ME: Sorry for the lack of an update, guys. I've been busy and there was math homework this week. Though I am now 18, yay! It wasn't even my birthday before I was registered for Selective Service, and I didn't even fill out a form. Also, in light of me recently watching the fifth episode of Firefly on Netflix with my father, the crew of Serenity will be appearing via adaptations.

I won't have my methods questioned by someone who can only rise to power by riding on Darth Vader's coattails!

(Moff Clint Shermer, Governor of the Lothal sector)

With the death of Governor Chavez, the situation in Garel City had deteoriated, Colonel Mael Radec reflected.

Radec was in charge of a regiment of Stormtroopers assigned to the Planetary Governor; he and his troops primarily protected Chavez's residence, maintained control of the surrounding city streets, and provided security for the Governor and his staff via detachments of soldiers when necessary. Though the Colonel would normally be grateful for Chavez dying, for he was an idiotic paper-pusher whose chief "talent" was talking a lot, it had occured on Radec's watch and was still an act of treason against the Empire.

"Lieutenant Governor," Radec said, "we will need to lockdown the city and send Stormtroopers to back up the Federal Guard units searching for the rebels."

"What?!" Maduro said. "Impossible! Colonel, your job is to protect me! Let us both hope for your sake you won't fail spectacularly again!"

Radec was very much tempted to throttle Maduro, but even a broken chronometer was right twice a day. "Sir," he said, trying to keep his voice calm, "it will be easier for you to remain alive if the terrorists are eliminated so they cannot attempt an assassination again."

"Do not think you are in charge here, Radec!" Maduro snapped. "You will have your regiment-."

"-neutralize the enemy," a Coruscanti voice interrupted the Lieutenant Governor.

Both Maduro and Radec turned to find a man in black ISB armor. His rank insignia indicated he was a Major General, so Radec instinctively saluted.

"How dare you!" Maduro said. "I am the Governor of this planet, I'll make sure you never eat again for that!"

The ISB agent, after returning Radec's salute, depolarized his visor and rolled his eyes. "The fact that your incompetent superior was recently killed by a bullet does not mean you have been formally promoted, Lieutenant Governor." He then withdrew a holoprojector and activated it.

Count Chad Vader, Lieutenant Governor of the Outer Rim, appeared. "Maduro," he said, "in light of you being an utter imbecile, I hereby relieve you of command effective immediately. Kallus, you may deal with this moron however you see fit. Vader out."

Maduro made the mistake of getting into the agent's personal space. "I will not be insulted by some petty thug with a recording-."

The General drew a pistol and put a round through the Lieutenant Governor's head. Radec did not react, for Kallus had clearly been authorized to kill Maduro.

Holstering his sidearm, the man in black extended his hand and Radec shook it. "Colonel Mael Radec, I'm Major General David Kallus."

"General Kallus, sir," Radec said, "it is an honor to meet you."

Kallus nodded politely. "The honor is mine, Colonel. With both Chavez and his lackey now dead, I trust you can devote the majority of your troopers to finding the rebels?"

"Of course, General," Radec replied.

"Good, Colonel Radec. Remember this-we will be hunting the most dangerous game in the galaxy; traitors to the Great Uniter's New Order."

*CUT TO: BUILDING NEAR GOVERNOR'S MANSION, GAREL CITY, GAREL*

Colonel Jarrus immediately confronted Lucas. "Lieutenant, what the hell?" he snapped. "The objective was to take Chavez alive, not murder him!"

Lucas shook his head. "Colonel," he said, "with all due respect, we couldn't take the SOB alive. General Tano gave me strict orders to shoot if he couldn't be captured, and that fat motherfucker was a legitimate target."

"Spectre Zero to Spectre One, come in," Tano said via comlink. "Do you copy, over?"

"Go ahead, Spectre One," said Jarrus, still eyeing Lucas.

"Good work, keep a low profile and get to safety. Oh, and don't give Lucas a hard time; I ordered it. Spectre Zero out."

"We gotta move!" said the Army Sergeant. "Come on, the longer we stay here, the more likely we'll have bucketheads all over our asses."

Spectre Team and Lucas piled into the trailer of the repulsor truck with all of the Army soldiers save their Sergeant, who opted to get in the tractor and drive the truck.

The chatter they heard listening to Imperial frequencies did not paint a pretty picture. "All patrol units," said the police dispatcher, "do not engage the terrorists. Repeat, avoid engaging the terrorist. Call for DUP or military assistance immediately if you spot the terrorists, I say again, request backup immediately."

"DUP?" Bridger asked.

One of the soldiers spoke up. "The Department of Unified Protection is a planetary agency," he said. "Rather than policing the streets, they tend to focus on counter-insurgency and riot control like the Federal Guard."

"Yeah," said another soldier, "look for white, black, and gold. Hell, switch out gold for gray and you'd get the damn Imperial color scheme."

A police car must've pulled up behind them, for there was the sound of a siren and a man said, "Pull the fuck over!"

How polite.

"Shit, pulling over," said the Sergeant. "Keep quiet, guys. I'll keep my comlink on transmit so you can hear me."

The truck pulled over.

"Good morning, officer," the Sergeant said after twenty seconds. "I swear, I was driving within the speed limit."

"Citizen," the cop replied, this one a woman, "we have reason to believe you may be transporting rebels, willingly or not, in your vehicle. First, unlock the trailer's door so we can check for terrorists. Second, please step outside of the vehicle and keep your hands where I can see them."

Lucas knew there were at least two police officers in the immediate vicinity, though he guessed there were probably more. Regardless, he pulled back the slide of his slugthrower pistol to see if a round was loaded. Luckily for him-and unluckily for the cops-there was a 5.7x28mm bullet ready for action.

"Okay, I'm opening the trailer door now."

"Wait, no!"

Two officers, one armed with a shotgun, the other with a pistol, were outside the trailer. Bridger stunned Pistol Cop, while Lucas double-tapped Shotgun Cop in the head. To the untrained eye, the police officers only wore shirts and pants, but the rebel operative knew civilian law enforcement frequently wore blast vests under their uniforms.

"Shit-."

There was the sound of a slugthrower shotgun blast and glass being shattered, then the Sergeant yelled, "Tango down!"

Lucas walked out of the truck with the others, weapons at the ready. There was a speeder bike and an SUV, both in police livery. "All the cops are dead or stunned, we gotta move."

"Hey, wait!"

A woman in a red hood and black pants walked out, arms raised in the air.

"I want to join the rebellion," she said. "I want to help fight the Empire."

Lucas felt that the woman's voice was familiar, and just as a soldier got close to her he was able to get a good look at her face. "Maya?"

The soldier made the fatal mistake of turning around to talk to him. "Hey, you know this-."

Maya grabbed the man's rifle and redirected it to avoid being shot while ducking her head and kicking him in the groin. As the soldier grunted in pain, Maya rifle butted him in the face and took the poor bastard hostage.

"Drop the weapon or we shoot!" Orrelios yelled, ready to fire.

Maya didn't roll her green eyes, but Lucas could see in her irises that she clearly knew who had the upper hand here. "And risk killing your fellow traitor if my corpse pulls the trigger on reflex? I am an Agent of the Imperial Security Bureau, and by the powers invested in me, sanctioned by His Imperial Majesty the Great Uniter and the Imperial Senate, I am placing all of you under arrest for crimes against the Empire, including but not limited to the unlawful killing of Governor Chavez."

Lucas caught the eye of Jarrus, and the Colonel gestured with his shoulder. Understanding his cue, the operative moved forward.

"Don't come any closer or I'll shoot, Lucas!" Maya warned.

He shook his helmeted head. "No, you won't," Lucas replied. "The moment you put a round through this schmuck's skull, his buddies have no reason to not use you for target practice. I trained with you, Maya. You think I wouldn't know if you were bluffing or not?"

"How could you?" Maya seemed genuinely hurt, though she did a nice job of keeping her voice level. "You abandoned not only the Empire, but me and all of our friends. The Great Uniter and his favored servants have brought peace to the galaxy, but you decided to defect to the side that's started a new war. Why would you help bring back the chaos and suffering that innocents suffered thanks to the Clone Wars?"

"Maya," he said, "Palps and his cronies aren't above anything in the name of law and order. Peace may be the optimum state of the galaxy, but it is not its natural one and peace shouldn't come through suppression. Should civilizations be built on the backs of slaves who only work out of fear of their overseers' whips? The Empire has done nothing to earn your loyalty."

"I have the firearm," Maya said as he closed the distance. "If the most I do for the galaxy is pull the trigger and take down one rebel terrorist with me, so be it."

"Yes," Jarrus said, "but I have the Force."

The Jedi clenched his fist, crushing the rifle with the Force.

To Maya's credit, she reacted well. She shoved her hostage at Lucas while making sure to keep herself out of the line of fire. As Lucas shoved the rebel out of the way, she threw a punch but he had prepared for it and blocked it before head butting her.

Maya wasn't wearing a helmet, so it hurt her more than it hurt him. Lucas tried to tackle her, but even though she was on the ground Maya was able to kick him in the chest and keep him from pinning her down.

Suddenly a stun round slammed into the female ISB agent's head, and Maya finally stopped moving.

One of the two Marines, Lance Corporal Beviin Apma, glanced at him. "Gee, ner vod, even after a Keldabe kiss your girlfriend kept fighting. She a Mandalorian like me and Buy'ce?"

Lucas: "She's not my-." He then sighed and said, "Fuck it, we got a job to do."

One of the soldiers actually spit on a dead cop. "Man, fuck the pol-."

A burst of fire slammed into his neck.

"Contact! Contact!"

It was a group of Dark Troopers, battle droids created by a project sponsored by Major General Rom Mohc. Unlike the normal white models, this particular group was all-black, which meant they were part of the elite 501st Legion. Focusing, Lucas could tell that one of the Dark Troopers was a Phase Zero, meaning he was actually a cyborg rather than a droid, while one droid was a Phase Two and the rest of the group were Phase Ones.

"First Squad, with me!" ordered the Phase Zero. "Four-Seven, take Second Squad and move up! We'll cover you!"

"Yes, Captain Crest!"

A couple of the Army soldiers were killed by the Phase Two, who advanced with a slugthrower assault shotgun loaded with explosive ammunition. "Die, rebel meatbags! Die! Die! Die!"

One of the rebels retreated into an alley, only to be bayoneted by a figure who had decloaked.

Lucas, having noticed the figure, was not only able to dodge his fire but able to shoot back and hit him.

The battle had gone poorly for the rebels. Though all the Dark Troopers had been neutralized, all of the Alliance Army soldiers had perished.

"Come on!" Jarrus said.

Lucas and Spectre Team got back into the truck, but they were only able to make it a few blocks before they were stopped by a road block.

"Surrender, terrorists!" said an Imperial officer standing next to a Stormtrooper. "My name is General Armin Metrac. This is your last chance to surrender peacefully. If you refuse my offer, we have been ordered by Count Vader to take you alive if possible but there are some things that should frighten you more than death. Namely Colonel Tendon Cobar's genuine zeal for the cause of the glorious entity that is the Galactic Empire."

Wren groaned. "We're gonna lose to this guy?" To their rear was a pair of hovering TIE combat cloud cars, preventing a retreat.

"Serenity Actual to Spectre Team, come in," said a new voice via comlink. "Hold tight, we're in bound to your location for extract."

Commander Syndulla stepped outside of the truck. "You guys might want to start running right now, we got friends coming to rescue us."

The Stormtrooper Colonel started laughing. "You can't possibly believe that you'll win!"

Suddenly the two TIEs exploded, and a freighter appeared out of nowhere.

"Retreat! Retreat!" Metrac yelled while running away.

Cobar, on the other hand, actually opened fire with his rifle and got killed for his trouble.

The Imperial Troop Transports, the only things available to the Imps that stood a chance, were destroyed along with the DUP APCs. As a result, the only troopers that weren't killed were forced to retreat or surrender.

The transport, which Lucas now recognized as a Firefly-class vessel, landed and lowered its ramp. "Come on!" said a man with brown hair and blue eyes. "We got Imps on our asses, you gorram bastards have a five-star wanted level!"

"Someone's been playing Grand Theft Starship."

*CUT TO: BRIDGE OF HIMS DEVASTATOR*

"Admiral Thrawn, Captain Montferrat," said the navigation officer.

"Yes, Lieutenant?" Thrawn asked.

"We're exiting hyperspace in t-minus sixty seconds, sirs."

"Thank you, Lieutenant."

Agent Kallus had reported that Governor Chavez of Garel had been assassinated, so Count Vader had ordered Thrawn and the Devastator Group to accompany him and HIMS Integrity to hunt down the assassins.

Thrawn had predicted that the infamous crew of the rebel vessel known as Ghost was behind the death of Chavez, so he had gone over any information he could access on the insurgents.

Sabine Wren, age seventeen. Former Cadet of the Imperial junior academy on Mandalore, a child prodigy that was allowed to enter training at a younger age than fifteen. Gifted in languages, Military Intelligence wanted her as an interrogator. Is believed to have deserted alongside former Cadet Ketsu Onyo.

The Chiss flag officer noted that Wren was something of a hypocrite, for she had referred to Stormtroopers as "bucketheads" repeatedly but her own Mandalorian helmet resembled a bucket more than a Stormtrooper's. He had even gone over images of her graffiti artwork, and concluded that the Mandalorian traitor was both creative and unpredictable, a dangerous combination.

Devastator exited hyperspace, and Thrawn found himself speaking with both Count Vader and Moff Shermer.

"They're getting away in a Firefly-class transport!" the Sector Governor snapped. "Thrawn, stop them!"

"We will succeed where you have failed miserably, Clint," Vader said coldly. "Admiral, scramble Black Squadron. I will bring Spark Squadron."

Thrawn: "Of course, my lord." It was smart to send two squadrons after the rebels. Devastator alone had an entire wing of TIEs, but scrambling every TIE fighter they had would leave them with no reserves and increase the risk of both ship-to-ship collisions and friendly fire.

*CUT TO: CHAD VADER'S TIE INTERCEPTOR*

"I have your back, Your Lordship!"

"Of course you do, Spark Leader."

Baron Valen Rudor possessed that rare blend of expendable and invulnerable that made him the perfect henchman.

Moving into range, Chad opened fire but it was too late. The Firefly had been a considerable distance away from the Imperials exit from hyperspace, so the rebels were able to go FTL once they cleared the gravity well before the TIEs could disable their shields and engines.

"May I suggest we blame Governor Shermer, sir?" Baron Fel said.

"Yes, Captain," Chad said. "We arrived as fast as we could, and it's not our fault the Moff's troops couldn't even get one job done right."

Why couldn't I just have sex with Serra today instead of cleaning up after Clint?

*CUT TO: ALLEY, GAREL CITY, GAREL*

Kallus groaned as he got up, his head hurting from the round that had slammed into his helmet. His armor was good enough that the ISB Agent didn't have a burn from the blaster shot, but it still hurt like hell.

"I think I'm gonna need to see a neurologist, sir," Lieutenant Visari said. "Apologies for my failure, General. I take full responsibility for not capturing the terrorists, I was recognized by a defector from my class and failed to account for something like that beforehand."

Kallus grimaced. "I too will need to see a neurologist," he said. "But it was your first mission, Lieutenant, so don't be too hard on yourself. I know that you would not willingly fail as an Imperial."

HK-047 and Captain Crest, both of whom had survived but lost limbs, approached the two Bureau officers.

"Analysis," the droid said. "I am no medical droid, General Kallus, but it appears both of you need medical attention in light of the vulnerabilities inherent in all normal meatbags."

Kallus frowned. "Wait, did you seriously just call us meatbags?"

"To elaborate, sir," Four-Seven continued, "it is not an insult on my part towards either you or Second Lieutenant Visari. It's just that you two have so many squishy parts and have all those liquids inside your frail bodies! How that constant sloshing doesn't drive you mad, Agent, I will never know."

ME: A/N: I went to a shooting range yesterday and fired a gun for the first time in my life. Specifically, an AR-15. I was actually fairly decent for a beginner, and it was a nice birthday present. So was being able to watch Deadpool. I was able to collect a pair of casings (a 5.56 and a 9mm, the latter fired by another guy), and let me assure you I now appreciate firearms more. Also, wear ear protection, ladies and gentleman-even with headphones it was loud as shit.

Apparently Planetary Governors and Moffs had regiments of Stormtroopers for their protection in Legends. Plus my good friend Ahsokafanboy1138 likes Colonel Mael Radec from Killzone, so I decided to include him.

Also, if you guys are wondering, the repulsor truck described is basically an eighteen wheeler in space.

Apparently cops in real life wear ballistic vests under their shirts to provide protection while not looking military. Also, "bulletproof" is a misnomer since most vests can only provide protection from 9mm rounds and shrapnel without plates. My brother, father, and I went to a Subways after a Krav Maga lesson, and this one cop who was sitting at the back (undoubtedly in the event some gangbanger tried to pull anything) and my father said he looked bulky and offered an explanation (I didn't really note anything about the guy other than him being black).

The Department of Unified Protection is a reference to inFamous: Second Son. I never played inFamous, but what videos I've seen from TheRadBrad are decent enough (though the First Light DLC was better written). Though the DUPs probably don't have concrete powers here, since I doubt the Emperor would allow that even for an Imperial-allied militia.

Rudor's sole purpose in Rebels is to be miserable, so that Butt Monkey inevitably survives whatever hilarious events happen to him and Chad knows it,

Lieutenant Governor Maduro is a reference to the current President of Venezuela, who is a homophobe and hypocrite. Additionally, the Venezuelan National Guard have used excessive force against anti-government protestors, so Maduro and those goons are gonna be the first ones up against the wall when Venezuela is liberated if it's up to me.

This chapter is dedicated to the victims of the Fort Hood shooting. Your murders took place during a terrorist attack, ladies and gentlemen, not an instance of "workplace violence." I don't care what Obama or the Regressive ("regressive" is intentional, considering how the left tend to ignore Islamist atrocities) Left say, Nidal Hasan is a terrorist, traitor, and mass murderer.

The Federal Guard are those Imperial Army troopers I mentioned earlier. I figured their branch of the Army should be formally named since the Stormtroopers are organized as the Stormtrooper Corps. Imagine them looking like the Navy troopers, but with gray uniforms instead of black ones and they're more likely to have riot visors attached to their helmets for added protection. I named them the "Imperial Guard" originally as a reference to the National Guard, but Ahsokafanboy1138 pointed out they'd be confused with the Royal Guard (those guys in red from ROTJ) and WH40K, so I changed the names. Plus "Federal" implies the Empire is a federal constitutional monarchy rather than a dictatorship, so it's better for PR come to think of it.

Instead of how they looked like in Legends, imagine the Phase One Dark Troopers as looking like a cross between a Stormtrooper and the EM-208s from the RoboCop remake. Honestly, they'd look more like the EM-208s but with a head resembling a Stormtrooper's helmet. Also, the fact the Dark Troopers have black paint jobs is in tribute to Vader, though I'm wondering if the regular 501st would be aesthetically unremarkable to avoid being noticed (especially since the Tantive IV boarding party looked like normal Stormtroopers but canonically were 501st).

Speaking of helmets, does anyone else notice that the ones in TFA make it look like they're all smiling? Heh, maybe it's to win hearts and minds.

Hux: *looks at a corpse* You know, Captain, when Supreme Leader Snoke said we needed to win hearts and minds, I'm sure he didn't mean two in the heart, one in the mind.

Phasma: But, sir, look at how happy he looks.

I've only read the first chapter of Heir to the Empire, but I know of Thrawn's Awesomeness by Analysis. No spoilers, I'm holding off on the Thrawn trilogy until I read chronologically earlier works featuring him like Outbound Flight.