STARBIRD, HYPERSPACE, 45 ABY - EMPIRE DAY

Jale Corsi sat comfortably in the small cockpit of the vessel known as Starbird, currently travelling through the other dimension known to most as 'hyperspace'. Like a dart in design and slickly built, Starbird was one of the fastest - if not smallest - ships in the Rebellion fleet, created on the world of Farihi and a lone survivor of the recently destroyed planet. Starbird had faced many horrific battles since then and was now scarred and burnt, but the ship continued to travel at top speed no matter its condition. It was a fighter, which was why Jale loved the ship so much.

Jale allowed his right hand to settle on the control panel as he checked the statistics of the ship. Everything seemed perfectly normal; the newly installed shields were at 97% efficiency and the weapons appeared to be charged in case Jale faced any unexpected attack. The chances of this were unlikely, but Jale liked to be prepared for everything. Besides, he liked knowing that he could fire a blast the moment he faced an enemy, with the enemy not expecting it.

Looking out into the strange blue swirl of hyperspace through Starbird's front window, Jale ran over the events of the day in his mind. It hadn't turned out the way he had wanted it to - he would have far preferred to have put a blast through Iralim's skull, but it had been a success. An Officer had died, and countless Stormtroopers had been blasted, likely to also pass into the dark abyss of death. Jale had showed the Rebellion's reluctance to bow down to the forces of evil, even after the deaths of ally soldiers like the Red Squadron.

Jale only hoped that this attack would really give the Empire a kick - that it would prove to them that the Rebellion was a force to be reckoned with. For far too long had the Rebellion made petty little strikes against the Empire that never led to anything but the headache of the unfortunate man or woman who would have to report failure to the Empire. But had Jale really had any success?

How was this attack any different to the numerous attacks the Rebellion had made before? A few people had died, but they could all be replaced. The Empire was a machine, permanently outputting great new talent. It would take a day or two for that Officer's role to be refilled, and only a matter of hours for new Stormtroopers to be recruited to fill the gap that Jale had formed. Perhaps these attacks weren't truly enough to ever defeat the Empire? Killing Admiral Iralim - Jale knew - would have created a gap that truly couldn't be bridged, but how did killing Stormtroopers and allowing civilians to die make any difference?

Jale forced these thoughts out of his mind. How dare he be so pessimistic as to believe that his actions meant nothing of importance. Every action was important. Every action showed that the people of the galaxy were not happy with this new leadership, and showed that they would not stand down until the Stormtroopers had retreated and every Officer had taken a blast to the skull. If Jale had to kill civilians - and Imperial supporting civilians at that - to gain any sense of victory, he would do so.

Anyone who had the mendacity to dress up as Darth Vader and proclaim him a great man deserved to die at the end of a blaster, and Jale knew that no man or woman in the Rebel Alliance would truly disagree with him. Besides, if they did, they would likely be put to death as a traitor - the Rebellion could not dare to afford having its morals questioned from the inside.

Officer Brigard's heavy black boots trudged through the ruins of Harril. Ordered by Admiral Iralim himself to inspect the surface and check for any survivors, Brigard had quickly assembled a team of the best Stormtroopers and had made his way down through the planet's atmosphere and away from its mountains until his team had reached what remained of a once large town.

Now, as Brigard's Stormtroopers pulled away pieces of bent metal that were once doors and wood that once held up home, Brigard saw that this town truly was no more. Every fragment of a building dragged away by Stormtroopers would reveal the burnt remains of a body, or the destroyed prize-possessions of a now dead master. Brigard picked up one such item - a teddy bear - and allowed it to rest in his right hand for a few short moments.

Once pink, now most of the bear was covered in a layer of grey ash, with its arms and legs burnt to a black crisp. One of the black button eyes had popped out, vanishing in the rouble, and the thread that had once kept the head of the bear attached to the body was becoming loose. These small details, however, were not the first thing Brigard noticed about the teddy bear...

The small hand of a child burnt away at the wrist and now simply bone clung desperately to the teddy bear's plump body, digging in deep enough to disturb the stuffing inside. And surrounding the hand - dark blood. A massive shadow of red that still soaked the bear and marked Brigard's hand with its wet fur. The bear smelt of death; it was a smell that Brigard had experienced numerous times.

'Sir?' One of the Stormtroopers asked, snapping Brigard back to attention.

'What is it?' Brigard asked the Stormtrooper. He tried to use authority in his voice, but instead he knew he sounded distracted and unaware. Realising that this Trooper would likely report back to the Admiral, Brigard straightened his back and allowed the teddy bear to drop from his hand, making a new home in the dust and dirt. Brigard kicked it away; he wanted the bear out of his sight.

'Sir,' the Stormtrooper repeated, 'we found a human. It's a little girl, sir. She's still alive'.

Brigard's heart skipped a beat. He was facing the moment he had feared ever since the Admiral had ordered him on this mission. He had feared the moment of finding a living victim, and had feared what he would have to do.

'Where is she?' Brigard asked, his voice weary and strained. He tried to hide his discomfort in this situation, but he knew that the Stormtrooper was likely to pick up on it.

'She's... she's over here, sir.' The Stormtrooper walked Brigard to the large piece of wall that had embraced the young girl's legs and had taken her consciousness. 'She's still breathing, sir,' the Stormtrooper told Brigard. There was a moment of silence before the Trooper asked, 'Should I move the rubble? Take her back to the ship?'

Brigard could only shake his head.

'But sir, she hasn't got long,' the Trooper informed him, clear discomfort leaking through his helmet and absorbing Brigard's emotions. Brigard knew he had to speak, but he truly didn't want to. The other Stormtroopers were waiting for their orders, and here stood Brigard in total silence. He couldn't - he wouldn't - be seen as indecisive.

'You are to leave her alone. I will kill her, as ordered.' The Stormtroopers flinched at this order, but took a step back. It was as if they were following an unspoken order to leave Brigard in peace, and the Officer greatly appreciated it. He would not find this very easy and would need all the strength he could conjure, but it had to be done - for the greater good of the Empire.

Brigard let his right hand - still marred with the blood of the teddy bear - drop to the modified and matt black DL-18 that sat uncomfortably in his holster. His palm wrapped around it, and he allowed his index finger to slip over the trigger. Slowly, Brigard pulled the weapon out of the holster and aimed it at the child. She looked so peaceful. That would not last for long.

A single tear drooped down the side of his face, and he no longer cared what the Stormtroopers thought of him. Here was Officer Brigard, a man who had showed courage in the face of none other than Admiral Iralim, but could not find it in himself to pull the trigger on a child. He was being silly, and Brigard had no time for silliness. He forced that tear to be the only one, and then spoke. His words were strong and secure, powerful and decisive.

'I'm sorry it had to be this way.'

A thin blast of red hit the skull of the young girl, and in an instant she entered a never ending sleep. A single hole sunk deeply in the side of her head, leaking gunk onto the gravel and ruins below her. It was the most unpleasant sight Brigard had seen all day, but he had no choice but to continue starring. The young girl deserved that much, even if she had died by the wrath of the Empire.

Starbird jumped out of hyperspace just above the desert world of Tatooine, stretching the stars as it left the other dimension. For a moment it remained deadly still as Jale took in the planet before him. This small isolated world held so many legends and stories, from the tales of Anakin Skywalker to the tales of Obi-Wan Kenobi's exile to the tales of Luke Skywalker's childhood, and to the tales of the Hutt crime family. Now this world told the story of a Rebellion more than fifty years old, desperately making a stand against the Empire even when everything seemed so bleak.

Surrounding the world was three Hammerhead-class ships and around twenty small vessels from all across the galaxy. Not all of them had such dark and interesting pasts as Starbird but they were all experienced in battle. If there was one thing that Jale was certain of, it was that Tatooine was the only planet that was truly well secured by the Rebel Alliance.

'Starbird, please send through your identification,' said the voice of a young woman through Jale's comm. She was a Rebel, and if Jale didn't send through his credentials in the next minute or two, she would likely command one of the vessels to blast him out of the sky, so that all that would remain of his body would be vacuumed ash.

Jale dropped his hand onto a keypad on his control panel and carefully pressed in '1977', aware that sending through the wrong identification code would most certainly end in death. He checked the code over two times before he let his finger press 'SEND' and watched as the number disappeared from all computer screens in the cockpit. Now Jale had to wait.

There was a moment of daunting silence as Jale waited to be told that he had sent the wrong identification code, or that he was now believed to be an Imperial spy, or that his ship was tagged and it needed to be destroyed. Every second of the passing minute was spent in fear of what was surely coming - a blast of red and then a quick but painful death.

'Starbird... All clear,' the voice said, 'please land on platform seven.'

Jale breathed a sigh of relief as he took his ship into Tatooine's atmosphere, immediately being embroiled by dust and sand that partly blocked his vision; there appeared to be a sandstorm occurring on the planet surface. If this had been Jale's first trip to the world, he would have likely crashed into an unsuspecting building or flown straight into a sarlacc pit, but fortunately for Jale, he had parked his ship on Tatooine often enough to know how to find each individual platform. He simply followed his instinct and worked from memory.

Eventually Jale felt Starbird come to a stop - slowly at first, before the ship's engines powered down completely so that the only audible sound was that of the blowing wind outside. Knowing that a team would likely be waiting outside of Starbird this very moment in preparation to give it a good scrubbing, Jale launched to his feat and left the cockpit.

He had arrived just outside of Mos Eisley, and he was about to meet with General Leia Solo.

Author's Notes: So there you have it - Chapter 3! Most of the groundwork has been set for the story, and most of the characters have been introduced. The next two chapters will likely continue to put all of the pieces on the table in preparation for the rest of the story, but they should hopefully be good never the less. Next chapter will likely introduce Generals Leia and Han Solo, and the chapter after that will introduce a whole new group of players in order to broaden the villains of the piece.

After that, the story is free to go anywhere. Expect battles, fights, politics, new villains and new heroes. Expect lightsabers, X-Wings and TIE-Fighters to show up with increasing regularity, and expect more 'old friends' to make appearances. The story is likely to become more episodic as it develops, following one character each chapter as they take different roles in the Galactic Civil War.

One more thing to note - the next chapter will likely begin the introduction of many interesting background characters who will hopefully leave you asking questions and wanting to know more about them. In order to address these questions, 'Dark Times' will have numerous one-time and anthology stories released, in order to flesh out the universe and give a real sense of what is going on.

Thank you, and please review if you have time,

Jacob Adams