"Master Jinn?"

Obi-Wan couldn't help but stare.

This couldn't be real.

This couldn't be happening.

"Master Qui-Gon?" He tried again, frowning when his first attempt got no reaction.

All in all, it wasn't a successful reunion as a pressure suddenly gripped at his throat, cutting off his air supply. "M-master J-Jinn!" he coughed out, "Q-Qui-Gon!"

His old master snarled, "Who the hell is Qui-Gon?"

Before any more pressure could be applied, Anakin came flying out of nowhere, kicking Qui-Gon In the face, sending him over the edge of the platform and towards the traffic below.

"ANAKIN!" Obi-Wan winced at the roughness of his voice, one hand rubbing at his throat, "NO!"

"Obi-Wan!" Anakin rushed over to her, casting a dark look over at where the Sith had fallen, "What's going on?!"

"It-it's Master Jinn."

Anakin froze, "W-what?"

Just as he uttered the words, the man in question jumped down in front of them, the red blade of his lightsabre illuminating their faces.

"Master…" Obi-Wan hadn't heard his voice this shaky in years, "… You don't want to do this."

For a moment, he could swear there was a hint of recognition in the older man's eyes, but before Qui-Gon could make a move, they were surrounded on all sides.

Clones.

Clones that were all aiming at them.

And only one was familiar.

"Cody?" Obi-Wan whispered, "What's- "

"- Shut up." Cody growled, blaster not wavering in the slightest, "Get up."

This was all getting to be too much for one day, as he slowly got to his feet, only vaguely hearing Anakin protesting as they were cuffed and pulled into the back of a prison speeder.

When Obi-Wan looked back at the platform, his ex-master was gone.

…

"It was him…. Definitely him."

Anakin leaned forwards, "I thought you said he was dead?!"

"I thought he was!" Obi-Wan snapped, "The wound was fatal, we had no body to prove otherwise and our bond, for a lack of a better word, shattered. What else were we meant to believe?!"

Anakin growled, one of the clones beside him nudging him harshly in the side to stop him.

Seconds later, Cody was aiming at the other clones, blaster set to stun as he fired at them all.

Anakin and Obi-Wan set there in silence for a moment, a little bit in shock as Cody turned to Obi-Wan. "Are you okay General?"

"I- "

A hurt look flashed across Cody's face. "Did you- did you really think I'd turned against you?"

"Honestly Cody?" Obi-Wan sighed, "It's been an odd day."

…..

The speeder arrived at an unknown location in the lower levels of Coruscant, far from any sort of surveillance.

"Follow me." Cody whispered, "If you think it's been an odd day, you just wait."

They entered a sterile room, as Master Che worked on a patient. When she heard them enter, she moved to one side, to reveal that the bed was filled by a certain Master Windu, who smirked at their shock.

"Late, you both are." Master Yoda hobbled into the room, "Arrived before you, Senator Amidala did."

Obi-Wan could feel Anakin's relief over there bond, the both of them staying silent, until Anakin finally managed to stammer out, "Y-You died though Master Windu!"

"Shattered collarbone, bullet nicked the liver, lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum…and a headache, or so he continues to complain about." Master Che interrupted, ignoring the glare Master Windu shot her, "Oh, and the collapsed lung."

"Mustn't forget about that." Mace sighed.

"Fake his death, we did." Master Yoda, "The only way, it was."

"So, you just kept it a secret?!"

"Necessary, it was. Betrayed, we have been." Master Yoda shook his head sadly, "By who, we don't know."

Obi-Wan cleared his throat, "We have… something to tell you both."

…..

Darth Khylrus was confused.

Memories flashed before his eyes

A young child beamed up at him as he tied a bead into a braid.

The same child, a little older, laughing with a blond woman on a sofa.

The child, now an older teen proudly winning a lightsabre competition.

Memory after memory flashed by, until he could take it no longer. Snarling in confusion, he Force pushed several medics back, before backing into a corner, kneeling on the ground and burying his head in his hands.

It felt like his brain was trying to burst out of his skull.

Vaguely, he heard the door open and a nervous voice address whoever it was that entered.

"The chip is degrading My Lord."

"I see."

Darth Sidious moved to stand in front of him. "Execute Order 15 Darth Khylrus."

A suicide order.

Nothing

"Execute Order 6 Darth Khylrus."

All communicators to be thrown away and/or destroyed.

Still nothing.

Darth Khylrus… Execute Order 65."

Execute the Chancellor.

There was a slight hand twitch that made Sidious tense for a moment before he was using the Force to pin his apprentice against the wall.

"Obi-Wan…" Darth Khylrus whispered, still looking out of it, "… Little one."

"This is one of my finest creations." Sidious hissed, "A success where others have failed. Tomorrow, the plan will go ahead, so I need him to be functional. Am I understood?!"

"You-you want us to replace his chip?" A medic queried, "My Lord… I don't think we can in such a small time-frame."

"Then just re-condition him!"

"T-that might not- "

"NOW!"

Darth Khylrus didn't hear any of this.

There was only one thing running through his mind.

Obi-Wan.

….

"It was Quinlan Vos who first realised that there was something going on in the Senate." Master Windu sighed, "Apparently he's… close to Commander Fox."

Obi-Wan could practically feel Cody tensing beside him.

Fox was a younger member of the same batch if he remembered correctly.

It was rather amusing to see those older sibling instincts kick in.

"Memory loss, Commander Fox suffers with. Traces of the dark side, there are."

"So…" Obi-Wan frowned, "… Commander Fox has been in contact with someone who is a user of the Dark Side… the Sith Lord?"

Master Windu and Master Yoda both waited patiently.

"Fox works with the Chancellor." Obi-Wan whispered, "You can't be suggesting- "

"Playing both sides, he is." Master Yoda sighed, "Blind, we were."

"But, what's the endgame?"

"We were wondering the same thing." Master Windu sighed, "And then, we spoke to ARC Trooper Fives."

"Fives?" It was Anakin who spoke up then, "What does Fives have to do with all this?"

"… We've lost a lot of Jedi during this war. Palpatine's goal… is the complete eradication of the Order."

"H-How?!"

Mace and Yoda both looked over at Cody, who cleared his throat a little nervously. "Through us… the clones I mean."

That still didn't make sense to Obi-Wan, as Cody slowly continued.

"We- my brothers and I… all have chips in our brains. We'd heard rumours, but we just thought they were in there to stop the aggressive tendencies that Prime had, but- but they're more like brainwashing chips." Cody couldn't look Obi-Wan in the eyes, "Say the right Order, and we would kill the Jedi without a second thought."

For a split second, Obi-Wan felt betrayed, only to remember that Cody would have no choice in that. He would never willingly betray the Jedi.

He would never willingly betray him.

"General, I- "

"- It's okay Cody." Obi-Wan gently interrupted, "I know it wouldn't be you." He turned to the other Jedi Masters, "How can we stop this? Remove all the chips?"

"Too long, that would take." Yoda sighed, "Kamino, the solution is."

"We believe that there must be a way to shut down, to deactivate the chips from there." Master Windu stated, "A small team will go and infiltrate the kamino base and shut the chips down."

"And it won't hurt them?"

Mace gave Obi-Wan a knowing look but didn't comment (possibly due to his own friendship with commander Ponds), "if there is a risk to the men, we shall explore other options."

"No offense Generals..." Cody began, "... but if it comes to a choice between us and the Order, you should put the Order first."

"A way, we will find." Yoda sighed, "All options, we will consider."

"There's something else." Obi-Wan spoke up, unable to look anyone in the eyes, "There's a possibility that the chips... aren't just in the clones."

"...What do you mean?"

Obi-Wan glanced over at Anakin, before sighing wearily, "We encountered a Sith Lord… during the fight, I removed his mask and- "The words got caught in his throat, something that hadn't happened since he earned his title of The Negotiator, "- and it was Qui-Gon."

Mace and Yoda's shock rippled through the Force, as Yoda sat down heavily.

"Sure, you are?"

"Very." Obi-Wan nodded, "We never found his body after all."

He never found Qui-Gon's body.

He didn't look hard enough.

"Your fault, this is not." Master Yoda always knew what he was thinking, "Chipped, you believe him to be?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense." Obi-Wan whispered, "We had a complicated partnership, but I never thought he'd attack me." He shook his head, "I gave up looking for him… if I'd just- "

"- Our fault, this is." Yoda looked like he'd aged several hundred (more) years, "Recalled you back to the Temple, we did. Gave up on Qui-Gon, we did."

"This makes it even more imperative we get those chips deactivated." Master Windu stated, "Along with ARC trooper Fives, this doesn't leave this room. We are the only people we can trust."

Slowly, Commander Cody raised his hand, catching everyone's attention.

"I know a group we can trust."