After three long years of unremitting conflict, the Clone Wars came to an end.
Not in victory or defeat, but in deception.
Revealing his true nature as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
of the Galactic Republic issued Clone Protocol 66, forcibly turning the soldiers of the Clone
Army against the Jedi Generals they had so loyally served, and facilitating Palpatine’s
ascension as the unchallenged leader of the First Galactic Empire.
As the shadow of the empire reached ever further across civilised space, the galaxy entered
an age of darkness and tyranny unlike anything in its history, and the peace and prosperity
of the Old Republic slipped into distant memory.
But not all hope was lost.
It began with the Delegation of 2000, an Alliance of Republic Senators who had been growing
increasingly concerned by the actions of Chancellor Palpatine in the final months of the Clone
Wars.
Though the chaos which erupted in the wake of Order 66 left most of these senators scattered
and afraid to act, those few who remained grew ever more certain that Palpatine and
his new Empire must be opposed, by any means necessary.
Chief among these senators were Bail Organa of Alderaan, and Mon Mothma of Chandrila,
and though their resources were not insignificant, the idea of an organised resistance movement
against the empire in the near future seemed close to impossible.
The earliest acts of rebellion would need to be carried out in total secrecy, quietly
gathering supporters and forging alliances, whilst avoiding the watchful gaze of the Imperial
Security Bureau.
Through the early years of the Empire’s rule, Senators Mothma and Organa continued
to play a major role in the Imperial Senate, though the influence wielded by that institution
diminished day by day.
Behind closed doors, Senator Organa worked tirelessly to accumulate starships, weapons
and personnel willing to stand against the empire, and though no empirical evidence was
brought forward, suspicions began to circle among Imperial Leadership, that Alderaan was
secretly defying the Emperor’s will.
Alderaanian starships would frequently go missing in uncharted space, or fall victim
to suspiciously underreported acts of piracy, as Senator Organa subtly delivered them to
the fledgling rebel cells.
During these early years, Senator Mothma remained largely inactive in the growing Rebellion,
as she endeavoured to hide her involvement with the movement.
This was intended to ensure that should she could assume complete leadership of the rebellion,
should Senator Organa’s treason ever be discovered.
Mon Mothma used this time to train Bail’s adopted daughter Leia in the art of politics
so that she may eventually succeed her father in the Imperial Senate, whilst also preparing
her to become an important part of the emerging rebellion in her own right.
After only a single year of its existence, the Galactic Empire had amassed one of the
largest militaries in history, boasting countless thousands of vessels and millions of troops
across the length and breadth of civilised space.
The Emperor had succeeded in creating a state of order that few dared oppose, but there
were some worlds who’s will remained unbroken, and none more-so than the Twi’leks of Ryloth.
The tragic history of the Twi’lek people has left them unfortunately familiar with
subjugation and slavery, but it has left them equally familiar, with insurgency.
Many times in galactic history the Twi’leks of Ryloth have united in revolution against
oppressive slave traders and powerful dictators, most recently against Occupation by the Confederacy
of Independent Systems, in the first year of the Clone Wars.
During the occupation, a figure of leadership emerged among the oppressed Twi’leks.
This Leader, one Cham Syndulla, planted the first seeds of the so-called Free Ryloth Movement,
an institution that would ultimately unite with the Galactic Republic to drive the confederacy
from Ryloth, and once again free the Twi’lek people.
It is an unfortunate historical irony that after only a few short years, the planet Ryloth
once again faced occupation, but this time by the very government that had so recently
aided in their liberation.
As the Empire tightened its grip on Ryloth, the suffering felt by the Twi’lek people
began to exceed anything seen in the Confederate occupation.
Bombing runs were regularly carried out at randomly selected population centres, decimating
Twi’lek morale, civilians were taken from their homes to be shackled and sold to off-world
slave markets, and the planet’s rich supplies of Spice and Ryll were confiscated on mass,
by the Imperial Army.
Though faced with steeper odds than ever before, Cham Syndulla’s Free Ryloth Movement once
again rose up in revolt against their oppressors, waging a guerrilla war with the local Imperial
Garrison and performing daring raids against military installations.
Though their resistance was mostly futile when faced with the limitless resources of
the Galactic Empire, their actions did help to preserve the will of the Twi’lek people,
and to prepare them for the larger rebellion that was to come.
Though perhaps the most well-known, Ryloth was not the only world that dared to defy
the Empire, across the galaxy on the planet Onderon, a similar insurgency was taking shape,
this movement was known as the Partisans, and its leader was the ruthlessly effective
Saw Gerrera.
Not unlike the Free Ryloth Movement, the Partisans had their origins in the Clone Wars, where
they were trained in Guerrilla Tactics and Urban Warfare by elements of the Clone Army
and Jedi Order, in order to resist occupation by the CIS.
The Partisans were renowned for their brutality and considered terrorists even by some who
opposed the Empire, but however violent, their tactics were undeniably effective, and helped
to turn Onderon and its surrounding systems into a major drain on Imperial Resources,
as forces were constantly reassigned to the planet in a bid to maintain order.
In his continued search for assets and resources to assist in fighting the Empire, Bail Organa
eventually made contact with Ahsoka Tano, a former Jedi Apprentice who was now acting
as a vigilante in the outer-rim.
on Organa’s request, Ahsoka joined the fledgling Rebellion, taking on the code-name Fulcrum,
and helping to expand the reach of Organa’s growing network of contacts.
Shortly thereafter, Organa and Tano began to reach out to the existing revolutionary
movements across the galaxy, including Syndulla’s Free Ryloth Movement, and Gererra’s Partisans.
Slowly but surely, a network of secret rebel cells began to form, sworn never to publically
interact with one another, so as to ensure that the Empire continued to believe that
they were simply facing isolated instances of civil unrest, and not a fully-organised,
large-scale rebellion.
In co-operation with Rebel Commander Jun Sato, Ahsoka Tano was placed in shared-command of
the newly formed Phoenix Cell, a modest fleet of starships, assembled using the vessels
and crews Organa had acquired over the recent years.
This force was intended to perform surgical strikes against Imperial targets across the
galaxy, and to capture hardware and resources with which to grow the rebellion.
Another Rebel Cell was established on the planet Lothal, the home of a critically important
Imperial shipyard.
This cell was commanded by Captain Hera Syndulla, the estranged daughter of Cham Syndulla, leader
of the Free Ryloth Movement.
The Lothal Cell was unique, in that only it’s leader knew of the larger Rebellion, with
its lower-ranking members believing they were simply independent contractors, striking out
against the empire.
This arrangement further aided in preserving the secrecy of the rebel network, and allowed
Fulcrum to communicate solely with Captain Syndulla, guiding her and her unit to where
they were needed most.
The Lothal Cell proved to be one of the most effective rebel units active, and became a
major inconvenience for the local Imperial Authorities.
Faced with increasingly brazen acts of local insurgency, the Empire was forced to steadily
increase its military presence in the Lothal System, an escalation which ultimately turned
Lothal into a major galactic flashpoint.
Though their heroism contributed tremendously to the continued growth of the rebellion,
it would be the actions of the Lothal Cell which ultimately revealed the existence of
the larger rebel movement to the Empire.
During a mission, the cell’s second in command, former Jedi Padawan Kanan Jarrus, was captured
by Imperial Authorities and held for interrogation aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Sovereign,
the flagship of Grand Moff Tarkin, governor of the Outer Rim.
Though dismayed at the capture of Jarrus, the rebellion’s leaders were well aware
that their precautions to compartmentalise information would mean the Empire could never
discover the larger rebel movement though interrogating their new prisoner, and in order
to make certain of this, Fulcrum ordered Captain Syndulla to make no attempt to recover her
captured operative.
Though Syndulla initially respected and obeyed Fulcrum’s instructions, elements of her
cell elected to violate orders and attempt to rescue Kanan Jarrus, boarding an Imperial
Communications vessel and acquiring documents which indicated the current location of the
Star Destroyer Sovereign, which was holding station at the head of an Imperial Fleet in
the Mustafar System.
Reluctantly agreeing to join in her cell’s insubordination, Captain Syndulla and her
unit travelled to Mustafar, and boarded the Sovereign using a captured Imperial transport
ship.
Unfortunately for the Lothal Rebels, it became quickly apparent that Grand Moff Tarkin had
been anticipating their rescue attempt.
Shortly after the rebels recovered Jarrus, Tarkin deployed a substantial number of imperial
reinforcements, beginning to ensnare the rebels in a trap.
Though the Lothal Cell was able to escape the Sovereign, inflicting critical internal
damage to the ship as they did so, the ever-increasing number of Imperial reinforcements made escape
from the system seem impossible.
Having been monitoring the situation, Fulcrum and her Phoenix Cell were forced into action,
and Tano began deploying her forces to cover the escape of the Lothal Rebels.
Though this action saved the lives of all six members of the Lothal Cell, it also provided
the Empire with exactly what they had been seeking all along, confirmation of their suspicions
concerning a larger rebellion.
Absorbing themselves into the Phoenix Cell, the Lothal rebels began to play a larger role
in the rebel movement, but with the Empire now aware of the unified threat they faced,
the age of quiet insurrection was over, and the growing rebellion was faced with a full
scale Galactic Civil War.
With this escalation in conflict came a similar escalation in Imperial Response, now aware
of their singular enemy, the Imperial military began to scour the galaxy for rebel forces,
increasing their security around crucial worlds to far beyond normal standards.
Among the upper-echelons of this new large-scale response were some of the Empire’s most
legendary figures, including Darth Vader and Grand Admiral Thrawn, who each began to play
a far larger role in combating the rebel insurgency than ever before.
Now faced with the full-strength of the Imperial Fleet, and with the empire placed on a drastically
heightened state of alert, concealing their units and resources became increasingly difficult
for the rebellion.
This frequently led to the exposure of rebel hideouts, and on some occasions, such as the
battle of Garel, significant loss of life.
In spite of these dire circumstances, the rebellion weathered the storm, and beyond
simply surviving this new Imperial retaliation, the Rebel movement actually made an astounding
level of progress, with elements of the Ryloth and Phoenix Cells successfully capturing an
Imperial Carrier, securing an alliance with the Mandalorian Protectors, and establishing
a formidable hidden base on the planet Attolon.
It was also during this period that the rebellion made its earliest contact with the Mon Calamari,
a race whose contributions to the Rebel Starfleet would ultimately becoming a defining aspect
of the future Rebel Alliance.
As the seventeenth year of the Empire’s Reign drew to a close, the rebellion that
had once seemed impossible, had grown into a sizeable resistance movement, spread across
the civilised galaxy.
Still helmed by Senator’s Organa and Mothma, the movement now held a series of hidden bases
across the galaxy, on remote worlds such as Attolon, Dantooine and Yavin IV.
Though still miniscule when compared to the Empire, the Rebellion’s small military had
grown quite formidable, now boasting a sizeable fleet of corellian, Alderaanian and Mon Calamari
starships.
In some small respect’s the rebels had even established a minor technological edge over
the Empire, such as in the case of the T-65 X-Wing, a Starfighter provided to the rebel
movement by sympathetic manufacturers, which far outstripped almost all Imperial fighter
designs in combat.
Uplifted by their growing successes, the rebellion’s leaders no longer felt the need to hide their
intentions from galactic society, now wielding the hard-earned support of countless beings
across the galaxy, the Rebellion would act from the shadows no longer.
Seventeen long years after hearing the first whispers of rebellion in the halls of the
senate tower, Mon Mothma of Chandrila spoke on behalf of a unified people, who would no
longer hide from the oppression of the Empire.
In a formal statement, broadcast across the galaxy, and addressed directly to the office
of Emperor Palpatine, Senator Mothma declared the Alliance to Restore the Republic, a government
built on the principle of defiance, and united behind a single goal, to bring about the downfall
of the Galactic Empire and to make forever free, the people of the civilised galaxy.
In the wake of its formal declaration, support for the newborn Rebel Alliance saw a sharp
increase.
Across the galaxy, the common citizens of the Empire were growing to believe that their
Imperial overlords were not invulnerable, and even within the ranks of the Imperial
Military, defection to the Alliance was growing ever more common, but this good fortune would
not last forever.
Rumours first dismissed as false were beginning to circle in the ranks of the Rebel Alliance,
as time passed these rumours turned to valid suspicions, and ultimately to terrifying fact.
In the height of secrecy, the Empire was building a weapon, a device capable of unimaginable
destructive power, who’s completion would ensure Imperial dominance for ever.
Faced with their greatest challenge yet, it would fall upon the men and women the Rebel
Alliance to investigate, and ultimately to destroy this terrible weapon, and should they
fail, everything the rebellion had built would be lost, securing the dominance of the Galactic
Empire, for all time.
From equal parts strategy and desperation, a plan was set in motion.
A team of Alliance operatives would be dispatched to capture the technical plans for this new
superweapon, this Death Star, in the faint hope of discovering an exploitable weakness.
Upon the shoulders of these beings the fate of the galaxy hung in the balance, and though
their failure would mean the fall of the Rebel Alliance and an eternity of galactic oppression,
their victory offered a glimmer of hope.
And Rebellions are built on hope.