31 BBY
As Dooku's personal cruiser breached Serenno's atmosphere, his heart leapt at the sight of three Munificent class Frigates parked at the City's only spaceport. They were so large that they loomed over the venerable old port itself. Their dark, distinctive shapes were even visible through the sheets of pounding rain, illuminated by the occasional bolts of lightning.
If they were here, that meant that Tan'ya had succeeded in bringing them under control. Of course Dooku had faith in his daughter, wise and controlled beyond her years, but even so knowing that she had succeeded filled him with equal measures of pride and relief.
He was further surprised when, as his ship approached the Palace, he noticed his House Guard arrayed at parade, despite the howling wind and driving rain. In front of them stood his daughter, accompanied by Colonel Seith. The ramp came down and he saw her standing there, giving a crisp salute. Dooku finally realized why his daughter occasionally seemed to walk, talk, sit and stand like a soldier without realizing it. She always strove to excel at any task he gave her, and he had passed the role of managing the House Guard to her when he killed Sifo.
Seeing her waiting there for him in the rain, loyally ignoring the discomfort for the sake of her love and duty to her neglectful father, Dooku felt a profound sorrow that he almost couldn't bear.
Reaching out with the Force, he formed a dome to shield her and the House Guard from the rain. It was a pitiful, late and half hearted gesture, but Dooku had to do it. As he approached her, still wearing the symbols of his House at her neck, she offered him three small code cylinders.
"The ships are yours, my Count."
Struggling to contain himself, Dooku reached out and put a hand on her head. "Well done my child." He took the cylinder's from her hand, and stood tall to regard the rest of the Guard. He projected with his voice. "Congratulations are in order. Your first battle has been a victory! With a second one soon to come!"
"The Rider Count!" A voice from near the back cried in Basic. "Rider! Rider! Rider!"
The chant was echoed by the rest of the Guard, ten thousand lungs crying out in unison that for just a moment drowned out the storm.
'The Rider?' Dooku would have to ask about that later.
"Come Tan'ya." He said for her to hear. "We have much to do."
Tan'ya was brought into her Father's study, along with her Mother. Of course Athemeene had been horrified when she learned that her seven year old daughter had been put in charge of the dangerous operation to claim the Federation ships, and sensing the gravity of the situation was controlling her nervousness when she stepped through the door.
Dook said to her firmly, "You are going to take Kenth, Madale and Ideon, and go to Indinoor. I've brought some of my Knights from the New Temple, they will escort you. Take my ship."
"What about Tan'ya?" Athemeene demanded, interrupting Tan'ya before she could speak.
"She will remain here with Jedi Master Sturn. He will protect her. She must stay here to inherit, should the worst happen."
"The worst?" Tan'ya asked, finally speaking. "Father, where are you going?"
"I'm going to take the ships, and crush the blockade over Naboo." He replied.
"What?!" Athemeene burst out. "Why?!"
"Because I must." Dooku replied. "Just as you must keep our children safe, and Tan'ya must do her duty as my heir and keep the succession secure."
Athemeene opened her mouth to speak again, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door. "Lady Athemeene, I'm Jedi Knight Prialla. I'm here to help you get ready to go."
"Go." Dooku told his wife so firmly that it was clearly an order.
She was obviously upset and frustrated, but after a moment she turned away. The look she sent him as she left promised a long talk later, but keeping her children safe was the most important thing right now.
Once she was gone, Dooku turned to look at Tan'ya. "X is moving against us. Can this foolish old man rely on you some more, daughter?"
Puffing her chest out, Tan'ya answered immediately. "Of course, Father… But, I'm sure I can help you in the attack if I come with you."
"I know you could, daughter, but you will remain here." Dooku replied. "If both you and I were to die, the succession would be in peril. Your Auntie Jenza would be made regent until your brother is of age, and may be tempted to seize power for herself. She would only have three very small bodies to bury."
The realities of feudal politics, Tanya dimly realized. The bonds of blood and honor were only so thick when the possibility of power presented itself. Auntie Jenza may be a trustworthy ally to the mighty Jedi Master Dooku, but there was no guarantee she would be the same for the helpless little Kenth.
He was a smart enough boy for a five year old, but still only a normal child of his age.
"I understand, Father. The succession has to be preserved." Tan'ya hesitated before adding, "Perhaps I can lead the attack to Naboo instead."
Dooku smiled at that, looking at her fondly. "No. I will not hide in safety, while my seven year old daughter goes to battle in my place."
Tan'ya opened her mouth to object, then closed it. There really wasn't any sensible argument to be made against that. He was right. How could his reputation as a Count possibly survive such a scandal? Dooku's fame as one of the Galaxy's greatest warriors was part of what kept Serenno safe, and so had to be preserved.
Tan'ya knew it, but still felt the sting of being given the lesser duty. To once again be left away from power and responsibility merely for appearing to be several decades younger than she actually was.
Only now that she had attentive and loving parents did Tan'ya occasionally miss being an expendable ward of the Kaiser.
Dooku turned on the holocom in his office, and projected an image of Naboo from it. It was a still frame, taken from holonet news footage, and displayed a dozen Trade Federation lucrehulk class battleships holding in loose formation above the planet.
"Now, help your Count plan out his attack."
Outnumbered against much larger vessels with full compliments of vulture droid fighters, it was on the surface an almost impossible task. The issue was made worse by the fact that the sailors Dooku had to rely on had never crewed this class of ship before.
The Republic's Outland Region Security Force was a shadow of its former self, which wasn't all that much to begin with. After a disastrous defeat during the Stark Hyperspace War and the death of its founder, the RORSF funding was slashed by the Senate, meaning their already small surviving fleet was downsized even further.
Before the war had broken out, Dooku had worked with them on occasion, and was able to leverage his contacts to scoop up many former sailors and officers for his own Hammerheads. It was only a matter of reaching out to them and offering bonuses to those interested to find the thirty officers and engineers necessary to staff the Munificent-class frigates.
Dooku had been worried many would want to leave when they learned the audacity of what he was about to do, but he was pleasantly surprised when all chose to remain. The Trade Federation had played a not insubstantial role in the Stark Hyperspace War, and the former officers of the RORSF had all been eager for payback.
As they approached the system, Dooku found himself thinking of Qui-Gon Jinn. Was he still alive? Had Dooku waited too late to intervene? He only learned of the dangers his former Padawan was facing a few days ago, he couldn't have come here any sooner.
He even sent his daughter into harm's way just to get here a few hours faster.
Briefly, Dooku closed his eyes and released his worries into the Force. Now wasn't the time to think of this, now was the time to focus on what he was doing.
"We're five minutes from our target destination." The ship's navigator announced, glancing back at Dooku before focussing again on his instruments.
The green lights of the Munificent's bridge displays had been headache inducing to look at, apparently well suited to Nemoidian eyes but not human ones, but now they were a much simpler dark gray background with white text. The Comms officer had found a way to adjust them in the settings, and for that Dooku was grateful. They would leverage every advantage they could get to achieve victory here.
"Coming out of Hyperspace now." The navigator announced, and a moment later the ship dropped back to relativistic speeds, the silver smear of a trillion stars blurring past finally slowing down to a still image of white dots against the black void.
"Put me on comms now." Dooku ordered, and his image was broadcast out to the Trade Federation fleet. "This is Count Dooku, at the head of the Serenno Planetary Defense, as requested by Queen Amidala of Naboo. To all the ships currently illegally blockading the sovereign world of Naboo, you are hereby ordered to leave the system or you will be fired upon."
There was a long pause as Dooku waited for the reply. When planning this out with Tan'ya, both of them had agreed that the manner of victory was as important as the victory itself. To escape legal reprisals when the battle was over, Dooku would have to convince the wider Galaxy that he was acting legitimately within the boundaries of the law, a task that would only be made harder by a surprise attack without warning, or worse, accusations that he had approached the Federation fleet while disguised as a part of the Trade Federation. Using the code cylinders he had to trick the Trade Federation into believing he was here to reinforce them was the sort of thing that might have been accepted in the midst of a vicious total war, but in peace time was unthinkable.
Dooku needed to be a liberator, not a common pirate of the Outer Rim.
Besides, both he and Tan'ya agreed he would be able to win even without such paltry tricks.
"Count Dooku, this is Commodore Utro. You're interfering in private negotiations between the Trade Federation and-"
"Commodore Utro, leave Naboo at once." Dooku interrupted him. "Your blockade is an act of war, and will be treated as such by Naboo's allies."
The Commodore looked frustrated and briefly confused, and Dooku saw an opportunity there. Reaching out through the Dark Side, Dooku began to gently stoked the feelings of frustration and humiliation in the Nemoidian.
"Now see here-"
"These are the acts of a common criminal."
"What, how dare you-"
"No, how dare you!" Dooku snapped. "The people of Naboo are starving, because of your corruption and incompetence."
Everytime Utro attempted to speak, he would be cut off and his face twitched with irritation. Gently feeding it was like bringing a fire back to life from hot coals. As he was doing it, Dooku began to develop suspicions on why it had taken him so long to see Sidious as the threat to his family that the Sith clearly was.
"You arrogant human scum!" The Nemoidian hissed, his exhalation so hard it forced spittle from his lips. His feelings of anger and hatred were pushing aside all other concerns, and forgetting that the Galaxy was watching. "You always band together to shut out legitimate competition! You have no business here! Leave! Final warning."
Dooku kept the smirk from his lips as he leaned back into his chair. "You are cruel and small minded." As he said it he gave one last little puff in the Dark Side against Utro's smoldering anger, and it burst into an all-consuming flame.
No longer needed to be fed by Dooku, Utro's wrath spread across his mind like a raging pyre, and all the Neimoidian could do was shrilly screech, "Open fire!"
Over the comms another voice said, "But sir-"
"I said, open fire!" Utro slammed his fist into his own thigh, eyes bugged out and lips bare. "Open fire! Open fire NOW!"
At last the Lucrehulks began blasting away, and the battle commenced, with it clear to the Galaxy that the Nemoidians were the aggressors. Dooku cut off communications, before giving orders to his own crew to return fire.
At the very front end of the Munificent class was a pair of bow mounted heavy turbo laser cannons. They were positioned in such a place that the ship had to be facing directly towards its target to fire, which made maneuvering somewhat awkward. In this situation, the awkward position was to the advantage of Dooku, because it minimized the target profile of his ships, meaning the Federation had to hit a much smaller target then he did. In addition to that, the Lucrehulks were positioned just at the edge of Naboo's gravity well, which affected their ability to maneuver the already bulky and slow ships.
The Lucrehulk wasn't actually designed as a warship, but as a cargo transport. It was created centuries ago with the intention of being easy to load and unload cargo from multiple directions simultaneously. The Trade Federation had modified hundreds of the ships to evade the Republic's restrictions on the size and number of warships a governing body was permitted to own; a blatantly illegal act that somehow seemed to slip past the Courts unnoticed. Dooku scowled as he muttered, "The Republic," like a curse.
To transform each cargo hauler into a battleship, cargo bays were swapped out for Vulture droid storage, a powerful shield was installed with extra armor plating, and point defense lasers were strapped on alongside a pair of quad turbo laser batteries. None of the modifications made could ultimately change the fact that each Lucrehulk wasn't structured in a way that was well suited to battle. Even with the expensive new armor plates and shields, the ship itself just wasn't shaped correctly for battle. Once those shields failed, as all shields do under sustained fire, the Lucrehulk's structure wouldn't be able to stand up to the pounding from the Munificent's heavy laser cannons.
Commodore Utro seemed to realize that a few minutes into the battle, when shots from all three of Dooku's Munificents smashed into his shields. They flickered and stayed strong, but no doubt he would be coming to the realization that even with the Lucrehulks outnumbering the Munificents three to one, the difference in their structure would mean his vessel was likely to be taken out of the battle in the exchange as well. The flagship began to maneuver out of formation, starting to climb away from Naboo's gravity well, and began deploying its vulture droids. A moment later all the other ships started to do the same, drifting further apart from each other to force Dooku's fleet to make larger maneuvers to track each ship. It wasn't long until every Federation ship had deployed their fighters.
"Sensors, how many Vultures have they deployed?" Dooku asked.
"Each ship has deployed its full complement of one and a half thousand, from all four ships it's six thousand."
"Very good." Dooku allowed himself a small smile. He reached out, and turned on his comms, now speaking to everyone in the fleet. "Tactical, deploy our own vultures. Pilots, turn us around. We are now retreating in a panic. Engineering, start warming up the Hyperdrive. Navigation, prepare us to make a jump to site two. Captain Ventress, Captain Narec, you know what to do."
They did know what to do. The three frigates scrambled in different directions as though in a panic, as the vast swarm of vultures began to close in. At the extreme distances the two fleets had been blasting at each other from, it took the vultures a full ten minutes to close in with Dooku's own vultures. A brief fight ensued, as the horribly outnumbered Munificent fighter compliments were blasted to pieces in space, numbering less than a hundred and fifty in the face of a great swarm.
The Munificent's continued their retreat, and it was another forty minutes before the vast swarm of vulture droids caught up to them.
"Shield holding." Came the report from the ensign. "Deflector shield still at Ninety percent capacity. Ray shield is unaffected."
"Tell me when the Ray shield starts to wither." Dooku told him.
The Vulture swarm had broken into three parts, chasing each fleeing frigate. The droids fired endlessly, their small blasters were suitable for fighter engagements, but in the face of a much larger capital ship each individual blast was almost worthless. If there weren't so many of them, they'd have no chance of damaging the frigates behind their shields. Even when the swarm began deploying its concussion missiles, each vulture only had a pair to fire, many of which were intercepted thanks to the Munificent's point defense lasers, and even those that did hit had minimal effect. Concussion missiles were effective against lightly armored fighters, but not a well shielded battleship. Maybe if they were a little closer to the Lucrehulks they would have time to rearm, but they would never get that chance.
Dooku's fleet received ten full minutes of fire before the ensign reported that the secondary Ray Shield was starting to be affected.
"That should be enough time." Dooku murmured to himself. He switched on the coms. "Ventress, Narec, go to hyperspeed and rendezvous at site two."
With the hyperdrive already warmed up and the calculations already made, it was only a matter of pressing a lever for Dooku's Frigate to vanish, leaving its attackers behind.
Commodore Utro wasn't a man given to energetic pacing or furious gesticulation, and the moment those Munificents jumped from the system all the energy that had been propelling him about the Bridge disappeared. Feeling as though he'd run nearly a mile at a dead sprint, he dropped into his command chair as a pounding headache grew between his ears.
He winced, and sent his aid off to find him some medicine. What the heck had that been? Utro, someone who had climbed the famously slippery ladder of the Trade Federations ranks, certainly had his share of resentments. All his life he'd been able to stuff his frustrations and bitter thoughts into the back of his mind to be forgotten and never acted on, but then in that moment it was like every moment of anger in his entire life had come to him at once. He hadn't been able to think of anything except punishing that smug human who dared to lecture him in front of his own crew.
Now, he slumped into his chair glad that the battle was over. He considered what he'd said, and found nothing there that would get him into too much trouble with the Board of Directors, though having expressed his distaste for humans aloud might affect what deployments he might be given in the future.
"Sir, the enemy has escaped the system."
"I can see that."
Another officer spoke up. "Actually, the Munificents haven't left the system. Sensors have them regrouping at the edge and spooling up their hyperdrives for another jump."
"Whatever." Utro dismissed him. "Recall our vulture droids."
"Roger that, Sir, I've broadcast the order for them to return. They should be here in eighty minutes."
Utro blinked at that, and looked up. "Over an hour?" He repeated. "Over a full hour?"
"Yes, sir. They don't have hyperdrives-"
"I know they don't have hyperdrives!" He snapped, standing up as he felt panic begin to take hold.
He dimly recalled the orders he'd issued; 'Send all of them. All of them!' he'd screeched, paying no heed to how it would affect his defenses.
"Spool up the hyperdrives! Get us out of here, we're sitting-"
With the crash of vessels returning to real space, all three frigates returned to Naboo in a short range hyperjump.
Utro felt his blood run cold, as he realized they'd jumped into formation around his ship, facing it from multiple different directions. All at once, the three Munificents began to reorient their main guns on his capital ship.
Utro looked down at his command console, and saw that his hyperdrives had only just begun to warm up, and realized he wouldn't have time to make the jump before those turbo laser cannons were firing at his Lucrehulk. Running the calculations through his mind, it took him moments to realize that even his ship's shields wouldn't last more than a volley at full strength, and he had already taken several hits in the proceeding fight.
"Evacuate the ship!" He gave the order, standing up and rushing away. "Everyone evacuate right now!"
Everyone rushed to the escape pods, and Utro stayed just long enough to broadcast command codes for the droids to the next ship in the line. He hurried towards his own escape pod, his fingers just touching the control pad before an explosion rocked his ship.
Utro's last thoughts were that that sounded a lot like his reactor had been hit, before a nuclear blast consumed him.
Asajj watched in awe as the Federation fleet crumbled. Individually, none of the converted cargo haulers could take on the munificents, not without their fighter complements. If they had bombers, it would be a different story, but Dooku had explained to her that the Federation might be able to argue the Lucrehulks were upgraded for self defense, but that already thin lie would be made a self parody by the inclusion of a bomber compliment.
Instead, each Lucrehulk had smaller armaments than a frigate, and a poor superstructure that left their main reactors vulnerable. The Vulture Droid swarm was still almost an hour away from being able to rejoin the battle, and in the meantime the Frigates were picking off the scattered Lucrehulks one by one. After the droid command ship was destroyed, another Lucrehulk had been designated the controller before it too was destroyed. The frigates were about to converge on the next ship in the sequence, before finally Dooku received pleas of surrender.
"We accept." The Count said "Broadcast the shutdown command for the vulture droids, and prepare to be boarded." Then he sent an order to Asajj. "Take your ship, and go collect the crews as prisoners, then seal them in crew quarters for temporary holding."
It was a lengthy process, but Asajj found the terrified Nemoidians waiting for her at the docking point each time, and they were all ferried to the increasingly cramped crew quarters before being locked inside. After Asajj cleared away the last ship, Dooku scuttled them all one by one, destroying each with a turbolaser blast to the now exposed reactors.
Finally the entire Trade Federation fleet, all six ships, were left as nothing but wreckage floating above Naboo.
The sight of it took Asajj's breath away. She shivered with excitement, the hairs raising on the back of her neck as she watched the massive pieces of debris spiral through the void towards parts unknown, probably to become another piece of rubble in the system's asteroid field. It had been an incredible victory! And Asajj had been a part of it!
She smiled to herself, promising that she would learn from this! This battle hadn't been won by just the Count's evident genius, or even the advantage offered by the Munificents. The key moment of the battle had been just before it began, when her Master applied just the smallest hint of his powers on Commodore Utro. A mere change in the Nemoidians' temperament had been the deciding factor, which had been brought about through the power of the Dark Side.
A power that Asajj saw no reason she couldn't possess for herself one day.
When the last of the Trade Federation ships was destroyed, the electronic jamming that had covered the entire planet disappeared with it.
The first thing Dooku did was take out his compad and try to call Qui-Gon's private number. The call went through, and hope filled Dooku's breast as he heard the ringing. It was dozens of seconds that seemed to drag on for the longest moment of his life, before finally the call was answered.
Dooku's heart leapt as at last he could see his old friend, only for him to realize that wasn't his apprentice at all.
A gaunt and haggard looking Obi-Wan was projected across the commlink. His clothes looked filthy and ripped, even through the blue holographic projection.
"Padawan Kenobi." Dooku greeted him, hopes still not dashed. "Is Master Jinn with you? I wish to speak with him."
Obi-Wan's expression fell, and Dooku felt a cold feeling grip his gut. "I'm sorry Master Dooku, but Master Jinn was injured during the attack on the Palace, and again when we were targeted by an assassin."
"I see." Dooku's stomach turned, and finally he asked. "Master Jinn has passed away, I take it?"
Obi-Wan nodded. "We were forced to hide in the swamps when our attack failed. My Master's wounds festered, and he passed away."
"I see. Thank you, Padawan Kenobi." He paused for a moment, before informing him. "I'm sending you my Padawan's commlink. Please arrange with her to have yourself, and whoever else is with you recovered."
Then without another word, Dooku hung up. He sat there in the chair on his bridge, feeling as empty as he did after Galidran. Like his chest was just a hollow cavern filled with the stench of death and failure. Worse even.
An assassin.
Of course that Sith had sent an assassin.
The compad in Dooku's lap crunched into a tiny shivering ball, glass shattering and dusting his lap as he clenched his fist so hard that his knuckles turned white, and his fingernails drew blood from his palm.
Sidious. Liar. Traitor. The Senate. Supreme Chancellor of the Republic.
I am your Nemesis.