Blackness filled Jorec's senses, at the moment it was everything. The air around him was frigid, the cold bit into his flesh. The feeling of despair permeated the dark atmosphere, filling Jorec with dread.
In his mind he could hear the lessons of a philosophy class inside of the Jedi Temple, the aged Rodian Jedi Master speaking in his slightly accented voice about the various cultural beliefs about the afterlife. At this moment, Jorec couldn't help but feel that this resembled one of the many afterlives reserved for the wicked.
The ground beneath his feet began to shake, sending vibrations up his legs to the rest of his body. Then a sudden tilt threw Jorec off balance, and into the black.
He awoke to a room that was still dark, but slivers of light that had managed to escape the blinds illuminated the room. The only sound in the room was the quiet sound of Lia breathing as she slept, and the passing of a few speeders on the street outside.
Jorec slowly raised his body, careful not to disturb her as he attempted to get a view of the chrono on the nearby nightstand. He mentally cursed as the red numerals quickly changed to 0327, it was far too early in the morning.
As he lay back down, he thought about how typical it was for him to have another nightmare at this time. They had mainly occurred at some significant time in his life, even though they had greatly diminished in the past three years. He was told that they were most likely caused by a subconscious guilt over having survived the attacks while so many others had perished, and now for breaking the Code that had defined him as a young child. And for the most part, he believed that.
Yet, despite his attempts at reassuring himself, he still felt a little uneasy over the events portrayed in the dream.
SC-84 stared at the surveillance equipment in a living room that had been hastily converted into a command center a few hours ago. Communications equipment manned by a black uniformed officer occupied a corner that had once housed an entertainment center, a caf table once loaded with datapads containing textbooks of the children now lay overturned in a corner, in its place was the screens that the commander was watching.
The family that had once considered this place a home now sat traumatized in the master bedroom, locked in the room and guarded by two Stormtroopers. Guarded against any possible sabotage they could commit against this operation, any distraction that could spell certain doom to the soldiers stationed within the apartment.
The commander of the operation continued to look at the surveillance equipment providing views of both the hallway as well as scenes from every room in his target's apartment. All screens showed no activity at all, and the thought began to creep into his mind that the apartment had been abandoned, his glory for capturing a potential Jedi and two rebel leaders would never happen.
"Sir, incoming transmission from the Banesclaw," said the communications officer, snapping SC-84 from his thoughts. "According to the summary, it's regarding our new rules of engagement on this operation."Jorec quickly rushed from his speeder and into the complex that contained his apartment, trying to reach it in time. He had only two hours to get ready for the political appearance thinly disguised as a legitimate trip, and with the security measures that were surely going to be in place, those two hours really translated into a little over an hour and a half. He threw open the door and made a left turn down the hall, unable to notice the security cameras watching him as he made his way down the corridor.
SC-84 watched as his target entered the apartment that had been the scene of a nine-hour stakeout, and sighed with relief. "It's about damn time. Get ready everybody, and remember the rules of engagement. We don't want another 'incident' on our hands."
The assembled eleven Stormtroopers nodded and quickly checked their blaster rifles, knowing the price of failure.
"Now, we have his lightsaber so he shouldn't be that big of a threat to us, but I want each and every one of you to be cautious. Underestimating our opponent can get all of us killed. Squad One; you go in first. Squad Two will follow you in a few seconds later. The rest of us will be waiting in case things get too bad in there."
With a quick salute, the six Stormtroopers moved out of the room and into the hall, ready for their mission.
"I've been robbed," Jorec said in disbelief as he looked at his trashed living room. Holos were strewn across the floor, datapads were in disarray on their shelves and various other objects were far from their original places. He quickly peeked back out into the hall, searching for any sign of tampering with the keypad.
It was then that he saw them, six creatures that had haunted his nightmares for years. Pure white armor, a mask that hid any sign of individuality of the wearer, and the compact blaster rifles that were about to be aimed directly at him. They walked out of an apartment five doors down, and immediately spotted him.
Jorec quickly darted back into his apartment, fumbling with the inside lock trying to buy a few seconds. He raced towards his bedroom, nearly tripping on an overturned chair. He gasped as he entered the bedroom, amazed at the thorough mess that had been created in there as well. Clothes were scattered on the floor, and with a sinking feeling he saw that his primary plan for getting out of this mess was gone. Lying on the floor next to the drawer that held it, was the false bottom that had once hid his lightsaber.
He could hear the front door slide open, and knew that it would be seconds before they would be upon him. Twenty-three years had gone by way too fast for Jorec, and the certainty dawned upon him that he had only merely delayed this moment for ten years. Yet he was determined not to make it easy on them…
Jorec ran to his closet, hoping that the troops had left one thing untouched. Feeling around the area above the doorframe, he felt the cold metal of a blaster pistol. He glanced down at the pistol, quickly checking the condition. He slid the energy cell into the pistol, and quickly raced to the door.
The Stormtroopers were at the end of the hall, rifles raised in front of them. Taking cover behind the door to his bedroom, Jorec quickly squeezed off a shot at the leader of the six troopers. The red bolt soared through the hallway and connected with the leader near his right breastbone, causing the armor to slightly explode and sending the body down onto the floor. Two of the Stormtroopers slammed into the door into the refresher, taking cover as another shot impacted into the wall. The other three Stormtroopers fired towards their attacker as they retreated out of the hall. Blue rings dissipated as they hit the wall.
Jorec leaned back into the hall, providing a slight opening for the five Stormtroopers to take. With Force-assisted reflexes, Jorec was barely able to dodge back into his cover watching as the blue rings hit the opposite doorframe. Jorec risked another glance from his cover, and quickly fired off a shot that impacted with the wall hiding a Stormtrooper. His second shot was more accurate, slamming into the white helmet of a soldier that had come out from his cover to fire a shot. The dead clone fell to the ground, nearly causing the trooper behind him to tumble into the line of fire.
A blue ring emerged from a Stormtrooper's rifle from the refresher door, traveling the nearly three meters to Jorec's arm. Jorec's right arm grew numb as the blast hit it, and he heard the thud of his blaster pistol landing on the ground. Jorec frantically attempted to pick up the blaster with his left hand, but a volley of shots forced him to reconsider.
"He's hit! Move in," said one of the Stormtroopers who had used the refresher as cover during the brief firefight. The temporary leader stepped out from behind his cover and urged the three remaining Stormtroopers to follow him as he marched towards Jorec's bedroom.
Jorec quickly backed away from door, his right arm dangling uselessly at his side. He ran to the window, cursing himself for not trying to escape this way previously. He tried to raise the window using his left hand, but he was not fast enough. He turned around to face the intruders, fear in his eyes. The Stormtroopers raised their rifles and fired, blue energy raced towards Jorec. The shots connected with their target, sending Jorec into darkness.