"How long trooper? It has been hours since we sent the request for landing."
Skywalker stalked up and down the bridge, under the amused eyes of the crew, most of which were rather glad that it was not them under the focused gaze of their commander.
But none were more puzzled than his old master, who carefully felt along the old, year-old bond between him and his ex-padawan. Obi-Wan shook his head in exasperation as he only met solid walls.
"It has not been so long that the 501st has made a stop on Coruscant." Obi-Wan mused, watching Skywalker as the young man fussed with his robe.
"Honestly my padawan, knowing your dislike for council meetings I find it rather," the Jedi master stroked his beard," intriguing that you feel such a need to return to the temple. Except of course should this be about the more private meeting with the senators after this meeting..."
No bond was needed to feel the 'eep' that went through Skywalker. "Well, it is just master, that the troops have not had downtime in rather a long time." the young man squirmed, before finding his proverbial footing again. "and, the sooner we have everything in order, the sooner Captain Rex can organize the downtime for everyone. Especially the new shinies will need time integrating."
Obi-Wan took a deep breath, allowing the force to take away his irritation. Whatever Anakin was hiding, he had to trust in the teachings of the Jedi, in the things he had tough this padawan during the long years of the apprenticeship.
only, most of the situations his padawan manoeuvred himself into seemed to lead to trouble.
Obi-Wan's comlink chimed, one look confirmed the caller ID."It's Cody. Just make sure to keep your lightsabre with you this time my padawan."
"Of course master." Anakin send a mocking bow towards his old mentor, who ignored the light sarcasm with long standing experience.
As the doors to the bridge closed Anakin waited for a moment, than turned to the Arc trooper next to the admiral. "So, Fives." he started while heading for the door, almost an afterthought, "I hope the Captain has received the orders for this evening already?"
Fives snapped to a sharp salute, Anakin almost expected, something he sometimes suspected he would never loose, to hear the heels of the clone clink together.
"Yes Sir." Fives snapped. "I think he called in a meeting in the mess for further planning."
Anakin froze on the spot, robes flapping around him in a rather dramatic sight.
"The mess hall you said?" He asked, not even waiting for Fives "Yes Sir." Before he headed for the door.
The Jedi crossed the corridors of the Resolute quickly, long legs carrying him almost effortlessly towards his goal. "Why did Rex not simply use his office? The force knows the resolute has them for this very reason, why would he use the mess hall of all places..." Anakin mused as he reached the very place he was headed for.
the door opened, revealing a truly gigantic meeting,
"Also, Arc Trooper Fives will be on standby with the Coruscant guards while Hawk keeps the squadron on standby. I want to be prepared for every contingency."
"Well, this answered my question." Anakin shrugged with a smirk on his lips. "You never could have fit all the people into your office." He made his way through the clones, who seemed almost hesitant to part ways for him, which made the scene even more unusual, almost surreal.
"Well, let's see what you have here, this can't be a battle-strategy to find the best bars in Coruscant, is it? Because this is most certainly not the easiest way."
"Well, Sir." Rex unconsciously felt for his blaster at his hips. "This is, well, just a set up for eventualities."
One look at the flimsi spread over the mess tables was enough to make his breath stop in his throat. Anakin coughed, or laughed, he himself didn't know what it was his body was doing. A single movement send the flimsi scattering all over the room. "Flight plans, blueprints of the rooms where the meeting with Padme and Senator Bail will take place... please Rex..." Anakin shook his head. "I think you need the relaxation more than everyone else here."
He turned on his heel, robes twirling around his shoulders. "Well, I don't think. I should need to say this, but after you even made a background check on every employee in the restaurant perhaps I do need to say it. You will take a break."
Anakin turned on his heel, brown clothes once again flowing around his shoulders. He fixated his men with the firmest look he could muster. "This Rex, is an order."
With this Anakin left.
As the Jedi strode through the doors in the best general-like way he could muster Fives arrived.
The Arc stopped, snapped a salute. "Sir." And let the general pass before Fives entered the room.
He send one thoughtful look throughout the mess hall, raised one eyebrow and turned towards his Captain.
"I take it I will take over the planning from here on Captain?" He asked.
Rex nodded. "Correct Fives." the Captain straightened, grabbed his helmet and clapped the younger clone on the shoulder. "I will be in my room, resting as ordered until later today. You have all the Intel you know."
Fives hesitated , just for long enough that Rex noticed. "Yes trooper"
"Well captain, not that I would want to overstep my boundaries, but do you really think this." He motioned towards the flimsi some helpful brothers had gathered. "Isn't a bit of an overkill?"
Clones chuckled, Rex grinned, shook his head as he too headed for the doors of the mess. "Just wait Fives, just wait. If today's meeting with the senator goes over without a hitch will take over your night shift for the next month."
As Anakin finally got the green light for the transfer towards Coruscant he passed several Laarties that were being prepared by several clones. He raised an eyebrow, but Hawk appeared from somewhere in between some crates. "Just a good old prep Sir. We want no-one to just sit around until we got the details for the next days. Too much time is bad for the men. We sit around and..." before the usually seasoned and calm trooper could babble onwards, rather unusual for him, Anakin would muse later, Ahsoka called from their transport and Anakin waved the men away, eager to get his feet planet side again.
Much, much. later that evening flames lit up the Coruscant night while sirens woke up all living beings within several blocks.
Anakin sat down on the steps, still tasting soot on his tongue as a clone medic, he thought it might be Kix, ran a scanner over his torso.
"..." Anakin rubbed one palm across his face, flinching as he touched the puffy, irritated skin of something that would surely be a rather impressive shiner. "Well, I see you found a way around my orders. "He grumbled towards his clone captain, who stood on his other side.
Although Rex wore his helmet Anakin could swear he could see the soldier's smile. "I learned from the best Sir."
47. Some meetings always end in calamities. Best come prepared.
A.N.:
Well, this was a rather long time coming, wasn't it?
My apologies for the long wait and a huge thank you towards cin-lerayr, who gave me this lovely prompt. I am very much aware that this may not be just as funny as some of the other things in this collection, but I hope it still made some of you smile.
As a shameless plug, I am working on a continuation of Small Stars, which is at the moment titled Rising Stars, which will hopefully be finished in my own version of NaNoWriMo (although it is not November right now, I know... Still i am working on it, so hopefully the next hiatus of mine will not be as long as the last.)