"Palpatine is going to be doing his best to discredit you, and by extension our alliance, if he isn't doing so already. That's not even mentioning the risk of your secret getting out.
We need to get ahead of the scandal, and have our version of events circulating among Galaxy's political elite. Besides, what better way to discredit the Supreme Chancellor than with something somewhat close to the truth?"
...
Dooku regarded her, and Tan'ya felt his gaze on the back of her neck, but chose to ignore it. After what he'd done, it would be ridiculous for him to try and argue with her proposed strategy. The man had just about done his best to work Serenno into an unwinnable corner through nothing but stubborn pride! Only now, after an assassin had almost killed his family, was he finally able to admit to his role in an insane conspiracy that was doomed to fail, and take everyone associated down with it!
The convoluted layers of this self proclaimed Sith Lord's plan were so absurd as to make Tan'ya howl with laughter, if not for the fact that when, not if, when it was found out by the Jedi, she would find herself caught in the fallout.
A single Sith Lord, maybe with a few assassins to call on, seriously thought he would be able to overcome the ten thousand strong force of the Jedi that were a literal city block away from him? It was only down to the intervention of Being X that this Lord Sidious had gone undetected for so long, and thank goodness for that, because it gave Tan'ya a chance to drag her father out of the scandal!
Once the lesser orders began to investigate, they would draw the attention and scrutiny of the Coruscant Temple towards Palpatine. Once the Jedi Council realised who he was, the Dark Lord of the Sith was a dead man. However powerful he might be, he stood no chance against the ten thousand strong horde of Jedi zealots that would soon kick his door down.
"It won't work." Dooku rumbled.
Tan'ya blinked, turning to look at him. "Once the Jedi Council sees the truth, they will take action."
"They will never see the truth." Dooku replied.
"What makes you so sure?"
"Yoda was the most stubborn fool I had ever known, until one day he was finally surpassed in that regard by a padawan named Mace Windu."
It wasn't that Tan'ya doubted the sincerity of his words, but she suspected the two of them would say the same thing about her father.
Either way, the presence or absence of a Sith Lord was irrelevant. Nothing would ultimately change the course of the Republic, or avert Being X's obvious plans. Serenno and the rest of the Outer Rim were growing in power, and with demand from the increasingly decadent Core far outstripping supply, some form of civil unrest was inevitable. As Coreworld markets destabilized, the Senate would find the distant upstarts the perfect scapegoat of public's ire, and war would break out.
In simple terms, the Outer Rim Alliance and the New Temple stood no chance. Though most of the Outer Rim possessed much more martial cultures then the Core, and many had experienced combat more recently, effective military tactics could and would be learned by any society exposed to conflict for long enough. The Core enjoyed a major economic advantage, as well as being vastly more industrialised, with a much larger population. It might take a while to find its stride, but a fully mobilised Republic was an unstoppable juggernaut that had crushed half a dozen Sith Empires, as many Mandalorian Crusades, the Kingdom of Xim, and countless other Galactic upstarts besides.
The thought of it left her stomach roiling with anxiety.
But that was the most insidious part of Being X's plan, wasn't it? She could walk out the door in a heartbeat with a fortune all her own just from accessing public funds. Of course she would never be a trillionaire, or even a billionaire, but she could certainly live in comfort far away from the concerns of a burning Galaxy. But he had placed her somewhere she would inherit countless responsibilities, to see such potential for her world and its people, all just to force her into a corner. If the goal was to retire into comfort, there was absolutely nothing preventing Tan'ya from doing that at this exact moment.
The only problem was she didn't want to. Serenno had such potential, its people hardworking and with a long history and rich traditions. They weren't thieves or robbers, bandits or slavers, just ordinary folk who had been subjugated under the heels of first the Sith, then later the Senate for almost their entire history. Tan'ya could feel something here, a shape waiting just below the surface whose face she had only just begun to reveal.
She didn't want to leave Serenno, she wanted to build a legacy here.
"Alright." Tan'ya breathed out. "Now we need to prepare a briefing for the other Force Orders. First we-"
"Daughter, stop." Dooku interrupted her. "I can manage them myself, I'm perfectly experienced in matters of diplomacy. I have another task for you."
Tan'ya paused, trying to think of what he could be referring to, but coming up short. "What are you thinking of?"
"If the Sith are going to target my friends and family, then I will need to be sure they are protected. From now on, Athemeene, Kenth, Madalee and Ideon will all travel with me whenever they're not at the New Temple, but your work is far too important to disrupt. You need to learn to defend yourself, and you need a guardian who can teach you. One that I approve of, one that we can trust. Asajj is the only option. You will become her Padawan."
Tan'ya frowned, annoyed, though she understood his reasoning. The recent attack had highlighted the vulnerability of the entire family, and if the Sith were going to continue targeting them, she would need to be able to defend herself. Still, she resented the idea of continuing deeper into the Jedi cult. Was there no way she could study the Force in a secular capacity?
She filed that idea away for the future. A secular school for the Force.
"I see you don't like the idea. You would rather continue with your other projects…" Dooku smiled, then the expression on his face froze, and a look of worry replaced it.. "But daughter, I know you used the Dark Side here."
"Of course I did!" Tan'ya defended herself. "It was that or death!"
"I agree. I'm glad that you did, because you're still alive. However, the Dark Side is not without its risks. Imagine a black hole. You can observe it from a distance safely, and you can even come close enough to feel its tug, but eventually a threshold is crossed, and escape is impossible. It's good that in this case, the Dark Side was able to save you, but if you do not master the Force, and do not learn to fight without relying on it as a crutch, it will consume you."
"But haven't you used the Dark Side?" Tan'ya asked.
"Yes… and look where that's brought us."
Tan'ya supposed she could see his point. "Very well. I'll call Asajj right away."
"And I'll prepare a diplomatic package for every Force Order."
"Including Coruscant?"
Dooku gave her a long-suffering expression.
"Father, you need to send this to Coruscant as well."
"They won't believe any of it."
"Maybe not." Tan'ya agreed. "But we can't have them thinking we're trying to build a coalition against them."
"That's exactly what we're trying to do."
"Which is exactly why we can't have them thinking that."
"...Very well." Dooku at last ground out. "I'll send… Ky, I suppose. Perhaps he'll have the patience to talk to those fools, because the Force knows I do not."
...
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