Obi-Wan looked, serene Jedi mask securely in place, through the clear wall of the corridor into a vast brilliantly lighted space filled with hundreds of floating wheels, each carrying dozens of glass bubbles, every bubble containing a tiny human embryo. "Very impressive."
"I hoped you would be pleased." Lama Su looked proudly, even affectionately, at the 'hatchery' as he'd called it. "Clones can think creatively. You'll find that they are immensely superior to droids."
Obi-Wan didn't doubt it. These were human beings, designed, tailored to a specific purpose but still tied to the Force like all living things. And the Force was with them. Not Jedi level but far more strongly than usual.
They moved on to overlook a classroom filled with row upon row of identical young boys intent on their computer terminals.
"We take great pride in our combat education and training programs." Lama Su told the Jedi. "This group was created about five years ago."
Obi-Wan hid his shock. The boys looked at least ten. "You mentioned growth acceleration?"
"Oh yes," the small head on its long, stalklike neck bobbed assent, "it's essential. Otherwise a mature clone would take a lifetime to grow."
"Isn't that dangerous, psychologically I mean?" Jacen asked suddenly.
"We take every possible precaution against that." Taun We assured him seriously. "We are careful to see our clones have all the emotional and social support necesary to develop stable personalities."
"Our abberancy rate is just seven for every two hundred units." Lama Su put in with pardonable pride.
"Commendable." said Obi-Wan. "May I ask what is done with the abberants? Are they destroyed?"
"Certainly not!" the two Kaminoans chorused, clearly appalled.
"I assure you, Master Jedi, we are fully aware of our responsibility to our clones." Lama Su continued a bit stiffly. "Abberants are treated and returned to their Age Group when restored to full health."
Obi-Wan bowed slightly. "I am glad to hear it. I meant no offense, Prime Minister."
"I understand your concern, Master Jedi." Lama Su conceeded, clearly mollified. "I have heard the ethical standards of others in our field sometimes leave much to be desired."
The tubelike glass hallway passed next over a large eating area. Hundreds of strongly built young men with dark curling hair and golden brown skins, dressed in two tone red outfits, sat at long white tables eating hungrily. A few glanced casually up at the passing tour party.
"You'll find they are totally obedient, taking any order without question." Lama Su told the Jedi. "We modified their genetic structure to make them less independent than the original host."
Obi-Wan hoped his sudden interest wasn't to obvious. "Who was the original host?" surely a natural enough question.
Lama Su certainly seemed to find it so. "A bounty hunter called Jango Fett." Master and Apprentice's eyes snapped together like magnets as both jumped to identical conclusions. "We felt a Jedi would be the perfect choice," the Prime Minister continued, "but Sifo-Dyas hand picked Jango Fett himself."
Thank the Force for that. The thought of mass produced Jedi gave Obi-Wan cold shivers. And yet - was the tightly regimented, strictly conformist training the Kaminoans were giving the clones really all that different from what the Temple did to its initiates?
He recoiled from the thought in horror. Of course it is! How can you think otherwise, Obi-Wan Kenobi? The Jedi are interested in developing individuals not faceless cannon fodder a sudden niggle of doubt; - aren't they? He pushed the disturbing idea away. Focus, Obi-Wan, focus. "And where is this bounty hunter now?"
"Oh, we keep him here." answered Lama Su. They were passing now over a sort of dressing/assembly area filled with clones collecting and donning pieces of white armor. "Apart from his pay, which is considerable, Fett demanded only one thing - an unaltered clone for himself. Curious, isn't it?"
Obi-Wan agreed. An immature version of himself was about the last thing he'd want to have around. "Unaltered?"
"Pure genetic replication." the Prime Minister explained. "No tampering with the structure to make it more docile...and no growth acceleration."
Well the last made sense anyway. But Obi-Wan could easily think of any number of things about himself he'd like to have altered, given the chance. "I would very much like to meet Jango Fett."
"I would be most happy to arrange it for you." Taun We said deferentially as they went through a doorway out onto a small balcony overlooking a vast parade ground, domed over to protect it from Kamino's vicious weather. Thousands of white armored troops marched below in perfectly cadenced formations.
"Magnificent aren't they?" Lama Su said, beaming with pride.
Obi-Wan could only nod. This was so wrong, every instinct and feeling screamed in protest against it. And yet there was no Darkness in the Kaminoans that he could sense. To Lama Su and Tuan We the clones were not mere 'cannon fodder' but living works of art, carefully designed and nurtured to be the perfect soldiers. Misguided they might be, but not evil.
However the same could not be said for whoever had ordered this army. Surely not a Jedi Master, if the Council had sanctioned this - atrocity - than their teachings were hypocrisy and the Order a gigantic lie. And that couldn't be - could it?
...
How could he have done that? What had he been thinking? Anakin snuck a look at Padme, sitting at the head of the long table in the great dining salon.
She'd changed into a tight, glittery gown that covered her from throat to foot with flowing, gauzy over-sleeves and train. Diamonds twinkled in her elaborately dressed hair veiled by more rainbow hued gauze. She looked beautiful, as always, but he was painfully aware of the unease she was trying to hide beneath a bright, happy demeanor.
I acted on impulse, he thought miserably. Obi-Wan warned me that I could hurt her, and now I have. At least she hadn't seemed angry with him, just disturbed, upset. Like me.
Sola smiled at him from across the table. "This is exciting. Do you know, Anakin, you're the first boyfriend my little sister's every brought home?"
Anakin surpressed a flare of anger - how could she be so tactless? - quickly swallowed by guilt Sola didn't know, she was just teasing. He hoped nobody else caught the distress under the exaggerated exasperation in Padme's voice as she answered:
"Sola! Anakin's not my boyfriend. He's a Jedi assigned by the Senate to protect me, that's all."
"But I am your friend, your Highness." he said quickly to draw attention away from her. He smiled at Sola. "If it wasn't for the Queen I'd never have met Master Qui-Gon and become a Jedi."
"That's not what she meant, Ani." Padme said, impatient and embarrassed.
"It isn't?" Anakin gave Sola his best wide eyed, innocent-unworldly-Jedi-Padawan look and got answering looks of disbelief from both sisters.
Jobal cleared her throat. "When are you planning to announce your abdication, dear?"
Padme looked down at her plate. "I haven't decided yet."
Jobal opened her mouth to protest but was forestalled by Lido, Sola's husband; "It might be better for Padme to wait another year, Mom, give things a chance to settle down. We've had enough upsets recently."
"Another year!" Jobal stared at her son-in-law incredulously.
Her husband, Ruwee, put a firm hand over hers. "Lido has a point, dear, an election right now might be a mistake."
"It's just one more year, Mom." Padme said.
"A whole year!" Jobal's eyes filled with tears. "I want her home now, Ruwee, where she'll be safe and we can have some peace!" She turned back to her daughter: "Aren't you tired of all this Padme? I know I am!"
There were tears in Padme's eyes too, sparkling like her gown in the lamplight. "I am tired, Mom, and I will abdicate just as soon as I possibly can - but I've got to think about what's best for Naboo."
...
"You should have told us about Anakin." Sola said, sitting next to her mother on the big royal bed watching the handmaidens prepare their mistress for the night.
"Tell you what? There's nothing to tell." Amidala almost snapped. "He's just an old friend, I knew him when he was a child."
"Well he's certainly not a child any more!" Sola grinned. "I've seen the way he looks at you when he thinks nobody's watching and the way you blushed when he took your hand."
"I did not!"
"Did too. You're blushing now, just like a cherry. It's cute. I've never seen you in love before, Baby Sister."
"I am not in love with Anakin Skywalker!" Amidala fairly shouted. "Mom, make her leave me alone!"
"I don't think this is a matter for teasing, Sola." Jobal told her elder daughter, eyeing the younger speculatively.
"No." Suddenly Sola was perfectly serious. She said gently: "Being in love is nothing to be afraid of, Padme. I'm glad it's finally happened for you," adding with a glint of returning mischief. "Mani and I'd begun to give up hope."
"And Anakin's such a sweet boy." Jobal mused, contemplating her potential son-in-law. "Smart too, well traveled, and not the type to let you walk all over him...you could do much worse, Padme."
"MOM!" Amidala hyperventilated for a moment before she got herself back in hand." Mom, you don't understand. Jedi aren't allowed to marry."
"Well he doesn't have to stay a Jedi does he?" Jobal said reasonably. "Any more than you have to go on being queen for the rest of your life."
"It's not the same thing at all, Mom." Amidala struggled to explain. "I ran for queen knowing it was a temporary position. Anakin committed himself to the Jedi for life." Jobal opened her mouth to object but her daughter overrode her. "Yes, it's true Jedi can leave the Order at will, but it's almost never done. Being a Jedi is something Ani's dreamed about since he was a little boy. Master Jinn nearly died to get him the chance. Even if Anakin wanted to I'd never let him give up his life's work, for me."
There was a moment's silence, broken only by the rustling of the handmaidens' gowns as they put away Amidala's queenly finery, then Jobal said gently: "Isn't that his decision to make, dear?"
...
Breakfast the next morning was interrupted by the boisterous arrival of Amidala's eldest sister, Mani, accompanied by her husband, Hiro, and their four children; nine year old twins, Abbay and Luka; six year old Jai and baby Shiri who'd just turned three.
"I'm so glad you're home," Mani said with a warm hug for her sister, "but who or what are all those dangerous looking men in red?"
"Members of the Chancellor's personal guard," Amidala explained. "He sent them for added security. They'll be recalled as soon as whomever's behind the assassination attempts is caught."
"Whenever that may be." Jobal muttered under her breath.
Amidala pretended not to hear. "Completely unnecessary of course, but it made the Chancellor happy so I agreed to it."
"How thoughtful of you." Mani said a little drily. She glanced down the table at the Master and Anakin, both of whom had come to their
feet when the door burst open. "And I suppose you accepted the protection of two Jedi Knights just to make the Senate feel better?"
"Something like that. This is Master Qui-Gon Jinn who helped us during the invasion, and his Padawan Learner Anakin Skywalker."
"The little boy who blew up the Droid Control Ship." Mani remarked lookeing him up and down. "Not so little any more."
Anakin half smiled, bowed and said nothing. Amidala glared daggers at her big sister. Maybe Mani hadn't meant anything in particular by that last crack - but more than likely she had!
"Will you show us your lightsabre?" Abbay asked eagerly.
Ani gave him a real smile, not a polite Jedi pretense of one. "Not inside, I don't want to burn any holes in your Aunt's royal decor."
Amidala had learned by hard experience that palaces and her nephews didn't mix. Abbay and Jai were the sweetest little boys in the Galaxy and they certainly didn't mean to be destructive, but centuries old royal furnishings and objects of art didn't take kindly to being used to build forts and fight imaginary battles against Droid armies so Amidala had taken the precaution of arranging for her family and entourage to spend the day in the meadows beside the lake.
The palace staff erected an awning trimmed with fluttering streamers and spread rugs on the grass beneath it. Then they brought in
chairs and cushions for seating and low tables for food and drink. There were changing tents on the lakeshore in case anybody
wanted to swim, an A'fresho course(1) and a Risu court(2).
Amidala joined her handmaidens and nieces in a game of A'fresho which had the added advantage of keeping her well away from Anakin. She caught an occasional glimpse of him, first sitting on the grass talking to her nephews with a lot of swooping hand motions and then later down on the beach, all three of them busily building something in the sand.
"Just how much danger is my daughter really in, Master Jedi?" Ruwee asked Qui-Gon quietly as they sat together in the shade of the awning.
"I'm afraid the situation is quite serious, more so than her Highness is willing to admit - even to herself." was the equally quiet answer.
"There were two attempts upon her life while she was on Coruscant-"
"Two!" Jobal interrupted, horrified. "We heard about the destruction of her ship but nobody said anything about a second attempt."
"That night a pair of Kouhun millipedes, an extremely poisonous form of insect life, were introduced into her Highness's room." the Master explained. "They were destroyed before they could harm her and the assassin was captured by Anakin and my former Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi but unfortunately she was killed by a confederate before she could be questioned. Obi-Wan has been charged with tracking down whoever is behind the assassins and I have every confidence he will do so quickly. But in the meantime the
Queen must be carefully guarded for they will certainly try again."
"Here, on Naboo?" Jobal asked incredulously.
"I'm afraid it's possible," Qui-Gon said gently, "we must be watchful. But I promise Anakin and I won't let anything happen to your
daughter."
After finishing her A'fresho game Amidala went down to the lakeside beach and stopped in her tracks staring at Abbay and Jai crawling along a sort of obstacle course they'd made in the sand, swooping their hands and making 'vrooom' noises. She turned to Anakin sitting cross-legged nearby; "What on Naboo are they doing?"
He grinned up at her. "Pod-racing."
"They're covered with sand," she said in exactly the tone fourteen year old Padme would have used to nine year old Ani. He came to
his feet towering over her. "And your covered in sand too!" she reached out to brush off his dark tunic. Their eyes met and both
suddenly remembered the terrace and the kiss.
Amidala felt her cheeks burn as Anakin looked quickly away that hateful calm Jedi mask falling over his face. She cleared
her throat: "Abbay! Jai! Lunchtime!"
...
"Has Anakin seen the falls yet?"
"Oh, Mani! We only arrived yesterday," Amidala answered, exasperated, "we haven't had time for sightseeing."
"Well you have time now," Mani said reasonably. "Why don't you show them to him?" She turned to Anakin: "The falls are just a mile or so upstream and it's a lovely walk."
Amidala glared at her sister. She knew perfectly well what Mani was up to! She, Mom and Sola seemed to think all they had to do was throw the right boy Amidala's way and suddenly her duty to Naboo wouldn't matter any more. Apparently the three of them had decided Anakin was the right boy and never mind he was a Jedi Knight!
"I'm sure Master Qui-Gon wouldn't approve of me going off on my own." she answered.
The Master looked up from his meditative contemplation of a green-gold Avassa fruit to regard first her and then his Apprentice equally thoughtfully before saying: "As long as you have Anakin with you, your Highness, you should be safe enough."
Amidala stared at Qui-Gon incredulously. What was he thinking? He was a Jedi, he had to realize it was a bad idea for her and Anakin to be alone together - hadn't he? He couldn't possibly be that detached from normal human emotions!
"I said it wouldn't happen again and it won't." Anakin told her quietly as they waded through knee high wildflowers. "You don't have to be afraid of me, Padme."
She blushed - how she wished she'd stop doing that! - "I'm not afraid of you, Ani, I just - well I don't see any point in making things
any harder for us then they have to be."
"You don't resolve problems by running away from them, as you know very well." He looked seriously down at her. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life avoiding you Padme. I'd like to get past this and go on being friends at least."
She swallowed. "So would I, Ani.
After duly admiring the falls they settled down in the grass for a rest, Amidala with a lapful of plucked flowers.
"You expect me to believe you haven't so much as looked at another girl in ten years?" she demanded. A flicker of something - guilt? -
passed over Anakin's face and she jumped on it. "Aha, you have! Who was she?" She threw a flower at him. "Come on - give!"
"Well, I did have a terrible crush on Aayla Secura when I was fourteen." he conceded reluctantly. "She's a Twi'lek Jedi -"
"You're kidding!" Amidala interrupted.
Anakin sighed. "She gets a lot of that. Twi'leks are as likely to be strong in the Force as anybody else. Don't judge the whole species by the poor girls sold as playthings."
"Sorry," she said, a little abashed.
"That's how we got to know each other," Anakin went on. "Aayla, Master and I were ordered to close down a piece of slime dealing in Twi'lek girls," he grimaced. "She and I got kind of emotional about it. We identified too strongly with the victims, her being a Twi'lek and me having been a slave."
"Compassion's a good thing, Ani," Amidala said gently.
But he shook his head. "It wasn't compassion, Padme, it was anger - a desire for vengeance. Very bad, that leads to the Dark Side." He smiled ruefully at his memories. "Of course Master didn't let it get that far. He brought us back to our senses in short order let me tell you!"
"I suppose she's beautiful, this Aayla." Amidala said, absently plucking petals.
"Oh yes." Anakin answered. He eyed her sidelong as he continued. "She's a blue, not as deep as Sebulba's twins more a soft sky blue, with the same color eyes. Slim, supple, you should see her with a lightsabre - poetry in motion."
Amidala ran out of petals and began shredding the stalk of her flower. "So - what happened?"
"Nothing." she looked at him sharply and he shrugged, "We finished the mission and haven't worked together since. I see her around the Temple sometimes. What about you? Don't tell me you've never been in love."
She dropped the ruined flower and started making a nosegay out of the others giving him a coy sidelong look. "I don't know..."
"Sure you do - you just don't want to tell me."
That got him a direct look, a challenging ibe. "Are you going to use one of your Jedi mindtricks on me?"
He shook his head. "They only work on the weak- minded. You are anything but weak-minded."
That pleased her. "All right." she looked back at the flowers in her lap. "I was twelve. His name was Palo. We were both in the Legislative Youth Program. He was a few years older than I...very cute...dark curly hair...dreamy eyes."
"All right, I get the picture," Anakin interrupted. "Whatever happened to him?"
"I went into public service. He went on to become an artist."
"Maybe he was the smart one."
She looked at him again, this time thoughtfully. "You don't like politicians do you?"
His eyes glinted teasingly. "I like one or two - but I'm not really sure about one of them." Then he turned serious too. "I don't think the system works."
This was the kind of conversation Amidala was used to, the kind she enjoyed. "How would you have it work?"
His brow wrinkled in thought. "We need a system where all the politicians sit down and discuss the problem," he said slowly, "agree what's in the best interests of all the people, and then do it."
"That's exactly what we do," Amidala said. He looked his disbelief. "The trouble is that people don't always
agree on what is in the best interests of the people," she explained. "In fact they hardly ever do."
Anakin remembered the two Senate debates he'd witnessed first hand. There hadn't been much concern for the common good visible there. Just ego, jockying for power, politics. "Then they should be made to."
Amidala stiffened. He couldn't mean that. Surely he didn't realize what he'd just said. "By whom? Who's going to make them?"
"I don't know. Someone."
"You?" she challenged - and was relieved to see him blink.
"Of course not me!" The shock and indignation in his voice was unmistakeably genuine.
Amidala was relieved, but determined to make him see the error of his position, "But someone."
"Someone wise." he agreed - and looked right at her.
She rocked back on her heels, well and truly stunned. Surely he didn't mean - he couldn't mean - "That sounds an awful lot like dictatorship to me." she said primly.
He just shrugged. "Well if it works..."
She stared at him too appalled to speak or even to breath, and then she saw the smile he was struggling to hold back. "You're making fun of me!"
He held up both hands in mock protest. "Oh no, I'd be much to frightened to tease a Queen."
"You're so bad!" she threw the nosegay at him and then the rest of the flowers laughing with relief. He'd given her a real scare there -
just for a moment.
...
Tuan We was as good as her word. She appeared at the door of the Jedi's guest quarters bright and early the next morning with the news Jango Fett had returned and she would be happy to present him, right now if the Master Jedi so pleased. Needless to say he did.
"Fett has been away?" Obi-Wan asked casually as as Jacen followed his Master and their willowy guide through the shining white corridors of a residential area, judging from the number of Kaminoans of all ages they encountered.
Tuan We nodded. "We allow him to come and go as he pleases, within reason of course. But we do not interfere with his personal business concerns so long as he fulfills the terms of his contract with us."
And what a wonderful, secure base of operations this place must be. Jacen thought grimly.
"Exactly what do you require of him beyond his genetic material?" the Master inquired.
"Training duties mostly." Tuan We responded readily. "We can teach the clones strategy and tactics and logistics from computers but
personal combat skills are another matter. Jango is a gifted warrior, his contribution has been vital to our success."
The door they finally stopped before was superficially identical to its neighbors until you noticed the customized locking mechanism, very sophisticated and unmistakeably of Human manufacture.
Jacen and his Master exchanged a quick look just as the door slid open to reveal a small boy, identical to the five year old clones they
had seen the day before but wearing different clothes and frowning suspiciously up at them.
"Boba, is your father here?" Tuan We inquired gently. Of course, this must be the unaltered clone Jango had demanded as part of his
payment.
"Yep." the boy answered briefly shifting his wary survey from the Master to Jacen.
"May we see him?" Tuan We continued patiently.
"Sure." the boy shrugged and led them into a living area as spotless and impersonal as the Jedi's own guest quarters. Jango Fett had called these rooms home for ten years and raised a son in them without Humanizing their Kaminoan decor in the slightest. Interesting.
"Dad! Tuan We's here."
A man came out of an inner door. His face was that of the adult clones, but many years older, seamed with scars and suspicion. Dark eyes narrowed at the sight of the two Jedi.
"Jango, welcome back. Was your trip productive?" Tuan We asked, pleasant as ever.
"Fairly." he answered briefly his attention fixed on the Master.
Obi-Wan looked back with a serene expression that his Padawan knew from experiencecovered intense excitement. That, and Jacen's own feelings, told him they'd found their quarry.
"This is Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi." Tuan We was saying. "He's come to check on our progress."
"That right?" Jango replied, eyes riveted on the Master's face. Jacen wondered suddenly just how good a look Fett had managed to get at Anakin and Obi-Wan on Coruscant. It seemed recognition went both ways.
"Your clones are very impressive." Obi-Wan was saying, his polished Core-worlds accent smoothly challenging. "You must be very proud."
"I'm just a simple man, trying to make my way in the universe, Master Jedi." Fett responded just as smooth. But the tension between the two men was tangible
Obi-Wan's eyes flickered a moment, going past Fett to the open door behind him. The bounty hunter's face hardened as if he knew he'd betrayed himself somehow. Unfortunately Jacen couldn't see into the bedroom from where he was standing.
"Ever make your way as far into the interior as Coruscant?" Obi-Wan was saying, still smooth but with an undertone of victory.
"Possibly." Fett conceded unwillingly.
"Then you must know Master Sifo-Dyas." Obi-Wan continued conversationally.
Jango broke eye contact and walked a few steps towards the half circle of panoramic windows looking out onto Komino's endless storm rapping out a brief sentence in Huttese to his 'son' before asking: "Master who?"
The boy slid past Obi-Wan to close the bedroom door, hiding whatever-it-was from his view. The Master ignored him, focusing his attention upon the father. "Sifo-Dyas. Wasn't he the Jedi who hired you for this job?"
Fett turned abruptly, walked into Obi-Wan's space crowding him in a rather crude attempt at intimidation. Quite ineffectual of course.
"Never heard of him."
"Really?" the Master's beautifully modulated voice called Fett a liar as plainly as any words.
The bounty hunter controlled a reflexive bristle. "I was recruited by a woman called Sinistra on one of the moons of Bogden."
Truth, if not the whole truth. Jacen recognized.
So did Obi-Wan. "Curious."
Fett tried to take the initiative. "Do you like your army?"
"I look forward to seeing them in action." the Master answered with that ice cold smile in his eyes, the one that always made Jacen very, very glad they were on the same side.
Fett's dark eyes glinted wolfishly in reply. "They'll do their job well, I'll guarantee that."
Obi-Wan inclined his head politely, but with a threat that was almost tangible. "Thank you for your time, Jango."
"Always a pleasure to meet a Jedi." the bounty hunter answered. But he was afraid, Jacen could feel it. And so, no doubt could the Master.
"Thank you for your time and courtesy." Obi-Wan said to Tuan We in the corridor outside. "We'll be leaving now."
The Kaminoan didn't turn a proverbial hair, after ten years of Jango Fett there probably wasn't anything a Human could do or say that could perturb her. "As you wish, Master Jedi." She'd been leading them back to their guest quarters, now she changed direction moving towards the outer hull and the landing platforms. "Your visit has been a great relief to us, after so long without any word we were becoming concerned."
"I apologize." Obi-Wan answered. "Master Sifo-Dyas' unexpected death made - difficulties."
"We have of course kept the Jedi's involvement a secret, just as your Master requested." Tuan We assured him.
"I'm sure the Council will be very pleased by my report." They had reached the glass doors to their landing platform. The Master looked up at Tuan We.
"Tell your Council the first battalions are ready. And remind them that if they need more troops, it will take more time to grow them." She said. The big indigo-black eyes blinking down at Obi-Wan held a familiar expression, one Jacen had seen any number of times before in the eyes of many different kinds of female when they looked at his Master. Funny, he wouldn't have expected it here, not given the physiological differences. Of course the queen of the squid-like Ruutans of Tan Ruu III had found Obi-Wan thoroughly charming despite his peculiar and repellant (to her) physionomy. Whatever it was Master had, it obviously transcended species.
"I won't forget." Obi-Wan assured her. "And thank you."
"Thank you!" Tuan We replied and stood watching as they went out the door into the storm.
The starfighter and poor Arfour were right where they'd left them, dripping with rain and spray from the heavy seas below.
The Master looked over his shoulder, to be sure Tuan We had gone, then addressed the droid. "Arfour, relay this, 'scramble code five." to Coruscant: care of the 'old folk's home.'"
As the Force would have it Master Yoda and Master Windu were already closeted together so there was no delay in putting Obi-Wan through to them.
"We have successfully made contact with the Prime Minister of Kamino." he reported, voice pitched above the drumming of rain on platform and fighter. "They are using a bounty hunter named Jango Fett to create a clone army. I have a strong feeling that this bounty hunter is the assassin we're looking for."
Darn right he was! Jacen nodded agreement even though he knew he was out of pickup range.
Master Windu's image hovered, sitting crosslegged, above the wing in front of Arfour with raindrops falling through it. "Do you think these cloners are involved in the plot against Queen Amidala?"
"No, Master, there appears to be no motive."
Yoda's image displaced Windu's. "Do not assume anything, Obi-Wan. Clear your mind must be if we are to discover the real villains behind this plot."
"Yes, Master." Obi-Wan said obediently.
Jacen frowned at the image. If the Trade Federation was behind the assassination attempts, and the Sith were behind the Trade Federation, and the Separatists, then their trail might lead them in some very strange directions indeed. Right to the Sith, whoever and wherever they were. Or was Master Yoda implying that their chain of reasoning was all wrong and the threat might be coming from some entirely unknown and unexpected quarter?
"They say Master Sifo-Dyas placed the order for a clone army at the request of the Senate almost ten years ago." Obi-Wan told Yoda. "I was under the impression he was killed before that." more than an impression actually; the Master and Jacen had compared notes the night before and accertained that Sifo-Dyas had indeed died nearly eleven years ago - some months before the Naboo Crisis. "Did the Council ever authorize the creation of a clone army?"
Mace Windu's holo image replaced Yoda's. "No." he said firmly. "Whoever placed that order did not have the authorization of the Council."
Jacen breathed a sigh of relief and detected a slight easing of his Master's stance as well. So he'd been worried too. The Council had done some pretty strange things in its time. While Jacen hadn't wanted to believe it, it had seemed at least possible that they were behind the clone army. But Master Windu was telling the truth, he could feel it.
"Into custody take this Jango Fett." Yoda was instructing Obi-Wan. "Bring him here. Question him we will."
It was the order they had both expected. "Yes, Master, I will report back when we have him."
...
Obi-Wan keyed the doorbell of the Fett apartment. Nothing happened. The Master gave it half a minute then laid his hand against the door and used the Force to release the lock. The apartment was not only empty but in some small disorder; drawers left open, cabinet doors ajar, and any personal effects Jango or his 'son' might have had were gone.
Obi-Wan picked up a computer screenboard lying abandoned on a table in the bedroom and punched in a request. A plan of the city appeared onscreen. The Fett's apartment and the two nearest landing platforms were outlined in red. "Right. I'll take the one to the left, you check out the one on the right."
Jacen's landing platform was empty but gave him a fine view of his Master charging Fett on the other, some hundred meters away.
Obi-Wan deflected the bounty hunter's blaster bolts easily but was knocked to the ground by some kind of explosive fired from Fett's
helmet. Then the boy fired their small ship's guns right at the Master. He went flying in one direction, his lightsabre in another.
I must remember to tell Ani, Jacen thought
Jango seemed to have lost his weapon as well somehow, but if he thought a disarmed Jedi was a negligible threat Obi-Wan soon taught him otherwise, but the armor did put Master at a disadvantage.
I've got to get over there! A quick look at the smooth, rain slick surface of the city domes and the churning waves below told Jacen he'd be a fool even to try that way. He'd have to go back inside and through the corridors. He looked back at the other landing platform in time to see Fett rocketing along dragging the Master behind him.
Obi-Wan snagged himself against a column then using it as a belay, yanked Fett right out of the sky, smashing him against the platform. His jetpack was knocked loose and whizzed off on its own.
Fett staggered to his feet, Obi-Wan charged him - "No, Master, don't!" Jacen's shout was lost in the wind, and it was to late anyway. Over the side Fett went dragging Obi-Wan after him.
Jacen ran back into the city. He'd have to find some way down to the lower levels his master might catch himself on a support strut or
the like, maybe there was still something Jacen could do. He ran past the door to the other landing platform, and right into a
soaked but intact Obi-Wan. "Master!"
"Follow me!" barely breaking stride his Master continued on through the doors and back into the driving rain, saber flying to his hand
and igniting.
It was too late, Fett's oddly shaped craft was already taking off. Master snatched a tracking device from his belt and hurled it into the
air. Jacen saw it clip onto the ship before it oriented itself and blasted skyward.
"Come on!" Obi-Wan hurtled past his Padawan, back into the city. Jacen took a gulp of wet air and followed. Why do I worry? There isn't any fix, Master can't get himself out of. You think I'd know that by now!
...
Notes:
1. A'fresho; A game rather like croquet.
2. Risu; A game rather like foursided tennis.