Star Wars: Lost Stars

Chapter 2: Part 5

Ciena had trusted she'd like her new roommates and enjoy the reception, but so far the afternoon was exceeding even her best expectations. She stood in front of the mirror, astonished to see herself in the cadet's uniform. Black boots, dark trousers, dark jacket - it was like a vision out of a dream.

"I hate these boots," said her roommate Kendy Idele, who scowled down at hers from where she stood nearby. "Then again, I hate shoes, period. When you grow up on a tropical world, you love barefoot best."

"You'll soon be accustomed to them," promised their third roomie, Jude Edivon. She was as tall as Kendy was short, as pale as Kendy and Ciena were dark. "Bare feet might be great on Iloh, but on Coruscant? Your feet would quickly become dirty. Plus the likelihood of scrapes, small cuts, and potential infection would be high - not that hygiene levels aren't good here, but the sheer size of the populace suggests-"

"Are you going to start quoting statistics again?" Kendy groaned.

"It's okay to be a science geek," Ciena said. "Quote as many statistics as you like, Jude. Kendy and I will get used to it eventually."

Jude's lightly freckled face lit up with a smile. "Our personalities seem to be compatible. I think you and I will get along very well."

"We will, too," Kendy promised. "Ignore my being grumpy. I'm just space-lagged and tired, and trying to get the hang of these damn braids."

Ciena had been wearing her hair pinned back in tight braids for years, ever since she'd learned that this was mandatory for all long-haired cadets. "Here, let me." Kendy's dark green hair was straight and silky - totally unlike Ciena's tight curls - but she figured a braid was a braid. "Did you really never practice fixing it?"

"Not even once. I thought it would be easy!" Kendy sighed. "Thanks for this, by the way."

"No problem."

Jude leaned closer. "You could simply cut your hair short, as I have. That provides optimal efficiency."

Kendy made a face. "On Iloh, only little children wear their hair short. Growing it long means you're really an adult. No way am I sawing it off now."

"You'll get the hang of the braids soon," Ciena promised. "You 'll have to, because I'm not doing your hair every morning."

"Even if I promised to make your bed before inspections?"

"No."

Somehow they made it to the ceremony on time, with their uniforms perfect. More than eight thousand students were in Ciena's class - a stunning number, to her - but a charge went through her at the sight of them all dressed in Imperial regalia, brought together by a common purpose, a common dream. Every single one of those cadets had traveled there, from hundreds of worlds, to make themselves the best officers they could possibly be. They'd come to serve the Empire, to make the entire galaxy better through their service. Her heart felt so full that Ciena put one hand to her chest.

Was Thane doing better by now? He had to be. Her eyes searched the crowd for him, but that was one of the disadvantages of wearing uniforms; it was harder to tell people apart

She intended to locate him as soon as she could - then was taken aback by the academy president's speech.

"You are not here merely to learn military tactics or to practice flying starfighters," Commandant Deenlark said, every word crisp. "Those are important skills, to be sure. But we ask more of you. Our students are meant to become citizens of the Empire. to think of themselves as patriots and soldiers first. Can you stop thinking of yourself as a native of your home planet and begin thinking of yourself as an Imperial first? An Imperial only? Can you accept that protecting and serving the world you came from is bets accomplished by strengthening the Empire to which it belongs?"

Ciena had never thought of belonging to the Empire as giving up Jelucan. To her, the two identities coexisted comfortably. But maybe some students here came from worlds with rebellious senators - places disloyal to the Emperor. They might need reassuring that they still could belong here at the academy.

Deenlark continued: "Some few of you have come here alongside friends from home, or have older siblings already in Imperial service. Your natural tendency will be to seek these people out at every opportunity and to rely on relationships you already have. But if that was all you meant to do - you might have well stayed at home, don't you think?"

A few people laughed, obediently. Ciena felt stung. She and Thane weren't supposed to spend time together? At all?

Well. "At all" was putting it too strongly, she decided. The instructors simply didn't want them to rely on each other completely.

Yet that was what she and Thane had been doing for the past eight years of their lives.

After the ceremony and dinner ended, students milled around, introducing themselves to each other and - sometimes - not so subtly sizing up the competition. Ciena wanted to find Thane, though she told herself she shouldn't

Luckily, he found her.

"We both plan to serve the Empire for the rest of our lives," Thane said as they sat down in chairs facing the glittering cityscape beyond. "We're never going back to Jelucan - not to live, anyway. So we don't have to worry about 'living in the past' or however Deenlark put it."

Sometimes Thane could be very glib about authority figures - uninterested in rules - but Ciena thought he was more or less tight about this. "It looks like we'll share some classes and take some separately. So we can each make our own way here."

"This place scared the hell out of me at first," Thane confessed. "You lived farther out in the countryside than I did, but it didn't faze you for a second. How did that happen?"

He was only joking, but Ciena answered him seriously. "I was ready for Coruscant because I've always dreamed of being here. You weren't ready because - because I think mostly you dreamed of getting away from Jelucan."

Thane remained silent for a moment, and Ciena wished she could snatch the words back. But then, finally, he nodded. "You're right."

"We shared the most important part of the dream, though," Ciena said.

"More than that. We got each other here. It's not coincidence that we both were admitted to the Royal Academy, you know? Flying together, studying together - we made each other so much better than we ever would've been on our own."

Her throat tightened. "Yeah. We did."

Thane smiled as he shook his head, perhaps in disbelief at how far they'd already come, or how far they still had to go. "Now it's the academy's turn to make us better."

"To make us officers. It's going to happen."

"You'd better believe it."

The window looking out on the Coruscant night reflected them slightly, superimposing their images over the buildings and hovercraft beyond. Ciena saw herself sitting next to Thane, both of them in the stiff, unfamiliar jackets and boots they'd been assigned today. Always they'd looked so different: Thane tall and pale, forever wearing the bright elegant clothing of a second-waver; Ciena dark and slim, in the simple homespun garments of the valleys. Now they wore the same uniform, and anyone could see that she and Thane were alike in the ways that mattered most.

They sat there side by side for a moment longer before getting to their feet. Thane smiled down and whispered, "You can do this, you know."

"So can you," Ciena said. They didn't have to lean on each other. They were more than ready to fly. 

Then they turned away from each other to walk into the crowd, meet new people, and become the citizens of the Empire they were always meant to be.