Chapter 29: Kev Rel'skar
Kamino
The black, white, starry irises of the Kaminoans perturbed Rel'skar. Every time Rel'skar made eyecontact with a Kaminoan, rather than a reflection of the light, even his own reflection, all Rel'skar could focus on was the mesmerising swirly elliptical irises. The fact these strange eyes belonged to a species that lived outside of the Galaxy was fitting. It was as if, at all times of day, every Kaminoan was really staring at the entire Galaxy from afar.
"I assure you, Master Jazal, that our training regimen is the best there is," said Koh Lars, the Kaminoan training director.
Rel'skar sighed as his Master entered yet another heated argument with the Kaminoans—the beings with the whole Galaxy floating around in their eyes. It was way too early in the morning for this.
"The Judicial Forces never suffered casualties like these," Jazal sputtered angrily. "It will cost the Republic billions of credits to replace the Clones we have lost so far. We are talking 50% casualties—"
"—the Judicial forces never faced a high intensity conflict! They participated in peacekeeping operations."
"You are sending beings who have never experienced combat outside of a computer into war," Jazal retorted. "Every battle is a disaster!"
Shaak Ti hovered around serenely in the background, as if waiting for either the perfect opportunity or very last moment to interject.
Below them, beyond the glass, hundreds of Clone children sat in front of terminals, doing virtual battlefield simulations.
Rels'kar yawned, opening his snout wide.
Koh Lars glared at the Bothan angrily, as if he had spat on the ground or done some other major transgression.
"Sorry," Rel'skar stammered. "Very bad sleep."
The Kaminoan turned back to Jazal and the two began arguing loudly again. The Kaminoan was now arguing that they Clones did have experience fighting training bots, and blah blah blah.
Rel'skar zoned at, looking again, at the Clones below. Jazal was right. Imagine if most of the combat training Younglings got was in front of a terminal. The Kaminoans don't even teach these Clones much themselves.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Koh Lars yelled loudly, bringing the daydreaming Bothan out of his reverie.
"There is a conflict of interest," Jazal said icily. "We are buying these Clones. If more of them die in combat, then we have to pay you more—"
"—let's move on," Shaak Ti said serenely. "Thank you for your time Koh Lars!"
Koh Lars shook his head angrily as Shaak Ti guided Jazal and Rel'skar from the observation hall.
Walking through these halls practically gave Rel'skar's eyes sensory overload. There was far too much white and far too much ultraviolet light. Sometimes the walls or ceiling would be an ultraviolet shade the Bothan could see, closest to a whiteish purple, but most of the time, it was just white—perhaps smudged with darker spots where opaque organic matter lingered. The Kaminoans, he had read, could see further into the ultraviolet spectrum than Bothans. To them, the walls must be vividly painted.
Rel'skar did not much care for the justification. What type of a crazy species paints everything in ultraviolet shades? Kaminoans can see all of the visible spectrum too, except for the red end of the spectrum, so why not paint a nice purple? Or blue? Not everything has to reflect ultraviolet.
"Jazal," Shaak Ti sighed. "I agree with you, but you cannot continue to antagonise the Kaminoans."
"I know," Jazal said, "but I know they are not being entirely forthcoming. It is frustrating that the entire Galaxy has to rely on such an—"
"—Such a deceptive people," Shaak Ti interjected as they continued walking. "I agree, and I understand your opinion Jazal. However, we are here representing the best interests of the Republic. The Kaminoans may become even less cooperative if we are too rude to them."
Rude to slavers, Rel'skar thought to himself. His fur twirled stiffly with unhappiness. It was the one thing no one had said aloud. The Republic was buying sentient beings. The Jedi Masters were all worried about their casualty rates, or whether or not the Clone Army was the most effective fighting force.
"Padawan, what are you upset about?" Jazal asked.
"Jazal, I don't sense anything," Shaak Ti said serenely.
"He's upset, trust me."
"Master, I'm upset that you are all talking about me in the third person," Rel'skar growled. His fur swirled guiltily.
"Kev," Jazal sighed. "You can tell us."
Shaak Ti glanced sideways at the two curiously as they continued walking.
"All right," Rel'skar sighed. "You are arguing with the Kaminoans about whether or not they trained the Clones well enough to survive, and whether or not we are getting a good deal. That is—"
"—Padawan, I am not arguing about whether or not we are getting a good deal," Jazal huffed. "That's a very self-centred Bothan way to view the situation. It is far more complex. The lives of the Clones are at stake too. I am—"
"—Why are we, the Jedi Order, participating in trafficking slaves?" Rel'skar asked sharply.
Shaak Ti's serenity was momentarily broken. Jazal hung her head sadly.
"It is unfortunate that we were thrust into this situation Kev," Jazal sighed. "I honestly don't—"
"—they are not slaves, Padawan," Shaak Ti interrupted sharply. "They are Clones."
Rel'skar paused for a moment. "We are buying them. Are Clones sentient?" he growled a cautious rhetorical question.
"Yes, but they are genetic copies of an individual. They are artificially created," Shaak Ti said simply, as if that settled the matter.
Artificially created, therefore, not slaves.
Rel'skar allowed his whiskers to sag near the surface of the caf. Too hot to drink. He blew on the surface, stirring it with a spoon. Some Kaminoans at an adjacent table glared at him as if expecting an apology for playing with his food.
"This is your second caf Kev," Jazal noted. "Are you all right?"
In his periphery, Rel'skar could see Shaak Ti turn in her seat and observe the two, as if trying to decode what was going on. The curious Togruta's head-tails slunk to the left as she cocked her head.
"Dreams again," Rel'skar said. He cautiously took a sip. "I presume yours have gotten better, Master."
"Yep, bad dreams. But Kev, let's not change the subject," Jazal said in a commanding tone.
"Very well Master. If you must know, I had lots of dreams about Kaminoan eyes that kept waking me. I gave up on sleeping after well… I had a dream that a comet hit some Ocean in front of a city."
"Huh, that's oddly… well not—not very present," Jazal said curiously. "What happened more precisely?"
"It did feel pretty vivid I suppose," Rel'skar sighed tiredly. He took another sip of Caf then continued. "There seemed to be an evacuation going on. There were emergency sirens and many beings were moving away from the shore. The daytime sky became much more orange and it got warmer. Lots of droids—"
"—Droids?" Jazal asked curiously.
"Ahh Jazal, more vision interpretation," Shaak Ti said curtly. "I get tired enough when Obi-Wan fixates on this incessantly. Why is it Jazal, that you, as a scientist, became more interested in your Padawan's second dream description than his first?"
Rel'skar's fur swirled nervously.
"Respectfully, Master," Jazal said cautiously, "because it was so far removed from us right now."
"That is highly subjective though," Shaak Ti said, recovering her serenity. "It is up to you, the interpreter, to decide when something is far removed. I could argue that the Kaminoan eyes are far removed!"
The Kaminoans at the other table now glared at the Togruta. One of them folded his long spindly arms.
"True but—wait. I sense…" Jazal paused. "Huh, I sense Bothans."
"Me too," Rel'skar said suspiciously, raising his head. "I don't smell them though."
"In a force vision?!" Shaak Ti stammered in alarm, as if worried for both Jazal and Rel'skar's sanity.
"No," Jazal chuckled. "Right here in Tipoca City. Master, once we finish eating, I propose we investigate the Bothan deliveries."
"To what end?" Shaak Ti asked.
"We are here to provide Jedi oversight to the Cloning Operation. Is it a stretch to include the shipment of supplies in our oversight?" Jazal asked.
"No, but…" Shaak Ti sighed. "Okay, let's not take too long at it though."
The three Jedi arrived at one of many identical landing pads. Through the doors at the end of the hallway, Rel'skar could see black shuttle of some sort painted with a white Sigil he did was unfamiliar with. Drawing closer, a Kaminoan was signing off on something from two Bothans.
It was not raining outside but the thick bright white clouds still obscured the morning sun. As the door opened, Rel'skar heard Taun We's voice and sniffed the air curiously. They smelled musky like the few Bothawui Bothans he had met, but far… sweeter. Weird.
Taun We was speaking serenely, waving her hands gracefully in slow Kaminoan body language. "We thank you again for your generous—oh!" Taun We spun around. "Masters Jedi! I did not expect to meet you here."
"Greetings," Shaak Ti said serenely. "Always a pleasure to meet you, and you are?" she asked, approaching the two Bothans.
A black-furred Bothan female with thick head hair and amber eyes growled "Nųkįz zęghą kų mįdh kųrm Bhęsįk." [I don't speak Basic.]She growled in an accent Rel'skar had never heard before.
As Rel'skar stepped closer she and the other Bothan sniffed the air curiously, twitching their snouts up slightly. Their fur swirled nervously as they looked at Rel'skar wearing Jedi Robes.
"Askar?!" gasped the other Bothan, a tan furred male with a thick brown mane.
"Khįz," [Yes,] Rel'skar growled.
"Homela." [Hello,] Jazal said with a smirk. "Ag-zega woks nu mid korm Besik mid pam Lama Su." [You were just speaking Basic with Lama Su.]
"Mid wom Lama Su," Rel'skar corrected cautiously. Jazal had used the Bothese form pam for musky-smelling individuals like Bothans or humans instead of wom for humid smelling ones like Kaminoans or Trandoshans.
"Fine, mid wom Lama Su," Jazal sighed. "Happy? All of this Bothan smell stuff drives me crazy. Kev, I can't smell Lama Su! I don't know whether she is humid or musky!"
Lama Su blinked in shock wondering what they could possibly be talking about. She glanced nervously from the Bothan cargo haulers, to Jazal, to Rel'skar, to Shaak Ti. The Kaminoan looked unable to decide how to handle the situation.
"Well, well," Shaak Ti said with mild amusement. "We found us some Bothans. Is there something going on? I don't speak Bothese. Lama Su, are you all right? I sense your fear."
"I am fine Master Jedi," Lama Su said. "I was just greeting—"
"—It seems odd for an aid to the Prime Minister to be involved in something as trivial as this," Shaak Ti said, gesturing to the crates with an open hand.
"Well, under normal circumstances I would not be," Lama Su said simply. "Today though, we are all a little short-handed."
Rel'skar scoffed. "Master Shaak Ti, these two are pretending not to be able to speak Basic," he said with a head tilt towards the Bothans.
Both of the Bothan cargo haulers gulped nervously.
"This is all very adorable to me," Shaak Ti said curtly, stepping up to the Bothans. "But it is not at all funny. We are trying to work towards transparency."
"Speak with them!" Lama Su ordered impatiently to the two Bothans. "I never told you to lie!"
"We are sorry Masters Jedi, I am Vo Tel'lya," the female Bothan growled in heavily accented Basic.
"And I am Marak Tan'jia," the male Bothan growled in more fluent Basic.
"I am Jazal, this is Master Shaak Ti, and Kev Rel'skar."
"May we see what is in the containers?" Shaak Ti said, pointing to the grey and black boxes that looked magnetically sealed.
"I am afraid that is not possible," Lama Su said gravely. "These are medical… samples. They need to be kept at a certain temperature or else they may degrade. I apologise for the behaviour of our cargo haulers. This cargo is unrelated to the Cloning project and is the property of Kamino. Your involvement—"
"—may we ask what it is involved with?" Shaak Ti asked. "I was not aware that you were buying medical supplies from the Bothans. I was told they mainly sold you food supplies."
"Oh, they do mainly sell us raw foodstuffs," Lama Su said nodding her head. "We do also buy some technical equipment and medical equipment from them. Now, we really must get this to…" the Kaminoan paused, as if unsure what location to say next. "The hospital," she said finally.
Lama Su beckoned the two Bothans to follow her with graceful arm-swooshes. The Bothans pushed the hovering crates along, following her.
The Jedi followed the suspicious trio through the door then stopped, allowing them to continue on their way.
"Well, that's suspicious," Jazal said.
"I agree," Shaak Ti said darkly. "We have absolutely nothing to go on though, except for their suspicious behaviour."
"Should we tell the High Council?" Rel'skar asked.
"Tell them what?" Shaak Ti scoffed. "The Bothan cargo haulers acted suspicious? Most Bothans act suspicious."