Hey folks, Grubkiller here.

This is my latest story.

It follows an old friend as she choses to take up arms against the Empire.

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Raada, farming moon, under Imperial occupation.

On the small farming colony of Raada, celebrations were underway, for today was a very important day in galactic history. This was the one year anniversary of the day in which a new future was ushered in.

It was Empire Day, the day that marked the end of the Clone Wars and the beginning of a age of peace and order under the rule of Emperor Palpatine.

Bright, shiny, and hopeful.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, thousands of Imperial citizens gathered in the streets of Raada's largest settlement - which were adorned with the red, white, and black banners of the Empire - to watch brave Stormtroopers from the local garrison march through the streets underneath a shower of confetti and flowers, and the roar of the applauding citizens.

On a medium-sized stage off to the side of the street, a man wearing opulent silk robes was giving a speech before the citizens and the Imperial garrison, which stood at attention as the man, who turned out to be the mayor, gave his speech, in front of a large holographic portrait of Emperor Palpatine.

"Loyal citizens of the Empire, on this day we mark the one year anniversary of the day in which our Empire was born, and we were saved from the forces of hatred and division, by our benevolent ruler, Emperor Palpatine. Under the Empire's New Order, our most cherished beliefs have been safeguarded. By bringing the entire galaxy under one law, one language, and the enlightened guidance of one individual, the corruption that plagued the Republic in its later years has been abolished. The path towards peace and prosperity are always difficult to achieve. But with our grand star fleets and out brave Stormtroopers, and the bravery of our vigilant citizenry, our path is all but assured. The New Order of peace has triumphed over anarchists, murderers, and the shadowy secrecy of shameful magicians. The direction of our course is clear. Our glorious Emperor will lead the Empire to glories beyond imagining. We have been tested, but we have emerged stronger. We move forward as one people: the Imperial citizens of the first Galactic Empire. We will prevail. Today is but the first year in an era of peace that shall last for ten thousand years."

When the speech was transmitted across the town, people erupted into a tidal wave of cheers and applause before the Imperil Anthem, 'Glory to the Empire', was played on the loud speakers across town, and the Imperial parade continued.

As the mayor had said, this is but the first year in an era that will last for eons to come.

But beneath this bright, shiny, and hopeful facade, lay something far more sinister and cruel.

Since declaring the Republic an Empire, Palpatine has promoted the doctrines of hatred, speciesism, and tyranny. Much of his opposition in the Senate has been forced into silence, either through violence or coercion. He has launched a massive military buildup and begun constructing incredibly destructive starships, space stations, and weapons. Under Palpatine's rule, thousands of worlds have been enslaved or ravaged, dissidents murdered, and industries nationalized. All for the soul purpose of feeding his massive war machine, and for the protection and preservation of one thing, and one thing only: him.

He is even rumored to be using Dark Side enforcers to lead his armies and crush all uprisings in the Outer Rim, as well as hound the remaining Jedi Knights, murdering the last of this noble sect to ensure that he will never be challenged.

But that is all about to change.

The battle against tyranny is on that is fought with every fiber of one's being.

For if a single light remains, the darkness cannot win.

Many disenfranchised people across the galaxy have secretly begun to take up arms across the galaxy, even on Raada, as many farmers have had their property taken away by the Empire to be worked on by slave labor and grow a certain crop used in nutritional supplements, and be picked by oppressive slave labor.

An underground movement was growing on the small moon, led by a mysterious young Togruta girl who trained them how to fight a guerrilla war, and even helped to smuggle food, water, ammo, weapons, and medical supplies into the nearby caves. They were going to attack certain Imperial targets, but first they needed to wait for the girl to give them a signal.

When asked what the signal was, she merely responded with: "You'll know it when you see it."

On the outskirts of the main Imperial settlement, at the edge of the woods, a squad of ten elite Imperial troopers, wearing black armor with red accents, walked across a grass field that separated the main settlement from the woods.

They were being led by a tall and broad-shouldered humanoid, with unnatural-looking gray skin, piercing ice-blue eyes, and scar-like uniform markings on his cheeks, nose, and chin. He wore black and grey body armour and carried a double-bladed spinning lightsaber. He also wore a helmet with a blast shield that could be lowered to protect his face.

They weren't just here to put down a rebel cell. They were here because they were told of a force-sensitive who was leading this uprising. The idea of killing another Jedi was something that the Sixth Bother was overjoyed by, sick of constantly going after force-sensitive babies, which annoyed him to no end.

As he and the Inquisitor troopers walked closer to the tree-line on the edge of the woods, the Sixth Brother stopped. In response, the lead trooper held his fist up, signaling the rest of his men to halt. They all formed a perimeter and trained their weapons on the tree-line, which was dark, considering the dark overcast clouds and the sun disappearing over the horizon.

The lead trooper walked up to the Sixth brother. "What is it, sir?"

Sixth Brother craned his neck in the direction of the woods. "Hm, I sense something. Yes. Whoever we're looking for is in the woods. Spread out, and track her down."

The lead trooper nodded before he turned his head over his shoulder and gave another hand signal, telling his men to fan out and move forward. They slowly walked into the woods, keeping their rifles and heavy blasters trained and continued to scan the trees from side to side, looking for anything suspicious.

Distant animal noises and the constant rustling of the trees dancing in the light wind made the clones look everywhere, making their trigger finger itchy as their nerves tensed up.

Eventually, they came across a clearing in the middle of the darkening woods.

When they entered it, they saw an orange Togruta with white face markings, presumably in her late teens considering the tips of her blue and white striped head tails hung just below her breasts. She was wearing a tight, dark gray leotard, which was zipped up all the way, tightly hugging her toned stomach and revealing the nipples on her well-developed breasts. She also wore a pair of brown pants, and hugged her hips quite nicely. Her boots and armlets were dark gray, and tan, and had artwork on them, such as ocean waves and even a monkey... of all things. She was sitting on a rock. Her eyes were closed and she faced the Inquisitor troopers.

"There." One of the troopers called out.

Weapons were powered up after a series and clicks and hisses, and the troopers all advanced, surrounding the girl who sat on the rock, keeping their weapons on her at all times.

When the troopers recognized who she was, according to Imperial records, they came to the realization that she was the force-sensitive behind this recent uprising. This all prompted one of the troopers to say: "Commander Tano, you have to come with us."

But Ahsoka Tano, who kept her eyes closed as she kneeled on the rock and continued meditating, merely smiled before responding with: "You'll have to ask my friends first"

The confused trooper were taken aback by her response, before they started to here a series of loud snarling and growling noises. They looked around and trained their weapons on the dark tree-line, before they saw glowing eyes that stared at them angrily from multiple directions.

The troopers were terrified.

One lowered his weapon before he uttered what all his brothers were thinking.

"Oh Scray!"

Back in the field outside of the woods, the Sixth Brother and three of his troopers stayed behind, waiting around for the rest of the squad to report in with an update on the search. That's when they heard a torrent of blaster fire rip through the air, and echo out across the forest.

The startled Imperials looked off in the distance, before they saw stray laster bolts fly up into the air, and the blood-curtling screams of dying troopers far off in the distance. And they could've sworn that they also heard growling and snarling, as the squad had stumbled across some kind of creature.

And then the noises stopped.

No blaster fire.

No screams.

No snarling.

Just the quiet wind, the rustling tree branches, and the chirping and buzzing of birds and insects.

The Inquisitor and the troopers looked at each other, and trained their weapons on the tree-line, jus in time to see a lone trooper running out of the forest. At first, the troopers let their guard down when they saw their comrade.

But something was off. Where were the others? Where was his weapon? Why was he clutching his side? And most importantly, what the Hell just happened?

Those questions were immediately answered when a pack of large white wolves burst out of the tree-line and charged straight after the Imperials. The injured, screaming trooper was caught in the lead wolf's mouth, and shaken from side to side like he was a chew toy. And then his screaming stopped before he was tossed aside. But what was peculiar about this wolf was that it had a rider.

And it was none other than Ahsoka Tano.

The inquisitor smiled and drew his circular lightsaber, just as his remaining men tried to fight off the wolves, only to be cut down and mauled to death.

As his men were killed, the Sixth Brother slashed from side to side, killing two giant wolves in quick succession, before using a personal-cloaking device to slip into his surroundings.

As the lead wolf carrying Ahsoka came to a halt, seemingly at her wish, the other wolves stopped and went back into the forest. Ahsoka then dismounted her wolf and walked forward, stopping about twenty feet short of where the Sixth Brother once stood.

She walked through the grassy-field, senses alert and ready for anything. Every part of her was like an energy coil, wound tight and ready for action.

She didn't have to wait very long.

"Jedi!" A harsh voice rang out. It seemed to come from every direction at once. Ahsoka cast out with her senses, search for the source.

"You have something I want," she said. It would be easier if she could get the gray creature to keep talking.

"Oh yes, the poor little rebel peasants," said the creature. Ahsoka narrowed in on his location. "So hopeful that their Jedi friend would come for them. I had to explain to them that the Jedi don't have friends. They're heartless and cold, and that you would abandon them."

"I don't know who taught you about the Jedi," Ahsoka said. "But they seem to have left out a few things. You should ask for better lessons."

"I told them that you weren't a real Jedi," the creature said. There! Ahsoka had him. Now she just had to wait for the right moment. "I told them that you were probably so scared of me that you were twelve systems away and never coming back. I'm actually happy to be wrong."

She felt him jump off the trunk of a fallen tree behind her and turned. She could no more identify his species in person than she could from his picture. He was taller than she was, even with the height she'd added in the past year, and very broadly built. He was very strong, and with the body armor he wore, he was a formidable opponent. He was still wearing his helmet, and his face shield was up, as though he needed to see her clearly while they fought.

'That was another difference in our training', Ahsoka thought. She could fight completely blind if she had to. Although, blind and without lightsabers might be pushing it.

She focused her attention on his chest, where movement began. She felt the Force flowing through her as his lightsaber flared to life again. She could hear its hum, a dark counterpoint to the song of her own crystals from her old sabers.

Ahsoka cleared her mind of all distractions.

The Sixth Brother struck, and Ahsoka deflected his blows before they fell. She read his feeling through the Force that connected them, and she tracked the movement of his shoulders, elbows, and wrists, pushing them away so that they always missed their targets. Furious, he doubled his efforts, striking for her head and chest.

What the Inquisitor lacked in finesse, he made up for in brute strength. He pushed Ahsoka back, toward the line of trees on the edge of the woods, and she let him, still taking the measure as a fighter. When she reached the nearest root of the tree behind her, she jumped off of it, using the Force to propel herself in an elegant flip over his head. She easily avoided the frantic swing of his lightsaber as she flew over him, then landed in a crouch on the other side, ready to continue.

"Impressive," he said.

"You're easily impressed," she said. "I'm only just getting started."

She felt more people behind her and realized that someone in the Imperial compound had gotten wind of the fact that the Inquisitor's unit hadn't checked in for a while, and sent another squad to see what was going on.

A wall of Stormtroopers, all wearing the Phase-II clone armor, were lined up behind her, all pointing their blasters at her, with the Inquisitor in front of her.

Well, at least the garrison hasn't grown much since she was last here. She force dashed to the side, and ran into the woods, out of their line of fire, and the Sixth Brother followed her.

He held his lightsaber aloft, and it began to spin. The effect was interesting - a deadly circle of light instead of a blade - but Ahsoka wasn't intimidated by it. The Inquisitor's entire strategy relied on overpowering his opponent. She had other options.

"What are you?" She asked. "Who made you like this?"

"I serve the Empre," he said.

"You certainly have a sense for drama," Ahsoka said.

She reached out for him again, this time for his hands and fingers, and for the balance of weight borne by his hips and knees. She felt something awaken in her, every combat lesson Anakin had ever taught. She remembered how to stand and how to hold the blades. She pushed her opponent's fingers too far apart and overturned his balance. She remembered, and she could make him forget. He staggered back, surprised at her power over him even at arm's length, but not yet overcome.

"I have a sense for power," he said. "And you do not have enough to resist me for much longer, weaponless as you are."

That was where he was wrong. She wasn't weaponless. No Jedi ever was.

The Sixth Brother toward her, close enough for her to touch. His spinning lightsaber held off attacks from the sides, but was vulnerable from the front and in the center. Just as she'd reached for her first crystal on Ilum al those years ago, Ahsoka stretched out a hand.

Sensing her intent at the last moment, the Inquisitor tried to disconnect his weapon to fight her with two blades instead of one, but it was spinning too quickly for him to do it. Ahsoka's hand landed almost gently on the cylindrical metal, and the Force was with her. The hilt cracked at her touch.

A sharp whine reached Ahsoka's montrals, the dark and light song of the crystals struggling for balance. She realized she needed to jump back even farther. She must have nicked the power connection that channeled the crystals inside the Sixth Brother's hilt, and now it was overloading. If he didn't deactivate it soon, it was going to explode.

Before she could even consider shouting a warning, the red lightsaber burst into a mess of noise and light. Bright spots pricked at her eyes, and then all was quiet. The creature wasn't going to bother her, or anyone else, anymore.

He lay in the field, his face a burned mess, the shell of his lightsaber still clutched in his hands. If he'd been able to fight her with his face shield down, he might have survived the blast.

She wondered who had trained him if there were others. Someone had twisted the potential good in this creature and turned him to the dark side. Someone had made like this. Someone, Ahsoka knew, who was still out there and who must be prevented from finding other force-senstive children, if she could manage it. She reached down and closed his helmet, covering the ruin of his face. It was the only compassion she could show him. She had work to do.

Kneeling beside her fallen foe, Ahsoka sifted through the wreckage of his lightsaber hilt. The crystals that had powered the weapon were no longer contained by metal, but their song had not dimmed. She held them in one hand, almost shaking as the familiarity of them coursed through her, while the other hand retrieved the half-finished hilts she carried with her.

These lightsaber hilts she constructed wouldn't have the decorative handles she preferred, and her grip would be affected until she had time to truly finish them. She was missing a few key components, parts that had to be specifically made, but the Inquisitor's ruined hilt was before her. Quickly, she picked through the wreckage again, this time paying closer attention to the inner workings of the weapon, and smiled when she found what she needed. They would do for now.

Ahsoka could hear the Imperials from earlier approaching. Her duel had made them hesitate, but now they were on high alert. She pushed aside her sense of urgency, even though she was in a hurry. Meditation came easily, as if she were sitting in the safety of the Jedi Temple itself, instead of a dark forest with her enemies closing in. Her mind's eye sorted the preassembled components and those she had just retrieved into order, locking each into place with the others. When Ahsoka opened her hands, she was not surprised to find that two lightsabers, rough and unfinished, were waiting.

They would need more work, but they were hers.

When she turned them on in the dark, they shone the brightest white.

A squad of stormtrooper continued to push into the forest, with their weapons raised.

They eventually found the bodies of their fallen comrades, who were mauled in ways they couldn't begin to describe. The lead trooper gave a hand signal to his men, telling them to spread out and push deeper into the forest, with their flashlights activated, lighting up the forest wherever their weapons were aimed.

And then, they found the corpse of the Sixth Brother, with a Jedi woman standing over him triumphantly before assuming a fighting stance.

"She killed the Inquisitor!" One exclaimed.

"Blast her!"

The troopers all opened fire, sending a torrent of red blaster fire down range. But the Togruta woman merely raised her white blades and started deflecting blaster bolts back at the stormtroopers.

Soon, half of the troopers were downed by their own blaster fire, and when that happened, the Togruta raised her hands and force pushed the rest of them to the ground.

As the groaning troopers struggled to get up, the Togrutan woman sat on her knees, deactivated her lightsabers, and closed her eyes as she began to reach out with the force. When the troopers got back up, and raised their rifles again, they were terrified to here the howling of massive wolves that charged out of the forest.

"What the Hell's going on?!" One trooper exclaimed as the wolves darted straight towards the squad.

As troopers were trampled, bitten, or pounced to death, one wolf headed straight towards Ahsoka, who still sat in her kneeling position. At the last moment, when it seemed like she was going to be run down, she jumped up into the air, and flipped back over the wolf, landing on its saddled back. She then took the reigns in one hand, and her main saber in the other, and then pointed her blade in the direction of the settlement.

In response to her unspoken command, the wolves charged into the grassy field under the cover of darkness, heading straight for the Imperial settlement.

Main Settlement, Imperial Checkpoint 3-27.

The main road, that was used to carry raw materials and food stuffs between the spaceport and the rest of the moon, was heavily guarded by an Imperial AT-DP (All Terrain Defense Pod), a pair of Imperial Troop Transports.

Several stormtroopers also patrolled the highway, further away from the settlement, covered by the three vehicles and a series of E-WEB turrets and sniper towers, which covered the terrain from several angles.

As the Imperial Stormtroopers walked up and down the highway, they were oblivious to the fact that a dozen armed partisans were hugging the side of the highway, just out of sight.

One of them used his micro-binoculars to scan the defenses and observe from afar.

"Looks like they've dug in for a serious fight." The leader, Vartan, said.

"Must've been something you said." One of his men said.

"Oh yeah, it had nothing to do with us bombing the admin building, or sabotaging their walkers." Vartan said, alluding to the initial - premature - uprising.

"Look, Vartan, we've been sitting here staring at the main entrance for days. Are we going in, or are we going to keep counting the amount of times they take a piss?"

"Can we even trust that Togruta? How do we know she'll even keep her end of the bargain?" Another partisan asked while sharpening his vibro-blade.

Vartan put the binos down and looked at his followers. "Look, I don't like waiting anymore than you do. But that girl clearly has experience in fighting, so I'm going to follow her judgment. So we wait for the signal." He said as he looked back through his binos to get one last look at the main entrance.

One partisan who was eating a ration stick crinkled up the wrapper and tossed it aside before clutching his rifle again. "What exactly is the signal, Vartan?"

"I don't know," Vartan said as he continued to observe the Imperial defenses. "But something tells me that we'll know it when we see it."

That's when he saw the tall grass rustling in the distance. At first, he ignored it. But then he saw blaster fire and heard the screams of panicked stormtroopers off in the distance.

"What was that?"

"I think you boys might want to take a look at this."

The five partisans who were on the side of the highway with Vartan peaked over the top of the large divider and looked to see a pack of large wolves charging out of nowhere. As stormtroopers were being torn apart, and started fleeing in several directions, Vartan and his men noticed the lead wolf carrying a Togruta woman with a glowing white object of some kind.

They then saw her swing the object through several stormtroopers, slashing them apart and even decapitating them.

As the Imperial checkpoint was thrown into disarray by wolves, the AT-DP turned to respond to this new and began to fire. A pair of wolves were blasted apart. But the third wolf carrying the woman, who Vartan recognized as Ahsoka, began to dodge blaster fire as if it knew exactly where the walked was going to fire next. When the wolf passed by, Ahsoka jumped off and slashed her white lightsabers through the walker's legs as it tried to stomp on her. When the walker was without feet, she threw her sabers up through it's head, cutting it cleanly in half.

When the walked finally toppled over in pieces, Ahsoka stood and observed the carnage, all under the watchful, dumbfounded eyes of Vartan and his men.

"I think we just saw the signal." One of his men said.

Before Vartan could say anything in agreement, the network of sniper towers and E-WEB emplacements began to fire on Ahsoka from the walls and buildings that surrounded the occupied settlement.

Ahsoka used her lightsabers to deflect much of the blaster fire, and even began to used the force to throw discarded thermal detonators at the emplacements, with great efficiency.

But it was still too much for her to handle alone.

Vartan vaulted over the divider that separated the highway from the grass fields, and then turned to his men. "That Jedi needs our help. Come on. Let's get to work."

The rest of his men vaulted over the top and began to follow Vartan down the highway. Soon enough, more partisans began to reveal themselves, coming out of the tall grass to charge at the settlement.

Snipers began to pick off the Imperial gunners, and the Raadan militiamen began to fire their small-arms blasters at the stormtroopers when they were in range. When they were close enough, they began to lob homemade incendiary grenades at the guard towers, burning them to a crisp, and causing desperate Imperial Army troopers to jump several stories in a vain attempt to escape the inferno.

When the coast was clear, and partisans began to mop up, Vartan ran up to Ahsoka. "That was quite an entrance you made there, ma'am." He said.

"Thanks, and nice save back there." She complimented.

He nodded.

"So, now what?" He asked as he looked at the locked security gate.

Ahsoka cracked her knuckles before she stood in front of the gate. She then put her hands together to summon a ball of energy, which she then unleashed on the gate in a powerful force push, which blasted the gate down.

"I want you to rally your allies and help empty out the prison. I'll take a team and attack the main administration building." She said as she walked into the settlement.

"What do you want there?" He asked.

She stopped and looked up at the comms antenna that jutted up from the roof of the building in question. Then she looked over her shoulder and smiled. "I'm gonna make a call to some old friends."

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Well folks, that was part 1.

Hope you enjoyed.

Parts of this novel were inspired by E.K. Johnston's fantastic Ahsoka novel.

Hope you stick around for the rest of the story.

Until next time, this is Grubkiller, over and out.