Okha entered the landing area and made her way to her ship, the Raven. Softly speaking to herself, she repeated the words, “Kamino, Kamino…” Following closely behind her was Emaneld. Although she could not see him, his face of confusion had not changed. Okha quickly made her way into the comms room onboard the Raven. Approaching the control panel, she began turning switches and and twisting knobs. Emaneld cautiously began to speak, “Look, I meant to…” “Shhh…!,” Okha quickly interrupted, “I need silence. I need to make sure there are no tracking devices, listening devices, transmitters or otherwise.” Emaneld waited patiently. “Okay, now, we can talk,” Okha nodded as she turned away from the instrumentation. Emaneld slowly began, “Look, I am sorry, but I don’t know what is going on. I am trying to follow and keep-up, but I am not sure you are telling me everything.” With a slightly annoyed tone, Okha fired back, “you know as much as I do! My mission failed because I listed to the cries of that little girl.” Okha’s tone became increasingly annoyed, “A mission YOU set me up for and kept going on and on about how this is THE one…” Okha paused, took a deep breath and continued, “now all I know is that all these other guys were either in on it, or that I was being played!” Emaneld refrained from saying anything. Perhaps waiting for Okha to calm down. After a moment, he began, “That first transmission, the one were you told me that you had failed, and before I headed to Maz’s, I took the time to look...” “Is that why you were late?!” “Please let me finish”. Okha had to throw that in. Even though he was not late, and was admiring his dependability at the time, she was feeling anything but at the moment. Emaneld continued, “...I took the time to look at my ship’s logs. I had pictures of the vessel I met with on Enkrads. I sent it to Dudeel Trute. He always has an answer.” “That is true. I have never heard him say I don’t know.” Okha shifted her focus around the room, “except…” After a moment of thought, Okha nodded at Emaneld, “Get Dudeel to meet us at Kamino.”
There was a brief pause. Okha was about to head out of the Comms room when Emaneld got in her way, and looked into Okha’s eyes, “ We don’t know enough of what is going on.” Okha ignored Emanneld and walked right passed him. Emaneld raised his voice, “why are you doing this?”
Okha didn’t give the question much thought, “Why would you care?” As she began to shift her attention to the cargo hold area containing their comatose Duro prisoner, Eeloh Ssaah. Emaneld’s posture showed that he was going to try to push for an answer. Okha continued, “look, I want answers! Maz never gave me answers, just more questions... and that is not going to change until I do something.” Emaneld changed his posture, and spoke calmly “Then, this is about you?” “Stop!” “How many years have you known me, and how many bounties have I not brought to your attention? What did I ever ask in return?” Okha began to get irritated, “Look, that first time, you said you didn’t want anything and would never want anything - EVER!!.” Emaneld was taken back, but calmly answered, “I meant it”.
Okha snapped, “then, why?! Why now?!”
The silence was deafening. Emaneld looked shaken. He took a deep breath, and sighed, “Ok, I’m telling Dudeel to meet us there.” “Thank you,” Okha replied calmly as she headed toward the ramp and headed to the base’s interior. She was anxious to see how her new little guest, Moon, was making out with Tac. She was also uncertain how to tell Moon that she was going away again. Her heart sank. Taking calm steps, Okha approached the garden. Suddenly, she could make out the sounds of a child laughing. In disbelief, she opened the door to the garden. Much to her surprise, she found Moon running around Tac in one direction, then in the other. As with any Supper Battle Droid, Tac’s head could barely move. In order to track a target, he needed to shift his entire torso. Spotting the little girl was no different, and provided much entertainment for Moon. As she approached, Okha’s thoughts drifted as the sounds of laughter echoed in her mind. There was something so inviting about the child. Her feelings of longing and familiarity were not logical. She was fighting them, but was ready to surrender to them.
Suddenly, Emaneld enters the garden and interrupts her thoughts, almost startling her, “He’s on his way.” “Already?” “If you know Dudeel, he does not mess around when it comes to information-finding.”
Okha looks toward the landing area and nods, “ready the Raven. I need to talk with Moon for a minute.” Emaneld nodded and left for the ship. As she turned toward the little girl, there was no more laughter. She already felt her sorrow even before looking at her little face. Okha approached calmly and crouched at eye-level with Moon. “I am sorry sweetheart, I need to leave again.” Okha looked at Tac for a moment. “You will be in good company. And you can have all the fun you want here until I get back.” There was no acknowledgement. The sadness deepend. Okha continued, “I don’t want to leave you. In fact, I wish I could spend every moment with you.” There was a pause with no words. Only feelings. Okha’s eyes began to moisten as she looked for the words to say. “I… I…” Moon looked straight into her eyes and softly speaks, “I know”. Okha was about to lean in to hug her when suddenly, the comlink with Emaneld’s voice interrupts, “ready!”.
Okha continues to look into Moon’s eyes. Reluctant to break the connection, she takes a deep breath, stands and begins to walk away, eventually breaking the eye contact. “Take good care of her until I get back Tac.” In a matter of minutes Okha readies her armor, weapons and heads to the Revan. Emanneld already had the coordinates entered. Okha pilots the ship out of the landing area through the twisting and turning caverns of the mountain’s interior. Once outside, she engages the hyperdrive and the swirl of blues take over the cockpit. The tension in the cockpit was palpable. Emaneld looked over, but said nothing. Okha set the autopilot and left for the corridor. Emaneld followed, looked around and saw her enter the comms room. He carefully approached, and mentioned, “he’s still out”. Okha knew he was referring to their Duro prisoner. All she did was nod. After a moment of silence, he continued, “I am sorry. About everything.” Okha raised her eyebrows slightly. “It was all my fault: the mission, me being pushy about it…” ”And…?” “...and me not knowing that the blaster was not on stun…” Okha just stood with her arms crossed and stared. After a long minute of staring at each other, she broke the silence, “look, we’ve been through alot together over the years. I work alone for a reason.” “What about your droids? What about Tac?” She firmly stated, “ALONE.” Emaneld was taken back. “One day, when I have my freighter, I will have a crew. I was hoping you’d be a part of it. But, mistakes like that are costly. I needed the information. Now, we are travelling halfway around the galaxy to some obscure place to get answers!” “Okay. I get it. I said I was sorry. How much longer are you going to hold this against me?” “It depends what we find.”
Okha leaves the comms room and walks back to the cockpit and takes the pilot seat. Again, Emaneld follows, and smirks, “you know, these trips would be a lot shorter if you had a Dejarik Chess table.” Okha doesn’t even look over,“ when you buy me one.” Emaneld smiles, “done. As soon as we get done with this, I will go to the finest classic Dejarik Chess table maker and get it for you.” Okha broke half a smile, “I don’t know if I even have the place to put it.” “We’ll make the space.”
Suddenly, the Raven's proximity alert begins to sound. “We're here,” nods Okha as she readies turn off the hyperdrive.
The darkness of space surrounding the planet of Kamino is suddenly disrupted by the flash of light produced as the Raven drops out of hyperspace.
“The planet has been pretty much abandoned since the Clone Wars,” explained Emaneld. “I would recommend scanning for the largest structure, and go there.”
Clearing the atmosphere revealed a water filled planet with a constant rain storm.
“Is it always like this?” asked Okha. “I don't come here often, but scans show that 99% of the planet is just like this.” “And the other 1% ?” “Uhm… a light drizzle...”
Just as she landed the Raven, a freighter with no markings dropped right next to them.
“MAN THE TURRET!” Yelled Okha. Emaneld calmly laughed, “wait, wait... that's Dudeel Trute.” Okha looked over in disbelief, “What?! Not a single sensor detected his approach… and that freighter design looks like nothing I'm aware of.” “It's a custom,” winked Emaneld.
“Nice, I doubt it can do this…” Okha engaged the cloaking device. Just as Dudeel exited his ship, he witnessed the ship fading into nowhere. “Nope, my ship can’t do that,” Dudeel uttered to himself as he shook his head and smiled. Dudeel was a Yinchurri. Short, green skinned and lizard-like in appearance. The advantage of their race is that they are immune to telepathic uses of the force.
From the cloaked vessel, a ramp lowers with Okha and Emaneld, who waves at Dudeel, “Greetings, thank you for joining us on such short notice.” Dudeel practically ignores Emaneld’s greeting, “where can I get one of those?” Okha smiled, “one of what? I don’t see anything.” “Exactly.” As the rain pours down, all three head toward the giant structure with represents a dome of enormous proportions. Emaneld tries to refocus the conversation, “the pictures of the ship I sent you, what can you tell us?” “The ship is of Sullust design. A unique model - only three were ever made. Two of the owners are well known, wealthy Senators. The other was sold to someone that had ties to a Separatist Bank.” During the conversation, Dudeel produces a device that interfaces with the dome’s entrance. It whiirs, beeps and suddenly, the door opens. Both Okha and Emaneld look at eachother. “I know what you are thinking,” Dudeel sneers, “is that a droid in his pocket? Short answer: yes.” Emaneld chuckled, “I didn’t say anything.” “It is the complete memory of my once loving C1 Astromech. With all the interfaces it needs. Portable. Reliable. It has all the virtual environments it needs to feel alive.” Okha and Emaneld looked at eachother once more. Neither knowing what to say.
Dudeel proceeded into the structure. All lights were either off or blinking in random sequences. “Let’s get this place up and running, shall we? Dudeel spoke as if to himself, and approached a power panel. Again, produced the compact C1 and within seconds, the entire facility was teeming with light.
Suddenly, Okha felt a sense of longing. Why does all this feel so familiar to me? Okha could not shake the feeling that she had been there before. She even felt a certainty of the location of rooms.
Emaneld noticed Okha’s confusion, “are you okay?” “No.” Both Emaneld and Dudeel looked at eachother. “What is it?” “I feel the overwhelming sensation that I have been here before.” Dudeel looked perplexed, but went along with it, “do you know where the lab is?”
She closed her eyes and winced as if in pain. Her head was beginning to pulse. Some pain settled, but then faded. She took a deep breath, as she waved to both of them, “come, this way.”
Again, Emaneld and Dudeel looked at eachother, but proceeded to follow.
The hallways were brightly lit. The walls were the cleanest of white on white. What felt like an endless walk, Okha suddenly stopped, “here.” At first, there did not even seem like there was a door. “Here?” Dudeel asked. “Here,” she calmly confirmed with a sense of confidence. With only a panel to look at, Dedeel again produced his portable C1. It began by physically taking down the panel. Some sparks and and buzzing electrical arcs and flashes took place as everyone covered their eyes in the flashing, Dudeel pulled down his goggles. Suddenly, a large line on the call became clear. Within a split second, it opens to reveal a large room teeming with holoscreens, incubators and equipment no one had seen in decades.
Okha proceeded to remove her helmet and take a closer look. Why do I feel like I know this place? She thought to herself.
Dudeel entered the room and took a seat by one of the systems. He immediately began to try to interface with it. “I have never worked with a system this complex. However I will do my very best.” Okha I had no doubt that Dedeel would do his best, so she proceeded to look around.
Emaneld was speechless. He tried keeping up with Okha as he attempted to take it all in.
Emaneld was speechless. He tried keeping up with Okha as he attempted to take it all in. Suddenly, Okha found herself wondering down a hallway that led her to a gigantic area filled with capsules, vessels and growth Chambers. She continued to walk through the halls in Wonder and in awe. She could almost not believe what she was seeing. It was like something out of a dream. It felt so familiar. Although she had heard of a cloning facility of massive proportions, she felt her eyes were deceiving her. She turned to Emaneld, “so here are where the grand army of the republic was made?” “The Kaminoans were extremely good cloners. At the time, the republic needed an army that could be mass-produced. I don’t know how else they would have been able to keep-up with the Separatists’ ability to mass-produce droids for their army.” Okha nodded and continued to look around. “They turned on their generals though. Did they not?” Emaneld took a deep breath, “it is believed that the Kaminoans are also capable of creating artificial memories. Dudeel can elaborate more on it than I can. Rumor has it, they implanted memories in all the clones. Memories that would be activated with a single phrase, or command. Like I said, I think Dudeel knows way more than I do, but I believe it was called order 66.” Okha began to feel dizzy and almost nauseous. “Are you okay?” “Yea, yea, I’m fine.” Emaneld slowly approached. “I SAID I’M FINE.” Emaneld raised his hands and backed away. “Okay, I’ll go see how Dudeel is doing.” “Wait. just give me a moment.” Okha continued to look through the glass into the large cloning chamber. Okha could not believe that all the stories she had heard about the clone army were true. She could not believe that they were helpless to follow an order that would make them turn on those who trusted them the most. Moreso, she could not believe that as she walked through the facility, she felt right at home.
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