Legacy of the Jedi (звёздные войны) Read online

  "I was not prepared to lie, no," Dooku said. "I thought about it.

  Lorian was my friend."

  "No longer your friend, is he?" Yoda asked.

  This he could answer without getting mired in doubt and hesitation.

  The truth was clear. "He is no longer my friend."

  "Clear to us is this as well," Yoda said. "A training lightsaber is not meant to wound, yet wound Lorian you did."

  "I did not mean to," Dooku said. "I was angry and my control was not the best. My best friend had betrayed me."

  "Lost control you did," Yoda said. "And too old for excuses you are."

  Dooku nodded and looked down. He had expected this rebuke, but he had not expected it to sting so badly. He had never disappointed Yoda before.

  "Tension between you there was, controlled the anger should have been," Yoda went on. "Used the exercise for feelings you should have let go in other ways you did. Meditation. Discussion."

  "Physical exercise," Tor Difusal broke in. "A conference with a Jedi Master. You know the outlets available to you. Yet you chose not to use them."

  Dooku saw that he had been tricked. He had no doubt now that he and Lorian had been made team captains deliberately. The Jedi Council had wanted to pit them against each other to see how deep the tensions ran.

  "Tricked you were not," Yoda said, as if he'd read Dooku's thoughts.

  "Given an opportunity you were. Not alone are you, Dooku. To ask for help is no shame."

  "I know that." He had been told it enough times.

  "Know this you do, but practice it you must," Yoda said sharply.

  "Conquer your pride, you must. Your flaw, it is."

  "I will, Master Yoda." Dooku almost sighed aloud. Would he never get away from lessons?

  "Go you may," Yoda said.

  "Your decision?"

  "You will hear of it," Tor Difusal said.

  There was nothing to do but bow and leave. Dooku heard the door slip shut silently behind him. Only a few words had been spoken, but he felt as though he had emerged from a battle.

  The Jedi Council did not make them wait long. Dooku received a reprimand for excessive aggression during the exercise. Lorian was expelled from the Jedi Order, not for stealing the Sith Holocron, but for lying and implicating his friend.

  Dooku felt relief course through him. He hadn't felt in danger of being expelled, but the affair could have had worse complications.

  Thame Cerulian could have dropped him as an apprentice. That had been his worst fear.

  He took the turbolift up to the landing platform. It had always been one of his favorite places. He and Lorian had sneaked in here as younglings, hiding in a corner and naming all the starships. They'd imagined the day when they'd be the Jedi Knights striding through, hoisting themselves up into their cockpits and zooming off into the atmosphere.

  He strolled down the aisle as the mechanic droids buzzed over the ships, doing routine maintenance. Now the time that he would be leaving was approaching. Thame was returning in three days. He could be off on a mission within a week.

  He saw ahead that the exit door to the exterior platform was open.

  Someone must be leaving or arriving. He walked out. The clouds had gone and the night was crystal clear. The stars hung close and glittered so hard and bright it felt as though they could cut pieces in the sky.

  He wasn't alone. Lorian stood on the platform, looking out over Coruscant.

  "You've heard," he said.

  "I'm sorry," Dooku said.

  "Are you?" Lorian asked the question softly. "I hear no sorrow in your voice."

  "I am sorry," Dooku said, "but you have to admit that you got yourself into this mess."

  Lorian turned. His eyes glittered like the stars above, and Dooku realized there were tears in them. "A mess? Is that what you call it?

  How typical of you. Nothing touches you, Dooku. My life is over. I'm never going to be a Jedi! Can you imagine how that feels?"

  "Why do you keep asking me to feel what you feel?" Dooku burst out. "I can't do that. I'm not you!"

  "No, you're not me. But I know you better than anyone. I've seen more of what's inside you than anyone." Lorian took a step toward him.

  "I've seen your heart, and I know how empty it is. I've seen your anger, and I know how deep it is. I've seen your ambition, and I know how ruthless it is. And all of that will ultimately destroy you."

  "You don't know what you're talking about," Dooku said. "You wanted me to lie to protect you. Do you think you're better than me?"

  "No, that was never what it was about," Lorian said. "It was about friendship."

  "That's exactly what it was about! You've always been jealous of me!

  That's why you wanted to destroy me. Instead," Dooku said, "you've destroyed yourself."

  Lorian shook his head. He walked past Dooku, back toward the darkness of the hangar. "I know one thing," he said, his voice trailing behind him, but clear and even. "I will never be a Jedi, it's true. But neither will you. You will never, never be a great Jedi Master."

  Lorian and his words were swallowed up by the darkness. Dooku's cheeks burned despite the coolness of the air. Words crowded in his throat, threatening to break free. Then he decided he would let Lorian have the last word. Why not? He had the career. Lorian had nothing.

  Lorian had been wrong. Dooku's heart hadn't been empty. He had loved his friend.

  But he had changed. Lorian had betrayed him. He would never believe in friendship again. If his heart was now empty of love, so be it. The Jedi did not believe in attachments. He would fill his heart with nobility and passion and commitment. He would become a great Jedi Master.

  Dooku looked up at a sky that glittered with stars and hummed with planets. So much to see, so much to do. So many beings to fight and to fight for. And yet he would take away from his time at the Temple one lesson, the most important one of all: In the midst of a galaxy crowded with life-forms, he was alone.

  Dooku was blindfolded and playing with a seeker when he felt a presence enter the room. He knew it was Yoda. He could feel the way the Force gathered in the room. He continued to play with the seeker, swinging his lightsaber so the wind batted it gently, teasing it. He circled, listening and moving, knowing he could slice the seeker in two whenever he wanted.

  Yoda had not spoken to him since Lorian had left the Temple. Dooku passed the time waiting for Thame to return, performing classic Jedi training exercises, wanting to impress the Council with his commitment.

  "Of your ability, sure you are," Yoda said mildly. "Yet between sureness and pride, a small step it is."

  Dooku stopped for a moment. He had wanted to impress Yoda, not provoke a rebuke. The seeker buzzed around his head like an angry insect.

  "Fitting it is that blindfolded you are," Yoda continued. "Pride it is that blinds you. Your flaw, pride is. Great are your gifts, Dooku.

  Mindful of the talents you do not possess as well as the ones you do you must be."

  Dooku heard only the slightest whisper of the fabric of Yoda's robe as the Jedi Master retreated. The Force drained from the room.

  Dooku was not used to criticism. He was the gifted one. He was the one the teachers always pointed to as an example. He hated to be corrected. Coolly, he struck out with his lightsaber and severed the seeker in two.

  Thirteen Years Later

  Dooku and Qui-Gon Jinn

  Chapter 7

  Over the years, Dooku had thought of Yoda's words often. They were more a legacy than a lesson, for they were with him still.

  He thought of them, but he did not accept them. He had not yet encountered a situation where his pride was his downfall. He did not think of it as pride, anyway. It was assurance. Assurance of his abilities merely grew with each mission, as it should. Yoda had mistaken sureness for pride, which is exactly what he had warned Dooku not to do.

  And if it was pride for Dooku to think of himself as wiser than Yoda in this instance, Dooku wasn't concerned. Yod
a was not always right.

  Dooku was not as great a Jedi as Yoda — not yet. But he would be one day. If he could not believe that, what was he working for?

  Dooku had learned much from Thame Cerulian. Now he was a Master with an apprentice. Qui-Gon Jinn had been the most promising of the Padawans, and Dooku had maneuvered to get him the first time he saw him in lightsaber training, at ten years old. Dooku knew that a Master would be judged by the prowess of his Padawan, and he wanted the best of the best. When Yoda had given his approval of the match, Dooku had been satisfied. Another step had been taken toward his goal — to surpass Yoda as the greatest Jedi ever.

  Luxury did not impress Dooku, but he did appreciate elegance. Senator Blix Annon had a beautiful starship, gleaming outside and all luxury within. In addition, the Senator had spared no expense in defensive systems. The starship's armor was triple-plated, with energy and particle shields, and front and rear laser cannons. It was a little large for Dooku's taste, but it was impressive.

  He could tell that Qui-Gon was dazzled by the plush seating, the brushed durasteel facings on the instrument panels, and the silky, soft bedding in the quarters. Qui-Gon was only sixteen and what he'd seen of the galaxy so far had not shown him the luxurious side of life. Their missions lately had been on dreary planets or isolated outposts in the Outer Rim.

  Dooku had been glad when they had been summoned back to Coruscant, although under normal circumstances he would consider this mission beneath him. He was simply an escort, a mission any Jedi could do.

  Lately there had been a series of kidnappings of Senators while they traveled between their homeworlds and Coruscant. The Senators and sometimes their families were held for enormous ransoms, which were always paid. No one knew the identity of the space pirate, and efforts to catch him had been unsuccessful. Dooku wasn't surprised. Senate security did well with protecting the Senators within the Senate building, but when it came to a galaxy-wide search, they were hopeless.

  Blix Annon was an important Senator who had done many favors for the Jedi, and when he requested their presence, the Jedi Council had not only agreed, but had asked Dooku if he would take the assignment. A little weary of bad food and bleak surroundings, Dooku had considered a short flight on a luxurious cruiser not such a bad idea, with the additional benefit that it would give Qui-Gon an inside look at a Senator's entourage.

  Senators never traveled alone. Blix Annon felt the need to travel with a speechwriter, a secretary, a chef, a hairdresser for the elaborate style he wore, and an aide whose sole function seemed to be to hover at his elbow, waiting to approve of whatever he said. That aide turned out to be Eero Iridian, Dooku's old friend.

  When Dooku had arrived at the Senate landing pad, he had been as surprised to see his friend as Eero was to see him. They had done favors for each other over the years, but after Eero had lost the election for Senator of his homeworld for the second time, he had dropped out of public life. Dooku had lost track of him. Now he had turned up as an aide to one of the most important politicians in the Senate.

  Dooku sat and stretched out his long legs. It had been good to see Eero again, good to remember the boy he had been. They had talked about those years, about how mystifying the various rules of the Senate had been (admitting, with a laugh, that many were still mystifying). Then they'd talked about the dreams they'd had. Dooku had achieved his — he was a Jedi Knight, traveling throughout the galaxy.

  Despite his heritage, Eero had never achieved his dream of becoming a Senator. By the time his father retired, the old Senator had run through the family fortune. Eero had contacts but no wealth, and wealth was what won elections.

  Now Eero dropped into the seat next to him with a sigh. "I've just been talking with your apprentice. Well, he didn't talk much, but I did. He's a good listener, that young man. I probably said more than I'd meant to about my Senate experiences."

  Dooku nodded. He had noted this ability of Qui-Gon's. Beings told him things, and then were surprised that they had said so much. This could be good or bad, depending. Good if you were in the market for information. Bad if you were looking for peace and quiet on a journey and a scruffy space pilot was telling Qui-Gon his life story.

  "He will be a great Jedi Knight," Dooku said. He had no doubt of that.

  Qui-Gon was quick to learn and very strong in the living Force. Dooku never had to tell him anything twice. If he could get rid of Qui-Gon's rather irritating tendency to befriend every scoundrel and vagabond they came across, the boy would be a perfect Padawan.

  "I showed him the safe room," Eero said. "He was very impressed."

  "It impressed me, too," Dooku said. The safe room was an additional security measure. In the event they were boarded, the Senator could retreat there. The door was blast-proof — the only way to break it down would be to use enough explosives to destroy the ship itself.

  "I just hope we never have to use it," Eero said, his eyes scanning the expanse of space outside the window.

  "I'm sure you will not, but we're prepared for anything," Dooku said.

  Eero gave him a nervous look. "The ship is impregnable. That's what the security experts told us."

  "No ship is impregnable," Dooku corrected. "That's why the Jedi are aboard."

  He saw Qui-Gon hover in the doorway and waved him in.

  "Do you need me, Master?" Qui-Gon asked respectfully.

  Dooku gave his apprentice a small smile. "Yes. I need you to enjoy the trip. Mind the present moment, Padawan. We have a chance to rest and relax. We do not know when it will come again."

  Qui-Gon nodded and seated himself a short distance away. He did not stretch out as Dooku was doing, but he did look a bit more relaxed as he glanced out the window. Dooku always admired his apprentice's manner. Even at sixteen, Qui-Gon had a quiet grace. Qui-Gon also had a quality of reserve that Dooku should also have admired. Yet somehow he found it frustrating not to know what his own apprentice was thinking most of the time.

  "Allow me to make up a tray for us," Eero said, rising. "We have some excellent pastries. The Senator's chef — " Eero stopped abruptly as a sharp buzz came from the pilot's instruments. "What's that?"

  "Nothing to be alarmed about," Dooku said, glancing over. "The pilot has the warning system activated. A ship is within our airspace, that's all." Despite his words, he kept an eye on the instruments, noting that Qui-Gon was doing so as well.

  "A small cruiser," the pilot said aloud. "Everything seems normal… except…"

  "Except?" Dooku leaned forward.

  "There's no airspeed. The ship is dead in space." Alarmed, Eero looked at Dooku. "Is it a trick? It could be the pirate!"

  "Let's not jump to conclusions, old friend," Dooku said. "Ships break down all the time. See if you can raise them on the comm unit," he told the pilot.

  But before the pilot had a chance, a frightened voice came over the speaker. "Somebody help me, please!" a girl's voice cried. "Our ship has been attacked!"

  "Well now," Dooku said, his voice unruffled as he smoothly rose to stand behind the pilot. "It appears our relaxation time is over."

  Chapter 8

  The pilot looked over at Dooku. "Answer it," Dooku said, smoothly coming up behind him. "But don't identify yourself."

  "We acknowledge your transmission," the pilot said. "What is your situation?"

  In answer, sobs came over the air. "I… I didn't think anyone would hear me…."

  The pilot looked up at Dooku again. "This sounds genuine."

  Dooku nodded. It did sound genuine. But that didn't mean it was.

  The pilot's tone was gentler now. "Tell us what happened so we can help you."

  The intake of breath was so shaky they heard it clearly. "We were attacked — a space pirate. Our ship was under heavy fire. The pilot is dead. My father. " A sob shuddered, and then they could almost hear the child's effort to control herself. "They were taking him away. But he fought back, and they killed him."

  "Identify yourself, please," the pi
lot said.

  "I am Joli Ti Eddawan, daughter of Senator Galim Eddawan of Tyan." The voice quavered. "The ship is failing. The warning system lights are all blinking. What should I do?"

  "Who else is aboard?"

  "They are all dead." The voice was small.

  "That attack missed us by hours," Eero said. "Do you know the planet Tyan?" Dooku asked.

  Eero nodded. "It's a Mid-Rim planet, I think. Part of the Vvan system.