Star Wars_ The Dark Lord Trilogy - James Luceno [23]
“Anakin,” Obi-Wan said.
Yoda regarded him for a long moment. “Difficult to say,” he said quickly. “Maybe, yes; maybe, no. More important the shroud of the dark side is. Many, many discussions Dooku had. With me, with other members of the Council. Most of all, with Master Sifo-Dyas.”
Obi-Wan waited.
“Close friends they were. Bound together by the unifying Force. But worried about Master Dooku, Sifo-Dyas was. Worried about his disenchantment with the Republic; about self-absorption among the Jedi. Saw in Dooku the effect of Qui-Gon’s death, Sifo-Dyas did. The effect that resurfaced the Sith had.” Yoda shook his head mournfully. “Knew of Dooku’s imminent departure, Master Sifo-Dyas did. Sensed, he may have, the birth of the Separatist movement.”
“And yet the Council dismissed Dooku as an idealist,” Obi-Wan said.
Yoda gazed at the floor. “Saw with my own eyes what he had become, and refused to believe it, I did.”
“But how could Dooku have searched out Sidious? Or was it the other way around?”
“Impossible to know. But accept Sidious as a mentor Dooku did.”
“Could Sifo-Dyas have foreseen that, as well?”
“Also impossible to know. Believed he might have, that Sidious Dooku would hunt down. To destroy.”
“Could that have motivated Dooku to leave the Order?”
“Perhaps. But by the power of the dark side, even the most steadfast heart can be seduced.”
Obi-Wan turned to face Yoda. “Master, did Sifo-Dyas order the clone army?”
Yoda nodded. “Contacted the Kaminoans, he did.”
“Without your knowledge?”
“Without it, yes. But exists, a record of his initial contact.”
Obi-Wan gave in to some of his frustration. “I should have questioned Lama Su more extensively.”
“Questioned, the Kaminoans were. Furnished much they did.”
“Did they?” Obi-Wan said in surprise. “When?”
“Reticent they were when first to Kamino I went. Only what already they had told you, I heard. That Sifo-Dyas the order placed; that Tyranus the donor clone furnished. That for the Republic the clones were. Seen by the Kaminoans, neither Sifo-Dyas nor Tyranus was. But later, after attacked Kamino was, more I learned from Taun We and Ko Sai. About the payments.”
“From Sifo-Dyas?”
“From Tyranus.”
“Could Tyranus have been an alias for Sifo-Dyas? Could he have adopted the name to provide deniability for the Jedi in case the clone army was discovered?”
“Wished for that I did. But killed Sifo-Dyas was, before on Kamino Jango Fett arrived.”
“Murdered?”
Yoda compressed his thin lips. “Unsolved the crime remains, but, yes: murdered.”
“Someone knew,” Obi-Wan said, more to himself. “Dooku?” he asked Yoda.
“A theory I have—nothing more. Murder, Dooku committed. Then, from the Jedi archives erased Kamino, he did. Of that tampering, proof Master Jocasta Nu found—proof of Dooku’s action, though well concealed it was.”
Obi-Wan recalled his visit to the archives to search out the location of Kamino, only to be told by Jocasta Nu that the planetary system didn’t exist. What had caused him that day three years earlier to stare so intently at the library’s bronzium bust of Count Dooku?
“Nevertheless, the clone army continued to be financed and built,” he said at last. “Could Sifo-Dyas and Tyranus have been partners?”
“Of our ignorance, another example this is. But playing both sides Jango Fett clearly was. By someone on the side of the Republic, chosen he was on Bogg Four to be the clone template. But serving Dooku he was, as a hired killer. With the changeling who targeted Amidala, an intermediary he was.”
Obi-Wan pictured Fett in the execution arena on Geonosis, standing behind Dooku in a box reserved for dignitaries. “He had knowledge of both armies. Could he have killed Sifo-Dyas?”
“Perhaps.”
“Were you able to trace the source of the payments—beyond Tyranus, I mean?”
“From Bogg Four into a maze of deception, they led.”
“Did the Kaminoans say whether anyone had tried to persuade them not to build the army?”
“Intercede, none did. Reveal themselves too soon, our enemies would have.”
“So Dooku had no choice but to create an army