Star Wars_ The Dark Lord Trilogy - James Luceno [24]
“Appears that way, it does.”
Obi-Wan fell silent for a moment.
“When I was being held captive on Geonosis, Dooku told me that the Trade Federation had been allied with Sidious during the blockade of Naboo, but that they had later been betrayed by him. Dooku said that Gunray had gone to him for help, and that Dooku had tried to appeal to the Council. He claimed that, even after several warnings, the Council refused to believe him. Is any of that true, Master?”
“More lies,” Yoda said. “Building a case to enlist you in his cause, Dooku was.”
You must join me, Obi-Wan, Dooku had said, and together we will destroy the Sith!
“If Gunray hadn’t been so keen on assassinating Padmé Amidala,” Obi-Wan mused. “If I’d failed to trace the saberdart that killed the changeling …”
“Ignorant about the clone army, we might have remained.”
“But surely the Kaminoans would have contacted us, Master.”
“Eventually. But grown greater in numbers the Separatist army would have. Invincible, perhaps.”
Obi-Wan’s eyes narrowed. “Mine wasn’t a case of blind luck.”
Yoda shook his head. “Meant to learn of the clone army, we were. Destined to fight this war, we were.”
“In the nick of time. The Council couldn’t conceive of Dooku as anything but an idealist. Perhaps he never believed that the Jedi could become generals.”
“Nonsense,” Yoda said. “Warriors always have we been.”
“But are we helping to return balance to the Force, or are our actions contributing to the growth of the dark side?”
Yoda grimaced. “Impatient with such talk I grow. Cryptic this conflict is—the way it began, the way it unfolds. But for the ideals of the Republic we fight. To prevail and restore peace our priorities must remain. Then to the dark heart of this matter will we burrow. Expose the truth, we will.”
Yoda was correct, Obi-Wan told himself. If the Jedi hadn’t learned of the clone army, Dooku’s Separatists would have suddenly appeared on the scene with tens of millions of battle droids, fleets of warships, and seceded from the Republic without contest. But there would have been no coexisting with the Confederacy. Ultimately it would have bled the Republic dry. War would have been inevitable, and the Jedi would have been caught in the middle, as they were now.
But why hadn’t Yoda told him sooner about Sifo-Dyas?
Or was this yet another lesson, as the search for Kamino had been? Yoda’s way of telling him to search for the thing that didn’t seem to be there by analyzing its effects on the world around it. The difference between knowledge and wisdom, Obi-Wan’s friend Dex might have said, as he did on identifying the source of the saberdart that had killed Zam Wessel, when the Temple analysis droids couldn’t.
Yoda was regarding him when he lifted his head.
“Reveal you, your thoughts do, Obi-Wan. Believe I should have told you sooner, you do.”
“Yours is the wisdom of centuries, Master.”
“Years matter not. Busy fighting a war, you have been. Mentoring your headstrong Padawan. In pursuit of Dooku and his minions … Darker, events became. Attempting to turn this war to their own uses, Dooku and Sidious are.”
“We’ll have Dooku soon enough.”
“Lifted the veil of the dark side wasn’t after your success on Naboo. Grown beyond Dooku this war has. Now to justice both must be brought. And to justice all those Sidious to the dark side has turned.” Yoda looked hard at Obi-Wan. “Uncover Sidious’s tracks, you must. A chance this war to conclude, you and Anakin have been given.”
In the launching bay Anakin kept his eyes on the mechno-chair, while R2-D2 and TC-16 kept their photoreceptors on Anakin. Now that the analysts had run their diagnostic routines, the technicians were preparing to pack the device for safe shipment to Coruscant.
Just as Obi-Wan had said, they resented the fact that Anakin had tampered with the chair, despite the fact that, had he not, the chair would have blown itself to pieces, taking with it the holoimage of Sidious and whatever other communications memories it might contain.
Maybe Qui-Gon should have left