Just a small plot bunny that popped into my head after seeing Rogue One. Absolutely stunning film. The ending was so bittersweet, but it was totally fitting. Wish I got a RebelCaptain kiss...but that hug pretty much said it all. :(

Anyways, I've been trying to think up a way to bring Mara Jade into 'Canon'. (I'm sure most of you know who Mara Jade is, but if not in short she's Luke Skywalkers future wife). And this story just kind of took root and is starting to grow. So eventual Luke/Mara...but it's a ways off before they even meet.

Prologue is pretty short, but just kind of sets the scene and tone of the fic...more notes at end.

Enjoy!

Lyra stood on the balcony, looking out at the never ending city of Coruscant. Her hands instinctively wrapped around her belly.

She had put Jyn to bed an hour ago, and she had a few moments to herself before Galen was due home.

How was she going to tell him?

Lyra had been raised with a strong belief cemented in the Force. The Force was strong in her family. Lyra's father was born Force-Sensitive. Had even trained as a padawan, here on Coruscant. However, he forsook the Jedi ways in favor of the woman he had grown to love. Lyra did not inherit the same potent force-abilities as her father, but she did have an affinity for it.

It was how she was able to tell that the child growing in her stomach was strong with the Force.

She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. She wanted to curse the fates for subjecting her unborn child into this cruel world. Into a world where the Jedi were hunted like animals. Where the Empire preyed on the weak. A world where her child could potentially be a pawn of evil.

She could not imagine which was worse, her child being slaughtered for the power they possessed…or them being ripped from her arms and being molded into a weapon of evil.

One of the emperor's inquisitors.

Lyra jumped at the sound of their apartment's door hissing open. Turning on her heel, she greeted Galen…attempting to hide her fears behind a mask of warmth and happiness.

Galen was no fool, he saw straight through it. "What's wrong Lyra?"

Lyra's face immediately fell, she could not hide this from him. Not now, not ever. "Galen I'm pregnant."

The smallest of smiles skirted across her husband's face, but immediately fell when he noticed his wife did not share the same enthusiasm as him.

"And?" He pressed her to continue, lightly gripping her arms so she would look him in the eye.

Lyra bit her lip and took a deep breath, "And the force is strong with them."

A look of fear she recognized all too well swept across his face. The same face she had been wearing all afternoon, ever since she felt the connection. He was undoubtedly thinking along the same lines as she was.

Five years ago…it was considered a blessing to have a child be Force-Sensitive. Now it was nothing but a curse.

"Then it is no longer safe here…" Galen said with resign in his voice.

Lyra wanted to laugh, "It's never been safe."

Every day she feared for her daughter Jyn, the life she would no doubt suffer if the Empire turned on her husband. As they did when their pawns stopped producing results…stopped being useful.

Galen shook his head, "I will no longer be a puppet in their games...and I will not let them tear this family apart. We must go where they will never find us."

oOoOoOo

Mara's eyes slowly opened as the dream faded out.

Dream?

Vision?

Nightmare?

She wasn't sure…and she didn't particularly want to dwell on the details. Whatever was happening needed to stop. This was not the first dream of the sort she had just encountered. She often dreamed of the man Galen and his wife Lyra. Part of her wanted to delve into their history. Who were they? Were they even real? Why was the force calling to her in this way?

Any thoughts were quickly pushed from her mind. She had a job to do, and she would not be swayed or distracted from it.

The Empire did not have time for such distractions.

Rising from her small cot, she stripped out of her sleeping garments and proceeded to enter her bathroom and step under the hot spray from the shower head.

By the time her body had acclimated to the blazing heat of the water, she was finished washing. She turned the knobs, turning off the comfort of the water. She stepped out of her shower and grabbed for the gray terry cloth hanging on the wall to her left.

She patted herself dry, and wound her flaming red hair into a military style bun, her fringe framing her face ever so slightly.

She checked the clock by her bed…she had 15 minutes before she was due in hangar 7. She was supposed to meet her partner for their next assignment.

She quickly slipped into her black and grey uniform, the sigil of the Empire stitched onto both arms. She slipped into her black combat boots, and buckled on her black utility belt.

And last but not least, she went for her lightsabers.

She grabbed the identical hilts and ignited them in her small room. The crimson blades hummed to life. The red energy eerily filling her dark room.

After a moment she hit the switch, and the blades retracted. She clipped the sabers on opposite ends of her belt and proceeded to leave her quarters.

And as she made her way to the hangar, she wiped all previous thoughts from her mind.

A tall man with buzzed black hair was waiting outside. He was in an identical uniform as her. The uniform of the Emperor's Hands. The most elite assassins in the Empire.

"You're late," The young man before her said, with the slightest amount of teasing in his voice. A sly smile crossed Mara's face as she shook her head at him in mock annoyance. In truth, he was the closest thing she had to a friend.

He had taken her under his wing when she graduated from the Inquisitorius program and was selected by Emperor Palpatine himself. All other Hands saw her as fresh meat and more importantly a threat. She was the youngest to ever be selected as Hand. All others were in their mid to late twenties. She was the tender age of 17. He was quick to come to her defense...although she had quickly proved to be a force to be reckoned with.

It took her awhile to warm up to him. In the Empire, it was survival of the fittest. You didn't climb up the latter by making friends…you did it by betraying them. And yet, she saw no malice in his heart…no ulterior motive. He was no different from her. An outsider. Someone who didn't belong.

They shared things with each other that no one else knew.

He knew her birth name was Mara Jade. Just as she knew his was Galen Marek. But to her he'd always be…

"Starkiller…" Mara greeted.

"Firebird," he shot back.

"You get our assignment?" She asked as she proceed to enter the hanger and walk over to their joint shuttle.

"Yup," Starkiller answered as he sat in the pilot seat of their custom stealth fighter and began to power on the shuttle. "Grand Admiral Thrawn is dispatching us to Jedha…said that there are some insurgents that need taken out."

For anyone whose not familiar with Star Wars Rebels...their are darkside agents of the Empire who kidnap force sensitive children and raise them in the Empire. That's essentially what happened with both Mara and Starkiller. They are brainwashed assassins who were raised in the dark side but have known nothing else. That's why they are so close...they feel a subconscious pull to the Light Side of the Force, and openly question whether or not they are on the right side of the war.

Any questions...I'm always open.

P.S. "I am one with the Force. And the Force is with me." ~RIP Carrie Fisher