A young human male, dressed in an orange rebel pilot's jumpsuit with reddish-blonde hair, and a good build, stood on his knees with his hands behind his head. His, downturned almond shaped, blue eyes stared narrowed to the ground. Two stormtroopers stood on either side of him, with their E-11 blaster rifles at the ready.

His position, and his guards, obstructed the view of the main entrance to the bridge. He could hear the people talking, orders being relayed. He was all too familiar with the operation of a star destroyer.

The hum of hyperspace surrounded him.

That's when he heard a familiar pace of boots walking over to him. A familiar shadow cast over him. A familiar sharp exhale, one of self loathing in the beginning of redemption amidst personal chaos.

His name was Thane Kryell a former navy pilot for the Galactic Empire who defected to the Rebel Alliance to Restore the Republic. He was the star-crossed lover of Ciena Ree, the girl he stayed behind in order to confront. Thane just hadn't been expecting her to be in command of a Star Destroyer during the Battle of Jakku. He was having a hard time lifting his head to look up at her.

The two of them had been knee deep in self-hate, self-conflict, self-guilt. They had done atrocities for a government which didn't even cease its unruly behavior on its deathbed. They had murdered and killed for unjust means in the name of False Order.

Ciena stood in front of him, looking down at the Traitor to the Empire they had been ordered to defect from. He was no longer considered a defector, he was considered an ally according to the VIM.

Grand Moff Randd also stood there watching over the proceedings. He watched as Ciena ordered his escort to dismiss and allowed him to lower his arms.

Smiling shallowly at one another, the two lovers locked gazes. The irony was strange, as canonly the roles had been reversed. In the disney mainstream timeline Ciena had scuttled the Inflictor into the surface of Jakku and attempted suicide by going down with the ship.

Her attempted suicide failed due to Thane's intervention, yet this new Emperor had prepared for his arrival and it was all backwards.

"You're lucky they didn't shoot your rebel ass..." Ciena silently noted the burn mark on the front of his chest from a graze caused by a blaster bolt. "...Why were you in the trash compactor?"

"I was trapped in the corridor that collapsed when structural integrity failed, wasn't the best idea, but it was the only idea." Thane smiled with a smile that looked as if he was between being smug and questioning his own worth. He believed his lover, his most favored friend, wouldn't have him killed.

"So... What now?" Thane asked as he changed to his serious tone, taking an inch forward towards the Imperial clothed woman with caramel toned skin and brilliant brown hued eyes.

Ciena looked at him for a few moments, silently before giving the Grand Moff a quick glance, then looked at Thane once again. A look of thought on her face.

Randd was just watching silently. Whatever she did now, he couldn't judge her. The VIM gave no further orders. He could only assume that the self-proclaimed Emperor of the Imperium had a plan. He knew they would be boarded. He knew that the Ravager would go down. He knew that Groff would panic and crash into a Rebel ship.

So far, he already knew that Tobias was force sensitive. He was surely more powerful any Jedi he remembered during the days of the Classic Republic; not that he knew many, if any at all.

"I once made an Oath to the Empire, only to be ordered to leave in join another Order." Ciena responded with her arms now crossed over her chest. Her eyes shooting daggers through her star-crossed lover, a man who broke his oath and snuck away from his duties. A man who had more courage than her to rebel.

With glistening eyes, she spoke. "If you had brought yourself onto this bridge before we were given the Order, you would've been gunned down as a traitor. And my heart would've died with you." As she spoke like this, her eyes felt like they were going to burn clear from her skull.

Randd would walk over as he scrutinized the sight of her beginning to break down. "As a member of the Galactic Imperium, the successor State of the Galactic Empire..." With his hands folded behind his back, grasping one hand at the wrist, while the other freely hung back. "The Reb... The New Republic is not our enemy. Your transgressions, defection, does not carry over. You're a free man, by Decree of the Emperor."

Stern, professional. Randd embodied everything that an Imperial Officer stood for, superiority and righteousness; Order above all else.

Ciena took two steps forward and held out her hand which was covered by a black glove which covered up to the center of her forearm. A silk soft smile across her lips, matching her eyes.

Thane almost melted seeing his closest and most loved friend smile at him with those eyes. He took hold of her hand as she pulled him towards her into a comrades embrace. Holding his hand with one of her own, while another wrapped an arm around him. She buried her lips into his shoulder, her face hidden by her long wavy black hair.

The arm around his shoulder shifted along his back, grasping the back of his head. They cried on the inside. Their paths seemingly still deviating, but getting much closer than they had before.

In retrospect he no longer needed to have a guarantee that the Republic would judge her fairly. She was now in the arms of another Empire, one which didn't currently have the eyes and ears of the Republic. However it was only a matter of time. He knew many people from the planets affiliated with thee planets. They fought to get rid of the tyranny of the Empire and its ideals. Now, it was likely that these worlds would rebel in small numbers. The minorities, those who had gone off and fought only to come home to a world under another state's rule.

He knew that this woman, this girl he grew up with, this person he loved wouldn't live a long peaceful life. At least that is what he foresaw. Even if this Empire was a better Empire, people only saw the Empire.

The question was however, would the New Republic itself let this slide? They were in no shape to send another fleet of vessels against the Imperium. They already were stretched thin by the fleets and remnants that escaped Jakku.

On top of this, the Imperium still had an unknown presence. Many of the members of the New Republic other than the top brass and main military commanders knew of the Imperium. As the Accords had been signed by the Grand Vizier, would the New Republic expect the Imperium to follow the treaty and disarm?

It was unlikely that the new government would even recognize the former government leadership anymore. From what he could see, they didn't even go out of their way to kill a defector.

Ciena was even able to embrace him in front of so many people. He was beginning to wonder what kind of Empire was being founded. Soon he found himself standing beside Captain Ree and Grand Moff Randd as they walked toward to the forward portview window.

The Imperial-II Star Destroyer known as the Inflictor came out of hyperspace within the planetary system of Bastion. A massive warship was before them, and plenty more other vessels which seemed to have been constructed by canablized star destroyers, yet they lacked the main weaknesses of star destroyers.

No command tower. There were plenty of defenses against both capital ships and smaller ones. Though they could level plenty of worlds within a matter of hours, these vessels looked almost foreign.

The only thing that made them seem to be Star Destroyers was their dagger shape. The main thing that caught their eyes however was the modified Super Star Destroyer which was above the planet.

"That's the Guardian..." Ciena pointed out as she stared at it, remembering how it left in the middle of the Battle of Endor. How it had abandoned the Empire before they were even ordered to withdraw. "The New Emperor's Flagship."

Randd looked over at Ciena, "The one you will be transferred to command, under the Orders of his Majesty," he informed as he kept his hands clasped behind his back. "Admiral Ciena Ree."

It was clear that there was going to be mass promotions due to the lack of a pristine command hierarchy as the Empire collapsed. Many officers, elite officers, had died in the line of duty, defected, were captured or escaped.

"It's about a hundred times more of a fortress than the Executor, Darth Vader's Flagship," Thane immediately exclaimed seeing all the weapons emplacements, many of them being foreign to him as it was main Chiss technology, architecture and engineering.

Thane looked over at Ciena and smiled lightly, biting the inside of his cheek slightly as he thought to himself. "Since the war is... Over, I could... Be with you, if you'd have me."

"It would be a pleasure, My Thane." Her tone was like that of a teasing friend or lover, treating his name as some fancy title. She was in a much better mood than she had ever been. Plus, she had the understanding that her family would be waiting for her.