On the planet of Ryloth, Hera's father, Cham Syndulla and Numa were riding two creatures that had dark skin, black eyes, reptilian, bipedal and non-sentient called blurrgs through one of the planet's deserts as Cham's blurrg had white markings around its head with three scout troopers riding speeder bikes and an Imperial troop transport chasing the two Twi'leks.

"How did they find us?" Numa asked Cham.

"The Empire is getting better at anticipating our moves," Cham answered.

"This will slow them down," Numa said as she grunted before she threw a thermal detonator backwards as the two speeder bikes behind them moved out of the way before the thermal detonator collided with the speeder bike behind the ones that moved out of the way and in front of the Imperial troop transport, destroying the speeder bike before the remnants of the destroyed speeder bike collided with the Imperial troop transport.

The two scout troopers then piloted their speeder bikes back behind the Twi'leks and began firing their speeder bikes' blaster cannons at them as Numa pulled out her DC-17 blaster pistol from its holster and began to fire it back at the scout troopers.

"Gobi, where are you?" Cham asked Gobi as he took out his comlink with his left hand and contacted him with it, "We need a pickup now!"

"We are not far from the Tarula Ravine," Numa told him, "We can lose them in the maze."

"No good. Gobi said they mined the pass," Cham stated and within seconds of him saying that, one of the lasers from the scout troopers' speeder bikes hit the back of the Blurrg that Numa was riding before Cham strafed his blurrg towards the speeder bike next to him as the scout trooper began firing their blaster pistol at Numa when Cham's blurrg suddenly pushed the scout trooper and their speeder bike towards Numa and her speeder bike before the blurrg tired biting the front of the speeder bike with its guns, only for the scout trooper to move their speeder bike away from the blurrg.

The blurrg then bit and ripped off the front of the speeder bike with its mouth as it threw the speeder bike into the air, causing the scout trooper to fall off their speeder bike as the speeder bike landed backwards behind the Twi'leks as the final scout trooper began to fire their speeder bike's blaster cannons at the Twi'leks again.

"Father, don't worry. We're closing in on your position" Cham suddenly heard his daughter say from his comlink as Numa fired her DC-17 blaster pistol back at the scout trooper.

"Hera, is that you?" Cham asked Hera with his comlink, "Good timing. We're running out of room."

"We are coming in from the north," Hera told him from his comlink when the Ghost suddenly appeared in the sky a distance away from him and Numa.

"There's no time for you to land," Cham informed Hera with his comlink.

"We're not landing. Head south," Hera said from the Ghost as she piloted the VCX-100 light freighter with Kanan sitting next to her on the ship's co-pilot seat and Gobi sitting on the seat behind him.

"Hera, there is no time," Cham protested from the Ghost's communications system.

"Turn around! We'll take care of the Empire," Hera assured her father with the Ghost's communications system.

"Is she serious?" Numa asked Cham as both Twi'leks stopped their blurrgs at the edge of a cliff.

"My daughter is always serious," Cham scoffed.

"Ha. Runs in the family," Numa said before Cham exclaimed as he whipped his blurrg forward before Numa did the same with hers as they began to head back towards the Imperials.

Another scout trooper suddenly appeared behind the Imperial troop transport on a speeder bike and flew past the Imperial troop transport and skidded to a stop in front of the Imperial troop transport and pulled out their blaster pistol and aimed it at the Twi'leks as he saw that they were approaching them along with the Ghost.

"Rebel transport incoming. Shoot it down!" The scout trooper ordered before he and the Imperial troop transport began to fire their blaster pistol,dorsal twin laser turrets at them with the Twi'leks firing their DC-17 and modified DL-44 blaster pistol back at them as Ezra, who was sitting on the seat of the nose gun began firing at the Imperials, destroying the Imperial troop transport before the blurrgs jumped on top of and ran over the destroyed Imperial troop transport, while the scout trooper began to follow them on his speeder bike.

"Hera, how do you plan on getting us onboard?" Cham asked his daughter as he contacted her with his comlink again as he and Numa rode their blurrgs underneath the front of the Ghost.

"I'm lowering the ramp," Hera explained, "Just jump on."

"With the Blurrgs?" He asked her from the Ghost's communications system.

"Yep. Blurrgs are welcome, too," Hera answered.

As she said that, the Ghost's ramp lowered behind Cham and Numa with Zeb standing on the side of the ramp from inside the ship's cargo hold as they slowly backed into the ship with the blurrgs with the scout trooper doing the same with his speeder bike as he put it in reverse and jumped off from his speeder bike and aimed his blaster pistol at them as he saw the Twi'leks and Zeb with Ezra standing on the catwalk above them.

"Ha!" The scout trooper laughed before he saw Zeb, Cham and Numa aiming their blasters at him.

"You didn't think that through, did you?"

"Uh…" the scout trooper began to say as he wasn't sure how to respond to the Lasat.

"Hey, kid, you got this outfit?" Zeb asked Ezra as he looked up at the Mandalorian.

"Nope," Ezra answered.

"The kid wants your helmet," Zeb apologized to the scout trooper as he placed his bo-rifle over his back, "Sorry." He then punched the scout trooper in the helmet with his right fist as he grunted, knocking him out as the scout trooper fell onto his back on the cargo hold's floor.

Zeb, Cham, Ezra and Sabine, who had dyed her hair back from its natural hair color and to light pinkish violet with dark purple at the tips, while Gobi and Numa sat around the holotable after they escaped the Empire as Kanan and Hera entered the room with Chopper before Hera and Cham hugged each other.

"You arrived just in time," Cham told his daughter as they stopped hugging before he placed both of his hands over both of her shoulders, "Thank you for making this supply run."

"It wasn't easy getting past that Imperial blockade," Hera stated as Cham removed his hands from her shoulders.

"Then I wish I had better news. The Imperials now occupy the entire Tann province," Cham told her, causing Hera to gasp in shock, while Chopper grunted a response.

"What's the Tann province?" Ezra asked them.

"It's where Hera grew up," Kanan answered.

"What happened, Father?" Hera asked her father.

"I underestimated the commander, Captain Slavin. His previous attacks were clumsy, but this one was swift, precise, unlike him. He's made our home his headquarters," Cham explained to his daughter as he sat down on the couch around the holotable, "I'm afraid I couldn't save anything when I escaped."

"Not even the Kalikori?" Hera asked him as she bent down in front of him.

"What's a Kalikori?" Ezra asked them.

"A totem passed down the line of a Twi'lek family. It honors all who have come before," Numa explained to the Mandalorian.

"Each parent adds to the artwork to include themselves in the legacy," Gobi added.

"Hmm. Family history as living art," Sabine muttered to himself.

"Your Kalikori reminds me of our Beskar armor," Ezra told the Twi'leks with a smile on his face as he looked at his wife, "Both carry our ancestors' legacies and are reforged for each new generation."

"Hera would have inherited our family's Kalikori," Cham stated as he looked at the Mandalorian with the corner of his eye.

"And I still will," Hera told him as he stood up, "That heirloom was important to my mother. And I'm not ready to give it up yet."

"Numa and I are coming with you," Cham stated as Gobi and Numa stood back up.

"We'll help, too," Sabine told her.

"This wasn't meant to be a personal mission," Hera said as she stood back up, "I can't let you take this risk for me."

"You'd do it for us," Kanan reminded her as he walked up next to her.

"Because we owe you," Zeb added as Chopper grunted a response in agreement as Sabine placed both of her hands over her hips.

"Come, daughter," Cham said as he placed his right hand over his daughter's left shoulder, "I'll brief you on Captain Slavin's defenses."

"All right, Chop, you'll sneak in with me here," Hera told Chopper as he projected a holographic image of the Tann province and her childhood home with his holoprojector and pointed at it with her left hand's index finger as Cham and Sabine stood next to them with the female Mandalorian having her arms crossed, while he had his hands over his hips as they stood inside a storage room within the Ghost, "The rest of you will work on a diversion to draw the troops away."

"Done. But there are few of our people left in the Tann province," Cham said, agreeing with his daughter's plan as Chopper switched off his holoprojector as Hera placed her left hand over her hip, "Getting you in unnoticed won't be easy."

"They might notice her, but they won't recognize me," they suddenly heard Ezra say as the door to the storage room slid open as he walked into the room before they looked at him and saw that he had removed his Beskar plates and had replaced them with the plates of the armor of the scout trooper that they captured with it's helmet over his head and flipped up before he flipped the helmet's visor back down over his face with his left hand's index finger.

Later at the Tukara Ravine, an Imperial troop transport and an AT-DP were patrolling the area with three stormtroopers in front of them as they were leading them with the AT-DP having a searchlight on as Zeb and Kanan were hiding behind a boulder as the Lasat held his bo-rifle in his hand nearby as Hera and Ezra were sitting on an Imperial speeder bike behind them with the Mandalorian having the visor of his scout trooper helmet flipped back up, while Cham and Gobi sat on blurrgs from a distance away with more blurrgs behind them with Gobi having a rocket launcher strapped to his back as Sabine and Numa were standing on a cliff above them with Sabine having her helmet over her head.

"Here comes the patrol," Zeb said as he moved towards Kanan, Hera and Ezra.

"You two wait here until we draw them away," Kanan told Hera and Ezra as he looked at them before the Mandalorian flipped his scout trooper helmet's visor back down, "Then you can slip by."

With that said, Zeb gave Cham and Gobi a thumbs up with his right hand before Cham nodded a response as he held up his left hand's index and middle fingers, sending Numa and Sabine a signal before Numa flashed a signal back at them.

Cham and Gobi fired their blasters at the Imperials as they rode them forward with the blurrgs along with the ones that didn't have anyone riding them with one of their closer bolts hitting one of the stormtroopers in the helmet, killing them instantly.

The stormtroopers then began firing their E-11 blaster rifles back at Cham and Gobi as Sabine pulled out a detonator activator with her left hand and clicked the button, causing detonators that were placed on the boulders around the ravine began to beep before activating as green, yellow, red and pink colored smoke appeared from the detonators.

Kanan then grabbed his lightsaber from his belt and ignited its blade as he and Zeb ran out of hiding with Zeb firing his bo-rifle at the stormtroopers as the Jedi Knight deflected their blaster bolts back at them with his lightsaber as Cham and Goni continued to fire their blaster pistols at the stormtroopers.

Suddenly, Numa and Sabine jumped down from the cliff above them with the female Mandalorian grabbing her lightsaber from her armor's belt and ignited it as she also began to deflect the stormtroopers' blaster bolts with it before they along with Kanan and Zeb hopped onto the other blurrgs with Kanan hopping onto the back of the blurrg that Sabine hopped on before the female Mandalorian deactivated her lightsaber and clipped it back onto her armor's belt as they began leading the Imperials away before Ezra piloted the speeder bike past the Imperials as he began heading towards Hera's childhood home.

"Well, we got their attention," Kanan stated as he looked at the Imperials chasing them as they continued to flee from the stormtroopers before he deflected their blaster bolts again.

"That's your home?" Ezra asked Hera as he stopped the speeder bike on a cliff and flipped his scout trooper helmet's visor back up with his left hand's index finger and saw a city within the Tann province below them before looking back at the Twi'lek, "It's beautiful."

"Yes," Hera said, agreeing with the Mandalorian, "Even more so before the Empire showed up." Ezra then flipped his scout trooper's visor back down before he speeded down the cliff towards the city.

As Ezra and Hera began to approach a gate that led to the Twi'lek's childhood home, Hera was now on the front of the speeder bike in order for her to act as his prisoner before he skidded the speeder bike to a halt as they began to approach a stormtrooper, who was guarding the gate.

"Hold it there," the stormtrooper said as he approached them, "Where did you find her?"

"I caught this rebel on patrol," Ezra answered as he cleared his throat and put on an upper-class core world accent.

"Let me go, you Blurrg dropping!" Hera ordered as she spoke in her native Rylothian accent.

"Take the prisoner inside for processing. The transport will come pick her up later," the stormtrooper said as he walked to the side of the gate before Ezra sped into the city with Hera acting as his prisoner on the speeder bike before he stopped the speeder bike in front of the Syndulla residence.

"The Empire's certainly made themselves at home," Hera muttered, bitterly as she switched her accent back to the one that she's been using since she left Ryloth as they got up from the speeder bike before they saw Chopper standing in front of a nearly scavenged Y-wing as he was now painted white, black and red as Sabine painted him before they went on with their plan, "Oh, there's Chopper." The astromech droid then grunted, sadly at the Y-wing as he remembered the Y-wing and being shot down from inside of it during the Battle of Ryloth during the Clone Wars, "Chopper. Chop!"

"What's with him?" Ezra asked her as he was confused why Chopper was sad.

"That Y-wing crashed here back in the Clone War, and my father left it as a memorial. It also happens to be the ship I pulled Chopper out of, so he still has issues with it. He'll be along," Hera explained before they entered the Syndulla residence with Ezra having his scout trooper's blaster pistol aimed at her back as they pretended that she was his prisoner again, "This way." They then walked through the main chamber of the Syndulla residence.

Ezra and Hera soon exited a turbolift in the middle of a hallway of the Syndulla residence with the Mandalorian aiming his scout trooper's blaster pistol to his side as a stormtrooper walked past them before Hera approached a panel to a door and clicked on it with her right hand's index finger, causing the door to slide open before she entered the room as she signaled Ezra to follow her before he followed her into the room with the door sliding back shut behind them.

"This is it. My father's office," Hera said as she began searching the room for her Kalikori on a shelf as Ezra flipped his helmet's visor back up after he placed his scout trooper's blaster pistol back in its holster as he began to walk around the room, "He said the Kalikori would be in here somewhere."

"Is that your mother?" Ezra asked her as he saw a portrait of Cham, a younger Hera and a female Twi'lek with green eyes and skin in the back of the room.

"Yes, it is," Hera answered, "I'll give you one guess who the little girl beside her is." She then gasped as she saw her Kalikori near the button of the shelves that she was searching through, "Here it is!" She then grabbed it with her right hand and touched the left side of the Kalikori with her left hand.

"Hmm. Well, that was easy," Ezra told her.

"Ah, we're not out of this yet. Come on. Let's go," Hera said as she left the room before Ezra flipped his scout trooper's visor back down with his left hand as he followed her out of the room.

As Hera and Ezra left the office, they reentered the entrance of the Syndulla residence and his behind one of the room's sidewalls when the door suddenly chimed with the door sliding open as a human male with pale skin, blue eyes and black hair, wearing a gray colored Imperial officer's tunic with the rank plaque of a captain over the right side of his chest and an Imperial officer's cap over his head, who both Ezra and Hera knew was Slavin as he entered the Syndulla residence with Thrawn, who had his arms behind his back, Faro and a stormtrooper.

"Stand down. No one in or out," Slavin ordered the stormtrooper before turning towards the Chiss and Faro as both Ezra and Hera began to run back through the door that they came from as Thrawn and Faro turned towards him, "Well, I have increased security per your orders, Grand Admiral, but I don't understand why. The rebel activity is far from here."

"Captain, the Grand Admiral's strategies have always accounted for variables unseen for the rest of us," Faro told him, "It would be wise to follow his orders without question."

"It's closer than you think, Captain," Thrawn added as he looked at the door to the turbolift as both Ezra and Hera entered the turbolift with its door sliding shut behind them.

"Was that a Chiss?" Ezra asked himself with surprise in his voice, "I haven't heard of one being seen in hundreds of years."

"May I ask, what's a Chiss?" Hera inquired as she looked at him.

"They're a rare blue skinned warrior species with high intelligence from the Unknown Regions," Ezra explained, "They're all but a myth nowadays as the last reported sightings of them was about a few hundred years ago."

"A myth, you say? That's fascinating," Hera muttered to herself, "I've traveled a lot, but I've never come across a Chiss before."

"I've never seen one in person either. They're quite the enigma," Ezra stated, "Well, how are we gonna get out of here?"

"There's a secret exit on the lower level," Hera answered.

"Do you think they know about it?" Ezra asked her.

"I doubt it. There was never a reason to come down here except to sneak a meiloorun from time to time," Hera answered as the turbolift stopped before they both immediately ran out of the turbolift and towards the door across from the turbolift before it slid open as she gasped as she opened it as she saw that the room had been converted into a command center with a couple of Imperial officers and stormtroopers standing inside the room with one of the Imperial officers standing in front of a battle map with their arms behind their back before she immediately hid behind the wall next to the door, "I've never seen so many gutkurrs down here before."

"I don't think they're down here for meilooruns," Ezra stated before they left the corridor.

Ezra and Hera soon walked into another hallway as they walked through a door into the hallway with it sliding open as Ezra flipped his scout trooper helmet's visor back up before they suddenly heard Chopper grunt as he waved at them with his right metal arm from around the corner.

"Chopper!" Hera said, excitedly as she bent down towards him on her left knee as he rolled towards them before she placed her left hand over his dome as Ezra bent down on his left knee as well, "Am I glad to see you. We could use some help." Chopper then grunted a response.

"Did we lose 'em?" Zeb asked Cham as they and the others were still riding on the blurrgs through the Tulara Ravine with Cham sitting on his blurrg next to him, "I think we finally lost 'em."

"Nobody knows this land as well as we do," Cham told the Lasat when spotlights suddenly flashed over them from behind before he and Zeb looked behind and saw an AT-DP flashing its spotlight at them with an Imperial troop transport and two stormtroopers, who began to fire upon them with their E-11 blaster rifles.

"Looks like they're learning fast," Zeb muttered before he whipped his blurrg to make it go faster as they began heading towards a wall of boulders nearby when the AT-DP fired upon the blurrg that both Sabine and Kanan were riding, causing them to fall off the blurrg.

Kanan and Sabine then stood up as the Jedi Knight reignited his lightsaber, while she grabbed her lightsaber from her armor's belt and reignited its blade as well before they began to use them to deflect the stormtroopers' blaster bolts with them as Cham, Gobi and Numa stopped the blurrgs that they were riding and turned them around.

"Gobi! Rocket launcher!" Cham ordered Gobi as he pulled his modified DL-44 blaster pistol back out with his right hand before he rode his blurrg forward towards the Imperials as he began firing his blaster pistol at the stormtroopers with Gobi riding the blurrg next to him and hopped off the blurrg as he grabbed the rocket launcher from his back and aimed it at the AT-DP for a second before aiming it at the cliff above the walker as he fired it at the cliff above the AT-DP, causing rocks to fall down from the cliff as they landed on the stormtroopers, killing them instantly and created obstacles for the Imperials.

"That won't hold them off for long," Sabine said as she sighed.

"Cham, any word from Hera?" Kanan asked Cham.

"No," Cham answered, "Something must have gone wrong." Just as he said that, the Imperials broke through the rocks as the stormtroopers and AT-DP fired at them with their E-11 blaster rifles and laser cannon.

"We got to help her and Ezra," Sabine told him as she deactivated her lightsaber and clipped it back onto her armor's belt.

"We will," Kanan assured her as he also deactivated his lightsaber as they began to flee from the Imperials as she hopped onto the back of Zeb's blurrg with Zeb lifting her up with his right hand, while Kanan hopped onto the back of Numa's blurrg as she helped him up with her right hand as well, "Come on!"

"Chop was right. There are less guards here," Hera said as she, Ezra and Chopper stood around the doorframe to the main chamber of the Syndulla residence and saw two stormtroopers guarding the doorway on the other side of the room with Ezra still having his scout trooper helmet's visor flipped up, while Chopper stood in the middle of the doorway.

"Well, I guess they're not expecting prisoners to just walk out the front door," Ezra stated, "We need a diversion." Chopper then grunted a response as he pulled out his right metal arm from his dome for a second before he placed it back inside his dome before he began rolling towards the stormtroopers and pulled out both of his metal arms as he began grunting at the stormtroopers as Hera and Ezra quietly sneaked behind one of the room's sidewalls as the stormtroopers began to approach the astromech droid.

"Is that thing talking to us?" One of the stormtroopers asked their fellow stormtrooper.

"Looks like it's malfunctioning," the other stormtrooper stated.

"You go first. I'll keep you covered," Ezra told Hera as they reached the other end of the sidewall that they were hiding behind before Hera began to sneak towards the doorway with Ezra pulling out his scout trooper's blaster pistol and aimed it at the stormtroopers as Chopper continued to grunt at them with both of his metal arms out as Hera stared at the stormtroopers from behind for a second before she turned towards the doorway and began to walk towards it before it slid open as she saw Thrawn, Faro and Slavin standing in the doorway with the Chiss still having his arms behind his back.

"Out of the way, servant!" Slavin ordered Hera as if she were a slave.

"Uh-oh," Chopper grunted as he rolled away before Ezra backed away behind the sidewall as he placed his scout trooper's blaster pistol back in its holster yet again.

"You are not permitted on these floors," Slavin scolded her, "I told you people, restrict your movements to the kitchen."

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir," Hera apologized in her native Rylothian accent, pretending to be a slave.

"Captain Slavin, perhaps we should be more understanding," Faro suggested to Slavin, "These people are not used to our ways."

"Commander, we're here to maintain order, not to make friends," Slavin told her, "These people need to understand their place."

"Just a moment," Thrawn interjected as he noticed Hera's Kalikori as the Twi'lek began to walk away from them, "Guards bring her here."

As the Chiss said that, Ezra flipped his scout trooper's visor back down and began to approach Hera as he began to pose as a scout trooper as the stormtroopers began to approach the Twi'lek as well before the Mandalorian have the stormtroopers a gesture with his right hand before he pushed her towards Thrawn, Faro and Slavin with both of his hands.

"May I see that?" Thrawn requested the Twi'lek as he extended his right hand out towards her Kalikori before she handed it to him with her left hand, "I'm a visitor to your world. It occurs to me, it might be beneficial to hear what you have to say about our Imperial occupation."

"I don't think I could be of any help to you," Hera told him as she continued to use her native Rylothian accent.

"Oh, I disagree," Thrawn stated as he walked past them, "Bring her to your office for questioning." They then began to walk forward with Ezra and one of the stormtroopers escorting Hera as Chopper watched from one of the room's sidewalls before he rolled away.

"Please! I am a poor refugee," Hera lied, pleading with Thrawn, Faro and Slavin as she was thrown onto a chair in what used to be her father's office and was now Slavin's office in front of the portrait of her and her parents from when she was a child with Thrawn, Faro and Slavin standing in front of her, while Ezra continued to pose as a scout trooper as he stood nearby in front of a wall near the Twi'lek.

"Captain, do you recognize this?" Thrawn asked Slavin as he handed him the Kalikori with his left hand.

"Yeah, do you recognize it, Captain?" Faro asked Slavin with curiosity in her voice as she looked at the Kalikori.

"Yes, it, it was here, in my office," Slavin answered as he grabbed the Kalikori from the Grand Admiral with his left hand before he turned around towards Hera.

"I thought I could sell it for food," Hera lied, "My family is starving."

"No excuse," Slavin snarled at her with anger in his voice, "You shall make a valuable example to others of your kind who think to steal from the Empire."

"She's far more valuable than you realize," Thrawn stated as Slavin handed the Kalikori back to him as the Chiss took it back from him with his left hand before he began to walk forward.

"Uh… How do you mean?" Slavin asked the Chiss Grand Admiral.

"Yeah, who is she, Grand Admiral?" Faro said, agreeing with Slavin.

"To defeat an enemy, you must know them. No simply their battle tactics, but their history, philosophy, art," Thrawn explained as he walked around Hera before staring at the portrait of her and her parents from when she was a child before he looked back at Slavin and Faro, "So, I will Captain, do you know what this is?"

"Some primitive native trinket," Slavin answered, not thinking much of the Kalikori that Thrawn was holding in his left hand.

"It's a Kalikori," Thrawn explained, causing Hera to widen her eyes with surprise and shock, "A revered Twi'lek heirloom passed from parent to child through generations. Worthless to outsiders, priceless to family."

"Yes. Well, she stole it," Slavin reminded the Chiss.

"True, but theft is often a symptom of larger issues, Captain," Faro told him, "It's worth understanding the 'why' behind it."

"Yes, but why?" Thrawn asked, agreeing with his second-in-command as he turned back around towards Hera, "War. It's all you've ever known, isn't it? You were so young when you survived the Clone War. No wonder you're as equipped in spirit to fight as well as you do." The Chiss then walked past her, "War is in your blood. I study the art of war, work to perfect it." He then leaned down a bit behind Hera on her left side, "But you… You were forged by it."

"Sir, she's just a peasant," Slavin said with confusion in his voice.

"Captain, underestimating one's opponent is a dangerous mistake," Faro told Slavin.

"It doesn't matter where we come from, Admiral. Our will to be free is what's going to beat you," Hera remarked, bitterly as she switched her accent back to the one that she's been using since she left Ryloth.

"You… You dare…" Slavin began to spat out at her in outrage.

"Slavin, please. You embarrass me in front of our host," Thrawn scolded him.

"Host what?" Slavin repeated with confusion in his voice.

"Admiral, are you saying what I think you're saying?" Faro asked Thrawn with surprise in her voice.

"Indeed, Commander Faro," Thrawn confirmed before he gestured to the portrait behind them with his right hand, "May I introduce Hera Syndulla, rebel pilot, freedom fighter and military leader. Daughter of your nemesis, Cham Syndulla."

Ezra then went to grab his scout trooper's blaster pistol, only for Thrawn to fire a stun blast at him with an RK-3 blaster pistol as he pulled it out from his tunic's holster with his right hand, causing the Mandalorian to groan and slump to the floor on his stomach as he fell unconscious as Hera gasped in shock.

"How did you know?" Slavin asked Thrawn, confused on how he knew that the scout trooper was a rebel, who was posing as an Imperial trooper as Thrawn placed his RK-3 blaster pistol back in its holster before he placed his right hand over the back of the chair that Hera was sitting on as she looked at Ezra.

"Because rebels have friends always rushing to the rescue," Thrawn explained.

"A wise precaution, Grand Admiral," Faro added, "Rebels are known for their loyalty to each other."

A while later, a stormtrooper pushed Hera into a cell with their right elbow as she dragged Ezra, who had his scout trooper's helmet removed with it falling to the floor as well with the Mandalorian grunting as he was still unconscious as Thrawn, Faro and Slavin walking towards the doorway with the Chiss having his arms behind his back.

"An unexpected pleasure to meet you, Captain Hera Syndulla," Thrawn told Hera as he stopped walking with Slavin and Faro as they stood in the cell's doorway.

"Wish I could say the same, Admiral," Hera retorted bitterly as she turned back around towards the Chiss as she sighed.

"It is a pity our first encounter might well be our last," Thrawn told her as he removed his left arm from his back as he was still holding her Kalikori in his left hand, "I will keep your Kalikori in a place of honor."

"If I knew you'd take it, I would've smashed it when I had the chance," Hera spat at him.

"You surprise me. Is your history worth so little to you?" Thrawn asked her as the stormtrooper behind him held a crate in his hands as the stormtrooper grabbed the Kalikori with their left hand and placed it inside the crate that they were carrying before walking away.

"My family legacy belongs to us alone," Hera explained as she stood back up, "It's not for some collector's curiosity."

"What did you say?" Slavin asked her with anger in his voice.

"Forgive him. I thank you for your hospitality," Thrawn said as he held his right hand up before he left the cell's doorway with Slavin and Faro as it slid back shut, "Have the Kalikori transported to my ship."

"We should just destroy that piece of Twi'lek trash," Slavin suggested, causing Thrawn to lose his temper as the Chiss growled as he grabbed him by his tunic's collar as he widened his eyes in fear.

Faro, who had been observing the exchange silently, stiffened at Slavin's words. She was well aware of Thrawn's appreciation for art and culture, and she knew Slavin had crossed a line. However, she remained silent, her discipline keeping her from intervening in the Grand Admiral affairs.

"My apologies, Captain Slavin," Thrawn apologized before he brushed the left shoulder of Slavin's tunic off with his right hand, "I forgot not everyone is able to appreciate art as I do. Now, if you excuse me, I'm conducting an experiment that requires my attention. I leave it to your command to finish the job. Commander Faro, you're with me."

"Yes, Grand Admiral," Faro responded.

"And so I shall," Slavin assured him as Thrawn and Faro left him.

Back inside Hera and Ezra's cell, the Twi'lek banged her left hand on the door when she suddenly heard Ezra groan as she turned around towards him and saw him sitting back up after he regained consciousness from Thrawn stunning him with his RK-3 blaster pistol as the Mandalorian placed his left hand over the left side of his head.

"Mmm. Ah, what's I miss?" Ezra asked Hera as he removed his left hand from his head and looked at her.

Back at the Tulara Ravine, the AT-DP, Imperial troop transport continued to approach Cham, Numa, Gobi, Zeb, Sabine and Kanan as the Twi'leks and Lasat fired their blasters back at the stormtroopers, while Sabine and Kanan had their lightsabers in their right hands with them being ignited again as they used them to deflect the stormtroopers' blaster bolts before they all hid behind a group of boulders that they all stood around.

"They've stopped firing," Numa observed as she heard that the Imperials stopped firing their E-11 blaster rifles, laser cannons as well as the Imperial troop transport's dorsal twin laser turrets.

"Cham Syndulla, I would like to have a word with you," they suddenly heard a holographic projection of Slavin say as he appeared from the AT-DP's holoprojector with his arms behind his back, "It concerns your daughter."

"Where is she?" Cham asked him.

"I have your precious Hera," Slavin answered from inside the command center within the Syndulla residence with Chopper watching from outside the room.

"And the Mandalorian boy, Ezra Bridger," Slavin added, "They'll face my blaster squad unless you surrender to me." Cham then began to walk out from hiding behind the boulders as he lowered his right arm.

Sabine's heart sank as she heard the news of Ezra's capture. She then deactivated her lightsaber and clipped it back onto her armor's belt as she clenched her fists, trying to control the anger and fear that threatened to overwhelm her. "We have to have him," she said, her voice shaking slightly.

"We will," Kanan assured her as he deactivated his lightsaber and clipped it back onto his belt as he placed his left hand over her armor's right pauldron.

"I won't let them hurt him," Sabine said, her voice firm.

The female Mandalorian couldn't help but think of Ezra. She remembered the way he smiled at her, the way he made her laugh, the way he always had her back. She couldn't bear the thought of losing him.

"We'll get him back," Sabine muttered to herself, "I won't let them take him from me."

"You can't," Gobi protested as he held his right hand out towards Cham, "You're too important."

"And my daughter is not important?" Cham asked him with disbelief in his voice, "I will trade my life for hers. She will lead in my place." He then turned towards Slavin, "Captain Slavin, I will surrender to you, but what assurance will you give me that my daughter and the Mandalorian will be released?" Slavin then crossed his left arm and placed his right hand under his chin

"Only that if you do not arrive for the exchange by sundown, they will both be terminated," Slavin answered as he pointed his right hand's index and middle fingers at him for a second before he turned around and placed his arms behind his back again as the holoprojector that he was being projected from switched back off.

"Could the trap be more obvious?" Sabine remarked, sarcastically as she placed her left hand over her hip as Kanan crossed his arms.

"We know," Kanan told her.

"And I am counting on all of you to use my sacrifice to save Hera and Ezra," Cham added as he placed his left hand over his chest before he clenched his left hand into a fist.

"I'm sorry, Ezra," Hera apologized to the Mandalorian as they sat on the floor of their cell within the Syndulla residence, "It was selfish of me to go after my Kalikori. I put you, your wife and everyone else in danger for a personal mission."

"But we wanted to help because it was important to you," Ezra reminded her.

"But we weren't ready for that admiral. I should have known better," Hera explained when they suddenly heard an astromech droid grunting from outside their cell before Ezra placed his right ear near the cell's door as the grunting continued with the astromech droid plugging their scomp link into the astromech port next to the cell with the astromech droid rotating it around with their scomp link before the door slid open, revealing the astromech droid to be Chopper as he bumped into Ezra, knocking him to the floor on his back.

"Chopper!" Ezra said as the astromech droid rotated his dome around before he grunted a response.

"My father's actually surrendering?" Hera repeated with disbelief in her voice.

"To free us," Ezra explained, "Well, they can't make a prisoner exchange without prisoners." He then stood back up, "Let's go."

"Not yet," Hera protested, "We won't make it out. There are too many guards. We're going to go through with this exchange, but on my terms. Chopper, I want you to raid the Imperial armory and get as many explosives as you can." Chopper then grunted a response as he pulled out both of his metal arms from his dome.

"You're… You're gonna blow up your house?" Ezra said with disbelief in his voice.

"My home is my crew and family," Hera explained to him as he stood back up and placed her right hand over his left shoulder before Chopper saluted her with his left metal arm and grunted a response before he placed both of his metal arms back inside his dome as he rolled back towards the door of the cell, causing it to slide back open as he left the cell and entered the command center, which was across from Hera and Ezra's cell as they crouched.

"I want heavy cannons positioned here and here," Slavin told a stormtrooper as he pointed at the room's battle map with his right hand's index and middle fingers, "Launchers below, with two additional squads held back in reserve."

Chopper then rolled into the armory in the room next to the command center as Slavin was distracted with the trap that he was planning for the rebels before he opened a container as he lifted up its lid with his scomp link as he approached it before he saw thermal detonators and an activator for them inside of it, causing him to grunt excitedly.

"Time to say good-bye to your father," Slavin told Hera as he approached her and Ezra's cell with its door sliding back open before he aimed an RK-3 blaster pistol at them before two stormtroopers approached him on both of his sides as both Hera and Ezra looked at him.

Hours later at sundown, Thrawn stood on the bridge of an Imperial Light Cruiser with Faro standing next to him with her arms behind her back as he held Hera's Kalikori in his right hand and stared at it as Faro started out the viewport of the Imperial Light Cruiser as the Imperial vessel was overlooking the Syndulla residence and the Tann province.

"All right, Captain Syndulla, let's see how you respond," Thrawn muttered to himself as he looked at the ship's viewport and saw the Ghost arriving as it flew towards the Tann province.

"The Syndullas are known for their resilience, Grand Admiral," Faro stated, "I have no donut Captain Syndulla will respond in kind."

"Steady. On my command," Slavin ordered his stormtroopers as he stood outside the Syndulla residence with Hera as he held her left arm with his right hand as she had stuncuffs around her wrists and Ezra standing next to her and in front of a stormtrooper as he had stuncuffs over his wrists as well as the Ghost, which was being piloted by Sabine as she had her helmet removed as the stormtrooper that was behind her husband aimed their E-11 blaster rifle at the ship as it landed across from the Syndulla residence before the ramp lowered as Cham and Kanan walked down the ramp as Slavin removed his right hand from Hera's arm and placed both of his arms behind his back, "Syndulla. At last we meet face-to-face. Step forward, alone, and turn yourself over as promised."

"Not until you release them," Cham argued, causing the stormtroopers on the ledges of his former residence to cock and aim their E-11 blaster rifles at him and Kanan before Slavin made a gesture to the stormtroopers, telling them to hold their fire.

"We'll make a simultaneous exchange," Slavin told Cham before he and the stormtrooper behind Ezra aimed their RK-3 blaster pistol and E-11 blaster rifle at Hera and Ezra, "Start walking." Both Hera and Ezra then began to slowly walk towards Cham and Kanan before Cham began to walk towards Slavin in return.

Meanwhile back inside the Syndulla residence, Chopper grunted in a laughing tone with both of his metal arms out of his dome as he planted thermal detonators on three crates around one of the house's hallways before he placed another one of another crate.

The front door of the Syndulla residence slid back open with Chopper exiting the house as Hera and Ezra continued to walk towards Hera and Kanan before the astromech droid grunted as he rolled past Slavin and the stormtrooper.

"Droid! What are you doing?" Slavin asked Chopper as he mistook him for an Imperial droid.

"I'm sorry, Father," Hera apologized to her father as she reached him as Ezra reached Kanan.

"It's all right, Hera. Even I have been captured before," Cham assured her as he placed his right hand over her left shoulder.

"Nah, I'm sorry about the house," she corrected him before turning around towards her astromech droid, "Chopper!" The astromech droid then pressed the button of the thermal detonators' activator with his left metal arm as he held it with his scomp link, causing the Syndulla residence to be destroyed from the inside, killing the stormtroopers on the ledges aove them as well as knocking some of the stormtroopers out as they landed on their stomachs.

Meanwhile back aboard the Imperial Light Cruiser, Thrawn and Faro looked out the ship's viewport and saw an explosion in the distance from the Syndulla residence within the Tann province.

"What… You were serious!" Cham said with surprise in his voice as he had his left hand over the left side of his forehead as he was knocked to his butt, while his daughter and Ezra were knocked to their stomachs before Chopper grunted as Ezra and Hera stood back up before they helped him back up before they rushed back inside the Ghost as they ran back up the Ghost's ramp.

"Stop them! Stop them!" Slavin ordered the stormtroopers, who were still conscious and the driver of an AT-DP as he was on his stomach before the walker and one of the stormtrooper began to fire their laser cannon and E-11 blaster rifle at them as Kanan grabbed his lightsaber from his belt and reignited its blade as he began to deflect the stormtrooper's blaster bolts with it.

The Jedi Knight then saw the stormtrooper pulling out a rocket launcher and fired a rocket at them before Kanan extended his left hand out towards the rocket and redirected it at the AT-DP, causing it to topple to the ground, which Slavin saw as he was now standing back up before Kanan looked at him and gave him a salute with his left hand and walked up the ramp as it closed with the VCX-100 light freighter lifting off from the ground as it began to fly away from the Tann province.

"They are in range, sir," an Imperial gunnery officer that was operating the Imperial Light Cruiser on the ship's bridge reported to Thrawn and Faro as he turned towards them after picking up the Ghost on his sensors with the Chiss having his arms behind his back again.

"Hold your fire," Thrawn told him, "They've earned their victory today."

"Grand Admiral, why let them leave?" Faro asked him with respect and curiosity in her voice as the Ghost flew past the left side of the ship's bridge, "We have them in our sights."

"Commander, in war, sometimes the greatest victory is the battle not fought," the Chiss explained as he turned around towards her, "Today we let them go. But in doing so, we gain something far more valuable."

"And what would that be, sir?" She asked him, her expression thoughtful.

"Insight," Thrawn answered as he looked back at the viewport of the Imperial Light Cruiser, "Into our enemies' strengths, their strategies, their… resilience. This will prove invaluable in the battles to come."

"Admiral, the rebels are getting away!" Slavin reported to Thrawn from the bridge's holoprojector as a hologram of him appeared in front of the Chiss and Faro with him wounded as he was wounded from the destruction of the Syndulla residence as he had his right hand over his left arm's armpit.

"Oh, not to worry, Captain," Thrawn assured him, "I've found this whole experience to be very enlightening."

"I have learned not to underestimate you," Cham told his daughter as he sat across from her and Kanan at a table in the Ghost's kitchen with a cup of caff in his left hand with Kanan and Hera having cups of caff in front of them as well with Hera also holding hers in her left hand as the Ghost was stationed on a cliff within the plains of Ryloth, "Fortunately, the Empire has not."

"At least, not yet," Hera said, agreeing with her father.

"I'm sorry about the Kalikori, Hera," Kanan told her as he looked at her.

"I thought I needed it to keep my mother's memory alive, but I have you, I have my father and I'm surrounded by my family every day," Hera stated with a smile on her face.

Inside the ship's common room, Zeb playfully grabbed Ezra, who had removed his scout trooper disguise and had his Beskar plates back over his undersuit with his left arm. He gave the Mandalorian a noogie with his right fist as he laughed. Gobi standing next to him as he had his fists over his hips. while Numa and Sabine sat next to each other on the couch around the holotable with Chopper standing in front of them before Zeb let go of Ezra.

"As long as we hold on to that, she'll live on," Hera added before the three of them then cheered their cups of caff as they made a clink sound.