Old Friends Homecoming

Chapter 3 - Plotting Revenge

The next few hours upon retreating Dorin had been a nightmare for General Grievous. Once he had made it back onto his ship to depart, he had got into the worst squabble with Asajj Ventress who he felt responsible for his failure before parting ways with the assassin.

The mission had been to extract minerals exclusively from Dorin which could be used to build another devastating weapon his previous warship had equipped, while Ventress was to act as a diversion. That all proved to be a waste of efforts when his task became personal the moment his foe Emi Takori showed up. He paced angrily around his private chamber of the Invisible Hand and refused to let anyone in after Ventress left.

He admitted he got carried away when the enemy escaped his grasp and then he chased after her in his personal fighter. I'm not working with that assassin again, he grumbled while not looking forward to Dooku's request for an update. Surely the Sith wanted to know what had happened and why he had fled Dorin. Reporting failure was not his favourite thing about the job.

That scum Emi Takori always foils my plans! I need to hit her the hardest so she knows the meaning of pain and suffering! But how do I get through to her weakness? There must be something I can learn. Now she is back out there in the galaxy with no way to locate her.....wait....

His thoughts were interrupted when the hologram display in the center of the room lit up revealing an image of Dooku.

"General. You're no longer on Dorin, explain yourself. Have you gathered enough Nitonma to begin construction?

Grievous let out a cough "I wish I had better news but we failed. It's all because of Ventress and that.....that girl!"

Dooku's face was stern, even on hologram as he crossed his arms and shook his head in disappointment. "I expected better of you General, and by now you have made me lose count of how many times you have blamed your failure on some girl."

Grievous had forgotten that Dooku never had encountered Emi Takori before, which is something he almost did not want to believe. Emi surely must have fought more enemies than just him, or Dooku had faced her but never bothered to remember the names of all the Jedi he fought.

"Emi Takori has caused me trouble long enough! I've had it with her!"

Dooku seemed puzzled, "Now you speak the name General? Is this the girl you go on about? Ever since Felucia, many years ago, you have mentioned a Jedi of that name who ruined your plans or escaped your captivity when I request a report on your progress. But back to the matter at hand. You failed to gather the mineral at my request. Perhaps I should reconsider having you work for me, but then again it may be an opportunity for you as well..."

At first Grievous was about to protest until he heard the count's last words and remained silent to listen.

"You want revenge on this Emi Takori, the Sith take revenge all the time. If you think you are so desperate, do things your way for a change, without having to report to me,"

Grievous' eyes widened, I get to do things my way instead of Dooku assigning them to me?! How is this possible!? I was expecting him to punish me for my failure, but instead he's giving me a second chance. This is great, but also why is this happening? I failed him and now instead of punishing me, he's deciding to let me off the leash for a change?

"Why are you letting me do this?" He managed to say after collecting his thoughts,

"Well, why not General? You think you do not need my help anymore and after all these years you are clearly stuck on getting rid of Emi Takori. Perhaps if I let you do things your way and dispose of her as you please, you can put this irrelevant grudge behind you and focus on more important tasks at hand in this war. But, know this, if you do anything that costs our armies and the Sith anything critical that we need to triumph, myself and my master will ensure that you are stripped of your title as leader. Do I make myself clear?"

Grievous was in shock, the last thing he wanted was to lose his position as leader of the droid armies. He now knew inside that he desired revenge, but it was not to be done without maneuvering carefully.

"Transparently," Grievous managed to say and Dooku's hologram faded from his sight without a response.

Now came the matter of how he would initiate revenge. Locating Emi would not be a simple task. Grievous had only managed to find her by coincidence: he was stirring trouble and she just turned up somehow to foil his schemes. Despite those many encounters, he barely knew his own enemy. He knew the Jedi mainly resided on the planet Coruscant, but no Separatist frigate could possibly enter its atmosphere without being obliterated due to its high security so the direct approach was not an option.

Then, he realized that the Sith did have a small presence on Coruscant. He had heard stories that there were spies and even Darth Sidious himself had established hideouts mainly in the planet's industrial parks and slums. Perhaps bounty hunters would come in handy in well. Any of those types of people could get a profile on Emi, or find a way to spy on her. It would be a difficult to know where to begin and who to trust, but it would likely allow Grievous to know his enemy better so he could determine her weakness in order to succeed.

Grievous knew what he had to do and immediately yelled for one of his droid commanders.

The droid arrived almost immediately, it had a flat rectangular head and spoke in a very automated tone, "How can I be of service General?"

"I need you to find out the identities of all the contacts we have on Coruscant: spies, Sith, bounty hunters, all of them! I have a nemesis that needs to be eliminated and the best way to do it is to find out more about her first so we can hit her at the weak spot!"

"Affirmative General, do you have a course of action for this elimination plan?"

Grievous grunted in annoyance, "Not yet! First we need to find out more, now go and do it quickly! We cannot idle here and wait!"

The droid scurried down the corridor quickly. Grievous folded his hands together and let out a short laugh, it was not the ideal plan since he preferred to be more direct with military forces, but it was possible that this would work even better in the end.

"Celebrate your victory while you can Emi, but know that it will be your last once I come for you!" He snarled and laughed again as the door shut and left him in darkness.