Warning: Yeah, lemons, and next chapter, also lemons.

Chapter 16 - Good Morning

Obi-Wan woke surrounded by light and the press of dozens of tiny bodies.

He had a confused moment caught between thinking he was back in the Temple or back in the middle of the war.

Neither made much sense to him and it took blinking awake and trying to shift to remind him he was on Kamino.

He blinked.

The alarm that chimed had all the sleeping forms instantly awake though it wasn't a loud sound at all, it was a low form of the emergency lights of the star destroyer. Obi-Wan had time to sit up before he was tackled. It took quite a bit of refocusing to get them centred.

Omega stuck to his side as if they had become conjoined. Though being as old as the Alphas, Omega was three years old. Closer to the Class 1 CTs like Rex than the near two thousand Class 2 CTs, but they are young enough to not understand that Omega is quite like them, that gender is something they should be concerned with.

But she doesn't speak, doesn't dare, and being as isolated as he believes she has been, sensing her neat panic and fear of her siblings, as well as the deeper fear she has of the Kaminoans, Obi-Wan determines a few things.

Nala Se treated the Bad Batch as her personal experiment, given Nala Se's near violent anger at Obi-Wan merely holding Omega, he suspected Omega was akin to the scientist's slave.

It seemed likely, with how she jumped any time any of her brothers touch her, that she had been completely isolated and the only family she knew had been through grates, tubes, or on examination tables.

Obi-Wan had not planned on bringing any of the vode into Jango's personal suite. You could not force a man to be a father, but Obi-Wan feared that Omega's traumas were too individual, her differences from the rest of the vode too numerous to be set aside. She needed her twin who could help her and not burden her with the fear of not being unique.

Omega's fears were contrary to the rest of the vode, and Jango would understand even if it was despite himself.

The vode were not slaves, doomed to an ill-fate, but not slaves.

Even if the whole galaxy had rejected them, even if the Jedi had rejected them, the vode wanted each other, they were of each other. Even if the cost of that existence was the cruelty of the Kaminoans. The vode would not have wished themselves away, and —at least when they had been adults— they didn't see themselves as people in bondage, they saw themselves as people with a shared purpose.

Their loyalty might have been genetically altered, may have been coaxed, and manipulated, but they didn't see themselves as victims. They were soldiers, a military people —they were, in their own way, a separate race from any other.

What had been done to them was still wrong, perhaps worse than slavery in some respects, but it still mattered that they didn't view themselves as owned.

The Alphas and Nulls sometimes did, because they had been raised within Mandalorian culture, had tasted it and been denied it.

With rare exceptions, the CCs and CTs saw their achievements, their survival, and their very existence, as evidence that they were not owned by, but that they were the Republic.

After all, without them, the Republic might have fallen, without them, the Jedi wouldn't have survived.

The Jedi Corps had fallen within months of Geonosis, before the vode had been full deployed. So citizenship or no, the vode would have remained in the military because they had seen it as their chosen destiny.

This was not true of Omega, who had been cut off and exposed to every cruelty without buffer. She had likely been made to participate in the dehumanization of her brothers who didn't even know she existed.

And Jango Fett would understand her, because he had understood slavery.

It wasn't until Obi-Wan had spent time in the training camps of Zygerria did he understand why Jango Fett, Jaster Mereel's son, had fallen so far from the Way.

"Ori'vod?" Fives asked, tugging on Obi-Wan's robe to get his attention.

Obi-Wan smiled down at the little one, pulling him into a hug, "Yes, ner ad'ika?"

Fives flushed, the others quieting around him to listen, "Will you eat with us?"

"Of course," Obi-Wan said, centring himself to give them his undivided attention.

Well, as undivided as one's attention could be when surrounded by nearly two thousand two-year-olds.

It took Obi-Wan a while to redirect all the little ones into finishing eating, slowing down in fear Obi-Wan would leave them forever after they were done eating.

He did have other places to be today. Hence, it was convenient, the Kaminoans weren't complete barbarians and their child development education seem was engaging enough to the vode racing off toward the puzzles and language programs the droids brought out for them.

Obi-Wan offered his hand to Omega, "Are you ready, ner ad'ika? Or would you rather remain here?"

She half glared at him, even as she took his hand, "I know how to read, Basic, Kaminoan, and Mando'a."

Obi-Wan swallowed a smile, "Of course. I just wanted to make certain you weren't more comfortable with the other vode."

"Am I going to room with the other Classes?"

"No, the Prime, has an extra room in his suite," Obi-Wan said, leading her through the halls

Omega paled, "The Prime doesn't look at me."

"Things have changed," Obi-Wan said, undaunted. "He is our Mand'alor and we are his clan. He will not turn us away."

Omega frowned up at him but he didn't argue, he could feel her doubt, her fear of rejection.

Obi-Wan will not give Jango the chance.

They were finishing first meal when Obi-Wan arrived.

Jango had been expecting him, he had not expected him to bring Omega with him.

Jango's heart contracted.

For her own safety, Jango did his damnest to avoid her, to play dumb and never linger when Nala Se brought her in as a lab assistant.

Nala Se was a possessive and sadistic monster when she wanted to be.

In exchange for him becoming the template, he had asked for one thing and one thing only.

A single untampered clone.

Omega's existence had been spontaneous, unanticipated, a natural product of the Kaminoans inseminating his DNA into a standard reproduction cloning cylinder.

They had hidden her from him at first, they got away with it for one year, until she started walking and had run at Jango while Nala Se had been taking his samples.

He had been surprised, because an army of female clones was a bad idea even if they forced them to be sterile.

While female Mandalorians were not technically more dangerous than male, even if they fell into those categories, Jango wasn't fully human. His particular heritage was one of the more vital for females.

If the Kaminoans wanted to mess with genetics to make clones more loyal and obedient, they would never succeed with females who weren't even technically clones, so much as daughters who Jango had sired.

Double duplicating an entire chromosome was not an alteration, it was a completely different person whose genetics couldn't be predicted.

A person, who as a female would be hotwired to be a bit more hot-blooded, a bit more prone to being protective and nomadic. Because for a reason no one could precisely trace, partly because being seen as not a full blooded human could be hazardous to your health, Taung's genetics and traits showed up more readily in females than males.

In other words, human genetics, and nearly any single species that existed within the Republic were predictable, medically wise at any rate.

But species like the Taung or whatever the hell had first inhabited Stewjon, were much more difficult because those species were more or less extinct. Those in the galaxy who were mixed rather than single species died or survived random diseases or conditions with unpredictableness that had partially led to the discrimination of such people within the Core to Mid Rim systems. In reality, it wasn't a huge medical liability, but for what the Kaminoans intended to do, far from ideal.

Despite all that, Nala Se had been possessive of the adiik, and given how isolated Omega had appeared to be, Jango had done some digging.

By the bonds of his contract, Omega was —and had always been— his.

And he was going to kill Obi-Wan Kenobi for endangering her like this.

Jango's guilt and protectiveness over his daughter made him painfully aware of her wary eyes on him. He didn't know how he would get her out of this, but he wouldn't reject her, not when the damage was already done.

"Boba, do you remember Omega?" Jango asked, his voice wavering with anger he was attempting to suppress.

Boba frowned at him but waved to Omega, "You're in the Bad Batch, right?"

Omega blinked at him.

She wasn't, but the Bad Batch were the only other vode who spent even a comparable amount of time with Nala Se, and Jango was not surprised Boba had jumped to that conclusion.

Still, Omega nodded, "Yeah… I'm one of Nala Se's."

Jango flinched, bile and hatred rising in his gut.

Sometimes he wanted to flay Nala Se on a pike, but he couldn't do that without risking the lives of the vode.

Which meant Kenobi would have to do.

"Why don't you show her your room, Bo'ika? Maybe she can help you with your Mando'a," Jango suggested.

Both Boba and Omega looked at him in surprise, he met neither of their gazes as he promised Obi-Wan a slow death with his eyes.

Jango might avoid Omega, but that didn't mean he hadn't kept tabs on her.

He was a mercenary bounty hunter after all, what was the point of flirting with legality if he couldn't use it to spy on the evil scientists and dar'jetiiese he had sold his body and soul to?

Boba crossed his arms, "She's younger than me."

Jango shook his head, his patience running thin as he snapped, "You're the same exact age, Boba, and she has the highest language comprehension in the GAR, now go."

Finally comprehending his tone, Boba caught Omega's hand and pulled her to his room without another complaint.

Kenobi wasn't so smart as he held his ground, chin raised in obstination as if he a kriffing clue what he had just karked over.

The Jetii must have felt his anger with his stupid sorcerer but he clearly didn't understand how angry until Jango grabbed him by the collar and shoved him toward his own room.

Kenobi looked furious but didn't struggle, even when Jango locked the door behind him before slamming him into the wall.

"Why have you brought her here!?" Jango snarled in Mando'a. "She's a hostage now."

Just like Boba.

Nala Se would be more creative than a blood disease when it came to Omega who she had schemed around both the Sith and Lama Su to keep away from Jango.

"They are all hostages," Obi-Wan returned naively. "And until we find a way to get everyone out, that will remain true."

Jango let go of him, disgusted with himself, with Kenobi and this impossible trap they were in. "Antagonizing Nala Se is not wise."

Kenobi dusted off his sleeve as if Jango hadn't just almost ripped his throat out.

Regrettably, killing Kenobi now wouldn't lessen Nala Se's wrath.

"There is no wisdom in inaction, that was how the Jedi fell, and I will not make the same mistake."

Jango spat, "You know nothing—"

Obi-Wan moved so quickly Jango didn't have time to reach for a weapon and found it was his turn to get slammed against a wall. "Enough, Jango. Enough."

The Jetii was so angry his Mando'a made him sound like a Stewjoni concubine.

On the whole, Stewjon was known for their resources, which unfortunately included their people. Some said the best warriors came off of Stewjon, known primarily for their farmers and sex workers, it was said that they had something to prove.

The anger in Obi-Wan's sea blue eyes told Jango not to underestimate him.

After having kriffed the man, Jango shouldn't have been surprised that a Jetii could get this angry, but here they were.

"You are in over your head, Mand'alor. I don't care if you cast me out again, I don't care if you kill me, but I'm not going anywhere until we give those ade a home and a future."

"Nala Se will hurt her," Jango shot back. "She will kill her before she lets Omega go."

Obi-Wan's expression softened, "No, she won't."

"You don't know what they are capable of," Jango said, grief replacing his own anger.

"I know what they are capable of, Jango. And while the rest of the vode might choose life over freedom, Omega would not."

Jango's breath caught, "She told you that?"

"She didn't need to, her isolation is a prison sentence, and everything Nala Se expects of her is torture. She might grow used to that abuse one day, but she is a child now. She needs you now, not when you think it's convenient."

"How do you plan to keep her safe? To keep any of them safe?" Jango snapped.

"Call your people, Mand'alor, and they will answer."

"That isn't a plan," Jango hissed.

Obi-Wan let go of him, stepping back. "I have safeguards in place. For instance; if I die, the Order will descend on Kamino, as my death and the death of Master Sifo-Dyas will be seen as a declaration of war against the Jedi and conspiracy against the Republic."

Jango felt the blood drain from his face, "Kark you."

Kenobi shook his head, "Call your people, Jango. Or I will call mine. Whatever faults the Order may have, the Jedi Corpsmen would take the vode in within a heartbeat."

Jango shook his head, "Who have you told of this place?"

Kenobi gave him an unimpressed looked, "You got in bed with Dooku, Fett, a Sith kriffing Lord, you don't get to lecture me about allies. Nor do you get to criticize my fail-safes when you aren't even trying to help them."

"I'm trying not to get them executed in mass!" Jango yelled at him.

"They won't be," Obi-Wan said calmly.

"Why the kriff not?" Jango challenged. "You don't understand—"

"Because the Kaminoans only care about money and the freedom of their science. Currently, I'm the one paying them, and if they kark with me, they'll find themselves at the mercies of the Senate. The Core may be corrupt and lazy but they have the resources to exploit anyone, much less a planet of illegal cloners isolated from any named empires with no representation in the Republic."

Jango wanted to shake him, "Nala Se is not Lama Su, they are two different forces."

"If we leave Omega with her and we pull off an escape, Nala Se will have whisked her away before we could get to her."

Jango's blood ran cold and to distract himself he asked, "Did Dooku just give you the keys to the system?"

"No," Obi-Wan said with a smirk. "But the thing about using a dead High Jedi Council Member's identity —one who has not formally been recognised as dead— assuming said Master's identity is rather simple when someone —like moi— has the Council member's codes. Especially, if the Banking Clan is giving a sizable donation for the trouble of reassigning funds to a new account."

Jango stared at him trying to process the convoluted nature of Kenobi's actions when it had started out rather convoluted. He spoke slowly, "You stole from Count Dooku… He… he didn't actually agree to this, did he?"

Obi-Wan smiled, "He did give me his blessing, surprisingly enough, which is why I am risking being so bold with Nala Se. But I don't know if my dearest Grandmaster realized that I—"

"Completed a heist from the comfort of your palace on Coruscant?" Jango guessed, reevaluating this man for the millionth time.

Again, it was not surprising that this was the Count's grandson.

What was surprising, however, was that he seemed to be better at deceit than the Sith Lord.

But then Jango realized why it had worked.

Why no alarms had really been set off to worry the Count in his high tower.

"You realize, if your plan works, if the Count chooses to be offended, the Jedi will be implicated, possibly as Separatists."

"It will be no less than they deserve," Obi-Wan said without hesitation. "I do not fear conflict between the Senate and the Order. But a political scandal like that would only result in the Temple being ceased not, as you so eloquently put it, a mass slaughter."

Jango swallowed, "Losing one's home is no small thing."

"The Jedi are a waning people, ner Mand'alor. I care more that they survive than their reputation or a building."

Jango felt slow, Obi-Wan was again proving to be not only a great politician (which Jango wasn't certain was a compliment) as well as a General. Someone who was disturbingly comfortable gambling with galactic powers that would have galactic fallouts.

It reminded Jango of Tor Vizsla, Kenobi's birth father.

Obi-Wan also reminded Jango of Jaster.

"You are a difficult man to define," Jango told him.

"That's a rather kind way of putting it," Obi-Wan said amicably.

Jango's brow rose, "If you're looking for sympathy on that front, ner Stewjoni, you'll find that after having been run over by your tricks on now numerous instances, I am not in your corner."

Obi-Wan laughed, stepping forward, "I'm on your side, ner Mand'alor."

"See you say that," Jango said. "Though you've yet to do me the honour of including me in your council."

"You aren't ready to play these games yet, Jan'ika. You aren't ready to risk losing it all again, you're not ready to face your people yet. Even if you've accepted me, you haven't accepted that you need to ask for help."

Jango frowned at him, "You don't think I know how kriffed I am? How kriffed they are? That this is my fault?"

Obi-Wan shook his head, "You can wallow in regret all you like, but until you believe there is a way out, you will sabotage your own efforts whether you mean to or not."

"If you think I'm your leader, then why do you trust me so little?" Jango asked though he knew how silly that question was once it left his lips.

"I am a general," Obi-Wan said seriously. "As I am capable of becoming whatever you need me to be, but I am more devoted to the vode than Mandalore. I will help you regain it, stabilize it, but my hand is played in that regard. The vode will follow me because I am theirs, the True Mandalorians will not, your people, will not rally to me. So it is your choice, you can either live up to Jaster's legacy, or you can disregard all oaths and honour with the result that the vode will be adopted by the Jedi. It is your choice, you are my Mand'alor; I will not kill you, but I will not stop you from killing me."

Jango frowned at him, "But if I kill you, you've already told me the Order will cease the vode."

"It is your choice."

That wasn't a choice, it was an ultimatum.

"You're mad," Jango stated.

Obi-Wan's eyes sparkled, "You're not the first to say it."

"That's the least surprising thing you've revealed all morning," Jango replied drily.

Obi-Wan took another step toward him, "Are you going to kill me, ner Jan'ika?"

Jango reached out to stroke the man's beard, "No, you conniving silver-tongued hellion, I'm not going to kill you. At least, not today. I haven't even had my second cup of caf yet."

Obi-Wan smiled at him in victory.

Jango wanted to strangle him.

He had never met anyone who brought out quite so many disparate emotions in him before.

Obi-Wan touched Jango's side with a tentative hand, "Would you like to know what else they've called me?"

"Sure," Jango said warily.

Obi-Wan's other hand went to Jango's other hip, "I was dubbed the Negotiator. Whatever my prowess in battle is, I fear I followed more closely in my Grandmaster's footsteps than my Master's."

Jango felt his pulse rise and asked without really caring about the answer, "What was your Master like?"

Obi-Wan pressed his chest against Jango's, without his Beskar the contact was more arousing than it should have been.

Or maybe it was exactly as lude as his Jetii intended it to be as he made direct eye contact with Jango, a smirk playing beneath his beard as he all but purred in Mando'a, "He was an agent of chaos."

Jango might have said, Well then, you've done your Master proud.

But instead, his words caught on a gasp as Kenobi's thumbs dipped into Jango's waist line, skin to skin.

Obi-Wan slid down Jango's body on his knees to rest at Jango's feet.

Those sea blue eyes never broke eye contact.

Kriff.

"What are you doing?" Jango asked though he knew perfectly well what his Jetii was thinking.

"It's been a while since I've had pleasant dreams," the kriffer said, his voice lowering as he relieved Jango of his pants. "Have your dreams been as empty as mine?"

Jango didn't have the wherewithal to answer that as the sensation of Obi-Wan's engaged mouth took him in to the root.

Everything Jango had ever heard about Stewjonians was correct and everything he knew of Jedi was wrong.

Stewjonians did indeed possess the ability to suck a man's common sense out through his dick and Jedi were not frosty virtuous eunuchs.

Jango let his head fall back against the wall with a thud as he tried not to make any sounds.

Obi-Wan seemed to take his silence as a challenge.

"Mesh'la," Jango gasped, having to hold onto the man's shoulders for balance.

He was glad he had locked the door because, Obi-Wan was doing a fine job in reminding Jango that, yes, he was much better in person.

As well as teaching him what was possible if one possessed absolutely no gag reflex.

Afterwards, Obi-Wan excused himself to the refresher, leaving Jango to cling to the wall for support as he attempted to regain what remained of his sanity and relearn how to breathe.

When Jango braved going out into the main room sometime later, he found his Jetii sitting between Boba and Omega as he helped them through a text of Mandalorian poetry that Jaster had loved and Jango had despised.

Boba looked up at Jango with a brilliant smile while Omega clung to Obi-Wan's side, her face buried in his robes afraid to look up at Jango.

Her fear was tangible, tangible in a way that none of the vode had ever shown to him before.

Obi-Wan had been right, if she was this afraid, then her isolation was to her a fate worse than death.

Jango caught Obi-Wan's gaze and said, "You, my little negotiator, are a thrice damned agent of chaos."

Obi-Wan threw his head back and laughed.

It was a good sound, and while this morning —much like Jango's life— had gone to hell, there were worse ways to greet the day.

AN: Thoughts, Kerguelen Gentoos, and feedback on the chapter, please?