Hello there! Welcome to my all new fic, AKA, my summer project!

Little info before we kick off here. First of all, I have NEVER read the EU. Ever. Now, despite that fact. I happen to love Mara Jade's character, and really enjoy reading fics with her in it. I've read her wookiee on Wookieepedia, so I know about her, but for the sake of this story, if something is not quite AU to her character, let it slide. This is an AU. Things will change, occur sooner, differently, later, and not canon.

That said, I will be following some major events that happened in the OT. Not all of them, since as Mara's character is woven through the story, she'll alter and prevent certain events.

Now that that is out of the way, I'll give you the disclaimer, and we can go read this like the Star Wars Fans/Nerds we all are.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own this. That dude, Lucas, in Flannel owns the characters. I may just happen to own the AU part of this plot.

Mara, the Rebel

Chapter One

"Why, hello, Commander Skywalker," Wedge called out sarcastically, putting his Sabacc cards down on the makeshift table of crates they had assembled. "So nice of you to grace us with your presence!"

"Can it, Wedge," Luke rolled his eyes, before pulling up a chair and sitting down a the table. "I've been in meetings all afternoon."

"Yeah, that's what you get for blowing up the Death Star," Wedge mocked and Wes chuckled from his seat next to Luke.

"Yeah, really," Luke rolled his eyes. "High Command wants to make a new Squadron separate from the Gold Squadron. Apparently I get my pick on who flies with me."

"So?" Hobbie asked, expectantly, grinning ear to ear. He leaned in. "Did we make it?"

"What kind of question is that?" Luke laughed. "What do you guys want to be called? It's us four and that new kid, Dak."

"How about, the Jansonettes?" Wes said, throwing his hands out in a gesture meant to present the words.

"How about, no?" Wedge shot him down. The four of them laughed.

"We need something that sets us apart from the others," Hobbie said, staring at the table, lost in thought. "Something... mysterious..."

"Yeah..." Wes said, giving Hobbie a sideways glance.

"He might be on to something," Wedge said, furrowing his brow. "I got it! Rogues! We're the Rogue Squadron!"

"I like that," Luke nodded, "let's go with that."

"We are the Rogues!" Wes laughed, raising his shot glass of Corellian brandy up in the air. Everyone followed, Luke holding up his empty glass since he'd just sat down.

…..

Mara Jade wandered into the dark and seedy bar to find her contact. She was risking a lot by doing this. Disobeying the Emperor? Let alone defecting? It was unheard of Hands defecting, let alone the Emperor's top Hand. Mara shook her head. She was defecting, get over it.

In the back of the bar, she spotted a pilot and a woman with a white cloak over her head. Immediately, she recognized the signal that the Alliance had given her to recognize the contact.

She slid into the chair across from the pair. "Coruscant – Zabrak – Nerf – Force – Republic," she said evenly.

"Dantooine – Jedi – Hutt – Shaak – Empire," the woman in white said, and lowered her hood. Mara let out a light gasp as she saw Princess Organa's face. It wasn't the first time she'd seen the Princess of the late Alderaan, but she truly didn't expect them to send a valuable member of the Alliance.

"I have to be sure you are sincere, Ms. Jade," Leia told her evenly. Leia's eyes spoke the seriousness of her words and what Mara was about to do.

"I am, Your Highness," Mara smiled. "You have yourself to thank for that."

"How so, might I ask?" Leia asked, a twitch of a smile at the corner of her lips.

"Alderaan was the final straw for me."

Though Leia didn't flinch, her eyes flashed the hurt that she felt. Alderaan was a sore scab on her heart even these three years later.

"Then I believe we have a Rebellion to get to," Leia said. Mara glanced at the pilot to the right of Leia, and noticed that the entire time they were talking, his hand never left his holster. Smart man. Too bad Mara was actually defecting, and this wasn't a ruse.

Leia returned the hood of her cloak to her head, and the three departed the bar and into the bright Kuat sunlight. They walked to the nearby docking bay, thankfully undetected, and boarded what Mara could only assume was the Millennium Falcon.

The pilot closed the ramp, and Mara looked around the main hold. It was a spacious freighter, as was usual of freighter ship designs, but the Force surrounding the hold was permeated with someone strong in the force. She was tempted to ask if they knew a Jedi, but the fact she would ask that question would be suspicious and would blow her cover as an average TIE pilot.

"Welcome to the Falcon," the Pilot grinned. Fastest Hunk of Junk in the Galaxy!"

Mara grinned. "Faster than a Super Star Destroyer?"

"No less," he chuckled. "I'm Han Solo. My Co-Pilot should be around here somewhere." He turned from her and called out. "Chewie!"

A growl was heard from the quarters of the ship and soon a Wookiee made himself present.

"Yeah, yeah, you can take a nap later," Han waved at him. "We need to get this thing in the sky."

The two headed off for the cockpit, leaving Mara alone with the Princess.

"Where is the Rebellion located?" Mara asked. The princess threw her a sideways glance, and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry Ms. Jade, but I can't tell you that until we are there," she stated, and Mara nodded and smiled.

"Of course. I don't know why I would've thought you'd tell me," Mara let out a chuckle. "Oh, and, just call me Mara. Enough of this Ms. Jade stuff."

"As you wish," the Princess nodded. She took a seat over by the dejarek table, as the engines to the Falcon roared to life. "You may want to sit. Han may be a good pilot, but it'll still be a rocky take off."

Mara nodded and sat down at one of the navigation panels. Sure enough, a few seconds later, they shifted slightly and then took off, the ride bumpy the whole way out of the atmosphere. They made the jump to Hyperspace in silence, and then Han and his copilot came to the hold.

"Well, we're off Your Highness! Another safe trip!" Han grinned and took a seat next to the Princess at the Dejarek table. He threw his arms up around the back of the seat and relaxed.

"How long will it be until we make it to the base?" Mara asked, figuring that was a question that wouldn't break security measures.

"Eight hours, give or take," Han stated. Mara nodded, the assassin in her calculating ever area in the galaxy that could take eight hours. She figured the base was in the Outer Rim, but it must be in one of the less desirable systems. Of course.

"You were a TIE pilot, right?" Han asked, looking at her inquisitively.

Mara nodded automatically. That was her cover after all. "Why?"

"Well, one, because the Empire ain't really savvy to women outranking men. And two, I think the Kid might want to see how you do flying and may want to recruit you."

"The kid?"

"Luke Skywalker," The Princess stated. Mara's jaw dropped.

"The guy that blew up the Death Star?" she asked, surprised. "Man, does Vader have it in for him."

The words left her mouth before she could think about them. A TIE fighter wouldn't know about the more private missions the Dark Lord went on. A flicker of something (suspicion?) crossed Princess Leia's face, before being quickly masked.

"Yeah, that's him," Han grinned, either oblivious to her slip, or just better at masking it than the Princess.

"Wow," Mara nodded, smiling. She had to make her cover back up, and fast. If the Princess didn't trust her, she might end up arriving at the Rebel base in Binders...

Hoth base was alive with activity. Princess Leia was due back today with yet another defected Imperial. Since the Battle of Yavin IV almost three years ago, the Rebellion's ranks have nearly doubled. They were still incredibly smaller than the Empire, but the more they had, the less the Empire did. Anything was good.

General Rieekan stood in the Command Center, going over his daily duties, caffe in hand, and data pad in the other. He'd received a conformation pick up message from Princess Leia late last night, and she was due back in an hour. He reread the stats on the new recruit, noting her young age and yet her incredible status in the Empire. A little too incredible, but if the Empire was good at anything, their non-clone pilots were some of them. Yet her gender seemed the biggest thing off to him. He was not being sexist in the slightest, Force no. Some of the founding members of the Alliance were female, and were still some of the strongest in their ranks.

But the Empire was bias to women, let alone female pilots. And this Mara Jade was listed as top in her class and a lieutenant with several honors. His paranoid side could not ignore the chance that these were dummy records. He'd be keeping a watch on Ms. Jade.

"General!" a voice called, and Rieekand looked over at Commander Skywalker entering the center. He approached the general with his usual bright eyed smile and happy body language.

"What can I do for you, Skywalker?" Rieekand smiled.

"Any word on Leia and Han? Did they get the recruit?"

"As a matter of fact, they were successful, and will be returning within the hour save for mechanical error."

Luke laughed. "Can never trust the Falcon, right?"

"No, you really can't," Rieekand chuckled. "I believe this recruit may be suitable for your squadron, actually."

"Really? How good is he?" Luke asked, leaning in to see Rieekand's outstretched Data pad

"She."

Luke glanced up in surprise. "Empire and a female pilot?"

"It startled us all," Rieekand admitted. "But if she made it as a TIE pilot then she must be good."

"I hope so," Luke nodded. He glanced down at the picture of a red haired woman with brilliant green eyes and a stoic face looking back up at him. Her hair was neatly pulled back into a pony-tail and draped over the shoulder of her pilot's uniform. A cap topped her head and her insignia displayed many honors. "Wow, look at these achievements!"

"Yes," Rieekand agreed. "That's why I'm recommending her for the Rogues, instead of the Gold Squadron. It's no secret that your Squadron has the best pilots of the Alliance."

"Thank you, sir," Luke smiled up at the General.

"It's the truth, Skywalker," he smiled, placing a hand on Luke's shoulder.

An alarm sounded over in the flight control station, and Rieekand looked over. "That's probably them now, actually." He headed over to the station, and Luke followed.

"Echo Base, this is the Falcon, requesting clearance to land," Han's voice sounded over the comm.

"Echo Base to Falcon, landing clearance granted," the tech replied, clearing the codes and and alerting the Deck Officer via comm message.

"I'll go down to great them, General," Luke said, grinning. Rieekand nodded, and Luke bounded out of the Command Center and to the Hanger where the Falcon began to land.

REVIEW! I can't stress that enough!

This story will stretch through RotJ as I see it right now. I have a TON of exciting scenes played out in my head that I want to do for ESB arc. Everything from Luke vs. the Wampa to the Med Bay Scene to Dagobah and Bespin! I can't wait to write them up.

For now though, we still are in the beginning stage, and will be for a few more chapters before we even TOUCH ESB.

And for those that are doubting things, as I'm sure you are, Mara IS actually defecting. She's not a double agent, and is going to be facing some consequences as the Emperor finds out. What they are, you can worry your head over until we get there.

Don't for get, REVIEW!