Trooper ( comic ) Trooper is a comic story that appeared in " Star Wars Tales 10 " and was collected in " Star Wars Tales Volume 3 " . The story was written by Garth Ennis , the art was by John McCrea , the colors by Brad Anderson and the letters by Steve Dutro . The story is told from the point of view of an anonymous stormtrooper of the 501st Legion who boards the " Tantive IV " in the opening scenes of . Plot summary . In the loading bay of an Imperial Star Destroyer , one of the stormtroopers silently prays that he will not be called upon to lead the boarding party . In theory , the explosion caused when the door is breached should cause the defenders to flinch and allow the boarding party to surprise them . The trooper knows better : every single time he has been on this kind of mission , the first trooper through the door was the first to be shot . He flashes back to his early adulthood , living on Greater Marianas , a rustic , backwater planet with constant dust storms . His father was a hunter who scratched out a meager living selling hides , and the young man grew sick of the dust storms , the vagrant lifestyle , and his father ' s constant sermonizing about how freedom was the most important thing in life , and taking freedom away was the lowest act imaginable . One day , an Imperial landing party appeared in town and announced that the planet was now under Imperial " protection . " The young man ' s father protested , and a stormtrooper shot him dead . " Pa had the freedom he was born with ; the other guy had a blaster . " Seeing the end of his old life , the young man appealed to the Imperials to take him with them . The officer in charge said that he would have to demonstrate his loyalty to the Empire first - by executing a random member of the crowd . The young man did . " To me , it wasn ' t evil . It was nothing more than common sense . A way off Greater Marianas . " The trooper then recalls the brutal training regimen that initiated him into the stormtrooper ranks : requiring him to kill his fellow recruits , or risk death in training , all designed to drain him of his humanity and individuality , and teach him complete obedience to orders , and to value victory over everything , including his own life . Back in the present , the entire unit freezes as Darth Vader appears and warns the Sergeant in charge that his men had better be up to the mission they are being given . With a tremble , the Sergeant assures Lord Vader that they are . The trooper hears the soldier behind him soil his uniform , " and I curse the day I ever joined the Empire . " He looks back on his life as a trooper again , as he became all but indifferent to the deaths of his comrades and the atrocities he was ordered to carry out , but he is brought back to reality again as the Sergeant selects him to go in first . As the boarding party prepares , the trooper prays silently , swearing that if he survives the next few minutes , then he will desert at the next opportunity and leave the Empire behind ; perhaps he will even join the Rebellion , but the important thing is that he will be a free man again . When the door is blown open , the trooper is surprised when the theory works : the defenders flinch , allowing him an extra second to get through the door , and the first shot is taken in the helmet by the Sergeant entering behind him . As he rushes down the corridor , gunning down rebels , he rejoices that he ' s alive , and thinks he will make good on his vow as soon as the mission is over . After the ship is taken , Vader is informed the Death Star plans are not in the ship ' s main computer ; the trooper then silently watches as Vader interrogates then kills the captain of the ship . " Seen that a thousand times before . Never seen it fail . " As the trooper searches the ship for passengers , " the most beautiful girl I ' ve ever seen shoots me in the face . " He falls and begins to feel cold , which is a bad sign given that the internal temperature of a starship is never cold . As the other troopers stun her , his vision fades to blackness . The last thing he hears is his squadmate saying , " she ' ll be all right . " His last thought is , " But I won ' t . " Behind the scenes . Leland Chee confirmed on his Facebook page that this story was intended to be non - continuity .