Here's the first action-packed chapter of the story, readers, featuring three new original characters among Luke's Jedi partners. Hope you like!

Chapter 3: Saving the Chancellor

Luke and his three Jedi allies had sent word of their protection task to the Jedi temple, calling for at least three other Jedi Knights to aid them in ensuring Chancellor Mothma's safety. When Luke's group arrived at Chancellor Mothma's tower residence, they were greeted by the most welcome sight they had seen in weeks. Han Solo stood at the complex entrance, wearing the same outfit and cocky grin as always. Beside him, Chewbacca the Wookiee towered over his companion with a smile on his face and gladness alight in his deep-blue eyes.

"Welcome back, Han," said Luke with an air of warmth as he embraced his friend.

"You didn't think I'd miss another chance to help out the New Republic without seeing you, did ya, Luke?" Han replied as though he were a doting uncle seeing his favorite nephew for the first time in several years. Then he asked, "Where's Leia?"

"She's continuing her training at the Jedi Temple while I and my fellow masters are serving as security for Chancellor Mothma," replied Luke.

Han gave a resigned look. He enjoyed his work a lot better when the whole group was together: Luke, Leia, Chewie, himself, and the two impeccably different yet very agreeable droids C-3PO and R2-D2. However, Luke had his duties as the new Grand Master of the Jedi Order and Leia was training under him to become a first-rate Jedi like so many others. Han had learned to live with it, luckily, and he had no qualms about being in love with Leia. After all, Luke had given them his blessing as a Jedi and as Leia's brother.

Luke then turned his attention to Chewbacca, who gave a great bark of gladness and wrapped his Jedi friend up in a very furry embrace. In spite of being surprised, Luke said, "Hey, Chewie. I'm glad to see you too."

Then as the group headed to Chancellor Mothma's residence, Han asked, "So what's going on here on Coruscant, Luke? I hope it's not another of those Imperial slime balls still trying to rob us of our regained freedom."

"The Chancellor has approved the decision to form a standing military force to protect the New Republic due to some new incursions in the Outer Rim," replied Luke. "They're right on Republic borders, so we have to take action before trouble strikes. Since Imperial loyalists want the Republic to weaken, Chancellor Mothma may be a target of some interplanetary assassin in the pay of former Imperials."

Han took Luke's information with a look of understanding weighed with concern, and then he cracked his usual smile and said, "Well, that's why I had my crew round up some extra help. And I brought our two best droids to keep an eye on security where our eyes might fail."

He followed Luke and his Jedi allies inside the Chancellor's apartment and after having his crew fan out through the tower complex, Han gestured to the door. Into the great foyer of Chancellor Mothma's apartment came the two droids who had provided the most aid to the Rebel Alliance in their fight against the tyranny of the Empire: C-3PO, the gold-plated protocol droid whose fluency in languages had helped them earn the alliance with the Ewoks of Endor; and R2-D2, the blue-paneled astromech droid who had provided the readouts of the first Death Star to the Alliance, flown with Luke at the Battle of Yavin, and saved the Millenium Falcon from the Empire at Cloud City.

"Master Luke, sir, it's so good to see you again!" C-3PO said in his usual manner of exceptional courtesy. "Though I wish it could be under more peaceful circumstances."

Luke nodded in understanding and thanked his old droid friend for his kind greeting, then gave R2-D2 a gentle pat on the dome. The little droid gave a few blips and beeps, which Threepio translated. "Artoo expresses his gladness at seeing you also."

Luke was glad to be among the rest of his friends, but he had come there on Jedi business, so he told the two droids, "It's good to see you both again, but we are here concerning the Chancellor's safety. Artoo, do you think you can plug into the security systems and give us the details on what's going on outside of this tower?"

R2-D2 beeped and whistled his agreement and then trundled over to the nearest computer terminal he could find in the tower complex. In a few seconds, he gave another set of whistles and beeps.

"He says he has tapped into every security camera on this tower, granting us visual information access on a 360-degree range," translated C-3PO. "He'll now give us full-image scans up here on the monitor."

Several camera footage recordings appeared across each monitor, each one revealing one projection of information after another. For the moment, nothing concerning had passed in front of the cameras, so Luke was able to share some of his Jedi business of the past few weeks with Han and Chewbacca. He also learned that Han had gotten into a spot of trouble due to a quarrel with a Ghormanian diplomat who did not favor trade with the New Republic, but in the end, the matter had worked out thanks to C-3PO quelling the matter and using his protocol droid logic to outline the agreement in a way to benefit both parties. Suddenly, the three were interrupted when R2-D2 began tooting and whining excitedly.

"What is it, Artoo?" inquired Luke.

R2-D2 whistled and beeped more, and then C-3PO said, "I'm afraid he doesn't understand it himself, Master Luke. He says there's an unidentified speeder hovering outside the window of Chancellor Mothma's quarters. Six individuals are aboard, one of them a droid."

"Can Artoo identify them?" asked Han.

R2-D2 beeped positively in reply, but then gave two nervous toots. C-3PO explained, "One of the individuals on that speeder is not recognized by scanners, General Solo. I'm afraid the other five are bounty hunters wanted by the Republic for having business ties to the fallen Galactic Empire."

Luke could feel more than even the security cameras could tell him. He focused his mind and let go of the physical restraints of matter, reaching into the mysterious energy of the Force. He felt the eerie shade of the dark side surrounding the six individuals in that speeder, around their cells, reeling in their minds.

In an instant, Luke made a dash for the Chancellor's quarters with Han and Chewbacca behind him, and together the three warned their individual parties to be on their guard.

…

Mon Mothma sat alone in her quarters, now clad in a red robe lined with artificial chrysopaz gems. She sat in front of her mirror, removing the ceremonial jewelry that gave her the imposing image she held among the thousands of senators and representatives in the Galactic Congress. True, she had done a great service chairing the Rebel Alliance and its fight for freedom, but Mothma took no pride in the fact that she now headed the government of the New Republic. She did it for the people, never the payment.

She did not see the speeder that came to hover outside her window, nor see its sinister occupants positioning themselves with towlines and blasters. However, her blue-clad guards did notice and positioned their stun rifles to fire. Instantly, the glass of the windows was blown away along with large chunks of rubble, and the room went dark as the power wires had been damaged. Mon Mothma jumped from her chair as her guards moved in to protect her. However, in a burst of red laser bolts, the four men were quickly on the floor. Three of them were wounded, two severely, and one guard was dead. All at once, the bounty hunters Dengar, Bossk, IG-88, Zuckuss and 4-LOM rode in on their towlines and landed in a half-moon before the Chancellor, their blasters all aimed at her chest.

"How dare you barge into my private residence?!" Mothma said fiercely. "I am Chancellor Mon Mothma of the Second Galactic Republic, and I am not about to be bullied by interplanetary scoundrels such as yourselves!"

"We know who you are, Chancellor," smirked the woman with the mechno-arm as she rode in on Dengar's line. "And we're here to collect a high bounty on your head. Is this a bad time?"

The bounty hunters primed their blasters, but they never got the chance to strike, for they heard the voice of a young man echo throughout the chamber. "You will not touch her. Stand down, and you will not be harmed."

There came the snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting, and Luke Skywalker stepped out from the shadows. In the dimness of the room, it was exceptionally difficult to tell where his dark Jedi garments ended and his body began, and his lightsaber illuminated his face like an emerald torch. The bounty hunters jumped back in fright; they too had heard the stories of the young Jedi who had defeated the Emperor and Darth Vader, and to stand in the presence of that Jedi was unnerving enough to make them think about giving up this mission and risking the wrath of their clients. Han leveled his blaster while Chewbacca unsheathed his bowcaster and roared at the bounty hunters angrily.

Suddenly, other lightsabers sprang to life in the Chancellor's room, revealing Ahsoka Tano, Ferren Barr, and Cal Kestis. Then another Jedi stepped into the room, this one a dark-skinned man wielding a lightsaber whose blade was a rich violet like an amethyst gem. He was Tor Solaris, a newcomer to the new Jedi Order from the planet Halcyon. Two non-human Jedi also made their presence known: a Gran from Malastare whose name was Mawlekk, and a Quarren from Mon Cala who was named Lung-Seek.

The sight of six other Jedi standing beside Luke would have been enough to make even the cruelest Imperial loyalists tremble, and some of the six bounty hunters in that room were already losing their nerve. However, the Theelin woman said to them very softly, "If we don't get this job done, we don't get that reward. Now, come on, boys. Let's not play dumb and throw it all away. The highest bit of the reward goes to the one who blasts their poor Chancellor dead."

That was all the motivation the villains needed. They began firing at Chancellor Mothma, only for Luke and his fellow Jedi to stand in the way. As Luke deflected bolts of burning plasma with his lightsaber, he told Han and Chewbacca, "Get Chancellor Mothma to safety!"

The two began to move Chancellor Mothma from the room while Luke, Ahsoka, Ferren, and Cal held the bounty hunters back. However, they were pursued by Dengar and IG-88, who opened fire without hesitation or mercy. Mawlekk deflected the flying blaster bolts with his lightsaber and disarmed Dengar of his laser rifle with the Force. Then as IG-88 came at him, the Gran Jedi lifted the robotic bounty hunter into the air with Force and pulled him forward. With a spin, Mawlekk drove his lightsaber through IG-88's lower torso and moved the blade up until he had sheared the deadly assassin droid in two.

Luke, Ahsoka, Ferren, and Cal held off Zuckuss, 4-LOM, and the female bounty hunter remarkably well. Despite the fact that Zuckuss was armed with more than just blasters, Ahsoka's twin lightsabers made short work of each of his weapons. The Gand bounty hunter attempted to get in close with a small hand blaster, but then thought to go after Chancellor Mothma with it. His momentary distraction was a major mistake, for Ahsoka plunged both sabers through the menace's torso, and Zuckuss dropped like a stone in water. 4-LOM had been firing at Luke, who was unfazed by the droid's attempt to shoot him down. He blocked every beam fired and got in close enough to swing his lightsaber through the mechanical killer's neck. 4-LOM's head went clattering aside, and the droid's body fell next, scattering burnt circuitry and shattered servomotors on the floor.

Ferren and Cal had a different problem in the case of the Theelin bounty hunter. Her mechno-arm was equipped with a fusion-cutter, which was unconventional as a weapon but dangerously effective. The woman knew how to use it, too, for the two Jedi were forced to leap back and attempt to tire her out before attempting to apprehend her. But if that wasn't bad enough, the Theelin's mechno-arm was also equipped with a flame thrower, a thermal charge launcher, and a modified E-22 blaster. It took a number of minutes, but eventually, Ferren and Cal were able to force her into a tight spot and knock her out with a stand thrown by the Force.

Meanwhile, Han and Chewbacca managed to get Chancellor Mothma out of her private apartment, but Dengar was not ready to give up. He was joined by Bossk, and together they prepared to blast Han and Chewbacca into oblivion and then go after the Chancellor, hoping to claim the best score of the reward. Neither of them got the chance, for the door was blown down in a shower of red and blue sparks, and a few dozen New Republic security guards clad in light gray uniforms burst into the Chancellor's residence, all armed with blasters. In an instant, the foyer became a fireworks display with red and blue laser bolts flying between the troopers and the bounty hunters.

Chewbacca had recognized Bossk the minute he appeared in Chancellor Mothma's apartment, and he charged the Trandoshan bounty hunter with a furious roar. He had been itching to have a reckoning with Bossk as he was famous for hunting many of Chewbacca's fellow Wookiees on Kashyyyk, and now his chance had come. He disarmed Bossk of his blaster and the two began a frightful battle of fisticuffs. In moments, the two were fighting so fiercely that the Jedi in the room could hear the emotion of both opponents through the Force. At length, Bossk managed to bite Chewbacca in the shoulder before flinging him to the floor, and then the ruthless bounty hunter prepared to fire on him with his blaster rifle. Chewbacca suddenly leapt up and wrested the weapon from his opponent, and then he grabbed Bossk from behind and lifted him over his head. With a Wookiee war cry, Chewbacca hurled Bossk through the side window and toward the streets of Coruscant.

On the other side of the room, Han had been exchanging shots with Dengar, which was no surprise considering that Dengar held a violent grudge against Solo thanks to their race together in the crystal swamps of planet Agrilat, where he had earned many of the scars maiming his head. Now he felt he had the chance to pay Han back by ending his life.

"You should've gone to the other side of the galaxy, Dengar," Han said with a half-taunting voice. "The Empire is quite dead and so is bounty hunting in most of this galaxy."

"It's not as dead as you're about to be, Solo," Dengar sneered. "And after I kill you, your chancellor is next."

The two continued trading blaster fire for a while before they began fighting one another hand-to-hand. Dengar was experienced from several years of bounty hunting, but Han's encounters with Imperial stormtroopers made him more than a match for the bounty hunter. However, Dengar took a blaster pistol from his belt and caught Han with a blast to the calf. Dengar hefted his blaster to fire at Han's neck, smirking all the while. But before he could, a blue lightsaber blade caught him in the back and seared through his chest. The bounty hunter collapsed to the floor with his flesh and clothes burnt through, and the Jedi who felled him helped Han to stand up.

It was Leia. She didn't look quite the same in her Jedi tunic and brown pants complete with the boots, Han thought, but he recognized her lovely face quite well, and the two braids wrapping around the bun in her hair reminded Han of the beauty she exemplified when they were on Cloud City a little more than five years ago.

"I was beginning to wonder if I'd get the chance to see you when Chewie and I got back," chuckled Han.

"You would've been able to see me again either way, Han," replied Leia as she embraced him warmly.

Luke came over with a disapproving look and said, "I told you to remain at the Jedi Temple continuing your training exercises, sister." But before either Han or Leia could respond with a protest, Luke's face broke into a smile. "But then you wouldn't have gotten to rescue Han before I could."

He patted his sister on the shoulder, clearly letting her know that he was grateful that she had come to help and was pleased that she had saved Han. The three of them stood there and shared a brief moment of warmth as Chewbacca came back over to join them. C-3PO and R2-D2 came out from a corner of the room where they had been keeping quiet the whole time the bounty hunters had been attacking. Then Ahsoka, Ferren Barr, Cal Kestis, and the other Jedi there searched the room with the security guards to make sure that the threat had been neutralized.

Suddenly, Luke felt a disturbance in the Force, and he knew that one bounty hunter was not beaten yet. The Theelin woman was on her feet again and readying her blaster to strike. Luke activated his lightsaber and whirled around with shocking rapidity, and his emerald-green blade severed the mechno-arm of the Theelin. The non-human female fell to the floor with a shriek as her mechanical limb was lost to Luke's lightsaber.

Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewbacca gathered around the female bounty hunter, who glared up at them with pain and hate in her luminescent eyes. Then Luke asked her, "What is your name?"

"Lolo Sabine," she answered.

"Do you know who it was you and your fellow bounty hunters tried to kill tonight?" Luke pressed.

"The Chancellor of the New Republic."

"And who hired you to do this?"

Lolo Sabine suddenly turned fearful. Encountering Luke Skywalker with a handful of Jedi that he had organized to rebuild the Jedi Order was bad enough, but if she simply told him who had hired her and the other bounty hunters to go after Chancellor Mothma, it would mean her death. She only said, "We were told not to give any names."

Han stepped in and said sharply, "Well, it's either tell it to the Jedi who took down the Emperor single-handed or confess it before the Galactic Courts. And trust me, they don't look kindly on loyalists to the Empire. So what's it gonna be?"

Lolo Sabine began to speak again, knowing that Luke and his friends would not let her leave the room unless she did. "They're a military organization following in the footsteps of the Empire. They call themselves…"

Luke, Leia, and everyone else in the room heard the sound of another blaster firing, but no one else was in the room. Instead, Leia sensed another presence through the Force and watched as two individuals in white armor rocketed away on speeder bikes. Then Luke and his friends watched as Lolo Sabine clutched at her chest with her remaining hand. She managed to gurgle out, "F-F-First… Order…" Then she gasped, twitched, and then went limp. As if hoping that she could get medical attention, Han felt Sabine's neck and wrist, but he could tell without saying anything that the bounty hunter was deader than a wrecked cruiser.

Luke exchanged surprised and confused looks with Han, Leia, and Chewbacca as they rejoined the group and looked Chancellor Mothma over to see if she had been harmed. After it was decided that Mothma would spend the night at Leia's private apartment not far from the Jedi Temple, Luke remained deep in thought while guarding the Chancellor for the rest of the night. All he could think about was the same question everyone in the room was pondering: who were the First Order? And why did they mount an attack on the Chancellor?

A/N: How did you all like this chapter? Feel free to review and let me know. Chapter 4 is coming soon, along with the next step in completing my other unfinished fanfictions. Enjoy!