously boarded the Invisible Hand, both had faced Grievous and been slaughtered. Dooku's own Dark Acolytes? Betrayal was the path of the Dark Side and Kenobi himself had suffered bitter experiences fighting Tyrannus' students, but the very idea of someone like Ventress defeating a true Sith Lord -and leaving him alive to boot- was utterly ridiculous.

That left only a single name in the rather short list of individuals and organizations that used lightsabers. The Sith themselves. And at this point, something clicked in the Jedi's mind. Always two, a master and an apprentice. So had been things for a thousand years.

But Darth Tyrannus had broken the spirit of that essential rule of the Sith Order. Ventress had used old Sith secrets to torture Obi-Wan, secrets that only her teacher could have taught her. Dooku. The very fallen Jedi that had tried to persuade him in Geonosis, before the beginning of the war, to join forces. Against one Darth Sidious, whose existence had been eventually proven true.

Was it possible that Tyrannus had been preparing to betray his master for years? That was something that gave food for thought. If Dooku had been a rebellious apprentice, then it was possible that his master, that enigmatic Sidious, had eventually decided to destroy him. Also, the murder of both heads of state would surely result in increased chaos, a worsening of the war that consumed the galaxy and further weakening of the Sith Order. A very nice side benefit.

Kenobi pondered his working theory. It explained almost everything. Tyrannus was a powerful enemy and if both Sith had been weakened in the fight, the waning of the darkness might be the result. The last thing left to explain was Dooku's survival and Obi-Wan believed himself capable of explaining even that. Feeling two Jedi approaching, Darth Sidious probably had been forced to leave without killing off his enemy, hoping that his enemies would finish the job.

Lost in his musings, Kenobi almost missed the changes in Dooku's mind that announced his impending awakening. Only almost. When Dooku opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was an extremely deadly line of light held a few centimeters away from his face by a man with a serious expressions and a million questions ready.

Notes: I seriously dislike the way I have translated this, but it seems it is the best I can do at the moment. I beg the readers to tell me any mistakes I might have made. Thank you.