Chapter one: What Could Go Wrong?

Hello and welcome to my first story on this site! I will try my best not to bore you all with
a long author's note, but I would like to say a few things. For starters, thank you for
taking a chance on my story. It means a lot to me! Second, constructive criticism and
ideas or scenarios that you may want incorporated into the story are welcome! Third, I do
not own Star Wars! And four, forgive my Yoda speech. I did try. I hope you enjoy the
story!
. . . . .

Space. Ahsoka had always found it to be quite a wondrous thing, even though many others
around her didn't. She loved to gaze out the windows and watch as thousands of stars shot past
her, each destined to glow brightly for many years to come. Sometimes- when she wasn't
keeping her master from crashing the ship, or running drills with the clones- Ahsoka would fall
into a sort of trance and stare into the darkness of space, which was illuminated only by the
small pinpricks of light that belonged to stars, until someone shook her out of her trance and told
her to get ready for a mission. Now, was one such situation.

"Ahsoka!" Anakin yelled.

Finally realizing that someone had been calling her, Ahsoka tore her eyes away from her
window to look quizzically towards her master. "Yes?" She questioned.

"Rex and I have been trying to reach you on your comlink for 10 minutes! We were starting to
think you had died or something!" Anakin began. "I mean seriously! How did you not notice your
comlink going off? The noises that thing makes are deafening!"

Ahsoka looked down and bit her lip. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I was...lost in my thoughts."

"Well, you'd better pull out a map and find your way back because the Republic needs your
mind here. Now come on. The Council is ready to brief us on our mission," Anakin stated before
turning towards the door. The reprimanding look on his face morphed into a smile when he
glanced back at his young student. "Race ya to the communication center!" He said as he broke
into a run, rounding the corner with a confident grin on his face.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, stood up, and stretched. "Let's hope this mission is actually exciting,"
she said to herself before opening the door and running to catch up to her master, who already
had quite the head start.
. . . . .

"So let me get this straight. You want me, my Padawan, and the entire 501st to go to some
backwater planet that no one's ever even heard of to protect a tree?" Anakin questioned.

"Anakin-" Obi-wan started in an attempt to calm his former student, but he was quickly cut off.

"No, I'm not done yet." Anakin continued. "Not only are you sending all of us, but you're also
deploying Obi-wan and the 212th as backup? How important can this tree be?"

"A simple tree, it is not," Yoda began. "More to it, there is."

"That tree is home to an ancient force sensitive species called the Klarno. They are more in tune
with the force than any Jedi ever has been or ever will be. At one point, there were millions of
Klarno colonies scattered along hundreds of planets," Mace Windu explained.

"But there aren't enough jedi to protect all of them!" Ahsoka exclaimed.

"A problem, that will not be, "said Yoda. This statement was met with confused looks from
Anakin and Ahsoka.

Obi-wan, spotting their confusion, decided to step in. "Years ago, people discovered the Klarno,
and they began to hunt them for sport. Hunters saw the Klarno as a challenging prey since they
were small and had the aid of the force. By the time the Jedi Order became aware of what was
going on and was able to stop these hunters, the damage had already been done. All of the
Klarno that survived gathered together to form a new colony. One that they hoped would stay
hidden."

"Which is why they live on a 'backwater planet that no one's ever even heard of'" Windu said
with an accusing look towards Anakin. "Though they have hidden themselves quite well, we
have reason to believe that the Sith now know of the Klarno's existence, and it is of top priority
that they stay safe." Mace Windu said. "That, Skywalker, is why you have to protect a tree. Do
you understand, or do I need to simplify it for you?"

Ahsoka looked towards her master to see that an expression of pure defeat now graced his
face. It took all of her willpower to not laugh as her master was being told off, so when her
master next spoke she couldn't hold it in.

"I understand Masters," Anakin confirmed, and in an attempt to reverse the damage he had
caused with his questions said "And if it comes to it, I vow to give my life for the...tree- I mean
Klarno."

Ahsoka burst out laughing and tried to- rather ineffectively- cover her laugh with a cough. This
action earned her glares from both her master and the entire Jedi Council. On further inspection
however, Ahsoka saw a look of glee in her master's eyes. This was no doubt from no longer
being the only one to receive a lecture- even if Ahsoka's was non-verbal.

"You leave first thing tomorrow," Windu said before ending the transmission. He was done with
the antics of those two, and would be very happy if he never had to deal with them again.
Unfortunately for him, their methods, however unorthodox, did get the job done rather quickly,
and so Mace had no choice but to put up with them and their disobedient, reckless, and cocky
personalities.

"Well master," Ahsoka started. "That went well."

"It sure did Snips. Want to go grab some dinner? It sounds to me like this might be one of our
last chances to eat something other than military rations for a while" Anakin asked.

"Sure. But since I won our first race, are you up for a rematch?" Ahsoka challenged. "Winner
gets the loser's dessert!"

"You didn't win! It was a tie!" Anakin said as he rolled his eyes. "And you're on Snips."

And with that they took off running, both intent upon winning an extra cookie.

. . . . .

"I win!" Anakin and Ahsoka said in unison as they burst through the doors of the Mess hall. A
few clones turned to look at the chaos duo as they began to argue over who really won the race.

"There is no way you won! You are so slow!" Ahsoka started. "You're just jealous that you lost!"

"Me? Jealous?" Anakin asked, as a look of faux hurt crossed his features. "I'm not the one
throwing a fit over losing a race. Now, where's my cookie?"

Ahsoka rolled her eyes before looking back at her master. Suddenly a chorus of laughs rung out
from behind her. Ahsoka whirled around to see Rex, Echo, Fives, and Kix sitting together at a
table.

"Ah perfect timing!" Ahsoka said, her face lighting up at the sight of the clones. "You guys can
settle this for us. Which one of us really ran through the door first? Me or Anakin?"

The four clones exchanged a few glances before Rex finally cleared his throat. "I believe it was
a tie, Commander."

Ahsoka groaned before grabbing a random tray of food- one with a cookie- and then sitting down
at Rex's table. She was soon joined by Anakin, who did the same.

"So have we been assigned to a new mission yet?" Echo asked.

"Yeah, we have," Anakin began. "We have to protect some tree-" he stopped mid-sentence at a
stern glance from Ahsoka. "We have to protect a very important tree from the Sith."

Ahsoka sighed at her master's lack of understanding for this mission. "The tree is home to a
species of force sensitive creatures called the Klarno. Long story short, there were millions of
them, some bad things happened and now there are only a few. We've just got to protect them
from the Seppies."

"Sounds easy enough" Fives said.

"Hold on a minute," Kix started. "You said some bad things happened. How the heck did they go
from millions to a few?"

"Does it matter?" Fives asked. "This is a super simple mission. Nothing can go wrong!"

"Fives, did you just dismiss the deaths of millions of...what were they called again? Tree
beings?" Echo asked.

Anakin burst out laughing and Ahsoka merely face palmed. "Tree beings?" She questioned.
"They're called Klarno! Seriously, you all are hopeless."

"Well, I'll start briefing the men on the tre- Klarno." Rex said, just barely correcting himself in
time. "When do we leave?"

"First thing tomorrow," Anakin answered. "Anyways, I've got to go. I have a mission report that
won't write itself."

"A mission report?" Ahsoka asked, confusion clear as day on her face. "But we haven't started our mission yet. And our last one was two weeks ago."

"I know," Anakin said as a mischievous grin appeared on his face. "This one's from the Citadel
mission."

"That was two months ago!" Ahsoka exclaimed. "I really wish I could say I was surprised, but
you aren't exactly the peak of punctuality."

Anakin grinned before heading off to presumably start the report, get distracted by the droid
parts littering his room, forget about the report, and then restart the cycle.
Ahsoka waved goodbye to the remaining clones at her table before heading to her quarters to
prepare for the upcoming mission.
. . . . .

When she arrived in her room, Ahsoka flopped down on her bed and considered taking a nap.
Unfortunately, she didn't have time for that now, especially since she had a job to do.

Ahsoka picked up her lightsabers and examined them closely, carefully running her thumb over
each button and groove. She thought about all of the battles she had used them in and all the
people she had fought. She remembered her first mission as a Padawan, when she had fought
Ventress and three magnaguards. She remembered the time she had fought Grievous and Cad
Bane. A small smile made its way onto Ahsoka's face as she thought about all of her
accomplishments as a Padawan.

Finally, Ahsoka stood and clipped her lightsabers to her belt. This was going to be a successful
mission. She just knew it. Besides, what could go wrong?

. . . . .

And that was chapter one! I know this one was short, but I want to see if anyone even
likes my plot idea before I go all out. And no, the Klarno are not a real species in Star
Wars. Scenario suggestions and constructive criticism are very welcome! Have a great
day!
-Olivia :)