The dialogue is by memory, so it may not be the exact lines that were said in the movie.

English is not my mother-language. Error may occur, but I will try my best to prevent that. Enjoy!

Chapter 01

The Stormtrooper. A powerful and elite militia, known for serving the former glorious Galactic Empire and now the current First Order with fierce loyalty. Some considered them superior of the Clone troopers, others equals, but they were feared nonetheless.

"FN-2003, MOVE!"

Her breathing was hard in her ears. Her strides were long, powerful and fast as she ran from cover to cover. Branches scraping across the surface of her armour.

"Flanking!"

"We need covering fire!"

General Hux and his predecessors believed that a strong trooper was born and trained, not created from a tube, and selected very carefully. Families from every planet in First Order space, were monitored and had to follow strict protocol. The families who were deemed to produce promising offspring were visited once a year by an official. If a child showed traits that could lead them to be an excellent trooper they were extracted by the age of 5.

She pressed herself against a thick tree, stilling her heart beat and calming down her breathing in a moment's notice. "Giving covering fire!" She shouted through her radio and leaned out to fire at the heavy repeating blaster, distracting it so that the rest of her team could flank it.

From that age they were trained, not only physically but also mentally. Sacrificing their lives, future and identity to the First Order and their ideals. A Stormtrooper served and fought, they did not think and were taught to leave the wounded behind to keep pressing forward. To keep their barrage of death continuous and ruthless. It was a trait that instilled terror into the hearts of their enemies..

"Well done," Captain Phasma's voice echoed over the radio. "FN-2187, please report to me immediately."

As she and the rest of her team appeared, some talking and some silent, their environment seemed to experience static. There was a flicker and all the trees, under bush and the bunker that they had infiltrated all disappeared, revealing a large metal room devoid of any type of furniture. High above there was an observation window, where Captain Phasma stood observingly.

Their team leader, FN-2187, hurried towards the blast doors, leaving them open as he rounded the corner to report to their captain.

It had been hard for FN-4026 to let go of the visions of the village the first weeks. They'd plagued her mind each time she closed her eyes to sleep or when she was daydreaming when marching. Eventually the images turned into blurs and disappeared all-together. She no longer felt emotions when thinking back about it. It had been her duty to the First Order to execute them.

"And Slip is once again saved by his hero!" A mean voice drawled from next to her.

A lone trooper with his suit unusually battered and smeared with dirt almost scowled, as much as he could portray his body language in the white armour. "Shut up!" He sneered back.

It was now several months that FN-4026 was serving under Captain Phasma. The Captain lived up to her reputation of being a pain, but despite the challenge she felt more in shape and capable of her abilities than she had ever felt under Captain Rosco's reign. It showed on the field and the effectiveness she completed missions with some of the seniors on her team. Thankfully it was most of the time patrolling or investigating on the nearby planets, but her sharp wit had earned the First Order a few extra Rebel prisoners for 'questioning'.

FN-4026 thanked the greater powers out there that it wasn't her job to do that.

But the team dynamics were different than her former. Less silent and more prone to banter than she personally liked. It made them stronger as a whole due to the bond with each other, but the risk of knowing a person came with the price of developing outcasts. Like poor Slip.

Slip, or FN-2003, was not the ideal Stormtrooper. He was loyal, yes, proved himself to be an exceptional infiltrator with his knowledge about hacking and decoding all sort of droids, consoles and weapons. But he was poorly skilled with a blaster and not particularly smart in the midst of a battlefield. Resulting into him being a target and when he did not do his techno magic, he was more a liability than an asset. As a tease and mockery, some of the troopers started to call him Slip, short of slip-up. Unfortunately for him, the name stuck.

"Hey, lay off. He's getting better. Eighty-seven only needed to save him once this time," she countered.

Forty-two, the one that made a comment about Slip, shrugged a 'whatever' and moved on. The rest of her team ignored them as they retreated to their barracks. FN-4026 slowed her stride so that Slip could tag along with her at the back.

"Thanks," he said genuinely.

"You're welcome, Oh-three. But you need to be careful and step up your game. This may be a training simulator, but one day you are going to be out there and then it's real blaster fire," she began to scold but then sighed, easing off on him.

"I know," FN-2003 replied. "I'll try."

In the barracks, FN-4026 dislodged her helmet. Sweat was pouring down her face and the coolness of the air was a delight on her skin.

"They need to fix those cooling systems, it drives me crazy," she huffed in annoyance as she unclasped her armour piece by piece.

"You drive me crazy," Thirty-six replied. His grey eyes taking her in. His comment earned him a hard punch to the shoulder that would seem playful, but there was also a warning in it.

"Careful, Thirty-six. Do not underestimate women, especially not Twenty-six. She will sooner bite your head off instead of sucking on it," another one replied with amusement. It earned some laughter and she could not help but to join in with a chuckle, though it was not really genuine.

She unleashed her blond hair from its tight bun and grabbed the black uniform they wore when they were relieved from duty and performing other tasks on the Starkiller base. The isolated shower that followed after was heaven to her muscles. After a quick lunch, her duties in the armoury required her attention for the rest of the day; cleaning, inspecting, counting and improving their supply of blaster pistols, rifles and other sorts.

The next following days they continued training, each time the simulator changed the environment. So far they had trained into ice, swamps, forests and mountains. Eighty-seven had stopped actively helping Slip, but she noticed that if he came into trouble he managed to distract the enemy long enough for Slip to go into cover. Judging by the banter between the two, they were friends.

The revelation made her reflect herself. In all of her life she did not have the luxury to develop friendships, being a naturally reserved individual. It wasn't encouraged, but those who did develop bonds were not discouraged either, yet seeing it so open and publically made her uncomfortable.

But now after two weeks, they had been training in the desert several times in a row. In sandstorms, the heat of the day and in the coolness of nightfall, but always in the desert. FN-2046 could not help but wonder why they had stopped cycling through the different simulations and even asked Captain Phasma, but of course her commanding officer would not tell. She was merely told not to question and just do it; just train. And FN-4026 did, like the good trooper she was.

Sooner than she knew she was once again standing inside the hull of a ship, the lights flickering to life, revealing the rest of her motionless regiment like pale white ghost. The white artificial light casted sharp shadows that would've been frightening to her if she was not part of it.

Captain Phasma was not present with them, travelling with Kylo Ren on a different ship as part of his personal guard. Her absence gave room for rebellious thoughts of why she wondered they were deployed on Jakku; a barren planet with only sand, rocks and a handful of settlements. Those who lived here either wanted to disappear from the rest of the galaxy or were stuck.

'Search and extract,' were once again the simple orders giving. The three simple words giving rise to nasty images she thought she'd oppressed. A woman, screaming and hugging the face of her child to her chest so that it would not see the blaster fire that it would end its short life.

FN-4026 took a deep breath, steeling herself and stared hard at the back of her predecessor's helmet. The ship touched down onto ground and she held her blaster rifle into an iron grip when the hydraulics hissed and the loading ramp was lowered. Instantly there was blaster fire and they ran out of the ship, taking cover immediately.

Her predecessor, Thirty-six, was lying dead in the sand a few meters away from her position. FN-4026 swallowed hard and fired from her cover, her aim true and precise with the result of killing a few of those who were shooting at them.

She had no time to think about it as she jumped from cover to cover, giving occasional covering fire and almost tripping over the dead that littered across the battlefield with her heart beating in her ears. Trooper and villager alike.

But Stormtroopers were trained to push and they were in far greater numbers. In a mere minute the village was overrun, those who surrendered were rounded up like cattle and those who did not shot as an example. A chill settled over her spine when she spotted Kylo Ren, marching towards the supposedly village elder. Her Captain following him closely behind. A dark ominous feeling settled in her guts.

"Where is it?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about," the elder bit back.

"I know you have it. Give it to me and you and the rest of your village will be spared." The deep voice of Kylo Ren resonated. Drowning out the whimpers of the scared.

"You cannot deny what you are, deep inside," the village elder called out, ignoring the subject. "There are more important things like this, things like family."

There was an exchange of words and then that brutal roaring sound of the red lightsabre haunted her ears. She witnessed its raw power as he sliced through the man like he was butter in a clean swipe. The troopers that had been restraining the man were forced to take a huge step back.

"NO!"

Before anyone could react there was the sound of blaster fire, but with just a gesture from the Force-user it stopped in mid-air. On instinct she rushed with another trooper towards the man, who was in turn incapacitated by Kylo Ren's use of the Force. Her fellow trooper punched him in the guts before they forced his hands on his back and hauled him forwards.

A kick to the leg and pressure on his shoulders violently forced the man in a kneeling position in the sand in front of Lord Ren, amidst the remains of the elder. Being this close to the Force-user made FN-4026's skin crawl. If it weren't for her discipline she would have leant back and away from him. Something in her very being repelled him.

"Who's this?" Kylo Ren drawled slowly. He made the same gesture with his hand earlier and the man shuddered beneath her hold. FN-4026 felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

"A Rebel," the Force-user muttered underneath his breath as if he was distracted by something. "You are here for the same purpose.."

"I won't tell you anything!" The man rebuked, struggling a bit underneath her hands. Her fellow trooper applied more pressure on the shoulder joint, earning a gasp of pain.

"No need," Kylo Ren almost chuckled. "I will get it eventually out of you. Take him away!"

Hauling the man on his feet and not waiting until he regained his balance, FN-4026 and the other trooper dragged him toward Kylo Ren's ship, where several other Stormtroopers awaited them.

"Execute them," was Captain Phasma's command. "Leave none alive."

"NO! NO!" The man roared, struggling heavily in their hold. He nearly managed to break free if it weren't for the rest restraining him and putting on hand cuffs. Dragging him harshly away into the deep confines of the ship.

FN-4026 had to let him go, and stood numb on the loading ramp. The screaming behind her was deafening and crippling her. In one tidal wave of blaster fire her nightmares that had plagued her were back, except now she wasn't asleep. This was the truly frightening and terrorizing reality.

The man's words echoed in her head, but instead of his voice it was hers. Desperate and panicking, but not out loud. When the blaster fire finally stopped and the screams were silent, she turned around against her better judgement. The sight of the village engulfed in flames burned itself unforgiven on her retina.

This was the life she faced as a Stormtrooper.

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