『Shadows of Serenno』

Count Dooku stood on the city facing side of his Serennian Palace overlooking the Capital of Serenno, situated over it on a cliff, a small smile across his lips. At his hip was a curved lightsaber with black and silver accents, crafted to best fit his prowess as a lightsaber duelist.

He wore a black double breasted tunic with silver gold dollar sized black and gold buttons down the right side. Around his waist a gold accented brown leather belt with a few subtle utility pouches which created contrast with his matching darker brown trousers and black boots.

However the most predominant change in his attire was the Serennian brown cloak with black inner lining which hung draped over his shoulders, held in place by a silvery chain.

His eyes were locked onto a white craft which was breaking through the atmosphere, the burning red-orange hue reflecting in his eyes. "My Apprentice has returned at last..." He turned his head and looked towards the Dark Lord of the Sith who was dressed in more vibrant lavish robes.

His attire was fit for his stature as was to be publically thought to be a close associate from the Mecetti House, but he held very little real influence.

Plagueis's economic holdings were to be soon drained into Dooku's financing accounts, and then into Ento's. It was made to believe that the final heir of the Damask Holdings, which had become defunct, was dead and Dooku would absorb what was left of his fortune.

Dooku himself who had no heir to the throne of Serenno, had also planned to make Ento his heir. Iridon had been a friend to him, much like his most prestigious former Padawan Qui-Gon Jin. However as this plans were in the making, trickling through his mind, he could sense something in the force, a disturbance.

"You feel it too..." Plagueis stood there with a frown across his lips, caressing the tendrils which lined his jaw. He was still rather curious of the new feeling on his face, it was almost unnatural.

"A disturbance in the force," Dooku turned his head upward as he watched the Phantom rocket overhead after finally breaking through the atmosphere. The ship was quick, faster than the Scimitar despite its larger size, it clearly showed how more advanced the Galaxy had once been.

"I believe my Apprentice is behind this feeling..." Plagueis the Wise tsk'ed at the very idea he spurted out. The last thing he wanted was Sidious to attack him here on Serenno.

"Your Apprentice is the last Sith, other than yourself... Unless he has other darksiders aiding him in his endeavour to destroy you." The Count turned away from the Sith Lord and promptly marched around to the courtyard leading to the forward entrance of the palace.

The Scimitar was parked on the vibrant green grass, muted by the darkened night sky, on the right side of the main walkway.

Similarly, the Phantom came to a hover before lowering onto the adjacent side of the property. WIth its landing gear extended, the covert operations vessel landed without fault.

Dooku raised a brow as he looked over the vehicle, it was just as impressive as it had been the last time he saw it. He was sure that he could have the Valahari Shipworks incorporate the technology into a new design.

Buying mere ships from them would be enough in order to get their schematics for duplication. So having their constant support was no real need to them, at least those were his thoughts.

If he had droid starfighters based on the Valahari designs, he knew they'd be a nearly unstoppable military force to be reckoned with.

As the ramp descended from the starboard side of the Phantom, he could hear the airlock his open as the starship decompressed and the magnetic locks released.

Dooku had long awaited the arrival of his apprentice, and so he rushed over towards the end of the ramp, his cloak floating about behind him as he strode toward his objective.

Plagueis also remained close to the Count, not wanting to be too far away. While he had the power to see the future, he had become puzzled by the disturbance in the force. It was clear someone was plotting in the shadows, but they had yet to identify all of the perpetrators.

Ento was the first to be seen walking calmly down from the ramp, looking to his master with a brow raised. "That is quite the cloak, Master." His eyes flickered over towards Plagueis briefly.

The Sith Lord almost instinctively moved behind Dooku, as if he would defend him, which was entirely unlikely. Though Ento's glance was not at all a threatening one, it was most definitely a superior one, the idea of having the ability to bring him back to life over and over again. They both possessed the technique and ability to execute it, but Plagueis wasn't as powerfully connected to the force as Ento himself.

Vaylin soon followed behind behind the boy, her hands dangling about at her sides as she timidly avoided eye contact with just about everyone. Her eyes remained on the back of Ento's head and refused to deviate from his head of black hair.

Count Dooku quickly noticed the skittish behavior of the girl as she practically hid in Ento's shadow. His eyes followed her blonde head as she was trying to make herself seem small.

"Did something happen on Dromund Kaas?" The Count raised a brow and looked to Revan and the Jedi Exile as she made her way down with the Master.

"The planet was inhabited, but we have what we went there for." Revan commented as Ento went to open his mouth to answer. "It would be best to avoid going there in the future."

Dooku raised a brow at this hearing news of Dromund Kaas, the ancient Sith world. "I see..." Uttered the old man before looking to his Apprentice, and Vaylin. Perhaps something bad happened there? She wasn't necessarily clinging to Ento as she had been before, or all that cheery either. If anything she seemed almost excessively timid to anyone except her friend.

"Did you know that a gram of weaponized antimatter can destroy a small moon?" Ento yawned lightly as if he were just spouting out random trivia.

Revan, Meetra, Plagueis and Dooku all looked at the young man with mixed expressions. Antimatter was used for numerous designs in both transportation and weapons, most notably as fuel for Reactors and Hyperdrives Technologies.

"We're not blowing up Dromund Kaas," Dooku spat out after a long awkward silence.

"Besides destroying a Dark Side nexus could very well be more destructive than actually destroying the planet itself," Revan crossed his arms looking over the Apprentice of Dooku's. "Imagine the release of dark energy from within that of a planetoid sized mass... It might even damage or destroy neighboring systems."

"The Sith Worlds aren't all that important, if anything their destruction should be welcomed." Ento waved his hand slightly in dismissal, if they destroyed those planets in a massive cascade reaction, there would be very little left of the Sith culture and religion.

Dooku partially agreed that it would destroy the arch-nemesis of the Jedi, though at the same time, there was a large wealth of information on those worlds and quite a bit of history. In the end, with the possible issues that may ensue such a task, he disagreed with his apprentice by shaking his head.

Ento's gaze moved towards the Jedi Exile, who above all hated the Sith, she however shook her head as well. Destroying a species was one thing, destroying a planet and likely releasing dark side energy throughout the galaxy was another.

"Guess that's not plausible..." The boy sighed and chuckled to himself before looking to Vaylin, who quickly returned his gaze. He could see the faint smile forming over her lips, the temptation to hug onto him, and yet she was refraining from doing so as if she were deathly afraid to.

He felt that was rather unusual.

"Let us head inside, the Palace has been accommodated for guests," Dooku's dark eyes drifted to his padawan as he held out a hand to guide him and his friend towards the large doors at the end of the walkway.

Ento nodded and reached over, taking hold of Vaylin's wrist as to keep her close, not letting her shrink away. He needed to get to the bottom of her wayward behavior, there was no leaving his sight or reach so it seemed.

"What happened on Dromund Kaas?" The Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Plagueis, walked up beside Revan as he looked over the masked Jedi Master.

Revan looked to the Sith skeptically through his visor before looking forward, watching the two follow after Count Dooku. "Darksiders... An entire civilization of them, hiding on the planet. It seemed they followed old ways compared to the information I recovered on the Rule of Two. An interesting re-iteration of my teachings... Though heavily flawed, thankfully."

Plagueis blinked at the former Sith's opinion on the Rule of Two.

"Even as a Dark Lord, I many inferior Sith Assassins and Dark Jedi serving me... I had the Republic on its knees..." His eyes narrowed on the Dark Lord of the Sith, "Until my apprentice betrayed me and my intentions to unite the Galaxy."

The alien frowned hearing the man's words. A single Apprentice could ruin the plans that been set forth for centuries, just like Palpatine as he had been exposed and destroyed their bid for power.

"Though it seems the Republic will not be the main power base in the galaxy..."

Plagueis nodded at those words, "As I've predicted, new governments will attempt to rise as planets secede from the Republic. The question is, how many will align itself with Serenno?"

It was a trick question.

"Based on information found on the HoloNet, a number of planetary or even regional governments would align with Count Dooku from his Reputation and renown in an independence movement..." Revan had done a lot of studying on their way from Dromund Kaas and all the way to Serenno. "This Republic... Is not the one I remember serving."

Plagueis scratched his chin slightly, thinking. Jedi have been becoming disillusioned with the Republic they've been serving, could have the answer not been a Clone Army to the destroy the Jedi, but another Jedi schism?