Crazedwraith wrote:Awesome. I wasn't expecting Shaak-Tii, to be the Jedi in question that Organa wanted. Are you using the events of Clone Wars as what happened before Ep III or the novel Labyrinth of Evil? Or some combination of them both?
More or less everything that happens in EU materials about the Clone Wars actually happened in my AU with a couple noteworthy exceptions that shall be explored in later chapters.
And regarding Tii's connection with Organa, let's just say that sheoweshimbigtime after the Metalorn affair mentioned by Amedda. For this and a few other factors hinted in the text, she is the best option to become the liaison between the Jedi Order and the new Chancellor.
Murazor wrote:More or less everything that happens in EU materials about the Clone Wars actually happened in my AU with a couple noteworthy exceptions that shall be explored in later chapters.
Speaking of those later chapters , is the story on hold for a while ?
If you would be so kind as to not post in a story thread a month after the latest post, we'd all be very grateful. It makes people think there's a new chapter. It makes us rather unhappy when we discover there is not.
Conversion Table:
2000 Mockingbirds = 2 Kilomockingbirds
Basic Unit of Laryngitis = 1 Hoarsepower
453.6 Graham Crackers = 1 Pound Cake
1 Kilogram of Falling Figs - 1 Fig Newton
Time Between Slipping on a Banana Peel and Smacking the Pavement = 1 Bananosecond
Half of a Large Intestine = 1 Semicolon
Master_Baerne wrote:If you would be so kind as to not post in a story thread a month after the latest post, we'd all be very grateful. It makes people think there's a new chapter. It makes us rather unhappy when we discover there is not.
declan wrote:Speaking of those later chapters , is the story on hold for a while ?
Declan
Well, as somebody else raised this from the depths, I suppose that I can drop a line or two about the situation.
I have been writing a triptych about Dooku's story.
Tentative chapter titles are "White Knight", "Shadow Hunter" and "Dark Lord". The first is Galidraan-centric, the second covers Dooku's hunt for the second Sith Lord following Qui-Gon's death and his conflict with the Bando Gora cult, while the third is about the assassination of Sifo-Dyas and his decision to become Palpatine's apprentice.
It just happens that these chapters are going to be a bit longer than the others (25,000-30,000 words between the three of them) and finishing the third is taking far longer than I initially expected.
Master_Baerne wrote:If you would be so kind as to not post in a story thread a month after the latest post, we'd all be very grateful. It makes people think there's a new chapter. It makes us rather unhappy when we discover there is not.
Ooops , apologys to all and thanks Murazor for replying.
Master_Baerne wrote:If you would be so kind as to not post in a story thread a month after the latest post, we'd all be very grateful. It makes people think there's a new chapter. It makes us rather unhappy when we discover there is not.
I'm sorry to add to this, but I just read this and TBAT and I'm liking what I see. A fascinating characterization of Dooku, political intrigue, a more stable Grevious...Murazor, you've got a new fan...
Outsiders usually regard the telekinetic abilities of Jedi to be the most powerful gift of the Force.
Within the Order itself, the power to move things with the minds is largely considered either a handy little tool or a parlour trick that has been dramatically overrated by those who do not understand the subtler powers of the Jedi.
Nonetheless, even the Jedi themselves disagree about which is their biggest strength. Some argue that the Jedi do not even have such a thing, that their supernatural powers simply balance each other to form something greater than the mere sum of the parts. In other words, this compromise states that all Jedi powers are equally important and that none is supreme.
Unsurprisingly, this solution is the least popular among those Jedi who have been actively involved in this long-lived debate at one point or another, although it is accepted by the members of the silent majority who simply don’t care enough to argue the point. Those who care argue that truth is not defined by consensus. And the debate goes on.
For a long time, the supporters of the ‘insight’ -a catch-all term that includes both the enhanced senses and the precognitive powers granted by the Force- dominated this intellectual arena, but they seem to have lost much of their steam in recent years. It is undeniable reality that none of the thousands of Jedi in existence foresaw the impending beginning of the most devastating conflict in recorded history. Yes, it was a result of the darkening of the Force and the return of the Sith…
But can an ability that is so easily hampered by the enemy be considered the greatest power of the Jedi?
Hardly. At least, that’s what the side that now holds the advantage is telling to anyone who bothers to listen. For the longest time, some of the most respected Jedi Masters have considered that the ability to touch the minds of other beings though the Force to be the most useful of all the different powers that the Knights of the Republic gain out of their connection with the Light Side.
Not the ability to bend other minds.
Just the ability to contact and communicate, mind to mind. Soul to soul.
The form doesn’t matter. The language doesn’t matter. For the best Jedi, only the spirit counts, because beyond the crude matter all beings are the same.
That’s the ideal, at least. But it is still undeniable fact, so undeniable that not even the chief detractors of this philosophical school would bother to deny it, that mindwalking was a major part of the construction of modern galactic society, second only to the invention of hyperdrive itself.
When there was no Galactic Republic and the very idea of a common language used by a million different species was preposterous, communication with strange creatures arrived from distant worlds was up to the Force-sensitives. The Ignotu of Alderaan, the Baran Do of Dorin, the Bendu of Thyton and a thousand other such groups that would eventually meet in the world of Ossus to create an organization of diplomats and peacekeepers.
With such a background, Mace Windu’s position in this ideological struggle was a given. Despite his exceptional precognitive abilities and love for battle, his almost obsessive loyalty to the Republic and its legacy was the kind of public secret that was far from uncommon in the Order.
Maybe that was why he had just done something incredibly foolhardy. Entering the mind of a Sith? Without the knowledge or authorization of the High Council? ALONE? Yes, Windu decided, this one was going to cost him. Yoda was going to be upset, but if Master Saa ever… No. Not if. When. The Neti were perceptive by nature and none as much as T’ra Saa.
And Mace Windu had the feeling that this time it was going to take considerably more than some Ithorian flower honey to calm down his former Master when she learned the full details of this.
Well. The future was still in the future and right now he wasn’t about to compound his mistake by giving Dooku the opportunity to try something. Windu reinforced his mental defenses and tried to see something now that he was beyond the outer walls of the Sith Lord’s mind.
No such luck. Beyond his own shields, everything was clouded by a veil of darkness and the only thing that he could feel beyond his mental projection was the force that guided him in a single direction. That Dooku had excellent control over his mindscape even without the Force was hardly a surprise, because with the proper training even those who lacked the potential to become Jedi could do this, but it was still concerning.
After moving through the darkness for an undetermined length of time, the pull weakened and then Windu found himself returned to the light. Or the memory of light, at least.
He was in the quarters that Dooku has used in his last years in the Temple and the Sith himself was already there, drinking slowly from a cup full of what probably was that bitter rose tea that he imported from his homeworld back when he was a Jedi. Mace almost gaped.
Enough control over the mindscape to create a complete illusionary environment and then manifest himself in it. Without the Force. The Jedi Master knew no one, except perhaps Yoda, with the level of mental discipline needed for something like this.
Exceedingly impressive, but ultimately futile. If he so wished, he could use the Force to fight his way out of Dooku’s mind and, in doing this, it was guaranteed that he would cause his former friend terrible damage. This was just another move in the Count’s game, revealing one of his secrets as a gesture of good will. Or, at least, the semblance of good will.
Good enough for the time being. Reluctant cooperation was always better than outright coercion.
“Do sit down, Master Windu. I have much to explain.”
Notes: After ten months and over 100k words in different versions of the next five chapters I think that I might have finally destroyed the monster block. Just in case I get stuck again while I rewrite the next chapters for the nth time, I've decided to post this small prelude to the Dooku-Windu arc to prove that this story isn't quite dead yet. Obviously, I am really, really sorry about this long wait.
It's awesome, to see this again, if only briefly. Some quite interesting ideas about the force and the early days of space travel in the SW galaxy. Are elements like Mace Windu's Master (and her still being around) and the names of early force using groups canonical or of your own invention?
T'ra Saa is canon, as is the fact that she trained Windu, although it isn't 100% clear if she prepared him for knight-hood. Although she is a tree-person with tits, I liked what little we saw of her in the Clone Wars comics and decided to give her a nod.
The Ignotu of Alderaan are fully my invention. One of the few schools that doesn't join the primitive Jedi in Ossus.
Baran Do Sages of Dorin are canon. They are an old tradition of non-aggressive Keldor Force sensitives and seemed about right for this part.
Bendu of Tython... The Bendu (also called Dai Bendu) have been mentioned as primitive numerologists and the creators of the sigil that later became the symbol of the Republic. Tython is the canon birthplace of the Jedi Order and I changed it to Ossus, because I feel that this fits better with the importance that the place seemed to have prior to the attack of Exar Kun.
I'm enjoying the story so far, I just had a little nitpick about the Mando'a as those are a KT invention and have only the armor in common with the Mandalorians of the Sith Wars and in many cases not even that. Other then that I'm really really excited by what you've written and can't wait to see more!
"Our Country won't go on forever, if we stay soft as we are now. There won't be any AMERICA because some foreign soldier will invade us and take our women and breed a hardier race!"
LT. GEN. LEWIS "CHESTY" PULLER, USMC
VI- The White Knight (part 1). The voices of yore.
"Tell me, master Windu. Do you know anything about the Threefold Path?"
"Yes, I do."
"..."
"You seem surprised."
"I... I am. It is a particularly obscure concept in Sith lore. I didn't really expect you to know."
Mace Windu considered fighting the urge to smirk. In the end, he decided not to bother and replied with a voice full of acidic irony. "We Jedi are full of surprises."
"So I have noticed. What do you actually know?"
"It is a theory about the nature of Power, first formulated by one of the Dark Lords of the Old Sith Empire, that states that the many different forms of Power are only different combinations of three basic components: conquest, persuasion and murder."
"The Sith terms are ilessu, suliersu and miuresu. And I think that the best translation to Basic would be 'dominion, deception and destruction'. Otherwise, you have a... singularly thorough understanding of the basics of this theory. How...?"
"That is for me to know and you to wonder about."
Seeing Dooku's rather miffed expression, Windu smirked again. However, his smile faded when he saw something that could only be described as a ripple of unreality coursing through the illusionary environment that the older man had created. Some petty amusement wasn't worth alienating the former Jedi, particularly not when he seemed willing to make some major revelations.
"Why do you ask?"
Dooku didn't reply immediately. Instead, he siped from his non existing tea and his brow furrowed, as if considering carefully what to say. "I was considering how to best broach some complicated issues in future lessons."
"Lessons!?"
"Yes, lessons," replied the Count, apparently unfazed by the stark disbelief in Windu's voice. "You should consider this as a learning experience, my friend."
"I have no interest in what you have to teach, Dooku."
"Then, why are you here, if I may ask?"
"That is hardly the same."
"No, it is not. You do not want my knowledge for selfish reasons, true enough, but you want my knowledge nonetheless. Hence, lessons."
Mace Windu raised an eyebrow, but decided to let the matter slide. Obviously, the nobleman had strong feelings about this particular point for some bizarrre reason.
"Call it as you will. When does this 'learning experience' begin in earnest?"
"Now."
And with that word, the illusion around Mace Windu shattered and the shards reformed into something completely different.
The cabins in small spaceships are much the same everywhere in the galaxy, to the point that if you've seen one, you've seen them all. It doesn't matter if you are in the bright worlds of the Core or in the destitute stars of the Rim. Small ships means little space, little space means cramped quarters, fit to drive claustrophobics nuts, and that's an inescapable truth of space travel that all good spacers know by heart.
Mace Windu was a very good spacer, having travelled well in excess of twenty million light years in his life, and knew that what truly makes a cabin different from the rest are the little touches left behind by the presence of the individuals who reside in them.
There were few of those little touches in the cabin in which Dooku's mindscape had transformed into.
A pile of studiously folded clothing atop the bed, a commlink at the top of the pile and a small cylinder of silver metal next to it. That was it.
Until a male voice emerged from behind the closed door of the sanitary cubicle, humming an out of tune kuati song.
Fortunately, the recital was soon interrupted by the shrill, angry beeping of the commlink. Something that might have been a soft curse came from the cubicle and, shortly afterwards, the door slided open and a man stepped out.
He was a brown-haired human with a wrinkled face and quite a few white hairs showing already. Perhaps in his late fifties, although he was obviously healthy and still vigorous.
Dooku as he used to be before leaving the Order. The face that Windu remembered from before that fateful day in Geonosis. Dooku the Jedi, instead of Tyranus the Sith.
The facial expression of the man that had once been Windu’s friend suggested that he was feeling a bit annoyed at the moment, probably because his ablutions had been rudely interrupted. Or perhaps it was because he was nearly naked, having abandoned the cubicle with only a small towel and some soap bubbles to hide his body.
“I hope that you have good reason to show me this, Dooku.”
The Dooku of the past didn’t react to his voice, but the Dooku of the present –the real one- appeared out of nowhere in front of the Jedi with a mirthless grin in his face.
“I have no interest whatsoever in challenging your sexuality, master Windu. If you happen to hold some kind of deeply buried attraction to myself, I dearly hope that you will keep repressing it. I have excellent reasons to begin my tale at this point and I think that you should try to listen to what is about to be said.”
Windu rolled his eyes without bothering to acknowledge the crude riposte, focusing instead in past-Dooku who was now holding his commlink and had just pressed one of the buttons.
The alarm stopped immediately and a tiny, blue hologram shimmered into existence.
Windu was surprised to realize that he was seeing his second ghost of the day. The hologram that past-Dooku was facing was none other than the late master Yaddle.
-----
“Master Dooku,” said the small Jedi, making a small bow. “A… situation, in our hands we have.”
“Master Yaddle.”
No comments about his lack of clothing? None at all?
Force! The situation had to be bad, indeed, if Yaddle of all people was letting this rare chance of teasing him pass.
They might be distant acquaintances at best, but Dooku knew full well her reputation. She was an extremely compassionate creature with a mirthful heart, as well as an unrepentant practical joker, who became a warrior only when forced to.
Yaddle’s long imprisonment in an underground oubliette in a remote world somewhere in the Outer Rim that had transformed her so was the stuff of legends, even among her fellow masters. Alone, considered dead by the order and deprived of all contact with the outer world. For nearly a whole century. Just thinking about it was almost enough to make Dooku shudder.
Most would have simply gone mad and ended their suffering. Some would have used the power of anger and hate to try to escape. Not Yaddle. Never Yaddle.
She hadn’t given up and she had resisted the lure of the dark. She had learned on her own how to extend her senses farther than any other living Jedi and how to use what little happiness was to be found in that remote planet to maintain her Light. She had been captured and imprisoned as a padawan, but when her chance to escape had finally arrived she was a master among masters.
Of course, the ordeal had changed her in more ways than one, but she had resisted as few others could have managed. The experiences of a lifetime, both good and bad, leave their mark in the soul of a jedi and those who are sensitive enough can learn much about the true nature of a given jedi by reading his aura.
Windu’s, for example, exuded tension and a tightly leashed bloodlust, like a half-sheathed sword. Yoda’s was big, serene and, for want of a better word, ancient, somewhat like a great library of days long past that contains the wisdom of the ages and where silence reigns. In stark contrast with both, Yaddle’s was warm and comforting.
Dooku had never experienced it himself, but he remembered overhearing a couple of younglings compare Yaddle’s presence with a mother’s embrace.
“In Calaron sector, a world is under attack and a distress call has been launched. Answer it we must, as soon as we can. Of all the Jedi in the quadrant, you are the closest and most experienced, master Dooku, and decided to put you in command of this operation, the Council has.”
“How many of us can be gathered?”
The most pressing question and the only one Dooku was going to make. The hyperwave connection with the temple carried more than Yaddle’s hologram and he wasn’t about to lose time asking for trivia when everything that the Archives had about his new destination was already being downloaded into the databanks of his commlink.
“Twenty, perhaps thirty. In thirty minutes, know how many we should. Some important missions, there are. Obligations that ignored cannot be. Contact you again I will, as soon as we know.”
“Very well. May the Force be with you, master Yaddle.”
“To you the same, my friend.”
-----
Roughly twelve minutes after the sixth most embarrassing moment of his entire life, Dooku –now cleaned up and dressed- started reading the situation report that one of the clerks back home had hastily thrown together.
Mission Type: Red-Senth-Three. Ouch.
High humanitarian impact. No political importance beyond local level. High probability of hostile encounters with high-threat enemies. Charming, just charming.
Theater of operations: Galidraan. A level three protectorate. Population just below the ten millions line. Minimal economic value. No heavy industry, at all. Negligible military, barely a police force, in fact. However, its astronomical position was close enough to a minor route into Hutt space to have some potential importance, at least for smugglers and ‘free-traders’.
Master Dooku made a note about this. It was a potential explanation for the current mess.
Oh. And the planet was a cold rock, deep in a glacial period, and no one had ever bothered to do any kind of climatic engineering in Galidraan. Meaning near zero temperatures, even in the equatorial settlements, blizzards and potentially worse. At least, even the worst case scenario included with the rest of the info outlined climatic conditions that should prove survivable enough for anyone with Cold Environment Training. In the short term.
No wonder that the authorities of nearby Jerijador had decided to leave solving the unrest in their colony in the hands of the Jedi. Simply put, the whole damn place wasn’t worth the money and the effort that would be needed to solve the crisis through conventional military means.
Which left the Jedi Order as the last, best hope of the millions of innocents in Galidraan who had been abandoned by the rest of a galaxy who didn’t care about them enough to lift a finger.
Well. Enough about Galidraan. He could read later the rest of the information about yet another depressing nowhere –just the latest one in a career full of visits to similar places. He found and activated the file that contained the emergency transmission that had been broadcast by the planetary government.
The image of a mid-aged human, tall and thin like a stylus, appeared from the holoprojector of his commlink. The man was trembling, although that probably had more to do with fear than with simple cold –although he was wearing a heavy, fur-lined cloak-, considering the look of his face.
“Play.”
-----
“I am Enok Faer, appointed governor of the world of Galidraan in the Galid system, Calaron sector. This is an Emergency Relief Request under the terms defined in articles 1,245b and 2,932a of the Galactic Constitution.
“We are being attacked by unidentified forces and we lack the means to defend ourselves. If somebody is listening, I beg you to save us from these criminal invaders who threaten our lifes and property.
“There was no warning or provocation. Our first contact with the invaders was thirty nine standard hours ago, when our scopes detected the arrival of fourteen ships in the outskirts of our system. They didn’t answer our hails or tried to contact us themselves. We ignore their identity or origin, although their arrival vectors suggests that the enemy ships jumped from somewhere beyond the border of Hutt space.
“When visual contact confirmed that we were dealing with warships of several different types, one of our patrol ships was launched to intercept this fleet and ascertain the reasons for its presence in our system. The last transmission from the patrol ship warned us that they were being boarded by hostile forces. We have no further information about the condition of our people, but we fear the worst.
“Mere minutes later, the enemy vessels deployed around our planet and started destroying our orbital assets, including weather satellites and our lone hyperwave transceiver, leaving the emergency subspace emitter that is being used to send this distress call as our only way to communicate with the rest of the galaxy.
“At the moment, the warships haven’t yet attacked any targets in the surface, but all attempts to breach their blockade have ended with the capture of our ships. Also, thirty hours ago the invaders launched dozens of landing craft that carried hundreds of battledroids and an unknown number of humanoid soldiers.
“Our security forces have managed to destroy most of the battledroids at high cost, but several targets, including our energy network, have suffered extensive damage and it seems that the droids were only a diversion meant to soften us up for the real attack. The rest of the enemy troops have banded together in half a dozen groups that are rampaging through our settlements.
“We don’t know who they are, what they want and why they have attacked us. We know that thousands of our citizens have died already, that precious equipment worth millions of credits has been ruthlessly destroyed and that the very survival of this colony is at stake.
“Please help us.”
-----
“How cheering,” muttered a grim-faced master Dooku after the message ended.
Obviously, Enok Faer had tried to make a tearjerking message and, if even half of what he described was true, he could hardly be faulted for it.
But Dooku had walked through the corpse-strewn battlefields of Troiken and seen friend and foe alike devoured alive by insectoid monsters released by a glory hound, who had later been declared a hero. After that, he had precious few tears left to spare for the woes of yet another Force forsaken world.
Duty was duty, though, and his mission as one of the sworn protectors of the Galactic Republic was clear enough here. At least, protecting innocent lifes was a more dignified mission for a Jedi than babysitting the fishmen of Maramere in their dealings with the Trade Federation.
It was almost certain that there was a lot more going on than what the message reported. Fourteen warships? The message had identified two Invincible class battleships, three heavily modified Besadii class frigates and a hodgepodge of escorts of half a dozen different types. A substantial amount of naval power, even for the standards of the Core World, and an utterly bizarre level of overkill against a defenceless backwater like Galidraan, particularly considering the sheer cost of putting that many warships on the move.
They didn’t have all the pieces of the puzzle. Not yet. But there would be time to discover the missing piece during the next few days. It would take some time to form the taskforce and some more to turn it into something resembling a cohesive unit. Time enough to make some preparations and discover hidden secrets.
-----
Notes: Well. Only six months this time. I guess that it might be considered an improvement from some bizarre perspective. Sorry about the long wait. Opinions welcome. Unjustified flaming, not so much.
Last edited by Murazor on 2009-06-23 05:56pm, edited 1 time in total.
He was a human with a wrinkled face and quite a few white hours showing between the white. Perhaps in his late fifties, although he was obviously healthy and still vigorous.
Needs to be reworked. I assume it's meant to say that Dooku has a few white hairs between the other colour.
Other than a very good chapter. Looking forward to more.
Via money Europe could become political in five years" "... the current communities should be completed by a Finance Common Market which would lead us to European economic unity. Only then would ... the mutual commitments make it fairly easy to produce the political union which is the goal"
Nothing bigger than some small asteroids moved around the red dwarf star. It wasn't too far removed from the Triellus trade route, but its system contained no resources of interest, planets for settlement or any strategic importance whatsoever. So utterly unremarkable it was, that instead of an actual name it had only a catalogue designation formed by two dozen characters that had been assigned by the automated scoutships that had first prospected the area.
Uninteresting and out of the way, perfect for the discreet gathering of a Jedi task force. In the end, thirty two Jedi -including Dooku and Komari- had been contacted and commanded to proceed at best possible speed towards the rendezvous coordinates, which was a few more than Dooku had expected for this operation. Unfortunately, he was the only master among the thirty two, which was less than he had hoped for. Alas, all the other masters close enough to join the task force in time were involved in sensitive matters that couldn't be postponed and they would have to make do with what they had at hand, since Galidraan couldn't wait.
Indeed, according to the known facts, the planet had been under attack for close to thirty seven hours now. Despite the last knights being expected to arrive within the hour, it would take at least one hundred and fifty hours to reach Galidraan itself, since the gravity distortions in the proximities of the Maw supercluster made hypertravel an exercise in frustration. Much like arranging a briefing for thirty individuals (some of them of distinctly larger than human size) in the meeting salon of a Consular, which was designed to accomodate half that many people. Fortunately, the six knights and padawans who hadn't arrived yet were present only in holographic effigy which made the thing difficult and uncomfortable instead of downright impossible. Which was, master Dooku mused, a good description of life as a Jedi. Oh well, time to begin.
"May the wisdom and peace of the light be ours. May this be a moment of thought and words, mutual respect, nobility and unity of purpose. May we work together in trust, free from the restraints of ego and jealousy, in this hour and all others to come. Let us sit together, as equals, and may the Force be with us all."
Technically speaking the formula was a variation of the recitation uttered by the masters of the High Council before a meeting, which echoed in turn the words first uttered by the forebears of the Jedi in Ossus, but it was a nice declaration of principles and highly effective in reminding the gathered Jedi what they were here for. The ongoing conversations stopped and the younger Jedi kept their silence. All Jedi are equals, but some are more equal than others and Dooku was the most senior, the highest ranked and the one in charge of the mission.
"Good afternoon. We meet to discuss the specifics of the operation we are going to undertake and particularly inform everyone about some very grave complications that have arisen in the last two hours. I cede the word to Quinlan Vos, who learned of these particulars through his contacts and in doing this has rendered us a great service."
A young human with his face painted with yellow markings grew visibly uncomfortable when all the attention zeroed in on his person. After shifting uneasily on his chair for a moment, he finally started talking with his gaze firmly on the table.
"That was actually master Tholme's doing, master. It is just that the attacking fleet seemed too much to be piracy, smuggling or slavers, so I..."
"You asked your former master whether he could learn something about this matter, because no living Jedi knows the going ons of the criminal side of the galaxy quite as well as he does. And your question yielded important answers that we wouldn't have learned in time otherwise. Let that be a lesson for all of us. Wisdom can be found in unconventional places, sometimes. Now, please, repeat what you explained to me earlier."
"Yes, master. Does everyone here know what is a Trial of Supremacy?"
Some nods, coming from Jedi who had grimaced upon hearing the words, but most of the faces around the table showed polite incomprehension.
"I'll explain, then. A Trial of Supremacy or Kafowya Suska is a ritual way of solving disputes between Hutt clans which is arbitrated by the Hutt clan heads, what they call Council of the Ancients. Both clans in conflict choose a champion or champions that fight to the death in a battlefield chosen and belonging to the challenged clan, while mercenaries that answer directly to the Hutt council ensure that there is no outside intervention until there is a victor. The defeated clan then cedes a third of its assets to the victorious clan and a formal acknowledgement of inferiority. Of course, the defeated clan heads usually suicide or are murdered shortly afterwards."
Understanding and grim foreboding had replaced confusion in the face of all the Jedi. No one liked the direction that the explanation had taken.
"This invasion of Galidraan is a Trial of Supremacy. Worse, the clans in conflict appear to be Desilijic and Besadii, which are the second and third largest kajidics in the galaxy. They used to be allies of sorts to counter the influence of the Anjiliac clan, who have been the dominant players in Nal Hutta in the last half a century, but relations soured some years ago over a dispute concerning spice distribution channels and it is rumored that there were assassination attempts that made things personal. But I digress. The important part is that we probably are about to intrude on something that the Hutts consider an internal matter of the greatest importance. Why they have decided to hold the trial outside their boundaries we don't know, but we can assume that the local government is bought and paid for by one of the clans, since that's the only way that the Hutt elders would regard the planet as property of one of kajidics in conflict."
"Thanks for the concise explanation and once again thanks for your foresight, Quinlan. This is indeed a serious matter and I shudder imagining what could have happened if we had gone in blind. Now..."
"Excuse me, master, but has the High Council been informed?"
Dooku focused on the questioner. It was a young umbaran knight, pretty enough by human standards in spite of her baldness... With a little effort, Dooku managed to remember her from the dossiers he had glimpsed prior to the meeting. Bien ti Vigolio, formerly padawan to master Cho Leem who inducted her into the order in unknown circumstances. Skilled practitioner of Soresu and a competent healer, but no combat experience worth speaking of. Observed to retain slightly worrisome attitudes born out of traditional Umbaran social mores. Including, of course, pathological reluctance to act openly without the express approval of those in positions of authority.
"We have informed Coruscant, of course, but the masters can do no more than suggest caution. We have been issued a mandate to protect the lives of the people of Galidraan and, Force willing, we shall carry it out or die trying. That said, we will have to be extremely careful in every action we take once we reach the planet, since the consequences of our intervention could be far-reaching. We most definitely do not want to destabilize Hutt space or make two of their largest clans openly hostile towards the republic, if it can be helped."
"There is a discrepancy," grunted somebody from the far end of the table in heavily accented Basic. "If outsiders are not supposed to butt in in these things and we think that the local gov is in the Hutt's pocket, why have they called for us?"
And that would be... Neriel Urkus, one of the most experienced knights of the hodgepodge group with a Jedi career of twenty five years of service. Master level skills with a personal form of Ataru, modified to suit his non-standard Dug body shape, and above average psychokinesis. Noted to favor the brute force approach whenever possible.
"To be honest, we do not know. The leading theory is that one of the clans is cheating to invalidate the whole process, but there is too little information to give some kind of definite answer. Coruscant might be able to give us some answers before we reach Galidraan or they might not." Dooku stopped and folded his hands under his chin, before continuing. "Regardless, we must plan assuming that no new information will be gained. Our mandate requires us to safeguard the safety of the civilian population, but it does not demand us to put an end to the fighting. Ideally, we will be able to talk our way through the blockade and convince the mercenaries and whoever they are fighting against to kill each other without harming innocents."
A sound suspiciously similar to a loud snort came from the right. Dooku looked from the corner of his eye and waited, but the culprit apparently had decided to keep his silence after the outburst. Maybe it had been the Wookiee knight, Kirlocca? He was reputed to be wise beyond his years and disciplined, but if Dooku had learned something from his friendship with Tyvokka it was that no amount of Jedi wisdom could completely eradicate the savagery that the Kashyyykians carried in their blood.
"As we all know too well, this is likely to fail. And fail badly. Though mercenaries that are being paid by the Hutt high council are unlikely to open fire against consular ships, they might well decide to detain us or prevent our landing until matters in the planet are resolved to their satisfaction. So rather than play into their hands, what we are going to do is..."
-----
"What is the point of showing me this?"
Mace Windu's words cut the explanation of past-Dooku. The true Dooku arced his eyebrow and snapped his fingers, freezing the mindscape around them both.
"The answer should be obvious, my friend. You have asked me 'why' and I am trying to explain, but just as I warned you this is a most complicated question to answer. Crude as it is, the saying that states that you need to put yourself into another person's shoes is correct."
"This is not what I wanted."
"But it is what you asked for. Did you think perchance that I woke up one morning and decided that betraying something that I had previously lived and bled for sounded like a fine idea? I had my reasons. Reasons that even with the hindsight I have now are still compelling. Some Jedi fall. I walked down the dark path and while I did not know where it led, at the beginning, I stayed the course when I could have turned back."
"Explain those reasons, then, and spare me this parade of ghosts."
"If you are to accept my reasons as valid, you must understand..."
"There. Are. No. Valid. Reasons!" growled Windu, invading the Count's personal space with an angry scowl in his face. "In this memory of yours, I see seven Jedi who have died in this war, two of them by your own hand, and two more you dragged to the darkness to make them your servants. I do not know what justifications and rationalizations you have come up to quiet your conscience, but I shall never accept them."
"Is that so? Or do you fear that there might come a time in which you might change your mind, master Windu? Because when you look into the abyss, sometimes the abyss looks back."
"You contradict yourself."
"But of course. Oh well, enough of this for now. Let us resume the lesson."
And before Windu could reply, the frozen tableau returned to life.
Notes: Long time no see!
*bangs head against wall*
As you can see, my writing style hasn't much improved in the last two years or so. Let's see if I can do something about my update rate.
Well damm this is alive I loved To Betray A Traitor so glad to see this is still kicking. I'm just a humble reader but I don't see anything wrong with your writing style so personally I wouldn't worry too much about that.
Marcus Aurelius: ...the Swedish S-tank; the exception is made mostly because the Swedes insisted really hard that it is a tank rather than a tank destroyer or assault gun Ilya Muromets: And now I have this image of a massive, stern-looking Swede staring down a bunch of military nerds. "It's a tank." "Uh, yes Sir. Please don't hurt us."
I really like this fic. Though I'm now going to have to re-read it regain context for this chapter. On first glance though its excellent. I like all the little sayings and rituals associated with the Jedi Order of Dooku's memory. It's really gives the impression of a hide-bound inflexible ecclesiastical organisation.
Crazedwraith wrote:I like all the little sayings and rituals associated with the Jedi Order of Dooku's memory. It's really gives the impression of a hide-bound inflexible ecclesiastical organisation.
The saying he uses at the beginning of the meeting is actually canon (or, rather, a variation with minimal changes). The Jedi Council is seen reciting it in the comic Emissaries to Malastare in a pretty cool scene that I had been wanting to use for a while.
I loved To Betray A Traitor so glad to see this is still kicking. I'm just a humble reader but I don't see anything wrong with your writing style so personally I wouldn't worry too much about that.
