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It was rare for the leaders of the Rebel Alliance to make appearances on the Liberty , but even when they did there was none of the pomp and circumstance that Thane had seen on Star Destroyers and the Death Star back in his days with the Empire. The Rebel troops weren't expected to stand in regimented lines for hours at a time while they waited for the scheduled arrival, all for the pleasure of being ignored when the senior officer stormed right past. As they had been reminded many times, the Rebellion was a volunteer army and, while there was still an expectation to display decency and respect to those in charge, the sudden appearance of such an individual didn't inspire the same sense of dread as that of a senior Imperial Captain or Grand Moff. Considering he'd drunkenly spilled his heart out to Mon Mothma without ever realising who she was and had confessed to meeting with an Imperial officer during his leave to Jelucan, Thane was of the opinion that no matter what he did or said, the bigger names in the Rebellion couldn't possibly lower their opinion of him much further. That wasn't even taking into consideration his general distrust for authority figures, although there was no doubt in his mind that the Rebellion's leaders at least had better intentions than the Imperials, even if he didn't share their idealism.
As such, he wasn't majorly concerned when the person he merely grunted at in greeting turned out to be none other than Princess Leia. In his defense, he had been working on fixing up some of the frayed wiring that his X-Wing had endured during Corona Squadron's most recent mission, and he had no reason to believe that the new arrival would be anyone other than another member of the Squadron or one of the other operatives stationed on the Mon Calamari cruiser. In fact, Thane hadn't even known the Princess was on board. She must have arrived while we were out on the mission , he realised, Nice of them to give us a heads up . Then again, there was every chance that it may have been mentioned during their debrief as his brain hadn't exactly been the most present. The near-miss with those TIE Fighters had once again sent his brain spiraling back to Ciena Ree and Nash Windrider, the friends he had left behind when he'd deserted the Empire. Although, as he had promised Mon Mothma upon Corona Squadron being given their mission, he hadn't hesitated to take up actions against the TIEs, he was never able to shake the thought that one of his old friends might be in the pilot's seat. Conducting repairs on his ship was an easy way to lose himself and put those intrusive thoughts out of mind. Unfortunately, it also apparently didn't do wonders for his manners.
"My apologies, Your Highness," Thane remarked, returning his screwdriver to the toolbox and wiping some of the grease off of his hands and onto his pants. "If I had known it was you I--"
"Save the apology for when you actually do something wrong," Princess Leia responded, the corners of her lips turned up into the briefest hint of a bemused smile. "What seems to be the problem here?" She nodded towards the open panel on the underbelly of the ship which was currently a mess of loose wiring and scorched power cores. Even though he'd never been the biggest fan of mechanical work, Thane was confident he could get it properly fixed up before the squadron were given their next assignment. Unless that's what she's here to talk about. That might present an issue.
"The TIEs scored a lucky hit while we were taking evasive manuvoers. It's nothing too terrible, but I'd feel more comfortable going back out with it back at one-hundred percent. Is that what you're here for? To send us back out?" It was the kind of straight-to-the-point attitude that would have risked landing him in hot water with the wrong commander back in the Empire, but things were different in the Rebel Alliance. So much was different. Thane only wished that Ciena was there to see those differences for herself and understand that it was worth breaking her oath to the Empire for.
The Princess responded with a raised eyebrow and a gentle shake of her head. "It would be wrong to deny you even a few hours of rest," she rationalised, "Corona Squadron deserves a good night of sleep for all the hard work you've been putting in." Thane silently wondered how much the folks at the head of the Rebellion like the Princess actually knew about the achievements of the various squadrons, but he knew it was impolite to ask. Evidently the answer was some , and it was definitely much closer to praise than anything he had received from any senior officers back in the Empire. "I'm here to personally collect the intel packs your squadron acquired and deliver them to Admiral Ackbar," she added as an explanation, "But while I wait for those packs to download, I decided to take a walk. I found my feet leading me here." The Force led her here . It was left unsaid but Thane understood the implication. Like Luke Skywalker, Mon Mothma and Ciena, the Princess was a believer in the cosmic energy that supposedly guided all of their actions. Thane had long ago learned not to roll his eyes when it was brought into conversation, although he didn't buy into it any more than he had when Ciena had first explained it to him back in the Fortress on Jelucan.
For a moment they stood in silence. Thane wondered if he was expected to continue the conversation, but before he could fret too much about it, the Princess spoke again. "Your face is familiar," she declared suddenly, catching him by surprise. They'd been making eye contact throughout their conversation but it suddenly felt as if she was really seeing him for the first time, looking through the windows of his eyes and the core of his very being. It was almost rather unnerving. "Kyrell, isn't it?" The mere fact that the Princess even knew his name was something of a surprise, although he supposed there was every chance she had read it in the debrief documents or somebody had told her. It was at least more of a possibility than her learning it through The Force .
"Yes, Your Highness," he responded instantly. "We-- we met before I joined the Rebellion. Back when I was training at the Royal Imperial Academy on Coruscant." He anticipated her expression to darken at the revelation of his history with the Rebellion's mortal enemy, but remarkably she in fact took on a softer expression. It wasn't quite pity, but he guessed it was somewhere within that region. It made him feel a little uneasy. Sure, he'd been misled from a young age about the kind of institution that the Empire was, but he could have - he should have - come to that realisation sooner. He didn't deserve pity or sympathy.
"The gala," the Princess said finally, a flash of memory twinkling in her eyes. Her lips curved back into a kind smile. "We danced, didn't we?"
"We did, Your Highness." While Thane's fondest memories of that night were of seeing Ciena dressed up to look like nobility, he had reflected on his dance with Alderaan's then-junior Senator a number of times. He'd remembered just how jealous his roommate Nash had been when he'd shared that information. Now both Nash and Alderaan were gone - under differing circumstances - and the reminder caused a twisting in Thane's gut.
"Please, call me Leia."
Unable to stop himself, Thane grinned. "Yes, Your Highness." His deliberate refusal was met by a roll of the Princess' eyes. Now that they were up close for the first time since then, Thane was able to take in just how beautiful the Princess was. She'd been beautiful back then too, of course, but the hardships of the years that followed weren't reflected by her appearance. Her porcelain skin, round face and slender build gave the impression of fragility but even the briefest glance into her eyes dispelled such a notion. A fire burned within Princess Leia that almost reminded him of Ciena in a manner. They were both ultimately dedicated to their causes. He wondered whether Ciena would like the Princess.
"Well I'm glad our paths have crossed once again, Thane Kyrell," she said in a genuine tone. "It took great bravery for you to step away from the Empire, but I'm glad you did. The Rebellion needs good people like you." When Thane shifted somewhat uncomfortably, the Princess reached out to rest a hand on his upper arm in a comforting gesture. "I know, I know. We live in a world filled with shades of grey. But the choice you made... that says enough about the kind of man you are." Thane wasn't sure what he was supposed to say in response to that, if indeed anything at all. Mercifully, the Princess deemed it enough to bring their conversation to a close. "We will win this war. The Empire will fall."
Thane thought about Ciena and Nash, the friends still caught under the Emperor's thrall, and about Jude Edivon, who had lost her life on the Death Star. But then his mind turned to the countless evil he had witnessed - the slavery, the children being torn from their families, the endless death - all of which had been committed under the banner of the Empire. He thought about poor Dak Ralter, killed at the Battle of Hoth and crushed under the foot of an AT-AT, about his teammates on Corona Squadron and how many close calls they'd had on their recent missions, and about the long list of obituaries that were sent through the Rebel communication channels every week. His resolve strengthened. "We will," he agreed finally. "The Empire will fall." Hopefully they would both be there to see it happen and perhaps, if The Force really did exist, perhaps Ciena might be there by their side too.