As soon as Jinx got the green light from Dogma, he and his squad were out of the hangar, barreling towards the surface of Lokori. As he descended, he made contact with Caleb on the ground. "Caleb, it's Jinx, we're headed your way. How close are you to being done?"

"Not too far," he replied. "We still need to get everyone back on the gunship. I'll let you know once we're clear."

"Thanks," he told him before switching to the group channel for the starfighters. "We're almost ready to go. Double-check your targeting systems while we're still flying down."

The clones affirmed the order, but the astromech droid, R2-D2, started beeping at Jinx in a less than friendly way.

Jinx stared out the windshield at the droid. "It was just a reminder, if you've already done it, that's great. Jeez, just trying to be helpful."

One of the other pilots chuckled over coms. "Don't bother, Commander. That metal menace grumbles at just about everyone, other than General Skywalker and Commander Tano."

"What's so special about them?" He asked, not meaning to offend, but genuinely curious (and jealous).

"The general's had that droid for years, now," someone else answered, "And everyone around here likes Commander Tano, even the droids. Especially since she's been gone for so long."

Jinx shrugged, then thought of something. "Well, Commander Tano ordered this strike, so if the droid really does like her, he'll cooperate."

R2-D2 chirped, quite offended, at his pilot.

"Whatever," Jinx retorted and returned his focus back to the controls. "Your personality chip must be fried or something."

More chuckles came from the rest of the squadron, but Caleb came back online. "Jinx, we're off the field. Bombs away."

He activated his targeting system as he replied. "Thanks, Caleb. See you back in the hangar." He closed their connection, reopening the line to his squadron. "All right, boys, let's make this quick. Form on me, and let 'em have it!"

They tightened up and steadily advanced towards the base. The towers were a smoking pile of rubble now but the base was mostly intact, save for a few chunks here and there where extra shoulder cannons had been fired.

Jinx just aimed for the center of Scarlet Haven and spammed the trigger. This job didn't need to be clean, it just had to destroy the base. They could make more than one run if they had to.

All of the shots hit their target though. Why wouldn't they? It was a building after all. Once the run was complete, Jinx pulled the fighter around to get a look at the damage. "How'd we do?"

"Not bad," one of the others judged. "We could do another fly over for good measure, but most of it is down."

"We're not taking chances," Jinx reminded them. "This place has to be leveled by the time we leave. One more go around, and pick your targets."

He narrowed in on a room or two that was still standing on one of the sides. Another thirty seconds and the only thing left was a metal pole standing among the burning remains of what was no longer Scarlet Haven.

Jinx opened up the line to the command center. "Jinx to the command center, the mission is complete. Heading back your way."

"Copy that, Commander."

~

When the two gunships with the injured Jedi came back, Kix and his team were already waiting for them with stretchers, vital scanners, breathing masks, and a multitude of other emergency equipment that they might need. Once Ahsoka's squad helped lay the Jedi on the stretchers, the medics started swarming around them and pushing them to the infirmary. Kix started ordering the others around, and before long the extraction squadron was standing around, finally able to take a breath.

After handing off control to Kix, Ahsoka turned and did a headcount of her men. Fifteen, no one was missing. "Any injuries?" she began asking around, but everyone was fine.

"Everyone's here, sir," Rex confirmed, moving to stand at her side.

Ahsoka nodded and pointed out towards the locker room. "Rest and shower up, I'll check in with everyone once the rest of the squads come back. Good work today, boys."

Everyone saluted and started removing their helmets, ready to get out of the sweaty armor into the warm showers. Since they were first back, they had dibs on the hot water.

She looked over at Rex. "And you?" she asked, not ordering him but asking him what he planned to do.

"I'm with you," he responded, which received no objection from Ahsoka. There was a reason her passcodes were identical to his birth number.

Instead, she made contact with the command center. "Dogma, catch me up."

He started rattling off statuses. "The slave squadron is still transferring the prisoners to the villages, and they could be the last squad back. They needed the extra gunship because there were almost five times as many slaves as you predicted. Apparently, their staffing recruitment has increased."

Ahsoka cursed under her breath. Of course, they had. Why wouldn't they? An increase in staff would correlate to an increase in production, and most likely, a decrease in living standards. Who knew what kind of torture had been forced upon the Lokori natives?

"The tower squadron is right behind you, they should be arriving soon. The fighter squadron left a few minutes ago, and they'll get back as soon as the base is destroyed. The bridge already has the coordinates to the next jump point entered. As soon as the other three squads return, we'll head back to the medical station, and then to Coruscant."

"Have their fingers on the controls, Dogma," she instructed. "We aren't wasting any more time away from the capital than we have to."

"Yes, sir," he responded, and he relayed the message to the bridge, word for word.

Rex furrowed his brow. "How many slaves did you think would be here?"

Ahsoka clenched her fist. "Twenty, give or take a few. If what Dogma says is true, then there are almost a hundred now." She stared off into space, glaring as she did. "I would have come back here sooner, but I haven't had a troop to fight with or even a ship to get here."

He chuckled. "It's hard to fight a battle with no resources, and not even you can't save everyone all the time, Commander."

"I can't, but it shouldn't have taken the Jedi Council being kidnapped for something to be done about it," she objected. "Even getting this mission took convincing the emergency council back at the Temple."

"That's what happens when you force people to do something that doesn't benefit them," he reminded her. "Make them have a reason to say 'yes'."

She scowled. "They shouldn't need a reason. Slavery is reason enough."

Rex smiled, looking down on the Togruta. "Well, we've known for a while that you have a bigger heart than they do."

It was enough to make Ahsoka smile. Just barely, but it was enough. She would have thanked him, but another gunship descended into the hangar and landed. The two of them ran over to meet the tower squadron. Ahsoka's heart skipped a beat when she saw Caleb supporting one of the troopers, but all of them were still alive, thankfully.

"How many injured?" she asked immediately, supporting the clone from the other side.

"Three," Caleb answered on cue, having already counted. "One burn, one cut that needs stitches, and one with a bit of shrapnel in the thigh. I don't want to try and squeeze them in the medical wing if the Jedi Masters need it first, though."

Rex helped the trooper with the shrapnel sit down out of the way of movement. "He's right, Commander, Kix's team needs their full attention on the generals."

"We'll improvise," Ahsoka decided. "Caleb, run to the med wing and grab the quick kits, but stay out of the way. Don't interfere with the others."

He nodded and sprinted out after the Jedi. He wanted to go and see if Depa was alright, or if she wasn't, how bad her injuries were, but the mission wasn't over yet and he couldn't help her.

Once the three injured troopers were resting and on the ground, she stood and spoke to them. "Rest here for a few minutes, until Commander Dume comes back with medical supplies. We'll treat you out here so Kix can focus on the Jedi. Everyone else, you're free to head back to the locker rooms. Nice work down there, boys."

A few cheers went up from the troops, still in an explosion frenzy from the battle. Rex clapped them on the back, expressing his pride in his brothers. As soon as they were gone, though, he leaned in close to Ahsoka. "Since when are you able to treat injuries from the field?"

"Since I began living on my own for a year," she muttered back to him. "You should have seen some of the things I've treated, it was a nightmare, sometimes." Literally, she added silently.

"What's wrong with checking in to the hospital?" He asked, his face concerned. "They may not be the best, but it can't be that much worse than Kix and his team."

Ahsoka shook her head. "They're much slower, for one thing. And for another, far too expensive. I could barely afford a medical bill at the moment, much less six months ago. It's cheaper to buy my own supplies and treat myself or others on the spot."

He raised an eyebrow. "Others?"

She groaned and rolled her eyes. "It happens more often than you think, trust me." A few specific examples flashed by in her mind, but the flight squadron flew in at that time so she forgot about it for the time being.

As soon as the starfighter was on the ground, R2-D2 released himself and went rolling away, complaining about the pilot. Jinx climbed out of the cockpit doing the same thing about the droid.

"It's a miracle we both made it back without killing each other," he muttered under his breath to Ahsoka. "I am never flying with that droid again."

"Did you lose anyone?" She asked, ignoring his grumbling.

The Twi'lek shook his head. "No, but someone's engine had a malfunction on the way back up. They're going to need a retrieval team to grab them before we head out."

Ahsoka immediately activated her comlink. "Dogma, we need a retrieval unit to pick up a fighter and a maintenance crew on deck."

"Retrieval unit, and a maintenance crew," he repeated, cueing for the corresponding troopers. "On the way, Commander."

"How do you have this much power here?" Jinx asked, staring at her wrist and then at the rest of the hangar. "I don't think I've heard one clone object to your orders yet. Even the droid does what you say."

"She earned it," Rex answered for her, speaking on behalf of the rest of the Legion. "We followed her for three years before she was accused, and a lot happened during that time. Enough to build trust."

Ahsoka couldn't help it.  Under her breath, so only he could hear, she asked, "Oh, so that time General Skywalker and I threw you off a wall built trust?"

He glared down at the Togruta. "That did not."

She returned her attention to Jinx after a quick grin. Pointing over to the injured troopers, she gave further instructions. "Wait over there with the three of them, we need to treat their wounds out here. I'll be over once Caleb gets back."

"Hey, wait," he asked as she walked away, "Where's O-Mer's squad?"

"They haven't returned yet, I misjudged how many slaves there were," she confessed. "They will be the last team back, not the first."

Jinx wasn't exactly comforted by that response, but he walked over to the injured clones nonetheless. He sat down and started asking what had happened during their part of the mission, just to pass time until the cruiser took off.

The command center called Ahsoka again. "Commander, the slave squad just finished their last trip, they'll start returning soon."

"Have you let the bridge know?"

"Just now, sir." 

"I'll let you know when everyone touches down," she told him. "Let's get out of here."

One at a time, the gunships returned and unloaded the troopers that had escorted the slaves to the villages. O-Mer was in the last one, making sure that no one had been left behind. Ahsoka and Rex helped everyone down and out, and sometime during the landing, the retrieval squad returned with the starfighter that had malfunctioned. When the commander saw that everyone had touched down, she sent a message to the bridge.

"Punch it."