During the Galactic Empire's early rule, Colonel Barokki, an Imperial officer, and another officer from the Imperial Officer Corps launched two separate attempts to assassinate Darth Vader, the newly appointed Sith Lord. The first attempt took place on Cabarria in the Colonies region. Vader, accompanied by the Ninth Sister of the Inquisitorius, was there to investigate reports of someone using the Force to escape a brawl in a local bar. This report turned out to be a setup orchestrated by the aforementioned officers, who had placed a bounty on Vader's head and hired a family of bounty hunters led by Bhada Cha to kill him. The assassination failed, and Vader discovered that the bounty originated from someone within the Republic Executive Building on Coruscant.
Realizing the officers were unaware of his position in the hierarchy, Vader requested that Galactic Emperor Palpatine convene a meeting of the Imperial Officer Corps to clarify his role within the Imperial Military. After Palpatine declared that any order issued by Vader should be considered as coming directly from himself, Vader instructed five officers, supposedly selected at random, to step forward. Although Vader was unsure of who exactly ordered his death, he demonstrated to the assembled officers that while he would always survive, five randomly chosen Imperials would not: Vader used the Force choke on the five Imperials standing before him. Following this display, Vader departed, having used the event to demonstrate that none of them could withstand his power. Barokki was among the officers he executed.