Chapter 18-Face Off

Chapter 18 of Burning Shadows

Thomas started making his way towards the school building through the forested area.  As he reached the end of the tree line, he saw that security had increased since he got the message from Jackson.  Not only tanks and trooper patrols surrounding the perimeter, but now snipers were atop locations like the football stadium and the nearby trees.  He knew that stealth was his weakest skill out of all of them, but he knew that sneaking past a few troopers wouldn't be too much of a problem.  The problem was that it required a lot of force usage, which was impossible on earth.  And even though he could mask himself with a cloaking device, the troopers were likely using tech that could detect cloaked figures in seconds.  He decided the best course of action was to try and take the sewer line into the basement of the school.  At least once inside, he figured there would be little to no cloaking detection that could keep him from sneaking around and finding the hostages.  He found a nearby manhole that was outside of the viewpoint of the school, and made his way through the tunnels.  Without the force, he was blind on where he was and how far he had to go.  So, he sent some mini drones that didn't have any way of being detected by wireless to scout the tunnels, the pipes that lead to the surface, and whatever enemies might have awaited at the surface.  When they returned, they downloaded the information they gathered into a mapping system so that Thomas knew exactly where he was and where he needed to go.  He found an entrance right beneath the school auditorium.  As he got out, he activated his cloaking device to get past the troopers.  As he made his way up to the main level, he noticed some troopers taking a few prisoners down the hall.  Following them, he made sure that he didn't make a sound as to not alert them to his presence.  After a few minutes of walking, they threw the captives into a makeshift prison in one of the gymnasiums.  Thomas waited for the guards to drop them off, then waited for the ones guarding the door to take their positions.  He looked at his timer beneath his cloak.  He still had about 25 minutes until the backup he requested arrived.  He waited outside the door for about another five minutes, then another pair of troopers with captives came along.  Thomas decided to take a gamble, and squeezed in between the two hostages making it in without being noticed.  He knew that it would only be a matter of time before the enemy noticed his presence.  He kept his cloak on, moving through the cluster of scared people in the gymnasium.  Making his way to the far wall, he saw that there was an electric field keeping the prisoners from the unprotected wall.  Thomas decided the best course of action at this point was to wait until the support was almost there.  He took off his cloak, and made his way over to one of the energy towers.  As he gained more and more confused onlookers of prisoners, he went up to one of them and handed him his timer.

"Don't worry.  I'm here to get you out.  When that timer reaches two minutes left, you let me know, all right?"  The prisoner was a bit confused, but nodded in response anyways.  As he sat down in his meditating position, time seemed like it was dragging much slower than it really was.  About 15 minutes later, there was a commotion back at the entrance to the prison.  Thomas could feel it in his gut.  Jackson was coming.  He jumped up, grabbed the timer.  Still 5 minutes remained.  But he didn't have any choice.  He activated his lightsaber, sliced the tower in half, destroying the field, and ran over to the wall and cut several openings for the prisoners to get out.  As they started to flood out of the gym, Thomas made his way back to where there were troopers starting to file in and began opening fire.  Thomas tried his best to deflect all the shots, but without the force, some got past him striking innocent people.  He rushed in, taking advantage of the fact that while he didn't have the force with him, he could still do some damage with his sabers.  Doing so averted the aim of the troopers from the fleeing prisoners to Thomas, helping more people get outside.  After noticing the last person got out, Thomas made a break for it to help make sure they weren't re-captured by the forces outside.  Looking up in the sky, he saw the first few ships starting to come down and open fire for the Republic.  Emergency transport ships made landings and picked up the civilians while fighters and ground troops provided cover.  Thomas helped keep the enemy off their tails, when he saw Jackson start running toward a group of civilians.  Thomas ran over and cut him off, holding both his lightsabers high.  Jackson smiled, and activated his own lightsaber.  The two clashed while dancing around laser fire as best they could.  Thomas knew that this was a fight that couldn't drag out, so he made sure that he wasn't forced back away from the evacuation ships.  As the last of the civilians were loaded on board, Thomas broke away from the fight and hopped on one of the troop transports.  As the ship was starting to take off, Jackson started running towards the ship, with intents of keeping it from taking off.  Thomas made a call that was not very common, but knew it could work since neither of them could use the force.  He took one of his lightsabers, activated it, and threw it at Jackson to throw him off to try and buy a few seconds.  However, Jackson made an error by thinking he could still use the force, and by instinct alone, tried to stop the lightsaber with the force.  This instinct for a split second lowered his defenses.  As he re-activated his lightsaber, the tip of it slashed across his face, creating a huge mark that almost divided his face right in half.  He screamed in pain as the ships took off.  The enemy troopers fired back, but to no avail as the transports made their way out safely.

Thomas was sitting on the troop ship when a hologram communicator popped up.  it was the commander that was leading the charge of the mission that he left in charge beforehand.

"What's the status commander?"  Thomas asked.

"We lost more men than the ground we gained during the attack on Washington and London.  Plus, the Sith have begun a major offensive on the ground that we've re-captured.  I hate to say so, but the Republic has ordered a withdrawal."

"WHAT?!  But we can still do this!  Their leader is hurt!  We have a moral advantage!"

"You might, but the rest of us don't.  We've lost too much.  We are going to retreat for now and come back another day.  The Republic will decide when and with how many forces.  For now, we've lost."  The communicator cut out.  Thomas didn't know what to feel.  As the ships made their way back to the Star Destroyers, he looked back at Earth once again, never before feeling so helpless.

"I've had it Lord Miyata!  This is the last straw!  Those fools have toyed with me long enough!  When is the strike command going to be given?!"

"For the last time Darth Almur, not yet!  Our agents need time.  Plus, with the amount of star systems we are winning, the Jedi might start to get a little too defensive for our plans.  We need them to start thinking they have won, and then we shall strike them down at the heart.  You will take your troops and withdraw from Earth immediately."

"WHAT?!  BUT YOU PROMISED THIS WORLD WAS MINE TO RULE!"

"It will be yours.  Another day.  Once we have won this war, there will be no one to deny you your rightful place of power on Earth.  Soon, once more the Sith shall rule this galaxy.  And unlike that fool Sideous, we shall have true peace, with no more wars and no more conflict.  You shall get what is rightfully yours as well my apprentice."

"Yes my lord."

Author's Note

Another long update, but college happens. Please review and tell me what you think!