Chapter 2 is up! Sorry if it moves a little too fast.

Escape

Ahsoka woke up the next day to the smell of something that made her stomach growl. She jumped down from the bed and saw that the room was empty. She made her way down to the kitchen to find everyone snacking on the meal that had been made. Ahsoka walked up and grabbed a plate with some food from Narin before settling down next to Zarin.

"So, what're you going to do today?" Zarin inquired.

"Well, I need to go and inform the others before they start to worry. If we don't do so, they'll worry like no other." Ahsoka answered.

"I'll come with you." Zarin offered. Ahsoka smiled and accepted the help.

Once they finished the meal, they left the club for the warehouse. Zarin had put his head gear on again. Ahsoka strode in front with Narin directly behind. Zarin and Jeru flanked them. They were having a polite conversation as they reached the warehouse area. They were caught up in a crowd that had surrounded the area.

"What's going on?" Ahsoka asked. A Bothan male turned to answer her.

"Imperial stormtroopers have discovered a Jedi hideout. They're in the middle of breaching the doors."

Fear showed on Ahsoka's face as she pushed her way to the front. The stormtroopers had blown the door and tossed grenades inside. They stormed in firing their blasters. Two of them fell back as blaster fire was returned at them. Ahsoka watched in horror at the flashes of blaster fire. Then it stopped, Troopers came out dragging the bodies of some of the Jedi. She saw the two Rodian knights, the human male who had acted so cruel to her, and six other humans dragged out dead. Then she watched in horror as two troopers pushed Falor, the Rodian who had been leading them, out into the open. He was wounded badly.

"That's the last one. The place is empty." a trooper reported to the Lieutenant outside.

"Good, then we just need to figure out what to do with this traitor. He's too injured to move and we aren't required to bring Knights in."

Two troopers pulled Falor to his feet. They weren't gentle about and one even punched him in the gut. Falor's eyes found Ahsoka. He made a hidden gesture and reached out in the force to her, warning and pleading with her to leave. The lieutenant pulled out his hand held blaster and held it between Falor's eyes. "Any last words Jedi?"

Falor stood up tall. "You may kill me now, but the Empire will fall. The Emperor has deceived you all and I pity you for what is to come." Then he closed his eyes.

It was quick. The lieutenant shot him clean through the forehead and watched as he dropped down to the ground dead. Ahsoka tried to fight back tears as she saw this happen. Then she saw movement on the side of the building. Clone troopers were ushering some people away from the building. They looked around as if they were trying not to draw attention to themselves. Ahsoka motioned for the others to follow her. They crept away from the crowd and circled into a back alley. They managed to find a spot to observe the troopers.

"Come on. We have to hurry. The real troopers will be checking around just in…"

Whack! Ahsoka had jumped from her hiding place, grabbed a metal pole nearby and swung it at the nearest trooper. The trooper went down hard. As Ahsoka turned to face another trooper, Zarin and Jeru had jumped out as well. They each tackled a trooper and bashed their heads against the walls. They collapsed unconsciously to the ground. Narin had stayed back and slowly moved forward, about to join the fray. Then…

"Stop!"

The four teens froze as they recognized the low growl voice. They turned to see Ryor the Shistavanean standing there. Around him were the other survivors. Asila, Darin, and Raso (the humans), Zari (the other female Twi'lek), the two Zabraks (Saro and Varino), and the twins Raki and Salira stood behind him. Ryor walked forward and laid a hand on Ahsoka's shoulder.

"Don't Ahsoka. These clones are deserters." he growled. "They came to warn us about the raid just before it happened."

"They're trying to trick you!"

"Commander, trust me that's the last thing we want to do."

Ahsoka froze as she saw the familiar clone walking up behind Ryor. He had the markings on his armor that gave him away instantly. "Rex?"

"Hey youngling. What's up?" Ahsoka welled up and buried her face into Rex's chest plate. "Glad to see you too. But we really should get you kids out of here."

"We can take them someplace safe. Its' where we were last night!" Ahsoka said.

After getting everyone into a transport, Ahsoka and the others led them to the club. They jumped out to let the owner know that they needed to open the cargo area. Once inside, the clones and Jedi got out and filed into the back room. They collapsed around the place with the doctor looking at the unconscious clone troopers.

"Ximina!" Raki and Salira yelled before pouncing on her. They laughed as they hugged her and she returned it.

"Good to see you two made it out. But let me guess, it was because you sneaked out of the temple again didn't you?" Ximina asked.

Raki and Salira averted their eyes from hers and tried to come up with an excuse. Everyone laughed at them as Ximina pretended to scold them. Ahsoka turned to see Rex and the four clones that were conscious laughing as well.

"So Rex, what's your story in all this?" she inquired.

Rex turned to face her. "Well, when Order 66 was issued, I felt that something wasn't right about it. The whole Jedi order turning against the Republic? Not a chance. So Slicer here hacked into the Chancellor's hidden holo recorder system and found the truth. He's the one who's been behind the whole war since before it began. He played both sides against each other until he could use us to wipe out the Jedi order."

"Never felt more used in my life." a trooper said.

Ahsoka recalled the events following their escape from the temple. "Rex, I saw you when I was fleeing the temple. You and your men were escorting Jedi out, but I could tell it wasn't as prisoners. Where are they?"

"They're at a ship hangar actually. They've been hiding aboard the ship and we've been getting it ready to fly. It's a Dreadnought."

Rex got some shocked expressions from the people around the room. Then Zarin spoke up. "You have a Dreadnought! You realize how many people you need to crew that thing?"

"Only about twenty two hundred, but we can carry up to sixteen thousand." Rex smiled as he got even more confused looks. "I told you guys, my men and I no longer serve the Empire. We gathered some men from other units besides the 501st and have taken hold of an old storage hangar. The Dreadnought is brand new and owned by some privateer as a collectible. We're posing as an Imperial search party and were told to 'relieve him' of the ship. It's almost set to leave. We were out checking for anymore Jedi when we came across you guys."

Happy faces shown on the Jedi around the room. They could sense he was telling the truth and were excited. "How many other Jedi have you found?" a curious Salira asked.

"Twelve younglings, all of them human or Twi'lek, and fifteen padawans. Only three of them aren't human. They're all younger than you lot though, so we've had to make sure they don't do anything crazy."

The conversation went on for a little while more before the Jedi started to grab what little belongings they had. They decided that it would be better to leave Coruscant and seek shelter elsewhere. The clones would be their disguise as they left the capital. The Jedi would then set up a faint signal that would try to call Jedi to them. It was on a link only known to Jedi so it was thought to be secure enough for them to use. The group settled into the transport and almost everyone was settled in. Ahsoka watched as Zarin and Ximina said farewell to the club people. Then they were off.

The Jedi were sitting in the back of the large transport. The clones were walking beside as their escort. Every time they stopped, Ahsoka was afraid they had been discovered. Then they would move again. At one point she heard Rex and the other clones jump onto the outside of the transport and hold on as the vehicle moved from the structure ground into the air and land again after a few more minutes.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they landed at a small hangar. Ahsoka was the one who filed out first and was immediately stunned. Rex wasn't kidding. They had a brand new Dreadnought! Troopers in civilian clothing of all sorts were moving to and from the ship and boxes of supplies. Some were wearing their armor and acting as guards at every entrance. She scanned the area and saw a person who didn't look like a clone.

She approached the person and tapped her on the shoulder. The person turned to face her with a smile. The smile quickly turned to one of shock as she realized who she was looking at. "Ahsoka?"

"Kalina?"

The two girls hugged each other. Ahsoka recalled working with her and her master once before on a mission to Corellia. The others from the transport walked over and started to say hi as well. Soon they walked to the Dreadnought and made their way to the large meeting chamber. It was circle room that had three levels of seats surrounding a central holo projector. Spread throughout the room was the other Jedi, some civilians, and the former officers of the clones.

"Welcome to the core members of our little force here." Rex said. Ahsoka and the others bowed and said hello. "Now that we're all here and getting ready to move out soon, I think its' time we named a leader around here."

The group looked as one to Ahsoka. "What? You think I should…But I couldn't!"

"Ahsoka, we clones are used to taking orders from Jedi. The others here served as sub commanders. You however led a full fleet in the attack on the liberation of Ryloth. It makes sense for you to be in charge." Rex said. The other clone officers nodded in agreement with him.

"We're just the few civilians who support the Jedi still. We couldn't lead you guys. We look up to you." a civilian leader said with agreements from the other four civilians in the room.

Ahsoka looked at her forty fellow Jedi. Twelve younglings and twenty-eight padawans. "So what's your reasoning?"

"Ahsoka, you saved us from the temple. You showed us that we could trust you."

"You're the one who has trained not with just one, but several of the masters and earned their respect."

"Besides, as Captain Rex pointed out, you're the only one here who has led a large scale force in a brilliant move that won the battle."

She felt everyone continuing to look at her. She knew she wasn't going to find a way out of this without a big effort in trying to get someone else. She closed her eyes and nodded. "Fine, I'll take the job. But only if I get a representative from each group to help me out."

They debated for awhile on who would be the three representatives. After much talk and persuasion, they finally agreed on three. Rex would be the representative and leader of the clones. A woman named Kalia would lead and represent the small civilian group. And Zarin would represent the Jedi remnant.

Next they tried to figure out where they would go. There wasn't any world that they knew wasn't loyal to the new Empire and willing to take in a bunch of fugitives and deserters. So it was decided they would go to a hidden space lane known only to a few Jedi and send out a rolling, multi changing message for any Jedi or trooper who was on the run to meet with them.

With those two things decided, the group dispersed to help the clones with the final stages before lifting off. Ahsoka wound up helping Jeru set up the coded message.

"Jeru, you sure that this'll work? What if someone else picks this up?"

"Ahsoka, only Jedi know of this code. Its' a rotating code that changes every few minutes. If you recognize the code, then you input the password rotating code that should complete the signal and we establish a link. If you try to hack it, no matter how good you are, a virus will be released back down the link you've established and destroy anything linked to the code. Its' fool proof."

Ahsoka couldn't help but smile at Jeru in his confidence. He always was a techie. Ahsoka noticed he was finished and took his leave. She walked through the hallways of the vast ship and came to her room aboard the ship. She closed the door behind her and sat upon the bed. She stared down at the floor with a sadness that would've darkened the skies of Tatooine.

What am I doing? I can't lead them. I'll wind up doing something stupid and endangering them all. A knock interrupted her thoughts. She waited for the person to go away, but she felt them there still. She breathed out a sigh before calling out for them to enter.

"Feeling ok?" Zarin asked. She looked back down at the floor and brought her knees to her chest. "I'll take that as a no."

She felt him sit down on the bed next to her. She wrapped her arms around legs and rested her head on her knees. "I just don't think I can lead them. My master is the one that betrayed us. If I can't trust myself, how can I expect them to trust me?"

"Ahsoka, stop. You'll do fine…"

"No I won't! I'll do something stupid and wind up getting us all killed! Maybe if I go now, you guys can…"

Ahsoka was interrupted as Zarin pulled her out of her cradling position and hugged her close. She was so stunned by the move that she wasn't sure how to react. She felt her face flush and her heart speed up.

"Ahsoka, listen to me. There's a reason we trust you to lead us. All of us know you're the most experienced Jedi here and a valued friend. You're hesitant about taking the leadership role and that's perfect. It means you don't want to take the power over us and become corrupt by it. As for you trying to leave, I for one would hunt you down and drag you back if I have to."

Ahsoka smiled and rested her head on his shoulder while bringing her arms up to return the hug. She felt the warmth of his body and felt safe within his arms. As if she no longer felt afraid or unsure of what to do. "Thanks Zarin. I really needed that."

"No problem Ahsoka. Anything, anytime, and anywhere for you." Zarin replied. He pulled back from the hug and kissed her on the forehead. Then he just stood up and walked to the door. "We're going to be taking off soon. You might want to be present on the bridge when we do."

As soon as he left, Ahsoka felt a rush of emotions hit her. First happiness, then confusion, followed by shock, and finally fear. I felt so wonderful there, especially when he kissed me on my forehead. But why? Do I l… love him? No! I couldn't! Its' against the Jedi code!

After a few more minutes of feeling flustered, she got up and walked to the bridge. The hallways were full of excitement and people rushing up and down them. She recalled the crew count at two thousand clones, five hundred civilians, and forty Jedi. She was amazed at how many people were willing to take such a risk and get off Coruscant. When she reached the bridge, all the people she had met earlier were scattered about it.

"We've finished loading the supplies onto the ship, Commander. All personnel have been brought on board and we just sealed the ramps. We can take off whenever you give the command." Rex said.

Ahsoka took a look around at all the faces on the bridge before finding Zarin. Getting an encouraging smile from him, she turned to the pilot and two co-pilots. "Launch."

"Initiating ion drives."

"Course set for leaving atmosphere."

"Releasing clamps and opening hangar."

"Lift off!"

Ahsoka felt the ship moving under her feet. Out the viewport in front of her, she saw the ship rise and come out of the hangar. It turned to the left and started to climb towards the freedom of space. Ahsoka held her breath as they approached the shield barrier. Just as expected everyone else tensed up a little bit as a voice came over the comm system.

"Dreadnought heavy cruiser Deliverance, this is Imperial Watch Tower XJ-45. State your intent, course, and mission identification." an emotionless voice asked.

Ahsoka nodded to the civilian manning the communications station. He turned on the channel and said, "Imperial Watch Tower XJ-45, this is the Deliverance. We are heading out to support the 67th Battle Fleet out in the Mid Rim. We are transmitting our course to you and our mission id verification." This was of course all a lie, but they had to give them something to lower the shield.

Seconds went by slowly as they waited for a response. Just as it looked like they would ram the shield barrier, they saw the faintest flicker across the sky. "Deliverance, this is Tower XJ-45. You've been clear to proceed through the barrier."

Without waiting for the comm officer to respond, the ship moved forward. The shield closed behind them and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Then froze again as the voice came back on. "Deliverance, stand by for inspection teams from the Star Destroyer Sweet Victory."

"What? Since when are we required to undergo inspections?"

"Since Jedi have been discovered trying to flee the planet. Again, stand by for search parties."

Everyone tensed and looked at Ahsoka. She quickly ran through every possible thing they could do. Too many Jedi were on board to actually hide them. If the clone troopers met with the inspection team and didn't know something new the Imperials had come up with, they'd be discovered. There was only one option left: run like hell and blast any Imperial in their way.

"Weapons, start up the guns slowly and wait for the destroyer to come in close. Engines, get the hyperdrive ready immediately. Rex, do we have any hyperspace capable fighters?"

"Two squadrons of Y-wings, a squadron of V-wings, a squadron of Arc-170s, and a squadron of Z-95 Headhunters."

Wow, five squadrons of fighters? That's sixty starfighters in all! Where did they get them all? "Then take command here. I'll lead a half squadron of Y-wings to cover us from any pursuers. I'll nee some volunteers for this so get ten people down to the hangar immediately."

As she left, she felt Zarin running behind her. "What're you doing?" She looked back over her shoulder at him.

"You'll need a gunner, so I thought I'd volunteer." he answered with a grin on his face. Ahsoka returned her attention to the front as she ran, barely aware that her heart sped up even more with him coming with her.

They reached the hangar where the half squadron of Y-wings was kept. She saw ten pilots, four civilians and six clones, waiting in the cockpits and gunnery positions of each fighter. She and Zarin ran and jumped in the last one. As Zarin strapped himself into the gun turret, Ahsoka closed the cockpit and turned the comm over to the half squadron's channel.

"Alright, this is Ahsoka Tano. Designation code: Defender One. Defender Squadron report in."

"Defender Two, ready to go."

"Defender Three, let's get moving."

"Defender Four, green and ready."

"Defender Five, set to fly."

"Defender Six, locked and loaded."

Ahsoka activated the starfighter's engines and flew it out of the hangar with the other five following. The minute they exited the hangar, the turbo lasers of the Deliverance fired on the Star Destroyer approaching them. Since the destroyer didn't know of the attack, the lasers hit the unprotected hull and caused massive damage. A flight of ARC-170s flew out of the hangar. Ahsoka felt Zarin's turret open up on them as they turned to come at them. Two of them burst into flames under his fire. Three more fell to the fire from the other fighter's turrets. Then they were past them and positioning themselves between the rest of the fighters and the Deliverance.

The Imperial fighters turned around to come at them. Zarin swiveled around to bring his turret to cover their tail. Ahsoka took a moment to glance behind her at the Star Destroyer which started to lazily drift off. Another one came in behind them with two more circling around to join the pursuit. Two light cruisers streaked ahead of them, drawing closer to the Deliverance.

"Defender Five and Defender Six, head to the front of the Deliverance and make sure they get out of range of the planet's gravity. The rest of you, we've got two light cruisers coming in fast. I need a volunteer to come in fast with us to knock out their engines."

"This is Defender Three, we'll come with you."

Ahsoka and Defender Three pulled back and came around to face the cruisers. They sped past the incoming fire and came turning around. Zarin and Defender Three's turret gunner opened up on the ARC-170s while they lined up for the shots to the cruisers' engines. Ahsoka brought the one on the right into her targeting and fired off her proton torpedoes. They connected with the engines and blew them to pieces. The cruiser started to drift off to the right and upward from its' original course.

Ahsoka let out a shout of success and turned her to see…Defender Three's engines ablaze! The turret was blown out and empty. She could see the pilot struggling to bring the fighter under control.

"Defender Three! What's your status?" a voice over the comms asked.

"Port engine on fire and losing stability. Turret gunner dead. Fighter is leaking fuel and oxygen. Losing control of the fighter."

"Can you make it back to the ship?" Ahsoka asked.

"Negative. I repeat negative. Fuels being pumped out too fast."

"Then try and come to heading 5628 and we'll…"

"Commander, don't. By the time you got a tractor beam on me, that cruiser will have the support of those three destroyers. If we don't deal with this cruiser now, it'll slip past us and hit the engines like we're doing. I won't become a prisoner of the Empire, so I'll ram the engines."

A brief and uncomfortable silence came over the comms. Then Ahsoka screamed at the comms. "What about your torpedoes?"

"Firing controls are lost."

"You can't just through your life away!"

"Commander, I thank you for your concern, but listen to me. I'm not going to be able to get out of this alive and out of the Empire's clutches. I know how many torpedoes you shot off thanks to my scanners and you don't have enough to take this one out as well. Instead of risking another fighter going down, I'll ram their engines while arming all my torpedoes. The blast will be more than enough for the task."

Ahsoka flew over next to the injured fighter. She saw the pilot was a civilian. She fought back the urge to continue pleading with the stubborn man. She activated a secure link to the pilot. "Pilot, you're stubborn but brave. I can't say anything that would convey my sorrow and thanks for what you are doing. If this is finally it, at least tell me your name."

"This is Solomon, Commander. My gunner was clone named Skimmer. Its' an honor to have known you mam."

"Same to you Solomon. Same to you." Ahsoka replied before pulling away as Solomon's fighter shot forward and disappeared in a ball of fire and metal. The cruiser spun out of control from the explosion and went off to the left. Ahsoka pushed her fighter forward and caught up to Defender Two and Four behind the Deliverance.

"This is…Commander…Freedom. Defender Squadron, link your hyperdrive engines and computers to the Deliverance. Deliverance, initiate jump."

As the familiar view of hyperspace enveloped the fighter and shot off in the same direction as the rest of their small force, Ahsoka relaxed in her seat. She heard Zarin do the same.

"Commander Freedom?" Zarin inquired.

"Hey, I couldn't think of anything else! Besides, instead of giving the Imperials who were more than likely listening in on the channel an actual name, I gave them an idea instead."

"Commander Freedom…not too bad if not a little bit of a cliché. So, are the rest of us supposed to come up with codenames as well?"

"Only if you think you want one." Ahsoka replied weakly at that.

"Ahsoka?"

"…"

"Ahsoka?"

"…"

"Ahsoka?!"

"Zarin, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to be strong for everyone and find them a quiet place we can live in peace, away from all this. Then, I'm going to kill the Emperor."

Zarin was stunned by what she said. Then, his mind was at ease and he felt a strange force moving through him. It cleared his mind and focused him on what he knew he needed to say.

"Ahsoka, I don't think you need to follow that dangerous path. Yes, the Emperor needs to be killed. But you're full of all sorts of negative emotions. If you were to do that, you'd travel to the dark side. We wouldn't want that to happen to you. I wouldn't want that to happen." Zarin then leaned back and fell asleep.

Ahsoka felt ashamed after what he said. But then a new thought entered her head. Is he…watching over me? Why? Because I'm the leader? No, his voice sounded more emotional than respectful. What does this mean? She looked up behind her to the turret cockpit to see him resting. She smiled at him and relaxed into her seat. I may not understand what's going on, but I do know one thing. This war may be over, but a new one is about to begin.

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