"Everything leading up to this point has been rehearsal. Now, the real performance will begin..."
-Grand Admiral Thrawn
Imperial Refueling Station A9
Ezra walked through the bridge of the battlecruiser Intimidator unrestrained. Ezra's proved himself as trustworthy to the Admiral. In response, the Admiral, the young Gallius Rax, treats Ezra with respect. Admiral Rax is one of the Emperor's most trusted servants, and the Emperor's ordered him to treat the boy with the respect for the rank he will soon have. They both planned for Ezra to see the better of the Empire, and paint the Empire as an old government fighting to preserve order. And the visit to Jedha would help paint the Rebellion's various cells as insurgents with the will to sacrifice anything to fight the Empire, including the lives of the innocent. It was working...
The Intimidator docked with the Imperial fueling station. This was the central hub of starship movement in the eastern section of Oversector Outer, which spans the entire Outer Rim. Ezra saw hundreds of civilian and Imperial patrol ships in two separate lines, awaiting refueling. The Rebellion, specifically the Ghost Crew, has been known to attack the station to steal fuel for Phoenix Squadron. Security has been tightened since, with the addition of anti-fighter/freighter turrets placed throughout the quadrant's perimeter. The Empire had learned... And was adapting to Rebellion strategy, but soon the Empire and Ezra will learn that these are now outdated countermeasures.
The bridge of the Intimidator is unusually active. It's possible that the experienced command crew just heard unusually large hyperspace echoes. These echoes are what many warships use to detect approaching starships leaving the bright blue tunnels of hyperspace. Ezra wasn't sure what was coming, but he hoped it wasn't an attacking fleet... But the bridge crew's hopes for the safety of the innocent were lost. A fleet of unidentified cruisers left hyperspace.
The Admiral's thickly accented speech spoke for them all. "Oh no..." They all understood that they had to ready for battle. The entire station and the fleet of corvettes guarding it and the civilian fleets is now on high alert.
The grey-skinned Mon Calamari's chair moved towards the transparisteel viewport. His mouth began to move, releasing his first battle order as an Admiral. "This is Admiral Raddus of the Rebel Alliance, all wings report in!"
The voices began to pour into the comms, one by one... Blue Squadron, in their Z-95 Headhunters, was first to report. Then it was Red Squadron in Headhunters, Gold Squadron in Y-Wings, and Green Squadron in A-Wings, led by Hera.
"This is Blue Leader standing by —Blue Seven standing by —Blue Three standing by —Blue Five standing by —Blue Twelve standing by —Blue Eleven standing by —Blue Four standing by —Blue Ten standing by —Blue Two standing by —Blue Six standing by —Blue Eight standing by —Blue Nine standing by..."
The list continues to go on... Until the tiny Green Squadron came by, consisting of the Ghost and two A-Wings. They were what was left of Phoenix Squadron: Hera, Wedge, and Hobbie... The A-Wings have been modified to increase speed. These modifications would prove to be useful, but were extremely time-consuming and costly.
"Green Leader standing by —Green Two standing by —Green Three standing by..."
Raddus's voice boomed into the comms as he down towards his chair's audio receiver. "Cruisers, set to attack formation Aurek-Seven. Squadron leaders, stand by while we take out those anti-fighter defenses..."
"Admiral, our ship is now undocked from the station, what are your orders?" The commander asked, following protocol.
Gallius stared at the Rebel MC80s and the Profundity, and saw the tiny fighters forming behind the main force. They'll have to be taken out... "Launch all Gunboats... Direct the bombers to take out the shields of the nearest cruiser... We must stop them before they destroy this station..."
They saw a spray of ion cannon fire disable most of the smaller ships in their range, including all the civilian freighters, anti-fighter satellites, and Imperial Lancer-class frigates.
"Admiral, they've disabled the civilian transports!" The comm officer yelled, his face showing clear shock at this. Normally the mere presence of the Ghost in the fleet means that these Rebels were more disciplined. No, this was a bold and risky strategy. It didn't do much against the Empire, but it could be very damaging to the Rebellion's reputation.
The next think they knew, a spread of lasers started to fire from the turbolaser-blisters on the cruisers. And within minutes, the wall of civilian ships and Imperial defenses were left a pile of rubble... Their Admiral must've ordered them to fire randomly to destroy all the Imperial frigates.
They were all stunned. Not only because of the thousands of innocent civilians killed in an attack, but because of the sheer power of these ships. They might even be able to match a Star Destroyer in a broadside. They need to get to action... The engine units of the Praetor glowed fiercely as they went on maximum thrust.
"You're all clear, Green Leader. You may begin the fuel extraction..." General Merrick, Blue Leader, said into the comm channel.
The Ghost and Blue Squadron's U-Wings flew straight to the hangar. These stations were completely unarmed, and not a single TIE was stocked in them. They're solely built for the refueling of starships in the Empire.
The landing ramps dropped on all five boarding craft, and Rebels quickly stormed the hangar. Kanan and Zeb lead the push, decimating the garrison as they got closer to the huge fuel canisters. It took little effort to pushing them into the Ghost...
But for some reason Kanan was still worried... Something's coming, or is it already here? He couldn't tell. But to him, it was the cold... He thought Darth Vader was on his way to stop the attack, but he had no idea which force user was already present...
"What's wrong, love?" Hera said with deep concern. Kanan was only like this before something terrible was happening...
"It's the cold... I think Vader's on his way. We'll have to hurry..." The blind man simply said...
Hurry they did. Within an hour, they left with the much needed fuel...
The mission was both a success and failure. The Mon Calamari cruisers have proven to be extremely effective, and they got the fuel. But they lost one MC60 cruiser, and killed thousands of innocents while doing it.
They'll have to create protocols involving capital ships to prevent becoming like the Partisans. It was distateful.
Ezra watched as the Mon Calamari cruisers turned to jump to hyperspace. They were defenseless... And the Praetor II-class Battlecruiser Intimidator took advantage of the situation. A barrage of turbolaser fire destroyed the engine units of the MC60. And he watched as the Ghost entered hyperspace. Ezra thought this was going to be a rescue, but he now knew that he was abandoned by his new family forever. The simple thought of it made him shake as he was seething with anger...
His vision was being manipulated, all the way from Coruscant... Palpatine, using Sith magic, began altering Ezra's memory was altered to believe that this MC60 was crewed by the Partisans. The group he hated even as a part of the Rebellion. He wanted to avenge the dead children on Jedha, and the merchants now drifting in the cold vacuum of space not far away. He wanted vengeance...
"I'll lead the boarding party, and I'll kill every man on that enemy ship..." Ezra said coldly, his mind blind to what he just said...
"Very well... Ezra..." Gallius said to the young boy, placing his hand on his shoulder. He had been through a similar lifestyle. But instead of living alone as a street rat on Lothal, Rax grew up as a slave on the unbearably hot planet of Jakku. His savior: then Chancellor Palpatine. After that, he had an unwavering loyalty to the Emperor and his Empire.
Ezra lead the boarding party of red Shocktroopers as they marched towards the hangar's TIE/br boarding shuttles. The trip to the ship was a deadly silence...
When the doors opened, he saw the Rebels open fire... Their storm of blaster bolts was a valiant effort to defend themselves against certain doom, but it obviously was not enough... As they were slaughtered they saw the bright green glow of a lightsaber and a boy with deep yellow eyes.