Ciena listened to the sound of boots approaching her cell. She was now adept at recognizing the sounds of frequent visitors such as her attorney, Cal, or - of course - Thane. In this case, they were lighter and likely on the feet of a female.
As the visitor rounded the corner, Ciena froze in place. Her heart stuttered and both hands flew to cover her face, only leaving visible her wide, surprised eyes.
"Kendy!" she gasped through her fingers.
Kendy hesitated at the first sight of Ciena. After a brief pause, she approached the cell's force field and sat on the small stool for visitors.
Ciena shook her head in disbelief before reality permeated her shock, then rushed to the barrier and sat on the floor looking up at her old friend without any attempt made to hide her overwhelming surprise and joy.
"Kendy! I can't believe it's you! After losing June... I became afraid to hope. But you're here! It's really you!" Her words were coming in short gasps. "I'd given up hope of miracles, and in you walk!"
"I'm very sorry I could not come before now," Kendy said, not making eye contact with Ciena and almost too soft to be heard. "I wanted to. In fact, several times I made it all the way to the entrance. But, I was... afraid."
Ciena placed her palm against the energy shield and slowly shook her head in confusion. "Afraid?" she said.
"Afraid of what you might think of me," Kendy clarified, finally looking up and making eye contact with her old friend.
"How could you ever be afraid of what I might think of you? I'm just so happy to see you and to know that you survived. That's all that matters!" Ciena protested.
"My fear is that you might not feel as strongly about my survival when you know that my unit and I abandoned our posts to join the rebel alliance."
Ciena looked down at her feet and took in a deep breath before raising her head and looking Kendy directly in her eyes. There was so much warmth in Ciena's gaze Kendy had to will away a lump in her throat.
"Before you say anything, I need to tell you why I did it. I don't expect anything of you, but it's very important to me that you know," Kendy continued. With a slight nod from Ciena, she pushed forward. "What I saw...no, what I did in the name of the Empire will haunt me until the day I die."
Kendy took a moment to fortify her emotions before continuing. She was grateful for Ciena's patience, which Kendy suspected came from her having learned from Thane of how bad the truth can be.
"My Unit was placed in the middle of villages and ordered to remove children from their homes after seeing their parents beaten or, many times, killed. The reasons rarely justified the actions we were forced to take. A neighbor could accuse a neighbor of having Rebel sympathies because of a personal grudge, or an Imperial officer could simply make up an offense to cover for his own malfeasance and the end result was always the same. People were beaten and killed. Their properties were confiscated or burned. Lives were destroyed."
Kendy fought against her mind wanting to cling to the details of those times. In those details is where she could drown in an ocean of unresolved emotions. She needed to get through this if Ciena was to see the truth of how things really were in her beloved Empire.
"We were making a push into what we were told was a rebel stronghold. When we arrived, the area was empty. No movement, no noises, no pets...it seemed deserted. The Sargeant refused to believe it. We began tossing the homes and under a rug I found a hatch. My first nstinct was to cover it back up,, but my fear of being caught was too strong. When we opened it up, there were three families inside." Kendy looked past Ciena as if the memory of it was displayed like a holodrama on the wall of Ciena's cell.
"There were four generations of one family in that cramped space. This struck me as incredible. I guess in a war zone the existence of a family line that deep remaining uninterrupted really stood out. And they were so quiet. Even the baby in its great grandfather's arms was sleeping peacefully," Kendy recalled.
"Anyway," she said with a deep intake of air and shrug of her shoulders, "three more hideouts were found. Sarge had us gather the people into the town square and started his ty-ical diatribe about the cost of betraying the Emperor. We'd heard it all before. We knew what was going to happen. I guess we had finally reached our limit, or maybe seeing that family reignited a sense of humanity in us that the Empire had nearly snuffed out? My squad mate interrupted the Sargeant to object to the involvement of children. At first, we all stood frozen like statues even though inside every one of us was reeling."
Ciena appeared perplexed after Kendy ended her last comment with a light chuckle and smirk. When seeing this, Kendy clarified, "I think the Sargeant was so long past thinking of us troopers as thinking, breathing beings that he stopped considering what might be going on underneath our helmets. Sarge was buying into the Empire's own propaganda - that we were mindless weapons - as it suited his own purposes. In retrospect, it is hard not to find the humor in this with how things transpired for the kriffer. You see, Sarge gave the trooper who spoke up a choice. He could either shoot the 'terrorists' or join them. My squad mate laid down his weapon and walked to stand in the middle of the families. I was called next. The scene played out, over and over, with only three in my Unit standing by Sarge.
Sarge realized he'd need extra firepower with a larger crowd to dispose of. What he failed to notice was that I, and the other troopers after me, carried weapons with us. We knew there was only one chance to escape the hell in which we'd been living, and with a single look between us, we took out Sarge and the three troopers."
Kendy grimaced recalling the screams of the children. "I wasn't sorry, Ciena. Even when we were on the run and facing impossible odds, I felt relief grow with every step I took. The next days are a blur. We lost two-thirds of my unit by the time we secured transport to an Intermediary, who ultimately led us to a Rebel outpost.
Ciena sat and listened intently as Kendy related her experiences, and she was reminded of the strong, confident Kendy she knew in the Academy. There were tears, but no histrionics. Ciena always believed one of Kendy's greatest assets was her remarkable inner strength.
After Kendy finished relating her experience, Ciena finally spoke. "I've learned a lot about making promises and oaths in recent years. I can't say that I have it all figured out. I do know that at some point I had to recognize things were not quite what they seemed to be when I first laid my eyes on the second Death Star. It's a long story – what happened between that moment and my capture. But what I do know is that seeing you and knowing you survived is a gift from the Force. It means so much to me that our memories from the Academy and precious moments we shared together with June are no longer mine to remember alone."
Kendy smiled and let out a deep breath, then joined Ciena on the floor. The ever present humming of the energy field kept them from what would surely have been the embrace of true friendship. "Now, let's talk about how we're gonna get you out of here."
