Disclaimer: I do NOT own Star Wars, it all belongs to Disney. I am just having some fun in the sandbox that George Lucas created, and that Disney now owns. There will be a mix of both Legends and Canon elements to this story, so enjoy!

STAR WARS: EPISODE VII: SHADOW'S FALL

Thirty years have passed since the fall of the Galactic Empire to the Rebel Alliance. The Alliance, now the New Republic, has brought democratic rule back to the galaxy. But the cost has been high with dozens of worlds destroyed and trillions of beings killed.

Slowly the wounds of war began to heal though and the galaxy settled into a period of peace not seen since prior to the Clone Wars. But settling into peace does not mean complete peace across the galaxy. The task of bringing a galaxy back together was a challenging one for all involved.

One man faced an even more difficult task. Luke Skywalker, the sole recognized Jedi in the galaxy, set out to rebuild the Jedi Order. But darkness does not wait for the forces of good to respond, and as the years continue, a shadow begins to creep across the galaxy once more…

Jakku

Jakku System

Western Reaches

Inner Rim

It had been thirty years since the desolate world of Jakku had been the site of the largest naval battle since the Battle of Coruscant at the end of the Clone Wars, but the barren backwater planet still bore the scars of that battle. The debris from dozens of capital ships circled the space around Jakku with even more ships littering the surface; from ground vehicles to starfighters to capital ships, including Star Destroyers, Mon Calamari cruisers and even a massive Super Star Destroyer.

The battle was considered the final major engagement of the Galactic Civil War, and the death knell of the Galactic Empire. An unknowable amount of ships and beings came to this system thirty years ago and nearly half never left. Even though the New Republic claimed victory at Jakku, the cost had been enormous. And now even thirty years later, questions lingered about if the force that the Empire had fielded was their true strength. It had been rumored that during its reign, the Galactic Empire had created upwards of 25,000 Star Destroyers. During the Galactic Civil War, the Alliance had destroyed or captured a number of those ships but it was still a tiny percentage of what the Empire could field at its height.

Many in the New Republic believed that Operation Cinder wiped out the majority of the remaining Star Destroyers. But there were some who believed otherwise. And it was one of those skeptical officials who had sent Commander Poe Dameron and Black Squadron all the way out to Jakku.

"What are we doing out here Poe?" Black Nine asked as twelve Incom-Freitek Corporation T-70 X-Wing starfighters appeared high above the planet's equator.

"Because we have orders Nine," Poe said. "The spooks have been hearing strange rumors about this sector, and so NRI decided to send the Republic's best to find out what is going on."

"Why would anyone want anything out here anyway?" Black Four asked. "There's nothing but hunks of wrecked ships and sand."

"Doesn't matter Four," Poe responded. "Something is going on out here, and we are going to find out what it is."

"Do you guys ever wonder what it would have been like to fly in a battle like this one?" the younger voice of Black Three asked as the squadron made their way closer to the planet.

"My pops fought here," Poe said. "He told me that fighting on Jakku was the single most terrifying experience of his life."

"Did he ever tell you about it Lead?" Three asked.

Poe's lips twitched as he recognized the eagerness in Three's voice. He had the same tone in his voice when he had asked his father about Kes' time in the Rebellion when Poe was just a child. Poe had thought the world of both his mother and father when he was a kid, they were heroes to him and most of the galaxy. Shara Bey had been a pilot in the Rebellion, just as talented as the legendary Luke Skywalker or Wedge Antilles. She had flown in nearly every battle after joining the Rebellion a little under a year following the Battle of Yavin, all the way through to Jakku.

Shara had met Kes Dameron in the aftermath of the evacuation of Hoth. Kes had been an Imperial defector who had joined the Alliance after the destruction of Alderaan. He had been a member of the Imperial Special Forces before defecting, and he was quickly scooped up by the Pathfinders, the Alliance's own Special Forces unit. Kes was a member of Han Solo's strike group that had been sent to destroy the shield generator protecting the second Death Star over Endor, and had fought on Jakku.

The pair remained close throughout the war, and once peace had been declared, both Shara and Kes retired from service and settled down, with Poe arriving about a year later. Unfortunately, tragedy struck the Dameron family several years later when Shara was killed while assisting Senator Organa on a humanitarian mission to the Outer Rim. A rift had opened between Poe and his father after the loss of Shara, one that had yet to be fully mended.

"Lead, Lead, Poe?" Four asked. "Poe, you there?"

"Yes Four, I'm here," Poe said. "What were you asking Three?"

"Well, you said that your father fought here at Jakku, did he ever tell you about it?"

"He told me some."

"No, I forbid you from sending that in," Kes shouted, slamming a fist down on his desk.

"You can't stop me," Poe said. "I am eighteen, and I am going to send in my application to the Academy. Why are you so against this pops?"

"I don't want to lose you like I lost your mother," Kes said, his face in his hands. "Poe, both your mother and I somehow managed to survive the war and we promised each other that we were done with that life. But then the Senator came around and convinced your mother to go back to piloting…"

"You don't blame Senator Organa pops, do you?"

"No of course not, but we fought against the Empire so any kids we might be lucky enough to have wouldn't have to fight," Kes said. "The Empire is gone Poe, why do you want to fight anyway?"

"You and mom are my heroes," Poe said. "I want to live up to the Dameron name. And the Empire might be gone but that doesn't mean that the beings of the galaxy don't need help. I am a good pilot pops, and I can help protect the New Republic by joining up."

"But you don't have too Poe," Kes said. "There are plenty of other ways that you can do to help the galaxy."

"Perhaps but none of them would be as impactful as being a starfighter pilot," Poe said. "Dad, my mind is made up, I am doing this."

Kes sank back in his chair, eyes to the ceiling. "You truly are your mother's son," he said. "Once she set her mind to something, there was no changing it. Very well Poe, I don't want you to do this, but I can't stop you."

"Thanks pops."

"Lead, you still with us?"

Poe blinked as Three's voice dragged him from his memories. "I'm here Three."

"Good to know Lead, so are you going to tell us what your old man told you about fighting down there on Jakku?"

"Right. Well my younglings, he told me that fighting on Jakku was absolutely terrifying," Poe said.

"You already said that Lead, surely he told you more than just that it was scary."

"You don't understand Four," Poe said. "My old man never got scared but Jakku terrified him. The battle was a month long, and he was there for every minute of it. His company went planetside with a full complement of 500, when he was finally rotated off planet, there was only 150 left of his company."

"Only 150?"

"Yep, you think that the turnover rate for pilots is high?" Poe asked. "Being an infantry soldier, it is even higher. He told me that he was lucky to get three hours sleep some days. Also it wasn't just the Empire's infantry or their stormtroopers he had to worry about, the Empire had no issue in bombarding positions from orbit, even their own men as long as it meant stopping the Alliance's advance."

"Your father survived a Base Delta Zero attack?" Black Eight asked.

"He did," Poe said. "But a bunch of his buddies didn't."

There was silence over the comms as Black Squadron digested Poe's words.

"Lead, I am getting some weird reading coming from the debris field," Black Two said a few moments later.

"Are they heading toward the surface or heading toward us?"

"Neither Lead," Two answered. "The contacts seem to be just remaining in the debris field."

"Black Squadron, set S-foils to attack position," Poe said as a sinking feeling grew in his stomach. He felt the X-Wing shudder as the S-foils spilt into the position that gave the snubfighter its distinctive shape and nickname. Poe took a deep breath before flipping the comms over to an open frequency. "Unidentified vessels, this is Commander Poe Dameron of the New Republic. Turn on your transponders and identify yourselves."

There was no response.

"Unidentified vessels orbiting Jakku, this is Commander Poe Dameron of the New Republic," Poe repeated. "Turn on your transponders and identify yourselves immediately or you will be treated as hostile and fired upon!"

"Lead, I'm getting movement in the debris field," Two said.

"What do you see Two?"

"My droid is telling me that the energy signatures match a ship powering up its engines and weapons," Two answered.

"Black Squadron, power up weapons and raise your shields!" Poe barked.

"New contact!" Two shouted as BB-8 whistled wildly in Poe's own ear.

"Where?"

"Behind us."

Poe looked over his shoulder just as a massive grey dagger appeared above the planet. Immediately BB-8 began screaming as Poe's sensor board erupted with contacts both in front of Black Squadron and behind them.

"Ambush!" Poe shouted. The space around Black Squadron erupted with green and red laser fire as a squadron of TIE fighters came screaming out of the debris field. "Break by flight, stay with your wingman and if you find a path to open space, take it and that is an order!"

"But Lead?" Two asked.

"That is an order Two," Poe repeated. "We need to make sure that the New Republic hears about this."

"What is this?" Two asked.

"I don't know for sure but if someone found a Star Destroyer along with several squadrons of TIEs, and got them working, the Republic has to be made aware."

"Lead, that Destroyer has a grav well generator," Four cut in.

"What?"

"Yes, my droid is telling me that we are a lot farther from the jump point than we should be," Four said. "That Destroyer entered at the edge of Jakku's mass shadow but now the shadow has somehow expanded. That Destroyer having a gravity well generator is the only explanation. Whoever these people are, they don't want us going anywhere."

"Wonderful," Poe growled as BB-8 beeped mournfully. "Ok, new plan Black Squadron. Form up on me, we are going to buzz the tower. We will blast past that fighter screen, hug the Destroyer and jump as soon as we clear the shadow."

"Lead, wouldn't it be better to hide in the debris field?" Six asked.

"If the commander of that Destroyer has any sense, they would just blast apart the debris field if we did that," Poe said. "Blacks, put all available power into your forward shields and lasers, we aren't stopping."

"Roger Lead."

The twelve X-Wings fell into formation with practiced ease behind Poe and blasted away from the planet's surface. The TIE squadron that had been hiding in the debris field tried to keep pace but the T-70 was markedly faster than its predecessor, and the TIEs were rapidly left behind.

"Blacks, make ready two torpedoes, dual fire," Poe ordered. "If I remember, Destroyers always had issues keeping their shields strong while creating an interdiction field. So we will hit it in two waves and jump as soon as the gravity well drops. Black One through Six will fire first, Seven through Twelve will launch two seconds after."

"Roger that Lead."

Poe's targeting bracket turned green as BB-8 began calculating a firing solution.

"Missile lock!" Poe heard Black Nine shout just before a streak of blue flashed past his cockpit and an explosion rocked his fighter.

"I'm painted too!" Black Seven shouted. "I'm breaking right."

"BB-8, what the kriff is going on?" Poe shouted as the droid shrieked in warning. "Where did those missiles come from?"

"They've got me painted too!" Black three screamed.

"Look out Ten!"

BB-8 beeped wildly, and a message came racing across Poe's computer screen.

"What do you mean those missiles are coming from the fighters?" Poe shouted as he dove under a pair of TIEs. "TIE fighters don't carry missiles!"

BB-8 whistled mournfully as Poe instinctively looked away from another explosion. Two more blue blips vanished off the sensor screen.

"Black Three and Eight are gone!" Poe dimly heard Black Two cry out.

"Blacks, scatter and run for open space now!" Poe roared as he blasted a TIE with a snapshot from his lasers. With a deft stick and rudder adjustment, Poe found himself behind another TIE. A smooth trigger squeeze later, and another TIE vanished into a ball of fire.

BB-8 screamed as Poe was jolted forward in his chair when a burst of laser fire connected with his rear shields.

"They are herding us toward the Destroyer," Five called out.

"Five, break high, you've got two on your tail," Six shouted.

"Breaking…" Another explosion cut off Five's words as another blue blip vanished, while dozens of red blips surrounded the remaining ones like neks circling a wounded nerf.

Poe's blood ran cold as he realized that his squadron had been cut in half in less than three minutes. "Black Squadron, sound off," he barked while sending a pair of torpedoes jetting out into the void.

Static was Poe's only answer.

"BB, are you reading any friendlies?" Poe asked as he dove beneath the remains of a Rebellion-era frigate. The droid's mournful reply made Poe's eyes sting. "Ok bud, looks like this is it for us, let's make it a memorable one."

A single hard beep gave Poe the answer he wanted.

Throwing the throttle fully open, Poe's X-Wing came screaming out of its hiding spot, and it seemed that luck was finally on Poe's side, as he came out right behind a flight of TIEs searching for him in formation. Immediately, BB-8 gave Poe a harsh whistle as Poe's targeting bracket went red. A single torpedo sped out into the void, that projectile was quickly followed by two more torpedoes. The torpedoes crossed the two kilometer gap between Poe and the TIEs in two seconds, and three TIEs vanished into rapidly expanding balls of gas, fire and debris.

The fourth TIE broke high right, whipping around to face Poe so tightly that if Poe wasn't so filled with rage and bloodlust, he would have been impressed. A flick of his finger set his weapons over to lasers, another flick put all power to his forward shields and with a smooth squeeze, Poe sent a quad burst at the onrushing TIEs.

The TIE's shields shrugged off three of the lasers but the fourth burned through them and sheared off the right wing and sent the TIE careening into the debris field.

Poe was jolted forward into his flight stick and BB-8 began screaming in his ear, along with warning alarms. He glanced at his sensors and his heart sank. While he had been venting his anger of that flight of TIE fighters, the others had circled around and had cut off all avenues of escape for Poe. His shields were down to 50% and he only had two more torpedoes, while there was at least a squadron of TIEs waiting for him.

"It has been an honor flying with you buddy," Poe said. BB-8 beeped loudly as the TIEs roared toward him.

Poe's finger began to cramp as he squeezed the trigger as tightly as he could. Poe was sure that if he hadn't kept his lasers on single-fire, the wingtips of his fighter would have started melting. Poe swiped clear his eyes of sweat as a fourth TIE vanished from his sensors. Unfortunately, Poe's shields had been whittled down to 25% as well.

"Hold on buddy," Poe said as he sped deeper into the debris field. All around him debris began exploding as the TIEs pursuing him decided against following Poe into the debris field and instead decided to just blast it apart.

"Kriff," Poe cursed as the X-Wing shuddered around him and BB-8 told him that his shields had dropped to 15%. "Hold on bud…" Poe's attempt at reassuring his droid when some nearby debris were ripped apart by a missile exploding. The shrapnel tore through Poe's weakened shields. Smoke and sparks filled the cockpit.

"I've lost all control BB-8, we are going down," Poe shouted as he frantically punched at the control panel. Poe dimly heard BB-8 beep a response as he was forced back into his seat by the gravitational forces as Jakku's gravity exerted itself on the X-Wing. The last thing Poe saw was the rapidly approaching reddish sands of Jakku's surface.

"Sir, the Republic squadron has been destroyed," a curt voice told the tall hooded figure who was staring out the large viewport.

"Good, and what of that final ship, the one that managed to evade our forces for so long?" a deep voice asked.

"Our sensors indicate that it will crash somewhere in the Badlands."

"Send a team down to recover the pilot if they are alive," the hooded man ordered.

"But sir, there is no way the pilot could survive," the other man said. "Our sensors and pilots report that the ship was completely disabled and without power."

"That may be Captain but something is telling me that this pilot is important," the hooded man said. "You have your orders Captain."

"Yes, of course my Lord," the captain said quickly before rushing off to fulfill his orders.

Lord Commander Kylo Ren turned back to look out the viewport. He wasn't sure why he had ordered Captain Needa to send a team down to the planet, the Captain was correct that all sensors and readings said that the pilot would perish when the ship crashed. But the Commander had something that Captain Needa and all their sensors didn't, Ren had the Force. And the Force was telling him that the pilot was important. And alive.

A/N: Howdy everyone, man has it been a while. The last 20+ months, for the entire world, has been just nuts. But hopefully this return can bring someone some semblance of normalcy. As you can probably guess, this is the newest version of my Star Wars sequel trilogy rewrite, I took down the previous version as I wasn't happy with how it was going, and I had lost interest in writing for some time with everything going on in the real world. Luckily, recent events have made it easier for me to find time to both write and my interest for writing has returned. So I hope you all enjoy the first chapter of Star Wars Episode VII: Shadows' Fall

Enjoy and MTFBWY