Chapter 13: Bountiful Interests
21 BBY, Outer Rim
Yan Dooku, Count of Serenno, leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, stared at the endless expanse of stars as he stood aboard the Devastation. It was the sister ship of the Malevolence, the ship that General Grievous lost rather spectacularly.
Truthfully, if it weren’t for the cyborg’s performance against the Jedi, the Count would have arranged for his death for his failures in command, but then again, Dooku cared very little for suitable commanders, as the most that he lost were ships and droids, most of whom were paid by the Trade Federation. Grievous was a terrifying enough figure to instil fear in the heart of the Republic, and perhaps enough to pin any potential scandal on his shoulders, instead of his own, and that was the purpose that he created for the Cyborg, which would keep him alive despite his... inadequacies.
As for the war, it was going as planned, with the CIS growing in influence and size. The Republic’s centuries-old cracks were finally beginning to show. One did not ignore entire sections of the Galaxy, leave them to be all but lawless, with cartels and slavers taking control over the entire systems, with no consequences.
The Republic had done nothing… There had been a thousand years of peace, and yet, in all that time, the galaxy worsened, rotted from within, instead of becoming what it was meant to be. He had been quite busy in the last few days, mostly capitalising on the scandals in the Senate and the reveal of many corrupt Senators to convince more systems to secede from the Republic.
It seemed that even Darth Sidious could not stop the idiocy of corrupt senators, especially since this all began with the senator of Ryloth being arrested for some kind of speeder accident and having one of his secret Datapad unlocked. The reveal of the true identity of the Sith Lord had been proof of how much the Republic had fallen, how much the Jedi failed, for a Sith ruled the galaxy without their knowledge. It was vindication that the path he took was the correct one.
It was a great victory of the Separatist cause, at least from a propaganda perspective, but unfortunately, one of the Senators being investigated was Lott Dod, who represented the Trade Federation. While it was unlikely that Dooku’s master would let him live for long, there was too much at stake should the investigations proceed unimpeded. So far, he spent most of his time in the last few days working to move certain vital projects before they would be raided by the Republic.
One such project was Swamp Gas, which Sidious had personally requested. The Count understood the fear that a chemical weapon of this potency could spread, but he did not know why his master specified the gas being especially deadly to Gungans. Perhaps he was planning to arrange an attack on Naboo to gain more sympathy and disliked their interference in the invasion of Naboo. He did not know for sure, only that it had been especially troublesome to move the facility from Queyta to Mustafar.
His thoughts were interrupted as he felt his Holocomm come to life, with a hologram of the hooded form of Darth Sidious appearing before him. He bowed to his master almost by instinct, “My lord.”
He had not expected his master to contact him so soon after the issues he faced on Coruscant. There were, most certainly, investigations regarding the affairs of the Senate, which, for some reason, the Jedi seemed unusually focused on, at least according to his spies in the Senate.
It was strange to see them actively pursuing corruption, and Dooku couldn’t help but wonder why they began to do so in the middle of a war. They would certainly not earn themselves the friendship of the Senators; that was for certain. He expected the Chancellor of the Republic to subtly guide them away from their investigations, at least before they bore fruit, and not risk contacting him so soon. Then again, the blindness of the Jedi was not to be underestimated.
From the slight upward movement of his lips, he realised that Darth Sidious must have noticed his confusion. “You seem surprised, Lord Tyranus.”
The Count of Serenno bowed respectfully in response, after regaining his composure, “I am at your service, my master.”
To this day, Dooku did not know the extent of the powers of his master, but to sense the Force all the way from Coruscant was a great display of power indeed. He had spent almost a decade learning under Darth Sidious, understanding the secret of the Dark Side, and he had seen his power grow beyond that of any other Jedi, perhaps aside from his former master.
Yoda always claimed that the Dark Side was not more powerful than the Light Side, and yet, the Count could say with utmost certainty that this was false. He had trained for decades as a Jedi, becoming one of the greatest members of the Order, and yet, he had grown greater than he had ever thought possible under Sidious’s tutelage, and he knew that there was much more that his master kept from him.
Given the small, cruel smirk barely visible from Darth Sidious’s hood, Dooku’s master was certainly amused by his reply, “Good, Lord Tyranus. Very good, but you are correct; of course, I am contacting you to inform you of a certain… irritant that I wish for you to procure for me. I have sent you the details.”
The Count frowned as he saw a message appear on his Datapad, specifically, the announcement of an official bounty, one worth a large number of credits, likely larger than any other bounty on the galaxy, at least, not a bounty that would not require an army to collect. Most importantly, there were no descriptions as to what this man had done, and whose ire he had earned, which certainly posed so many questions. He looked up towards his master and spoke up, “I don’t understand, my lord. Who is this?”
“A man who has proven himself to be an irritant, enough to possibly pose a threat to our plan.”
Dooku could feel the sheer anger in these words, no matter what occurred, and his eyes widened at the implication of someone that Darth Sidious would ever consider a threat. It was obvious that his master had been the one that set up this bounty. “I shall have him silenced, as you command.”
“No,” the Lord of the Sith argued, “You shall bring him to me alive.”
That stipulation meant one thing, and one thing only: that this man held information that Darth Sidious wanted dearly, but then why did he put the bounty on his head? There were far too many details that his master had obviously held back, details that would remain unexplained, and Dooku could not help but be curious about them.
Still, this fared very badly to Dooku’s target, for he did not think that his stay in the tender mercies of his master would be an enjoyable one. And perhaps, this was another of Lord Sidious’s tests. He was rather fond of them, creating problems that one would lose by attempting to solve them. After all, the Lord of the Sith had set up a bounty that could see his target dead, while tasking the Count to find him alive as well, and this meant that he was required to race against every Bounty Hunter in the galaxy trying to find this Harry Potter.
His master continued and clarified, “Beware, the Jedi are also searching for your target. You must not allow them to have him. You may kill him if you must.”
Ah, he could see the depth of the scheme now. Many bounty hunters would still attempt to kill their target even if they were in the custody of a Jedi.
“Such a task should not be beyond Ventress. Is there any additional information regarding his location or his goals?”
“No,” the Dark Lord answered, “He has left Coruscant a few days ago, and I have arranged for the bounty hunters’ guild to send you updates should any sightings of him be made. I recommend that you do not underestimate your target. He seems to possess some passable skill in the Force, enough that your assassin will likely fail should she attempt to face him.”
The Count suppressed the urge to widen his eyes in shock at that answer, “It shall be done, my lord.”
“Pray that you do not disappoint me, Lord Tyranus.”
Dooku did not react at the implied threat as the hologram flickered before turning off. It was quite unlike his master to threaten him so overtly.
Darth Sidious was usually more subtle than this, and that alone was enough to make him curious regarding his interest in Harry Potter.
As he looked at the bounty, the Count realised that it was surprisingly sparse in information, with just descriptions of his features, and strangely enough, a surprisingly large number of details regarding a white bird that accompanied the man.
Nevertheless, there was nothing regarding his affiliations, his whereabouts, or anything else for that matter. If the reward had not been so high, Dooku doubted that anyone would have bothered with the bounty.
However, there was something about this man, something important. He could almost feel it in the Force, like a… disturbance. Dooku's eyes widened as his thoughts drifted to the disturbance in the Force that he felt a few days ago.
Disturbances in the Force were quite common since the war began, mostly as a result of clones dying at once. However, it had been different, more akin to the signal of a great change, or a knot unwound. Given its location, his first thought was that his Master had been involved, and he had sent agents to investigate it.
His spies told him that it had been some battle against a Dark Sider, but Dooku had sent agents to investigate it before being preoccupied soon to deal with the result of the investigations on Lott Dod and the plans that it could unravel.
But now, he wondered if it could be possible that this man, this Harry Potter, had been its source. It would fit, since his master claimed that he had left Coruscant, where the disturbance took place. Did that mean that his master, with all of the assets available, still failed to capture him? This Harry Potter must be skilled to leave Coruscant without Sidious capturing him.
He searched the Force and found his suspicion echoed back. It was not often that the Force was so cooperative, but he supposed that a disturbance that he felt halfway across the Galaxy would echo in the Force.
And with this confirmation, Dooku's mind couldn't help but wander towards a few important questions, mainly why his master had not told him of his role regarding the disturbance, or why he was searching for this man, for that matter.
The realisation struck him sharply. Sidious had not expected Potter.
Something occurred that must have unsettled Sidious, a threat, not just to the plan, but to the Sith Lord himself, which is why he kept the details to himself. The large bounty, the heavy-handed approach, the unsubtle threat to Dooku, the Sith wanted Potter dealt with, in any way, but did not wish for Dooku to know why. The Count had never seen his master appear unsettled, and yet, this was the only conclusion that he could come to.
This meant one thing: Potter was valuable, and posed in some way a threat to Sidious.
Given the might of his master, the Count did not think that Potter's value was as a warrior. Perhaps it was knowledge, but then, if he had found something damning regarding Sidious, the Sith Lord would have wished him dead and not have asked Dooku to capture him. This meant that the knowledge was one that Sidious wanted enough to knowingly put Dooku to its train, but also did not want others, likely the Jedi, to possess.
Either way, that made his capture critical for Dooku.
After all, this was his first opportunity to truly gain an advantage over Sidious, to start planning on overthrowing him, and replacing him, as was the way of the Sith. Perhaps even this Harry Potter could be a suitable apprentice.
This had always been the plan since he had joined Sidious. He had started his movement, learned the ways of the Sith because he saw the rot in the Republic that spread all the way into its roots, while the Jedi, the galaxy’s supposed protectors, sat there and did nothing to help, becoming little more than agents of the Senate.
The only path he saw was to build the galaxy anew, for there was no saving the Republic, to create a galaxy built with strength, and commanded, not by corrupt Senators, but those strong in the Force, be it the Light or the Dark Side, though obviously the latter would emerge victorious. He would not have wished to destroy the Jedi, but it was inevitable; the Jedi Order would protect the Republic, keeping its rotten remains alive with the order’s dying breath.
But that is no more. Soon, the final plan would take place; the Republic would be no more, and in its stead would be something better, something greater, an empire free of corruption, which would remove the rot that the Republic had allowed to fester for centuries. True order, true peace, that the Jedi would never see.
He did not trust Sidious; trust was not the way of the Sith, especially one who had spent most of his time deceiving the Jedi and fooling the Republic as its kindly Chancellor. Yet now, for the first time, something had unsettled his master, something unforeseen, that forced him to let something slip, and he could feel it in the Force: that finding Harry Potter would be the way to free himself of the chains of Darth Sidious, to become the master instead of the apprentice, and this was an opportunity that he could not afford to squander.
Dooku steeled himself and then opened his Holocomm, summoning Ventress and Durge.
It was not long until his apprentice and the bounty hunter came before him. He could feel Ventress’s power in the Dark Side; it had grown considerably in recent times, perhaps enough that together, they would inevitably defeat Sidious. But now, with another possible piece on the board, he could end up having a new apprentice.
As for the Gen’Dai Bounty Hunter, he had been quite expensive to hire, though the prospect of killing clones seemed to appeal to him greatly given his hatred towards Mandalorians. Though Dooku had expected… more from an almost two-thousand-year-old Bounty Hunter, his value was in his nature as a nigh-unkillable creature, especially given he countered most Jedi, who relied far too much on the deadliness of their Lightsabers.
Dooku turned to them both and spoke up, “Ventress, Durge, I have a critical mission for you to perform.”
AN: I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. As I said before, I’m still getting the hang of writing a Star Wars story, so bear with me if anything feels off.
I know that this chapter is a slow one, but it's meant to be a bit of an interlude chapter given how eventful everything was before this. I also felt the need to introduce Dooku a bit, as well as show a hint of the consequences of Harry's actions in Coruscant. There are a few tidbits all over that set up a few things later. I thought about using Sidious for it, but it didn't feel right when I was writing it. Anyway, I did my best trying to portray Dooku and tried repeating a few statements, like his missions to save the galaxy from its corruption, which he's using as a justification for his actions, despite the atrocities he committed. However, I'm not sure it came out like I wanted it to.
Also, feel free to let me know if you have any things you'd like to see in that story. SW lore is pretty expansive, especially Legends stuff, and there's a lot that I'll probably miss, so I'm counting on you guys :)
As usual, I don’t mind rewriting this chapter depending on your feedback, so please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.