Chapter 2: An Omen that Makes the Sith Tremble

Dooku was currently en route to the unknown planet in a Separatist vessel. It’s crew was a collection of battle droids, and it’s course was being manned by a mechanical pilot too. That left the sentient personnel opportunities to see to their own duties. Asajj Ventress was in her personal chambers, engaging in her lightsaber training. Dooku on the other hand having had a lifetime of experience as a warrior and quite adept in the dark side despite only recently becoming a Sith apprentice, did not need to engage in such activities. Instead he was communicating with the shadow power behind the Clone Wars via holocom.

“We are almost there my master. We are manned by enough battle droids to survive any wildlife native on the ground. And Ventress and I are more than capable of foiling what traps the ancient Sith left for us. I also know the Republic forces have taken the base we left behind as a decoy. They will not be so bold or foolish as to abandon that position, not when it comes to winning the war. I promise the weapon will be delivered to you.”

Palpatine was not present as the supreme chancellor in his official chambers on Coruscant. Instead he was sitting within his personal estate on Naboo, dressed in his black robes as Darth Sidious. Contrary to the hustle and bustle of that industrialized world, his homeworld was resplendent with nature, crashing waterfalls and high mountains dotting the natural landscapes. So too was this area of privacy for him, it was right on the oceanfront and most people living here would want nothing more. The bright morning sun reflected beautifully on the clear water and the mansion was luxurious enough in an area reserved for only the highest and most princeling, that were anyone granted the honor to live here for the rest of their lives would be able to sit back and simply be content that they had made it. Yet this privileged son of nobility could never be satisfied, and more than his choice in Sith apparel that contrasted the brightness of this locale, it was the darkness of his soul that remained out of reach from the sun’s radiance. So it was that his very presence cast a shadow on all the beauty surrounding him.

And Dooku’s words warmed something even in the wicked thing within his breast that passed for his heart. Through his communicator, Sidious smiled at the count. Anyone else who was acquainted such with this Dark Lord of the Sith would not know what to feel to see him smirk at them in such a way. Dooku for all his transgressions and devotion to his new cause, was still unaware of what sort of man he called master these days. So he felt only pride at being recognized so.

“I am pleased to hear it Lord Tyranus. Your talents at strategem and warmaking are no small feat. Yet I do pray that your spirit remains strong in this endeavor.”

“Master?”

“The ancient Sith Lords are not like these Jedi or their clone army. They are nothing like your Dark Acolytes. Even though they are long dead, they will have left behind many obstacles in their temples and their bases of power. And this weapon itself may prove to be your greatest challenge. For all the uses we have for it, it may prove to be too heavy a tool to lift. Perhaps it was the thing that rendered my predecessors dead. If that turns out to be the case, then I need it broken. Do you take my meaning?”

If Sidious had seen his elderly apprentice as an equal and true Sith, he would not have said it as ‘my’ predecessors. Yet he had, and this long treacherous Jedi Master missed it. Dooku only nodded to his wicked master’s question. “Yes, I do. It must be taken at all costs and it will be made to serve our cause in whatever way we see fit. We will be greater than the ancient Sith, and we will conquer the Jedi and the Republic.”

“Conquest. It is of paramount importance to our cause that we locate it as soon as possible. There are others who would take interest in these sorts of artifacts besides us.”

“The Jedi,” hissed Dooku.

“Yes,” Palpatine said, nodding as if he were speaking to a child. His line of Sith all taught the legend of Darth Revan, the Sith Lord so great and powerful that the Jedi of that old republic broke his mind and turned him into their greatest weapon against Darth Malak and his Star Forge. Ironic that it was Revan who also inspired Lord Bane to start his Rule of Two. “The Jedi and the Republic for all of their sentimental moralizing and stuffy traditions are just as fond of power as we are. If you cannot tame it, destroy it. Make it a whisper, a ghost of the past as much as these old Sith Lords are.”

“I will see to it that it is done.”

Palpatine nodded and Dooku shut off his end of the communicator.

It was not long before the helmsman of the vessel first spotted their location up close. It was a small dark green planet with two moons, one pale green and the other bloodred. Nobody would have needed to walk upon it’s surface to know what they were dealing with. As it landed, they saw that almost every corner of the planet was covered by a thick canopy of green tree cover. They spent a good long while looking over the surface for a place to land. When they found an actual clearing, they didn’t waste any time in setting down.

The spot of their descent was a dry plains area, surrounded by trees all over. This dirt path was a rarity in their current location, so bordered with trees and wet marshes all around. When Dooku and Ventress set out on foot, they were both hit with a stifling heat from the sun blazing in that cyan sky. Nothing unusual for these two darksiders, and not the most unpleasant thing, certainly not for the latter woman who after leaving her brief stint in the Jedi, was accustomed to harshness. Compared to the wartorn wastes of Rattatak, it was almost paradise.

Yet all around them were the sounds of wildlife. Some sounded harmless to them like birds and other simple beasts calling to each other, while others were clearly dangerous roaring and screeching. In all of it, the cries were distorted as if they were filtered through static. They could sense life all around them in the force and looked about in the trees. Yet while they did see shapes all around them and in the distance, they could not see any clear or identifiable features. Too far away. Yet they saw something that resembled eyes, that resembled teeth.

More importantly, it was the feeling of the force around them. These two dark siders couldn’t be more different, but they had both developed a keen ability for sensing others. This planet was smothered in the dark side and it empowered them. But they also felt something else. It was not of the dark side and it was nothing resembling the peace of the Jedi. Still, it was undeniably dangerous.

Their caution didn’t stop Dooku from making a quip. “Do be careful my dear Ventress. There could be all sorts of small venomous bugs that might spell our doom.”

“As your wish my master,” she said, making a mock bowing motion. “I will pray that a gentleman of your stature will not soil his fine garments through this swamp.”

He bristled a bit at that. He was still a count of Serenno and unlike her, no stranger to comfort. If anyone dared talk like that to him these days save Darth Sidious, he would have punished them severely. Yet Ventress was no feeble warrior in battle and his personal apprentice in the Sith. And the dark side presence of the planet had perhaps emboldened her. For that reason alone, he was feeling generous.

“I see that you are lacking in fear as always. I pray your fire will remain just as bright when we find our treasure.”

“And who pray tell will receive this weapon?” She looked at her pair of custom lightsabers, once the trademark weapon of Komari Vosa, whose head claimed by the mercenary Jango Fett was what honored him as the template of the clone army. Whatever this thing they were searching for would turn out to be, she was loathe to think that it could be worth more than her and these precisely crafted tools of destruction. For all of General Grievous’ gloating at his mastery in the blade, she longed for the day she would put him in his place.

“It is a gift for our master.”

“Our master,” she said dryly. She knew of Sidious and had spoken to him so rarely that in her mind he might as well have not existed. So it was that just like everyone else in the Confederacy save Dooku, she was also unaware of his double life.

“Yes, our master,” Dooku said a bit more sternly as he stressed the word ‘our.’ “It was supposedly a treasure of an unknown Sith dynasty. Even after Xendor and his fellows first met the Sith people, this world was a place untouched by his influence. A great kingdom ruled here, throwing lavish parties and celebrations. They ruled for many centuries, and the nation was respected and feared by their contemporaries.

“But as all great nations rise, so do they fall. There were many other kingdoms present upon this world we are walking upon now now lost to the ages. I often wonder how many ancient ruins of stone had been swallowed by this dirt and these marshes. The one we are talking of was the greatest, and once commanded fear in so many nations which prevented any of them from ever wishing to fight with them. Yet they had grown tired of living in this kingdom’s shadow and acquiescing to their demands. So they forged alliances and made plans to topple this kingdom to the ashes.

“They would not find it an easy fight. Even cornered by so many diseased rodents of nations, this kingdom was powerful. They fought back hard from the beginning, giving their enemies no quarter. This string of small states quickly regretted their course of action. But now that the war had started, there was no other choice. Just as this kingdom was great, so was it vicious. If their enemies surrendered, they would be broken to less than half of what they were while their foe would become so much stronger. Nor would they surrender to a state they saw as a tyranny.