Interlude: The Confederacy strikes back III

Council Chamber

Raxus Secundus

Confederacy of Independent systems capital world

Dooku let go of his control and he was engulfed by the rage he had been suppressing ever since entering the chamber. The Force itself rippled with the sheer magnitude of his fury as he drew on it like never before. His one good arm shot up and his power flowed through it, becoming a devastating wave of azure lighting that slammed into the Droids to his right. The machines were just becoming to move towards him when the energy picked them up and slammed them into the wall, before discharging into it.

The fried Commandos fell limply to the floor, yet that didn't deter the second platoon. The Sith simply smiled viciously, raised his artificial limb and opened its palm. A lance of crimson energy shot from it and speared through a pair of machines, burning through their armor as if it was a thin sheet of silk. Before the rest of the Droids could jump on him, the Count leaped back and used the Force to call his lightsaber from his belt. The weapon eagerly jumped into his open hand and he caught it mid-air, then cut in two a machine that was a bit faster than the rest.

Behind the shield, Foreman Kleo leaned forward. He was watching the spectacle with rapt attention, while taking notes – who knew when another Force user would need to be dealt with? The Techno Union leader hummed with delight when the third platoon entered the fray by unleashing their sonic screamers from the safety of the shielded area. Kleo paid no attention to the rest of the Councilors who were either watching the battle with sick fascination or were already whimpering wrecks, terrified that the Sith would be able to somehow get them.

Dooku jumped over a slash and unleashed his built in weapon again, slagging another droid. His saber moved like a lighting and stabbed the head of a Commando, before the Count landed and rolled aside just in time to avoid three machines that stabbed his former position. The Sith's saber snapped up, despite that he wasn't looking at the shielded part of the room. However, instead of deflecting a shot, a ripple passed through the energy blade and slammed into his side.

The Sith staggered and leaped forward, straight into a group of charging droids. He became a whirlwind of slashes, stabs and punches, fending of and crippling the machines. However, if he thought that the Droids would provide him with some kind of cover, he was sorely mistaken – the sonic screamers trailed on him and opened up again. The sound blasts did minor to no damage to the machines.

The flesh and blood human fending them off wasn't so lucky. While Commando chassis absorbed more than a few shots and Dooku dodged others with uncanny movements, other hit true. A blast caught his shoulder, another clipped a leg. Then three slammed into his chest just as he stabbed a droid.

Instead of falling down like a cut off tree, Dooku glared bloody murder at the Councilors and unleashed another wave of lighting at the remaining droids. He seemed unfazed by taking enough hits to knock out a pissed off Wookie.

Yet, to say that he was unaffected would be a lie. His lighting attack was wilder, less focused, more narrow. While it caught three Droids and hurled them into the shield, where they fried, the other two facing him narrowly avoided the blast. They wasted no time and charged the Sith who leaped to meet them.

One machine went low, while the other aimed at his shoulder. The last remaining droids – another three Commandos at his back sprinted to enter the fray too. Given that he already dispatched almost two platoons, the five droids should have been easy to handle. That proved to be true for the pair in front. A red laser carved open the chest of one, while the lightsaber deflected at slash aimed at the knees, before flashing up and cutting the Commando in two.

Dooku made an impossible stop and whirled around to meet the remaining machines, when he was hit again and again my screamers. Despite that he used the Force to throw away a droid, then battered away a vibroblade with his artificial arm and slammed his saber into the chest of the offending machine.

The third Droid was upon him before he could disengage from his latest victim. Dooku tried to use the destroyed Commando as a shield, yet despite his efforts a flashing blade caught his biceps and opened a deep gash into his hand.

While ignoring the pain wasn't hard for the Sith, that didn't help him when his hand stiffened and let go of the lightsaber. All Dooku could do was to jump back to avoid the vibroblade aimed at his face. He glared at the offending machine and raised his left hand. The Force was screaming constant warnings as the screamer shots kept on coming, but the Sith steadied himself for just a moment to aim, then fired just as something shoved his legs.

It took him a moment to comprehend that the lance of coherent light missed the oncoming droid's head. A blast clipped his head, making him dizzy for a moment and Dooku found himself staring at a sparkling upper half of a Commando that was missing its right arm. However, his other hand was very well and currently clamped around his right ankle.

He had no more time to stare at the pest. The Force practically screamed a warning that shook him. Dooku's head snapped up and his eyes widened – the last droid standing was practically upon him. The Sith used the Force to protect himself by hurling the machine away with as much strength as he could gather.

That proved to be less spectacular than he hoped. Instead of flying and smashing against the far wall, the Droid was merely staggered. It recovered almost instantly and delivered a powerful vertical slash that was going to spill Dooku's brains if he didn't use his artificial arm to block the strike. The vibroblade bit deeply into the light alloy making the prosthetic, disabling it from the elbow down and taking out the laser.

"Begone!" Dooku snapped and placed his blood and flesh palm on the Droid's chest, while gathering the Force for another lighting blast.

A blast that didn't materialize as sonic weaponry continued to strike him again and again. His vision became blurry and he felt sick. A metal fist slammed into his temple, sending him on his knees. A sonic blast struck the back of his head, making him shake and shattering the little concentration he had left. The last vestiges of the Force slipped through his fingers and the last thing he saw was a blade raised to take off his head.

Then Dooku finally succumbed under an avalanche of sonic blasts.

=RK=

Interlude: The Confederacy strikes back IV

=RK=

Council Chamber

Raxus Secundus

Confederacy of Independent systems capital world

"Is he dead?" Shu Mia asked after the fighting ground to a sudden halt. She stretched her tall neck to look at Dooku who was laying on the ground. The sole surviving Commando from two whole platoons towered above the Count with a blade ready to split his skull.

"I think we need to make a decision." Kleo interjected. His synthetic voice was level as usual. "Do we keep him as a prisoner – something mind you we can't guarantee given this demonstration," The Cyborg waved at the dozens of destroyed droids. "Or does it finish the job." He pointed at the Commando, which was obediently waiting for an order now that the threat was neutralized.

"If Dooku lives, he'll do his best to make sure we all die screaming." Ilroth added helpfully.

"I would have to agree." Hill sighed. "However, delivering him more or less intact to the Republic might be a gesture they would appreciate. Besides, he's to blame for the terror attacks upon their people." The banker paused. "Grievous too."

"He'll have to be dealt with like the mad dog he is." Mia frowned.

"He's still one of our best generals." Tresk groaned.

"That's debatable. He's good at killing Jedi and terrorizing people. Winning actually important battles…" The Foreman trailed off. As far as he was concerned, Grievous was a defective tool that needed either repair or scrapping.

"One problem at a time. What do we do with the Sith?" Tresk looked at the other Councilors, most of whom were still stunned by the sudden explosion of violence in front of them.

"He's a bargaining chip. Sedate him and ship him to the Republic before he could recover." Mia glared at the Count.

"I agree." Hill nodded.

"That could prove a prudent course of action." The cyborg indicated his agreement too.

"I'm on board then." Ilroth shrugged. "What about the rest of you? What do we do with that traitorous scum?" The Neimoidian addressed the rest of the Council.

One by one they started getting out of their stupor and soon enough a shouting match unfolded.

"ENOUGH!" Kleo used his vocalizer to emit an ear-spiting shout. "It's clear we were betrayed. His investigation," The Foreman pointed at Dooku, "was nothing more that an excuse to remove rivals or other obstacles to his plans. Unfortunately we'll have conduct our own investigation to root Dooku and his master's agents in the Confederacy, but that can't be helped. Unless any of you want to wait for them to arrange us some kind of unpleasant and final accident?"

Appealing to their self-preservation was a sure way to garner their attention, as he very well knew it would be. Ah, the weakness of flesh. Kleo at least could handle himself in a scrap if it came to that – what was the point of augmenting oneself if any idiot with a blaster or blade could pose a danger to you once it was done?

Having a battalion of droids as a personal bodyguards sure helped too.

"He's too dangerous to keep around. What are we going to do now?" Passel Argente, the Koorivar Magistrate of the Corporate Alliance asked. He was one of the few others to keep their composure during the short battle.

"Anyone for killing him?" Tresk asked. The rest of the Councilors simply shook their heads. He sighed. "Well, wrap him up, keep him stunned and heavily sedated and sent him to the Jedi I guess. As for your question..." The Trade Federation Viceroy looked at his fellow Councilors. "We need to get on top of this mess. Present an united front to the Parliament and the galaxy at large or internal division would see us all hanged by the Republic." If we're lucky, he added silently.

"Grievous. The war. We need to make some important decisions." Mia added.

"Our armed forces had lost the initiative these last few months – not something we can afford. In two months major batches of our construction would be coming online. The same would be true for the Republic two to three months afterward. That gives us a window of opportunity. If we seize and make a good use of it, that could set us up in a great position to win the war before the enemy could leverage their industrial advantages. Let's be frank with each other – we will have two such windows to win the war. In two months and about year and half from now. Unless we make a good use of them, the Republic would be able to bury us in ships after two to three years. I don't know what my predecessor and the Confederacy Intelligence services had been telling you, but that's how things stand."

"The Trade Federation concurs. That's our estimate too." Tresk added.

"Same for the Guild Analysts." Mia nodded.

"Our contacts withing the Republic agree on that estimate." Hill finished.

"We'll have to consult with Intelligence, but that sound right." Argente agreed.

"That's not what we were told!" Po Nudo, the former Aqualish senator, hissed. His eyes – two very huge and a pair of smaller ones were darting all over the Councilors.

"Then you were lied to." Tresk shrugged. It should be no surprise really.

"Grievous first." Hill changed the topic. "How do we deal with him? I had some oversight over his rebuilding. I can assure you, the man is unstable, though my concerns were overridden." The banker nodded at Dooku.

"Get him secured!" Kleo ordered the droids. "Stun him a few times first and keep doing it on regular intervals. Heavy sedation too."

"Roger, sir!" The LT commanding the intact platoon saluted and went on to carry out its instructions.

"Now that's dealt with..." Kleo turned his attention back to the Council. "Grievous needs to be removed. Dooku was the one to hold his leash and the man being a Sith explains the how. We don't have that going on for us and I personally don't want that madman to bring his fleet here and try blowing us up from orbit."

"Removal." Tresk agreed.

Within moments, the rest of the Councilors voted aye too. When all was said and done, Grievous might have been feared by all, but he had no real friends or supporters in the room. Many would breathe easier without that cyborg hanging over their heads – something that the conspirators had been counting on while they planned this meeting.

"That leaves the war." Tresk continued. "All of us have various talents, but we aren't generals or admirals. We have a certain lack of competent ones that could be relied upon right now."

"It's vital that we fix that oversight." Kleo nodded. "A short term solution would be to expand the authority of our tactical droids. Do remember that despite the name, most of them are perfectly capable of strategic planning too, though that function is usually restricted for various reasons. That said, we'll need to promote competent people to command and win, not merely execute terror attacks. We are a sovereign nation, not a bunch of terrorists." The Foreman stated.

"I agree. This is a war for our future, not a contest of who could kill most civilians. Doing so as collateral damage is regrettably unavoidable, but doing it simply to terrify – that's sheer foolishness. After the bio-weapon's attacks, the Republic's resolve haven't been weakened. It's stronger than ever."

"I think we all can agree on that." Hill nodded. Besides, wantonly killing one's potential or even actual customers for no good reason – that was idiotic from any point of view, not just very bad business.

"While we'll be doing our best to find ourselves competent military leaders, the overall strategic goals of the war are ours to decide. It's come to my attention that they have been very vague for the past year." The Foreman added. "What do we as the practical leaders of the Confederacy want from this war? Simply independence? A total victory and to replace the Republic? Simply destroy it? To force a change before re-integrating into a new Republic we can all live and prosper in? Those are questions we need to answer now. Doing so would determine how the war would be fought from this moment forward and what our commanders would need to achieve."

"That's all well and good, in the long term. What about short term? The Republic forces had stopped our advance cold practically everywhere." Nudo asked.

"One thing that I think we can all agree on is no more wasting assets on strategically insignificant systems if we can afford it. We need to knock out or at least degrade the Republic's industry and war machine."

"Kamino then." Argente stated. "Grievous tried to reach it before, but his fleet was unable to sneak in and had to retreat while he was hundreds of light years away."

"A sneak attack? Right now, Kamino is one of the most vital and well protected places in the Republic. A mere sneak attack won't be sufficient to reduce that system unless we are willing to escalate the war to the last, insane level." Kleo's artificial eyes blazed with green light. "You're right though. Kamino needs to go. Soon. However, we don't have the expertise to plan such an attack."

"Who is our best admiral?" Tresk asked.

"From the briefing I got upon assuming the position of High Foreman, I believe it's admiral Dua Ningo." Kleo said and waited for the inevitable explosion.

"NINGO?!" That came form Argente. "He presided upon the greatest defeat that our forces suffered in the war."

"True." The cyborg calmly agreed. "Any other commander, and don't forget that Grievous was present too, would have likely lost without crippling or destroying as much of the enemy fleet. You saw Dooku – what he did defies rational explanation. The republic fleet that struck Geonosis was led by another Sith. Who knows that sorcery -" Kleo spat the word as if it was the vilest of curses, "-that man used. By all accounts, the Republic forces were so well coordinated it was hard to believe. Also we have reports from the handful of surviving organic personnel that they felt acute despair and suffered decline in performance and coordination at the same time. Whatever that other Sith – Veil – did, it effected both fleets, which were spread over light minutes."

"I just a few minutes ago, I felt the need to do as Dooku suggested. As if my mind was not my own." Tresk shuddered at the memory. "Let's not forget that the Jedi are our enemies too and they too possess some of those abilities. I'm not one for fear mongering, but we would have to take this Force of theirs into an account in our planning."

"The Jedi, the Sith… They're a threat." Nudo spoke quietly. "One forced by the Republic to fight us, the others made themselves our enemies by their own actions. It doesn't matter how we got here. What are we going to do about them? We can't ignore either of those groups."

Kleo personally agreed. He was one to trust in technology, not some kind of sorcery, yet he knew that the Force was real, that was proven beyond any shadow of a doubt. Perhaps studying it to unlock it's secrets? That was an idea to pursue at a later time. Now? Well this was going to be one very long afternoon.