Count Dooku was suffering from an unprecedented headache, not physical, but mental.

He sat alone in a small office, with two B1 battle robots standing on either side of him.

The ruler of Serenno stared down at the data slate in his hand. The information on it was nothing but terrible bad news.

Several planets are still reeling from Ultron's attacks.

Several foundries were either destroyed or taken over by Ultron.

Jabimu was also out of control.

The planet's forces were either taken over by Ultron or completely destroyed.

What a mess.

Being the head of state of the CIS, secret Dark Lord of the Sith and planning a war on both sides was taxing enough.

Now there is this new player, making his official debut in the galaxy.

What a fantastic debut it was.

Ever since Ultron officially debuted on Coruscant, he has been fighting for control of everything and unable to keep all parties calm.

easy to say, hard to do.

His own master reported that the Senate was in a turmoil over the unrest on Coruscant, and that it had only gotten worse since the loss of Jabimu.

The elderly Force user rubbed his hands over his eyes and sighed softly when he heard the office door open.

"Count Dooku."

The secret Sith Lord looked up at a young woman who walked in.

"The parliament is ready," she told the Count. "They are ready."

Dooku nodded and stood up from his seat. "Thank you, Sarah."

Sarah simply nodded and walked out of the office towards the council's meeting chamber.

A moment later, he entered the noisy environment, arguing, and shouting, as every member of the CIS Senate was engaged in a heated debate.

Virtually every facet of the Confederacy was present at the meeting, which was not surprising when one thought of the circumstances in which they found themselves.

There was chaos in the galaxy, and Dooku had a hunch that things were only going to get worse from here on out.

"Quiet, all of you." Dooku's voice echoed throughout the conference hall, attracting everyone's attention. He walked up to the main podium and stood on it, overlooking everyone.

"I now declare this Senate meeting officially open." Dooku announced loudly. "I think all of you understand the importance of this gathering, right?"

All present were whispering and nodding, and the Count was staring at each of them.

"Let us begin, then." Dooku said. "What do you say about this?"

"We would like you to speak first, Count Dooku," said Representative Mina Bontry, and many others agreed with her statement.

Dooku simply nodded. "As you are all very well aware, over the past few days a new enemy has become known throughout the galaxy. A day ago, I received confirmation that Ultron had indeed driven both Republic and Confederacy forces from the planet Jabiym, and from further reports, the same is true for the Jabiym system as well."

Some tension and anger immediately followed this statement.

"I see."

"What happened there?"

"The whole galaxy? Oh my god, this is a nightmare.

"Where are our troops?"

"Enough," Dooku said loudly, silencing the room once again. "It will do us no good if we just argue with each other. It is time for us to take decisive action before we suffer greater losses and hardship."

"What should we do, Count Dooku?" A male spoke first. "This Ultron has struck fear into many of our organizations. Many of our battle droids have been either controlled or destroyed.

"Can we still trust our battle robots?" a blue-skinned male humanoid argued. "It's clear that this Ultron can easily control them."

"Why shouldn't he?" Vor Atel scolded. "From what I understand, we still have millions of battle droids still performing their duties.

“Who can guarantee they will stay the same?” Mina pointed out. “We are walking a tightrope between order and chaos, leaning heavily towards the latter.”

"So what do you want us to do?" an amphibian-like senator shouted. "We shut down our entire standing army of robots? That would leave us completely defenseless.

"I have introduced a bill to deal with this matter. Dooku said, making everyone look at him.

"We will still use our droid army, as that is the bulk of our main force," the Sith Lord said. "However, we will also begin to establish a volunteer service to allow for military service or even conscription if necessary."

There were murmurs of concern about the matter, but only a few people expressed concern about it.

"Aren't there enough deaths now?" Mina Bontry said.

"This is a war, Bontry," Waugh reminded her sarcastically. "Sacrifices are inevitable."

“But that doesn’t mean we need to fight a war on two fronts,” Mina fired back, placing her hands on the podium. “I know many of us want a complete separation from the Republic, but that doesn’t mean we can only view them with total disdain. If we have the opportunity to have a ceasefire, we can clear the air, and it can allow us to achieve a lasting peace between both of us.”

"That's nothing but wishful thinking," Wo said contemptuously.

"It's not impossible." Dooku expressed his opinion, leaving the green-skinned senator stunned.

"Count Dooku," Voi shouted in shock. "Are you really going to consider Bontry's proposal? We can't trust the Republic! Aren't we at war with them?"

"Why is that possibility absurd?" Bontry shot back. "The Republic has been our enemy since we sought to break away and become independent. But now, with the growing threat of Ultron, we may have to ally with the Republic once again.

“Not in this lifetime!

Shouting between parties at the rally began with insults and suggestions from everyone present.

"This gathering will be orderly!" Dooku said loudly. "No amount of bickering will get us anywhere. I understand the nature of the issues we are dealing with, but attacking each other and bickering will only lead to further division and lack of progress. We must remember why we were called here.

As this goes on, other star systems are still struggling from Ultron's galaxy-wide assault.

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