Lieutenant Luzea: Shock Trooper

Lieutenant Luzea is an Imperial Shock Trooper in the era of the Galactic Civil War. However, few thought Luzea would end up within the Stormtrooper Corps. Not necessarily because they didn’t think he was cut out for it, but because they thought he would hate the life of a stormtrooper. They had good reason to think this way as Luzea showed little interest in serving the Empire prior to the beginning of the Galactic Civil War. Luzea was more interested in the life of an academic by pursuing his research and teaching. Something clicked, however, when he saw how fragile and vulnerable his peaceful existence really was, and this became abundantly clear with the destruction of the Star Destroyer Sovereign in 4 BBY. What clicked for Luzea was the recognition that he was able to live his privileged life of an academic because of the hard work of others who served the Empire. He knew there were threats to the Empire, but he never really paid much attention to the specifics. However, upon the destruction of the Sovereign, Luzea became much more attuned to the threats that confronted the Empire and, by extension, placed his life as an academic, and the lives his family and friends enjoyed, in danger of crumbling before their eyes. Luzea felt the threat was too great for him to sit idly by, and he wanted to do what he could to preserve the Empire that allowed him to flourish. Within days, Luzea contacted a Stormtrooper Corps recruiter, and in short order was commissioned as a lieutenant due to his education and leadership experience as a teacher. Luzea was then assigned the Riot Trooper specialty and was sent off to basic training.

Oddly enough, Luzea’s original lack of interest in serving the Empire became an advantage in his training as he was, for the most part, metaphorical fresh clay that could be molded in the way his superiors wanted. First, having been a student for so long to pursue his academic goals, he easily picked up the student mentality once again. More importantly, however, he did not have preconceptions of what serving as a stormtrooper was like. This was because no one in his immediate family had served the Empire as part of the Stormtrooper Corps. Not having a mental model of the “ideal stormtrooper,” Luzea was much more flexible and open to feedback than his fellow troopers who were carrying on family traditions of serving the Empire. Yes, everyone was obedient to their superiors and the Empire, but Luzea’s obedience could be shaped by the current needs of the Empire, not what he had been told were the needs of the Empire by family traditions of service. As such, Luzea was quickly socialized into the ranks and loved serving a cause much, much bigger than himself. Likewise, Luzea’s eagerness to learn endeared him to his superiors, helping Luzea develop a reputation for excellence that was noticed by those who commanded the Stormtrooper Corps.

Luzea always stood out from his comrades in the ranks, whether he liked it or not. The dialectical nature of his personality may have been the reason for this. His educational achievements were much more advanced than just about anyone in the Corps, which made him the odd man out, but his fierce loyalty and obedience to his superiors and the Empire made him just like any other trooper. Luzea could wax philosophically on a multitude of highly esoteric academic topics, but he was also a man of action and had an aptitude for the tactical needs of the Corps. Luzea could switch between these two aspects of his personality seemingly instantaneously, which could come as quite the shock to those who were unprepared. An example from his early training highlights this ability. Luzea and his squad were resting between intensive training exercises and one of his squad members was curious about Luzea’s research. Luzea was quite pleased to share and was engaged in deep discussion (beyond what his fellow troopers could comprehend) when the battle station alarm sounded. It was only a moment or two, but by the time Luzea’s squad mates had registered the alarm and went for their helmets, Luzea had registered the alarm, donned his helmet, grabbed his weapon, and was halfway out the door. All were quickly told the alarm was a drill to test their readiness, and as the adrenaline subsided in each man, the squad began talking about how dumbfounded and impressed they were that Luzea could switch from academic to trooper in an instant. Following graduation from basic training, multiple drill sergeants went up to Luzea and informed him how impressed they were with this ability as well.

Despite these personality quirks, Luzea didn’t have much trouble inserting himself into the ranks. Although his personality was different from the other troopers, Luzea found it refreshing that such different personalities can get along so well together. As Luzea was known to wax philosophically, his fellow troopers poked fun at his use of big words. Luzea took this with pride, and played along as he knew the other troopers were poking fun at him because they liked him as a fellow stormtrooper. As such, Luzea learned the right way to poke fun at others as well, thus further building camaraderie with his fellow troopers. Luzea was respected for his intellect, adaptability, and quick reaction time, whereas Luzea respected his squad mates for their brawn, tactical abilities, and greater experience with weapons. 

Lieutenant Luzea’s time as a Riot Trooper was relatively short-lived. Unbeknownst to Luzea, he was being closely observed for possible assignment as an Imperial Shock Trooper. Luzea’s drill sergeants from training had described Luzea’s abilities in detail to their own superiors, and the leadership of the Stormtrooper Corps took enough interest in the reports to continually share Luzea’s reports, and their own observations of Luzea, to the shock trooper commanders. Luzea’s service following training showed his abilities were no fluke of the training environment. His critical thinking aptitude became apparent quickly through his ability to immediately reformulate plans based on minute changes in field conditions. Further, Luzea demonstrated aptitude to discern when restraint was necessary and for determining when force needed to be escalated, either gradually or overwhelmingly. Therefore, within a year of having sought a commission as an officer in the Stormtrooper Corps, Lieutenant Luzea found himself reassigned to the Imperial Shock Trooper specialty.

As a shock trooper, Lieutenant Luzea’s missions were varied. His original training in riot control meant he often commanded protection missions through battle zones and occupied areas. However, he was sometimes called upon to lead special infiltration missions, especially if the mission required extraction of wanted enemies or the rescue of friendly forces. It was on an extraction mission of a wanted enemy where Lieutenant Luzea was wounded by a laser bolt that found its way into the gap between his abdomen and thigh armor. The laser bolt grazed the upper part of Luzea’s femur, partially dislodging the bone from its socket on the hip. It was a pass-through would, and Luzea sustained nerve damage in addition to the dislocated femur, but Luzea was able to stay in the fight by providing cover fire from a fixed position. The injury showed the risks inherent in being a field commander who leads from the front of his unit, and in the back of his mind, Luzea knew he would not make it through the service would getting some sort of battlefield injury. Luzea's unit captured their target, and he was the only trooper with injuries severe enough to require hospitalization.

Lieutenant Luzea’s time in the hospital was much more fruitful than he ever could have imagined. Certainly, contending with his wound and the healing process was downright painful, but his presence in the hospital put him at the right place and time to find love. His name is Sergeant Puska, and the sergeant was in the hospital having broken his arm when thrown by the shockwave of an explosion. Both men knew their wounds would not prevent them from returning to military assignments, but they both also knew they had many weeks ahead of them before being released from medical care. Perhaps it was the common experience of gay men in the hyper-masculine stormtrooper corps that allowed them to hit it off so well, and perhaps the close proximity to each other as patients on the same ward had something to do with it, but the two men quickly fell in love. Their relationship started by sharing their stories of being injured or wounded, which then evolved into the missions they had been on and their military training (Puska was an artillery trooper), which then evolved into information about their personal lives, upbringing, and careers before the war. Within a short time, both men had peeled away many layers of the analogical onion of their being, exposing more and more intimate details about themselves and their lives.

Puska found Luzea attractive in many ways. Luzea was intelligent (but did not let that go to his head), witty, worldly, and could carry on conversation on many different topics. Also, Puska loved how Luzea would light up when discussing what he did for research prior to entering the Stormtrooper Corps. Puska found this nerdiness very attractive, and started to yearn for Luzea. Soon enough, it became abundantly apparent that one of them would need to make the next move, but it wasn’t going to be Lieutenant Luzea. Luzea was anxious about making the first move due to being a higher rank than Puska, and Puska knew this. Puska respected Luzea’s concern, so he finally made the move at the right time, and Luzea provided many hints to indicate the love was mutual.