"The men and women of the Galactic Empire and its military are not evil people. Many of them have been corrupted of course and many have committed undeniably evil acts but many still joined with good reasons. And they should be given a chance at redemption, even if it forces us to undo who they are."

"I don't like what we did to them, but it was justified nonetheless."

-Admiral Drofa Haffard and Captain it's iajs.

Chapter 11: Trust us, its Rehabilitation

The Luna Rehabilitation Facility:

TKS-2737 moved through the line of other captured stormtroopers, one that extended as far as the eye could see. They were all stripped of their white armor leaving just their black underclothes.

As another trooper bumped into him and a scar from the time before, it sent back memories of how he had gotten to this place. He had once been known as Barje Klanda, and had certainly been born into a lack of opportunities. With a mother who died before he could meet her and a father that whisked away the few credits he owed to get drunk or high, his early childhood was a time he didn't want to remember.

Klanda eventually decided to run away from home, and it was the simplest way to avoid the wrath. He had fallen in with several street gangs as a teenager, and while he had moved past that it had been a source of some skills that would later help him as a stormtrooper. They had lived on the run, having to fight other low-level gangs without being caught by the Imperials. During this time he had developed significant survival and combat skills, even coming to learn how to shoot stolen imperial E11s.

But he knew that his days there were numbered. The law eventually caught up to criminals in the empire due to such a large number of enforcers of their rule. After coming of age he enlisted in the Imperial military, because of his lack of connections in the legal economy it was his best choice for a shot at prosperity.

He performed well during basic Imperial Army training and scored high in a variety of physical and mental tests. Due to this, he was given the choice to head to the more elite stormtrooper training which he also excelled in, though not as much as he had done previously. However, he did well enough to make Corporaal and later Sergeant, which he had managed to get to in just a couple of years since he had enlisted.

He had been among the hundreds of thousands of his comrades stationed on Hkeen V when the forces of Earth attacked. They had been told that it was a rogue planet that was supported by the rebel alliances, and while it had crushed other systems and sectors a decisive battle would be fought here that would drive them back. When the speech by Moff Higler had been received there had been an outcry of loyalty to her and to defend the empire at all costs.

2737 had been skeptical of the propaganda and support for Higler. Like many in the empire, he had joined because it was the best way to survive and make it out of poverty. The poverty that he was pretty sure had come from the suppression of individual thought that was common throughout the Empire along with the corruption that came from little to no oversight on practically every level. Since he had spent time in the streets with gangs he had a sense of personal independence that he kept quiet from the empire.

When Earth had come he and his squad, who were on patrol in a remote part of the Jkenna city long since inhabited by gangs, watched from the roof of an abandoned building at the battle that had raged above him. The navy had been decimated in the battle, with every vessel in orbit destroyed or captured and with communications, there was little idea of what was going on. The Imperial troops had been given little information about the force they were facing and with defeat, after defeat, a growing number surrendered, as in holo, not broadcasts Earth claimed that any prisoners they took would be treated fairly.

From what he had observed so far that had been the case, and while none of them had been treated well they were facing far better conditions than a prisoner of the Empire would face. Led into a large auditorium, he was ushered to sit down as a large screen opened up to play a video.

"Members of the Imperial military, as you know you were recently taken captive by us and may be considering that your life is about to be destroyed via execution or hard labor. But that will not be the case, at least not if you cooperate with us. You will learn the truth about an empire, about how while they might have improved the lives of some they have committed trillions across the galaxy to poverty, slavery, and death. But despite that, many within the Empire are good, that try to do good for the people of the galaxy but fail. You are likely one of those and if you aren't that's alright, you can always be better in the future."

Looking down at the view of the various new Imperial personnel was an office. In there, Rear Admiral Gerrious Vent looked at the new pins on his uniform, which signaled his new rank within Earth's Navy.

"You should be proud of yourself, Gerrious." Admiral Drofa Haffard said, who was sitting across from him. "What you have done has been exemplary, even if you are not proud of how you got there."

"I'm not sure if I am sir. But it was necessary and I do not oppose it."

A bit over half a year ago when Earth had taken Garnizon, he and his Star Destroyer had been in the dock, being repaired after a battle with Earth beforehand. The empire had done what it could be considering the circumstances but there was only so much they could do with the momentum Earth had. He and his crew had been captured and taken to a newly constructed facility on Earth's moon, where their views about the Empire had been deconstructed and their worldview shattered.

Several months later when he had emerged he now harbored a burning hatred for the empire he had once served and resolved to fight it with whatever means he could. He had been educated on all of the things the Empire had done, how many people had suffered, and rebutted all of the lies they had been told. As he had recently learned, however, Earth has essentially brainwashed him into opposing the empire and inserted mind control chips that ensured they would not disobey Earth. It was similar technology to the chips given to the clone troopers which had made the commit order 66. As reprehensible as these methods might be there was no doubt that they had been effective: to this day over 2 million former Imperial servicemen and women now fought for Earth in space, on the ground, and behind the front lines, with hundreds of thousands more on their way. That didn't even begin to factor in the millions more that served under Illustrious and Gorky, which had similar programs in place to ensure loyalists.

Such control had recently been removed from him as he became a trusted Captain of the same Star Destroyer that he had been commanding before he had been captured. With many of the same crew as before as well.

He had been somewhat unhappy at the knowledge that he had been brainwashed, but it was difficult to argue against it. It was preferable to being an Imperial supporter and necessary to ensure that Earth fielded as many troops as possible that wouldn't stab them in the back. And when they became trustworthy enough they would be

"Earth wouldn't be where it was today without the help of former Imperials like us," Haffard said. That was most certainly true. They had helped train many of Earth's personnel in the ways of galactic warfare and served with distinction across many battlefields and many theaters.

"If it takes a little brainwashing, maybe it's immoral. But war isn't moral either, and we can't give up an advantage if we are to win." Vent said,

"I just hope that everyone will react well when they learn the truth," Haffard said.