Anakin & Ahsoka: Two Souls - A Star Wars Fan Fiction

The Calm Before the Storm - Dooku

Quiet. Quiet, but not a good kind of quiet. It wasn't a peaceful, tranquil quiet, rather a stressed, anxious quiet.

Dooku found himself constantly pacing up and down his private quarters. Why was he stressed? Everything was going as planned. He had the prisoner, he was scheduled to arrive at his destination on time, what did he possibly have to be worried about?

The question seemed to answer itself. Just like back on Serenno, the lights on his holodeck flashed, signifying an incoming transmission, and just like on Serenno, he answered it with a kneeling, submissive posture.

"Lord Tyrannus, what is the status of the operation?" Darth Sidious inquired.
"We are almost at the rendezvous point," the apprentice replied.

This information did not bring out the smile of appreciation that Dooku had been hoping for. Instead, Sidious' response was blunt, monosyllabic and formal.

"Good. When he comes, bring the boy to me!" he snarled.

Dooku contemplated his next response for a moment. There was a question he had longed to ask his master since his mission to Coruscant, and he wasn't looking forward to the answer. After several moments, he decided to go with his gut, and asked away.

"What is your obsession with the boy?" he asked.

Now his master smiled, but it wasn't a smile of reassurance or empathy, such emotions were foreign to a creature like Darth Sidious. Rather, it was a smile of sadism, as though he enjoyed watching his pupil squirm with curiosity.

"You will find out soon enough, my apprentice. Continue on your present course, you will know when you reach the end,"
"As you wish..." Dooku swallowed with hatred "my master,"

Those last two words came out with more and more strain on the throat every time. He didn't like saying them. Although he couldn't let any of this show, for his own sake, he was starting to lose trust in his master.

Dooku was eighty-three years old, not much longer for this galaxy. He had been the apprentice of Darth Sidious for many years, and was very aware of Palpatine's master before him. He had long thought that he would soon be given the secret of the great Darth Plagueis, the gift of eternal life, and together he and Sidious would rule the galaxy not as master and student, but as equals. It had been a dream of his for years, and yet now he sensed those dreams had been dashed. Sidious talked of the young Skywalker, a mere Jedi, with such interest and admiration, it was almost worthy of jealosy! Had he forgotten that Dooku himself had defeated this Jedi in single combat on several occasions? Yet, despite this, Sidious' fascination with the boy was indisputable. What was his reasoning? Anakin Skywalker was bold, arrogant, brash, easily manipulated. Dooku did not have long left in this life. Even a body as fit as his could not withstand the inevitable degradation of time, while Anakin was young, strong, fast, and still had his whole life ahead of him. Was this why Sidious was looking to him? Was Anakin... a replacement?

No, surely not, Dooku thought. My master would never betray me.

No sooner had the Count managed to put his mind at ease, was it immediately snapped back into reality by an immense impact. Something had rocked the ship to its very core. The alarm sounded and before he even had to issue a command, there was a platoon of Battle Droids headed for the main hangar to survey the situation. Dooku turned on his comlink.

"Commander, what is going on down there?" he demanded.
"There's been an explosion in the hangar. Some ship has crash-landed through the open door," came the robotic, mechanised voice of a B1 unit.
"What kind of ship?" the Sith Lord asked impatiently.
"We're not sure yet sir. Wait! OH MY GOD! Its..."

Before the sentence could be completed, the transmission was cut off, and all that was left was white noise. Suddenly, a lone Battle Droid rushed into Dooku's chamber, faster than the Count thought possible for those cheaply-made drones.

"WHAT. IS. GOING. ON!?" Dooku growled at the droid.
"It's... it's..." the droid stuttered, barely lucid enough to string the words together. It was clearly terrified, but the Dooku didn't care.
"WHAT?!!" he asked one last time.
"A Jedi!" the droid exclaimed.

Dooku didn't even need to ask who it was, he already knew the answer. In a fit of absolute fury, he let out a huge torrent of Force Lightning, disintegrating the droid and leaving nothing but a pile of ash on the floor. He would have walked over to his surveillance monitor to identify the intruder, but he could barely see, for his eyes were burning bright yellow, with the full power of the Dark Side. There was no need however, he knew exactly who it was.

Anakin Skywalker had come for his apprentice, and Anakin Skywalker would die tonight.