Chapter 343: Annihilate Jedha! Orbital Bombardment! The Defeated Eat Dust!
"I've heard of him, but we've never met."
Paul answered truthfully.
"Is that so? Well, it doesn't matter. That war happened so long ago—everything's changed since then."
"But I did get in touch with Cal. If the opportunity arises, maybe the two of you can meet face to face."
Saw Gerrera smiled as he spoke, but to Paul, it still sounded like a subtle probe.
After all, no matter how convincing a fake Jedi was, the moment they encountered a real one, their cover would be blown instantly!
Still, Paul remained calm. He knew that Jedha wouldn't last much longer—everything here was doomed to be obliterated by the Death Star.
As long as no real Jedi showed up, he could keep using the identity for his own ends.
"Of course. That sounds great," Paul nodded in agreement.
With Paul's identity tentatively confirmed, Gerrera finally turned his attention to the figure behind him—Jyn Erso.
The moment their eyes met, it was clear the two had known each other for some time. Gerrera's face lit up with surprise and joy as he exclaimed:
"Jyn! It really is you! This is wonderful!"
In contrast to Gerrera's enthusiasm, Jyn's attitude was cold and distant. Her voice was icy as she replied:
"Yeah. Surprised to see I'm still alive, aren't you?"
As it turned out, Jyn had recently completed a reconnaissance mission on the planet Tamsye Prime.
But the Rebel squad she was with had been betrayed by a traitor named Rees. The Empire sent in TIE Fighters to bomb the factory, resulting in devastating losses for the Rebels.
In the chaos, Saw Gerrera had no choice but to hide Jyn in a bunker, telling her to wait there until things calmed down and he could come back for her.
But what Gerrera didn't expect was that after the factory was bombed, the Empire deployed a Star Destroyer to launch a full-scale orbital bombardment!
If Jyn hadn't escaped at the last second with a pilot, she would have been vaporized in the attack.
After hearing that the Empire had bombarded Tamsye Prime with a Star Destroyer, Gerrera assumed she had died in the bunker. He didn't send anyone back to check—after all, once a site had been bombarded from orbit, not even something buried a hundred meters underground could survive.
"You're still on our side… right?"
Gerrera asked with hesitation. It was clear he felt some guilt for not returning to save Jyn.
Galen Erso, his old friend, had entrusted him with his daughter. Gerrera had treated her like his own.
But fate had played a cruel trick.
Jyn, however, was still cold, staring him down as she said:
"The last time we met, you gave me a gun and a knife and told me to wait for you in the bunker. But what happened? You ran. You never came back."
"I tried—really, I did. But the situation was out of control. We had a mole in the squad, and then the Empire brought in a Star Destroyer and launched an orbital strike… I… I'm sorry."
Gerrera knew no amount of explanation would make it right.
The truth was, back then, he had a selfish thought—he let Jyn stay, hoping she would die in the Empire's attack.
Because if she got captured, Galen Erso would be used as leverage, forced to keep building the Death Star.
If Jyn died, the Rebels would avoid all that trouble, and Galen—unburdened—might choose death over helping the Empire.
Unfair to Jyn? Yes. But it would've benefited everyone else.
"Do you know… I've thought about you every day since then. I regret leaving you there. But it's too late now."
"You're working with the Rebel Alliance now. Why did they send you?"
Gerrera didn't dwell on guilt for long. As a rebel leader, he had far too much on his plate. A bit of remorse was enough—he had to move on.
Still, he was uneasy about Jyn's arrival. Not long ago, during the chaos in Jedha City, Captain Cassian and Jyn had killed one of his men.
That made Gerrera wonder if the Alliance had come to challenge him.
Fortunately, Jyn simply shook her head and revealed the real reason for their visit:
"The Alliance is trying to locate my father. They believe he sent you a message containing weapons data."
"They sent me because they hoped you'd cooperate."
At this, Paul—who had been quietly watching the entire time—immediately perked up. They were finally getting to the critical intel!
So the pilot the Empire had been hunting in Jedha City… he was Galen Erso's courier.
Which meant that pilot was now somewhere in the Rebel base!
But that so-called "weapons data" wasn't the Death Star's full design—just the location of the plans, and a vital flaw Galen had built into the Death Star itself.
After all, the entirety of the Death Star's schematics couldn't fit into a single envelope. Only a brief, crucial message could be passed along this way.
Now that Gerrera understood Jyn's true purpose, he let out a quiet sigh of relief. As long as she wasn't here for revenge, everything else could be worked out.
And to be honest, he had no idea what to do with that pilot anyway.
"…Alright. I can give you the message I received. But there's a chance this is a trap. You need to be prepared for that."
With that, Gerrera turned and led the group deeper into the base.
…
Meanwhile, high above in space, the Death Star was slowly approaching Jedha.
At that moment, the station's superlaser system was initiating its startup sequence. The massive calibration arrays were locking onto the area around Jedha City.
Inside the Death Star's control chamber, Director Orson Krennic—overseer of the station's construction—stood beside Governor Wilhuff Tarkin, sent by the Empire to oversee the suppression.
As they stared at the soon-to-be-erased planet below, both men felt an unparalleled thrill.
Destroying a civilization with clone armies was one thing… but watching the Death Star annihilate a world with a single shot? Now that was satisfying.
At that moment, Krennic received a report from a forward fleet and turned to Tarkin:
"Governor, our Imperial forces have nearly completed their withdrawal. In three hours, we'll be ready to execute the order to destroy Jedha."
"For now, you may choose to begin with an orbital strike on Jedha City."
"Excellent."
Tarkin nodded in satisfaction.
The Emperor had long ago decreed that any location with signs of Jedi activity must be thoroughly investigated and purged.
The residents of Jedha City had known the truth and said nothing—according to Order 66, those who harbor Jedi were to be executed alongside them as traitors of the Empire!
"Start with Jedha City. Leave no one alive."
Tarkin gave the order coldly.
He was well aware that Jedha City had long been a hive for Rebel activity. Normally, that wouldn't warrant extreme action—Imperial forces stationed on the ground were more than capable of handling minor uprisings.
But now, a Jedi had reportedly appeared in Jedha. And for that, even if it meant sacrificing the entire planet, Tarkin had to act.
If word got out that a Jedi had reemerged, uprisings would erupt across the Empire's territories—an outcome they could not afford.
With Tarkin's approval, Krennic wasted no time. He issued his command at once:
"Target: Jedha. Begin full reactor activation!"
"Relay the order—Star Destroyers are to commence orbital bombardment! I want Jedha City wiped off the map!"
"Copy that—!"
The officers at the control stations began powering up the Death Star's systems, initiating the fatal sequence.
Meanwhile, communications officers transmitted the order to the Star Destroyers to begin shelling the city.
At that moment, far away in the Rebel base, Paul and Saw Gerrera were reviewing the message Galen Erso had sent.
It was a brief holographic transmission. In it, Galen explained that like many scientists, he had been forced to work for the Empire.
But unlike those who had been used and discarded, Galen Erso was smart—he made himself indispensable to the Death Star's development.
The first-generation Death Star design had already been mostly complete. Even without his help, the Empire's engineers could've finished it eventually.
But Galen took the design further—he refined the blueprints, laying the foundation for what would eventually become the Starkiller Base.
More importantly, he embedded a hidden and catastrophic flaw in the Death Star: a single proton torpedo, if aimed precisely, could destroy the entire station.
Unfortunately, the Empire never allowed Galen access to the design blueprints outside of the facility. He couldn't steal the files himself—he could only guide the Rebels to Scarif, where a full engineering archive was stored.
There, they could retrieve the complete schematics, locate the weak point—and obtain the next-generation design for the Starkiller Base.
And that was exactly what Paul needed—not only the Starkiller's plans, but the core of the Death Star itself.
This archive would be the key resource they needed.
As they listened to Galen's message, commotion suddenly broke out outside. A strange phenomenon had appeared in the sky—a "solar eclipse."
The light of the system's star had been blocked by a massive shadow, leaving only a dim corona of light around its edges.
"That's impossible... Jedha has no moons capable of causing an eclipse. What in the galaxy is that?!"
Saw Gerrera stared at the sky, baffled. A solar eclipse could only occur when a satellite passed between a star and the planet—yet Jedha had no natural moons large enough to do this.
What could possibly be big enough to block out a star's light?
The answer soon came from Paul.
He told them the terrifying truth: the Empire's ultimate weapon—the Death Star—was already here. If they didn't leave immediately, they would die.
'So the Empire acted even faster than Headquarters predicted...'
Paul grew more anxious and pressed the others, "We need to leave. Now. No more delays!"
Even as he spoke, the orbital bombardment had begun. Star Destroyers rained down concentrated fire upon Jedha City.
Blinding beams of light struck the surface, and the ground began to quake violently. Shockwaves rippled outward, shaking the land for miles.
Chunks of rock and soil were launched skyward, becoming a deadly rain that fell across the region. In the blink of an eye, the ancient sanctuary of the Force was reduced to rubble.
"The Star Destroyers are bombing us!!"
Rebel soldiers who had seen these strikes before were filled with dread. They had witnessed firsthand the destructive power of such bombardments—entire cities turned to ash in mere minutes.
Realizing the Empire's true intent—to obliterate Jedha entirely—the Rebels scrambled for their ships, desperate to escape the dying world.
Paul and Chani called in their transforming starship via communicator and began their own retreat from Jedha.
Now that they had the necessary intel, they no longer needed HQ to deploy a Wanderer-class Dreadnought to intercept the Death Star.
But as everyone rushed to board their ships, one man remained—Saw Gerrera.
He stood motionless, prepared to die with his base.
Jyn Erso tried to pull him along, pleading for him to leave. But Gerrera only smiled and gently shook his head.
"My time is up. I'm not running anymore. Jyn, you must complete your mission. Stand with the Jedi and the Alliance. Fight the Empire."
"I will stay. I want to bear witness to Jedha's final moment."
Saw knew he didn't have much time left. Even if he escaped, he wouldn't survive long. Better to go down with the rebellion he helped build—into immortality.
After convincing Jyn to go, Gerrera and a handful of Rebel loyalists watched as the Death Star's superlaser charged.
The moment the beam struck, the ground beneath them turned soft, as if enchanted—ready to swallow them whole.
The laser didn't just hit the surface. It drilled down to the planet's core, destabilizing the planetary structure from within.
As Paul and Chani's ship burst through the atmosphere into space, they finally saw the true extent of the devastation.
Jedha's crust shattered like the shell of a broken egg, caving inwards. Rivers of molten rock erupted from the core, spewing into orbit like arterial blood.
Jedha was dying.
Yet the Death Star's beam hadn't stopped. It accelerated the planet's collapse—seismic tremors tore through the mantle, sending tectonic plates crashing together. Tsunamis hundreds of meters high roared across the surface.
Deep, jagged rifts split the land. Ocean water poured in, hissing as it met molten stone.
Jedha could no longer hold together. From the core outward, the planet crumbled, its mass scattering into space in a vast cloud of dust and debris.
Fortunately, Paul and Chani's transforming ship had an FTL engine—they outran the rock and dust, barely escaping the expanding explosion.
Behind them, Jedha had become a field of broken wreckage, its remains hurling outward.
Those who didn't escape in time had no chance—they were caught in the blast, condemned to eat dust with the dead planet.
In the end, the world once known as Jedha ceased to exist. Only a sparse asteroid belt remained, tracing a faint outline where the holy world had once been.
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