Death Watch has its own problems, and the Bando Gora its own galactic agenda.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Pestage said. “Besides, the Maladians are known to honor all their contracts.”
“How soon can you have them on Coruscant?”
Pestage looked at him askance. “Perhaps it’s best that that remains on a need-to-know basis.”
The man’s audacity both impressed and bridled Palpatine. “There can be no mistakes, Sate.”
A long-suffering look flared on Pestage’s face, but his tone was compliant when he responded. “If there are, then I’m certain this will be our final conversation. I know fully well what Magister Damask and you are capable of, and I hope to make myself worthy of continuing to serve you. One day, perhaps, you’ll begin to think of me as family, as I’m sure Senator Kim does you.”
“You’ve no qualms about living a double life, Sate?”
“Some of us are simply born into it,” Pestage said, indifferent to Palpatine’s penetrating gaze.
“You’ll contact me here?”
“As soon as the work is completed. Just make sure to stay close to your comm.”
“You’ll also be contacting Magister Damask?”
Pestage rocked his head. “He gave me the impression that he would be unavailable for the next few weeks. But I suspect we’re safe in assuming that the results won’t escape his notice.”
On a planet at the edge of known space, above the holo-well of a gleaming metallic table, a quarter-sized three-dimensional image of a tall biped rotated between graphs and scrolling lines of anatomical and physiological data. In a spoon-like seat suspended from the white room’s towering ceiling sat Hego Damask, dwarfed by a trio of slender, tailed scientists — two crested males and a female whose complexion was more gray than white.
“This being is representative of the entire species?” the scientist called Ni Timor asked in a gentle, almost sussurant voice.
“This one murdered six members of his species,” Damask said, “but he is otherwise typical of the Yinchorri.”
Tenebrous had introduced him to the planet Kamino early on in his apprenticeship, but he hadn’t visited in more than three years. In stocking Sojourn’s greel forests with rare and in some cases extinct fauna, he had hired the Kaminoans to grow clones from biological samples he procured through brokers of genetic materials. The glassy eyes, long necks, and sleek bodies of the bipedal indigenes spoke to a marine past, though in fact they had been land dwellers for millions of years preceding a great flood that had inundated Kamino. With global catastrophe looming, most technologically advanced sentient species would have abandoned their homeworld and reached for the stars. But the Kaminoans had instead constructed massive stilt cities that were completed even while the oceans of their world were rising and submerging the continents. They had also turned their considerable intellect to the science of cloning as a means of ensuring the survival of their species, and along the way had taken genetic replication farther than any known species in the galaxy. Residing outside the galactic rim, the Kaminoans performed their work in secret and only for the very wealthy. It was unlikely, in any case, that they would have abided by the Republic’s restrictions on cloning. Moral principles regarding natural selection seemed to be something they had left on the floor of what was now Kamino’s planetwide ocean, which perhaps explained why they were no more reluctant about providing game animals for Sojourn than they were about supplying shovel- handed clones to work in the mines of inhospitable Subterrel.
Damask considered them to be one of the galaxy’s most progressive species: almost Sith-like in their emotional aloofness and scientific objectivity.
The female scientist, Ko Sai, had highlighted an area of the Yinchorri’s midbrain. “The lack of neural pathways to the forebrain indicates an innate proclivity for violence. Although the absence could be idiosyncratic.”
The third Kaminoan, Lac Nor, called for an enhancement of the highlighted area. “The Yinchorri’s violent nature could complicate matters, Magister. Without access to sociological studies, we have no means of determining to what degree the culture of violence shapes the beings born into it. A clone raised in a laboratory setting might exhibit feral behavior unless provided with some means to express aggression.”
“An outlet,” Ko Sai offered.
“Scientific studies are available,” Damask said. “The question is, can compliance be bred into them without affecting their violent tendencies?”
“Probably not without disturbing the basic personality matrix,” Ko Sai said. “We might produce a clone that is merely Yinchorri in aspect, but lacks the signature characteristics of the species.”
Damask frowned. “That won’t do.”
“Have you considered using a more acquiescent species?” Ni Timor asked
“Which would you recommend?
“One of the placid species. Ithorians, for example. Or Caamasi.”
Damask shook his head. “Neither species would suit my purposes. What about humans?”
“Our experience with humans is limited — though of course we have grown many replacement organs.”
“Human emotionalism is somewhat problematic,” Ko Sai added, “but not unsolvable.”
Damask considered the comment, and then agreed with the Kaminoan’s assessment.
Emotion in human beings was a fatal flaw. The same characteristic that fueled their need to form strong bonds and believe that all life was sacred made them compassionate to a fault. Only weeks earlier on Sojourn, he realized that even Sidious, for all his growing strength in the dark side, remained a prisoner of his emotions. That Sidious was feeling an urge to stretch out with his new powers was to be expected and encouraged, but he had to be taught the lesson every Sith needed to learn. With great subtlety Sidious had manipulated Vidar Kim into a position where he had become a liability, and therefore had to die. He hadn’t bothered to address the issue directly because the time had come for Sidious to embark on the political career that would carry him to the chancellorship. Still, Sidious’s reaction to the assassination orders — fleeting as it had been — had convinced Plagueis of the need for additional tests. Sidious didn’t need to have his mistakes explained to him; he needed to experience the consequences.
“Perhaps, Magister,” Lac Nor was saying, “if we understood your plans for the Yinchorri clones.”
“I would expect them to serve as soldiers.”
“Ah,” Ni Timor said. “Then obedience, not mere compliance, must be a prime consideration.”
“And yet the need for some measure of free will,” Ko Sai was quick to point out. “Or else why not simply use combat automata?”
Lac Nor’s large eyes fixed on Damask. “These Yinchorri appear to be ready-made for war, Magister. Are there so few of them in the galaxy that you need to clone an army?”
He had deliberately avoided mentioning Yinchorri immunity to Force suggestion because he should have no way of knowing about that, or indeed anything about the actions of midi-chlorians. But it was precisely the reptilians’ capability to fashion Force bubbles that he hoped to explore.
“As you’ve already pointed out,” he said after a moment, “their innate bellicosity interferes with their ability to follow orders.”
Mostly to himself, Ni Timor said, “We would need to assure that their violent tendencies remained intact, while their behavior was less willful.”
“Yes,” Damask said.
Ko Sai craned her long neck. “Very challenging. Though perhaps if we could be supplied with a template for experimentation …” She gestured toward the 3-D images. “Is this specimen available for thorough evaluation?”
“I could have him delivered to Kamino,” Damask said. “Assuming for the moment that you can discover some way to provide me with what I need, how much time would be required to grow a mature clone?”
The three scientists traded looks.
“In the case of the Yinchorri,” Ni Timor said at last, “certainly no fewer than twelve standard years, to allow for both physical and mental development. As you know we have had some success in accelerating the growth rate of certain cloned creatures, but not yet with full sentients, owing to the plasticity of the youthful brain.”
“More important,” Lac Nor said, “while we might be able to grow a few clones, our facilities are at present inadequate to produce an army of any size.”
