From the Holo-diary of Aran Liander: Jedi Apprentice

                                         981 ARR

I hurt so much that I can barely write this. My lip is bloody and I think I broke something in my torso- I don't know, it all hurts so much.

I'm still in the cell, if you're wondering. But of course you're not wondering, your a diary. Whatever. Well, since, besides my lightsaber and the Force, your my only friend, I guess this will all have to do. I can't hope for anything better, can I?

This morning I was jolted into wakefulness by an abrupt and ear-shattering klaxon, the siren rattling me so hard, my vision went grainy as I had surfaced into instant awareness. And just as quickly as it began, the alarm stopped. The almost invisible door, which I'd found last night, swung open and several stormtroopers came inside- all armed with revolving, repeating machine guns. The leader had pointed his gloved finger at me.

“Don't even think of trying to escape passed us, Jedi scum. You can't use your precious Force in here and if you try anything with that little lightsaber of yours, this room will be flooded with dioxys and you will die. Do you understand?”

I'd swallowed and nodded, feeling my pack resting against my leg and wishing I could take everything inside and escape, fun far away from this hell the blasted Sith had concocted. Head for the stars and never look back.

One stormtrooper, the lowest in rank, set a bowl on the floor and kicked it towards me.

“Eat quickly.” I pulled the dish towards me and peered at its contents- orange gunk pounded into a kind if paste with sprinkles of green and brown flecks. It looked like rot made manifest, a growth of pure decay and evil- just like the Sith. My stomach rebelled and instead of eating, I looked up at the troopers, and said “What are you going to do to me?”

Since my usage of the Force was hampered, I was stunned when the lead trooper's boot came crashing into my side, sending me wheezing to the floor.

“You will find out soon enough, Jedi. Now eat or we'll take you with us and you can just deal with being hungry.” Glaring, I snatched up the bowl and scarfed down the vile filth. It was so gross that I nearly vomited it back up again. After I'd finished, two of the troopers hauled me roughly to my feet and clicked two Force-cuffs around my wrists, before shoving me down the hallways to a large room. The space was large with things littered around it that appeared to be used for physical training.

A large crowd of young people, between the ages of seven to thirty five, stood in a corner, all dressed in military fashion. They were mostly human males, though I did see a few human females. It seems like the reports I'd heard were true- the Empire was a racist, sexist pit of bile with the biggest bigots and bullies in charge.

I looked over at the crowd's faces and saw something that chilled me to the very bone- every single one of them lacked compassion of any kind. It had been stamped out of them. My stomach dropped out of my body as the stormtroopers shoved me closer to the group.

They forced me to stand on a circle in the gray floor, off to my right, I heard a door open. I felt the stormtroopers behind me snap to attention and I saw the students before me do the same, their hands rising in perfect synchronization as they saluted. In through the door came a tall, hallow-cheeked Imperial-dressed man walk in followed by Darth Vader. This must not have been typical since I saw fear flicker across a small boy's face.

The man in military garb strode forward and began to address the students. I'm ashamed to say that I began to shake at his words. I was to be used by them as a target- to help them in abusing, and eventually killing, Jedi. The military man spun around and came towards me and stood so close his medal-studded chest almost brushed my nose.

“Listen, thing. We're going to remove those Force-cuffs but that doesn't mean you can run off. We have a chip in your head and if you try to escape, or try to hurt an Imperial, you will be rendered immobile. You are hear for them to learn. You will not cry, you will not beg, you will not speak to them, and do not expect mercy for that is not the way of the strong. Now on your knees.”

The stormtroopers behind me slammed their hands into my shoulder blades and I fell. I felt the Force-cuffs come free but with a sickening, sinking feeling, I knew escape was hopeless, at least for the time being.

What happened next was so horrific that it ranks up there with Order 66 and the Clone Wars.

The Imperial leader gave them a signal and I was suddenly hit from behind by an electric shock and I found myself running. I looked over my shoulder and saw the mass of Imperials spreading out and melting into the holo-enviroment that shimmered into being. I wasn't running in a cold, metallic room anymore- I was in some sort of jungle with tall trees, hot air, and a rancid stink that rose up around me, almost like fissures of gas spewing up their filth from under a planet's skin. I came to a stop and looked around, trying to access the Force and instead sent to the ground, my head flooded with unbearable pain.

I came to myself, curled up on the ground, a moment later and stood back up. Since I couldn't use the Force, I had tried using my heightened senses as I had been taught to do as a child. Off to my right I'd heard the sound of someone attempting at being sneaky and as I peered into the gloom I saw a human male in his early twenties tiptoeing at a crouch towards me.

Looking behind me, I slipped around the huge trunk of a holo-tree. I heard a loud rustle and saw the man leap into full view, the fake light sending his face into stark relief and the emptiness in his eyes saddens me more than I could ever believe. The Empire as not only hurt the Jedi, the poor, the civilians, and I, but even the Imperials themselves. They had been robbed of themselves by the Sith.

Suddenly, I'd heard a rustle of leave over my head and I saw another man leaping down towards me. I broke into a sprint, quickly outrunning both men, even without having the ability to draw on the Force.

I finally stopped and leaned down, hands to my knees, to catch my breath. Then it happened. I'm not sure what it actually was- all I remember was pain slamming into me from all sides. Every-time I tried to strike back and fend off their attacks, a blinding agony was split my mind in two and render my sight to flames of white.

When it all ended, I was staring, aching and bloody, up at a circle of stone-faced Imperials. Anger, so much anger, boiling in my insides, came rushing up and I heard a vicious voice in my head shouting 'NOO' over and over again.

Pushing through the pain, pushing with all my might, I leapt to my feet and rushed passed them, punching one hard in the face as he tried to grab me, and screamed with pain as I ran, white fire erupting all around me as I sped away. The shouts of bullies denied their prey had followed me in a howl of roaring noise. Several Imperials tried to grab me but I didn't let them hurt me those time, no matter how much I inflicted on myself. I soon screamed myself hoarse, and then silent, my voice giving way but I kept running and kept fighting back. Because I wasn't going to let them win. Not again.

I must have eventually passed out because I found myself back in the cell, my head pounding and blood all over me.

I must escape soon. I have too.

Aran Liander.