Chapter 16
Chapter 15
Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters.
Chapter 15
On Kamino Obi Wan and Qui-Gon were meeting with the native Kaminoans to find this bounty hunter, Obi-Wan sighed, “Just like old times, eh Qui-Gon?”
Qui-Gon laughed gently, “Indeed Obi-Wan, except that we’re both older and hopefully wiser this time. Do you think the Kaminoans will receive us well Obi-Wan? Your friend said that they were polite, right?”
“Yes, Dex said that,” Obi-Wan sighed, “But he also said that dart was made here.”
They both nodded as they pierced Kamino’s atmosphere, Obi-Wan grumbled, “A water planet and it’s nothing but storms? Lovely, just lovely.”
Qui-Gon chuckled a bit and nodded.
As they landed they walked to the entrance when one of the Kaminoans met them, the tall alien smiled, “I’m most honoured to meet you Master Jedi.”
They nodded and she smiled, “Are you here to inquire about the clone army?”
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan looked at each other and Qui-Gon said, “Army?”
“Yes, your master, Sifo-Dyas,” she said cheerfully, “He paid in full for an army but come, our Prime Minister wants to see you.”
They looked at each other puzzled; Sifo-Dyas? He died ten years ago and his body was found. They followed her into the sterile white rooms and Obi-Wan groaned, ‘Do they have to nothing but white lights here?’
She led them down and said, “The Prime Minister will be here soon, please be patient.”
“I don’t like this,” Qui-Gon frowned, “There is something elusive here, dark.”
Obi-Wan began to laugh while Qui-Gon looked at him oddly and Obi-Wan laughed, “The Trade Federation ship; I told you the same thing and you waved it off.”
Qui-Gon smiled fondly, “I remember, actually it does seem to be somewhat reversed, doesn’t it?” he looked back and realized that it had been ten years.
“Ten years Obi-Wan,” Qui-Gon said, “Has it been ten years since that day?”
“Indeed,” Obi-Wan smiled, “Ten years and things have changed so much and not for the better: Palpatine is still chancellor even though his terms have long since ended.”
Qui-Gon nodded, “I do not care much for our supreme Chancellor as he seems for too interested in Anakin, I’m sure that if it wasn’t for Faith or myself he’d be even closer to Palpatine.”
They both looked thoughtful; the galaxy had darkened considerably since Palpatine had come into power: people had disappeared or his more vocal opposition silenced their opinions.
“What’s the Republic becoming?” Qui-Gon Obi-Wan sighed, “It’s so different from when I was young.”
Before they could continue the Prime Minster came in and smiled, “Greetings.”
They both nodded and he said, “You will be pleased to know that the army is almost ready. We have ten thousand units ready with an additional twenty thousand units ready in a few months.”
Obi-Wan said, “Thirty thousand units?”
“Oh yes,” the prime minister smiled, “Would you like to see them?”
He took them down to the chambers and what Qui-Gon saw concerned him; he saw an army of similar people, they looked the same. He heard the Obi-Wan talking about something the bounty hunter who was the template for the clones.
A vision came to him of a person wearing black robes walking up to the temple and behind him were these people, he tried to peer into the hooded face of the person but saw nothing but shadow covering his face, as the person began to fight he swore he could see Anakin’s face in that hood but then it changed to Andrew’s face and finally to Faith’s face.
At last you come here, he heard a voice say, he looked around and saw a woman wearing black robes walking towards him amidst the carnage, he recognized her from Andrew’s vision so long ago. She looked at him with what he could almost describe as pity.
This is what could happen, she said, The Republic could fall, not in war, not from a enemy from the outside but a enemy from within and the Jedi shall be murdered right down to the very last one of them, only a few shall survive.
“No,” he whispered, “The Jedi would see this coming, we have to.”
She laughed coldly, You are too blinded by your own code to see everything, your end has been in motion since Naboo but perhaps it shall not be the end. But be careful Jedi, the person you see could easily be any of the people you see in front of you.
Qui-Gon was shaken awake by Obi-Wan, who was panicking and covered in rain; he also looked like he had been through a small battle.
“I’m fine Obi-Wan,” Qui-Gon said, “I think the force was showing something to me, something I do not much care for.”
Obi-Wan nodded and sighed, “Master, I found the bounty hunter, Jango Fett. We had a slight altercation but I got a tracker on his ship.
As they ran to their ship Obi-Wan noticed how pale Qui-Gon looked as they got onto their ship, “Master, are you alright?”
“I am fine,” Qui-Gon said, “The vision that hit me was just a bit more vivid than what I’m used to.”
Obi-Wan looked a bit concerned, his master was still one of the strongest men he had ever seen and even at his age he was one of the most powerful Jedi that wasn’t on the council, if it wasn’t for him he felt his training of Anakin would’ve gone a lot less smoothly.
As the ship left Obi-Wan smiled a bit, he was glad that Qui-Gon was with him as he was probably sure he’d have gone mad by now.
“So,” Qui-Gon said, “Jango Fett is the template for those clones?”
“Yes master, the Kaminoans seem to be quite proud of them,” Obi-Wan said, “I told the council about it too and I am sorry I didn’t wait for you to inform them.”
“It’s alright considering what happened,” Qui-Gon said softly, “What did they say?”
“We are to bring Jango Fett to the temple and question him there,” Obi-Wan said.
As they traveled through hyperspace Qui-Gon asked Obi-Wan, “What is your opinion on Andrew Naberrie?”
“Um, not sure,” Obi-Wan said, “I know that Anakin is quite friendly with him and his potential with the force was just as great as Faith’s was.”
“I have the feeling that he should’ve been trained as a Jedi,” Qui-Gon said, “The council agreed except for Yoda, who made sure that he wasn’t trained in the order.”
Obi-Wan looked confused, “I didn’t hear anything about that.”
“Master Yoda was adamant about Andrew not being trained as a Jedi,” Qui-Gon said, “Even though he met Andrew in private but maybe Andrew didn’t want to be a Jedi, I heard him say that much at least.”
Qui-Gon smiled a bit at Obi-Wan’s confusion and said, “Yoda was watching Andrew’s progress on Ithor, he was being trained by the priests of life there.”
“Ithorians?” Obi-Wan frowned, “You mean Force Adepts? If he needed training then he should’ve come to the Jedi, we could’ve helped him.”
“Perhaps Master Yoda thought our way was not his way,” Qui-Gon said softly, “I do know that if Andrew had come to the Order then Yoda would’ve had trained Andrew himself.”
They stopped talking for a bit as they came out of Hyperspace and Qui-Gon frowned, ‘Geonosis? Why did this bounty hunter come here? The Geonosians don’t trust them.’
As they passed through the rings of the planet Obi-Wan realized that Jango Fett knew they were tracking them, he said, “Qui-Gon, it looks like he knows we’re here.”
An explosive charge headed their way and exploded, Obi-Wan managed to avoid huge shards of rock from hitting them and Qui-Gon sighed with relief, “That was a close one.”
After some fancy flying Obi-Wan saw that the other ship was behind them and he frowned, “Master, could you hit the cargo release? I’m going to see if we can avoid being destroyed by the missiles.”
The cargo flew out as Jango launched the missiles and the explosion managed to cover their escape. Obi-Wan sighed with relief as the other ship left and they could follow it quietly.
Obi-Wan looked downwards at the surface of the planet and whispered, “Qui-Gon, there are a lot of Federation ships down there.”
“Indeed, this concerns me more now as the Trade Federation doesn’t have holdings in Geonosis, they tend to stay in their areas,” Qui-Gon sighed, this was getting worse and worse and his feelings were telling him something was off.
“I have a bad feeling,” Obi-Wan muttered as they landed their ship on a nearby cliff.
They walked down into the factory and Qui-Gon froze, they were making an army here that much was obvious. He stared at the droids and frowned as they seemed more advanced than the ones used on Naboo.
He gestured and Obi-Wan nodded, “I see it, this means the Separatists are planning for an attack.”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions yet,” Qui-Gon whispered, “It looks bad but we need more information.”
They nodded and Qui-Gon felt Dooku’s presence, he pulled Obi-Wan into a very dark area and hushed him.
They heard bits and pieces of conversation, one that said, “You promised me that senator Amidala would be dead.”
Qui-Gon heard his old master say, “And she shall be dead, I assure you Viceroy and when you add your forces to our own we shall be invincible.”
When Qui-Gon heard those words he was stricken, his master was never an overly kind man but he had a sense of justice but he had just heard him promise to kill Padmé Amidala, he looked at Obi-Wan who looked ill himself, Dooku was a Jedi knight once and now he was planning on assassinations of members of the Senate?
As they hurried out of the facility Qui-Gon was ill, his old master was falling to the dark side it was bad news. They got to the ship and Qui-Gon looked for Faith’s signal, he knew she’d be on Naboo with the Senator.
On Naboo T3 received the message and it rolled over and beeped at her and began to play the message for Faith.
“Faith, you must send this message to the council: Dooku has fallen to the dark side, he is amassing an army here and I have a very bad feeling that he is planning to attack the Republic with it.”
Faith looked worried, especially when the hologram was covered by dark shadows and she heard blaster fire, she Obi-Wan’s voice yell out, “Qui-Gon, they’re bringing in destroyer droids.”
Qui-Gon yelled, “Faith, tell the Council, quickly.”
Padmé looked at Faith and said, “Let’s broadcast that message, now.”
Faith nodded and sent the message to the council and Master Windu ordered her to stay on Naboo, she looked at Padmé and said, “I’m going to Geonosis to rescue him and Obi-Wan.”
“You mean we’re going to Geonosis,” Padmé said darkly, “I owe Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan my life,” she looked at T3 and said, “Send a message to Andrew and Anakin, telling them what’s going on.”
It beeped a response and rolled to a communications terminal, it had a bad feeling about this.
TBC
Poll Question: How should the rescue go? Should Sion and Atris make an appearance during the rescue?
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