Count Dooku was in his home on Serenno going over all sorts of statistics. He was deep in thought and unsure what to do since he had renounced the now former Chancellor Palpatine as his master. Although it wasn't easy before the merge directing the C.I.S. it was simpler to a degree. It's not just The Republic and The C.I.S. fighting for control of the galaxy, now there are many factions from what seem to the past and even the future vying for control of this new galaxy.
The Separatist were holding against the Republic and Empire for now, but they were not truly making any ground or taking any territory, or at least not for long. The only thing really keeping the C.I.S. going was that they could produce ships and battle droids very quickly, and even then they're still stretched somewhat thin. A strike on Kamino could cripple the Republic, but ever since the merge, Kamino has been more fortified than ever out of caution that The Separatists or other factions might try to strike at cloning facilities there.
Then there was the matter of Maul who broke free of his control and Sidious, (or both versions for that matter). He had gotten out of some tight spots before, but even he was starting to question if he was in over his head. He pushed all that aside as he was meeting with General Grievous to formulate plans of action. As the General got to the entrance the Count greeted him and started walking toward a table, Dooku often used for meetings.
"Good evening General. How goes the fight?", Dooku asked greeting him.
"Not as well as hoped Count. We're fighting off multiple factions, and being hit by raids spearheaded by pirates or Mandalorians.", Grievous replied.
"All things considered General, you've done extremely well holding onto the territory we have. Even some of the best tacticians would still find it extremely difficult in the positions we are in now. That is why I have an idea.", Dooku said as he and Grievous sat down at the table on opposite ends facing each other.
Dooku continued, "Many Mandalorian clans can often have their loyalty bought, and pirates can be persuaded to attack certain targets of our foes rather than ours. Privateers essentially. It may cost quite a bit, but believe it will alleviate the strain on our supply lines enough, to where we can make some progress on at least some of the fronts we're fighting."
Grievous folded his hands.
"As much as it pains to admit it Count, you might be right. If this keeps up I doubt we'll be able to hold for long."
"Then I shall see to it that-"
Dooku stopped sensing something. They were being listened to. Force wielders from what he could tell. They were cloaking themselves from his senses and either wanted to be noticed now, or they were inexperienced in cloaking themselves for long periods of time and messed up. Either way he could tell they were in his home.
"Count?", Grievous asked wondering why he stopped mid-sentence.
The doors to the Count's meeting room were suddenly thrown open. Half a dozen figures in black cloaks and armor, the spies Dooku had just sensed, stepped in. The lead figure, grinning evilly, was all too familiar to the Count.
"Lord Sidious..." Dooku said coldly. "I can't say it's a pleasure to see you."
"No, traitors are rarely happy to see their old masters, are they?" Sidious shot back, slowly crossing the room with the aid of a cane. "But that's behind me now: as you can see, you've been replaced. Well, not really, these brutes are hardly true Sith, they're more stand ins for your cybernetic attack dog."
Grievous bristled at the comment, but Dooku held up a hand to silence him.
"No, I am not here to ask for your return to loyalty.", Sidious continued. "It will be a cold day in the Afterworld before I beg you for help, Count. No, I am here to make a deal."
"A deal?", Dooku scoffed. "I know you far to well for that, Chancellor. Or should I say 'Ex-chancellor'? Tell me, what plans do the great and powerful Dark Lord of the Sith have now that he's been reviled for the worm he really is?"
Sidious... laughed. It was perhaps the most unsettling thing he could have done: both Grievous and Dooku quietly moved their hands towards the hilts of their sabers.
"Don't act like you're not out of your depth just as much as I.", Sidious spat as soon as he was done laughing. "NO ONE was prepared for this. At least I'm not held up in my estate, with no allies but a tin platted serial killer, trying to fight a war I was never meant to win. You're a puppet, Count, a puppet who tried to break free of his strings, but only became more tangled."
"Yet, he's still far better off than you.", Grievous muttered. "Nothing to your name but half a dozen worthless dark spawn."
Dooku smiled at that. So did Sidious. Dooku placed his hand on his lightsaber hilt again.
"Fair point. Perhaps I should kill you both and take your armies. I could, you know.", He said with the same, evil smirk. "But I have no interest in armies or wars, politics or ruling. There's already a version of me who stands more than a good chance at conquering this 'Merge', I see no reason I should stand in his way. That, and there are... certain parties who would prefer it if I stayed out of things."
"Then what are you planning?", Dooku demanded. "You're always planning something."
"Why, simply, I'm planning... anything.", Sidious said.
"He has finally lost it.", Grievous growled.
"Oh, quite possible." Sidious said with a mad look in his eyes. "I'm almost as rich as you, a good deal more powerful and a thousand times smarter. I can do whatever I like: form my own cult, become a crime lord, buy a farm, join the Jedi. But mostly..."
He sat down at Dooku's briefing table, putting his feet up and his hands clasped on his lap.
"I could burn the Galaxy to ashes!"
"Look how far you've fallen... You're insane.", Dooku said in disbelief. He never expected to see Sidious like this.
"That much we can agree on Count. Too bad you and everyone in this room has to die."
A voice came from the ceiling through an open window. Looking up they all saw a male Pau'an sporting a Dark side corrupted eye, and much of his body was cybernetics. Not too long after more figures joined him and leaped down to the floor with him, and he spoke again.
"I am the Grand Inquisitor. Who would've thought I would find three of my high priority targets here."
Dooku had thought he had sensed more than what was here. He made a mental note to upgrade the security on this place.
"What are you getting at?", Grievous growled.
"Simple...", Grand Inquisitor replied as he activated the spinning blades on his saber.
"Decapitating the head of the C.I.S. and eliminating this threat to our Emperor's thrown."
All the Inquisitors activated their blades. A few had similar blades to the Grand Inquisitor, but others had either a standard single blade, curved hilt, or a saber staff.
Dooku and Grievous quickly got up getting back to back. They were completely surrounded on all sides. Dooku thought he would never see the day where he had more trust in Grievous than he did Sidious as Dooku activated his lightsaber, and Grievous activated four of his. Fortunately for them however the two groups in the rooms were just as concerned with each other as they were with Dooku and Grievous.
One Inquisitor named Jerec lead about half of the Inquisitors in a beeline for Sidious, while the Grand Inquisitor lead the other half in closing in on Grievous and Dooku. Jerec and his men were halted halfway to the Dark Lord by the Sith Warriors he had recruited. Sidious just watched in apparent boredom as the room was engulfed in a single, massive duel.
"Please Tyranus," He scoffed. "I thought I trained you better than this."
Dooku angrily fired a bolt of Force lightning at Sidious, knocking him out of his chair. This almost cost him a limb, as the High Inquisitor proved to be a formidable opponent indeed and drove the Count back with a flurry of expert strikes.
Grievous tore through the Inquisitors, physically grabbing several and slamming them into the floor. On the other side of the room, the proper Sith Warriors proved to be more than a match for all the Imperial Dark Siders, save one. Jerec finished off the last one just in time to turn and face Grievous.
The cybernetic Jedi Hunter and blind Jedi slayer moved almost to quickly for the naked eye to see. It would have been quite the display, if Dooku and the Grand Inquisitor's nearby duel wasn't putting it to shame.
Slowly, Sidious climbed to his feet. He wiped a little blood from the corner of his mouth and cackling loudly, before raising his hands.
"MY TURN!" He roared.
Bolts of Sith Lightning blasted across the room. Jerec and Dooku threw up their lightsabers to defend themselves, and even then had to back it up with Force shields. The Grand Inquisitor and Grievous's cybernetics were fried, winding the former and sending the later crashing out of the battle entirely.
Sidious leaped onto the table, twins blades of blood red springing from his hands.
"Won’t you join me?" He asked the room at large, still maniacally laughing. "Insanity is so much fun!"
The other three, quickly recognizing the largest threat in the room, stood side by side facing the Dark Lord. They all nodded at each other and as one they all four lunged and met each other midair.
The battle was truly a spectacle to behold. They were just barely keeping up with the exiled ex-Chancellor gone mad from his oust from power, and his plans ruined. Sidious noticing the Grand Inquisitor slowed due to his damaged cybernetics and took advantage of it, slicing off his last good limb.
With a howl of pain he collapsed to his knees gripping where his right arm used to be as Sidious then blasted him into the wall, and re-engaged Jerec and Dooku.
Meanwhile Grevious laid barely alive just outside Dooku's estate. Barely able to move, Grevious pressed a hidden button on his side, as he passed out.
Back in Dooku's estate Sidious had managed to disarm both The Count and the remaining Inquisitor, holding them both in a Force choke cackling to himself, but just as they were about to lose conciousness from the lack of air, Sidious felt himself hit in the back with blunt force and a shock sending him flying a few feet.
Grevious had apparently called in his Magna Guards, and had engaged Sidious stabbing him and shocking him on the ground. Sidous however would blast them away reigniting his sabers, and engaging them himself. Dooku and Jerec then took this opportunity to escape, with Jerec grabbing The Grand Inquisitor, realizing he could still be useful later. His his increased anger at the "False Emperor" could come in handy once they organized another mission.
Dooku on the other hand with barely enough time to grab his saber ran out to medical droids and more Magna Guards loading General Grievous on to a medical ship, and jumped on.
"Pilot! Take us to the Invisible Hand!"
Dooku yelled ordering the droid to which it responded.
"Roger roger."
Dooku used the Force and kept the General alive. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he needed him alive, and after seeing what transpired today, he decided Serenno was no longer safe.
The Magna Guards didn't last long against the Sith Lord, soon lying strewn in pieces across the estate. Sidious nonchalantly slid his sabers back up his sleeves, before blasting a hole in the nearby wall and watching Dooku's shuttle rocketing into the atmosphere, just as it began to rain.
"Goodbye, old friend.", He said. "I was going to trade some Sith Warriors for a battalion of droids but, well, they're both kind of dead now aren't they?"
He laughed, not cold and cruel as he might have once done, but full of actual mirth.
"Can you hear me, Mortis!?!" He called to the heavens. "Can you hear how I hearken to your call? The drums are rung and none look back, save the Jedi on the hill. Lost he is, no rhyme, no theme. Cat's eyes and darkness closing! Darkness closing..."
It wouldn't be a total loss for Sidious however. Not too far off was a droid factory that Dooku seemed to have made many improvements to since the last time he had seen it. He could get what he needed there.
-------
Later...
Grievous woke up after being in a bacta tank for a day, and Count Dooku using the Force to make he stayed alive. He found himself using Jedi method he hadn't used in years or at least not this extensively, but he would never speak of it to anyone.
The General noticed he was in an entirely new exoskeleton, and it was hard for him to explain, but things seemed clearer to him now somehow.
"Ah General, you're awake.", Dooku said as Grievous opened his eyes.
"Count? Where am I?"
"You are aboard The Invisible Hand."
"Something feels... off."
Grievous' voice didn't quite have the same callus it once did. Dooku decided tell him a half truth, he figured he would leave the whole truth for later if he ever did tell him.
"We were doing some scans of your brain while you were unconscious. We found several implants likely ordered by Sidious as some means of influence over you. I had them removed. We need your head clear for this, not clouded by whatever Sidious implanted in you."
Rage boiled up in Grievous, but he kept it contained for when he faced Sidious again. He felt the weight of his new body as he shifted in his restraints a bit.
"Something feels different about this body. The weight of it feels off."
"That is because it is made out of cortosis.”, Dooku explained. “I spent a fortune gathering up that much. It will absorb blaster fire, electric discharges, and should also short out lightsabers when hit."
"That'll be useful."
If Grievous could’ve still smirked, he would have.
"Indeed.", Dooku said as he hit a button releasing Grievous.
"Come General. I think it is time we walk a different path. Or at least not the one Sidious lead us down."
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