by Cavan Scott
Dooku: Jedi Lost is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or ™ where indicated. All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
DEL REY and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
ISBN 9780593157664
International edition ISBN 9780593158593
Ebook ISBN 9780593157671
randomhousebooks.com
Book design by Elizabeth A. D. Eno, adapted for ebook
Cover art: Aaron McBride
Cover design: Scott Biel
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
The Del Rey Star Wars Timeline
Epigraph
Dramatis Personae
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Dedication
Acknowledgments
By Cavan Scott
About the Author
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
VENTRESS: Dooku’s assassin, recently recruited to his cause. Our narrator.
DOOKU: Sith Lord. Seen at various points in his life.
SIFO-DYAS: Male. Dooku’s oldest friend.
TERA SINUBE: Male. Cosian. Jedi lightsaber instructor.
YULA BRAYLON: Female. Jedi Master.
KY NAREC: Male. Ventress’s former Jedi Master.
LENE KOSTANA: Female. Altiri. Dooku’s mentor.
ARATH TARREX: Male. Dooku’s childhood rival.
COUNT GORA: Male. Dooku’s father.
ANYA: Female. Dooku’s mother.
RAMIL: Male. Dooku’s brother.
JENZA: Female. Dooku’s sister.
RAZ FELLIDRONE: Male. Portmaster.
PRIME MINISTER: Male. Bivall. Prime minister of Protobranch.
PIRA: Female. Bivall. Doctor.
GRETZ DROOM: Jedi Knight. Seen as a sixteen-year-old and then as a young Jedi and eventually Master.
PRIESTESS: Presager dark sider.
QUI-GON JINN: Jedi Padawan.
JOR AERITH: Female. Mirialan. Jedi Master with a sharp tongue.
RAEL AVERROSS: Male. Dooku’s first Padawan, seen as a Jedi Knight. Thick Ringo Vindan accent.
AIR-RACE COMMENTATOR: Fast-talking alien.
INSPECTOR SARTORI: Male. Coruscant Security officer.
CENEVAX: Female. Jenet. Crime lord. Skittish and ratlike, but deadly.
DROIDS
LEP-10019: Dooku’s LEP droid.
D-4: Female. Gora’s cantankerous protocol droid.
TACTICAL DROID
WAITRESS DROID
SECURITY DROIDS
BATTLE DROIDS
ENFORCER DROID
POLICE DROIDS
MED DROIDS
ATTENDANT DROID
QC-ME: CSF mortuary droid.
MINOR ROLES
CELEBRATION HOLOGRAM ANNOUNCER
BRY: Male. Hoopaloo. Birdlike alien thief.
JORKAT: Male. Karkarodon. Thug.
VELEK: Female. Askajian. Thug. Speaks alien language.
ZANG: Female. Jedi Initiate.
TEMPLE ATTENDANT: Female.
RESTELLY QUIST: Female. Elderly. Chief librarian at the Jedi Temple.
YEPA: Female. Portworker.
GRAN: Male. Thugs.
PENDAGO: Male. Thug. Speaks guttural alien language.
SENATOR TAVETTI: Male. Bivall senator.
RRALLA: Male. Wookiee child. Medcenter patient.
AID COMMANDER
TRADER
PROTESTOR #1
PROTESTOR #2
VARIOUS GHOSTLY VOICES FOR SINGLE LINES
PARS-VALO: Initiate.
AMBASSADOR KETAS: Male. Solodoe ambassador.
CHIEF TANU: Solodoe security chief.
DIVAD MASSPUR: Male. Holopresenter. Drunk.
CANDOVANT AMBASSADOR: Male. Speaks alien language.
DESK SERGEANT: Male. Human. Mid-forties.
TRANDOSHAN HEAVIES: Speaking both Trandoshan and Basic.
GUARD
GLUTE: Male. Cybernetic Crolute. Voice like Unkar Plutt but with a mechanical buzz beneath everything, as if his voice box is augmented.
SENATOR BULGESKI: Male. Sallichen senator.
CHANCELLOR KALPANA: Male. Elderly.
TRADE FEDERATION REPRESENTATIVE: Male. Human.
SENATOR PALPATINE / DARTH SIDIOUS: Does he really need an introduction?
SERGEANT ESON: Male. Serennian.
COUNTESS HAGI: Female. Serennian refugee.
ABYSSIN GUARD #1
ABYSSIN GUARD #2
ABYSSIN COMMANDER
ABYSSIN GENERAL
ABYSSIN MERC
HAL’STED: Male. Ventress’s slave master.
REPUBLIC AGENT #1
REPUBLIC AGENT #2
PART ONE
NARRATOR:
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away….
CUE THEME
SCENE 1. INT. CASTLE SERENNO. KEEP. NIGHT.
Atmosphere: Wind whistles past a balcony, high in Dooku’s castle.
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
I hate it here.
I hate the castle. I hate the cliff. I hate the spikebats whirling above the forest far below. I hate the moons grinning down at me.
I hate the fact that night after night I stand on this ledge, feeling the breeze against my skin, wondering what it would be like to jump, to drop down into the trees.
Would the Force guide me?
Would it help me find that perfect branch that would take my weight so I could spring to safety, leaves crunching beneath my feet as I ran, rodents scurrying for their nests.
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
How did you get here, little one?
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
Most of all, I hate that voice. The stupid, impossible voice. A voice of the past. A voice that doesn’t belong.
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
I said…
VENTRESS:
I know what you said, Ky.
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
And yet you choose to ignore me, my Padawan.
VENTRESS:
I’m not your anything!
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
I whirl around, expecting to see his face. Those crinkled eyes. That crooked smile.
But the room is empty, dust motes whirling in the moonlight.
He’s not here. And yet…
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
How did you become this?
VENTRESS:
A monster?
KY NAREC:
(DISTORTED) Do not twist my words, little one.
VENTRESS:
Don’t call me that.
KY NAREC:
(DISTORTED) What do you want me to call you?
/> VENTRESS:
You could try my name.
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
How did you become this, Asajj?
VENTRESS:
Actually, that’s worse.
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
I know I’m being contrary, but what does he expect? How did I come here? How did I become this woman? This creature?
He did this. He led me here.
He left me behind.
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
I never left you, Ventress. I never would.
VENTRESS:
Shut up! Get out of my head!
LEP-10019:
Mistress?
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
The damn droid makes me jump. The castle is full of them, with their whirring servos and lifeless eyes.
VENTRESS:
I wasn’t talking to you.
The droid looks around, its neck servos whirring.
LEP-10019:
There is no one else here.
VENTRESS:
No. No, there’s not. (SIGHS) What do you want, droid?
LEP-10019:
My designation is LEP-10019.
VENTRESS:
I don’t care.
LEP-10019:
Oh. Um. He needs you.
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
Ventress…please…
VENTRESS:
Lead the way.
SCENE 2. INT. CASTLE CORRIDOR.
The LEP-100197 droid clanks as it leads Ventress through the castle.
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
I think of the ways I could destroy the waddling robot as it leads me through the castle. The corridors are long and as sterile as its workforce. As a building it’s impressive, with its high vaulted ceilings and arched doors. We had nothing like it on Rattatak, nothing that wasn’t pockmarked by laser burns anyway. But where are the portraits of long-dead ancestors? Where are the statues? Where is the stuffed rancor head mounted over a roaring hearth?
The castle is pristine but empty, devoid of warmth.
Like its master.
LEP-10019:
This way please.
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
Dooku is in the great hall, standing on a raised dais. He stares through the circular window that dominates the far wall, his family’s sigil etched into the stained glass.
LEP-10019:
Wait here.
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
I fight the urge to separate the El-ee-pee’s stupid rabbit-eared head from its narrow shoulders. It totters off, leaving me in Dooku’s presence. The imposing man doesn’t turn. He doesn’t even acknowledge that I am here.
I wait, every muscle aching with the effort of appearing nonchalant.
As if I can fool him.
DOOKU:
Your feelings betray you.
VENTRESS:
I’m sorry. I—
DOOKU:
(STERN) Did I grant you permission to speak?
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
I grit my teeth, trying to calm the fury that twists in my belly like a nest of bloodvipers.
DOOKU:
No. Let your anger grow. Let it seethe.
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
Finally he turns, regarding me not with interest but with idle curiosity, the way a scientist examines a rodent to see if it has mastered a new trick, to see if it deserves a reward.
But there are no rewards here.
DOOKU:
Your burns are healing. Do they hurt?
VENTRESS:
No, Master.
DOOKU:
Liar. Try again.
VENTRESS:
Yes. They hurt very much.
DOOKU:
Good. Focus on the pain. Use it. It is the source of your power.
VENTRESS:
Yes, Master.
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
Master. The word sticks in my throat. I vowed I would never call anyone Master again. Not after Hal’Sted. And especially not after Narec.
And yet, here I am.
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
Here you are.
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
I clench my fists, nails biting into my palms. The voice has plagued me ever since I was brought here. A voice only I can hear. Unless this is another test? Has Dooku summoned a phantom to tormentme?
I square my shoulders, raising my chin. I must appear strong.
Dooku’s dark eyes narrow.
DOOKU:
You are troubled.
VENTRESS:
No, Master. It…It is nothing.
DOOKU:
I told you. Do not lie to me.
VENTRESS:
I wouldn’t. I…I couldn’t.
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
A smile tugs at the corners of his mouth. The rat has performed well. Squeak, squeak, squeak.
DOOKU:
You wish to kill me.
VENTRESS:
No. I—
Force lightning crackles out from Dooku’s fingers, striking Ventress.
VENTRESS:
(CRIES OUT)
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
Dark lightning bursts from Dooku’s fingers, coursing over me. In one agonizing, mind-shredding moment, he proves to me that nothing else matters. Not the droids. Not the castle. Not even Ky.
There is only his authority and his voice.
The lightning continues to flow throughout the scene as Dooku taunts her.
DOOKU:
Of course you want to kill me. You are a killer. That is what you do. That is why I chose you. Do you think I came to Rattatak by chance? That I somehow stumbled upon your pit?
VENTRESS:
(PAINED) No…
DOOKU:
The Force showed me. It showed me a Dathomiri sold to save her coven. A slave liberated from captivity. A Padawan forced to watch her Master bleed out in the dirt.
VENTRESS:
Please…
DOOKU:
Is that how they begged, your victims, as you took revenge, as you slaughtered every Rattataki who conspired to murder your Master? I wish I’d seen it, Ventress. I wish I’d seen their faces when they realized the storm they’d unleashed.
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
Somehow, despite the lightning, despite the pain, I relive each and every moment. Feeling the fury swell inside me, my lightsabers a blur, their screams like music.
I never knew how sweet revenge would taste, how the fear in their eyes sated the anger in my belly.
Ky would have told me that it wasn’t the Jedi way, but I didn’t care. I had taken the Jedi way and rammed it down their throats along with my fist.
Zol Kramer. Rynn’k-lee. They all fell, one after another.
Until I faced Kirske. Until I faced the scumsnake who had ordered Ky’s death.
I’d thought he’d be like the others. I thought he would pay. I thought he would suffer as I was suffering.
I was wrong. I was blindsided by my own vanity, so sure that I would emerge victorious. So convinced. I never expected Kirske to use himself as bait until it was too late, until I’d raced toward him, lightsabers blazing.
Until the trap had been sprung.
That’s why Dooku found me, not surrounded by the corpses of my enemies, but forced to spill blood for the entertainment of others, a gladiator in a filthy pit, stun collar tight around my neck.
Could he sense my regret? My rage?
For my part, I had no idea who he was, just the latest in a long line
of spectators enjoying the hospitality of Osika Kirske’s viewing gallery. I had no idea he’d told Kirske he was looking for an assassin, or that he’d already made his choice.
I don’t know who was more surprised when Dooku took Kirske’s head, me or the Vollick himself. One minute Dooku was sipping wine from a crystal glass, and the next his crimson lightsaber was slicing through Kirske’s neck.
The Vollick’s head bounced down into the arena, a shocked expression on his face as it bounced once and then twice before coming to rest at my feet.
I couldn’t celebrate. I couldn’t revel in Kirske’s death. I should’ve been the one to deal the killing blow, to snuff out his life, and yet this…this stranger with fine clothes and an imperious gaze had stolen my revenge.
I leapt from the arena floor, the Force propelling me up to the gallery, my lightsabers already burning. Dooku was waiting for me. Two blades against one. There was no way the old man should’ve been able to defend himself, and yet he did. He blocked every attack, parried every blow, giving no ground, taking no damage.
He didn’t even spill his wine.
And then it came. His lightning. It felt like every atom in my body was being torn apart, every memory I had shredding beneath the onslaught. Mother Talzin. Hal’Sted. Ky. They were all gone, consumed in the pain of Dooku’s dark magic.
I don’t remember my lightsabers slipping from my hands. I don’t even remember blacking out.
The next thing I knew, I was being grabbed by mechanical hands, dragged through unfamiliar corridors. My stun collar was gone, the air cool against my charred skin. I remember hearing birds as I was hauled past open windows. That’s when I knew I was no longer on Rattatak. The only birds on Rattatak are the strike-vultures that strip bones clean on the dust plains.
He was waiting for me in the great hall, in the exact same place as he stands now, looking down at me with eyes as black as a starless sky.
“I will teach you the ways of the dark side, but first, you must prove yourself.”
(A BEAT AS WE RETURN TO THE HERE AND NOW)
It takes me a moment to register that the lightning has stopped. Hands take my scorched arms. For a moment, I imagine it’s Ky, helping me back to my feet, but then my vision clears and I’m looking into the face of my savior and tormentor.
I force myself to stand, telling myself I need to appear strong no matter what lessons Dooku inflicts.