A short Drabble about an Imperial. Enjoy.
"We've lost."
That was TK-456's first doubt of victory came from, when news of the second Death Star had been destroyed. When was sent to tell his commanding officer looked distant as he said it, his hand slowly tracing the table as he walked. He turned around suddenly and told him this.
"Leave me trooper, I wish to be alone." TK-456 did so, and quickly left the room, not soon after did he hear not the quick zip of a blaster, but rather the explosive crack of a slugthrower, and TK-456 started to doubt the Empire.
Jakku was a year later. A disaster for the remaining Imperial Navy. TK-456 fought along with other troopers, his fellow brothers and sister against an advancing wave of rebels. They were to defend a fallen Star Destroyer, and a makeshift base from the wreckage. They were winning, and they managed to push the rebels to a fallen corvette cruiser.
He somehow managed to survive the charge, all around him his fellow armored clad friends died left and right, falling down from blaster burns and explosions. Another seed of doubt was planted, what exactly did they die for? For Jakku, for the Emperor, or for each other? The scariest possibility that TK-456 thought was for nothing, a thought that plagued him until he hit cover once more.
The Stormtrooper payed no heed in the rebels, who had their hands raised, his E-11 pointing towards the rebel prisoners. They looked at him with anger and nervousness, waiting for him to possibly pull the trigger and end their lives. He's not surprised that the rebels retreated to another checkpoint and left this gun nest alone to fend for themselves, it was like them to leave the unimportant to die.
Just like us. He immediately pushed that thought back, shaking his head quickly to try to forget what he just conjured up.
"The Empire shall prevail rebel scum." He said, hints of doubt stuck in his voice. "The Emperor is still alive in memory and his-"
"How old are you son?" The oldest of the three rebels asked. He was an more mature man, grayed hair tipping him with an whiter beard. He's heard of rebels taking anyone they could get but old men like him shouldn't fight.
"That doesn't matter, now shut up or I'll-"
"Take a look kid." The man interrupted. "Look at the boy next to me."
TK-456 looked at the boy. He was short, covered in freckles and having messy long red hair. His green eyes were petrified, his helmet shaking with his body as TK-456 glared solemnly.
"He's only 16, and the girl over here?" He motioned towards a young Mikkian girl, eyes full of fear as her pinkish skin paled at TK-456's stare.
"She just turned 17. And me? I'm 50. Let these two go, they're too young to die." TK-456 felt something, like the tiniest etch of sympathy, before it was squashed down. His doubts however kept it alive, alive enough to not notice the boy reaching for a blaster pistol near him.
Without a blink TK-456 shot him, the old man's face contorting to sadness while the girl shrieked. He kicked away the blaster from his clasped hands. "That stupid kid…" He heard the old man mutter, as the girl began sobbing. TK-456 didn't stop her as she dropped her hands and hugged his corpse. The doubt came back.
What are we doing?
"Trooper, we are ordered to retreat." He heard the sounds of boots come closer as the voice grew greater. He saw an officer walk behind him as he stared disgustedly at the weeping rebels.
"The rebels came back with reinforcements and are about to break our line, dispose of these rebels and come towards headquarters."
The officer began walking back, away from the three. "I think we shouldn't kill these rebels sir, they don't pose any-"
TK-456 wasn't able to finish as the officer came back with celerity and killed the two rebels. The officer, a older man with permanent scowl stared at him while doing it.
"Do not disobey me or ever talk back trooper, you have no voice, now get moving." The officer left and holstered his weapon as the smoldering blaster wounds.
What are we doing?
"The rebels just broke through the second line, we need reinforcement now!" The Stormtrooper Commander yelled over the sounds of explosions and blaster fire. TK-456 sat next to him behind a fallen AT-ST as he waited for new orders. TK-456 had no doubt anymore, they were gonna lose this battle, and he knows that all the troopers want to surrender. The Commander was getting angrier as he kept getting the same answer.
"Defend till the last man Commander, now is not the time for cowardice!"
After that, the commander crushed the comlink with his boot.
"Should we surrender?" TK-456 asked to the exasperated commander. Even through all the blaster fire and noise, he kept a bored and tired look.
"We've lost." Was all the commander said. A thermal detonator exploded near them, but the commander didn't flinch at all, he stared somberly at the falling or fallen bodies of Stormtroopers.
The officer at Endor, suddenly TK-456 remembered, he remembered the doubt first came there. At this point, it wasn't a doubt, it wasn't a thought of treason. It was fact. They've lost, they were the bad guys.
"They're aren't sending us reinforcements. We have no more people to fling." He rubbed his eyes tenderly. "Not like we matter anyway. Give me your comlink trooper."
TK-456 did so and handed him the small cylinder. The commander set it up to the open channel and communicated with all the troops, including TK-456, the comlink in his he lent echoing the commander next to him.
"Drop your weapons and surrender, gentlemen. There's no point, they left us. We've lost."
After that, the first time for a while, the blaster fire stopped. The rebels looked confused until the troopers emerged, hands in the air and dropping no their weapons. The rebels quickly covered the area and TK-456 joined the commander, and walked with him to the rebels.
He's no longer TK-456. He's now a person again, he's now Jun again, under a free government that won't send him to fight again. He was a lowly Stormtrooper, almost all of them were left alone, they only went after higher ups.
He supposed that the Empire was never once the good guys. The doubt was now reality, but now he knows that one day, everything will be good and fine, and Jun has no doubt about it.
Something to keep you guys knowing I'm still alive. I've been busy with a job and we're finally getting ready for finals at school so I haven't had the time to write. Anyways, I'll try to pop out an update for my other stories, until then, may the force be with you, always.