(AN: Star Wars: Rebellion is back with a vengeance! Here's to hoping it will be better than the first draft. Still the same formula, focusing on the 'everyman' of the Rebellion rather than the starfighter pilots, the officers or the young Jedi-in-training. This will focus mainly on events from ESU to ROTJ. There may be appearances by some of our other Star Wars OCs, so I refer you to their first appearances for info about them.)

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

It is a dark time for freedom in the galaxy. The Rebel Alliance has been reeling from blow after blow, dealt by the hand of the Galactic Empire following the Battle of Yavin. Chased across the stars, they have not had a moment of respite in almost three years.

After the failed assault on the Imperial Palace, the Jedi Outcast as gone underground. Her lover, sensing the presence of darkness upon her, throws all caution to the wind and follows after her, in the hopes of saving her from the Dark Side of the Force.

On the other side of the galaxy, the Rebellion continues to gather support from many sources. A young soldier, Feor Drex, has decided that to throw his lot in with the Rebel Alliance, choosing to fight for the side which he believes will restore order to the shattered galaxy...

How many people could say that they have been as far as Feor Drex had been? He had only barely gotten off Bakura, his home-planet, before the Imperial armada overthrew the planet's government three years ago. He was hiding on Nar Shadda when he heard of the Battle of Yavin, and believed, like so many, that it was now only a matter of time before the Empire would fall.

Like those thousands - if not millions - of people throughout the galaxy who believed that the ambitious moffs like Tarkin were really in control of the Empire and that their deaths would herald its end, they received a very rude awakening. A coup had been orchestrated on the Imperial Capital itself, which had failed miserably. In the following months, the Empire's fleet movements had become more and more aggressive toward those who were considered potentially hostile. The base on Yavin was obliterated, General Dodonna taken prisoner, and the Rebellion on the run again.

He had gotten off Bakura on time, the same could not be said of his family. They were slain for their affiliation to the Rebellion. Not just them, but the entire population of Kedar City, one of the largest cities and the cultural and intellectual center of Bakura. They were nothing but an example of the vengeance the Empire would bring upon them in the future occupation.

But he, Feor Drex, was alive, and fighting on for his family, for all the lives lost at the Massacre at Kedar.

He was sitting in the huge crew compartment of a GR-75 transport. Only the hum of power throughout the ship and the dull roar of the engines could be heard because of the oxygen in the ship. The sighing and mutterings of those around him were all but drowned out completely.

The sound of howling wind suddenly met his ears. It sounded like a tornado.

"Attention," the voice of the captain called. "We've reached our destination. Before we disembark, we request that you all take the insulator suits that have been provided. They can be picked up in the quartermaster hall."

It wasn't really a hall, just one of the cargo-pods that had been made into a make-shit quartermaster hall, where they were given their supplies and such. As they were currently fighting a war, they had to ration supplies through the quartermasters first.

But why did they need insulator suits?

Once the final thud of their landing was heard, they got up and all began making their way toward the quartermaster room. Feor found himself swept up in the fray of pushing and shoving as they tried to reach what they were after. He found that the insulator suits were actually white jackets, a pair of sand-colored gloves and boots, white uniform pants, and a hat with ear-flaps. Feor walked into one of the smaller cubicles, added for just such purposes, and put on his new uniform. He felt oddly hot, and wondered if he would ever need it.

"We are now opening the rear exit way." the voice of the captain called over on the intercom. "Stand clear."

The grinding of gears and the whining protest of hydraulics sounded as the ramp lowered. A gust of freezing cold air blasted them as they came out to meet it. Had they not been wearing their jackets and insulated uniforms, they might have been frozen to death with that.

"Welcome to Hoth." one of the soldiers at Feor's left said.

Well, Feor thought, at least we're the only ones here.

Hoth was still relatively unexplored, even the Republic had little to say regarding who and what lived here: all that was known was that it had not been settled, even in the last thirty years.

Perhaps that was why the Alliance High Command had chosen this planet as their new base of operations. Quietly out of the way and safe from Imperial eyes...for the present.

Even through the insulated suit and the woolen gloves, Feor was shivering with cold. All about him was white, white hills, white mountains, white drifts, white snow, white banks: it was a desert of white. Looking around, he saw that there was something that stood out. A large cave, a hole in the side of one of the white mountains, was being guarded by gun emplacements. From the line of people making their way out of it, he reasoned that this must be their new home.

Echo Base.

All around him were dozens of strange people, new faces of races he hadn't seen in all of his life. A group of rowdy, gun-ho pilots gathered off in one corner of the huge hangar, carved out of the snowy hill. Those must be Rogue Squadron, members of the elite fighter squadron of the Alliance. Two of them, it was said, were at the famed Battle of Yavin three years ago, and one of them had destroyed the Empire's dreaded Death Star.

Feor felt happy to have such worthy ones with them here on Hoth. But he also felt very small and insignificant compared to them. They had flown with veterans of the Clone Wars, gone up against the best the Empire had to offer and were still fighting...not only that, but had one a decisive victory for the Rebellion.

And what was he, Feor Drex? Nothing. He had never flown a starship, never engaged in a dog-fight, never faced off against underworld bounty hunters, never fought his way out of an Imperial slave-camp, he knew no ancient Jedi warriors, he had no political connections, he was no last remnant of a royal household that had been obliterated by the Empire. In fact, all things considered, he was nothing special.

He was just a soldier.

(AN: A bit short, but I think it gets us to a nice start.)

(I'll update a.s.a.p.)

(10.19.11. Decided to revamp the story, now having our lead as a line-soldier, since you never get to hear about them [it's always either the Jedi or the starship pilots]. And it works better for the Hoth part of the battle, at least.)