Hello my friends, hello. When we speak of heroes, we often think of the fearless Jedi or the valiant soldiers, but heroes come in many forms. I would like to tell the tale of heroes you may never have heard of, but whose actions are no less important than the heroes that everyone knows. So gather around and listen to the story of Rogue One.

We begin off the coast of the fertile volcanic land of Lah'mu four years after the formation of the Empire. For most people at the time, Lah'mu would hardly be worth a thought. Barely five hundred people called the burgeoning agricultural colony home but it was one of these few that drew the Empire's attention.

A matte black fast craft knifed through the calm, cold waters of the World Sea. The helmsman eyed the mouth of the river ahead of him, calculating his approach. His star passenger meanwhile straightened his greying hair and replaced his peaked cap, wanting to look presentable for his reunion.

The fast craft sped up the river and into the valley through which it flowed. An automaton farmhand watched the vessel tear past and raised his wrist to speak into his comm crystal. Elsewhere in the field, a young girl sprinted in the direction of her home just as her father had told her to do should she ever see a ship like that.

In the farmhouse, a man looked to his wife with a grim expression. They both knew this day would come but that did not lessen their fear.

The door to the farmhouse slammed open and the young girl ran in. "Mama!"

The woman turned to her daughter. "We know."

The girl's father looked to her, worry clear on his bearded face. "Jyn, gather your things. It's time."

Jyn hurried to her room and started to pack her bag. Her father frantically did the same, hoping they would have enough time. Meanwhile the girl's mother pulled a nondescript book down from the shelf and opened it to reveal a weathered pocket font emblazoned with the eight point starwheel of the Grand Republic.

The head of a bald bearded man appeared in the font's silver surface. "Hello?"

"Saw, it's Lyra. It's happened. He's come for us. You know what to do."

Saw Gerrera took a deep breath and nodded.

Outside, the fast craft beached itself on the black sandy riverbank. The side hatch opened and a gangplank shot out.

Jyn's father knelt in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Remember, whatever I do, I do it to protect you. Please understand."

Jyn nodded somewhat sadly. "I understand."

Jyn's father planted a kiss on her forehead and the two of them embraced, not knowing if they would see one another again.

"I love you, Stardust."

"I love you too, Papa."

Lyra walked up with a full haversack over her shoulder. "Galen."

Galen pulled away from his daughter and looked her in the eyes. "Go."

Death troopers were the elite of the elite, rumored to serve the Emperor beyond the point of death through twisted magics and mechanical augmentation. How much of their reputation and attributes is true and how much is propaganda is still unknown as all records pertaining to them were destroyed. What is known is that their name became synonymous with some of the most horrific massacres perpetrated by the Empire.

A full detail of death troopers in their black plate armor marched across the farmland in a row, trampling crops beneath their feet. Leading them was an Imperial official, dressed in the immaculate white uniform of the Imperial Security Bureau complete with gloves and cape.

Galen stood on the doorstep of his farmhouse and stared at the encroaching Imperials. He knew they wouldn't kill him. He just needed to stall them for long enough for Lyra and Jyn to escape.

Lyra held her daughter's hand as the two of them ran for the black crags overlooking the farm. Once they had entered a gulley and she was certain they had broken line of sight, she stopped and knelt in front of Jyn. "You know where to go, don't you?"

Jyn nodded.

Lyra lifted her crystal pendant from her own neck and placed it around Jyn's. "Trust in the Force." She held her daughter close one more time.

Galen slowly followed the path from his house to his field, using a hoe as a walking stick. He could not fight them but having something in his hand lent him a modicum of reassurance.

As Jyn ran up the gulley, she stopped and looked back. She took a few panting breaths before running back the way she had come.

The Imperial official watched Galen's approach with mild incredulity, shaking his head. "You're a hard man to find, Galen. But farming..." He scoffed. "Really? A man of your talents?"

"It's a peaceful life."

"Lonely, I'd imagine."

"...Since Lyra died, yes."

"Oh..." The official sighed sadly and took several steps towards Galen. "My condolences." His expression of sympathy vanished and he turned to the death troopers. "Search the house."

The squad leader issued orders to his men, his voice scrambled by his helmet's enchantment. All but two of the troopers advanced towards the farmhouse, unconcerned by the crops underfoot.

"What is it you want?" Galen asked.

"The work has stalled. I need you to come back."

Galen shook his head slowly. "I won't do it, Krennic."

"We were on the verge of greatness. We were this close..." Krennic held his thumb and forefinger a short distance apart for emphasis. "...to providing peace and security to the world."

"You're confusing peace with terror."

Krennic shrugged. "Well, you have to start somewhere."

One of the death troopers pushed the farmhouse door open and led one of his comrades in while the rest of the squad stayed outside.

Galen frowned. "I'd be of no help, Krennic... My mind just isn't what it was. I... I have trouble remembering. Even simple things."

Jyn watched from an irrigation ditch as her father and the man in white spoke. She was too far to make out what they were saying but close enough to recognize the man's face.

"Galen," said Krennic, smiling. "You're an inspired artificer, but you're a terrible liar. Now, I admire the effort. I really do." He noticed motion from the field out of the corner of his eye and turned his head. "Oh, look, here's Lyra back from the dead."

Galen paled at the sight of Lyra sprinting towards them.

"It's a miracle."

Galen started moving only for one of the death troopers to aim his rifle at him. Meanwhile the other trooper trained his on Lyra.

Krennic faced Lyra with a smug smile and put out his hand. "Stop."

Lyra did, then dropped her haversack to reveal the pistol she had trained on Krennic.

"Oh, Lyra," sighed the Imperial. "Troublesome as ever."

"You're not taking him," Lyra shouted.

"No, of course not. I'm taking you all. You'll all come. You, Galen, and your daughter. You'll all live in comfort."

Lyra frowned. "As prisoners."

"As heroes of the Empire."

"Lyra," said Galen, worry clear in his voice. "Put it down."

The pistol's muzzle trembled.

Krennic's eyebrows rose ever so slightly. "Think very carefully."

Lyra's eyes darted between her husband and the man who sought to take him away. In the ditch nearby, Jyn trembled with fear.

Lyra pursed her lips. "You will never win."

"Do it," Krennic ordered, narrowing his eyes.

One of the death troopers pulled his trigger. The heavy caliber ball punched a fist sized hole straight through Lyra's chest. The shock of the impact made Lyra clench and her pistol fired, sending a bullet through Krennic's collarbone.

Jyn gasped in horror as her mother fell to the ground.

"Lyra!" Galen rushed over to his wife and cradled her lifeless body in his arms.

Krennic pulled his hand away from his bullet wound, the white glove now stained a deep red. "They have a child! Find her!"

Jyn was already running back towards the crags, using the tall crops to conceal herself.

Galen sobbed as he stroked Lyra's cheek with his palm all while her blood soaked into his clothing.

Jyn scrambled up the gulley heading for one of the caves near the top. Once inside, she ran around the back of the fourth boulder on the right and pulled the handle at its base. The hidden hatchway on top of the boulder popped open with a sharp screech and Jyn climbed down the ladder inside, closing the hatch behind her.

As the farm burned around him, one of the death troopers scooped up a doll that lay near his feet. He turned it over and looked at the nearby irrigation ditch.

For how long Jyn hid in the hidden bunker, she did not know. Time seemed to drag by while the death of her mother played over in her mind.

Suddenly Jyn heard tinny, garbled voices from above.

Carefully, she climbed the ladder and peered through the ventilation slot. Several black armored troopers were searching the cave, having followed Jyn's footprints in the black ground outside.

Several tense minutes passed before they finally left, having found no other trace of their target. It wasn't until the clanking of their armor faded away that Jyn realized she had been holding her breath. The return of air to her lungs made her slightly dizzy as she climbed back down.

The hours dragged on as Jyn waited huddled in her bunker. Was help coming for her? Her mother had contacted Saw, but what if the Imperials had captured or killed him too?

As was common for Lah'mu, the waning hours of the day brought with them a thunderstorm. The falling rain and the bass notes of the thunder soothed Jyn's nerves and she soon drifted off to sleep.

Jyn bolted awake at the sound of the hatch screeching open. She panted in fear, expecting at any second to see a gun barrel and a black helmet appear over the edge.

Instead, the face of a bald bearded man was the one she saw.

Saw Gerrera smiled sympathetically at Jyn. "My child!" He beckoned her to climb. "Come, now. We have a long journey ahead of us."

--

Jyn woke up from her dream of that dark day to water dripping onto her forehead. She grumbled in annoyance and sat up in her bed, wiping the water away with her sleeve. Her Blutopian cellmate was still asleep having failed to make good on her death threat to Jyn for another night.

The past few days had left Jyn inured to the constant screams and moans of the fellow inmates in her cell block. Though not ideal, it was the only way to maintain sanity. Jyn pulled her knees up and fished her pendant from her loose prison tunic. It was the only possession the guards had allowed her to keep, believing it to be nothing more than cut glass and copper wire.

Jyn turned the thumb sized crystal over in her hand as she drowned out the wails of a beating across the hall. She rubbed her index finger over the inscribed words. "Trust in the Force," they said. A fat lot of good the Force had done for her.

Soon, she and her cell mate would be shuffled off to Wobani. Even if the Blutopian didn't kill her, the work camps would. She was alone again only this time nobody was coming.

--

The Ring of Kafrene was a giant atoll situated at the crux of the Corellian Trade Spine and the Biox Detour. Over the centuries, it transformed from a trade hub to a major point of iron ore refining to feed the demands of the Corellian shipyards. As the city of Kafrene grew, the demands for more land led to the use of slag and coal ash from the foundries along with refuse to fill the central lagoon.

Despite the major industry present in Kafrene, much of the population lived in poverty which only worsened under the Empire. The parts of the city built on artificial land were prone to flooding and subsidence and the stench of ammonia from open sewers was inescapable. Black soot covered the walls of every building lending the island the derisive nickname of "The Inkwell."

A somewhat scruffy man pushed his way through the market crowd. Slung over one of his shoulders was a messenger bag with a small wooden birdcage within. The man kept a careful eye on a trio of stormtroopers from the Imperial garrison as they passed by.

This man went by many names, but the one that meant the most was Cassian Andor.

Cassian ducked into an alleyway and scattered a group of large rats. He hoped his contact would still be there. After one more turn, he found the lame man he sought.

"I was about to leave," the lame man hissed.

"I came as fast as I could."

"I have to get back on board. Walk with me."

"Back to Jedha?"

"They'll leave without me!"

"Easy! You have news from Jedha? Come on, then."

The lame man sighed. "An Imperial pilot - one of the cargo runners - he defected yesterday. He's telling people they're building a weapon. The Kyber crystals, that's what they're for." His eyes trailed to Cassian's softly cooing bag. "...Is that a pigeon?"

"Focus. What kind of weapon?"

"Look, I have to go!" The lame man started to limp away.

Cassian grabbed him. "What kind of weapon?!"

"A country killer!" He smacked Cassian's hand away. "That's what he called it!"

Cassian paled. "A country killer?"

"Someone named Erso sent him. Some old friend of Saw's."

"Galen Erso? Was it?"

"I don't know! They were looking for Saw when we left."

"Who else knows about this?"

"I have no idea!" The lame man gave a single sob. "It's all falling apart. Saw's right. There's spies everywhere."

It was only then that the two men heard the soft clanking of stormtrooper armor coming from around the alley's corner. The two men turned to escape, but too late.

The white armored trooper stopped them. "What's all this?"

The two men didn't answer.

"Come out," said the trooper. "Let's see your documentation."

Cassian nodded. "Yeah, of course." He reached into his pocket and started pulling out the leather bound booklet only to drop it. "Oh. Just let me..."

Cassian crouched down to retrieve the booklet with his left hand while secretly reaching into his coat with his right. He stood back up in a snap, cocking and firing his pistol all in a single motion. The trooper collapsed with a grunt.

The lame man cried out in horror. "No! What have you done?!"

Shouts of alarm filled the air from the market streets nearby. Mingled with them were the voices of stormtroopers coordinating their approach with one another.

Cassian started to haul himself onto a nearby roof. "Come on."

The lame man was aghast. "Are you crazy?! I can't climb! My leg!"

The voices of troopers grew louder as they closed in.

Cassian lowered himself back down and put a reassuring hand on the informant. "Hey, calm down. Calm down. It'll be all right. This way."

As soon as the man was in front of him, Cassian shot him in the back of the head. He couldn't risk him folding under interrogation.

Cassian climbed onto the rooftops and vanished into the crowd a few minutes later.

--

Jedha was once regarded as a holy land for over two dozen different religions, most involving the Force. Millions of people would make their pilgrimages to various sites across the cold NaJedha Desert before finally arriving at the walled Jedha City. Ruins linked to many of these religions dotted the land in such quantity that no maps catalogued them all. While many had fallen victim to entropy and the shifting sands, others had succumbed to the many wars that had ravaged the land.

In the dim morning twilight, two brutish men led a third bound one in Imperial cargo pilot gear across the cold sands towards a toppled sandstone colossus of a Jedi. At the statue's giant face, a mixed group of Partisans in salvaged armor watched their approach carefully. A heavily augment grafted Tognath stepped forward, pulling back the cock on his jezail.

The bound man turned to one of his captors. "Is that him? He looks kind of different to how I imagined."

"(On your feet!)" The Tognath ordered the rest of his group. "(It's the pilot... The defector.)"

The pilot smiled hopefully. "Okay, so you're Saw Gerrera?"

The Tognath only stared at the captive with his white compound eyes.

"S... Saw Gerrera? No?"

More silence.

"Okay, look, we're just wasting time we don't have! I keep telling them! I need to talk to Saw Gerrera before it's too late!"

The Tognath looked to his fellow Partisans. "(Keep your heads down. The Imperials will be searching for him.)"

"We're in the middle of nowhere. We need to get to Jedha City! What part of urgent message don't you understand?!"

One of the pilot's captors put a cloth sack over his head and pulled the drawstring just tight enough that he couldn't shake it off.

"We are all on the same side. If you would just look past the uniform for a minute..." The pilot continued his nervous chatter as he was led away, though his words went ignored by the Partisans.

--

Wobani was a land of extremes. Much of it consisted of permafrost and taiga while other regions saw such intense geothermal activity that swaths of land were little more than fields of mud too hot to walk through. This dichotomy is what so attracted the Empire and led them to build several detention and labor camps for criminals such as thieves, counterfeiters, and pirates.

These camps could only barely classify as liveable. Row upon row of uninsulated ramshackle huts made up the vast majority of the camps' footprints. The rest were various facilities of mixed purpose in which prisoners performed gruelling manual labor around the clock in twelve hour shifts. Uniform making, leather working, gunstock carving, metal casting, if it could be done with only the barest amount of required training, it was done here. Those who were lucky were assigned to maintenance duties in the fleet of Wobani's Juggernaut Crawlers.

Originally designed for rapidly transporting Republic troops over inhospitable terrain as part of the late-war Shock Troop Initiative, these steam driven ten wheeled behemoths went on to see a great deal of alternative use under the Empire such as the prisoner transport Jyn now found herself on.

Jyn stared at her shackles, lost in her own thoughts. She was going to die here. Each time the revelation passed through her mind, it sunk in just that little bit more. Rather than terrifying her, the thought soothed her. After everything, it sounded rather restful.

The Juggernaut lurched to a stop. Jyn looked to her fellow passengers. Most had expressions of fear or grim resignation, but the military police guards looked to one another with annoyance.

One of the guards shook his head. "What now?"

The other shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's another pick up."

"I thought we had everybody."

The door latch squeaked as it turned. A guard stood up as the door started to open. "If it's another mud hole, just go around it this time. I'm not getting ou-"

A bullet punched through his eye.

Before the other guard could even ready his carbine, two shots hit him in his chest. Immediately, a pair of soldiers in dusky green helmets and chest plates climbed into the cabin with guns shouldered.

"All clear, Sergeant."

A third soldier climbed in. "Hallik! Liana Hallik!"

A soldier stopped in front of Jyn. "Sergeant Melshi. Over here."

Jyn glared at the man called Melshi as he knelt in front of her. He started to unlock her shackles. "You want to get out of here?"

"Hey," cried another prisoner. "What about me?" He held out his wrists.

Jyn stayed silent until her shackles hit the floor. Suddenly she planted her foot into her savior's chest and bolted for the door, throwing aside the other soldiers.

She leapt out the back hatch and felt a metal hand grab her by the neck. Jyn hadn't even fully processed this before she was thrown to the ground with enough force to knock the air from her lungs.

Jyn looked up at who or what had manhandled her to see uncanny white eyes set into what appeared to be a black jawless skull. The towering Imperial security automaton craned his head down as though to drive home the statement it was about to make.

"Congratulations. You are being rescued. Please do not resist."