During 1 BBY, amidst the Galactic Civil War, Saw Gerrera, the chief of the Partisans, embarked on a quest to Faos Station, accompanied by Rebel Alliance members Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren. Subsequent to the Spectres' mission aimed at seizing the Galactic Empire's communications outpost on Jalindi, Bridger and Wren, along with the astromech droid Chopper, found themselves in Gerrera's company. Gerrera made an unexpected entrance to obliterate the relay, and thereafter, he extended an invitation to Bridger, Wren, and Chopper to come aboard his U-wing.
Following the forced, separate jumps into hyperspace of Gerrera's U-wing and the Ghost due to the arrival of an Imperial Star Destroyer, and before Hera Syndulla was able to dock with Gerrera's vessel to retrieve her comrades, Gerrera requested assistance from the three Spectres. His intent was for them to aid in the investigation of a peculiar Imperial consignment transiting through Faos Station. Gerrera was convinced it was linked to the Empire's sterilization of the planet Geonosis. Bridger, Wren, Gerrera, and Chopper stealthily boarded Freighter 2716 at the space station and discovered that the so-called civilian freighter was, in reality, a disguised Imperial ship. They encountered a group of technicians, each specializing in power generators and reactors, who were being held captive on the vessel.
Deeper investigation revealed the ship's unique load: an enormous kyber crystal. Gerrera, with intentions of riding the freighter to its destination within the desolate Tonnis sector, betrayed Bridger and Wren, who were focused on ensuring the prisoners' safety. He proceeded to rig the crystal to the freighter's hyperdrive with the intent to create a bomb. Upon determining that the freighter was merely meeting with a Star Destroyer, Gerrera sabotaged the hyperdrive, initiating the chain of events that would lead to the kyber crystal's explosion. He then released Bridger and Wren and departed in his U-wing, which had arrived for his extraction. Bridger, Wren, and Chopper, along with the freed prisoners, managed to escape in a shuttle just before the explosion, which obliterated the freighter and the Star Destroyer. The Ghost, summoned earlier by Chopper, rescued them. The liberated technicians then made the decision to enlist in the Rebel Alliance.
In 2 BBY, Saw Gerrera and a squad of his Partisans were dispatched to the planet Geonosis to investigate the findings from a previous excursion by the Ghost crew. The prior trip had uncovered three Imperial construction modules and a vast debris field surrounding the planet. The Spectres had also deduced that the planet's inhabitants appeared to have been annihilated. Gerrera's team encountered trouble in the form of a surviving Geonosian, Klik-Klak, whose repaired battle droids eliminated all but Gerrera. The Spectres were then tasked to locate Gerrera, and they found him alongside Klik-Klak. During their investigation, the rebels discovered Imperial poison gas canisters, which served as conclusive evidence that the Empire had eradicated the Geonosian population. The rebels attempted to inquire of Klik-Klak about the Empire's construction projects on Geonosis, but communication was hindered by a language barrier. Following the mission, Gerrera resolved to investigate the reasons behind the Empire's genocidal act against the Geonosians. His curiosity was piqued regarding what they might have been building in Geonosis' orbit that warranted such extreme measures of concealment. Eventually, the trail of information led him to uncover covert Imperial shipments passing through a civilian space station, Faos Station.
Concurrently, the Empire had recently established a relay on the planet Jalindi, which was obstructing Rebel Alliance operations. Gerrera had cautioned the Alliance leadership about the relay, but his extremism and paranoia led them to dismiss his intelligence as mere rumors. Following a failed supply mission by Captain Hera Syndulla's squadron, Alderaanian Viceroy Bail Organa finally presented Mon Mothma and the other rebel leaders with irrefutable proof of the relay's existence. Mothma then assigned the Spectres the mission of installing a spike on the relay, enabling the Alliance to monitor transmissions through the station and reroute their operations to evade Imperial fleets. However, Gerrera had independently planned to destroy the relay. During the mission, Spectres Ezra Bridger, Sabine Wren, and Chopper were in the process of installing the spike on the relay's dish when the arrival of the Marauder, an Arquitens-class command cruiser, complicated matters. While the Spectres engaged with Imperial troops and the Marauder's contingent of TIE/d "Defender" Multi-Role Starfighters, Gerrera's UT-60D U-wing starfighter/support craft arrived and neutralized the cruiser's shields. He invited Bridger, Wren, and Chopper aboard while deploying proton bombs onto the dish. The trio accepted his offer, and the U-wing escaped before the bombs detonated, destroying the relay and the Marauder. As the Ghost and Gerrera's U-wing departed from Jalindi, Syndulla contacted the U-wing with the intention of docking and picking up her team. However, the sudden appearance of a Star Destroyer, which launched its TIE fighters, thwarted this plan, and the two ships were compelled to separately flee into hyperspace.
Aboard his ship, Gerrera extended an invitation to Bridger and Wren to accompany him to Faos Station. Having heard of their recent exploits on Mandalore, he believed they could be valuable assets to his mission. Bridger and Wren were intrigued, as they felt that the Jalindi mission should have prioritized the relay's destruction from the outset, and they agreed to join him. Chopper voiced his disapproval, but his opinion was overruled by the other two Spectres.
Upon their arrival at Faos Station, Bridger and Wren harbored doubts, as there appeared to be no indication of an Imperial presence. Wren, noticing the presence of droids, gave Chopper a matching black-and-yellow paint-job as a disguise. Gerrera's lieutenant Edrio Two Tubes landed the U-wing in a docking bay, and Bridger, Wren, Gerrera and Chopper disembarked. Gerrera guided the other rebels to the bay where Freighter 2716, which appeared to be a civilian ship, was docking. Bridger, Wren and Gerrera concealed themselves inside a cargo container, which the disguised Chopper brought on board the freighter. Once inside a cargo hold, the rebels emerged. Gerrera contacted Edrio and informed him that his tracker was active and that he would transmit coordinates when he was ready for pickup. Bridger believed he heard a kind of "singing," but Wren said she didn't perceive anything. Gerrera found a datapad with information indicating that the crates in the hold contained high-quality composites, used for constructing the Imperial Navy. Wren pointed out that the materials could have originated from any world with a shipyard.
Upon exiting that hold, the rebels were compelled to evade a patrol of stormtroopers in the corridor, which led Wren to acknowledge that Gerrera might indeed be onto something. Gerrera instructed Chopper to plug in and locate the ship's manifest. By doing so, the astromech droid discovered that there was an Imperial shuttle in Hold 12, and that the ship's destination was the Tonnis sector, an area known for being empty space devoid of settlements. Gerrera speculated that it would be an ideal location for the Empire to conduct secret projects unnoticed, but Bridger countered that it could simply be a rendezvous point.
Chopper also detected that Cargo Bay 17 was a restricted zone, prompting Gerrera to decide that they would investigate it. Upon reaching the door, Bridger had Chopper create a diversion to lure the stormtroopers guarding the entrance, where they were ambushed and incapacitated by the rebels. Wren opened a cargo container to discover several prisoners, and Bridger suggested that this was what the Empire was guarding. Gerrera remained skeptical, noting that the Empire held prisoners across the galaxy. One of the prisoners, Mich Matt, suggested that if there was any special cargo on the ship, it may have come from the Jedha system, a topic he had overheard some stormtroopers discussing. Matt revealed that all of the prisoners, including himself, were technicians specializing in power generators and reactors, and they had all been abducted by the Empire.
Bridger insisted that the rebels had to ensure the prisoners' safety, but Chopper alerted them to the approach of another stormtrooper patrol. The prisoners retreated into the cargo container as the rebels hid, but one prisoner was spotted entering the opened container by the troopers. They forced the door open and demanded to know who had released the prisoners and the whereabouts of the guards, but were quickly ambushed and stunned by the rebels. Bridger and Wren emphasized that the civilians had to be kept out of harm's way, and Gerrera suggested using the shuttle in Hold 12, but Wren pointed out that it would be guarded. She proposed using the freighter's escape pods instead, and sabotaging the hyperdrive to force the freighter to drop out of hyperspace, enabling them to simply fly away. As Bridger, Wren, and Gerrera departed to carry out this plan, Chopper was instructed to guide the prisoners to the escape pods. The two groups navigated the ship's corridors, avoiding stormtroopers. Chopper managed to get the prisoners into two pods.
As Bridger, Wren, and Gerrera made their way to the engine room, Bridger once again heard the singing from earlier, emanating from behind a locked door. Wren opened the door and was confronted by a death trooper, who was immediately shot by Gerrera. She then threw in several smoke bombs, and the rebels charged in to engage the other troopers. Blinded by the smoke, several of the troopers were eliminated by the rebels, and their commander, DT-F16, ordered her subordinates to seek cover. During the skirmish, one of Gerrera's blaster bolts struck the hold's contents, a repulsorlift cradle containing a carbon-frozen object, prompting the commander to order a retreat. She was the only one to escape, as the rebels neutralized the other death troopers. Bridger expressed concern about the remaining death trooper, but Gerrera dismissed it, confident that he had discovered what he was searching for. The carbonite evaporated, revealing the cradle's contents: a giant kyber crystal. Wren cautioned her fellow rebels to stow their blasters, as the crystal's large size would render it unstable.
Meanwhile, DT-F16 contacted the freighter's captain, Wells, informing them that rebels under Gerrera's command had seized the crystal, and instructed them to notify Director Krennic. She ordered all security personnel to report to her and directed that the escape pods be purged to prevent anyone from leaving the ship. Chopper, noticing the pods being launched, ordered the prisoners out of their pods and escorted them back to Cargo Bay 17. Gerrera insisted to Bridger and Wren that the Empire was undoubtedly attempting to weaponize the crystal and that they had to allow the freighter to reach its destination. Bridger and Wren disagreed, asserting that the prisoners' safety was paramount. Bridger requested Gerrera to guard the crystal while he and Wren disabled the hyperdrive. Upon arriving at the engine room, Bridger and Wren swiftly neutralized the guards, but before Wren could override the hyperdrive, she and Bridger were stunned by Gerrera, who was resolute in his determination to uncover the Empire's plans.
DT-F16 and her reinforcements arrived in the cargo hold where the crystal had been, only to discover it was missing. Contacting Wells, she was informed that they had lost contact with the engine room, and she set out once again. In the engine room, Bridger and Wren awoke to find themselves handcuffed, and that Gerrera, who had just contacted Edrio for a pickup, had wired the kyber crystal to the hyperdrive. Gerrera explained that he intended to trigger a chain reaction, causing the kyber crystal to ignite when the ship reached its destination, destroying whatever the Empire was constructing out there, as he was certain that the Empire was building a superweapon. However, when the freighter dropped out of hyperspace, it became apparent that it was only rendezvousing with a Star Destroyer.
Gerrera used Ezra's lightsaber and his blaster to damage the hyperdrive, initiating the process of detonating the crystal. Onboard the Star Destroyer, Captain Slavin was informed that there were rebels onboard the freighter and ordered a boarding party to secure the crystal. Edrio arrived in Gerrera's U-wing, drawing fire from the Star Destroyer, but Slavin ordered his gunners to cease firing when the transport got too close to the freighter, as the crystal's presence made it too dangerous to target the ship. DT-F16 and her stormtroopers arrived at the engine room but were forced to retreat when two troopers were electrocuted, prompting the commander to order the ship abandoned. Bridger and Wren managed to convince Gerrera to release them but declined his offer of a ride. He bid them farewell before departing for his ship. Wren informed Bridger that it was too late to prevent the crystal from exploding, and the pair fled. Bridger contacted Chopper, ordering the droid to contact the Ghost and get the prisoners to the shuttle in Hold 12, regardless of the guards. As Saw's U-wing jumped into hyperspace, Slavin was informed that there was no indication that the crystal was onboard the rebel ship. He ordered the freighter secured.
In Hold 12, Chopper and the prisoners approached the Lambda-class shuttle. Matt claimed to the guards that Chopper had been ordered to evacuate them. When one guard stated that the shuttle was reserved for the commander, Chopper swiftly dispatched both guards, and the prisoners boarded the shuttle. Shortly after, DT-F16 and her remaining troopers entered the hold and attempted to reclaim the shuttle, but were promptly taken out by Bridger and Wren, who had been right behind them. The shuttle departed the freighter. Bridger told Wren that he was picking up a massive energy reading from the freighter, and she flew the shuttle around to put the Star Destroyer between them and the crystal, realizing that it was too late to jump into hyperspace. As the shuttle flew past the bridge, Slavin recognized it as the commander's shuttle and wondered where she was going. He was then informed by a technician that they were picking up something going critical onboard the freighter. The crystal's explosion destroyed the freighter and Slavin's Star Destroyer. The shockwave knocked out the engines on Bridger and Wren's stolen shuttle, leaving it drifting.
The Ghost arrived shortly after the explosion, and picked up Bridger, Wren, Chopper, and the technicians from the crippled shuttle. On the journey through hyperspace, Syndulla offered to take the technicians to their home planets, but Matt informed her that they had decided to join the Rebellion. They figured that since the Empire had wanted to use their skills so badly, they could put them to better use working for the Rebels. Kanan Jarrus, meanwhile, found the implications of what the Empire might want with giant kyber crystals unsettling, as he remembered a previous mission in which the Spectres had prevented the Empire from getting its hands on one.