The planet Kamino was almost entirely covered by ocean. Since ancient times, its continents had been completely submerged, with the exception of a few islands. Even on these small patches of land, it almost always rained and the winds were strong. Asoka found this out when she stepped off the ship and was almost knocked off her feet by a powerful gust of wind carrying icy drops. Togruta grimaced at the cold; she was clearly not prepared for such a "warm welcome." Her thin sleeveless tunic with a half-open back was instantly soaked and clung to her body like a compress. It was impossible to continue in this state, so she had to return to the ship and change into a spare set of clothes that she always carried with her, putting on a floor-length fur cloak with a hood over it. Only then did Tano allow herself to go outside and, through the heavy streams of water pouring from the dark sky, see a rather large station hovering over the island. There were no other buildings nearby, and thinking that they must know something about the mercenary, the girl resolutely headed towards it and jumped onto the platform in one leap. The rain and wind drowned out all sound, so she didn't hear another ship land on the same island a second ago, similar to the one Asoka had arrived in, but much larger and with a blue Republic emblem on its side instead of a red one. Togruta did not see it; she had already disappeared inside the station, where, after the dark and cold street, it was surprisingly warm, and the light was simply blinding. Asoka took off her hood and looked around. Immediately behind the entrance was a long corridor, and above the door hung a holographic projector that displayed those entering through it. Obviously, her arrival had not gone unnoticed, and soon a tall, thin Kaminoan with a small head on a long, thin neck came straight towards her from the other end of the corridor. He was wearing a long brown robe with golden buttons, clearly belonging to the ceremonial class. Noticing Asoka, he stopped and looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to speak first.
"Hello, I am a representative of the Jedi Order," the Togrut began timidly, visibly intimidated by this clearly important figure and even forgetting what she was going to say next. But the Kaminoan did not seem to require this; he had already heard what he needed to know and continued, clearly aware that a Jedi had arrived:
"Greetings, young Knight," said Asoka's new acquaintance, breaking into a smile. "My name is Lama Su, Prime Minister of the planet Kamino. You have obviously come to find out how ready the army you ordered is. Well, I am happy to report that the army is almost ready. I can even prove it to you. Please follow me.
Without waiting for a reply, Lama Su turned back, motioning for Asoka to follow him. Tano walked mechanically, still completely confused. What army? Why didn't she know about it? They didn't walk far before the last door in the corridor opened to reveal a sight she had never seen before: the room was unexpectedly huge, in fact, it was a kind of platform standing in the middle of a field covered with shiny metal. And on this field, dressed in identical silver-white armour, several dozen young men, about eighteen to twenty years old, as Asoka estimated from the distance of the entrance, stood in neat rows. Something about them all seemed strange to the girl, and for a long time she could not understand what it was. But Lama Su, noticing her interest, continued speaking, pointing to the formation of young men:
"They were created artificially using donor DNA molecules. Then special technologies were introduced to make them mature faster and become more obedient as they grew. Look, look around you!" the prime minister shouted to the young men. They instantly saluted with their right hands and, turning around, marched in the same orderly ranks around the perimeter of the field. Their steps and arm movements looked rehearsed to perfection, and they themselves desperately resembled robots mistakenly dressed in armour. The sight was quite ambiguous. Only after looking closely, as closely as was possible given that the fighters were moving, did the girl finally realise what was wrong with them — the fighters had... identical faces. Yes, and not only that, their hairstyles and hair colour were also identical.
"Master Saifo-Dias will be pleased with the result, by the way, how is he doing?" the Prime Minister asked Asoka. She just blinked in surprise, not understanding who Lama Su was talking about, but someone else clearly knew, whose voice rang out behind the Togruta, sounding strangely loud in the half-empty large hall:
"Magister Saifo-Dias was killed almost ten years ago.
Asoka had not yet turned around when the Prime Minister began to smile again:
"Master Kenobi! What an honour to see you! Look at your future army. The first batch of clones is almost ready for release.
"Clones," thought Ahsoka. "So that's what it is. That's why they look so alike. I wonder who they used as a model? He was quite handsome, I must say!"
No one noticed Ahsoka, at least no one spoke to her, and they behaved as if she weren't there. Master Kenobi, upon hearing about the clones, began to question Lama Su with surprise:
"I don't recall any of us giving the order to create an army for the Republic. It was only ever discussed.
"Master Saifo-Dias personally came here and ordered the creation of the army. I think it won't be long before you can see the first batch for yourself.
"Excuse me, but who was the template for the clones?" Asoka couldn't help asking, and looking first at the Master, she winked at him, trying to say in the Force, "Perhaps he is somehow connected to the assassination attempt."
Kenobi looked respectfully at the Togruta and even stopped being angry at her wilfulness. Almost stopped.
"Yes, and you probably keep him nearby," added Obi-Wan. "After all, genetic material may be needed at any time, and he probably demanded a special fee for his services."
"You are correct, Master," replied Lama Su, answering both Jedi at once. "The Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett agreed to be the template for the clones. He lives here on the station, and in addition to a certain amount transferred to him weekly, he asked for another, special payment — to create a clone specifically for him, without any programs. An exact genetic copy.
"Take us to him," demanded Ahsoka, not letting Kenobi say anything. He really wanted to, but only managed to give the overly eager Knight Tano a disapproving look, laughing, however, to admit that she was partly right. After all, she was the only one who had seen the mysterious assassin, albeit briefly, but she had managed to see that his armour had Mandalorian insignia, which meant that it could indeed have been Jango. And if you put everything together, starting with the dart, adding the signature of the crime and ending with the identity of the mercenary, it all fit neatly into a coherent chain of suspicion. The only thing that was unclear was the motive, because how could Satin have gotten in Django's way? There was no connection between them, either at first glance or after ten more. But since everything pointed to him, it was worth checking out and worth forgetting his dissatisfaction with Asoka, at least for a while, and joining forces to try to understand what had happened. Lama Su politely agreed to escort the Jedi to the upper level of the station, where the notorious Django lived in two adjoining rooms that had been converted into a very comfortable living space. The Prime Minister rang the doorbell first, and immediately a thin, alert voice came from inside:
"Who are you looking for, honourable ones?
"I suppose this is the special payment," Asoka whispered to Obi-Wan. "Polite, though."
"Hush!" he hissed at the Togrutar. "They mustn't know why we're here."
Ahsoka turned away, offended. "Never mind, Kenobi, maybe you and the Master are great, but you're not very good with children, and soon you'll appreciate my skills!"
"Boba, open up, please, your father is here," said the Prime Minister ceremoniously, and after a moment's hesitation, the door opened. A short, thin boy of about eight or a little older appeared in the doorway. He had thick chestnut hair that grew to the bottom of his ears and light brown eyes that looked like two amber kyber crystals. If you looked closely, you could see the features of the young fighters they had seen in the hall, although they had not yet acquired such harshness, remaining childishly rounded and carrying only the purity of a child's soul. Only far away, in the depths of his unusual eyes, could one discern a carefully concealed alertness and a desire to run away at any moment.
"Like a wild animal accustomed to living in the dangerous world of predators," an unexpected comparison came to Asoka's mind when the boy stepped aside and allowed the visitors to enter.
"Dad! Come here!" Bob shouted somewhere deep into the next room and, not waiting for an answer, followed him and soon brought back a tall man with well-developed muscles and an unfriendly face. Seeing him up close, Asoka finally believed where the fighters had come from. However, while his son was bringing him, the toghrut noticed not only that — a red and white helmet and similar armour hung in the hallway, and next to them, as if hidden, like a street robber, lay a small leather pouch, similar to a quiver, with a three-pointed red flag on it. Of course, this in itself did not prove anything, but if you remember everything else...
"Greetings, honourable sir," Obi-Wan began respectfully. "We are representatives of the Jedi Order. We have come to speak with you about your role in the creation of the Republican Army.
"Greetings, yes, I am involved in its creation and my services are generously paid for.
Ahsoka did not listen to the men's conversation; she decided to start her own. After all, she had spent a lot of time talking to the younglings.
"Hi, guy, what's your name?" she approached Bob, who had moved away.
"Hi," he said a little warily, "My name is Bob.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Asoka," said the Togruta cheerfully, holding out her hand. The boy hesitated for a moment, then responded with an energetic handshake.
"How do you like it here? Not too bored? I've never lived on a planet like this and can't even imagine what there is to do," Tano began cautiously, gradually testing the waters.
"Not at all! I've got lots to do here! Come on, I'll show you!"
" the boy exclaimed enthusiastically and dragged Asoka into his room. It was obvious that Tano had chosen the right tactic, because despite all the amenities of the living quarters, life on the station was not very diverse. In particular, Bob clearly lacked communication with his peers, and with people in general. You can't really talk to clones. The boy's room was a smaller, or rather larger, copy of a spaceship cockpit. Even the ceiling was painted like a starry sky, and the table looked like a control panel. Actually, why did it look like one? The panel was real and showed the coordinates of many star systems.
"See," Bob said proudly, "This is where I sit most of the time. It's so interesting to fly to all the planets. And this programme tells you what the conditions are like on those planets and what they look like. And what you need to fly there.
"Do you really know everything? Tell me, what's the name of the planet opposite the one we're on now, where there are still lots of bandits and slavery?" Asoka began her game.
"Ask something easier," Bob quickly replied, without even opening the right spot on the map. "That's Tatooine. I don't like it there, it's all sand and very hot, I thought I would melt there!
"That's for sure," Tano agreed with his opinion of his homeland. "But there's another one, where there's both, water and sand and everything in moderation. Have you seen it?"
"Of course! That's Naboo! It's cool there! My dad and I were there, I even swam in the waterfall, it's just a shame they don't let you go there now, although my dad always said we could," Bob's eyes lit up with excitement at the memory of the fun he had had.
"Is it really possible for an entire city to fit on one planet, and with such a large population? Anyone would envy that!" Seeing that Bob had finally calmed down, Asoka gradually began to approach the most important part.
"Coruscant! That place is really cool. I saw so many things, I even ate ice cream. There are three levels, all different. The top one is the coolest, but it's noisy. The middle one is quieter, but there's nothing special there. The bottom one, though — now that's something! There are such personalities there, you'd die to see them!" Bob blurted out, leaning back in his swivel chair.
"That's right," Asoka agreed, hiding the victorious tremor in her hands. "It's better not to go there without security. All kinds of riffraff hang out there: thugs, gangsters, thieves, fugitives, even former Jedi and hired assassins. Haven't you seen any of them?" Asoka paused at the last phrase, wondering if she was going too far, but Bob didn't seem to notice anything unusual and replied mechanically, apparently lulled by the attention he was receiving:
"I haven't seen any, my dad used to hang out with them a lot, especially one guy, he was really nasty, all grey-haired and bearded, with eyes that sparkled, yellow ones, and he was dressed in black, it was horrible, I still get goosebumps when I think about it," Bob shared candidly.
"So you saw him, and Dad didn't like him either?" Asoka asked cautiously, sensing that the dénouement was closer than ever.
"No, he didn't say anything, I just saw that this bearded man handed him something round. That was a couple of days ago, and I haven't seen him since. Then my dad and I flew to another planet, but I didn't leave the ship. I just looked out the window and saw the local ruler. She's beautiful, with light skin and a blue dress, but Tirannus doesn't like her," Bob added unexpectedly, apparently not noticing his slip, but Asoka did and took advantage of it:
"Why doesn't he like her so much, because she's beautiful or something?
"I don't know, my dad just said that Tirannus will pay if she doesn't sign some contract. That's all I know!" It seemed to be true, and so as not to arouse suspicion, Asoka asked a few more questions about other planets, asking in as much detail as she could, until Kenobi came in and motioned for her to leave. Judging by his expression, she hadn't learned much. Well, at least she would be able to please the Master. It was quite a feat to obtain the necessary information so skilfully, and Bob didn't even notice anything, not to mention his father. But how wrong she was.
***
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