Buckets: A Star Wars Story

17. Staff Sergeant

Jedha was an old planet. You could practically feel the history in the stones. It was almost like the planet itself had a heartbeat. However, when we arrived Jedha City had a Star Destroyer looming over it like a phantom. It seemed out of place, that grey against the blue sky and contrasted by the orange stone beneath it. Transport and cargo ships went from its bays to the temple and back again carrying crates upon crates of what we later discovered were kyber crystals.

We had been made aware of the presence and were thanked profusely for providing much needed ground support, though the troopers who truly knew us by reputation were more than a little confused by our shiny white armor. We were rarely seen without our warpaint, but the Director's orders had been made perfectly clear. No one outside of a select few officers were to know who we were.

These kyber crystals were also going towards Project Stardust. I wasn't filled in much more about the whole spiel, but I was going in knowing more than the guys. Not much, but slightly better than nothing. We were rooting out insurgents and keeping Gererra on his toes which was to hopefully unbalance him enough to keep him from doing anything to really disrupt operations.

Jedha City itself was packed full of people, all denizens of the city surrounding the old temple, and as we made our way through the streets, we were met with stares from people who were far from accommodating. It hadn't been the first time we found ourselves in such a state of pure and utter animosity, and it certainly wouldn't be the last, but it was more unnerving than usual. Several transport tanks had been attacked in the past few days alone, and knowing that there was a militant rebel cell running around murdering squads of troopers wasn't exactly comforting. The locals kept shooting us dirty looks, the aliens most of all. It was like walking through a warzone, except you had no idea who the enemy was. Everyone was an enemy.

I had Peek strapped to my back as I broke off from the squad to plug him into a terminal. Director Dorne had slicers on standby to comb through Peeks transmissions while he scanned everything. If any of Saw's rebels had been through that terminal recently, we'd know about it. I stood in front of the small Gonk while he worked, careful to shield him from any prying eyes while Aurek and Osk questioned civilians around about our missing shuttle pilot. He was also part of the reason the Director had wanted us here. He needed to be silenced, and with the DTs away with Krennic we were his only available units.

Bodhi Rook, I believe this pilot's name was, and he was either stupidly brave or stupidly stupid. I wasn't sure which. I have no respect for traitors, but what I can respect was the sheer level of gutsiness that it took to even attempt to find the Rebels, especially Saw's.

"Found anything?" I had asked as Peek retracted his tiny arm and stepped back from the terminal.

His frustrated gonk was my answer, and I hefted him back up onto my backpack as I rejoined the squad. Thesh was scanning the crowd with all the scrutiny I had come to expect from him as Aurek and Osk made their way back. Besh finally looked up from his readings and put his free hand on his hips as he turned to me, "Okay, I get that we're looking for rebels, but... How in the Corellian Hell are we supposed to find them in this rabble?"

"You'd be surprised," Aurek replied as he slapped Besh's shoulder plate. "We need to keep the roads clear for the transports. Last thing we need is one getting blown up on our watch. That doesn't exactly look good."

It was true enough, and as we wound our way through the crowds of Jedha City, we all began to realize that there was a peculiar feeling in the air. Everyone seemed tense - us, included - and it didn't take us too long to find out why.

We had managed to get mostly back to the temple where the transports were going back and forth between us and the massive star destroyer. Just outside was another public terminal and as the group went on ahead, I unholstered Peek and let him go to work. He gave a bleep of surprise as his little light began to blink, a sure-fire sign that he had found something that Director Dorne should know, but almost directly afterward there was the sound of an explosion from somewhere farther out in the city.