Disclaimer: See chapter one.

Okay, I know it took awhile to post this chapter, but I was to busy with my other story (LOTR) and I had a lot of schoolwork. Going to the university isn't everything. But at the moment I have some free time to post, and here we are folks; the chapter you all have been waiting for. I hope you will enjoy it.

A small spacecraft, able to hold two passengers, streaked through space. The view was just like the star map hologram. Inside the cockpit, two Jedi were navigation the ship. Obi-Wan was at the controls while Hadrian was sight seeing. He dozed off a bit after they took off from Coruscant. But his dream wasn't pleasant. He was suddenly trashing in his sleep. If it wasn't for Obi-Wan he would have bust into flames. He felt so much pain in his sleep, something he has never felt before beside the scar he had been giving by Darth Maul. But the dream was hazy. Only darkness was left.

Now he was watching to the endless void of stars. He scratched between his eyes and clenched and unclenched his fist. Obi-Wan saw this and began to worry. He never saw Hadrian like this before. He knew about Anakin's fierce dreams, but Hadrian? Maybe he should just ask. He was a friend, something Obi-Wan held dear.

"What happened? …Want to talk about it." He asked. Hadrian was quiet, still looking outside. Then he sighed and looked at his companion.

"I just had a vision … I guess." He said suddenly.

"A vision? That's uncommon, but known among Jedi."

Hadrian took a deep breath. "Vision is the art of seeing the invisible. Yet it is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerge truth sometimes comes to the top." He looked at his friend. "Don't you believe in your dreams?"

Obi-Wan thought of that. Hadrian was right about something. Obi-Wan had dreamed a lot, because everybody dreams.

"I guess… Everybody can think. But dreams; that's who we are. Why are you asking me that?"

"Because… Some dreams can come true." Hadrian became uneasy. "I saw my own death." He said calmly. Obi-Wan was dumb struck. He looked into his eyes and saw the truth. Hadrian wasn't lying about it. This was something he couldn't find any words for it. And Hadrian wasn't waiting for any. There was a brief moment of silence. Then the spacecraft came out of hyperspace. In front of them a storm-shrouded planet was exactly where it ought to be. The ship disengages from the hyperspace transport ring and headed down toward the planet.

"There it is, right where it should be. Our missing planet, Kamino. Those files were altered. Just like you said Hadrian. I'm sorry if I doubted you."

"No hard feelings Obi-Wan. Besides it looks like a nice vacation spot." He replied sarcastic. The forgot about the dream Hadrian had. No they had a more important work to think about. They entered the atmosphere. Heavy rains and hard-driving winds lashed the platform as the ship approached. The huge, ultra modern city of Tipoca rested on great stilts that keep it above the pounding and ever-present waves that cover the surface of this watery world.

Hadrian snorted. "A real nice Californian weather. At least during the winter period."

"Well, I wouldn't know." Obi-Wan grinned.

"I don't think our cloak will keep us very dry in this weather."

"Can't you use your fire ability to dry yourself?" Obi-Wan asked, readying himself to land.

"Not if I want to set my own ass on fire." Hadrian laughed.

The Starfighter landed. They got out, pulled their hoods over their head and made their way through the howling wind toward a tower on the far side of the platform. Hadrian was cursing all the way and Obi-Wan rolled his eyes at the colorful words. A door slid open. A shaft of brilliant light pierced the swirling rain. They passed through it and went inside. Hadrian looked around while pushing the soaking hood from his face.

"God damned, it's very white." He stated. "I think I become blind." He blinked several times.

Obi-Wan grinned.

"Master Jedi, so good to see you." A voice sounded behind them. Hadrian turned around in astonishment, looking up and up. Obi-Wan wiped the rain from his face and blinked in surprise at a tall, pasty-white alien. She had large, almond shaped eyes.

"The Prime Minister expects you." It said. Obi-Wan and Hadrian looked at each other in question.

"We're expected?" He said warily.

"Of course! He is anxious to meet you. After all these years, we were beginning to think you weren't coming. Now please, this way!"

Obi-Wan masked his surprise as they moved away along the corridor. Hadrian was calm about this. But the other Jedi wasn't. He looked at the young man.

What do you know, Hadrian?

Hadrian looked sideways, smiling. Remember when I told you that they may have an army, just that they wait for the exact opportunity? Obi-Wan nodded. Well, this is it. Don't worry. Just play the stupid tourist and act professional.

Obi-Wan looked disbelieving. And how, pray tell, will I do that? Without knowing anything about this. Hadrian smiled.

The door slid open. The Jedi and the Kaminoan entered and crossed to where the Prime Minister rose from his chair which like all the furniture on Kamino, seemed made out pure light. To Hadrian it was white. The Kaminoan bowed before her superior.

"May I present Lama Su, Prime Minister of Kamino… and this is Master Jedi…"

"Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"Hadrian Phoenix."

The Minister indicated to some chairs. But the Jedi remained standing. The other Kaminoan hovered behind. The room was bathed in brilliant white light. The whole place was ultra high-tech.

"I trust you are going to enjoy your stay. We are most happy you have arrived at the best part of the season."

Hadrian raised his eyebrow. "Geez, I really don't want to know the worst part." He joked. Obi-Wan grinned. The Kaminoans smiled, as far as a Kaminoan could.

"You make us feel most welcome." Obi-Wan said, smiling.

"Please…" The Minister gestured to the chairs. "And now to business. You will be delighted to hear we are on schedule. Two hundred thousand units are ready, with another million well on the way." He said bluntly.

Obi-Wan gazed at Hadrian who nodded. "That is … good news." He improvised.

"Please tell your Master Sifo-Dyas that we have every confidence his order will be met on time and in full. He is well, I hope."

Obi-Wan looked disheveled. "I'm sorry? Master -?"

"Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas. He's still a leading member of the Jedi Council, is he not?" The Minister asked.

"Master Sifo-Dyas was killed almost ten years ago." Obi-Wan said, looking surprised himself.

"Oh," The Kaminoan said. "I'm sorry to hear that. But I'm sure he would have been proud of the army we've built for him."

"The Army?" The Jedi Master asked. Hadrian leaned back. He was thinking about it too. But he wasn't sure anymore if Sifo-Dyas was murdered or killed in action.

"Yes, a clone army. And I must say, one of the finest we've ever created." The Minister said.

Obi-Wan looked pensive. "Tell me, Prime Minister, when my Master first contacted you about the army, did he say who it was for?"

The Kaminoan nodded. "Of course he did. This army is for the Republic. But you must be anxious to inspect the units for yourself."

Obi-Wan waved with his arms. "That's why we're here."

The Jedi and Lama Su rose and walked toward the door. Obi-Wan came close to Hadrian without being overheard by the Kaminoans. They whispered to each other.

"For the Republic? But the vote of creating an army has just begun." Obi-Wan whispered.

Hadrian nodded. "I looks like someone has foreseen this and planned ahead. I'll explain it later."

The Jedi, Lama Su and Taun We came out onto a balcony. Below was a huge parade ground. The rain and wind were brutal. Thousands of clone troopers, faces covered by helmets were marching and drilling in formation of several hundred. Hadrian and Obi-Wan were stunned. They looked around.

Lama Su was beaming. "Magnificent, aren't they?"

Obi-Wan nodded slowly, not believing his eyes.

"Quite impressive, Minister. Especially the white uniforms… Very catchy, original." Hadrian said, hiding his laughter. Obi-Wan growled under his breath at the youths bluntness. The Minister only smiled. Then they turned around. The tour continued through a classroom filled with identical young boy clones.

"Talking about identity issues." Hadrian muttered.

"We take great pride in our combat education and training programs. This groups was created about five years ago." Lama Su explained.

Obi-Wan looked up. "You mentioned growth acceleration."

Hadrian looked confused. When did that happen?

"Oh, yes." The Minister went on. "It's essential. Otherwise, a mature clone would take a lifetime to grow. Now, we can do it in half the time. Those items you saw on the parade ground were started ten years ago, when Sifo-Dyas first placed the order, and they're already mature."

Obi-Wan looked impressed. Lama Su conducted the Jedi through a large eating area. Taun We followed as they walked by hundreds of clones who looked exactly alike, all about twenty years old, dressed in black. They were seated at tables, eating.

"You'll find they are totally obedient, taking any order without question. We modified their genetic structure to make them less independent than the original host." Lama Su explained them.

"Who was the original host?" Obi-Wan asked.

"A bounty hunter called Jango Fett. We felt a Jedi would be the perfect choice, but Sifo-Dyas hand-picked Jango Fett himself."

"Where is the bounty hunter now?" Hadrian asked, knowing the answer already.

"Oh, we keep him here."

The tour continued through a long corridor filled with narrow, transparent tubes into which clones were climbing. Once in the tube, the clones went to sleep.

"Apart from his pay," Lama Su said. "Which is considerable, Fett demanded only one thing - an unaltered clone for himself. Curious, isn't it?"

"Unaltered?" The Jedi asked.

"Pure genetic replication. No tampering with the structure to make it more docile... and no growth acceleration."

"Scary… The man was obviously not loved by women." Hadrian said, rolling his eyes.

Obi-Wan went on. "We would very much like to meet this Jango Fett."

"I would be most happy to arrange it for you." Taun We voiced from behind. She bowed and left.

A water speeder headed toward the Naboo Lake retreat. The speeder was driven by Paddy Accu, the retreat caretaker. It docked at the island landing platform. Anakin and Padmé disembarked the water speeder at the base of a lodge rising on the beautiful island in the middle of the like. The two of them walked up the stairs from where the water speeder was parked onto a terrace overlooking a lovely garden. Behind them, Paddy followed.

Anakin and Padmé stopped at the balustrade. She looked out across the garden to the shimmering lake and the mountains rising beyond. Lost memories came to her. Anakin looked at her.

"When I was in Level Three, we used to come here for school retreat. See that island? We used to swim there every day. I love the water." She told him with a smile. The feeling of the warm water came back to her.

"I do too. I guess it comes from growing up on a desert planet."

Padmé became aware that He was looking at her. Her breathing speeded up slightly, not much for him to noticed. What's wrong with me? I'm better then this.

"… We used to lie on the sand and let the sun dry us… and try guess the names of the bird singing."

"I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Not like here." He touched her arm and caressed her. "Here everything's soft… and smooth…"

Padmé shivered at his touch. She wanted to pull away from him. She has become intimidating to the way he looked at her but she was panicky as well. She swallowed hard.

"There was a very old man," she started, "Who lived on the island. He used to make glass out of sand – and vases and necklaces out of glass. They were magical." She felt him come closer. She turned toward him. He looked straight into her eyes.

"Everything here is magical." Anakin said seductive.

"You could look into the glass and see the water. The way it ripples and moves. It looked so real… but it wasn't." Padmé said to keep her mind on things and way from him. But he only came closer and closer.

"Sometimes, when you believe something to be real, it becomes real."

They looked into each other's eyes. Padmé took some distance, but not much.

"I used to think if you looked too deeply into glass, you would lose yourself." She replied.

"I think it's true…" Anakin came closer until their lips met. First she didn't resist, but she came to her senses and pulled away. She felt horrible.

"No! I shouldn't have done that." Padmé said making some distance between them. What will Hadrian think about this. Padmé sighed.

"I'm sorry. When I'm around you, my mind is no longer my own." Anakin explained still looking at her. Padmé looked grim and shook her head.

"It's not that, Anakin. I can't do this."

He looked confused.

"It's complicated." She said.

They kept it quiet for now. They moved away from the balcony and went inside. The day went on until they decided to go on a pick-nick in the mountain meadow. They were in the middle of an idyllic hilly meadow, its lush grasses sprinkled with flowers. At a distance, a herd of Shaaks grazed contentedly.

Beyond was the shimmering expanse of the lake. Several other lakes stretched to the horizon. The warm air was full of little floating puffballs. They sat on the grass, in a playful, coy mood, just talking. Padmé was picking glowers. She was smiling. They let the little issue slide of what happened at the balcony.

"I don't know…"

"Sure you do," Anakin insisted. "You just don't want to tell me."

"Are you going to use one of your Jedi mind tricks on me?"

"They only work on the weak-minded. You are anything but weak-minded." Anakin told her.

Padmé smiled. "All right... I was twelve. His name was Palo. We were both in the Legislative Youth Program. He was a few years older then I... very cute... dark curly hair... dreamy eyes."

Anakin looked jealous. "All right, I get the picture… whatever happened to him?"

"I went into public service. He went on to become an artist." She said smiling. She liked to tease him. Just like she teased her husband, Hadrian.

"Maybe he was the smart one." Anakin retorted. Padmé smile faded.

"You really don't like politicians, do you?"

"I like two or three, but I'm not really sure about one of them." He smiled. "I don't think the system works."

Padmé looked at him in confusion. "How would you have it work?"

"We need a system where the politicians sit down and discuss the problem, agree what's in the best interests of all the people, and then do it." He explained without looked at her.

"That's exactly what we do. The trouble is that people don't always agree. In fact, they hardly ever do." She said critically.

"Then they should be made to." Anakin said bluntly.

"By whom? Who's going to make them?"

"I don't know. Someone."

"You?"

"Of course not me."

"But someone."

"Someone wise."

Padmé frowned. "That sounds an awful lot like a dictatorship to me."

A mischievous little grin crept across his face. "Well, if it works…" Padmé stared at him. He looked back at her, straight faced, but couldn't back a smile.

"You making fun of me!" She laughed.

"Oh no, I'd be much too frightened to tease a Senator." He replied sarcastic.

"You're so bad." She picked up a piece of fruit and threw it at him. He caught it. Padmé threw two more pieces of fruit and Anakin kept catching them.

"You're always so serious." He smiled.

"I'm so serious?" She shouted back playfully. Anakin then started to juggle the fruit. Padmé laughed and threw more fruit at him. He managed to juggle them too until there were too many and lost control and ducked, letting the food fall on his head. They both laughed. Anakin was to youthful. He stood in front of a Shaak, yelling at it and waving his arms. Padmé started chuckling as Anakin ran in circles, chased by the Shaak. The Shaak crossed in front of Padmé, with Anakin riding it, facing the Skaak's tail. He attempted to stand on the galloping beast's back, but the animal bucked. Anakin lost his balance and fell off. Padmé laughed even harder. He lied still. Concerned, Padmé jumped up and ran to where Anakin was face down in the grass.

"Ani! Ani! Are you alright?" She turned him over. He was pulling a stupid face at her and laughed. She yelped in mock fury and took a swing at him. He caught her arm. She struggled. They rolled over in the grass, embracing and looking into each other's eyes. Suddenly, they become aware of the contact between them. They let go of each other quickly and sat up, looking away.

Anakin stood up and held out his hand to her. She took it. He pulled her up. And now they were easy together on a platonic relationship, not self-conscious any more. Padmé scrambled up onto the Shaak behind the Jedi. She put her arms around his waist and leaned against his back. Anakin kicked his heels in. The animal started forward, and they rode away.

Well, this was it. I'll promise to post the next chapter pretty soon, but tonight I'm going to the Bourne Marathon at the cinema and I'll see the avant-primière of the Bourne Ultimatum. I hope it's a good one.

Well, have a nice weekend everyone!!

Cheerio

Jessie