Gunther stepped into the changing booth and there it was hanging on the wall before him. His new uniform.

After a long week of suitability tests, he was finally here, about to suit up as a trooper of the Imperial Space Force.

He reached out and ran his fingers over shiny material of the uniform’s bodysuit. It was dark green with black accents and had the look and consistency of latex, but Gunther knew it was actually a specialised nano-fibre material that was cable of withstanding bullets and blaster bolts, and a great deal of physical punishment.

A pair of heavy-duty black combat boots were resting on the floor underneath the hanging suit. And on a small shelf above it sat the black gloves and helmet that would complete the uniform.

Outside the booth came the call of the drill sergeant. “Hurry it up recruits! Get changed and get your butts back out here!”

The rhino’s attention snapped back to what he was supposed to be doing. He quickly stripped off his civilian clothes and started pulling on the uniform, starting with the full body jumpsuit, stretching it over his big muscular frame. It was pretty much skintight, but Gunther didn’t care. It looked great on him.

As he proceeded to pull on the big combat boots, he could still hardly believe this was happening. Joining the ISF was a great career opportunity, getting the chance to travel the Great Galactic Empire, protect its worlds, colonies and citizens from its enemies.

And when his service was done after a few tours of duty and he retired, he’d have plenty of experience and skills to help him get a great job back in civilian life, as well as lots of great stories to impress the ladies with when he started looking for a wife to start a family with. All in all, joining up was a good move on his part.

He knew there was a fair amount of criticism of the ISF and the Empire these days, particularly in the outer star systems, people saying their methods and operations were too severe and brutal. Some extremists even went as far as to call them dangerously vicious and ruthless.

But Gunther had always viewed them as a necessary evil to maintain law and order in a chaotic galaxy. The Emperor was an okay ruler in his opinion, if a little heavy-handed in his responses to situations at times. Although, he had to admit to himself that it was possible his opinion was a little skewed because he was from a very affluent planet that rarely experienced much trouble that required ISF intervention. But it was how he felt nonetheless.

Shaking off such musings, Gunther focused himself on the task of getting suited up. When the boots were in place, the gloves came next. They slipped on easily and the small wrist mounted computer instantly synced up with the systems incorporated into his bodysuit, monitoring his vital signs. There seemed to be various other functions and systems, but he was unsure what they were. He was sure he’d be trained on them at some point.

With the gloves on, that just left the helmet. It felt surprisingly lightweight for how hi-tech it was, encrusted will all sorts of devices and systems. Most of which were a mystery to him.

It was specially adapted for his species, so he was easily able to slip it on his head, his ears slotting into recesses in the sides.

To Gunther’s surprise, as soon as the helmet was in place, it activated, sealing itself against the neck of the bodysuit. He felt earpieces slip into his ears. And then the visor slammed down over his eyes of its own accord. It was dark, blocking his vision and preventing him from seeing anything.

This caught the rhino off guard, and he stumbled back a few paces, slamming into the wall of the booth.

“New trooper detected.” An electronic voice came through his earpieces. “Inducing trance for programming.”

Before Gunter could say anything in response, his visor lit up, filling his vision with bright, multi-coloured swirling patterns that immediately grabbed his attention and wouldn’t let go. And his ears were bombarded by strange sounds that made him feel light-headed.

He felt his whole body relaxing, his mind getting fuzzier and fuzzier. He briefly wondered if this was supposed to happen, but that thought quickly vanished, as it became more and more difficult to think and easier and easier to just relax and let the sights and sounds wash through his head, wiping away any pesky thoughts.

“Trance state achieved.” The electronic voice came again. “Proceeding with full brainwashing and mental reprogramming.”

The helmet against the rhino’s head began to feel warm, his skull tingling. But Gunther barely noticed, too lost in a deep hypnotic trance, only vaguely aware that something was happening, something was being done to his brain.

He was unaware exactly how long it lasted, the passage of time becoming meaningless in his hypnotized state. But eventually whatever process he was being subjected to came to an end, the tingling in his head fading away.

“Programming complete.” The electronic voice said. “Awaken, Gunther Taraldsen, trooper third class.“

The odd sounds in Gunter’s ears ceased. The visor shut off and became transparent, with only the base heads-up display, allowing him to see again.

As the big rhino returned to full consciousness, he found he felt different. Improved. And he now understood everything so much better. He knew the truth now.

He was a trooper of the Empire. That was where he truly belonged. Any thoughts of one day retiring to do anything else had been wiped away completely.

After all, it was the greatest of honours and privileges to be able to serve someone as magnificent as the Emperor, and protect his great Empire from all those who would threaten or even criticize it.

The rhino was aware he had been reprogrammed, brainwashed. But he didn’t care. It was done in service of the Empire and the Emperor, so of course it was the right thing to do. As a loyal and obedient trooper of the ISF, as he now was, he was simply incapable of thinking anything else.

In fact, Gunther felt a great swell gratitude that the naïve and idealistic person he had been was now gone, and he could devote himself fully to serving the glory of the Empire and his beloved Emperor. Nothing else mattered to him anymore and he knew with every fibre of his being that he would serve in the ISF for the rest of his days, and he felt privileged to be able to do so.

Gunther stepped out of the changing booth and stood to attention, as his programming told him to do. Around him, all the other recruits that had arrived with him were emerging from their changing booths, now all in uniform, and all just as reprogrammed as he was.

The drill sergeant, a burly grizzly bear, watched them proudly. “Welcome to the first day of the rest of your lives, troopers! Your duty assignments are being uploaded to your helmets as we speak. Now, get going to where you’re supposed to be. For the glory of the Empeoror, long may he reign over all!”

“For the glory of the Emperor!” Gunther joyfully joined in with the other recruits in shouting out the proper response, as they’d been programmed.

He turned with his fellow new troopers and started marching out of the changing area towards his first assignment, proud to be wearing his new uniform and happy to have a new life of service to live…