Here it is, the first chapter of my rewrite of Star Wars Episode IV - starring the Rogue One team! Luke, Leia and Han will still be in it but only as minor characters. Obi-Wan will play a major part in the entire trilogy.

The first chapter is basically the opening scene of the original a New Hope but the rest of it will be different - promise.

Crawl:

It is a period of civil war. After the Battle of Scarif, the infamous Rogue One team return to Base One, triumphant in the Rebels' first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, the spies managed to steal secret plans for the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armoured space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet, but had to leave them in the protection of Princess Leia Organa.

Pursued by the Empire's sinister agents, the senator races home aboard her starship, custodian of the plans that will save the Rebels and bring freedom to the Galaxy...

Chapter 1

Aboard the Tantive IV, the battle was not looking good.

The Rebel blockade runner had been pursued by the Imperial Star Destroyer Devastator through hyperspace for many leagues, and now she had been cornered above the desert planet of Tatooine. Although the Rebel cruiser fought desperately with her turbo laser batteries, the Imperial vessel's superior weaponry began to take its toll.

Soon, an accurate shot penetrated the Tantive IV's engines, causing them to explode.

"Did you hear that?" C-3PO the tall golden Protocol Droid cried, "They've shut down the main reactors. We'll be destroyed for sure! This is madness!"

His companion R2-D2, the stout blue Astromech Droid, beeped impatiently, fed up of his best friend's panicking.

The Rebel vessel was indeed immobilised, and the Imperial one eagerly advanced towards its prey.

Inside the Rebel ship, morale was running low. Alarms sounded desperately within the corridors, and Rebel infantry mustered to defend their ship, but they knew their time was up. The Star Destroyer would doubtlessly be carrying a garrison ten times the size of the one in the Rebel cruiser.

"We're doomed!" C-3PO groaned to his friend. The Astromech beeped again, trying to reassure his companion.

"There will be no escape this time," the Droid replied in a pessimistic tone.

A dozen Rebels rallied at the ship's docking port as they heard clangs outside their ship.

"What's that?" Cried C-3PO.

The Star Destroyer was opening its hangar doors in its underside to trap the helpless cruiser, and the Tantive IV was soon swallowed up. As soon as it was captured, the Imperials attempted to force the docking port door open. It soon slid aside, the systems crackling as they were frazzled, and instantly a horde of Stormtroopers charged in to secure the breach.

The two Droids ducked into a side passage, while the battle raged in the main corridor. The Rebel soldiers fought hard, gunning down several Imperials, but most of them were soon overwhelmed and killed. The remnants routed, pursued by the Stormtroopers, who secured the ship and eliminated any more resistance. They knelt to check if any of their casualties were still alive, but there were none.

Behind the Imperial troops came their general, Darth Vader himself, as he strode onto the deck of the Rebel vessel, the sound of his hoarse breathing evident. He surveyed the casualties before marching on to secure the bridge, flanked by his Stormtrooper bodyguard.

In the side corridor, C-3PO was searching for R2-D2. He found him with the Princess, who had somehow hidden herself there also. She slipped a small data card, the one containing the stolen plans, into R2 and, looking around hastily, switched something off on him. She then hid herself behind some cargo and R2 rolled towards where C-3PO was. The sounds of battle were still going on, and some Rebels fled through the main corridor.

"At last! Where have you been? They're heading in this direction! What are we going to do? We'll be sent to the spice mines of Kessel or smashed into who-knows-what!" the Protocol Droid scolded, but R2 simply beeped at him and rolled away.

"Wait a minute, where are you going?" C-3PO inquired, following his friend.

The Astromech didn't stop until he reached an escape pod in a small atrium.

"Hey, you're not permitted in there, it's restricted!" his friend warned him, "You'll be deactivated for sure!"

R2 beeped back at him angrily.

"Don't you call me a mindless philosopher, you overweight glob of grease!" the Protocol Droid scolded, "now come out of there, before somebody sees you!"

R2 then told C-3PO what he had been tasked to do by the Princess.

"Secret mission? What plans? What are you talking about? I'm not going in there!" C-3PO bickered, but a blast from a Stormtrooper's blaster soon made him change his mind.

"I'm going to regret this," the Protocol Droid said to himself as he climbed into the pod after his friend, the door closing behind him.

Ignoring him and entering the main cabin, R2 immediately rolled over to the central computer and set escape coordinates to the desert planet below the ship. The pod broke away from its docking clamps and zoomed out of the underside of the Tantive IV. Luckily the doors of the Devastator were open, so the pod was able to escape.

"That's funny, the damage doesn't look too bad from out here," the Protocol Droid commented as his Astromech Companion beeped in agreement, "Are you sure this thing is safe?"

Meanwhile, back in the cargo hold, Princess Leia could hear Darth Vader outside, along with a strangled gasp. The Sith Lord was interrogating Captain Antilles in the main corridor and the remaining Rebel crew were being led away as prisoners, alongside the ship's other Astromechs.

"The plans are not in the ship's main computer," a Stormtrooper confirmed to Vader when he and the rest of his squad returned from searching the ship for the Death Star plans.

"Where are those transmissions you intercepted? What have you done with those plans?" the cyborg growled, throttling the captain with one hand and lifting him from the ground.

"We never received any transmissions!" Antilles groaned, "This is a consular ship! We're on a diplomatic mission!"

"If this is a consular ship, where is the ambassador?" Vader retorted, tightening his grip on the captain's neck. Almost immediately there was a snapping of neck bones as Antilles was strangled to death, and Vader cast the Rebel's corpse to the ground angrily.

"Commander! Tear the ship apart until you have found those plans and brought me the passengers! I want them alive!" He roared to the Stormtrooper commander in charge, who immediately set his underlings to work searching the contents of the Tantive IV. Three immediately began to investigate the side passage, and Leia ducked back behind a shelf, drawing her blaster.

One of the Stormtroopers saw her, and said, "There's one, set for stun!"

Leia immediately fired her pistol, felling one of the Imperials, but as she turned to run another fired a stun shot from his blaster. Immediately the Princess felt her muscles go limp, as if they had turned to jelly, and she fell to the ground.

"She'll be all right," the Stormtrooper confirmed to his comrades as they moved to capture her, "Inform Lord Vader we have a prisoner!"