Raxus Secundus – The Great Assembly Hall
Storms cracked across the sky as Count Dooku stood before the assembled representatives of nearly fifty systems. His presence commanded the chamber. Robed in black and draped in conviction, he raised his voice to the thunder of rising rebellion.
"The Republic is no longer a beacon of justice. It is a corrupt shell, a corporate puppet dancing to the tune of bankers, arms dealers, and war profiteers!"
Applause roared. Senators, planetary governors, and sovereign rulers nodded in unison. Behind him stood the first of the Separatist Council leaders from the Commerce Guild, Techno Union, and the Banking Clan. Their resources were vast. Their armies forming.
Dooku's message was simple:
Leave the Republic.Declare autonomy.Prepare to resist.
Sullust, Felucia, Mygeeto, Umbara, and Muunilinst pledged their support. Geonosis offered its factories. The Separatist Alliance was born not in blood, but with pen, influence, and promises of liberation.
Coruscant – Rising Panic
The shock of the Separatist declaration rippled through the Galactic Senate.
Debates turned to arguments. Protests filled the Senate Plaza. The Military Creation Act, once a quiet proposal whispered only in the darker corridors of government, was now front and center.
A proposal to raise a Grand Army of the Republic to face the growing Separatist threat.
Senator Padmé Amidala stood in opposition.
"This bill will not bring peace. It will only hasten war. There is still time to negotiate to speak, not strike."
Her idealism stirred hope in some, fury in others.
The corporations wanted armies. The fearful wanted protection. Padmé wanted dialogue.
But her voice was now a threat to the war machine.
The Assassination Attempt
On the day of her return to Coruscant to vote against the act, Padmé's diplomatic cruiser entered the atmosphere under escort.
It exploded before it could reach the landing platform.
The decoy, Cordé, died in the blast.
Padmé survived.
The Republic was horrified.
"There was no accident," Chancellor Palpatine said, "This was a targeted assassination."
Fear gripped the Senate. War seemed inevitable.
And in private chambers, Palpatine moved his pawns. "Anakin Skywalker… Obi-Wan Kenobi… they are to guard her. Personally."
Padmé's New Shadows
Anakin Skywalker, now a Padawan of remarkable talent and rising instability was elated. Reunited with Padmé for the first time in years, he struggled to suppress the emotion he felt beneath the Jedi mask.
Obi-Wan, ever wary, reminded him constantly of restraint.
But the threat was real.
Another attempt on her life followed poisoned centipedes loosed into her apartment by a shape-shifting bounty hunter, Zam Wesell.
The chase through the night skies of Coruscant was wild, ending with Zam captured but killed by a mysterious dart before she could speak.
An ancient dart. Kaminoan.
Obi-Wan took it to the Jedi Archives.
Kamino – Discovery of the Clone Army
Obi-Wan's investigation revealed more than he could have imagined.
Kamino. A planet wiped from the archives.
He traveled there—amid storms and secrecy—to find Tipoca City floating above endless oceans. The Kaminoans welcomed him.
"You're here for the clones, yes?"
Obi-Wan played along, bewildered.
"Ten years ago, Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas placed the order."
No Jedi Council member remembered approving it. No records of Republic funding existed.
But the army was very real.
Millions of clones, grown in vats.
And the template?
Jango Fett.
Tipoca City – The Hunter Revealed
Obi-Wan met the man himself.
Jango was blunt, powerful, and cold. When asked about Sifo-Dyas, he claimed he was hired by a man called Tyranus. The pieces didn't fit… but something darker was brewing.
Obi-Wan quietly placed a tracker on Jango's ship, Slave I, and sent a message back to Coruscant.
"He's leaving. I'll follow."
The hunter was going to Geonosis.
Meanwhile – Shadows Unseen
Back on Kamino, deep in the restricted zones, Shepard observed the cloning operation from behind a sealed viewport. Obi-Wan's presence had been noted but Shepard stayed off the record, off the manifest, and out of the way.
Let the Jedi think they'd uncovered a secret.
He had already moved beyond the Republic's clones. Their army was just a distraction. A public tool for a war everyone now believed was inevitable.
His army, his fleets, and his flagship the real threat remained in the dark.
For now.