Dooku Read online

  YODA:

  No pain, there is. No torment.

  DOOKU: (NARRATION)

  Tears cut through the grime and gore on my cheeks, such was the relief.

  DOOKU:

  (BREATHING MORE EASILY) Thank you.

  Gora scrabbles over to Jenza.

  GORA:

  Daughter. Are you hurt?

  JENZA:

  I…I don’t think so.

  DOOKU: (NARRATION)

  The count swept the child into his arms.

  BRAYLON:

  Careful. She may be injured.

  GORA:

  Stay back. This has nothing to do with you.

  YODA:

  (GENTLE, WARNING) Master Braylon.

  GORA:

  What were you doing here, Jenza? When they said you were in the hall…?

  JENZA:

  I was showing Dooku the family crest—

  DOOKU: (NARRATION)

  I heard Gora’s intake of breath, felt the sliver of ice that ran through his soul.

  GORA:

  (BLOOD RUNNING COLD) Showing who?

  DOOKU:

  (WEAK) Jenza…

  GORA:

  (POISONOUSLY) You!

  DOOKU: (NARRATION)

  The count whirled around at my voice, his dark thoughts clear for all to see, Jedi or otherwise. Yoda stepped into his path, smiling benignly.

  YODA:

  A long time it has been, Your Grace. Good to see you it is.

  GORA:

  Good to see me? My daughter was nearly killed!

  YODA:

  The Force protected her.

  GORA:

  The Force? You said you would never bring him back here. You said you would keep him away.

  DOOKU:

  (CONFUSED) What does he mean? Keep who away?

  SIFO-DYAS:

  Shhh. Don’t talk. They’re fetching a stretcher.

  GORA:

  I knew this was a mistake. This pantomime. Having you people here.

  YODA:

  Count Gora…

  GORA:

  No. You don’t get to talk to me. You don’t get to even look at me. Get off my planet. Get off it now.

  YODA:

  This was not your son’s fault.

  GORA:

  (SHOUTING) He’s not my son!

  JENZA:

  Father?

  DOOKU: (NARRATION)

  And then I knew. I knew why Jenza had seemed so familiar. Why I had felt so comfortable in her presence. We had never met, and yet she had called to me—blood to blood.

  Gora was my father.

  D-4 totters over to them.

  D-4: (COMING UP ON MIC)

  Your Grace? Oh, Your Grace! Is Lady Jenza all right?

  Gora stalks away from the Jedi, taking Jenza with him.

  GORA:

  Call the guard. Have them escort the Jedi from the system.

  JENZA:

  (CALLING BACK) Dooku!

  DOOKU:

  Jenza!

  YODA:

  Shhh, young Dooku. Quiet now.

  DOOKU:

  Master Yoda. Is that—?

  YODA:

  Your sister, she is. But now, care for your injuries we must.

  DOOKU:

  My sister…

  A hover-stretcher buzzes over.

  SINUBE:

  Sifo-Dyas. Arath. Help me lift him onto the stretcher. That’s it. Use the Force.

  DOOKU:

  (CRIES OUT AS HE IS LIFTED)

  SINUBE:

  Careful.

  BRAYLON:

  Yoda…

  YODA:

  Not now, Master Braylon. Return to Coruscant we must.

  BRAYLON:

  But Count Gora…

  YODA:

  Count Gora. Count Gora. Full of bluster, Count Gora is. Bluster and fear. Worry about Dooku we must. Great confusion I sense in him.

  DOOKU: (NARRATION)

  (WITH A BITTER LAUGH) Confusion? Could he blame me? I had met my family, seen their faces, felt the kinship of a sister I never even knew existed.

  And now they were gone.

  SCENE 13. INT. CASTLE SERENNO. GREAT HALL.

  VENTRESS: (NARRATION)

  Dooku falls silent, lost in his memories. He’s never looked so old. So…human.

  KY NAREC: (GHOST)

  Now is your chance, Ventress. You can strike him down.

  VENTRESS: (NARRATION)

  I ignore the voice. It’s not real. Instead, I focus on the hologram, imagining a mag-brace locked around the boy’s leg.

  VENTRESS:

  Your injuries…

  VENTRESS: (NARRATION)

  Dooku straightens, adjusting an already immaculate cuff. His jaw clenches beneath that neat white beard, his gaze once more like steel.

  DOOKU:

  They healed. The wonders of modern medicine. Yoda visited me in the infirmary. Apologized. Said he had been wrong to take me to Serenno.

  VENTRESS:

  But the damage was done…

  DOOKU:

  Before the festival, I never thought of my family. I knew they existed, somewhere out there, in the stars. But what did they matter to me? The only family I needed was within the Temple walls.

  But now, now everything had changed…

  SCENE 14. INT. JEDI TEMPLE. INITIATES’ TRAINING GALLERY.

  Dooku trains, sweeping his buzzing electroblade around in an arc. It is painful for him, his injuries still raw, but he doesn’t care.

  DOOKU:

  (WINCES IN PAIN)

  Sifo-Dyas enters.

  SIFO-DYAS:

  Dooku. There you are. You missed supper.

  DOOKU:

  I need to train.

  SIFO-DYAS:

  You need to relax.

  DOOKU:

  I’ve already missed too much.

  SIFO-DYAS:

  Stop pushing yourself. Give it time.

  DOOKU:

  (ANGRY) Why?

  Dooku sweeps his electroblade around once more, nearly striking Sifo-Dyas, who is forced to jump out of the way.

  SIFO-DYAS:

  Careful. You nearly hit me that time.

  DOOKU:

  (BREATHING HEAVILY) How did you come to the Temple, Si?

  SIFO-DYAS:

  The same as you. A Seeker found me. Master Maota.

  DOOKU:

  You’re lucky. I asked Master Yoda about how I was found. Do you know what he told me?

  SIFO-DYAS:

  No.

  DOOKU:

  The Council received a message from my father, telling them what I was, instructing them to take me away.

  SIFO-DYAS:

  What?

  DOOKU:

  Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise. The way he looked at me in the rubble…

  SIFO-DYAS:

  I know. Look. I’m sure it was just shock. He nearly lost his daughter.

  DOOKU:

  He nearly lost his son. A son he didn’t want. A son he hated.

  SIFO-DYAS:

  You don’t know that.

  DOOKU:

  Don’t I? Do you know what he did? Yoda said Gora left me outside his castle’s walls. With no clothes. No shelter. With nothing to identify me at all.

  SIFO-DYAS:

  Dooku.

  DOOKU:

  I did some research. There are spine-wolves in that
forest, Sifo. If I hadn’t had been found…

  SIFO-DYAS:

  You need to stop this, Dooku. None of that matters. Not anymore. You’re here, with me. You’re one of us.

  DOOKU:

  But I could have been so much more!

  An awkward silence, then…

  SIFO-DYAS:

  (FIRM) You don’t mean that.

  Another beat, then Dooku sighs, collapsing his electroblade into its hilt.

  DOOKU:

  No. No, I don’t. But I can’t help but think…

  SIFO-DYAS:

  You can’t help but think what might have been. (LAUGHS) You’re royalty, Doo. It’s in your blood. It’s probably why you’ve got an ego the size of Hudalla.

  DOOKU:

  (SNICKERS) I really thought I’d lifted that rubble.

  SIFO-DYAS:

  I know you did, you shaak-head.

  DOOKU:

  I could’ve, you know. If my leg hadn’t been so busted…

  SIFO-DYAS:

  (TEASING) Yeah, yeah. Come on. Let’s find you something to eat.

  Footsteps approach. It is a female Temple attendant.

  ATTENDANT:

  Excuse me. Initiate Dooku?

  DOOKU:

  Yes?

  ATTENDANT:

  A parcel has arrived for you.

  DOOKU:

  For me?

  ATTENDANT:

  Here.

  He takes it.

  DOOKU:

  Where did it come from?

  ATTENDANT:

  I don’t know. I was just asked to bring it to you.

  DOOKU:

  Thank you.

  ATTENDANT:

  You’re welcome.

  The attendant leaves.

  SIFO-DYAS:

  Well, what are you waiting for? Open it up.

  DOOKU:

  Okay, okay.

  He rips open the paper, throwing it down.

  DOOKU: (NARRATION)

  It was a wooden box, the seal of Serenno carved into the lid.

  Dooku opens it.

  DOOKU:

  A holocomm?

  SIFO-DYAS:

  There’s a message. Look, the light’s flashing.

  Dooku presses a button, a hologram activating.

  SIFO-DYAS:

  It’s her. Your sister.

  DOOKU:

  Jenza.

  Another beep as he presses play.

  JENZA: (HOLORECORDING)

  Dooku. I hope this gets to you. I’m sorry that I couldn’t say goodbye. Father was so angry…he told me to forget about you, forbade me from even mentioning your name. But I couldn’t forget you…not now…my brother…

  SCENE 15. INT. CASTLE SERENNO. GREAT HALL.

  DOOKU:

  My sister. (BEAT)

  VENTRESS: (NARRATION)

  Dooku raises a hand, using the Force to click off the hologram.

  It fizzes out.

  DOOKU:

  We communicated for years, sending messages back and forth across the stars.

  VENTRESS:

  Using holomessages. Was that allowed?

  DOOKU:

  No. But it didn’t stop us. I had no idea that she’d kept the recordings. Not until I…finally…came home.

  VENTRESS:

  Where is she now?

  DOOKU:

  Gone. Taken from me. I have many enemies, Ventress. The things they would do to her to learn my secrets…the torture they would inflict…

  VENTRESS:

  But not the Jedi. They do not torture.

  DOOKU:

  Are you sure?

  VENTRESS:

  It is not their way.

  VENTRESS: (NARRATION)

  That amuses him. A smile tugs at his mouth, but there is no warmth to it. This is the Dooku I have come to know. The mask is back on.

  DOOKU:

  Is that what he told you? Your Master, Ky Narec? About the Jedi who abandoned him on Rattatak?

  VENTRESS: (NARRATION)

  I feel a presence stir at the back of my consciousness…

  KY NAREC: (GHOST)

  Don’t listen to him, little one.

  VENTRESS: (NARRATION)

  Dooku continues, unaware of the voice in my head.

  DOOKU:

  The Jedi who could have rescued him anytime they wanted, but left him to rot instead.

  KY NAREC: (GHOST)

  That’s not how it was.

  DOOKU:

  They knew he’d taken a Padawan.

  VENTRESS:

  What?

  DOOKU:

  They could have come for you when he breathed his last. They could have saved you. But they didn’t. They left you to die on that Force-forsaken planet, rejecting you, just as they rejected him.

  KY NAREC: (GHOST)

  It’s all lies!

  VENTRESS:

  I…(TAKING A BREATH)

  VENTRESS: (NARRATION)

  I force myself to calm, blanking out Ky’s outrage at Dooku’s claims.

  VENTRESS:

  What do you want from me?

  DOOKU:

  I want you to find my sister.

  VENTRESS:

  She could be anywhere.

  DOOKU:

  No. She is still on Serenno. I can sense her.

  VENTRESS:

  Then why can’t you find her?

  VENTRESS: (NARRATION)

  Lightning crackles around Dooku’s fingers. I take an involuntary step back. Again, Dooku smiles, satisfied.

  DOOKU:

  That disk was recovered in Carannia, in the Trannon district.

  VENTRESS:

  Near the spaceport.

  DOOKU:

  (AMUSED) You’ve done your homework.

  KY NAREC: (GHOST)

  It’s always wise to have an escape route.

  Dooku throws more data disks down on the table in front of Ventress.

  DOOKU:

  Here are more recordings. You may study them.

  VENTRESS:

  To know you better.

  DOOKU:

  To know her. Do not fail me, Ventress. You know what will happen if you do.

  PART TWO

  SCENE 16. EXT. DOOKU’S AIRSHIP. THE WINDRUNNER. DECK.

  Ventress is standing on the deck of Dooku’s airship. The ship’s engines are almost silent, a slight whirring in the background, all but drowned out by the rushing wind.

  VENTRESS: (NARRATION)

  Dooku insists I take the Windrunner. It will give me an opportunity to study the holograms, he says, as well as view his kingdom the way he sees it. From above.

  I shiver, my breath fogging in the high altitude. Who has an airship? Like the castle, it’s impressive enough, its hull carved from burnished wood with portholes so clear you find yourself reaching out to check if there’s glass in the frames. But for all his finery, Dooku obviously cares little for luxury. The castle, the airship…it’s all a show, like his tailored capes and polished boots.

  No. Dooku likes the Windrunner because it’s silent. No boosters. No repulsors. You’d never even know it was coming until it sounded its guns.

  That is Dooku. The real Dooku.

  He doesn’t belong here. Not really. He’s a man playing king, but for what end? His Sith beliefs? He already has power. Already has riches. What else does he need?

  KY NAREC: (GHOST)

  What do any of us need?

  VENTRESS
:

  (SIGHS) Go away.

  KY NAREC: (GHOST)

  It’s quite a view, isn’t it? Look at all those birds. They’re beautiful.

  VENTRESS:

  You’re not really here. You’re not real.

  KY NAREC: (GHOST)

  Aren’t I? You know, that was the one thing I missed on Rattatak.

  VENTRESS:

  What?

  KY NAREC: (GHOST)

  The birds. I used to feed them in the training ground back on Coruscant. Song sparrows. Crown finches. You should have seen them flitting around the Great Tree, so many colors, darting this way and that.

  VENTRESS:

  Don’t worry. You fed them on Rattatak as well. Or at least your flesh did.

  KY NAREC: (GHOST)

  That’s not true. You had me cremated.

  VENTRESS:

  Oh. There, were you? Watched me do it?

  KY NAREC: (GHOST)

  You think I’d miss my own funeral? I was standing beside you. I saw you cry.

  VENTRESS:

  You were dead!

  KY NAREC: (GHOST)

  I saw everything.

  VENTRESS:

  That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? To judge me. To make me suffer.

  KY NAREC: (GHOST)

  No. I would never do such a thing.

  VENTRESS:

  Why not? It’s only what I deserve, isn’t that what you think?

  KY NAREC: (GHOST)

  Because you took revenge? Because you forsook everything I taught you?

  VENTRESS: (NARRATION)

  I don’t have to listen to this. I look around the deck, calling over to a chromium-plated astromech.

  VENTRESS:

  You. Droid. Where can I find a holocomm?

  The astromech whistles back.

  VENTRESS:

  The count’s private cabin. Do I have access?

  The astromech bloops.

  VENTRESS:

  How generous of him. Take me there.

  The astromech trundles off, Ventress following.

  SCENE 17. INT. THE WINDRUNNER. DOOKU’S CABIN.

  A door slides open, and the astromech leads Ventress into Dooku’s sanctum.

  VENTRESS: (NARRATION)

  The cabin is a surprise. I’d expected it to be sparse like the castle, but the dark-paneled walls are lined with glittering holos: jagged mountain ranges, rushing rivers, even a desert that almost looks as arid as Rattatak. I feel a pang in my chest. Who thought I could feel homesick for that dust bowl?

  The droid leads me to a slab of a desk, a twisting dragon etched into its polished sides. A holocomm lies beside a golden stylus, neatly arranged alongside gleaming datapads and bound files.