After recovering the kyber crystals and escaping imperial reinforcements, the Partisans accepted to bring the rebels, plus Chirrut and Baze, who had jumped in to help their new Jedi friend, to their hideout. A compound built at the base of an old structure, probably belonging to the Jedi, as well, in the past.
Indeed, many of the fighters among the Partisans were natives of Jedha and had witnessed the times of the Republic and of the Jedi Order. The moment Ezra pulled out his lightsaber on that square, they started to behave as if he was a god of some sort.
At least this smoothed things. Cassian and Jyn were allowed to carry their weapons, and the latter was told she was allowed to see Saw as long as Ezra was present as well.
That was the report that Ezra gave to his father, who was instead on the bridge of the Constantinople.
"We're approaching the hideout." Ezra said on the comlink. "The mountain might interfere with the signal, so see if Jinx can improve it."
"You hurt me, Ezra." the AI answered. "Of course I can."
Jordan chuckled. "You heard him."
"All right, I'll keep the channel open."
Jordan turned his head on his right.
"Salazar, have you got that link with Yavin?"
"Almost...got it!" the man exclaimed.
On the video feeds left of his platform, Jordan could now see the face of his daughter.
"Command to Constantinople, how's it going?" she asked seriously.
Jordan quipped. "Considering there has just been a shootout on the surface, I think everything is going pretty smoothly."
"Oh, my goodness, you arrived five minutes ago!" Jaral lamented.
"I know, I know," Jordan interceded. "but it wasn't Ezra's fault." and he proceeded to give a quick summary of what had just happened inside the Holy City, while Ezra and his squad were going inside Saw's hideout.
After hearing the explanation, Jaral gently scratched her forehead. "So we got Saw's men stealing a huge amount of kyber and a couple of monks who now have decided to worship my brother."
"More or less. At least Ezra's presence seems enough to have the Partisans cooperate."
"Are you sure things won't turn for the worst?" General Draven asked from Yavin.
"Ezra can take care of himself and the ones around him, General. For now, we'll just have to..."
"Excuse me, Captain." Salazar suddenly spoke in.
"Yes, Salazar?" Jordan asked patiently.
"It appears like the Star Destroyer over the Holy City is heading toward the orbit of Jedha."
"Rut, make sure they don't spot us."
"Yes, Captain."
"There's something else..." Salazar added while he kept tapping the keyboard of his terminal. "I'm keeping an eye on their messages and...it appears like they're implementing Protocol 13."
"Protocol 13?" Raniza asked from one of the posts around the Galaxy Map. "Isn't that...?"
"The one we used on Lothal to seal all imperial forces into the Dome, yes." Jordan remembered.
On the other side of the feed, Jaral mumbled. "Why would they retreat? It certainly couldn't be because of the recent attack..." then it looked like a terrible realization hit her. "Unless..."
One of the soldiers at the sensors recalled Jordan. "Captain, there's a massive object coming out of hyperspace." he announced with a calm tone.
A shiver went down Jordan's spine.
"Rut, get us away from this side of the orbit!"
An alarm started blaring: something was going to hit them shortly.
Jordan dashed toward the cockpit, to get a better look at what was going to happen.
The second he arrived, the object left hyperspace. At first, it was only a massive shadow, but as it entered in the range of the local star's light, the shape became clear.
A massive artificial structure, slightly bigger than the Moon of Earth. And it was heading toward Jedha, along the same path the Constantinople was sitting on.
"Jinx, hide us from their scanners." Jordan promptly ordered. "Rut, all power to the engines, get us out of their way!"
The Salarian suddenly sped up all of his movements, sending the necessary commands to the ship in order to comply with his captain's orders. Jinx also made his job and the imperial scanners didn't pick them up, though something told Jordan that the imperials had no reason to make a scan of the area.
The Constantinople reached the peak of her speed, moving on the left side (or what it looked like that from their perspective) of the space station.
By a margin, the ship managed to avoid being crushed. The Death Star was so gargantuan that it had its own gravitational field, but the frigate managed to get away just in time.
Breathing a huge sigh of relief, Jordan reordered his thoughts.
"Great job, Rut." he complimented, before turning toward his AI. "Jinx, is that what I think it is?"
"I'm monitoring the radio traffic...confirmed...that's the Death Star."
Jordan gulped, but kept his composure. "Transmit the images to Yavin." he ordered.
"Captain...it's pointing toward Jedha?" Rut asked with a hint of preoccupation in his tone.
The Captain realized that it was true, and a horrible feeling made him grab the comlink with Ezra immediately. "Ezra, you hear me? Ezra, tell me you're there!" he said with an urgent tone.
After a couple of statics, the voice of his son came over. "Dad, we just got the pilot and I'm with Saw, what's happening?"
"The Death Star is right over your heads, you need to evacuate, now!" he exclaimed as he walked quickly back to his pedestal in front of the Galaxy Map.
"Are you kidding?" Ezra asked.
"Do I sound like I'm joking, son?!" Jordan insisted with the fear for his son gripping his heart.
"Sir!" a sensor's operator called. "We're reading a massive energy peak coming from the station."
This time it was Jaral to intervene in the conversation. "Ezra, get your team out of there, that's an order!" she yelled furiously.
Ezra thus called another contact on the line. "K2, bring the ship to our coordinates, at once." he ordered in a calm tone, despite the situation, something that had Jordan feel a point of pride in some corner of his heart.
"Energy readings updated," the operator said abruptly. "70 million roentgen."
Jordan had to call in all of his discipline to not give in to panic. Right now, all he could do was to watch, because Ezra had already ordered evacuation, but Jordan also knew that his son wouldn't have left without the pilot and the message they had come for.
For now he watched the sensor's visual projections about the Death Star. Around a minute after the energy peak was registered, the crater on one of the station's hemispheres suddenly started gathering a green light. A group of tributary laser rays converged into a middle point, loading it up for a couple of seconds, and then shot toward the surface, leaving Jordan with barred eyes.
The green laser hit the surface, unleashing what could only be described as the apocalypse.
When the sensors were enhanced, Jordan could distinguish what was happening: the Death Star had fired directly at the Holy City, wiping it out in the blink of an eye, then the insane amount of energy had penetrated part of the moon's crust and the explosion was causing earthquakes, not to mention the fact that the crust was being lifted from beneath.
And that wave of lightning bolts and destruction was expanding in a concentric manner, heading in all directions...toward Ezra's direction as well.
The fire of the explosion and the debris were also gathering into a column that was already beyond the atmosphere of the moon. It would have quickly reached the altitude of the Constantinople, good thing they were already out of the way.
But that wasn't important, now. What mattered to Jordan was his own son.
Luckily, the preemptive warning had given Ezra the time to order the evacuation in time. So, while the catastrophe was expanding, Ezra managed to call the ship.
"This is Specter-7, I got both packages, we're leaving the surface." he announced.
"Captain, I got them on scopes." the operator said, putting up the tracing on one of the video feeds.
The U-Wing was starting to lift from the surface and headed at full speed toward the skies of Jedha with an oblique vector, as it had to also run from the incoming wall of destruction, but it was catching up with them.
"Come on..." Jordan gritted through his teeth.
A few seconds before the debris wrapped the ship into a deadly trap, the U-Wing suddenly jumped to light-speed.
Jordan wasn't sure if he wanted to believe it, then the voice of the operator confirmed it.
"They have made the jump, Captain. I'm tracking their signal."
Jordan hadn't noticed that he had been holding his breath, and now he could finally release a huge one of relief.
After taking a few moments to readjust himself, he turned to Salazar. "Call them and organize a rendezvous, we'll pick them up."
While the soldier nodded and went to work, Jordan turned toward the feed with Yavin. Jaral was now sitting on a chair, arching her back on the seat and clearly trying to readjust herself from the monumental scare she had as well.
"Command, do you copy?" Jordan asked.
Jaral straightened back and answered. "We read you, Spirit." she sighed again. "Proceed as you planned and recover the extraction team. And let's hope Specter-7 got the message."
"I know he did." Jordan reassured her. "I'll call back later for update."
"Understood. Hug Ezra for me, please." she concluded, still shaken.
Jordan chuckled, trying to dispel the tension that way. "Of course." and he closed the transmission.
---------------------------
Still reeling from the intense experience, Ezra tried to assess the situation in his mind, but another voice quickly added in his head.
"Ezra, how are you?" Jaral asked full of apprehension.
"I'm fine, sis, don't worry."
"Don't worry? You know, Sabine was watching the feed. She almost passed out...and so did I!" she lamented.
"Sorry." Ezra replied patiently, knowing that she was probably more scared than him. Then he decided to share one vital information right away. "I had the time to talk with the pilot."
"You got him?"
"Him and the message. Luckily, Saw didn't resist much, he seemed to be quite attached to Jyn."
"Where is he, now?"
Ezra mentally sighed. "He didn't want to leave. Most of his men managed to take off, but he had decided he had run enough."
"I see..." Jaral though with a bit of pity.
"Listen, I'm going to play the message on the Constantinople so you can hear it, as well, but the pilot, Bodhi, confirmed that Galen Erso is on Eadu."
"Eadu...ok, let's hear what the message says, then we will decide if you will head there or not."
"Copy that. See you in a minute."
The U-Wing left hyperspace after reaching a system adjacent to Jedha, and received the call from the Constantinople. After five minutes, the group managed to get back aboard the frigate, where Jordan was ready to welcome back and hug his son tightly.
"Thank the Gods, you're okay." he murmured as his face was pressing against Ezra's shoulder in the hug.
"I'm ok, Dad, really." Ezra reassured him before they broke the hug.
Ezra took out a disc from his pocket. "Here's the message Galen Erso sent to Saw, and..." he turned around to present the pilot. The guy seemed kinda meek, physically, but at the moment, the greatest problem was that Saw had him subjected to some kind of torture, during his brief detention. "this is Bodhi Rook, the imperial pilot sent by Erso."
Stuttering a bit, Bodhi managed to greet. "H-hi. You must be from the...Federation, right?"
"Yes, Captain Jordan Bridger." the officer replied, extending a hand, which Bodhi shook very quickly before retracting it.
After a while, Jordan convinced Bodhi to be escorted into the med bay for a check-up, while the others gathered in the strategic room with the other officers of the ship and Rebel Command listening.
"All right, let's see what Galen Erso got for us." Undir said as he inserted the disc in one of the holotable's drivers.
The hologram of an old man with a uniform of the Imperial Weapon Research Division appeared. Coincidentally, it was facing Jyn.
"Saw, if you're watching this, then perhaps there is a chance to save the Alliance. Perhaps there's a chance to explain myself...and, though I don't dare hope for too much...a chance for Jyn, if she's alive...if you can possibly find her..."
Ezra looked on his left. He was standing right next to Jyn, who was looking with a whirlpool of emotions that he could clearly feel and relate to. But he also understood that it was different from his own experience: when Ezra found out for sure that his parents were alive, it was because he finally met them in person. All Jyn had was a hologram.
"to let her know that my love for her has never faded...and how desperately I've missed her. Jyn, my Stardust...I can't imagine what you think of me."
Now noticing that Jyn was on the breaking point, Ezra gently put a hand on her shoulder and used the Force to alleviate some of her pain. Jyn gave him a quick gaze to thank him before turning toward the hologram again.
"When I was taken, I faced some bitter truths. I was told that, soon enough, Krennic would have you as well."
"Krennic." Ezra thought, ordering Jinx to find out who that was.
"As time went by, I knew that you were either dead...or so well hidden that he would never find you. I knew if I had refused to work, if I took my own life, it would only be a matter of time before Krennic realized he no longer needed me to complete the project. So I did the one thing nobody expected...I lied. I learned to lie. I played the part of a beaten man resigned to the sanctuary of his work. I made myself indispensable...and all the while, I laid the groundwork of my revenge."
The atmosphere had been pretty sad at that point, since everybody felt pity for Jyn, but those last words made clear that Galen was about to release precious intel, so the officers pricked up their ears.
"We call it the Death Star. There is no better name...and the day is coming soon when it will be unleashed. I've placed a weakness deep within the system...a flaw so small and powerful, they will never find it."
Undir immediately noted that down and, Ezra felt it, Jaral ordered that too to be written down.
"But, Jyn...Jyn, if you're listening, my beloved..." he took a few moments to process the words. "So much of my life has been wasted. I try to think of you only in the moments when I'm strong because the pain of not having you with me...your mother, our family."
Many lowered their heads as Jyn couldn't hold up sniffing a little and her face was contorted in desperation. Ezra now put his arm all around her shoulders to reassure her.
"The pain of that loss is so overwhelming I risk failing even now. It's just so hard not to think of you...think of where you are...my Stardust."
Galen took another moment to recompose himself, while Jyn was giving her all to hold back the will of crying out.
Ezra saw Jordan shed a fleeting tear. Galen's words were most likely expressing loudly what he and Mira had felt during their 10 years of prison regarding their children.
Then the recording spoke again.
"Saw...the reactor module, that's the key." and the attention of the officers went up again. "That's the place I've laid my trap. It's well hidden and unstable. One blast to any part of it will destroy the entire station. You'll need the plans, the structural plans for the Death Star, to find the reactor. I know there's a complete engineering archive in the data vault at the Citadel Tower on Scarif."
The name of the planet had Undir jolt into action as he searched for the planet in the database.
"Any pressurized explosion to the reactor module will set off a chain reaction that will destroy the entire station."
Then it could be seen that Galen was reaching for the recording device and closed it.
Jyn finally gave in and fell on her knees, but managed to hold back the tears, most likely because of her pride. Ezra also knelt down to try and comfort her a little.
While using the Force to help her, Ezra turned his head toward his father.
"Ok, Eadu and Scarif, what do we know?" he asked, encouraging the others to stay focused on the objective.
"We already know that Eadu hosts a research lab of the Empire." Undir explained. "As of Scarif, we know about the Citadel, but we didn't know exactly its function, until now."
"What about this Krennic he was talking about?" Jordan asked, and Jinx replied immediately.
"Orson Callan Krennic. Director of the Imperial Military Department of Advanced Weapons Research of the ISB. The UACT Intelligence doesn't have much information on him aside from this, but it's clear, from Galen Erso's message, that he's responsible for the Death Star project."
A brief silence fell, as the officers tried to elaborate the best proposal they could think of.
Eventually it was Lieutenant Commander Licina Trebis, one of the MI6 officers assisting Undir, who voiced her opinion.
"Our target should be clear. If the Death Star's plans are at Scarif, we need to get them if we want to find the weakness Galen Erso spoke about."
"But we might use Erso's assistance as well." Lieutenant Saito Matsui added. "He spoke about a conduct, all right, but I'm sure there's more than one in that monstrosity. Even an AI would need time to calculate which is the right one."
"Not to mention, Scarif is out of the Systems Alliance's range." Undir concluded.
"But not of the Rebellion." the voice of Jaral spoke through her hologram around the table, drawing the attention of everybody. Even Jyn managed to recompose herself and standing up.
"What do you propose?" Jordan asked.
"True, our main fleet can't reach Scarif, but the fleet around Ryloth might be able to do it. We might also be able to send a small squadron through our secret routes to reinforce it."
"But it wouldn't be possible to send your major ships." Undir noted. "And Scarif will surely be well defended, I'm not sure the Ryloth Fleet has enough firepower to break through."
"I'm aware, Colonel." Jaral stated calmly. "I'll have to consult with Admirals Raddus and Edrix about this. For now, though, I want the Constantinople to head for Eadu. See if you can extract Galen Erso, then I'll send a starfighter group to destroy the structure." she ordered in the end.
"We'll set a course for Eadu." Jordan declared.
"Good, contact me when you reach the planet." and Jaral's hologram disappeared.
----------------------------------
November 28
After saying goodbye to his mother, Iulius took a taxi that brought him tothe spaceport, where his shuttle was ready to bring him on the Admonitor.
And when he walked down from the ramp, escorted by his Death Troopers, he discovered that he was just in time, as the new junior officers of his ships were just being welcomed by Qathora.
He started walking toward the trio, composed, aside from Qathora, by a young woman with dark skin and black curly hair, and a young man with his hair braided except for a long tail coming down from the right temple.
The Togruta, who was oriented in a better way to see him first, jolted at attention as soon as she saw him and also ordered with authoritative voice "Atten-tion!"
The now former cadets instinctively compelled and turned to make the salute to the Grand Admiral, who returned the gesture with his hand.
"At ease." he finally said, prompting the new Lieutenants to obey.
"Lieutenant Ree and Lieutenant Windrider, welcome to the one-o-first." Iulius added cordially.
"It's an honor, sir." Ree replied proudly, a sentiment visibly shared by Windrider, as well.
"I wanted to have you friend, Lieutenant Kyrell, too, as part of my fighter squadron, but Imperial Command had others plans for him." Iulius commented in a friendly tone, in order to have the recruits loosen up a little, since he didn't want to enforce the excessive discipline usually exercised in the Imperial ranks.
"Guess that would've been too good to be true..." Nash said with a knowing smirk, then turned the corner of his eye toward Ciena. "isn't that right, Ciena?"
"It's Lieutenant, Lieutenant Windrider..." the woman replied a bit annoyed, but also blushing lightly.
Chuckling lightly, Iulius waved a hand toward the exit door of the hangar. "Come with me, you're both assigned on the bridge." and he started to walk in a composed manner toward the door.
Qathora and the officers followed him, with the young Humans making a silent, excited laugh when they were told where they were assigned.
Only when they arrived at the turbolifters, Iulius turned again toward the young recruits.
"Just one thing, before we start." he announced, with Ciena and Nash listening attentively. "While I expect you to lay down your life for the benefit of the Empire, that would be the absolutely last resource. If you die, you're of no use to me, or the Empire, so always put your survival at top priority, is that clear?"
Caught a bit by surprise, since that went pretty much against the values taught at the Academy, Ciena and Nash nonetheless replied "Sir, yes sir."
Iulius scrutinized them with his eyes, making sure they understood those words. While he found them understandably confused, since they had been educated in a whole other manner, they seemed to comprehend his order enough, and Iulius was sure they would've learned better by staying with his new fleet.
Then they entered the lifters and reached the command bridge, where preparations for the imminent departure from Coruscant were in full swing.
Qathora headed for the viewport, Iulius' usual spot, while the Grand Admiral led the new recruits to his First Officer, a man named Krybos.
"Commander." Iulius greeted.
The officer turned around and made the salute. "Grand Admiral."
"These are the new officers. Lieutenant Windrider and Lieutenant Ree." he explained, pointing at each when he named them. "I'm assigning Windrider as our new Navigator and Lieutenant Ree as part of your command staff, I expect you to teach her all she needs to know."
"Of course, sir, rest assured." the man replied.
"Good, show them their posts, because we are leaving." Iulius concluded, and walked past him, toward the viewport. "Lieutenant Windrider," he added while he walked. "when you're ready, set the course for Kuat."
"Yes, sir." Nash replied without hesitation.
Iulius walked past the pits of the bridge operators, who all saluted him with a deep respect in their eyes, and the Grand Admiral returned the gesture as he kept walking.
When he reached the viewport, Qathora spoke to him.
"We're receiving a call from Admiral Versio, master."
"Patch him in, then." Iulius replied, getting in front of the holo-projector of the ship.
Qathora pushed a button on the datapad in her hands and the hologram of the old Admiral appeared.
"Grand Admiral," he started. "I'm glad to report that the mission you assigned to the Inferno Squad has been a complete success. The team has recovered the package and we're on Kuat to deliver it to the ISB."
"Glad to hear that, Admiral. Any losses?"
"None, sir. Inferno is still intact and they noticed our presence too late to react appropriately. My squadron barely had to shoot a bolt."
"Excellent, Admiral. Send my congratulations to your daughter, you must be proud of her."
The old Admiral made a small bow with his head, but the smile on his face was eloquent enough. "Thanks, Grand Admiral. We are awaiting our next orders."
"Resupply, if you need, and stand ready. I'm departing for Kuat as soon as my Navigator calculates the course. It's time to bring the fight to the enemy." Iulius calmly stated.
"Understood. We'll await your arrival." Versio concluded before closing the transmission.
After that, Nash, who had taken his position into the left pit, spoke up. "Grand Admiral, course for Kuat set."
Iulius turned his head backward, toward the helmsman. "Colmas, let's go."
"Sir, yes, sir." the helmsman said in a joking tone as he injected the hyperdrive and the Admonitor threw herself into the blue tunnel.
-------------------------------
The U-Wing detached from the Constantinople. They had observed Eadu for an entire rotation, using the scanner, the probes and Bodhi's testimony to get a fairly reliable schematic of the underlying kyber refinery.
The facility was build onto a steep ridge. Aside from the main shuttle pad, there were other points that could be approached by a small squad, if enough caution was used.
Ezra decided that he, Jordan, Thabo and Michalina would be the ones to infiltrate the facility, find Erso and bring him out of there. Though, after Jyn's repeated insistence, the Jedi decided to satisfy her request, least she tried to sneak in on her own and jeopardized the mission.
Meanwhile, Cassian, Gutierrez and Baze would stand guard to cover the escape route of the infiltration team. Ezra decided to leave Chirrut with them, trusting that his incredible connection with the Force would allow him to detect possible unexpected events and alert the strike team in time to react appropriately.
Now, the facility was built in a region of Eadu that, in those days, was being traversed by a small hurricane, meaning violent winds and pouring rain that limited visibility.
With Bodhi directing him, K2 tried to fly between the pointy mountainous columns that dotted the surface, but even with Ezra using the Force to detect obstacles that were impossible to see because of the rain, the wind eventually made the ship graze against a rock and K was forced to crash-land.
"Could have gone better." Michalina commented, since, at the very least, they were all alive.
"Bodhi, you said there's a shuttle depot not far from the lab?" Cassian asked.
"Yes...right over this ridge." the pilot replied.
"Good," said Ezra, who understood what Cassian was up to. "Then you and K get there and hope there is an imperial shuttle to steal. Everyone else, we're moving."
"Yes, sir." Jordan replied.
"Ok, just wait a moment..." he said before closing his eyes. Two seconds later, he reopened them. "Jaral says the fighter squadron will reach this planet in two hours. We need to move."
Even Chirrut and Baze were surprised at how quick that was. They had been told that the siblings could talk with their minds, but they haven't had the opportunity to see them do it, yet.
When everybody took their equipment, Ezra opened the door and walked outside, into the pouring rain. He turned toward Jyn, instructing her to stay between him and Jordan and to be patient, then the groups moved to do their jobs.
The sniper team climbed up in order to reach a crag where they could easily keep an eye on the main landing pad, while Ezra's team had to take another trail that would bring them on a blind spot of the facility, where they hoped to get in via some maintenance shafts.
Along the way, they found a perfect observation point, and Ezra ordered them to stop so he could get a closer look on the defenses of that place.
Using his night visor, it wasn't difficult for the Jedi General to spot them.
"So, two turbolaser turrets and a hangar full of fighters." he said, then hummed in thought.
"You want to take them out?" Thabo asked.
"The pilots could certainly use such help, but I doubt we brought enough explosives to take both of them out."
"I say we take out the hangar." Jordan said. "The TIEs are much more difficult to take out and there are usually many of them. I'm sure our friends can deal with a couple of static turrets."
Ezra hummed a bit again. "Yes, I agree." he decided at the end. "Thabo, Michalina, you two get the hangar. You can get out of there with your jetpacks and regroup with us. We will find and extract Galen Erso."
"You got it, boss." the woman in reddish purple armor said.
It wasn't easy to reach the access point, but they did, and now they had an hour left before the Rebel air strike.
Thabo and Michalina separated from the group and headed for the hangar, since the schematics already showed them where to go. For Ezra and his team, instead, the first order of business was to link Jinx with a terminal so he could find where Galen was.
Doing their best to avoid the gaze of the stormtroopers guarding the facility and that of the various technicians, none of whom were Galen, unfortunately, Ezra and Jordan managed to reach the main security room. Ezra took the two guards out with his Suppressor pistol and had Jinx hack into the system.
"I found him. Galen Erso is now in his lab. Two blocks away from him." the AI announced after a brief search.
"Good, let's get moving." the Jedi replied.
Calmly, letting patrols slip past them, the three reached the door of Galen's lab. Jyn was about to bust it open, but Ezra stopped her, because his scanner could see that there were two guards inside, guarding the door and, most likely, Galen himself.
He signaled his own father, and they opened the door, then quickly assailing and overpowering the two troopers, knocking them out.
When they looked on the other side of the small room, they saw Galen Erso, in his dark gray suit, who was looking at them with a terrified expression, then he tried to rush for a button that most likely would sound the alarm, but Ezra used the Force to paralyze him.
Jordan dashed forward and restrained him with his arms. "Calm down, we're with the Alliance. We're here to rescue you." he said in a hushed but clear tone.
"Who are you?" Galen asked with suspicion, but the next voice made him forgot about everything.
"Father." Jyn exclaimed as she entered the room and froze of joy in her place.
Galen calmed down and looked at the young woman, he himself seemingly unable to believe at his senses.
"Jyn...?" he asked with a trembling tone, and as his body tried to get away from the button and more toward the daughter he hadn't seen for years, Jordan gently let him slip away.
"Pappa!" Jyn exclaimed as the two ran toward each other and threw their arms around each other's neck.
The two hugged with all their strength, among silent chuckles of joy and tears that started rolling down their cheeks.
Beneath their helmets, Ezra and Jordan smiled and also looked at each other as they remembered the day when the reunion they yearned for so much time finally happened. But for how much they felt happy for the Ersos, Ezra had to step forward and talk to them.
"I really hate to get in the middle, but the Empire will soon notice something's wrong and the Rebellion is about to blow this place up, so, let's go."
Reminded of that, Jyn broke the hug and Galen, too, snapped back to the moment.
Jordan jogged forward and opened the way, with Jyn escorting her father and Ezra closing the line. Now the timer indicated that the attack should start in 10 minutes.
The group managed to make only a few meters before the Legionnaires' scanners revealed that there was a pretty big patrol of stormtroopers coming to investigate why their two comrades guarding Erso had gone silent.
The four hid into a lateral hallway, but Ezra understood that it was only a matter of time before they were discovered anyway, so he reached Jordan. "Dad, tell the guys to blow up the hangar." he whispered into his helmet's comlink.
Jordan didn't waste a second and opened a channel with Michalina. "Spirit to Bravo Team, come in."
"Bravo here. Charges set, standing by."
"Light them up." the older Bridger whispered.
Five seconds later, a small quake rocked the main structure, followed by the corridors being filled with the blaring of the alarm and the red lights.
"Explosion detected in the hangar. All security teams head there, immediately." the voice of an officer at the intercom echoed.
And the patrol of stormtroopers had no chance but to dash toward the hangar, forgetting that they were supposed to check up on Galen.
"Good, now let's move." Jordan exhorted the others.
With the base thrown into disarray, it was a little easier to slip unnoticed, even if the Bridgers didn't use their holograms (since it would have been hard to explain Jyn's presence anyway).
Thabo and Michalina also managed to get away without a fuss and reunite with the other four. Galen was still a bit surprised, since he had only heard about the Legionnaires, before that moment.
The group got away from the structure in time to see the first X-Wings coming down on the refinery with strafing runs. Then Y-Wings came up as well. The Constantinople, which was linked to Jordan's rangefinder, had signaled them the presence of the imperial turrets, which became the first targets of the rebel starfighters.
Once those two were out, and with the hangar completely destroyed with all the TIEs inside of it, the imperial facility was a literal sitting duck for the rebels. The Legionnaires and the Ersos watched as the brief bombardment quickly ignited a chain reaction with the many volatile materials inside of the facility and it was quickly engulfed in a ball of fire.
"Kurwa, now that's why I love this job." Michalina excitedly commented.
"Ok, people, we still need to get out of here." Jordan reminded them.
Luckily, the recovery went smoothly. K and Bodhi had found a Zeta-class shuttle and without imperials harassing them, the allies had an easy time making a pickup and then head back to the orbit to reunite with the Constantinople.
Once the shuttle was connected to the belly of the frigate, the allies went aboard.
"I owe you a great debt of gratitude, gentlemen." Galen said to Ezra and Jordan, after he and Jyn hugged a bit more, now that they had the chance.
The two dematerialized their armors.
"Don't mention it, sir." Jordan said. "After you sent that message, we couldn't let you in the hands of the Empire."
Galen suddenly became more alerted. "My message, did Saw get it?"
"Yeah. Though, Saw had broken up with the Rebellion a few months ago, so it wasn't exactly easy." Ezra commented.
"Oh, really?" Galen asked a bit incredulous. "Where is he now, then?"
Jordan and Ezra made a grim face.
"We...have a lot to tell you, Pappa." Jyn said with the same tone.
"Dad, we need to get back to Rebel Command, at once." Ezra said and Jordan headed back to Deck 2 while the others took some time to update Galen and also change their completely wet clothes.