[Legacy Of The Force] - 02(70)

“Ko Sai’s triumph was controlling the aging process. She knew how to manipulate it better than any other biologist. We were interested only in accelerating it to mature clones faster, but I can see how many would find slowing the process and its therapeutic potential an attractive commodity. She claimed she was able to achieve it in the laboratory.”

Mirta had met an original Kamino clone, she claimed. A clone who couldn’t, shouldn’t be alive today. Fett found a slew of puzzle pieces dumped in his lap, all fitting together. Impossible clones, dismembered Kaminoan scientist, missing cloning data. “You got any names?”

Taun We stiffened. “Do you remember that aggressive little human called Skirata? The one who … threatened my colleagues with a knife so frequently?”

Yes, he remembered Kal Skirata, all right. Sometimes his father swore he was the best of the bunch; sometimes he just swore at him and lashed out. Jango Fett rarely lost his temper, but Skirata had a talent for making that happen. He was ferociously and uncompromisingly Mandalorian.

As a lonely kid on Kamino, Fett had narrowly escaped being forced to learn Mando’a from Skirata’s wildly unpredictable special forces trainees, six cloned ARC troopers who answered only to him. They were intelligence units; the Nulls, as everyone called them, the first batch of clones, and they had turned out crazy, hypersmart, and dangerous. They had disappeared when the war ended.

Yes, this was a neat pattern. Skirata lived for his clones. He’d want them to live out full lives like ordinary men. He would have wanted Ko Sai’s data and expertise very badly. Butchering her to get the genetic technology he needed to stop the accelerated aging would have been nothing to him, just a means to an end.

And if one of Skirata’s clone troops was still alive and fully active today when he should have been the equivalent of a 140-year-old, it meant that they’d found a way to stop the accelerated aging process-Ko Sai’s way.

That’s what I need. That will save my life.

Fett was suddenly enveloped in a sensation of vivid awareness, like a pleasantly cool shower on a hot day; the colors around him seemed instantly vibrant, the sounds crystal clear, the smells sharp. Adrenaline coursed through him. He’d found what he was looking for-or the route to it, at least.

He’d never failed to track a bounty. Never. Even if a few had escaped in the end, he had always found them.

I’ll find you, too.

“Useful,” said Fett. Holding the blaster level was making his forearm ache. He’d never felt that before. “You keep quiet about this and I’ll keep this data to myself. Got it?”

“Agreed,” said Taun We. “And if-when you find Ko Sai’s data, we would give you an excellent fee for its return.”

He suddenly thought of Sintas, her eyes brimming with tears of joy as she held baby Ailyn. No, Taun We couldn’t possibly care about him like a real mother.

Taun We’s first thought was for her science.

“Maybe I don’t want to sell it,” said Fett.

“What do you plan to do with your legacy?”

“What?”

“You’re dying. And even if you succeed in finding Ko Sai’s data and it can help you, then you still face the question of what legacy you will leave behind.”

“Why does that worry you?”

“I believe it was a concern to your father. He told Count Dooku that he did not want a son-he wanted an apprentice to be Jaster’s legacy.”

That stung. Maybe Taun We didn’t mean it the way it sounded. He remained deadpan and wished he had kept his helmet on. “Jaster Mereel was more than Dad’s mentor. He was a father.”

That seemed to mean nothing to Taun We. “And what is that legacy?”

“To be Mandalore. To make sure Mandalorians survive, whatever happens. And I’ll live up to my father’s pledge just as he did before me.”

Taun We remained glacial. “We will exceed any offer.”

Dad was always looking back at Jaster Mereel, feeling he had to live up to him. Maybe I was a second chance to do that.

“I’ll let you know.”

Jaster’s legacy. Beviin’s got a point. More Mandalore, less business.

Maybe she said it to wound him. No, Kaminoans didn’t care about anything, even if they were almost your mother.

He put on his helmet and turned to leave. Would she raise the alarm? She wouldn’t want anyone to know that her data had been compromised. All she cared about was her work, as she always had, and that would buy her silence. If Arkanian Micro ran any security checks, they would find nothing missing and no botched attempts at slicing their system. It was between him and Taun We.