Fugitive

"Clone trooper Tup is scheduled for transport to Coruscant, where the Supreme Chancellor's own doctors will closely examine him. Fives breaks protocol and defies orders to dig up answers, and discovers that there is an organic construct of unknown purpose hidden in the brains of all clone troopers."

Shaak Ti and Nala Se enter the medical suite where Fives is being held. He asks what Chancellor Palpatine's decision was regarding Tup's tumor, and Shaak Ti tells him that it will be sent to the Grand Republic Medical Facility on Coruscant. Fives expects he will be sent to Coruscant too, but Nala Se tells him he was not part of the Chancellor's request, and that they would know more about the condition if Fives had not taken matters into his own hands. Fives retorts that he was trying to save his friend's life, and Nala Se replies that the removal of the tumor may have killed him. Fives argues that she was going to kill and dissect him anyway and he deserved better. Shaak Ti orders Fives to stand down, and tells Nala Se that there is no evidence for her theory that Tup's actions were caused by a virus. She informs them that she is sending the tumor to the Jedi Temple for analysis. Nala Se replies that the Chancellor ordered it to be sent directly to the medical facility, and Shaak Ti replies it will be—after the Jedi have analyzed it. Nala Se protests, but Shaak Ti says her word is final. She tells Fives that if he passes one more physical test, he will be sent back to the 501st. Just before Fives leaves, he sees a medical droid swap the case containing the tumor with another.

As Fives is escorted through the corridors, he sees AZI-3 being escorted in the other direction. The droid apologizes for not being able to save Tup, and asks Fives if he is going to be reprogrammed as well. Fives says he is returning to his legion, but AZI-3 says that's not what he heard: that Fives was to have his memory erased and be placed on sanitation duty on Kamino. Fives escapes from the clone security guards, and he and AZI-3 head back to the medical suite as one of the Kaminoans activates an alarm.

Back in the medical suite, Fives confirms that the droid switched the cases, and takes the tumor with him. They head to the docking bay, and Fives knocks out a clone pilot and takes his shuttle pod. As he and AZI-3 fly out of the city, Shaak Ti and a squad of ARC troopers arrive, and the Jedi orders the ship to be tracked. Over the seas of Kamino, Fives activates the ship's autopilot, and he and AZI-3 jump into the water. One of the droid's survival modes allow them to ride back to Tipoca City.

Nala Se contacts Darth Tyranus, telling him that the renegade clone has stolen the inhibitor chip, but that he knows nothing about its purpose or function. Tyranus is disturbed by these events, and questions whether the clone army will live up to the Kaminoans' design. Nala Se assures him that Tup's malfunction was an aberration, and that Fives' subsequent divergent behavior is due to the Jedi instilling "creative thinking" in their troops. Tyranus warns her that the true purpose of the chip must not be discovered by the Jedi.

Re-entering the city via a service hatch, Fives and AZI-3 steal a clone trooper's armor. At Kamino's Genetic Records Hall, AZI-3 compares the tumor's DNA to that of Jango Fett, the original donor of the clones' genetic material. The scan confirms that the tumor does not match the Jango Fett genotype, and is not completely organic either, and was therefore implanted in Tup. Shaak Ti receives a report that Fett's genotype has been accessed, and she orders the room to be evacuated quietly as she races there with Nala Se.

Fives notices the Kaminoans leaving the room, and asks if there is another way out. Shaak Ti and her troops arrive, firing stun blasts at the fugitives, as Fives and AZI-3 escape through a hatch in the ceiling and weld it shut behind them. As they navigate the service tunnels, AZI-3 theorizes that the tumor is an organic chip of an unknown purpose. Despite the potentially lethal risks, Fives tells the droid to operate on him to see if he also has an implanted chip, and to remove it. They make their way to a sterile suite and AZI-3 begins the surgery.

In the control room, Nala Se says they must have left Kamino by now, but Shaak Ti thinks they are investigating, not escaping. Fives awakens from his surgery, and AZI-3 confirms that he also had a chip, genetically identical to Tup's chip which had malfunctioned. Determined to establish if every clone was implanted with a chip, they head to the embryo room. One of the Kaminoans in the training room they pass through reports them to Nala Se, who leaves the room, watched by Shaak Ti. AZI-3's scans discover that the chips are implanted into every clone embryo at Stage 3 of their development. Nala Se enters the room, and tells them that the purpose of the chips is to inhibit the aggression of their genetic model, Jango Fett. Shaak Ti and her clone troopers also arrive, and Fives tells her about the chips. Nala Se states that the clones are Kaminoan property, and that Fives must be destroyed, however Shaak Ti corrects her: the clones belong to the Republic, and she orders Fives and the chips to be sent to Coruscant to be presented to the Chancellor.

• "Launch Pad" — Star Wars Insider 148