Pre-Chapter and Pre-Story Authors Note:
This is a little bit emotional, coming back to this concept.
Around 5 years ago, as Star Wars Rebels came to an end, I had been begun writing and releasing an alternate take on Star Wars Rebels, inserting myself into the story and seeing what would change, and what would remain the same. However, I have learned a lot about being a writer as a whole. I've learned about how to structure a story a lot better, and I've learned so much. I briefly went back through the old account that the story was posted on and saw it, and I realize that I could do so much better, so now here we are. It's something that I take a lot of joy in, and quite frankly, it's emotional for me in a way going back to this, and actually giving it a chance to be finished at some point in the future. It's gonna get crazy, but I hope you all will be along for the ride.
With all of that being said, please enjoy the 1st chapter of the Prelude for If I Was In Star Wars Rebels.
"In order to ensure the security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire! For a safe and secure society!"
Those are the words that were spoken by Emperor Palpatine, which brought upon a new age and time for the galaxy. It's something that was so hard to hear, after everything that I fought for and stood for throughout the duration of the Clone Wars.
You could say that I've seen and done it all. Since I was rather young, I've trained in the Jedi arts, becoming one of the most respected force users the order has ever known. I was selected to train under two of the most esteemed Jedi Masters. After seeing my style, and seeing what I wished to become as a Jedi, Jedi Master Mace Windu chose to take me on as a Padawan, with a great deal of guidance also coming from Master Yoda himself. Master Windu saw the darkness that was within me, but he also saw that I wanted to learn to control it, like he has, which excited him greatly. This was all one year before… everything changed.
I had just turned fourteen years old, when the outbreak of the Clone Wars happened. Everything that I knew changed, and changed in ways that I couldn't even imagine. I was there at the First Battle of Geonosis, assisting my master in the battle that ensued. I, myself, very nearly lost my life that day, but I was able to survive. However, many other Jedi, as well as a ton of clone troopers, were not as lucky that day.
The next three months after that were… tiresome, to say the least. I would join Master Windu on the front lines as a Jedi Commander, and I would continually prove my talents with a lightsaber time and time again, and as a result of my efforts, when discussions about concluded, regarding the promotion of Master Obi-Wan Kenobi's Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, to Jedi Knight without having faced the trials, Master Windu raised similar discussions about me, and well, I'll let this recording from the Archives, that I grabbed after sneaking into the temple during the Great Jedi Purge, speak for itself…
"Master Windu. Have something more to say, do you?" Yoda asks my master.
Master Windu then gets up from his seat, and moves to the center of the room.
"I know one promotion has already been agreed to today, but I would like to request for another." Master Windu states.
Everyone in the room then, seemingly, gets the idea about where this is going…
"Wish for your Padawan to get the same treatment as young Skywalker, do you?" Master Yoda asks.
"I do." Master Windu replies.
There was great controversy over Anakin's promotion, but for my promotion, there was next to no objection…
"Padawan Jones has been an instrumental part of our early advances in this war." Master Kenobi remarks.
"And, like Skywalker, she is a very capable and confident Jedi, who is very attuned with the force, her skills with her lightsaber, and her skills as a commander and a pilot." Master Kit Fisto observes.
"However, if we were to promote her, she would be the youngest Jedi Knight in a generation." Master Ki-Adi-Mundi states.
"Indeed. It would be a historic moment for our order." Master Plo Koon adds.
"But we need more Knights, and if there is any Padawan within our ranks that is worthy of becoming a Knight, it's Padawan Jones. This is a critical moment. Having one of the most exceptional warriors in the order as a Jedi Knight, no matter her age, is an opportunity that we can't let pass." Master Shaak Ti says.
"Agree, I do. Make her a Jedi Knight in addition to young Skywalker, we shall." Master Yoda declares.
Before I was summoned to the ceremony, I was swinging my purple lightsaber by the Great Tree, and yes, before going any further, the blade of my lightsaber is, in fact, the color purple. Why? The answer is simple. I have a true affinity for the light and the dark, and finding that balance within me, and that's what led to the lightsaber color that I have.
I then could feel the presence of my master behind me. I switched my saber off as a result and bowed in his presence.
"Padawan, the council requires your presence, immediately." Master Windu reveals.
"My presence, Master?" I asked in confusion.
"Yes. Your presence." Master Windu confirms.
"Very well then." I stated in response.
I then follow Master Windu, where he motions for me to enter a dark room, which caught me by surprise, but then, after a short moment, several green and blue lightsabers illuminated the room, with Grand Master Yoda at the center of the room…
"Step forward, young Padawn." Master Yoda requests.
I stepped forward and kneeled, as I was asked to do…
"Dune Jones. By the right of the council. By the will of the force. Dub thee I do, Jedi…" Master Yoda begins to say.
He then proceeded to use his lightsaber to cut off my Padawan braid…
"Knight of the Republic." Master Yoda finishes, motioning for me to rise once more.
"Thank You, Master Yoda." I stated, bowing to the Grand Master.
The ceremony then ended, with several of the Jedi walking outside, with Masters Yoda, Kenobi, and Windu, staying behind to speak to me further.
"Deserve this, you do. A talented Jedi, you are. Need you on the frontlines, we do." Master Yoda states, with urgency.
"I will do what I must Master. For the Jedi, and for the Republic." I stated in response, proudly and confidently.
"Your commitment, gone unnoticed, it has not. A task for you, we have." Master Yoda requests.
"What shall I do for you, Master?" I asked him.
"A choice, you have. Need you on the front lines as a General, we do. Have a legion ready for you alone yet, we do not. Have your choice of which legion to serve as a General in the interim, you do." Master Yoda reveals.
I truly did have my choice. Master Kenobi and the 212th. Master Windu and the 187th. Master Plo and the 104th. However, I wanted to step out of my comfort zone, and serve with someone I haven't gotten to know too well. My choice? The recently-promoted Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker, did have a legion of his ready to go, the 501st, and I thought that would be a wonderful idea to serve while also doing something out of my comfort zone. Masters Plo, Kenobi, and Windu, were all Jedi I was familiar with. Meanwhile, Skywalker was one that was relatively foreign to me, so in my mind, he was the perfect choice.
A Jedi should be willing to do what is right in order to help keep the peace, and sometimes that means doing what may be uncomfortable and new to them.
"I would like to request to join General Skywalker and the 501st. I hear they are soon departing for Christophsis with Master Kenobi and the 212th." I stated.
"Heard correctly, you have. Departing soon, they are. Join them you shall." Master Yoda says with a smile.
"I think Rex will take a liking to you." Master Kenobi states.
"We shall see, Master." I told him in response.
I had always taken a liking to Anakin Skywalker. He was very skilled as a Jedi. He was the order's best pilot, and one of the most determined Jedi I had ever seen. He would make a fine Jedi General to serve alongside.
I caught up with him the next day, as he was about to depart, with Captain Rex and the rest of the 501st.
"General Skywalker, Captain Rex." I called out to them.
"General Jones." Captain Rex says, saluting me (that took a long time to get used to, that's for sure).
"General Jones, good to see you. Congratulations on your promotion." Master Skywalker says.
"Thank You, General Skywalker. Many congratulations on your promotion as well." I told him in response.
"Thank You. I'm delighted that you chose to join us while the Council has a legion prepared for you." Master Skywalker states.
"Having the opportunity to have two of the best Jedi, pilots, and generals serving within the same unit, it will be fun." I remarked.
"Fun wouldn't be the word I would use." Master Kenobi says, as he walked toward us with Commander Cody.
"General." Commander Cody says, saluting towards me.
"Commander." I said to him in response.
"If fun is not the right word, then what is?" Master Skywalker jokingly asks his former master.
"Tedious, since this involves a rescue mission of a Republic senator." Master Kenobi states.
"And a good friend, as well as a very Jedi-friendly senator at that." I added.
"Indeed." Master Kenobi says to me in response.
"But hey, this will be a lot of fun." Anakin remarks.
"Of course you would think that Anakin." Master Kenobi remarks.
"Come on Master, lighten up a little bit." I requested, in a sarcastic tone.
"I think I'm going to take a liking to you." Anakin says to me.
"And that's what worries me." Master Kenobi jokingly says, as he walks away to brief Cody and the 212th, leaving me and Anakin to talk to one another.
"I don't know how you stand him sometimes." I said to Anakin.
"Obi-Wan is a good master, but he's too deep into the ideals of code of the Jedi for his own good sometimes." Anakin remarks.
"Well, I think it's time we show how much fun a mission like this can have." I stated, confidently.
I thought that it was going to be a lot of fun going on this mission, and it was, although it ended up being fun in ways that I couldn't even begin to expect…