"You must understand, Senator, that I do not make this decision lightly or with haste. I bear your Republic no ill-will, but I can neither condone nor support that which it would stand for,"

"I don't understand," Padmé said "yesterday, you were asking for aid. What changed your mind?,"

"A conversation with your clone trooper. And," Meisheb added with a sigh "a closer examination of Forsooth's standing on the matter,"

"I see," Padmé's tone said that she did not.

"I am not angry with the Republic. It is such an easy thing, to corrupt your own beliefs, blinding yourself to what is truly happening simply because you are desperate,"

Padmé said nothing this time, giving no encouragement, but Her Majesty went on without it.

"I was afraid for my people, and saw the Republic as their savior. I... chose... not to look too closely at the army, at the people, who would have to die for my own,"

"This is about the clones. But I don't understand what they have to do with-,"

"The people of the Republic hide in their homes, your Senators- I don't mean you specifically -in their hallowed halls, passing judgments and giving orders to people they don't understand, and don't even think of as being living things. Oh, I understand the allure. Clones are smarter than droids by far, able to think and act tactically without requiring orders from on high. And therein lies the problem,"

She paused to take a deep breath, and then went on

"It is not the cause of your war I find fault with. It is your methods. Though defending the innocent may seem just, the people you use for that defense are worse than slaves. You don't merely ask them to work for you, you ask them to die for you. You expect them to do so, and grant them no alternative save death by your hands. Not yours, specifically, but your Republic,"

"The people the army of the Republic defend are-,"

"Simple farmers?. Innocent bystanders?. Helpless dependents?. I say no. Rescuing them in the first place, that makes sense. But after that, have them join your army. Have them defend themselves. It is easy to commit to an endless and bloody war when neither side cares about their own casualties!.

"You tell me that your clones are superior to droids because they can think. Have you stopped to realize that they also can feel?. They do not weep over their dead, they do not complain of their lot, which makes them far better than you or I. They take their condition as a matter of course, and go on without reflection or regret. We could take a lesson from that, a lesson in being content with whatever state you happen to find yourself in,"

"Majesty Meisheb, I-,"

"You will hear me until I have finished," Meisheb snarled, tail switching and a ridge of white fur rising along the back of her neck "for I have much to say which you, and those you side with, would do well to consider before it is too late.

"I say again that it is not your war, it is your chosen army. Your people hide like cowards, saying that they can't fight back or that their beliefs prohibit defending themselves when the reality is that they are too afraid of shedding their own blood. I was nearly ready to do this, myself. I was so eager to find a way not to endanger my people that I very nearly neglected to consider those who would die in their stead.

"Forsooth was right: Aakaria wants no part of your people or the Separatists. I still feel that the actions he took were wrong, and that he blamed the wrong party. He blames your troops, I blame the people who send them to die,"

At last, she seemed to have said all she had to say and fell silent.

"I'm afraid I still don't understand,"

"Speak to one of your clones. Speak to a hundred of them. They think, they feel. They bleed and they die. Through it all, they are not only brave and loyal, but also humble and relatively content. Except for the ones who see the hypocrisy of this war and find themselves unable to bear that burden in addition to all their others. The Separatists wish to oppress all, but the Republic does its share of the same, even while it claims otherwise. Those few clones who realize this can see no reason for your bloody war, or why they should participate. They are called deserters, even by those of their own kind. You should count yourself lucky,"

"Why?,"

"The clone who once saved your life here on this very world knows that this war of yours knows no reason, that he fights for no cause. But he has the wisdom to realize that, if only for a moment, he can protect the truest innocents of the Galaxy. The children. The future,"

For the next thirty days, Jac participated in the search for survivors. He found more dead than alive, and buried many. In all that time, he did not work with any other clones, only with Na'taves. Yet again, a strange situation for which he had no training.

But he found the Na'taves to be reliable, even in heated situations. On more than one occasion, survivors had to be liberated from rogue camps. Here, the Na'taves showed no hesitation in fighting against their own kind to rescue those who had been imprisoned unjustly.

He never did find Sergeant Flame. He did find Dusty, killed in action. He suspected that the Sergeant had, in fact, deserted. That was a shame. A man of such experience should have known better. How many rookies could have benefited from his leadership?. How many would now die because they were denied it?. Jac left these questions at Dusty's grave, moving on because he knew no other way.

Aside from the Sergeant, all other clones were found, dead or alive, the living returned to the army, the dead buried where they were found.

After that, Jac was reunited with Senator Amidala, who had spent the same time having extended conversations with Majesty Meisheb, who had in that time located and formed a truce with Forsooth.

Meisheb was determined to raise her own army, and teach her people to defend themselves. She said that it was likely that they would be conquered, but she had no desire to seek help from any who did not wish to give it. Had the clones volunteered for military service, she said, things would be quite different. Then it would have been their choice at some point.

She had given Padmé much to think about.

Anakin had arrange to be on the ship that retrieved the Senator and her single clone escort, for reasons The Clone would obviously never know. He (Anakin) happened to disagree with Meisheb, but that was no surprise. Even so, he admitted to himself that perhaps this was part of the purpose Jac had.

Maybe it had been the work of the Force that Aakaria closed negotiations with the Republic and refused to support their cause with the ore. It had no value to the Na'taves, but Meisheb said that she would not perpetuate the war anymore than she already had.

"The Force sure cares for you," Anakin observed to Jac.

"Sir?,"

"Don't tell me you've never thought about it," Anakin pressed "in all the dangerous and impossible situations you've been in, you've never once wondered if something might be protecting you?,"

"I can't say as I have, Sir,"

"One escape from an impossible situation is luck. Two, coincidence. Three... something else is at work," Anakin said matter-of-factly.

"I don't follow, Sir,"

"You have a purpose. At first, I thought maybe what you did on Aakaria was it, but I was wrong. You are destined to have an impact on the future, and this war. I don't know how, but I can sense it,"

"With respect, Sir, I can't believe that,"

"Why not?,"

"Because I'm just a clone. Same as all the others,"

"Really?. Well, we'll see. We'll see,"

"As you say, Sir,"

A/N: Some have questioned Jac's lack of promotion. To be perfectly honest, the original brain storming was just generally about clones and the campaign for Aakaria. It was later arranged to be about a single clone, Jac. It honestly never occurred to me to promote him. In a way, I think it's fitting that he should go without promotion, considering the underlying story that is being told.

There were also various questions and statements concerning a variety of characters in the Star Wars universe whom I know nothing about. I direct you to my first author's note, where I stated that my knowledge of this universe is relatively little.

As you may have guessed from a few loose ends in the various parts of the story, I'm not through with Jac. When I finished up this story, I thought I was tired of writing about him. Turns out, not so much. I'm presently working on another story about him, this time with a bit more intent (maybe) and very slightly more knowledge of the universe I'm writing in (not a lot, but a little). I'm maybe about halfway through it.

It may interest some of you to know that the name "Reg Olith" is actually the splitting of the word "Regolith". This was because that's what I was reading about at the time and I couldn't think of a name for my character.

Also on the subject of names, Jac did not originally have a name. Even when the story was being arranged to be about a single clone, he was just The Clone. The reason for this is that I have a terrible time with numbers and elected not to ever state his designation to the readers. This was also because it seemed unlikely somehow for him to think of himself in terms of numbers. By the end of chapter one, I was sick to death of writing "The Clone" and had realized that he was liable to have contact with other clones and that was bound to be confusing. The name came, quite literally, from the story's title. I thought of all kinds of clone-like names, but they were too much of the "nickname" variety (Boomer, Striker etc., though these are not the specific names I thought of). For the purposes of the story, it seemed proper for The Clone to have an actual name. I thought of things like Sam and Toby and Joe and they were all too strong in name. They gave him a too-human feel, like actual parents had named him. I don't think my striking on Jac was accidental. I think that was always his name, I just didn't know it. It was perfect. It was a real name, but the spelling and origin of it seemed very clone-like. I had no second thoughts and considered no other names.

Thank you kindly for reading (and reviewing), hope y'all enjoyed it and I hope to see you next time.