Episode I: Herald of Fury (SWANV)

Hello fellow Star Wars fans,

We're excited to introduce Star Wars: A New Vision. With a fresh take on the Republic's and the Jedi's fall, and the life and choices of Darth Vader, these all new episodes sharply diverge from Lucas' prequels, while tapping into and developing the rich mythology of the Original Trilogy.

Episode I: Herald of Fury is complete and will be released in a serial format on Sundays starting January 4th on the Wattpad platform. We hope you will enjoy this contribution to Star Wars fandom, and we welcome your feedback.

EPISODE I: HERALD OF FURY SUMMARY

Anakin and Owen are the proud heirs of Skywalker Enterprises, the leading corporation on planet Rodia. When traitors attack their family’s corporation, the Skywalkers find themselves in a desperate fight for survival.

Their only hope lies with a Jedi Knight, Ben Kenobi, and his hastily assembled force of Republic crack troopers. Outnumbered and outgunned, Ben’s forces plan a stealth rescue operation. Yet unbeknownst to Ben, the greatest danger lies in the hearts of the people he trusts.

Herald of Fury is the first episode in a completely new series of Star Wars prequels from fan fiction authors Joseph and Martin Pulido. It will take you on a cannonball thrill ride to a galaxy far, far away, and leave you begging for more.

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SAMPLE CHAPTERS

In the coming weeks, we will be releasing chapters from Herald of Fury to give you a foretaste of what to expect next year.

1. Nico Crede. After being blindfolded for hours, Dr. Nico Crede is surprised to find herself questioned by Krul te Rosin in front of a galactic audience.

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This week we're releasing another sample chapter.

Anakin. A grueling simulation orchestrated by a former Jedi Knight Commander makes Anakin question whether or not he can be a Jedi.

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Anakin.

Anakin sprinted to a disabled heavy landspeeder, finding cover next to Republic soldiers and classmate Holis Veladrian. The firing of the vehicle's functioning turret pounded in his ears and shook his body. It joined a chorus of spitfire that engulfed the passway through a biolithic stone forest on Ord Mantell. Enormous creatures once roamed this region in bygone ages, which deposited layers of stones through physiological processes. Erosion wore away at the stones unevenly, such that columns rivalling a bantha's height jutted from the ground.

Unfortunately, the natural wonder provided effective cover for the enemy guerilla forces blasting on the Republic force’s location.

"This is Gold Leader," came a voice in Anakin's ear. "The convoy has successfully been redirected along Worwack pass. Advance party, fall back to where the defensive perimeter is stronger. You must hold off the insurgents as long as you can, while we get the cargo to safety."

Coordinates flashed across Anakin’s cybernetic contact lenses. It was quite a ways to retreat.

He glanced over at the vehicle. "Anyone left inside this thing?"

"Negative," said Holis. "Turret's fired remotely. You ready to head out?” Anakin nodded. “I'll cover you."

She signalled to the four soldiers with them, and they left the cover of the speeder. Holis and Anakin sprayed wildly at the enemies among the bioliths, as the team fell back.

It was odd to shoot at other humans. In prior exercises they'd fought wild beasts, and once faceless bipedal shades, but nothing that looked to Anakin to be so real. It made Anakin feel uncomfortable, but oddly amidst the smoke and noise, it was hard to feel like you were really aiming at anyone or anything; just the "them." It was chaos.

Several blasts took out the turret on the landspeeder. Now nothing but a giant paperweight, Anakin applied the force, hoisting the object up and hurtling it towards the source of blaster bolts amongst a group of bioliths. It wasn't something he could do in the real world, but in the sim he could pretend he was some sort of god. A jedi. The speeder crashed into several pillowing, rock pillars, tumbling several down, and silencing blaster fire.

"Show off," complained Holis. "Why didn't you think of something more useful like moving the speeder around as portable cover to put between us and their bolts?"

"Hey, I didn't see you doing anything. And I can still do that." He reached out. The speeder rattled, wedged strongly amongst some rocks. Maybe not, then.

"Anakin, watch your side!" Holis yelled. The insurgent force, observing their retreat, had come out of hiding and charged. Holis pulled on some loose rocks, and sent them tumbling toward the approaching enemy line, tripping up and making soldiers jump out of the way. With another motion, she pulled several rifles straight out of their hands.

Away from the cover, the enemies were easier to see. Anakin leveled his blaster on one of the incoming assailants, about to pull the trigger, when he froze. The moving target had a face resembling his brother Owen's. What was going on? He moved his blaster over and targeted another enemy -- it was his friend Garesh. He hesitated, and all went grey. He'd been taken out by enemy fire.

Within minutes, the sim was over. The stone forest turned a pale transparent blue, the vehicles disappeared, and Anakin and his classmates all appeared in front of a middle-aged man with a thick moustache and impeccable posture: Master Boril Hildebrant. The former Jedi knight commander was more intimidating than Anakin had expected, even when in sim. Did he work to be that prickly, or was it his natural demeanor?

"You failed," said Hildebrant flatly. "Not spectacularly, but failed nonetheless. Do you know why?" He rubbed one end of his moustache, and gave each of the students a penetrating glance. "When it came down to it, only a handful of you--” He sighed. “36.8%, if you must know--were actually willing to pull the trigger when you had an enemy dead in your sights. In a sim." The last line was said with disgust. “What do you have to say for yourselves?”

Farje, a female Bothan student, complained vehemently, "Master, that wasn't fair -- You didn't say we'd be fighting against our own -- even our family and friends!”

“And?” Hildebrant paused.

Farje's furry ears twitched in annoyance. “And? Whatever you configured had me face off one of my cousins."

Hildebrant smiled. "A dirty move, indeed. Yet do you suppose there will never be a time when you'll have to confront one of your own species, or those that look like or who may have been your friends? Or even a punk kid, some poor young fool waving a blaster? You'd be wrong."

Farje looked like she would protest more, but didn't. She must have been thinking what Anakin himself had concluded -- Hildebrant had been placed in such situations.

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Merry Christmas! Below is our final teaser chapter before we release regular installments on Sundays starting January 4th:

Ben Kenobi. Traversing through mutant-infested mines tests Ben's and his fireteam's abilities.

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Ben Kenobi.

Commander Ben Kenobi cringed as soldiers’ boots squeaked against the tunnel floor, despite the gripfoam applied to them. The mine's walls and floor were thick with moisture at this depth, so Ben ordered his fireteams to tread cautiously. It demanded patience from the soldiers: slowing them down and paining them with the annoyance of restraint.

There was little time to spare with the Skywalkers’ trial beginning soon. Ben had planned the rescue with a generous buffer, but setbacks already stretched them thin. First the random aircraft inspection, then having to abandon the speeders, and of course, there were “the unclean ones,” the mutant da phelu.

Ben followed alpha team along the neighboring shaft, passing through abandoned miners' quarters. Bunks pushed over, splintered chairs, discarded food packages littering the floor. Mutants had trashed the room.

He scanned the walls. They looked to be marked with the miners' names and the number of months they'd served underground.

Lines crossed out most of the names. No one made it very long. Were the da phelu or the working conditions the reason? Probably both.

Exiting the camp, the tunnel curved on itself, leading to a wider corridor where stopes propped up portions of the ceiling.

"Hold up," said Lieutenant Til'trius on the open channel. "on feed 6 I see something. They're close." Three shadowy figures busy feasting upon a corpse. Ben heard one gnawing lustily on a bone in carnal worship. Disgusting.

"More da phelu," noted Sergeant Chalmers. "Alpha team, can we engage?"

"Negative," said Specialist Aro. "The uglies are just around a bend. I can’t shoot through the rock. We’ll have to close in for stun."

"It’d be my pleasure," said her teammate Ronk.

"No Specialist," Ben asserted. "You'll never have time to stun all three. As wet as it is, you’ll alert them before you get in range. I'll handle this. Direct the drone away from the mutants."

Ronk made a quick objection that Ben readily dismissed. This wasn't about who got to kill mutants; it was about what was safest and most efficient to accomplish objectives.

Ben took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Using the force on his body armor and boots, he dampened the pressure his weight made on the floor. The outfit wasn’t designed to handle his full weight, otherwise he might have levitated by it. It at least made him lighter on foot. Letting the force guide him as to which steps to take, he scaled quietly, passing the other soldiers and closing in on the da phelu. He made it around the bend, the mutants only a few paces up.

The creatures might notice him if he grew closer, their eyes too accustomed to the dark. He adjusted his v-filters for the best picture of his adversaries, and observed they were consuming one of their own. Perhaps an older member of their pack, or a particularly annoying one that these others turned on?

His hand reached into his utility belt, passing by the lightsaber that was too bright and loud, and too clumsy and random for this situation. He pulled out two light vibroknives instead: deadly, silent. Two he'd take out swiftly; the third was a different matter.

Ben threw a vibroknife with both hands. A force-enhanced push made them zip across open space and plant into the necks of two da phelu. He concentrated with the force and clamped the jaws of the third da phelu together. It let out a muffled, hardly audible sound, clawing at its mouth in surprise that it's voice was denied.

No longer startled, the genetic mutant charged him in frustrated fury. Ben's eyes widened. It was fast and by the force, its outstretched claws were enormous. He reached out and with a force pull, knives dislodged from flesh and found flesh again, at the base of this third da phelu’s skull. Falling to its knees, it slumped into a puddle of water. It was over.

"That’s some fancy work, Jedi--ur, Commander," said Sergeant Chalmers, who must have observed this melee via drone feed. "Can’t say I’ve ever--"

"Shh." A rumbling. Ben listened carefully -- the noise wasn't ahead, but above? Likely from a neighboring tunnel.

Eventually, the sounds ceased. Ben broke the ice. "Your praises were nearly unfounded, Sergeant. I feared I hadn’t been fancy enough. Let’s advance alpha team. We can reconnect with the other tunnel up ahead, and get to our first drill spot."

Ronk, who typically ran point, nodded as he passed Ben. Have I earned that skeptical soldier's respect? Maybe he won't question the Jedi's purpose any moment soon.

Ben knew this was the way to affirm the Jedi's value to the galaxy: to be in the trenches with people. Less preaching, more doing. And not just with soldiers, but with teachers, farmers, factory workers, and even miners. Public works were needed more than covert ops.

In the middle of those thoughts, screeches were heard in the vast, cavernous corridor opening up ahead. Ben gritted his teeth. The mutants they'd heard rumbling earlier had found them. So much for caution.

"Get ready Alpha team," Chalmers warned. Obi-wan felt a slight tremor, and the cries of da phelu grew loud. Ahead his HUD identified fifteen, no eighteen, piling out into the cavern. They saw his soldiers, and hissed at Ronk and Aro.

"Ronk, Aro -- fall back," ordered Chalmers.

This many against just the five of them? If the da phelu rushed... Ben might be able to hold them off for a little, but from the sounds echoing in the chamber, even more were coming. They needed reinforcements.

Ben opened a channel. "Beta team, we need your backup. Immediately."

"What’s that, Commander?" came Sergeant Fett’s voice. "Oh hell. Party’s already started? Thanks for the belated invite, sir. We’re on our way."

"Find a target and fire on my mark," Sergeant Chalmers directed alpha team, "And then retreat to safety." This would be a desperate attack. Ben pulled out his lightsaber, and was about to ignite it when the oddest thing happened.

The horde of da phelu ran away.

The ground trembled again, and screams came from the adjoining tunnel they needed to pass through. A few more da phelu ran out. The last one only made it a few paces before something lashed out and wrapped around its leg. The creature screamed as it was wrenched back and disappeared out of Ben’s field of vision. A loud snap and crunch summarized its fate.

"I thought the da phelu were on the top of the food chain?" Specialist Aro asked aloud. Ben's thoughts exactly.

Of course, while theda phelu had made the mines their new stomping grounds, it wasn't unthinkable that even more dangerous predators might follow after them.

The beast was awesome to behold. Nail-like quills coated the back of a multi-faceted carapace, which overlay its massive frame. Despite its size, it was more sinewy and cut, than a mountain of muscles. Rodian mythology’s symbol of death, the ghest, lay before them. Ben wondered how something this large could get inside the mines. It couldn't have entered in through the path they traversed, but there were many tunnels. He brushed aside the thought to deal with the immediacy of the situation.

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Just letting you know that chapters 1 and 2 have been posted on Wattpad, and that regular installments are now being added every Sunday.

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