Author's Games: Star Wars

Task Four: Mayek

Pain sent an involuntary shudder through Mayek’s body. The stormtroopers showed no mercy as they forced Aevo and Mayek to their feet. They had watched in dread as the Starship touched down on the solitary planet. Even though they wanted nothing more than to get as far away from the planet as they could, the Starship wasn’t much better.

“Come on, hero,” Defik said with a grunt as he hauled Mayek onto his shoulder.

“Are you going to be alright?” Mayek asked Aevo as they separated.

Aevo glanced at Star, his silent companion. “We’ll see.”

As the two brothers limped on, Mayek caught the sight of the Cathar. She was hunched over a red body, a compromising position he never thought he would see from her. He felt pity for the death of her friend.

A sudden shriek diverted his attention to a young woman who fought against the grasp of the stormtroopers.

“No! I’m done!” she screamed as their grips tightened.

A man interfered, trying to calm her, “Jenaara, calm down. We can make it. We have to.”

The woman appeared to cool for a moment before a furiously distraught expression crossed her face and held her head between her hands. She cried out once again, pushing away the man and pulling out a lightsaber, slashing it across the stormtroopers. Red blaster shots fired at her and she fell to the ground.

Mayek instinctively started for her, but Defik held him back. “No, Mayek! Stay out of it,” he warned as they watched helplessly.

The girl wasn’t dead, but she was wounded. She had dropped the saber and was scrambling for it.

A stormtrooper shouted something unintelligible before bringing his foot down on her head, crushing it against the hard surface of the planet.

Mayek turned away, but the sound was enough to disturb his soul.

There were so many he couldn’t save.

He held onto his brother as they silently allowed the troopers to escort them into the Starship. Mayek would cling to Defik the most, making sure he would never abandon him again.

…

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Defik commented as the two approached a dark door.

Two sentinals stood beside the door. They were draped in scarlet robes that masked their faces. Spears stood upright in their hands as they remained still as statues.

The stormtrooper behind Mayek poked him in the back, “You go in. Your brother says here.”

Mayek glared back at the trooper in defiance, “No. He stays with me, or I don’t go at all.”

The stormtrooper sighed in annoyance.

“Just let them go. We don’t want a repeat of what happened outside,” said his partner.

“Fine, but don’t get in his way.”

Mayek and Defik frowned at the order before continuing together.

The door hissed open and they passed the guards. They turned their cardinal heads to watch them, the act instilling fear into their hearts.

The room was mostly dark but for the pale lights from the chasm beneath their feet. It was enough, however, to see what sat before them.

Now they understood the meaning of the trooper’s words.

Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader.