Heyo everyone! Here's chapter three! It's one of my favorites, and I hope you enjoy it too! :)

There is no TW for this chapter.

Echo was dead.

There had been an explosion during the fight when a turret blasted down a ship, Ahsoka had seen it with her very own eyes. At first, she didn't realize what had happened. It was just an explosion. That was until she heard Fives' blood curdling scream.

"ECHO!" His voice had been disturbingly full of terror, and her heart almost stopped. She knew at that moment that Echo was gone.

He had been more than just a soldier. He was the one who would stay up for hours reading to her when the fear of nightmares kept her awake, the one who held the hands of his vod when they were in agony, bed-ridden in the medbay, and he would goof around with Fives, and calm Anakin down when he had panic attacks, and-

And he wasn't coming back, but they had to keep going. So they did. Obi-Wan gave the word, and they ran.

Now, they were still on the run, trying to make it to the rendezvous point so Master Plo's rescue team could save them. If Fives hadn't just seen his best friend die, he'd find that hilarious.

"Who'd think the rescue team would need a rescue team, aye?" He would joke.

He didn't- instead he just walked up to Anakin and asked, "Mind if I scout ahead, General Skywalker?" He sounded shallow and empty. Ahsoka imagined his sad bearded face behind his helmet.

"Sure thing, Fives," if Anakin was aware as to how much the grief the ARC was feeling, he didn't let it show in his tone, "but take Commander Tano and Captain Tarkin with you. Don't want to be alone while we're being hunted down."

Ahsoka supposed that Fives wanted to be alone and she hated Tarkin, but Anakin was right. "Sure thing, Master." She said, following behind Fives.

The three of them walked ahead of the rest of the group for a while. Ahsoka kept glancing down to her boots, careful not to accidentally stray off the path and fall into the hot, bubbling lava.

Anakin was right when he said that this mission was going to be dangerous.

Part of her wished she never came, but she couldn't dwell on that now. Her scouting group was far enough away from the others that she was the only leader for miles. It was her job to scout the way to the rendezvous, and that was what she was going to do, regardless of how she got on the mission.

"Keep an eye out, guys. We need to contact General Skywalker if we see anything out of the ordinary." She said, finding her authoritative voice as she spoke. "Just follow my lead."

Tarkin frowned, his nose slightly tilting up towards the sky as if he'd just smelled something rotten. "I don't expect a female such as yourself to lead us out of here."

Ahsoka stopped walking, and felt her face heat up red with anger. Couldn't he see she was already having a bad day? The Jedi's lessons on containing feelings escaped her and she made a tight fist at her side.

"Last time I checked, I outrank you, Captain."

He stopped walking too, and his lip twitched slightly. Unlike her, however, he remained calm and collected. "The rank you were practically gifted by the Skywalker doesn't change who you are, Tano."

He was lying. He had to be. She had been at the very bottom when she first joined the 501st. Even if she was Anakin's padawan, she was a small, teenage girl with no experience. That put her farther below than any shiny ever could be. She had worked her shebs off to get where she was at the top. Anakin wouldn't have just let her be Commander because he was her teacher, would he?

Doubt must have been written all over her face because Tarkin read it perfectly. "Do you honestly believe you were worthy of your rank, Padawan Tano?"

Ahsoka frowned. She wanted to make him regret talking down to her, but she was at a loss for words. She looked up at Fives, her eyes pleading for a helping hand.

Fives didn't look at her- he didn't even seem to be aware of the tension between Ahsoka and Tarkin.

The ARC stared straight ahead, mind focused on the task.

Echo, she reminded herself. Fives had just lost Echo. She shouldn't expect him to pick a fight right now. She was alone on this one.

Tarkin mistook her shocked silence for weakness and said, "You're too weak to be a leader. All of you women are."

That was it. She spun back around to him. "Wipe that smirk off your face." She demanded. "If we're getting out of here, we're just going to have to work together."

She was more than offended.

Not only did Tarkin criticize her, but he criticized every other woman serving on the front lines of this ghastly war. Her female friends' faces flickered through her mind: Padme, Aayla, Barriss, Riyo.

None of them were weak, and yet all of them were leaders of higher rank than this man.

How dare he.

Tarkin opened his mouth, "I don't believe-"

"Do you want to make it off this force-forsaken planet alive?" She snapped. She could almost hear Obi-Wan's voice in her head, lecturing her for her emotional outburst, but she didn't care. Obi-Wan wasn't here. Neither was Anakin, or anyone who could either help or stop her.

"Now, I know men like you would never trust a girl like me, but men like you don't make it out of dangerous situations like this one without us. So, unless you want everyone to lose half of the Nexus Route information when you get killed- which if you remember, you almost were before I saved you- you're just going to have to trust me and my abilities, Captain."

And with that, she walked right past him, Fives following her, giving him a dirty look.

"C'mon Fives, let's regroup." She said, and they left Tarkin who just stood there dumbstruck for a second.

Ahsoka smiled to herself. She knew he expected nothing more than childish insults from her, but she had challenged him with the intelligence and authority of the Commander he foolishly thought she could never be without a man's help.

Thanks dieFabuliererin for co-writing this with me, and I love you guys lots! :)