"Sometimes I wake in the middle of the night and stare at the ceiling and wonder if it might all have been a dream. A horrible, empty dream, where hope faded like a slow-dying star."Feemor and I had the pleasure of meeting Emperor Palpatine once. He wasn't an Emperor back then still only the Supreme Chancellor of a Republic which he dismantled piece by piece. He wanted to talk to Feemor about handling a very special negotiation for him, a senator from Corellia had been kidnapped by pirates while on a mission to secure an Alliance in the midrim before the Separatist could. Feemor and by extension me were supposed to make sure that he was released from captivity in a quick and efficient manner. His office in the Senate Building was almost Spartan in comparison to the grandeur of the rest of the so called heart of the republic. Their were no portraits or fine pieces of art lining the walls instead only two statues of indeterminate origin in the antechamber, a simple desk void of clutter placed in front of large holoprojector ceiling to floor that displayed a a live view from the top of the Senate Building rotunda. a few low back chairs and a small holoprojector in the center of the room constantly relaying updates from battlefields across the Galaxy.
Feemor on my inquiry had told me more of what he knew about Palpatine. A statesmen from Naboo born into a wealthy and noble family. A young man when he came into office after the assassination of Senator Vidar Kim, this quiet man became the representative of the Chommell sector. Palpatine did not make any waves at least at first, he's ascent was a slow and measured one not taking to anger those who held the power, but slowly he made friend and allies. And before any one knew what had happened he was elected Supreme Chancellor. Still soften spoken and moderate he was a popular choice among the senate as a symbol of a good man trying to do good things for us all. In short he had fooled us all.
When he came into the room to meet us, I was disappointed. He walked in slowly flanked by two of his personal guard clothed in their characteristic red robes, one of the chancellors more unpopular moves. In the holos he had always seemed so big and powerful. In person he wasn't much taller than me, a pale skinned man face showing the signs of age from the wrinkles upon his face to his receding white hair. His blue eyes were lined with dark restless circles and he didn't much walk as his frail body seemed to glide across the cool metallic floor. He and Feemor made small talk as was the polite thing to do. Despite his duties Feemor never truly liked politicians. He would always tell me they were a necessary evil. Though I think Feemor may have liked the man, they shared similar interests in history and art. He was a so called man of 'culture' Feemor was oblivious as the rest of us, he could of never thought. How could he have ever thought.
I didn't think of that meeting again till after the Republic fell. Now it's one of the only things I think about.
In my dreams, I kill him. I drive my blade through his chest in the .5 seconds it takes for his guards to put me down. And just like that it's all different, everything changes. The temple does not fall, The Republic does not fade away to be replaced by the overwhelming shadow of a new Empire, and the deaths never occur everybody lives. The halls of a place that became my home does not turn into a battleground, they are not lined with the corpses of those I would call my friends. In my dreams, I do it and the world is saved. Look at me a Jedi feeling despair over not killing somebody. But a lot has changed in the years after, and I've seen things that the carnage and horror in the Clone Wars could never even attempt to surmount. It's a pain and suffering you only need to reach out into the force to feel, a great empty pit of nothingness stretching on past the borders of infinity. But in my dreams I always end it there, I end it with a swift stroke of my blade.
It's not the nightmares that plagued me anymore, it's the world I awake to.
The year is 19BBY. The Jedi once protectors of the Republic had been betrayed by a man that they once called their friend. The Jedi Temple, a place of learning and place of peace lay in ruins the souls that once called it home now lay on the ground their blood and corpses littering the halls they called home. Across the galaxy the same scene repeats itself over and over again as the Grand Army of the Republic begins to turn inward on itself. The dark shadow that had been looming over the galaxy for years had finally moved and threatens to consume all of the galaxy. Those Jedi that remain scatter across the known reaches of space: broken, shattered and lost trying to live out what small lives they can.
Our story focus in on two survivors of Operation Knightfall. Two Jedi padawans who escaped the carnage of the temple by slipping in the mass array of tunnels and systems beneath the Temple complex. Padawans without Masters, Children barely reaching into the first steps of adulthood. Together they flee from the carnage and into the Undercity to find safe passage of Coruscant. They have one goal in mind at the current moment. Endure and Survive.
