She didn’t know what more to say. At this point the best thing she could give Drak was privacy and some time to consider what she had just told him. Ziv wasn’t sure why she was protecting Meena this much, aside from the fact that the woman had saved her life in Kessel. She lied down on her couch and closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to take her. She wasn’t much of a sleeper and had she ever gone to a doctor, she would have probably been told that she was suffering from insomnia. Ziv didn’t see her problem as insomnia, in fact she didn’t really see it as a problem. She always told herself she was just being cautious and not allowing another assassin sneak up on her and kill her. Or perhaps there was something else. Something she couldn’t forget about Kessel, something that haunted her nearly as much as it haunted Meena.<br/><br/>Eventually she did get two hours of light sleep and stirred slightly when sensing a presence nearby her. Ziv opened her eyes and saw that Drak was sitting on a chair not too far from. It looked like he hadn’t been sleeping that much either and she couldn’t blame him. However, his first words took him by surprise, having expected a grumpy good morning instead of a question so personal that she was simply speechless for a moment. No one had ever asked her that question and much like Meena, she had never told the true story of what had happened on Kessel. Perhaps now if ever was the time to provide him the truth. Ziv sat up stretched her limbs for a moment before trying to think of the proper words. As much as she liked Drak and wanted him to know the truth, there was a certain difficulty about speaking of her time in prison. When she looked back to him, her eyes nearly begged him, as if she was saying to him that he really didn’t want to know. But he did.<br/><br/>“I thought I’d seen it all in my life.” She spoke finally, quietly as memories flooded her mind. “I thought I was invincible, that I had been to the most desperate places in the world, completely barren from any hope. I thought I had already looked plenty of unimaginable evils in the eye and laughed.” Ziv forced a laugh. “I was naïve too. And I wasn’t afraid of Kessel until I actually set foot in there.”<br/><br/>She thought for a very long time how to describe her experience the best. “The first year prisoners say ‘please’ a lot when they arrive. Please let me go. Please, I’m innocent. Please don’t hurt me. Please give me another chance.” Ziv looked down to her hands. “I was pleading too. They destroyed me at first, so they could rebuild me into a human being that would obey any order, feel no pain and accept everything. That’s when I realized just how bad I had messed up with my life. I would never get out of that place and I’d be abused the rest of my life.” She paused suddenly and then smiled genuinely. “But then I met Meena.”<br/><br/>Ziv got up to fix them some breakfast. “I’d seen her around every once in a while. She was in the same block with me. Prisoners aren’t allowed to talk to each other when not working in the mines.” She grabbed some cups and plates. “She was officer Tresa’s favourite. If there's someone she definitely dislikes more than you, then it's him. In case you didn’t know, Kessel is run by guards who worked there before the Empire and then Imperial officers. They were extremely feared in Kessel for their cruelty and ruthlessness. Many of them are corrupt, paying no mind to Imperial guidelines. Why should they care anyway? You go to Kessel for life and as a criminal no one will miss you. Prisoners are like little pawns for officers to entertain themselves.” Ziv sneered and shook her head. “And officer Tresa was definitely the worst. He enjoyed watching inmates fight until their death and even chose me as his ‘champion’. After all, I was so used to killing…”<br/><br/>“There’s so much to tell about Kessel. Much of it isn’t worth remembering. I did befriend Meena, which made life easier for both of us, at least momentarily. She stood up for me a lot, only to get a beating afterwards. Things started getting complicated on my sixth year and her seventh year when officer Tresa’s corrupt colleague was replaced by officer Demarcus who had been sent there to investigate rumors about corruption.” Ziv explained. “It wasn’t so much about how inmates were treated, but about drinking and glitterstim issues among prison officers. However, he was much different from anyone else I had ever seen on Kessel. He was righteous, calm and respectful towards anyone he spoke to, be it a colleague or a prisoner like myself. Perhaps he was a bit naïve, because he seemed often shocked or displeased with how we were treated. Rumors had it, he was preparing a very controversial report to his higher ups about the true state of Kessel.”<br/><br/>“Things became complicated because prisoners were getting a better treatment thanks to him. But when Demarcus was not around, Tresa would have his way like in the old days. He was especially irritated by the restraining order that had been issued to him concerning female prisoners.” Ziv looked over to Drak. “He was no longer allowed to call me to his office in the middle of the night for some outrageous requests nor could he torment Meena. She had it tough, but at least she wasn’t like me and didn’t agree to his requests… That would usually get her whipped or without food for a few day.” Her voice trailed off a little bit and she froze for a moment before finishing their breakfast. “One day, we were in the mines with Meena and officer Tresa shows up with a few guards. He confronts Meena, stating that she has been telling officer Demarcus about how he has been treating me. And the he begins to attack her. I wasn’t sure whether he was trying to get her killed or undressed. It didn’t matter. I was forced to watch it, because the guards were holding me down. Luckily, the other officers were alerted in time and both of us survived relatively unscathed.”<br/><br/>Ziv sat down and nodded to Drak, offering him to have a seat with her and eat. Breakfast was very modest, but it was something. “Tresa wasn’t punished. Meena was interrogated for several days by officer Demarcus.” Ziv smiled slightly. “I’m not sure what happened during those few days, but it seemed that Demarcus became… rather fond of her. It was probably the first time someone genuinely liked her for who she was, which, for a criminal is difficult to believe.” She laughed quietly. “I’m not in the position to tell you the details. However, it was undoubtedly Demarcus that released Meena, me and several other prisoners. And, coincidentally, I saw him a couple of weeks ago here on this moon. He is looking for Meena.”