Chapter 47 – Talk with Lama Su

After more than a dozen hour flight through hyperspace, the Phoenix arrived near the planet Kamino located in the Abrion sector of the Outer Rim.

During the Clone Wars, Kamino was known as the 'Planet of Storms' by the clone troopers and for a reason, Kamino's weather is rarely sunny and calm. Most of the time the planet is under a heavy rain or storms.

Before the revelation of the existence of the Grand Army of the Republic to the public, Kamino was almost unknown, even to the Jedis as Dooku erased its location from the archives.

"This is the planet of cloners you were talking about?"

Lyn was curious about the world her master was talking so much since their departure of Ossus. He was enthusiastic to going on this planet and to meet someone who was residing in this world.

"Yes, Kamino; A planet which will have a central role in the political and military game in the near future."

"Why?"

"A Jedi Master which was against the demilitarizing politics of the Republic and feared a return of the Siths ordered a giant army of clones. At such a scale that they can be mobilize through all the galaxy."

"And how do you know it?"

"You'll know after your trials."

He was looking at her with a smirk and enjoyed her grumbling expression. This phrase became her nemesis, and each time it made her blow a fuse.

"Again?!"

He ignored her and piloted the ship toward the blue ball of water. Kamino was completely covered in water, from what was learnt during the Clone Wars the world suffered from a cataclysmic flood which forced the Kaminoans to create a new type of city and change their way of living.

They soon came in sight of Tipoca City, Kamino's capital. The city was built above water on stilt structures and spanned over a hundred kilometers and was the main cloning facility of the Kaminoans. They call it a city, but few Kaminoans lived in it, most of them were living in other cities.

The capital was built in an Alderaanian architectural style, the Alderaanian Oversea, several dome structures formed the capital, the goal being to build the city as a part of the environment and resist to the tempests.

He landed the Phoenix on a landing pad of the capital which was indicated to him by the Kaminoans space traffic and boarded down the ship accompanied by Lyn and HK-47. Like usual, the capital was under a heavy rain and waves were hitting the stilt structures with strength.

Stepping through the glass door, they were welcome by three Kaminoans. The one leading the group being a female.

"Greetings, I'm Taun We, the administrative aide of Prime Minister Lama Su. Can I know the reason of your visit on Kamino?"

Kaminoans were an extremely tall species, none of them being under 2 meters in height once adults. Their skin was white, and with extremely slim limbs and had big black grey eyes. Taun We was wearing mostly blue and white clothes and a trinket over her head, being the only way for Layan to distinguish them if we except their force signature.

"I'm Layan Vaherg, I came here to use your expertise in the cloning domain. I have an offer for which should greatly interest Prime Minister Lama Su and benefit both parties."

Taun We was surprised not only by his claim but also at the presence of lightsaber at his waist. When communicating the coordinate to land, he didn't say he was a Jedi, it was strange as it was time for the Jedi Order to receive the order of master Sifo-Diyas or at least come to check their progresses.

"I assume you're not a Jedi even though you're wearing a lightsaber at your belt?"

"No, I was trained by one, but I am not. I'm sure the Jedi Order will soon come for their order; on my end I came for something more specific."

The 3 parts creating the door separated and let a clear way to the Prime Minister's office. Lama Su was sitting in a spoon shape chair coming from the ceiling. He was like the other Kaminoans but was wearing black clothes of a more distinguishable design.

"May I present Lama Su, Prime Minister of Kamino; and this is Layan Vaherg which came with an offer which may interest you quoting his words."

Layan curtsy to the Prime Minister, Lyn did the same while HK-47 did absolutely not even look at the kaminoan. The Prime Minister did the same and didn't spare a glance to the droid either. Maybe due to their belief that clones are superior to droids, they viewed them as inferiors.

"I trust you will enjoy your stay. Please."

The same type of seat came from the ceiling, and the Prime Minister indicated him to take a seat. He did so while the droid and Lyn stayed standing, like Taun We.

"Now, to business. Could you explain what is the offer you are proposing me?"

"Sure. Let me be direct, I know you are working on a project named 'accelerated cloning process'. I may not be an expert in the cloning field, but I obtained data related to its which may speed up the research progress of your project."

The Prime Minister was surprised that someone was able to hear about a secret project as Kamino was almost unknown to the galaxy. Thus, there was no spy in here, and Kaminoans were open for business and have a tight secret policy over their productions methods.

"Mmh. And what would it cost us to obtain such data's?"

"Not much. I would like you to create a clone for me, I already have the genetic templates to create it and the instructors for its training, and I'm ready to pay a hefty sum for it. But I would like to add a few special conditions to it. I'll also need custom equipment for my clone.

"That's it? It's few."

"I told you it wasn't much, but I have a question for you. As masters of genomic and DNA researches, you must be far ahead of any other when knowing the hidden possibility in it. Hence my question. How far did you progressed in your researches about genetic memory?"

The Prime Minister rose from his seat and turned toward the window.

"The possibility of an individual remembering every memory of his ancestors. A fascinating theory if I must say. In what this theory is interesting you to create your clone?"

Layan clearly saw the hidden desire for the secrets he was hiding in the kaminoan's eye. Unfortunately, he knew nothing about it, that's why he asked him in the first place.

"The clone I want to create is based on someone living thousands of years ago. I found her descendant and wanted to use him to correct the genetic drift possible during the creation of a clone, but not only. I wanted to use him as a way to access her memory, to recreate the original, to put it in clearer words."

Lama Su eyes narrowed while looking at Layan. He sat down and resumed the conversation.

"A form of immortality in some way. Unfortunately, you will be disappointed; all our tries to access the memories hidden into the genetic code of an individual led to madness. You see, we successfully accessed it, but were unable to locate precise information's."

Layan sighed when he heard this from Lama Su mouth.

"All the subjects started to think they were another person, at first; then they thought they were others as memories from another ancestor came in and finally created a multiple personality disorder. Madness, lead them to their death, some even though they become immortal after seeing themselves die multiple times."

Layan digested the information and didn't lose hope as he was thinking to the Nightsisters. He knew few things about their magic, but maybe they had a way to help him create his new Shae Vizla. The problem was that he had to be wary of their treachery, they were at the origin of Savage Opress's creation and tricked Dooku in accepting an apprentice under their control.

His goal wasn't to recreate the original, only to access to her skills and battle experience. He wanted to create a clone superior to the original, and even though the clone army prove to be strong, none reached Jango Fett level of skills.

"It was just a slim hope, not a problem. I have everything needed to start the creation of the clone, and I'm ready to give you the data to help your project. When can we start the production?"

"We will have to examine your data's, add it to our secret protocol and then correct the defects which will come with each clone until reaching the desired result. How much do you give us to create the clone?"

The kaminoan was really interested by Layan proposition as it could help improve their cloning technology and gain them some money for producing only a few clones, maybe a hundred if the failures were piling up.

"Two years and a half."

"I hope your data are reliable, because otherwise you'll have to wait ten years to obtain a fully matured clone using the classical method."

"Don't worry, I know they are."

(After all, they are yours.)

Layan was thinking internally as he was thinking about the data, he stole them at the same occasion he stole Proxy's schematics. In fact, he stole everything related to Galen Marek, even the project Maulkiller. Normally, he should have given his booty to the Rebel Alliance as they were his commissioner, but when he saw the content of the data, he kept everything to himself.

"Come, you must be interested in visiting our cloning facilities."