Ch.1
A Civilian to A Warrior
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, though the character is mine.
For the audience: I haven't slept in six weeks, before I started writing A Little Black Magic, so bear with me. This is the story of one stormtrooper, Jak Thalessa. In my story, only the 501st continued to use clones, while the rest of the ranks were fleshed out with recruits from the conquered worlds. Jak hails from the planet Derallia, a remote Outer Rim world. He signed up with the 121st legion shortly before his 20th birthday. This takes place roughly a decade after the third movie, as the Empire rises to power. There are still about a hundred Jedi around, doing their best to evade the Empire.
As the morning reveille sounded, Jak scrambled out of his rack. Little more than a plazcrete frame with a blanket and pillow thrown on, it was easy to get out of, but hard to sleep in. "On your feet! Get out of bed! WAKE YOUR SORRY SELVES UP!" Jak suppressed a sigh. The instructors woke them up the same way every morning: fast and brutal. Jak supposed he would appreciate the lack of advance warning if he ever woke up in a firefight, but it was darned bothersome to wake up with your hands trembling for six months.
The routine was the same every morning: wake up(violently), march to the mess hall, eat as fast as you can without choking, march to classes, march to drill field, march to mess hall for lunch, march to physical training(p.t.), march to firing range, march back to classes, march to mess hall for dinner, march to barracks, clean barracks, get an hour to wash yourself and/or your uniform, then hit the sack about eleven; wake up the next morning to do it again.
It had been six months since he and all the other recruits had been marched off a transport so cramped they had barely all fit on it. Now they were on the eve of graduating and becoming the most elite fighting in the galaxy: the stormtroopers. Jak had joined with three hundred other hopefuls, as they came closer and closer to the end of the brutal training they numbered barely two hundred. Illness, injury, and weakness had killed off or shipped home all but the best.
Jak felt a moment of pride as he considered this. He, along with his comrades, knew almost everything there was to know about war. They were all experts with blaster rifle and pistol. They were competent with explosives. They were proficient in the use of archaic weaponry, from spears and knives to percussion-based firearms of the less-developed races. They could man almost any vehicle, from speeders to AT-STs. They could survive for weeks in any environment. And now they were to become a force to be reckoned with.
They spent their day getting ready for graduation. Hanging what few ribbons they had on their uniforms, ironing out all the wrinkles, and shining everything that could be shined. Finally, the hour approached. Their donned their uniforms, marched out to the parade field, and waited for the commanding officer to make a speech. Jak, his muscular frame obvious even through the unisex uniform, his dark hair was only a few centimeters long, instead of the two inch long mess that almost everyone seemed to sport as the current trend. His slate grey eyes sought out anyone who looked important enough to make saluting necessary.
He marched up to the microphone, his gray uniform and black boots almost blending to the pavement around dark grey concrete around him. When he spoke, his voice echoed from a dozen loudspeakers all around.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you came here disgusting, undisciplined. Worthless. These six months, you have proven yourselves to be more than those people who resided around you 'back home'. You have proven yourselves to be a valuable asset to the Empire, joining the ranks of those who came before you to bring order and peace to the galaxy. In the past, this was done through diplomacy and negotiation. Now, these ideas have shown themselves to be as worthless as those who used them. A threat to the sanctity of the Empire has arisen, this so-called Rebellion that threatens all we have worked to achieve. Today, with this ceremony, you shall be the new safeguard against this menace to our way of life. Today you will complete your transition. You are no longer a Civilian. You are a Stormtrooper!"
The noise was deafening. All across the parade field the newly appointed Stormtroopers howled out their pride and their honor to serve. They flew from the field like the devil's of an alien hell was after them. They all had one destination: civilization. Tonight was their night. For one night, they were invincible.