Pillars of an Empire

by PaintedElectric

Both sides want nothing more than for the war to end on their own terms, but for some, war and a life of servitude is the only thing they know. Five such Imperial officers have witnessed the death and torture of their peers at the hands of the Force and wonder if there is a purpose to be served in laying down their lives for an Empire that would not do the same for them.

11. Chapter 11: Separate Ways

ADMIRAL PIETT

Of all the creatures Piett expected to run across on this moon (and especially after water serpents and condor dragons), furry and sentient three foot creatures were not one of them. Some two hours later after they had been picked up by the rebels, they came to a place where countless numbers of absolutely gargantuan trees extended ever-upward and Piett, Jerjerrod, Motti, and their men found themselves in a camp of these less-than-intimidating creatures that Commander Skywalker referred to as Ewoks. Scattered here and there were small campfires for the guards who stood around at the foot of each tree that had to have their homes built into them somewhere high above.

"They look harmless enough," said Piett just loud enough for Motti to hear him as two Ewoks holding two foot crude wooden spears considered them.

"They're carnivorous and eat humans," said Motti darkly.

"They what?" asked Piett, certain he had misheard. Not that he expected many–if any–humans had stumbled across Ewoks to land themselves in such a position, but how could these little creatures be enough to take down humans and consume them? It was primitive weapons against technology; it was savagery against strategy. Piett had a horrible thought of all those men who had been cut off from the bunker, wandering the wilderness and possibly being trapped, captured, and eaten by the least threatening-looking carnivores he had ever seen.

"I don't believe we are on the menu," said Jerjerrod somewhat reassuringly.

"We have an understanding with them," said Skywalker from ahead as if he had been standing right beside them and participating in their conversation. "And we're lucky to have their help, as you'll see in a few minutes."

Here, they separated the officers from the rest of the men who were taken to the base of a different staircase at a different tree after assurances from Skywalker that they would not be harmed.

Up into the trees they went, climbing higher and higher in dizzying circles until the foliage completely concealed the ground below from view. Piett glanced down but once and decided that was enough, for he did not want to know how high up they actually were. Falling in space was nothing more than drifting with the absence of gravity outside of ship stabilizers, but falling on any world meant a straight and short journey down and a resounding splatter.

With each tree being round enough around that twenty men needed to join hands to completely encircle the trunk, there was more than enough hollowed out space for multiple huts at various height levels, occasionally joined together with other trees by an enormous platform that acted as a sort of town square. One such square was the base of operations where the stench of blood hit Piett's nostrils enough to make him gag.

It was a camp of wounded men from both sides. Men in burnt, shriveled Imperial garb, in melted stormtrooper armor, in charred rebel camouflage uniform, all casualties and victims of the bridge destruction. The sheer number of men was staggering, but Piett could not help but be grateful to the rebels for not discriminating against any of the wounded based on the color of their uniform. If they were still breathing, they were rescued and tended to, which was more than Piett unfortunately could say of his own people. The only reason that he would ever be given leave to give the order to show quarter would be to take prisoners and keep them alive long enough to be questioned. In the back of his mind, he knew that the rebels would likely be asking each and every one of these wounded Imperial troops if they had any useful information and that he, Jerjerrod, and Motti would likely be asked this as well, but he let the thought stay where it was for the time being. He had a hope that the rebels at least would be lenient and not resort to torture as a method of questioning their prisoners.

"Have a look; see if you recognize anyone," said Skywalker, gesturing at the narrow walkway between each row of the wounded.

Running off of fumes at this point, Piett knew he was seeing visions as they were escorted down the line and all he could see in each and every makeshift bed of woven vines and leaves were the bodies of Needa and Lykar Voss. He felt panic rising within him that no matter how much he scrunched up his eyes and jammed the heel of his hand against the side of his head, he could not get rid of the image of those dead men occupying every single cot on this platform. The dominating stench of old blood was also doing nothing for his stomach and he lifted his bound hands to his nose to plug it in the hopes of swallowing back whatever was longing to come up his throat.

He was so preoccupied with not projectile vomiting over the wounded that he collided with Motti's broad and battered back since the admiral had come to a dead stop in front of him, stopped by Jerjerrod who was had brought their procession to a halt.

There, at the end of the row where they had stopped, was a tall and slender man who lay with his upper torso propped up, a severe burn across his chest, and heavy bandages wrapped around the bloody stump of what had once been a right leg. His skin was quite clammy and gray and though he would have been a towering man when he stood at his full height, he looked incapable of doing more than breathing at this point. His stony, disapproving gaze settled on them and as his left cheek turned in their direction, they saw a deep scar running down the side of his face from eyebrow to chin.

None of them could form words until in a shrill voice of disbelief, Piett managed to choke out, "Maxim?"

"Is that his name, then? He refused to tell us," said Princess Leia behind them as she regarded Veers with the same hostility that he was giving her. "This is about half of the men we recovered from the attack on your bunker. We found this one floating in the river only this morning. He'd made a tourniquet on his leg to stop himself from bleeding to death, but he has lost a lot of blood and we're running on a limited transfusion right now, as you can probably tell."

"Use my blood," Motti volunteered. "I can donate to anyone, use mine if he needs it so badly." To demonstrate his eagerness, he held forth his bound wrists to offer up an arm and thus a vein to draw blood from.

The princess glared at Motti without movement as if wishing to deny him for no other reason than pettiness this opportunity to help a man that was clearly his friend, so it was General Solo who had to step in and call for a medic to begin the transfusion. Piett suspected that General Solo had a deeper relationship with the princess, but that despite Motti's shared history with her, the general could see that Motti's intentions here, at least, were pure. Solo manhandled Motti by grabbing his shoulder and steering him quite roughly into place to sit beside Veers who had not spoken and was regarding the rebels with the utmost loathing.

"You're looking already banged up as it is. Sure you're up for this?" Solo asked Motti as the medic set up the transfusion line. "You eat today?"

"Why is that relevant?" asked Motti defensively as his stomach betrayed him to give a wounded sort of gurgle to protest its emptiness. Other than the handful of berries the day before, none of them had eaten much in the past three days and though Motti was too proud to admit that he was incapable of providing food for himself in the wilderness, Piett was not.

"It's been a couple days since our last meal."

Solo pressed a pouch on Motti who ripped it open with his bound hands and began to slurp down its contents which were some sort of concentrated fruit. A medic rolled up Motti's left sleeve to the elbow, disinfected the needed area, and then placed a patch over the cleaned skin. The patch glowed blue and then turned red with the color of Motti's blood traveling through the tube to Veers's wrist.

Prompting Piett and Jerjerrod to sit as well, Solo dropped another two pouches in their laps and pressed a third on Motti. He then told them that he would be leaving them to speak to Veers alone, but not without a fair warning. "Anybody gets any ideas of making a run for it, anybody goes for a weapon, we'll pitch you right over the side of these railings, and it's a long way down. I need verbal confirmation from each of you: understood?"

"Understood, General," said Jerjerrod first with that strong, confident tone that Piett had long envied but was starting to resent.

"Understood," said Piett.

Making a bit of a show of sucking up the last of the contents of his first pouch before answering, Motti finished with, "Got it, Captain."

"He's a General, Conan, show respect where it's due," reprimanded Jerjerrod in an undertone.

"His rank isn't recognized by any military I know."

"And neither is yours since your own men shot you down," said Solo crisply. "Hey, we're both pointing out things that are meant to piss the other off." Crouching down beside Motti with a hand on his gunbelt as an act of intimidation, Solo continued quietly, but with warning, "The princess has final say on what happens to you and if she had it her way, you wouldn't be able to swallow right now, and Commander Skywalker and I are who you have to thank for that, but don't think that I won't hand your ass to you if you give me reason to. Show some respect and you'll get some in return. Be an idiot and you'll get treated like one. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," said Motti, though even someone who knew nothing about him would be able to see that he was lying through his teeth.

"See, I don't like the way you say that," said Solo doubtfully. "Chewie…"

The Wookie stepped up behind Motti and lifted him clean off of his feet, holding on solely by the scruff of his neck. The transfusion line between Motti and Veers went taut and to his credit, Motti seemed more concerned with that than his own safety at the moment despite being at the mercy of a Wookie.

"I'm attached to something rather important at the moment, so if you wouldn't mind holding your threats until I've finished here."

"I can see why Leia doesn't like you. Not much about you to like, is there?" Solo mused as Motti dangled at least two feet off the ground. Addressing Piett and Jerjerrod, Solo continued, "Does this punchable piece of work have any redeeming qualities at all, or is he always this difficult?"

"If he didn't have redeeming qualities, I would not have used myself as a shield for him," answered Jerjerrod quickly. "Though it does take someone who knows how an Imperial's mind works to understand and appreciate those qualities, a trait the princess has not yet acquired."

Solo came around to stand in front of Motti, lifting his head slightly to look up into Motti's face since the Wookie had him hoisted quite high. "I'm gonna try this one more time with you and see if we can agree to get along. I don't need you to like me or any of the people who brought you here, but if you don't pull your head out of your ass and start being more careful about the way you talk to us, we're gonna have some problems and I really don't need you as one of my problems right now. We don't have to treat you like an actual person with feelings; we can be just as cruel and merciless as you Imperials are with your prisoners."

"You don't seem the type to hold to those threats," said Motti, and as the non-violent man he was, Piett hoped it would not come to blows between the two men, but he was wishing he was close enough to kick Motti in the shin or better yet, the groin to get him to close his mouth.

"Here's one: I'll boot you right back out into the wild in the deliberate path of an Imperial patrol and have them pick you up and return you to the people who shot you down. That means you'll end up back in Vader's hands, won't it?"

Motti went pale under his bruising and his high collar just barely concealed his hard swallow, but Solo knew he had won the argument.

"So, we're gonna learn to get along, aren't we? Not one more smart-ass remark from you, or I'll personally gift wrap you to be delivered back to the man in black. Un-der- stood, Admiral?"

"Perfectly, General," said Motti.

"Drop him," Solo told the Wookie, who dropped Motti to his knees and left him kneeling sheepishly where he had fallen.

For having been throttled by a Sith before and from what Piett had heard, having an attitude and some choice words following the encounter, Motti showed enormous restraint and composure after nearly being ripped in half or worse by a Wookie. He certainly looked calmer than Piett would have felt after such a close call. Sitting down cross-legged, Motti readjusted the transfusion line and ran his hand over his collar.

When Solo and Chewbacca had left them, Jerjerrod leaned closer to Motti and for a man who had no living family and had no intentions of making a family of his own, Jerjerrod had perfected the disapproving fatherly glare that Piett had seen in his own father a time or two due to Piett's poor physical reflection of his sire. It was actually quite fascinating how many expressions Piett's fellow Imperials were capable of showcasing when they were not in danger of being punished for it, and he had seen a multitude come from Jerjerrod while he had seen the same few on Motti's face.

"That look on your face is going to get you killed," Jerjerrod told Motti. "You can't physically fight everyone who insults or threatens you or elsewise gives you a dressing down."

"If you think I'm going to sit idle while a lowlife like that holds his power over me, you don't know me at all," Motti retorted.

"Would it be possible for you to stop acting like a complete imbecile for one day? It's your business if your pride gets you killed, but if it gets me killed, we're going to have a much bigger problem. You should have held your silence; there was no reason for you to start an argument where it wasn't needed."

"How can you stand to let them talk down to you and dangle your life over your head with the promise to have you murdered if you don't behave as if you were an unruly child?"

"Because whether you like it or not, they rescued us," Piett interjected. "They had every reason to shoot us, but they took us in, and even if we are prisoners of war, they've done nothing to mistreat us. We would not have survived another day out in the wilderness and pride does not prevent me from saying so. I'm having my first taste of real food in days, I'm not in danger of being attacked by some wild animal, and I am not being tortured for information, which is far more than any rebel could have expected if our situations were reversed."

There is nothing shameful in surrendering and holding your enemy in high regard for their treatment of you," said Jerjerrod. "You act as if it's costing you dearly to be halfway decent to them, if not thankful."

"Did you somehow miss the part where the Wookie was about to toss me over the railing?"

"He wouldn't have; General Solo only wanted you to think he would have."

"And you with your new perceptive powers could sense that, could you, or are you guessing based purely on faith?" asked Motti testily.

"I would not have remained seated on the floor if I thought you were actually in danger, but even I am coming to the end of my rope in putting up with your nonsense. Your mouth continues to run with a mind of its own and I am giving you a warning to please–for all of our sakes–shut up."

Motti's face reflected Piett's own surprise that Jerjerrod had finally had enough of Motti's backtalk to tell him so bluntly to keep quiet. Profanity was expected from Motti, and he had always had a looser tongue than most Imperials, but Jerjerrod did not succumb to that sort of human nature to swear or speak with anything less than the utmost respect. It was a bit unsettling to hear him sound so human.

Then, as if just realizing that Veers was there beside them and had not spoken a word during the entire altercation, Jerjerrod pressed, "Say something, Maxim."

"Do not give this rabble my surname," said Veers through gritted teeth.

"You haven't told them who you are?" asked Motti.

"They guessed from my plaque, but they'll get no information out of me, and you should be ashamed to submit to them so easily and amicably."

Now that they were in such close proximity to the mained and missing flesh of Veers's most recent injury, Piett had to swallow back vomit as he said queasily, "Your leg…"

"Only lost the same foot again with a bit more this time. Just waiting for room on the medical frigate to get a replacement, though I suspect it won't be as high quality as the one the Army supplied me with."

"What do you mean by 'the same foot again'?" asked Jerjerrod.

"I've had it blown off before," answered Veers simply without elaborating and Jerjerrod and Motti's confused expressions led him to add, "The Battle of Hoth."

"You've survived two battles and lost the same foot both times?" said Motti, sounding quite impressed, but Jerjerrod did not allow Veers to answer that as he took on a grave expression and read the medical bracelet on Veers's wrist.

"Amputated leg and blood loss. Just that, and some other surface-level injuries despite being blasted into the air and falling into the ravine," he said in muted awe. "I felt you die on that bridge. I could have sworn I heard your voice blow out like a candle in my head. I felt your soul go silent."

"I was knocked unconscious and had no way to tell you that I was alive, not that that was high on my list of priorities. I only regained consciousness a few hours ago."

"Then you must have the luck of the galaxy with you, because the bridge detonation was two days ago and you somehow haven't bled out during all that time," said Piett, astounded at Veers's ability to avoid death in the most bizarre circumstances. "Our shuttle went down that evening, forty-eight hours ago."

"Just you three and the pilots?"

"There were more. Some died in the crash; others were killed by the wildlife. The rest were escorted to another tree," said Jerjerrod.

"Was Lorth one of those casualties?"

Jerjerrod did an exemplary job of showing no emotion in answer to Veers's question and Motti had busied himself with cleaning the grime from under his fingernails, leaving Piett alone to cast his eyes down and away from Veers's inquisitive glare. Their silence confirmed Veers's fear but to the surprise of no one, he looked as unbothered as he ever did.

"How?"

"Condor dragon," said Motti without looking at him and then, when Veers continued to wait for more information, he added, "Venomous bite. He went mad."

"Who shot him, then?"

Another round of silence and then Jerjerrod said in a distant voice, "I did."

"You've been quite busy killing your fellow officers left and right, haven't you?" This was such a harsh and unexpected observation from Veers that even Piett was thrown off by the brunt nature of it and was about to speak up in defense of Jerjerrod when Veers pointed at Motti somewhat accusingly. "That's what you thought he was doing, didn't you? Once you found out what he is, you thought he'd suddenly acquired a savage taste for killing off other officers as if it made him feel more powerful. You came to your own conclusion before he could give you the facts."

"Initially, yes," Motti admitted, quailing ever so slightly under Veers's intense stare.

"And what conclusions do you now draw from him?"

"Obviously he missed one," Motti said coldly.

Piett thought for one wild moment that Veers was going to strike out at Motti but then the unthinkable happened and Veers's face split into half a smile.

"Tell me how you ended up here in one piece."

"We were shot down–by Vader's orders," said Motti quickly to get Veers's honest reaction to the news that the system he loved so much had nearly gotten his friends killed.

"I could believe that if you were the only one aboard ship, but to bring these two down with you," Veers nodded at Piett and Jerjerrod, "that seems more than personal."

Jerjerrod nodded. "He must have known that Conan and I were planning to flee once we returned to the Death Star and decided it was safer to make our deaths look like an accident by claiming malfunctioning friendly fire. Not that the Sith would need an excuse to kill an officer after he's killed more than enough already."

"Figured it out, did you?" asked Veers shrewdly. "Realized that choosing to defy orders and put the life of a friend before your duty would only earn you a few agonizing moments of scrabbling for breath?"

"When did you come to that realization?"

"At some point on the bridge. How convenient it would have been to make Admiral Conan Motti's death look like a sacrificial glorious service to the Empire by blowing the bridge as he defended the retreat."

"Yet, you still took his place on the bridge," Piett pointed out. "How did it serve the Empire to be the one in harm's way when you knew the likelihood of having to destroy the bridge was so high?"

Rather than admit that he was human like everyone else, Veers resorted to pointing out the faults in other men, and as the man who hero-worshiped Veers and was therefore susceptible to being belittled by him, Motti was a prime target. "Conan had no noteworthy combat experience. Not only would many more men be dead if he had been left in charge of defending the retreat, but the bridge would have fallen much sooner and the rebels might have taken the bunker. I was the only officer equipped to deal with the situation."

"Yes, because this situation right here is much more favorable than the alternative of being prisoners of war inside our own bunker with proper supplies instead of makeshift spares," commented Motti sardonically. "I don't appreciate your lack of faith in me as if I'm a complete bumbling idiot who's never had men under my command before."

"Even if you hadn't taken Conan's place on the bridge, Vader would have found some way to make his death look like an accident," Jerjerrod interjected before Veers and Motti could get going in a back-and-forth. "He made up his mind to have Conan killed and by refusing to allow that to happen, you and I chose our fates. None of us can return to the lives we knew because we disobeyed one order. Even before we were they fired on our shuttle, Firmus had plans to cover our escape for as long as he could, and if Vader sensed that, it was no trouble at all giving the order to fire on our shuttle, claiming that Firmus was guilty of treason by association with me when I was the only other survivor who had received his orders and not obeyed them. Had you been aboard and survived the bridge, Vader would not have stayed his hand. You are as expendable as the rest of us."

Veers scoffed at the very idea. "I don't think so. My accomplishments far outweigh yours and the Emperor rewards those who have served him and brought the Empire success."

"So despite what I've just told you, if given the option, you would return to the Army?" asked Jerjerrod as if refusing to believe that any man could be so narrow-minded and unapologetically devoted to something and someone not worth fighting for. The concept that he had such a difficult time grasping was that Veers had always been the one in the five of them from the Academy who never feared what he was about to face. Veers had no fear of the Emperor, Vader, or any enemy, and that made him an exemplary soldier because he could do as he liked. Not like Piett and the others who were so deathly afraid of the slightest infraction because of the consequences they would face if they made such a mistake.

"Bold of you to assume that because my friends were treated as the threats they were that I would commit treason on your behalf," said Veers with that characteristic sneer that Piett loathed, as Veers used it when he thought the person he was talking to was being especially daft.

"You already have," Jerjerrod shot back. "You chose humanity over loyalty. Ultimately, you are just as guilty as I in your defiance because you made that decision to take Conan's place on the bridge. You chose to do that and in no way was it serving your agenda or the Empire's. You chose a friend over duty and I will call you a hypocrite and a liar for claiming otherwise. Try as you might to have no soul, you still manage to maintain a sense of morality. All of you do. I've seen your faith in the Empire challenged and shaken."

"In the Empire, no. In its top lackey, yes," said Motti.

Jerjerrod pointed an accusatory finger at Motti. "You're the worst culprit here, so don't pretend that you have one ounce of loyalty to the Sith or what they stand for. For years, you've been waiting for something like this to happen because you knew your life was never going to get any better after you deserted the Death Star. You fell as far as it's possible to fall, Conan. You never cared for your duty; you cared about your longevity, which you saw expiring when you were told that the Emperor would be present at your trial. You've only ever cared to advance yourself, not whether you could contribute to the Empire. Everything the Empire is and stands for was just a means to an end for you, and Vader could sense that as well. He goaded you into defiance again and that was enough for him to receive permission from the Emperor to kill you despite how I put my life at stake to defend you. You knew this was going to happen at some point and now it has, so don't sit there and tell me that you'd return to your post if you could."

"I may have been on that shuttle with you, but it wasn't my idea to desert when we arrived back on the Death Star. You were the one who decided to tuck tail and run while I was still very much dedicated to my career."

Piett had to admire Motti's stubborn insistence that he was in any way valuable to the Empire, but his stubbornness was what landed him in hot water more often times than not and if one considered things in a specific light, Motti's attitude was why Piett now no longer had a career either.

"What career is that? You were stripped of any promise you might have had following your trial. The Emperor left you alive, why, I don't know, but he could see that you had no loyalty to the Empire from the moment your trial began. He knew your heart and your truth and could see that you were not more dedicated to the cause than to your own life. He made sure that you would never advance further than my underling. Even if you had not angered Vader again, you would have remained as admiral for the rest of your life and never given an opportunity to become anything more. Is that the life you would want for yourself if you could go back to it?"

"I believe I'm ambitious enough to find a way to climb that ladder again."

"I don't believe you're stupid enough to believe that. Even if you had the chance to go back and not be executed, you couldn't because you have nothing to go back for. The only reason you would have for going back is if it guaranteed that you could sit comfortably at the top again, but you can't. So what reason do you have for holding your silence and not telling these rebels what they want to know, because you know they're going to ask."

"Is it enough that I just don't like them?" asked Motti somewhat childishly.

"No, it isn't."

"Then consider that Skywalker is the one who blew up my station. My station, since Tarkin only saw it as a temporary home since it was powerful and supposedly impregnable. It was mine, and Skywalker destroyed it and put me on this path. The princess intends for me to suffer and Solo made it obvious that he sides with her. The rest of these people follow those three and would see me dead if it meant one less person in the world who wears the Imperial uniform. So what do I owe them?"

"As of right now, your life," said Piett. "And until that debt is repaid, you don't get to be a self-serving man. You have to find a way to pay your dues. We all do."

"I did not ask for these people to rescue me and as such, they will not receive any repaid debt from me," said Veers stoutly.

Jerjerrod shook his head in disbelief. "I would say that I could see where Conan learned to be so stubbornly arrogant concerning some things, but in truth, I believe he inherited that from his father. I don't believe that was a genetic trait you inherited; I think you made yourself into this ungrateful shell that you are now, and I think your father would despise that."

"Watch yourself, Commander," warned Veers, and Piett knew that Jerjerrod was about to step over a line from which Veers would not allow their relationship to return. No one was allowed to speak of Veers's family, his motivation, or how he in any way might be wrong.

Jerjerrod, it seemed, had no fear of Veers, for he spoke louder after the veiled threat. "Even as you sit there alive and as well cared for as the circumstances allow despite killing a multitude of their people, you're certainly acting like you're undeserving of such help. These people saved you when they had no reason to. They are not the ones who detonated that warehouse with your father and brother in it–"

"Of that I am aware."

"I don't think you are. I think you are refusing to see any rebel as an individual and instead see them as a mass that needs to be eradicated. You've harbored this one goal for so long that your life has no meaning without it. Your sole purpose has been to rack up a body count of rebels and now that you see how disposable you really are–how all of us are–and you see that the rebels are battling against tyranny and are well-founded in their beliefs, you can't comprehend that all this time, you might have been wrong. You can't even fathom that your entire life's work might have been for nothing and that you ended up on the wrong side of the war. You've been blindsided by how little we mean to the Empire."

"If you believe that just because these people fished me out of the river and are tending to other Imperial soldiers, that they are suddenly justified in their open rebellion with the Empire, you're even more of an easily influenced fool than I thought. I always knew you were the least dedicated to our cause and the least ambitious of us all, but I never took you for a complete imbecile."

This hostile attitude between the two men who Piett had always considered the most level-headed among the officers was unsettling. Veers did not openly insult his friends and Jerjerrod did not give any unsolicited advice to Veers, of all people. If they disagreed, they did so privately, but this was frontal verbal assault and the manner in which they were speaking to each other was not an easy one to watch or hear.

"I would argue that I am and always have been the most open minded of us all, and the fact that I am able to connect to the Force would support that fact," said Jerjerrod.

"Your connection to that blasted energy does not suddenly make you some sort of sage, wise to the ways of the galaxy and how everything coexists in harmony," Veers said with disdain. "You know nothing about your powers or how to properly use them and having them does not make you a better or more knowledgeable man than the rest of us."

"I've been a mediator and a centrist my whole life; I see both sides, but that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to choose one over the other. I've witnessed and experienced the extent of the mercy the Empire shows even its most loyal soldiers, and if the Empire cannot even be bothered to protect those who fight for it, why should I then lay down my life? I see that as pure evil in allowing people to sacrifice themselves just so one man can remain in power. Why should I die for someone who would not die for me?"

"Because you swore allegiance to the Empire. And this grand idea you have of pure evil doesn't exist. There is no good and evil; everyone believes that evil exists elsewhere and that they cannot possibly be in the wrong. The Emperor believes he is in the right and so do the rebels, but they can't both be right."

"That's because one of them is wrong and from someone who has now been on both sides, I can see that what the Emperor has done to gain power and keep it is wrong. We've never been exposed to what goes on in the daily lives of those trillions of beings who live on worlds controlled by the Empire. We only see military existence, so we don't know how difficult and cruel life actually is for anyone who isn't us. We've been privileged and blinded, but my eyes are open now, and not just because of my bond with the Force."

"You spoke the words, Tiaan. All three of you vowed to serve. If you decide to be a defector now, your word means nothing."

"Neither does yours," Jerjerrod insisted. "You're acting like you didn't hear Vader's orders and then deliberately do the opposite of what he told you to do. If it were anyone else he had ordered to hold the bridge, you taking over in their stead would have been seen as a skilled tactic, but because it was Conan–a known friend to you–it was viewed as a treasonous act. Vader knew we would have to destroy the bridge and essentially ordered you to kill yourself. The Empire ordered you to kill yourself. The rebels took you in despite what you are, provided for you, saved you, and continue to treat you. And maybe they have the right of it. You've known us–the men who Vader had shot down–longer than you knew your own father and brother, yet you would side with the Empire because you vowed to serve when you were still a boy? Rebels who were in no way associated with this group of people who saved your life were the ones who killed your family and yet the people who actively tried to kill us, your friends, are somehow not the enemy?"

Piett knew Jerjerrod had backed Veers into a corner, but instead of conceding, Veers turned his attention and addressed him directly. "You've been awfully quiet."

"I've been observing," said Piett carefully, not wanting to end up in the same sort of argument he and Veers had been in before. It was that argument about the Empire that had been their last private conversation to each other and it was those words Piett had regretted when he thought Veers had perished.

"And you have something you want to say," Veers prompted. "Are you in agreement with him?" Veers jerked his head at Jerjerrod since he was evidently still in too much pain to do more than that. "Are you just as easily giving up on the life you made for yourself, or are you going to speak up for a change?"

There it was; the accusation that Piett was too much of a coward to come to his own defense. He had hoped Veers would not go this route, but he understood that Veers was angry, not just at his predicament, but at the sight of his friends refusing to side with him, at his realization that the system he worked for was imperfect, at the fact that he had made a grave error as a boy in siding with the Empire.
Resigned to the fact that he would have to say some hurtful things that might just penetrate that cold, emotionless exterior wall that made up Veers's personality, Piett spoke his piece. "I did not make this life for myself. I was placed in the Academy by my parents. I did not choose my branch; that was chosen for me based on how I did not excel in the tests for the Army. I had my own wants, just as any man does, I wanted a career, and I wanted to have earned that career, but I was given my position because of another man's failure and even after I proved that I was worthy of that position, I was removed from it because of another man's choices. Given how I do value my friends above all else, I was never going to make it to the top when I could be swayed due to a threat on their lives. I suppose in that regard, I am only human and not a god like some people. I would say that I changed over the course of these past few years, but this was always who I've been in valuing human life over a collection of medals."

"You don't believe I've altered my plans to accommodate the way my life has gone?" asked Veers.

"Knowing what you know, seeing firsthand how Vader deals with those he dislikes, and despite taking Conan's place, you would still return to your post. I see no growth or change there. The attack on your father and brother was not premeditated, yet you would continue to seek justice for them when they've been avenged several times over. You would continue to back the shady dealings done by the Sith because they allow you to kill with no repercussions, even though they have attempted to kill the only friends in this galaxy that you have. You would choose a highly flawed system, tyranny, and evil rather than look your choices and your faults in the eye and admit that you are just as human as the rest of us and made a mistake. And I knew you would, so I am not surprised, and that is why I say that I do not believe you are capable of change. I do not believe that you are still trying to bring your father and brother justice all these years later. I think you enjoy killing and enjoy being recognized for your talent and you are afraid to do anything different because you know nothing else."

"Unlike you, I have not allowed things to happen to me, but taken the challenges head on and conquered them. I have built this life for myself, earned it, and made it my own. And as someone with no ambition and little more than the ability to relay orders given to him by his superiors, I wouldn't expect a man like you to understand that."

Just as Piett had intended for his words to sting, so it seemed that Veers had intended the same.

"I had hoped the previous words I had said to you would not be the last, as they were unkind at worst and indifferent at best. I tried to run across the bridge to get to you and escort you back before detonation, but that would have been wasted effort on a man who would not do the same for me. You truly belong where you are since you share so many qualities with your master like a disregard for human life."

"Firmus…" said Jerjerrod quietly, but Piett held up a hand to silence the commander.

"No, I will have my say and I want him to hear it plainly."

"You've always known that this was who I am. I never pretended to be anything different. You're only upset that you couldn't change me," said Veers with no remorse.

"No, I am upset that you couldn't change at all, regardless of my part. Despite not choosing or wanting this path, it has helped me to see the error in my past judgment, and now I am free to choose what is best for me for the first time in my life. If you believe that what is best for you is to separate from us, so be it. If they give you another leg, you're welcome to try and run back where you came from, but if we meet on the battlefield, it will be as enemies."

"So easily swayed," said Veers, almost ruefully, and Piett was having none of it.

"I have no choice. I was cast out like garbage despite doing nothing wrong and if I were recaptured and returned to Vader, I would be executed just for surviving because I did so in the company of the men he was aiming to kill. This situation and decision was forced on me and through it, I saw just how much my life is worth, which is to say, nothing. How do you expect me to forget the attempt made on my life when I gave everything for the man who ordered me to be disposed of like I was less than the grime on his boot? I won't commit the rest of my life to someone who cares nothing for mine just because you think it's right, Maxim."

"Your self-serving pity won't make me change my mind."

"Neither will your blind obstinance change ours," said Jerjerrod, though now Piett was grateful for his interference, as he was starting to feel the urge to hit Veers, and hitting a wounded man who could not defend himself–even if that man had said some terrible things and would fully be deserving of a good punch–was low. "I am not willingly committing to this rebel cause, but I have no desire to serve one second longer in the Imperial Fleet. If I am to be rewarded for my efforts and my two decades spent in servitude with treachery and deceit, I would just as soon rather listen to Commander Skywalker's reasoning for joining the rebels. That is my current stance and if you disagree, nothing else is left to be said. I am relieved that you survived, but if you believe that your survival was all so that you could resume where you had left off and not make drastic changes, then we are at an impasse."

Veers waited for Motti to side one way or the other and Piett thought he could detect a sort of desperate hope in his eyes that surely, this youngest and most malleable officer would agree with him in his refusal to cooperate with the rebels. Now they would discover just how much Motti and Veers were alike and if Motti was as brainwashed as this man he idolized.

"It would be a slim and feeble hope in expecting to go back and not meet my end by Vader's hands at this point," said Motti after a great pause during which he truly looked contemplative and unsure. For Motti to not have an instant rebuttal, he must have had to delve deep into his own mind to weigh his options. "I'm not saying that I would drop everything to fight alongside or for the rebels at this very moment, but if Vader led an assault on the rebels at this very moment, I wouldn't run toward Imperial lines."

It would have resonated more deeply with them if Veers had given them any sort of facial expression, but it was almost worse to have him deliver his next sentence with the emotional range to fill the tip of a pipette. "When you three are arrested for treason and taken before the firing squad, you'll do so without mercy from me."

The silence was palpable in the wake of Veers's proclamation, punctured only by the return of Skywalker who stood over them with arms folded as if he knew what Veers had just said.

"Officers, one of our medics will take into account your injuries now and see you all treated and then I'd like to speak with the three of you as a group," he said in exclusion of Veers and none of them pretended like they did not know what was coming.

Here, so quickly and so soon after discussing this very fact, they would be asked to reveal all they knew in terms of information vital to the rebels' victory. They would be asked to earn their titles of traitors or to continue to serve the very governing force that had tried to have them killed.

Eager to put some distance between them and Veers, both Jerjerrod and Motti stood up together. Piett was the last of the three of them to rise, but far from holding a lingering gaze over Veers in grief for the friendship that had just been severed between them, he held his head high and never looked down or back as Skywalker led them away.