Chapter 17- Nostalgia

Chapter 17 of Burning Shadows

Thomas made his way towards the downtown area.  His plan was to mix in with the crowd and figure out where he could find answers and where the Sith might have set up their stronghold.  As he got to the city limits however, he noticed that there was almost nobody out on the streets, and that it was mainly populated by enemy troopers and convoys.  He kept moving, making sure to not stand out too much until he noticed a trooper passing out fliers.  He stayed away from him and picked up a dropped flyer.  It was a poster with his face on it, and a giant bounty on his head.  However, what caught his eye was that the person that issued the bounty was none other than Darth Alumur.

"Blast.  He's on to me"  Thomas thought to himself.  He decided to head towards his old neighborhood and lay low in one of the old abandoned houses nearby the school.  It took him a few minutes, but he finally arrived at this small safe heaven.  He double checked his surroundings before stepping inside.  As he made his way up to the second floor, he saw the different markings that lined up next to the stairwell going upwards.

"I can't believe you've never been up here before Thomas.  This is like, the coolest place ever!"

"You've gotten to go a tour of the Jedi Academy AND actually get a chance to eat at a low middle class restaurant on Courascant, and this place is the most amazing to you?  I think the creek by my place is better than here."

"Come on man, I meant mainly in terms of here on Earth.  I mean, check out this view!"  Michal led him up to the second floor to a nearby window that looked out on the nearby high school.

"Isn't this just a great view man?  I mean, even you have to admit this is pretty neat."

"Sure, but it's just the high school man.  What's so special about it?"

"It's not the building itself my friend.  It's the fact that you've never seen it from this angle.  Think about it.  You can look at a 3D picture that somebody made in art class and have fully got it memorized to the point that you just glance at it and you mind fills in the gaps.  But when you take it and look at it at some different angle, the whole perspective and look of it changes.  You see things that you didn't even know were there.  Shadows and angles and all these cool things!"

"For crying out loud Michal, you sound like some kind of philosopher.  What, you want to be an art theorist or something?"

"If I wanted to be some stuck up art jerk who spent his days acting like some snooty movie idiot, I would've left this planet years ago."

"Why's that?"

"Because there's not many of them out in the galaxy.  Duh."

"How would you know that?"

"Wikipedia.  Duh."

"Dude, that source hasn't had any information about the galaxy since like ever!  It's all Earth history and stuff.  That's why nobody uses it anymore!"

"Oh come on, how can you be so sure?  You've never even left the planet!"

"Sure, but the internet has.  And lets face it, Vebifax is much better than anything here on this planet."

"Oh, the guy who hasn't even been off world in his whole life is lecturing me about how to research my facts."  

"The whole school is going to be on your case about this too!  I'm just bugging you about it!"  The two continued to laugh and go back and forth until almost sunset.  As they got up to leave, they started heading downstairs.  As Thomas reached the bottom, he heard a scraping sound behind him.  Turning around, he saw Michal drawing a line in the wall by the staircase.

"Dude, what are you doing?"

"I've been keeping a tally of when I come here.  Just for reference someday in the future."

"Why would you do that?"

"I don't know.  I heard some teacher say once that he felt nostalgic when he saw something from his childhood.  I guess maybe I want to see what that's like for myself."

"I don't know man, I don't think this is something we should keep to ourselves."

"What do you mean?"

"Why don't we invite some other people next time?"

"Like who do you think would want to join us at a place like this?"

"Maybe Faith or Jackson would.  I don't know, maybe even Sera."

"Okay, you've just listed two girls and one guy.  Am I to assume you have a crush on these two women?"

"Oh shut up."

Thomas broke out a ration can from his pack and had a bite to eat.  He was staying away from the windows just to be safe, since he could see the road the troopers were using right in front of the high school.  As he was eating, he heard what sounded like a speeder heading his direction.  He put his ration away and peeked outside.  There was a small speeder with somebody on it, heading straight towards where he was.  He noticed that this person was a Sith Lord, so he grabbed his two lightsaber hilts and headed towards the stairs as to gain the higher ground.  As he waited and waited, nothing happened.  Even the speeder engine had shut down.  He took a few hesitant steps downstairs, and saw nobody still.  He decided to risk checking outside, but decided against it when he heard the crunching of leaves just by the door.  Then he heard the speeder start up and drive away.  He looked outside and didn't see any traps or anything.  As he turned back inside, he almost jumped when a hologram of Jackson was standing right in front of him.

"Greetings old friend.  I bring you this ultimatum.  Either you give yourself up to me within 24 hours, or I kill the hostages I have here in this school.  And for every hour you don't give yourself up starting 5 minutes from now, I order the troopers to open fire on a random civilian home.  Clock's ticking."  The hologram disappeared and blew up in a small explosion right after.  Thomas fell to the ground, terrified and mortified.  He grabbed his emergency transponder and relayed a message to the troops.

"The leader of the attack on Earth is here.  I have been given an hour before he starts killing people here.  It's a tough call, but I am going to try and infiltrate the high school and detonate my charge meant for the base of operations for the Sith.  I will need an extraction team at these coordinates in one hour and 4 minutes time.  I will try to save as many of the hostages that I can, but I can't guarantee full success.  Watson out."  As he sent the message out, he grabbed his equipment, and focused all his energy into making sure he wasn't detectable by the force, and made his way out.  Before he did, he activated his lightsaber, and made a small etch in the wall by the stairs, then ran off.

"Man I feel old."

Author's Note

I know it took me a long time to update, but I have college going on. So cut me a break please. Enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think with a review!

Reviews

[New Theory]

Definitely enjoying the chapters. take your time mate dont worry.