Author's Note: I do not own Star Wars or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to the respective owners.

Hello, one and all, and welcome to this, my latest fanfiction. This one was born of a plot bunny that has been pestering me incessnantly for the past few weeks, and I finally decided to write it out. So, tell me what you think (constructively) and read on!

Summary: Since the age of the Old Republic, there had not been a war that spread across the entire galaxy. Not one that consumed entire star systems and left the galaxy's inhabitants in peril. Not one... until the Clone Wars. Now, an ancient power has begun to emerge from the depths of Wild Space. A power known as the Eternal Alliance.

"Come on, Shmi, push!"

Shmi Skywalker gritted her teeth and had to refrain from yelling at the midwife. Though it was sorely tempting. She had been pushing for several hours ever since she had felt her child was coming, and told Gardulla the Elder—her owner—that she needed help if she was to have the baby safely.

The Hutt has not been pleased about this, particularly given the fact that she had not wanting Shmi pregnant and unable to be of much use anyway. Still, she had acquiesced, and now Shmi was in a closed room, trying to give birth to her child.

She still hadn't even figured out how she got pregnant. It was maddening.

Another wave of pain forced her to refocus on the present, and she cried out in pain along with swearing in both Basic and Huttese. The process continued for a few more hours, during which time she was fairly certain that giving birth was going to kill her. That, or make her very much appreciative of the child she would get out of this mind-breaking agony.

Eventually, her efforts were rewarded, as one final push was given. "AAAAHHHH!" she screamed, and finally fell back, her strength depleted. For a few moments, there was silence… and then the room became filled with the sound of a baby crying.

One of the midwives looked the child over, and then smiled up at her. "It's a boy," she said.

Shmi smile tiredly at that, and reached outwards. "Let me hold him…" she managed to say. The other nodded and cleaned the child off in a nearby tub before wrapping him in towel and handing him to Shmi. Sitting up, she cradled her son and smiled down at him. Once he was in her arms, the boy stopped crying and slowly opened his eyes, revealing them to be a bright blue.

Shmi couldn't help but grin. Even though it wasn't her brown eyes, they still looked beautiful, and made her treasure the sight all the more. She was taken out of her fantasy, however, by one of the midwives, who asked "So what are you going to name him?"

Shmi was silent for a moment, thinking, before it hit her, and she looked back down at her precious son. "Anakin," she said. "His name will be Anakin."

"His name will be Anakin."

In the depths of Wild Space, an unknown figure gasped, eyes shooting open as their hearing suddenly detected that sound in the otherwise silent room. No one in the room had spoken, every guard manning their post as they always had—though a few of the close ones did glance over in curiosity.

The figure frowned and leaned back in their throne. Eyes that were fully white, save for the pupil and a black ring around the irises, gazed at the stars and contemplated what had just occurred. It was very rare that something reached her senses and affected them to such a point that her meditation was disrupted. Typically, she could immerse herself in the Force and feel the rest of the galaxy move around her, several quadrillions of life forms interacting and living with each other in an interconnecting web that sprawled out along millions of planets.

For a single voice, out of all the others, to be heard by her meant that she had either heard that voice of someone as powerful in the Force as she (unlikely, but possible) or the voice had been part of a vision that she had not finished seeing.

With that in mind, the woman closed her eyes and spread her consciousness outwards, feeling with the Force. First, there was herself, a near-blinding corona of Force energy that would have made even a Miraluka feel as if their 'eyes' were hurting. Reaching outwards, she could feel the energy of her guards, as firm and resolute as their conviction to serve her. Farther, and she could feel the energies of her people, then her planet and, finally, the galaxy.

So many emotions and actions occurred around her. She could feel anger, joy, sadness, love, hatred and countless others. They bombarded her senses like tidal wave, threatening to consume her mind and leave her mad. But rather than move peacefully through the swarm of feelings like a Jedi or crush the ones in her way like a Sith, she marched in stride, not pausing or faltering, until she reached that part of the Force where her vision had come from.

She could see… a boy. A young one, born into hardship yet maintaining a purity of soul. Though her vision did not show his face, she could see his actions. The boy would grow, powerful in the Force but unaware of his gift, until other Force-sensitive individuals would take him under their wing to teach him their ways. He would grow, his power growing with him, until the day when he would devote himself to new teachings and-

The vision ended.

The woman frowned, perturbed that she hadn't gotten to see what came next. But alas, there was little to be done. And while she didn't have a face to attach to this boy that had caught her interest, she did have a name.

Anakin… she looked forward to the day she met him.

Raising her hand, the two guards closest to her stood straighter and faced her. "Yes, your Grace?" one of them asked.

The woman looked beyond them. "Bring me High Justice Beniko. It is time that we retook what was ours," she ordered, much to the shock of everyone else in the room. Still, the two guards didn't let their surprise stop them, and bowed to her before marching out of the throne room. Once they were gone, she couldn't stop herself from grinning. After over three thousand years, they would finally return.

Star Wars: Eternal Rule

Ch.1 The Fleet Emerges

"Here we go," Anakin Skywalker said, adjusting the course of his ship as he flew forward. Behind him, the rest of Shadow Squadron and Master Plo Koon followed. The entire strike team had just finished taking a 'shortcut' through a nebula filled with giant mantas in an attempt to catch up to General Grievous.

The cyborg general was commanding a massive battlecruiser known as the Malevolence towards one of the Republic's medical stations. The cruiser was equipped with their latest weapon: a massive ion cannon that could disable all electronics caught within its blast, including ships. If they didn't manage to intercept Grievous, he'd be able to use the cannon and render the medical station and its inhabitants—over sixty thousand injured clones—helpless to being bombarded.

Hence the reason they had taken their 'shortcut' and were flying Y-wing bombers. If they could reach the Malevolence before it reached the station, they could blast Grievous to pieces and destroy the ship's ion cannon.

As they continued their flight, Plo Koon noticed that one of the ships next to him was trailing smoke. Opening the com link, he asked "Shadow Two, how damaged is your ship?"

Matchstick, the clone piloting the ship, quickly responded "Just a scratch, sir. It's nothing to worry about."

Even so, the Kel Dor grunted. "We must not take any more unnecessary risks. If even one of us were to fall, it will make destroying that Grievous and that cannon that much harder," he warned.

Anakin frowned. "Except that we didn't lose any ships, and I won't-" he began, before he was interrupted by Shadow Three, who said "Sir, I'm picking up a contact on the scanners."

In the gunner's seat of Anakin's ship, Ahsoka Tano, his Padawan, said "I thought those mantas wouldn't follow us outside the nebula."

Shadow Three replied "It's not following us. It's a ship, and it's coming out of hyperspace." A moment later, he said "Sir, it's the Malevolence."

True enough, a moment later, the massive Separatist ship appeared several klicks ahead of them, flying straight for the medical station. Aboard the bridge of the ship, General Grievous noticed several transport ships were fleeing the station, while their own scanners had detected the bomber team coming towards them.

"Launch our fighters and turn this ship into attack position. I want casualties maximized, so target the transports first," he ordered.

The droids around the ship responded with a programmed "Roger, roger," and began charging the ion cannon. It took several seconds to fire, but once it did, it released a massive circle of crackling purple energy straight at the transports. Not able to steer out of the way or jump to hyperspace, the ships were caught in the blast and completely fired, all defenseless down.

Immediately, the laser turrets mounted along the Malevolence opened fire. Given that the transports were now jut floating in space, picking them off was easier than finding a Bantha in a crowd of Jawas. If he had the ability to do so, Grievous would have even smiled. As it was, he said "Recharge the cannon and prepare to fire."

"But sir, out fighters will be caught in the blast," one of the droids protested.

Grievous's only response was "Fire at my command."

Meanwhile, the ship had released several squads of Vulture droids, all of which were flying towards Skywalker's strike team. Both sides began firing on one another and the droid ships scattered to surround them.

"Keep it steady, guys. Hold formation," Anakin ordered. But that soon proved impossible, and they were forced to break up to avoid being shot at. Anakin grunted he ducked and weaved through the enemy fire. "Get those fighters off of us!" he ordered.

"Your fancy flying isn't helping!" Ahsoka shot back, struggling to even aim while her Master kept swerving around.

Then the ion cannon fired and came straight for them, prompting them all to begin flying towards the edge of the blast. The higher they flew, however, the more they noticed that one of them was lagging behind. "Shadow 2, what's wrong?" Ahsoka asked.

"Nothing, ma'am. Just trying to keep it together," Matchstick said. But in truth, he was struggling more than he was letting on. The previous damage to his ship was getting worse, and the trail of smoke from his thruster was growing larger.

A few seconds later, the thruster completely exploded, causing Matchstick to lose control and begin spiraling back downwards. "Look out!" he called to the ships below him. While two were able to dodge the falling ship, one did not, and both of them went up in a cloud of fire and shrapnel. Additionally, three ships did reach the edge of the ion blast in time, and were caught in it.

Although he didn't want to hear it, he knew he had to say it. "Shadow Squadron, check in," he said.

Ahsoka, sounding much more subdued than before, reported "We lost Matchstick and Tag. Shadows Six, Seven and Ten were caught in the blast." Five ships down. Not counting Plo Koon, that meant that there were only seven of them left to strike at the Malevolence.

With their Vulture droids disabled, the enemy ship opened fire with its turrets, not giving Shadow Squadron any time to rest. Trying to avoid the shots, Shadow Five said "This flak is heavy!"

"Stay on course!" Plo Koon ordered. The strike team reached the Malevolence and began flying along its hull, towards the bridge. But then Shadow Five was blasted from the side by several turret shots, and his ship crashed into the cruiser.

Ahsoka gasped, dismayed at seeing another fellow team member fall. "Master," she began, before wincing as an explosion went off right next to them. "We need a new plan!" he urged him.

But Anakin shook his head, saying "Don't worry, Snips. We can make it!"

Only for Shadow Seven to be blow apart as well. "Master, you can make it, but everyone else is getting shot to pieces!" Ahsoka urged.

Suddenly, the side of the Malevolence began glowing purple, showing that the ion cannon was preparing to fire. And this time, it was aimed at the medical station.

Anakin looked forward, past the laserfire before them and towards the bridge. They could do it. They could keep going forward, strike at the bridge and take out Grievous once and for all. All it would cost was the medical station. And as much as he wanted to destroy that cyborg, he couldn't accept that cost.

However, just before he could issue a new target, he heard Plo Koon speak up. "Skywalker, I'm picking up several contacts coming out hyperspace. They don't appear to be Republic ships!" he said.

'Reinforcements. Just great,' he said. Out loud, he told the rest of the squad "Then get ready, Things are about to get messy!"

"Messy? I think that's the understatement of—What the heck?!" Ahsoka yelled, looking towards the location off to their left, where they had detected the ships. The rest of them looked as well… and saw for themselves just what had shocked Ahsoka so much.

It wasn't five or six ships like the scanners had suggested. Instead, there were dozens, no, hundreds of ships, each one of them a battlecruiser of unknown design and as large as Destroyer-class ships.

Everyone who could see the unknown fleet—Shadow Squadron, the medical station, even the Malevolence—were all frozen in shock at the arrival of this sudden and overwhelming attack force. None of them had seen these kinds of ships before, and could think of no planet or government that housed a fleet of such size. Not even close.

The first ones to come out of their shock were Grievous and the droids, and that was due to them noticing that several of the lead ships had fired odd pod-like missiles at the Malevolence. The projectiles struck the ship and burrowed straight through its exterior. Once inside, they opened to each deposit several squads of droids.

Unlike the Separatist droids, however, these droids were more humanoid in shape and covered in white armor. Each droid was also carrying a blaster rifle, and opened fire the moment that they landed on their feet.

Alarms quickly began going off all over the bridge, and General Grievous looked around in shock. "What just happened?! Give me a report!" he yelled.

One of the droids responded "General, we appear to have been boarded! Enemy forces are being spotted on all several decks!"

The Kaleesh cyborg snarled. "Send all available forces to those decks! I want this unknown enemy destroyed!" he demanded.

Meanwhile, Shadow Squadron, who had been watching until just now, decided to act. "Whoever's chosen to help us, they've definitely got the Malevolence distracted. Now's our chance to take out their weapon!" Plo Koon said.

Anakin, who was at last in agreement, nodded. "Shadow Squadron, we have a new target. Move to target the starboard ion cannon!" he called.

The rest of the strike team readily agreed and they all switched course for their new target. They still had to dodge flak from the turrets, but now the majority of it was focused on their new ally. Once they were close enough, Anakin called "Torpedoes away!"

Each of them fired their torpedoes at the ion cannon, causing succession of blasts that shook the Malevolence. A high-pitched keening began to issue from the ion cannon, though since they were in space, none of them heard it. Indeed, Grievous had the cannon switch targets to the enemy fleet, and called "Fire!"

The moment the cannon did fire, it exploded in a blast so powerful that it knocked the entire ship from side to side, and also caused the ion cannon on the port side to detonate as well.

Shadow Squadron began fling towards the medical station, cheering. "Good work, everyone!" Plo Koon congratulated. The rest of them grinned, but then Anakin received an incoming transmission.

It was Obi-Wan, who was with the three Republic cruisers that were supposed to finish the job of destroying the Malevolence. "Anakin, do you copy? Have you and the rest of the strike team completed your objective?" he asked.

Anakin grinned. "Somewhat. We've destroyed the ion cannons, though Grievous is still alive. But don't worry, Master. It looks like someone else has that handled," he said.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. "Someone else? What do you mean?" He got his answer when the cruisers came out of hyperspace, and saw the massive fleet firing on the Malevolence.

"…Oh. So that's what you meant," the Jedi general stated.

Aboard the Malevolence, Grievous rose to his feet, trying to shake of the slight cobwebs that had come with being knocked to the floor. "Damage report," he ordered.

"The Republic forces destroyed both primary weapons, sir. Also, the droids that have boarded the ship have disabled our hyperdrive," one of the droids reported.

Grievous was silent for a moment, causing two of the droids to look at each other. In their experience, whenever the General was quiet, it meant one of two things. Either he was fully satisfied… or exceptionally angry.

It turned out to be the latter when Grievous roared in rage and swung his arm, smashing the head of one of the droids completely from its shoulders. To the rest of them, he said "Begin a full retreat. Make for Separatist space. And destroy those boarders!"

Anakin and Ahsoka entered the center of the medical station. The station's head doctor, the Kaminoan scientist Nala Se, bowed at his arrival. "General Skywalker, I wanted to thank you for your valiant effort today. Do not take the lives you saved lightly," she said.

Anakin nodded. "I won't, but I can't take the lives we lost lightly either. Nor were we solely responsible for the mission's success," he said solemnly.

The clone that had been standing next to Nala spoke up. "Actually, sir, it's good that you mentioned that. We've received a single holo-message from the unknown fleet, and were going to replay it to General Kenobi. But since you're here, you might want to see it first," he said.

At Anakin's nod of approval, the clone pressed a few buttons on the control panel, before the message appeared in front of them. It showed a figure who they assumed to be human, though it was hard to guess since they were wearing armor. Said armor consisted of gold-colored plating along their torso, shoulders, arms and waist, with metal boots of the same color, black pants and gold-colored helmets that covered their face.

Most notable, however, were the two weapons the figure was carrying. One was a large shield that matched their armor, while the other… was a lightsaber pike.

Both Anakin and Ahsoka stared, shocked at seeing that one of the unknown fleet's number wielded a lightsaber. Did that mean there were others who wielded lightsaber pikes as well? And were they all Force-sensitive? Despite the questions running through their heads, both Jedi focused when the armored figure spoke.

"Representatives of the Galactic Republic. In the name of our glorious Empress and the Knights of Zakuul, you have been given this warning. The Eternal Alliance has returned."

So, there we have it, the first chapter of Eternal Rule. This idea came to me after playing Star Wars: The Old Republic and watching The Clone Wars on Netflix, and I got to wondering about how things would be if the Eternal Alliance were still present during the days of the Galactic Republic. Thus, this fic was born. So, tell me what you all think of this chapter and the fic itself. Just be constructive about it, please!

And so, please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)