Chapter 3
The blubbery, huge nosed alien continued yelling at Trent in its alien language, though Trent had no idea what the giant creature was saying. The alien tightened its grip on Trent and dragged him closer to its face.
"Hey, let me go." Trent said as he struggled to get free. But the alien was relentless and continued to yell at Trent. It stopped momentarily and waved one of its short arms over to someone, and two stormtroopers approached.
"What seems to be the trouble here?" One of the troopers asked in a monotonous voice. The alien's response had to be translated for the Imperial to understand.
"Stealing food? Is that all?" The other stormtrooper asked incredulously. "Alien scum, how dare you waste our time with such trivial problems?" The stormtrooper took the butt of his blaster and bashed it into the alien's huge stomache. The alien dropped Trent and sulked away in pain. Trent landed on his feet and started to walk away.
"And as for you," the second stormtrooper said turning to Trent. "The only thing lower than alien filth is street scum."
Trent and his friends glowered at the Imperial trooper.
"Stealing is still an offense, and you have violated Imperial Law." The trooper continued.
"But it was only a little food," Trent tried to explain but the Imperial would not listen.
"You're coming with us," the first stormtrooper said. "And your friends too."
"Why them? They didn't do anything?" Trent asked as the second trooper grabbed Brynn.
"They did more than enough by just being who they are," the stormtrooper said. "Coruscant already has enough garbage and its time to clean some up."
"No," Trent started to say as the stormtrooper began to drag him and his friends away when a voice spoke.
"Leave those children alone." The deep voice said.
"Who said that?" one of the troopers asked, his blaster swerving as he turned his head to see where the voice came from. From one of the shadows above a building a form jumped down to the ground. A man now stood in front of the stormtroopers, blocking their path. He stood very tall with dark skin, dressed in simple robes. His face was blanketed by the shadows. In his left hand he held a short staff, not much more than a piece of a broken pole. The man's other hand held nothing because it was not there.
"Let them go." The man said again.
"Get out of our way." one of the stormtroopers said.
"Let them ago," the man said. "This is your last chance."
"You dare to threaten us?" the sotrmtrooper holding Trent said. "Try and stop us."
The stormtrooper shoved Trent away, and the other trooper did similarly with Brynn and Cor. Both troopers then raised their blaster rifles up to face the man. "Blast him." One said, but the man was gone.
"Where'd he go?" the first stormtrooper asked, looking each way for the man, aiming his blaster as he turned.
"Up there!" the second one said as the first looked up to see the man flying down at him, staff coming right towards him. The broken metal pole hit the stormtrooper's protected head with a large crack, dropping the stormtrooper to the ground. In response the second trooper fired his blaster at the man, but not one bolt hit. The man dodged in every direction, not getting hit by any blaster bolts. He then ducked below the level of the blaster rifle and the flying bolts and seemed to teleport from where the first stormtrooper lay prone to where the second trooper stood. The stormtrooper momentarily paused as the man crouched underneath, staff at the ready. Then the staff went shooting up the stormtrooper's midsection and emerged on the other side of the trooper's back. The stormtrooper and the blaster rifle dropped to the ground.
Trent and his friends stood watching helplessly as all the events unfurled. It seemed to happen so slowly though it only took several seconds. They barely even heard the man as brought up his staff and said "Leave." The next thing they knew the man was gone and people were coming to see where the blaster shots were coming from, but by the time they got there the three friends were gone.
-
"Did you see that?" Brynn said after they had ran back to their meeting place. "I couldn't believe what just happened."
"Me neither," Cor said. "He just , wasted two Imperials like they were nothing."
"And that guy was the old man you wanted to harass, Cor." Trent put in.
"Yeah, well, remind me to never bother him again." Cor said.
"Do you think anyone else saw that?" Brynn asked. "I mean if anyone saw, we could be in huge trouble."
"I don't think anyone else saw." Trent said. "We were gone before anyone got there."
"And the man got away also," Brynn said. "I wonder why he helped us?"
"I don't know, but just be glad he did." Trent said. "I'm going to head back home, I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"Okay, see you tomorrow." Brynn said.
"Bye, Trent." Cor said.
"Bye." Trent said and went home. When he got there he saw his younger brother Kirrick was already home and his mother was serving dinner.
"Where were you?" Trent's mother asked. "You're home so late."
"I'm sorry Mom, I just lost track of time." Trent said.
"Be more careful next time," Keira said. "I don't want anything happening to you. Now eat."
"Okay, Mom." Trent said.
After dinner it was already long into nighttime, though on Coruscant there was always something going on, even at night. Trent headed toward his room to go to sleep but his brother intercepted him just before he entered.
"Quiet." Kirrick said as their mother shut her door with a click. "I saw what happened today."
"What are you talking about?" Trent asked.
"Don't play dumb," Kirrick said. "I saw what happened outside the alley, with the old man."
"Kirrick, stop, you don't know," Trent started to say.
"No, I do know, Trent, I know everything that's happened today, both with the old man and the news report," Kirrick said. "I have some connections."
"Oh, yeah, what kind?" Trent asked doubtfully.
"The kind that know what really happened with the death of the moffs and the Imperial headquarters," Kirrick said. "It was no real "murder", just Imperial propaganda. I don't know what happened exactly but I do know that the Rebels were acting in self-defense."
"Really?" Trent asked.
"Yes, really," Kirrick answered. "And I'm only telling you this because of what is going to happen next."
"What's going to happen next?" Trent asked, his voice full of derision.
"Revolt," Kirrick said. "There are hundreds of us here, all sympathetic toward the Rebellion, even if we don't actively show it. I have though, I've been part of the Rebellion here on Coruscant. And with all these recent events, with the death of the moffs, it's the perfect time to overthrow the Imperials."
"Kirrick, you do not know what you're talking about," Trent said. "There may be hundreds here sympathetic with the Rebellion but there are thousands of Imperials on Coruscant alone. You can't win."
"But we will," Kirrick said, fire burning in his eyes. "Only hundreds here but as our revolt grows we will bring hundreds and thousands more to our cause. The Rebellion and this revolt will succeed. We even have the means with which to fight with."
"Means to do it with? You mean weapons, don't you?" Trent said. "Kirrick, don't you understand, if you fight hundreds, thousands will die, all for nothing. I am as much for the Rebellion as you are but not like this. There's nothing we can do."
"You're wrong, Trent," Kirrick said. "There is so much we can do, and tomorrow I will prove it to you," He paused. "Or die trying. There is nothing you can do to talk me out of this, but if you change your mind, come find me. Now, goodnight." Kirrick said and entered his own room, closing his door. Trent knew it would be useless to talk to Kirrick now, with his mind so bent on this. Trent just went into his room and went to sleep, though in the pit of his stomach, he had a bad feeling about this.