Author's Note: Okay surprise epilogue. You have SweetSinger2010 and Lothcat1138 to blame for this. I thought the epilogue was too much of a tease, but they talked me into it. Don't expect more. I'm not kidding. It's over after this.

This short chapter is VERY speculative about the future of these characters. I was trying to be as canon-compliant as possible until now.

Seven Years after the Liberation of Lothal

The light cruiser tore through hyperspace, that reality between realities where faster than light speed was possible. The captain, a Mandalorian in her late twenties, stood at the bridge, appearing to be at ease. The crew of the small warship, allies and compatriots, gathered over the course of the voyage, were quiet. They each had a stake in finding the missing 7th fleet. Or what remained of it that is.

Sabine Wren was not as calm as her crew thought she was. In truth, she had never been more frightened in her life, now that the end of their long voyage was upon them. They had traveled into the depths of unknown space, going where few civilized spacefarers had dared. But this is not what frightened Sabine.

What frightened her was that she might have come too late. For two months they had closed on the 7th, and for two months they had found the wreckage of its battles: destroyed hulks of Imperial ships bearing strange orange and blue markings. Some of these battlefields were ancient; some far more recent. Whoever pursued the 7th didn't seem to have any losses. Ahsoka suggested that perhaps they didn't leave any debris behind to mark their casualties, a bizarre remark that unnerved Sabine.

Sabine felt her stomach knot again. Seven years ago today was the day Ezra Bridger disappeared. Nearly a quarter of her life had passed since then, and not a day went by when she hadn't thought of him.

She hoped he still thought of her too.

"Peace, Sabine," Ahsoka said quietly from behind her.

Sabine chose to ignore the Torgruta for the time being and continued to stare into the mottled blue of hyperspace. Ahsoka was a dear friend, but sometimes that inane Jedi calmness drove her nuts. Sabine felt a hand on her shoulder. Apparently, Ahsoka wasn't going to be ignored. "I'm alright. I just... I've been waiting for this day for seven years. I have a lot riding on it."

"I know," Ahsoka said quietly.

"Do you know how today ends? Have you foreseen it?"

"I have seen many ways this day could end, but I do not know which one will occur. The future is a treacherous path to tread before it has come."

Sabine turned and faced Ahsoka with a frown. "Some good that is."

Ahsoka smiled softly. "And yet there is hope in my heart that both our promises will be fulfilled today. I... Sorry. I didn't mean to go into riddle mode."

"I do hate that," Sabine grumbled.

"I know," Ahsoka said apologetically.

Sabine took a deep breath and tried to smile back at Ahsoka. Her friend didn't deserve to be treated like this. Not after the road they had traveled.

An alarm pinged, and Sabine snapped back to readiness and spoke into her headset. "All crew standby for transition out of hyperspace. We stand at yellow status. Await orders before coming to full battle alert." She heard confirmation from her officers, officers that led a crew of over fifty.

Another alarm pinged, and the cruiser reverted to realspace.

"One ship dead ahead, signs of life and power," the sensor officer declared almost immediately. "I think... I think it used to be the Chimera," she finished hesitantly.

Sabine frowned. "What's that supposed to mean? It wasn't destroyed, was it? I thought you said there were life signs."

"I... You'll have to see for yourself."

Sabine growled at the helm. "Pull us around. I want to see the ship."

The cruiser reoriented to face the other ship.

Used to be the Chimera indeed, Sabine thought. In front of them floated the triangular wedge of an Imperial Star Destroyer, but Sabine had never seen one that had endured so much damage or so many modifications. The entire bridge superstructure was missing, and numerous trenches had been gouged into the surface of the vessel. Sabine couldn't decipher if these were from collisions or weaponry of some unknown design. How it was still space-worthy, Sabine had no idea. Its hull was marked in the same intertwined blue and orange insignia they had seen for months.

She stepped to her terminal and tried hailing it on open frequencies. "This is Sabine Wren, captain of the Loth-wolf, hailing Imperial Star Destroyer Chimera. We wish to speak to your captain."

There was quiet for a moment before a crackling voice returned. "You'll find no Imperials in this part of space. This is First Officer Teynor speaking. You'll have to forgive me, but we don't see too many "friendly" faces anymore. State your business immediately."

Sabine sighed. "I'm looking for a friend. One lost long ago when your ship disappeared. I was hoping you could tell me where he was."

The speaker was quiet for a moment. "Possibly. Though I wouldn't hold out hope. As I'm sure, you can tell by our condition, there aren't that many of us left."

Sabine closed her eyes demanding her nerves to calm. "He was a Jedi. His name was Ezra Bridger."

The man on the other side of the comm inhaled sharply. "Master Bridger? I..." He cut the comm.

Ahsoka chuckled. "Well, I think things are beginning to happen." Sabine gave her friend an even look and tried to smile.

The comm crackled back to life. "I'm sending coordinates to our forward hangar. You are to dock immediately."

"Woah," Sabine said, "I'm just looking for inform..."

"If you want to live, you dock right now. If we're not out of this system in ten minutes, we're all dead. They're close behind."

Sabine thought carefully for a moment then made a snap decision. "Understood. On our way." Sabine nodded to her helmsman. "Take us in." She spoke into her headset. "Jennig grab your team and meet Ahsoka and me at the main ramp. This is it. Hopefully." She nodded to Ahsoka. "Let's do it."

Their light cruiser docked in the hangar, and almost immediately afterward Sabine felt the hyperdrives of the Star Destroyer push them into hyperspace. She opened the ramp to the familiar sight of an Imperial hangar. She immediately noticed several things were wrong. First, no stormtroopers, though this was probably a good thing. Second, everything looked... Sabine wasn't sure how to describe it, perhaps tired? The hangar seemed disorganized, ill kept, and in need of a fresh coat of paint.

All of which should be expected for a long lost ship.

Sabine, Ahsoka, and her security detail walked to the bottom of the ramp and stopped. The hangar was devoid of life. "Well," she said. "This is awkward."

Suddenly Ahsoka smiled and sighed as if in relief. "What's that?" Sabine asked, but her friend merely nodded at the far side of the hangar. A door opened, and two men approached flanked by stormtroopers.

Sabine took in all the details at once. The stormtroopers wore modified and incomplete sets of armor; all customized, personalized, and painted, mostly in blue and orange. Only a few wore helmets.

One of the men in front, a tall officer, wore white. His skin was blue, and his eyes were red: none other than the long-lost Grand Admiral Thrawn.

And the other bearded man wore orange. After all these kriffing years, he still wore orange. He was tall now, less thin, and his eyes still pierced sapphire blue.

At least the blue and orange insignias made sense: blue for Thrawn and orange for Ezra.

"Ezra Bridger I've found you at last," Sabine muttered under her breath. She held up a hand for the others to stay back and walked towards the waiting group. Ezra broke away from his group and stepped forward to meet her.

To Sabine, it took an eternity to close the distance between them. She had time to confront a thousand fears, hopes, and misgivings, all fighting to be heard amidst the turmoil in her heart. Seven years, was the thought that screamed over and over in her mind. Seven years have I waited. Is he still the same man? Does he still even care?

Does he still love me?

They reached each other and paused. Sabine trembled slightly, not knowing what to say or even do. For seven years she had thought of this moment. Dreamed of it. And yet when it came, her courage left her completely.

Ezra must have seen her trembling, because he lowered his eyes, and just whispered, "Sabine?"

That was all it took. She strode towards him knowing what she had to do.

He flinched and backed away. "Woah! Woah I'm sorry!"

Sabine paused eyes wide. "Wait, what did you think...?"

He eyed her warily. "You weren't about to hit me?"

Sabine began to smile, a wicked smile. Oh, this was going to be fun. "I thought about it. Because we all know you deserve it for doing what you did without warning us."

"You wouldn't have understood," Ezra said carefully scratching the back of his head.

"Maybe not," Sabine said taking a step closer. He flinched at that step. "I hope that you realize how hard you were to find?"

"I think we both have stories to tell," he said carefully. "And they're probably going to be long ones."

Sabine laughed, thinking of Lothal and the orphanage. "I've got a few to tell, that's for sure." She stepped closer. He managed not to flinch this time. There was barely a foot between them now. Wow, he had gotten tall she thought as she looked up at those eyes.

She winked. "I've got more important things in mind first." In one motion she reached up and grabbed the back of Ezra's head to pull him down to her and kissed him with everything she had. It took him a few moments to realize what was happening, get with the program and kiss her back. Ezra fumbled with his hands, unsure of where he was expected or allowed to put them. Sabine laughed and pulled away. "What, still bashful? We've lost seven years Ezra. I'm not waiting any longer for you."

Ezra was red-faced and surprised. He turned back to look at Thrawn and his men. The escorts were all grinning, and even Thrawn had a ghost of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. One of the ex-storm troopers gave a thumbs up. Ezra looked at Ahsoka and the group with her. She smiled brightly, waved, and winked. "Look," Ezra said cautiously, "I hoped, I didn't... I don't even."

"Shut up Ezra Bridger," Sabine said and kissed him again.

Author's Note: Yup that's it. If you want more, well tough. You'll have to blame SweetSinger2010 and Lothcat1138 for talking me into tagging this epilogue on. Hope you enjoyed it though! It was fun to write and wildly speculate about the future. This fic WAS very canon compliant until the epilogue. If you want you can ignore it!