"...You awake?" I asked with a knock. I waited for her response.
"Come in," she said. I opened the door, took one look at her, and totally forgot the carefully rehearsed speech I had chosen to announce the news to her. I just stood staring, mouth searching for something to say, but only a pathetic silence escaping it. I looked to her face again. Her stunned expression told me she had already figured it out. I broke down. Again. I pulled her close as she lost it too. I could hardly blame her. He was the closest thing she had had to a father. Now he was gone.
"I'm... I'm sorry..." I sobbed. "It's my fault. I tried.."
"Was he happy?" She asked
"What?"
"When he went. Was he happy?"
"I... Think so. I hope so."
"That's all I needed to hear."
It took a few hours after that to calm down enough to talk more. We talked about us. About him. We eventually decided to talk to his classes together. It took a lot of explaining. There were questions. It took nearly two days to cover them all as they came for lessons. He had such a bigger impact than I thought. He was a father to so many that had none. We stopped for lunch in the facility cafeteria. They were serving some kind of meat loaf that day. It wasn't too horrible, maybe a touch dry, but by far not the worst food I had eaten. We ate in almost total silence
Little did we know that we were having the last safe meal of our lives
The doors flew open and in came a barrage of laser blasts. Shots ricocheted around the room. We flipped over our table for cover. A glance around showed the bodies of our comrades, who were eating with us mere moments ago. We retaliated with our lightsabers and held our position until there was no further opposition. As the smoke of battle cleared, we rose to survey our attackers.
"These men aren't our enemy..." I murmured, lost in thought.
"No, they're..."
Our own men
Former friends lay before us. Their past allegiance marked by their universal, white armour. I stared down at the betrayed friendships, the years of bonding, now at my feet with holes in their chests. I could only think of one option
"We're going. We're going now. I don't know what's happened, maybe some sort of rebellion. Whatever it is, there's no going back now. We have to leave. There will be no return."