Kamino
The planet was barely there at all.
Imagine a biscuit, crushed by a giant hand, scattered into countless fragments across an infinite table.
That was Kamino, a world of storms and endless oceans, where the rare scraps of land clung desperately to existence above the relentless waves.
The Kaminoans themselves matched their world, unsettling and graceful in equal measure.
Towering figures with luminous pale blue skin, elongated skulls, and limbs so slender they seemed designed by an artist with a preference for the extreme.
Their voices came soft and slow, like waves lapping at metal shores.
They were, without question, the galaxy's preeminent biological scientists.
Masters of cloning technology.
And, perhaps most importantly for certain purposes, they could be trusted.
Yoda and Windu had chosen this place with care. What they could not know was that their secret had already begun to leak.
The leak came from an unexpected source, Yoda's own former apprentice, Count Dooku.
Meanwhile, Palpatine's network of informants had already woven its way through the galaxy's intelligence services.
Dooku's fall wasn't sudden.
He had been genuinely deceived by Palpatine, convinced that the Galactic Republic had become too corrupt to survive and that a new order was necessary.
He didn't realize he was a pawn, set up to take all the risks for a game he couldn't win.
A pawn who would be sacrificed long before the final victory.
Sifo-Dyas, the Jedi Master who originally commissioned the clone army, made his way to Kamino and successfully negotiated the initial contract with the Kaminoans, providing the first installment of funding.
The Kaminoans, true to their reputation, moved with swift efficiency.
The order was monumental. It required not only the cloning and training of a massive army but also the construction of warships, weapons, and all the necessary matériel.
To fulfill it, the Kaminoans had to place secret orders with major military corporations across the galaxy.
For a project meant to be hidden, these ripples in the galactic economy were impossible to contain.
These ripples were easy for a sharp observer to trace.
As Sifo-Dyas's ship arrived near Naboo, for instance, it would be hard to miss the massive, donut-shaped battleships of the Trade Federation blockading the planet.
Inside that very Federation vessel, the Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi had just docked their crimson shuttle in the main starship's hangar.
They were there to negotiate an end to the blockade.
"Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon mused, "what do you sense will come of this?"
Obi-Wan, his robes billowing slightly, gave a subtle shrug. "Their motives are transparent."
"A blockade of this scale serves no economic purpose. The cost alone far outweighs any possible value from Naboo itself."
"This is a power play, a show of force with something far darker behind it."
In the ship's main control room, the two Neimoidian leaders of the Trade Federation were panicking.
Their protocol droid's announcement that Jedi Knights had arrived sent a chill through them.
"The Jedi are here!" one stammered. "Have they discovered us?"
His companion's mind raced. "You... you must go and stall them. I will contact Lord Sidious."
"Me? No! I am not meeting with a Jedi. You go!"
"I am not going either!"
They both looked at the silver-plated protocol droid standing before them.
"Then... then send the droid! A droid can deal with them."
The protocol droid, highly intelligent and acutely aware of the danger, internally cursed its programming.
It knew Jedi Knights could cut through most of the galaxy's creatures with a flick of their laser swords.
With no choice, it entered the conference room, carrying a tray of tea, its only plan to pour silently and stay out of trouble.
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan accepted the cups, continuing their quiet conversation as they drank.
"The Trade Federation council members are cowards," Obi-Wan observed. "This should be resolved quickly."
"I sense a great deal of fear, my young Padawan." Qui-Gon replied, his brow furrowed.
"But beneath it... I have an ominous feeling about all of this."
✦••┈┈••✦••┈┈••✦
Back in the control room, the Neimoidians had patched through a frantic holographic communication to Sidious.
The Sith Lord who was, in truth, their master, Palpatine, the very Senator from Naboo they were blockading.
He had learned long ago from his own master how to infiltrate and manipulate entire governments from the shadows.
The Trade Federation was merely the first tool he had acquired to build his new empire.
Everything was in place, the trap meticulously set. All they had to do was wait for the Jedi to walk into it.
Darth Sidious, interrupted from his meditations by the frantic holographic communication from his Trade Federation pawns, felt a surge of irritation.
These Neimoidians were like nervous insects, always needing their hands held.
If it weren't for the grand vision, the ultimate prize, he wouldn't suffer their incompetence.
His hooded visage flickered to life before the two trembling viceroys.
"What is it?" he demanded, his voice a low, venomous hiss.
"The Jedi Knights have arrived, my Lord!" one of them blurted out. "Your plan, it's undone!"
"We cannot fight Jedi Knights face-to-face!"
Palpatine's anger was a palpable force, even through the hologram.
The Trade Federation was proving to be as useless as he'd always feared.
"Do not let this cowardice reach my ears again," he seethed, his patience gone.
"The plan has changed. Authorize your army to begin the invasion."
The viceroys blinked, stunned by the direct order. One of them asked, stupidly, "But... my Lord, is this... legal?"
"I will make it legal." A cold, humorless smile touched Sidious's lips.
The other viceroy, his voice trembling, asked the real question: "And... what of the Jedi Knights?"
Sidious's yellow eyes glinted. "The Chancellor should never have sent them."
"They are an obstacle. Dispose of them immediately."
The threat, both spoken and unspoken, in the Sith Lord's voice was enough.
The memory of his power cowed them into submission.
"At once, my Lord. It will be done." The viceroy swallowed hard.
The hologram vanished, leaving the two Neimoidians alone with their terror.
"We've never fought Jedi before!" the smaller one wailed.
The viceroy, trying to project an authority he didn't feel, started issuing orders. "First... first, we must destroy their starship. Trap them here."
"And then?"
The viceroy thought frantically. "Perhaps... poison gas? In the conference room?"
"I don't know..." the other fretted. "That seems... unreliable."
The viceroy rubbed his sweaty brow. "I agree. But you felt the power of Lord Sidious. It's wiser to obey."
Before they could finalize their shaky plan, a ship's officer interrupted. "My Lords, a transport vessel from the Incom Corporation is requesting landing clearance."
The Incom Corporation was one of their major suppliers.
They couldn't simply ignore them, not with a war about to start. The viceroy made a swift decision. "Let them in."
"And the Jedi?" the smaller one asked.
The viceroy gestured impatiently. "Keep them in the reception room for now."
✦••┈┈••✦••┈┈••✦
That transport from Incom Corporation was, of course, Garfield's ride.
As he'd entered the Naboo system, the massive, ring-shaped battleship of the Trade Federation was impossible to miss.
After his pilot established contact and received clearance, Garfield ordered the shuttle to descend.
The five Transformers hidden inside made the transport unusually large, forcing the Trade Federation to hurriedly clear a larger docking bay.
The very same bay where Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's crimson vessel sat silently.
As Garfield's transport settled onto the landing pad under the guidance of the ship's systems, he was directly next to the Jedi's ship. He knew exactly what that shuttle represented: it belonged to the soon-to-be-unlucky Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.
The hatch hissed open.
Garfield left Soundwave and the others in their alternate forms for now, and floated out.
Two robotic wolves and three laser-powered birds perched on his hover platform. He was an unusual sight.
The Trade Federation's droid commander and its battle droids stared blankly at the procession.
"A... cat?" one droid ventured.
"Scans show... high energy readings," another reported, its optical sensors fixed on the laser birds.
Garfield's arrival also drew attention from the crimson shuttle nearby. The pilot and a crew member watched from a viewport.
"That's an Incom Group transport," the pilot noted.
"Never seen droids like that, though," the crew member replied, squinting. "What are they? And what's that thing riding them?"
"Looks like... a cat?"
"Impossible. Probably a new kind of recon droid."
The pilot's training kicked in. "Forget what it is. We need to inform the Jedi Masters."