Rise of the Rebellion

***Rise of the Rebellion*** is a three-session long season finale for *Star Wars: Age of Rebellion*, Season Two. It chronicles the final climactic battle between the Rebellion and the Galactic Empire, with the rebel fighters up against tremendous odds as they struggle to restore freedom to Peldaasa and the hundreds of slaves held hostage by the Empire.

## Synopsis

### **RISE OF THE REBELLION, Part I**

*War in the Outer Rim! A band of scrappy resistance fighters has mounted daring attacks against the forces of the evil GALACTIC EMPIRE, inspiring dozens of citizens to stand up and rally under the banner of the REBELLION.*

*With the power of the Jedi to inspire them, allies to support them, and a commander to lead them, the forces of the Rebellion stand resolute in their mission to free Peldaasa, a war-torn planet on the galaxy's sparse frontier.*

*Sergeant Major Exleire, the leader of the rebel movement, has been ambushed during a risky mission to obtain equipment for their secret base. Now, it is up to his friends, Kel Forsec and Korvas Noth, to aid their comrade. They rush through the conflicted spaceport, where pitched street fighting has violently erupted....*

The view pans down to show the *Prosecutor* above Peldaasa, with an antique *Pelta*-class frigate flying past the immense Star Destroyer's ventral hull, continuing down to the troubled planet. On the surface, total war has erupted between rebel troopers of the Protectors and the awesome power of the Empire. The streets of Yus Kreega are alight with flames from wrecked homes, businesses, and destroyed equipment. Blasterfire rips through the streets as stormtroopers rush to kill rebel insurgents before they can escape after ambushing the armor clad troopers. Although war has broken out, not every building and structure has been reduced to rubble, as both sides attempt to preserve as much life and culture as they can. If not to preserve life itself, than to appear as the heroes fighting tyranny or terrorism.

After hearing a desperate comlink call from their friend and comrade Exleire, Korvas and Kel race through the troubled streets, vaulting over walls, taking cover from incoming blasterfire behind moisture vaporators, and ducking underneath red sandstone overhangs. Korvas yanks both of his heavily-modified blaster pistols out of their holsters, squeezing off shot after shot. As two stormtroopers drop dead, Korvas takes cover behind a red sandstone wall, looking over at Kel and asking him what's next. The boy Jedi simply swats back a few red blaster bolts, smiling over and replying to his Gank friend, "Rescue Exleire again, of course. Getting really tired of having to do that."

"Yeah, the armor-clad creature replies, and the two rebel heroes continue their rush to the rescue. As they do, Exleire is still pinned by Imperial fire with two of his men, taking shelter in the middle of the town’s junkyard. The brave troopers occasionally pop out of cover to shoot back at the stormtroopers, then hiding behind cover as Exleire calls for help. The Commander blasts at a stormtrooper, hitting him square in the chest. The trooper's armor takes most of the impact, and continues blasting at the rebels. Exleire tells his men to keep up the fire and that help is on the way.

Finally reaching the junkyard, Kel and Korvas peer out from around the corner as they see the six stormtroopers maneuvering on their friends. Noticing Exleire and his men in a serious predicament, Kel leaps out from cover, surprising the two nearest troopers with a perfect Ataru leap and attack, killing both of them in a dramatic and acrobatic fashion. Korvas turns and blasts another trooper, watching in awe as the young Jedi attacks the other two troopers, killing one of them with an impressive Hawk Bat Swoop.

Exleire, full of glee after seeing his friends arrive, turns to his troopers and gives them a inspiring rhetoric about the heroism of the Rebellion, shocked after turning and seeing his Gank comrade land next to him after powering up his jetpack, blasting another trooper midair, and landing behind cover to support the rebels. The troopers give a massive amount of covering fire for Kel, and the boy jumps over their position, using a flurry of lightsaber motions to bring the last trooper down.

Triumphant, the rebels reunite and make plans to return to Phalanx Base. Before they can start off through the embattled streets, however, they get a comm signal from Cara on their comlinks, who reports that an unidentified ship is requesting that they meet them on the outskirts of the frontier town. Cara warns them though that their transceiver isn't transmitting, and he can't tell if the ship is friend of foe. Thanking the veteran for his report, the rebels walk off to the vessel, keeping an eye out for anymore trouble.

Arriving at the starship unmolested, Korvas identifies the ship from a glance that it is an old Republic *Pelta*-class frigate. Kel mentions that it could be reinforcements, but Exleire reminds him that there are no other active resistance cells in the system besides their own. As the boarding ramp lowers, two bodyguards descend down the ramp, taking position at the sides of the entryway, their blue shirts, black vests, and black and white slick-backed helmets identifying them as security personnel. "Come along, Artoo" a mechanical voice rings out from the boarding ramp, and the rebels are surprised when a young woman and two droids, an R2 unit and a gold protocol droid walk up to them.

"Hellooo, beautiful," Kel greets the young woman, smiling broadly and setting his hands on his hips. The girl only gives a slightly annoyed and puzzled look, answering, "Not the kind of welcome I was expecting."

"Well to be honest, sweetheart," the Jedi replies, "your sheer beauty deserves no less form of greeting than that."

"In your dreams, laser brain." The girl laughs.

"Ha! Laser brain. I'm gonna use that one sometime." Korvas also laughs.

After putting two and two together, Exleire gives a short bow, looking at the girl and saying, "My lady. What gives us the pleasure of meeting you?"

Ending her chuckling, the girl gives her best diplomatic presence, standing tall with her arms at her sides, "Sergeant Major Exleire, I assume?

### **RISE OF THE REBELLION, Part II**

*It is a period of civil war. Independent rebel cells from across the galaxy battle the forces of the evil GALACTIC EMPIRE, standing firm in the face of overwhelming tyranny.*

*Striking a crucial blow for freedom, the Protectors, a rebel cell based on the backwater frontier planet PELDAASA, have captured the planet-wide Imperial communications tower. With it, they have stolen highly sensitive intelligence detailing the Empire's insidious plans for the troubled world.*

*Seeking retribution for their loss, the Empire has activated a powerful PLANETARY SHIELD, preventing any ships from entering or leaving the system. Without reinforcements, it is only a matter of time until the rebels are hunted down and destroyed....*

As the opening screen crawl pans upwards and disappears, the view pans down to show the Imperial fleet orbiting Peldaasa in a tight defensive formation. Quickly revealing Yus Kreega after a screen wipe, the town is cleaning up from the previous days of war. The few buildings that have been knocked down to rubble are being cleared by automated cleaner droids and maintenance techs, using repulsorcranes to lift debris off of pieces of people's former homes.

Inside Phalanx Base, with the *Valiant*, the rechristened name of the *Pelta*-class frigate given to the Peldaasan rebels by Princess Leia and her father Bail Organa, in the background, the rebel heroes are regrouping to continue their fight against the Empire. Rebel technicians help fix and refuel the *Scrapper*, work on various base electronic and mechanical systems, and guard the base. Coming back in from their patrol, Kel Forsec and Korvas Noth walk in, shaking the snow from themselves as they ask one of the nearby troopers to activate the overhead docking bay shield. A blue ray shield opens at the top of the hangar, keeping the rebels warm and protected against the growing snowstorm.

Exleire asks both his friends to meet him in the Command and Control Center, where he, M-3PO, and G2-9T are reviewing intelligence data and checking on the rebuilding process through the town. Korvas informs his rebel comrades about the transmission he forwarded to the base, and the rebels read Imperial Transmission Log 74-8173. After doing so, they realize the entire plot laid out to them. They agree, after much debate, that checking out Fort Gison will lead to further clues on where to find Governor Garr so they can bring her to justice.

Kel soars off on his speeder bike, reaching Fort Gison and cautiously venturing inside. He finds it abandoned, and wanders through the fort's snow-drifted passageways, finding a malfunctioning datapad. Satisfied with his search, the young Jedi returns to his speeder, blazing off through the snowstorm to discover the secrets inside.

#### **Populace support**

Korvas, meanwhile, has gone out into the streets to help in the reconstruction process. Not halfway down the street does he find a Gotal father and son working together on their family's power generator, and offers his help. Seeing the Gank and immediately becoming suspicious of some offworlder trying to rob his family in the wake of conflict, the Gotal sends his son into the house and questions why Korvas is there. After a short conversation in which the rebel tries to convince the alien that he means no harm, the Gotal simply refuses his service and returns inside to his family, thanking him anyways. Korvas returns to Phalanx Base, realizing that people must still be suspicious of his Gank heritage.

While his friends have gone off on their own, Exleire has sent some of his troops to help rebuild, realizing that they know the town and its inhabitants very well since they are from Peldaasa. Organizing gear, rechecking intelligence feed, and doing routine Commander duties, the Sullustan patiently waits for his friends to return. After a few hours they both return, and Exleire and the others continue their strategy.

Reading the now fully-charged datapad, the rebels conclude that they can do only one thing: they must destroy or disable the shield generator so a friendly ship can collect reinforcements for their fight to liberate the planet. Realizing that Governor Garr is inside Deep Omega Nine and that they will need reinforcements and more troops to attack the mine, they agree that disabling or destroying the shield generator is the best move. They decide to not take any troops with them and set out on two separate speeder bikes; Kel and Exleire on his, Korvas on a captured speeder bike from the previous depot raid. They are not able to fly to the generator because they know they will be found by enhanced Imperial sensors and shot out of the sky.

#### **Speeder bike chase**

A couple of hours passes by, and the rebels are tracked and attacked by three scout troopers aboard their own speeder bikes. Kel decreases his speed to come across even with one of the troopers, igniting his lightsaber and killing the trooper with his Jedi weapon. Korvas takes a quick turn down a narrow canyon, unfortunately losing his friends behind him but keeping the Imperials on his tail. Both troopers land hits on his speeder with their own vehicles' weapons, and the Gank launches off the bike with his jetpack.

The troopers peer around for where their quarry disappeared to, but one of them crashes into a nearby rock wall, with the other failing to right his course as he attempts to avoid his comrades explosion, clipping the tail end of his speeder bike on a rock and spinning in circles before exploding on another large rock. Korvas sees this just before he slams to the ground after his jetpack will not start, knocking him unconscious and causing several wound damage.

After seeing the two explosions off in the distance, Kel and Exleire swerve back into the canyon to find Korvas. Kel eventually sees the Gank's arm laying off the edge of the cliff above them, and he stops to climb the surface. Using the Force to enhance his skill, the young Jedi throws his friend over his shoulder and jumps over the edge, once again using the Force to break his fall. Exleire immediately helps perform aid on Korvas, and the two rebels help him regain consciousness. They all agree that it would be best to set up camp for the night, especially with the pitch black night coming soon. Gathering nearby firewood, the band of rebels starts up a fire and sets up camp with Kel's Wilderness Survival Kit, which has been stowed on the boy's speeder bike the entire time.

#### **Encounter with Jakobeasts**

As the rebels settle in to their camp, they hear a strange mellowing in the distance, and Exleire sees a herd of some strange creature he has never seen before moving their direction. Korvas recalls that they are Jakobeasts, a herd animal found across most ice and mountainous Outer Rim worlds. Slowly inching forward to pet one, the Gank manages to convince one that he means no harm, and begins petting the animal. Three separate Jakobeasts meander up to Kel after he relaxes his body language to show no harm, and the young Jedi can feel that they are together powerful in the Force. Slighly pushing him forward together with the Force, they slightly bond with Kel. The herd eventually moves off next to the rebels, and each group settles in to sleep.

The next morning the rebels pack up Kel's gear, mounting it aboard the speeder bike and arranging themselves to be able to fit all three of them aboard. They succeed and take off, eventually arriving at the bottom of a large cliff, where they can see the planetary shield generator atop beaming out its invisible shield. Receiving a call from M-3PO on their comlinks, the droid directs their attention to a bunker entrance at the base of the cliff, just one hundred meters to their right. Thanking the droid, the rebels power down the speeder bike and begin walking that way. As Kel and Korvas walk straight up to the front entrance, Exleire takes a position along the side with his blaster rifle, ready for any barrage of blasterfire that might erupt around them at any moment.

#### **Infiltrating the facility**

After many failed attempts, Korvas is unable to slice open the door panel, and Kel, frustrated and ready to get some action, ignites his lightsaber and cuts a hole in the blast door. Peering through the dim interior, they notice that it is empty, and cautiously venture inside with their weapons presented in front of them. Doing a quick Perception check, they see that there are three separate doorways. A turbolift sits ahead of them, ready to lift its passengers up to the next floor, and two other angular doorways sit on opposite sides of each other. Kel boards the turbolift while Korvas inspects the right room, hearing snoring and concluding that it must be a barracks. He locks the doorway and carefully walks over to Exleire, who is standing inside the other room, which they conclude is being used to store speeder bikes and other basic equipment.

As his friends inspect the separate rooms, Kel is brought up several hundred feet to the next level, and carefully disembarks the turbolift. Walking through the dark hallway, the Jedi is surprised from behind by a monstrous security droid. Making quick work of it after avoiding its snare net, the young Jedi performs a backwards Hawk Bat Swoop, his blue lightsaber blade cutting through the droid's thick armor and destroying it. At that moment, the turbolift opens up behind him, and Kel is greeted by his friends, who he believed at first were more droids or even stormtroopers.

#### **Inside the facility**

> *"Look, we've gotten though this much. We can handle these guys."*
>
>

- Kel Forsec inspiring his friends with his bravado

With the three rebel heroes all together again, they open the large blast door ahead of them. After it finishes its slow opening, the rebel infiltrators are shocked to see they are on the ground floor of the entire shield generator facility, with stormtroopers patrolling the base, TIE fighters streaking by overhead, and the immense shield dish projecting itself high into the air above them. After witnessing an AT-AT stomping up to a docking port on the side of the large landing pad, Kel decides that he will hijack the walker. Sneaking past the stormtroopers by using the scattered cargo crates and shadows around him, the young Jedi makes his way to a ladder on the side of the landing pad, beginning his long climb up.

As Kel makes his way to the AT-AT, Korvas and Exleire attempt to do the same, except going directly to the turbolift at the base of one of the two columns supporting the huge pad. Korvas makes it, but Exleire is roughly grabbed from behind, and the last thing Korvas sees before the turbolift door shuts is Exleire being questioned by two stormtroopers. Eventually the turbolift stops at the top of the landing pad, and the Gank is stranded and surrounded by TIE pilots performing maintenance on the four separate TIE strikers scattered across the landing pad.

Kel finishes his climb to the top of the ladder, enhancing his jump to his left and landing on the top of the walker. Yanking open the back entry port with the Force, the boy Jedi jumps inside. Sneaking behind a cargo crate recently loaded in the walker's entrance, he sees two stormtroopers of a variant he has never seen before, and Force pushes a crate into two of the troopers. Jumping out and performing another Hawk Bat Swoop, he kills another trooper with a swipe from his lightsaber, blocking blaster bolts fired from the remaining trooper.

Korvas hears this and makes his way as quick as he can to another cargo crate, tripping on a fuel line but scrambling over behind the crate. A TIE pilot walks over to investigate, thinking that the line has a kink, shocked to instead witness the Gank hiding behind the crate. Pulling his light blaster pistol from its holster, the pilot questions why Korvas is there. The Gank simply blasts the pilot after Quickdrawing his blaster pistols, launching off on his jetpack and landing on the AT-AT's back.

#### **Attacking the shield dish**

> *"Walker 57-Aurek 3, what is going on up there? We haven't finished loading you!"*
>
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- A frustrated technician questions the new crew of the AT-AT

Kel finishes the last trooper by deflecting the blaster bolts back into him, turning and opening the circular door to the "head" of the walker. A driver, surprised to see the boy, asks, "What the-" before being Force pushed into his comrade behind him, knocking them both unconscious. Taking position in the walker's pilot seat, the Jedi thumps his way to where he can target the shield dish. Korvas has just landed on the AT-AT's back at this point and struggles to keep his balance, falling inside the walker's hatch. Reuniting with his friend at taking the pilot's seat so Kel can man the guns, the two rebels march their way across the facilty, blasting at the shield dish with the walker's massive guns.

Exleire, with his bad luck, has been stunned by the stormtroopers after he tells them that they are the ones intruding on the peaceful peoples of Peldaasa, and eventually wakes up after the AT-AT's laser blasts shock him awake. He grabs his blaster rifle sitting leaning on the wall next to him and runs for cover past the shocked stormtroopers, who were reporting to their commander that they captured a rebel prisoner. The Sullustan blasts a trooper, killing him instantly as he drops to the ground, and continues his fight as the second trooper races to cover and begins shooting back. Realizing that Kel must have stolen the walker, the Commander kills the second trooper with his blaster rifle and runs to join his friends.

#### **A second chance**

> *"Hey! This is Cara, come in!"*
>
>

> *"Haha! We read you Cara, this is Korvas. Thanks for the assist!"*
>
>

> *"Don't mention it. We need to get out of here now! There's only a limited amount of time that shield will be down."*
>
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- Cara contacting his three rebel friends

As the two commandeers of the AT-AT continue their assault, the TIE strikers have launched from their landing pad and swarm the walker, attempting the knock it down. Fearful of being instantly destroyed, Kel and Korvas grow curious when one of the TIEs explodes, with a ship racing by at top speed. Greeted by Cara's voice over their comlinks, they see the *Scrapper* zooming around the facilty, shooting the TIEs out of the sky and providing a distraction for their friends on the ground.

Exleire, meanwhile, sees the sole unoccupied TIE striker that the pilot Korvas killed earlier would have used, and boards the landing pad's turbolift and ascends to its top surface. He jumps inside the open starfighter's hatch, closing it and powering up its controls and engines. Unfortunately for the Commander, he never learned how to fly a TIE, let alone fly anything, and as the starship lifts up from the landing pad it begins banging around several buildings and structures. Not aware that Exleire is flying the TIE, Cara orders Boris, who is inside the nose gun of the ship, to destroy it. Realizing that his friends are trying to kill him, Exleire punches in the transponder for the *Scrapper*, but with all the jarring he is doing inside the ship, accidentally contacts the *Shadow's Scepter* instead in a strange twist of fate.

#### **Destinies collide**

> *"Statement: Drone, it appears we are receiving a transmission."*
>
>

> *"Put it through."*
>
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> *"Query: Who is this?"*
>
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- HK-51 and Drone receiving a communications call from an unknown source inside the *Shadow's Scepter*

Thousands of light-years away, in the tunnel of hyperspace, HK-51 and IG-100 "Drone" are piloting the tramp freighter, the *Shadow's Scepter*. Receiving a communications transmission from an unknown source, they put it through, with the assassin droid demanding who is contacting them. Hearing a rushed bit of Sullustese asking them to stop shooting at him, and the sound of banging and a TIE engine screaming in the background, the droids shut off the call, with Drone searching on the navicomputer where the transmission originated from. "Peldaasa system, far Outer Rim." the droid answers his comrade, and HK-51 tells Chalkurra, who has just walked into the cockpit after wondering what the noise was about, to chart a hyperspace jump to Peldaasa. The Wookiee succeeds, and Drone mentions aloud that he has previously been to Peldaasa. Big Doc meanders inside the cockpit behind his old Wookiee friend, yelling, "Oh good! I forgot to get the rest of me bushweed from Perdrassa." The *Shadow's Scepter* then adjusts its course, unknowingly about to encounter the group of rebels they will eventually fight alongside by in many coming battles and adventures.

#### **Escape from the shield generator**

After such a barrage of laser fire, the shield dish has been Critically Hit, but not destroyed, as the walker's sensors read that it has been temporarily shut down, with the enveloping planetary shield evaporating over the planet. Several AT-ST's and AT-DP's walk out from their hangars, blasting away at the walker. Kel grabs Korvas and with the Gank holding his back jumps out the open side entrance, using the Force to break their fall. After landing on the hard surface, both notice an unoccupied base transport speeder, diving inside and racing past the walkers. Rocked by a volley of laser fire, the speeder's aft slams into the legs of an AT-ST, unbalancing it and causing it to fall to its side and explode.

The two foolhardy rebels then buckle in the speeder and drive it straight off the cliff, plunging to their imminent deaths below. They crash, knocked unconscious, as the burning metal from the transport speeder lays around them, signaling their location to both their friends and the Imperials. Cara plunges the *Scrapper* down to retrieve his friends, and he, Corbin, and Boris bring them inside and rush them to Phalanx Base, retrieving Kel's speeder bike as well. With Exleire covering them after finally contacting the *Scrapper* and informing them that he is the one flying the TIE after he adjusts to the controls of the TIE, the rebels fly back to their base. As Boris helps render aid with several base medical staff, rushing them off to be taken care of, Exleire lands the TIE in the other docking bay, rushing to help his friends as well.

Cara grabs Corbin, Goose, and Roowarra, telling them to board the *Scrapper* and jump in. Launching out from the docking bay and streaking towards space, Cara tells them that they need to get to Port Tooga and try to convince their other rebel allies to help support them, or Kel, Exleire, Korvas, and all the other rebels are doomed. The freighter races into open space above the planet as the planetary shield once again envelops the world, racing towards the *Prosecutor* and priming the jump to hyperspace.

#### **Running the blockade**

As the *Scrapper* soars past the Star Destroyer, twisting and turning to avoid the green laser fire, Cara glances at Corbin, pointing at the hyperspace controls before grimacing from another explosion and turning his attention back to the viewport. “Alright, Corbin, the coordinates are set. Punch it!”

Corbin throws the throttle forward, asking Cara, “Do you think we can really knock that thing out? We can barely not get blown up just running away from it!”

“I don’t know, kid. But one’s thing for sure, we’ll see it again.” The stars stretch across the viewport, and the *Scrapper* launches into lightspeed, blasting away from the Comet World one last time.