Ace in the Hole

Act 1 - Chapter 2

Chapter II - For the Empire
"You are a weapon. And weapons do not weep."

Acacius entered the archive room, and looked around, it was much bigger than any library he had ever seen before. He began to rummage through the holo-books on the shelves, hoping to find something there that would help him find his target. He saw a holocron on the table in front of him, he felt the force call to him through it, he instinctively picked it up, and then opened it. When he opened it up, it played a message of a bearded middle-age man saying something.
"This is Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen, with the dark shadow of the Empire rising to take their place. This message is a warning and a reminder for any surviving Jedi: trust in the Force. Do not return to the Temple. That time has passed, and our future is uncertain. Avoid Coruscant. Avoid detection. Be secret... but be strong. We will each be challenged: our trust, our faith, our friendships. But we must persevere and, in time, I believe a new hope will emerge. May the Force be with you always."
Acacius felt a slight sense of guilt watching that message, but he didn't focus on it, the Jedi after all were traitors and deserved to be put to death. He put the holocron away in his tactical pack on his leg, when all of a sudden, he heard a loud slamming noise followed by the activation of a lightsaber. He saw the top balcony of the archive lined up with Rebel troopers with armed blasters pointed directly at him.
"Dark servant of Vader, do you have any idea where you are?" He heard a voice call out.
"Do you have any idea who you are facing, traitor?" Acacius yelled back. A figure emerged from the shadow of the corridor on the balcony on the next floor, as they got closer, her appearance was revealed. Master Arentha took off her hood and looked down at Acacius, frozen in the middle of the archive with his weapon drawn.
"A boy..?" She said, taken aback by Acacius and how young he looked as her lightsaber shut off. She was silently debating what she was doing, and the morality of the situation. Acacius looked at the soldiers surrounding him, ready to fire at any moment, he thought of how he could get out of the situation he's in. He reached out into one soldier's mind through the force, and controlled his mind, making him feel terrified instantly, which caused him to open fire on his fellow soldiers out of nowhere.
Acacius saw that what he did worked, so he reached out to the force into the minds of two more soldiers, and made them feel immense terror out of nowhere, they followed suit with their insane comrade and began to gun down their fellow soldiers as well. Within 3 seconds the whole scene was chaos, Arentha's troops gunning each other down, some jumping out of windows, others succumbing to blaster wounds. Master Arentha fled the scene swiftly, retreating deeper into the temple.
Acacius ran up the walls onto the second floor, a few soldiers started to open fire on him among the chaos, he stabbed one through the chest, then used the force to yank the blasters out of the hands of 3 soldiers before running over to them and cutting them all apart. Two more stood on the edge of the balcony, desperately trying to hit their shots on him, Acacius deflected their shots and redirected ones shot into the other's head, killing him instantly, Acacius used the force to pull a discarded blaster pistol into his hands, and shot the final soldier through the heart. He began to run after the jedi master, she was at the end of the hall trying to get up the elevator, but before she could reach for it, Acacius shot the panel before she could call it. He ran up to her and struck at her with his saber. She deflected it with ease, and returned the blow. He parried it, and struck her across the stomach. Master Arentha's flesh seared and her robes charred around the gash, and reached up with the force and pulled down the ceiling on him. Acacius dodged the collapsing ceiling, and leapt over the rubble. He engaged her once again, striking at her with flurries of an overwhelming amount of slashes and attacks as he slowly forced her to retreat down the stairs as she struggled to keep up.
She activated a second blade on her lightsaber, and began to return his ferocity, now with a saberstaff. Acacius still managed to block and evade her swift and powerful strikes and swings, her fighting style more fluid, now like a controlled storm of ferocity. She grabbed his arm in an attempt to stop his attacks, but he stopped hers as well, they were locked in a hold with each other. Acacius jerked his head back and headbutted her in the skull, sending her flying down the rest of the stairs. He threw his saber at the ground next to her, narrowly missing her foot, and then using the force to move it towards her before pulling it back to himself in midair and clashing with her again. They exchanged blows again and again and again,
Acacius pulled out the blaster from earlier, and attempted to shoot her in between his saber attacks, but it was no use against her and Arentha blocked all his shots. She signaled her troops from behind to open fire at Acacius, and soon the halls were filled with the sounds of blaster fire and plasma bolts scattered around the building. The floors and walls were littered with scorch marks and craters from the impacts within seconds. Acacius and Arentha continued to swing and strike at each other, Arentha trying to back Acacius into being gunned down from behind as they continued to duel. Acacius cut her saberstaff in half, now she had two sabers. Her fighting style became even faster, more unpredictable, he now had to worry about two weapons.
A giant cracking sound ensued, followed by a loud rumble and then a massive hole in the wall cracking and giving out, falling outside into the expanse of city below them. Acacius managed to knock her second saber out of her hands and flung it far away with the force, assuring that grabbing it again wouldn't be worth the effort in the heat of battle. They clashed and locked blades with each other, the piercing blue of her saber and the piercing red of his sparking and hissing as they clashed together.
"The dark side has clouded your mind, boy," Arentha yelled at him to talk over the blasterfire and the clash of their blades. "You think Vader will always be your master, but I can sense your future! I sense only.." She said as she closed her eyes briefly. "G'Tana.." She said, confused.
Acacius did not take her words well, and grew an angry expression on his face. He slid beneath her legs, and held her in a chokehold while restraining her arm that held her saber. He held her in place, and she got hit numerous times all over her body, the force of impact knocking them both back a little bit as the blasters continued to shoot at her.
"EVERYONE HOLD YOUR FIRE! THE GENERAL'S BEEN SHOT!" a voice cried out in the midst of the rebel soldiers. Acacius took the opportunity to use the force on one of their blasters and gunned about 13 of the 21 troopers that were there, three retreating to the rear of the building, only to be force choked to their deaths. Acacius dashed after the other five, dropping the heavily wounded Jedi master on the floor, as he slashed two of them in half, and shooting the other three in the head with his blaster pistol.
He walked back over to Master Arentha, who was now standing up, clutching her stomach and hunched over, heavily breathing, as he used the force to grab her lightsaber off of the ground and hooked it to his belt.
"Do you have any last words, Jedi filth?" Acacius said, looking at her from above, his blade still drawn, and his blaster aimed at her head.
"You say Vader is your master, correct?" she said, out of breath, but still trying to communicate.
"He's my father, and my master." Acacius replied, strengthening his grip on his blaster.
"Heh, you've been fed lies, child. You are Vader's slave, but with him your power is wasted. You could be so much more.. I sense it in you." she said, looking into his eyes, trying to get her message through him.
"Give it up, Jedi. I have no intention of betraying my father." he said, looking at the wounded Jedi with a sense of disdain.
She sighed "Poor boy, the Sith always betray each other.. But I'm sure you'll figure that out soon enough."
She bowed her head down and accepted her fate as Acacius raised up his blade, and struck down at her, cutting her across the chest, with her shortly after falling to the ground and dying. Acacius looked at her on the ground, now cut in half and dead. He put his lightsaber back onto his belt, as he heard a soft buzzing sound emanating from a compartment on her belt.
"General, general do you copy? Come in General, answer us!" It was a small radio, with a direct line to the rebellion. Acacius grabbed the radio from her corpse, and shut it off. Switching the frequency to match the one with the Rogue Shadow.
"Azure, this is Renix, do you copy?"
"Come in Renix, I copy.."
"I'm done, prepare the ship for exit."
He picked up the other charred half of the saber, and began to head for the entrance of the temple.