Jiri smashed the lock with the butt of his rifle, freeing the chain from the gate it secured. Tyken inquired 'we're stealing a bike?'. Jiri sighed, 'no we are not stealing a bike, I am borrowing a bike. I know these people and if they were home, they would absolutely let me borrow it. But since they are not home, I just have to borrow it by myself'. Tyken paused thoughtfully for a moment, 'I am fairly sure that constitutes theft'. Jiri turned, his face was red and his voice raised 'look, my mum and dad are in danger, everyone I know is in danger, and you lecture me about the technicalities of theft? I don't care, I need to help my parents'. Tyken looked at his arm, recalling the painful electric shocks of the probe droids, he knew there was no way he could have fended them off without Jiri's help, now Jiri's family was in danger and Jiri was still willing to help him. Tyken was snapped out of his thought by Jiri's appearance on a speeder. 'Get on man, we gotta hurry'.
They sped through the barrens, Jiri's hair whipped through the air as the motor strained against the speed. This speeder was an old relic of the fabled battle of Endor, or so Jiri had been told, but it definitely still had some kick left in it. Jiri hoped it would be enough, his parents house loomed within view, they would be there in a few moments.
Suddenly a huge image appeared across the sky. The masked figure appeared in a huge image cast on the darkening heavens. The image begun to rasp with its metallic voice that rang across the horizon, 'I'm disappointed in the both of you, this could have been so much easier for all of us, but you have chosen made things difficult, so in turn pain and suffering will result'. A bright light illuminated the skies, then suddenly a massive laser blast shot down from the heavens and smashed into the house, the fiery cascade demolished the house completely. Jiri's face turned to a surprised look of horror as he watched the house explode, his stomach churned, tears filled his eyes as he screamed 'Mum! Dad!'. Jiri pushed the speeder to it's absolute limit to make it to the fiery remains as fast as he could. He smashed the breaks and the speeder skidded to a halt just off the destroyed house.
Jiri jumped off the bike and ran over to the wreckage, he needed to know if they were in the house, he had to know. Jiri begun to run through flames, his stomach churned and grinded and cramped, he was sweating bullets, his tongue tasted like ashes and the smell. Jiri knew that smell, it was burning flesh, the stink was repulsive, it almost made him sick. He pushed through into where the bedroom should be, were they here? Please don't let them be here Jiri thought as he heaved to lift up a huge part of the collapsed ceiling. And there he saw it, two bodies burning, embracing as they burned. Jiri's mind went blank, he felt numb all over. Everything became small and insignificant as he stumbled out of the burning wreckage. He fell to his knees and vomited. His eyes were red, his skin was blackened and singed, his hands were filthy, and the world felt like it was a million miles away. He was totally numb, he couldn't even think. He came into semi-awareness as he felt Tyken take his shoulder. 'Come. We mustn't linger, if we stay they will kill you and take me, we need to get off the planet'. Jiri couldn't even move, the shock was too much, he knew Tyken was right but his brain simply couldn't tell his body what to do. He just keeled on the spot motionless. Suddenly he felt his collar being grabbed by Tyken, he was lifted into the air. Tyken locked eyes with him 'look, we need to move now! Are you going to get revenge for your parents? Or are you going to keep kneeling on the ground there until you die like a dog?'. Jiri felt the fire ignite in his gut. Yes, revenge is a good reason to continue living he thought. The spark returned to Jiri's eye. Tyken saw this and released Jiri, knowing that the spark meant purpose and this kid fight to his last to see his objective through. Tyken explained 'We need to get off the planet as quickly as possible, we will die if we stay'. Jiri hesitated 'I have a ship… well sort of… '. Tyken knew Jiri well enough now that this did not bode well, 'what do you mean sort of?'. Jiri conceded, 'it's a ship that I've been working on for a while, built it from scratch myself, but I've never flown it before, and its never been to space'. Tyken replied 'It's a chance we take, if we stay here we die'.
They descended into the underground shed. Sunlight was becoming scarce outside which Tyken was thankful for, it would make their escape easier. Jiri pulled the covers off the vessel. Tyken was slightly shocked at what he saw, it looked like a flying tin can. Jiri sided, 'it's a piece of junk right? I don't have access to the parts and equipment I need to make a proper ship, but this thing should fly… should…' Jiri's voice trailed off and a distant look appeared on his face. Tyken needed to keep him focused. 'It's better than no ship, once we break orbit we can hopefully find a better alternative'.
Once the shed door was open, Jiri took hold of the wheel of the ship and directed it skywards. It was a very bumpy take off, Tyken felt a nervous sensation creep up on him, unsure if this ship would be able to survive the vacuum of space. As the ship took towards the sky, more flashes of light appeared, striking houses and lighting them up. Jiri could see his neighbors, his friends, all getting bombarded from orbit. He held the sick feeling to the bottom of his stomach and kept it down with sheer determination; Tyken was right after all, he needed to get revenge, it was a reason to continue. The ship left the atmosphere of the planet and into space. It seemed to be holding up. Jiri remarked to Tyken, 'this ship has no hyper drive, we will not be able to leave this system, where can we go?'. 'Space port Livingstone' replied Tyken, although he was not sure why he said it, it just came out. Jiri's curiosity piqued, 'why there?'. Tyken felt the answer come to him as he said it 'it's a trading hub for this sector, we will surely find people and supplies needed'. Jiri replied 'punch in the co-ordinates and we'll head there', as soon as he had finished the sentence the sickness in his stomach reached to the surface, the numbness returned and the full realization hit Jiri that his whole world had been turned upside-down.