"Fox, I'm telling you there are rodents in the building," Padmé sighed.
"Senator, we've checked the ventilation systems, we found no rodents within them," Fox sighed, "potentially, you're over smelling? The rodents are out on the streets rather than in the buildings?"
Padmé sighed, nodding, "possibly; thank you for checking anyway, Fox."
-----
"Sir, why are you bringing me?" Rex frowned. The General normally went to his wife by himself; he usually tried to sneak away.
"Padmé says that she can smell rodents in the building, but the guards have found nothing," Anakin explained.
"Why does that mean that I need to come?" Rex questioned.
Anakin chuckled nervously, scratching at the back of his neck. "I overheard Fives say that your dragon form fits in ventilation systems."
"I'm going to bite him," Rex muttered. He looked up at the General, "you want me to act as what? Some scaled sniffer dog?"
Anakin froze, Padmé's door halfway open. "–Sort of?" He offered weakly.
Rex was happy he still had his bucket on so that he could scream while disabling the comms. Taking a deep breath, he sighed, "shall we get this over and done with?"
"Anakin Skywalker! What have you done now?!"
Anakin froze as the door clicked into place behind him. He could feel Rex's amusement flooding the room. "Hi, how much did you overhear?"
"Enough," Padmé frowned, pointing to the dishes that C3-P0 was halfway through.
Anakin sighed, shuffling over.
"Rex, I am so sorry for what he has done," Padmé apologised, "he tends to forget things such as manners exist. You do not need to go ahead with his plan."
"I do not mind, Senator," Rex answered.
"There is no need to be on parade, Rex; you can call me Padmé if you want," Padmé smiled.
"Alright," Rex nodded, "where are you smelling the rodents?"
"The smell is strongest in the kitchen," Padmé answered.
"Is there a vent there?"
"Yes," Padmé nodded, "next to the bin."
"Thank you." Rex moved towards the bin, noticing the vent next to it. He crouched down, pulling the vent grating free. Closing his eyes, he quickly shifted, opening his eyes again to see the vent at chest height.
Padmé watched as Rex transformed into a small brown dragon. She was curious that, instead of going straight into the vent, he sniffed around the room.
Rex took a deep lungful of air before nearly choking at how strong the rodent smell was. He slowly moved around, trying to find a trail that was the freshest before following it into the vent.
-----
Fox frowned as he was called up to the Senators place again. He nodded as C3-P0 opened the door for him. Walking in, his eyebrows raised behind his bucket as he stared at the small-scaled animal with a dead rodent at his feet. "So there were rodents in the ventilation systems?" He sighed.
"Knight Skywalker brought Rex to come to find them," Padmé shrugged.
Fox looked down at the scaled animal, "that is Rex, I take it?"
"In his dragon form, yes," Anakin nodded, "he's small enough to fit into the vents."
Fox's lips twitched, "he always was the vod'ika."
Rex huffed before shifting back. "Kriff off, Fox."
Fox glanced at the Senator and General only to see that they were laughing. He relaxed. "Now, back in the vent, sniffer, find more rodents."
Rex rolled his eyes, "as always; someone has to do your job for you." He quickly shifted, disappearing into the vent before Fox could retaliate.
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