Count Dooku strode into the meeting room with a calm and confident grace. His cloak moved against his legs with every stride. His attire was a dark shade of gray, tinged with red and cost more than some galactic businesses made in a year. As most of his public outfits did. He was a man whose appearance and bearing screamed cultured and aristocratic with every movement.
He had a regal white beard that was trimmed exactingly and lent weight to his appearance as a cultured statesman. Despite his appearance as someone who was advancing in age, an experienced eye could tell he moved with an unnatural grace. His connection and skill with the Force allowed him to defy age with the physique of a young man.
He was flanked by two droids that followed him nearly everywhere and acted as his personal guard. Upon his own entrance to the room, the two highly customized droids stopped and moved to the side once they reached the door, stepping to the side as he surveyed the room with the merest glance. Inside the room were screens on all of the available walls. Each screen displayed a variety of information, and Dooku could tell from a quick glance most of it was fleet analysis, of both their own and the Republic's. In the center of the room was a holoprojection table. The table was circular and there were three people already in the room. The most prominent of which was General Grievous.
The cyborg construct did not even glance up upon Dooku's entry, as he stood hunched over the table, as he examined a specific readout intently. Even the most cursory examination made it easy to tell that the body was mostly mechanical and it's respiration could be heard softly in the background.
Almost nothing remained of Grievous' Kaleesh organic roots. The cyborg looked up as Dooku entered the room. "Count Dooku." He said by way of greeting. His voice came out deep, but also sounded like he was speaking through a tube.
"General." Dooku replied evenly. "Thank you for responding so quickly to my missive."
"The Invisible Hand was already enroute when I received the message." Grievous replied with a dismissive wave of his mechanical hand. It was a measure of how much Grievous respected Dooku that he responded with anything approaching politeness.
"You've reviewed the information I sent you?" Dooku inquired, though he was certain the general had, he returned the cyborg's courtesy by extending him the politeness of the question. "Of course." The general replied shortly as he returned his attention to the holographic readouts before him.
"What are your thoughts?" Dooku asked.
"Your estimates were correct. If your numbers accurately reflected the conglomeration of slavers that attempted to assault the wookiees, even the most generous estimate of our rather sketchy reports says they should not have been able to repel an assault of that strength without losing significant sentient capital."
"And your thoughts on our next assault proposal?" Dooku inquired, not bothered at all by the way Grievous had phrased the loss of life. Assault proposals had occasionally been a sticking point before. Dooku and his Master Darth Sidious had wanted an assault on a specific world, or a specific time. Grievous had told them, rather bluntly that it wouldn't work.
After their first defeat on an assault they had hoped would be successful that Grievous had warned them against, they had learned to heed his counsel wisely, even with the aid of the Force they couldn't predict the outcome of every skirmish.
They had also learned to make their objectives clear. There were times when they wanted assaults to falter for political reasons. Sometimes because the failure would be better in gaining them allies or resources, other times because it served their grander purposes.
However Grievous' ruthless approach and willingness to sacrifice nearly anything to achieve objectives, provided it didn't hinder long term goals, also had more than once made a campaign too successful. It was a delicate balance to keep the Senators of the Republic feeling threatened, without having them panicking.
Grievous tapped his metallic fingers on the side of the holoprojector as he formed his response. "It is ambitious and could be very beneficial. But it carries with it significant risk. Strategically and politically."
"My Master has already considered the political ramifications and deems them acceptable." Dooku replied dismissively. "A show of strength to our allies and a clear message to our enemies."
It was true. Dooku had considered the ramifications and believed he came up with the same answers that his Master had done. When they publicly subjugated the wookiees, it would be a significant step forward for both the visible Separatist goals, and their private goals as the Sith..
The wookiees had mostly remained neutral in the fight, especially due to the influence of their King. It was possible the attack would roust other races and worlds, ones that remained in support of the Republic, if not actively engaging in the war. If that happened and they decided to more strongly join the war effort it might start tipping the balance in areas. His Master had assured him that the opposite would happen. Worlds would look to their own borders, not wanting the same to happen to them. The Republic would send a token force and maybe some guerrilla forces to the planet that would conduct hit and runs that would be more irritating than problematic. But the benefits for their own plans would definitely be worth it. The natural resources on the lush planet would be beneficial, but they were far secondary to the labor force that would then become available to them.
"Militarily you want overwhelming force, not a protracted ground war. We can do that. It might however tip more of our hands as far as strength and composition of our forces." Grievous explained looking up as he tapped metallic fingers on the edge of the holographic display. Dooku simply tilted his head and waited for Grievous to expand.
"Based on the latest estimates the Republic has of our forces, they don't know of any of our hidden resources." Grievous declared, it's yellow eyes focused on Dooku. "We have taken great pains to keep our real numbers hidden.
Dooku smirked slightly, it had been one of Grievous' better ideas to keep all ship and robot building at max production and then hide those resources in out of the way systems within the shadows of moons and other areas.
It's what made robots so much more efficient than organics many times. They could wait there for a very long time without having to worry about being re-supplied. The ships could sit there, minimal power and navigation and simply waiting for an activation signal. As such they had far more muscle to flex than the Republic dreamed if they needed it.
Once more though the balance required was always the challenge.
When he saw that Dooku appeared unconcerned with this, Grievous pressed on. "The other issue is the terrain of Kashyyyk."
Grievous tapped a few keys on the holoprojector and it burst to life. On it showed the planet Kashyyyk hovering in the air before them, spinning slowly.
"Given the trees and the ecosystem," there was a pause as he coughed several times before continuing, "The ideal solution would be to mass our landing forces in one area." Grievous explained as another metallic tap of the keys from his cyborg hands caused the display to zoom in and focus on a small section of beach along the waterfront.
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