Kamino

Shortly before the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker defended Naboo Senator Padmé Amidala against repeated assassination attempts. The bounty hunter Zam Wesell was silenced before she could tell what she knew, and the weapon that killed her was a saberdart of Kaminoan manufacture. An associate of Obi-Wan’s told him the Kaminoans were skilled cloners. But to Obi-Wan’s bafflement, the Jedi Archives had no record of Kamino. The planet had been erased from the archives.

Obi-Wan deduced that Kamino was beyond the Outer Rim near the Rishi Maze. He flew there and discovered a stormy waterworld, its oceans dotted with cities on stilt legs. Obi-Wan landed at Tipoca City, and to his surprise found that he was expected.

Kaminoan Prime Minister Lama Su explained that his people had created a massive clone army for the Republic, and had done so at the request of Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, a member of the Jedi Council.

Here lay a mystery. Sifo-Dyas had been dead for nearly a decade, and the Jedi Council had never approved the creation of such an army. Something strange was happening on remote Kamino.

Obi-Wan toured Kamino’s facilities, marveling at gestating clone embryos and mature clones training to be soldiers. The Kaminoans told him the clones had been created from the genetic material of Jango Fett, a bounty hunter who lived in Tipoca City.

Obi-Wan recognized Fett as the assassin he’d sought on Coruscant, and tried to capture him so he could be questioned. After a furious fight in Kamino’s ever-present rain, Fett fled in his starship, and Obi-Wan tracked him through hyperspace to Geonosis.

After the Senate granted the Supreme Chancellor emergency powers to deal with the Separatist Crisis, Palpatine immediately authorized creation of an army to defend the Republic. Such an army was available: Master Yoda traveled to Kamino and took command of the clones. During the Clone Wars, the Jedi abandoned their traditional role of peacekeepers and led Kamino’s clones as generals.

Kamino became the center of clone production and training, making it a vital part of the Republic war effort – and a key target for the Separatists. The planet was defended by Republic task forces and a string of listening posts, and granted representation in the Senate, with the Kaminoan Halle Burtoni speaking for its interests.

Clones were tested shortly after birth and trained for war, learning in classrooms and combat simulations. Cadets who met the Kaminoans’ standards were sent to the battlefields of the Clone Wars.

Jedi Master Shaak Ti monitored clone production and training on behalf of the Jedi Council, working with mercenaries such as Bric and El-Les and Kaminoan scientists, whose ranks included Taun We and Nala Se.

The Separatists assaulted Kamino, attempting to stop clone production. The Republic blockade of the planet held, but the Separatists penetrated it by hiding assault craft in debris from the space battle.

Asajj Ventress had infiltrated Kamino and took command of the surface attack, assaulting Tipoca City with battle droids and linking up with General Grievous.

Clone cadets of all ages joined the clone troopers to defend Tipoca City, ferrying ammunition and supplies to the front-line troops. The clones regarded Kamino as their home – to them, this attack was personal.

In the ocean, Obi-Wan escaped Ventress’s attack by hitching a ride on the back of a native aiwha. The assault was beaten back, but it had been a feint to hide Ventress’s real mission, which was to steal a sample of the clones’ DNA from the Kaminoan labs.

Later in the war, the clone trooper Tup killed his Jedi General during battle. Amid fears that a Separatist plot was behind Tup’s fit of madness, Captain Rex and ARC Trooper Fives escorted Tup to Kamino for evaluation.

Nala Se began the evaluation with Shaak Ti and an agitated Fives observing. Nala Se wanted to terminate Tup and examine the cadaver – a ruthless course of action that Ti rejected. When the Jedi Master said the Jedi Council was responsible for the clones’ care, Nala Se replied coldly that their genetic makeup was Kaminoan property.

Nala Se told Lama Su that Tup’s implanted inhibitor chip had malfunctioned, resulting in a premature activation of protocol 66. The Kaminoans contacted Count Dooku, who told them the chip’s existence must be kept secret from the Jedi.

Working with medical droid AZI-3, Fives discovered Tup’s chip and ordered the droid to remove it, which resulted in Tup’s death. To his shock, Fives learned all the clones had such a chip implanted before birth. But why?

Fives confronted Nala Se, who said the chips prevented the clones from being overly aggressive, and were implanted on orders from Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas. Fives demanded that the chips be removed from all clones in the army. His Kamino investigations brought the Jedi startlingly close to discovering the implants’ real purpose – to ensure the clones obeyed orders from Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. But the Jedi never made the final connection – the true purpose of the clone army remained a secret until Order 66.