“Make It Stop”

The red monitor
In 1 BBY, a red monitor rings on the rear side of the communications console in Luthen Rael’s art gallery, Galactic Antiquities and Objects of Interest. Restoration equipment rests on the table. A startled Kleya Marki in night clothes enters the room and eyes the monitor. After pulling on her day clothes, Marki retrieves two blaster pistols from a drawer in a wall cabinet. Meanwhile, a visibly nervous Supervisor Lonni Jung exits the ISB Central Office on Coruscant, brushing past several stormtroopers.

Meanwhile, Rael puts on a fine dark robe and a golden ring. He tells Marki to meet him at the stony steps. When Marki says that there was construction on the stony bridge the last time, Rael replies that they do not have time for alternatives and tells her to keep her distance. After handing him a blaster pistol, Marki asks Rael to cancel the meeting if things do not sound right. Rael replies that he has used up all the “perfect,” prompting Marki to give a dismayed look. Accepting Rael’s decision, she nods and proceeds towards the stony bridge.

An urgent meeting
Rael travels to a deserted stony park overlooking a reflection pool. He meets with Jung on a bench beneath a large overhead bridge. Nearby, a train enters a train station. After checking his surroundings, Rael chats with Jung, who admits he rang the big red bell. Jung tells Rael that Supervisor Dedra Meero contacted a friend of his who works in ISB Tactical to gather forces for an operation in Coruscant. Jung fears that Meero is coming for him.

When Rael asks why his friend would share this information, Jung says that his friend wanted to check if it was safe to comply. When Rael suggests that Jung double check with his friend, Jung replies that he is in trouble because he has uncovered a dangerous secret about the Galactic Empire. Before sharing this information, Jung asks if Rael can smuggle him, his wife and daughter to safety off world. When Rael asks what he has done, Jung says that he has had access to Meero’s code certificate for a year, giving him total access to her documents.

Jung is unable to confirm whether Meero is coming after Rael. The two pause as two pedestrians walk by. Jung warns that his life is in danger if the Empire finds out what he uncovered in Meero’s files. When Jung asks Rael for help in securing off world passage, Rael asks how the Empire would respond to this data breach. Jung warns that the Empire will respond with everything they have. Rael warns Jung against playing games and demands to know Jung’s secret.

Jung explains that the Emperor’s energy project is a lie, that the Ghorman Massacre was a pretext for the Empire to strip-mine the planet for a valuable mineral they need, and that the Imperial crackdown on Partisans on Jedha is also a cover for their kyber crystal mining operations. He adds that the crackdowns, Public Order Resentencing Directive, labor camps, and the Imperial presence on Scarif are fronts for Orson Callan Krennic’s secret weapon. Jung adds that Colonel Wulff Yularen was not informed about this weapon until a month ago.

When Rael asks about the weapon, Jung asks where he will take him and his family. Rael says he will smuggle them to Yavin 4, claiming they will be safe there. Rael then asks Jung about the Imperial weapon. Later, Rael walks down the stony staircase, which is full of pedestrians. Meanwhile, Jung lies slumped on the bench with a smoking hole in his chest. A pedestrian and their pet tooka approach his body. The tooka Pix approaches Jung’s body, but its owner calls him back.

Elsewhere, Rael discusses the information he learned about the secret weapon from Jung with Marki. Marki recognizes the name Galen Walton Erso, who is an engineer. Marki offers to destroy the Comms, but Rael overrules her and tells her to head to their secret, prearranged location. He says that he will take care of the communications console himself. Rael tells Marki to wait for him. The two leave in opposite directions with Marki heading down to the stairway landing.

The confrontation and arrest
Inside his art gallery, Rael pours a caustic acid on the switchboard of his fractal radio. He is interrupted by the sound of a doorbell. After dispensing with the acid, Rael walks to the front door and welcomes Supervisor Dedra Meero, who is dressed in her white ISB trench coat and cap. After exchanging greetings, the two shake hands. Meero flatters Rael about the peaceful decor of his art gallery and pretends to take an interest in the artifacts and artworks displayed inside. Rael says that most of his merchandise is authentic, except for two objects of questionable provenance.

Rael shows Meero a Nautolan bleeder, which he says is 6,000 years old. He allows her to unsheathe the blade. Rael says that there are only three such objects. After Rael says that he owns most of the objects in the gallery, Meero claims she has an artifact for him. The object turns out to be a battered Imperial N-S9 Starpath Unit. She asks Rael what if he thinks about the object’s value before revealing her true agenda.

Meero tells Rael that she has been hunting for him for a long time. She chastises him for lurking under the shelter of Imperial peace and quiet. When Rael says he knows what she stands for, Meero replies that he and everything he stands for disgusts her. When Rael says that Meero is afraid of freedom, she counters that he desires chaos for everyone but himself. She accuses him of sowing chaos around the galaxy and reveals that her forces have surrounded the building. When Meero says that his rebellion is finished, Rael responds that the Rebellion has flown away and spread everywhere; she tells him that there is a whole galaxy waiting to push back against the Empire.

He says that there is an entire galaxy that is waiting to disgust her. Meero boasts that she will force him to reveal his secrets. When Rael steps away, Meero notices the smell of acid in Rael’s office. She orders Rael to surrender, but he stabs himself with the Nautolan Bleeder and collapses. Meero uses her comlink to summon ISB tactical agents and a medic. She tells them that he is destroying evidence and asks the medic to keep him alive. The medic evacuates Rael on a repulsorlift stretcher with a machine on his chest. The medics evacuate Rael aboard a medspeeder while stormtroopers and ISB tactical officers stand guard. A tearful Marki watches among a crowd of spectators.

The ISB investigation
Later at the ISB headquarters, Supervisor Heert learns from Supervisor Lagret that a scheduled meeting has been canceled. Entering the conference room, the two men encounter Major Partagaz, who reveals that a raid led by Meero has gone wrong. Partagaz expresses frustration that Meero has overstepped her boundaries again and adds that she believes she has captured the elusive rebel leader known as “Axis.” Heert reveals that Jung was found dead in a park near a reflection pool.

At Rael’s gallery, an ISB investigator retrieves Rael’s bloody knife with a gloved hand. Other ISB agents board Rael’s Fondor Haulcraft, discovering several hidden compartments. Other ISB agents in the gallery bag a blaster pistol. A female inspector in a trench coat examines the communication console.

Kleya’s past
Meanwhile, Marki stands in the Axis network safehouse, which has been stripped bare. Several wall panels are missing, and the floor has been damaged by water. In a flashback scene, several Imperial soldiers can be heard speaking over comlinks aboard an aerial vehicle. They discuss gunning down civilians and insurgents. A younger Luthen Rael is dressed in an Imperial Army uniform. Back in the safe house, a tearful Marki climbs onto a piece of furniture and reaches the ceiling, where she retrieves two bags from a ceiling panel. She retrieves a circular device from one of the bags and slots a panel into it.

Aboard the aerial vehicle, a troubled Rael listens as other Imperial soldiers outside massacre civilians, including lining people up against a wall. He drinks from a flask while wishing for the slaughter to stop. At the safe house, Marki ties her long hair into a bun. Back in the flashback, Rael asks for the shooting to stop. Someone watches him from a grill. Other soldiers enter the vehicle, seeking Rael. Rael claims that he was reloading his blaster. One of the soldiers, Private Moros, casually mentions gunning down 50 civilians inside a bunker and asks Rael if they have flamethrowers.

Rael sees someone behind the grill. While the other soldiers are away, he opens the door to the grill and encounters a frightened human girl inside the compartment. Captain Amari calls for Rael, who goes by the name Sergeant “Lear.” Rael signals for the girl to be quiet before closing the grate. Back in the present, Marki meditates silently before exiting the apartment complex with a headscarf and a grey overcoat.

In the past, Rael tells the dark-skinned captain that he is waiting for the guns to recharge. The captain wants the gunship to strafe the ridge. Rael says he will join the captain. When Rael is alone, he extends a hand of friendship towards Marki, reassuring her that he does not intend to harm her. Later, Marki slips through the crowd to an open balcony, gazing at a twin block of glassy buildings with the sign “Lina Soh Hospital.”

Infiltrating the Lina Soh Hospital
Inside the Lina Soh Hospital, Meero watches while a doctor checks Rael’s life support monitor. When Meero asks when she can speak to him, the female doctor replies that the room is the only thing keeping him alive. Meero responds that this is an “Elevated ISB Priority” and asks her to inform the hospital director. Meero also demands that the doctor clear the floor of the other patients. When the doctor protests, Meero insists and says that the doctor will do a better job of clearing them than the Imperials. Stormtroopers and ISB tactical officers guard the floor.

Meanwhile, a disguised Marki enters the hospital’s emergency department with her right hand covered in a bloody bandage. She passes through the surveillance cameras and heads to a locker room where she changes out of her disguise. She uses a lock-picking device to unlock a nurse’s bubble-shaped locker. Unsatisfied, she closes the locker. Marki overhears two passing nurses chatting about the recent clearing of a hospital floor. One of the nurses believes that the patient is a prominent senator. After the nurse’s pass, she uses the lock-picking device to unlock a second locker. She retrieves some yellow scrubs.

Dedra Meero’s arrest
Marki then mingles among the hospital nurses and patients, who include an alien in a bacta tank and a long-tailed alien patient. Through the glass windows, she sees a trio of ISB agents ascending on a turbolift on the opposite side of the hospital. At Rael’s ICU unit, Meero sees the three ISB agents and walks into the corridor to meet them. The agents are led by her former colleague Supervisor Heert, who is unhappy that Meero took advantage of his leave to launch the operation against Axis.

Heert reveals that Major Partagaz has ordered him to arrest her. When Meero reacts with shock, Heert replies that he has come with an ISB Marshal. To save face, Meero says she will come with them to sort out what she regards as a “misunderstanding.” On the lower level, Marki pretends to read a computer. After seeing a pair of nurses walking away, she moves a brown-skinned alien patient on a glide chair.

Past and present
Marki experiences a flashback of her and Rael walking through a sandy forest. They enter a caravan where Rael attempts to sell a statuette to Tinch, a female shopkeeper. Marki browses through her shop before joining Rael in bargaining with the shopkeeper. Rael tells the shopkeeper that Marki is his daughter. The shopkeeper attempts to buy the object at a lower price, but Marki insists on selling it for 20 credits. The shopkeeper backs down and offers a price of 18 credits. Marki accepts the trade. This pleases Rael, who winks a smile. Outside the store, Marki asks if she is his daughter now. Rael replies when it is convenient and says their new names. When he apologizes for upsetting her, Marki says she is not upset—the two look for a meal using the credits that Marki obtained from the trade.

Back in the present, Marki takes her alien patient up the turbolift to the 17th floor, where Rael is housed. She approaches an ISB tactical officer and says that she and her patient are heading to the 19th floor. The officer says they can’t permit anyone to come through the floor. Marki says that she wants to bring the patient to her child, but the tactical officer says he has orders to follow. She instead takes the patient through a corridor.

In another flashback, Marki accompanies Rael to another vendor in an ancient hill town. Rael offers a Devaronian victory necklace to bearded human antiquities dealer Grenwig. The dealer agrees to Rael’s offer to sell the necklace for 80 credits. Marki’s attention is drawn by Imperial security troopers leading a procession of civilians accused of being involved in the killing of an Imperial soldier. The chained civilians include children. Despite pleas for mercy, the lead Imperial trooper is unmoved. Marki watches as the Imperials line up the prisoners against a wall. Rael tells Marki to leave, but she insists on watching, focusing on a dark-skinned human boy her age. Following the execution, Marki catches up with Rael outside the village. When she asks when they should fight back, Rael warns Marki against attacking the Empire too early. He says they will bid their time and attack when the time is right. He tells her to move.

Back in the present, Marki leaves the alien patient in her glide chair by the window. She then ascends a staircase, carrying a hidden blaster behind a datapad. She encounters another ISB tactical officer who tells her to leave. When Marki claims that a Doctor Nash called for her, the officer responds that the unit is closed and tells her to leave. Marki instead shoots him with her blaster. She then proceeds slowly to the ICU unit. Through the glass windows, she sees ISB sentries and stormtroopers posted at strategic points through the horseshoe-shaped corridor.

Farewell and escape
Seeing another sentry, Marki crouches down and activates a device with an antenna. In a flashback scene, Marki and Rael have ice cream at a cafe overlooking a lake on the planet Naboo. They gaze at Imperial vehicles and dozens of troopers standing at a standstill on a nearby bridge, with Rael estimating them to be at least 50 soldiers. He counsels Marki to take note of her surroundings and says that life shows them what they stand to lose. He says that most people choose to look away, but that they are different. Rael counsels Marki to accept what she is leaving behind. When Marki says she wants to take pleasure in being in a peaceful place, Rael asks if she is committed to his plan. He says that he lived most of his life without realizing there was a possibility. When Marki says she is afraid, Rael responds that he is more afraid of what he is doing to her. Rael passes a small transmitter to reveal a button exposed within. Rael tells her to do it. Marki asks if he thinks she won’t. She eyes a well-to-do family of three, including a child, blithely enjoying their tea at another table. When Marki asks why he is doing this, he says it’s real. When she reaches for it, he triggers the button. This triggers an explosion that engulfs two Imperial vehicles on the bridge. Rael tells Marki she made her choice. As the patrons react with horror and confusion, Rael and Marki leave.

In the present, Marki uses her transmitter device to trigger a series of explosions that destroy and damage several parked ISB vehicles in the nearby parking lot. Most of the ISB tactical officers and stormtroopers rush out to deal with the explosion. Marki shoots a stormtrooper and then walks down the corridor, where she shoots a second ISB tactical officer. After checking her surroundings and pulling the officer’s blaster away, she unlocks the door to Rael’s ICU unit.

She finds a comatose Rael resting on a bed while a machine pumps something into his life support unit. After closing the blinds, Marki disconnects the pump, causing his face to stir. As the blinking on the ICU unit starts fading, Marki begins crying. She kisses her father figure and mentor a final goodbye before leaving his ICU unit. Marki escapes several ISB tactical officers who find the dead stormtrooper and officer by fleeing behind a sliding door. The camera focuses on the lifeless body of Rael.