Summary: 'Even if Thrawn somehow managed to return to Coruscant, any power he had had would be gone.'

Notes: Takes place directly after Ezra and Thrawn jump to lightspeed in the last episode of Star Wars: Rebels. I've been wondering what Thrawn would do next. So here is my take on it. Enjoy!

Unknown

Thrawn felt the tug which always heralded the jump to lightspeed and braced himself for death. The Jedi, Ezra Bridger, stood in front of him, his damnable power keeping Thrawn captive within the tentacles of the space creatures which had attached the Grand Admiral's fleet. But the bridge was hopelessly compromised, its transparisteel viewports wrecked by the creatures and Thrawn waited for the vacuum of space to claim him.

Distantly he thought that the space creatures looked vaguely like whales from Agomar. That couldn't be right, though. He pondered the tentacles pinning his arms to his sides. He didn't think the Jedi had been the one to send them into hyperspace, so it must have been…the whales?

Space pergil, he realized.

He also realized that the white of hyperspace streamed around them, but he was – the odds of probability asserted – still alive.

Bridger smirked at him, triumphant, and Thrawn felt an unusual surge of rage rise in him.

"You arrogant fool. You have no idea what you've just done."

There was a flicker in the Jedi's blue eyes – recognition – but Thrawn couldn't bring himself to care. He realized that he had failed. All those decades ago he had set out to find allies for his people, so that they would survive the coming storm. He had sacrificed everything, even his own honor, to gain enough power in Palpatine's Empire to make sure this part of the galaxy was strong enough to withstand the onslaught.

But that was all gone now; in one egotistical wave of the hand from someone born with too much power and not enough wisdom to wield it.

Even if Thrawn somehow managed to return to Coruscant, any power he had had would be gone. The Fifth Fleet was destroyed, and he had failed to crush the Rebellion on Lothal. The Imperial political elite had always hated the alien interloper in their ranks and Palpatine would find no further use for a Chiss from the Unknown Regions. Even Vader, his sometime ally, wouldn't be enough to save him.

Despair lurked at the corners of his mind, threatening to wash over him. But not for himself. Thrawn could no longer see a future where his people, and the people in the rest of this galaxy whom he had come to admire, survived.

The Jedi must have sensed some of Thrawn's emotions for his eyes widened, before he drew back his hand and Thrawn was abruptly released from the pergil's cold embrace. "No," he said.

"'No,' what?" Thrawn demanded, voice icier than ever before. He wanted to draw his blaster against the young fool once more, but he knew it would be futile.

There was a faint pounding from the other side of the bulkhead doors. Some of his men would soon be through and would overwhelm the Jedi, especially as he was without his lightsaber. All Thrawn had to do was wait.

He wondered where these pergil – and the Jedi – were taking the ship.

Bridger's eyes darted to the bulkheads before returning to Thrawn. He looked calm, if vaguely uneasy.

"No, I haven't been arrogant," the boy said, evenly. "I saw…the Force moves around you strangely, shattering into multiple points. And Master Kenobi told me to listen to what you had to say." He raised his chin, looking both old and young at the same time. "So, talk," he ordered.

Thrawn raised an eyebrow, unimpressed, even as his mind weigh the possibilities. Kenobi? Skywalker's Master? The one Vader is obsessed with finding?

Thrawn had thought the Jedi Master long dead, despite Vader's fixation, but he had studied the Jedi General's strategic deployments during the Clone Wars and found them sound.

Had Skywalker told Kenobi about meeting him in what the Republic called 'Wild Space'?

Bridger was biting his lip. "If you want my help, you're going to have to tell me what's going on."

"Why would I possibly want your help, Jedi?" He was coolly amused at the presumption.

The Jedi boy looked stubborn. "My Master liked you…or at least respected you. And Obi-Wan said there was more to you than met the eye. I can tell you're worried, deathly worried, about protecting…someone." He frowned in concentration. "Your people," he decided after a moment.

Those intense Jedi eyes fixed on Thrawn. "Protect them from what?" he asked. "What's coming?"

Thrawn was surprised. Not much surprised him anymore, but this seemed a day full of the unforeseen.

Kanan Jarrus had respected him? What did General Kenobi know? What had the boy told General Syndulla and the rest of his paltry band of rebels?

Thrawn studied the human in front of him. He knew his own red, glowing eyes were unsettling to most, but the Jedi boy seemed unconcerned, patiently waiting for the Imperial Grand Admiral's answer. Interesting. Perhaps Tarkin was mistaken in his assessment that Bridger and his master were not true Jedi.

"We call them the Far Outsiders," he said at last.

Before he could say anything else, there was a shout, a minor explosion, and then the bulkheads hissed opened. Stormtroopers poured through, basters ready and aimed at the Rebel Jedi.

Bridger raised a hand and then, like a sudden miracle, a slender, silver cylinder smacked into his palm. He ignited the Kanan Jarrus' lightsaber, its blue blade brilliant in the flickering darkness of the damaged bridge and stood at the ready between Thrawn and the white-armored troopers.

That lightsaber had been in Thrawn's personal quarters from when Rukh had recovered it after Jarrus' death. How had the boy known it would be here?

For a moment no one moved, and the galaxy held its breath.

"Grand Admiral" asked the Captain, his voice brisk as he awaited orders.

Thrawn assessed his options. Perhaps he wouldn't be returning home quite empty handed after all.

Bridger spoke without turning to look at him. "A friend of mine will follow when she's able. Perhaps you've heard of her." The boy's tone was cheeky and Thrawn felt minor annoyance at his obvious lack of discipline once more. "Ahsoka Tano."

The illusive Fulcrum. Kenobi and Skywalker's Padawan.

She had been Colonel Yularen's, and the ISB's, greatest opponent. Thrawn had thought her dead after the duel on Malachor. Vader had implied as much in his report to the Emperor. Although there had been those uncorroborated sightings of her on Tatooine…

Thrawn decided. Tano and Bridger would make valuable allies.

"Captain Pellaeon, have your men lower their weapons. We have a slight change in plan."

Bridger powered down his lightsaber and clipped it to his belt. He looked more centered, more certain, with his former Master's weapon in his possession. "These Far Outsiders, they're a threat?"

"To everyone and everything," Thrawn assured him.

Bridger studied him carefully, no doubt testing his words with that mysterious Force of his.

"Then I will help you," the Jedi Knight said simply.

Captain Pellaeon's eyes grew wide, his white mustache quivering. Several other crew members eyed the Jedi and the Admiral askance as they began to go about assessing the damage to the bridge.

Thrawn paid them no mind, reaching out to clasp the Jedi's hand when it was offered. He was undecided as to this turn of events – it felt strange to be working with a Jedi once more – but he could work with it. "Welcome to the Chimaera, Commander Bridger."

Apparently, instead of death, he would be facing the future with a Jedi by his side.

It had indeed been a day for surprises.

End Notes: Yes, Ezra has inherited the ability to see shatterpoints, like his Master, and his Master before him, and Mace Windu before her. And I really wanted Ezra to have something of Kanan's to take with him, so the lightsaber being on board Thrawn's flagship made sense.

And the last time Thrawn worked with a Jedi was when he teamed up with Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars.

Also, Thrawn is inclined to respect Obi-Wan without even meeting him, just from studying his tactics during the Clone Wars and from the fact that Vader respects him. The Team of Kenobi and Skywalker lives! How did I do with Thrawn's voice?