Star Wars: From the Clone Wars to Starfaring Heroes

Chapter 258-260 - Breaking Free from the Shackles of Darkness
“You call me arrogant, but I think it’s your arrogance that’s hindering our conversation,” Dooku warned her. “Your four fleets are already engaged in battle, and you’ve even sent a fifth to the core area on a suicide mission. Without the Pelmian Alliance, you have no resources to wage a civil war. And the Pelmian Alliance… they hold important seats in the council… but you’ve sent their crew and supporters to their deaths. Will they still fight for you?”

"So they'll fight for you?" Tann asked coldly.

Nevertheless, she had to admit that Dooku had a point.

In fact, she had every reason to accept the truce proposal—

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. At this moment, it is the Republic, not Dooku, that threatens the survival of the Confederation.

Dooku clearly intended to eliminate her after dealing with the Republic, but didn't she think the same way?
Dooku proposed that they set aside their differences until the survival of the Confederation was guaranteed.

But Tann didn't care whether the Confederation could survive; he only cared about the Confederation under his control.

She would never allow Dooku to undermine her control over the Confederate armed forces and the Laxus government.

She weighed the options in her mind, carefully avoiding falling into a daze of premonition, fearing that Dooku might take advantage of her distraction and pierce her with his lightsaber.

“I understand, this is about your pride,” Dooku said softly. “You’re weighing your legacy and struggling with whether you want me involved, but you should know that with my help, your legacy will be even more glorious.”

"How glorious?" Tann asked thoughtfully.

“Think about it,” Dooku insisted. “You know very well that you can’t rule the Confederation on your own. Maintaining this system requires both my political maneuvering and your military. No offense, but you have neither the inclination nor the patience to deal with these things.”

Who else can help you unite the independent star system? Baker Lauvis is no ally of yours; he's daily dissatisfied with the ever-expanding power of the Confederate armed forces.

Ever since the Centares incident, he's viewed the Peremian Alliance as a warlord group, even though two of its key figures are no longer around… How do you think he'll view your invaluable Confederate armed forces?

"I have no intention of ruling..."

Dooku's laughter interrupted her: "No, you do! You're lying to yourself that you don't, and you're desperately clinging to the principles you believe the military should have."

The dark side is driving you.

Even though I just arrived here, I can feel how strong the dark side of this place is.

You can feel it, like a snake's belly sliding across your hand; you can taste it, like the smell of blood in the air. This wasn't caused by me; it was caused by yourself!

“When this war ends and you achieve a complete victory… Baker Lauvis and his legislature will wrest control of the Confederate Armed Forces from your hands. It’s not me who’s eroding your power, it’s the Laxus government, eager to limit military power and hand it back to bureaucrats and politicians,” Dooku continued. “What will you do then? Let them manipulate you? Will you… abide by the rules?”

Do not!
Tann's inner voice seemed to echo thirstily between the walls.

It was a greasy black snake, slithering around her.

Not a ray of light could get through the window at that moment; it seemed as if it were already night outside, with rain accompanied by thunder and roaring.

The snake hissed near her ear.

My fleet, my confederation!
I won't let them take it away!

Their survival depends entirely on me!

The whole country should thank me!
“Oh…” A dark glint flashed in Dooku’s eyes. “You’re already deeply mired in it, sinking into darkness. Do you hear that? That’s how you truly feel. The dark side only tells you what you want to hear, what you’ve already believed.”

Tann's red eyes were fixed on the smiling count, a golden light gleaming around them: "What...is your proposal?"

“A simple arrangement.” The Sith Lord spread his hands with satisfaction. “I will rule the national institutions, and you will control the fleet and the army. The Confederation is an artificial, unnatural creation, born from a common enemy. Without the Republic, those quarrelsome planets and star systems would have no reason to unite, and the Confederation would fall apart. It needs a strong ruler to maintain unity.”

"us?"

"One is responsible for establishing order, the other for carrying it out. You and I. No longer master and disciple, we will be equals, and then... I will die."

If anything could shock Tann, it was Dooku's frank admission of death.

"……what?"

“I am human,” Dooku explained, as if that needed further explanation. “And I’m old. I’m eighty-two years old, and I don’t know how much longer I have. Darth Sidious promised me immortality, but he can no longer keep his promise. The Force sustains my health, but it won’t last forever. I’m old, but you’re young. Together, we can lead the separatist nation through the fragile post-war period…”

Tann saw all of this in the serpent's eyes, that is, in her imagination.

Everything she longed for was within her reach.

“You see this vision, don’t you?” Dooku urged, extending his hand to her. “You will leave your own legacy, a legacy without my involvement. You just need a little… patience.” “Patience…” Tann’s gaze shifted from the snake to him. “And after you die? Who will rule the country then?”

Dooku shrugged: "Of course it's you."

"But you yourself have said that I don't have the patience to deal with these things."

“Then I will teach you all that I know about the dark side,” Dooku said eagerly, his voice tinged with impatience. “The dark side grants power, the power to control everything. When you understand the evil in yourself and others, you will find that manipulating them is a piece of cake.”

Tann reached out as if to take his hand as he expected, but then slowly closed his fingers together, as if holding a wine glass.

“You’ve misunderstood me. I’m no stranger to power; I possess power myself.” Seeing his confused expression, Tann continued, “You live in a palace, but I live in a much larger ‘palace’… With just a word, I can turn an entire planet to ashes and grains of salt.”

You have an army, but mine is larger and more powerful. You command large numbers of robots, but I have men and women willing to die for my cause, trillions of lives obeying my commands and at my beck and call… These are not gifts from the dark side, but the result of hard work and patience.”

"Can the dark side give you the support of politicians and the courts? No!" Dooku said sharply. "But I can teach you to do it with the dark side! You want their friendship? The dark side can help you win it. You just want them to submit? The dark side can make their will obey you. You'll never have to worry about them defying you again."

“No, I don’t need the dark side.” Tann sighed. “If I want their friendship, I’ll talk to them and make them like me. If I want their submission, I’ll order the army to make them my servants. Even if I lack the talent, it doesn’t mean I can’t learn… I just need to put in some effort.”

"Why are you making trouble for yourself?!" Dooku roared in frustration. "How long will that take?! The dark side can..."

“I have plenty of time, as you yourself say.” This time it was Tann’s turn to smile, the gold fading from her irises. “I’m still young, I have a century ahead of me, all I need is a little… patience.”

"Tann!" Dooku warned, standing up. "Don't let this opportunity slip by! Don't let pride blind you. Together, we can forge a new galactic order! An empire that transcends the Republic!"

Tann also stood up, his fist gripping the snake's neck tightly.

She squeezed hard, and the snake writhed in pain, thrashing futilely in the air.

“You talk about your ambition to build an empire,” Tann said to Dooku, “as if you weren’t standing in my empire.”

She clenched her fist one last time, felt the snake's bones break, and her body went completely limp.

Tann's arm hung down to his side, leaving Dooku grasping at thin air.

“You…” Dooku began, then sighed, “It’s a pity, but perhaps expected, you are more like the Sith than we realized.”

With a crisp sound, the Sith Lord drew a lightsaber with a crescent-shaped hilt from his belt.

Tann stared at it warily.

She knew very well that she had no chance of winning the duel.

She has neither Dooku's control over the dark side nor his perfect manipulation of the body.

But if Dooku is determined to kill her, she will die instantly.

Dooku didn't make a move; he simply waved his unlit lightsaber at her, as if signaling her to draw hers as well.

Seeing this, Tann was enraged. The snake she had thrown on the ground and thought was dead seemed to come back to life, drawing on her emotions.

Am I so weak that you wouldn't even bother to ambush me?
This thought infuriated her.

Dooku's indifferent expression and elegant demeanor made it seem as if he could kill her effortlessly.

“You want to kill me?” Tann hissed at him, unsheathing his lightsaber. “You should know that this won’t change anything. Whether you like it or not, your reign is over. I beg you to hand over the Confederation to me and retire to Sereno or wherever you want to go to live out your remaining years in peace. Your power may be over, but your life doesn’t have to be. But if you kill me, you won’t live either.”

Dooku ignited his lightsaber, instantly enveloping the suite in red light: "I'll give it a try, and you'll defend yourself, because I'll kill you with all my might... Thanks to you, Sidious's plan seems unavoidable."

He wore a cold smile, as if he was quite satisfied with the result.

From the moment he stepped into the office, he was determined to get what he wanted, no matter what.

But what can Dooku gain from this result?
Tann couldn't understand it.

“You’re just an old man who can’t accept that he’s outdated,” she roared, all fear and worry vanishing as the dark side surged through her blood, making her arms feel lighter.

She pointed her lightsaber at Dooku, the tip just an inch from his nose: "I command you to surrender and silently accept the fact that you will be recorded in history as a loser."

(End of this chapter)