The Sands of Jakku

Prologue

The sands of the desert shimmered in the bright light of the Jakku sun as the troop of soldiers marched with purpose down the steps of the palace to the vehicles waiting for them outside.

A boy, no older than fourteen, stood amongst the grown soldiers, looking out at the large expanse of desert before him. It was his first time seeing the outside of the palace walls, and the view was breathtaking. He had never seen so much space .

As he drew closer to his designated vehicle, the sand shifted and quaked under his heels as though alive — yet another experience that was entirely new to him. He had only ever felt marble floors and training mats beneath his feet. Now, he had the chance to experience something animated —almost living - instead of the cold stillness within the palace.

There were other boys like him, brought out for the first time for their very first mission with the older, more experienced soldiers. It was a rite of passage.

Today, the Palace Guard had a mission to go south of Jakku, past the mountains, to the fertile crescent of Yavin. They had been tasked with destroying a village of dissidents, dangerous enemies of the empire, who posed a great threat to all they had achieved.

He climbed on the vehicle, his mask pulled over his face to keep the sand out. The protective gear proved ineffective as some of it got through anyway, stinging his eyes and filling his mouth with bothersome grains that made it nearly impossible to breathe easily. He inhaled, enduring the unpleasant rattle in his lungs.

As they zipped across the desert, it felt like flying. They moved so fast over the sand, kicking up clouds of dust, that he could hardly take it all in. Small trading posts and outlet towns flew past them on their journey, and he soon lost track of where they were. The vehicle moved too quickly for him to catch any more than a cursory glance.

The soldiers around him stared straight ahead, ignoring the towns they passed. None of the other students from his group turned away from the front of the vehicle either, and he was suddenly struck with the feeling of being out of place.

He turned back towards the front of the vehicle and willed himself to behave like the other soldiers that surrounded him. The Palace Guards didn't need another reason to look at him with disdain. They already had far too many to list.

*

Their destination was on the far reaches of the kingdom. Yavin was one of the few places in the desert that the palace considered to be an oasis.

It was also home to some of the most dangerous adversaries the palace had ever seen. Or so he'd been told — but now, standing here before these people, he didn't know how that could possibly be true. The so-called enemies of the palace were terrified. They cowered in their homes, hiding from the soldiers that began to march into the town square.

He saw his commander, Captain Phasma, come into view. The soldiers bowed outwards and away from her until she found her way to the center of the guard. Then, as if it had been choreographed, the soldiers circled her. She stood at the center for a long time in silence, eyeing the villagers that recoiled in her presence. She made a noise of disgust and called out a name.

The people around them flinched and lowered their heads. Phasma called out the name again, this time pulling her gun from her back and gripping it in her hands. She looked impatient, her clipped tone laced with quiet fury and a dangerous warning.

Dread filled his chest when a scruffy man entered the square, followed immediately by a woman and a teenage boy, not much older than him, and much too young to be in a situation like this. He was struck, and not for the first time, by the notion that he himself was too young to be here.