Meet You at the Dark Side

Chapter 35 - A Breaking Point

Author's Note: This chapter includes torture. :)

~ Amina Gila

In truth there is not a better way Dooku could have hoped things would work out. He has the entire Empire under his control without having to deal with Sidious. And then there is the matter of Kenobi and Ahsoka. He had hoped that Kenobi would be more willing to join him, but he expected otherwise. He has been brainwashed by the Jedi for almost over three decades, after all. Still, though, he has hope that, in time, he will join him.

Everyone has a weakness of some kind, and he knows very well what Kenobi's is: his former apprentice. He has no idea what Qui-Gon, or even Kenobi or Sidious ever saw in Skywalker. Regardless, it's a weakness Dooku has every intention of continuing to exploit. He'll gradually increase his demands, slowly working to show him the Dark Side. And so far, he feels he's made good progress. Soon enough he's going to increase his efforts. He has to take care to ensure that he doesn't demand something too extreme to which Kenobi will outright refuse. If he did, he'd risk losing the leverage over him that he's already gained.

Dooku holds little concern for Ahsoka. If it came down to it, she'd do anything – within reason – to protect Skywalker. She's not Dooku's major focus, anyway, considering that she's already so close to the Dark Side and could never truly fill the role of his apprentice like Kenobi could. Still, she's useful for some tasks and he won't deny he cares for her, which was part of the reason he spared her life.

Curiously enough, though, it's Skywalker himself who has drawn his attention. Dooku has no intentions of accepting his offer – Skywalker has nothing Dooku wants in an apprentice – but the fact he would make the offer was... unexpected.

Skywalker's loyalty lies solely with his family, rather than himself. He would make a poor apprentice, especially a Sith apprentice. It makes Dooku wonder what Sidious wanted with the boy. It would be neigh impossible to teach him control.

With Kenobi, he can eventually work him over to see his perspective, get him to fully become his apprentice of his own free will. With Skywalker, whatever he does would only ever be to protect his family. He wouldn't care for the things Kenobi might. He wouldn't embrace the Dark Side for the sake of it. It would only be to protect Kenobi and Ahsoka. He would never be truly loyal to Dooku.

His thoughts are interrupted at the beeping of his comm link.

It's Fox, the Commander of the Coruscant guard. It's ironic that he was once Palpatine's guard. Well, he did a remarkably bad job at that.

"What is it?" the Sith demands as he answers.

"Another Jedi has been sighted on Coruscant. It appears say may be headed to the Temple."

"Do you know who she is?" he inquires.

"I believe she fits the description of the Jedi Master Jocasta Nu." The former librarian? They were once more than acquaintances, not that that makes a difference anymore. He long since severed all his ties with any of the Jedi he used to know. He's frankly surprised she was able to survive Order 66, seeing as she would have been in the middle of the Temple.

He could tell the clones to go and finish her off, but something stops him. When the Jedi were in control, they collected artifacts and other secrets of the Force from everywhere in the galaxy. Some things they even collected from the ancient Sith. Besides, much of the knowledge in the Archives were deleted before he was able to gain access to it, but Jocastu Nu still is going to know a lot of it. If he could capture her alive and get the information from her, it could prove to be useful.

"Watch what she does," orders Dooku. "If she enters the Temple, ensure that she is not able to leave. I will send someone to take care of the situation." He disconnects the call, standing up. He needs to move quickly. Maybe this will be a good opportunity to test out how far Kenobi will go to protect Skywalker.