Ryloth
The group was gathered in the North hangar of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant as supplies were loaded into the Scoundrels Constellation. Anakin and Obi-wan were organising the Clones and giving them a briefing on the mission whilst the rest were loading the ship.
"Obi-wan, would you be able to find a place on the ship for the Padawans to be where they won't get into any trouble?" Ahsoka requested as she approached the two Jedi Masters.
The older of the two was about to turn down the request but then realised why the Togrutan Jedi Knight had asked him.
"Very well, come along you three," Obi-wan agreed and then led the group of three Padawans to the ship. The Jedi Master quickly found the passenger hold which the astromech droids were currently being stored in and opened the door to allow the teenagers to enter.
"Now stay here and keep out of trouble," Obi-wan stated firmly as he gave them each a very serious look. Then he closed the door and walked away as he remembered that Eric had been disgruntled upon finding out that the students would be accompanying them to Ryloth. Obi-wan didn't blame the Smuggler either, especially after the flour stunt the three Padawans had caused a week ago. Eric was still complaining about how he was still finding flour in random places throughout the large ship.
"Trouble? Why has everyone been saying that to us lately?" Rexan asked in a slightly annoyed tone. "Oh I don't know, maybe it's because you two decided to fill the whole North hangar with flour," Mayken growled in frustration, "Which we are still being punished for in case you had forgotten."
"Glad to see you're not taking credit for our masterpiece anymore," Rexan said in a proud way.
Mayken frowned deeply as she huffed and then went to sit next to P7, deliberately with her back facing the boys.
"I could pull a better prank than the two of you any day," Mayken stated confidently.
Rexan laughed, "Oh yeah? Prove it," he challenged.
"Fine then, I will but you two won't see it coming," Mayken responded as the passenger hold returned to being quiet once again. The next few moments happened so quickly though that none of the Padawans had enough time to realise what had caused it to begin with. The three astromech droids had clearly been having a conversation with each other when P7 made a few beeping sounds. This caused Chopper to zap P7 in retaliation for whatever the other astromech had said and then the two droids began to chase each other around the passenger hold as they continued to zap each other. "What in the name of Tatooine's suns are wrong with those two?" Paulo asked incredulously as he quickly jumped out of the way of being run over by the astromechs.
"I'm not sure," Mayken answered innocently, "Stop, P7," she ordered with no luck.
"Chopper, knock it off before you get us all in trouble," Rexan scolded as he tried to grab the droid in an attempt to stop Chopper from chasing P7. Next second, R2 started chasing the two astromechs while spraying white foam at them.
"R2, there is no fire to put out," Paulo groaned as he joined his friends in their attempt to stop of the three droids from fighting.
However, it wasn't long before the three Padawans were covered in foam while chasing P7, Chopper and now R2 around the small passenger hold. Then P7 zoomed through the door followed closely by Chopper, R2, Mayken, Obi-Paulo and Rexan; all of whom were covered in the white foam.
"Come back P7!" Mayken called as they ran through the Scoundrels Constellation, trailing the foam everywhere they went. Soon the droids led the way into the bridge where they stopped dead at the looks they were receiving. Mayken and Obi-Paulo skidded to a stop behind the astromechs.
"Look out!" Rexan yelled as he bowled into the other two Padawans, sending all three of them sliding across the bridge floor and spinning to a stop right at Eric's feet.
Mayken looked up at the Smuggler to see a very unhappy look on his face, "Hi Eric," she said softly with a small smile but when his expression didn't change she continued, "Love the upgrades you've done on the Constellation, it's starting to look like an actual full-sized bridge in here," she tried to compliment their way out of this mess.
Eric groaned in frustration as he turned away from the three teenagers, grumbling under his breath, "Why can't people just leave my ship alone?"
The Smuggler was replaced by Raven, Serin and Ahsoka who looked even more unimpressed at the situation than Eric did, if that was possible.
"Go clean yourselves up, now," Ahsoka ordered. Then the three Padawans got to their feet and walked slowly back to the small passenger hold they had been in before. However, nobody noticed the mischievous grin that had grown on Mayken's face as they walked through the ship to where the main refresher was located next to the room.
The next day, Ancor and Gilgaro were sitting in the galley eating their daily share of the rations that had been stored on the Scoundrels Constellation.
"So kid, I've seen you eyeballing the little Mando lately. What's the deal?" Gilgaro spoke with his usual laid-back attitude as he took a bit of the rations in front of him.
"I like her Gilgaro... like, really like her but I can't seem to talk to her. What should I do?" Ancor mumbled softly with a disheartened tone to his voice.
Gilgaro smirked, "Ah kid. Every girl is a tender little damsel deep down. Behind closed doors, I'd wager she is hoping some young stud like you will come along and sweet talk her," Gilgaro stated and his grin grew wider as Ancor turned to look him.
"But what should I say? How do I even start? " Ancor asked nervously before taking a bite of his rations.
"Lean forward kid. I'll lay it all out for you," Gilgaro leaned forward and began whispering in Ancor's ear.
Four days of traveling through Hyperspace passed.
"We are about to come out of Hyperspace?" Stones announced to the Jedi Masters.
"Good job Stones," Eric answered as he came to stand with Anakin, Obi-wan and Ahsoka.
The Clone saluted and then returned to his position at the controls which caused Eric to roll his eyes slightly in annoyance.
"I'm sorry about this mess Eric," Ahsoka apologised sympathetically as she pointed to the foam-covered floors of the bridge.
Raven chuckled lightly as he approached the group, "I might be angry at my Padawan but you have to admit Eric that there certainly isn't ever a dull moment with them around," he pointed out.
The Smuggler glared slightly at the young Jedi Knight who slowly fell quiet once again as he picked up on just how annoyed the older man was about the situation. Seconds later the blue lines of Hyperspace disappeared and were replaced with the planet of Ryloth outside the windows.
"Sabine, get a hold of your contact for me," Mia ordered.
The Mandalorian nodded and then entered the communication room off the bridge for a couple of moments while the others continued the process of landing the Scoundrels Constellation on the planet below. Clearance codes were exchanged and they were permitted to land on a specific landing platform designed for larger ships. The loading ramp dropped and the group exited the ship to find a welcoming party which consisted of Senator Orn Free Taa and his entourage. This caused the entire group to be slightly surprised and taken aback as the Twi'lek diplomat should not have known about them coming to Ryloth and yet here he was to greet them.
"Welcome to Ryloth!" Senator Taa called out to them as he opened his arms up in a warm gesture of welcome, "As you can see Master Jedi, nothing is amiss here so you will return to Coruscant, yes?" he asked sounding desperate.
"Senator Taa, the Jedi Council and Galactic Senate have sent us here to investigate the activities on Ryloth," Obi-wan stated, "So we will not be leaving until the investigations have been completed and we are satisfied that nothing untoward has been taking place," he added firmly. This response caused the diplomat to react in a slightly nervous fashion as he wrung his large hands, "Very well, of course, Master Jedi," he said as he turned and led the group into the spacious Government building.
Raven, Serin and Ahsoka turned to their Padawans with serious expressions on their faces causing the three teenagers to stop dead their tracks.
"Not so fast you three," Raven warned.
"You are going to stay here and clean up the mess you left on the ship," Ahsoka ordered as she pointed at the ship behind them. The Padawans turned and glanced at the Constellation.
"The foam was the fault of the droids though," Rexan whined in annoyance.
"Oh don't worry, they have already started cleaning the mess up but you are all partially responsible so hop to it," Serin stated in a non-negotiable tone as he folded his arms across his chest.
Mayken, Paulo and Rexan headed back to the ship while the younger of the three grumbled under his breath about how this was unfair.
"How did you go with contacting Hera?" Mia asked in a soft tone as Sabine caught up with the group after running from the ship.
"I couldn't get through to her which has never happened before," Sabine answered in a very concerned tone.
Mia frowned slightly in worry, "Keep your eyes peeled for anything out of place," she ordered under her breath.
"You must all be very hungry after the long trip from Coruscant," Senator Taa said as they entered a banquet hall that held a long table covered in food.
"We don't mean to be rude Senator but we really must start our investigation as we are on a tight schedule," Obi-wan stated sternly as he could now see that the diplomat was trying to stall them.
"Of course, what did you need to know?" Senator Taa asked as he took a seat at the end of the table and began to eat.
"We will begin our search through the city and work our way outwards, you will be the first to know the result," Obi-wan said as he then led the group out of the hall, "Ready to hand out assignments, Mia?" he asked as he turned his head to look at the Republic SIS Agent.
Mia nodded as she got stuck into giving everyone jobs to do.
