[[Im no master mind so hopefully it isnt to bad.]]
The meeting room smelled faintly of mint when Dooku stepped inside. The doors sealed behind him with a clean hiss, and the six people he had called rose from their seats. No one spoke at once.
A blue status light blinked on the edge of a waiting tablet. Jenza stood at the far side of the long black table with one hand resting near the chair to his right. Captain Varin Kesh had arrived, dressed a formal uniform. Admiral Tannis Sol looked tired but willing despite his old age. Minister Halvera Dane sat straight-backed with a trade ledger already open on her tablet. Magistrate Pell's narrow face gave away nothing. Steward Neral looked like he was ready for anything.
Dooku placed his own tablet on the table, and the glass surface gave off a soft tap. "Sit."
Chairs moved as everyone too k their seat. Dooku did not sit right away. He let his gaze pass over the room once. Jenza met his eyes first and held them. Varin looked at his chest level, respectful and cautious. Halvera had already started thinking; he could tell from the way her thumb hovered over the edge of her tablet without moving.
The room's climate unit pushed a thin stream of cool air over the back of his neck. Dooku took the seat at the head of the table and folded his hands. "Let this meeting begin, Captain."
Varin touched the side of his tablet, and a map of the capital rose above the center of the table in pale green lines. "No riots in the city. No strikes at the main port. Night patrols reported crowding in the lower terraces around the public holos, but it stayed peaceful. We had two fistfights outside wine houses after midnight. Both settled before patrols arrived."
Dooku looked at the map rather than the man. Several district markers pulsed amber. "And the noble quarter?"
Varin widened the map. "Most estates stayed lit late. Traffic was heavier than normal from the Malraux district to the inner roads. Three houses doubled their gate guards before dawn. House Vann posted six men on the roofline. House Pered sealed their east entrance and turned away two court messengers. House Talrin claims illness and has not answered any summons."
A faint bitter smell came off Halvera's untouched caf. Dooku turned to her. "Ports."
She brought up her own figures. Cargo streams, docking requests, morning departures. "Regular traffic held. Two merchant captains filed early requests asking whether customs codes have changed under the crown. Seven outbound freighters delayed departure until they receive written confirmation that existing contracts remain valid. No captain has broken docking law. Not yet. As of now, it seems people are more nervousthen anything else." She paused and slid one line of numbers wider. "There was a burst in private relay traffic between the noble quarter and Coruscant between second and third watch."
Magistrate Pell's stylus made a dry scratch as he turned it between his fingers. "Private relays are not illegal."
"They are when used to coordinate with outside offices against the crown," Jenza said. Pell did not look at her. "If we can prove that."
Dooku rested one finger beside the edge of his tablet. "Which houses was causing the most traffic?"
Halvera's mouth tightened, but only on one side. "The routing is layered. We can tie three bursts to relay towers leased through Malraux firms. Two others came through shell accounts connected to Vann and Pered holdings. Coruscant relay points received them. We do not yet have content."
Varin glanced at everyone. "Do you want the towers seized? Dooku let the question stand as he though about it. A thin line of sunlight had reached the table and caught in the nick on Varin's left gauntlet.
"No," Dooku said. "Not yet." Varin's shoulders did not drop, but some of the stiffness left his jaw. Halvera looked down at her tablet again. "If we seize the towers this morning," Dooku said, "we teach frightened men to hide, it would be better for them to remain in the open. Instead move to have them hacked. And gather evidence as needed so we can deal with them."
Admiral Sol shifted in his chair, leather creaking once under his shoulder. "Assuming they used fixed channels, it can be done. If they were clever, they sent short bursts, then moved to shipboard relays."
"Then you will have your men track those as well," Dooku replied.
Sol's old eyes sharpened a little. "I will have do." The admiral gave one slow nod. Steward Neral opened his tablet, and the pale light turned the skin under his eyes almost grey. "Palace staff reported for duty on time. Kitchens are working. Courier lines are working. Treasury vaults are sealed and intact. Three junior clerks failed to arrive for duty."
"It is time to have a very deep look into the staff. Weeding out spy's should be a top priority."
Neral answered at once. "I can organize a discreet seach."
"Then carry it out."
Halvera looked up from her trade display. "If we keep wages steady and taxes unchanged, merchants will read it as safety and will continue to bring business"
Jenza leaned back, and the gold ring at her wrist clicked once against the chair arm. "Three houses ignored the summons. More will wait to see whether those three suffer for it."
"There will be a second summons," Dooku said. Pell finally looked up. His eyes were pale and careful. "Thats it?"
Dooku turned toward him. "We can consider it a final chance for them." The magistrate's mouth almost twitched. A faint smell of hot circuitry came off the holotable as Varin dimmed the city map. Jenza sat down at last and folded one leg over the other. "The first summons asks for attendance. The second must ask for obedience."
"The second will require it," Dooku said. "Every landed house with court standing will appear within one standard day and speak its oath before witnesses. Those who do not appear lose court access, port priority, and the right to maintain private armed patrols beyond estate walls until their status is reviewed."
Varin turned his head a fraction. "This will cause the few that refuse to harber resentment."
Pell tapped the edge of his tablet once, lightly. "It is legal under restored crown authority. If they refuse then they will suffer the price."
Dooku looked at him for a moment. On Pell's tablet, a tiny crack ran through one corner of the glass. "Then let them remember carefully the price they must pay."
Halvera exhaled through her nose. "They trade federation are another thing we have to deal with, if we deny some of their prevous contracts they will freeze shipments on their own accord."
"Then you will speak to guild, i trust you will be able to work somwthing out with the trade federation," Dooku said. "You will tell there contracts remain intact. Existing contracts stand unless they involve foreign political oversight, foreign security advisers, or external tax control. Trade is open. Interference is not."
Halvera said nothing after that. Her thumb finally moved across her screen. Admiral Sol expanded an orbital display above the table, and the holo threw thin blue light across the scar on his chin. "If you want defense discussed, then let us stop dancing around it. Palace guards are not planetary defense. Customs cutters are not a fleet. Half our orbital crews answer to regency paymasters, and a quarter of those men answer to whoever pays them next. If a pirate group tests us, we might not be able to handle it as things stand. If a Republic office decides to 'inspect' our lanes with armed escort, I fear that we wont be able to do much currently."
Varin crossed his arms. "The capital will hold." Sol gave him a dry look. "Wonderful. We can surrender the rest of the planet while your men keep the drapes straight."
Varin's chair gave a sharp little squeak as he leaned forward. "My men held the capital all night while your pilots were sleeping in orbit."
"My pilots were flying, checking for any rouge ships leaving our air space."
"Enough," Dooku said.
The single word landed flat and hard. The room went still. On the holo, one patrol route kept blinking where Sol had left it running.
Dooku folded his hands again. "Captain, your duty is the palace, the court, the capital, and the roads that feed them. Admiral, your duty is orbit, customs lanes, and weeding out ships that pretend to be merchants when they are anything else. Neither of you will waste my morning by pretending the other work is less then."
Varin sat back first. Sol followed a beat later. Jenza looked down to hide the brief corner-smile that had escaped her.
Dooku turned to Sol. "Give me the numbers." Sol enlarged the orbital display and cut the city map away. "Three customs frigates ready for full deployment. Two more can be made flight-worthy within eight days if we pull parts from reserve hulls. Seven patrol corvettes. Four reliable. Three need crews we can trust. Starfighter wings are better on paper but many need to be repaired. We have pilots. We do not have enough pilots I would trust to refuse off-world orders if a senator whispered in the right ear."
Jenza's ring clicked again. "We need to bring back the loyalty in our fighting force for only our home planet, by opening programs outside of the Republic control."
The admiral let out one breath. "Yes. Some of our best crews were trained under Republic subsidy programs. That came with habits. It is not disloyalty in every case. It is training. Once that with time I feel I can change."
Pell lifted his tablet and made a note. "Then we issue a crown directive before midday. All military, customs, and communications officers are to route reporting through Serenno command only. Any external reporting without clearance is treason."
Varin picked that moment to slide a second map into view. Estate guards, armories, vehicle depots. "Private security is the larger risk on the ground. Many great houses keep more armed men than they declare. Under the regency, it was tolerated as long as no one embarrassed the court. If a house refuses the oath and closes its gates, we arrive to blaster fire."
One of the overhead strips flickered once and then steadied. Dooku watched the map. He knew those families and which were likely to give him trouble."How quickly can you move on a house if required?"
Varin answered without checking anything. "With palace guard only, one major estate within the city in less than twenty minutes. Two at once if the second is close. Outside the capital, response time widens fast. If I pull local watch units under crown authority, I can shorten it."
"Do so."
Halvera's eyes dipped back to her tablet, Dooku continued, "Governors will keep roads open, schools open, markets open, and courts open. They will increase watch at relay towers, fuel depots, and port customs halls. That is all. We are not choking our own city because a handful of nobles are deciding whether to sulk."
Jenza rested her hand on the table. "And the handful who decide not to sulk? The ones who decide to betray?"
Dooku looked at her sisterly impatience and let himself see the sense inside it. "We will deal with them swiftly."
"Good."
That got Varin's attention. Halvera's too.
Dooku turned to Halvera. "Every house that has not sent its oath by midday receives a customs review. Quietly. Port licenses, fuel allocations, off-world holdings, bonded shipments, security contracts. I want the full list of their dependence laid out cleanly."
She bowed her head once. "You will have it."
Sol zoomed the holo outward until Serenno itself hung above the table, pale and calm with the lightside rim just beginning to brighten. " Are we rebuilding a guard, or rebuilding an army?"
The question sat there. No one rushed to fill the silence after it. A faint buzz came from one of the wall displays where a message waited for acknowledgment. Dooku looked at the world turning slowly above the table. "We are rebuilding our armies."
He reached out, expanded the northern hemisphere, and marked three starports, two military reserve yards, and the old academy grounds with a swipe of his finger. "A frightened state arms itself badly. A serious state counts what it has, chooses who leads it, and trains men under one law. The regency tolerated scattered force because scattered force served to divide us. I have no for such a thing."
Varin's gaze shifted over the marked sites. "You want the academy reopened."
"I want the training halls inspected by nightfall. I want retired officers contacted by afternoon. I want every service oath in the last ten years reviewed for outside interference. We will not rebuild by hanging a new banner over old broken system."
Sol leaned back. His chair gave a low wooden knock against the floor behind him. "That will take time."
"Yes."
"Then for the time before that—"
"For the time before that," Dooku said, "you will establish layered patrols in orbit using crews you trust. Varin will place crown liaison officers at the main starports. No armed ship lands without clearance. No security contractor from off-world disembarks without direct court approval. If a senator wishes to send observers, they may remain in orbit and enjoy the view."
A short breath escaped Jenza, nearly a laugh and not quite. Pell did not smile, but the line at the side of his mouth changed.
Halvera slid a new set of figures into the air. The numbers floated pale amber. "If we suspend outside security contractors, Malraux and two other houses lose half the force they have been paying through layered transport agreements. That will make them unstable, and unpredictable."
Dooku glanced at the names. "Then they should have thought of that before tying their security to off-world."
Halvera accepted the answer with a small lift of her chin. The room had begun to warm, and the collar of Varin's uniform was darkening slightly where it touched his neck.
"A house that refuses the oath," Dooku said, "declares itself agaist the people of Serenno. It loses standing. Its voting seat is frozen. Its port rights are frozen. Its declared guards are disarmed under supervision. Its relay access is limited to civilian channels. Its head will be strippedof its title."
Jenza's gaze stayed on her brother. "And if they raise arms?" Dooku met her eyes. "Then they will have chosen a very poor way to prove they were never suited to help lead the people."
Sol set his forearm on the table. "There is one more danger."
"There is always one more."
"Other worlds." Sol tapped a point in near space, then another. "If a dozen unhappy worlds start to follow Serenno example, the Republic will stop treating us as an internal annoyance. We become a threat to the stability for them."
Halvera made a dissatisfied sound at the back of her throat. "The Republic is already a rotten mess."
Dooku studied the star routes hanging in the air. He had seen enough of the Republic to know how quickly outrage spread when it effected those who held power. "It is highly unlikes that anyone will choose to leave right after us. It is more likely they will watch and wait."
The Republic had spent years making one particular mistake, turning a blind eye to the suffering of its people. He knew the jedi had lost there way because of the Republic it self.
And that if they sith were back as he had known for all those years, they were hidden in the protection of the Republic.
The taste of oversteeped tea still lingered faintly at the back of his tongue from an hour earlier. Dooku turned to Neral. "Draft the summons. Pell will assist you if needed. Halvera, prepare the merchant notice. Varin, detach liaison officers to the three starports and noble relay stations. Sol, I want a full chain-of-command review by evening, beginning with crews trained under Republic reporting standards."
For the first time that morning, the admiral's mouth moved in something that might once have been a smile. "That I can do."
Another message flashed onto Neral's screen, this one marked urgent. The steward read it and looked up. "House Pered has requested permission to receive off-world legal advisers regarding 'contract continuity.'"
Halvera let out a short breath through her nose. "That was Fast."
Pell looked insulted on behalf of the law itself. "Denied." Dooku extended a hand. Neral passed the tablet over. "No. Not denied."
Pell frowned. "My lord?"
"We answer that Serenno's own legal office is available to review all contract concerns. Any foreign legal personnel may submit written questions through recognized channels. No external advisers land without approval."
Jenza understood first. "They asked for help. You answer by making them ask the court."
"Yes."
Halvera's eyes flicked over the request and back. "And if they refuse?"
"Then they have answered their own question." Varin touched two names on his map and marked Pered estate in red outline. "I will place watch near there estates."
Sol inclined his head. "My lord for the academy, under what banner will me reform it?" Dooku answered without pause. "Serenno Defense force."
Pell made a note. "Then legal authority for Defense force will need direct link to the restored crown."
"Link it directly."
Jenza sat straighter, one finger resting against the lower rim of her tablet. "What of our beloved princess?"
Varin's posture tightened. Halvera looked down for half a second, as if the trade numbers on her screen had suddenly become very interesting. Even Sol, who cared more for ships than court life, kept his mouth shut. The projector above the table gave off a faint hum that had been there all morning.
Dooku did not answer at once. He looked at the map still hanging over the table, at the marked estates, the ports, the old academy grounds. Then he reached out and closed the display with a flick of his fingers. The room dimmed by a shade when the hologram vanished.
"She will remain under my protection," he said. Jenza's gaze stayed on him. "That tells me very little."
"It tells you enough."
"No," she said evenly. "It does not."
A silence settled between them. Somewhere out in the hall, a protocol droid rolled past, its wheels making a faint ticking sound on the polished floor.
Jenza folded her hands on the table. "She is not an infant anymore. She is not some fragile thing recovering in bed while the adults decide who she will become. You know that. I know that. Everyone in this room knows that."
Dooku's eyes moved to her. "Choose your next words carefully."
Jenza did not flinch. She rarely did with him. "Then I will choose them plainly. If you keep her locked inside this palace too tightly, you will protect her body and stunt everything else."
Varin looked down. Pell did not move at all. Halvera took a sip of her caf at last, though it had probably gone cold.
Dooku's voice stayed calm. "And if I place her in an academy now, I do the work of my enemies for them. No."
"Then not an academy," Jenza said.
Dooku's eyes narrowed slightly. "You think I had not already discarded that option?"
She gave one small shrug. The silk at her shoulder moved with her. "I think you are in a mood to discard anything that sounds like risk, even if the greater risk comes later."
That made Sol glance between them before deciding very quickly that his tablet deserved all his attention. Dooku leaned back in his chair. The leather gave a soft creak. "She is already ahead of children her own age. An academy would slow her down in half her lessons and place her in danger for the rest."
"That part," Jenza said, "I agree with."
He studied her for a moment. "Then we are not arguing about the academy."
"No. We are arguing about isolation." Dooku looked down at his own tablet, dark now, his reflection faint in the glass. He could still picture Liora bent over a lesson screen, correcting routes a grown tutor had accepted as standard. He could picture the focus in her face when she listened, and the impatience when she was bored. She learned too quickly. Saw too much. And she watched adults the way other children watched games.
"She will continue her private studies," he said.
Jenza nodded once. "Of course."
Dooku's thumb rested against the edge of the tablet. "Her routes will be revised. Her attendants reduced and chosen more carefully. Any servant assigned to her directly will be reviewed by Varin's office before the week is out."
Varin straightened. "It will be done."
Jenza did not argue with any of that. She only waited. Dooku looked at her. "Say it."
Her mouth curved, not quite a smile. "She needs more than lessons, guards, and polished walls." Jenza went on. "She needs people. People she can speak. She needs some part of life that's normal for a kid her age."
Halvera looked up then, very briefly, before lowering her eyes again. Dooku's voice remained low. "You are describing a luxury few children of ruling houses ever receive."
"And yet some still manage," Jenza said. Pell set his stylus down with a quiet click. "If this is becoming a household matter, I can leave."
"No," Dooku said. The magistrate went still again. Dooku knew what they were all thinking. Jenza softened her voice a fraction. "Brother, she is clever. More clever than is convenient, frankly. You and I both know it. If you try to pen her in too tightly, she will not become safer. She will simply learn to sneak out."
A faint sound came from Sol, almost like he had hidden a laugh in his throat and then strangled it before it escaped. Dooku ignored him. He could not deny the truth of what she said. He had seen it already. Liora could smile like a child and listen like a adult. She asked questions in ways that sounded harmless until one realized she had pulled the answer she wanted three sentences earlier.
And there was Shmi Skywalker. Miss Skywalker had been good for her. Grounding. Gentle without being foolish. Liora listened to her in a different way than she listened to courtiers or tutors. Less guarded. Dooku had noticed it.
Jenza saw the moment his mind shifted. She always did. "Miss Skywalker has helped," she said quietly. Dooku's fingers stopped moving against the tablet. "Yes. She is also safer here than she would be almost anywhere else."
"I did not say otherwise." Dooku looked toward the sealed doors, toward the rest of the palace beyond them.
"She will not be sent away," he said.
Jenza gave a short nod. "Good."
"She will not be placed in the public academy."
"Also good."
"She will continue her lessons here. Advanced work where she is ready for it, broader work where she is lacking, and training under my eye."
Jenza waited.
Dooku's jaw shifted slightly. "And… her circle will be widened. Carefully."
That got Halvera's attention. Varin's too.
Jenza did not smile this time. The seriousness of the moment kept it from becoming a victory. "How carefully?"
"Miss Skywalker remains in her life," Dooku said. "RegulaBut she need more people then just one."
Jenza inclined her head. "Agreed."
Dooku continued, "In time, she may receive select companions. Children from houses that have proven their loyalty, or from staff families already bound to this estate."
Halvera gave a faint approving sound. "That is wise."She dipped her head and wisely said nothing else.
Jenza's fingers tapped the edge of her tablet once. "And outside the palace?"
"Limited."
"That is not an answer."
"It is the answer you are getting."
Jenza let out a breath through her nose. "Then let me improve it. She should be seen sometimes. A child no one sees becomes a problem."
Dooku's eyes held hers. She was right again. Irritatingly. A ruler's child kept too hidden drew fascination. Fascination invited pressure. Pressure invited schemes. Better, sometimes, to let people see enough to dull the worst hunger.
"She will appear when the court chooses," he said. "Not when curiosity demands it."
Jenza accepted that after a beat. "That is workable."
Varin finally spoke. "If appearances are planned in advance, I can control access and sight lines."
Dooku turned to him. "You will. Quietly."
"Yes, my lord."
The room settled again.
Dooku looked down at the dark surface of his tablet and saw, faintly, the shape of the crown on his own head reflected there. A king. A court. A world in the middle of being tightened into order. And in the middle of it all, a little girl who had become both family and fault line.
"She is not a bird in a cage," he said at last.
No one interrupted.
"She is my daughter. She will be taught as one. Guarded as one. And prepared for the world as it is, not as fools pretend it to be."
The words sat heavy and clean in the room.
Jenza's expression changed first. Not softer, exactly. Just steadier. "Then I'll begin making arrangements."
"For what?"
"For the kind of life you just described." She picked up her tablet. "A better tutor in statecraft. A revised social schedule. More time with Miss Skywalker. Less time with courtiers who enjoy hearing themselves speak."
That nearly pulled a smile out of Dooku.
Nearly.
"Do it," he said.
Jenza rose. The chair legs made a low scrape against the floor. "Gladly."
Dooku stood as well, and the rest of the room followed. The meeting was ending. Orders would leave this chamber and spread through the palace, the city, the ports, the relay towers, the old academy grounds.
But this order would go somewhere else.
To the nursery wing. To lesson rooms. To the quieter corners of the estate. To one little girl's daily life.
As the doors opened, Dooku stopped and looked once at Varin.
"She is to be protected without being smothered."
Varin bowed his head. "Understood."
Then Dooku looked at Jenza.
"And if she starts climbing the cage?"
Jenza's mouth finally curved into a real smile.
"Then at least," she said, "we'll know she is still herself."