Ahsoka supported Kallus as the two made it down the hallway away from Thrawn's office. Her chest was stinging from the impact of the blaster shot, yet still she ran, ignoring the pain. She would patch herself up later, right now she had a mission to complete.

"Spectre Two this is Fulcrum, I have Kallus. What's your progress?"

To Ahsoka's surprise, it was Kaeden that answered the comm link.

"Ahsoka, thank goodness you're ok. You are ok, aren't you?" The concern in Kaeden's voice was touching. It was nice to know that someone cared for her, especially when it seemed to Ahsoka that all manners of dark entities were currently trying to corrupt her.

"I'm good Kaeden, no need to worry about me." The Togruta lied, not wanting to worry her friend over what was a simple battlefield injury.

Hera was next to speak. "We heard about your predicament. Rex and Miara have secured the prototype and are waiting for our signal. The others are heading to these coordinates for extraction." A flurry of digits appeared on Ahsoka's comm link, indicating the extraction point.

"Copy that Spectre Two, we are on our way. Don't leave without us." Ahsoka quipped back at the pilot. Kallus had regained his strength and had pulled away from Ahsoka to stand by himself. The ISB agent was looking at her peculiarly, like he had a question on his mind.

"You ok Kallus?" Ahsoka asked.

"Why did you come back?" Kallus questioned, clearly wondering why she had risked her own life for a turncoat imperial who had inadvertently lead her friends into a trap.

Ahsoka's response was immediate.

"Because it was the right thing to do."

Kallus didn't miss the fact that Ahsoka was quoting him from earlier, when she had interrogated him as to why he defected.

She had been listening to him. And clearly she valued his words, if she herself was now using them.

Kallus nodded at the Togruta with renewed purpose. Perhaps he would fit in with the rebellion after all.

"Let's get out of here." Ahsoka stated, before darting off down another hallway, towards the extraction point.

"Right behind you Commander." Kallus replied, following suit.

The extraction point was a large open courtyard just outside of the imperial complex. There was only one anti-ship battery that could target the Ghost if it landed there, and luckily for the rebels, it appeared to currently be broken.

Kanan, Ezra, Sabine and Zeb darted into the courtyard just as the Ghost landed, its ramp descending.

Kaeden Larte came down the ramp seconds later, spotting the rebels and waving them over to her. As they approached, Kaeden informed them of Ahsoka's progress.

"She's on her way with Kallus, we need to wait just a minute longer."

Kanan and Ezra nodded, turning to face the troopers that were inevitably going to arrive.

Seconds later, they did.

A dozen troopers entered the courtyard, weapons firing widely. Kanan and Ezra ignited their sabers, deflecting and redirecting shots from the imperials, whilst Sabine and Zeb picked them off one by one.

"Ahsoka better hurry or we won't last much longer!" Sabine shouted, just as another group of troopers arrived to join in.

"We're not leaving her!" Kaeden shouted back. She too no possessed a blaster, Hera's to be precise. The Twi-lek had lent it to her to assist whilst she prepared the Ghost for departure.

Kaeden was no marksman, but she could fire a blaster, and at very least give the troopers another problem to deal with.

An explosion occurred as Sabine tossed a detonator into the fray.

"I wasn't suggesting we leave her!" The Mandalorian yelled over the combat. "She's our friend too!"

The battle raged on. As more troopers fell, more seemed to arrive, a never ending supply of fresh troops.

"Where are these guys coming from?" Zeb called out, blasting another two with his bow rifle.

Ezra was about to reply sarcastically, when a white light ignited behind the troopers.

From the smoke of a recent explosion, Ahsoka Tano emerged, cutting down the rear guard of the troopers. She span and jumped between the imperials, her white lightsabers disposing of the threat with ease. Behind her, Agent Kallus was picking off troopers with his own blaster, one acquired from a fallen trooper.

Ezra quickly informed his team of the development. "Ahsoka's here. We can leave now."

"And not a moment too soon." Kanan called out, as he began to back towards the Ghost's ramp, still deflecting shots from the Stormtroopers.

Sabine, Zeb and Kaeden boarded first, whilst Kanan and Ezra held the line for Ahsoka and Kallus.

By now, Ahsoka and Kallus had broken off from combat, and sprinted towards the Ghost.

Seconds later, they barrelled past Kanan and Ezra, up the ramp, and into safety. The two Jedi followed seconds later.

As the ramp sealed shut behind them, Kanan called to Hera.

"Everyone's on board, we can go now."

Hera didn't respond, she didn't need to, as everyone felt the Ghost lift off.

Ahsoka allowed herself to rest against a nearby crate, sitting on it slightly to regain her breath. There was nothing she could do now, it was all down to Hera.

"Ahsoka, you're hurt!" Ezra spoke, and instantly everybody was looking at her.

Truthfully, she had forgotten about the injury. She hadn't even had time to look at it properly.

Now that she did, Ahsoka realized it was worse than she had anticipated. Thrawn had hit her breastplate, but on its very edge. While the armour had taken some of the shot, another part of her had been unprotected. A small burn wound, one that had gone through her tunic and burnt away the skin of her stomach was present. The smell of burning flesh filled Ahsoka's sense. It explained the burning sensation she felt earlier.

"Kriff, where's the bacta?" Kaeden moved like lightning coming to support the Togruta as she swayed lightly due to the realization of the injury. Kaeden stopped Ahsoka from tumbling over, gripping her arms to hold her upright.

Behind her, Zeb had darted off to retrieve some bacta from a storage unit in the cargo bay of the Ghost.

"You're gonna be fine Ahsoka, I promise." Kaeden was looking directly into Ahsoka's eyes, trying to offer her comfort.

Ahsoka was too exhausted from the day's events to tell Kaeden that is wasn't that serious. She had suffered worse before, both physically and mentally.

Instead, she allowed Kaeden to worry about her. When the bacta arrived, she allowed Kaeden to apply it without interference.

She wanted Kaeden to know she trusted her, so she let her friend look after her.

'It's nice to have someone care about me.' Ahsoka thought, as she relaxed despite the situation.

From across the room, Kanan felt Ahsoka's relaxation and happiness through the force, and smiled lightly.

Miara and Rex were waiting patiently for the go signal. Once it came, Miara would use the Defenders weapons to blast a hole in the roof, and fly out with the Defender.

Then it was just a matter of getting past the destroyers in orbit.

If they were able to do that, then the two teams would rendezvous back at Chopper base.

"What's keeping them?" Miara muttered to herself, her hands lightly travelling over the dashboard of the Defender, checking its systems over for the sixth time.

Rex could tell she was nervous. She was restless, constantly twitching and checking everything over again and again. The clone placed his hand on Miara's shoulder, squeezing it lightly.

Just as he was about to offer some words of comfort and encouragement, the comm flared to life.

"Spectre Two to Defender, we are go. I repeat, we are go!"

Miara wasted no time powering up the Defender. The prototype fighter slowly lifted off of the ground. The warehouse was too small to get a feel of the fighter, and they were on a timer.

Miara's hands wrapped around the controls of the fighter, elevating it slightly, and tilting the vessel to point upwards.

"Let's hope this works." Miara spoke aloud, more for herself than for Rex.

Miara pushed the button on the side of the fighter's joystick.

Bright green bursts of energy erupted from the fighter's wings. The heavy blaster cannons fired a series of shots towards the ceiling of the warehouse. Seconds later, the roof caved in.

Some of the rubble impacted on the fighter itself, but merely bounced off of the shielding the prototype possessed. Miara pushed the joystick forwards, directing the fighter out of the now ruined warehouse.

As Miara manoeuvred the fighter out of the imperial complex, various troopers on the ground, as well as a pair of anti-ship batteries attempted to take them down. Miara expertly weaved the fighter side to side, evading the shots from the ground.

What shots did hit the Defender did little damage, harmlessly being absorbed by the shielding. Even a shot from one of the anti-ship batteries did little to damage the prototype, merely shaking the vessel slightly.

Behind her, Rex was gripping tightly onto the pilot seat to maintain his balance.

'Why do I always get stuck with the crazy pilots?' Rex thought, as Miara weaved again to avoid another anti-ship battery.

"Ghost, we are airborne." Miara yelled into the comm.

Seconds later, Miara saw the Ghost pull up alongside the Defender, entering into a formation.

The vessels quickly gained altitude, moving away from the imperial complex, and into the clouds of Lothal.

Now all they had to do was get past the destroyers in orbit.

"Everyone ok on your end?" Rex inquired into the comm.

Hera responded immediately. "Kanan says Ahsoka's been hurt. Kaeden is treating her as we speak."

Rex leaned forward in an instant, concern on his face for his friend.

"How bad is it?"

It was Agent Kallus that replied. "Thrawn got a shot off on her. Got her in the waist."

Miara could feel Rex's anger perforating from him.

"I'm going to kill him!" Rex snarled. Anyone who hurt his commander had to answer to him, if they survived Ahsoka in the first place that was.

'Skywalker should be glad he's already dead!' Rex's mind thought venomously. Vader was still a sore spot for him as well.

"Get in line!" It was Ezra that spoke through the comm next, clearly just as angry at Thrawn was the others were.

"Ok everybody off the comm. Miara and I need to concentrate." Hera interrupted, assuming her authority voice.

As the Ghost and Defender left Lothal's orbit, they came face to face with an Imperial Star Destroyer. Its design was the same as most, except its underside sported an intricate mural, representing a creature of some kind.

"Since when do Star Destroyers have go faster stripes?" A voice came over the comms.

"EZRA! OFF THE COMMS NOW!" Hera shouted back. The young Jedi decided to keep his mouth shut this time, rather than provoke Hera's wrath.

The Star Destroyer chose that moment to open fire. Turbolaser blasts came sailing towards the Defender and its escort. But between the piloting skills of Hera and Miara, as well as the advanced technology both vessels possessed, it was easy to avoid the turbolasers.

Star Destroyers were designed to combat larger vessels, such as capital ships.

Not take down individual fighters.

"Charge the hyperdrive!" Hera ordered over comm. Miara complied, her hands hitting the respective switch.

A squadron of TIE fighters emerged from the Star Destroyer, barrelling down upon the rebels.

"Just a few seconds longer." Miara whispered, watching as the hyperdrive charged.

Hera evaded another group of TIEs, lining up to jump to hyperspace.

Seconds later, both hyperdrives were charged.

"NOW MIARA!" Hera shouted over comm.

Miara keyed the hyperdrive.

Seconds later, both vessels vanished from imperial scanners.

They had escaped.

And they had Thrawn's prototype.

Author's thoughts

Oh look at that, they got away. What a surprising surprise!

In all seriousness, I know this chapter is somewhat anticlimatic, but its for a reason. One that will be explained.

Also, I hope Ezra's brief attempt at humour came off as funny. I'm not the best at humour in general, but I tried.

So, just the epilogue left now, which shall be up tomorrow no doubt.

Hope you all enjoyed this so far. Can't wait to see what you think of the epilogue. There are certain things in there that may shock you.

As always, comment and speculate at will.

Speaking of which:

Mysterious Guest that commented on chapter 12: Ahsoka is OP, but then so is Thrawn in some regards. Pitting those two against each other was fun.

FossilQueen1984: Poor Grand Admiral Thrawn, got his nose broken by a Togruta. He wont forget that. At this point, Sidious' ultimate goal is to make Ahsoka his apprentice. He appreciates what Thrawn does, but if getting Ahsoka meant disposing of Thrawn, Sidious would do it in a heartbeat.

Random Person 94: I think its probably Ahsoka's stubborness that gives her a thick skull, both physically and metaphorically. They did indeed escape, and it seems there are no more traps left by Thrawn. Or are there?

P.S. By the way, it surprised me that no-one made a comment about Ahsoka getting shot. Not that I expected you too, just surprised me is all. :)

P.S. again: Also, and this wasn't intentional, I didn't realize that I had Ahsoka perform the same move on Thrawn that Vader did on Kanan in the last fic. (the headbutt thing) Like Master like Padawan huh? :D