"There's not much of me left..." -Saw Gerrera

Jedha's Holy City

The specific echoing sound of the huge blast was unmistakable. Someone had detonated a powerful thermal imploder nearby.

Ezra placed the hooded cloak given to him over his growing hair. There was no time to waste. The Partisans led by Saw Gerrera were attacking, and he knew innocents would be caught in the crossfire.

The blast alone had wiped out a group of men, women, and children that were unlucky enough to be too close to the TX-225r Repulsor Tank that was attacked... Many others began to run away and scream as the Rebel terrorists started opening fire on the Imperial reinforcements. Dozens more were killed in the crossfire, mainly by the Partisan's thermal detonators. It was a terrible sight for Ezra to look at. A child is clinging to his dead parents, crying as all hell broke loose near him.

When a cloaked terrorist readied to throw a thermal imploder to take out the stormtroopers next to the boy, Ezra had no choice but to join in. He raised his DL-44 blaster pistol, and shot the rebel dead... The imploder detonated when his dead body slammed into the ground, a deep blaster wound straight in his cold, dead, heart. The blast killed more rebels, and gave the remaining civilians time to save themselves.

Unbeknownst to him, their leader, the infamous Saw Gerrera, was caught in the imploder blast. One of his legs was blown clean off in an instant, giving his fanatical followers a feeling of shock. They wondered just who could do such an accurate shot—a direct shot to the heart. But they didn't have much time to think. Imperial reinforcements have arrived, three of those smaller Imperial walkers... The AT-STs started opening fire, making mince meat out of the outlying rebels as they began to retreat. Ezra noticed that the men took several large bags with them from the destroyed TX-225r tank. They felt so familiar to him, but he'd need more answers to find out what they were...

"This isn't what I wanted..." Ezra said with a tone of obvious anger, "We should give these people hope, not so much... Fear, anger, hate, and suffering..."

There were many uprisings in the Empire that proved to be too problematic to absorb into the Rebel Alliance. The ones on Onderon, Raxus, and Fondor being the most notable. Jedha is now on that list, and is the worst of all of them. About half a year before, just before his capture on Felucia, Kallus told him about the story he told Zeb about the Lasat mercenary he encountered on Onderon. The man swiftly exterminated his squad in the most brutal ways possible. Ezra shivered at the thought of crushed skulls, torn off limbs, and blaster hits covering the entire face... Saw Gerrera is a man that must never be trusted, but his Partisans form most of the uprisings in the Outer Rim. They've swiftly become the largest cell since they began fighting directly after the first Empire Day. Over 20 years, tens of millions of innocents were killed at the hands of the Partisans. Ezra wanted to stop this threat before more people die here on Jedha, or on Onderon, Raxus, Fondor, etc. They only came to Jedha right after the fiasco on Geonosis.

"Your friend Saw Gerrera is a very unpredictable man... I can say insane with distrust... I never again wish to fight for him, not since the massacre..." A voice said. It was Chirrut, who had managed to sneak up on Ezra while he was thinking of ways to stop this madness. "You're still a very open book, my friend... Tell me what troubles you..."

Ezra no longer hesitated speaking to this man. It'd probably make him go away eventually... "When I sent my message to the Galaxy from Lothal, I never wanted the Rebellion to end up killing so many innocent people in the fight against the Empire." He did whatever he could to keep his voice as blank as possible.

"Well, Saw asked the Guardians of the Whills to help him fight against the reign of the Galactic Empire, which killed all the Jedi on Jedha. We wanted to save the crystals from the Temple of Kyber..." He said, pointing directly at the Temple, despite his total blindness.

"When they arrived only a year ago, we agreed to teach them the alleyways and streets of the Holy City. We also helped them fight the Empire's extraction teams... But Baze and I never got any of the crystals back..." Chirrut turned his head toward the larger man armed with the repeating blaster. That had to be Baze.

"The thing is, Saw Gerrera took them all for ourselves. He never thanked us, or rewarded us in anyway. He just left us here, while he spreads chaos in my home." The blind man's face looked very angry, but then it faded. The man had a mild hatred of Saw Gerrera, but was extremely devout in his beliefs. He knew that the Empire would get the man eventually. No rebellion lasts long if it gets the Empire's full attention, like the infamous Partisans. "Don't trust the rebels here. Their leader is obsessed with kyber crystals. I don't know why... but it makes him far more blind than I am."

Ezra, however, knew the reason why. But he couldn't say a thing because of the constant surveillance by the Emperor. If he starts spreading word of the giant space station, everyone in the city will die. He couldn't let that happen. All he could do is hope that the weapon is never completed.

A giant roar started up in the sky. He looked up, as the Victory I-class Star Destroyer guarding the Jedha airspace left the atmosphere. The situation only got worse, however, because its replacement is an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer. He watched as over 30 TIEs were launched to patrol the city. The escort of Gozanti-class Cruisers deployed more AT-STs to patrol the city, and Sentinel-class Dropships deployed even more Stormtroopers and tanks. Not only the heavy TX-225r repulsor tanks, but also the new 2M Saber-class repulsor tank. Just looking at them zoom out of the dropship was an effective demonstration of the Sabertanks' speed.

Ezra has had enough of this place. He doesn't want to see anymore people die, but can't intervene due to his "execution". If he tried, he'd be shot dead easily without his lightsaber. There's nothing more to do than let the garrison fight the rebels. A thought he'd never though would enter his mind...

He looked back to where Chirrut and Baze are, but all he sees is the cold sandstone wall. It was getting late, and the presence of Saw's rebels would likely make that a very dangerous time. They would have increased cover, and likely didn't care about the cold desert nights. He didn't want to stay any longer.

Ezra activated his comlink, speaking into it. "I'm ready to go back..." He said coldly, as the lack of sunlight began a very cold night.

"Very well, report to the dropship at the sent coordinates, and we'll take you back to the Emperor..." The voice of Admiral Gallius Rax was expelled from the speaker. The battlecruiser Intimidator was in orbit, guarding the system during the garrison transfers.

Ezra walked to the extraction point, and watched a TIE Reaper land in front of him.

Notes:

-The reason why Ezra's on Jedha is because Palpatine wanted to give the boy a reason to hate the Rebellion. There's no better way to do that than manipulate the boy's urge to save the innocent.

-Baze is still very much a nonbeliever. He's just there to protect Chirrut while the blind one goes out of his way to talk to Ezra.

-Hopefully I get the time to do an actual major battle soon.