Not original

716 FNM (22 BBY)

Month 6

Mandalore, Sundari Police Station

Royal Guard Captain Fenn Rau

Yesterday, a data packet came in from Princess Kryze. She sent a message basically saying that she'd found the attempted assassin of the Senator of Naboo and has sent him to Mandalore to give a statement on who's responsible for the attempt. In exchange for that, he is to be offered protection from the Republic's investigation.

Normally, I would ask how she was going to secure that protection, but she seemed to have a good way of working the Republic whenever she showed up, so I'd leave that to her.

Meanwhile, I was tasked with gathering a statement from the assassin, which shouldn't be that hard. After all, he's obviously a Mandalorian who understands right from wrong and is willing to come in. That was before I actually found out with whom I was dealing with.

Shaking my head, I wondered how the teenage Representative managed to get a former Mand'alor to willingly return to Mandalore. When Prime Minister Almec found out about this, he blew a gasket. Especially considering Almec questioned the legitimacy of anyone calling themselves a Mandalorian if they weren't born in Mandalore or in the Mandalore system already.

I'm glad that Duchess Satine put me in charge of this operation because most likely if Almec was in charge, he'd probably have had his Secret Service screw it up.

Currently, I'm on one side of a two-way mirror that allows me to monitor the notorious Mandalorian in front of me without him identifying me. We are in a Police Station in the outer ring of Sundari. I had reviewed his file, what little there are, for outstanding warrants before I allowed him to enter the city. Personally, I would like to expel or arrest him, but the diplomatic papers in front of me would not allow it. He had tried to assassinate a Senator, what's stopping him from going after the Duchess or the Princess other than our impressive security? Apparently the Princess found something that the Bounty Hunter deemed to be worth the hassle.

Jango Fett is a bounty hunter with a successful record. His career was full of assaults, murder, and all sorts of crimes that are to be expected of someone in his profession.

From what I had dug up, none of those crimes had been committed within Mandalorian space. A few of the records were of crimes that had been recorded in planets of dubious authority. Criminal or gangster states abusing the legal system of the Republic to remove someone who's causing problems for them. Mandalore does not have any extradition treaties with those planets, so we officially had no reason to hold Jango any longer than he wanted to be here, which is probably for the best. The longer a former Mand'alor is on Mandalore, the worse it probably would be. Better for him to be on his merry way after I get his statement.

I walked to the next door over and opened it. Stepping inside, I inspect the man, and I see Jango sitting there with his legs crossed out on the table and helmet off, seeming rather relaxed. Someone had also either not bothered or not even tried to get his weapons off him, because it was fairly obvious that he still has his pistols on his side. Jango wasn't reaching for them, but I suspected he could overpower me right now.

I would have to have a talk with these guards and see which idiot had not even bothered to try to get him to disarm himself. Even if I knew that he would object to that.

Sighing, I decided to just get this over with. I stepped across the room and took a seat across from Jango Fett. I placed the recorder on top of the table and activated it, "My name is Fenn Rau, captain of Duchess Satine's Royal Guard, and you are Jango Fett, correct?"

The man across from me nodded. "Yes." Not a change at all in his expression, like he's merely stating a fact. At least put his legs back on the ground

"As I understand it, you were involved in the attempted assassination of Senator Amidala from Naboo. Why have you come to Mandalore and what is the statement that you are going to be giving today?"

Jango smiled. "I'm here because your Representative, Tanya Kryze, promised me a reunion with my lost sister as well as paid me a bunch of money to take time out of my day to do this."

I tried not to show a flicker of surprise at that. I wondered where Tanya got the money and how she found Jango's lost sister but that is above my pay grade. This detail would be going into the report I'll be sending to Duchess Satine. No doubt that if her niece was getting involved in a financial situation, she would probably want to know.

"As for what I'm here to say, it's to say that Nute Gunray ordered the hit on Padme Amidala."

I nodded as I marked that down before asking, "Mind explaining all the details of how this came to be? I need them to have a bit of a fuller report than 'Nute Gunray did it'. According to some of my records, you've not been as active for at least a decade or so. What brought you to this job?"

Jango nodded before saying, "I've been working on other projects for the last decade. I'm a military strategist and consultant, I work mostly with governments, not mercenaries. With the amount of money my clients pay me, I don't need to do bounty hunting work as often anymore because of that. But occasionally I'll get an interesting job sent my way or need to do a favor for a friend. The friend, Zam Wesell, needed money to pay back the Hutts and I wasn't busy. So I found one that would pay well enough to keep the Hutts off her back for a while."

"If you're earning that much money legitimately, why didn't you just help her with a loan?" Which only got a shake of the head from Jango.

"Give a man free money one day, they'll beg for more money the next day. Get them a job that will pay well, and you won't have to hear from them for a week or two."

I nodded as that is a fairly common saying in Mandalore. As he continued his explanation. "I put out some feelers and Nute Gunray contacted me. I organized the hit from there, got together the weapons and let Zam have a go at it. Considering I'm sitting here, as you can imagine things did not go well for her."

"Yes, I saw the report, she's dead." I said tapping the table with a pen, something wasn't adding up, so I poked at it. "It says in the report that the Naboo Senatorial transport was destroyed by an old rocket of Mandalorian make. Are you sure you had no hand in this situation?"

Jango shook his head, "I got her in touch with some of my suppliers, that's all."

"And the report here indicates that you killed her when things went bad?" I asked, trying to find out what he was hiding.

"An unfortunate thing, but that mission ended up being such a fuck up. I knew she'd rather be dead than spend the rest of her life in prison, let alone worry about the people who she's in debt to coming for her. The prison guards on Coruscant aren't exactly the most incorruptible people in the galaxy, if anything I'd say they're more corrupt."

Hmm, I didn't trust these statements one bit. Something about it was off and I knew it, but he was sticking to them and there wasn't much I could push on. Shaking my head, I tried a different angle, "Alright, so after the operation to assassinate the Senator went bad, what did Nute Gunray say about the matter?"

"He didn't say anything. I haven't contacted him yet. I was going to get around to it once I had confirmation that I was safe from being followed by the Republic, and then your little Representative tracked me down and offered me a better deal."

"Must be a good deal then." I said, holding the paperwork up.

"Family is the best deal there is. As long as she's telling the truth about her being transferred here to Mandalore."

I stopped at that and raised an eyebrow, "Well I was not informed about that, does that mean you'll be staying on Mandalore for some time?"

Jango shrugged before saying, "If your Representative is telling the truth, I'll be staying here for at least a year or two. If not, I'll be on my way to your Representative. Better watch her back in the future, I don't like being lied to."

I just gave the man a deadpan stare, he knew what he did as that was definitely a threat against Tanya. I would have to ensure this statement was highlighted in my report as well. Depending on if Tanya was lying to him, I would have to conjure up something to have him arrested and put out of the way.

Not betraying my reaction, I casually said, "I see. I'll look into this matter. "

He nodded before saying, "Am I free to go then? You have your statement. I think I'd like to show my son the city, since we've never been here before."

I nodded and turned off the recording device before saying, "You're free to go, but do not cause any trouble. If we find out anything about your sister, you will be informed. Also, we're not as restrictive on armor as we used to be, but I think everyone would feel safer if you left your flamethrowers and blasters back on your ship."

He nodded and stepped out of the interrogation room. "I'll keep that in mind."

Geonosis Orbit

Obi-Wan Kenobi

"Well, isn't this interesting?" I mumbled mostly to myself, but R4 was always listening too. I looked at the scans as I entered the Geonosian system. Geonosis is quite far out in the Outer Rim, not exactly the busiest place in the galaxy, at least it shouldn't be. Instead of maybe a handful of ships coming and going, there is a large fleet of Trade Federation vessels in orbit around the planet. As my scans are populated with several other ships scattered about as well. Someone is gathering quite a large fleet here. I saw ships from the Commerce Guild, the Trade Federation, and even a little bit of the Techno Union. Quite a large fleet, larger than it was necessary for self defense so why would all these ships be over Geonosis?

I was not familiar with the Geonosian people, but I know that they are industrious and often had large factories built underground. It is the perfect place to rebuild a droid-based military away from prying eyes. The Trade Federation had lost quite a bit of their hardware after the failed Naboo Blockade. The parallels of two opposite secret armies built in two opposite worlds, with the Clone Army in the watery world of Kamino and the Droid Army in the dry desert world of Geonosis is uncanny.

"R4, as soon as we land, send a coded transmission back to the Jedi Council. Let them know that someone's building an army out here." R4 beeped happily, confirming my order and then made a couple more questioning beeps that were translated on the screen in front of me.

What if something blocks the transmission?

"If something does, you have the full authority to take control of this ship and get into orbit to find somewhere where you can send the transmission. The Council needs to know what's going on."

A few more beeps confirmed that R4 understood the order and with that settled I opened communications to the planet, "This is Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, I have been invited to meet with Count Dooku here. Where should I land?"

A droid voice spoke up saying, "Please hold in position Obi-Wan Kenobi, we are verifying your statement. Any attempt to land on the planet without permission will be stopped with force."

"Understood." There are probably a lot of laser cannons tracking my ship as we wait in a stationary orbit. I had a bad feeling about this.

"R4, make sure to run down all other avenues of getting the message out before you take off. It sounds like there might be a chance they'll shoot you out of the sky if you do something they don't accept."

R4 made a worried noise. But before I could try and appease the droid's concerns, a voice responded over the communicator.

"You are clear for landing. We will transmit your flight path to you now. Do not deviate from the course we are providing, Jedi."

I raised an eyebrow at that, no doubt the areas they wanted me not to see were probably constructing something noteworthy, but I would let that pass for now. If I found a chance to get away from Count Dooku I would investigate. "Acknowledged ground control."

I let R4 pilot the ship through the predetermined flight path to minimize human error as he slowly brought the Delta-7 through the atmosphere and down into the planet below. We slowly descended, coming to a stop over a large spire with several large windows looking out across the red landscape of Geonosis. There are more spires in the distance, though what they were for, I did not know.

As my ship came to a stop on a waiting landing platform, I saw the Count already coming out to greet me. Several Geonosians followed him out onto the platform behind him. Bug-like with wings, they were a good foot or so shorter than the Count and menacing, but clearly trying to hide it. Still, the Geonosians were armed and carrying weapons.

I popped out of the Delta-7 and I heard the Count's voice, "Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, it is a pleasure to finally meet the Padawan of my Padawan.'' He gave a nod as I stepped out onto the platform, his billowing cape coming to rest as he did.

"It's an honor to meet you as well, Count Dooku." I said with a nod, "I've heard many things about you in the last few days."

The Count smiled before saying, "Good things I hope, after all I am simply doing the best I can out here in the outer reaches of the Republic."

"They tend to say you are a little bit too involved in politics and an idealist."

"Bah," the Count laughed at that before saying, "A rich statement, considering the Jedi's own position in the political world." Shaking his head, he said, "But we can discuss that over tea. I've prepared a tower view."

"Lead the way, Count."

He nodded and started walking, "I am sorry. I was not able to attend Qui-gon's funeral at the time. A decision I regret. We didn't have a chance to meet then, but if we had, I would have probably come and tried to help finish your training. But I will admit that I was not in a good place after his death and would have made a poor mentor."

"Qui-gon was a good man." I agreed, trying to see what he was getting at.

"He was a great student. I'm sure he would have joined me in my current quest if he was still around." We arrived at some sort of elevator. Once the door opened, he stepped inside. I gave the hallway and distant platform a backward glance, then followed in after him. As the doors closed, leaving the two guards by the door, we started ascending.

"And what exactly are you doing out here?" I asked.

"I'm trying to save the people of the Outer Rim from the abuses and exploitation by the Republic. Its failures as well as other things best spoken of once we reach the top."

I raised an eyebrow at that, but let him continue by saying, "A secure room that I presume doesn't have any listening devices."

Dooku nodded in agreement, "Best to be safe in this time of uncertainty, I think."

"Conflict?" I asked.

"Yes, conflict. Because that is what's coming. It's been building for the last decade. We must be prepared for it."

The elevator came to a stop and we stepped out onto a terrace overlooking the horizon of Geonosis. One of the Geonosians is pouring two cups of tea on a table. Three seats were pulled out for us, waiting. Looking at him, I asked, "Are we expecting another guest?"

"Perhaps," he said, "there's another guest that I expect to arrive today. However, I don't know if you will be included in my meeting with her. I thought I would be prepared just in case."

Count Dooku walked over to the table and took a seat and indicated I should take the one across from him.

Nodding, I sat down without saying anything. Count Dooku took a sip of his tea and indicated that I should do the same. And I did, it's quite good. I could not identify the flavor, though it does taste very floral.

"Well then let us begin, the Jedi Council sent you to spy on me, I assume."

I raise an eyebrow before saying, "Not to spy, per se. The Council is concerned with everything that is happening the last few years, as well as the recent assassination attempt."

"Yes, Jango Fett. You mentioned him in your previous call." The Count interrupted, nodding as he said, "I haven't spoken to him in years, as I said before, but I have tried to get in contact with him. I have sent him a message or two. I have sent business his way in the past, so he should contact me as soon as he is able."

"You work with bounty hunters often?" I asked.

He nodded, "There's one thing you can trust about a bounty hunter, give them the right amount of money and they'll do exactly as you ask."

"Loyalty at the end of money though doesn't seem to always work out."

"True, self-interest is not as good as true loyalty, but it's better to know you've bought the loyalty than to depend on hope. That is after all the problem with the Republic."

"Yes, your issues with the Republic. I've heard samples of your speeches as I was getting myself ready for this meeting. I do not understand how your actions out here on the Outer Rim will be better than the Republic, let alone why you need to go into politics. In fact, you implied quite a few questions that need answers just from our conversation here."

"Yes, I know where to begin." he said, sipping his tea again before finally starting, "The goal of what I'm building out here is not to make the Republic better, it's to build something to compete with the Republic so that it will do better and pay attention to its own problems. If the Outer Rim can maintain the security of the Outer Rim for itself, why did the Republic fail then? The Republic has a much larger population in the Core and could have brought security to the Outer Rim, they could have done it but they didn't. It must be some sort of corruption or politics in the Core of the Galaxy, something that needs to be looked at preferably by the Jedi."

"And your problems with the Council?"

"Problems do not even begin to describe what I have found. The Jedi Council a thousand years ago was involved in politics fine enough. They were often Supreme Chancellors who were former Jedi Masters but with the Ruusan Reformation we stepped back from politics. Instead of leading the way we let the politicians lead the way. We let the politicians maintain control and we gave no thought to who and what these politicians are."

"What they are?"

"What if I were to tell you that at this very moment a large number of the politicians that run the Republic are in the pocket of the Dark Lord of the Sith."

"I'd say that's a very bold claim. I would say you would need some evidence to prove it and the Jedi Council would be very interested in how they have missed that for so long. In fact, I would say that it would be almost impossible for them to have missed that."

Dooku nodded before saying, "Almost impossible is not impossible. A decade ago after the fall of Nute Gunray's attempt to besiege Naboo, he came to me with information about this conspiracy. He told me an interesting story of how he was promised to gain control of Naboo but was betrayed at the last moment by the Dark Lord of the Sith."

"That is a statement from a known liar and a criminal, not exactly the best witness to be basing your beliefs on."

"Understandable, however when you think about it, does it not make sense? So many of our problems over the last few decades tend to be related to politics that tend to involve the Jedi at the last moment. Weakening us, distracting us, and keeping us focused on conflicts in the Outer Rim."

"You believe the Jedi Council has grown blind to the internals of the Core because we're too busy dealing with the political messes out in the galaxy? That seems rather counterintuitive don't you think? If we don't clean up the messes in the Outer Galaxy, wouldn't that just mean we're likely to have a situation such as what's happening right now develop?"

"It does, but looking at things objectively, it appears to me that things have been ramping up for the last few decades. As if a Dark Lord has been pushing things more recently."

"Let's say this is true, that the Sith have infiltrated the Republic. What is their end goal by creating all that conflict?"

"That is the question I've been trying to find out for a while now. My best guess is exactly what they've been creating with this conflict is confusion with the purpose of keeping the Republic and the Jedi focused outward and not on the Core. No doubt that is the end goal of the conflict creation but why do they want the Core? That is the question that I have yet to figure out."

"Why wouldn't they?" came a familiar female voice tinted by an audio interpreter. Confused, I turned towards the elevator and saw a female Mandalorian in green armor approaching the table followed by a brown armored female Mandalorian, a male Mandalorian in black armor, and a Mandalorian Royal Guard. An odd group to say the least, though it was somewhat explained as the female in green removed her helmet revealing it to be Tanya.

"Representative Kryze, I did not expect to see you here."

"Knight Kenobi, I would say the same as I was under the impression that I would only be speaking with Count Dooku. Not that I wouldn't want to have a chat with you too."

The Count chuckled before saying, "An unexpected turn of events have led us all here on the same day. I thought it would be best to converse with both of you together. However, I did not expect you to have some thoughts on this particular part of the conversation. How much did you hear?"

"That you believe that there is a Sith trying to gain control of the Republic." Tanya said walking across the open area before indicating the open seats "May I?"

Dooku nodded and she took a seat before continuing. "In the galaxy's multi millennia long history of warfare, the Core has always won. It doesn't matter who or what the Core faces, the Core won during the Old Sith Wars, the New Sith Wars, the Mandalorian Wars, all of them, the Core fought and eventually won. The only time I believe the Core has ever lost was in a time that's basically legend where the Eternal Empire from the Unknown Regions knocked over both the Sith and the Republic. Fact of the matter is, that was a rare outlier, thus the only way to beat the Core is to be the Core. And what better way to be the Core than to infiltrate it and gain control of it through politics."

Dooku nodded along as if he was agreeing with her, "Very perceptive of you Ms. Kryze. As I have said, I believe the Republic has been infiltrated by the Sith. What their ultimate goal is, is unknown but I doubt it would benefit the galaxy or the Jedi and I'm trying to find people who will help me stop them out here in the Outer Rim."

"All you're doing is making sure that you have a good target for the Sith to aim at." Tanya said, shaking her head as picked up a glass of tea that a Geonosian had put in front of her. "As I said, every time there's a war, the Core wins. Well now the Core has someone to declare war on. If the Sith really are in control of the Core, as you believe, then all you've done is simply created a perfect target for them to attack."

"Perhaps, but I doubt that would go as well as you believe." Dooku said, shaking his head, "I've built up quite a group of alliances and when the conflict comes we will be ready to defend ourselves and force the Republic to negotiate on our terms."

"These alliances happen to include the Trade Federation I assume? I noticed quite a few of their ships in orbit as I was coming down." Kenobi asked.

"Well yes." Dooku said with a nod of his head, "Gunray came to me with the information about the Sith's plan."

"Why didn't you just bring this up to the Jedi Order then? The conflict between the Sith and the Jedi are, principally, matters that concern Jedi and Sith." Tanya said, sipping her tea again as she finished that thought.

"I have been bringing up the possibility that the Sith Lord had survived Naboo for a good while now. The Jedi Order would not listen to me then and why would they listen to me now. They are blinded by their beliefs that they have control over the situation while in fact they are blind to the danger awaiting them. The Republic is the one in control and as long as the Order acts as the hounds of the Republic, they will be of no help in the situation to come."

"Harsh." I and Tanya both said at the same time, which got us both to share a smile before she continued. "Well I got bad news for you, you're choosing terrible allies out there if you've involved the Trade Federation and Nute Gunray. I can now confirm that he was the one who ordered the assassination of Padme Amidala."

"Come again?" Count Dooku asked, sounding genuinely surprised as he looked at her.

"I tracked down the assassin, appealed to his better nature, and got the information directly from the horse's mouth."

"A surprise to be sure, I would have assumed that Jango Fett would not be willing to give up such information. He had always struck me as the kind of man who was loyal to his client.".

Tanya shrugged before saying, "He's a True Mandalorian at heart, he may have been separated from them for two decades or so but he is still one of them. And one thing that all True Mandalorians have in the back of their minds that keeps them going is a need to look out for their family. I just found a member of his family he didn't know that's still around."

"Hmm..." Dooku appears to be deep in thought before nodding his head in agreement, "Well I'll have to speak to Nute Gunray after this. See if I can't get an understanding of why he ordered an assassination on Padme Amidala."

"Well, that's the most obvious question in the world." Tanya continued, "Naboo is still prosecuting several cases against the Trade Federation for crimes against civilians during the occupation a decade ago. Most likely he just thought that if he removed the most vocal proponent of those investigations, perhaps the problem would go away. They tend to do that with the amount of corruption there is in the Republic. I wouldn't be surprised if it could be pulled off with the right amount of money changing hands."

"It would appear that your new alliance is still plagued by the same problems of the Republic." I pointed out after hearing that bit.

"Yes, it would appear so." the Count said, narrowed his eyes in annoyance before he continued, "I will have to ask him some very pointed questions about this. I'll see if I can't get this situation dealt with to prevent any more attempts on the Senator's life. Is there anything else this bounty hunter told you, young Kryze."

She shook her head before saying, "No, nothing of importance. Well as I believe you said that two of my men are currently in your care along with one of my ships. Mind having them released to my care now?"

"One of your ships?" I asked, interested in what she meant by that.

"A necessity politicians need. If you have only one ship and everyone knows what ship you're in, that just means that you are now basically a ship-sized target. Unfortunately, Senator Amidala learned that lesson the hard way, I believe."

Dooku nodded in agreement saying, "Regrettably in these trying times it is best to have misdirection and misinformation on your side to ensure your safety. I will have the Geonosians release the crew and you can be on your way as soon as this meeting is over or you can stay and we can discuss more issues of the Outer Rim. I'm sure that the new government I'm building out here would not mind having the Mandalorians join us."

She shook her head immediately saying, "I don't think the Mandalorians will have an interest in what you're selling Count Dooku. Too likely to start a war and I have already said those on the outside of the Core are always on the losing side of the war. We are more likely to try and find some peaceful way to step out of this conflict completely. As you have made clear, the conflict is one between this Sith Infiltrator and the Jedi. That is a theological dispute that the Mandalorian people simply don't care about."

The Count sighed before nodding, "If that is what you feel is best for your people, I shall respect your decision." He said before continuing, "My opinion is that you can try and run away from the coming conflict but you will need to pick a side sooner or later."

Tanya shook her head before saying, "Mandalore will choose the side that won't get drawn into this war. And if that means we have to form our own side, that's what needs to be done."

"You believe your sector can navigate its way through the coming conflict unscathed?" The Count asked.

"I do. A good chance of doing it as well, especially considering that more likely or not the planets that are at war are going to ask for trainers for their PDFs and who has the best military training apparatus in the Galaxy at this moment?"

"The Sun Guard?" He asked with a smile that I assume is in jest.

"Sun Guard are a military unto themselves, you're not going to get trainers from them. Mandalore on the other hand, well we have plenty of rogue agents who would probably work for both sides."

The former Jedi let out a genial laugh at that before saying, "Perhaps things will change as the war goes on and you will see as I do that the Republic is a wicked thing that needs to be corrected."

"Perhaps, but the core of the issue, pardon the pun, remains. The Republic controls the literal Core economic regions of the galaxy and has defeated every threat arrayed against it through sheer quantity of production. Not through heroic sacrifice, the dubious assertion of destiny, nor the brilliance of the commanders and generals the Core produces. No, the Core has won through logistics and sheer economic power. For every ship the Core losses they can produce ten more. For every Core-world soldier that dies, twenty more are ready to take his place. The wars always follow a pattern, not a particularly glorious one either, the Core-worlds suffer terrible, horrific losses and yet persist in a state of war until they find victory by outlasting the opposition. The Outer Rim might boast great martial cultures and commanders but no tactical brilliance can overcome an absolute strategic advantage. It is simply not worth persecuting a war against such a force, better to shed such fallacy and to make oneself strong enough to bleed any force that is sent against you than hold delusions of successful campaigns against the Core-worlds. The quantity of men, material, and warships has a quality all of its own." Tanya blinked and actually blushed before bowing her head. "But as I said we're more likely to declare neutrality in this coming conflict rather than join either side in the war proper." She got up and finished her tea before saying, "If that's all I think I will be retiring to my shuttle good to see you Knight Kenobi."

"Good seeing you as well, Ms. Kryze." I said with a smile, giving her a nod as she nodded back before turning, picking up her helmet as she did and leaving me with the former Jedi turned politician. It was rather disappointing for Tanya to give such a bleak and calculating reasoning to reject Dooku's offer of turning against the Republic. I would like to imagine that Satine would have assorted neutrality on principle rather than an admission that the war itself would simply be unsuccessful. I imagine that Dooku is rather pleased with Tanya's position, after all she had not disagreed with the merit of his position. He merely had to make a better offer at a later date.

Dooku sat there with an intrigued smile for a moment thinking before asking, "Well, I have laid my cards on the table, Knight Kenobi, what are your thoughts on the matter of your allegiance to the Republic?"

I shook my head then said, "You made some compelling points on there being a Sith Lord possibly in control of the Republic but I'm not about to abandon the Republic just because there may be a problem there. I will simply do my best to fix it from the inside. As Tanya said, fighting the Republic from without is an impossible challenge."

The former Jedi smiled before nodding sadly before saying, "Respectable, and far more polite than the young Representative calling me delusional." He gave a good natured and infectious chuckle. "The offer stands open though, as time goes on I fear that it'll become more obvious that the Republic is under the control of the Sith and when you see it for yourself I will gladly take you on in our efforts to either remove this evil influence from the Galaxy or protect ourselves out here in the Outer Rim from the worst of what is to come."

"And what if the war goes as Tanya predicts? What if that comes to pass? What good will the protection of the Outer Rim be?" I asked.

"The Other Rim is vast and wide. There are many hidden places out there that could be used to hide under. We have already made efforts to try and build up a military force and I've made deals with certain parties to improve it. Tanya's perspective on how the war would progress is hardly unique and I intend to take such concerns very seriously."

"Yes, I can see that…" My thoughts were interrupted as a large contingent of droids appeared at the doorway leading to this veranda with their guns leveled in my general direction as they marched out.

"Oh my, Count Dooku, what's the meaning of this?" I said looking at him wondering what his response would be.

"I'm not quite sure." He said getting up brushing himself off as he turned to the droids and asked "What is the meaning of this? I gave orders that we would not be harassed while we were in a meeting."

"You may have given orders based on how things looked about an hour ago, Dooku, but things have changed." The voice who challenged him is Nute Gunray as he came out from behind a few of the droids, seeming rather apoplectic which is a very rare sight.

"You're bounty hunter not only failed in his mission to kill Senator Amidala but has turned traitor. He's turned in information against me to the Republic. And as of twenty minutes ago a Droid aboard this Jedi's Starfighter transmitted information from the platform where you left it unguarded telling the Jedi Order where we are."

"Hmm, yes these are events that happened, I still do not see why they require you to threaten my guest with blaster fire."

There are several clicks as an older looking Geonosian pushed his way through the droids, accusingly threatening me with his gnarled wooden staff.

"Ah, well that's unfortunate." Count Dooku said, shaking his head, before turning towards me and explained, "Apparently they have laws on this planet that if you are suspected of being an enemy of the state you are to be seized. Because you transmitted information to the Republic about the Trade Federation ships being here you are considered an enemy of the state."

"Oh dear, that seems like a bit of an overreaction." I said still maintaining my seat though moving to finish my cup and get my hand ready to grab my lightsaber if I needed to defend myself.

"A bit, yes." The former Jedi said, shaking his head. Turning back to the two he said, "Now listen, friends, I understand your concerns. Yes, this Jedi has given him information on our location but that's no reason to draw weapons on him especially since he was asked to come here under a flag of peace. Let us be civilized about this."

"It doesn't matter who you invite here under a flag of peace. They've already taken steps to bring about a war. As we speak Jango Fett's testimony is being played to the Republic Senate and once they add in the information about our droid army being built here what do you think's going to happen? The Senate will pass the Military Creation Bill and there will be war!" Gunray said whilst shaking his head. "Best thing we can do is try to stop any more information from leaking."

Count Dooku nodded his head in agreement before turning back to me and saying, "I'm afraid they raise a good point, Obi-Wan. With the situation as is I can't exactly let you leave at least not until we have an understanding of how bad it really is."

The Geonosian said something else which drew the former Jedi attention saying, "Now hold on, they are not agents of the Jedi."

Said Geonosian shook his head saying something and banged his staff on the ground, "We cannot simply arrest Representatives from off world. Certainly not neutral parties and potential allies"

The Geonosian shook his staff again and the former Jedi sighed before saying, "Yes, yes, enemy of the state, I understand. "

"Such wonderful partners you have." I said, amused, "Are they really going to try and arrest the Mandalorian Representative?"

"It would seem so." Dooku shook his head, "I'll have to attempt to try and quell their fears to get you all released."

"Well, that's not what I meant. I mean I understand my position here. My back is to the wall and I have quite a number of blasters pointing at me so my surrender is a given. But a Mandalorian well..."

My point was punctuated by the explosion of something downstairs, furious enough to send dust trickling down from the ceiling causing the Count to let out an amused grunt as the Geonation looked around confused as an alarm siren sounded in the background.

"Mandalorians rarely have the clarity of judgment to surrender in good order. They never see their position clearly or they simply don't want to. I have dealt with them before so we can only hope that the good Princess enjoys herself enough to forgive our indiscretions." The former Jedi said with a nod before saying, "Jedi Knight Obi-Wan you are under arrest could you please follow these guards to a holding area while we get this situation handled."

"But of course." I said, getting up while holding my hands out in front of me. "I'll be in your care."

"This won't take too long I hope, at most a week and we'll have this all cleared up." As he said that his hand moved in such a way drawing the lightsaber right off my belt into his own, "Not a bad design." He commented as he examined my lightsaber before clipping it to his belt, "I will be holding on to this while we get this situation under control. I'm sure you understand, for your own safety."

"I've never felt safer." I said with a bit of sarcastic flair. Oh sure I understood that with a lightsaber on my side I could escape. But I would be unsafe either way and I still would prefer my chances with my lightsaber and I was not a fan of handing it over. But there was not much I could do on that matter as several droids came over and put a pair of cuffs on me.

"You'll see Obi-Wan, you'll see that this will all work out for the best and I will secure your release as quickly as possible."

"Of course, of course. One question though, why did Nute Gunray say that Jango Fett was your bounty Hunter."

The former Jedi stopped mid step as he moved towards the elevator before saying, "Well it might take a bit of time, actually. You know how it is with legal systems and all, have to follow protocols and do things by the book as it were."

I seem to have stepped on a sore spot I thought. Why did I always do that?

Geonosis, Hangar Bay

Tanya Kryze

Something didn't feel right. I was getting a really bad feeling as the elevator descended to the ground floor. As it opened, I noticed the large amount of droids around and about, my feelings only increased in apprehension.

I'm usually not one for going with my gut, logic was a better way of dealing with things, that's why I started to put things in a logical order as soon as I saw things that were upsetting my gut. Large amounts of droids tended to mean that someone expected to fight back and that there were a lot less Geonosians around all of a sudden. Thankfully, it didn't appear to be an outright fight yet as I saw my two wayward Guards, Captain Struc and the Slicer Mok standing there in their guard uniforms looking annoyed at the droids watching over them.

They were standing by our ship, which Count Dooku said was here. Although seeing that someone had put a locking mechanism on one of those struts that would prevent the ship from leaving was not a good sign. What game is Count Dooku playing? I don't know and that probably is what's upsetting me right now.

There was something going on here, something I didn't understand. Some game that was being played on a level that I was unfamiliar with. And if I found myself in a situation like that, there were really only two things to do: evaluate the situation and run. Evaluating the situation told me that running is the best move. Getting off the planet and heading back towards Mandalore or the Core it's probably the safest option right now.

But on the off chance that they weren't going to let us leave, I needed to create some sort of escape path. "Kastel," I said, calling to my subordinate who had been using his old black super-commando armor since escaping Tatooine's disaster, "you got detonators in your suit?"

"I do." he said, sounding a bit confused.

"Place a small charge outside the elevator as we get out. I don't know if we'll need it but it's better to have it than not."

"Of course, Princess." he said, nodding as I stepped out of the elevator with the others falling behind me.

The droids' heads followed us as we moved, looking more like birds of prey watching us than actual beans with their strange head shape they had.

Thankfully, I knew that it's tiny head shape meant that they didn't have much in the way of intelligence behind those eyes, often relying on supercomputers somewhere on the planet to do all the heavy lifting. If this turned into a fight, I think we'd have a good chance, as everyone in this room had Beskar armor on them, so blasters would do fuck all but I would rather not to get involved in such a thing if I could avoid it.

Stepping over to the droids overlooking our wayward companions, I said, "I believe these men are with me. Do you mind clearing the way for them so they can join us on our ship?" as I attempted to stare down a Droid that was slightly taller than me.

"Roger Roger." the Droid said, seeming to take a step back before looking to the fellows that had their guns on Struc and Mok saying, "Let the prisoners go."

"Prisoners? I thought we were your guests?" Mok jokes.

"They're simple droids, they probably don't know the difference between guests and prisoners." Captain Struc said with a shake of his head.

"Whatever they think, I'm going to be glad to be gone from here. Good to see you again Princess Tanya." Captain Struc said with a nod as he came up in front of me and gave me a salute. I gave him a nod in return along with the same salute before moving on towards the ship.

"Mind explaining exactly what happened after we left you two?" I asked as we made our way towards the vehicle.

"Not much to say, we distracted the droids for about an hour. Kept them fighting us throughout the city before their leader showed up. Some Mandalorian in red and blue armor spouted more of that nonsense that they've been ranting about since she showed up and attempted to blow up our ship here."

"Only reason that didn't work out for her is because Count Dooku showed up and used Force magic on her to strangle her, pretty freaky shit." Mok said as he followed us in.

"We were going to be on our way but apparently he'd been called in by Jabba the Hutt. I guess we caused too much of a ruckus and the local outlaws called in help. So now that call worked its way up the ladder to be an annoyance and we were told to either go with Count Dooku or be shot."

"Yeah we're officially banned from Tatooine, they even have pictures of our faces and everything. Zero claimed that he had no idea who we were."

"How do they plan to enforce that?" Ordo asked, "Tatooine is basically lawless except for areas he controls so how can he just ban someone from Tatooine?"

"I think we're just banned from areas he controls, which is good. I'd rather never go back to that dust bowl. I've seen it once and don't need to see it ever again." Mok says as he shakes his head. "I'm not even going to ask how much my electronics are going to be screwed up. Over the next few months I'll probably be trying to get the sand out, probably just need to replace everything."

"I'll see that you have the funding needed to get new stuff to make up for getting arrested by the Geonosian authorities." I said, shaking my head as we got aboard our ship. Everyone started to look around the cargo area before I said, "No, don't get comfortable just yet, we're leaving."

"How? There's a lock on the ship." Morson said looking through the hatchway at the Lock currently holding our ship in place.

"Oh I can handle that, no problem." Mok said, already moving over to his station area he had on board the ship and starting to activate some of his computer equipment.

"Give me 5 minutes to get this thing unlocked and we'll be on our way."

"Well okay then. What are we going to do about all the droids watching us?" Morson asked.

Turning to her I asked, "Have you ever operated a turret?"

She blinked and said, "Not really."

"Well today is a good day to learn on the job. There's a turret through a hatch over there." I pointed to a hatch that led downwards the double blaster which should be able to defend the ship if we can't get unlocked fast enough.

Morson nodded and quickly moved towards the hatch sliding down in and out of sight. Personally, I waited by the door with Ordo, watching the droids move back and forth. Seeming to be non-threatening in nature but I just had a bad feeling as if the droids would turn on us at any moment.

Captain Struc moved towards the front of the ship obviously gaining position to start flying if we needed it and Kastel waited by us as he said, "I put the explosive by the elevator control switch shouldn't do anything too major but cause a nice big distraction."

"Here's hoping we won't need it." I said as all of a sudden the Droid stopped their motions. Every single Droid, every B1 and every worker Droid on the platform simply stopped and the worker Droid started moving away from the platform we were on. The B1s quickly gathered up in front of our ship and their guns slowly being drawn into position to point at us.

And there we go, the other shoe dropped.

"What do you think this is about?" Ordo asked, "The Count said we could be on our way if we want to."

"No doubt Gunray has recently learned that his name is now mud and he's probably trying to get the rest of his allies here on the planet to work with him in trying to seal up any leaks. Or worse maybe he knows exactly who's responsible for his name now being mud and I've now entered his hit list. Which is, besides a worrying sign of keeping good company, considering who else is on his hit list, not conducive to not being targeted for assassinations."

Ordo chuckled before nodding, "Yeah that would probably be it." He said, seeming to grab his staff weapon a bit tighter as one of the droids moved forward.

"Representative of Mandalore, your permission to leave Geonosis has been revoked. All flights out of the planet are canceled. Please step outside and be escorted to your guest rooms."

"What was it you said about guests?" Ordo asked.

"That they don't know the difference between a guest and a prisoner." I answered for him, nodding my head as Mok chuckled. "How much time do you need to get us free?"

"Oh, not that long. About now."

There was a loud bang noise as something released from the front of the ship.

Immediately the Droid started raising their guns and without even taking an order from me, Kastel pressed a button on his vambrace and the elevator across the way exploded once and then twice in a much bigger secondary explosion causing the entire Hangar Bay to fill with fire causing the both of us to look at him.

"What? It was a small explosive. There must have been some sort of fuel line running through the elevator shaft."

"Wonderful," I said before saying, "Get us out of here, Captain." into my radio.

"Will do." He said matter of factly as the ship started to leave the platform with the doors closing slowly. With that, the ship started to accelerate quickly, moving away from the platform. Once the bay doors were shut, I held on to the side of the ship and said on the comms, "Get us out of range of the Tower and start pulling us up. We need to be as far away from here as possible before they scramble any fighters to take us down."

"On it."

As the ship took off I moved up the main cargo ramp into the rest of the ship quickly finding my quarters and closing the door I don't know how long we had but I figured I should take precautions in case we got shot down after all better to have as many strategies for safety as possible then none at all.

Once inside my room I tried to contact Vai. I quickly found that something had either damaged long range communication or something was jamming the frequencies to prevent communication. It's most likely a jamming field around the planet, being created by the Trade Federation ships to keep information from leaking. This was a problem as cutting off communication outside the local cluster meant that I had no way to let her know where we were. Besides being on Tatooine which was the last location we've been on. However there was one possible way. Pressing in a few buttons I brought up Padme's tracking number and quickly gave her a call.

It was only a few moments before I broke through seeing her and Anakin waiting in their shuttle, apparently having already been there for some reason.

"Tanya, what's going on?" She asked

"No time for exact details, just know things have gone relatively off the rails here on Geonosis. I need you to send a message to X4 for me, he's still on Coruscant. Tell him I may need a little help getting myself out of here."

"Why is that?" Anakin asked.

"Well my ship is being shot at, probably." At the moment there is a bang somewhere on the ship confirming my thoughts. "No, the ship's definitely being shot at. It seems Nute Gunray did not take kindly to me exposing his plot to assassinate Padme and has put me on his hit list. I'm trying to get myself out of the situation now but there's always the chance we'll be shot down before we make it off world and I'll need help getting home if that happens."

"If that happens we can be there and help you faster than anything X4 can send your way." Padme spoke up.

I immediately gave her a death glare before saying, "Ah yes, a pacifistic senator and a lone Jedi are going to help get me and my crew off of Geonosis if we get shot down. That is totally something that can happen." I said sarcastically whilst shaking my head. I continued, "I don't need two people in an unarmed yacht that can barely hold ten people, I need the company of mercenaries that I assembled for just this occasion that can get me the numbers and blasters to fight off any force of droids sent to capture me. As much as your help would be nice it's not good enough. Correction, it's helpful for Nute Gunray as the people he wants to murder are conveniently all in one place. Stay on Tatooine and stay out of this situation, it's safer there."

"Till Nute Gunray is dealt with, nowhere is safe." Giving me a mini aneurysm. Grabbing the edge of my desk as the ship buckled a bit as something hit us I hissed, "Senator Amidala, I know you think that you can help and maybe you can but you cannot help when the person you're trying to talk to is going to shoot you the second he sees you. All you're doing is giving them-" Something hit the ship at that point and communications went dead. I blinked as also the lights went dead and then there was a brief moment where I felt weightless. A part of me hoped that meant we'd broken through to orbit then the weightlessness stopped and it became apparent that we were crashing.

Grabbing on to the desk tight I managed to get myself into the seat and buckle myself in. I don't know what was going on and how everyone else was doing but I knew that at the current rate of fall we'd probably be crashing soon so I needed to be somewhat secure otherwise the damage would be pretty bad.

With any luck, we'd get power before the crash and be able to mitigate it but considering that we were falling from the sky I figured that was unlikely. Well, apparently if you live long enough you get a freebie. There was a brief moment of lights returning before my head was sent forward into the computer screen at a rather accelerated rate.

Things got very foggy there as the world seemed to fade in and out of existence. The only thing I could make out was that there appeared to be a new light source coming into my room and I realized it wasn't a new light, it was a hole that was ripped out of the hull. Which meant that there is no way this ship is going to be spaceworthy… that's when everything just went black.

Geonosis, Count Dooku's Chambers

Count Dooku

Damned fools, the lot of them. I was supposed to have a nice conversation with two prospective candidates for joining our ranks in not only a fight against the Republic but the creation of the Empire. Instead I now have to look over a complete and utter disaster because Gunray had to throw an entire tirade when he got pointed out as a schemer who nearly assassinated a senator.

It was rather infuriating that all the plans I had were now up in smoke as he had invoked the Separatist Council to handle this situation and the votes going in there were to be expected rather foolhardy. Already they were talking about making an example of Obi-Wan Kenobi claiming he was a spy and murdering him to try and prevent any other spying activities by the Republic.

It would take a lot of political will to try and prevent that from happening and I had to even consider not letting it happen as Obi-Wan now knew that I did have some connection to lending Jango Fett's services to Gunray.

What's worse is that he was the only one who knew. Frankly I had a chance to review the testimony given out and I had to respect Jango Fett even more as he kept my name out of his testimony and even implied it was all up to Nute Gunray's planning. Which worked well for me as it forced Gunray to choose a side and he would have to side with the Separatists now because he was now a wanted man in the Republic. If there was one thing I could respect about Jango Fett, even if he couldn't get the job done the way I expected, he would do it some way. I had told him that this was to get Gunray to join the Separatists in the coming civil war and he expertly found a way to complete his mission even though a new parameter had thrown it for a loop.

I would have to see that he was well rewarded and that he didn't let loose any other secrets that I didn't want exposed. I doubted he would let anyone know about my existence as Darth Tyrannus or that Darth Tyrannus had ordered the creation of the Clone army but it was always possible. I would make up my mind at a later date whether he must be dealt with as a threat or simply just brought into the CIS as a general which had always been a part of my plan.

Of course, this all was due to one of my other prospects which was an interesting conversation to say the least. As far as I could see, the girl had no Force training yet she had a significant understanding of politics, apparently was willing to wear armor and acted as if she was trained in it, as well as being able to turn an agent I considered near impossible to turn.

There was no other way to say it, she is a perfect candidate for training as a Sith. One so perfect that the fact that they shot down her ship as she tried to leave had enraged me quite a bit.

Already, I had sent droids out there to find her and rescue her. Hopefully she wasn't too badly hurt and hopefully I could prevent the xeno fool who ordered her ship shot down from having her executed as well.

Things were moving at an unexpected direction and rate. I just had to hope that I could gain back control of the situation. If she did die I guess I could contact the good Doctor Zotho from Arkanian and see if she'd still be willing to make me a clone of the girl. No guarantee she would be as well trained and strong in the Force as the original but there was a good bet that at the very least she could reach those heights.

Sighing, I moved over to a window that looked over the desert plains of Geonosis. My Master's plans were already in motion, though the war would come sooner than I expected. No doubt he was already moving to have powers consolidated under his control and start forming the military that would be needed for the Empire's rise.

The plan would pretty much play out as expected. I think from this point Sidious would gather the power needed, he'd declare an emergency, form an army, and within the next few days the Clones would be offered to him with somewhere here on the Outer Rim would be the first battlefield between the Clone and the Droid army. Who would win would be probably up for debate. I've personally believed that I had assembled quite a strong force here and it might be possible for the droids to win through sheer weight of numbers but if it looked like we were going to win, I would have to do something to give the Republic the victory. After all, in order for this operation to succeed it would need to appear that the Republic had a chance to win. If they believed they had a chance they would feed all of their money and power into the military regime as a necessary sacrifice to win. Otherwise they would keep pulling back and try to start thinking of ways to get out of the war.

No doubt that Palpatine would find some way to bring everything under control on his side. All that mattered was that I needed to keep these rogue corporations and Outer Rim planets under control on my side and we would play a large game of chess with the winner already determined. We just needed to play long enough for that winner to have the power to keep that power when it was all over.

Though I did wonder, is my prospective Padawan a possible threat to Palpatine's plans? I've been giving it only the briefest of ideas, that it might be possible for the Sith to be getting control of the Republic and she'd already figured out how they were doing it. She's even figured out that CIS is but a proxy for the war so that the Sith could build its forces and power base.

One more reason why I would like to see that she had survived her near death crash, somewhere on the Geonosian Wastes. She would be very valuable in case I decided that Palpatine is not the right ruler of the Empire that he should be.