Ahsoka was locked in the middle of an arm wrestle with Anakin when his commlink chimed. Her master—the stinking cheat—force pushed her hand to the side before jumping up with a chuckle and retreating to the hall to answer the comm.

The troopers that had been observing their match howled with laughter as she growled after him with a few choice words. Fives smacked her shoulder with the back of his hand. It might have hurt if she wasn't so used to spending all her time with 144 heavily armed and armored clones. He dropped onto the bench next to her. "Those karking Jedi, huh?"

She snorted. "No kidding."

Anakin stuck his head around the mess room door. "Ahsoka, Rex? I could use your opinion here."

Squished on either side by brothers, Ahsoka awkwardly hopped backwards over the bench and jogged over to the door. Rex waited at the door for her and she gave him a smile. "What hairbrained scheme do you think my master has for us this time?"

"I heard that, Snips."

Anakin had switched from a commlink to a holo, and Ahsoka did a double take when she saw who he was talking to. She opened her mouth to speak but Rex beat her to it. "Really, sir? This guy?"

"Please! Captain! I thought we were good friends, you and I! Did I or did I not sell you blasters for the fight on Onderon last month?"

Rex crossed his arms tightly across his chest as he stared at the blued-out form of Hondo Ohnaka. "Yeah, well you also kidnapped the Commander last week."

The eccentric pirate shrugged exaggeratedly. "Water under the bridge, my boy. I have been telling your General here of an exciting new piece of information he has agreed to buy from me."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes and cocked her hip. "Brilliant, master. So, what are we paying this time? Seventy-five secret jedi holocrons? His info's probably not worth a Nal Hutta credit."

Her master ignored her sarcasm, though she could see the corner of Rex's mouth quirk up. "If you must know, oh doubting padawan, he knows of someone who can get us inside Dooku's palace on Serenno."

One of her white brow markings shot skyward. "Really? That's much better than I expected." She glared at Hondo, who bowed. "If it's reliable information."

Hondo looked almost genuinely hurt. "It might not seem this way given our recent interactions, Ahsoka my dear, but I do quite enjoy the company of you and your master. Though I am still reserving judgment on your grumpy captain. I wouldn't want you killed. I only endanger you if I stand to gain. This time I stand to gain if you are alive, with proper information in hand."

Rex's arms were still tightly crossed, but he gave a snort of laughter. "How touching. Y'know, I do believe him. He's being more honest than most senators at least." He turned to look at Anakin. "No offense, General."

Anakin nodded at him. "None taken, Rex." Then he had to quickly cover his tracks. "Ah, wait, I mean, why would I take offense? I'm not a senator. I've never even spoken to one. Ha."

The other three ignored as the Jedi continued to shove his foot in his mouth. Ahsoka just spoke over him. "So, Hondo, what is this information?"

He toggled the controls on his end of the connection and his image was replaced with an information profile. The holograph of a young man about Anakin's age rotated in the middle. "You've got to track down a bounty hunter."