Resurgence

Prologue

Kanan visits Hera's room in Chopper Base. She's been very stressed lately. 

He says, "I've got bad news... or good news from a certain point of view." He hands her the datapad. Hera reviews its intel, a series of intercepted transmissions.

--Office of Governor Pryce to Admiral Artus ISD Unyielding: request transfer of Unyielding to Lothal

--Admiral Artus ISD Unyielding to Office of Governor Pryce: Grand Admiral Thrawn already searches for the hidden Rebel base. The Unyielding supports the Hammer of Light. If you can identify a more specific target, the Grand Admiral would be the one to contact. If the Hammer of Light is needed to address a threat, the Grand Admiral will make that decision.

--Office of Governor Pryce to Admiral Artus ISD Unyielding: The Ghost and her crew are the targets. Possessing 2 Jedi, they threat they pose is great and outside of the Grand Admiral's area of expertise. Furthermore, there are at least 5 targets whose executions would provide a massive boost to Imperial morale while shattering insurrectionist resolve. These include:

-Hera Syndulla, Captain of the Ghost, respected Rebel leader, and daughter of Ryloth terrorist Cham Syndulla. As a Twi'lek, she is especially desirable to Erika specifically as a target for execution.

-Kanan Jarrus, Jedi Knight. Having defeated the Grand Inquisitor, he is a substantial threat that only Erika Ritter or Darth Vader can address. No Inquisitor can reliably challenge such a seasoned Knight.

-Sabine Wren, formerly of Mandalore. As artist, she could be viewed as the heart of the group, making her a highly desirable target for Erika as well.

-Ezra Bridger, Jedi Padawan and rising star of the Rebellion. Likewise, a desirable target for execution.

-Garazeb Orrelios, surviving Lasat. As a brutish alien, capable quartermaster, and seasoned fighter, he is a desirable target for execution.

--Lady Erika Ritter to Office of Governor Pryce: The grand Admiral is already searching for the crew of the Ghost. How desirable each member of the crew may be to me personally is irrelevant. He does not yet know where they are and has not expressed any interest in my help in the matter. Furthermore, Darth Vader has given explicit orders regarding the Padawan Ezra Bridger that complicate the matter further. 

For these reasons I have no choice but to deny your request. Consider the matter settled. If you pursue this endeavor, it may be viewed as you attempting to undermine the Grand Admiral. I will not be your accessory to this end. Enjoy your evening; I'm told the Lothal sunset is something to behold. Please use my title in future transmissions.

Hera sets down the datapad, "Good news. Thrawn on our case is bad enough. The last thing we need is that witch helping Pryce."

Kanan points out, "She isn't helping yet, but that could always change. The fact that Pryce is already calling makes it pretty obvious she'd do anything to take us out. And I'm not comfortable with Erika having all our names and faces in the back of her mind. What do you know about her?"

"She's a monster. She hates aliens and gets her kicks out of gruesome violence."

Erika's preferred method of execution was an axe. Unpowered, it was bloody and disturbing. She also had a flair for showmanship, attempting to milk the maximum amount of fear and anger from these beheadings. Sometimes that meant leaving the victim's Rebel allies in the path of the blood spray. Sometimes it meant forcing them to look at the head, or to execute their friend themselves if they were showing too much resolve. And the heads could then be used to add more showmanship for shock value.

Erika's target selection was an insight into her personality as well. She selected targets based on how significant they were to the enemy. The goal was to shatter enemy morale, so she was more likely to target someone for execution and more likely to make that execution a public beheading if she believed their death would hurt that morale. 

She generally preferred not to kill anyone younger than 16, but there were exceptions. She generally preferred to execute women and girls, likely due to most of her own role models in life being women and girls. The deaths of her mother or her Hammer Captains would most effectively shatter her morale, so it followed that she would inflict that pain on others. For similar reasons, she generally didn't care about executing aliens unless she was also executing humans, stemming from her own hatred of non-humans. She valued her alien allies, but their deaths would not be as important as the death of a human.

And naturally, she prioritized leadership. That could mean officers if a firm rank structure exists, but it could also mean spiritual leaders when attacking a less formal rebellion. This was why Governor Pryce specifically called out Sabine as a desirable target of execution. A human girl over the age of 16 that was a strong spiritual leader within the Rebellion would stand out to Erika. What she did not count on was for Erika to see through her efforts to draw her in with the promise of preferable targets. Erika respects the chain of command and won't waste the efforts of the Hammer of Light without a more clear goal in mind.