UPDATED: 11/28/2022

Chapter 1

Lively blue eyes met their own reflection in the square bathroom mirror.

What the eyes saw was in complete contrast to how the rest of the body they were attached to looked.

A full head of dirty blonde hair stuck up and out in places that one wouldn't think possible without gravity taking effect. But it was there.

There was also the fact that the body that held the eyes looked like a corpse that just rose from the grave.

The owner of this body was the one and only Luke Skywalker, nephew of Owen and Beru Lars. The sixteen year old boy had just woken up and began his morning routine which went as followed:

Get out of bed and stretch.

Go to and use the bathroom followed by a short shower.

Dry off and change clothes—preferably something that can get dirty.

And then get into the dining room and have a nice breakfast with his aunt and uncle before going back to the bathroom and brushing his teeth.

While the blonde didn't follow this routine religiously or anything, it had long since become a habit of his, a habit that he would do best not to break anytime in the near future. Currently he is on the second to last step of his routine. Breakfast with the family.

Or so he thought.

When Luke entered the room he was greeted with his uncle and aunt already sitting with breakfast ready. However none of them made a move on any of the utensils on the table nor did they seem interested in their food.

Suffice to say, Luke was worried. His uncle, Owen Lars, sat at the head of the table with his arms crossed making an imposing figure. If there was a single word that could describe the man that was his uncle, the word strict would aptly sum up his personality. That didn't mean that he wasn't caring. Luke knew the man cared for him in his own way.

Growing up on Tatooine you needed someone who was responsible to look out for and take care of you lest you fall in with the wrong crowd, even with all the radical reforms and changes made to the planet over the years thanks to the Imperial State—Emperor bless the state. Uncle Owen was not soft and his appearance showed it.

Despite looking a decade older than he actually was—a common occurrence for those who lived on the desert planet—his uncle's arms, legs and—Luke assumed—torso had little fat on them and that wasn't because of his leaner constitution. From years of work out in the fields, he had gained muscles. Something that Luke hadn't gained due to the purchase of several droids that did most of the work for the family of three these days.

Compared to Luke's rather short and slender frame that had made him look like a girl from certain angles—according to his best friend Biggs that is—, Uncle Owen made for a rather imposing sight. Luke would argue with anyone who said otherwise. A man who can look you directly into your eyes when they were sitting down and you weren't was scary.

"...Good morning, Aunty… Uncle Owen," Luke started as he walked over to the table and pulled out his chair to sit down. "Is there something wrong?" He prodded for answers, careful not to step on a metaphorical landmine that could get him in trouble. Uncle Owen looked at him for a second.

"I don't know Luke, why don't you tell me?" That voice. Oh, Luke knew that voice, he was in trouble and it wasn't as simple as forgetting to change the power cells in the droids again. Luke thought back to everything that had happened in the last standard galactic week. He hadn't skipped school—while not one to boast he was rather proud of his perfect attendance record. He had arrived home every day on time. His grades were better than fine. He had met up with Biggs and a few of his classmates at Tosche Station with Aunt Beru's permission so no trouble there…

Luke could not think of anything he had done in the last week that would get him in trouble. As such he answered in kind.

"I-I really do not know what you're talking about Uncle Owen…" Luke trailed off hoping for the man to actually explain what was going on. However, no explanation was given. Instead Uncle Owen reached under the table and pulled up a round, one centimeter thick disk that dipped down into the center on one side while the other was completely flat with a black cog like symbol. He slid it across the table with a fluid motion, like one of those bartenders in those Terran films that Owen and Beru liked so much, and it came to a stop just in front of Luke's plate.

What happened next made Luke pale. Blue lights flickered to life and a recording of a man's voice started. started with a holographic image of Luke rotating in a circle with his arms out with general medical information scrolling along next to his miniature blue holographic clone.

{Skywalker Luke, Age: 16, Blood Type: O-, Planet of Origin: Tatooine, Cadet #: 25-16-2659

As of the 24th of May, 2643 of the Gregorian Calendar, your application into the Imperial State Trooper Academy has been formally accepted. You passed within the top 10 of all three thousand applicants in the Arkanis Sector this year and have shown great skills in engineering and piloting. You are to report to Mos Espa Space Port, Bay two, shuttle eleven for transport in eight days on the 1st of June at 0830 hours.

Failure to comply with these orders will result in your immediate dismissal of your application and you will be barred from taking part in the examination in the future. Due to your high scores and great potential, you may also be placed on a watch list if you are deemed dangerous to the Imperial State of Terra and her allies.

We await your arrival on the planet of Eriadu, Seswenna Sector. Congratulations Cadet, we look forward to serving with you in the future.}

The recording stopped but the device stayed active allowing Luke to see his information still. Except Luke was too pale to take any of it in. He was right. He hadn't done anything… this week. He had forgotten to look back to the previous week. Looking at his aunt and uncle, he coughed into his fist and shifted nervously in his seat. "He he he… surprise?" Luke winced as he saw his uncle's eye twitch slightly. "I- I know I should have told you but—and this is a very important but—I thought that maybe, because we had the droids helping out, that I could maybe-possibly join up with the military…" and finally leave this sand pit. A voice in the back of his mind said. Luke didn't know why he was still talking. Literally nothing he had just said made much sense at all.

Luke knew that his reasons for joining were selfish but he didn't want to admit it. Tatooine was… well he would say 'Great' but that was far reaching from the truth. Tatooine was Tatooine. Always has been, always will be. A dust ball that was overseen by an ally of the Galactic Empire that had been transformed completely in the last sixteen years both in politics and geography. And Luke was a sixteen year old boy. Two years away from being a legal adult. His only real skills were tinkering with droids and his talent in flying old, outdated starships in tight and dangerous canyons.

He wanted more in life and Luke knew that he could get it. But only at the expense of his rather peaceful life on Tatooine with his only living relatives. He looked at both of them with a guilty expression and sighed in defeat.

"Hhuuuoo~ I-I'm sorry for not telling you sooner." Luke said sincerely. "I-I didn't actually think I would get in. I just sent them the application because I thought, 'well why not? I couldn't hurt to try' you know..." Beru's look softened while Owen gave Luke a grunt as he looked at the information still present in hologram form over the disk.

"I don't see why you shouldn't go," Beru began. Owen turned to her with a look. A look that she surprisingly matched. Which was something that his aunt didn't usually do. Resting a hand on his uncle's shoulder she continued. "Come on Owen, you heard the man on the recording. Your little Luke scored within the top 10 out of 3,000. It would be a waste not to let him go. Think of the opportunity."

A spark of hope ignited in the boy's eyes, at his Aunt's words. He and Beru looked at Owen expectantly. The man let out a breath and moved one of his hands to massage his temple. "Alright!" He said gruffly. He turned to look at Luke. "Well you heard the damn machine, you have eight days. Get packed and then tomorrow you're going to send a message to all your friends."

Luke smiled brightly and rushed forward to his uncle taking him in with a great hug. "Thank you Uncle Owen! I won't let you down. Either of you." Luke rushed out of the dinning room and headed for his bedroom, leaving his breakfast untouched.

"After you see your friends you're spending the rest of the time out in the fields with the droids!" Owen hollered in the direction his nephew ran. The only response he got was a muffled 'Okay Uncle Owen!' Owen stood up and turned to Beru with a tired expression that seemed to make him even older than he was.

"I worry about that boy too much… too much like his father." Owen said with a shake of the head. Beru moved next to him and leaned on his shoulder wrapping her arm behind him and rubbing his back.

"That is why we have to let him go honey… besides being a State Trooper is a noble profession, the fact that Luke was able to make it into the top 10 speaks for his abilities itself. Our own special forces garrison is made up of them. Nothing like the Empires 'Elite' Stormtroopers. He will be safer there than he was here. Besides we both know that if you were in his shoes that you would have faked your age when you were younger and been on the first ship to any other planet that had water that didn't evaporate within thirty minutes of being under the suns." Beru mused.

Owen kissed her forehead lovingly. "Your right—you always are."

"Now let's finish our meal before it gets cold."

The next day Luke found himself outside of his aunt and uncle's home cleaning the landspeeder with the help of his family's droid R5-D4 or "Red" as they called him. The soon to be cadet couldn't ask for a better droid. R5-D4 had been Luke's companion since he could walk. The 0.97 meter tall droid had been repaired by Luke and checked over by a professional engineer in Tosche Station. The twenty two year old droid was modernized and suffered little from the many malfunctions that the rest of its series is known for.

As for the landspeeder, Uncle Owen had begrudgingly allowed Luke to purchase it with his own credits under the logic that it would be the most efficient way to inspect and maintain the vaporators in the field.

Luke stood up from his hunched over position and stretched his back earning a few pops. He had been cleaning sand off of the windshield when R5 beeped.

[Luke = excited to leave Tatooine / R5 = sad to see Luke go]

Luke looked over to R5 with a surprised look. He was rather touched that his companion felt that way. The blonde smiled at the droid. "We made a great team, Red. But it was fun while it lasted, right?"

[Galaxy = dangerous place / Galaxy = needs Luke + R5] R5 rolled forward and extended his repair arm forward trying to mimic a human punch. [R5 = many skills / R5 = eager to help] Luke let out a laugh. There were many reasons why Luke liked R5, and one of them was how headstrong the small droid was.

"I'm glad you're up for the challenge Red, but I don't think they'll allow you to come onto the transport with me." Luke told the droid, giving it a few pats on its head like it was a pet.

[Empire = needs R5 + Luke / Luke + R5 = unstoppable team] R5 beeped confidently.

"Maybe you're right, evil doesn't stand a chance with you and me around!" Luke said as he hopped into the landspeeder. "Now come on, we have people to see." Red fired off the retro-thrusters attached to his struts and landed in the back seat of the speeder with a small thud.

Due to the nature of the sand-covered planet not many people went out of their way to visit, let alone live on it. Those who did live on the planet either didn't have enough money to leave or were so set in their ways that they knew no other way of life.

Before the Hutt Cartel was forcibly removed from the planet thanks to the Imperial State, the planet's population was estimated to only be around a few hundred thousand. But because of the planets nature and its millennia old practice of slavery thanks to the Hutt Cartels the actual population of the planet is still not fully known. Many speculate it to be closer to half a million or more but even then it was a tiny number for a planet that was only two thousand kilometers smaller in diameter than the Imperial State home world Terra or 'Earth.'

Given these facts and the long distance between the Lars homestead and any major city it wasn't until the seventh day before Luke had to leave when he finally met up with his best friend Biggs Darklighter in Mos Eisley. Knowing that their time together was short, Luke and Biggs along with R5 decided to spend their time on a leisurely stroll through the city.

"I still can't believe that you got into the military." Biggs said once again. Luke couldn't help but roll his eyes at his best friend's words.

"And yet here we are." Luke said, spreading his arms out and turning to face his friend. "Soon I'll be off this sand pit and… out there." The sixteen-year-old said looking up to the sky, watching ships pass through the air.

"Yeah, well try not to get ahead of yourself—alright Luke." Biggs said, patting the younger boy on the shoulder. "I'll be joining you soon enough. Just you wait."

Luke was about to respond when he felt something was off. He didn't know why but the busy street around him went silent despite everything around him. Something in the back of his head screamed to move. Without realizing it he placed a strong grip on Biggs' shoulder and was about to pull him to the side when an explosion went off nearby, knocking him off his feet.

I have revied the REDUX! I don't know why writers block hit me so hard before. I had created an entire story board with everything planned out. Although what made me come back to this story was the fic "Mandalorian Maverick" by choejhulkp9. His story is so well written that it was frankly inspiring. Go check it out!