Bridge, SSD Executor, Unknown System.

He felt it a moment before it happened, the strange energy reaching out to envelope the bridge crew of the Executor, to envelope him, the bonds that bound his matter together dissolving as he became nothing but energy and thought.

Is this what dying feels like?

Then he was standing in a long, white-walled hall, its high ceiling lit with harsh, bright bulbs. His lightsabre was in his hand, though he did not remember drawing it, its red blade buzzing hungrily. Across the opposite wall stretched great windows revealing a view of an Imperial city, perhaps the capital if the perpetual cloud of Imperial industry had parted, the light shining on the gleaming towers of metal and glass.

Coruscant as he remembered it from his youth, before...

He ignored the panicked reactions of the officers around him, Ozzel's furious stuttering and Captain Piet barking questions and commands, trying to restore some order to the chaos. He reached out with his senses, felt the shape of the hall, the frightened presences of the men and women around him, the thrum of power from the great machines concealed behind illusory walls and windows... but no city. No open air, no light of the Sun, no billions of lives and consciousness melded together into a vast, ever-shifting sea. No life beyond these walls, except for the great intelligence that he felt behind them, orchestrating the illusion.

Fury swelled within him, fury at the creature who had brought them here against their will, who dared to try to blind and deceive him. Red rage clouded his thoughts, fuelling the Dark Side, and he raised his right hand, palm extended, reaching out with the Force to trace the patterns of energy back to their source, then clenched his fist and with a snarl, tore out a massive chunk of the wall. He held it suspended in air for a moment, then dropped it, sending it skidding and sliding with a crash of shattering metal and white-hot sparks across the floor. Where the section of wall had been their was now a jagged, gaping hole in the wall, perhaps five feet across and ten feet high. Around it, the illusory white walls and windows flickered, in and out of focus. Behind it lay a hallway, dimly lit with deep blue light.

Firmus starred at the strange room that they had suddenly appeared in. Or perhaps, he thought dazedly, strange was really the wrong word, because under other circumstances, this might have been a hall in the Imperial Palace or an embassy on Coruscant. What was strange, in fact, was that it was so ordinary.

He spun as he heard a low, harsh hum of energy, and saw Lord Vader standing towards the centre of the chamber, a long red energy blade emerging from a cylinder in his right hand.

So that must be a light sabre. He'd heard stories about them, of course, everyone had, but he'd never seen one in use. Realizing that he was standing around starring like an idiot in Lord Vader's presence, he whirled to find Admiral Ozzel gaping around them.

"Orders, sir?"

"I... where are we, captain?"

The hell if I know, Firmus thought irately. At a loss, he did as he had always done, as he had been taught to do, and fell back on protocol. Insofar as there was a protocol for this situation. He turned to the nearest officer, a young woman who he thought was at Scanners under Lt. Shira's watch.

"Attention Ensign!"

She blinked confusedly for a moment, then nodded and stood at attention.

"Sorry sir."

Firmus suppressed a sharp retort. They were all out of their depth here.

"Ensign, inform your superior that I want a full report on our location and how we arrived here in ten minutes." He thought for a moment, trying to figure out what to do next, then turned in a half-circle, seeking out Commander Avin , who'd been on duty at weapons control. He'd have the Commander's men form a perimeter to secure their position: weapons officers weren't exactly storm troopers, but it was better than nothing-

He was interrupted by a screech of tearing metal. He spun, then jumped as a piece of the wall suddenly ripped away as if a charge had been detonated on the opposite side of the wall, though he saw no fire and heard no detonation. The debris slid across the floor, and he followed its movement. His eyes fell on Lord Vader, his hand outstretched, his gaze fixed on the gaping rent that had been torn in the wall. Firmus swallowed.

"A hologram." Lord Vader's cold voice echoed throughout the hall. "This is an illusion."

Firmus turned back and took a longer look at the hole that had just been ripped in the wall of the room. Sure enough, the edges of the wall and windows around the hole were flickering insubstantially, though the illusion was far better than the holograms that the Fleet used.

Lord Vader strode to the centre of the room, and Firmus turned his attention back to their Supreme Commander. He was starring at a point in the ceiling overhead, his light saber still blazing in his grip.

"Who are you? What is your purpose? Reveal yourself!"

The doors at the end of the hall slid open with a soft whoosh. Firmus and several of the other officers stiffened as three squads of storm troopers filed into the room, the light gleaming on their white armour, their black blaster rifles levelled at the bridge crew of the Executor.

What is this, he thought. Some kind of simulation? Some strange game of the Emperor's? But why-

Another door slid open in the right-hand wall, revealing another stretch of dimly-lit hallway. The lead trooper motioned toward it with his blaster.

"Form up in single-file and proceed into the examination chamber."

"What is the meaning of this", Admiral Ozzel snapped. "Stand down immediately!"

"You will comply", the trooper barked, raising his weapon. Firmus tensed.

"I grow weary of these games", said Lord Vader. He raised his fist again, and Firmus twitched involuntarily as another explosion rocked the hall, and another, and another, as Lord Vader tore more panels and machinery out of the walls in showers of sparks and fragments of twisted metal. The storm troopers, who Firmus now realized had been holograms as well, flickered and died. So did the remaining walls and windows, floor and ceiling, leaving them standing in a smaller, though still spacious, chamber lit in purple and blue. It was empty, aside from the bridge crew and the dark presence of Lord Vader. His light sabre cast an eerie red glow across the floor of the chamber, and his shadow spread out like the wings of some great bird of prey behind him.

"Reveal yourself!"

Their was silence. Then a voice spoke, old and wry but seemingly human, seeming to come from the air around them.

"Well, aren't you demanding for a minor, bi-pedal species?"

"You will pay the price for your imprudence."

"Most intransigent", the speaker replied, not sounding remotely concerned by the Dark Lord's threat. "I had hoped that a familiar setting would put you at ease, but you seem determined to be objectionable."

With a metallic sound that could only be a snarl, Lord Vader strode towards the hole he had ripped in the far wall, evidently intending to cut a path out of the chamber with his blade. Before he reached it, however, the strange columns of light enveloped them once more.

Firmus blinked, taking in the familiar view of the Executor's bridge, the shouts of surprise and alarm, and the blasters being suddenly levelled at them by a squad of Imperial storm troopers. A few feet behind them, he could see Commander Dornaj, the Executor's Chief Engineer, his features surprised and, Firmus thought, a little wary. Understandable. Then he remembered the holographic troopers.

"Illusions", he asked, when he had recovered his senses.

"No, captain", Lord Vader replied. "We are once more aboard our ship."

"Stand down", Commander Dornaj quickly snapped. The troopers lowered their blasters, and Firmus let out a breath as he felt the tension in the room dissipate slightly.

"How long were we absent", Admiral Ozzel asked. "Was anyone else taken?"

Commander Dornaj was regarding him warily.

"Commander!"

"Sir... you've been gone two days."