Chapter 30 – Arrival
DISCLAIMER: We do not own Star Wars, even if we wish we did. xD
Author's Note: In which Ahsoka and Fives investigate... ;)
~ Amina Gila
An alarm suddenly starts blaring just as we're on our way back to Tup's room, causing us to pause in our tracks.
"I will go investigate what's happening," Shaak Ti states.
I nod. That's probably better. "I'll go to Tup's room. Considering the circumstances, someone better be with him at all times," I tell her. She hurries along down the hall, and I take off running for Tup's room. Somehow, I have the feeling that we're going to find something there. Something feels... off.
I dart up to Tup's room, dodging past the people hurrying through the halls and open the door before stepping into the room to see... what in the world is going on in here? Fives is standing near Tup's bed, and the medical droid from earlier is in the middle of operating on his head. Fives instantly whirls around towards the door, a nearly panicked expression on his face. Clearly, he's decided to do some investigating on his own. The only question is what he found out.
"What's going on here?" I ask, hastily closing the door before someone can get a look inside.
"The droid has found a tumor in Tup's brain," he explains, "We operated to remove it." He looks over at the droid. "Is it done?"
"It is now," it responds, holding out a chip-like object. I knew it. There's nothing else that could be except... some sort of chip with pre-programmed orders.
Just then, the doors behind us slide open again and the doctor strides into the room. Great. "What have you done?!" she demands, marching over to us.
"We've saved my friend's life," replies Fives, turning towards her, "This tumor is the cause of his illness!"
"Give me that!" she exclaims, grabbing it and trying to yank it from his grasp. If that isn't suspicious...
"Enough," I say flatly, "Give that to me. Under orders of the Jedi Council, I will investigate this myself." Without waiting for a response, I pull it away from the battling pair, ignoring her shrieks.
The door opens again, and Shaak Ti enters with a group of clones.
"I found the evidence we were looking for," I announce, "We know what caused it, though we don't know how."
"We shall examine it," replies Shaak Ti, when a sudden movement from Tup draws everyone's eyes to him. He's woken up. Fives scrambles over to him. Tup begins speaking, but he's too quiet for me to make out what he's saying.
"What is he saying?" demands the Jedi Master.
"Brother, what mission?" presses Fives, ignoring her question. I tense. So, Tup knows now, what the reason for this is. Probably because he doesn't have his chip anymore.
"You... you know the one," he gasps out, "The mission, the one in our dreams, that never ends... the one in our dreams... Oh, Brother, this is the end. Forget the mission. Oh, the nightmare... I'm free." He suddenly goes limp, and completely still. The monitors next to his bed flare to life, beeping the news that he's dead.
"No... no," Fives moans, "I thought I saved him." He did save him. I'm sure of it. Tup didn't die because the chip was removed. I think – though I have no way to prove – that he died because before we came in here, the Kaminoans injected him with something. It's the only real explanation.
"We must inform the Council and Chancellor of this new turn of events," Shaak Ti remarks.
I stiffen. "Now?" The Council better let Anakin and Obi-Wan come the rest of the way here. Us three need to investigate this ourselves. I can't shake the distinct feeling that Sidious ordered Tup killed in the hopes no one would find out what the problem was. It's likely he did.
"There is no reason to wait."
Yes, there is. But she, of course, doesn't see it that way. "Fine," I grumble, "You can tell them, but we need to keep the tumor and investigate it. There is still more to the story we need to find."
"The Council may want to see it themselves now that the clone is dead," she points out.
Oh no. It can't go to Coruscant. If that happens, Sidious likely will demand it taken somewhere to where the Jedi will have no control over it. "We have to keep it ourselves!" I insist, careful to keep my shields up so the Jedi Master doesn't sense anything. Why do they always have to be so... trusting?
"We cannot investigate it on our own," Shaak Ti argues, "Give it to me. I will find a place where someone can look at it and figure out what it is."
What? No way. The Kaminoans can't have it! "Excuse my reluctance, Master Shaak Ti," I state quietly enough that no one will overhear, trying to sound polite while covering my frustration, "I saw the entire galaxy fall apart because the Jedi were too trusting. I don't want this to fall into the wrong hands."
"You forget I am on the Council, young one," she replies, the faintest bit of annoyance creeping into her voice.
My eyes narrow. "I trust you, yes, but I don't know that I trust anyone else on this planet. Except Fives." Well, I suppose I don't trust her at all, but no point in raising that issue.
"I will not let it fall into unsafe hands," she assures me. Sure, you won't. Just as you made sure the galaxy wasn't taken control of by a Sith Lord. I'm two seconds from slamming my head on the wall hard enough to break something, but I can't think of an argument in return. With a frustrated sigh, I hand it over to her.
"I'll be with Fives," I say curtly, "Update me on what the Chancellor and Council decide." There's no way I can be with her when she's talking to the Chancellor. I just might end up blowing up and revealing myself, and we can't have that. I just hope she'll handle the Council properly without me.
I walk over to the door of Five's room – where I know he's waiting – and step inside, closing the door behind me.
"I will not let your brother's death be in vain," I promise him after a long moment, "I will get to the bottom of this."
"Thank you, Commander," Fives says gratefully. "I think we should check to see if I have something like that too." Smart thinking.
"Yes," I nod, "You should. If what I'm suspecting is true, all clones have it. We need to find out."
With the medical droid already being in the room, it only takes a few minutes to complete the operation. Fives gets off the operating table and we turn our attention to the medical droid. "Was it there?" I demand.
"Yes, identical in structure," confirms the droid, "However, it appears that the one I found in your friend had malfunctioned while yours is still perfectly intact." Yes, just as I suspected. The chips are in all the clones.
"I knew it," I mutter worriedly. Now, I just need Shaak Ti to tell me what happened, and Anakin and Obi-Wan need to get here. They better hurry.
"I assume his breakdown was isolated?" asks Fives.
"There is no way of knowing that. And now that we have removed your chip," responds the medical droid, flying over to a lightening up screen, "We do not know what will happen to you."
"So, then I could snap?" questions Fives, turning and crossing the room.
"Possibly, but when we removed the chip from Tup, he died. I am afraid that you may die as well." I do not think that that was what killed Tup, but I decide not to mention it in the presence of the droid.
"I need to know if more clones than Tup and I have these!" exclaims Fives, spinning around, "And when we were implanted with them."
"And we need to find out what they're for," I murmur worriedly.
"My analysis suggests that implementation took place at the earliest stage of development. Most likely when you and Tup were only embryos."
"Then that's where we have to start," declares Fives firmly, picking up his blaster.
"I'm with you too," I inform, "Let's go." This is something I just might have to investigate on my own. Even if the Council is not happy, I'll do what I must to save the galaxy. And now, there's no saying what'll happen.
We manage to avoid detection as we make our way towards the baby clone part of the facility. Hopefully, the fact that I'm a Jedi isn't going to attract too much attention.We cautiously look into the first room, where a bunch of young clones are undergoing training. Two Kaminoans are walking through an aisle in the center of the room directly in front of us, holding datapades.
"Great," sighs Fives.
"Try to act normal," I caution as we step into the room, the door sliding closed behind us. Yes, let's just pretend Togrutas walking around on Kamino is an everyday occurrence.
Fives solutes as we pass them and I just don't look, trying not to seem suspicious. Ugh. maybe I shouldn't have come after all. "Lala la la!" the medical droid sings. "Hello!" it adds as an afterthought cheerfully over its shoulder as it floats past us. "How was that? Was that normal?" questions the droid brightly as reach the other end of the room and I open the door.
"For you, yes," Fives agrees.
I just sigh. The three of us step over to a scanning machine and the droid gets to work. I glance around at the room. There's so many. People created just to be killed off in a senseless, pointless war.
"There it is," the droid says suddenly. Seriously. They put those things inside clone babies when they're literally still embryos? It's not surprising, I suppose. They would have to do it when they're really young. "Using this, I can see how many of them are altered," announces the droid, pushing some more buttons.
On the screen in front of it, all the capsules containing the clones start changing color, indicating in the positive.
"I can't believe it!" Fives exclaims, shock and horror emanating through the Force, "They all have one."
"I can," I murmur, unable to suppress the fear clenching me, "This... this is just what I suspected."
Suddenly, light floods the room as a Kaminoan strides in. Fives whirls around, pointing his blaster at her. She hastily raises her hands in surrender.
"What are you doing here?" she demands.
"I know what you've done," hisses Fives.
"What is it that you think I have done?" she asks calmly, walking over to us. I pull her over to the control panel.
"This," I snap, eyes narrowed, "How can you explain this?"
"That is a structural inhibitor chip which is supposed to prevent the clones from being aggressive like their source Jango Fett. Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas instructed us to implant them during their growth cycle."
"The Jedi?!" gasps Fives, "The Jedi had this done to us?!"
I shake my head. "The Jedi would never have commanded such a thing!" But then again, they never commanded the creation of the clones. Sidious was behind it, that I am sure of, though I don't know how.
"It is not uncommon to have inhibitors placed in a clone," pipes up the droid, "I have analyzed one and apparently it has failed up until this point.
"There has never been a problem," argues the Kaminoan.
"Well, you have got a big problem now!" snarls Fives, pointing the blaster up at her head.
"Fives," I say calmingly yet sternly, pulling his arm down. This is not getting us answers, and we don't need him not-so-accidently firing that blaster at the wrong moment.
Suddenly, the doors slide open again and three clones followed by Shaak Ti run into the room. "Knight Tano, what is the meaning of this?" she demands, not looking the least bit pleased about seeing us in here.
"I just continued the investigation the Council wanted us to do in your absence," I reply.
"You said you were going to be staying with Fives." Must she be like this?
I jerk my head in his direction. "He's right here, you know."
"We know what's going on," Fives speaks up, "We have found the evidence. The Jedi instructed that inhibitor chips be implanted in us at birth, but Tup's malfunctioned. That's what made him lose control."
"Where is the evidence?" she inquires.
"I have it right here," replies the droid, flying over to her and holding out the implant, "As you can see, the chip taken from clone trooper Tup is black and rotting, indicating a malfunction of some sort."
"What caused the malfunction?"
"It doesn't matter," I point out.
"The fact is that Tup's malfunctioned and drove him insane!" Fives yells angrily, "These chips have to be removed! Otherwise the entire Republic army could be compromised!"
"There is no proof of that," the Kaminoan interjects for the first time, "This is an isolated incident. Besides, when you removed Trooper Tup's chip, he died."
"That doesn't mean it will happen to the others, and nor does it mean that that was the reason he died," I respond calmly, "Fives removed his chip and he is just fine."
"Here is Clone Trooper Fives chip," the droid declares, "As you can see, there are no signs of malfunction in either him or the chip."
"By removing his chip, he has become a threat!" the Kaminoan protests worriedly, "Master Jedi, we must terminate this trooper immediately."
"Just so you know," I snap before Fives can explode, "Clones are not 'things'. They are living beings. You can't just kill them for no reason!"
"They were created in our laboratories and are Kaminoan property."
"Corrections. Technically, he is property of the Republic," responds Shaak Ti.
"That does not change the fact that he is a danger –"
"Firstly, enough talk about clones being property. Clones or not, they are living beings. Secondly, he is no danger. We will continue with this investigation once Masters Kenobi and Skywalker arrive," I interrupt, crossing my arms.
"The Chancellor wants this evidence brought to Coruscant," Shaak Ti informs me. I tense at her words. Of course, he would want that. That way, we'll never be able to find out what's going on. Or so he thinks.
"First, we have to finish our investigation. Then we can give him what we found," I argue.
"I will come with you," the Kaminoan doctor states.
Suddenly, my comm beeps. It's Anakin. They've finally arrived.