Hello, hello! Welcome to my fourth-ever fanfic, Invasion. For those of you who know me, I'm the author of the ever-successful Pwning and Gaming and the two growing fics entitled The Portal of Destiny and The Force of Mischief. I know, I know, I'm taking on a lot of fanfics at once. Juggling three is no easy task to take on, but you know what? That's fine with me. I love writing, I love Star Wars, and I love Loki, so this'll be fun! Since it is summer AND I got a new laptop, I've got all this time to update (until I go on summer-type vacations) so just sit back, relax, read, and REVIEW! I welcome reviews. Disclaimer at the bottom. So, without further ado, I give you the prologue!

Count Dooku stood before his Master, head bowed. General Grievous had failed him once again, and he had to pay the price for it. The Jedi were gaining the upper hand in the war, and Darth Sideous was not happy about it.

"Count Dooku," Sideous said in that sinister voice of his, "have you anything to say?"

"No, Master," Dooku said.

"Very well, then. You may go."

Dooku did not comprehend this. He raised his bowed head and stared up at his Master's hooded face. "What?"

"You know what you have done," Sideous said. "You know of your failure. I have no need to waste my breath on you. You may go. Do not fail me again." Dooku knew that failure was one of the most dangerous things one could do when working with Sith. He bowed his head and got up to leave. Before he could, though, Sideous stopped him. "I sense something is coming," he said. "A glorious battle. You are involved."

Dooku frowned. "Master, are not all of the battles glorious?" he asked. "There are a great many battles in this war. With all due respect, how is this one that you sense any different?"

"Be prepared for this one," Sideous insisted. "It will be different than anything you have ever seen. The Force has revealed to me the future, though parts of it are clouded by uncertainty and changing decisions. All I can say for sure is that you must make the right decisions when the time comes, Tyranus. I will not be there when this event occurs. You will be tested to the very limit."

"I will be ready, my Master," Dooku said, bowing. "Is that all you wish to reveal to me?"

Sideous nodded. "That is all. The rest will be shown to you when the time is right. Leave me now. You have much to do." When Dooku bowed again and departed, the Sith Lord murmured, "It will be coming sooner than you realize."

Dooku did not hear his Master's murmurings as he left for his ship. He pulled out a device to communicate with Grievous. "General," he said.

The General appeared in hologram form. "Yes, Count Dooku," he said in his rough voice.

"Prepare the armies. My Master has revealed to me that a glorious battle is upon us. He will not say where, but I know that the Force will lead us to the right place at the right time. Until we receive more intel, keep all droid forces at the ready."

"It will be done. Grievous out." The General disappeared.

Dooku made a face. "Repulsive," he muttered. "I wonder if putting that thing in charge of the droid army was a wise idea." He turned and boarded his ship, intending to meditate. Perhaps the Force will show him what his Master was talking about. Being in the dark unknown about such things was irksome to him. "Take me to these coordinates," he ordered the pilot. "If you need me, and hopefully you will not, I will be in that room. Do not bother me unless it is an emergency."

"Yes, sir," the pilot said, starting up the ship.

Dooku sat silently, his eyes closed. He focused on becoming one with the Force, not at all afraid to embrace the darker side. It was silly to fear the Dark Side, really. Becoming a Sith Lord had opened his eyes to greater things that the Jedi had kept him from simply because they were paranoid. They claimed that fear led to the Dark Side, but they feared the Dark Side itself. Did that even make any sense? Dooku shook his head. Nothing about the Jedi made sense to him anymore. It was no wonder he had left them behind. His only regret was leaving Obi-Wan. He had been like a grandson to him. If only the young man could see what Dooku had seen. The corruption within the Republic and the Jedi Order.

As he reflected on these things, he was suddenly interrupted by the pilot. "Sir?"

Dooku opened his eyes, irritated. "I told you not to bother me unless it is an emergency. Can't you see that I am meditating here?"

"But sir…this is an emergency! We're under attack!"

Dooku sprang to his feet. "How did the Republic find us?" he demanded. "Take evasive action! We are not in a position to fight!"

"Yes, sir!" The pilot rushed back to his seat and worked on evading the relentless attacks by the Republic ships. "There is a Star Destroyer up ahead!" he warned. "What are you orders?"

"We need to find a safe place to make the jump to light speed," Dooku responded. "Reset the coordinates."

"Right away, sir." While the pilot worked on that, Dooku stood motionlessly. "Making the jump now," the pilot said.

Dooku let out a breath of relief as the familiar sensation of light speed began. They were safe. "I suppose that was emergency enough," he grumbled moodily. "If you'll excuse me, I will return to my meditation."

"Of course, sir. Where would you like to go?"

Dooku had not considered this. "Seeing as our original plan was interrupted by our good friends from the Republic, I suppose we ought to find an alternative course of action. I will leave the destination up to you. Just get me to safety. I trust you will not put us in hostile hands. If you do, this will be the last thing you ever do."

"Understood, sir."

Dooku went into the room again, sat down, and closed his eyes. "Perhaps I can actually get some meditation in this time," he mumbled. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The moment he closed his eyes, the pilot's voice cut into his thoughts once more.

"Sir?"

Dooku's eyes flew open. "What?" he snapped.

"You might want to see this, sir!" he called.

Dooku stormed up to where the pilot was sitting. "Do I have to pilot this piece of scrap metal myself?" he demanded. "You are clearly incapable of—what is that?"

"That is the reason I called you over here, sir," the pilot replied uncertainly. Staring them straight in the face was a gigantic field of energy that was pulling them toward it. "It was the first thing I saw when I shifted out of light speed," he added timidly. "I think it has some sort of tractor pull on us."

"Turn around, then!" Dooku ordered.

"I…I can't, sir. I tried. I am completely powerless against it. None of the controls are responding. I think we have been overridden."

Dooku sighed, exasperated. Great. Just great. His Master had predicted a battle. Would he ever get to see it? If he died inside whatever-this-thing-was, he never would. Maybe it would lead him to the battle. He doubted it. "Shut down the power, then," he said resignedly. "No use burning what we have. You are completely and utterly useless, you know that?" The pilot winced and did as he was told. Dooku watched helplessly as they approached the energy field. There was no escape.

"The power is shut down, sir."

"Good. Now sit down. Neither of us know what will happen next, so we might as well wait and see."

They were sucked into the energy field, where there was a blinding white light. Dooku squinted, trying to see what was going on. The ship began to spin. Then, without warning, they were falling. The white light dissipated. They were in space, right in front of a planet.

"Power up!" Dooku ordered. "There is our new destination. Once we land and refuel, we will able to figure out what to do from there."

"Yes, sir!" The pilot worked on it. Before long, they were on the ground.

"Do an analysis. Is it safe?" he asked.

The pilot obeyed and supplied him with as much information as he could gather. "It is oxygen-rich, so you are safe to walk it. There is plenty of life and vegetation. Climate varies. Temperature is safe for humans. There is a high chance that you will be just fine."

Dooku nodded and left abruptly. He stepped out of the ship and looked around cautiously. It was night, and they were in the middle of what looked like a field. "Interesting. I think it would be good to explore this place further."

Well, that's the prologue! I hope you liked it! Sorry it was so short. Most prologues are short and experimental. I intend to make it more interesting as the story progresses. If you like it, review. If you do not like it, review. If you feel random, then shoot me random review! The pretty little button at the bottom will help me so much, so if you have any comments, ideas, critiques, etc. then let me know. Here is the disclaimer I promised.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the characters that will be mentioned in this fic. I will do a disclaimer for the Avengers once they find a way into the story.