"Then you will die braver than most..."
-Darth Vader, to Ezra Bridger
The Death Star! Near the Scarif system, in the Abrion sector.
"Prepare the broadcast..." Tarkin ordered, two Stormtroopers standing at his side...
They watched as the comm officer quickly pressed a set of glowing buttons... They were going to broadcast their annual Empire Day event... This time it is the execution of Ezra Bridger...
Vader and Thrawn watched closely, monitoring the child in the case of any aggressive behavior... There was nothing...
"Governor Tarkin, we're ready... you may begin..." The officer said quickly... They all watched as the Grand Moff began to speak...
"Greetings, loyal citizens of the Empire... And any Rebels watching this broadcast... It is Empire Day, the very day our Emperor Sheev Palpatine declared his mission to bring order!" Tarkin then started to frown...
"And this Empire Day we have a very special message for the Rebellion... Today we will make an example of a very notable member of the Rebel scum..."
The camera turned to a restrained Ezra Bridger, scowling at the floor... He knew what was going to happen next...
"This simple child is Ezra Bridger, a padawan of the Jedi Order. As you know, the Jedi have been a nuisance to the Empire since their initial Rebellion against the Republic... The Emperor plans to use this Jedi criminal to send a message to all surviving Jedi..." Tarkin said, triumphantly while standing above the boy...
Ezra's been imprisoned for several weeks, and he's started to grow back his long hair due to all the time in a cell... On the outside, he looked incredibly anrgy at what his fate was, but on the inside he was intrigued... What did the Jedi do that led to the rise of the Empire? He knew that they fought in the Clone Wars against the Droid Army, but neither he nor Kanan knew what the Jedi Rebellion was...
"Anyone who is willing to fight the Empire as a terrorist will be silenced for their senseless violence... Their treason... This boy has spoken out against us in that Rebel HoloNet broadcast less than three years ago, and has killed innocents to make his ultimatum clear... But I will prove to you that soon we will crush the Rebellion with one swift stroke... Their false hopes will be made clear today..."
Ezra's thoughts sped up when Tarkin started speaking again. Maybe he'd never know what the Jedi did... Or who led it... His life flashed before his eyes... His memories of his old life as a street rat were very brief. That didn't matter to him... To him, he was proud of the Rebellion, and very glad that he had the privilege to fight back just as his parents did... But most of all, it was meeting his new family... Hera, Zeb, Kanan, Chopper... But most of all Sabine... He wasn't completely sure what to think of her now, but he knew for a fact that it was positive for him... He didn't want to know about their reactions to his death... And that brought a tear to his eye...
The camera cut away from Ezra to Tarkin making a hand gesture... The two Stormtroopers raised their E-11 blaster rifles, taking aim. Just as the tear hit the cold metal floor... The sound of blaster shots can be heard as they cut off the broadcast.
Base One, Yavin IV...
Hera, Kanan, Zeb, and Chopper looked at the hologram in disbelief... This could not be real... But it seemed most likely that it was...
They had no choice but to suppress their sadness in the presence of superiors... The Senators and Mon Mothma could see it...
"I'm sorry for your loss... I simply wish that there was more I could do..." Mon Mothma said to them in her gentle voice...
"He died a martyr for freedom... And we will fight in his honor..." She said...
The five of them turned as Senator Bail Organa and his aide, Leia, arrived...
"We will do everything we can to ensure that your friend did not die in vain... The Empire is growing stronger and more alert, and we need to be prepared to fight for the message of freedom he had sent to all of us... We stand the strongest together—as one..." Bail said, his charisma urging all of them to fight for the fallen in the war against the Empire.
Ezra Bridger died at the age of eighteen, on his birthday, and died not only as a true adult... But as a martyr for the Rebellion's fight for freedom...
Or so they thought.