Part 4 (2/2)
”Of our ignorance, another example this is. But playing both sides Jango Fett clearly was. By someone on the side of the Republic, chosen he was on Bogg Four to be the clone template. But serving Dooku he was, as a hired killer. With the changeling who targeted Amidala, an intermediary he was.”
Obi-Wan pictured Fett in the execution arena on Geonosis, standing behind Dooku in a box reserved for dignitaries. ”He had knowledge of both armies. Could he have killed Sifo-Dyas?”
”Perhaps.”
”Were you able to trace the source of the payments - - beyond Tyra.n.u.s, I mean?”
”From Bogg Four into a maze of deception, they led.”
”Did the Kaminoans say whether anyone had tried to persuade them not to build the army?”
”Intercede, none did. Reveal themselves too soon, our enemies would have.
”So Dooku had no choice but to create an army before the clones were trained and ready.”
”Appears that way, it does.” Obi-Wan fell silent for a moment. ”When I was being held captive on Geonosis, Dooku told me that the Trade Federation had been allied with Sidious during the blockade of Naboo, but that they had later been betrayed by him. Dooku said that Gunray had gone to him for help, and that Dooku had tried to appeal to the Council. He claimed that, even after several warnings, the Council refused to believe him. Is any of that true, Master?”
”More lies,” Yoda said. ”Building a case to enlist you in his cause, Dooku was.” You must join me, Obi-Wan, Dooku had said, and together we will destroy the Sith! ”If Gunray hadn't been so keen on a.s.sa.s.sinating Padme Amidala,”
Obi-Wan mused. ”If I'd failed to trace the saberdart that killed the changeling...”
”Ignorant about the clone army, we might have remained.”
”But surely the Kaminoans would have contacted us, Master.”
”Eventually. But grown greater in numbers the Separatist army would have.
Invincible, perhaps.”
Obi-Wan's eyes narrowed. ”Mine wasn't a case of blind luck.”
Yoda shook his head. ”Meant to learn of the clone army, we were. Destined to fight this war, we were.”
”In the nick of time. The Council couldn't conceive of Dooku as anything but an idealist. Perhaps he never believed that the Jedi could become generals.”
”Nonsense,” Yoda said. ”Warriors always have we been.”
”But are we helping to return balance to the Force, or are our actions contributing to the growth of the dark side?”
Yoda grimaced. ”Impatient with such talk I grow. Cryptic this conflict is - - the way it began, the way it unfolds. But for the ideals of the Republic we fight. To prevail and restore peace our priorities must remain. Then to the dark heart of this matter will we burrow. Expose the truth, we will.”
Yoda was correct, Obi-Wan told himself. If the Jedi hadn't learned of the clone army, Dooku's Separatists would have suddenly appeared on the scene with tens of millions of battle droids, fleets of wars.h.i.+ps, and seceded from the Republic without contest. But there would have been no coexisting with the Confederacy. Ultimately it would have bled the Republic dry. War would have been inevitable, and the Jedi would have been caught in the middle, as they were now. But why hadn't Yoda told him sooner about Sifo-Dyas? Or was this yet another lesson, as the search for Kamino had been? Yoda's way of telling him to search for the thing that didn't seem to be there by a.n.a.lyzing its effects on the world around it.
The difference between knowledge and wisdom, Obi-Wan's friend Dex might have said, as he did on identifying the source of the saberdart that had killed Zam Wessel, when the Temple a.n.a.lysis droids couldn't.
Yoda was regarding him when he lifted his head. ”Reveal you, your thoughts do, Obi-Wan. Believe I should have told you sooner, you do.”
”Yours is the wisdom of centuries, Master.”
”Years matter not. Busy fighting a war, you have been. Mentoring your headstrong Padawan. In pursuit of Dooku and his minions... Darker, events became. Attempting to turn this war to their own uses, Dooku and Sidious are.”
”We'll have Dooku soon enough.”
”Lifted the veil of the dark side wasn't after your success on Naboo.
Grown beyond Dooku this war has. Now to justice both must be brought. And to justice all those Sidious to the dark side has turned.” Yoda looked hard at Obi-Wan. ”Uncover Sidious's tracks, you must. A chance this war to conclude, you and Anakin have been given.”
12.
In the launching bay Anakin kept his eyes on the mechno-chair, while R2-D2 and TC-16 kept their photoreceptors on Anakin. Now that the a.n.a.lysts had run their diagnostic routines, the technicians were preparing to pack the device for safe s.h.i.+pment to Coruscant. Just as Obi-Wan had said, they resented the fact that Anakin had tampered with the chair, despite the fact that, had he not, the chair would have blown itself to pieces, taking with it the holoimage of Sidious and whatever other communications memories it might contain. Maybe Qui-Gon should have left you at Watto's junk shop.
1;5CObi-Wan's little joke. But the words had stung, for some reason.
Probably because of Anakin's own musings about what might have become of him had the Jedi not been forced to land on Tatooine to find a replacement part for Padme's stars.h.i.+p. It wasn't hard to imagine himself stuck in Mos Espa. With his mom; with C-3PO, without the bright sh.e.l.l he now wore - - No. At nine years of age he had been an expert Podracer; by twenty-one he would have been a galactic champion. With or without Qui-Gon's or Watto's help, he would eventually have won the Boonta Eve race, and his reputation would have been made. He would have bought freedom for himself, his mother, all the slaves in Mos Espa, gone on to win the Grand Races on Malastare, been hailed in the gambling casinos on Ord Mantell and Coruscant.
He wouldn't have become a Jedi - - he would have been too old to train - - would never have learned to wield a lightsaber. But he would have been able to fly rings around the finest of Jedi pilots, including Saesee Tiin. And he still would have been stronger in the Force than any of them. He might never have met Padme... He had thought her an Angel, arrived on Tatooine from the Moons of Viago. A playful remark on his part, but not as entirely innocent as it had sounded. Even so, to her he was just a funny little boy. Padme didn't know then that his precocity wasn't limited to a skill for building and fixing things. He had an uncanny sense for knowing what was going to happen; a certainty that he would become celebrated.
He was different - - chosen long before the Jedi Order had bestowed the t.i.tle. Mythical beings came to him - - Angels and Jedi - - and he excelled in contests in which humans weren't even meant to partic.i.p.ate.
And yet, even with an Angel and Jedi for guests in his home, he hadn't divined the sudden departure from Tatooine, the Jedi training, his marriage.
He was no longer the funny little boy. But Padme remained his Angel - - A vision of her broke his reverie. Something... something had changed. His heart filled with longing for her. Even through the Force he couldn't clarify what he was feeling. He simply knew that he should be with her.
That he should be there to protect her... He flexed his artificial hand.
Remain in the living Force, he told himself. A Jedi didn't dwell in the past. A Jedi surrendered attachment to persons and things that pa.s.sed out of his or her life. A Jedi didn't fantasize, or think: What if - - He cut his eyes to the three human technicians who were fitting the mechno-chair into a crash-foam safety harness. One of them was working too fast, and almost knocked the chair over. Anakin shot to his feet and stormed across the bay.
”Be careful with that!” he shouted. The oldest of the three gave him a scornful glance. ”Relax, kid, we know our job.” Kid. He waved his hand, calling on the Force to keep the mechnochair fixed in place. The three techs strained to move it, baffled until they realized what Anakin had done. Then the same one straightened and glared. ”All right, let go of it.”
”When I'm convinced you actually know what you're doing.”
”Look, kid - - ”
Anakin beetled his brows in anger and advanced a step. The three techs began to back away from the chair. They're afraid of me. They've heard about me. For an instant, their fear empowered him; then he felt shame, and averted his glance.
The eldest was holding up his hands. ”Take it easy, Jedi. I didn't mean to offend you.”
”Pack it yourself if you want to,” another said.
Anakin swallowed hard. ”It's important, that's all. I don't want anything to happen to it.” He let the mechno-chair settle to the floor.
”Carefully, this time,” the eldest said, refusing to so much as glance at Anakin.
<script>