Kamino - Part 2

As it turned out, Jango was completely correct when it came to her proclivities and she was wide-eyed the moment they arrived on the stormy planet. Zaiya loved rain and storms, there was something about them, the rumbling of thunder, the patter of rain. There were no rain storms like this on Dathomir. The occasional rainfall, but it was icy and biting to the skin, mostly it was fog and wind that sounded like the planet itself screaming. No booming rolling thunder there. Even here on Kamino it was cold, but there was so much water. The churning seas and fat drops falling on the viewport.

She remembered the first storm she had seen, on a jungle planet on a mission with the three hunters. They were waiting for their target in a makeshift shelter. It was warm there, and sticky, but the rain began to fall. She'd flinched when the first drop landed on her head. Adaji had laughed at her sudden fright, even more so when she jumped a foot in the air at the first crack of thunder. She'd not heard anything like it before.

The Mandalorian had done well to explain the sound, but when she'd stepped out of the little hut and saw lightning for the first time. The teenager had been so enamoured she'd stepped out into the torrential downpour and tried to reach for the clouds while leaning on the railing. She'd felt the electricity in the air, her hair stood up on end and she felt the thrill when it struck a lightning rod not far from her. Her eyes lit up like beacons in the dark at such wonder of the natural world, finally she had been called in, now that she was soaked from head to toe. She didn't care of course but the others seemed to. She spent the rest of the time they were in that hut staring at the sky in awe until she fell into a peaceful sleep. One of the few times she slept without dreams, bad or otherwise.

Since then, she'd found rain was the one thing that helped her sleep well and feel calm. Kamino was thrilling to her, the pod-like structures, an entire city contained in these shapes. She gaped at the surroundings as Slave 1 came to rest on the platform.

"I think she likes it, Dad." Boba laughed, and she turned to see the boy giggling at her. Jango let out a low laugh as he moved to stand. Her mouth shut with an audible 'click' and a pout.

"Oh hush," She chuckled and made to move out of the cockpit. Then she flicked the Bounty Hunter a look as she reached the bottom of the latter. "I don't assume you are permitted to bring visitors?" She asked as she pulled her mask up.

"You're right, but you just need to tell them Lord Tyranus sent you." Jango explained, helping Boba down from the ladder with his free hand.

"Why does everyone wait until the last minute to tell me important details?" Zaiya huffed, mostly to herself.

"Do you want me to give you all the answers or do you want to find out for yourself?" She could almost hear his smirk under that helmet he'd just slid on and she let out a scoff. Bounty Hunters… Though… she was curious to learn more. What could be paying so well that he called a place like this home? She might find it fascinating, but it didn't seem like Jango's style.

They crossed the platform quickly to avoid being too soaked in the rain, Zaiya used her cloak to keep most of the rain from Boba's head as they entered. There was no one to greet them, luckily, as it seemed Jango often came and went on his own. He escorted her to the living quarters he had been granted before beginning to shuck his armour.

"I think perhaps I should keep my face hidden…" She mused, tapping her chin. "Do you have anything I can cover this with?" She gestured to her eye.

"I thought you could do that… changeling thing." he waved a hand at her in a general fashion as he removed his gloves, Boba took to wiping the armour down with a dry cloth as soon as Jango placed it down.

"I can but since… well." She gestured at her face. "The eye is the only thing I cannot change."

"That's not so helpful when you have to disguise yourself." The Mandalorian snorted.

"Tell me about it."

"How'd you lose it?"

"Tried to catch a lightsaber with my face." She deadpanned without hesitation. Jango let out a laugh and shook his head. He took a moment to compose himself and stepped over to one of the small storage panels and after a minute, handed her a patch that would cover the eye. Thankfully it was a tan colour rather than white. Though everything here was white.

There was a knock on the outer door as Zaiya finished covering her eye, the rest of her face changed in a flash to look more human, hiding her tattoos and making her skin less pale as she threw her hood back on. Boba dutifully answered the door, though she noticed he was a little more sullen as he had to deal with whoever was there. She heard a musical voice, asking to speak with Jango.

"It's Nala Se." Boba said as he returned to the room where Zaiya and Jango were. Zaiya turned to look and was glad her face was mostly covered, as the sight of seeing a Kaminoan for the first time was rather startling. The tall, slow moving white creature with giant dark eyes was something to behold, and a little frightening at first glance. This 'Nala Se' fixed Zaiya with a piercing look before turning to Jango and speaking in a voice that was soft and gentle.

"I had come to finalise some of the previous tests with you, but we were not aware you were bringing friends, Jango." She stated, her tone was calm but the double entendre was clear. Zaiya was not welcome.

"Not a friend exactly. This is -"

"Siren." Zaiya turned and immediately fell into the role she was given, hands behind her back and head high with arrogance. "Lord Tyranus suggested I see the progress of this operation for myself. Master Fett was kind enough to offer transport." Her voice was sharp and authoritative. The mood in the room changed at once. Tyranus was apparently a powerful name. Zaiya would have to look into him later.

"We… had no word from Lord Tyranus about this…?"

"No, you wouldn't have. He deemed it worthy of being a surprise visit. Is there a problem?" Zaiya fixed the Kaminoan with a death glare, her good eye the only part of her really visible under her cloak and light armour.

"No, no not at all." Nala Se replied, suddenly her towering height and willowy frame seemed dwarfed in the presence of this woman in black.

"Good." She turned back to face Jango, "Thank you for your assistance in this, Master Fett, I shall return to continue this conversation after a tour of the facility." She flashed him a wink only he could see and he smirked.

"As you wish."


The sounds of slithering and chittering were all around him. Somewhere above there was the creak of metal and the sounds of flames roaring in distant winds. Then there were the whispers. The doubts and misery and complaints… The angry voices of his failings, curses and vile poison. Failure. Failure. Failed!

The sweet clarity had faded when he had woken after their last encounter, but there was a difference this time. Peace is a lie. The fog of madness was not so thick, not so heavy. He felt himself able to pull himself up and into some coherent thought. Failure. He was sure he could still feel her touch on the side of his face, and he was sure this time. This time it was real. He felt it, deep in the Force he had felt her, somehow, she was there.

Far above, far below.

The loss of that feeling was enough to drive him into madness once more, but part of him fought a little harder this time. She was looking for him. She promised to come. So he needed to do more. To reach out this time. Weak. He would no longer hide… he couldn't. He could not do as he had done. Wallow in grief and despair and rage and hatred.

Survive.

He had done so of course, clinging to what he could and rebuilding himself by his own hands. We don't know where we'll fall. Until he could function, move about and… and yet he was incomplete. The monster he was now evident in his haggard appearance. At first he had just tried to survive, then he had waited… surely his master would come for him. He had been an obedient servant. Pathetic. He had undertaken all tasks and never failed… until he did. Was that why he was left? Abandoned and forgotten like a piece of refuse? Or was it his previous defiance? Was it because of her that he was forgotten?

Far above, far below. At one point he had raged, convincing himself she had done this to him somehow. That her appearance had been the reason his master never returned. Though the feeling came and went and he went from hating her, wishing she had never found him… to just missing her. The Sith lie. To have someone look at him like the way she did again. To watch her eyes fill with light as she spoke of the stars. To watch her fight with such blazing passion. There is only passion. She was filled with a light, not unlike the stars she spoke of. He remembered seeing the stars as a child now, remembered the way he thought of them, and the way she had spoken of them, there was that same awe… and yet- He gripped his head in pain at the memory. Weak. Failure. Lost

It was the same in the dreams and nightmares, for a moment thinking he was in her arms again only for it to be snatched away. Through passion I gain strength. Dreaming that he was the one with the power to do as he pleased and bend the galaxy to his will… only to feel the cold grip of his master suffocating him and casting him down. And he would wake. In the dark. In the dirt. Always remember I am filth. The endless screams from his own mouth echoed through the strange cavern he found himself in. The hole in which he lived… if this could be called living at all. What once was great is rendered small.

There was more to it now. She had appeared again… not dead. Not a torment of a dream to tell him he had failed… to fulfill an oath. She was coming for him. Now he had to do something too. Abandoned. He forced the voices aside, crawling from the depths of his own mind as he had at the bottom of that shaft on Naboo. He would do what he must.

Metal tapped and clunked against the ground and scrap of the trash planet he had found himself on. Always remember I am nothing. Using the legs he had held together with the Force alone, and pushing his bulk through the passage, he forced himself up. Toward the surface.

There was a voice, one that he knew was real, the one he had bargained with. The serpent that brought him food, and took away what was left. Indebted after Maul inadvertently saved his miserable skin after he first arrived on this pathetic planet. Pathetic. Weak. Failed. Perhaps this creature could be of help to him once more.

"Masssterrr…" Hissed the Anacondan.

"Find…" He rasped, so unused to speaking more than screams of rage and muttered whispers. "...signal… I must-yes yes, send the signal… find a path… find a way back..." Words were difficult, but he knew what he needed. Far above, far below. A device among this mess, the broken pieces and abandoned trash must be something useful. If he could break from the fog within for long enough to put something together. The large head of the snake tilted, bulged eyes darting back and forth.

"A communications relay? Yes… yes master I can find this for you…" With a bob of his head the Anacondan turned and slithered away. Unworthy. The zabrak let out a groan, constant pain wracked his body, especially where he connected to the metal parts of his cybernetic anatomy. Constant agony, constant pain and discomfort. But soon, he would find a way back… once he had the relay… Through strength I gain power. He could find his way home.

Eventually the creature Morley had been successful with gathering the parts together, finding all sorts of scrap, he dragged it down to the depths of the strange labyrinth in which the monster lived. Mutters and whispers or screams and rage or all at once somehow. Weak. Filth. His mind was in ruins but enough cognitive function remained that he could put together the device. Though it seemed there was only enough range to send to nearby systems, nothing long range. He didn't even know what frequency she was on, how he might find her… but he knew what to do. If anything was still true of the galaxy… greed would be his ally. Through power I gain victory. The light flicked on. There was life in the device. A snarl escaped the broken zabrak. There was a way out now. A way of escape. He leaned in, to record his message to send out to the stars.


Nala Se was nervous, Zaiya could tell through the force, it radiated off her in waves, though Zaiya said nothing about it as they walked down the long white halls.

"The Prime Minister will be eager to see you…" The Kaminoan began.

"Perhaps later, Lord Tyranus was quite clear that I must get a full report regarding your progress, though he was vague on details, refresh me up to this point on the operation would you? Starting with your position." A subtle threat, one Nala Se was quick to pick up on, apparently whoever Tyranus was, she was acting the part of someone that might work for him. In truth… she was trying to imitate her Master. Were he in her position she was sure he would act similar. Though perhaps a bit more forceful with his saber.

"Of course, Lady Siren. My position is chief scientist, I am an integral part of the operation here." One way to say that it was unwise to threaten her. Well countered, Zaiya thought. "As you know, Jedi master Sifo Dias and Lord Tyranus have commissioned our facility for a clone army. Thus far our numbers are in the hundreds of thousands with more being produced as we speak. We await the Jedi to arrive for their Grand Army of the Republic soon." Zaiya had to pretend that it wasn't a massive shock to hear this. A clone army? For the Jedi?! She began to piece things together as they came to a viewing window, she looked down into a giant mess hall, her eyes widened behind her hood. It was Jango… but… a lot of him. No, they just looked like him, but the little lights she could see within them through her nexus eye were all different. Jango was a clone template and…

"I see…" She mused, pausing to watch them. Clones of Jango, of her family member. Did… did this make them her family too? Technically they weren't blood related… Why was that the first thing she thought of? "So then Boba-"

"Yes, the clone Boba is an unaltered clone, one Jango requested for himself to raise as his son." That was an interesting development. Though it made a little more sense, Jango didn't seem the settling down type, and it explained a lack of a mother.

"You say unaltered, is that merely psychological? Or are there physiological alterations to the other clones as well?" The Nightsister had a lot to wrap her head around. This was… a lot. She continued down the hallway with the chief Scientist.

"For the most part, the clones have been altered to make them more docile, and pliant to orders." Nala Se explained. Zaiya felt her throat tighten, the way she said it was… incredibly uncomfortable. Still, she had a role to play, and said nothing. "They have also been enhanced to not become sick as easily as natural born humans, more resilient in their biology."

"Such an army…" Zaiya marvelled, clearly they were expecting to be needed soon, she recalled the strange shift she had felt in the Force when she was once again connected. It had felt vastly different. Someone knew of this shift and had prepared for it. Unless that someone was causing it… though how could it be possible? The Jedi had done this? Then, why were there no Jedi here? At least, none that she could sense.

"They are impressive, are they not?" Nala Se stated proudly. She seemed so pleased with herself.

"And these… soldiers, they are ready to deploy?" Zaiya asked.

"Almost, another few months and we expect the Jedi to come for them."

"The Jedi have not visited so far?"

"Not since the order was placed, that was… nearly nine years ago now." Nine years? Someone had indeed had great foresight to think this far ahead. It was such a… a grand plan… Those words echoed through her mind.

My master has grand plans.

Of course. This had Sidious written all over it. Though she had no proof, she had to suspect that he was involved. She would have to tread carefully, whether Sidious used the name Tyranus or had another apprentice to replace the one he'd lost. The Nightsister's skin prickled. This was a dangerous place for her to be if her suspicions were correct.

Still, her curiosity was too strong.

"Would you care to inspect them in person?" Nala Se asked suddenly. Zaiya paused. That was not a good idea… but she agreed. Nala Se then spoke into a communicator and requested that certain members from something called an ARC program be brought to one of the rooms for inspection.

Inspection. Zaiya's lip curled under her mask, she remembered something similar on Zygerria. Searches for contraband, for anything against the rules. Anyone caught disobeying was punished. Severely. However, Zaiya again said nothing, having to bite her tongue and keep to the role she must play. Suddenly Zaiya felt eyes on her and looked down. In the cafeteria they were overlooking, she spotted several pairs of dark eyes looking up at her. Her own blue eye gazed down meeting the eyes of one of the clones. He looked curious, but also suspicious and while some of the others looked away, he kept her gaze. She offered a nod, before moving to join Nala Se in her escort. Interesting.


Notes:

Welcome to Kamino! What a warm welcome!

Who will she be 'inspecting' I wonder? Place your guesses in the comments!

Again, thank you for the responses! It seems you liked the reveal of Zaiya's father! I wonder how Adaji will take this? It might be a while since we see him, but I am sure he will have OPINIONS.

And what is Maul up to? I wonder if he will be able to reach out?

I always love your comments, and feedback so please please please keep them coming! Next week we encounter a few different clones that may be rather familiar. Perhaps even some... mutated ones? Find out how that goes in next week's chapter 'Madness'!

See you then!