Right
As Corik turned right, Jethra seemed to have already started going. He headed down the hall towards the loud voice they both heard echoing in the distance, Corik on his heels.
Jethra stopped at where the door into the hangar was supposed to be. What they saw to their right could not easily be recognized as a blast door, as a large perhaps 5 foot hole was there in place of a majority of it, and only a few missing shards of metal lay on the ground in melted and corroded pieces. Not done by blaster fire, Corik thought, as he examined the metal on the edges of the hole that still seemed to be red hot from whatever had done the damage.
Before he had time to think about what was going on or what to do, Jethra jumped through the gaping hole in the door and into the hangar bay. Corik didn’t think, he just followed.
After picking himself up from the jump, he examined the bay. Dozens of large ships stretched across a largely empty landing zone, there was little equipment to be found anywhere, save for a few boxes scattered next to some of the ships. It was as if everything from the hangar had been emptied… or taken.
Corik was at Jethra’s side when they looked across the hangar to see what was left. Perhaps half a dozen ships were docked in shelves across the hangar. Jethra was on his way towards them before Corik could react.
Corik followed, and both dodged there way in and out of the empty shelves in the hangar, mostly to avoid being seen if anybody was watching. Corik had no idea where the voices went, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to leave before anything else happened. Once they had reached the first ship, they stopped.
The ship they stared at was different than the others. It was jet black, unlike the green and brown colors of his home planet’s defense fighters. Numerous crates were stacked in the back behind it, and on its side was imprinted a yellow symbol in the shape of a ‘C’.
This time Corik moved first, walking towards the next shelf. Almost instantaneously he felt a push from out of nowhere that sent him flying backwards. When he got up, he saw two men. One of them was very built and well over 6’5”. The other was relatively short, a few inches shorter than Corik, who was 5’7”. Both men wore hoods that concealed their faces. They were no more than shadows to him in their long black and gray robes. He eyed their belts, each containing some small packs and…
Corik stopped and looked in awe at what he saw. A lightsaber, the legendary weapon only Jedi carry, was only about twenty meters in front of his eyes. He had only heard elegant stories and tales of what a lightsaber could do, or what a Jedi could do with it. He only hoped he wouldn’t have to experience it firsthand.
Corik looked over at Jethra, who looked frozen. He couldn’t tell if his or Jethra’s fear was that of awe or terror, perhaps it was both. Corik knew the push had come from them; it was a Jedi power of some sort.
“Looks like we found some trespassers” remarked the shorter of the two. He looked over at the other, who closed his eyes momentarily.
Corik’s mind was racing, but his thoughts dwelt mostly on happy memories of him and Jethra, stretching back to the orphanage. Memories of all the good times, perhaps the only good times he and Jethra would ever have together. As he thought, it felt as if something else was present; some force was sifting through his thoughts along with him, eyeing every image he himself remembered.
“You two are friends” he stated, “Close friends.”
Corik understood now. The Jedi had read his mind. But he could do nothing to resist.
“Very good” replied the other, “So… we now have a choice. Which one will suffer first?”
Corik shuddered. If he was to die, he thought it better to die first and spare the pain of watching Jethra fall right before his eyes. But the Jedi had read those thoughts too.
Jethra’s body was pulled off the floor as if by magic and flung towards the shorter Jedi, who in a quick motion reached for and turned on his lightsaber. Jethra literally fell into the bright red blade of energy, which tore through him like a blaster through cloth. The dark one followed the motion by pushing Jethra backward onto the floor. A shock jolted through Corik’s spine, as if he had just been shot. The pain he felt racing through his mind and his heart almost sent him into shock. His vision became a blur from the tears in his eyes. It was all over.
Then he heard something else. An explosion with a shockwave strong enough to level a small building on its own roared through the hangar, catching even Corik’s attention, who could hardly grasp what he just witnessed. Out of his blurry eyes he saw the flames in the ceiling above him followed by the collapse of debris on the floor just in front of him. The Jedi reacted at lightning speed and were in a flash no longer in sight. The metal landed all around where they just stood, covering Jethra’s corpse.
Corik needed to get a hold of himself. He needed to get out of the hangar, and more realistically off the planet. He ran to the nearest ship and into its cockpit. Looking at the panel in front of him as he wiped his eyes, he quickly found the ignition switch. The fighter hovered to life, and lifted off the floor. He grabbed the lever in front of him and pulled back as he hit the afterburner. In response the ship tilted upward, toward the newly formed hole in the hangar, and jetted out. As he scanned the busy sky around him he set his sights away from the fighting and out toward space.