Naboo

Leia Skywalker understands how important today's week in history is. Twenty years ago, the Clone Wars had ended, the Galactic Republic replaced by the Galactic Empire, the Jedis defeated being accused as traitors, and her mother had died giving birth to her and her twin brother who've died along with her mother. Seven ordinary days from now, she turns twenty, meaning that her father had been running from the Empire for twenty years.

Leia's childhood is one that was clouded with absolute secrecy. Like her father, she had used countless of names in every planet in order not to be known, but there's no time at all that she had been known as Leia Skywalker. And Leia knows the risk that it has.

Skywalker is a dangerous name to use. Well, any name associated to a Jedi's name is completely dangerous. But using the name Skywalker among all is the most dangerous one, for that is the name that is highly associated to a known Jedi that was said to be the chosen one that will bring balance to the Force. Not to mention that Leia is the remaining and surviving child of that respective Skywalker.

Ever since she was a child, Leia knows that her father is Anakin Skywalker, a hunted Jedi General during the Clone Wars, the one that many hailed as the Hero with No Fear, and the one that the entire galaxy is searching for either in order to destroy it upon turning him over to the Emperor or to save it by fulfilling his destiny. But Leia also knows that her father couldn't let the galaxy have him, because he loves her so much to let her lose him. And upon connecting the dots, Leia believes that her father don't want her to live her life all alone, knowing that if he died and failed to defeat the Empire, the Emperor and his mysterious apprentice will search for her next.

In short, the two of them, the two remaining Skywalkers in this galaxy of theirs, must continue hiding until they find the right opportunity to strike.

But when will be the right time? Leia always questions herself.

She knows that Anakin Skywalker has contact with the survivors of the remnants of the Old Republic and other surviving Jedis who've decided to form the Rebel Alliance to defeat the Empire. She also knows that the Rebel Alliance had keep in touch with him in order to pursue him to fight with them. And she also knows that he didn't join them, and he will not risk it if the time is not yet ripe.

And now, that Leia sees her father all alone in the former Senator Padmé Amidala's tomb, she fully understands that she and her father will spend another revolution that will involve running away.

"Morning, Father," she greets with a small smile as she makes her way to where her father stands. "Sorry that I am late. I forgot the date, sorry."

Anakin turns to her, matching her own smile. "It's fine. After all, it's the time of the year that the Rebel Alliance are trying to make contact. Have you successfully given my message to them?"

"Yes, I did. Despite the many stormtroopers roaming around, I am rather proud that I was able to evade them."

"What to expect from them? After all, within this week will be "Empire Day" as they would like to call it." He sighs heavily. "Any news from them?"

"They say that they received information about the whereabouts of Saw Gerrera. Captain Cassian was dispatched to the field along with Jyn Erso," Leia answers.

Her father's eyes saddened a little upon hearing the news, as if he knows something and it is not a happy ending. And he quirks his eyebrow at her. "Captain? When did you call Andor so formally?"

Leia blushes, remembering the first time that the Rebel Alliance really make contact with them. She was seven years old that she and her father were forced to meet with the Council of the Rebel Alliance. There she met the twelve-year-old Cassian Andor, a trained soldier and pilot, considered to be one of the best that the Alliance has for someone his age. It is true that Leia was swayed by his charisma and boyish features, almost forgetting that the reason that she and her father had been there, that the reason that she only met Andor, was all because of her father being acquaintance with a man named Saw Gerrera.

Since that time, every once a year, the Rebel Alliance make contact with her and her father. Andor was the deliveryman, the man who she'll consider to be the first to catch her heart, the man who makes her birth week a little less gloomy. Unfortunately, today, another rebel became the deliveryman to inform her that Andor was away on some of their—if not suicidal—worthy missions.

"Just recently." She shrugs her shoulders.

"If I remember correctly, Andor had been a captain for quite some time already," her father counters.

"Well, I'll surely need to freshen my mind a bit." With her smile, the question and darkness on her father's face disappears.

Her father then surrounds an arm at her, bringing her closer to him, and with a smile, kisses her on her forehead. "Happy Birthday, princess. For sure, your mother and your brother had been as proud as I am of you for all the things that you've done for this past year."

Leia's father like to celebrate her birthday before Empire Day as always. He hates remembering the tragedy that followed after it, and Leia understands it. Even if she couldn't hear her father greet her a happy birthday on the exact day of her birthday, she likes to think that she was born before the birth of the Empire than two days after it.

"Thank you, Father." Leia smiles, leaning much more to her father as she watches the suns reach its heights and its rays reflecting much more onto the stained glass and onto the fresh and full bloom flowers atop the tomb.

- - - - -

Aboard the Death Star

"Galen Erso," starts Tarkin, trailing off as he watches Director Krennic with interest. "Along with countless other engineers and the rest of the Mining Refinery in Wobian were attacked by rebels, that's why you were forced back to fight back. In the process, Galen Erso was killed and the entire refinery was destroyed, is that it?"

Director Krennic stands up straighter, not showing any sign of fidgeting. "To be exact, Galen Erso had been working against us. He sent our missing cargo pilot to deliver a message to the rebels."

"Not our cargo pilot, Director," Tarkin counters as he narrows his eyes in suspicion. "A cargo pilot sent by your scientist. That's the proper way in defining them."

Krennic's frown deepens. He had always been in a foul mood every time that he needs to confront Grand Moff Tarkin. "I would also say that my scientist perfected the ultimate weapon of this galaxy, and—"

"The Death Star is under my command," interrupts the other with a sly smile. "Not yours. You may take all the credit. But let me remind you that the betrayal of your scientist reflects badly to your image. That alone made the Emperor to assign the Death Star to be under my liege."

"Empire Day is within this week. Should we be celebrating two decades of victory in Coruscant?"

"You were not chosen as representative to be present for the festivity in Coruscant, Director," a voice of a man Krennic earns to fear says as it comes from the alleyway and enter in to the control room of the Death Star.

Even without turning around, Krennic himself knew who the owner of the voice is. Apparently, he earns to fear this man as he fears the Emperor, just because this young man about two times younger than his age is the Emperor's right hand and an incredible Force-user of the dark arts. If it wasn't for the Emperor favoring him and his inborn ancient magic tricks, Krennic will despise such young man for being so ego-centered. After all, fear is a stronger motivation of jealousy than hatred.

"We are to ensure that no harm will happen in Coruscant for the Empire Day's event," the newly arrived man continues, stopping about two meters away from where Krennic stands.

Slowly, composing his own stature, Krennic turns to look at the young man whose face was covered by a silver mask with red tints on where his eyes are, and a sardonic curve of a smile mark on where his lips should be. He greets the young man, "I heard that you've felt an approached of rebels. I hope that you're finished on taking care of them."

"I heard that you've lost a vital engineer of yours in the field, and a whole mining refinery destroyed," the other counters.

"Lord Seunbir, you must know that I've done everything in my power to protect the base," Krennic defends as he sees Tarkin smiles, enjoying that he is already fidgeting. "Unfortunately, my power had been not enough to protect it."

"The whole galaxy is one huge space for one to be able to protect it with his own power alone," Seunbir says.

Krennic bows his head, a smile slowly playing on his lips. But that smile instantly disappears when the edgy feeling of something closing around his throat turns out to feel like a strong-arm's hand. He tries clearing his throat first, adjusting his collar.

"However, you could have tried much more, Director," Seunbir announces as he fists his hand much more against Krennic in a brutal Force choke. "You're lucky that I am merciful compared to the Emperor. But I won't tolerate a failure again. Am I understood?"

The invisible hand that circles Krennic's throat vanishes in an instant. He coughs and clears his throat. Looking away from Seunbir, he sees Tarkin smirking at his vulnerability and being under the clutches of someone much higher than him. He could see the teasing question that lingers on Tarkin's gaze, the one asking: 'Who is the one much superior between the two of us now? Learn your lesson.'

He then turns to where Darth Seunbir stands. He could swear that the only visible part of his face that is enough to taunt him had been his eyes—a pair of fiery red orbs that seems to seek through his thoughts. The Force couldn't make him cringe because of its link to the old religion that the Republic believed in. But if one as superior as Seunbir could do such thing by the mere connection he has with the Force, he could swear that he'll really fear it.

Krennic gulps in hard, composes his stature once again and says, "Yes, My Lord."

Before he could even turn away from his heel, he hears Seunbir calling for him again, saying, "And if by any chance you encounter the rebels, I'll appreciate it very much if you'll contact me."

He slowly turns around again, looking at Seunbir. He tries to analyze the man, even how futile his action is. He almost smirks when he realizes that the only reason that the Sith Lord will order him such means that the latter had sensed something of interest than of great value. No doubt that it will involve a Jedi or Force sensitives; not to mention that one of the planets with such sacrament of a Jedi, Jedha, was annihilated by the Death Star as its primary test few days ago.

***
A/N:

First of all, the reason that I set the story closely intertwined with characters from Rogue One is simply because I am creating my own world and a respective timeline on here, okay? I know that I am walking on thin ice with how huge the Star Wars fandom is, but believe me, I am also one of you! But, a clear reminder: I do not own the characters, but I am creating a fanfiction here.

A reviewer had told me to take note of details for the previous chapter. I somehow forgot to say that the entire concept of this fanfiction of mine is a complete AU, meaning that I have control of the timeline. And since in this fanfiction Anakin didn't turn to the dark side, resisting it with his empowering anger much greater onto the Emperor than to trust him with Padmé's life, things have changed. If not quiet later, but drastically. Thank you for pointing out the notes that I'll be pointing out:

- The 501st Legion alone couldn't fight all the Jedis left in the Temple: We only got to see the side of Anakin's perspective with the attack on the Temple at the previous chapter. The only legion that he had seen was his own which had been the 501st Legion. Anakin didn't see other familiar members of the Torrent Company, such as Rex and other survivors of the 501st. (Sorry Clone Wars fans, but I will keep Fives and Echo dead here. Don't think that I don't like them in this story; I love them, to be honest.) That didn't mean that only the 501st attacked the Temple; there are other legions. Also, you must anticipate that there are much more Jedis here, living in hiding and haunted one by one.

- Darth Vader practically could sense a Jedi's presence: Another note, Darth Vader will not appear. Since the start, I've said that Anakin Skywalker didn't turn to the dark side.

- Then that means that Order 66 is different?: Yes, Order 66 had made a slight change on this fanfiction. It is true that the order is still Order 66, the annihilation of the entire Jedis. Since Anakin didn't turn to the dark side, Darth Vader didn't exist. So there's the question of who lead them in? Basically, no one does. The legions of clones basically marched in without leading them. There were flaws in the prequels about why haven't the Jedi set a barrier already when they took notice of a legion of clones marching in. But here, I am going to solve that problem on the next note. For here, Order 66 had been altered to somehow like "annihilate the Jedi Order, but keep Skywalker alive. Capture him, bring him to the Emperor, and let the Emperor do the rest."

- How come the Jedis didn't set up a barrier against the clone legions marching in?: The clones, even if one asked a Jedi, will say that the clones have been their comrade. Jedis had posted as their generals and commanders, and throughout the Clone Wars, we've seen the attachment that had existed between Jedi officers and clones. So basically, they don't anticipate that the clones will attack them. Also, most of the greatest Jedis have been in mission to other planets, and the rest of the  Council itself had been away in confronting the Emperor. So you'll ask me, what about their security? Let me remind that there are legions of clones. Not just one, kindly read the first note.

- Are you going to tell what happened between the encounter of the Jedi Council to Palpatine?: Of course, I would. But right now, I am saving it for some other chapter.

Forgive me for my grammar! Still, I want to hear your reactions, your reviews and comments! Especially with The Last Jedi. (ahhhhh!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!)

May the Force Be with You!
Sydney Flaire