As a new recruit, Davin Felth travels to Carida with a large group of 18-year-olds to begin his military training. By working hard, he proves himself to be a superior recruit, and is taken to become an AT-AT driver. After much time spent in the VR sims, he is given an opportunity to operate an actual AT-AT, and is taken out to the training range by his sergeant. On the way there, the sergeant leaves the cockpit to check on weapons and ammunition. While he is out, the AT-AT is attacked and Davin, unable to contact the sergeant, directs the AT-AT to kneel and then destroys his attackers. Afterwards, he is informed that this was a test and that he was the first cadet to destroy all the attackers, but when he explains to Colonel Veers that his unusual tactic was to protect the AT-AT from entanglement of the legs, he finds himself transferred to a stormtrooper regiment on its way to Tatooine.
On Tatooine, his regiment, under orders from Captain Terrik, is assigned to find an escape pod that launched from a Blockade Runner that Darth Vader's Star Destroyer had captured. After some time spent searching, and a couple of false alarms, Davin finds the escape pod and learns that it was occupied by droids. Following the trail of the droids, Davin's squad searches a Jawa sandcrawler, and upon learning that the droids they were looking for were sold to a moisture farmer, Terrik orders the Jawas killed and they continue their search. While searching Mos Eisley for the missing droids, Davin and his backup enter a cantina to investigate a scream and find nothing but a surly man looking at his table. On leaving the cantina, a berserk Jawa attacks Davin's squad with a non-functioning blaster, and one of his squad-mates kills it. Shocked at the callous way the Empire regards life, Davin considers his future with the military when the learn that the droids are escaping Tatooine. Running to Docking Bay 94 to stop it, Davin sees the man from the cantina holding off 20 or more troopers by himself, and when Terrik prepares to take a shot and kill the man, Davin shoots him in the back and the ship escapes. Contemplating his future, Davin decides to remain with the stormtroopers and do what he can to help the rebellion from the inside.