Disclaimer: Still not mine

Chapter 22

Obi-Wan woke slowly and didn't move, too comfortable. He knew they still had a lot of work to do but it was so rare they got to wake up together like this. He treasured the times they had together where they could just be together. He knew, any day, one of them could die and likely in a fairly horrible way, then memories would be all the other had. He felt Harry shift slightly, burrowing closer, unable to keep from smiling, slightly tighten his grip on him.

Harry rolled over, blinking sleepily before smiling at him. "Morning," he kissed him and Obi-Wan smiled back.

"Good morning."

"Another day staring at lines of code, wonderful," he muttered and Obi-Wan laughed but reluctantly pulled himself out of the bed to shower and dress. Harry groaned but followed him,

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"Well, this is all rather horrifying," Obi-Wan offered weakly and Harry glanced at him in disbelief. It was more than horrifying.

The clones were being implanted with inhibitor chips, supposedly to lessen their aggression and independence. They did that…but it was just the tip of the iceberg. There were over one hundred orders on the blasted things, orders the clones would be unable to disobey.

Order 37: Capture of a single wanted individual through the mass arrest and threatened execution of a civilian population. Follow-up directives include scenarios for body disposal of civilian casualties and suppression of communications.

Order 66: In the event of Jedi officers acting against the interests of the Republic, and after receiving specific orders verified as coming directly from the Supreme Commander (Chancellor), GAR commanders will remove those officers by lethal force, and command of the GAR will revert to the Supreme Commander (Chancellor) until a new command structure is established.

Those two were just some of the horrors.

"We need to fix this," Harry stated firmly and Obi-Wan nodded, still in shock. Both could easily see how things could have gone. "Order 66…the Chancellor…why would the Sith give him so much power?"

"Perhaps the next Chancellor will be a Sith Ally or even the Sith Master himself," Obi-Wan offered.

"If that happened and the clones were serving as an army, with the Jedi leading them…the death toll would be unimaginable."

"They could wipe out the Order," Obi-Wan swallowed. His thought immediately went to his Master, Padawan…friends…the Younglings. He felt a hand squeeze his and took a deep breath, releasing his fears to the Force. They had found the plot in time and Harry now 'owned' the army. He would never let them be used against the Jedi or the Republic.

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Padme laughed as Anakin tumbled into the water but then shrieked as he grabbed her and dragged her in, soaking them both.

Qui-Gon watched from a safe distance, happy to see them both relaxed and playing. Anakin had become very withdrawn and quiet and he knew why, they were very isolated, too isolated. He worried that Anakin would be unable to connect with others outside of their small group once it was safe for them to leave. He wished Ani could have grown up at the Temple where he could have made friends and gotten to know other Jedi. He would need to ask Obi-Wan to try and bring Rhan by, there was an age gap between the two boys two years wasn't a big gap.

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Harry smiled and bowed to Lama Su.

"I trust you are pleased with your investment," the Prime Minister offered, and Harry nodded, taking the offered seat.

"The units themselves are very impressive. I do have a concern though, one shared by the Jedi."

"Oh, I see. May I ask what this concern is?"

"The inhibitor chips and the orders within it," Harry answered.

"The chips were part of the initial price for the units. What exactly is the problem?"

Harry withdrew the datapad and began showing him exactly what could not be allowed to happen.

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"Jango," Harry greeted, leaning against the wall to look out at the never ending storm. "Did you know you were working for the Sith?" he asked and Jango tensed slightly. "I'll take that as a yes. I understand you hate the Jedi, but helping to plunge the entire galaxy into war is not the answer."

"And working with the Jedi is?" Jango sneered.

"How many innocents will suffer if the Siths' plan goes ahead?" he pushed back. He looked back out at the storm, watching Jango in the reflection. "Do you know who the Sith Master is?" he asked.

"Tyranus."

"We both know that's not true," Harry sighed, whoever it was, he was remaining well-hidden because there was no way Jango hadn't run his own investigation as well. "You have your payment, you should leave." Jango didn't have the chance to dodge the spell that altered his memories, encouraging him to leave with his son and never return. That was one problem solved, once the stored material ran out, there would be no new clones.

They would not remove the chips, but they were working on removing the contingency orders, after all, Harry had no intentions of using them as a Republican Army. Emergency relief, rescues, those were the sort of things he could see using them for, if they agreed, and their training would have them ready for that work as well. He knew planets like Naboo would be willing to take on at least some of them if asked, but there were also planets out there that with a little work would be habitable, if the clones wanted to stay together. Of course, they'd need to get some female settlers to join them or it'd be a very short lived colony, even then there would be no genetic diversity….but that was getting too far ahead of himself.

For now, the focus was on ensure these poor souls could not be used to plunge the galaxy into war.

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Harry looked over the clones that made up one of the oldest squads, they were all completely identical, and it was a little creepy. They were dressed in the same white armour, standing at attention, and he felt a flicker of uncertainty as he faced them. Their chips had been altered already and while they should receive some more training for war, he wasn't sending them to fight. "CC-2224?" he called and one of the men snapped a smart salute.

"Yes Sir!" the reply was immediate, but he didn't need Jedi senses to feel his uncertainty. Harry wore civilian clothing after all.

"My name is Harry Potter and I have a mission for you." He saw the clone shift minutely. "Question?"

"Sir, this unit is not combat cleared yet."

"And hopefully you won't see any. This is a bodyguard position," he clarified for them. Padme was going to kill him but there had been too many attempts on her life, and he wouldn't always be there. He handed over a datapad with the details. "You have a month to prepare, reacquisition whatever gear you think you'll need that fits in with the guidelines. You won't be able to wear visible armour either."

"If you do need more information, you can ask either myself or Master Kenobi. And you will also need to answer to names, not numbers. The idea is for you to blend in." he left them to it, it would be an interesting exercise in their ability to follow vague outlines to complete a mission.

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Obi-Wan watched the storm, he could see now how they arrived in the better season, the weather had been getting even worse for the last week. He was thankful they were leaving in the morning, he trusted Harry's flying and the protections on the ship, but he still didn't want to try flying through anything worse than this. The trip would be in close quarters thanks to the clones they were taking with them. he had learnt to ignore the strange sensation in the Force from so many similar people, and the older they got, the more differences cropped up between clones. Some of that was due to Harry insisting on meeting them and getting them started on choosing names for themselves.

If the Senate ever learnt of the clone army and that they were meant for the Republic but were now owned by one man…he couldn't see it ending well. They wouldn't care that Harry and the Jedi Council had nothing to do with the beginning of things. That was why it was important the clones become more individual before they became known to the rest of the galaxy.

Cody, the leader of the clones coming with them to guard Senator Amidala, Padme, was the one Obi-Wan had the most contact with. They had gotten him to drop the Sirs thankfully, though it would be seen as respectful in his case. Unless Harry planned to go around using his ex-Senator identity, then it was too formal an address for him.

He felt warm hands settle on his shoulders and leant back as Harry moved behind him. "Deep thoughts?"

"Worrying," he admitted as lips caressed his throat.

"I won't let the Senate or Council use the boys," Harry murmured. If it came down to it, he would put the facility under a Fidelius to keep them safe until they could be moved elsewhere.

"I know," Obi-Wan turned and wrapped his arms around Harry.

"So come to bed," Harry grinned and stepped back, out of his hold, revealing he was dressed only in a robe which he dropped to crawl into bed and Obi-wan slipped out of his clothing to follow him. This was their last night of true privacy, though Harry had ensured his room on the ship was soundproofed they would still be sharing the ship with several others.

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Rhan stood with Master Yoda at the landing pad, hands hidden in his robe as he did his best to not show his excitement as they waited. He had the feeling he had failed form the way the Master's ears twitched occasionally. He couldn't help grinning as he recognised the Pax practically dancing through the air traffic to land perfectly. He had missed his Master and it would be wonderful to have him back. The ramp lowered and his Master walked down, looking like the perfectly serene Jedi. He smiled slightly at Rhan before approaching and bowing to Master Yoda even as a group of identical strangers emerged from the ship, Harry and the astromech bringing up the rear. Harry flashed him a grin which Rhan returned before focusing back on the quietly talking Masters.

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Padme looked at the men who had accompanied Harry, feeling the horror build as he explained about how they had come to be. She knew as well as he did how the Senate would react to their existence. "My Ladies and I are used to disguising our features so helping to blend their so they don't appear so identical will be easy enough, though they will still look related" she agreed. "What are your names gentlemen?"

"Cody, ma'am. This is Boil, Waxer, Wooley, Longshot, and Crys."

"Cordé will see you settled in," she smiled, and they followed her Handmaiden further into the apartment, leaving her to glare at Harry, hands on her hips.

"Don't even think about Padme," he warned playfully before sobering. "Your ladies are very good, but you need more close protection and I can't always be there. They are trained to fight alongside Jedi, learning to turn that against a possible Sith attacker won't take long."

She sighed but let it go, she knew he was right. What she had done to come to such attention she didn't know. Had this Sith thought such a young, untried, Queen would buckle easily under the Trade Federation and her proving the opposite derailed too many plans? She moved in and hugged Harry, feeling his arms wrap around her. "I've missed you," she murmured, and he tightened his hold.

"I've missed you too. I have no desire to ever go back to Kamino."

"Too much water?" she teased, moving away.

"I grew up on an island but those storms…" he shuddered, and she laughed.

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Harry entered the Temple to find Obi-Wan waiting for him. he had never faced the Jedi Council before and was curious, if a little put off by the way they thought they could just summon him. For the occasion he had dressed a bit more formally than he normally did these days, though he did not wear the uniform he did on Naboo, not wanting the clones to be linked to the planet. Here, he would be the ex-Senator. Even he was getting a little confused by all the identities he had active at the same time now. He wore a dark green long sleeved shirt and pressed black pants, his black jacket falling almost to his knees. He stood out among the beige and browns of the Jedi, but it didn't bother him.

They walked in silence through the Temple until they reached the lift up to the Council room high in the tower. "How is Senator Amidala?"

"Miffed about her new security," Harry admitted with a smirk and Obi-Wan chuckled. They had expected that reaction. "Her ladies confuse the men, but they are following their instructions on ways to lessen their resemblance to each other. Tattooing looks to be a popular idea along with hair colouring and growing.

Obi-Wan nodded, he had made use of hair colouring and growth himself when under cover, even if Harry liked hi cleanshaven better. They reached the top and Obi-Wan led him to the Council room to speak with them about what had been found on Kamino and with the Banking Clans in more depth.

TBC…