He came from the corner of her eye but he was there. While in the dim lights he should have gone unnoticed and unappreciated to her keen eyes this one stood out among the others to her like a shining champion. It could have been the Force whispering something to the depth of her soul, or maybe it was her own mad hope. One or the other she didn't know. But once she saw him she couldn't draw her eyes away.

The boy was different from the rest. He blended in with the rough coarsse crowd as well as anyone else did. His shirt, the plaything to vicious sharpened claws, hung in more pieces than anything to his torso now. It revealed freshly sliced skin with scarlet blood that gleamed like proud racing stripes in the light when he moved. Wether his skin was blackened by layers of dirt or burns Janna couldn't really tell. But the spark of determination in his eyes made up for whatever else the rest of him looked like.

"Two thousand for competitor in the left cage to win!" she cried out.

The murmuring noise of the crowd in this place never really stopped. But when Janna spoke voices went down somewhat and awkward glances were exchanged. She wasn't expecting the words to come out of her own mouth herself. Even with the odds, she knew that she couldn't step back now.

"Three for the nexu in the right," a Roydarian challenged.

"Eh, you can do better," someone else said. "Its only a Solo Clan kid. I'm putting down five for the Zabrak's beast on the right."

Janna felt the blood rising right through to her skin. It wasn't the words directed towards her poor judgement that bothered her. It was the one's about that "Solo Clan kid" that were getting to her. He might have been a total stranger, but something in him had won her respect.

"Ten thousand that his nexu paints the arena floor with its entrails!" she screamed now.

Her words had reached to the pits below where the contestants waited with their beasts. Even the one boy was now looking up shocked that anyone had put down money on him. Let alone some serious money.

Janna felt a grin come to her face as she took a seat to watch the next round. Something told her that this was going to be an excellent fight. Surely the Count would be glad at her investment of time. After the next round she was confident that he would be ten thousand credits richer than before.

"Master? Maaaster. Master!"

Anakin shook his head trying to bring himself back to reality. "Uh, yeah Snips great job."

"But Master you didn't even look!"

Ahsoka crossed her arms. She didn't care if she was "too old" to be pouting. Master Yoda had even given her a Senior Youngling pass, so as long as she was on her home turf here at the Temple the rules of the field didn't apply.

Anakin groaned. Why he had been given this assignment out of all things he didn't know. More importantly he didn't know why he sensing some familiar danger about all of this.

"Sorry Snips. I got lost there. Uh, what were you doing again?"

Ahsoka rolled her eyes and finally uncrossed her arms. "I don't know why the Council assigned us to doing this. Its kind of like an insult don't you think?"

Anakin paused and looked around the room one last time. As if they didn't have any better Jedi to choose to help rennovate a single room. Not that this was going to be any "rennovation" whatsoever. This was to be the future of the next Jedi specific medical facility right here in the Temple. But as to why his Padawan and himself had been chosen with this "assignment" both had no idea whatsoever.

"Anyways," she said. "Master Lane had asked me to file these according to name, species, and ranking. I wanted to know what you thought."

"Its a jumble of words and electronic files. It all looks the same to me."

Ahsoka glared and clicked off the datapad.

"But seriously," Anakin said. "How about you help me with these boxes of bacta viles? Caci is expecting - "

"Expecting what General Skywalker?"

Caci Lane entered the room just then with an armload of boxes herself. Ahsoka ran over and helped ease the load.

"Nothing at all Master Lane. Master Skywalker was just complementing your organization skills and ideas."

The young Jedi knight didn't look at all convinced by what the Padawan said. She might not have had much experience with the famed Jedi hero of the Republic, but she was quickly starting to learn a few things.

"Yeah its alright Caci," Anakin said. "But have you looked into security?"

Caci almost dropper her last box as she was putting it down. "Security?! Look, I just finished years of schooling at both here the Temple and abroad in the galaxy. I'm not the security expert."

For one reason or another that Anakin didn't understand yet, Caci was super sensitive about the career she was just embarking on. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was among the few unfortunate younglings who was never chosen by a master in her youth. For that reason she had no other choice but to specialize in the medical sciences program that the Temple had to offer. Sure she had her general lightsaber skills training and other assorted Force skills. But she had never been on a real mission, never gottent he chance to bond with a Master of her own. She was now just a "generic" Jedi that never got to see much excitment beyond treating a few ailments.

"Sorry doctor. I'm just starting to feel something off about all of this. I mean are you sure that this facility was relaly kept in the highest confidental?"

"Look, I'm not the one who deals with the politics okay? I'm just here to practice the only thing I know. Now will you two start helping or will I have to go and request someone else from the Council?"

Ahsoka shrugged in her master's direction and started unpacking the next box. Anakin decided that the battle wasn't worth fighting. But in the back of his mind the feeling kept coming back to him that told him something was wrong. Whenever he tried to bring it up again one disapproving glance from Caci was enough to shut him up.

That night however, as he lay in bed, he no longer had any feeling at all. He was told what as going on. There was that same familiar danger and hint of potential death brooding in the air.

"Finally!" he said jumping to his feet. "Now this is where the fun begins."