BAZE STARED at his friend Chirrut in horror. The monk may have completed his mission, but he was far from out of trouble. The console where he had pushed the master switch was still in the middle of the fire zone.

“Chirrut!” Baze called. “Come here!”

The monk’s luck ran out. He made it only two steps toward Baze before the blast from a grenade blew him off his feet.

“Chirrut!”

Heedless of the incoming fire that strafed the open ground, Baze charged forward across the sand. He dropped down next to his fallen friend and found he was not quite dead yet. He took his hand.

“Chirrut, don’t go. Don’t go. I’m here….”

Chirrut wheezed at his old friend. “It’s okay. It’s okay.” He tried to comfort Baze, even with his final breath. “Look for the Force, and you will always find me….”

With that, Chirrut slumped over and the last of his life left his body behind.

Baze glanced over and saw Rogue One’s stolen Imperial cargo shuttle explode in flames.

Had Bodhi gotten his message to the rebel fleet? Had they managed to open a hole in the shield?

Baze decided it didn’t matter. The stormtroopers had killed Chirrut, the last person in the galaxy he had ever truly cared about. For that, they were going to pay.

He stood up and began firing at anything wearing Imperial armor. As he did, he chanted a mantra, one that hadn’t crossed his lips for a long time.

“The Force is with me, and I am with the Force.”

Rather than running back for cover, Baze marched toward the stormtroopers. With every step he took, he fired at them again and again, unleashing a flurry of furious energy bolts from his souped-up blaster. He didn’t intend to go down until he’d run through every bit of ammunition piled in his specialized backpack.

Stormtroopers fell to the left, right, and center. One by one, he brought them to their doom. But there were too many of them, even for a man on a righteous mission. He caught an enemy bolt, and it spun him to the ground.

Baze refused to give in. He gritted his teeth and pushed himself back to his feet, still firing every step of the way. The Force was with him.

As he went, he missed a half-downed death trooper who was hefting a grenade. The man pitched it into the sky, and it came down right next to Baze.

He was too hurt to grab it and throw it back. He couldn’t even run from it. There was nothing for him to do but glance back at Chirrut and know the two of them would soon be reunited in the Force.

The last thing he heard was the grenade’s boom.