A/N Alright, as I hope you're noticing, this is the first chapter, but not the same first chapter that was here before. I reviewed my work and how the styles changed over time and I felt like I needed to rewrite the first few chapters to fit the flow of the story better. I'm also partially doing this because of how busy I've been, I've lost sight of a few of my long term goals for this story. I still know where it's going to, I just need to refine it. I feel that the best way to do that is to rewrite this beginning chapters. Now I'd recommend rereading them as I update them, because there are changes, some of which are rather important to the later parts of the story. Thank you all for reading this story and please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Halo, or Star Wars, or any other piece of fiction or video game I may reference in this story.

6 months before the Battle of Yavin and the events of Episode IV.

Outer edge of Corellia star system. 11:10 Coruscant time.

Boredom filled the conscious of the 23 year old man named Jason Kan. Traveling with a transport shuttle was hardly the most glorified way to depart one's homeworld and go join the freedom fighters known as the Rebel Alliance. But considering that two years ago he hadn't even been sure he'd be able to get off Corellia, this was a major breakthrough. His mind flashed back to the argument that had arose when he announced his intention:

"What?" His father asked. When he was angry his voice would always take on an icier tone that set Jason's blood on edge. His glare was enough to make Jason want to back down, even though he had at least two inches on his father's 5' 10" frame. "You want to go join some kriffing fools who are fighting the very organization that protected us from the CIS?"

"The Empire's nothing like that anymore; they've twisted their words and become something worse than the CIS. We both know it." He shot back.

His father laughed scornfully, "I see there's no point in clarifying why this 'Rebel Alliance' is a foolish proposition. Let me say this. You will not be getting a single credit for this cause from me. And that's the last I'll speak on the matter."

Jason had always been close to conflict with his father; things had only become worse after his mother had vanished. Briefly closing his brown eyes, he ran a hand over his face and through his lengthy dark brown hair. He still missed his mother. She had been an idealist, much like him. She would've tried to convince his father that the Rebellion, and Jason, had a point. But his father saw those ideals as the reason that she had been taken. He felt a pang of regret when he realized that his father may have just been trying to keep him from disappearing the same way his mother did.

Letting out a slow breath, he brought his mind back to his current situation. He had received word a few weeks ago that the Rebellion was looking for potential new recruits on Bothawui. He had finally saved up enough credits to pay for both the transportation and his own blaster pistol. Hopefully the Rebellion would be able to get him something better, but he felt like he should be prepared; just in case things went wrong and he had to try and avoid some Imperials. Exhaling slowly one last time, the hopeful Rebel finally let sleep overtake him.

Bothawui, 13:45 Coruscant time. Two days later.

Jason walked carefully through the crowd. His plain colored clothes helped him fit into the blended crowd of Bothans, Humans, and other Aliens. He had his two heavier suitcases back in his recently rented apartment. He still had his backpack slung over his shoulder. His gaze flittered over towards his right. A pair of stormtroopers was standing by an alleyway, their eyes obscured by their white helmets. Jason quickly brought his gaze forward again, trying to prevent drawing unwanted attention. His boots slopped through a small puddle of water. A few Bothans were engaged in a heated debate with hushed tones, with one of the Bothans glancing back at the stormtroopers more than once. A few distant clouds began to gather in the south.

He noticed a nearby cantina. Part of him was attracted to the seediness of the building, but part of him was wary of what would become of his money. He was uneasy, wondering where these Rebel contacts were supposed to be. Suddenly a commotion from the cantina drew his attention. A Bothan was thrown out of the cantina, followed closely by two stormtroopers. Another pair of stormtroopers was holding a young red haired girl by her arms. An Imperial officer stepped out, followed by a final pair of stormtroopers. The Bothan struggled to recover his footing and took a swing at one of the stormtroopers. The stormtrooper dodged the Bothan's wild swing, and punched him in the stomach. The final pair of stormtroopers came up behind the Bothan and grabbed him by the arms.

"You won't get away with this." The Bothan shouted, "Mark my words, you'll regret trying to take the pair of us."

The officer snorted, his soft face contorting into an arrogant smirk. "We'll see about that, Rebel scum. I think it's time we made an example of what happens to traitors."

The trio of stormtroopers forced the Bothan to a kneeling position. Jason's heart rate had kicked into overdrive. The two captured Rebels were all his attention could focus on. His hand brushed the handle of his blaster pistol. He was unsure of what to do, but his debate was cut short when the third stormtrooper began aiming his rifle at the Bothan.

"No." The girl shouted. The stormtrooper ignored her and flicked off the safety.

The officer's face contorted even more than Jason thought possible with savage pleasure. "On my order, end this vermin's life. I want the girl alive, for a little at least."

Jason decided he couldn't wait to make up his mind. Drawing his blaster pistol as fast as he could, he squeezed the trigger three times. The first shot went wide, burning a hole into the top of the doorway. The second shot hit the would-be-executioner in the hand, burning through the stormtrooper's hand and melting the grip of the blaster rifle into slag. The third shot slammed into one of the Imperial's chest where the plates connected, ending his life and releasing the Bothan's right arm. The Bothan took advantage of this and tore his arm out of the wounded soldier's grasp. The Bothan quickly flipped the second stormtrooper onto the ground. The alien swiftly grabbed the deceased stormtrooper's rifle from the ground where it lay, before firing a blast into another stormtrooper.

Jason quickly processed the new situation. Two stormtroopers were dead, and the third was missing a hand and his rifle. That left one dazed stormtrooper on the ground and the second two who were holding the girl, and the officer was standing behind them. The Bothan fired a round into the stormtrooper on the ground, before rolling out of the way as the officer's pistol spewed energy bolts at him. The wounded stormtrooper pulled out his blaster pistol before jerking suddenly. A thunderous report echoed throughout the surrounding buildings as a ballistic sniper round tore through the stormtrooper's throat. The Bothan diverted fire onto the two remaining stormtroopers, who had dropped the girl. Jason joined in the Bothan's attack. The two soldiers dove behind the nearest cover they could find, a stack of crates. By now the civilians were fleeing from the firefight. Off in the distance more blaster fire could be heard.

"Stop!" a voice commanded. The firing complied as both Imperials and Rebels looked at the source of the order. The officer had his arm snaked around the girl's throat and his pistol aimed at her head. "Lay your weapons down or I will blow her head off."

Jason froze, trying to figure out how to work around this; meanwhile the Bothan put his rifle on the ground, motioning for Jason to do the same. The Bothan winked at Jason and again motioned for him to put the gun down. Jason finally complied. "Good." The officer's voice still contained a faint trace of worry. "Now tell your sniper friend it's the same deal."

"Why don't you tell him yourself?" a deep voice questioned. A large man walked out from a building to Jason's right. The man looked nothing like a sniper; his body seemed built as a human tank. His medium cut brown hair didn't past his ears. Cobalt eyes locked onto the Imperial officer's. The man tossed a ballistic sniper rifle to the ground.

"Good, good." The officer's voice seemed to regain some of its composure. "Now come with me peacefully and…"

The officer never got to finish his statement as a second thunderous report sounded and the officer's hand vanished. The large man pulled out two massive DT-75 pistols and fired both of them once. The twin bolts of energy slammed into the Stormtroopers before they could recover. As the officer stared at the bloody remains of his hand in horror, the girl head-butted him and used his arm to throw him over her and onto the ground. The officer was still blinking when the massive man stood over him, "For the record, I'm terrible with a sniper rifle."

The Bothan quickly scooped up the ballistic sniper with an expression of pure joy. The girl shook her head. A voice sounded behind Jason, causing him to jump slightly. "All neutralized." The man spoke with a deep accent of some kind that Jason couldn't place, definitely not from one of the core worlds. Light blond hair was cut in a decidedly military fashion and green eyes that seemed to speak the testimony of unspeakable horrors. The Bothan walked back over and aimed his blaster at the officer, his canine features curling into a snarl.

Large hands forced the rifle down and the man shook his head, "That's not how we do things." He then turned his attention to Jason, "Hey kid, come with us."

Jason complied, albeit slightly hesitantly. As they walked away hey could hear the officer cursing them, "This is not the last you've seen of me! I'll get you; I'll get my revenge you rebel vermin! I will exterminate you all."

The officer stopped yelling when he saw the sniper, clad in light black formfitting armor, walking back towards him. Stumbling up to his feet, while trying to ignore the burning pain from what was left of his hand, he glared at the sniper. "That's right, you can't escape the Empire. We will stop you terrorists."

The sniper's eyes were so cold that it sent an unconscious shiver down the officer's spine. His voice still had the deep accent, but his voice had taken a dangerous edge to it. Jerking a thumb towards the retreating rebels, he spoke, "They might believe because we're the good guys that we have to do the morally right thing. I've seen more, I know better. When you fight for your existence and for the freedom of those you care about, you need to do some things that aren't morally right. They haven't grasped that yet. I was trained in that concept. One more sin isn't going to make me hate myself any more than I do now."

The officer's eyes went wide when the sniper pulled out a long barreled pistol. Before he could reply a soft report sounded and a bullet ended his life.

Jason never heard the muffled gunshot over the chaos that had broken out throughout the city. It was a valiant effort, but a vain one. The Bothans who had decided to assault the Imperials were hopelessly outnumbered. By the time the main contingencies of the Imperial forces arrived, the rebelious Bothans would have disappeared once more into the city. While they were walking, the blond human caught up. Giving a slight cough, he glanced pointedly at the larger man. The brown haired man got the point rather quickly. "So what's your name kid?"

"Jason. It's nice to meet you…" he trailed off, realizing he didn't know the man's name.

"Keith" the large man supplied, "The gloomy Bothan over there is Sorn, the red-head is Gabby, and the blond with the accent and the accuracy is Jack."

Each one had a different reaction to their introduction: Sorn glared at Keith for his introduction, Gabby waved cheerfully to Jason, and Jack just gave him a nod of acknowledgment. The four of them continued walking as Keith began talking. "I'm going to guess that you weren't just coincidently in the area, were you?"

Jason shook his head, "No I was trying to find the recruiting for the Rebel Alliance."

Keith let out a hearty laugh, "well you found us. Though I prefer the alliance to restore republic as our name, we're stuck with being seen as the rebels I suppose."

Gabby shook her head, "Well it could be worse. At least we're not called the 'terrorist alliance' or something like that."

Keith looked at her, "Remind me never to ask you to name something. Ever. So kid, I'm guessing that you wanted to join up then?"

Jason nodded his head. "But I don't have a ship and the only weapon I have is this blaster pistol." He stated, gesturing at the older modeled blaster.

Sorn glanced at him, his fur still bristling from the near death experience "You're a pretty good shot for having an outdated gun. I say we keep him. He might make a good secondary sniper. But he can't have my gun."

"We got it Sorn," Jack replied, rolling his light green eyes "No one messes with your gun."

As the four of them continued walking, they reached an outdoor hangar. There was a small guard's station that briefly challenged Keith, who promptly displayed his id. After that, Keith turned back to Jason. "Now that you know where we are, go get the rest of your supplies and meet us here. The Shalom will be waiting. Once we depart I'm going to have to bring you up to speed on what's going on and you'll have to share a few little things with us. Got it?"

Jason nodded, "I'll be back within half an hour." And he hurried off, eager to start his new life with the Rebel Alliance and finally strike out against the Empire. A smile grew across his face as he felt the cool shade of nearby clouds blot out the sun.

In orbit above Felucia: 15:35 Coruscant time. The same day.

Commander Ryan Mendez stood on the bridge of the Cobra, his personal Imperial-class Star Destroyer. He wished there was something that made it his, but there really wasn't. It was just another Star Destroyer of the Imperial fleet, with the same bland grey/white coloring as every other type of Imperial ship. But this was far from his focus as he stood, watching the reports of the ground battle come in. Another AT-AT had been destroyed, a platoon of stormtroopers had been pinned down after taking a Rebel trench, the lead groups of Self-Propelled Medium Artillery-Turbolasers were finally in range. The reports filtered in, one after another, each one fighting for his attention. This shabla mission is just costing us too much, he shook his head. For some reason the higher ups in the chain of command wanted this base left intact, which ruled out orbital bombardment. However by this point all he wanted to know was how intact they wanted it, or if he could just level a large segment of it. It could also be a ruse to try and make him look bad.

Ryan was well aware of the fact that he had enemies within the Empire. Some were jealous, Ryan seemed to be only 28, yet was one of the best commanders the Empire had seen in a while. His actual age and name however, was not what the Empire believed. He wondered briefly if there were those in the Empire who had suspicions that he was not entirely honest about his age or name. He had no way of knowing for sure, but until the right time came, he was to remain Ryan Mendez of 28 years. Running a hand through his short cut hair, Ryan brought his attention back to the battle.

"Sir, a group of rebel transports under light escort are trying to escape the planet." One of his officers reported. Overall they were a trustworthy group of people; however many had psychological scars from battles they had been present in before their time with Ryan. Some had been pulled into the vacuum of space with little more than a light space suit on and less than half an hour of air. If they hadn't been found when they were, they would have been dead.

"Send the Bombard and Candaserri to deal with them." Was his reply. The feed continued on before his attention was diverted by his XO, Lieutenant Commander Mac Gordon.

"Commander Mendez, two transmissions are coming in. One from a field commander on the ground, the other…" he trailed off, his dark eyes hardening slightly, "Well I think you need to take it in a different area."

"Send them to the comm. suite. I'll address them there." Ryan said, already striding towards the afore mentioned room. He walked in quickly and prepared to activate the first call, deciding the second could wait a little longer. His choice was taken when the hologram of a man in his 40s appeared. General Tarz was best known for his proficiency in putting down land rebellions swiftly and without care for who was caught in the crossfire. His methods were ruthless and his results marvelous. He was in command of an Imperial fleet, even though he was a ground commander first. Ryan hated the man, but procedure had to be followed. Snapping to attention he greeted the General, "General Tarz, Commander Mendez, R.K. reporting."

"Good. Commander Mendez, I need you to report to Thyferra to help me put down a rebellion. Only bring the Cobra. Leave the rest of your fleet there to ensure the Rebels do not escape." Tarz's frosty voice came through the hologram, speaking at just enough of a rapid pace that Ryan did not have a chance to reply. "Be here within the next two days. Tarz out."

Ryan blinked and let out a sigh. "You're so upbeat aren't you? Though I will admit, for a Di'kut you're not half that bad at figuring stuff out." He reached for the other incoming message.

On Felucia, 15:30 Coruscant time.

Zeth dodged a wild blaster shot as it slammed into a nearby fungus tree. To say he wasn't fond of this place would be an understatement. He hated this place beyond belief. Before he was a sergeant in the Empire's forces, he had been a commando. His last mission had taken him here. This planet had taken two of his brothers away. He would never forgive it for that. Allowing his aggravation to give him focus, Zeth peered over cover and fired off a couple of blaster shots, watching in grim satisfaction as it snuffed out a Rebel's life.

Firing his rifle in bursts, he surveyed the situation. The Rebels had a height advantage, as they had built their on a hill. Trenches were dug from the base of the hill up, with turrets designed for killing infantry set up along the way. At the top of the hill were several captured turbolaser batteries that were devastating any mechanized forces that the Imperials were able to employ. After a few brutal minutes of fighting they had been able to break the Rebel's front line and begin using some of their trenches against them. The problem was it would be another few minutes until the SPMA-Ts arrived. Their sole advantage to this situation lay in the fact that an All-Terrain Armored Transport was breaking its way through the peculiar foliage and was prepared to give them fire support. The massive four legged walker smashing the remaining walls of the Rebel's frontline as it advanced.

Snipers on both sides were picking soldiers off as they left their cover. All around him Zeth could hear the screams of people dying. He glanced to his left just in time to see a rocket explode next to a stormtrooper, the man's final cry piercing through his mind. As the helmet rolled off, Zeth saw his own face looking back at him. It was times like this that he remembered how few clones from the clone wars were really left. Another brutal minute of fighting passed, with neither side gaining an advantage on the other. The SPMA-Ts were still out of range and the AT-AT was still combating the foliage as well. Peering around his cover, Zeth fired off another burst. Another armored figure hit the wall next to him. "Copaani gaan Zeth?"

Zeth glanced over at the new arrival. "Iviin, good to see you again."

The second clone laughed. "Well I wasn't in much of a rush, figured you had this handled."

"You? Slow? Nuh'la." Was Zeth's reply as he leaned back behind cover. "Any word from the al'verde?"

Iviin shook his head, "None. Some shabuir is probably still telling him that he can't just bombard the aru'e from orbit. Probably trying to make us all look bad by doing it."

Zeth shook his head, "No one makes the al'verde look bad. He's pulled off every mission so far."

"Gar serim." Iviin replied. "This one's a little difficult however. I still hate this dar'yaim. Think we'll…?"

"Nayc." Zeth cut him off. "They decided to pull a Ba'slan shev'la. We won't see them as long as they don't want us to."

Iviin nodded slowly, "yea." Whatever he was about say was interrupted as one of the turbolaser towers opened fire and destroyed the cockpit of the AT-AT. "Haar'chak" Iviin muttered.

"Sergeant Zeth." A transmission came over Zeth's helmet. "The SPMA-Ts are in range. Use your target locator to pinpoint those blasted Turbolasers."

Zeth wasted no time in following out the orders. "Hukaat'kama" he shouted back to Iviin. The former commando held his hand out and Zeth provided him his blaster. Iviin propped himself on the rock and began firing both his blasters with pinpoint accuracy, dropping the rebel forces as they tried to advance. A few artillery shells hit nearby. Another group of rebels charged with a war cry. Yells and screams filled the air with corresponding blaster shots. For Zeth everything existed for a moment, then faded away. There was only one thing in his conscious now, the turbolaser tower that had ravaged the AT-AT so easily. Lining up the locator he held down the activator as it began to scan the target. As soon as it uploaded the coordinates and schematics, the SPMA-Ts fulfilled their duties and fired a volley of laser shots towards the turbolaser tower. The defensive structure fell as well as the nearby AA cannon. As the Rebels scrambled to recover from this loss, a flight of TIE bomber zoomed overhead and dropped their payload on the Rebels' frontline. Explosions tore up the hill sending dirt and rebels flying in several directions.

A flight of ARC-170 starfighters dove from above the clouds. Their laser cannons blazed away as they tore apart the unsuspecting TIE bombers. The fighters continued to fire their lasers and blast apart Stormtrooper platoons before firing their torpedoes at the SPMA-Ts, destroying several of them. The two clones stared at the blazing area around them. In frustration Zeth grabbed his rifle from Iviin and began firing at the approaching rebels, simultaneously signaling the remaining forces to fall back. They needed to get in range of those AT-AAs if they wanted a chance of winning. A captain ran over to him, "Sergeant, contact the Commander, tell him our situation." Zeth nodded, part of him still surprised that so much had happened in the span of several minutes.

In orbit above Felucia, 15:36 Coruscant time.

Ryan looked at the armored stormtrooper that appeared before him. "Sergeant Zeth, what's the status."

The stormtrooper shook his head. "Real bad sir. I don't know how long we can hold off without an orbital bombardment or severe reinforcements."

Ryan looked at the clone, "Well you don't have to hold off much longer. Tell Captain Davis we're pulling out of there as soon as possible. General Tarz has requested our assistance elsewhere, and it overrides this mission."

"Affirmative sir. We'll begin pulling out immediately; expect us to be returning shortly."

After Ryan gave some specific instructions for Zeth's ears alone, he walked back to the bridge. "Listen up. We're leaving this place. However the rebels aren't cleared out anywhere near what I'd like. Here's the plan; in order to ensure that our men get off this dar'yaim, we're going to bombard the base from orbit. We'll leave the command center intact so we can get the information, as the admiral wanted. Let's just hope he didn't want anything else. Not one more of our men die here. Begin the bombardment as soon as our ships are in range. We'll meet Tarz within his two day limit, but we'll do it our way instead of his."

As the Cobra and her four escorting Victory-class Star Destroyers closed in on the base's coordinates, the imperial ground forces began their retreat. The Rebels cheers of victory were cut short as dozens of long range turbolaser shots burned through the atmosphere and ravaged their base. Segments were turned to glass as buildings toppled. The retreating Imperials watched the devastation unfold. Throughout it all not a single turbolaser shot hit the command center. After the bombardment, Zeth and Iviin infiltrated the command center, neutralizing the guards and securing any data they could find. Shortly after they exfoliated and removed any guards that got in their way, they boarded the last Imperial transport to leave. After they departed the Cobra's long range batteries proceeded to target and destroy the rebel command center, leaving nothing but flames and rubble for the surviving Rebels to hold onto.

Ryan allowed himself a sad smile of victory as the Cobra began leaving orbit. He was worried about the amount of supplies the Rebels had had here. He hadn't been forced to resort to an orbital bombardment in a long time. Something had been there, something he hoped he hadn't missed. Shrugging off the doubt, Ryan checked his personal communicator to see a short message from his twin.

Tarz is onto us. I expect this next meeting is a trap. Be careful

~Hunter

Ryan sighed. He shared similar suspicions with his twin. Only time would tell if they were correct or not. He hoped they weren't. He needed a little more time inside of the empire to complete his goal. Breathing in softly, Ryan began walking back to his quarters; leaving the thoughts of the burning rebel base safely behind him.

Felucia. 1620 Coruscant time.

Unbeknownst to the Rebels forces as they tried to figure out what to do next, or to the Imperial Commander as he set off to quell the next rebellion, deep underneath the ruins of the Rebel base, something stirred. Something ancient and dark that had been kept hidden from the galaxy for far too long. That something began to search for a way out, and a way to begin its mission anew.

(1/26/2013)A/N As I said, some things are different, some are the same. Things will be progressing a little differently. For anyone who has just started reading, I'd recommend waiting for the updated version of the next chapter, however if I take longer than a week disregard that and read on. The changes will be primarily minor things, and a few major things, but sometimes those things are what makes the biggest difference in the long run.

Additionally for a list of every single Mandalorian word translated that I'll ever use: wiki/Mando%27a That is where I'll be pulling Mando'a from. I try to space out the words so you can infer them, but if you have trouble for some reason there's the link.

Please Review, they do inspire me. and constructive criticism does help me as well. I want to do my own original work so anything I learn now will help me later.

Until Later,
~Jangotat2
Live Fast, Die Never.