Star Wars_ The Dark Lord Trilogy - James Luceno [22]
Thirteen years earlier, when Obi-Wan had fought and killed a Sith on Naboo, had he killed a Master or an apprentice? The question was rooted in the belief that the Sith, having essentially defeated themselves a millennium earlier, had learned that an army of Sith could never stand, and that there should be only two at any given time, lest a pair of apprentices conspire to combine their strengths to eliminate a Master.
More a doctrine than a rule; but a doctrine that had managed to keep the Sith order alive, if well concealed, for going on a thousand years.
But the horned and tattooed Sith whom Obi-Wan killed could not have trained Dooku, because Dooku had still been a member of the Jedi Order then. As clouded as the dark side made some things, there was simply no way Dooku could have been living a double life within the walls of the Temple itself.
“Master Yoda,” Obi-Wan said, “is it possible that Dooku wasn’t lying about the Senate being under the control of Sidious?”
Yoda gave his head a quick shake while they walked. “Looked hard at the Senate, we did. And risked much we did by doing so—questioning in secret those we serve. But no evidence we found.” He glanced up at Obi-Wan. “If in control of the Senate Sidious was, would not defeated the Republic already be? Would not to the Confederacy the Core and Inner Rim belong?”
Yoda paused for a moment, then added: “Perhaps at Geonosis, an accident it was that Dooku revealed himself. Had he not, searched we would have for Sidious, leaving Dooku to escalate his war. What think you, Obi-Wan? Hmmm?”
Obi-Wan folded his arms. “I’ve thought long and hard about that day, Master, and I believe Dooku couldn’t help revealing himself—even though he may have regretted it. When he was fleeing for his ship, it was almost as if he allowed himself to be seen; almost as if he was attempting to draw us into an engagement. My first thought was that he was trying to ensure the safe escape of Gunray and the other Separatist leaders. But my instincts tell me that he wanted desperately to demonstrate how powerful he had become. I think he was genuinely surprised to see you turn up. But instead of killing Anakin or me, he deliberately left us alive, to send a message to the Jedi.”
“Right you are, Obi-Wan. Pride undid him. Forced him, it did, to show us his true face.”
“Could he have been trained by this … Sidious?”
“Stands to reason, it does. Accepted by Sidious he was, following the death of the one you killed.”
Obi-Wan considered it. “I’ve heard rumors about Dooku’s early fascination with the dark side. Was there not an incident in the Temple involving a stolen Sith Holocron?”
Yoda squeezed his eyes shut and nodded. “True that rumor is. But understand, Obi-Wan, a Jedi Dooku was. For many, many years. Difficult the decision is to leave the Order. Influenced he was by many things. The death of your former Master, for one—even though avenged Qui-Gon was.”
He glanced at Obi-Wan. “Complicated this is. Not merely by what we know, but by what we do not know; what we have to assume.”
Yoda stopped, then gestured to a carved bench.
“Sit for a while, we will. Enlighten you, I can.”
Obi-Wan sat, his heart wanting to race.
“A stern Master Dooku was, to Qui-Gon and others,” Yoda began. “Powerful he was; skilled, disdainful. More important, convinced that lowering the shroud of the dark side was. Signs there were, all about us, long before to the Temple you came; long before Qui-Gon came. Gross injustices, favoritism, corruption … More and more, called the Jedi were to enforce the peace. More and more deaths there were. Out of control events were becoming.”
“Did the Council sense that the Sith had returned?”
“Never absent they were, Obi-Wan. But stronger suddenly. Closer to the surface. Spoke much of the prophecy, Dooku did.”
“The prophecy of the Chosen One?”
“The larger prophecy: that unfold the dark times would. Born into their midst the Chosen One