His curiosity gets the better of him. The biochips couldn't necessarily wait, but it wasn't like Sidious would tell the clones to Execute Order Sixty-Six in the next hour. No, there was still plenty of sanitized war that Palpatine and Dooku intended to play out for their own purposes.
Indeed, if Sidious were in fact to have to trigger that particular plan as early as today for instance, things wouldn't go very well for him. He hadn't completely solidified his control over the Galactic Senate just yet. He didn't have all of the emergency powers he needed to make things stick. And the Jedi were still stronger than he would prefer them.
Like cutting down a tree with an axe, one needed to carefully place each strike all the way up until the final one to make sure the tree fell the way one wanted it to. Palpatine hadn't cut away at the foundations of the Republic and the Jedi Order nearly enough yet to pull off an Order Sixty-Six right this moment.
… But more than anything, Vader was just curious. And he fully recognized that he was making excuses for why he was letting himself get distracted. In the end, he simply wanted to know what was going on with Jedi Master Ti. And so he was going to find out.
Approaching her Force Signature with his own presence cloaked is easy. But the location he finds her in is… interesting. As the Jedi High Council Member sent to represent the Order and the Republic and oversee the cloning on Kamino, it made sense that she would be doing exactly that, to be fair.
But Vader finds himself wondering exactly why she would be spending so much time in an isolated section of the Cloning Facility's Embryo Room, where the clone embryos were mass produced. Creeping ever closer, he slips through the 'main hall' of the Embryo Room, otherwise known as the Kamino 'Egg Lab' and into the more private area that Shaak Ti has holed herself up in.
What he finds… intrigues him, truth be told. Seated cross-legged in the middle of the lab, the Togrutan Jedi Master is currently meditating. Of course, one could easily mistake her meditation as something else given how her red hands were clutching at her knees hard enough to make her knuckles discolor.
Tilting his head to the side, Vader creeps ever closer, taking in the view and assessing just what it is he's seeing. What he finds… is truly strange.
Shaak Ti has Fallen to the Dark Side. That much is impossible to ignore for someone such as him. However… whether she meant to do so or not, she's found a rather ingenious way to hide her Fall. See, technically she's doing exactly what the Jedi teach right now. She's meditating and 'releasing' her emotions into the Force.
That's what a 'good' and 'proper' Jedi is supposed to do. Think, don't feel. Give everything up, let everything pass. Exist as nothing but an automaton controlled by the Light Side of the Force. Vader, even when he'd been Anakin Skywalker, had never been very good at that form of meditation.
Honestly, the best form of Light Side Meditation for him had been moving meditation, sparring in the training halls back at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. And there were some traditionalist Jedi who considered even that sort of meditation to be bordering on Dark.
The thing is, while it would seem on the surface that Shaak Ti is simply 'releasing' her emotions into the Force… Vader can see underneath the surface and feel what she's really doing. She's not releasing anything… she's bleeding like an open wound. The Dark Side has ahold of her and the longer Vader watches her meditate, the more he begins to understand why.
Love, despite what that old fool Yoda believed, did not immediately lead to the Dark Side. Love could even be pure Light Side, believe it or not. However, the other emotions attached to love could easily lead one down a dark path. Obsession. Passion. Pain… loss.
Shaak Ti is in pain. She's lost something and in doing so, she's become obsessed with the clones she was sent to watch over. She's not even really meditating here. No, rather, the Togruta is, knowingly or not, performing a proto-Dark Side Ritual that in turn is empowering the Clone Embryos around her. She's making them stronger… but also more volatile.
Her connection to the clones under her charge couldn't possibly have been this strong in Vader's original timeline, but then again, he couldn't say for sure. Still, this was interesting to say the least. More than that though, it was exploitable.
Making a decision, Vader stops hiding his presence, revealing himself to the red-skinned Togruta as he opens the door and steps into the room she's sequestered herself in.
Shaak Ti's eyes snap open, revealing Sith Yellow for a split second before reverting to their natural all-black. It's truly a blink and you'll miss it moment, though of course Vader doesn't miss it. He watches as she stares at him uncomprehendingly.
"… Skywalker? What are you doing here?"
Vader smiles, even as he steps further into the room.
"I received a premonition in the Force. Kamino was in danger… but that danger has passed now."
Of course, that's not good enough for Shaak Ti. Not as she is now. Eyes widening in alarm and poorly concealed anger, the Jedi Master is immediately on her feet.
"What danger? What do you mean it passed?"
Vader just shakes his head.
"The Separatists were probing Kamino's defenses. Their goal was to try and sneak a fleet right up to the planet itself before the Republic could be alerted. But they failed. By the time I arrived, they'd already been caught long before they could reach Kamino and had fled back to their holes."
Shaak Ti stares at him piercingly for a long moment… before finally relaxing just a little bit. Not all the way though, Vader notices. She's still as tense as can be, in fact.
"… I see."
She stares at him silently, wordlessly 'asking without asking' why he's still here then. It was something most Jedi Masters were good at, to be fair. That silent judgment. You didn't have to Fall to be an expert at it. Vader… smiles.
"I thought I would at least let you know of my presence before I departed. Though I'm surprised to find you here in the Embryo Room. It seems a bit off the beaten path."
"That-!"
Shaak Ti stops herself, a full body shudder going through her. Vader hides his surprise at the rather blatant break in decorum, even as he watches her bring herself back under control. Finally, the Togruta Jedi Master expels air through her nostrils and speaks.
"That is in fact the point. When I first arrived, I discovered that the Kaminoans have some… objectionable policies."
When Vader simply raises a questioning eyebrow, Shaak Ti exhales through her nose again.
"… Namely, their tendency to outright dispose of any 'product' that they deem defective or not up to their… exacting standards."
Oh. Now he's starting to understand exactly what must have happened here. Though she hides it well enough from anyone else who might look, Vader can nevertheless sense the undercurrent of fury and rage in the Force as Shaak Ti conceals her hands in the folds of her robes so she can clench them into fists.
"I was able to institute controls that kept them from doing away with any clone far enough along to walk and talk. If a clone is not 'worthy' of the battlefield, they are assigned to other roles these days, roles where they can still… prove their value to the Republic."
Oh, she was angry. She was a volcano about to explode. Vader has to hold back the urge to grin, even as Shaak Ti looks around the small side room she's sequestered herself in.
"However, I found that the Kaminoan Scientists had a tendency to… disregard my orders if they could get away with it. Especially here in the Egg Lab, where they did not believe that my directives counted this early in the… development of their product."
Vader hums to show he's still listening, prompting Shaak Ti to sweep a hand across the room for a moment before slipping it back into her robes.
"As such, I've taken to meditating here, where they know I am present and watching them… to make sure that no further 'incidents' take place."
He can picture it all in his mind's eye and he thinks he can 'see' the difference between this timeline and the other. This Shaak Ti… had let herself get attached in a way the other Shaak Ti never would have. And once you got attached, it was rather hard to just let go, wasn't it?
Many Jedi had experienced the same thing to be fair, even back in the other timeline. Plo Koon was one example, having grown very attached to his clones. Skywalker and Kenobi were two other examples, though Vader doubted Kenobi cared about Cody nearly as much as Skywalker had cared about Rex.
And yet… what would happen to a Jedi who got attached to the clones here in this place, where they were treated as nothing more than product? Shaak Ti had arrived here to oversee the Republic's War Machine, and she'd gotten a look at the atrocities happening under the hood in the process. Any self-respecting Jedi would move to stop them as best as they can, but they definitely wouldn't go as far as Shaak Ti had gone.
"You love them."
As he speaks, Vader pushes in with the Force, prodding Shaak Ti to be honest with both herself and him. The effects of this little nudge are… pronounced. The Togruta's eyes narrow and she snarls as she takes a defensive step forward.
"Of course I love them! They are my-!"
She catches herself then, just before the last word can leave her lips. But Vader hears it in the force all the same.
_Children._
Eyes widening in horror, Shaak Ti then takes a step back, her entire form shaking at what she's just revealed. They both know what should happen next, after all. He should report her to the Council. He should tell on her to the rest of the Jedi so that she can be removed from her post and replaced by someone who can be impartial and unbiased.
Whoever the Order sends to replace Shaak Ti would more than likely continue the directives she'd given about 'defective clones' at certain stages of development being allowed to serve in support positions even if they aren't 'fit' for battle. But would they care quite so much about the clone embryos? Would they keep as close of an eye on the overreaching Kaminoan Scientists as Shaak Ti currently did?
No. Almost certainly not. And that… that was unacceptable to the Fallen Jedi Master.
With a snarl, Shaak Ti ignites her saber, the glow from the blue blade filling the small room as she glares at Vader heatedly.
"Master Ti, what are you doing?"
Far from alarmed, Vader can't help but be amused as she begins to advance on him, his tone echoing that feeling. But Shaak Ti doesn't notice. She's already made up her mind.
That's okay though, because so has he… this detour had not failed to deliver, not really.
"I'm sorry Skywalker. But I can't let you report on me."
The Dark Side swirls around the Fallen Jedi Master as she suddenly bursts forward, going from stalking her prey to lunging at him with her saber in a split second. Vader watches her come, completely at ease… and then at the last second, holds up his hand and 'catches' her saber on his palm.
In reality, he catches her blade with the force of course, 'blocking' the concentrated plasma with his mind, just as he had with Ventress. Much like with Ventress, Shaak Ti's eyes widen in disbelief for a moment before narrowing in determination all the same as she continues to try and assault him.
Would she really kill him? She would have to if he were still Anakin Skywalker. It would be the only way, with her perhaps hoping that he'd come here without telling anyone else, allowing her to disappear him and cover his tracks so that no one would know what had happened.
More likely, Shaak Ti just wasn't thinking that far ahead right now. He could sense her fear through the Force, a cloying, sweet taste that he draws upon freely. He can tell that Shaak Ti is only really thinking one thing right now.
_My Children. I can't let him take me away from my children._
She'd Fallen for the clones. She'd Fallen out of love and pain and loss. And nobody had noticed. Because of course a Jedi Master of the High Council could be trusted to handle this posting alone. Never mind that it was the most important planet in the Republic at this point. They hadn't even bothered giving Shaak Ti a Padawan to take with her.
They'd sent her here, to this planet where they were creating slaves, and thought she would be just fine on her own. But she wasn't. Nobody with even a sliver of a heart could be, really.
Vader continues to block Shaak Ti's saber strikes even as he studies her. Togruta were said to be quite the communal race. But Shaak Ti had her community back at the Jedi Temple, so she should have been fine. Until they'd tossed her out here with nothing. She'd had to find a new community… just as she was being forced to come to terms with atrocities committed in the Order's name… in HER name, even.
Yes, it was the perfect recipe for a Fall. The only thing left to do was decide how exactly he was going to take advantage of this unexpected windfall. Ahsoka, Ventress, and Grievous… they were all one thing. But the Jedi High Council Member in charge of Kamino… that was something even more delicious.
Sucking up Shaak Ti's fear and love and obsession, Vader feels himself growing more and more powerful with each passing moment, until there's a full foot of distance between his palm and each of Shaak Ti's blade strikes by this point. Her expression is still furious and determined, but incredulity is starting to seep in… along with desperation.
As she falters, that's when Vader strikes, sweeping his arm around and forcing her saber off to the side, sticking in place as he freezes it and Shaak Ti's arm in the air. Then, with his other hand, he reaches out and grabs the Jedi Master by the robes… pulling her in close and kissing her right then and there. He devours her lips, pouring his own dark love and obsession into the Force, letting her sense him for what he is.
Just. Like. Her.
It takes all of a moment for the red skinned Togruta to start returning the kiss, just as hungry as him if not more so. Because in the end, this is what Shaak Ti needed more than anything. Someone in her corner. Someone who understood. Someone who felt as strong as she _felt_.