Part 4 (1/2)

Thirteen years earlier, when Obi-Wan had fought and killed a Sith on Naboo, had he killed a Master or an apprentice? The question was rooted in the belief that the Sith, having essentially defeated themselves a millennium earlier, had learned that an army of Sith could never stand, and that there should be only two at any given time, lest a pair of apprentices conspire to combine their strengths to eliminate a Master.

More a doctrine than a rule; but a doctrine that had managed to keep the Sith order alive, if well concealed, for going on a thousand years.

But the horned and tattooed Sith whom Obi-Wan killed could not have trained Dooku, because Dooku had still been a member of the Jedi Order then. As clouded as the dark side made some things, there was simply no way Dooku could have been living a double life within the walls of the Temple itself.

”Master Yoda,” Obi-Wan said, ”is it possible that Dooku wasn't lying about the Senate being under the control of Sidious?”

Yoda gave his head a quick shake while they walked. ”Looked hard at the Senate, we did. And risked much we did by doing so - - questioning in secret those we serve. But no evidence we found.” He glanced up at Obi-Wan. ”If in control of the Senate Sidious was, would not defeated the Republic already be? Would not to the Confederacy the Core and Inner Rim belong?” Yoda paused for a moment, then added: ”Perhaps at Geonosis, an accident it was that Dooku revealed himself. Had he not, searched we would have for Sidious, leaving Dooku to escalate his war. What think you, Obi-Wan? Hmmm?”

Obi-Wan folded his arms. ”I've thought long and hard about that day, Master, and I believe Dooku couldn't help revealing himself - - even though he may have regretted it. When he was fleeing for his s.h.i.+p, it was almost as if he allowed himself to be seen; almost as if he was attempting to draw us into an engagement. My first thought was that he was trying to ensure the safe escape of Gunray and the other Separatist leaders. But my instincts tell me that he wanted desperately to demonstrate how powerful he had become. I think he was genuinely surprised to see you turn up. But instead of killing Anakin or me, he deliberately left us alive, to send a message to the Jedi.”

”Right you are, Obi-Wan. Pride undid him. Forced him, it did, to show us his true face.”

”Could he have been trained by this... Sidious?”

”Stands to reason, it does. Accepted by Sidious he was, following the death of the one you killed.”

Obi-Wan considered it. ”I've heard rumors about Dooku's early fascination with the dark side. Was there not an incident in the Temple involving a stolen Sith Holocron?”

Yoda squeezed his eyes shut and nodded. ”True that rumor is. But understand, Obi-Wan, a Jedi Dooku was. For many, many years. Difficult the decision is to leave the Order. Influenced he was by many things. The death of your former Master, for one - - even though avenged Qui-Gon was.” He glanced at Obi-Wan. ”Complicated this is. Not merely by what we know, but by what we do not know; what we have to a.s.sume.” Yoda stopped, then gestured to a carved bench. ”Sit for a while, we will. Enlighten you, I can.”

Obi-Wan sat, his heart wanting to race. ”A stern Master Dooku was, to Qui-Gon and others,”

Yoda began. ”Powerful he was; skilled, disdainful. More important, convinced that lowering the shroud of the dark side was. Signs there were, all about us, long before to the Temple you came; long before Qui-Gon came. Gross injustices, favoritism, corruption... More and more, called the Jedi were to enforce the peace. More and more deaths there were. Out of control events were becoming.”

”Did the Council sense that the Sith had returned?”

”Never absent they were, Obi-Wan. But stronger suddenly. Closer to the surface. Spoke much of the prophecy, Dooku did.”

”The prophecy of the Chosen One?”

”The larger prophecy: that unfold the dark times would. Born into their midst the Chosen One is, to return balance to the Force.”

”Anakin,” Obi-Wan said.

Yoda regarded him for a long moment. ”Difficult to say,” he said quickly.

”Maybe, yes; maybe, no. More important the shroud of the dark side is.

Many, many discussions Dooku had. With me, with other members of the Council. Most of all, with Master Sifo-Dyas.”

Obi-Wan waited. ”Close friends they were. Bound together by the unifying Force. But worried about Master Dooku, Sifo-Dyas was. Worried about his disenchantment with the Republic; about self-absorption among the Jedi.

Saw in Dooku the effect of Qui-Gon's death, Sifo-Dyas did. The effect that resurfaced the Sith had.” Yoda shook his head mournfully. ”Knew of Dooku's imminent departure, Master Sifo-Dyas did. Sensed, he may have, the birth of the Separatist movement.”

”And yet the Council dismissed Dooku as an idealist,” Obi-Wan said.

Yoda gazed at the floor. ”Saw with my own eyes what he had become, and refused to believe it, I did.”

”But how could Dooku have searched out Sidious? Or was it the other way around?”

”Impossible to know. But accept Sidious as a mentor Dooku did.”

”Could Sifo-Dyas have foreseen that, as well?”

”Also impossible to know. Believed he might have, that Sidious Dooku would hunt down. To destroy.”

”Could that have motivated Dooku to leave the Order?”

”Perhaps. But by the power of the dark side, even the most steadfast heart can be seduced.”

Obi-Wan turned to face Yoda. ”Master, did Sifo-Dyas order the clone army?

Yoda nodded. ”Contacted the Kaminoans, he did.”

”Without your knowledge?”

”Without it, yes. But exists, a record of his initial contact.”

Obi-Wan gave in to some of his frustration. ”I should have questioned Lama Su more extensively.”

”Questioned, the Kaminoans were. Furnished much they did.”

”Did they?” Obi-Wan said in surprise. ”When?”

”Reticent they were when first to Kamino I went. Only what already they had told you, I heard. That Sifo-Dyas the order placed; that Tyra.n.u.s the donor clone furnished. That for the Republic the clones were. Seen by the Kaminoans, neither Sifo-Dyas nor Tyra.n.u.s was. But later, after attacked Kamino was, more I learned from Taun We and Ko Sai. About the payments.”

”From Sifo-Dyas?”

”From Tyra.n.u.s.”

”Could Tyra.n.u.s have been an alias for Sifo-Dyas? Could he have adopted the name to provide deniability for the Jedi in case the clone army was discovered?”

”Wished for that I did. But killed Sifo-Dyas was, before on Kamino Jango Fett arrived.”

”Murdered?” Yoda compressed his thin lips. ”Unsolved the crime remains, but, yes: murdered.”

”Someone knew,” Obi-Wan said, more to himself. ”Dooku?” he asked Yoda.

”A theory I have - - nothing more. Murder, Dooku committed. Then, from the Jedi archives erased Kamino, he did. Of that tampering, proof Master Jocasta Nu found - - proof of Dooku's action, though well concealed it was.”

Obi-Wan recalled his visit to the archives to search out the location of Kamino, only to be told by Jocasta Nu that the planetary system didn't exist. What had caused him that day three years earlier to stare so intently at the library's bronzium bust of Count Dooku? ”Nevertheless, the clone army continued to be financed and built,” he said at last.

”Could Sifo-Dyas and Tyra.n.u.s have been partners?”