Trooper

Horrors

Corellia: 14 BBY
Imperial Shuttle
Jess

Jess straightened as the commander approached the line of stormtroopers. The raid had been completed only a few moments ago. Dak stepped up beside him, his fists clenched.

"Where is she?" He growled.

"Safe," Jess replied.

"You're an idiot. If the commander finds out about this, he'll have you killed for treason."

"They don't know about her yet."

"Actually, they do. I reported her arrest as soon as you left. I was hoping you would be smart this time."

Jess didn't need to see Dak's face to know what expression waited there. The anger and frustration seeped into his voice. They turned as the line moved back into their shuttle. As the boarding ramp sealed, another stormtrooper shuffled through the line, coming up behind Jess.

"What'd you do this time?" He asked.

"Be quiet, Amos. You know we can't talk here," Dak hissed. Jess rolled his eyes and braced himself. The ship quaked beneath them as they lifted off. It took only a few minutes for the shuttle to reach the Oppressor and land.

    Their squad filed off the shuttle and fell into place as a few commanding officers came into sight. The commander took a datapad from someone and began to read through the information. He paused before Dak.

"Your squad reported an arrest, but confirmation and prisoner were never received," the commander said. "The  report showed TK-9976 was in charge of delivering the prisoner." The commander stepped in front of Jess. "Care to explain yourself?"

Jess began to reply, but was cut off by Dak. "There was a misunderstanding, Sir. The woman was arrested for having no identification forms. She produced them shortly thereafter," he swiftly lied. "She was dismissed and I must have forgotten to update my report."

The commander eyed him skeptically for a moment. "Very well. See that you're more precise in the future." He continued on down the line, double checking reports.

Jess let out a quiet sigh of relief when they were finally dismissed. Amos fell in step with him. "I'm headed to the mess. Care to join me?"

"Sure," Jess replied.

"Hey," Dak shouted behind them. He clapped a hand on Jess's shoulder, shaking his head. "This is the last time, Jess. If you pull anything like that again, you're on your own."

Jess shrugged his hand off. "I appreciate the concern, but I couldn't just stand there. That woman had done nothing wrong."

"You do this every time something like that happens! It's time to wake up. You're not in the Clone Wars anymore. You have different obligations to fulfill now," Dak argued.

"Obligations that were forced on me. I didn't get a say in whether or not I joined the Empire."

"That doesn't matter. You were built to follow orders. Why can't you just do that?" Dak let out an exasperated hiss and pushed past them.

Amos watched him go for a moment. "So, food?"

"Yeah, sure," he replied. Not that he was hungry, after everything that had happened. They jumped into a lift and headed up towards the mess hall. Several other stormtroopers were in the lift along with them.

    The door opened up and they piled out. The mess hall was right across from the lift. "I'll find us a place to sit," Jess said as Amos headed towards the food line.