Master Apprentice
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Archive: MA and my site, Mom's Kitchen (www.hawksong.com/~momskitchen)
Category: Drama, angst, whatever
Pairing: Q/O, M/J, S/B, B/A, etc., etc. You get the picture.
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Opening salvos in the Wheel version of the Clone War.
Disclaimer: What, you think I own these guys? Do I even look like George Lucas? If this is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as random coincidence. No such thing as too much lubricant.
Warning: Great heaping chunks of exposition, which are, unfortunately, needed. Think of it as a core dump. I have done my best to make it as painless as possible.
Series: Post-Wheel series; third (Clone War) arc. (For info on the post-Wheel series, go here: http://www.hawksong.com/~momskitchen/Wheel_stories/cast_of_wheel.htm or http://www.livejournal.com/users/mrshamill/41682.html#cutid1)
Notes: Yes, I know it's misspelled. Chill. Sian is a goddess of genetics, and I bow at her feet - she's given me the proper wording and explanations, even if I don't really understand it. Claude is a beta-goddess, and I try to avoid her feet because she's good at kicking! [ggg] This story begins directly after the events of Becalmed and skips through time to just after How Qui-Gon Got His Groove Back.
Prologues
1. Exordium: A beginning or introductory part, especially of a speech or treatise.
"Master, I'm not getting any response to my hails."
Adi Gallia frowned and leaned forward. "Nothing at all, Siri?" Adi was in the Kaminoan ship while Siri and four other knights -- mostly healers -- were aboard the Expedient, which the Chancellor had kindly loaned the Temple again.
"No, Adi, I'm not getting anything. I do have the planetary coordinates showing where the last mission put down -- should I just aim for that spot?"
"Yes, let's do that," Adi decided. "Be very, very careful, Siri."
"Yes, Master."
It was clear something was dreadfully wrong from the moment they broke through the cloud cover on the stormy, watery world. Both ships circled the spot where Tipoca City was, seeing nothing but broken, blasted pods and domes that looked to have been exploded from the inside.
Siri finally found one landing pad that looked reasonably secure, and brought the ship down with her usual aplomb, which, ordinarily, would have made her former master proud. Everyone had brought foul-weather gear and it was a good thing they had -- for there were no more intact buildings anymore. They walked through broken doors into what had been a corridor but was now rubble, open to the elements.
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had provided her with detailed descriptions of everything they had seen in Tipoca City, so Adi followed their maps to the places where the clones had been grown, decanted and trained. The vast training hall was littered with dead bodies -- human and Kaminoan -- already beginning to decay in the torrential, non-stop rain.
It didn't look as though the Kaminoans had put up much of a fight, actually. They found no blasters, and no place where it looked as though actual fighting had occurred. The knights fanned out over the buildings, hunting for a living presence and examining the damage, trying to figure out what had happened.
Master Bruloss, a healer who specialized in cloning technology, finally hobbled to Adi after they had all searched fruitlessly for survivors. Bruloss was born on a low-gravity world, which made it very hard for her to move around on Kamino, but she was adamant on accompanying them. In truth, Adi had been glad to have her expertise, especially since the situation had changed so drastically. "How many adult clones were supposed to be here?" Bruloss asked in a low voice.
"Twenty thousand, I think," Adi replied with a frown. "Qui-Gon said the records showed about that many were ready for actual deployment, and another couple hundred thousand were undergoing the rapid maturation and training programs. Why?"
"Because I don't see twenty thousand adult corpses here," Bruloss replied softly, running her hands through her damp, fine turquoise hair. "I've seen everything from babies to adolescent, but the adult corpses... I'm going to double check, and I'd like your help, but from what I've seen, it doesn't even approach that number."
Adi swallowed. "Vaporized?"
Bruloss shook her head. "No, I don't think so," she replied. "Vaporization would leave a different type of evidence. I see traces of crude explosives and possibly blaster damage, but not disintegration nor any sign of atomics."
They spent that day and the next doing a thorough inventory of the dead -- a gruesome but necessary job. Bruloss was right -- while there were hundreds of thousands of infant, child and young adult clones, mostly grouped in piles, there were only a few thousand adult clones scattered throughout the complex.
"Either they escaped or someone took them out of here before the place was destroyed. Unless... unless the missing ones caused the devastation," Bruloss said quietly to Adi at the end of the next day. Adi merely nodded and made her way to the Expedient, which she knew was empty at the moment.
She went forward to the command room and called Coruscant, initiating a secure two-way link to Master Yoda and Master Windu. When they appeared on her tiny holoemitter, she regarded them gravely. "We have a problem."
2. Preamble: A preliminary statement, especially the introduction to a formal document that serves to explain its purpose.
"I have recalled Asajj." Dooku looked around the small table at his most trusted aides. To his left, Jango Fett sat, with his cloned son next to him. Aurra Sing was opposite Dooku, and the empty chair to his right was reserved for his padawan. "She is even now making her way here. She can do nothing further to advance our cause now she's been found out, so she'll be of better use here, with us."
"Good." Sing's laconic voice didn't even have a shred of the eagerness Dooku knew she felt. "I miss my Saji."
"As I miss my other apprentice. This, however, does change things slightly." He looked down at his handheld. "Fett, recall all the clones still on Coruscant; have them report back here for retraining."
"Fine. Why?"
Dooku released his anger at Fett, remembering again, the man was on the payroll, not committed to the cause. And Dooku needed him, now that Durge was dead. "The idiot Council has locked down the Temple, and since they somehow found all our bolt-holes and disarmed our traps, we're going to need to proceed in a new direction." He called up the plans for the Death Star. "We still have the Techno Union, the Banking Clan and the Trade Federation at our disposal. We--"
"The Trade Federation is all but useless now; the Senate has them under strict watch."
"I realize that, Fett. There are always ways to get around such things, and even if they cannot help in any other way, they will provide us with funds." He gave Fett as mild a glance as he could, and the other man nodded. "If we cannot kill Jedi in the open, we need to destroy their Temple. We cannot do it with anything less than the Death Star."
"You're willing to risk everything on this station?" Someday he would respond to Fett's constant questioning with the irritation it deserved. "It sounds to me like you'll be declaring open war on the Republic if you attack Coruscant with that."
"We cannot get any closer to the Jedi through other means. The orbital security net around Coruscant is too tight to get smaller attack ships through. But their security will not be able to withstand an attack made by the Death Star." He smiled grimly. "Once their precious Temple is slag, we can use it to further the causes of those who have stood by us all along."
"Fine. As long as I get paid."
"While I would prefer to kill one on one, any Jedi death would please me," Aurra said, blinking slowly.
At least he could count on Asajj and Aurra. "Its size has been scaled back thirty percent, to keep it within our budget and expertise," he said, looking down at his handheld. "The framework has been completed and will be towed here over the next month. At that time, we'll begin the real construction, using the clones where we can and hiring from the Hutts only where we have to. Aurra, you'll be in charge of security on the station. Fett, I'd like you to oversee the construction, and you will let me know immediately if we need more specific talent."
He looked between the two of them. "We can hire as many workers as we want, so long as those workers are expendable. I will have no one knowing about this, outside our circle, who remains alive once the work on the station is started in earnest." They nodded. "Asajj should be here within the week, and the clones hopefully at about the same time. Fett, you can begin the data download on the clones we have here at present, the specs have been transmitted to your terminal."
There wasn't much more to add. Fett and his son left immediately, followed by Aurra. Dooku remained seated at the table, looking at the pictures on his handheld: three Jedi. Three very irksome Jedi. Three Jedi he would have to find a way to lure out of the Temple, so he could deal with them personally.
Three Jedi. One for him, one for Asajj, one for Aurra. His apprentices would do him proud, and then he would finally reach his goal -- annihilation of the Jedi. The Jedi and their pathetic, useless code; their worthless healers, who understood nothing; their meddlesome Council, locked in their ivory tower, thinking themselves so much better than the common dirt.
It couldn't come soon enough. Studying the pictures again, he came to a decision: he would take Kenobi, and finally wipe that smirk out of his memory.
3. Prolegomenon: A preliminary discussion, especially a formal essay introducing a work of considerable length or complexity.
Obi-Wan knew something was up the moment he stepped into Yoda's crowded quarters. Their own mini-Council was there, Adi and Mace with Yoda, and Dotrick was sitting on the sofa near a woman with beautiful turquoise hair. Maul and Jay sat opposite them, and scattered throughout the common room on borrowed chairs were others: Claum Showat, the Quartermaster; Siri Tachi, Adi's former padawan, and a young man with dusky skin and white hair. Obi-Wan stopped and stared in shock: it couldn't be, but it had to be... Bruck Chun. What was he doing in Yoda's apartment?
Qui-Gon brushed past him and gave him an interrogative frown as he did so. Collecting himself, Obi-Wan nodded in reply to greetings and took a seat with Qui-Gon, on chairs next to Dotrick and the mysterious woman. There was a stout cane propped on the sofa next to where she sat, and she was tall and willowy in the way that usually meant growing up on a low-gravity world.
Adi and Siri were acting as hosts, making sure everyone had refreshments and was comfortable. When they sat, Siri sat on the floor at Bruck Chun's feet, wrapping her arms around her knees. She had an unusually somber expression, though she'd had a smile for Obi-Wan when he entered. As she settled, Chun reached out with both hands and deliberately ruffled her hair; she ducked away, her serious look giving way to a grin as she thwapped him on his knee.
Once everyone was settled, Mace Windu broke the silence. "Just as a reminder -- what happens here, what is said here, is for our ears only. No one outside this room should have any knowledge of what we say and decide here. If any of you have a problem with that, please speak up now."
He looked around the room carefully, but everyone nodded. "Good. Adi is going to launch us, but let me first make sure everyone knows who's who in the room. Healer Dotrick and Healer Bruloss are on the sofa; Bruloss went with Adi to Kamino and discovered the massacre there. I think you all know Claum Showat, and sitting next to her is Bruck Chun, the Director of Vehicles, and that's Knight Siri Tachi at his feet. Knights Youmous and Maul are sitting next to me, and that's Master Jinn with his spouse, Knight Kenobi on the other side of Yoda."
After his introductions, he once again glanced around the room. "There are several people in the Temple who may know some of this, but we are the only ones who will know all of it. If you're here tonight, it's because you have something of value to add to this mission. You may speak to anyone here in the room about any aspect of this mission, but only to those in this room. Please do not bring anyone else in the Temple in on this without prior approval from the Council." He glanced at Adi and smiled tightly. "Adi?"
She had a smile for him before speaking. Her voice was soft, but everyone was silent. "As Mace said, most of you know most of the story. None of you, however, know all of it, save for the three of us. So let me begin with a resume of the events, as they occurred."
Obi-Wan took a deep breath and settled himself, preparatory to a long story. Qui-Gon draped one arm around his shoulders.
"Many years ago, a Jedi by the name of Sifo-Dyas took as a padawan a boy named Dooku. Dooku came late to the Temple, and his family, wealthy nobility on Serenno, continued to keep in touch with him. While it is not exactly forbidden, it is hardly encouraged, and we believe it might have played a part in what happened to him later on." Adi sipped her tea. "Shortly before Dooku was to be knighted, he and his master were sent on a diplomatic mission to the Torag Protectorate, and there, they disappeared. About a year later, Sifo-Dyas' badly mangled body was discovered, halfway across the galaxy from the Protectorate. The search for them, which had been intense, focused more on finding Dooku than what had happened after that. But he was never found, despite our efforts and the efforts of his family."
Adi looked into her teacup. "Another three years passed, and finally, a badly beaten Dooku was found. Rather... he found himself. He walked into the front doors of the Temple and promptly collapsed. The healers were summoned, and worked feverishly over him, finally managing to heal his many wounds. There was evidence he had been tortured for some time, as there were old fractures and half-healed sores all over his body. When he was removed from bacta and questioned, he said he didn't know where he had been, didn't know how he had escaped, and couldn't remember what had happened to make him disappear in the first place."
With a glance, Adi apparently passed the baton to Dotrick, who took up the story, speaking in her deep, resonant voice. "Med records from the time described a human who was in deep physical and psychological shock and who had memory blocks that were thought to be of his own creation, possibly to protect his psyche from the obvious torture he had undergone. The mind-healers worked with him for over a year, trying to help him get past those blocks, but were never successful. In fact, there is evidence he might have, somehow, subverted those who came closest to achieving that goal, influencing them with the Force." She waved one scaly hand, brushing aside the speculation. "Regardless, the blocks were never removed, and the fact that Dooku had been dragged to the Dark was never discovered. After a year, the mind-healers released him for full duty, and no further mention was made of it."
In the face of everyone's shock at her words, Dotrick's voice grew grim. "It was not our finest hour."
The woman next to Dotrick patted her knee, briefly and gently. "It is only because we are able to look at the records with the objectivity of knowing what he is now that we have been able to recognize the possible tampering," she said softly. "That doesn't excuse it, but we offer it as an extenuation."
There was silence in the room for several moments while everyone absorbed this revelation. Obi-Wan found himself pushing into Qui-Gon's side, and noted the fine trembling in the tight grip his husband had on his shoulder.
Adi picked up the narrative again. "Dooku went on missions and eventually took a padawan, a female human named Asajj Ventress." Obi-Wan heard a soft growl from across the room, and noticed Chun's fists held tightly to his knees. He was looking down, glowering, and Obi-Wan wondered why. "She became his padawan when she was eight years old, a bit late for being taken." Adi took a deep breath and Obi-Wan could feel her releasing emotion to the Force. "Again, with hindsight, we think her abuse started within a year. She had been a fairly normal initiate, but because she hadn't been chosen, she had been counseled to seek another path. When Dooku chose her, she was overjoyed."
Once again, Dotrick continued the story. "We've gone back through her records, and while there was no overt sign of any abuse, she did have a higher than normal rate of... injuries." Dotrick closed her eyes. "Again, not our finest hour."
Dotrick, Obi-Wan knew, would blame herself for everything. It was how she was. Illness was to be conquered, weakness was to be overcome. It was a failing of hers, one she was well aware of, but one that was as much a part of her as her crest. It was also something that endeared her to Obi-Wan, though he would never tell her.
"Asajj Ventress was knighted at age twenty-four, and a year after that, Dooku resigned from the Jedi and disappeared." Adi's voice sounded strained. "While it is unusual for such a thing to happen, it's not unknown. It wasn't until Maul, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon made the discovery that Dooku was the Sith known as Darth Tyranus that we began to check into his record and that of his padawan."
"Just before their revelation, we made another discovery," Mace said on the heels of Adi's words. "Well, not the Council... Claum?"
Ser Showat's face was pale and she was obviously upset over what had been said so far. When she started to speak, however, her voice was steady and her words brought everyone upright.
She nodded to Mace and took a deep breath before beginning. "When I took on the role of Quartermaster, I made sure I understood everything, every department that would be under my purview. This place is massive, but we can't afford to have each section running itself autonomously. The interdependencies are too great." Everyone in the room was nodding; Obi-Wan knew how efficient Claum Showat was, though he had never really thought about all the work that must be involved in taking care of the Temple and its denizens.
"As such," she continued, "when something odd happens, I usually know immediately. My people know I don't like surprises, and they are encouraged to come to me with anything. So, when Peej -- I mean, S'Ampra Peeja, who's in charge of janitorial -- left me a message that seals on some of the oldest parts of the Temple had been broken, I went and looked myself." Again she glanced around the room, and what she saw must have reassured her. "I've taken it upon myself to seal parts of the Temple; they may not be safe, and they're definitely not used anymore, so I saw no harm in it. The seals aren't inviolable; mainly they're just to keep the padawans from getting into trouble. But Peej was right; some of the seals had been broken. There had obviously been an attempt to hide it, and Mace tells me the Force in the area had been tampered with somehow, but I know this Temple, and I knew something was wrong."
Her expression became even more grim. "I was right. I found thermal detonators in three rooms right away, and later, we found six more. They would have been enough to take down the Temple and a good chunk of the District as well."
What surprised Obi-Wan most was how little he was shocked by that revelation. Next to him, he felt Qui-Gon breathing deeply, trying to calm himself. Everyone in the room seemed to be in shock to a greater or lesser degree, and Obi-Wan felt his anger echoed as well.
"With Claum's help," Mace said, "we found all the detonators. We have to assume the Force guided her and her people in this, because it was fortuitous in the extreme. But whatever the reason, we knew then we had been significantly compromised." He took a deep breath. "Later, we discovered Asajj Ventress' fingerprints were all over each detonator and the areas where the seals had been cracked. We have since organized teams consisting of precognitive Jedi and members of Claum's staff and have made sure there are no more surprises waiting for us in the sub-basements. That necessitated sealing off four hidden routes out of the Temple which did not show up on any plan and which led to exits several klicks away. We've also been working to determine the extent of the tampering and harm to the Temple's datanet, and Jocasta has been working on that, again with Claum's help."
"That's nearly been completed," Claum said. "Which is, at least, some good news."
"We could use some," Maul breathed, and everyone nodded.
"Well, I'd like to continue with good news, but unfortunately, I can't." Mace rubbed his head and sighed. "When we discovered the news about Tyranus being Dooku -- which, I hasten to add, was just after we found the detonators -- we did not immediately approach Ventress. There was nothing overt in her record to cause us to be suspicious of her, and we didn't really understand the extent of Dooku's betrayal of the Jedi. That was, obviously, a mistake. By the time we got around to her, by the time we discovered her part in hiding the detonators, she had gone to ground."
Qui-Gon sighed and shook his head, and Mace shot him a sour look. "Yes, it was a mistake, and we're paying for it. But in our defense, I have to say we were dealing with another crisis. We had only just begun finding and disarming the detonators when we discovered someone or something was killing us, in large numbers, and we had no way of knowing for certain it was Tyranus."
"Who else could it have been?" Qui-Gon demanded. Obi-Wan elbowed him, and he grimaced in apology.
"We didn't know." Adi's voice was firm. "We're Jedi, Qui-Gon. Attrition is part of the price we pay for serving the Force. When Tyranus began attacking us, we at first thought it was nothing special. But when several field ops reported narrow escapes and all their attackers looked the same..."
"The clones of Fett," Maul said, his eyes growing wide.
"Exactly." Mace shook his head sharply. "We started adding up the numbers then, and realized what was going on. Just as we issued the general recall, the Temple on Smlia Four..." He sighed. "There was a full compliment of scholars there, over eighteen hundred people. All gone."
"That's what they wanted to happen here," Ser Showat ground out. She was angry; her face was red and she was shaking.
"And that's why we swept all the other Temples for explosives, once they were empty," Mace nodded.
"But why a recall? Why bring everyone back here and lock them in? We're a huge target like this, Mace." Qui-Gon sounded angry too, but Obi-Wan knew it was more with Tyranus than with the Council.
"Among other things, Dooku -- Tyranus -- has had his clones all over the Temple district, trying to get into the Temple to kill Jedi, ever since we discovered what had happened on Kamino. That is why we have kept Jedi from leaving the Temple... We needed to protect as many of us as possible from attack." Mace leaned forward, trying to convince Qui-Gon. "These are not your standard, run-of-the-mill assassins, Qui-Gon. These are clones of Jango Fett, a murderer with a trail of bodies behind him you wouldn't believe. We've been working with Senate Judiciary on him, and they have files on Fett decades old. And, from the assessment of the damage done to Tipoca City on Kamino, Tyranus took only those clones that were singled out for special training, as group leaders or whatever you would call them. They received extra training from the Kaminoans, were raised to act more autonomously, and have the natural cunning of their sire, Fett." Shaking his head, Mace leaned back and closed his eyes, scrubbing his face with his hands. "Trust me, this was the best way to go."
"But the outcome of all this is Ventress escaped." Obi-Wan found himself trying to release his anger as well. "She escaped, and set us up on Gi, had Qui-Gon taken, and..."
"Yes. Though that little trap may have been set up months before you arrived." Adi's face reflected her sorrow. "Through another medium, we've discovered other things she accomplished here, long before the clones were ready. This was not a hasty plan on her part, or on the part of her master."
She was looking at Bruck Chun, whose expression was plainly furious. "I assume you're talking about me," he snarled. His fists were opening and closing. "I don't like being played for a fool. That woman..."
"We've discovered she either slept with or had other control over at least a dozen men and women under my command," Claum Showat said, patting Bruck's leg. At his feet, Siri looked up into his face, her expression sympathetic. "Bruck is one of them. As my director of vehicles, his rank was the highest in the chain of Temple infrastructure crew. Another was a man named Brosse Matt, who, lucky for all of us, couldn't have followed a plan if his life had depended upon it. But she took Bruck in, and she took Tollem in, and with them and others, she had planned small sabotages that would have crippled us had they been accomplished." Showat sighed. "We would have been too involved in power disruptions, computer glitches and mechanical breakdowns to find the thermals before we were all blown up."
"No, this doesn't sound like a spur-of-the-moment plan," Jay said. He laced the fingers of his left hand with Maul's right. "This stinks of long-term, premeditated chaos." He turned a narrow-eyed stare on Mace, Adi and Yoda. "This is why you had us haring off to the other side of the galaxy last month, wasn't it?"
Both Mace and Adi nodded. "You filled in the blanks we had on Tyranus' plans," Mace said. "The DSU Maul grabbed from Geonosis contained a lot of information, including the plans for a heavily-armed space station roughly the size of a small moon. We're still not quite sure what he wanted to do with it... it might have been a Palpatine legacy. Regardless, the three of you managed to get the information we needed from the Hutts and from the Anzati, which confirmed Dooku has yet another Force-sensitive working for him: the bounty hunter, Aurra Sing. It's quite possible she, too, was a padawan of Tyranus', after he left the Temple."
Obi-Wan took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Mace, this just keeps getting worse and worse," Qui-Gon said. His voice was strangled. "We've got three Force-sensitive enemies, two of which were trained as Jedi, a cold-blooded killer who's been trained to kill Jedi, and several thousand clones of this killer as well! What next? Wait... don't answer that." Nobody laughed.
"We have some good things on our side, Qui-Gon," Adi insisted softly. "We know of them, we know most of their plans--"
"Their plans are to massacre Jedi!"
"But they can't now, can they? Not sneak attacks, like they have been doing. We know of them. We're wary of them; we're ready for them. We have a fairly good idea where they are, too..."
"How? Where?" It was Maul who spoke this time, and Obi-Wan could hear the eagerness in his voice.
Adi looked at Mace and shrugged. With a sour expression, Mace said, "Like I said, among other things... I know some of you were vocal about getting recalled from missions where you were under deep cover." He looked pointedly at Jay who rolled his eyes. "There was a reason for that. We knew our datanet was compromised, and we were all but certain Tyranus would use the knowledge he'd sliced or Ventress had sliced to sabotage your missions. However... there were a few, a very few Jedi field ops whose missions were not listed anywhere save for the brains of a few Council members, such as ourselves, Ki-Adi-Mundi and Yaddle. That's also why Tyranus didn't know you were coming to Kamino and Geonosis, other than in the most general terms. The operatives I'm speaking of are so deep, we knew -- we hoped -- Tyranus would know nothing about them. Think about it... you can't simply set up housekeeping with upwards of fifteen thousand stolen clones without needing things, things like food and shelter, weapons and datasets." Mace nodded. "With the help of our deep-cover operatives, we have a pretty good idea where they are."
"And we have other things to help us as well." Adi nodded to Claum Showat. "With the Council's approval, Claum and Bruck Chun have overseen the engineering of a specially modified, predator-class ship that is, they tell me, death with afterburners. It uses every known trick in the book, and I'm sure they thought up a few others as well."
"One ship?" Siri gave her former master an incredulous look. "One ship against... what? Fifteen or twenty thousand Jedi killers?"
Adi and Mace looked at each other for a long moment while the rest of them frowned, waiting. It was Yoda who finally spoke, however. "Another weapon we have. Healer Bruloss, your turn it is. New, this is, to all but me."
Obi-Wan turned to the woman with the turquoise hair. When she spoke, her voice was tentative. "Master Yoda has said you won't like this, and he's right. You won't.
"I specialize in clones; I did my Master's Thesis on the subject of cloning humans and various other species." She swallowed and looked down at her hands, knotted in her lap. "Operatives Kenobi, Jinn and Maul, when they cleaned out Palpatine's offices, found genome maps, information and an actual unquickened clone, which they destroyed. It was their good work that directed us to Kamino, and the abomination growing there."
She took a deep breath before continuing. "I went with the team which discovered the massacre on Kamino. There was still ample documentation in the Kaminoan's computers which matched the genome maps with the clones of Maul and Fett. I know what they did to create the clones, and know what a stroke of genius it was. The loss of Tipoca City is a great loss to science. But with the information I obtained, I was able to discern the weakness in the clones, which led to... well, let me first explain what I found."
Bruloss' voice became more excited as she spoke; it was clear she really enjoyed her work. "Human clones are generally made from adult tissues, and most normally from epithelial stem cells. The important issue here is epithelial stem cells continue to divide throughout the lifetime of the organism." She looked around as though making sure everyone was following her before continuing.
"At the ends of every chromosome there is a segment of DNA repeats called telomeres. These telomeres are shortened with every round of DNA replication, as the replication machinery has to bind to the chromosome to go, and the region to which it binds is not itself replicated." She grinned, and Obi-Wan knew his own glazed expression must have been copied on the others in the room. "Imagine it like this: DNA is a burn-in track and the 'machinery' is a tight-beam following it. The region directly underneath the tight-beam at the beginning of the trip is not copied, because there has to be a place for it to actually get onto the track.
"What this means is clones have unusually short telomeres in tissues where you wouldn't expect them, say, in neurons." She smiled as several people in the room began to nod. "Neurons do not replicate after very early childhood, so you'd expect them to have telomeres about the same length as those in newborn infants. That is also why cloning humans is substantially different from cloning, say, a Mon Calamari, who have completely different type of gestation -- one that does not use in utero fertilization... and that's probably more information than you needed." She blushed as everyone chuckled.
"So, what we've done," she continued after a moment, "is to make a virus designed to attack neuronal cells with shortened telomeres, such as the ones these clones have. It attacks the cloned neurons by entering the cell through binding to a neural-specific cell surface marker -- this prevents it from entering non-neuronal cells with short telomeres, which would be pretty much useless for our purposes. In this case, we've used the serotonin receptor as the viral entry point, which will allow the virus to infect nearly all of the neurons in a clone's brain."
Obi-Wan winced. If he never heard the word 'serotonin' again, it would be too soon. Mace Windu's deep voice brought him back to the present. "What does the virus do, Bruloss?"
Bruloss took a deep breath then bit her lip. Her voice went back to soft and almost sad. "The virus causes a complete breakdown of the neural pathways, which leads very quickly to death." Obi-Wan heard the sound of in-drawn breaths, and knew everyone else was as stunned as he was. "The death is painless. It's not instantaneous, however. The neural pathways collapse, leading to a loss of cognitive will, and finally, loss of all autonomic functions. Death generally occurs within two to three hours."
There was a profound silence in the room. When Obi-Wan glanced at Qui-Gon, he found his spouse studying the floor and frowning.
It was Adi's soft voice that broke the silence, and she had to clear her throat before she could speak. "I think... I think I speak for us all when I say I have a... well, a great difficulty in accepting the idea of wholesale slaughter of sentient beings." She wouldn't meet anyone's eyes. "Do we know this... virus... works the way you say?"
"Yes, we do," Bruloss replied softly. "We've tested it on the clones we captured from the Temple District. And... before you ask, no, it has no effect on any human other than these specific clones. We've made certain of that."
Squeezing the hand he held in his own, Obi-Wan searched for something to say. Yoda beat him to it. "Difficult, it is, to use such a tool," he said, his voice even harsher than normal. "War, this is. Tools to fight it, we have, some worse than others."
"Can we say using this virus is worse than using a 'saber or a blaster?" Obi-Wan found himself saying, though he didn't know where the words came from. "Regardless, our enemy is dead."
"It feels... unclean," Mace muttered, and from the corner of his eyes, Obi-Wan could see Adi nodding, her expression twisted.
"It's because it's aggressive," Qui-Gon said, his voice very soft and very sad. Obi-Wan squeezed his hand again. "We're not used to being put on the offensive like this. We'd rather defend than attack."
"But... they've already attacked us!" Ser Showat's voice was almost shrill, and Obi-Wan could feel her roiling emotions and sympathized with her. "What do you call what happened to Bruck, to the others who trusted this Ventress? What do you call what happened in the sub-basements?" She looked around the room then down at her hands, which were twisted together. "My people may not be Jedi, but we serve Jedi. Does that mean an attack on us isn't as important as an attack on field ops or Council members?"
"No!" The denial came from several throats, though it was only Qui-Gon who continued to speak. "The Temple staff is as much Jedi as we are, Claum. Do not ever doubt that. You may not carry 'sabers, but 'sabers alone do not make a Jedi."
Her head came up as Qui-Gon spoke, and they stared at each other for a long beat before she nodded and looked away again.
"How difficult is it to use this... virus? This weapon," Mace asked, his distaste evident. "What would we have to do?"
"One of the things we tried to do was to make it reasonably difficult to contract, just in case," Bruloss said after sighing. "But at the same time, we didn't want to require you to carry loaded hyposprays around either. The virus has a very short lifespan outside the body, but it should be long enough, and it's contagious several different ways to them." She spread her hands. "Introduce it to the water supply. Spray it on surfaces the clones will touch or into an air intake. That should suffice. As long as it's passed within an hour, it'll be active."
Obi-Wan nodded and took a deep breath. "We must use it. We don't have much of a choice -- in a pitched battle between several thousand Jedi and several thousand specially trained Jedi killers, the collateral damage alone is unthinkable." He sighed. "We cannot even hope to face Dooku and his cohorts with that phalanx of clones standing between us and them. If we want to take Dooku out, we have to take the clones out first. We don't have the luxury of a choice in that."
There was dead silence in the room for quite a long time. Finally, Yoda spoke again. "Question remains... our next step, what should it be?"
"The answer to that appears to be easy," Jay said softly. "We're going to have to go shut them down."
Afterwords
1. Subsequent: Coming or being after something else at any time, indefinitely.
The meeting lasted far into the night as they tossed about ideas on how to accomplish the goal of, as Jay so succinctly put it, shutting Tyranus down. There had been food eventually brought in, but it had been all but inhaled, only appreciated as a method of replenishing the body so it could keep going.
Finally, as the night wore on, members of the group began to pair up and leave. Siri grabbed Bruck and tugged him out of the room, hustling him to her apartment before he could make any other choice. His anger had been battering at her shields the whole evening, driving her to distraction.
"Bruck, stop it. You've had Jedi training; you and I were in the creche together. Release your anger." Siri sat on the couch in her quarters and watched her friend pace back and forth.
"I want that bitch dead."
"I understand that. Don't you think I want her dead too? She used you, Bruck. Used you and then tossed you over." She took a deep breath. "Not to mention she nearly managed to blow us all up. Personally, I'd like to see her skinned alive and then buried in a wasp nest."
"That's too good for her."
"You're giving me a headache, Bruck. Calm down. Release it."
"Fuck Jedi thinking; fuck it all."
"If you want any chance at all to fuck a Jedi tonight, Chun, you'll calm down!" That got his attention, at least, and he stopped his furious pacing to gape at her. "That's better. Now, come here and release your anger so we can get to the good fucking, all right?'
"I want to come with you, when you go after her," Bruck said, finally sitting down next to her on the sofa. "I'm the only one who knows the Marauder inside and out, and I'm the Temple's best pilot. I want a shot at her, Siri."
"I'll talk to Obi-Wan about it," Siri promised, tugging Bruck's shirt out of his pants while twisting to straddle his lap. "And what a deal that's going to be... he's going to have a litter!"
"Who?" Siri had latched onto the side of his neck by the time he spoke, and the word ended in a gasp of pleasure.
"Obi-Wan. Knight Kenobi. He doesn't like you very much." Siri's voice was muffled, since she was using her mouth on his neck and collarbone, nibbling and licking, while letting her fingers wander into Bruck's trousers.
"I don't even know who he is! And you're trying to distract me."
"Guilty. Don't worry about it; I'll explain it later. Much later."
Obviously giving up, Bruck's arms came up to encircle her, pulling at the loose tunic she wore. "You're wearing too many clothes."
"So are you. Come on, Chun. You know I'm better than she ever was."
"You got that right." With a lightning-quick move, Bruck lifted her and twisted to drop them both onto the couch, length-wise, with himself on top.
Siri giggled. "Now, that's a Jedi move if ever I felt one."
"You're gonna get more than that, Tachi," he growled, sealing his mouth over hers and effectively ending all conversation for some time.
2. Consequent: following as a logical conclusion.
"If you're going, then I'm going." Jayden was on his back, sheened with sweat, his normally sandy hair darkened with it. Maul was on top of him, just having slipped from his body. Their breathing was slowing, and Maul took a deep breath through his nose, loving the combined scents of their sweat, semen and Jay's own spicy odor.
"It's not like I could stop you anyway," Maul mumbled, with his nose still buried in Jay's hair next to his ear. He couldn't figure out how Jay could recover so quickly from their lovemaking; he picked up the discussion exactly where he left it, which was about thirty seconds before Maul pushed inside him. They hadn't been the first to leave the meeting, but Maul knew they weren't the only ones feeling frustration that was very nearly sexual in nature over it.
"A point. And I know you've got a score to settle with Fett. I'm going to make sure you get that chance and don't go off without a fuse."
All Maul had to hear was that name to be suffused with wholly inappropriate anger. Used to it by now, he took a deep breath and released it. "Yes. Well..."
"And if you think I'm going to leave you alone with Obi-Wan Kenobi, you've got another think coming."
Astonished, Maul pulled back far enough to see into Jay's face. "What? I..." Then he saw the twinkle in Jay's eyes and realized he was being teased, hard. "You idiot." One of his spunky, greasy hands came up to touch Jay's face. "I'm glad you'll be coming with us too."
Jay leaned into his touch. Even while smiling, his eyes were serious. "This isn't going to be an easy mission, sweetheart. I know you feel about the same as I do over using that virus."
"We all do, Jay." Maul sighed, ignoring -- for now -- his lover's annoying endearment. "We all do."
3. Ultimate: at last; in the end; eventually.
As the meeting was breaking up, Obi-Wan saw Siri leave with Bruck Chun in tow and had to make a conscious effort to keep from grinding his teeth. He and Siri had only partially thrashed out their differences since he discovered she was on-again, off-again lovers with Chun. Intellectually, Obi-Wan knew Chun was not the same man as the one he had killed, years before and in a different universe, but his emotions were rarely in synch with his intellect these days.
Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon left shortly after Maul and Jay did, and the walk back to their apartment was exhausting as the adrenaline finally wore off. Without speaking, they got undressed and climbed into their bed, and Obi-Wan found himself with his arms tightly around and his head on Qui-Gon's chest almost before either of them had gotten comfortable.
Qui-Gon's chuckle mutated into a sigh even as it was voiced. "I feel the same."
Obi-Wan didn't want to look into Qui-Gon's eyes; he knew what he'd see there. "I know we need to use it, but..."
"I hate the thought of using it at all." Qui-Gon swallowed heavily. "Mace is right. It feels... dirty." He fell silent again for a moment, before adding, "I keep thinking about Lama Su."
"I keep seeing Tyranus' eyes." Obi-Wan chewed on his lip. "I could feel him, Qui-Gon. He was completely mad."
"With what undoubtedly happened to him..." Both of them shuddered. "It would be a blessing to send him into the Force, Obi-Wan. Keep thinking that."
"It's better than wanting revenge," Obi-Wan said, with another sigh.
"Indeed."
They lay entwined, unspeaking but not sleeping either, for quite a long time. To his surprise, Obi-Wan found himself becoming aroused as he immersed himself in Qui-Gon's aura. It wasn't that he was unused to becoming aroused in Qui-Gon's presence, but the last few months had been rough on them, and neither had wanted to go further of late than mutual masturbation. Qui-Gon was still seeing Dotrick -- they both were -- and he still had problems with the idea of penetration, though he was getting better every day.
Truth was, Obi-Wan longed to go back to their former state, pre-abuse. He also knew it would only hurt Qui-Gon to say it, so he remained mute and hoped his arousal would go away before his spouse noticed it.
That wish was dashed when Qui-Gon shifted and bumped into Obi-Wan's erection. They both froze, and Obi-Wan closed his eyes with a wince. "Sorry," he breathed.
Qui-Gon was silent and still for several moments before his hand gently wandered up Obi-Wan's back to the nape of his neck. "Nothing to be sorry for," he murmured, turning slightly, enough that Obi-Wan realized his arousal wasn't solitary. Qui-Gon wasn't completely hard, but just the fact he had an erection flooded Obi-Wan with a relief he thought was palpable. "Would you like to..."
"I would." Obi-Wan lifted his head from Qui-Gon's chest and scooted up far enough to reach his husband's lips. "Anything... with you."
Kissing Qui-Gon was one of the finer things in life. Obi-Wan had come to that conclusion years before, but every time it happened he reaffirmed it. Qui-Gon poured his whole heart and soul into kissing Obi-Wan, moved his soft lips sensuously over Obi-Wan's, clinging and sucking gently. Kissing Qui-Gon could be a religion as far as Obi-Wan was concerned, a religion with but one acolyte, because he certainly wasn't going to be sharing any time soon.
They kissed for a long time, gently feeding each other's arousal back and forth. Qui-Gon's hands were buried in Obi-Wan's hair, massaging gently, and Obi-Wan had his hand around the nape of Qui-Gon's neck, rubbing his wrist against Qui-Gon's beard. With a small noise of pleasure, Qui-Gon carefully nudged Obi-Wan, encouraging him to move more on top, straddling Qui-Gon. Obi-Wan did so carefully, as he didn't want to put his full weight on Qui-Gon, didn't want his husband to feel trapped or overwhelmed.
Their erections bumped together through the thin shorts they wore, causing each to moan. Suddenly, Obi-Wan knew what he wanted, wanted desperately, and he broke their kiss to look down, breathless, at Qui-Gon. "I want..." Suddenly unsure, he stopped. Was this such a good idea?
"What do you want, Obi-love?" Qui-Gon's voice was husky with desire, and his hands were gentle, brushing Obi-Wan's hair back from his forehead.
"It... it might not be..." Qui-Gon's eyes were so open and beautiful, and the shadows which had been haunting them seemed to be gone, for this time. "Will you... can we..." He swallowed, then took the bantha by the beard. "I want you inside me," he whispered, watching Qui-Gon's face carefully.
Qui-Gon closed his eyes briefly and swallowed. When his eyes opened, Obi-Wan relaxed -- there was no panic, no fear, no worry, just honest love mixed with a little lust and something that might have been sadness. "I think we can do that."
There was another bottle of oil from Sinnisma, one they had barely touched since its arrival the week before. Qui-Gon called it to his hand before tipping Obi-Wan gently off, next to him on the bed. "But you're wearing too many clothes," Qui-Gon said with a tiny smile.
"We can fix that." Obi-Wan didn't know why they were talking in whispers, but it seemed, somehow, appropriate for the situation. He shucked out of his own shorts as Qui-Gon pulled his down and away, then watched as Qui-Gon opened the bottle and squeezed a small amount on his fingers. When Qui-Gon would have dipped those fingers between his legs, Obi-Wan stopped him. Instead, Obi-Wan gently steered the oily fingers back to Qui-Gon's own body, letting them rest on Qui-Gon's erection. "I don't think that's necessary," Obi-Wan said, sitting up then quickly moving to straddle Qui-Gon's legs.
"It's been a while, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon protested tenderly. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure." Obi-Wan found himself wanting the burn of penetration, wanting to really feel it, since it was something they hadn't done for a while. He didn't want to tell Qui-Gon he felt that way, though, because he was afraid what Qui-Gon might think if he told him.
Rubbing the warming oil onto Qui-Gon's erection and feeling it grow under their combined hands gave all the incentive Obi-Wan needed. He needed this, he needed to feel Qui-Gon inside, in and around and all the way through him. Kneeling up, Obi-Wan shuffled closer, steadied Qui-Gon and slowly began his descent, a long, warm glide. Yes, there was a burning sensation, just this side of painful, but it was something that made Obi-Wan feel alive. Alive and loved.
He slowed his movements then paused for a moment, threw his head back and panted as he waited for his body to adjust, to remember what was happening and how good it felt. He felt warm, slick, trembling fingers grasping his own erection and looked down, saw Qui-Gon beneath him, saw the lust and the joy in his husband's eyes, knew he was helping heal the last rents in Qui-Gon's wounded psyche, knew Qui-Gon was helping to banish the same wounds from his own.
Leaving his eyes open so he could watch Qui-Gon's expression, Obi-Wan continued to sink down. Qui-Gon appeared to be fighting to stay still, to keep his own eyes open, even as his hand grasped Obi-Wan firmly, tightly, stroking slowly. At last, he was all the way down, and felt Qui-Gon buried so deeply he might as well have been in his heart.
"Slow... go slow..." Qui-Gon gasped, raising his knees even as he continued to stroke Obi-Wan with a motion that was oily and tight, twisting and absolutely perfect.
Unable to articulate through his own heavy breathing, Obi-Wan just nodded briefly, and kept his eyes on Qui-Gon as he began to slowly move back up. The slide up was as tight and burning as the slide down, and felt even better. When he reached his limit, he reversed and pushed himself back down, harder than the first time, groaning at the combined pleasure and pain. The angle was perfect, and Qui-Gon was rubbing over his prostate both up and down, sending shards of red-hot pleasure through him.
Qui-Gon's hand seemed to be moving to Obi-Wan's rhythm, because as Obi-Wan began to speed up, so did Qui-Gon. Soon, he was nearly slamming himself down, over and over, shouting as his pleasure began to peak, burning up his spine. Qui-Gon was meeting every jolt down with an equally hard thrust up, and his hand was hard and tight and pulling exactly right, precisely how it was needed, which left Obi-Wan's hands free to steady himself on Qui-Gon's raised knees as his body bent back.
Finally looking away, Obi-Wan closed his eyes and tipped his head back, barely restraining a howl as his completion overtook him. Qui-Gon's body beneath him bowed up and his hands, flying over Obi-Wan's erection, milking Obi-Wan's orgasm out of him, were even tighter as his own climax rolled over him. They froze for a long, intense moment then slowly relaxed, collapsing in on themselves.
When Obi-Wan came back to himself, he was sealed to his spouse by mingled sweat and spunk, but Qui-Gon was still barely inside him. He could feel more semen, seeping out from inside his body, and smiled.
Beneath his ear, Qui-Gon's heart beat and his stomach churned, and when he spoke, Obi-Wan could hear the rumble before the voice. "We should move," Qui-Gon slurred.
"Mmm."
"You're going to be stuck."
"Mmm."
"I love you..."
"Mmm. Love you too."
In the morning, Obi-Wan was indeed stuck, and sore as well. But he figured it was all in good payment for a night of sweet dreams and joy. Both of those had been in short supply of late, so it was good to gather them in while they still could.