20 BBY

Caleb was just sneakily walking out of Anakin's quarters after their short secret meeting, when he directly bumped into his Master, who was returning to her quarters after the dreadfully boring Council meeting.

He simply stood there, frozen, with a hand on the sliding door, looking as if he was a child caught stealing cookies (well he did like cookies).

' Caleb,' Depa stared at her Padawan and glanced at the door. ' What are you doing at Skywalker's place?'

' Er,' Caleb invented creatively. ' Master Skywalker just invited me for tea and chat. Nothing much.'

Depa raised an eyebrow skeptically, ' Tea and chat? I was never under the impression that you and Anakin Skywalker are friends. What happened?'

' Oh, uh,' Caleb stuttered. ' I used to know his former Padawan, as in, Ahsoka Tano in Politics class. Naturally I know him, but not quite well. So I was rather surprised when he was actually inviting me to talk with him.'

Depa beckoned her Padawn to follow her, and she kept talking, ' Well, I'm just surprised that you know Anakin Skywalker. He's a really fascinating Jedi. Never got to have a true conversation with him though, he's always too busy in war. How is he, by the way? Is he getting by his Padawan's departure?'

' Um, not quite,' Caleb found himself looking at his boots.

' Still upset at the Council? I knew it,' Depa sighed deeply. ' To be honest, I think Ahsoka Tano is an extremely talented Jedi. Never in a million years would I imagine that she would betray us. If I had been present during that dreadful trial, I would have voted for her innocence as well. Alas, we were on a mission on Mon Calamari. By the time the results came through to us, she had already left.'

Caleb bowed his head at this.

Depa continued muttering, ' Skywalker wasn't the only one depressed here. I believe Master Luminara Unduli is rather depressed about this too.'

' Oh yeah,' Caleb nodded gloomily. ' After all, her former Padawan was involved in this entire thing. If my Padawan leaves me or strays down to the Dark Side, I will be as depressed as they are.'

' Ah, so will you be taking a Padawan when you graduate to Knighthood?' Depa smiled brightly.

Caleb blushed, ' Well, of course I would like a Padawan... But I'll only take one if I can even graduate to Knigthood, I mean...'

' Nonsense,' Depa waved off. ' You'll be fine. I trust that you can pass the Trials in a few years time, and then you can take your own Padawan.'

As he walked, Caleb couldn't help but think whether Ezra would somehow show up in his life. If his older self managed to get Ezra as his Padawan, then there should be a fair chance for Ezra to be his Padawan, given that he was somehow recruited.

' Well, I have news for you,' Depa broke the silence with a grin. ' The Council assigned us to a mission.'

' Finally,' Caleb breathed. ' Wizard! Where? Will there be Separatists?' Oh, he had been waiting for this for so long! Finally! A chance to get off this planet and visit somewhere else.

Depa's smile faded a little, ' Unfortunately, there won't be Separatists this time. We are going to Kamino. Master Yoda has ordered us to retrieve a data chip of clone plans containing the information of the new batch of clones and secret formulas from Nala Se. Sorry, Caleb, but I'm afraid there won't be any duelling involved this time.'

' Awwwwww!' Caleb moaned, disappointed. ' But why ask us to go so far to retrieve that? Surely a band of clones or any Republic officer are capable of doing that.' He had been so looking forward to whip out his lightsaber to cut down some Separatist droids and try out some new Form III Master Kenobi taught him.

' The data chip contains highly confidential Republic information,' Depa said importantly. ' It could affect the future. If it is to fall into the wrong hands, it can potentially destroy us all. So Master Yoda wants Jedi to retrieve it, in order to maximise the security of the information.'

' Fine,' Caleb sulked.

Maybe, just maybe, the mission to Kamino wouldn't be as terrible as he had envisioned.

' Are you even listening, Anakin?' Obi-wan crossed his arms disapprovingly.

For the past few hours, Anakin stood in front of a giant holotable with Obi-wan Kenobi and the flickering blue holos of Master Tiplar and Master Tiplee, listening to the holo of Master Windu drone on and on about their following mission to the Ringo Vinda, which involved a massive assault on some kind of space station.

Instead of obediently listening to Mace Windu blabber about the extremely boring and long list of plans, protocols and maps, Anakin took the time to ponder over how to solve the 'Tup-malfunctioning-and-accidentally-murder-a-Jedi' problem. If Caleb was working hard to help out, he should, too.

Unfortunately, even though he was trying hard to force an attentive and concentrated look, his glazed expression gave away his thoughts, so Obi-wan could easily notice what he was up to.

' What?' Anakin tilted his head innocently. ' I am listening.'

Windu pursed his lips tightly, and gave Anakin his usual death glare, ' Skywalker, this is an important mission. I expect you to carry it out seriously and in business-mode, even without the help of your former Padawan.'

At this, Anakin really wanted to throw a nasty retort at the guy's face for even daring to speak of his former Padawan, but held back, mostly because Obi-wan was looking at him and wanting to make a good first impression for the twin Jedi Masters.

' My sister and I will try our best to work with Master Skywalker,' Tiplar bowed respectfully.

' Great,' Obi-wan returned to the meeting. ' Then I guess the meeting will end here.'

While Obi-wan was occupied in switching off the holotable, Anakin darted out of the room for dinner, to avoid any questions.

' A mission to Kamino?' Anakin exclaimed, nearly spraying Caleb with bits of bread. ' Ah sorry.'

Caleb stirred his soup. ' Not exactly the type of mission I intended, but yes, we are going to the Tipoca City, as in the home of the clones. Anything in particular I can do for you up there?'

The two of them were hanging out at the corner of the mess hall, where nobody could be able to hear them talk. But it was a rather curious sight for the 501st clones, who were eating at the far end of the hall, for their General to befriend this clumsy child (' General Skywalker must have gone slightly mad,' Jesse noted).

' Indeed, yes,' Anakin seemed to be deep in thought. ' Remember that chip malfunction Rex told us about? Remember Tup?'

Caleb nodded, his eyes automatically darting to the sea of clones to look for Tup. The said clone was laughing at whatever Fives had just told him.

' Part of our plan is to uncover the chip plot as discreetly as possible, and stop Tup and Fives from dying at the same time,' Anakin spread large amounts of jam and butter on his toast absent-mindedly. ' Also, this is to stop Master Tiplar from being killed as well.'

' I see,' Caleb said sympathetically. ' What do you want to do?'

' That's what I have been thinking about the whole day,' Anakin sighed. ' The only thing I have come up with is to get one of those chips for us to examine, and actually press charges on Palpatine when the time comes.'

Caleb frowned, ' This is quite difficult. We don't even have this type of technology on Coruscant. Even if we ask for it, those Kaminoans won't give it to us. I bet they're traitors. Ah, Rex mentioned that droid which assisted Fives on his discovery. What was its number?'

' It's AZ-3,' Anakin snapped his fingers. ' I know, but now that you told me you are going to Kamino... Maybe...'

The young boy jolted, ' Are you implying...'

' Yes. I want you to smuggle that AZ-3 droid out of Kamino for me,' Anakin said bluntly.

Huzzah for the new mission! XD

Here is the 'Me and Star Wars' session as promised...

Teacher: *upon explaining the requirements for our clay crafts project* You are only allowed to use two colours for your project. And I'll choose the colours for you.

Classmate #1: *disappointed*What? I was intending to paint my project with the colours of the rainbow.

Teacher: Red and white.

Class: WHAT?!

Friend: *gasps*

Classmate #1: *in horror* What?! Red and white?!

Classmate #2: Oh goodness the colour choices are terrible!

Classmate #3: Red and white don't even go together!

Classmate #4: Argh, I can't choose! Both are horrible! Seriously, red and white?!

Me: *wails* OH WHAT PAIN! OH THE FEELS!

Classmate #2: Er, what?

Me: *tearfully* red and white! THOSE ARE THE COLOURS OF AHSOKA AND VADER'S LIGHTSABERS! OH, THE DUEL. OH, THE FEELS! OH THE TERROR! OH THE PAIN! OH, THE TWILIGHT OF THE APPRENTICE... OH, THE FINALE.

Friend: Um.

Class: ...