『Foundations』
A few days had passed since they arrived on Serenno and peace soon followed. With all of the counts and other nobles in order on the planet, Dooku's plan to expand influence over the Outer Rim began. The Counts were the ones who called for him, therefore they had already been ready for him, anticipating his control over the world with great optimism.
This only made it easier for them to keep the peace. The corruption that reigned throughout his nephew's rule had come to an end, quite quickly. Those who did not deserve their standings or stole in unjustly were purged from noble status.
His rule solidified over Serenno and his family's influence reentering the many other worlds of D'Astan Sector, Dooku called for the local Aristocratic governments to convene with one another.
They needed to know the state of the Outer Rim, but they also needed to know the plights of the worlds around them. In order to have a secure hold on the neighboring territories, they needed more independence-seeking or protection-seeking neglected worlds rather than pro-republic worlds.
It didn't take long for him to halt communications by himself with the Jedi Order, and the High Council's Grand Master, though it wasn't as if they were going to summon him to the Temple.
This was his sector now, he could pretty much operate as he pleased without talking with them.
Through the HoloNet the newly proclaimed Count of Serenno announced Ento as his heir, effectively adopting him as his son through legal means. Compared to the Sith being active somewhere in the Galaxy, this was a small matter the Jedi Order hardly bothered with.
Of course, not only did this show that the Count was preparing for the future, but that he was trying to draw out the Sith. Letting Palpatine know where he was.
A Jedi Ruler of a planet though seemed to be on all the feeds across the Galaxy. It was something rare in this time, though historically it had happened plenty of times.
With the Count's sphere of influence as a Jedi expanding, and with the aggressive aristocratic politician that he was, things were coming together quickly. However not too quickly. Systemically he needed to be careful, being too quick or aggressive may get them the attention they do not seek.
Those who didn't join them immediately, or had to think about any proposals Dooku had sent out, would be left alone for the time being. If war was on the brink of breaking out, then that was when they needed to choose a side to be on, there was no need to aggravate a grazing horse.
Ento, on the other hand, had other plans in which he wanted to put into motion.
Serenno didn't have a large army aside from that of the private military or mercenary groups employed by the Counts and lesser nobles. While they didn't necessarily have ten years for a clone army to be made for their side to match the Republics, they did have the foundry.
Exiting Dooku's Palace, the Castle of Serenno, the teenage Jedi Padawan casually walked towards the starship parked on his Master's front lawn.
They still haven't identified the disturbance in the force that they had felt days ago. It could've been the people from Dromund Kaas, but that didn't feel right either. There were no technologically advanced structures on that planet capable of leaving that world.
Could it be Palpatine making a move? It was strange that nothing had happened.
As he approached the ship, he paused seeing Vaylin sitting beside the landing gear, her legs pulled to her chest. He tilted his head slightly at the young blonde. "Everything alright?"
"Yes," her response was straight up, blatant, so it wasn't the truth.
Pursing his lips as the words that she tried to feed him. Ento shook his head lightly and walked over, lightly placing a hand on the top of her head as he leaned is back against the landing gear.
"What's wrong?"
"I said I was fine," she huffed up at him giving him attitude for not taking her answer for what it was. That and she wasn't quite enjoying the feeling of his hand upon her head, though she normally did.
"Liar," Ento tsk'ed at her and shook his head. He was disappointed that she wasn't being forthright with her feelings, but at the same time, he expected it. Since their return from Drumond Kaas, even though she hadn't left the ship, she changed.
Her blue eyes raised to meet his face as he was just watching her from where he leaned.
"My father was not just the Immortal Emperor, was he?" Vaylin asked as she had this sadness in her eyes. She knew her father was powerful, but at the same time, she had no idea he had more than one face or body at one given time.
He nodded lightly at this and cocked his head to the side, looking her over as she lowered her head seeing his definite answer. "The Emperor, your father, the man who cast his children aside... That entity also stood for everything that the Eternal Empire did not. He was Sith, then he was Zakuul, but from what I can sense now... He is nothing."
"Nothing...?" Part of Vaylin didn't believe that her father was dead after thousands of years. Yet the Sith Emperor had lived for over two thousand. So perhaps, the words and voices she heard on Drumond Kaas had just been dug up somehow?
She took in a deep breath and shook her head. Her heritage, her draw towards the dark side, made all the more sense other than the tortures she had been through.
Just who or what was she going to become? This was one thing that she would continue to wonder, to think and ponder about whenever she had the time.
That was when she felt a tingling sensation in the back of her mind. Someone was sending the intent to kill, like a warning shot off the bow of a starship. Her eyes flickered before darting over towards an imposing yet petite figure making their way towards them.
"Does Master Dooku know someone with silver hair?" She asked sarcastically as she was looking at the scantily clad Komari Vosa who wore a skirted tunic open at the sides, her hips visible.
"Hm?" Ento looked to Vosa, his expression rather stoic now that he had gotten the answers he wanted out of Vaylin. "That's definitely not a friend..." He uttered watching as the woman drew her lightsabers to her hands from her hips. They were curved weapons, just like that of Dooku's.
Seeing these weapons, Ento then whispered to himself, "It's his former apprentice?"
"What?" Vaylin uneasily stood up, drawing her weapon from her side.
"Two?" Vosa clicked her tongue, looking over the young teens. Not sure what to make of them of course. It seemed the girl had more of a presence than the male, but it seemed the male was an official Padawan. "What is my former master up to I wonder..." She giggled maniacally as she ignited her two sabers.
Feeling a disturbance in the force, Dooku who was in his study walked over towards the large window overlooking the Palace Grounds. He came however to a stop when his eyes narrowed on the two red sabers which were at the ready. "Vosa..." he uttered under his breath, a slight frown forming over his lips.
"You loved your Master, didn't you?" Ento asked as he tilted his head to the side slightly, igniting his unorthodox blue lightsaber which gave off frost at the hilt.
"Oh... A perma-frost crystal? Interesting..." A wide grin formed over her lips as Vaylin followed suit, igniting her lightsaber, revealing another blue blade but this one looked like translucent flames. "And a Barab Ingot? Hohoho... Those aren't typical Jedi weapons. So very much like him to take on unorthodox Apprentices," Vosa ignored his question.
Narrowing his eyes on the armed visitor, Ento could sense her ability to connect within the force. He could also tell she was protecting her lightsabers from his interference as he had done in the past few battles, it was clear she was knowledgable about how he fought in the past.
"Vosa!" Dooku's voice boomed as he landed several meters away from the craft, looking at his former apprentice. "I thought you were dead!" His lightsaber was in hand, but not drawn.
She looked to her former Master, "I am here to challenge your Apprentice, whichever that may be." Her eyes shifted towards the Padawan, Ento, with a stern frown across her lips now. "I will take everything from you, just as you took everything from me. I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME," she spat towards Dooku.
"You've met Palpatine," Ento interrupted the woman's as she was verbally assaulting Dooku.
Vosa paused for a moment before turning her gaze towards the boy.
"Darth Sidious right?" He yawned lightly and shook his head, "I can't believe he sent a Dark Jedi." The thirteen-year-old was taunting her, but it didn't seem to have any visible effect, she wasn't charging at him.
Smirking at the boy now though, she laughed, "Darth? That crazy cook was a Si--" She came to a stop and her lips relaxed for a moment. "Palpatine?" Her mind seemed to go back to the recent past.
Her group along with various other organizations had attempted to Assassinate Plagueis and later Palpatine in the past. At that moment, she knew the reason why she was there.
Revenge? Her broken mind was putting together the pieces, this wasn't going to be her revenge, it was going to be her death. Palpatine was aiming to get rid of her, to damage her former Master with her death.
Vosa laughed in hysterics. It wasn't a bad idea really, but she didn't want to die, even if she was a miserable existence.
Her eyes danced back over towards Dooku, pain, and loathing was in her heart. Yet, that infatuation for her former master that let her keep her sanity, even for a brief instance, during the tortures which driven her to insanity, was still there.
"You can still return to me..." Dooku didn't release his saber, but he didn't ignite it either. The tone he used with her, it sounded as if he was negotiating with a hostage holder.
"Heh..."
"I can fix you... WE can fix you... You can be by my side once more." Dooku offered as he held his free hand out in front of her, a gesture of goodwill and acceptance. "I shouldn't have pushed you away..."
"Join you... As a Jedi? Hah! You've got a screw loose old man!" Vosa laughed at him and shook her head. "You can never FIX me! YOU DID THIS TO ME!" She pointed her saber towards him in a heated manner. "I should kill you for it..."
"But you can't... Can you?" Dooku moved between his students, allowing them to deactivate their weapons for a brief moment in time.
Vosa scoffed, but she didn't move forward. Even though she was masterful with her weapons, she knew for a fact that she was still no match for her legendary former master.
"Don't make me strike you down..." Dooku said bitterly as he held his saber in front of his chest, ready to duel if need be. And yet, she just eyed him as the burring sound of her sabers took up the ambient sounds of the night that looked down upon them.
Frowning at her former master's words, she could feel something was different with him. "So you'd destroy yourself? This is too unorthodox, even for you..." She twisted it into a little joke as she shook her head with a hiss.
"It took me a long time to finally realize that... Love, compassion, in itself, is a redeeming quality." Dooku referred to Ento's words from when they had first met. "I will free you from your torment, be it by striking you down... or redeeming your shattered mind."
A frown now continuing to permeate across her lips, her eyes shifted towards Ento for a few seconds. Could an apprentice had changed this man's way of thinking? "You can't be serious... It's too late for--"
"Ento, Vaylin. Hurry off to Nez Peron. Revan is already waiting for you within the Phantom." The Jedi Master Ordered his students to leave, not bothering to look towards them as they shuffled off to do as he said.
"Nez Peron? That's unexpected..." Raising a brow as she watched her probable revenge disappear behind an airlock door, she turned her gaze back to her former Master.