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Livy sat in a cozy booth at her local Jawa juice shop, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for her daily order. While she waited, she couldn't help but notice a hologram that had suddenly appeared in the middle of the table. It was an advertisement for joining the Galactic Empire, featuring a tall, muscular stormtrooper with rows of badges on his chest plate. As she watched, the stormtrooper stood with pride, showing off the many medals he had earned for his deployments on Tatooine, Hoth, Coruscant, and many other planets. In the background, the Empire anthem played, filling the small cafe with its imposing melody. She reached out and turned the hologram audio all the way down as she pulled her hood over her head. Just last week, there was a rebel attack in a pub just across the street. You never know when a rebel may attack so it is better to keep a low profile.
Livy pulled out a small tablet from her back pocket and started scrolling through recruitment advertisements. With a sense of unease, Livy clicked on the ad for a hiring building stationed only a few blocks away from the cafe. She couldn't resist the lure of the Empire's promises of power, security, and a better future. She had been waiting for a facility to open in her community for months ever since the war started and the random rebel attacks happening recently. As she finished her cup of Jawa juice and left five credits on the table, Livy stepped out onto the busy streets of her city. Everywhere she looked, there were rows of stormtroopers marching with precision and purpose. Every step was timed and perfectly on beat. Saluting as they walked by, their armor gleaming in the bright sunlight.
Livy arrived at the building with the Empire Seal on the wall spray painted with red paint. The door-frame was covered by a discrete black tarp and on the other side were two Darktroopers with large blasters in their hands.
"I saw the recruitment advertisement for a soldier position." She said as she held up a flyer she saw on a lamp-post.
"Right this way." One trooper said as he made his way down a hall to a room full of muscular men. The walls were covered in bullet-proof panels and long benches that were built into the wall and appear to have no legs. I sat down in a chair between two men with large scars and tattoos on their arms. A man in a long coat with several badges on it stepped into the room with a scowl on his face.
"Good evening lady and gentleman," He said giving me a disapproving look. "Today you will prove to me and another general that you are the best of the best and pledge nothing but loyalty to the Galactic Empire. You will have to pass three tests to be able to be accepted into the official Trooper training facility," He pointed to six people and signaled them to follow him into the next room. About twenty minutes went by before he called in another six people and signaled the to follow him into a room.
"And my final six people, follow me. As soon as we get into this room, grab a baster and stand in a shooting cube." The commander said.
We entered the room and my face lit up. It was full of high tech equipment and technology that I would never have known existed. I grabbed a semi-automatic blaster when a large man pulled it from my grasp. He had a brown beard with braided pieces running through it and his hair in a messy bun on the back of his head. He also had a scar running from his temple to his brow on the left side. He turned around, loading a string of bullets into the bottom of the blaster. I turned around to the blaster-rack to see only one blaster left on the shelf. It was an original blaster pistol. The barrel was scratched up and the cooling vents obviously hadn't been cleaned. The other five people were already in their cubes so I made my way over to one. The cubes had panels on either side except the front and back and across the room was a long shooting range. The commander stood behind us staring into the direction of the range.
"Across from you is a series of targets, shoot all 6 with ninety percent accuracy and you will move on to your next tests." The commander yelled. "Those unable to hit each target in a timely manner will be removed from the training. Fire on my command," I peered through the sight to see nothing but dirt and fingerprints. "Fire!"
I switched off the safety and fired my first shot. Bullseye!
"Fire!" I redirected my blaster to another target that was about ten feet further back and shot again. Another perfect shot. Again and again, the commander would bark his orders and again and again, I shot nothing but the small red dot.
The commander yelled two names and they both turned around and left the room. I had only seen one of them mess up a shot twice which was enough to get him removed from the training.
"You four," He yelled. He and the other three men turned around to face the commander. "I will see you same time tomorrow.
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