Jyn, Cassian, and Kay-Tu weaved through the back alleys in an attempt to avoid the increased patrols and hastily erected checkpoints. Unfortunately upon turning a corner into one of the secondary streets, the three of them found themselves at one of the checkpoints. The Rebels turned the other way, hoping that the idle Imperials hadn't noticed them.
"Halt. Stop right there."
Slowly, grimly, the Rebels turned to face the stormtrooper that had issued the order.
"Where are you taking these prisoners?"
"...These are prisoners," Kay-Tu explained awkwardly.
"Yes," the trooper said with an edge of irritation. "Where are you taking them?"
"I am... taking them to... imprison them. In prison."
Cassian desperately tried to salvage the situation. "He's taking us to-"
Kay-Tu smacked him across the face. "Quiet! And there's a fresh one if you mouth off again."
"...We'll take them from here," said the stormtrooper, his voice of irritation having turned to concern.
"That's okay. If you could just point me in the right direction, I could take them, I'm sure."
Another trooper moved forward, pulling out two sets of shackles.
"I've taken them this far, I can- Wait a second!"
The second trooper ignored Kay-Tu and closed the shackles around the "prisoners'" wrists and waved over two other Imperials. "Take them away."
"You can't take them away." Kay-Tu started moving with Jyn and Cassian.
The first trooper stopped the automaton. "You stay here. We need to check your diagnostics."
"Diagnostics? I am capable of running my own diagnostics, thank you very much."
"Let them pass in peace," a new voice called out.
Both Imperial and Rebel stopped to look at who had spoken. Jyn immediately recognized him as the blind monk from earlier. Chirrut Îmwe, he had called himself.
"Let them pass in peace," Chirrut repeated. He started to walk towards them while using his Uneti wood staff to guide his way.
The stormtroopers stared at the monk curiously, unsure of what to do.
"The Force is with me and I am with the Force. And I fear nothing, for all is as the Force wills it."
A not unpleasant chill ran up Jyn's spine as Chirrut spoke. She had abandoned her faith during her time with Saw, but there was an almost subliminal melody in the monk's words that resonated with her buried beliefs.
"H-hey," one of the troopers said, feeling as though he had come out of a trance. "Stop right there."
Chirrut kept moving, heading towards the middle of the group of troopers.
"He's blind," said one.
"Is he deaf, too?" Another asked.
"I said stop right there." The stormtrooper cocked and aimed his carbine. His comrades did the same.
Chirrut took a breath and released it slowly. He could hear every slight movement from the soldiers around him, from the shifting of their armor plates, to the subtle scuffing their boot soles made on the sandy cobblestones, to the creaking of the leather in their gauntlets as they adjusted their grips on their guns.
More than that, Chirrut could sense them. Though he was blind, he saw the wondrous incandescence that each trooper had as a fellow living being. With it too he knew their intentions. The color of one of them shifted.
Chirrut leaned to the side and a bullet whizzed past him, striking another stormtrooper center mass. On reflex, the other troopers opened fire. The monk flipped and spun as lead balls flew by at lethal speeds striking nothing but the fellows of those who fired them.
The troopers holding Jyn and Cassian dropped almost simultaneously leaving them and Kay-Tu to run for cover behind a pair of water barrels. From there, the trio watched the gunfight descend into a melee.
Chirrut wielded his staff as though it was part of himself. Each movement flowed into the next and brought with it enough force to dent the stormtroopers' armor. In spite of the monk's prowess, two of the last Imperials attacked as one and seized Chirrut's arms to give a third trooper a clear shot on him.
It was as though Chirrut had expected this though. The troopers hadn't even had ahold of him for a second before the monk had broken the arm of one of them and used the surprise his comrade showed to slip free and uppercut him with the staff. The third trooper lined up his sights on the monk and pulled his trigger. In the time it took for the cock to fall, the flint to spark, the powder to ignite, and the bullet to fly, Chirrut moved the Imperial with the broken arm to shield himself.
Chirrut pushed the body forward and hurled his staff like a javelin. It flew through the air towards the last trooper, perfectly finding the gap between his helmet and chest plate. The Kyber crystal at the end pierced through his leather neck guard and held the staff in place as the trooper collapsed.
Chirrut withdrew his staff and readied himself as more stormtroopers arrived.
The Imperials had scarcely even raised their carbines before the staccato thunder of a Treeby gun rang out. Jyn and Cassian ducked down, unsure of the gunner's allegiance. After the gunfire had ceased, Jyn cautiously peeked over the top of the water barrel. Through the clearing smoke she saw the broad man in the red armor from earlier with the palm of his hand still hovering over his gun's cock.
Chirrut turned away from the mangled stormtroopers to face the gunner. "Baze, you almost shot me."
"You're welcome." Baze spied one crawling trooper that had survived his barrage and fired off another shot.
Kay-Tu stepped out from behind his cover. "Clear of hostiles," he said cheerfully.
Baze snap aimed his Treeby at the automaton.
Kay-Tu's hands shot up. "One hostile!"
Jyn ran out in front of him. "He's with us!"
"They're all right," Chirrut said, lowering the muzzle of Baze's gun with his staff. The gunner took a deep breath and relaxed though his eyes retained suspicion.
Jyn and Cassian held their wrists out to Kay-Tu who unlocked their shackles. "Cassian, I'm sorry about the slap."
Cassian adjusted his nose to reassure himself that it wasn't broken. "Go back to the ship. Wait for my call."
Kay-Tu gave a single nod and jogged away.
Cassian turned his attention to the monk that had saved them. Between his skill in spite of blindness and speaking about the Force, one question repeated in his mind. "Is he a Jedi?"
"There are no Jedi here anymore," Baze answered. "Only dreamers like this fool."
"The Force did protect me," Chirrut said.
Baze turned to his friend. "I protected you."
"...Can you get us to Saw Gerrera?" Jyn asked. It was a long shot, but it was worth a try.
Before either Chirrut or Baze could answer, a hitherto unnoticed observer cried out from a nearby rooftop. The same guerillas from the earlier attack on the Kyber wagon materialized from the side streets and seized those present without giving them a chance to react. The Partisans forced Cassian and Jyn to the ground more roughly than they did Chirrut and Baze, but the four soon found their wrists shackled all the same.
"Can't you see we're no friends of the Empire?" Chirrut scoffed.
Edrio's compound eyes stared death at Cassian. "(Tell that to the one who killed our men.)"
Jyn pulled her shoulder free from the grip of one of her captors. "Anyone who kills me or my friends will answer to Saw Gerrera.
"(And why is that?)" The Tognath sneered.
"Because I'm the daughter of Galen Erso."
Edrio stiffened. "(Take them!)"
The Partisans pulled out cloth sacks and hoodwinked their captives. The only one to protest was Chirrut.
"Are you kidding me? I'm blind!"
The Tognath ignored him, instead baffled by what one of his other captives had on his hip. "(...Is that a pigeon?)"
Minutes after the Partisans and the Rebels had left the city, stormtroopers carefully loaded the bodies of their slain comrades into carts for delivery to the quartermasters. As the last cart pulled away, every single one of the troopers' comm crystals chimed. They each flashed red once and automatically played the transmission.
"Imperial Protocol 13 is now in effect. Repeat, Protocol 13 is in effect."
Over the next few hours, all Imperial personnel and materiel would be methodically withdrawn from the Holy City and loaded onto the Star Destroyer. Cautious optimism started to fill the hearts of the citizens as they watched their occupiers leave. Had Saw and his Partisans succeeded? Who was in charge now? These and a thousand other questions crossed everyone's minds, but none could foresee the horror the future held for them.