The Ripple Effect.
PART I
Two Days After The Battle of Geonosis…
The Clone War has begun.
Thousands of Jedi are spreading throughout the galaxy to lead the clones into battle.
On Coruscant, those remaining on the Jedi council have but two things
on their minds: how to win the war, and what they should do when the Dark Side takes them.
On Naboo, Anakin is adapting to his new mechanical arm, while enjoying
his forbidden honeymoon with his wife Padme Naberrie Skywalker.
But on Kamino, a plan has been hatched. A plan, though innocent in
theory, which will have an enormous effect on the galaxy…
Prime Minister Lama Su looked out at the watery plains of Kamino, wondering if his scientists were really up for the challenge of his plan. They've only done so much on normal human specimens, he thought, I don't know if it will even work. Taun We entered the room. "I'm afraid I bring some unfortunate news," she said, "it seems that Jango has been killed. The Jedi Mace Windu killed him in battle. It appears that he was working for the enemy."
"Well, I'm glad we didn't allow him to know too much about our cloning techniques," he said, "otherwise we would have been blamed if the Republic's enemies were able to clone for themselves!" He knew his humor was inappropriate at the moment. A friend, if you may, had just been killed.
Lama Su owed Fett much more gratitude than credits for giving a few cell samples. All the thanks he could never say to a man who had made a life of solitude and death. No wonder he had wanted a son so badly. He needed someone whom he could trust and relate to.
"How did you come across this information?" he asked.
"Master Boba returned flying Slave 1, quite skillfully I might add, to collect the remaining of his father's pay," Taun We responded.
Looks like the clones didn't need the accelerated learning, Lama thought. He looked back out the window, "Has the…sample…arrived yet?"
"No sir, but it is on its way, There was some trouble obtaining it and that is the reason for delay."
"Is it damaged?"
"Nothing severe sir, but we had it put in carbonite while on board the ship in order to preserve it."
Carbon freezing could damage it beyond salvage, he thought.
Lama nodded in dismissal. He sighed, smiled, and looked back out the window. Good, he thought, soon we shall see if a superior army of the Republic is in order.
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Luke felt the space about him widen as he moved forward, using his lightsaber as a dim beacon. He strained to see in the darkness trying his best to hear. But there was no sound at all.
Nothing.
Then, a very loud hiss.
The sound was very familiar. He froze where he stood. He had heard that hiss even in his nightmares; it was the labored breath of a thing that had once been a man.
Out of the darkness a light appeared… In its illumination Luke saw the looming figure of Darth Vader raise his lighted weapon to attack, then lunge.
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The block glowed red around the object at first, then slowly melted away and fell on the table. Lama went to inspect it to make sure there was no damage in the defrosting stage. There was no need for him to do this, but he wanted absolutely no flaws in this experiment. If his scientists were to lose the sample, it would be almost impossible to obtain another like it.
"Attention," he summoned his top scientists. "I want to be perfectly clear on this subject. This sample is to be priority number one. I do not want you working on any other clones. This is to consume your complete attention. I want a DNA analysis, single cell extraction, simulation reproduction, and a test reproduction. When all of these stages have been completed, I want to be notified and shown all results."
He walked out of the room, with his head held high. It was the first time in a long time; he felt he was going back to his old ways of being a scientist, himself. Crazy in his ideas, but genius in his results. It was how he got to his position in the first place.
Through ultra-violet, his eyes saw the brilliant colors of the walls' light. It calmed and soothed his excitement to a mere pleasant feeling. By the time he reached his quarters, he was almost in the same mood as when he left. He laid down upon his cot, and started thinking. Weapons, what could these clones use? Blaster rifles are not original anymore. We could use their traditional lightsabers. The Jedi are in the middle of a war, I'm sure there would be few to spare. If only Sifo-Dyas were here to see the advancement we have made. He sighed. He needed much rest before the scientists finished their work. Unfortunately, he could not foretell that the process of the new clone would require more complicated means of success…
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…Luke was ready. He raised his own lightsaber and perfectly side-stepped Vader's attack. In the same moment, Luke turned to Vader and, with his mind and body completely focused, the youth summoned the Force. Feeling its power within him, Luke raised his laser weapon and brought it crashing down on Vader's head.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The scientist hesitated in discussing his conclusions, "It appears that because of the high amounts of an unknown symbiotic energy source, a cloning tank is impossible without the actual nutrients of a mothers womb. Its almost as if it needs life in order to create it, to make it grow… "
Lama was very confused by the information. He looked at the arm, now hooked up to numerous tubes into the cauterized wound to keep it as alive as possible. The nutrients were synthetic, but more enriched than their natural counterparts. "What do you purpose we do?" he asked.
"Well…" the scientist replied, "as much as I hesitate to say it," he paused, "we may have to use the old-fashioned implantation method."
The others in the room went quiet as the words left his lips. Lama was not surprised, however, only disappointed.
The short discussions with Obi-Wan Kenobi on his first visit to Kamino, he had mentioned his Padawan. "So your master was Sifo-Dyas, are you instructed by another?" Lama Su asked
"Actually I was instructed by another, but I knew of Sifo-Dyas, but now I am the instructor of my own Padawan learner." Obi-wan replied
"Oh, I hope he is obedient to your will."
"If he were, life might be less stressful."
"Oh I'm sorry to hear that. May I ask why?"
"Well, we the Jedi believe him to be the chosen one, the one who will bring balance to The Force."
"Interesting, how did you come to that conclusion?"
"We are not entirely sure. His extreme midichlorian count is a mystery even to the finest of our Jedi scientists. The genetic testing shows parts of his mother's DNA, but the other half is completely unidentified to anyone registered under the Republic. Which isn't saying very much I must admit…"
Lama Su nodded. The evidence seemed clear. "Implantation it shall be," he announced, "Begin a search for all human females registered within the Republic who are in their fertility cycle, and notify me when you are done. I shall be waiting in my working quarters."
As soon as he left, the chief scientist looked back at the limb lying on the examination table.
"I have a bad feeling about this."
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With one powerful stroke, the Dark Lord's head was severed from his body. Head and helmet crashed to the ground and rolled with a loud metallic bang. Vader's body was completely swallowed up by the darkness. Then Luke looked down at the helmet that had come to rest directly in front of him. For a moment it was completely still. Then the helmet cracked in half and split open…
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PART II
Almost three years later…
The Clone Wars longs for its end.
The Republic is stretched to its limit.
The Kaminoians have tried numerous times to impregnate a surrogate mother,
All attempts have failed.
Padme Skywalker has long since come out of hiding, but has still kept her marriage a secret.
Anakin has all but forgotten about his arm; he has a superior mechanical one.
But it is that one fateful event, which will undo everything he has, and will accomplish…
Lama Su, now feeling his age, quickly waved his hand over the sensor. The chair descended from the ceiling and he sat. His legs rested and the pain was relieved, but nothing could help his clouding eyes. Tawn We entered the room and gave him the reports of their progress with the currently failing experiment.
Lama grimaced reading the information update: Every subject rejects the embryo within a few weeks after implantation.
"What will happen now?" she asked, "Our contacts report that the war is coming to an end, and I don't think that the Republic will need a Jedi army once this is over."
"Of course they will!" Lama slammed his fist on the datapad, "They will need every Jedi they lost back in commission! They will be begging us to heal the wounds of this war!"
Tawn We left quietly and was not shaken by this outburst. It appears he has gone senile in his elder years, she thought. If only we did not deteriorate so rapidly at the end.
Alone, Lama looked at the list of the last few women who would be acceptable candidates: Cailee Antilles, Padme Amidala, and Anjou Teem. He punched his response into the datapad authorizing missions to these three and then canceling all operations in this matter. Perfection is everything, he thought. This project's failure will not negate all of my life's accomplishments…
This has gone on long enough, he thought as he took out the pressure needle hidden in his suit, and placed the tip to his neck. It's time to finish this.
Within minutes, the position of Prime Minister was available.
On the ship orbiting Coruscant, the Troopers had their orders to target the two women on this planet and impregnate them. The word of Lama's death came as a final note, but Troops paid little note of it. They had their mission to complete.
By a stroke of luck, two of the women were currently on Coruscant. The only chance they would have to infiltrate any of these women's quarters would be at night. It was close to dawn near Senator Padme's location and Anjou was near where the sun was setting; Anjou was to be on a ship leaving the next morning. If we get to Padme first, the First Trooper thought, we could get to Anjou afterwards while we have her here. He hit the accelerator and zoomed toward the planet's surface.
Flipping a few switches, he activated the cloaking device, making sure there were no witnesses. Since the assassination attempts on Padme had ended, her security had diminished to just a motion sensor in the main room. With two small precision ion shots, it became no security. The Troops went in with their bio-packs and medi-kits. Finding her in bed, the First Trooper began by pressure-injecting a mild sedative into her neck, a stronger one would only be used if she came close to waking up, the Second Trooper was setting up sensors and motion detectors in the hallway to detect anyone coming.
Once sedated, the First Trooper pulled out three long needles. The first needle contained some fertility enhancers; the second, the DNA sample embryo; and some bacta in the last. He injected the contents of the first needle, waited, and then exchanged the tube for the embryo. As he began the second injection, the Second Trooper showed him the bio-status-screen. "But… How is this possible?" the Second Trooper asked. "She has no spouse, and her behavior records show she wouldn't become pregnant by accident. How could she be expecting?"
"The embryo is already in," the First trooper stated, "but I have chemicals that will make her deliver the child in a standard day-"
"But that would kill her child as well! We cannot do that."
"We have no orders that say we can't!"
Then a genetic error became apparent with the Second Trooper.
He became an individual.
"I will not allow you to do that," he said. He pulled out his small blaster, put it to the back of the First Trooper's neck and pulled the trigger. The First Trooper fell to the ground. But the Second knew that the hit was not lethal, only paralyzing. As the First trooper lay there on the floor, he had no choice but to watch as the Second Trooper cleaned up the supplies and went out of sight for a while. Then watch as the floor drop and wobbled away from him as he was lifted by the Second Trooper and dragged back to the ship. The Second Trooper flew the ship into orbit and waited until the clock showed it was too late to access to Ali. Then, after pressing a long sequence of few keycode buttons, a big red button with a warning cover moved up from inside the panel.
He lifted the cover and held his hand above it.
Closed his eyes.
Held his breath, and gently put his hand down.
The First Trooper felt something scorching hot, then he felt nothing more…
Running through the field of grass, Padme had never known so much happiness could be felt with her daughter. She ran up to the girl and picked her up. They both laughed as the little one had fingers tickling her belly. Padme let her go, observing how much the little girl reflected herself as child. After the girl disappeared over the grassy dune, Padme ran to follow her, only to find that she had a new friend standing with her. The friend turned into a little boy, with short blonde hair and blue crystal shard eyes. He looks like the little boy from the desert, but he is somehow, different. She immediately welcomed the boy and all three could not possibly be happier. The nice, cool breeze got a little cooler, then colder, then plain cold. Padme stopped to shiver. She looked over her shoulder to see what was there, only to see…clouds? Too dark to be clouds. Night? Wrong time. Danger? Yes. Very much so. She called out to the children to come to her. She grabbed them, one under each arm and started briskly walking away from the strangely familiar presence.
When she could feel the wind blowing harder, she ran, the wind became like the breathing of a person. But no living person could make such cold breaths. She looked back, it was closer. She ran harder, it was gaining. She hit her foot against a rock half-buried in the ground, and dropped the children; she was in so much pain. She grabbed for the children but they were consumed by the darkness, their lights fading as they plunged deep inside the blackness. She looked at the shadow again and felt that she somehow, felt this before. She knelt to the ground, and accepted that she couldn't escape. The darkness rushed over the two like a wave. The darkness was even colder inside, like the icy embrace of death.
Padme awoke, covered in cold sweat. A dream, and nothing less. She started crying, feeling there was nothing she could do for the images of the children in her dream. She felt better when she promised herself she wouldn't allow that to happen if it were to happen.
Feeling a little ill, as she had for a few days now, Padme decided to walk out to the terrace and have a breath of fresh air to calm herself down. She sat down on her favorite chair to admire the view. Naboo always had its natural beauty, but to her, Couruscant had a beauty that is completely opposite to Naboo. Seeing the lights turning off in the morning, on in the evening, one by one; the gray horizon with the sky blue at the very top; and all of the busy people hurrying to wherever they needed to go on the planet that never sleeps. She watched the stars disappear overhead in the dawning light when a flash caught her eye; she looked and saw a small flare above the planet.
Then it faded into nothing…
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As Luke watched in shocked disbelief, the broken helmet fell aside to reveal, not the unknown, imagined face of Darth Vader, but Luke's own face, looking up at him.
He gasped, horrified at the sight. And then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the decapitated head faded away as if in ghostly vision…