LordDarthYoda - I think that exploring things like anti-Jedi sentiment pre Clone wars is something that will actually eventually be shown in a comic or something, but I think its a fun topic and it gives a nice story to explore. And as you know I try to avoid cliche's as much as possible (while still indulging in many) so if you think you know where the relationships are going...you are probably wrong!

Speechbubbleme - Having odd friends just makes your life more enjoyable. Sometimes more hectic, but often enjoyable in the end.

Sourmilk - The Nara-Sascha relationship comes from my experiencing having many close female friends over the years. Always write what you know :). I do think the next few chapters as the Padawans go undercover will be quite amusing. And good point about characters reaching a plateau and never changing...I do think thats a valid concern that I should keep in mind - thanks for that.

Bodare2- I see what you mean about how the interludes could feel like filler. I wasn't quite sure how to handle the opening of this book to be honest, but the flashbacks set kind of lighter tone which I intend to carry through for most of this book. Thanks for finding my errors, as always :).

Nuada Silverhand - Does it mean that I'm old and out of touch when I had to google what a CHERUB agent was...and that I still couldn't figure it out? Yup, we'll be right into the thick of things soon enough.

A/N - So I wanted to take a brief moment to discuss this mission. By the end of the Clone Wars, the Jedi Order was no more, and instead of the galaxy being outraged, there was nothing. The Jedi Order, who for thousands of years guarded the Old Republic, fell with barely a protest. To me, that means that a three year war, no matter how punishing, could not have been the only thing that sunk the Jedi. That means there had to be parts of the public that had already turned on the Jedi Order, and I wanted to explore how these people might view the Jedi, before the war.

I also wanted to have a mission where the characters aren't in mortal danger during every waking moment. The last book, I quite enjoyed writing, but it was a slog to have your characters always near the end of the rope for like 20+ chapters. It was depressing to write, really. So this book has a slightly lighter tone, intentionally. I wanted this book to be slightly more 'fun' while remaining serious. I hope I succeed...

As always, Please enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 5: Departures

"150 credits to dock? Are you high on spice? I'm just dropping off two passengers, I'll be gone within minutes of docking! I'm not paying 150 credits for that!"

Nara Nalto listened with some amusement as Aurine tried to haggle with the rather bored sounding docking administrator. Despite being a Jedi Knight, Nara didn't think that the administrator was going to budge, though 150 credits did seem like a rather large sum just to dock their ship. Ultimately though, they didn't have much of a choice. But if Nara had learned one thing about Aurine Brynar, she had learned that Aurine was sometimes stubborn for the sake of being stubborn.

"I'm considering just firing my passengers out our airlock and hoping that they survive the decompression on the way to your airlock," continued Aurine in a threatening tone of voice.

"I think I'd like to object to that," Sascha drawled to her.

Nara smiled. She was in a rather upbeat mood today. She had been assigned a mission, a real mission. Not some side part of a mission, but a real, honest to goodness assignment. And she was going to do it with her best friend by her side. Sometimes, her life was pretty good.

She and Sascha were dressed in nondescript beige jumpsuits for the occasion. They looked fine on him, because he was a guy and men's clothing seemed to be utilitarian enough that a male could just throw on whatever clothes he'd found on the floor and look somewhat presentable. She really hated the way the jumpsuit looked on her. For one, beige was not her colour. For another, the jumpsuit was baggy enough that hid all of her good aspects, she was thin and in shape and liked showing that off, but she couldn't in this baggy...contraption. Too bad she couldn't wear that dress from Chandrilla again. She remembered looking absolutely beautiful in that dress.

Eventually Aurine gave up on her argument with the docking administrator and transferred the required docking fee to the station. She and Sascha waited for Aurine to bring the Emerald Dream to the docking arm of Calvais station, their destination. Her Master appeared behind them, looking at the two of them with a look of barely concealed pride on her face. Nara left Sascha's side and went to receive a tame embrace from her Master. Over the past year, they'd really grown close and she wasn't afraid to show her affection for her Master. Other Jedi probably judged her for that. She didn't care. There wasn't anything in the Jedi code that said you had to have the emotions of a droid.

"You'll do well, apprentices," said Tiplee.

"We will," said Nara.

Aurine now joined them as well, "You have the ability to contact us, but short of being in jail and being held for immediate execution, I don't want to be contacted. This is your mission and I'm expecting you to handle it on your own."

"Great pep talk, Master," Sascha remarked dryly.

"I always was an inspiring speaker," Aurine quipped. The blonde-haired Jedi Master reached out and ruffled Sascha's hair with her hand, "You'll do fine. We'll see you back at the Temple."

"Take care of my ship," said Sascha. "It hasn't crash landed in like two years. This is a streak I'd like to maintain."

"We will," said Aurine.

Sascha gestured down the tube, "Ladies first."

Nara mockingly glowered at him before hitting the button that opened up the docking arm on their end. The two Jedi used the docking arm to take the short walk from the Emerald Dream to Calvais Station. The station was a bit on the older side, but had been used for about 600 years as a central way point for travelers wishing to reach the Hydian Way, one of the main hyperspace lanes in the galaxy. Many passage liner and tour companies used it as a waypoint to drop passengers off, so that they could be transferred to smaller ships that would take them to their destination. That was what she and Sascha were going to do and they had already booked their tickets aboard a small liner that would take them to Estimar, the ultimate destination.

The problem was that their ship left in seven hours. Which meant they had a lot of time to kill before it was time for departure. On the plus side, it would give them time to go shopping for new clothes to wear, ones that were more appropriate for two beings their age.

She was sure Sascha was looking forward to it as much as she was.

The two Jedi made their way through the bustling station to drop off their luggage at the terminal. Nara hadn't packed much, but she had packed some treats (including some of her favourite jerky), her Jedi robe and crucially, her lightsaber. In fact, neither Sascha nor her currently had their lightsaber on them. Had Calvais Station not been one of the safer, quieter space stations in the sector, they might have chosen to conceal their lightsabers, but as it was, neither Jedi was particularly worried about their safety. Even without their lightsabers, they were still incredibly proficient fighters.

Sascha looked back in the direction where the Emerald Dream had been a few minutes ago, "They just jumped to hyperspace."

There was no question as to who 'they' was, as Nara had also felt her Master's presence dim slightly, indicating that she was no longer in close proximity to her. "Yeah. Feels weird."

"That we are so far away from them?"

"That they aren't our safety blanket anymore," said Nara.

"We'll be okay," said Sascha.

"I don't doubt that," she said. "It just feels like we've just taken this next step in our lives. Our next piece of progress on our path to being Jedi Knights."

"Well, at least we get to do it together. We'll be our own safety net."

"Lets not even need a safety net," she said, smiling.

Sascha looked around the bustling spaceport, "So, what do you want to do for seven hours?"

"We need to go shopping."

"Uh, what for?"

"Clothes, you doufus. Or are you just planning on wearing that bland jumpsuit for the whole mission?"

"Uh, why not?" asked Sascha.

Sascha was so dense sometimes. "Because normal people our age don't go around wearing jumpsuits that I'm pretty you could buy in bulk."

Sascha looked at his jumpsuit, "I don't know, I kind of like it."

"You would." Nara grabbed Sascha's arm and dragged him towards the part of the space station that had the shopping district. She was sure she could find some shop that would sell some decent clothes... Force, it was bad enough that Sascha was going to have to play her 'boyfriend' when they reached Estimar, he could at least dress the part!

Sascha offered some half-hearted protests as they walked, but inevitably, he bowed to the fact that they were going clothes shopping. Nara hid a tiny smile, Sascha was just so…obedient. Definitely one of his better traits, she thought.

After doing some quick window shopping, she finally spied a store with some advertising posted outside that looked interesting.

Slatic's Custom Clothes

Couples: Dress Your Partner! Buy One outfit, Get the Other 50% Off!

She squinted, "Isn't that one of those custom design places. Where you can design a garment and they'll make it for you on the spot?"

Sascha nodded, "Yeah, Slatic's is a popular chain of stores that does that. The twist is that two people go in to design their clothes at the same time, and they design the clothes for their partner. The stores are popular amongst young people, and are often used as a 'first date' sort of outing."

"That sounds like fun. But how in the Force did you know all that?"

"I read things, Togruta. Then I remember them," Sascha said haughtily.

Nara rolled her eyes. Sascha was trying to get a reaction from her, but she wasn't going to play along. However she quite liked the idea of getting something made at this store. It seemed more fun than just trying on clothes for an hour. "Why don't we do it?"

"Shop at Slatic's? It's pretty expensive."

"But is the quality good? Do you know?"

He hesitated, "They have a good reputation for quality."

"Sounds like it's perfect for what we need then," she said, grabbing Sascha's hand and pulling him towards the store.

Sascha resisted for a moment before relenting, "Okay, but we get to do something I want to do afterwards."

"Yeah, fine whatever."

The two Jedi entered the store, which had a small storefront that was manned by a middle-aged and rather bored looking Twi'lek. Still, when she noticed them entering the store, her smile was friendly and welcoming. "Hi there, welcome to Slatic's Custom Clothes. How can I help you today?"

"I think we're interested in the deal you posted outside," said Nara.

The Twi'lek nodded amiably, "It's very popular amongst young couples such as yourselves."

She was halfway started on correcting the Twi'lek that she and Sascha were absolutely not a couple, when Sascha reached out with his arm and pulled her in close, "Thanks!" he said, smiling beatifically. "We've been a couple for six months now, and I think I fall more in love with her each day." Then he leaned in close to her, "That's payback for making me do this," he whispered

"I'm going to remember this next time we spar," she whispered back.

The Twi'lek, oblivious to their private conversation smiled at them and continued, "I think you two are a very cute couple. Now to explain the pricing, you pay for a rental of the two designing booths, for 20 minutes, its 25 credits. Then when you are inside, you create the clothes for your partner and the cost of whatever you create for them will be displayed. All of our custom designs are available within 3 hours of purchase as they are manufactured by our droids on site to your exact specifications. Any questions?"

"One," said Sascha. "Is there anyone that could help me in picking out clothes? I'm basically fashion dense. I can barely dress myself, let alone my beautiful girlfriend."

Nara plastered a fake smile on her face and started thinking of all the ways she was going to pay Sascha back for that comment.

The Twi'lek attendant smiled and nodded, "All of our booths come with a helper AI that will provide you with unbiased fashion advice – this AI is updated constantly so it is aware of the latest fashion trends on many planets."

Sascha wiped his brow dramatically, "That is a relief."

Nara was doing her best not to elbow Sascha in the side. He could be so annoying when he was being forced to do something he didn't want to do. She forced herself to continue to smile and handed over a paycard, "We'll pay for a 20 minute rental, and you can take the cost of the clothes off my card as well."

The paycard itself traced back to a bank on Coruscant that had her name and information on it. The bank itself had no idea that she was a Jedi, making it perfect to use in this situation. All Jedi had a similar account with a fair amount of funds on it, meaning that if they needed to, they could make a medium-sized purchase from their account, because sometimes, you really needed to rent a speeder and you didn't have time to haggle over credits.

Of course, these accounts were also subject to review, you didn't want to be the Padawan who used their account for something frivolous. This was, of course, a totally legitimate purpose for their mission, she and Sascha would probably donate their clothes to charity once they were finished the mission, which was a shame, but prevented attachments. After all, a Jedi shouldn't get too used to wearing fancy or fashionable clothes.

The Twi'lek swiped her card over her reader, smiled and handed it back to her, "You two are good to go. We have two booths available right now if you'd like to get started?"

She looked at Sascha, "I think we'd both like to get started."

Sascha Whitestar entered the darkened booth and immediately regretted letting Nara talk him into this. The booth was a fair size, large enough to walk around in, but it felt claustrophobic to him. The light from a single holoprojector illuminated the room. Currently, it displayed the logo of Slatic's Custom Clothes, every few seconds it would change languages, from Basic to Aurbesh to…languages he couldn't even possibly determine what they were. He didn't see Slussi though, which probably made sense – he doubted too many Sluissi shopped here.

"Greetings," said a pleasant voice that reminded him of a protocol droid.

"Hi," he replied to the empty room.

"My name is N1-2O, and I'm here to provide you wish any assistance you may need to find what you are looking for. Have you shopped at Slatic's before?"

"Uh, no."

"Then let me describe how this works," the voice said pleasantly. "Once you stepped into our booth, we took a full body scan of both you and your Togruta friend. This allows us, using the holoprojector, to display exactly what the new clothes will look like on miss…"

"Nalto. Nara Nalto."

"Indeed. Once you provide instructions as to what you'd like her clothes to look like, our algorithms will project choices for you to select."

Sascha blinked as a wide variety of clothes, from tops to pants were suddenly on full display in front of him. There were short halter tops, and modest tunics and they all constantly shifted, as if to impress upon him that his choices were almost unlimited. "If I want to narrow down my search, how do I do that?"

The holographic figure of Nara returned, dressed in tight, generic looking clothes. "Can you put some more clothes on her?" he said as he turned away from the projection. It was bad enough that he was playing dress up with Nara as it was, he didn't want to even think about the indulging the fantasy of dressing Nara in some exotic dancer's outfit or something – even just in holographic form.

"Okay sir, we've given her something more appropriate to wear."

When Sascha turned around, Nara was dressed in a black jumpsuit that Nara probably would have loathed wearing as it was so baggy. But at least it was modest.

"Okay sir, so to get started, I want you to provide me with the answers to some basic questions. Where are you traveling to?"

"Estimar."

"And will these clothes be for work, or school or casual…"

"School and casual."

"I see. So something you could wear to class and then to the cantina afterwards."

Sascha nodded, "Exactly."

"Could you describe Ms. Nalto for me? Don't describe what she likes to wear, describe who she is."

This was getting weird, Sascha thought. "She's, uh, athletic, fearless, tough, resolute…but she's also kind, compassionate, playful, and one of the best people I know."

The program seemed to pause for a moment. "I'm going to display some outfits for you, based on your description and popular clothing trends for Togruta females on Estimar. Simply point at an outfit and it will be shown on our projection of Ms. Nalto for your convenience."

"So I can see how it looks on her."

"You've got it."

"This should be fun," Sascha muttered.

He was sure that the program had overheard what he had said, but he was glad that it chose not to comment on his utterance of frustration. He really didn't want to be doing this. He would have been totally fine for Nara to pick out clothes for both of them while he did...just about anything else in the galaxy besides clothes shopping.

After a few moments, the projector changed and now he was staring at about 10 different variations of clothes on Nara. Some were clearly more casual and some were more formal, the most common colour combination was black and red, which he immediately saw was a winning combination of colours on his friend. He also couldn't help noticing how much of Nara's skin was showing, especially around the chest. Sascha did appreciate cleavage like any other male his age, but he didn't think Nara was particularly fond of showing off. Nara was fond of pretty clothes, but she didn't seem to be particularly fond of being that…exposed. Nara would show you her flirty side, but only on her terms. And honestly, Nara didn't need to show skin to be pretty.

"Too much skin in showing, I think."

There was silence for a moment and then the 10 variations changed again, keeping the black and red colour theme, but getting rid of some of the excess skin that had been showing. Some outfits left Nara's arms or shoulders bare, but besides that she was generally covered from head to toe. Sascha took his time in examining each outfit. Nara looked good in all of the outfits, but there wasn't an outfit that seemed to exemplify his friend.

"Can I see some additional choices?"

"Of course sir, but maybe I could ask you some questions to help narrow down your choices?"

"Go ahead."

"Are the colours a good fit for your friend?"

"Could maybe add in some grey, but otherwise its good."

The 10 outfits now changed to show the same outfits, but now with more grey shading. "Is there any part of these outfits that you think fit your friend well?"

Sascha pointed at one of the figures, "The boots on that one. Nerf hide?"

"Indeed, well treated, and they come with a ten year guarantee."

Sascha looked at the boots again, they went partly up to Nara's calf, but he liked how the black, grey and red intermixed. It seemed like something Nara might wear. "Let's keep those."

"How about the pants – did you see anything that you like?"

Sascha didn't know much about fashion, but he did know that Nara liked wearing skirts when possible, as long as she had leggings to go with them. "How about a skirt and legging combination."

"They are coming back into fashion," mused N1-2O. "I assume that short, athletic skirts would be Miss Nalto's preference."

"I…suppose so," he said.

The picture of Nara changed from her wearing pants to her wearing a tight gray skirt that ran to just above her knee along with slightly darker grey leggings. Paired with her black, red and gray boots, it looked pretty good. "I like that. Can you recommend a top that goes with that?"

After a moment, a couple of options appeared. Sascha immediately dismissed a couple of shirts with short sleeves, the weather on Estimar was too cold to leave so much of her arms bare. There were a few long sleeved options that looked like Nara might like, so he cycled through those quickly until he found a nice black and red shirt that complimented both Nara's purple colouring and the previously selected pants and boots.

"Okay, that should do it then."

"Very well done sir. Would you like to see the price?"

"I'd rather not know," he said.

"But you want to complete the purchase?"

He hesitated for a moment then said, "Yes."

"Well, we'll have the clothes for Miss Nalto ready for her in approximately three standard hours.

That would give them plenty of time to pick them up, get changed and get to their connecting flight, "Sounds good."

Nara Nalto was having so much fun playing dress up with Sascha Whitestar. She was probably lucky that she only had less than half a standard hour to choose an outfit, as she easily could have spent hours browsing through virtual clothes and having Sascha 'model' them for her.

Having Sascha as a model was kind of odd, though. While she usually didn't think much (or at all) about Sascha's physical attractiveness, having to pick out clothes for him had reminded her that he wasn't all that hard on the eyes. With nice, if not excessive muscle definition, and very little body fat, Sascha really could look like a fighter…until you looked at his face, with his kindly eyes and soft features, he hardly looked all that dangerous. A contradiction was Sascha Whitestar, and a decently appealing one at that. Of course she still had a strong preference for Togruta males, and would have loved the ability to switch out Sascha for a tall, athletic Togruta of any colour. Maybe once she was done picking out clothes for her friend she could get the computer to do that….

Nara had never and would never deny liking boys. It had always struck her as dishonest to pretend otherwise. Flirting was fun. Kissing was fun. As her Master had told her – they were both fun in moderation. She understood inherently that the flirting and making out that she got to do (rarely!) was only because her Master tolerated it – it was a privilege that could be lost if she was stupid. So she wasn't.

Nara decided that she had indulged her inner shopper enough and started quickly sifting through the choices, picking out clothes that would both look good on Sascha and meet his approval. While Sascha was an inherently conservative person, he had shown that he didn't mind having a bit of flair in his clothes, what with the ribbons in his Padawan braid and what not, so she picked clothes that would make him look stylish, but not overly so.

She smiled, if Sascha was going to be her boyfriend for this trip, he was damn sure going to look good. She just hoped that Sascha had picked out some decent clothes for her. If he hadn't...well...they still had more time for clothes shopping.

A few hours later, he and Nara were back at the store and waiting for the Twi'lek clerk to return with their newly bought clothes. Sascha was vaguely excited. He was slightly confused by that emotion, but he supposed that he didn't get the chance to have things bought for him very often. But he was also kind of nervous about the clothes he'd picked out for Nara. He really hoped she liked them, if only for fact that if she didn't they'd have to do more clothes shopping, which sounded horrendously boring.

The Twi'lek emerged from the back and handed them two slips of flimsy with numbers on them, "Those slips indicate what changing room your new clothes have been placed in. If you have any questions, come back and ask."

"Thanks," said Sascha. He then turned to Nara, "Let's see what we bought each other."

"If you didn't get me something cute, I'll never forgive you," Nara said with a smile.

He turned to the Twi'lek, "Tough crowd."

"It's not the first, nor the last time I'll hear something like that," said the Twi'lek.

Nara was already halfway down the hall, so Sascha figured it was time to find his room as well. When he found his room, he entered the entry code that was written on the door and the door slid open for him. When he stepped inside, the door closed behind him. The room that he entered was small, and the only thing was his new clothes. Sascha analyzed them. The shirt was a dark red with a high, almost military cut collar with long sleeves. It was an old-fashioned button- up shirt, which would reveal a bit of the undershirt underneath near the neck and chest. It was overall a classy yet casual shirt, close enough in colour and style that it reminded him of his Jedi robes. Though he hadn't seen how it looked on him, he was pleased by Nara's choice.

The pants were black and pretty non-descript which suited him fine, and he was surprised to see that Nara had chosen to get shoes for him instead of boots. He'd almost always worn boots, shoes just didn't provide the right amount of support, usually. Sascha tried them on and revised his opinion, as they were amongst the most comfortable footwear he'd ever worn. He supposed it wasn't a bad trade off.

Sascha put on the rest of his new outfit and look at himself in the mirror that had been provided. He looked…good. While the outfit was clearly different than his Jedi robes, he didn't feel like these clothes were too different. They were certainly more comfortable, more casual, but still something that he wouldn't have too much trouble wearing. Nara, as he had expected, had done a good job in picking out clothes for him.

Sascha exited his room to find Nara already waiting for him in the lobby of the store. By Nara's upbeat posture, Sascha could already tell that she liked the clothes. Well, that was a disaster potentially avoided, thought Sascha. After Sascha got a good look at his friend, he decided that Nara did look good in the clothes, they looked so comfortable on her it seemed like she had been wearing them for years. The clothes worked nicely, he thought, showing off her lithe and athletic body without being too revealing.

Nara turned and nodded at him approvingly, "That's a much better look for you."

He bowed sarcastically, "I'm only as good looking as my tailor allows me to be."

"My tailor did a good job too."

Nara turned and thanked the Twi'lek attendant before exiting the store. "That was an experience."

"It certainly was interesting. You like the skirt?"

"Yeah, it was a good choice, good colouring. I like the leggings more than the skirt, but the skirt's definitely cute." Nara punched him lightly on the arm, "Good job, boyfriend."

"Please don't call me that."

Nara laughed mischievously, and Sascha realized his mistake. Now that Nara knew that calling him that would get under his skin, she'd never stop doing it. Drat.

The Togruta nudged him playfully, "Come on, it's time to go to Estimar, boyfriend."

"I can hardly wait," he deadpanned.