Part 20: Bounty Hunter at Sixty Six.
Padmé half expected Obi-Wan to ask her to stay with R2 and the ship while he visited Jango Fett, but there was no uttered warning for caution when Lama Su left them to their own devices albeit briefly, before Taun We returned to show them to the bounty hunter's apartment. Both of them were too preoccupied with what they had seen to rouse from themselves from the silence. Neither of them had anticipated the encounter with the clones, the discovery that ten years ago someone had laid out an order for such an army for the Republic.
The devious nature behind this cold, calculated preparation struck them forcibly. Someone had carefully guided the Republic to this point, stoking the fires of dissent, of separation, and of corruption until they were tangled in a web of darkness, forced to settle for the fait accompli which awaited them here.
A shiver passed over her body, chilling her from head to foot, the cold causing her to somehow hear the rain which was still pouring down outside, despite the substantial barriers of the building protecting them from Kamino's harsh climate. Droplets clung to her and Obi-Wan, stubbornly refusing to soak into their clothes or skin, or evaporate into the spotlessly white corridor they were walking through.
The atmospheric weather was kindred to her emotions and the revelations they had learned. Anxious, her mind contemplated what was happening on Coruscant while they were here, if the Senate were debating the Military Creation Act at last.
Viewing the clones here, such a vote seemed redundant to her now.
The door to Jango's apartment opened, revealing a small boy, strikingly identical to the clones they had seen being trained into soldiers. Only this child was actually ten years old, with no genetic modifying installed within him.
"Boba," Taun We greeted the child with a friendly manner, "is your father home?"
"Yep," the boy answered abruptly, his dark eyes staring at Padmé and Obi-Wan, in a manner which Padmé found chillingly compelling.
"May we see him?" Taun We asked.
"Sure," Boba replied, his gaze still on the Senator and Jedi Master. He stepped back, letting them cross the threshold into the apartment. "Dad! Taun We's here!"
Padmé had contemplated why Jango Fett had wanted an a clone for himself, for it seemed so out of character for a bounty hunter to want a child. She assumed until now that Boba was meant for some other purpose, another way to make profit, but to hear the boy call Jango father caused her to rethink about the man who had been hired to kill her, a man she was now to meet.
"Welcome back, Jango," Taun We remarked as the man came into view now, several years older and a few pounds heavier than the clones they had seen, but not appearing deficient for his occupation by those differences, for the latter was added muscular strength, and the former, experience from years in the field. "Was your trip productive?"
"Fairly," Jango remarked, studying the Senator and Jedi with interest.
"These are Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Senator Padmé Amidala," Taun We remarked. "They have come to check on our progress."
"That right?" Jango uttered, in a tone which indicated little care, either for the visit, or the clones which brought him sight of these guests.
"Your clones are very impressive," Obi-Wan said, his tone careful to show none of the emotion he felt at seeing them, or the original who tried to kill the woman he loved. "you must be very proud."
"I'm just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe, Master Jedi," Jango answered, his tone casual, and therefore deceptive.
"Aren't we all?" Obi-Wan remarked, his gaze moving from examining the bounty hunter to search the rest of the apartment.
Padmé kept her gaze on Jango, knowing Obi-Wan would find whatever proof he was looking for, waiting to see if the bounty hunter might betray a certain conscious of the evidence. Aside from moving slightly to block the Jedi's view of an open room, there was no change in his studious gaze.
"Ever make your way into the interior as far as Coruscant?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Once or twice," Jango answered.
"Recently?" Obi-Wan persisted.
Now Jango's gaze became suspicious. "Possibly."
"Then you must know Master Sifo-Dyas," Obi-Wan remarked, trying to gauge the man's reaction to the name.
Jango turned to his son and spoke to him in a foreign tongue, one Padmé had not heard before. She concluded it must be a coded language of some sorts, for Obi-Wan seemed to understand it within the Force, as he adjusted his gaze again, directing it to the open room before Boba moved to close the door, blocking his view.
"Master who?" His father queried.
"Sifo-Dyas," Obi-Wan repeated. "Isn't he the one who hired you for this job?"
"Never heard of him," Jango remarked.
"Really," Obi-Wan frowned, for he could not detect any deception in the man's tone, or through his signature in the Force.
"I was recruited by a man called Tryanus on one of the moons of Bogden," Jango informed them.
"Curious," Obi-Wan murmured, his suspicions concerning someone using Sifo-Dyas as an alias now confirmed.
"Do you like your army?" Jango asked.
"I look forward to seeing them in action," Obi-Wan replied.
"What about you, Senator?" Jango remarked. "From what I hear off the HoloNet, you are one of the main opponents for this army."
"That was precisely why the Chancellor asked me to come," Padmé replied, the deception coming to her as easily as her years spent wrangling for votes in the Senate. "A sceptic's views are just as a valuable as a believer's."
"I can assure you, Senator, they'll do their job well," Jango said. "I can guarantee that."
"Like their source?" Obi-Wan murmured, his question more of a statement, rousing only a smile from Fett. "Thank you for your time, Jango."
"Always a pleasure to meet a Jedi and a Senator," the bounty hunter remarked, the density of his tone managing to convey the farewell as a veiled threat.
Obi-Wan ignored it, and Padmé followed suit, walking behind him at a pace to level when they left the apartment. He turned to Taun We once the door was closed.
"If you would be so kind as to prepare the information for Senator Amidala now," he remarked. "She and I must be departing for Coruscant soon."
"Of course," Taun We said with a small deferential bow, before walking away, leaving them alone in the corridor.
"Are you alright?" Obi-Wan asked her as soon as the Kamino was gone.
Padmé nodded. "I'm fine, thank you, Obi-Wan. What are we to do now?"
"I must contact the Council and inform them of what we have discovered," he replied. "Master Yoda will probably order me to take Fett into custody, in which case you must have the ship ready for a swift departure."
"What about providing you with covering fire?" Padmé asked.
Obi-Wan smiled despite himself. "It might be necessary, but I would not have you put yourself in such possible danger, milady. Remember what you promised me."
"I do," Padmé replied. "And now I must ask you to promise me something, Master Jedi. Take care of yourself. I would not like to witness another action similar to that of jumping from a balcony or through a window."
He grinned and she had to withhold herself from blushing due to the charm the expression carried with it. "I promise, milady."
Master Yoda did ask for Obi-Wan to bring Jango Fett back to Coruscant for questioning, and after instructing R2 to look after her, he left Padmé with the droid and the ship to go and find the bounty hunter.
Sheltering herself from the weather, Padmé climbed into the twin cockpit, closing the plasteel behind her. After prepping the Delta Twelve for departure, she retrieved the datapad Taun We had given her when they left, which contained all the information she could ever possibly want to know about how to make a clone army. The lengths the Kaminos went to and the amount of detail caused her much thought, as well as managing to distract her when Obi-Wan did not immediately return.
Despite her concern for him, she knew how capable he was in his vocation, and the memory that he had been involved in much more difficult missions than this managed to ease that anxiety a little.
Focusing her mind, she studied the information Taun We gave her carefully, searching each section for any possible hint as to the identity of who was behind the order of this army ten years ago. Unfortunately, she did not find anything revealing on that score, but something she did find troubled her far more.
An unique set of orders, controlled by voice activation, designed to be imprinted on each brigade of clones once they were officially given the go-ahead to fight for the Republic.
R2 uttered a series of beeps before raising the plasteel, causing her to look up in time to see Obi-Wan leap into the front seat of the cockpit. Relief coursed through her as she examined him and aside from being drenched, found him uninjured by the encounter with the bounty hunter.
"I was forced to attach a homing beacon to his ship," he informed her as his hands gripped the controls and readied the craft for take off.
Padmé put the datapad away and strapped herself in. "Any reckless manoeuvres?" she asked him.
"A few," he admitted, flying the Delta Twelve into the atmosphere. "What about you, has the schematics Taun We gave you revealed anything?"
"Not as to who was behind the order for their creation in the first place," Padmé replied. "But there are a series of voice recognition orders which are very troubling."
Obi-Wan could feel the level which they were troubling her through the Force as he guided the Delta Twelve into the hyperspace docking ring. "Any one in particular we should be worried about?" He asked her.
"Number sixty-six," Padmé replied before plugging the pad into a port. "R2, archive a copy of these, please."
The data appeared on Obi-Wan's viewscreen as the ship went into hyperspace. Grimly, he scrolled through the information until he had reached the order in question. "Well, this confirms matters. Whoever was behind this was after destroying the Jedi as well."
"You've expected this?" Padmé asked him.
"When I killed the Sith on Naboo, there was speculation as to whether or not he was the apprentice or the master," Obi-Wan explained. "Sith work only in pairs. With the increasing amount of dark power clouding the Force, the Council came to believe Darth Maul was the apprentice. His master must have ordered these clones."
"I do not like where this is going," Padmé murmured as the proximity signal beeped, declaring the end of hyperspace.
"Nor I," Obi-Wan agreed.
He manoeuvred the Delta Twelve out of the hyperspace ring and set the craft on an intercept course with the bounty hunter's ship. Ahead of both was a large planet, surrounded by an asteroid ring.
R2 beeped, the series of notes managing to convey slight worry.
"Seismic charges," Obi-Wan warned and flipped the ship into a tight roll deftly dodging the end trajectories of both devices.
Jango's ship flew into one of the larger asteroids, causing them to follow, not realising such a move was unwise until after they emerged back into the vast field and discovered that the bounty hunter's craft was now behind them.
Obi-Wan swore, executed the Delta Twelve through another series of tight flips and rolls in an effort to avoid the oncoming fire. "Oh blast! This is why I hate flying."
Padmé wondered at that, for he was by far more than a competent pilot, but she realised that he meant because of the enemy they were facing, not the trip itself. The ship shuddered, and her faithful droid beeped, the translation appearing on her screen. "R2 says the long range transmitter is knocked out."
"Just what we needed," Obi-Wan murmured as he swerved through the closely packed asteroids, trying to force the torpedo on their tail to into a destructive collision. "R2, prepare to jettison the spare parts canisters. Release them now!"
Behind them the torpedo fixed its' sights on the spare parts and denoted itself. In the ensuring explosion, Obi-Wan flew the craft into hiding atop an asteroid, powering down to avoid further detection from the ship.
"Any idea where we are?" he asked her while they waited.
Padmé checked the starchart. "Geonosis," she replied. "Too far for a direct comlink with Coruscant. If we can contact Anakin on Tatooine, he might be able to relay."
"I wonder how he's doing," Obi-Wan uttered as he checked the radar once more. "Well, R2, I think we've waited long enough. Follow his last known trajectory."
There was no sign of the bounty hunter's craft when they entered Geonosis' atmosphere. The red sand surface reminded Padmé a little of Tatooine, but neither she nor Obi-Wan had time for nostalgia before they caught sight of civilisation.
"Trade Federation," Obi-Wan remarked, identifying the unusually large concentration of ships immediately. He landed the Delta Twelve some distance away, by the cover of a rock formation. "I'm going to investigate further. If I'm not back in half an hour, contact Anakin on Tatooine and have him convey a message to the Council. Then leave for Naboo."
"Obi-Wan, I will not leave while you're in danger," Padmé vowed.
Carefully he rose to his feet as the plasteel covering the cockpit came away, and turned round to face her. "Yes, you will. I'll survive easier knowing you are safe. Please, Padmé, I beg you. If I don't come back, go to Naboo."
Reluctantly she inclined her head in silent obedience. "Take care," she advised, and he nodded before leaving the ship.