Hard philosophical questions seem to disrupt her the most, and questions in general disrupt her more than things thrown at her. Unlike when she was younger, she doesn't try to show off and incorporate the new items into her juggling, instead just nudging them away from hitting her or her balls.

After a sufficient amount of time thusly unwasted, it's time to prepare for their arrival at- whatever their destination turns out to be.

Problem with unknown destinations: you never know exactly what you should prepare for. Still, Anakin's learning general preparedness pretty well.

"Do we have a plan for how to start investigating?"

"It depends on what we find. A planet will require a different approach from a space station or a derelict craft. However, given the message was sent directly to the Temple, I do not think disguising our identity as Jedi will be worthwhile. If there are sapient beings present, their reaction to our arrival may tell us much. Let us not be hostile, but neither blindly trusting."

She nods. "Be polite, but keep our senses sharp."

"Just so." The hyperspace timer sounds.

Well, time to see what's there.

Anakin turns her attention to piloting.

It's not a battle or an asteroid field, so that's good news.

They've come out in orbit above a medium-sized planet. Initial scans reveal that more than 90% of its surface is ocean, with significant cloud cover and storm activity.

The ship is being hailed by Kamino Traffic Control.

Huh.

She accepts the hail.

"Unknown starship, please state your identification and origin."

She rattles the information off, honestly and succinctly.

There's a short pause, and then they're directed to land at Tipoca City. Coordinates and a suggested path to avoid the worst of the storms are transmitted.

She thanks them.

Everything looks legit so far from where she's sitting, so she starts heading for Tipoca City.

The storms really are quite rough. Must be why the place isn't on any charts. Fortunately, Tipoca City is in a relatively calmer patch at the moment. From above, it looks like a collection of low smooth domes. Color is hard to determine in the dark, but they all seem to be the same basic off-white. When an especially vigorous wave sloshes the water around, hints of larger constructions below the water can be seen. One of the smaller domes near the center cracks open to reveal a landing pad for their ship.

The architecture makes sense given their weather. She wonders if the locals are partially or wholly aquatic...

Fortunately, she's also a good pilot. She gets through the storms and lands without issue.

The dome closes back up over their ship and the collected water drains away. A tall, gracile alien emerges from the door to the rest of the building and stands patiently, waiting for them.

"Well, that's not Sifo-Dyas."

"Possibly a local..."

"Let's find out." Out of the ship to greet the welcoming committee.

     "Greetings, Master Jedi," the alien says, bowing. "I am Taun-We. Welcome to Kamino."

"Greetings," she says, trying to guess the appropriate depth of a return bow. (Manners: hard.) "Thank you for the welcome. I am Anakin Skywalker, a Padawan learner."

"And I am Elesse Vendar, Anakin's teacher."

The alien tilts their head atop its slender neck. "Is not Master Sifo-Dyas with you?"

"He was otherwise occupied. We were sent in his stead."

Large black eyes blink slowly. "Strange. He has always been very conscientious about his inspections. We approve of that in a client, especially as this is one of the largest orders we have ever received."

Anakin keeps her expression even and friendly, not letting on curiosity or confusion or that she's hearing anything strange.

"Conscientious is a good word for Sifo-Dyas," Elesse acknowledges. "When was his last inspection?"

     "Six months ago, galactic standard. You are right on schedule."

"Let us not break the record, then. Shall we proceed?"

     "Of course, Master Jedi. Follow me, please." Taun-We leads the way out of the hangar to an elevator, which they take downwards. The corridors are entirely bare, pearlescent white. "Has Master Sifo-Dyas fully briefed you?"

"Pretend that he has not," Elesse says. "We wish to gather the full perspective."

     "Very well. Since the project began five years ago, the course has gone very smoothly. The template was of excellent quality, necessitating very few adjustments. The first production batch of five hundred thousand, with associated equipment, will pass final inspection within the month. With production at full capacity, we anticipate no difficulties in delivering an additional million units every six months thereafter." The elevator stops. "To minimize transition losses and ensure even quality, we have broken the production batch into streams. Each sub-batch stays in its assigned stream for the entire development cycle. This level is devoted to Stream Aurek."

Outside is a hallway with large glass windows on either side. On the left are rows and rows of cylindrical tubes, roughly the size and shape of a bacta tank, though the inhabitants are smaller than typical. While they watch, they see a med-droid decanting one of the tubes, taking the baby revealed within and placing it in a floating bassinet.

On the right is a classroom full of identical students, apparently just a little older than Anakin. They seem to be studying weapons manufacture.

Neutral neutral neutral neutral, what the fuck, stay neutral and friendly and diplomatic, Anakin -

Her expression stays politely and calmly and diplomatically neutral. She does not demand to know what the actual fuck. She also does not punch anyone. Her hands don't even clench into fists.

(This does not look like something she'd be anything other than furious about, but getting furious won't help.)

"A large undertaking," she says, lightly. Then, tilting her head towards the classroom, "Your educational facilities seem efficient. Do the streams all learn the same things?"

It's also a large undertaking, she suspects distantly in the part of her brain she's letting fully process this, that she isn't as angry as she wants to be. Maybe later, for that.