Ten days before the fall of Saleucami Planet, when the massive fleet led by Darth Vader charged directly toward Saleucami Planet's defensive line, Count Dooku immediately opened a channel to Tang Xiao.
Count Dooku looked far older in the hologram. The wrinkles on his once-vigorous face now seemed as deep as ravines, and his formerly imposing bearing was nowhere to be seen.
If two and a half years of war between Tang Xiao and the Galactic Republic had already left him exhausted enough to seek peace with Palpatine, then Count Dooku, who had fought the Galactic Republic and the Galactic Empire for a full seven years, was now practically burning away his life.
"Saleucami Planet can no longer withstand this round of attacks from the Galactic Empire. We have failed." Count Dooku's voice was somewhat hoarse.
Tang Xiao merely looked at him in silence and gave a slight nod.
"What else can you do? Can you delay the coming of our defeat?" Count Dooku was practically pleading now. As the head of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a once highly respected master of the Jedi Order, and the leader who had founded the Confederacy of Independent Systems with his own hands, Tang Xiao had never seen him speak in such a tone.
But there was nothing he could do. Tang Xiao remained silent and shook his head.
"Darth Sidious! He had planned everything long ago! The Confederacy of Independent Systems and I were merely the fuse he used to ignite the contradictions within and without... Once the bomb that was the Galactic Republic exploded, I had become useless." Count Dooku spoke slowly. "Even though I fought him for seven years, I only delayed the arrival of this outcome..."
"No!" He shook his head again, rejecting his own conclusion. "I did