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

Star Wars

Legends Episode I

The Guardians of the Force

Over a hundred years have passed since the Rebel Alliance put an end to the cruel Empire's rule over the galaxy, defeating the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious, in the process. Peace has come back and the numerous worlds can do as they wish once more.

However, the seeds of evil can never be truly destroyed and peace cannot last forever. In spite of the Third Republic's best efforts, the crime rate has risen to high levels across the galaxy. Rumors begin to spread saying that a new Sith order has appeared somewhere and are planning to take control over the galaxy, just as Emperor Palpatine did over a century ago.

And so, it was decided that a Third Republic ship directed by Captain Yin Sid would reach the New Jedi Order on the remote planet Yavin IV to warn the Great Master Rian Koh about the situation and see what can be done about it. However, barely did it come out hyperspace is the ship attacked by a mysterious assailant force...

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"All pilots to battle stations! Repeat: all pilots to battle stations!" blasted the voice of the ship's flight controller through the intercom system.

Captain Yin Sid arrived on the ship's main bridge where all the Third Republic officers and crew were running around, giving orders, and pressing on the thousands of buttons scattered across the control boards. He could tell the atmosphere was nervous and the shakes caused by the enemy's shots did not help in that regard at all. "What is the situation, officers?"

"We are under attack by an non-identified ship, Captain!" Lieutenant White informed. "They came out of hyperspace at the same time as we did!" He marked a pause when the ship started shaking again. "They are currently unleashing a powerful fire attack upon us!"

Yin Sid reached the end of the bridge and stared out the window to see the cruiser in question. It was very long - longer than their own cruiser - with the surface of its material being ruby red and reflected the rays of the sun far behind it. A black symbol was marked on its side, but Yin Sid never saw it before. A new terrorist group? Or... no, it couldn't possibly be the new Sith group he heard about.

"Keep the defensive systems on; I'm going to lead our flight against them!" the blonde-haired human ordered as he left the bridge and ran his way toward the spaceship hangar.

This announcement already calmed the crew a little bit. Being number one in his military navy class, Captain Yin Sid was one of the Republican Army's finest pilots. Sure, he did sustain defeats in the past, but they were very little when compared to his victories. If someone could get them out of this mess, it was him!

Arriving at the hangar, he jumped into the closest Firebird-9 Starship, closing the cockpit and pulling his communication microphone on his head. "Thunderstorm Squadron with me!" he ordered. "We must cover the right flank of the ship before their starfighters can destroy anything!"

The five ships rose up and then darted out into space where chaos was currently raging on. The first enemy ships came into view after only a matter of seconds - ships Yin Sid had never seen before - and the shooting started. Blue and red laser blasts darted everywhere followed by explosions. There were too many of them to take down, but at least, nobody in the formation got destroyed... yet.

"What should we do now, Captain?" Thunderstorm-2 asked.

"Follow me! We're gonna get to the cruiser and cause some damage ourselves!" the blonde-haired human commanded and then accelerated the engines of his starship to charge forward.

Unfortunately, they were not out of danger yet. The cruiser was protected by a huge assault ship whose turrets started shooting in their direction. Yin Sid spotted one ship in his formation getting touched and explode into space. "We lost Thunderstorm-3, Captain!"

Swearing under his breath, Yin Sid understood they wouldn't reach the main ship unless they destroyed the frigate defenses. "Thunderstorm-1 and 2, get ready to drop bombs on their turrets at my command!"

"Roger that, sir!" the two pilots replied at the same time.

"Ready... NOW!"

As soon as the order was given, the bombers dropped the energy balls that went to crash on the turrets, reducing them to nothing more that pieces of metal floating in space. They could now take on the cruiser with no interference... except maybe from the other battleships.

"What do we do now, Captain?" Thunderstorm-2 asked.

"We're gonna go below the cruiser and destroy their life support system! I'd like to see how they enjoy getting their ship destroyed piece by piece!" the captain informed as he changed the formation's trajectory.

Flying below the enemy cruiser, Yin Sid ordered his formation to unleash a fire storm over the round object on the underbelly of the beast. However, as the plasma blasts reached their target, the effects were negated by a shield barrier that seemed to cover all the cruiser. Of course! How could he forget about their shield system?

"Main bridge, Captain Yin Sid speaking!" he said into his microphone. "Target the enemy's cruiser and hit it with everything! We must hit them strong enough to destroy their shield before being able to do anything!"

"As you wish, Captain!" Lieutenant White replied before going to give the orders.

Soon, huge energy bolts came from the Third Republic's cruiser and hit the enemy one with strength. Surely their shield would no be able to hold for much longer now. However, the moment of joy was quickly interrupted when red blasts came up from above and destroyed another ship of Yin Sid's formation. It came from a starfighter that darted in front of them before leaving.

"Thunderstorm-4 is gone, Captain!" Thunderstorm-1 said.

"Darn it!" Yin Sid cursed. "I was so focused on attacking the cruiser that I forgot they have starfighters too! Get in battle formation, everyone!"

This sudden attack broke the formation; they needed to get back together before attacking again. "Captain! One of them sent missiles after me! They're getting dangerously close!" Thunderstorm-2 said.

"Come my way!" Yin Sid instructed. "I'm gonna shoot them down!"

"They're 100 meters away, Captain! They're gonna-" The communication was cut off by an explosion followed by screeching noises. Yin Sid understood what this meant and frowned in pain.

"Thunderstorm-1, join me now! We must go back to the ship and think of another strategy!"

"I-I can't, sir! There's too many of them! I'm gonna-" Yin Sid could only close his eyes and frown as his last formation pilot got blown up by the enemy.

Looking up, the blonde-haired man could see things were not going well at all. All the Republican pilots were getting shot down one by one and the enemy cruiser was shooting powerful blasts at their ship which caused explosions, indicating their shields were down.

They were going to lose this battle.

Even though he didn't like the idea of leaving his men behind, Yin Sid knew the only thing he could do was to leave and hope to make it alive as he was the only one who could report the presence of these terrorists to the Third Republic and the New Jedi Order. If he died... No, he had to go.

"Time to go into hyperspace!" the man mumbled to himself as he prepared his starfighter for the jump. A series of blasts came from nowhere and hit the side of his vehicle. Not enough to damage his engines, but enough to make him understand it was time to go. "Here we go!"

The Firebird-9 Starship fired up the motors and darted into hyperspace, leaving the zone of now destroyed Republican ships...

Author's note: My very first Star Wars story on this site. I have been planning this one since my vacation in Disney World, back in September 2019. I'm both excited and nervous. Excited because I've been wanting to write this for a long time. And nervous because Star Wars is the biggest fandom on this site and I'm afraid of making a mistake.

This is the first story in my 'Legends Trilogy' which will count three stories, with maybe a few more in-between. Just to make it clear, only the original trilogy and the prequels are canon in this timeline. Sorry for you Disney sequels lover, but their movies had just too many plot holes and the story didn't had that much to the overall narrative.

Captain Yin Sid's appearance is inspired by professional actor Orlando Bloom, who is known for playing Legolas in 'Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit' as well as Will Turner in the 'Pirate of the Carribeans' franchise.

I hope this story will live up to my expectations. Constructive criticism is welcome and may the gods watch over you all.