Shaak Ti would have wished to see Arc-Trooper CT-5555, better known by his nickname Fives, again under happier circumstances. Once again, the now battle hardened and accomplished Fives needed her help. But this time it wasn't about training and testing. This time it was a matter of life and death - and for the health of the entire clone army. At least that was what Fives claimed. Shaak Ti saw no bad intentions in his brown eyes and thoughts. The clone trooper with the prominent, neatly shaved black goatee had always behaved in an exemplary manner. He had fought with his comrades, saved them and shared their worries and needs - just as they did for him. Contrary to the pessimistic expectations of Kaminoan Prime Minister Lama Su, Fives had not become a threat to those around him or to the Republic. He had always used his creativity and his highly independent thinking for a normal clone trooper for the good of the Grand Army and the Republic.
On the planet Umbara, Fives had opposed the Jedi master Pong Krell, who had burnt up the clone troopers under him in senseless fights. And soon Fives and his comrades found out that Pong Krell was working for Dooku and the Separatists. For this high treason, the four-handed Besalisk Pong Krell, who was the only Jedi able to wield two dual lightsabers, was executed by his own clone troopers. Fives had put his conscience before obedience, preventing a threat to the Jedi and the Republic from within! Shaak Ti had been proud of Fives after hearing about this unique incident on Umbara. She had been right about the skeptical Lama Su. Arc-Trooper Fives was a credit to the 501st Division in which he served!
And now Fives was concerned about a clone brother named Tup, who had seemingly out of nowhere killed his then superior, the Jedi Master Tiplar, during a combat mission against the Separatists in an orbital station over the planet Ringo Vinda. But unlike Pong Krell, Tiplar had not been a Separatist agent. Other clones had reported that Tup had shown signs of discomfort prior to the murder. So the suspicion was that Tup was suffering from some kind of virus. But a virus that ordered a clone to kill a Jedi?
Nala Se, the chief scientist at the clone trooper production facilities on Kamino, had told Shaak Ti that the Separatists had briefly kidnapped Tup, but Anakin Skywalker, Rex, and Fives had brought him back to Kamino. For the Jedi Master, this kidnapping was proof that this was yet another plot by the Separatists against the Republic. The Republic should be struck in the strong arm, its clone army. This time, Dooku hadn't planned a clumsy droid attack on Kamino. This time he was more stealthy and subtle.
Fives didn't like that Shaak Ti wanted to have him examined as well. Just in case, because he's been with Tup so much since his fateful "freak out." But Fives was determined to do whatever was necessary in the matter if it would help Tup and other clones. So he had also submitted to the examination procedure. Through a viewing window that separated him from Tup's treatment room, he now saw how Nala Se administered a drug to his brother, under the skeptical gaze of the Togruta Jedi Master, which made the patient twitch and scream wildly. Tup said something. Fives saw Shaak Ti's dismayed expression. Fives shouted, drumming his hands on the pane until the Jedi Master turned to face him - and blacked out the field of view with the push of a button. This abrupt cut off from Tup drove Fives almost insane.
Shaak Ti wasn't sure who to believe. She was not a friend of hypertests like the Kaminoan doctor Nala Se. And yet these tests had brought frightening results to light. Tup said:
"Follow the orders. Kill the Jedi!"
"Apparently this clone was ordered to kill a Jedi," Shaak Ti surmised to Nala Se, who was unimpressed by the statement. Too unperturbed even by Kaminoan standards—the Jedi Master thought.
"All the more reason to turn him off," the Kaminoan replied softly but emotionally unconcerned.
"Why don't you do a Phase5 brain scan like the medi-droid suggested?" Shaak Ti asked, concerned to save Tup's life.
"He's too weak for it," Nala Se countered.
Resigned, Shaak Ti left Nala Se, who prepared to administer the lethal injection to Tup. Then an alarm sounded.
Fives encouraged his brother. Now at last he was with him again. The two clones were alone. And Fives finally had the time window he needed to make sure.
"Follow the orders... Kill the Jedi!" he suddenly heard Tup say while he twitched uncontrollably at the words.
"What are you talking about, Tup?" Fives exclaimed in disbelief.
"The mission...you know...the mission," Tup replied.
But his eyes were glassy again and his gaze distant, as it had been just before Jedi Master Tiplar's murder.
"Calm down, brother. Shaak Ti is here. She has helped me before. And she will help us now, too," said Fives with conviction.
Now, finally, he could command the medi-droid AZ-3 to perform a phase 5 brain scan at the atomic level on Tup, just as this droid had suggested to Nala Se earlier. Fives commanded respect as the droid first disagreed, then weighed the two contradictions, finally deciding to go against Nala Se's instructions and instead prioritize its programming to save lives. Now, according to Fives' instructions, he removed the tumor that he had just diagnosed from his brain scan. Fives wondered if this tumor had been the reason Nala Se had so categorically refused this kind of deep examination earlier. Did the Kaminoan have something to hide?
An organic-looking flap of tissue emerged, which Fives found suspicious. The tissue was frayed and blackened at the edges, while the center was the color of sound flesh. Rotten!' Fives thought. And that piece of tissue didn't match Jango Fett's genetic makeup, which AZ-3 also accessed.
At that moment, Nala Se entered.
"Give me the chip!" the Kaminoan demanded forcefully, her slender three-fingered right hand grasping Fives' wrist, while her left tried to pry the clone trooper from the tissue flap that AZ-3 had packed into a rectangular box.
"No! I don't trust you!" Fives snapped at her. Then he heard Tup mumble something. He immediately turned to his clone brother while Nala Se snatched the chip from him.
Fives looked at Tup, who was suddenly completely delirious.
"The mission... The mission we see in our dreams... Again and again... This is the end... Forget the mission! … Free at last ..."
Tup's eyelids fluttered.
"Stay with me, brother!" Fives tried to keep him awake, although he no longer believed that his efforts would be successful.
Because now Tup's brown eyes were breaking. And then Tup died in Fives' arms.
The alarm had rang through the entire research building. Shaak Ti first suspected another attack by the Separatists. It wasn't until half an hour later that she realized the alarm had been set off from inside the building. Then she saw clearly the diversionary tactic by Fives. She had an uneasy feeling as she rushed to Fives again.
She saw the rebellious clone trooper in Tup's examination room, next to him on the stretcher was the now dead Tup, who wore a cap on the side of his head that indicated that his head had just been operated on. In Nala Se's hands she saw a tissue sample that Shaak Ti had never seen before.
"He would certainly still be alive if you hadn't removed the chip yourself. You may also be...defective," Nala Se reprimanded the bustling Fives gently but reproachfully.
Shaak Ti looked at Nala Se in bewilderment. She knew that Kaminoan quality control was strict. But she also knew that Arc-Troopers like Fives were highly individualistic, special-purpose creatures that couldn't be measured by the same standards as ordinary clone troopers. Nala Se's behavior struck her as exaggerated and suspect. Moreover, Fives seemed to have just provided the key to something she absolutely had to learn in order to keep the clone army what it was - a pillar of the Republic and close aides in combat for the Jedi. Something was wrong here. But she didn't want to offend Nala Se too openly. So she suggested a compromise.
"Fives, you will now return to the 501st. The examinations have shown that everything is fine with you. It's best for you to forget this incident immediately," Shaak Ti decided.
"Yes, forget … I agree," she heard Nala Se's voice casually.
Shaak Ti felt that there was suddenly a trace of determined fervor in that voice that she could not or would not make sense of at this moment. Instead, she looked again at the alien tissue sample. It didn't look like it was part of Tup. Neither Nala Se nor Lama Su had ever told her about anything like that. Why not?
"What's that?" she asked her colleague.
"These are inhibitor chips. They are used serially in clone production to discourage aggression and make the individuals obedient to given commands," Nala Se explained gently but firmly.
Shaak Ti swallowed for a moment. She wasn't sure yet whether to like or loathe this kind of mind control implanted from the outside.
༺═───═༻
Fives, who had left the room already, wanted to say goodbye to AZ-3 before returning to Rex and the 501st.
The droid, whom Fives now considered a friend of sorts, sounded skeptically. "Oh, do you really believe that?"
"Why?" Fives asked back, alarmed.
"I hear your memory is going to be erased and then you'll be assigned to stationary maintenance here on Kamino. Then we can remain friends - assuming we still know who each other is," AZ-3 replied almost happily in his tinny droid voice.
Now Fives knew there was much more to be covered up. His mission here to protect Tup and find out the cause of his death was far from over.
Time to break the rules and orders again. And research on your own.
He ruthlessly pushed aside the clones who were to take him to his new destination. Two Kaminoans standing in the aisle were holding each other, staring at the enraged clone trooper without doing anything. They just waited. Less than thirty seconds later the aisle was clear for Fives' escape. Luckily, AZ-3 was at least as fast and agile as him.
Fives looked at the many pods sticking out of the towers set up in the vast hall. It was here in these pods that the new generation of clone troopers grew up. He himself had matured in such a capsule. He let AZ-3 access the data. No – no chip had been implanted here. He exhaled. But he didn't trust the peace. The human and the droid walked into the room next door. Children who felt like they were eight years old, actually only four years old, sat in front of monitors, played through tasks and waited for instructions from the trainers. Just like he used to. They both crossed the room inconspicuously. Then they came into the room with the two-year-old children, who were actually only one year old. AZ-3 checked again. Now he saw the chip. In each of the ignorant innocent clones in the pods.
And that's when Fives had instructed AZ-3 to remove its own chip. This one looked rosy and healthy. Time to ask Shaak Ti for help again. But first he had to let himself be captured again.
Shaak Ti wanted to believe Fives. She saw that he wasn't lying and only wanted what was best for his clone brothers. But she also wanted to believe Nala Se just as much, with whom she had worked flawlessly up until now. And the black-eyed Kaminoan was adamant that by removing the chip on his own initiative, Fives had committed insubordination and was henceforth a danger to anyone who came into contact with him. Even her instruction to Fives, where he still had his chip in his head, to go into preventive quarantine with related investigations because of his contact with Tup, was followed by the Arc-Trooper only reluctantly or hostilely. Shaak Ti did not share Nala Se's view. For her, Fives was good old Fives, even without a chip, who always did his job to the best of his knowledge and belief.
Time to ask the Jedi Council for advice.
Obi-Wan's suggestion that the chips should be taken to the Jedi Temple with Fives for further study, was supported by Master Yoda. Which Nala Se didn't like at all. She insisted on accompanying the human and the Togruta to Coruscant. Which neither Fives nor Shaak Ti liked.
Shaak Ti was tired of arguing with Nala Se. The Kaminoan suddenly insisted on having supreme authority over the clone troopers' health! She saw this as a kind of guarantee obligation on behalf of the Republic. While Shaak Ti was of the opinion that the clones were under the care of the Republic as their employer. And since the Jedi commanded this army, the care of the unruly Fives fell on the Jedi as well. But Nala Se persisted. Shaak Ti grew increasingly uneasy at the Kaminoan's resistance. Nala Se seemed very sure of herself when she so openly questioned Shaak Ti's orders. Too safe for Jedi tastes. What gave the Kaminoan that certainty? Did she just want to cover up production errors? Or was there something more?
She shied away from the ultimate consequence of her considerations. No, Nala Se and Lama Su would never work with the Separatists, whom they would have twice already fallen victim to if the Jedi had not rescued them. But in this case, Nala Se's defiance made no sense.
"Thank you for believing in me, General," Fives said gratefully to Shaak Ti.
"It has nothing to do with faith. It's just the right thing," she replied with stoic authority. She felt uncanny to be so openly fraternizing with a single clone trooper against Nala Se. What if the Kaminoan was right after all? And Fives would eventually become dangerous? And why was she thinking about Arc-Trooper A-17 from a year and a half ago now?
༺═───═༻
Shaak Ti thought it would be safe to involve the Supreme Chancellor. Palpatine would put his foot down and put Nala Se in her place. After all, it was Palpatine who had given her the overwhelming compliment at the award that she, the Jedi Master Shaak Ti, would be ideally suited to take care of the health and training of the clones on Kamino.
So she had informed Palpatine that the Jedi wanted an examination of the two chips and Fives in the temple. Palpatine, on the other hand, had suggested that Fives should be taken to the Republic's Central Hospital with the chips. That Hospital was supposedly up to date. Shaak Ti winced. Had the Chancellor just implied that Jedi medical facilities were outdated? She watched and heard with uneasiness as Nala Se greeted the Chancellor's compromise proposal with a benevolent air.
"So we agree then?" Palpatine had said with compelling consistency in his voice rather than asked, looking sharply at Shaak Ti. The Jedi had hesitated for a moment. She swallowed. She felt overwhelmed by the chancellor. But she had put the matter in his hands. But what's wrong with first paying her respects to Palpatine and then going straight to the Jedi Temple? She could always take Fives to Republic Hospital later. Along with the two chips. Then everyone would be happy.
Shaak Ti had interpreted it as an act of desperation on the part of Nala Ses, who probably saw her authority dwindling. Fives had told her with a desperate look in his brown eyes that while the Jedi Master was lost in meditation, Nala Se had drugged him to make him appear extra dangerous and insane. To cover up the conspiracy he, Fives, was about to uncover.
Of course, Nala Se dismissed Fives' words as a bogus conspiracy theory and proof of her thesis that the Arc-Trooper had become a threat. She had merely given him a sedative, Nala Se had assured the Jedi in the obligatory soft but emphatic voice. But Shaak Ti didn't believe her. Whereas Fives was telling the truth. But whose truth was Fives telling? It couldn't possibly be true that the entire Republic army was infested with questionable chips! Neither Sifo-Dyas nor Hego Damask could have wanted that!
Now she remembered Nala Se's words on Kamino. The Kaminoan had explained to her in the infirmary that Sifo-Dyas intended to use these chips to protect the soldiers from treacherous Jedi. But which Jedi were treacherous? Jedi Master Tiplar, who had always done her duty on behalf of the Jedi and the Republic? Or rather ex-Jedi like Dooku? Shaak Ti swore to himself that the matter must be a terrible misunderstanding which the Chancellor would surely clear up before long.
"Master Shaak Ti. How nice to see you," Palpatine said with a charming smile to the newly arrived Togruta Master, not paying too much attention to her companions. For now anyway. Satisfied, he registered how Shaak Ti returned his smile.
Fives held up the chips for Nala Se, Shaak Ti, Chancellor and Vice Chancellor Mas Amedda to see.
"These were implanted in the clones as early as the third stage of growth. They want us to blindly follow all sorts of orders - which is what is required at the moment. There's a conspiracy afoot. And if it's not you, then it's the Separatists," Fives said bluntly, looking straight into Palpatine's blue eyes.
"A conspiracy that began before the war broke out? I think that's unlikely," Palpatine disagreed, looking at Shaak Ti for approval.
"It is unlikely indeed," she replied to the Chancellor, nodding eagerly.
"Leave me alone with this soldier. I want to make him feel like he's having a fair hearing," Palpatine demanded.
"Chancellor, I have to disagree," Shaak Ti replied energetically. And her concern was not with Fives entrusted to her.
"No worries. I still have my security guards," Palpatine had replied with a jovial smile and ushered Fives into his private room.
Shaak Ti and Nala Se stood in front of Chancellor Palpatine's office. Shaak Ti had just given her protégé an encouraging wink. But she had also seen the growing horror on Fives' face. Then she noticed that the drug that Nala Se had given him was starting to work. Or was Nala Se right and Fives was really ticking without the chip and becoming dangerous just like the Kaminoans had predicted? Now? In Chancellor Palpatine's office?
Fives stood eye to eye with Palpatine.
"You wanted to tell me something? I'm listening," Fives heard the Chancellor's cold, ruthless voice.
"They implanted the chips in us so that one day we would kill the Jedi. They want to - destroy everything..." he ground out, his voice rising in pitch.
As he said this, Fives felt the drug Nala Se had given him clouding his senses, suggesting danger where there was none. So he tried to stay as calm and composed as possible. He then handed Palpatine the two chips that he had taken so much effort to remove from Tups and his own head and away from Kamino to finally uncover the truth. The Chancellor took the chips and smiled at Fives. But the satisfaction the soldier saw in the chancellor's smile wasn't aimed at him. No, the Chancellor seemed to be completely with himself for a moment.
Five's warm brown eyes sought concern and support from Palpatine's watery blue eyes. But all Fives saw in the Chancellor's eyes was cold rejection and an absolute will to destroy. Then Palpatine suddenly laughed. Now Fives understood. He was just as much an interchangeable maneuvering mass for the Chancellor as he was for the treacherous Jedi Master Pong Krell back on Umbara. Except that he, Fives, was alone now. While Chancellor Palpatine had his guards in the room and outside the door.
Then Five's horrified eyes saw Chancellor Palpatine extend his right hand in the stranglehold of power. He had seen this before. Anakin Skywalker had already done so in his presence. The Besalisk Pong Krell could do this, as could all other Jedi. But the chancellor...? Had he just been more subtle and understated than Pong Krell had been back then?
"You think you're super smart, don't you... Fives?" he heard Palpatine's mocking voice. "But you're just a clone that won't further jeopardize my plans. You should have died back then under Jedi Master Pong Krell, then your death would have been a lot more comfortable than it will be now."
He paused to choke Fives a little harder.
Fives heard Palpatine's sneering laugh as his fist clenched more and more and Fives gasped. He hovered in the air in front of the Chancellor without the other man even touching him. While the guards in the room acted as if this procedure was routine here. Drug or not - this was a danger! The biggest Arc-Trooper Fives had ever met! He had been right. The conspiracy went all the way to the top! And nobody believed him. Would anyone believe him?
Abruptly and suddenly, Palpatine let go of him and Fives landed heavily on the floor. His reflexes were quick enough to pull out his blaster. This had to end! He owed it to Tup and all the other clones! Jango Fett would have wanted it that way!
"You!" Fives growled at the Chancellor, aiming the blaster at his chest.
Palpatine made no move to fight back. With indescribable speed, he rolled out of Fives' line of sight. And then the Supreme Chancellor yelled for help while his two red-robed sentries pushed open the door from the outside and the guards caught the now staggering Chancellor in their strong arms.
Fives thought only one thing: 'The door is finally open again!' He got to his feet and darted past the startled crowd, including Shaak Ti and Nala Se, who looked after him in horror.
"He suddenly attacked me. I was completely taken by surprise," Palpatine said, face numb from shock, to Shaak Ti, who had immediately rushed over and was now bending over the man, who was a third older, with an almost motherly expression on her face.
The Jedi Master checked briefly that Palpatine was okay. Then she felt that this wasn't where she should be right now. No longer. She turned abruptly from the Chancellor and Nala Se and went after Fives. The clone appeared to be seriously ill and Shaak Ti had a duty to help her child. She knew Fives wasn't to blame. Either he was ill, or Nala Se had really given him a drug, for whatever reason. She would find out on her own now. And when she recovered Fives, she would take him to the safety of the Jedi Temple. She would subdue him, as she once promised Prime Minister Lama Su. And then she would heal him - as has always been her duty as a Jedi healer. Fives would tell her everything if he had the quiet he needed now. And then the Jedi would know everything they needed to know.
Shaak Ti no longer saw the smug, if not triumphant, look in Nala Se's eyes. The Kaminoan had just accepted from Palpatine's hands the two chips that Fives must have given him during his private audience. Now the chief scientist of the cloning facilities exchanged a few nice words with Palpatine before returning to her rainy home planet.
Shaak Ti struggled to keep up with the elusive arc-trooper. The drug may have clouded Fives' consciousness, but it didn't affect his reflexes or physical strength. The Togruta used the Force to perform a gigantic leap in the air, right through the middle of the great first floor hall, while the crowd of people going about their business on the first floor of the Republica 500 Tower watched the Jedi from below or behind in awe . Shaak Ti had ordered the building's outer doors locked to prevent Fives from escaping. Now she saw how Fives, using all his strength, dived through the narrow gap of the closing door in front of him, while she was forced to break off her own sprint, ending up in front of the now closed door - helpless - left behind. It wasn't the closed door that annoyed her the most. But Five's refusal to confide in her, the caring clone soldier mother!
Shaak Ti went back to the temple to see how things would develop. Contrary to expectations, Master Yoda immediately had time for her.
"General Skywalker and Commander Rex - on their way to Fives - they are. Just talk to them – he wants," Yoda explained to the frustrated Shaak Ti.
She swallowed. Yes, of course. Fives had served under Skywalker for most of that time - and under Commander Rex. When in doubt, he would always trust a clone brother more than a Kaminoan, a Jedi, a Chancellor, or whoever! Fives was just like Arc-Trooper A-17! And now she was no longer worthy of Fives' trust. Would it have been different if she had stayed strong against Nala Se's resistance and had taken him straight to the temple? Even against Palpatine's will?
After a few hours, she met Anakin Skywalker in the Jedi Temple cantina.
"How is Fives?" she asked him.
"He was talking nonsense. From a chip. A conspiracy against the Jedi and the Republic. That the chancellor attacked him." At that sentence, Anakin put on an indignant, incredulous expression before continuing. "He was pretty aggressive. Wanted to grab a blaster when we were about to go to him. And that's when Fox shot him," Anakin told the Jedi Master tersely.
But Shaak Ti sensed Anakin mourning Fives. The terseness of his words and the look in his blue eyes spoke volumes. Shaak Ti was about to ask him why they didn't take Fives into custody instead of just executing him like that. Everything inside her screamed that Fives didn't deserve such a death. But he had gone after Chancellor Palpatine! To the man who held the Republic together. She couldn't tolerate that. Nobody could tolerate such a thing. Something like that had to be punished! Sick or not, Fives had become dangerous. And Anakin and Rex must have seen it the same way. It was for the good of the Republic and the Jedi that Commander Fox shot Fives - although Shaak Ti would have liked to have spoken to Fives beforehand. But Fives hadn't wanted that. And she had to respect that. She could no longer help her child. This left her perplexed and angry. She began to suspect that she probably didn't know the clones entrusted to her as well as she had previously believed.
Anakin Skywalker came close to asking Shaak Ti about her daughter, who, unlike Fives, she apparently didn't give a damn about. But he sensed the sincere sadness in the Jedi Master for Fives. Just as he had grown fond of the soldiers of the 501st Division. No, this was not the right moment to accuse the Togruta of her moral failings. Besides, Palpatine had forbidden him! So both Jedi silently mourned the death of Fives killed by his own brother.
The conversation between Master Yoda, Chancellor Palpatine, Nala Se and Shaak Ti brought clarity. Palpatine's two personal physicians had discovered that clone trooper Tup's inhibitor chip had apparently been infested with a parasite found only on this planet Ringo Vinda. An infection of other clones is excluded, the Chancellor assured his three listeners. In addition, as a precaution, he had prepared a vaccination for all the remaining clone troopers who would have to go to Ringo Vinda at some point. Shaak Ti breathed a sigh of relief at Palpatine's soothing words. She had done everything right. So Tup really had been ill. Fives, for some reason, had become obsessed with his clone brother's death. But now everything was fine again. Thanks Chancellor Palpatine. Was everything ok?
༺═───═༻
The signal the Jedi on Coruscant were receiving from the moon of the planet Oba Diah was weak. But still clear enough to tell which ship was sending it out. T-6 shuttle number 775519 had left Coruscant for an unknown destination thirteen years earlier to go on a special mission in the Outer Rim. At least that's what the pilot of the ship had explained to Master Yoda at the time. He never returned from this mission. Why did the distress signal suddenly come now, after thirteen years? Had it only been activated now due to a technical coincidence or was there more to it than that?
To find out, Master Plo Koon trudged through the snows of Oba Diah's moon, with a few clone troopers in tow. Finally he had found the old ship. He switched off the signal and looked around. Then he saw a lightsaber lying on the ground. He lit it and a blue blade sprang to life. He knew that blade. It had once belonged to Master Sifo-Dyas. While there was still no trace of this Jedi. The Kel'Dor immediately made its way back to Coruscant. In the temple he found conflicting information about Sifo-Dyas' activities at the time. Actually, Yoda had sent him to Felucia back then.
And in the archives of the temple there was an entry that there was a file on this matter which was kept under lock and key in the chancellery.
Now it was Master Yoda's turn to go to the Chancellor and question him on the matter. Palpatine hid his uneasiness from Master Yoda with his usual veiling of his presence in the Force and behind a stoic mask of grandeur. For this stoic, however, he was quite curious in Yoda's view as to what goals Yoda was actually pursuing in this matter and in this questioning. To finally refer the Green Grand Master to his predecessor, Chancellor Valorum, under whose government those files had been drawn up.
Before going to Palpatine's predecessor, Yoda received a message from Obi-Wan and Skywalker of Felucia. The blue-feathered Felucians had told Obi-Wan in their ancient dialect that they had burned Sifo-Dyas's body, but had no idea where the other Jedi had gone.
"The other Jedi?" Yoda asked back without his two best Jedi being able to give him an answer. Neither did they solved the puzzle of how Felucia's spaceship had gotten to Oba Diah's moon.
Once Yoda left, Darth Sidious activated his holo-projector and summoned Darth Tyranus.
"Master," Dooku, twenty years his senior, greeted the senior Sith.
The Jedi have found Sifo-Dya's spaceship and lightsaber. And now I ask you, Tyranus: What clue are the Jedi following?" Sidious inquired.
"If the Jedi have any clue as to the death of Sifo-Dyas, it is unknown to me," Dooku replied formally.
"Then back off your steps and destroy this clue!" Sidious demanded.
"That might be extremely risky, Mylord," Dooku replied evasively.
Now the Dark Lord of the Sith had had enough. He clenched his right fist and aimed it at the blue Holo-Dooku, which immediately rose from the ground in Serenno.
"This isn't the first time you've proved clumsy. And you know the punishment of the Dark Side for failure, Tyranus."
He let Dooku flounder for a while longer, then abruptly released him from his choke hold. Dooku fell heavily onto the polished tiles of his castle on Serenno. Then, reluctantly, he set out to carry out his master's command.
Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan embarked on the second part of their Sifo-Dyas mission. Yoda's visit to the former Chancellor had been most fruitful. Finis Valorum had told Yoda that he had assigned Sifo-Dyas his totally Force-insensitive and lightsaber-free assistant named Silman to mediate a conflict between the Pykes crime syndicate and the central government on Coruscant. He hadn't heard from either of them since then. So Silman had been the second Jedi the Felucians had spoken of.
Lom Pyke, the leader of the Pykes, was initially not particularly forthcoming with information. But he admitted to having been in negotiations with Finis Valorum. Until Anakin Skywalker used the Force to tear the then-Chancellor's Badge Necklace from his neck. Then Lom confessed to the two Jedi that he had held Valorum's assistant Silman captive for those thirteen years. As reassurance, as he put it. Because he didn't trust this Tyranus, who ordered him to kill Sifo-Dyas.
"Tyranus is dangerous and unpredictable - like anyone who orders the death of a Jedi", Lom Pyke sketched the danger.
Obi-Wan's eyes widened. He knew the name Tyranus. The Pykes had nothing to do with him anymore, Lom Pyke eagerly assured the Jedi, immediately leading them to the hostage to finally settle this issue between the Republic and his organization.
The Chancellor's former assistant, Finis Valorum, was completely neglected and mentally deranged when the two Jedi caught sight of him. Eventually he started talking – about something far worse than the Pykes. About someone powerful who wanted to be Sifo-Dyas. That everything is fraud. His throat tightened just as he was about to say a name. The Force picked him up. Then the unfortunate man breathed his last. Obi-Wan and Anakin spun around. They had already felt the familiar presence. And now they saw Count Dooku in person.
"Ah, so you do your dirty work yourself sometimes?" Skywalker sneered.
"Some things are just too important to be left to others," Dooku retorted, his voice hoarse.
Then the Jedi pounced on the brown-robed count, who didn't hesitate to activate his red blade. The Pykes joined the Jedi and drew their blasters.
"Kill Tyranus!" Lom Pyke ordered his men.
"So you're what they call Tyranus," Obi-Wan exclaimed in real surprise.
Memories dwelled up in him, memories of Jango Fett, who had confessed to him two years ago that it was Tyranus who had ordered the murder of Padmé Amidala. This Tyranus had chosen him to be the genetic model for the Republic's clone troopers. And now it turned out that Dooku, aka Tyranus, had an active interest in stopping the Jedi investigation into the Sifo-Dyas case. Another piece of the puzzle had been found.
"I told you everything you needed to know back on Geonosis, Kenobi. But you refused. While Sifo-Dyas understood. He saw the future. Completely in contrast to the other Jedi. That's why he helped me," Dooku said in a voice that reflected fatalistic melancholy.
The lightsaber fight of two blue and one red blade flared up again. Dooku then fled, not without first killing Lom Pyke, who had not only made the mistake of joining Darth Maul's shadow collective, but had now also joined forces with the Jedi openly against the second Sith Lord in the galaxy.
Darth Sidious grinned contentedly when Dooku reported on his successful mission via holoprojector.
"I did as you told me, my master," Dooku declared, bowing in humility.
"Didn't you show me Sifo-Dyas' lightsaber as a trophy before I made you Lord of the Sith, Tyranus?" Sidious snapped at his student.
Dooku was silent for a while.
"I don't check my lightsaber collection every day. Someone must have stolen that lightsaber from Serenno," he finally answered contritely.
"I really hope for you that your own lightsaber won't be stolen from you later, my student," Sidious replied. Then he let out a demonic laugh before ending the connection.
༺═───═༻
Once again, the Jedi Council had called a meeting to review Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi's Sifo-Dyas mission.
"Dooku hired the Pykes to kill Sifo-Dyas after Sifo-Dyas commissioned the clone army as a dummy on Dooku's behalf on Kamino," Obi-Wan explained after Yoda gave him the floor.
"Then from the start a creation of Dooku - the clones were," Yoda stated after his two flagship Jedi briefed him and the rest of the Council on all the details of their mission.
"If that were to become public knowledge, then trust in the Republic and the Jedi would be gone. Stampede would set in," Mace Windu pointed out to the audience.
"Dooku had mentioned this Darth Sidious back on Geonosis - who would influence and control the senators," Obi-Wan interjected. "Now everything makes sense. Dooku as a Sith Lord sent Sifo-Dyas to Kamino, then had him killed. And then he covered his straw man's trail, erased Kamino from the Temple's archives. As the Bear Clan youth correctly said back then."
"Perhaps Dooku is just the student when he presents himself to us like this. Quite the opposite of that ominous Sidious," Ki-Adi Mundi mused aloud.
"Maybe Sifo-Dyas acted in good faith while Dooku betrayed his trust and has been constantly trying to attack or sabotage the clone army ever since. Otherwise he wouldn't have had Tup's body kidnapped back then," explains Shaak Ti from Kamino, while she only followed the council meetings in her armchair as a bluish holo-image - as so often.
"Hmmm... so an army for us - the enemy created", Yoda stated. "But always faithful the clones - have served us. Saved our lives many times - they have. Trust the clones - we have to. This discovery - cover up we must. No one – not even the Chancellor – must know," Yoda implored the council members present.
"Is that the right way?" Mace Windu asked skeptically.
"The right way - no. The only way - yes. The Dark Lord of the Sith is responsible for this. Play along - we have to!" Yoda replied in resigned seriousness.
Dooku sat alone and bitter in the central command room at Castle Serenno. His triumph over Nala Se handing him the two chips was gone. He was more aware than ever that Sidious had seen through him. Once again. He had switched sides back then, hoping that Sith methods could help him restore and save the Republic. And eventually, when he had learned enough from his Sith Master, he would kill him according to Sith tradition. And then he would have single-handedly ended the menace of the Sith forever. After that, he would have reformed the Jedi Order. Dooku knew that many Jedi wanted this - for a variety of reasons. But Sidious was always one step ahead of him. Sidious had sensed one time that his student was about to conspire against him with his favorite student Asajj Ventress. So Sidious had ordered Dooku to kill Ventress and flashed a mocking recognition in his eyes when he noticed his student's hesitation.
It had bothered Dooku much earlier to have his Jedi friend Sifo-Dyas killed, then later his former Padawan Komari Vosa, in the ultimate sacrifice to please Sidious and prove himself worthy of his new order.
Then, eleven years later, Ventress, who so reminded him of his former Padawan. Ventress – fighting two-handed with two lightsabers, like Komari Vosa once did, constantly walking the line between darkness and light, like himself secretly. But unlike back then, he didn't have the heart to kill Ventress himself. So he had unleashed his battle droids on her when she ran into trouble with the Jedi during her mission on Sullust. Dooku had sincerely hoped that Ventress would escape his ambush. That hope was then fulfilled. But not the hope to finally find a strong ally who would help him bring down Sidious. Obi-Wan had refused back then on Geonosis. And this despite the fact that he had told him his master's Sith name!
But didn't the Jedi see the noose tightening around their necks? Sidious had made no move to entrust Dooku with the training of a new powerful Dark Side Acolyte since Asajj Ventress was ordered assassinated. So this card was exhausted. And Dooku didn't see that his master really wanted a new better order in the galaxy. No, the order of the Sith as Sidious envisioned, an order in which insidiousness and brutality crippled any forces needed for society to rebuild from within itself, that was not the order Dooku envisioned. The Outer Rim systems, which he intended to turn into flagships of the Separatist movement, acted as a deterrent to the center of the Republic. No, that wasn't the right way! Was there another?
Dooku didn't know. He also didn't know if the Jedi would ever forgive him if he got along with them again. But this gigantic destruction, which his master gradually unfolded more and more in the galaxy, he could not and would not bear any longer. So Dooku had decided to turn to the Jedi again to open their eyes. He himself had secretly flown to Oba Diah in order to deposit his former friend's lightsaber there in the crashed spaceship of Sifo-Dyas. Dooku himself had activated the distress signal, which his unfortunate friend had failed to activate thirteen years earlier.
He had gone through all this trouble to warn his former brethren and sisters, to give the Jedi the information they needed to track down Sidious. And what did the Jedi do? They had nothing better to do than run straight to Chancellor Palpatine and question him on the matter. And hence to expose Dooku in front of his master! No, the Jedi couldn't be helped anymore. They deserved to be destroyed! And he was forced to keep playing this rip-off game of Sidious. And to continue to follow his master's commands, no matter what they might be!
Dooku felt there was no more hope for him. This was the second time that his master had accused him of insubordination and disloyalty. Now Sidious was alarmed. Dooku couldn't afford a third unsuccessful attempt of this kind. He sighed in resignation. Then he poured himself a glass of wine. He took a few sips, then set the glass down to activate the holo-projector. General Grievous' likeness appeared in front of him. Dooku gave him the instructions given by his master. This mission for Sidious had to be a success. This mission would forever change the tug-of-war between the Republic and the Separatists in favor of the latter.
However, Dooku was not entirely comfortable with the idea of converting young Skywalker to the Dark Side, as Sidious wished. Skywalker to replace Ventress? Unthinkable! Would the young Jedi ever forgive him cutting off his right hand back on Geonosis? Finally the holo-grievous was gone again. Count Dooku finished his glass of wine and went to bed.
When Shaak Ti returned to Kamino to oversee the clone troopers' training and health, everything seemed to be back to normal. But Shaak Ti knew it would never be the same again. Nala Se seemed more distant towards her now than she already was in her Kaminoan way. Naturally! The almost white woman with the long neck had a guilty conscience! The Kaminoans hadn't found the cause of Tup's illness! Fives in interaction with the Chancellor's doctors, on the other hand, did! Shaak Ti suddenly felt very alone in the rainy Kamino. Suddenly she longed for Shili again, for the steppes and the dry heat of her home planet.
Author's Note: This chapter contains the plot lines of the TCW Season 6 episodes dealing with the fates of the clone troopers Tup and Fives and the episode "Lost," which deals with the fate of Sifo-Dyas. With that, the story about the creation, becoming and working of the clone army in my story is as good as over.