Summary: Taken from his family and forced into military service by his own government, a newly minted young Jedi knight ends up thrown back 75 years from his own time, and to a world similar, yet very different from the one he knew. Starting nearly from scratch, he will have to make friends and allies, and learn as much as possible about this alternate timeline as quickly as possible, if he is to live, thrive, and survive. Sometimes the fates can seem very harsh, but they have their reasons. We just need to be patient, do the best we can, and find out what they ultimately have in store for us…

Hello readers – while I am a long-time reader myself, this is the first time I've attempted to bring an actual story idea to life, so to speak. While this is a Strike Witches-based fanfiction, I will be taking elements from the Star Wars universe (and even one or two from Star Trek – I'm one of those people that likes both). The story will center on an original character of my own, but will also heavily involve the characters from the Strike Witches universe that you know and love! Also, for the purposes of this story, the Star Wars universe was never created in the original world this story is set in. Hopefully you will all find this engaging and entertaining. Constructive feedback is appreciated-no flames, please!

Disclaimer: I do not own Strike Witches, Star Wars, or Star Trek. This story is a work of pure fiction, and is for fun and entertainment purposes only.

April 15, 2019

As he was riding in the military jeep to the main hangar, Daniel Horowitz couldn't help but go over in his head, for the umpteenth time, how the sequence of events in his life had led him here. It seemed that every time something amazing or extraordinary happened to him, it would come back to bite him in the ass – big time. At the young age of seventeen years old, he had been through quite a bit – more than a lot of people go through in their entire lifetimes.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, he was a typical teenage boy in many ways – he was a big sports fan, had a small, but seemingly solid group of friends that he liked to spend time with, and came from what would generally be considered a typical and happy middle-class family. Both of his parents were professors – his dad was a law professor, and his mom taught English literature to undergrads at the local college. He also had a younger sister (by three years) who sometimes drove him crazy, but whom he still loved. Daniel himself was 5'10 and 190 lbs. with brown eyes and light brown wavy hair.

It started when he was ten years old and was administered an intelligence test by the state educational administrative system. Not only had he scored incredibly high, he was considered to be a genius and was immediately offered the opportunity to skip several grade levels and attend high school. Still being somewhat naïve about the ways of the world, particularly about teenagers, he accepted this opportunity. However, he quickly came to realize that this had probably been a mistake, as he had a hard time socializing with his new "peers." He was considered a curiosity at best and was generally an outcast amongst the rest of the high schoolers. Not being one to quit after starting a challenge, he plowed through and graduated high school at the age of fourteen. While he was able to maintain contact with his small group of friends during this time, he decided that he would wait until they graduated until he went off to college – a decision his parents supported completely. In the meantime, he would try to find something to do with himself.

That decision was made for him, however, when he was out and about with two of his best buddies one day the next winter. They were hanging out in the local park when suddenly a heavy tree branch above them cracked and was coming down right on top of them. Daniel reacted like anyone else would and threw his arms up in the air in an attempt to brace himself. He then felt a strange sensation as he opened his eyes and saw that the branch was just hanging in midair. He felt as though he could control it, and using his mind, he was able to move the branch away from him and his friends, and allowed it to fall to the ground. To say that his friends were shocked would be an understatement – while they weren't afraid of him, they didn't quite know what to make of him. Daniel was initially both afraid and excited – he had become a superhero, complete with superpowers! People only dream of something like this happening! But what would everyone else think? How would he be treated by his friends and family?

Shortly after this incident was when things really went south on him, as the government somehow got wind of what had happened. Federal agents came to his family's door one day and demanded that Daniel come with them immediately – he was allowed to pack a few days' worth of clothing and could bring one parent with him, but he had to go with them. He chose his dad, as he was a law professor and would be the most able to help him. That was how, a day later, he ended up at the White House in Washington, D.C., sitting before the President of the United States. Flanked by the Vice President and the Secretary of Defense, Daniel was then told the purpose of him being brought there. Apparently, there were other people his age who had developed similar abilities (the government was keeping this from the public, of course), and they were being gathered to form a special, covert Air Force unit known as the Jedi Knights. Daniel had never had any desire whatsoever to join the military – especially not with this guy as the commander-in-chief.

He immediately refused to join, politely of course. However, the president wouldn't take "no" for an answer. "If you don't agree to join," he said, "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to detain you at an undisclosed located for national security purposes – we can't have someone like you running around freely doing God knows what with your powers. Not even your father will be able to help you, and good luck trying to get a habeas corpus writ." Seeing his options limited, and knowing the president liked to make bargains, he then agreed to join the Jedi Knights if the president would agree to a few conditions. With his father, he was able to get a written agreement hammered out, stating that Daniel would serve in the U.S. Air Force until he was 25 years old. In exchange, Daniel would be allowed to make phone calls to his family once a week (with the calls being monitored by military personnel), and would be allowed leave a few times a year to spend time with his family for birthdays and certain holidays. In addition, Daniel's entire family would be allowed to know what was happening, but they couldn't inform the public, lest they be arrested on national security charges. It was the best deal Daniel could have hoped for under the circumstances.

In fact, Daniel had just returned to base after spending the weekend with his parents and sister to celebrate the joint birthday of his mom and sister, with the two of them sharing a birthday. On the drive back, he also thought about what his life had been like for the last two plus years. After he had signed his life away, he was taken to an air force base in the middle of the Pacific, far away from prying eyes. There, he met the other members of the team – there was Jonathan from the South Side of Chicago, Michael from Seattle, and Lorena from San Antonio. All of them had unexpectedly developed Jedi abilities – telekinesis, superhuman reflexes, etc. – but unlike Daniel, none of the rest of the group had the foresight to hammer out a specific written agreement with the president once they were presented with the ultimatum of joining or being held alone in an undisclosed location.

At the beginning, they were all given the rank of lieutenant, but the upper brass did not see them as true members of the air force – rather, they were seen as disposable tools to be molded and used for purposes that were yet to be determined. The only person who treated them with any real kindness and respect was their Jedi master and instructor, Ben Kenobi – a man who was the spitting image of the actor Ewan McGregor (imagine that). He had spent his life hiding his abilities, until the military came calling. Seeing that he was the only one who could help these young Jedi, he reluctantly agreed to become a part of the new covert group, and taught Daniel and the rest of the team how to use and control their abilities, as well as how to connect with the Force. The Force, they were told, was what gave a Jedi his or her powers. It was a universal energy source that bound and connected all things. Those that were able to understand this connection would be able to work as one with the Force and become stronger. Like the code in the King Arthur legends, this power was to be used not for aggression or personal gain, but to protect those who could not protect themselves. Master Kenobi had also brought in a lot of East Asian philosophy and martial arts into his training, which Daniel had to admit was fascinating. They were all taught hand-to-hand combat through the use of lightsabers – a katana-like sword with a retractable laser for a blade (thanks to some intense kendo training), as well as mental discipline to make sure they didn't lose themselves.

Realizing how lucky he had been to have his father with him at the time he hammered out his deal, Daniel was determined to do what he could to make his comrades' lives as tolerable as possible. He stood up for their rights and dignity at any chance he had, and helped them to make progress during the course of their training. The rest of the team quickly realized what Daniel was doing and soon came to respect him – no person would be left behind. As for Daniel, he was determined not to allow the military brass to break him. He would pick his battles and put up a fight when he could – not so much as to constitute insubordination (which would have landed him in the brig), but enough to let them know that they would not break him. He was also determined, while helping out his comrades, to be the best of the bunch – to make sure that as annoying as he was to the brass, they would tolerate it due to his abilities. His hard work had paid off about two months ago, on his birthday (his parents considered him to be the best Valentine's Day gift ever!), when he became the first in the group to pass the trials. Not only had he mastered all of the abilities taught by Master Kenobi, but he had even developed two unique abilities of his own! The first he got from watching Star Trek – specifically, he came up with a way to do a mind meld like Spock, and made sure that it wouldn't physically harm the person he was melding with. The second ability he was especially proud of because it came through a bit of what he thought was original thinking regarding the perception of time. In superhero movies, super speed was just someone moving themselves at a higher intensity than what is normally capable of a human being. However, this expended a great deal of energy, and wouldn't be useful for very long. This is when Daniel thought to use the Force to instead change his own perception on the flow of time, making everything move slower in this eyes. While he would be moving at his normal speed, everyone else would perceive him to be moving faster. As a result of passing the trails, he was awarded the rank of captain, and was put in charge of the team outside of training.

He also had to admit that the training had been good for him physically, as he had lost some weight and gained some muscle. Nothing too over the top, but he was definitely in the best physical shape he had been in since he could remember.

About six months ago, the team members had all been issued top-of-the-line laptops and tablets in preparation for their training on a brand new type of fighter – one specifically designed and built for them in mind. It was called the X-wing fighter, and it came equipped with energy shields, laser cannons, photon torpedoes, a takeoff-landing system that didn't require a runway, the latest jet engines, and a newly-designed, fully computerized system to run everything. It was just like something out of a sci-fi show (a massively bloated military budget can come in handy sometimes). They were given schematics to study, as well as beta versions of the maintenance program they would be using to make sure their fighters were running as they should. They were also provided hundreds of hours of simulator training so that they could hit the ground running when the fighters were ready for actual flight.

As they were nearing the hangar, the staff sergeant driving the jeep suddenly spoke to Daniel. "By the way, captain, the new X-wings have finally arrived. Everyone is waiting for you to arrive so that they can start testing them."

'I guess as the unit leader, they want me to be the first one to test it out,' Daniel thought to himself. "Thank you sergeant," he said. "By the way, will there be time for me to drop off my bags at the barracks?" The sergeant shook his head and replied, "I'm afraid not – the colonel wants you to start the tests immediately. However, there is a small space in the fighter for cargo. You can probably put your stuff there until you've finished."

As he arrived, his comrades greeted him enthusiastically, asking how his trip had gone, how he was feeling – you know, the usual things friends ask after a trip. He smiled as he chatted, thinking that being with them at least made life tolerable. The colonel quickly interrupted their reverie and ordered him to work. Daniel quickly placed his belongings – which included not only his clothing, but also his issued electronics and some personal items from home – into the small cargo area, put on his air force-issued leather jacket along with the rest of his flight gear (including his helmet), and got into the fighter.

So far, the test of the X-wing was going swimmingly. The take-off and landing system was as smooth as could be, it maneuvered faster than anything the air force currently used and was able to make turns on a dime. In addition, the new laser cannons certainly worked as advertised, as the targeting system was dead-on, and the power of the lasers just blew the targets away with pinpoint precision. Daniel was then ordered to turn around and head for the next set of targets to test the torpedoes.

He was about to make the turn when he noticed that all of his electronics were acting very strangely – the readings were all over the place, with the numbers oscillating back and forth. It was as though he had suddenly flown into a massive electromagnetic field, though there wasn't one here as far as he knew. He radioed back to base command to tell them of his situation and ask them to advise, but he got mostly static in response with only a word or two getting through intermittently. Suddenly, a binding flash appeared before him, in the form of what looked like a tear through the scene in front of him. It was enormous – he had no way to get around it! He tried to turn and fly back to base, but something was pulling him and the fighter toward the rift. He then tried to radio base command again to apprise them of the situation, but they weren't getting his message.

There was no way to escape, and as Daniel and the X-wing were swallowed up by the blinding light, him desperately trying to get away to no avail, he had no way of knowing that his life as he knew it would change forever.

I hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter! I know there was a bit of suspense at the end, but I think you all know where Daniel is headed. I hope you all continue to read on!