Chapter 1

Bursts of laserfire streaked after the consular starship Tantive IV, which was racing for the planet Tatooine. The ship was fleeing from the Devastator, an immense Imperial Star Destroyer that was firing nearly all its turbolasers at the elusive ship. Both vessels had just entered Tatooine's orbit when the Devastator's lasers scored a direct hit on the Tantive IV's primary sensor array. The array exploded, and the blasts overloaded the starboard shield projector, which caused another explosion, damaging the power generator system and triggering a chain reaction throughout the ship. With no starboard shield and no power to its engines, the Tantive IV was effectively crippled.

Inside the battered Tantive IV, the crew raced to extinguish fires as more blasts rocked the ship. Struggling to remain on their feet, Rebel crewmen and troops ran through a narrow white-walled passageway, taking little notice of two artificial beings that stumbled along with them. One of them was named Alphonse, a big silver plated droid and the other was a fox, a tech genius by the name of Tails.

"That doesn't sound too good," Alphonse said, nervously to Tails as the Tantive IV's engines powered down. "They've shut down the main reactor."

"Which means we're trapped like sitting ducks," Tails replied. "We can't get captured just yet. Not after what Rogue One sacrificed to get us those plans. There has to be a way we can get these plans somewhere safely."

More Rebel troops ran into the main corridor. Alphonse and Tails stepped aside into the shallow alcove to avoid being trampled. The Rebels took up defensive positions and aimed their weapons at a sealed hatch at the end of the corridor.

Mere minutes before the Star Destroyer attacked, the Tantive IV's commanding officer, Captain Tetsuzaemon Iba, has issued command instructions to Alphonse and Tails, ordering them to restrict and protect all references to Setsuna's identity and presence onboard the Tantive IV.

The corridor was suddenly filled with the echoing sounds of metallic latches, clanking and moving around the ship's outer hull. Hearing the noise, Alphonse asked, "What's that?"

Tails knew what it meant. "They're coming."

The Tantive IV was now nestled in the Star Destroyer's underside hangar.

Inside the Tantive IV's corridor, Alphonse and Tails braced themselves against the alcove wall as the Rebel troops kept their eyes on the sealed hatch. Suddenly, sparks blazed at the hatch's frame as it was cut from the other side. Then the hatch exploded. Before the smoke cleared, a white-armored Imperial Stormtrooper stepped through the shattered hatch and fired his blaster rifle at the Rebels. The Stormtrooper was immediately cut down by a hail of return fire from the Rebels, but another Stormtrooper appeared from behind him, firing as he stepped over his fallen predecessor. The second Stormtrooper als fell to Rebels, but there were more where he came from, and they kept on coming.

The Stormtroopers were identical. Each wore a head-concealing white helmet that resembled a robotic face, with black polarized lenses for eyes and grimacing vocoder for the mouth. Below the vocoder, jutting from the helmet's chin, a grilled breathing filter was set between two artificial air-supply nozzles.

More Stormtroopers poured into the main corridor. From their alcove, Alphonse and Tails watched helplessly as several Rebel soldiers were shot down. The Rebels fought back, and the corridor was filled with deadly, crisscrossing projectiles. When a laserbolt slammed into the wall near Alphonse and Tails, they whizzed past the heavy fire, crossing the narrow corridor to a hatch that faced the alcove. Incredibly, neither one of them was hit during their quick but harrowing exit.

Overwhelmed by the Stormtroopers, the surviving Rebels retreated hastily to other parts of the Tantive IV. A squad of Stormtroopers secured the corridor, then instinctively moved away from the hatch as a tall, caped figure entered. He was clad entirely in black, giving him the appearance of a menacing shadow amidst the white-armored Stormtroopers in the white-walled passageway. He wore a chromed mask that covered his entire face and had a skull-like appearance with visors for the eyes that glowed red. The mask also served as his life-support as well as he carried the sound of his mechanical, labored breathing.

He was Death Gun, the Sith Lord.

Death Gun ignored the two dead Stormtroopers near the exploded hatch and surveyed the fallen Rebels on the corridor floor. He felt neither pity nor remorse for the lives that had been extinguished.

"These men brought this upon themselves," spoke Death Gun in his deep robotic voice. "They sealed their fate the day they chose to oppose the Empire."

Stepping over their corpses, Death Gun proceeded into the Tantive IV.

Tails stood in a dimly illuminated sub hallway that linked that Tantive IV's port airlock to the escape pod access tunnel. He had lost sight of Alphonse almost immediately after they'd made their hasty exit from the main corridor, and assumed Alphonse had either gotten lost or found a good hiding place.

But right now, Tails is in the middle of helping Princess Setsuna when he spotted her.

Sticking a disc in the back of neck as he took the information she gave him, Setsuna said, "Tails, I need you to go on Tatooine and deliver these plans to Jedi Master Edward Elric. There's an escape pod you can escape in. You must succeed in this mission otherwise everything Rogue One fought for will be all for nothing."

"You're not coming with us?" Tails asked her.

Setsuna sighed. "No. I'm afraid not. The Star Destroyer's detectors won't be able to detect you or Alphonse on the fact you two are mostly machine. If I go with you, I'll only give us away. I know you don't want to leave me behind Tails, but you have to understand the mission comes first. Besides, I'm confident I can handle myself."

Tails was a bit down on leaving Setsuna behind and hugged her. "I understand. But if I have to, we'll come back for you, somehow. I promise, I won't fail you. And be careful, your Majesty."

Before the two of them could part ways for the time being, Setsuna took the time to make a holographic recording of Setsuna to send to Edward Elric.

From nearby, Alphonse cried, "Tails, where are you?"

While Setsuna crept off to hide against the nearby wall, Tails moved in the direction of Alphonse's voice.

"I finally found you," Alphonse said when he saw Tails. "Where did you go? The Stormtroopers will find us at any moment. If they catch us, we'll be smashed to pieces."

Tails sighed in disbelief everytime Alphonse got all scared and jittery. "Look, take it easy, Alphonse. And keep your voice down before they hear you. Just follow my lead and everything will be fine." Tails headed for the escape pod access tunnel.

"Where are we going?" Alphonse asked Tails, following him.

Setsuna peeked out from her hiding place and watched Alphonse and Tails exit. "I'm counting on you, Tails. If the Empire catches you both, all will be lost."

As Stormtroopers and captured Rebel troops marched by, Death Gun stood in the consular ship's operations forum and wrapped his black-gloved fingers around the neck of the ship's commanding officer, Captain Tetsuzaemon Iba. Death Gun was about to proceed with his interrogation when an Imperial officer rushed up and announced, "The Death Star plans are not in the main computer."

Death Gun turned to gaze at Tetsuzaemon. "Where are those transmissions you intercepted?" the Sith Lord asked as he lifted Tetsuzaemon off the floor. "What have you done with those plans?"

Tetsuzaemon gasped, "I don't know what you're talking about. We received no transmission of any kind. This is… a consular ship on a diplomatic mission. Now… release me… or the Senate will hear… about your… actions."

Tightening his grip, Death Gun replied, "I'm afraid the Senate will no longer matter as the Emperor will soon announce his intentions to disband the Senate. And if this is a consular ship like you say, where is the ambassador?"

When no answer came from Tetsuzaemon, Death Gun decided the interrogation was over. There was a horrid snapping sound from Tetsuzaemon's neck, then his body went limp. Death Gun tossed the dead soldier against the wall, then turned to a Stormtrooper.

"Commander!" Death Gun ordered. "Tear this ship apart until you've found those plans and bring me the passengers! I want them alive!"

The Stormtroopers marched off to search the ship.

Soon, a squad arrived at the adumbral port sub hallway and moved quietly down its length. It didn't take long for a Stormtrooper to spot Setsuna's white gown against the dark-walled chamber.

"There's one!" the Stormtrooper shouted as he raised his blaster rifle. "Set for stun!"

Setsuna stepped out from her hiding place, raised her laser pistol and fired at the nearest Stormtrooper. Her blaster was not set to stun, and the fired projectile punched through her target's armor, dropping him instantly. Setsuna turned to run but another Stormtrooper fired a paralyzing ray at her back.

The princess was hit and went sprawling to the floor.

The Stormtrooper squad stepped over to inspect Setsuna's inert body. "She'll be all right," said the squad's leader. "Inform Lord Death Gun we have a prisoner."

The sound of blaster fire from the sub hallway reached Alphonse as he followed Tails through the adjoining escape pod access tunnel. Alphonse had thought Tails was heading for the next chamber, so he was surprised when he saw Tails stop, turn, and open the hatch to an escape pod.

"Hey, we're not allowed in there," Alphonse told Tails. "The Captain told us that's restricted for us. You'll get us shut down for this."

Tails could not believe this and knew this wasn't the time or the place. "Alphonse, would you quit acting like a mindless philosopher and get in. The Captain's orders no longer matter. I was told to get in here by the Princess."

"Hey! I'm not a mindless philosopher!" Alphonse retorted. "You may be following the Princess' orders, but as long as the Captain is around, he's in charge and we follow his orders. Now get out of there before the Captain catches you."

Tails remained in the escape pod and said, "In case you haven't noticed, the ship is already captured by the Empire. Plus the Princess assigned me a very important mission. So you can either get in with me or you could stay and let the Stormtroopers blow you to bits."

"A mission?" Alphonse asked, baffled. "What are you…"

Another explosion rocked the ship, violently rattling Alphonse's metal joints.

"Still want to stay?" Tails asked with a grin.

Without further hesitation, Alphonse stumbled through the open hatch and into the pod. He said, "On second thought, I'll take my chances."

The hatch snapped shut behind them. Then there was a muffled explosion as the pod's latches blew away and the pod ejected from the Tantive IV. The pod's rocket engines propelled it out of the Star Destroyer's open hangar and into space.

The ejected pod did not go unnoticed by the Imperials. On board the Devastator, the chief pilot saw the pod's image streak across his main viewscreen. The chief pilot said, "There goes another one."

But the Devastator's captain had already checked his sensor scopes and ordered, "Hold your fire. There's no life-forms. It must have short-circuited."

The escape pod continued to plummet away from the Star Destroyer, all the way to the harsh surface of the planet below.

Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Tails (Sonic X)

Death Gun (Sword Art Online)

Setsuna (Yashahime)

Tetsuzaemon Iba (Bleach)