[ His heart almost skips a beat with the sudden conflicting emotions. He forces himself to move his feet, to resume their solemn trudge upwards, if only to give him a moment to reply. He couldn’t tell by her voice how she felt about the Empire, and last thing he wanted was to get himself in hot water with an Imperial that didn’t have anywhere else to vent their frustration.

However, she clearly wasn’t human, so that already put her on the side of probably not Imperial. Still, it was best to be cautious.

He finally gave a rolling shrug in reply, hoping to come off as casual with a hint of wary instead of the intensely wary he actually felt. ]

I know it. We were just recently put back under direct imperial control.

[ There. A relatively neutral reply, he hoped. ]

The people you were travelling with - were you all heading deeper into the Empire? I would have thought the outer rim prefers to keep to itself.

[ Slightly less neutral, but oh well. ]