Star Wars : Tanya the Evil

"...Yes, I'll tell you everything." He spoke calmly, which at this moment almost made her feel more angry. "Go to my ship, it's still parked at the New Temple. Go alone. Use the secure line, and call me on this number again. I promise you the truth."

...

Athemeene didn't wait. She hung up, and paused only to wipe the tears from her cheeks, before rushing through the Temple. Prialla tried to speak with her, but Athemeene asked her simply to watch the baby, before she hurried up to the Temple's landing area.

When she called her husband back, she felt more in control of herself, if only just.

Dooku answered the call, but stood silently in his image, face deep in contemplation.

"Now, Dooku."

"Yes, I know."

"Everything. Please."

"...I'm not sure how to begin this." Dooku finally said. "There's so much that you don't know, and I've never told this to anyone."

"Just start at the beginning."

"...For me, this began at Galidraan, four years before I met you. I… was part of a Jedi quick response team. We were called in to handle an emergency involving Mandalorian pirates. There was a terrible battle, and many good Jedi died, though we were victorious. Only afterwards did I learn that the whole thing was part of some absurd gambit by the governor, hoping to secure his own interests. Nothing was done by the Senate or the Jedi Council… I suppose there were other incidents before that. Senator Dagonet was-"

"Husband, please." Athemeene interrupted him, beginning to feel frustrated. "What does this have to do with our children?"

"...Yes." Dooku breathed out. "After many… failures of the Senate, and the Council, my faith in them began to waver. I was becoming despondent, and hopeless. At that time I was contacted by a man, who began to explain to me the Republic's many flaws, and unlike anyone else I'd ever met, he began to offer solutions. It wasn't very hard to persuade me, and together we began to concoct a plan to finally bring peace and stability to the Galaxy. Now that I think about it, he was the one to suggest most of our ideas. I suspect that he already knew what he wanted to do. Eventually I left the Temple, and began to put our plan into action. It was a coup, a revolution, and a great reformation, all at once. We were to destroy the Republic, and replace it with a government that could protect all of its citizens."

He looked up at her, as if waiting for her response, and Athemeene chose not to let that sink in. If she stopped now to consider the absurdity of such a scheme, she would have to laugh or scream. Instead, she asked, "This man. Is he the one you're afraid of?"

He nodded.

"Who is he?" Athemeene demanded.

"You would know him as Senator Sheev Palpatine, but his true identity is Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith."

...

Somewhere in the Galaxy, someone had dared to utter his name. His true name.

Sheev Palpatine grit his teeth, and swallowed down his rage. Dooku was spreading secrets that weren't his to share.

"Sheev, are you okay?" A man to his left asked. Senator Hoden Baab, he reminded himself. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing of great concern." The charming, wise old senator from Naboo reassured his friend and ally. All around them, Sheev's personal quarters buzzed with the sound of campaigning. Holocalls, last minute negotiations, and ceaseless tallying. Right up to the last second, Sheev's whips would be prowling the Senate building, breathing down the necks of any and every senator. Not even the lowliest, voteless representative could be allowed to utter a word against Palpatine's bid for the chancellorship if a senator might overhear them.

The race was getting narrower and narrower. What had once seemed like it would be a clean win for Palpatine was shifting as he declined in the polls. Many of the democratically elected senators were beginning to feel nervous about supporting him, when a narrative was creeping about the halls of power through whispered rumors.

Palpatine had used the crisis on Naboo to advance his own career. Even if he hadn't, the crisis had passed, thanks to that Jedi Lord who'd taken over Serenno. Let the Outer Rim nonsense stay in the Outer Rim, why should that affect us?

Of course, he'd countered with his own narrative. A modern day Jedi Lord! How could that be acceptable? It was past time to reform the Republic into something that could deal with these things. If you wanted the Outer Rim to stay where it was, someone would need to keep it there.

Uncertainty infuriated Sidious. So close to completion, decades of preparations were threatening to come undone, all because of a single fool. Nemesis.

Sheev Palpatine was becoming angry again. He let out a slow breath, and forced himself to smile. It became a more genuine smile, when he remembered Plagueis was on his way to deal with this.

Soon Dooku would be dead, and so would his entire family. Most likely they were the ones he was talking to.

Everything would be fine. Palpatine just had to stay where he was, and win the election.

"Tell me, Hoden, I heard you had a daughter who was taking an interest in politics? I was thinking perhaps now was the perfect time to introduce her to some of my friends." Sheev continued the game of lies and intrigue like nothing was wrong.

It was what he did best.

...

Traveling from Naboo to Indinoor had taken days, and from there it was another full day before they arrived at Serenno. In that entire time Dooku's wife had not spoken to him, not that he blamed her.

He told her his secrets. He told her all of his secrets.

It felt good, even if she still refused to speak with him.

What would he do if she tried to leave? Now that she knew everything, there was no way that Sidious could allow her to live. Dooku could provide her with a permanent jedi bodyguard, if he had to… But he didn't want her to leave.

Of course she would likely be happier with a younger man, and Dooku knew that even setting aside his age he was far from a great husband. He probably wasn't even a good one, if he was being honest. Looking back at his wedding made him feel like hiding his face in shame. Of course he felt the anxiety and nervousness in his young bride's mind, but to him it had been irrelevant. She was terrified of him, but he made no effort at all to reassure or comfort her.

Athemeene had been the first one to commit to making her life with him work. After suffering in a long, lonely silence, an anguish that Dooku had known full well about, she was the one to reach for him, to compromise and change her ways to adjust for his plans and goals. She was the one who had drawn him into the home she was building, while he was off plotting to bring a Galaxy to war in the name of peace, all because he trusted a damn Sith.

Of course Athemeene would want to leave now. For years, she had been made a pawn in a vast and crude game. She and her children, their children, had been obvious threats to the most powerful, ambitious and conniving man Dooku had ever met, and he had kept that from her for years while working with him.

Dooku gazed out upon the hyperspace tunnel from the bridge of his starship for so long that even the officers on the bridge grew concerned, exchanging questioning looks among themselves.

Finally, Dooku reached a decision. He turned and left, walking straight to the crew quarters where his wife and children were staying.

After knocking on the door, he waited for a moment. When there was no response, he let himself in and found the room dark.

Kenth was asleep in the top bunk. He was resting with one leg above his blanket, and his arm propping up his cheek. Beneath him on the bottom bunk, Madalee lay flat on her back with her arms spread wide, mouth hanging open slightly. Athemeene was still awake, watching Dooku in the dark, while holding Ideon in her arms and rocking him gently.

She was partly hidden in shadow, only her shoulders and neck visible as the rest of the light from the hallway was blocked by Dooku's shoulder and the doorsill. In the force she bled a complicated weave of emotions, bewilderment, frustration, betrayal, anxiety, disappointment, mixed with a simmering rage as she beheld him there in the doorway.

"We should talk." Dooku spoke softly.

Rather than reply, Athemeene gently put the child down, and after a moment to make sure Ideon didn't wake, she softly left the room, closing the door behind herself.

...

Apparently, chapters write themselves faster when Power Stones are involved. Who knew?

Feel free to test the theory go ahead, toss a few my way.

...

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