Chapter 5: Fugitives
STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS
Cause of death: unknown.
Kaminoan doctor Nala Se was unable to find the cause of an illness in clone trooper Tup. In a desperate attempt to save his friend's life, Fives, along with Jedi Padawan Leia Organa located and removed a tumour from Tup's brain, with the help of medical droid AZI-3.
Immediately following the procedure, Tup died, and both Fives and Leia were placed under arrest. Now the tumour is the only hope for finding answers to Tup's mysterious illness...
Tipoca City, Planet Kamino. 19 BBY.
"General, what did the Chancellor say?" Fives asked the Togrutan. He was once again sitting on an examination table with Leia Organa standing nearby.
"Supreme Chancellor Palpatine wants the tumor and all of the intel gathered sent to the Grand Republic Medical Facility on Coruscant."
"So, then we'll be going to Coruscant as well?" Leia asked.
"You were not a part of the Chancellor's request." Nala Se stated to them both.
"I'm sorry, Fives and Leia, but this is a matter best left to the medical professionals." Shaak Ti said as she placed Tup's tumor into a case. "There is still so much we do not know."
"Perhaps we would know more if this clone and this jedi had not taken matters into his own hands." Nala Se spoke.
"Listen! I was trying to save my friend!" Fives objected.
"And yet perhaps by removing this tumor, it was you who kill him." Nala coldly stated back.
"What do you care? You were going to kill him anyway and dissect him too." Leia asked the Kaminoan.
"He's a soldier. He deserves better!" the ARC trooper continued his protest. "Stand down, you two!" Shaak Ti ordered them.
"Doctor, there is no proof of your claim. I want this specimen and all the data prepared for transit to the Jedi Temple."
"The Chancellor said the tumor and data was to be sent directly to the Medical Facility on Coruscant, not the Jedi Temple." Nala objected. "And it will get there, but after the Jedi have run an analysis on it first." Shaak Ti countered.
"I protest. I must personally deliver the tumor to the Chancellor as ordered."
"You can protest all you want. Our word is final." Leia told her, grinning at the Kaminoan. If the Jedi will discover that the clones' secret, then they could stop Palpatine. Soon, another Kaminoan entered with two clones. Shaak Ti approached Fives who looked worried.
"You have one more physical to pass. If you are cleared, you will be sent back to the 501st." Shaak Ti told Leia and Fives. "Thank you, General." The ARC trooper answered, nodding.
"It will be good to put this entire incident behind you, trooper." Shaak Ti responded. "I agree." Nala Se added. Soon, everyone was preparing to leave the chambers. As they followed Shaak Ti and Lama Su, both Fives and Leia noticed that one of the medical droids took a different case. As they walked through the illuminated corridors of Tipoca City, the two saw a familiar figure.
"AZI-3." Fives exclaimed.
"Hello, ARC trooper Fives and Commander Luce." The droid answered as he was followed by clones. "I regret that we were unable to heal your friend."
"Yeah, me too." Fives answered. "Are you going to be reprogrammed as well?" AZI asked.
"No, AZI, we're going back to the front." Leia told the droid. "That is not what I heard. I heard your mind was going to be wiped and that you would reassigned here and placed on sanitation detail. We can still be friends, assuming we both remember each other after our memories have been erased." AZI responded, much to the shock of both Leia and the ARC-trooper.
"Let's go, CT-5555." The Kaminoan scientist told the ARC trooper.
"No!" Fives shouted in defiance as he jumped at the Kaminoan, knocking him down, while Leia knocked out the clone troopers by smashing them against the wall using the Force.
"Look what you did!" AZI exclaimed as he approached the two, with various droids and Kaminoans standing as they saw the whole thing. "I cannot believe what you did."
"I am not getting my mind erased, and neither are you." Fives told the droid. Just then, the Kaminoan scientist pressed a button, alerting the city's garrison.
"Let's get out of here!" Leia yelled.
"Are we escaping?" AZI asked as he followed Fives and Leia. Soon, they returned to the medical chamber where they were kept. Both Leia and Fives dashed to the case with the tumor once they saw it, still on the desk and untouched.
"Why are we here?" AZI-3 asked, but both the teenage girl and the ARC trooper ignored it as Fives opened the case. "I knew it." He said. "Nala Se switched the cases. She's trying to hide something."
"That schutta!" Leia cursed, as she recalled the Huttese word for bitch from her time with Jabba on Tatooine.
"Oh, the tumor?" AZI asked with curiosity. "So, we are going to continue our research?"
"Yeah, the research." Fives answered with a smirk. "That's it."
"Now, come on!" Leia yelled as she pushed the droid towards the exit. "Whoa!" AZI exclaimed. The three dashed through the corridors, this time illuminated with red light. They soon arrived to the docking bay, which was filled with Kamino flight pods. The three approached one of them, only for a clone pilot to come out.
"I'm sorry, sir. All ships are locked down during the emergency." The pilot reported after both he and Fives saluted to each other.
"Oh, what about that one?" Leia asked, pointing somewhere. It worked as Fives knocked out the distracted pilot. The girl helped the ARC trooper to put the pilot down beside a crate as both Shaak Ti and Nala Se entered with a batch of clones.
"There they are!" the clone commander yelled, pointing at the trio of fugitives.
"Sorry, brother." Fives apologized to the unconscious clone only for Leia to tell him to hurry up as their pursuers were close. She dashed into the spacecraft, pushing aside AZI, trying to launch the pod. Leia froze as she looked at the Kaminoan technology, seeing it for the first time, and unsure of what she must press. She didn't have to guess as Fives pushed her aside just as she pushed the droid. The ARC trooper launched the pod and the three left the docking bay in seconds.
"I want them brought in alive." Shaak Ti ordered her commander. "Have that ship tracked."
"Yes, ma'am."
Leia, meanwhile, watched as they were further and further away from Tipoca City.
"Can you float?" Fives asked the droid, turning to him.
"I am buoyant and have several survival modes." The droid simply stated. "Ah, survival, eh?" Fives asked as he activated the autopilot.
"Wait. What are you doing?" Leia asked. "I thought we were escaping." AZI added.
"Nope, this is a diversion." Fives began explaining. "I need them to chase this pod while we go back and investigate the cause of Tup's death. Any more questions?"
"Actually, yes, now that you mention it..." Having none of the droid's questions, Fives threw both Leia and AZI out of the pod and joined them by jumping out of the spacecraft, diving into the waters of Kamino. While AZI managed to emerge from the water without help, Fives had to swim deeper to save Leia who has began drowning. The two emerged and the girl began coughing, spitting the sea water of her mouth.
"AZI! AZI!" Fives called for the droid as he held Leia.
"Now what?" the droid asked in annoyance. "We're going back to figure out why Tup died." Fives stated.
"I can get us there much faster." AZI-3 told the two and with that, it changed a mode, resembling a little speeder.
"Oh! You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" an impressed Fives praised the droid. "This is one of my various survival modes. I am equipped to..."
Fives, however, didn't listen to the droid, as he sat on the droid's saddle. Leia sat behind him on whatever space their was for her, wrapping her arms around the clone.
"A 'thank you' would have been nice." AZI grumbled as they flew above the sea.
In Tipoca City, Nala Se entered the same chamber and once again contacted Darth Tyranus.
"Lord Tyranus, you summoned me?" the Kaminoan scientist asked.
"Prime Minister Lama Su tells me there has been a complication. What has happened to the inhibitor chip?" the Sith lord asked, his voice filled with frustration and disappointment.
"It was stolen by a renegade clone." Nala Se answered.
"What does this clone know?"
"Nothing as of yet. He is just a soldier after all, however he was a... friend to the clone which malfunctioned." Nala answered reluctantly, but she knew that lying to the Sith was pointless, and deadly dangerous.
"This behavior is unsettling." Tyranus complained. "First the malfunctioning clone, and now a renegade. Are you certain these soldiers will live up to your design in the end?"
"I am certain." The Kaminoan female answered with confidence, and in some amount of arrogance. "The malfunction to the inhibitor chip is an aberration."
"And how do you explain the renegade?"
"I'm afraid the Jedi have inspired creative thinking in some of the clones." Nala began explaining. "That is the cause of this type of divergent behavior."
"Will this interfere with protocol 66?"
"No, I am certain of that." Nala assured him. "Find the renegade clone immediately, and make sure you recover the chip. The true nature of the inhibitor chip must not be discovered by the Jedi." Tyranus ordered.
"Yes, Lord Tyranus." Nala bowed in obedience before the hologram vanished.
"Once we're inside, I need you to get me a change of clothes, AZI." Fives told the droid as the three sneaked back into Tipoca City. AZI flew away and both Leia and Fives hid. Soon, AZI-3 returned with a clone trooper.
"I think he was over there." AZI spoke to the trooper when Fives approached the clone from behind and knocked him out.
"We need to get the tumor analyzed." The ARC trooper told the girl and the droid after he put on the clone armor. "Follow me."
Leia followed them two, still feeling fatigue from drowning. Yet, she followed. After what seemed like eternity, the three arrived to what seemed like an archive or library, stored with data. Leia felt uneasy the hall was filled with Kaminoans only.
"This is the Genetic Records Hall." AZI-3 began explaining. "It contains data on the original DNA of every being we have ever cloned."
Passing through the various computers, with the Kaminoans paying no attention to them, the three arrived to a computer with the screen of a clone, or the donor, as Leia guessed.
"We will compare the tumor's DNA versus that of Jango Fett, the original donor." AZI-3 told them while Leia froze in shock. 'Jango Fett? Does he have something to do with Boba Fett?' Leia mentally asked. AZI, meanwhile, was busy working with the disguised ARC trooper.
"If any tumor like this has been noted before, we will find it." AZI lectured before asking for the tumor. Fives gave the tumor to the droid. AZI injected it into the computer. The screen immediately showed a red exclamation mark, much to the confusion of both Leia and Fives.
"Nothing." AZI stated. "What?" Fives asked.
"The sample doesn't match anything found in the Jango Fett genotype. Furthermore, it is not even completely organic. It is foreign to the body. Someone implanted it there." AZI explained.
"An implant?" Leia asked with shock. "You mean this isn't an accident? Someone did this to Tup?" Fives also asked.
"Precisely."
Nala Se stood inside the Kamino command center, trying her best to tolerate the presence of Jedi Shaak Ti who was sitting in a chair beside her. Since the Clone Wars began and the Jedi took in the clone forces, the Kaminoan chief scientist was getting annoyed with their interference in the affairs of the production and upbringing of the clones. Not only her, but the whole personnel of the facilities, the scientists, the engineers, did not welcome the presence of the Jedi. Yet, she had to tolerate, as long as the Republic kept demanding more clones for the war.
"There have been no unauthorized ships leaving Kamino, General." A clone reported to the Togrutan Jedi. "I sense we are looking in the wrong place." Shaak Ti said as she stood up. Just then, a commander and two clones entered. "We have a report from the Genetic Records Hall." The clone commander reported.
"Explain."
"Someone is accessing the Jango Fett genotype." The commander explained. "It's them." Nala Se immediately stated.
"Evacuate that room quietly." Shaak Ti ordered the Kaminoan.
Leia felt something in the Force as she noticed the Kaminoans began leaving the hall. Fives also noticed it.
"Is there another way out of here, besides the door we came in?" he asked the droid. "Yes, there are emergency access hatches in every major room in case of flooding." AZI-3 answered.
"Good. Let's get moving." Leia said as the droid led them to a ladder. As they climbed up towards the hatch with AZI flying, the clones led by Shaak Ti broke in.
"There!" she yelled, but it was too late, as the fugitives closed the hatch and AZI sealed it.
"It's no good. They've sealed it from the inside." The clones told the Jedi as they tried to open the hatch. "Station your men at every access point back into the main hallway system." Nala Se ordered.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Did you get all the information you needed?" Leia asked the droid as they walked through the vent.
"Mostly." AZI answered. "We know that the tumor is a foreign material and was implanted for an unknown reason. However, there is still so much we do not know about it. For example, at what stage was it introduced to clone Tup? And why?"
"What is this thing? Why would someone put it in Tup?" Fives asked in despair. "I believe this is an organic chip built out of cells." AZI guessed as he examined the tumor.
"But what's it for?" Leia turned to the droid. "I do not know."
"I need to find out if what was in Tup's head is in mine." Fives suddenly for Leia stated.
"We have already done a scan and..." Leia was about to protest. "But it was missed in Tup, and it could have been missed in me too." Fives objected as he turned to AZI. "You have to take it out."
"We cannot be 100% sure if the chip is even there." AZI argued, obviously worried for the clone.
"I know it's there." Fives replied with confidence. "It is a dangerous surgery." AZI warned.
"Look, you got it out of Tup. You can get it out of me." Fives argued. "He died after I removed the chip. Maybe it is connected. You may die too." AZI-3 suggested.
"It's a chance I have to take. I trust you."
"All right, I will do it. Let us go to a sterile facility." AZI reluctantly agreed. With that, the three headed for the sterile facility. They opened another hatch and jumped into another corridor. They then entered another medical chamber. Placing his carbine on a desk, Fives immediately lied onto a bed while AZI took a syringe, approaching the clone. Leia stood on guard as she took out her lightsaber.
"Hold still. This will not hurt a bit." AZI warned the clone as he began the procedure. "You will only be unconscious for a few minutes."
"Well? Was it... was it there?" Leia asked as Fives stood up, with his head shaved. "Yes. Identical in structure." AZI answered as he showed the implant to the two. "However, it appears that the one I found in your friend had malfunctioned, while yours is perfectly intact."
"Are you sure his breakdown was... isolated?" the ARC trooper asked. "There is no way of knowing that. And now that we have removed your chip, we do not know what will happen to you." AZI told him.
"So, then I could snap too?"
"Possibly." AZI said with concern. "But when we removed the chip from Tup, he... I am afraid you may die as well."
Leia looked at the droid confused with the whole situation. What is the purpose of this implant, what does it do, she thought.
"I need to know if more clones than just Tup and I have these and when we were implanted with them." Fives stated as he looked at he implant before giving it to Leia to look at it. The girl then took Tup's and compared. The droid was right, Tup's implant looked malfunctioned.
"My analysis suggests implantation took place at the earliest stage of development, most likely when you and Tup were only embryos." AZI predicted.
"Then we have to start there."
"How are we going to do that?" Leia asked. "We'll go to the embryo room, where the embryos are stored." Fives answered.
So far, they were lucky that the corridors were empty, and they were unnoticed. However, that didn't last long as they passed a class with the cadets learning with computers. Trying to act normal, the three past the two Kaminoans overwatching the class. Leia immediately sensed trouble as one of the instructors contacted the superiors. Still, they headed on to the embryo room.
Leia gasped once they entered. What she saw was a hall, with columns filled with tubs of embryos. Distracted, Leia approached on of the tubs and put her hand on it, looking at the embryo. She smiled to herself as she recalled that she was also an embryo, but in a woman's womb. She wondered to herself, what was it like to be pregnant, with a living being growing inside of you before being born. A tear fell as Leia thought of Han. They haven't slept yet, they were not married either, but Han welcomed the idea of one day becoming a parent. Leia thought she would have loved it, if not for her bloodline. She made a promise that she will not give birth to Vader's grandchildren, and she will keep that promise.
"We will start with the earliest stage of development." AZI told the clone as the droid used the computer to scan one of the embryos. "Nothing. I will now try a stage three embryo."
AZI-3 then began scanning another embryo.
"There it is!" the droid exclaimed. "Try another." Leia told him, which he did. AZI then turned to Fives and Leia.
"Based on this data, I can calculate how many in this tree are altered." AZI then pressed the button. Fives and Leia had their faces paled as the computer showed that all embryos of stage 3 have implants.
"I can't believe it." Fives said in disbelief. "They all have one." Leia said, also shocked. Just then, a door opened, and the trio saw Nala Se approaching them. Fives immediately aimed his DC-15S carbine at the Kaminoan.
"Don't move." He told her in a deadly tone.
"Why are you doing this?" Nala asked as she raised her hands, approaching them, while Leia took out her lightsaber.
"I know what you've done." Fives spoke, still holding the scientist at gunpoint.
"What is it that you think I have done?"
"How do you explain this?" Fives snarled at her as he dragged towards the computer, pointing at the screen.
"That is a structural inhibitor chip, which is supposed to prevent you from being aggressive, like your source, Jango Fett." Nala Se began giving excuses. "Jedi Master Syfo-Dias instructed us to implant them during your growth cycle."
"The Jedi? The Jedi had this done to us?" Fives asked her. Leia looked at the Kaminoan in disbelief. She was one hundred percent sure that the Jedi have nothing to do with this. It was the Sith. Leia always believed that the story of the Jedi building an army in secret from the Republic was nothing more but Imperial propaganda to discredit the wiped-out knights. At least, they said that the Jedi wanted to use the clones to plunge the galaxy into war and chaos and take over the Republic.
"It is not uncommon to have inhibitors placed in a clone." Nala continued. "I have analyzed this one, and apparently it has failed." AZI objected as he showed Tup's chip to the Kaminoan.
"Up until this point, there has never been a problem." Nala interjected. "Well, you have got a big problem now." Leia told her when the Kaminoan guard led by Shaak Ti entered.
"Don't move! Drop your weapon." The clones ordered the two as Shaak Ti ignited her lightsaber. "Master Jedi, I know what's going on." Fives yelled to the Togrutan. "We have the evidence." Leia added.
"The Jedi instructed that inhibitor chips be implanted in us at birth, but Tup's malfunctioned." Fives began explaining. "That's what made him lose control."
"Where is the evidence?" Shaak Ti asked. "I have it right here." AZI answered as he approached her, showing the two implants. "As you can see, the chip taken from clone trooper Tup is black and rotting, indicating a malfunction of some sort."
"What caused the malfunction?" Shaak asked the droid. "It doesn't matter. The fact is, Tup's chip malfunctioned, and it drove him insane. These chips have to be removed, otherwise the entire Republic Army could be compromised."
"There is no proof of that. This is an isolated incident. Besides, when you removed trooper Tup's chip, he died." Nala continued to object. "Well, that's not going to happen to the rest of us." Fives argued.
"And how do you know that?"
"Because he removed his." Leia answered for the ARC trooper. "Here is clone trooper Fives' chip." AZI-3 showed Fives' chip to the Jedi master. "As you can see, there is no sign of malfunction in either him or the chip."
Nala Se, however, was not giving up.
"By removing your chip, you are a threat. Master Jedi, we must terminate this trooper immediately." She stated. Leia however, ignited her lightsaber and threateningly pointed it at the Kaminoan's long neck.
"He is not a piece of hardware! He's a living being!" Leia yelled at her. "He was created in our laboratories." Nala Se stated, making Leia remember that she had the same discussion with Rex and Fives on the way to Kamino. Nala, meanwhile, turned her attention to Fives. "You are Kaminoan property!"
"Correction: technically, he is property of the Republic." Shaak Ti stated. "That does not change the fact that he is a danger and must be terminated." Nala argued. "I believe that's for me to decide." Shaak interjected, earning a frown from Nala Se.
"Fives, Lena, you two are coming with me to Coruscant. I think it's time you told your story to the Chancellor." The Togrutan Jedi told them. "Master Jedi, I beg you to reconsider!" Nala yelled in protest.
"The Chancellor wanted all the data on Tup to be sent to Coruscant." Shaak told her. "We're sending the data, the tumor, Lena and Fives along with it."
Leia watched as Nala looked at Shaak Ti with disdain, but she stood calm. "Then I am going with you." She then declared.
"As you wish, Doctor."
"Thank you for believing in us, General." Fives thanked the Togrutan as he lowered his firearm while Leia put away her lightsaber. "It is not a matter of belief, Fives." Shaak answered, however. "It is simply the right thing to do."
"It looks like you got what you wanted." AZI told both Leia and Fives as they were escorted by clones. "Thanks to you." Fives replied. "I'll see you on the other side."
"The other side of what?" AZI asked, only to here "Ah, droids" coming from Fives while Leia genuinely smiled at the droid.
