Chapter II: Welcome Aboard

With a gentle thud, the Rho-Class heavy transport touched down in the starboard side docking bay of the Republic star destroyer. One by one, the injured and bed ridden clone troopers were disembarked, allowing for the lone togruta to make her way off the hospital vessel. The interior of the bay had similar scenes playing out as more transports arrived. Looking at her surroundings, Ahsoka was perplexed at the absence of Master Kenobi. Surely he would've been down there to greet her, even under the circumstances. Her eyes scanned the bay once more before she turned towards one of the exits. As she was doing so, the teen paused as she felt a blip in the Force.

Anakin had left

It was an alien sensation to her. That feeling of silence on the other end of her bond with her master was new. Since their first mission together, she hadn't left his side, or at least, the same general vicinity as him. It would take some adjustment for her to accustom herself, but seeing as that she still had yet to find Obi-Wan, she pushed the thought aside.

"Better get moving" she muttered to herself.

Entering the corridor outside the bay, she walked towards one of the viewports along the wall. Outside she could see her home away from home, aka the Resolute floating silently below. Staring for a moment longer, she turned away and made for the nearest turbolift. Since Anakin hadn't told her where her quarters would be, she figured the guest section would be most appropriate. As she continued on her journey she noted an unfamiliar sensation. The halls of this ship felt different to the togruta. Clones were marching through the ship just as they would on any other, yet there was a strong sense of order and organization not found aboard hers.

"Everyone on this thing must be set like a chrono." She noted, as another group of troopers passed, almost droid-like.

None of the men saluted her, though she figured it was because they most likely had no idea who she was. And yet they displayed no apparent awareness of her presence. What an odd thing. Swinging her carry on container, she approached a turbolift and patiently waited for it to arrive to her level. It probably must have been two or three minutes since her arrival and no one had even glanced in her direction. Was she invisible? Or was there a sign on her forehead that said 'Ignore Me'? Before she could continue pondering whether or not anyone could see her, the turbolift doors opened. Inside stood a clone trooper with distinctive orange markings on his armor. From the looks of it, he was a commander. A look of realization appeared on her face as she took note of the man before her.

"Commander" she said, surprised.

"Call me Cody. Please come with me. General Kenobi wants to see you in his quarters immediately" he answered.

Ahsoka shook her head and schooled the surprise from her visage. Replacing it with an impassive expression. On the inside she was almost dreading seeing the older Jedi. She wasn't scared of him, more like nervous at the prospect of having to go through confessing her crime and feeling the shame of it all over again. A distraction from this would be helpful, perhaps talking to the man beside her. She gently turned and peered at up at Cody. Maybe he would be inclined to conversation.

"Anything new Commander?" she asked tentatively.

"Other than our current assignment? No." he replied with an air of finality.

The togruta simply looked back towards the doors. Apparently, Cody was not one for talking. So far, none of the other clones aboard ship had spoken to her. Even the hangar crews hadn't acknowledged her. Was everyone not in the mood for talking today? Moments later the doors opened, revealing the same sight as before. Clones marching about with no one taking notice of their presence. The Commander stepped out and turned to the left. Ahsoka followed suit and matched his stride. Recognizing the deck they were on to be the standard cabin quarters, the teen proceeded to ask about her accommodations.

"So where are my quarters?"

"I'm not sure. I assume General Kenobi knows." He answered

Before she could inquire further, Cody stopped before one of the doors. He keyed the chime and patiently waited for an answer. A few seconds elapsed before the metal door slid open revealing his Jedi General. Standing at attention, Cody saluted his superior, before turning and allowing the teen behind him into view. Obi-Wan smiled at Ahsoka and moved over, ushering her entry into his cabin.

"Please come in Ahsoka" He said kindly

She barely smiled back, more or less trying to keep her apprehension under control. Obi-Wan watched as the girl slowly moved past him into his quarters. Turning back to his clone commander, the two exchanged a quick word before he was dismissed. Entering the room before her, Ahsoka found herself standing in the center of a relatively large space. Unlike her master's room, this one was neatly set up. His had unfinished droids and other small hobby's he maintained sprawled out around his room. Master Kenobi's was organized and immaculate. In the corner sat a desktop and meditation pad across from it. A standard sink and mess table made up the rest of the room. The back probably had the sleeping cot and fresher in the same arrangement as her master's. Hearing the door close behind her, Ahsoka turned and watched as the bearded Jedi moved to the small galley next to the sink.

"Are you hungry? Would you care for a drink?" he prompted her.

"A glass of water would be nice" she answered softly.

Shaking his head, he retrieved a mug and filled it with water. As he did so, Ahsoka could feel her anxiety begin to settle. Unlike the rest of the ship, this room felt very much like the Temple quarters she had before her apprenticeship, albeit a bit larger. It was nice, feeling a sense of serenity in this one room was enough to make her comfortable. Walking back over to her, Obi-Wan handed the mug over and proceeded to move towards the chair at his desk. Ahsoka drank slowly, enjoying the calming sense the water gave her. Looking towards the older Jedi, she noted how he patiently waited for her finish, not giving away whatever it was he might have been thinking about. Satisfied for the moment, she gently placed the mug down and faced him. Seeing that was ready to speak, Obi-Wan began.

"I apologize for not contacting you directly upon your arrival. I was delayed by a few reports and overseeing the remaining troops loaded."

"Oh" she replied.

"Cody informed me that your master hadn't assigned you quarters for your stay. I already have one for you. So if you would like, you can leave your carry on there before we discuss what will be going on for the next two weeks."

Nodding her response, Obi-Wan used the Force to open the lock on his desk causing a drawer to open. She took note of how flawlessly he did so, not even having to close his eyes to do so. She was keen to remember exactly how he did it. Pulling out a datapad, he placed it on the desk before him and typed out the access code. Doing her best to remember what he typed, she pretended to be focused on her mug when he looked up. A faint smile was on his face, did he know she was watching what he was doing? She couldn't tell.

"Here is your cabin number. Gee-One-Seven" he spoke as he placed the datapad back in its drawer.

"Thanks" she replied.

"Of course"

Taking that to be permission to leave, Ahsoka turned around and exited his quarters. She looked at the door plate number to see where her quarters were.

Gee-One-Six...wait a minute. The room numbers go up on the right so that must mean… she thought to herself.

Turning her head to the right, she looked at the door that was barely two meters away. Walking up to it, she read its door plate. Gee-One-Seven

He put me right next to him?!

Keying the panel next to the threshold, the door slid open revealing a room roughly the same size as his. There was a desk in the corner, a smaller meditation pad across from it, a sink with a connecting mess table, and in the rear, a single door. Simple as could be. She moved towards the rear door and was surprised to see that inside the room, was a connecting fresher. Most cruisers tended to have everything separated. This was nice though. Not having to stumble between two doors in the middle of the night. At the same time though, being bunked next to for all intents and purposes was her babysitter gave her a feeling of exasperation. Did they really have that much reason not to trust her? Sighing out loud, Ahsoka placed the small container on her cot. She would unpack everything later once they were done speaking. Exiting her new room, she chimed the door on Obi-Wan's cabin and waited for him to open it. The door slid open and he beckoned her to enter.

"I hope you found your quarters to be comfortable?" he asked as she moved back into the center of the room.

"Yes, they're nice and all. But if you don't mind my asking, why did you put me next to you? Aren't there available guest quarters on E deck?"

He shook his head in response and motioned for her to sit on the meditation pad. Moving towards it, she sat down cross-legged and looked up at him. Carefully Obi-Wan pulled out a second datapad that had been sitting behind him. She looked on curiously, waiting for his response.

"They are, however, I decided it would be best for you to be next to me. We will be seeing a lot of each other these next few days. This will make it easier for you since you won't have to take the turbolift to and from your quarters."

"Oh. Um, thanks?" she answered hesitantly.

Obi-Wan shook his head in approval. He noted her hesitation, but showed no sign of concern. Looking down, he scrolled through the various assignments and classes his charge would be working towards. Three courses in total, along with comments from some of the Masters who taught them. Perusing through each one, his brow furrowed. Looking back up at her he could tell she wasn't particularly happy with the arrangements he had made. Too bad

"Well then, since you are now familiar with your quarters, I suppose I shall lay out the ground rules. First, since you are behind in your courses, we will go through each one and you will pick which one to start working on. Second, any and all homework assigned to you will be shown to me before you begin and after you have finished. Third, once you have completed your work, you will study for the next section under my supervision. Fourth, you are not allowed to use any datapad other than the ones you have brought with you; that goes for terminals outside your quarters. Fifth, because you will be required to be up early for your classes, you will be back to your quarters to sleep at no later than nineteen-hundred forty-five hours."

Ahsoka's shoulders slumped. She was literally going to have him glued to her hip, or vice versa depending on how you looked at it. What made the whole thing leave such a bad taste in her mouth was the bedtime. Ever since becoming Anakin's padawan, she had never been given such a childish set of rules. It felt so unfair, she would be under his watch all day and then be expected to just go to sleep without being able to go and do anything by herself? Was she a criminal or something? Because it sure felt like she was on a prison ship with these draconian rules.

"As for your Instructors. I will be contacting them upon our arrival at the medical station. Once the clones are disembarked, I will set up a meeting time with them and you will issue your apologies to each master. Now, I understand that this may not be what you're used to with Anakin, however, I expect you to follow these simple guidelines. Once we rendezvous with your master, I will make my report on your performance and your personal conduct. Do you accept these terms Ahsoka?"

The hell she did. She might as well have been grounded. He didn't mention anything about whether or not she was allowed to socialize with the crew when she wasn't working on her schoolwork. She figured that since she couldn't use any of the ships terminals that meant no holonet. That seemed understandable, but she still wanted to be able to go out and enjoy some semblance of autonomy. Seeing that Obi-Wan was waiting and that she had to respond, she took the opportunity to ask a question.

"Will I be allowed to go to the mess hall?"

"Your room has the same rations stored inside as the mess." he replied.

"So is that a yes or no?" she retorted, not liking the vagueness of his answer.

"No" he answered simply.

She raised her hands in a questioning manner. Why couldn't she go to the mess hall? That seemed rather unfair and quite honestly unnecessary. Was he trying to make her feel like she was alone or that she didn't deserve any company? What gives?

"Why not?"

"You are here to focus on schoolwork. Not to socialize. I realize it may seem like I'm singling you out, however this is for your benefit. No distractions so that you may work without cause for interruption."

"So I have to eat by myself for the next two weeks?" she said incredulously.

Obi-Wan sighed and looked down at his chrono. Since everyone was on the same eating schedule across the whole of his fleet, he supposed he would make a small personal sacrifice. Looking back up at the expectant togruta before him, he answered her.

"I will join you for your meals so that you may have company. But do not mistake my presence as a means of getting out of your scheduled work. Once you're finished you will go back to studying and or working. Is that agreeable to you?"

She wanted to say no. But if he was offering her at least one small allowance she felt compelled to accept. Bitter as the rest of the deal seemed to her. Lowering her hands back down to her knees, she nodded as she answered him.

"Yes"

"Do you have any other questions you wish to ask?" he offered.

"What if one of my datapads break?" she asked, a bit too quickly for his liking.

Obi-Wan eyed her carefully. A question like that was obviously in search of a loophole. Something that Anakin must have passed on to her. Like Master, like Padawan. Though there was a grain of legitimacy to it, a very small one at that.

"I will loan you one of my own. Though I insist you not make it a habit of breaking them. Fair enough?" he answered in a slightly warning tone.

"Yes, Master Kenobi. I accept your terms" she answered, mostly honestly.

"Good. Now if you would be so kind as to bring them over here. We will begin immediately and stop for lunch in three hours."

Ahsoka stood up and turned to leave. She was definitely bitter about everything. But being that her 'behavior' would be reported back to her master, she chose not to voice her thoughts on the matter. At least Master Kenobi was taking time out of his busy schedule to eat with her. So the limited socializing would be a nice break from this monotonous cycle of schoolwork. Granted she brought it on herself by not doing the work earlier. Might as well get it over with.

"This is going to be soooo much fun" she said aloud as she walked into her room.

Entering her bedroom, Ahsoka opened the container on her cot. She placed her clothes in the cabin drawers and pulled out her datapads. Seven in total with charging adapters for each one. Stacking them not so carefully on top of each other, she exited her quarters and reentered Obi-Wan's. She moved to the mess table and plopped down the entire stack. The Jedi Master sighed as he stood up and approached her.

"Well, that's all of them. Seven courses." She remarked idly.

Picking up the datapads one by one, Obi-Wan inspected each casing and its screen. He checked each charging cable and port on each device. After around two or three minutes of examination, he placed them down neatly and spread across the eating table.

"Something wrong?" she queried.

"That's what I'm checking for."

Powering them up one at a time, he then turned over to the perplexed togruta next to him. She had a questioning expression written on her face. He briefly smirked at her before directing his attention back to the devices. Seeing that each one was fully powered, he addressed her.

"As you can see, each one of these datapads is fully functional and undamaged. I congratulate you on keeping them in such a good condition. I can only assume that Anakin has taught you to keep your academic materials in such a fine state?"

"Yes…?" she replied unsure of where he was going with this.

"Wonderful. In that case, these should still be in just as good a condition when your master returns. So it would be prudent to not plop them down."

Looking back down towards the datapads she realized why he had been so inclined to inspect them. Anakin would have simply given them a passing glance. Obi-Wan would definitely be harder to work around. That was a given. She rolled her eyes absentmindedly before returning her attention to the older Jedi before her. Much to her misfortune, he had seen her do so.

"Before we begin, there is one more topic we must discuss Ahsoka." he said as he pulled out a chair from beneath the table and sat.

"Which is?" she answered, a twinge of unease making itself known in her gut.

Motioning for her to do as him, he waited until she had also taken her seat across from him. Scooting up closer to the table, she folded her arms and leaned on the table. Straightening up and seeing that she was focused on what he had to say, he began.

"I will be very clear about this now so that there will be no doubts in the upcoming days. I do not tolerate disobedience or insubordination. I am being honest with you and I fully expect it in return. Respect, honesty, and honor are important values to the Jedi. Do you believe your actions in the past few weeks have been reflective of those attributes?" he said with all seriousness.

Leaning back in her chair, she maintained her crossed arms and looked away. Was he intentionally trying to guilt trip her? She had already been over this with Anakin, why go over it now? Couldn't she just make her apologies and be over with it? She not to answer him. Obi-Wan took her silence as a signal that she wasn't going to be part of the conversation.

"Answer me Ahsoka. Do you believe your recent actions have reflected those attributes?" he repeated, his tone becoming stricter.

Bowing her head, she took a deep breath and slowly looked back up at him.

"No" she responded resentfully.

"Ahsoka," he began "Be mindful of how you speak. I will not tolerate an attitude from you."

Frustration was welling up within her. She most definitely did not want to talk about this topic. Why couldn't he just leave 'good enough' alone and get on with her schoolwork? As far as she was concerned, there was no need to prolong her embarrassment at the situation.

"Sorry" she replied testily.

"Alright then, if you wish to have an attitude about the situation, then stand up." Obi-Wan as he rose from his seat.

She rolled her eyes again and continued looking away, but complied and stood up. Silently, he stepped over to her side and placed his hand on her shoulder. He guided her over towards the wall and stopped her just short. Using the force to move his desk over half a meter, he directed her to the corner. Ahsoka couldn't believe what was happening. A child's punishment and a source of embarrassment to no end. Pushing her gently into the corner, he released his grip and turned back around, walking back to the table and taking his seat once again.

"Until you feel like continuing this conversation, you will stand in the corner. When you feel you are ready, you may ask to leave the corner and sit back down at the table. Is that understood?" he said sternly.

Silence

That did not sit well with Obi-Wan. Using the Force to call his personal datapad to him, he began typing on it, something that was just audible enough for the stubborn padawan to hear. Immediately, she felt her heart rate pickup. What was he typing?

"To answer the question that is obviously on your mind, I am making my report to your Master." he said as he continued typing.

"I'm sorry." she said quickly

More typing

"I said I'm sorry!" she frantically pleaded.

Obi-Wan paused and looked up from his report. She had partially turned around and was staring at him, fear definitely present. He put down the datapad and focused back on her expression.

"Are you?" he said simply.

"Yes!" she said, a bit more impatiently.

"What are you sorry for?" he asked, not missing the exasperation in her facial features.

She turned back to the wall and groaned. Behind her, she could hear him pick up the report and start typing again. This made her panic and she made to turn around. Obi-Wan however looked up and made a 'turn around' gesture with his hand. She reluctantly did so, but at the sound of him continuing his report, she finally answered him.

"I'm sorry I gave you an attitude Master Kenobi" she said softly.

The typing immediately stopped and instead, silence prevailed. Staring into the corner, she felt ashamed. It was almost like being a youngling again. The sound of shuffling datapads brought her out of her reverie. She was tempted to look over her shoulder and see what he was doing. Minutes passed and she remained standing there. Her arms felt tired from being crossed for so long, causing her to let them rest at her sides. A few more minutes passed. The silence for her was deafening. At the table though, the older Jedi simply read through her courses, familiarizing himself with the lesson material. Looking at his chrono, he figured twenty minutes of corner time was sufficient.

"Are you ready to come back to the table?" he asked, still reading the material.

"Yes Master" she said quietly.

He waited for a moment and looked back up at her. She was still facing the corner, her head still bowed. Raising an eyebrow, he continued his reading as he spoke.

"Well?"

Sighing inwardly, she knew what he meant by that. Ask for permission to leave the corner and go back. How totally not embarrassing at all. Gritting her teeth, she just barely kept herself from speaking her real answer.

"May I leave the corner and come back to the table Master?" she said politely.

"Yes you may" he answered immediately.

Turning around, Ahsoka walked the short distance back to the table. Seeing that he was still reading, she patiently waited until he looked up at her.

"You may sit," he started as she sat down, "now, since you spent twenty minutes in the corner, you will make up that time by having a working lunch."

She watched as he handed her the datapad he had been reading. Taking it from him, Ahsoka looked through it. Obi-Wan picked up his datapad and, upon setting it down, also opened up to the same page as her.

Hyperspace Navigation Chapter One

"We will begin at chapter one. Once we finish this course section, I will quiz you on each chapter. When you are ready, you will take the final test. Let us begin." He said matter-of-factly.

Ahsoka nodded her head and focused on listening to Obi-Wan's voice as he read out loud. Her first day and already she was in trouble. Hopefully tomorrow would go over better. One thing was for sure though, Master Kenobi was not a pushover. She just hoped he wouldn't go any further than corner time, or better yet, she wouldn't give him any reason to.