Nala Se was a Kaminoan female doctor and scientist who served the Galactic Republic throughout the Clone Wars. As the Chief Medical Scientist on her homeworld of Kamino, she played a key role in engineering the Grand Army of the Republic and, during the galactic conflict, assisted in the rehabilitation of battle-wounded clone troopers. Although she cared for injured clones even when Separatist forces threatened her life as well as her soldiers, Nala Se had a ruthless side to her, insisting to Jedi General Shaak Ti that clone troopers were Kaminoan property, and therefore, disposable assets.

She was also one of the few individuals that knew about Clone Protocol 66, a secret directive encoded into the behavioral modification biochip of every clone in the Republic Military. Believing the chips acted as a safeguard against renegade Jedi, Nala Se went to great lengths to preserve the secrecy of Protocol 66 during the galaxy-wide Clone Wars. Se was also in charge of Omega, a female unaltered clone assisting her with medical duties. When Omega attempted to escape with Clone Force 99, Nala Se assisted in their escape and sabotaged further attempts to capture the young clone in order to protect her. She later witnessed the new Empire subjugate her home and bring down her people. Se herself, however, was spared from this fate as the Empire sought to use her exceptional talents with cloning science for their own purposes, transporting the former chief medical scientist to a secret facility on the planet Wayland. She would eventually be freed by Omega and Echo during their infiltration of the base and, believing Omega would not be safe as long as her research remained within the Empire's grasp, set out to destroy the databanks. Although Se was caught by former Vice Admiral Edmon Rampart, she sacrificed her life to cause the destruction of the Empire's research done on Tantiss Base, deeming it unsalvageble.

Biography[]

Creation of the clone army[]

Prior to the Clone Wars, Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas commissioned the Kaminoans to create a clone army for the Galactic Republic.^[11] As the Chief Medical Scientist of Kamino, Doctor Nala Se was one of the primary engineers of the clone troopers^[1]—genetically identical soldiers bred from a human template, the bounty hunter Jango Fett.^[12] Sifo-Dyas would die shortly after his army's inception, however,^[13] leaving Nala Se and her people with a new benefactor: Sith Lord Darth Tyranus.^[7] At Tyranus' behest, Nala Se oversaw the installation of an inhibitor chip^[1] in the brain of every clone trooper in development.^[14] She was told by Tyranus that the bio-chip and its directive, Clone Protocol 66, served as a safeguard against betrayal from renegade Jedi,^[7] although its true purpose was to fulfill the Sith's plot of exterminating the Jedi Order.^[15] As a contingency plan, Protocol 66 was classified information that Nala Se guarded in accordance with Tyranus' instructions.^[7] Shortly before the Clone Wars began on Geonosis^[11] in 22 BBY,^[16] Nala Se was supervising the secret implant of inhibitor chips into the clones' brains^[17] when Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi visited Tipoca City to find Fett.^[11]

Clone Wars[]

Off-world duties[]

In the aftermath of the First Battle of Geonosis,^[11] Nala Se became an asset to the newly-formed Grand Army of the Republic due to her close involvement in the creation of clone troopers.^[1] As a Doctor, she served on multiple Haven-class medical stations^[5][18] where her medical skills were put to use for the treatment of injured clones.^[5] In addition to her off-world duties, Nala Se supported the war effort as a scientist and doctor from the Tipoca City cloning facility on her homeworld.^[7]

The Malevolence[]

While serving as the Kaminoan chief of the Kaliida Shoals Medical Center, Nala Se learned that her facility had become a target for the Malevolence, a Separatist Subjugator-class heavy cruiser commanded by General Grievous. While coordinating the evacuation of the station's staff and patients, she was informed by Admiral Wullf Yularen that the Separatist attack was imminent—making it impossible to completely abandon the facility in time. However, the Kaliida Shoals station was saved through the actions of the Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and his apprentice, Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano, before Grievous could destroy it. Following the Separatist withdrawal, Nala Se commended Skywalker for his service.^[5]

The infestation of TB-73[]

After the near-destruction of the Kaliida Shoals facility, Nala Se was transferred to a new post at the Ord Cestus medical station, where she served for a time with Jedi General Kit Fisto. With Geonosis reconquered from the Separatists, the crew of the Pelta-class frigate TB-73 was assigned the errand of delivering medical supplies to the Ord Cestus station. However, the frigate became infested by numerous brain worms—parasitic lifeforms native to the Geonosian homeworld. The incident aboard the TB-73 almost resulted in the contamination of Nala Se's facility, but was ultimately prevented when Tano killed the worms.^[19]

Clone Protocol 66[]

At the height of the Clone Wars, Nala Se returned to her homeworld, where she worked alongside Jedi General Shaak Ti.^[7] After CT-5385 fatally shot the Jedi Tiplar during the Battle of Ringo Vinda,^[20] the defective clone was taken to Tipoca City in order to undergo an extensive evaluation. As the chief medical scientist on Kamino and one of the cloning program's founders, Nala Se was tasked with discovering the cause behind the clone's malfunction. She subjected the clone to a hyper test which caused her patient to undergo extreme convulsions. The test's data revealed no signs of infection, but Nala Se recognized the clone's actions and aggressive behavior as signs of a premature activation of Protocol 66. Alarmed by this discovery, she communicated her findings to the Kaminoan Prime Minister Lama Su and Darth Tyranus, leading the latter to insist that they terminate the clone in order to protect the secrecy of the inhibitor chip and its true nature. However, the ARC trooper CT-5555 conducted his own test on CT-5385 which, despite its fatal consequence, led to the discovery of the chip.^[7]

The ARC trooper's interference caused Tyranus to doubt the clone army's reliability in the event of an intentional activation of Protocol 66, although Nala Se assured him that the preemptive execution was an anomaly. As for the clones' growing sense of individuality, she believed that it was due to the Jedi's influence, yet remained confident that it would not interfere with the execution of the protocol. When CT-5555 discovered that every clone had a bio-chip in their brain, Nala Se claimed that it was a safeguard designed to suppress the more aggressive tendencies of the clones' template, Jango Fett.^[14]

Against the protests of Nala Se, Shaak Ti decided to take CT-5555 to the Grand Republic Medical Facility on Coruscant along with his bio-chip and that of the late CT-5835, believing the clone should have an audience with Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine. Fearing that the Jedi would discover the true programming in the bio-chips, Nala Se accompanied them to the Republic capital, where she secretly drugged the clone in order to make him appear unstable and his testimony unreliable. At the medical facility she asserted that the ARC trooper was dangerous without his control chip, and that the death of Tiplar was the result of a virus that infected CT-5835. Despite her efforts, the secrecy of Protocol 66 was ultimately saved when CT-5555 attempted to assassinate Palpatine after learning of the chancellor's involvement in the conspiracy. Palpatine entrusted the bio-chips to Nala Se for safekeeping, knowing that the Kaminoan scientist would send them to his Sith apprentice, Darth Tyranus.^[15]

Nala Se made a holographic recording of her report on the situation, in which she stated that, as confirmed by an independent investigation, CT-5555's inhibitor chip had malfunctioned. While both the Jedi Council and the Senate committee accepted the investigation's conclusions, CT-7567 had filed a grievance report on the matter. When Chancellor Palpatine activated Protocol 66 later that year, now-former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano was targeted by CT-7567 and other troopers while traveling aboard a Republic attack cruiser. Before attacking her, CT-7567 managed to tell her to find "Fives," CT-5555's nickname, prompting Tano to view Se's report as well as CT-7567's grievance report after she evaded the clones' initial attempt to eliminate her.^[21]

Imperial Era[]

Defection of Clone Force 99[]

At some point, Nala Se began utilizing the services of Omega, an unaltered clone, in assistance to her own medical duties. When Clone Force 99, a squad of modified clones, returned to Kamino, they were greeted by Omega; Nala Se instructed Omega to remain with her. Nala Se later met with Admiral and Governor Wilhuff Tarkin, who had arrived at the facility to assess the viability of using clones in the newly formed Galactic Empire. Nala Se, alongside Lama Su, spoke favorably of the clones. They also informed Tarkin of Clone Force 99's effectiveness, as well as their disregard for authority. When asked how many enhanced clones were in the Kaminoans' possession, Nala Se stated that only five remained; Tarkin assumed she was referring to Clone Force 99 as a whole, not realizing that Corporal Echo was technically a "reg" and that Omega was the fifth enhanced clone.^[8]

However, Tarkin was not confident in Clone Force 99's reliability after reading a counter-report from one of their own that they allowed Padawan Caleb Dume to escape on Kaller. As a test of their loyalty, he dispatched the squad on a mission to Onderon to eliminate Saw Gerrera, his rebel cell, and the refugees he was protecting. When the squad failed to complete their objective, they were immediately arrest upon their return to Kamino in a failed attempt to rescue Omega. Crosshair, the clone who filed the counter-report, was removed from the squad's cell and taken to Nala Se, who informed Tarkin that his inhibitor chip wasn't as active as a standard clone and enhanced the chip at his order, strengthening his loyalty to the Empire, causing him to turn on his own squad.^[8]

When Clone Force 99 made their escape with Omega, Nala Se covertly assisted in their escape by remotely preventing the bay doors from closing. After Clone Force 99 successfully escaped, Nala Se informed Lama Su of their escape as well as the loss of Omega. Under Lama Su's instruction, she agreed to refrain from informing the Empire of what had occurred.^[8]

Hunt for Omega[]

Nala Se later spoke with Lama Su to discuss the implications of Vice Admiral Rampart's plans to replace their clones with conscripted soldiers and volunteer recruits. Nala Se already had plans to create a superior clone, but with Fett's genome gradually degrading and the absence of the two unaltered clones, Boba and Omega, she stated such a contingency would not be possible without them. Lama Su was unconcerned with retrieving the necessary clones by force and reminded that they only needed one to ensure their civilization continued relationship with the Empire.^[23]

Determined to regain Omega, who was vital to Nala Se's research, Lama Su hired several bounty hunters to find the enhanced clone. She was captured on Bracca by one of the hunters, Cad Bane, whom Lama Su instructed to bring to an abandoned Kaminoan cloning facility on Bora Vio. Nala Se offered to bring the mercenary's payment for Omega, but her personal interest in Omega prevented Lama Su from allowing her to go. The Prime Minister felt that Nala Se had endangered their operation, and therefore he sent his aide Taun We to retrieve Omega. Nala Se was then informed that she would be tasked with extracting the genetic material that the Kaminoans required from Omega before terminating her.^[22]

Omega ultimately escaped from Bane as a result of the interference of Fennec Shand, a mercenary that Nala Se secretly hired to prevent the girl from being returned to Lama Su. Following her fight with Bane, Shand informed Nala Se that Omega had managed to get rescued by the members of Clone Force 99. Satisfied that Omega was safe, Nala Se paid the mercenary her fee.^[22]

New purpose[]

Some time afterwards, Lama Su suspected that the Empire would no longer need the services of the Kaminoans and would destroy them. Nala Se gathered medical personnel to flee Kamino, but was discovered by Rampart. He decided that she would still be of use to the Empire, and that they no longer required Lama Su. Nala Se had no choice but to comply.^[24] After the Empire wiped out every Kaminoan settlement it knew of, including the capital Tipoca City, Se was transported to an Imperial facility at Mount Tantiss on the planet Wayland.^[9] However, during the several months following the fall of Kamino, Nala Se refused to work for the Empire, claiming that after the destruction of her civilization, she would not serve the interests of the Emperor. To force her to resume her work, the scientist Royce Hemlock had the former Prime Minister Lama Su, which had been previously detained on Coruscant, transferred to Wayland. There, in exchange for his freedom, Lama Su declared that the only way to convince the Kaminoan scientist to collaborate was to locate a specific clone, Omega.^[10] Indeed, following Lama Su's recommendation, Doctor Hemlock captured Omega on Ord Mantell and brought the young clone to Wayland. After she arrived on the planet, Omega asked Nala Se why she had been brought here but the Kaminoan did not have time to answer and Omega was brought inside the facility.^[25]

Reunion with Omega[]

One morning shortly after Omega was brought to Tantiss, she talked with her sister, Dr. Emerie Karr, asking why she never saw her on Kamino. Karr told her Hemlock took her in as he saw potential in her, the same way Nala Se saw potential in Omega. Omega then brought the test tubes with the blood samples to the Central lab. Inside the lab, Nala Se thanked Omega for bringing the samples. She placed scanned the samples and asked Omega if her sample was taken. Omega confirmed this was true and Nala Se discarded the sample and told Omega to keep it secret, telling her it was safer this way.^[26]

When Omega asked about the research at Tantiss, Nala Se confirmed it was different from the clone trooper project on Kamino. Omega asked Nala Se why she was brought to Tantiss and Nala Se replied Omega was brought there to ensure her cooperation. She told Omega the Empire sought the reproduction of a genetic M-count, but the specimens had yet to produce the desired results. She clarified telling Omega the specimens are not clones.^[26]

Shortly afterward, the two were joined by Dr. Hemlock and a clone commando. Hemlock expressed hope that Omega's presence on Tantiss would improve Nala Se's work quality. He then requested Nala Se to accompany him to the vault. Nala Se told Omega to stay behind and complete her other tasks. The vault was heavily guarded, and Hemlock and Nala Se walked past several pairs of clone commandos a series of red laser barriers, which opened one at a time.^[26]

The next day the same routine occurred with Nala Se once again disposing Omega's sample. Nala Se's daily routine became standardized, much like all the other prisoners at Tantiss. One day, Nala Se exited the vault with Hemlock, who was infuriated the M-count was severely diminished. He warned her that if they did not match the M-count of the specimens, the project would be deemed a failure, and that failure would lead to loss of privileges Omega received. Nala Se cited her loyalty to science, but the doctor warned her that the Emperor was not as patient as him.^[26]

Message to Omega[]

One morning, the trooper presence at Tantiss was abnormally large. After Karr took Omega's sample, Nala Se and Hemlock entered the room. Hemlock informed them an unexpected visitor was coming to see him and Nala Se and he ordered Karr to oversee Nala Se's lab in her absence. Nala Se offered to analyze the samples after the visit, but Hemlock reassured her that Karr was capable of handling those tasks.^[27]

Once Omega was alone, Nala Se took the opportunity to secretly warn her that she was in danger if Karr tested her sample. She told her to flee the Imperial facility before it was too late. Omega asked if this was why she had been destroying her blood samples and Nala Se confirmed this was true. She informed Omega it was related to the secret Imperial project. After Hemlock and the commando finished their conversation, he called to Nala Se. Nala Se instructed Omega to head to the lab and retrieve her datapad and use it to escape the facility and board a shuttle. She then followed Hemlock out of the room.^[27]

The Emperor visits Tantiss[]

As the Emperor's shuttle made its final approach on Tantiss, Nala Se, Hemlock, and several clone commandos greeted him. The Emperor told Hemlock he was eager to see their research progress. Nala Se then followed Hemlock and the Emperor into the facility and Hemlock told the Emperor they had quadrupled their efforts in record time. She listened as Palpatine said he was in great need of the grand designs Hemlock was working on, but he was there to discuss Project Necromancer. Nala Se and the Emperor then followed Hemlock into the vault.^[27]

Inside the vault, Nala Se continued to listen silently as Hemlock revealed to the Emperor several of the specimens which were stored in tanks. He told Palpatine they were on the verge of a scientific breakthrough conducting a successful M-count replication but needed additional resources to achieve his goal. The Emperor assured Hemlock he would have whatever he required for the project. Hemlock and Nala Se then escorted Palpatine back to his shuttle.^[27]

Hemlock's prisoner[]

After Omega and Crosshair escaped Tantiss, Nala Se was stripped of her status as Chief Scientist and detained in a cell. Hemlock spoke to her, and she pretended to be surprised, but Hemlock saw through her deception, reminding her he was aware of her attachment to Omega. He told her it was suspicious that none of Omega's earlier samples yielded results, yet the one time Dr. Karr tested Omega's sample, it indicated a positive M-count transfer. Nala Se claimed false positives are to be expected from Omega. Hemlock replied he hoped to test Omega again once she was recaptured.^[28]

After Karr was promoted to Chief Scientist, she was brought into the vault and introduced to three specimen—Force-sensitive children named Jax, Eva, and Sami. The children revealed to Karr that Nala Se promised they would all get to return home soon. Later, Karr visited Nala Se in her cell. Nala Se told Karr that she had replaced her in her former position. She reconfirmed the Galactic Empire planned on retaining the children so they could be controlled. Karr said the children did not belong on Tantiss, to which the Kaminoan agreed. Nala Se told Karr she had done everything she could to protect them, including Omega. Karr replied she had no power to do anything, but Nala Se requested her to reconsider.^[29]

Liberation and sacrifice[]

After the Bad Batch broke into Tantiss Base, Echo and Omega used Emerie Karr's datapad given to her from Karr to free all the prisoners from the detention block, including Nala Se. Omega was delighted to see Nala Se. She told Omega that she had to head to her former lab and destroy all the data, ensuring her research did not fall into Imperial hands. Omega vowed to accompany her, but Nala Se countered, telling her that she belonged with the other clones and should go to help free her brothers. Omega thanked the Kaminoan and gave her the datapad to allow her to move throughout the facility and make it to the lab. As Nala Se made her way to the lab, she obtained a thermal detonator from a fallen TK stormtrooper. Rampart trailed her, grabbing a blaster from the same trooper.^[30]

Upon entering the lab, Nala Se inserted her datapad, activating the lab's systems. As she worked at the computer, she was confronted by Rampart, who asked what research the Emperor valued so greatly. At gunpoint, he demanded to know everything about Project Necromancer. Simultaneously, Nala Se secretly activated her detonator. She explained the project could only be fully understood by the Kaminoans. Rampart, knowing the Empire would be willing to give everything for the data, opted to keep the information for himself as a "bargaining chip." As he shot and killed Nala Se, she dropped the detonator, catching him by surprise, killing him and destroying the databanks in resulting explosion, ensuring the Empire did not retain her research.^[30]

Personality and traits[]

Nala Se was a Kaminoan female^[1] who possessed the average physical features of her people, including white skin and large black eyes with white pupils.^[6][1] She was tall in height and possessed a slender build,^[7] both of which were also common to the Kaminoan anatomy.^[6]

As the chief medical scientist of Kamino,^[1] Nala Se was highly intelligent and well-versed in the science of cloning.^[7] Her background in the development of the clone army enabled her to serve in the Clone Wars by caring for wounded clones and supervising their rehabilitation.^[1] Although she was willing to risk her own life to oversee the evacuation of injured troopers during a Separatist assault on medical facility near Kaliida Shoals,^[5] Nala Se possessed a ruthless side to her personality.^[1] She favored scientific methods that yielded the quickest results, such as hyper tests, and was unconcerned by their adverse effects on a patient. If an initial test failed to produce a satisfactory result, she would advocate for a more intrusive method such as surgery regardless of the risk to her patient's survival.^[7]

She held no regard for the lives of her clone creations beyond their usefulness to Kamino and the Galactic Republic.^[14] From Nala Se's point of view, clones were disposable assets and the property of their creators.^[1] Her methods and opinions greatly differed from those of Shaak Ti, who regarded the clones as living beings.^[7] As such, Nala Se experienced difficulty in her professional relationship with the Jedi.^[14] In addition to her disregard for the Jedi's moral views, Nala Se disapproved of their spiritual beliefs.^[7]

However, despite her lack of regard the lives of the clones she did show some concern for the female unaltered clone Omega. Nala Se cared enough about her young assistant to keep her safe through all means, including purposefully sabotaging the efforts of Crosshair to subdue the child.^[8] Nala Se showed concern for Omega's welfare and safety, so much that she would go against Lama Su's orders to ensure that Omega would be protected. She hired the bounty hunter Fennec Shand to retrieve Omega and return her safely, but when Lama Su declared that he wanted her to terminate the young clone, Nala Se called off Shand, believing Omega would be safe as long as Lama Su did not have her and agreed to pay the bounty hunter.^[22]

Behind the scenes[]

Nala Se first appears in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series season one episode "Shadow of Malevolence" on Cartoon Network. She is voiced by Gwendoline Yeo,^[31] who reprises the role of Nala Se in season six as well as in Star Wars: The Bad Batch.^[8]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]