Kendy Idele

"Good people can start to serve the Empire. But if they stay, they stop being good."

- Kendy Idele

Kendy Idele was a female human from the planet Iloh. She was chosen to attend the Royal Imperial Academy and shared a room with Jude Edivon and Ciena Ree. At the Academy, she was noted for her excellent skills with a blaster, being able to shoot three flying targets in just one second. After graduating from the Academy, she served the Galactic Empire. After the Battle of Hoth, her entire patrol mutinied on Miriatin, but only one-third of them managed to escape with their lives. She then joined the Alliance to Restore the Republic and became a member of Corona Squadron, joining Thane Kyrell, who was also a former Royal Imperial Academy student. She served in the Battle of Endor, where her job was to protect the other squadrons as they penetrated the Death Star. After the Battle of Endor, she would go on to serve in the New Republic.

Imperial Academy
Kendy Idele grew up on the tropical planet of Iloh during the Age of the Empire. At the age of sixteen, Kendy became an Imperial cadet at the Royal Imperial Academy on Coruscant. She shared a room with the Jelucani cadet Ciena Ree and the Bespin cadet Jude Edivon. Kendy and Jude debated the merits of walking barefoot on Coruscant before Ciena joked that she and Kendy would get used to Jude's habit of quoting statistics. Kendy apologized for her grumpy mood and struggled with braiding her hair. Ciena helped her fellow cadet and taught her how to braid her hair. When Jude suggested that she keep her hair short, Kendy responded that only small children kept their hair short on Iloh. Later, they attended an induction ceremony hosted by Commandant Deenlark.

As the months passed, Kendy and her fellow cadets learned how to fire blasters. During a blaster training exercise, Kendy told her friend Ciena that she had noted the latter's interest in a male cadet named Thane Kyrell, a close friend of Ciena and a native of Jelucan. When Kendy asked Ciena whether she was romantically interested in Thane, Jude interjected that romantic relationships between cadets were forbidden at the Royal Imperial Academy. As the exercise dragged on, Kendy twirled her blaser like a pirate from a spice-runner holo.

Following a martial arts training exercise, Kendy joked about breaking the Academy's ban on romantic relationships for a guy as handsome as Thane; knowing Ciena's close friendship with him. When Kendy asked Ciena what she was going to do on their free day, Ciena expressed her desire to eat real food instead of the Academy's nutritive beverages. After Jude recommended that they spend their free time visiting the Museum of Multispecies Sciences, Kendy expressed her desire to dive in the sea instead of a wave pool. Before exiting the room, Ciena asked Kendy if she could show her how to flip her opponent. Kendy jokingly declined the offer on the grounds that she was better in that area than Ciena.

As the years passed, Kendy and Jude excelled in their studies at the Royal Imperial Academy, particularly the Core Worlds Classical Culture program. Prior to graduation, Kendy joked with Ciena and Jude, who had been invited to attend a ball at the Imperial Palace, about wearing Imperial uniforms. Jude responded that Imperial uniforms were not appropriate for civilian functions such as the ball. Prior to the ball, Kendy loaned Ciena her iridescent combs made of shells from Iloh and simple pearl earrings. After graduating, Kendy joined the Imperial Navy.

Reunion with Thane
In Imperial service, Kendy was never posted to a Star Destroyer. She only visited the capital ship three times for day trips. Kendy turned against the Galactic Empire after the Empire destroyed the planet Alderaan with the Death Star. Following the Battle of Hoth, Kendy and her entire patrol mutinied on Miriatin but only one-third of them managed to escape with their lives. She later joined the Rebel Alliance and became a member of the X-wing starfighter Corona Squadron, earning the call sign Corona Five. Kendy's fellow pilots included her former Academy classmate Thane, Smikes, and the Twi'lek pilot Yendor. Later, she and her fellow Corona Squadron pilots attended a briefing chaired by the Alliance Chancellor Mon Mothma. Mothma ordered Corona Squadron not to accompany the rest of the Alliance Fleet to their new rendezvous point.

Kendy and her fellow Corona Squadron pilots scouted the Outer Rim planet of D'Qar for any possible sign of a new Imperial outpost. The Alliance had received information from deep-cover spies on Coruscant that massive amounts of materiel were being processed for the Imperial Starfleet. She informed Thane that there were no artificial power sources on D'Qar. After determining that the planet had no Imperial presence, Corona Squadron decided to list the planet as a potential rebel base for the future.

After returning to the rebel ship Liberty, Kendy told Thane that intelligence work was not as glamorous and dramatic as she thought it would be. Thane responded that the dramatic stuff was most likely to get them killed. When Thane remarked that he was not suicidal, Kendy pointed out that their old friend Ciena had one said that. Unlike Kendy and Thane, Ciena was still loyal to the Galactic Empire and was a promising Imperial Navy officer. When Thane asked what Ciena had reported, Kendy revealed that Ciena had reported that he had supposedly committed suicide on Jelucan. Kendy had learnt this information from her former classmates.

Knowing Thane and Ciena's close friendship, Kendy deduced that Ciena had covered for him. Thane confirmed that this was the case. When Kendy asked if Ciena had broken an oath, Thane reaffirmed that Ciena was still loyal to him. After asking why Ciena had chosen to remain with the Empire, she recalled that Ciena had said that an oath lasted forever. Kendy was perplexed at why Ciena loved Thane enough to save his life but was still willing to serve a "tyrannical" regime. Thane explained that while Ciena loved him she had never set aside her oath to the Empire. Since Kendy did not understand Jelucani culture, Thane explained that good people could wind up in the service of evil.

Disagreeing with Thane, Kenndy responded that good people would lose their goodness if they willingly chose to stay with the Empire. She added that choosing to following an unethical order would open the door to more unethical orders. She then added that making compromises would open one to embracing evil. Kenny explained that she had defected from the Empire in order to preserve her sense of goodness and morality. Both Kenndy and Thane feared that their friend Ciena had been corrupted by the Empire. After remarking they would never know, Thane walked away to spend time alone.

Rebel fighter pilot
After Thane returned from a trip to his homeworld of Jelucan to support Ciena Ree during the trial of her mother Verine Ree, Kendy along with Yendor, Smikes, and General Carlist Rieekan expressed shock when they learned that Thane had not concealed his associated with the Alliance from Ree; who was serving as a Lieutenant Commander in the Imperial Navy. While Yendor, Smikes, and Rieekan expressed anger and disappointment, Kendy remained quiet since she understood the nature of Thane's relationship with Ciena. Later, Kendy and her fellow Corona Squadron mates took part in a rebel reconnaissance patrol in the Hudalla system. Corona Squadron was ambushed by a TIE Interceptor squadron led by Ciena and Nash. During the ensuing dogfight, Smikes was killed but Kendy and the other pilots including Thane managed to escape. After witnessing Ciena attempting to shield Thane's X-wing from their former classmate Nash Windrider's TIE Interceptor, Kendy realized that Thane was right that Ciena was still the same person they had known back at the Royal Imperial Academy.

Prior to the Battle of Endor, Kendy and her fellow Corona pilots attended a briefing chaired by General Crix Madine. When Kendy asked how the Alliance was going to take out the deflector shield generator on Endor, Madine informed her that General Han Solo would lead a strike team on Endor. During the assault on the second Death Star, Kendy and her fellow Corona Squadron pilots were tasked with covering General Lando Calrissian's Millennium Falcon and the Gold, Red, Green, and Gray Squadrons as they penetrated the superweapon. During the battle, Kendy and her fellow pilots took part in an attack on the massed Imperial Star Destroyers in order to protect the fleet from the operational second Death Star's superlaser. Kendy's marksmanship helped her to inflict damage on the Imperial ships. Ultimately, the Battle of Endor became a pivotal rebel victory with the deaths of the Emperor, Darth Vader, and the destruction of the second Death Star.

New Republic service
Following the events at Endor, Kendy and her fellow Corona Squadron pilots joined the New Republic, the successor government to the Rebel Alliance. Kendy and her fellow pilots took part in the Naboo Sieges and helped repel three Imperial attacks on Naboo, which had joined the fledgling democracy. By that stage, the squadron had been joined by a rookie from Nea Dajanam and a Coruscanti exile. After intercepting the remnants of an Imperial attack force, several of Kendy's fellow pilots including Yendor went to the Gungan aquatic city of Otoh Gunga to try out an exotic dessert. Her friend Thane stayed behind at the hangar to mourn Ciena, whom he mistakenly believed to have perished aboard the Super Star Destroyer Executor during the Battle of Endor. Kendy herself stayed behind to make repairs to his X-wing.

While Thane was contemplating alone in his X-wing, Kendy approached him. When Thane asked if she had completed her repairs, she replied that she need a Louar clamp to finish up. However, she planned to take a break that night and return the follow morning. Kendy was planning to leave the hangar to join up with Yendor and the others at Otoh Gunga. When Kendy queried if Thane was going to spend hours alone, Thane replied that he would bid his time reading a holonovel under the beautiful skies of Naboo.

Kendy then joked about Thane's eightieth birthday and expressed her bemusement at his Jelucani mystical and spiritual beliefs. Thane replied that he was not being weird and stressed that he was obliged to mourn Ciena's supposed passing. When Kendy asked how long Thane was going to wear the mourning band of his right arm, he replied that he would stop the annual mourning after the first anniversary of the Battle of Endor, which was scheduled to take place in a few weeks time. Thane vowed to carry the mourning band even after that date in honor of Ciena. When Kendy derided him for being melodramatic, Thane replied that Ciena was his true love.

Battle of Jakku
By the time of the Battle of Jakku, Kendy had attained the rank of lieutenant in the New Republic military. Due to their status as former Imperial officers, General Rieekan assigned Lieutenant Idele and Thane on a mission to capture a Star Destroyer in order to bolster the New Republic Starfleet. In the lead up to the battle, Kendy expressed doubts that she would succeed since neither of them had ever been posted aboard a Star Destroyer. Thane assured her that they had studied the schematics at the Royal Imperial Academy. Despite her disbelief in spiritual matters, Kendy remarked May the Force be with you. She and Thane led one of the four boarding ships which boarded the Imperial Star Destroyer Inflictor, which was being commanded by Thane's lover Captain Ciena Ree; who had indeed survived the Battle of Endor.

During the ensuing battle, Kendy and Thane fought their way aboard the ship with blasters, taking down several stormtroopers in the process. Despite disabling the ship's self-destruct mechanism, Captain Ree ordered her crew to evacuate ship so that she could personally crash the ship on the planet Jakku's surface in an effort to deny the ship to the New Republic. After realizing Ciena's plan, Thane ordered Kendy and the other New Republic soldiers to evacuate the ship. When Kendy asked him where he was going, Thane told her that he would catch up. Instead, Thane went and rescued an unwilling Ciena before the Inflictor crashed on Jakku. Ultimately, the Battle of Jakku ended as a decisive victory for the New Republic. The victorious New Republic then signed the Galactic Concordance with the defeated Empire, ending the Galactic Civil War.

Personality and traits
Kendy Idele was a short human woman who liked to walk barefoot due to her childhood growing up on the tropical planet Iloh. As a result, she hated wearing shoes. Kendy liked to wear her green hair long and regarded short hair as something only befitting little children. Kendy also had a love for swimming in the sea and regarded swimming laps in the wave pool as a poor substitute. Kendy had a good friendship with Ciena Ree and Jude Edivon, her fellow cadets at the Royal Imperial Academy on Coruscant. During her time there, she learnt how to wield a blaster and became an effective sniper. She could take down three target fliers per second with her blaster.

Kendy was also a competent starfighter pilot who flew with the Rebel Alliance's Corona Squadron. As an Imperial defector and rebel, Kendy loathed the Galactic Empire for its tyrannical rule and cruelty. Despite her former friendship with Ciena, Kendy was perplexed that her old classmate could love her comrade Thane enough to cover up his defection but was unwilling to leave the Empire. Kendy gained a better appreciation of Ciena after her former classmate saved her and her fellow pilots from being killed during a dogfight in the Hudalla system. Kendy had little understanding of Jelucani culture and spiritual matters in general. Despite her disbelief in the supernatural, Kendy still remarked may the Force be with you on at least one occasion.

As a former Imperial officer, Kendy was familiar with the schematics of Star Destroyers. However, she expressed doubt that she would be able to take over such a ship since she had never been posted on one long term. As a rebel and New Republic starfighter pilot, she knew how to repair X-wing starfighters.

Behind the scenes
Kendy Idele first appeared in Claudia Gray's 2015 young adult novel Lost Stars, which was released as part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens multimedia project. Her lines are told from the point of view of the main protagonists Ciena Ree and Thane Kyrell.

Appearances

 * Lost Stars